Tag Archives: tofu

Tired Haus 3

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Man, oh man, am I tired!  My insomnia seems to be coming back but for now I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the problem is just the vacation/visiting/excitement.  It’s my mom’s last day in town and we are heading to the airport at 4am.

On a short walk with the dog, Starbucks dopio espresso with the rest of the cup filled to the rim with skim milk.

Wegman’s hot bar for lunch with my mom.

Veg – roasted veggies, asparagus salad, a piece of chili garlic eggplant.

Protein – a piece of fried tofu and 2 steamed chicken dumplings.

I had to go to two classes today but this afternoon we took a nice walk down Elmwood.

A pear was eaten on the walk,

along with two Buttered Rum Raisin Cookies.

Plus two more cookies that snuck into my mouth while I was in the container.

During our walk we also stopped at Organic 3 Cafe for juice.

My custom blend was carrot, cucumber, double spinach.

We headed back to Lagerhaus 95 for my mom’s final meal in Buffalo.  Good food was eaten, with lots of sharing.  Basil truffle fries.

These were fine as far as fries go but not amazing; nothing like the truffle fries here.

Haus Cheese Board.

The four cheeses were provolone, smoked gouda, dill havarti, and a sheep’s milk cheese.  It was good, but that’s obvious because it’s cheese.

And speaking of cheese, I got the special for dinner – Crispy Duck Mac and Cheese.

The mac was made with smoked gouda and was topped with panko, truffle oil, crispy duck, and goldfish crackers for crunch.

Mmmmmn!  Smoked gouda is always a win and the goldfish ended up being surprisingly nice.  I usually shy away from duck but I did enjoy the few bites I took that included it; it was a lot like beef jerky!  I finished half of the dish or so and the husband is very excited to have the rest for dinner tomorrow.

I also had a few bites of his truffled wild mushroom panini.

And we split a side salad with lemon caper vinaigrette.

The dressing was good but my salad was missing the herbs from last time.  All in all it was a fun “last” meal.  Quite decadent too, what with all the cheese and truffle oil!

And now I’m getting up in 5 hour so I should skedaddle!

A Bahn Mi Attempt

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I forgot to charge my camera and had to plug it in this morning while I should have been photographing breakfast.  It was a good time to be camera-less; my foods were predictable (is anyone even remotely surprised that I ate a big bowl of two ingredient ice cream for breakfast?) and my activities were boring.  I will say though – I don’t know what my neighbor did, but the next time the cops block my entire street and make it take 30 minutes for me to repark my car, I just might go on a crime spree of my own.

So it’s no biggie not to blog breakfast and lunch, but missing dinner would have been a crying shame.

I mean that crying part literally, I went a little heavy on the Sriracha in my spicy mayo!

For dinner we had my best attempt at Tofu Bahn Mi.  French bread topped with spicy mayo, baked tofu, carrots, and cucumber.

For the tofu I cut a block of extra-firm into five slices and then pressed.  I marinaded the dry slices overnight in a mix of sugar, rice vinegar, and tamari.  Then today I baked the slices at 425* for 30 minutes.  While the tofu was baking, I cooked the carrots in the leftover marinade.  Then I stirred together Sriracha and mayo, thin sliced some cucumber, and assembled.

We also had roasted asparagus on the side.

If you’re wondering why my asparagus pile looks so small, it’s because the ‘gus is Adam’s favorite veggie and one of his favorite foods.  I.e. he freaked out and took half of what I served myself to put on his plate.  I’m just glad he’s so in love with something green.

Meanwhile, the dog’s in love with my coats.

And I’m in love with the two of them.  And with 2 ingredient ice cream.

I Need A Plan

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I’m a girl who needs a plan. I am obsessed with my day planner. I make weekly meal plans in bed as I fall asleep. As you’ve seen, if my workouts don’t follow an exact schedule they tend not to happen.

That’s why, without a 10k in sight on the day planner, I’ve decided to follow this Couch to 10k Plan. Not because I’m signing up for a race, but because I hope it will get me back to the gym and back in my running groove. I decided to start at week 4 because I was reasonably certain that I could handle 2 minute spurts of running.

But I also need to follow the plan. I didn’t this morning and it cost me an hour of time and aggravation. I had three things to do in the morning – errands, moving my car, and my first CT10k workout – and the plan was to leave with Adam. But I had weird, vivid dreams all night and a 6:30am rousing made me feel like throwing up. I ended up waiting in bed until 8:50, getting up just in time to move my car. I drove to school, no spots. Went on one errand and back, no spots. It wasn’t until my third return to school that I finally found a place to park. Arrgh!

But my treadmill workout went great. Week 1.1 was 11 sets of 2 minutes running, 3 minutes walking. With warm up and cool down it came to 63 minutes and 4.5+ miles. I don’t know the exact distance because a guy walked by and kicked the plug out of my machine just as I was finishing up.

The rest of my morning/afternoon involved a lot of hurrying to get to class on time and not a lot of feeding myself.  Whoops.  After class I had a mock interview to go to.  The interview was required for a class assignment but I’m really glad to have the experience.  It was video-taped (holy crap, that zit on my chin!) and getting to actually see myself in action was helpful.  My interviewer said I was great, by the way.  Woot!

Then Adam picked me up and this happened –

Hello, lover.  Going two weeks without diet soda wasn’t impossible but it wasn’t fun either.

But while we were at 7-11 something scary happened too.  A major head-on collision right across the street, complete with fire and explosions.  Adam run over to help and I’m not going to lie, it was kind of sexy to see him in action.  (<– I can say that now because everyone involved was ok)

Adam reeked of smoke and I hadn’t eaten all day so we told ourselves we were in shock and headed out for Thai food.  Such a good decision!  And they must have still had lunch pricing going because it was super cheap too.

The husband and I split two dishes, pretty much equally.  Cashew nut tofu, which came with rice.

And Pad See Ew, without egg.

Both dishes were great.  You seriously can’t go wrong with broad rice noodles.  Both dishes were sadly lacking in veggies though, and I was glad that this meal was “lunch” and not “dinner” so I could squeeze more produce into my day later on.

Several hours and some school work afer my late lunch, it was time for late dinner.

I had a baked potato topped with Smokey Maple Baked Beans.

And a side of roasted green beans.

Much better.

Have you ever witnessed a scary car accident?

Take Me Out To The Crowd

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We were lateto bed last night and now I’m late to blog.  An 8:00pm grocery trip required a stop at Starbucks for soy frappuccinos.

Starbucks only caries vanilla soy milk which is annoying at times, but did make drink taste like it was fancy and vanilla flavored.

I did eat dinner last night, but I didn’t blog because I was deep in Firefly Lane for tonight’s book club.  I had a great salad to start.

Romaine lettuce topped with ~ 2 Tbsp each buckwheat groats, peanuts, raisins, and Wegman’s Thai Peanut Sauce.

The Wegman’s peanut sauce was great.

Not quite as good as mine, but nicely flavored and with only 25 calories per Tbsp.

And the husband helped me out and roasted up plate of vegetables too.

Half a sweet potato and a bunch of okra, both dipped in ketchup.

And the book?

Finished.  Start to finish in one evening, all 479 pages of it.

I think I made a mistake reading The Help in one sitting because now my friends don’t get the book club books to me more than a day or two ahead of time!  But Firefly Lane was a story I’d want to read straight through anyway.

We had a late start this morning and basically slept through breakfast.  I did have this handful of pretzels when I got up though.

And we went straight-up fancy for lunch.  Roasted asparagus,

and three pieces of Ballpark Tofu.

Another recipe page that needed updating.  Check it out if you like tofu, mustard, pretzels, or any combination of the above.

I also made a pie.

But you’ll have to wait until after book club for the recipe.  I know I could have typed it up this afternoon, but when there’s a new Ryan Reynolds movie in town you get your butt to the theatre.  Particularly when Denzel Washington is going to be staring too.

“Safehouse” was not great, but definitely good.  And let’s be honest, I’d watch practically anything if it meant splitting Five Guys fries with Adam as a movie snack.

Definitely good.

Have you read Firefly Lane?  Did you see “Safehouse” yet?  Thoughts?

Let It All Out

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Question first – What is currently stressing you out?  Think about it and really let it out in the comments, you’ll feel (a little) better!

I want to apologize for the on-again-off-again blogging schedule of late.  I also want to be honest with you guys about the fact that I’m having a hard time.  There’s not necessarily one big thing that’s bothering me, but there are a lot of little things that are adding up.  I am 80% sure that I believe in fate, and I am 110% that I believe that any seemingly negative thing you go through leads you to a better place.  But it’s still hard not to get a little freaked out by all the questions I have about the future.

Where will we have to move for Adam’s residency?  What if Adam doesn’t get a residency?  What if Adam’s chosen career means he’s away all the time and I’m lonely?  Should we have kids?  When should we have kids?  Should I get pregnant next year so if that I don’t get a job right away when we move I’ll get to be home with the kid until it’s all sorted out?  Should I wait to have kids until I’m established in my job?  How do women with full-time jobs breast feed?  How do you make an impression at your job if you excuse yourself every hour to pump and are also already 28 years old and starting out in a brand new field?  What if I can’t find a job?  What if the career path I’m on isn’t the one I want?  What do I want to do with my life?

And to be honest, the above questions are only a snapshot of all the things I’ve been worrying about.  It’s hard not to feel a little defeated when I can’t do anything proactive (at the moment) to answer those questions.  Sometimes you just have to have hope/faith/optimism and wait it out.

Sometimes – like last night – you have to eat a veggie sub and a bucket of french fries and sit on the couch watching old episodes of “Family Guy.”  But then the next morning you have to do your hair and put on your comfy-yet-sexy shoes.

So that’s what I did!

And in my comfy-yet-sexy shoes, I drove to school early and made my way through a big stack of school work.  I haven’t stopped working since, and bit by bit, I haven’t stopped feeling a little better, a little more in control.

The theme for my meals today was – late.  Breakfast was at 10, lunch was at 5, and dinner was at 9.  My late breakfast was eaten in the computer lab while I worked.

Holy frick I love reusing containers so much  I over-served Adam’s lunches for this week so that reused cheese container held a half serving he’d left behind.  In the mix was penne pasta, roasted zucchini and yellow squash, sautéed mushrooms, spinach, diced tomatoes, marinara sauce, and a drizzle of olive oil.

It was yumtastic; I’ve been a good wife this week!

Also helping me get back my happy, clinic went really well this afternoon.  We are starting to do SOAP notes and learning more about what RDs actually do helps a lot to relieve my anxiety.  Plus, I screened patient who agreed to do another round of diabetic diet education.  I can’t really say much about clinic (thanks HIPPA), but so far all of my patients have been really nice.

When we got back to campus it was time for late lunch.

Not cottage cheese*, another reusable.  *I may not have been eating a very healthy diet lately but I have been sticking to the vegan challenge at least.  And no soda for another 3 days either.

In the container were leftovers from Monday’s dinner; brown rice, roasted broccoli, and Asian Orange Tofu Bake.

Continuing the citrus theme, I had a navel orange.

And a piece of dark chocolate for dessert.

When we got out of class at 8 I drove a friend home and then hurried to make dinner.

Purple grapes.

And a Sandwich Thin with mustard, roasted garlic hummus, and 4 oz of raw tempeh.

I wasn’t expecting much but this sandwich was goo-ood.

This post took me awhile to write, but it felt good to put it all out there.  Thanks for “listening,” seriously.  I’ve got a low-sodium diet education presentation tomorrow and I’m still riding a productivity high so I’ll probably burn the midnight oil today.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

A Round Meal

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Breakfast was very well rounded.

A serving each of Multigrain Cheerios o’s, All Bran Bran Buds balls, and Wegman’s Berry Corn Crunch spheres.

With Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk poured on top.

The flavors and textures in the mix rounded out nicely, with good ratios of sweet to bran and crunch to puff.

Lunch – a very early lunch because of Statistics and clinic – was served in a round bowl and on a round bagel.

In the bowl was dinner leftovers; roasted broccoli and two slices of Asian Orange Tofu Bake.

On the bagel was SmartBalance Light and homemade strawberry jam.

The berries in the jam came straight from my uncle’s mom’s farm.

I think we’ll get more one-on-one time with patients at clinic today, I hope I’m not a square, or too obtuse!

Monday Felt More Super Than Sunday

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Hello, work week!  Did you watch the Super Bowl yesterday?  Were you happy with the outcome?  I will admit to not watching a single minute.  And in fact, Adam and I were a bit under the weather this weekend and did not eat or do a single thing worth mentioning!  Today I’ve managed to get almost back on track and eat some good food.

I had an orthodontist appointment early this morning; nope, I’m still not done with retainers.  My plan was to drive straight to school from there but after two parking lots worth of circling there were still no spots to be found.  Instead I drove to Wegmans and banged out a bunch of work at their comfy booths.  Plus I got a coffee for fuel.

With soy milk and 2 sugars.

My coffee was paired with breakfast from home.  A Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar.

and a baggie of purple seedless grapes.

Curious about my nails?  They are pink glitter French tips!

They aren’t perfect but I did them free-hand so I’m pretty darn proud.

I did work at Wegmans, drove home, walked to school, did work at school, went to class, did work at school, got picked up by Adam, and ended up back at Wegmans for a late lunch.

Some lo mein with a piece of lemon pepper tofu and 1.5 vegan meatballs.

Veggies (mostly mushrooms and carrots with a few green beans).

This hit the spot.

Dinner took a while to cook (you can only fit two trays in our oven at a time) so we arrived home from the store we got right to work on the next meal.

My plate had 1/4 cup of sweet brown rice,

pieces of my Asian Orange Tofu Bake,

and roasted broccoli.

Everything was delicious!  The sauce on the rice and veggies is leftover tofu marinade that I cooked down quickly in the rice pot.  The tofu recipe is from way back in 2009.  I made it again to update the recipe page, still good!

After dinner I managed to drag myself to an 8pm hot yoga class.  Woot!  90 minutes of hot yoga felt so dang good!  I haven’t gone to many classes on this 30-day pass, but I’ve cherished every minute I’ve gotten.

Day Of Work

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After two very (very, very, very) lazy days, it was time for a day of work. This Sunday was all about getting things done. I –

  • put away two loads of laundry
  • did some dishes
  • ran some errands
  • organized my school binder
  • made all of my note cards from last week’s notes
  • did a case study for clinical practice
  • made a delicious dinner

Breakfast was worth a thumbs up too.

I stirred a Liberte Coconut Yogurt into a big scoop of 1% large curd cottage cheese, topped with shredded sweetened coconut.

The coconut flavor was nice, but the resulting texture was mind-blowing. Too creamy for words.

In between errands and school work was lunch.

I picked up a grab bag-style to-go container from the Co-op.

A salad of yam, corn, and black beans; cilantro tofu; peanut tofu with lots of broccoli; and a little bit of vegan pasta salad.

We took Webster with us on our walking errands and his little sweater was so becoming!

He’s still not 100% down with snow, and shivers like a total wimp.  I tease him mercilessly, telling him that his ancestors in Germany only used to hunt badgers in a climate-controlled living room.

While we were out I found a new M&M variety – Dark Chocolate Mint!

Delish.  These had just the right level of chill to them.

Sometime between the lunch and dinner hours we had salads.

Romaine with chopped cucumbers and a dressing made of the remains of the yogurt Caesar shaken with evoo and cider vinegar.

Dinner was a real winner.

For 4 servings of creamy, cheesy, buttery, vegetarian yet protein-rich pasta, combine –

  • ~ 4 servings of small shape pasta, cooked
  • ~ 1.5 cups peas
  • 2 pint mushrooms sautéed with chopped green onion and 5 Tbsp butter
  • 4 oz sharp cheddar, shredded
  • 12 oz 0% Plain Fage

So much yum! I didn’t tell the husband that there was plain Greek yogurt (which he thinks he hates) in the pasta and I didn’t hear any complaints. I think pasta with peas and cheese might be our favorite dish.

I’ve got to get back to work; I’m going to hit with week with running start!

Which flavors of M&M’s have you gotten to try?  I think I’ve had them all – regular, peanut, almond, peanut butter, dark chocolate, pretzel, cinnamon, and coconut – the only flavor I missed with strawberry pb which I never found despite hours of searching!