Tag Archives: tofu

Back to School

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It’s official, I’m back in school!

This morning brought about a million plan changes, but it all worked out in the end.  When Adam left (before sunrise) I couldn’t fall back asleep so I finished reading Kathy Reichs book #9 (Bones to Ashes) for an hour or so in bed.  I couldn’t fall at 5 am but at 8 am I couldn’t wake up!  I ended up getting out of bed 30 minutes before the yoga class I wanted to attend was slated to start.  I thought I could make it, so I slammed this breakfast to fill up my stores.

A Wegman’s Whole Wheat Multigrain with Cranberry and Pomegranate bagel with strawberry cream cheese,

plus a big glass of water.

But getting ready took too long and I made myself a little sick eating too quickly, and that plan had to be scrapped.  My original plan was to walk to school today, but when I saw the rain I realized it was time to reevaluate again.  I would eat a little more breakfast, take a shower, drive to school and read Kathy Reichs book #10 (Devil Bones), go to class, and then go to the gym at school before driving home.  (I had to go early because there wouldn’t be any parking closer to class time).  And that’s exactly what I did.

My brunch additions were a small apple.

And a 0% Exotic Fig Voskos Greek Yogurt.

The yogurt was great.  The taste wasn’t quite as good as the Greek Gods Fig Greek Yogurt (my all-time favorite), but the nutritional content was far superior.

Then I drove to school, walked the 20 minutes in the rain from my parking spot, and vowed never to drive to school after 8 am again.  Today’s class went well, but apparently this semester is going to be very, very, very hard.  I’m scared.

After class I headed straight to the gym.  35 minutes on the elliptical, level 6 random.

I stopped at Wegmans for a late lunch on my way home.  I was only going so that I could sit in the comfy booths to finish the writing-intensive task of filling out my planner, but I ended up getting a pretty good meal.

Steamed veggies with a few pieces of kung pow tofu on top,

and two organic chicken dumplings.

Delicious, and it gave me the energy to power through some serious productivity.  I walked and bathed the dog, did the dishes, made dinner, and completed my first homework assignment of the year.  Woot!  Also, I found 15 minutes to make Adam this –

Dinner was even exotic.

I followed this recipe for Orange Peel Shrimp.  With a side of roasted zucchini,

and a 1/4 cup of whole grain texmati brown and rice red blend.

I used salad sized shrimp and subbed in mango butter for orange marmalade, but otherwise I followed the shrimp recipe.

The end flavor was delicious.  The sauce had a great tang and a good level of spice.  But I have to say that I think the recipe was poorly written.  If you decide to make the Orange Peel Shrimp (which I do recommend), I would suggest frying the shrimp in batches.  There is just no way to do 2 lbs at once without overcrowding the pan.  Also, do the shrimp first, set it aside, and cook the sauce in the same pan.  The cornstarch remaining in the pan is minimal, and does not cause the sauce to thicken to quickly; there is no reason to dirty two pans.

Dessert was two S’mores Cups.

If you can believe it, these are even better leftover!  More chewy than gooey, but definitely a bit easier to eat.  These cups are my favorite S’mores variation to date!

How often do you get Chinese take-out? 

The Final Location

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Today we traveled to the final location of our winter vacation.  It’s good to be “home” for good!  The last two days were spent with cold-like symptoms.  Hence the no-blogging, no-working, no-working out, and no-resolutioning.  Well, that’s no entirely true.  I have read a book a day from Kathy Reich’s Temperance Brennan series.  Each one is better than the last, I swear.

Anyway though, today, we were headed to Toronto. The morning got off to a rough start – I am feeling less than 100% still and it’s possible I’m cranky – but by 12 we were on the road. And by 12:30 we were back home getting our passports. But then, we were on the road.

A Big Gulp of Cherry Coke Zero did a lot to raise my spirits.

As did starting another Temperance Brennan book.

And before I knew it, we were there.

Our plan was to head to a neighborhood with froyo and then hunt for a late lunch there.  We weren’t certain what we would find, so we were thrilled to come across a cheap, all-you-can-eat sushi joint.

Just what the doctor ordered!  What?  Adam’s practically a doctor.

Everything was delicious.  I had … A small bowl of green salad.

Cheese wontons split with the husband.

A piece of tomago sushi (egg).

Two rolls split with the husband.  The Rock and Roll white fish, salmon, pepper, masago, cream cheese, tempura, eel sauce.  The Fire Roll crab meat, avocado, cucumber, masago, spicy mayo, tempura, eel sauce.

A Sakura Roll avocado, tempura bits, hot sauce.

Fried tofu split with the husband.

A piece of butterfish sushi.

Some baked eggplant and grilled veggies.

And finally spicy crab, tempura, and california hand rolls.

We got our money’s worth but weren’t too too stuffed; a perfect all-you-can-eat experience.

To clear some stomach room before froyo, we took a short walk down ultra-cool Bloor St.

And then finally it was time for Menchies.

I topped plain tart and hot chocolate yogurts with small amounts of Skor bar, hot fudge, Smarties, and crunchy pb, and large amounts of rainbow sprinkles and popping bobba.

Perfection.

We had an uneventful drive home and now the boys are over for a game of poker.  I’m banished to the office so it’s possible I’ll get a jump on some schoolwork, but it’s doubtful.  It’s looking like our late, big lunch with count for dinner, but if I end up munching on anything I’ll update.  Otherwise, catch you in the am!

St. Thomas to Buffalo

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Monday

Yesterday was the perfect last day on island.

I got to see some of my favorite people and eat some of my favorite things.

I tried to eat this honey fig Oikos for breakfast.

The flavor seemed like something I would love but one bite in I was twisting up my face in disgust. Why so sour?!?

Instead I ate some leftover crack pie.

And an old-fashioned strawberry candy for good measure.

My unorthodox breakfast didn’t matter, because I had something good coming for lunch.

Chicken patty!

Pattys (pronounced like pate) are fried dough stuffed with spiced meat.

Amazing. The dough is chewy and the filling (usually beef or saltfish, but sometimes salmon or even veggies) is always tender and perfectly seasoned.

My parents and I spent the afternoon walking around downtown with my visiting aunt, uncle, and cousins. Important note – some of the best foods from my childhood are found in town and I spent the rest of the day eating myself silly.

The #1 best thing I had all vacation was this glass of soursop (guanabana) juice.

I never find soursop in the states but it will always be my favorite fruit. It’s sweet and almost creamy.

A while later I bought a fraco with milk (shaved ice with sweetened condensed milk).

I went with tamarind and passionfruit, more local flavors.

I only could handle half of it but that’s really all you need.

And for my final drink of the afternoon we cracked open a jellynut (aka a green coconut).

The water was more sour than I prefer, but I grabbed a long spoon and scraped out all of the sweet flesh.

That evening my parents and I headed back into town so we could eat dinner at Gladys’ Cafe.

I started with a slice of bread with butter.

And a bowl of callaloo (a thick soup made with spinach and okra).

My meal was the special plate, and it was exactly what I was craving.

Mac and cheese,

cole slaw,

rice and beans,

fried plantains,

and stewed chicken.

I could get past the bones to eat much chicken, but I stirred my rice and beans into the sauce and was in heaven.

We ended our evening with a glorious walk down the waterfront.

For nighttime entertainment I headed back to my high school friends’ apartment.

Vodka/something, x2.

Several old friends were there and I was so glad to get to see everyone. Adrien found his old year book which was perfect and hysterical. They were Adam’s grade, so no pictures of me, but I did see a few great ones of the husband!

Tuesday

Today I had to head back to Buffalo; which did at least mean a rendezvous with Adam.

The food situation today was pretty bad. That’s what 13+ hours in the airport will do!

In the St. Thomas airport I ate a johnny-cake with cheese.

On flight 1 I read this book.

In the Miami airport I wandered.

And got drawn in by this sign –

I actually ended up buying a very healthy sandwich.

As well as a very decadent sounding slice of cake.

The dulce de leche did not disappoint!

When I wasn’t eating on flight 2, I was reading.

After a quick scamper through Chicago I was on flight 3 starting my third book.

And before I knew it, I was home with the husband.

We stopped at Moe’s on the way home to pick up a quick and healthy dinner.

After my carb-filled day week I requested that they go light on the rice and cheese.  Topped with cilantro, green pepper, onion, mushrooms, and corn salsa.

Off to unpack I go!  P.S. It’s our fourth wedding anniversary tomorrow!

Merry Christmas In St. Thomas

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I hope everyone is continuing to have happy holiday season!  I know that booze and beaches don’t feel very winter-holiday festive to most of my readers, but to me they feel like home.  We’ve done lots of traditional food and family this year too.  If Adam had been home this would have been my perfect Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Saturday morning, after my run, we met up with my aunt and cousins (the visiting set) for breakfast at Barefoot Buddha.  I got an iced coffee with Silk soy milk.

Barefoot Buddha is my favorite restaurant in St. Thomas (I ate the Bigfoot Bagel Sandwich on the morning of my wedding!) and our meal did not disappoint.  My mom and I split two sandwiches so we could get lots of flavor.

The wrap special had tons of veggies, sesame tofu, and a peanut sauce.

And the Bigfoot Bagel Sandwich had egg, turkey, turkey bacon, cream cheese, and a chipotle aioli.

Yum and yum.

The day was spent on holiday preparations and I ate a handful of carrots at one point for some crunchy energy.

Then it was time to celebrate.

My family has thrown a big (tequila shot flowing) Christmas Eve party for as long as I can remember and it felt a little strange not to have one this year.  But the visiting family came over for dinner and then a big group met for drinks at the Island Time Pub and it was nice in a new way.

We had Hanukkah dinner leftovers for dinner.

Salad,

a little bit each of pineapple chili salmon and sour cream dill salmon,

and more potato latkes.

I also had a 7-layer bar and a small slice of “crack pie” before we headed out.

Then I had a great time getting to drink and chat with a bunch of family and friends.  O-bomb shot,

black and coke,

jack and ginger.

Funny, I did not end up running Christmas morning 🙂

Christmas

Christmas with my parents was perfect, though Adam was very missed.

Great minds think alike – my mother and I ended up buying each other the same doxie pen!

While we unwrapped I had a coffee with eggnog,

and a cherry cordial straight from my stocking.

Then our visiting family came over for breakfast.

Turkey sausage,

egg and cheese casserole,

half a mini bagel with cream cheese,

and a piece of 7-layer bar.

Plus a piece of sour candy cane my cousins brought me later.

Then Christmas afternoon was spent on the water.

Fun fact – here is a (far away) shot of the beach where Adam and I got married!

A Christmas tradition is to spend the day in “Christmas Cove.”  There were 40+ boats all connected together but I never did get a good shot.

The crystal light-vodka-whatever I was handed may have had something to do with that.

Is there anything more perfect than Christmas at the beach?

After we washed off the salt, everyone went to my (St. Thomas based) aunt and uncle’s house for Christmas dinner.

Before we headed over I made myself a plate of apple slices and latkes,

but the combination of booze and sun must have hit me hard because I hit the fruit and cheese spread like there was no tomorrow.

Everyone was (lovingly) teasing me about the blog so I did manage to take a picture of every single (9!) cracker/cheese bite!

But I did keep my dinner plate simple.  One thing for health and one thing for fun.

A big pile of salad,

and a big pile of truffle mac and cheese.

The husband is going to be so very jealous; last year he finished off three plates of that macaroni!

After a long-long day we just had to squeeze in one more piece of festivity, so my mom and female cousins and I went out for girly embarrassing drinks.

That’s a virgin pina colada, and even sans alcohol it was a little too much for me.  Merry Christmas indeed!

Monday

Today is my last day on island, so I made sure to get an early start.  My amazing mother drove me to school before 8 so I could get in final run on the field.  ~1 +ish mile ran.  I forgot my sunscreen so I kept it short.  Now as soon as I get some party pictures e-mailed I’m off to soak up as much family time as I can.

Do you Christmas/Hanukkah traditions include any beach time?

STT; Wednesday Afternoon – Thursday Morning

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Wednesday

Yesterday afternoon I made another stop at the gym; woot!  I hopped on the treadmill for 9 sets of 2 minutes running/2 minutes walking.  36 minutes and 3 miles.  I’m going to need to make myself do some strength training soon, but for now I’m taking baby steps.  Plus, my legs got sore enough that I decided to make Thursday a day off.

After a shower, I was heading downtown for a mini-meet up my old school was hosting.  I hate going to things like that by myself; I am seriously the worst with faces.  I love getting to catch up with people but if I’m not with a friend to tell me who people are then it feels more stressful than fun.  Thankfully (ha!) there really was no one I knew there, just a bunch of younger kids.  I met up with one friend from my class and we quickly fled in seach of dinner.

Crystal – a high school friend that I am thrilled is visiting the same time as I – and I headed over to Benny Iguanas, the new location of a sushi place that was very popular back in the day.  I started with a tofu/veggies miso soup.

And got a cucumber-avocado roll for my meal.

The catching up was better than the food, but the meal wasn’t terrible.

Thursday

I started this morning with dessert.

Plus a little of this –

And some of this –

The holiday season just isn’t complete without some “Carebears Nutcracker.”  Though it’s possible that I “borrowed” that DVD from a Blockbusters in Brooklyn 3 years ago!

I also had breakfast.

A 2% Pineapple Chobani with a sliced banana.

And now I’m heading to lunch with my mom, hopefully for more sushi!

How do you feel about high school reunions?

Hello Again

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I swear, with my hand on a stack of Buffy DVDs, I really do have a blog!  It’s been a few crazy days, but I did miss y’all like crazy.  I’m not going to recap, but I will mention a few things – Adam and I are about ready to serve the dog on a bun ~ we’re all ready for a vacation ~ I have two tests tomorrow because I didn’t even make it to school on Friday to take my exam.

Starting again this morning…

I had a group meeting to finish up a project so I headed to school this morning.  We worked for a couple of hours and we are feeling ready good about the assignment, which isn’t even due for another couple of weeks!

Since it was after 1 before I could even think about food, I headed to The Spot for a quick bite while I studied.

Pizza bagels are crazy simple, just a toasted bagel with marinara sauce and cheese on top, but also crazy good.

I ate 3/4 of this, and gave the last bit to my friend when she picked me up.

Then we moved the party to Starbucks so we could take advantage of the 2-for-1 holiday drinks special.

I got a grande, non-fat, eggnog latte. Score!

Mid-studying this afternoon I snacked on a D’anjou pear.

I also took a break to make an easy, fall-feeling dinner.

  1. On foiled, sprayed baking sheets, top chopped tofu and butternut squash with apple cider vinegar, salt, and brown sugar.
  2. Bake for 40 minutes at 350*, then 20 minutes at 400*.
  3. In a large pan, cook shredded cabbage in apple cider.
  4. Combine.

Dinner was so tasty, the squash got almost caramelized.  I liked the undertones of apple spread throughout.  I took a small portion and now Adam and I both have great leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.

I know I didn’t eat all that much food today, but trust me, Adam and I more than covered it the past few days!!

Have you gotten a holiday drink from Starbucks yet?  Which one’s your favorite?

No Sleep Makes Strange Cravings

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Hello, hello. It’s been a long time (48+ hours!) since I’ve posted and it’s felt even longer. It’s been a crazy couple of days. My meals since I last blogged have been anything but impressive, but it kind of made me want to post all the more since I’m trying to put it all out there. I will add the disclaimer though that this is a *do not as I do* post 😉

I didn’t tell y’all last time, for obvious security reasons, but Monday was Adam’s 1st 24-hour shift at the hospital. It went very well, but I’m still glad that he’ll get to sleep at home most nights this year! I was tired, he was tired, the dog was tired.

<– That’s the scene I walked in on Tuesday afternoon. Swoon.

I had a ton of schoolwork to catch up on and was worried about sleeping without Adam so I pulled a bit of a 24-hour shift myself and only slept 2 hours on Tuesday night. <– this was a terrible idea, but more on that in a minute. I studied mostly standing at the mantle, which was lovely, and had a civilized midnight snack of tea with skim milk and dark chocolates.

Since I packed lunch before my all-nighter, Tuesday’s meals got off to a good start. I mixed together a Stonyfield 0% Chocolate Underground Yogurt with pumpkin puree and the end result was pretty amazing.

I also packed some citrus.

I ended up eating just the tangerine and giving away the orange.

And I bought a coffee – with tons of skim milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon – during a break in class.

Brunch was tasty, but not very filling, so when I came home to my sleeping family I stole a slice of Adam’s Newman’s Own White Pizza.

I also ate this fruit packet.

Wednesday (today) involved a major test and a major paper, so working on practically zero sleep Adam and I knew to grab hot bar for dinner Tuesday night.

An Indian dish and some tofu,

veggies,

which included some “Asian” Brussels sprouts that we so wildly good I almost drove back to Wegman’s to buy more!

I also snacked on a bowl of pretzels and coffee & cream malted milk balls.

And then the evening took a turn South. It’s possible I had a full-scale meltdown and confirmed that I’m now too old to pull all-nighters. Writing my paper involved such dramatic sobbing that I had to reprint a copy of my article because I got it wet with tears. Pathetic, I know.

When I did wrap things up, around 2am, we both celebrated with bowls of Lucky Charms.

Thanks for the cereal, husband, and for loving me in spite of me!

Tuesday I was too tired to be tired (if that makes sense) but today I felt every single missed hour of sleep. Meet breakfast –

And lunch –

Why, yes, classmate wondering why I’m photographing two bags of combos at 10am, I do write a healthy living blog.

But my paper was turned in and my test was at least passed, so today wasn’t a total fail. All I wanted to do at 4:30 when class finished was go home and sleep, but instead I headed to work. Tonight was my final shift which was actually sort of sad. I suppose I won’t miss random strangers calling me an asshole and hanging up, but the whole getting paid thing was nice.

When I got out at 9, I picked up Adam so we could fulfill the strangest food craving I’ll ever have – a McDonald’s Fillet-O-Fish Sandwich.

I hate McDonald’s. I’ve never even tasted this sandwich before. But for some reason I was smelling it all afternoon and it was driving me crazy.

This wasn’t even good (I was right, McDonald’s is gross) but at least I can move forward now.

P.S. I still have to shower (it’s after midnight) and tomorrow I have to *start* studying for Friday’s giant test so if you think tonight’s post was whiney and/or incoherent you probably should wait to read again until this weekend!

Have you ever craved a food that you’ve never tasted before?

Veg Head

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The chili sale was good, work was good, but today was crazy and I’m tired so I’ll keep this quick.

Sometimes, when I know that the schedule of a day will make it impossible to keep an all-around healthy lifestyle (like today!) I’ll choose one healthy goal to work on.  Today’s goal?  Making veggies the main “meat” of all of today’s meals.  And in light of today’s goal, I think this is the perfect post to share the vegetarian infographic my friends at RetailMeNot sent my way –

Vegetarian Foods
Source: RetailMeNot.com

Breakfast’s veg was eggplant.

My Cheesy Baked Eggplant leftovers are just as tasty as they were the night I made them, even cold and straight from a Tupperware!

Today’s schedule was class –> chili sale –> orthodontist –> work –> home.  With a fun mid-day addition of cake tasting.

A classmate’s wife is starting a cake business and sent one in for us to give feedback on.

Lunch was a Chili Sale meal (we did great by the way, made more than $250 to give to the food bank!).

Veggie = beans in the vegetarian chili.

Plus a super delicious roll, provided by Romeo and Juliet’s Cafe.

And a bit of the tasty veggie sandwich they brought as well.

Dinner was pure veg.  Spinach, butternut squash, mushrooms, (and tofu and craisins!).

Yesterday I went on a roasting extravaganza.  I did the tofu in maple syrup and rice vinegar, the squash in curry powder, and the mushrooms in truffle oil and salt.  Once everything was nice and toasty (30 minutes at 350* followed by 20 minutes at 400*)  I put them all together in a Tupperware with a few handfuls of spinach and some craisins.  I shook everything together and the heat from the roasted veggies wilted the spinach a bit.

It was perfect.  And the mix of flavors was great.

As were these –

The bookstore was having a Combos’ sale, how could I resist?!?  I didn’t eat that entire big bag but I definitely came close!

I really wanted to make it to the gym today but it just didn’t happen.  I’m hurrying to the bed in the hopes that a good sleep will get me to there tomorrow.