Tag Archives: turkey

Happy Halloween

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We haven’t done loads of studying (I have another test on Friday), but it has been a good day.  Besides, Halloween is about eating loads of crap, and I’ve done that!

Have you ever had Halloween oats?

This was actually my first attempt at making a double batch – I’m doing something very fun with the second bowl tomorrow! – and I think it went well.  For two bowls I stovetop cooked 2/3 cup oats, 1 & 1/3 cup liquids (a mix of skim milk, unsweetened Silk almond milk, and water), 1 banana, and a pinch of salt.  And then in honor of Halloween I topped today’s bowl with the last vegan pumpkin pecan blondie.

Delish!

Brunch/the first half of lunch were turkey corn dogs from Jimmy Dean.

And then I brought out of my salad leftovers from last night.

A little soggy, but still good!

I also split a bag of cheetos with the husband.

And what’s the 31st without candy?

Mmmmn!

Have you eaten any Halloween candy yet today?

Facts of Fall

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There is nothing pumpkin can’t do.

The weather in Buffalo today was beautiful!  In lieu of a formal workout, Adam and I took a long walk to soak it in.

Today included too much snacking and not enough studying.

The words in this post are lacking (just wrote “snacking,” whoops!), but I will at least show you everything I ate today; plus some “Fall” photos for funsies.

Arnold’s WW Sandwich Thin, Laughing Cow Blue Cheese, 3 slices of turkey.

Mini Vanilla Tootsie Roll, x2.

Baby carrots and ranch.

Small slice of pizza from the school food court where we were studying.

Leftover Loaded Potato Soup (make it, seriously!).

Waffle fries (more potatoes?!) doused in salt and vinegar.

Allie’s Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Blondies.  Note – I halved the oil, substituted the spices (little bit of pumpkin pie spice, lotta bit cinnamon and nutmeg), and used light brown sugar and these still came out fabulously!

What signs of fall are popping up in your area?  What’s been your favorite pumpkin goodie so far this season?

Project Tasteless – The Naked Chef

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This blog post offers a fantabulous (if I do say so myself) new recipe and serves as my first entry into Rachel’s Project Tasteless Contest.

Basically the rules for the Naked Chef contest were – 1. Take everything off; 2. Put on an apron, and only an apron; 3. Cook something delicious.  The entry post must include photographs and a recipe.  My grandma reads this blog (hi, Nana!) so my pictures are PG, but the recipe is shockingly good!

In honor of the fun contest, I decided to try a recipe I’ve been building in my head for the past couple weeks – Loaded Potato Soup.

In the contest description, Rachel specifically warned against cooking bacon.  But I’m an island girl; I’ve cooked bacon in a bikini!  Bacon in an apron (albeit only an apron)?  Pshaw!  Bring it on, I thought.  And I’m glad I did, because the bacon brought the flavor to this soup.

Thick, satisfying, inventive….. sorry husband, still talking about the soup!

The recipe (included below) looks a little long (that’s what she said!), but it’s actually really easy (that’s what he said!).  Even stopping regularly to try to keep my boobs out of the photographs (a good policy for the modern world in general) we finished very quickly (she’d never say that!).

It was divine.

Loaded Potato Soup, serves 4 –

  • 24 oz butter potatoes (4 medium potatoes will do)
  • 3 tsp evoo
  • 3 slices nitrate-free bacon (I used Applegate Farms turkey)
  • 1 bunch scallions
  • 3 Tbsp butter
  • 3 Tbsp flour
  • 2 cups fat-free milk
  • 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
  • 4 Tbsp shredded extra-sharp cheddar
  1. Wash potatoes and pierce several times with a fork.  Place in a circle on a microwave-safe plate.  Microwave until cooked through and softened, 12-14minutes depending on your microwave.
  2. Finely chop the scallions; set half of the chopped upper green stems aside.
  3. Meanwhile, heat 2tsp of evoo in a large saute pan over medium heat.
  4. Cook bacon until it is browned and crispy.  Remove from pan and roughly chop.  Divide the chopped bacon into two piles.
  5. Add the final tsp of oil to the pan.  Cook scallions 2-3minutes, until softened and slightly translucent.  Remove from pan and reduce heat to low.
  6. Melt butter, swirling to coat the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle flour into melted butter and whisk vigorously to combine.
  7. Cook the roux over low heat, about 3minutes, to remove the raw taste from the flour.
  8. Working in four batches, slowly add the milk to the pan.  Whisk vigorously and make sure each batch is fully combined before moving on to ensure there are no lumps.
  9. Raise the heat to medium and bring mixture to a low simmer.  Stir in broth.
  10. Use a fork to roughly mash the cooked potatoes.  Carefully add to pot and cook 3-5minutes, continuing to mash with your spoon.
  11. Stir in cooked scallions and half of the chopped bacon.
  12. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in sour cream.
  13. Divide the soup into four bowls and top each one with 1Tbsp cheese and reserved bacon and scallions.

The End.

Ending Sandwich Week with a Full Court Press

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Okey doke; It’s Friday night, I have a Modern Family and CSI to catch up on, and a husband waiting on the couch!

I had a ton of reading to do today before class so breakfast at home was a no-show.  I did however get all my reading done, and I learned a lot about nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners (with and without calories).  Because knowledge is power – The ADA says that

  • There is no definitive link between obesity and sweeteners alone
  • Your body knows no difference between sugars; an apple or a soda, the sugars are all processed the same (that’s not to say that the fiber, and nutrient piece doesn’t matter)
  • There is no proven link between sweeteners and hyperactivity in children,
  • but there is some evidence that suggests a link to depression
  • Stevia has yet to be approved by the FDA

I had just a few minutes after class to pick up my portfolio project (100%) and grab food before heading to a group meeting.

PB&J wasn’t the healthiest option, but it was the cheapest, and not the unhealthiest.

Hours later, when I got out of Anatomy all I could think about was going home.  I was hungry, tired, and cold and the last thing I wanted to do was go work out.  But I told myself if I went to the gym I could buy a cookie, so I did!

We are actually running in a 5k next weekend (what, another race I’m not prepared for!?!?) so I’m trying to be gentle to my legs this week; expect to see a lot of walking breaks on the treadmill.  Today’s workout was all about the intervals –

5minutes walking, 1 running, 1w, 2r, 1w, 3r, 1w, 4r, 1w, 5r, 1w, 5r, 5w.  So, 15minutes walking, 20minutes running, 35minute workout.

Adam picked me up from the gym and we spent forever driving around, accomplishing nothing.  Sometimes it’s nice just to be together.  Plus, we split some chewy Starbursts.

When we got home it was more than time for a salad.

I topped a bed of dressed spinach with craisins, blue cheese, and some almonds from Sahale Snacks.

Divine.

Since it’s the last day of Sandwich Week I decided to go out with a bang –

or a press rather; paninis!

Step 1 – Spread some thin sliced sourdough with dijon mustard and hot pepper peach preserves (or any kind of preserve really, you just want to give it a bit of sweet).

Step 2 – Add a few pieces of thin-sliced turkey.

Step 3 – Crumble on some blue cheese.

Step 4 – Top the cheese with some thinly sliced pear.

Finally – close and press.

This sandwich was fantabulous!  The texture of paninis always drives me wild and the combo of flavors was perfect; a bit spicy, a bit sweet, and bit salty.

Make this at home!  Send me pictures!

We’re going to go find a fountain diet coke and then cuddle up on the couch.  Have a great Friday night!

Jump in De Line, Rock Your Body in Time

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Ugh-dates –

1. The Wegman’s blueberry coffee is just not good 😦  It has a super burnt bitter taste.  I even added sugar (and skim milk) to my second cup and I still didn’t like it.

However, Adam says I can’t buy more until this is gone and there are some holiday flavors I’m excited about so I’ll be slugging this down.

2. The Orgo notes assignment that was due today took up my entire morning.  I was so slammed for time I couldn’t even eat!  Must work on the weekends, must work on the weekends, must work on the weekends….

UP-dates –

1. The husband has been bringing chocolate chip pumpkin squares to school and his classmates like them so much someone even requested the recipe!  It’s not actually my personal recipe (thanks, Martha), but it’s nice to feel like a good wife.

2. I lit a cinnamon pumpkin candle this morning and it brought my Halloween corner of the mantle to life.

Anyway, I didn’t have time to eat so I packed myself 2 servings of Sahale Snacks to munch during Orgo.

After my first set of classes I spent yet more time dealing with transfer credits and my class schedule.  The good news is that I’ve had two victories; the bad is that I call BS on the fact that they won’t accept my writing credits.

I spent so much time that I almost didn’t make it to the gym before lab.  I had to rush rush rush and eat food from the vending machine while I hightailed it across campus.

A pre-gym Rice Krispie treat is better than no fuel at all!

And a short work out is better than no gym time at all.  I did a quick treadmill session.

Lab went quickly tonight – all we were doing was building models – and I was home in time to make a nice dinner.  First though, I made a nice snack.

A Caramel Oikos with canned pumpkin and homemade pb.

I was starving when I got home and I didn’t want to be too hungry to enjoy my dinner.

And dinner was delicious;

I claim the 2nd night of Sandwich Week to be a success!

BLTs.  Rather, TBSTs – turkey bacon spinach tomatoes.  On sourdough with a smear of homemade mayo.

We ate roasted asparagus on the side.

Yum!  And this took all of 10minutes to throw together; dinner really can be healthy, tasty, and quick all at once.

We shelled out a bit of extra cash and bought Applegate Farms bacon; it is so much better than the other varieties we’ve had.

Turkey bacon doesn’t really make ‘bacon grease,’ but it does stick to the pan and make delicious browned bits.  There’s no chance I’m letting that go to waste; I scraped up the browned bits with a scrambled egg.

We got in the October spirit by watching “Beetlejuice” while we ate.  I love that movie, but I don’t think I’d realized before how sad it is.

I’ve got an Anatomy Lab quiz tomorrow to study for (announced at the last minute, arrrgh!), so I’m off!

What do you like on your BLTs, ya know, beyond the B, L, and T?  M (mayo or mustard)?  S&P? C(heese)?

Rye Sense of Humor

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This is a late lunch post because I ate a late lunch – my oatmeal held me over until 3pm!

I had forgotten to take my planned leftovers down from the freezer, so I settled on a nice sandwich plate instead.

That’s a slice of toasted rye, topped with Miracle Whip and pickle relish, stacked with 3 thin slices of turkey and 2 slices of 2% colby cheese, stuck under the broiler for 5minutes.

I kept it open-faced because I want to really taste the cheese and not just a bunch of bread.  I will say though, I definitely enjoyed having the rye (with carraway seeds!).  When I was growing we always had rye in the fridge; I never even tasted white bread until I was in college!  Maybe that’s why I have such a wry sense of humor….. 😀

Some baby carrots on the side for crunch.

This was the perfect one-handed meal to eat while I worked on my laptop.  I crunched and munched my way through part of a group project.

The plan tonight is an easy dinner, a fun dessert, and hopefully switching out our winter and summer wardrobes.  Oh, and some more school work!

What kind of bread was in your childhood fridge?

An In and Out Post

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Can I do 100 words or less?

We had a late dinner party to attend yesterday so I did some random snacking to tide me over until 9pm.

Two of our Russian friends provided a traditional ethnic feast.  My plate included potatoes with mushrooms, salad, and bellinis with caviar (omg, the caviar!).

The table also had liver and onions and tongue!!!

We didn’t get home until after 2am – I was the only non-drinker in the room – and even abstaining from alcohol couldn’t keep me feeling peppy today.  Let’s sum Sunday up with more random snacking.

Also picture and unphotographed glass of chocolate milk and several extra handfuls of peanuts.

Word Count – 111

Getting the Grade

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I’ve got to keep this quick because of tomorrow’s big Anatomy Lab practical, so let’s cover the important things first –

1. I did not need to fret about the weather nearly as much; in fact, I was a little bit hot on my walk home!

2. How cute are these new shoes????

My mom has good taste!  Although the back of my left heel got rubbed completely raw and now I’m limping 😦  (Yes, Mom, I will wear socks instead of bare feet next time!)

In between classes I snacked on this Primal Strips vegan jerky.

Orgo lab took forever, and by the time I limped home it was already 9pm.  Thankfully Adam had already put my dinner in the oven.  I snacked on a small plate of Halloween candies while I waited.

Yuuum.  I love the light brown ones, they taste like caramel!  Eaten with the funny Halloween card my grandma sent me –

Finally my dinner – an acorn squash – got done roasting in the oven.

We cooked it face down at 350* for 30minutes, then flipped and cooked another 20minutes.  During the flip I filled the cavities with Newman’s Own Organic Raisins, Sahale Snacks BBQ Almonds and Tuscan Almonds (last day to enter the giveaway), and a drizzle of real maple syrup.

I also ate a Jimmy Dean turkey patty french toast sandwich thing.

The husband and I studied Anatomy while we ate, and now I’ve got to shower and get to bed!

Before I forget; all of my grades from hell week are back.  Dun, dun, dun!  100 exam – 91%; 110 quiz – 80% (I’m contesting this though); Anatomy exam – 90% after the curve; Anatomy quiz – 90something% after the curve; Orgo exam – 65% (before the curve).  Not terrible, but nothing to get excited about either.