My Goodness My Guiness

I hope you’ve already entered my giveaway, because I’m going to rave about the nuts now 😉  Just to remind you; Sahale Snacks sent me these products to celebrate the fact that 2oz bags of Sahale Snacks are now being sold at Seattle’s Best Coffee.  I am a fan of the company because the ingredients are always real and the nutritionals are excellent (duh, they are just nuts!).

I couldn’t eat lunch today because of the door maintainance debacle, so I grabbed a mixed baggie of all three varieties to eat during Orgo.

I just want to say, in general, that whomever came up with the idea to throw cheese into the mix should probably get a medal!  Perhaps one carved into a blog of cheese….

Barbeque Almonds with Mild Chipotle + Ranch

These had a good amount of spice, I think too much on an almond would be overwhelming; they had a bit of sweetness that helped to balance them out.

Tuscan Almonds with Parmesan + Herbs

This kind tasted the most cheesey.  The coating was thicker, and gave them a candied nuts texture.  These were the husband’s favorite – he described the flavor as robust.

Southwest Cashews with Chili + Cheddar

This kind was my favorite, probably because it used cashews.  These were definitely the spiciest.

After Orgo and Anatomy classes were finished I headed to the library for an hour and then to the Anatomy Lab for a 2hour review session.  Our big exam on Thursday includes skeletons, cat muscles, and sheep brains; all of which were out for us to review this afternoon.  I didn’t leave until after 6 and I’m finally feeling a bit more at ease, although still pretty darn nervous!

The nuts held me over for a long time, but from 12:30 – 6:30 they did not!  I grabbed 1.5 Butterscotch Pumpkin cookies the minute I walked in the apartment.

By the way, Adam is pretty picky about “strange” desserts and he loved these.  He took some to school today and said his friends were fans as well.  If you’ve been eyeing Rachel’s recipe, make it!

For dinner we made Mushroom and Provolone Patty Melts from Cooking Light.

We followed the recipe pretty closely, but made a few changes –

  • we used 94% lean turkey meat instead of sirloin
  • we subbed white button mushrooms for cremini
  • ate the topping in 2 servings (doubling the amount)
  • I ate my melt deconstructed, with the bread on the side

We used Guinness for our dark beer which was a nice touch, but overall the recipe was pretty flavorless.  Honestly, my favorite part was the side (2servings) of Simply Rustic Bread from Pilsberry (I had a free coupon from BlogHer).

I was starving all evening so I did a lot of snacking while we cooked.

I’ve got an early morning tomorrow, and tons of studying to be fresh for, good night!

What is your favorite kind of nuts?  I’d probably go with cashews or brazil nuts.

My Achy Breaky Head

Ugh.  I had a strange, achy/heavy head feeling all day; which I’m sure was made worse by my crappy food choices.  I didn’t work out.  I’m not ready for any of my tests; probably because I didn’t study enough.  Ughs all around.

Jimmy Dean French Toast Griddler.  (p.s. these have just 210calories and 2g of saturated fat)

A huge honeycrisp apple topped with melted part-skim mozzarella and honey.  Win!

Popcorn, popcorn, popcorn.

A mini sandwich cookie that was the best thing I’ve ever eaten, seriously.

Buffalo chicken pizza (with ranch).

Adam and I made a huge pile of Dove chocolate wrapper.

Pleeeeeease, think smart thoughts for me tomorrow!

Good Vibes, Good Vibes

This has got to be another quick post; this week hasn’t even started yet and I already can’t wait ’til it’s over!  Today was busy, busy, busy, busy, busy (said in the magician-voice from Frosty the Snowman).  I will note that I let myself get too hungry this afternoon and ended up eating way too much; I’ll have to be careful not to let that happen again during “hell week.”

I wanted to eat breakfast on the walk to campus so I made a smoothie to go.

This was a serving of frozen Goya soursop pulp, a medium frozen banana, and a 1/2cup each coconut water and Silk Almond Milk.

It was creamy and nice, but much sweeter than I wanted (who am I?!), so I shared a lot with Adam.

We worked on campus all afternoon and I ended up getting lunch from the food aisle in the bookstore.

Amid the rows of chips I was able to find this Spicy Thai Tuna Medley.

Yum!  I never buy these because I can’t justify the cost, but the flavor is great.

I took a break mid-afternoon to hit up the gym before I left campus.  35minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6.  I took a long walk home to stretch out and stopped by the co-op to pick up a few things.

Then I worked.  (And worked and worked and worked.) It was a busy day but all of my homework for next week is complete, which means I can just focus on my exams.  Amid lab reports I ate this mini mint chip ice cream.

I probably should have made time for some veggies.  We went to the grocery store at 9pm and by the time we got home I was starving!  I dug into a nice big pickle.

And then opened up a box of French Toast Griddlers.

I tried these at BlogHer and was so obsessed with them that the rep gave me some free coupons.  Remind me after this week is over to tell you guys more about them.

I should have stopped there.  A mini bag of chips.

A serving of crackers with part-skim mozzarella melted on top (I love how this looks so much more decadent than it actually is!).

And a thing of Hi-Chews.

by the way

I knew that I was going to have a tough week, but apparently I’m sending break-down vibes to my belongings as well!  One of my favorite tops came out of the dryer with a big hole and this morning my i-pod broke.  I can’t bring it in to the store for at least another week and if it’s unfixable we can’t afford to replace it for years.  I’m so disappointed!  But it’s a good karmic reminder that I need to keep my cool this week.

It’s All About Your Perception

This morning there was an issue with the alarms – Adam actually slept through his first class! – so the big breakfast I had planned couldn’t happen.  We were in such a rush leaving the house it was not until I sat down in the car that I realized I hadn’t washed my face, brushed my teeth, or put on make-up!!!  Thank goodness I managed to grab this PB Cookie Lara Bar for breakfast.

When I got to Anatomy Lab it seemed like bad-news-bombs were just dropping all over the place –

  • we have a homework assignment, and my group’s is due even though the apparatus we were given was broken
  • I only scored a 75% on last week’s quiz
  • we now have a quiz next week (that brings my quiz/exam total for next week up to 5!)

But you know what?  My morning was better than their’s –

It’s all about perception; when things seem bad you’ve got to put them into perspective before you get upset.  By the way – yes, we did a frog lab; yes, it was awful.  I wasn’t bothered by the cats at all but Mr. Hops made me pretty sad.

In my break between labs I did some Orgo reading and ate lunch.  Plums (why did I buy so many of these?!),

and another turkey/Laughing Cow/Sandwich Thin.

Today’s Food Lab experiment was fat cookery.  My group had to prepare deep-fried Pakoda (Indian-style veggie tempura), pan-fried catfish, and fried bread (to experiment with the effects of the quality of the cooking oil).  The small room got pretty crazy with five groups frying, the smell was out of control!  I had to take three (small) bites of fried bread so I could write up my lab report and it was pretty nauseating.  I just took a tiny plate of food at the end.

Next week we are doing fruit, and I am much more excited to sample then!

I actually felt pretty sick just from that small amount of fried food, but I knew that the gym would make me feel better.  30minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6.  I kept my workout short because I was feeling awkward about just how bad I smelled!  My hair and skin are like smell sponges; when I worked at Cold Stone in high school the smell of waffle cones would waft off of me for days!

I took a shower as soon as I walked home (and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed!).  Then Adam and I took a quick fountain diet soda walk and got started on dinner.  I was actually so hungry after our walk that I ate this mini bag of kettle korn while we cooked.

Dinner was three simple steps.  Prepare some quinoa.

Pan-steam eggplant and spinach.

Make a quick curry sauce out of 0% Plain Stonyfield, curry powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and brown sugar.

Serve and consume.

Adam thought this was going to be gross and he ended up pleasantly surprised, and I thought it would be wonderful and ended up underwhelmed.  It’s all about perception!

Have you ever been so tired (or rushed!) that you forgot to brush your teeth?

Holiday Dinner

Today was an auspicious date – National Cheeseburger Day.

Or was that Cheeburger?

Cheeburger, Cheeburger seemed like the perfect spot to celebrate such an event.  Adam and I were both a little underwhelmed by the food (and service!) quality this evening, but the menu process is a lot of fun and his parents had a really good time.

I ordered the turkey burger platter for dinner, mostly because I needed to get in some veggies in the form of a side salad.

I split with Adam and served him most of the cheese, 90% of the balsamic vinegar, and all of the croutons.  Here is what I ate –

I actually looked at the menu ahead of time this afternoon, and the husband was so proud when I ordered my milkshake without a choices anxiety attack.

That’s a half-serving shake, cinnamon bun and marshmallow flavored, with skim milk substituted in.

The burger toppings were a bit more of a struggle.  I looked like I was cramming for the SAT when the waitress came to the table, but I ended up putting together something good.  Here is the platter –

My turkey burger,

which came topped with….

cheddar cheese, peanut butter, and jalapenos!  The rest of the table couldn’t believe my order but I thought the combination was great.  The different kinds of saltiness worked together well and the creaminess of the pb kept the peppers from being too spicy.  I ate two bites with the bun before I scrapped it, but I finished every last bite of the turkey patty and toppings.

Along with the side salad the platter also came with fries, which came with a side of creamy horseradish sauce.

I planned on eating 1 or 2 and sharing the rest, but no one else wanted any and when the piece de resistance came to the table I knew I was beat.

Nothing beats french fries drenched in malt vinegar.  I ended up eating about 1/3 of them.  All in all, especially given the location, I think I kept things pretty healthy.  Could have been better, but could have been worse too.

By the way; I just did this –

Wish us luck!

Just Call Me Mrs. McDreamy

Tuesday, every other week, is my crazy day.  I have class from 8am – 7:40pm and I stay on campus the entire day!  During my late night yesterday I found time to pack my lunch (and write this post!).  I packed a turkey sandwich

(3 slices of honey roasted turkey, blue cheese Laughing Cow, whole wheat Sandwich Thin),

and a nice purple plum.

Golly, what an innovative sandwich!  I bet you guys were shocked to see that combo!  Thankfully I have a little something not so boring to make up for my predictawich.  Remember when Adam and I helped some friends out by acting in an orientation video for the medical school first years?  Yeah, it’s hilarious!

Our scene starts at 2:52, but the whole thing is pretty funny.

Friday (Mostly) Freebie

So it’s been 14 hours since my last post, also 14hours since I last sat at my laptop; yikes!  I’m a bit concerned that this semester is basically going to be insane.  My packed lunch was tasty, I guess, I’m not really sure since I inhaled the sandwich while running to class.  The cucumber slices were good, but perhaps a bit loud for crunching during Orgo; insert red face here.  I did squeeze in some Friday fun though.

After my last class ended (3pm) Adam came over to my campus for a study session with me.  I am so much more focused when the husband is next to me, probably because I’m not texting him!  A little after 5, I headed to the gym.  30minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6.  I wasn’t so lethargic today so I was able to run interval sprints for the last 10minutes or so.

After a shower we headed to the mall to Johnny Rockets.

I came home from BlogHer with coupons for 2 free meals so we made that our dinner date.  Usually JR would not be my first choice, but I’m kind of cheap 😉  Adam and I decided to do some sandwich splitting –

I got the #12 turkey burger,

and he ordered a tuna melt on sourdough.

He loved the melt (I thought the tuna tasted funny) and I thought the turkey burger was actually pretty fabulous, not too greasy at all.  I’d forgotten how much I enjoy pickles on burgers.  I ate ~ 1/3 of each sandwich and half of my fries.

Since all we had to pay was the tip we brought the evening’s cost up to a grand total of $6.71 by splitting a mini Brownie Batter Blizzard.

Cons – I don’t like brownies so I’m not sure why I thought I’d like this (I ate about 1/3 of it though).  Pros – our DQ has mini Blizzards now, yippie!

Does your DQ offer the mini?  What is your Blizzard order?

Signs of the Season

Friday, Friday, Friday!  But that’s not all I’m excited about.

Adam left first today and when he called to tell me he was cold I had one thought – “Blazer!”

Some people are excited about the first Pumpkin Spice Latte (don’t get me wrong, I am too, but October is the pumpkin month!), I’m jazzed about the first blazer of the season.

I’m not ready to give in to fall yet though, I’m still rocking the Reefs and my breakfast felt pretty summery.

A serving of Kashi H2H topped with a chopped nectarine and Silk Almond Milk.

Here’s what I’ll be eating for lunch –

Turkey, Laughing Cow, Sandwich Thin.  Yes, that is an entire cucumber in the bag, and I am happy to see you 😉

What is your favorite sign of fall?