Seriously, Make It

by Emily

What a day, what a day! Early in the week headaches have officially been canceled out, today bumped my weekly productivity up to 100%! Things actually started off a little rocky; we were awake so late we slept through the alarms! I panicked for a moment but I realized that my legs were hurting pretty badly so it wasn’t the world to cancel my gym session anyway.

I finished my post-lab work at home and then headed to The Spot to study. I was dreaming of a Mike’s Sandwich but I didn’t actually get there until after 11 and they were no longer serving breakfast. Buffalo parking is a bummer. The barista totally empathized with my craving though and hooked me up with an everything bagel with sliced turkey and colby cheese (+ diet coke).

Craving decimated!

A few hours later I also got a tall Americano with skim milk.

My focus today was out of control, I only got distracted twice! Once when I was reading about the visible light spectrum and started thinking about how my rings act like a prism in the sun…

and again when I got this…

I drove to school around 3:30 and continued the study frenzy before my 6:30 class. In total today I completed reading an entire chapter (with 11pages of notes!!), pre and post work for this week’s labs, and a class session. Plus I put away 4 loads of laundry when I got home. And I made a grocery list for tomorrow. I’m going to do a little baking before my trip 🙂 Tomorrow is still going to be a bit crazy but I made a definite dent.

For dinner I finally got the try my Moussaka.

Yums! You broiled it for a bit so the cheese got all nice and brown and I loved the combo of veggies.

I had an Orange Zevia to drink.

Dessert was fall personified – chopped up Cortland apple, sprinkled with cinnamon and 2T cinnamon caramel apple dip, heated in the microwave, topped with a crumbled Maple Pecan Boomi Bar.

Seriously? Seriously? This might be the best thing I’ve ever eaten. The caramel thinned out when it melted so it coated every single piece of apple; the apples got nice and soft; and maple pecan boomi bars are freaking better than cookies. Make this. You will not be sorry.

Thursday is looking to be pretty rushed, so it will probably be another full day recap post. See you Thursday night after lab!

Don’t forget about my Zevia giveaway.

Also; watch this. Seriously, it’s the funniest thing ever.

28Oct2009

Dreams of Root Vegetables

by Emily

Whew, Tuesday is almost over! My meeting went well, I still have no idea which career path I’ll choose but it is exciting to learn about the options. After my meeting I swung by the house to pick up the husband, who graciously offered to go along on my printing/mailing resume errands.

True Story – while we were driving he got annoyed that I don’t know what I want to do and said – “You’ll never know what you want to do. Next thing I’ll know you’ll want to be a turnip! Do you need to go back to school to be a turnip!?!” And now he has called me Turnip for the rest of the day. Holy cow I love my funny husband!

On our way home – resumes successfully mailed, hopefully I will be substituting at some point – we stopped in The Spot for coffee.

I got a small Chaider; steamed apple cider and chai tea. Mmn, fall! I actually think I’m going to head back to the Spot to work tomorrow, I haven’t been getting much done at home 😦

I was feeling sick with hunger when we got home so I got a snack while I worked on my lab (which I can not do without help, boo!).

A bumped log,

with Granny Smith slices with cinnamon caramel apple dip.

I had a coupon for the dip and you know I’m a sucker for all foods fall.

After struggling with Chemistry for forever I moved on to making dinner. On the meal plan was a recipe from the November “Everyday with Rachael Ray” ‘lightened up’ moussaka.

I can’t share the recipe but if you bought the magazine and are planning to try it here are the changes I made:

used 99% lean ground turkey instead of beef
skipped the food processor and used low fat whipped cottage cheese
used half graffiti eggplants
add 1/2 pint mushrooms

We actually got busy and didn’t even eat dinner so I’ll have to review the recipe tomorrow! I have a busy day planned tomorrow – no room for headaches! – so don’t be surprised if I don’t post until dinner. Night!

Don’t forget to enter my Zevia giveaway!

20Oct2009

Ice Ice Baby

by Emily

It’s been a busy, but random. I had plans of getting up early but the husband felt like studying until 1am last night which totally threw me off. When we were in the city and my job was crazy he was always mad at me for staying up until 4am while he tried to sleep (especially difficult in our one room apartment!). Here, where he is in medical school and I do nothing am not, the situation is reversed. We have multiple rooms now but I’ve found I have a hard time falling asleep without him around – cheesy relationship moment alert!!!

When I did get up at 10 this morning I went straight to the phone for the next 3 hours! I don’t know if I actually accomplished that much, but at least I got the ball rolling! My hunger was totally off and I ended up eating the last serving of pretzels for breakfast!

Unhealthiness aside, here is a healthy tip: buy a food scale! I’m not saying you need to be obsessive and measure everything you put in your mouth, but things like pretzel nuggets add up faster than you think – a serving of those bad boys is ONE ounce. Once you are eating pretzels straight out of the bag for breakfast, there is no way you are going to pull out a measuring cup. But plopping the bag on the food scale? Easy. (P.S. My scale read 1 and 1/4 oz, so with the weight of the bag I had a perfect serving left)

At 1pm – once I had at very least left a message with every single number on my list – I set out for the gym sat on the couch and kissed Adam and stole some slices of his turkey pepperoni. I ended up pushing the gym back to the end of the evening in favor of going to the post-office and being dropped off at the Spot. I worked on Chemistry by myself for a while before Caroline met me for some group studying. By myself I got a late lunch.

A big diet coke and a turkey cajun wrap (turkey, lettuce, tomato, pepperjack cheese, cajun sauce, ww wrap).

The salad looked over-dressed so I didn’t even taste it, but I demolished the sandwich.

During my social studying I also had a medium pumpkin pie latte (pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon; 1pump syrup, skim milk).

Yums.

Caroline dropped me off at home at 9 and after so very brief glancing at the magazines I got in the mail we set out for the gym. It was about time too, I’d been rocking this look since 10am!

I always work out in baggy t-shirts but I went ahead and bought some running tank tops last weekend. Somehow I feel more “official,” not that I look too fine in that picture!! I’ll show you all of my new finds as I wear them; this one was $4 at Target.

On the treadmill I did 10minute warm up – 20minute run – 5 minute cool down. In the end the totals were 3.25miles and 361 calories. My legs are still crazy bothering me (my knees, hips, ankles often hurt but lately it is an intense pain in my calves!). I did a lot of stretching when I got home and now I am trying icing them.

We’ll see how it goes.

I can’t believe I’m doing such a late recap post but considering that dinner just kind of never happened I guess it’s not that surprising! I got a lot done today, but tomorrow is still going to be jam-packed. We just found out our in-laws are visiting this weekend which makes this week even busier. I’ve got to go deal with my ice bags and take a shower, see you in the am!

Do you ice? Any tips for me?

19Oct2009

Curried Chicken and Cider Soup

by Emily

I totally lied when I said I was going right to class. That was the plan, but I was so cold (inside my house, with the heat on) that I just couldn’t bring myself to go outside yet! I sat on the couch and read my book.

Heat seems like it is going to rock my socks, it’s a memoir about, among other things, training as a prep chef for Mario Batali. I am all about memoirs and food, so it seems like the perfect fit.

Once I did get off the couch and get dressed I realized I was wearing an outfit from my teaching days and the whole thing felt sort of surreal.

I don’t know if anyone read my job identity search post this morning, but the one thing I do know is that do not want to teach! I swear I sort of have PTSD from my experience!

Also, I was super hungry so I packed myself a snack for the road –

1 oz buffalo wing pretzels with some turkey pepperoni (don’t worry mom, I only ate at lights!).

That totally did not cut it though. After I finished printing at the library I set off in search of food. I ended up with an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese.

Class went well, we are studying electron orbitals which I love – it’s like a puzzle! When I got home at 9 I got right to work on dinner. We made Curried Chicken and Cider Soup from “Everyday with Rachael Ray” (click on the name for the recipe link).

I skipped the cumin, and substituted 1C of water with 1C extra cider, but otherwise I followed the recipe. I topped my bowl with buffalo wing pretzel nuggets for a crouton-like effect.

I don’t think I would have liked it without the added spice, it was pretty sweet, but with the addition it was perfect.

Afterwards I had this fun drink I bought a while back.

It’s not really Sangria, more like strawberry soda. It’s from Japan and was totally cool; you had to pop the top to release a marble.

I was supposed to paint my nails tonight but it is almost 11 so it looks like I’ll be heading straight to bed. Tomorrow I have a gym trip planned, plus tons and tons of schoolwork, and hopefully some job searching. Sweet dreams!

Do you like buffalo wings? I’m not a huge wings fan but I love buffalo sauce!

15Oct2009

Savory Instead of Sweet

by Emily

Hello, lunch-eaters! My morning has gone well; it looks like the notecards won’t be finished until tomorrow but my labs are totally up to date. My pumpkin pudding smoothie held me over well but I did snack on a bowl of red grapes while I worked.

By noon it was time for lunch. When I received a Nature’s Pride sample as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemakers program I actually was sent two loaves. I seem to hardly ever eat bread and I was worried that Adam would move too slowly and we’d develop a mold problem, so into the freezer one loaf went. Once we were ready for more bread we simply moved the loaf down to the fridge and gave it a few hours to defrost. This is a good solution if you find a bread(product) sale at your grocery store too.

bread

With 12 Grain I made a yummy french toast, so I knew that would be good for 100% Whole Wheat as well. But I was feeling adventurous. Which led to…….

savory french toast! I sanwiched sliced turkey, Crofter’s North American Superfruit Spread and dijon mustard between two slices of Nature’s Pride Whole Wheat. Then I dipped the ‘wich in a mixture of egg/.5C chicken broth. I cooked it for ~3minutes on each side in a pan with .5T Smart Balance Light. Finally it got topped off with maple syrup, Chipotle Tabasco, and squeeze cheese.

Mmmn. I loved this mess mix of flavors! Next time I would leave off the sqeeze cheese (which I mostly ate around anyway), but we had it and it looked fun. I doused it with hot sauce the the spice/egginess combo was perfection.

I am watching an episode of “Mercy” while I eat my lunch and then it’s back to work. I think I will cook dinner before I leave for class, but I’ll post it this evening. All that really matters is that I remember my lab goggles!

Have you ever tried savory french toast? What’d you think? {I realize this is similar to a Monte Cristo}

26Sep2009

House in the House

by Emily

I don’t know how I managed to get Adam out of bed at 8am to run with me this morning, but I did. He’s not the best running partner though, he made me laugh so hard I had to take a break! His brother’s neighborhood had a loop, so I ran that 3x and walked in once. The husband measured it afterwards and found out the loop was .75mile. That means I did 3miles total, with my walk included. 39minutes, 273calories.

I played a rousing game of Hungry Hippos with my niece before I decided I was a hungry hippo and it was time for a shower. Then I put together a random lunch plate.

An apple and a few pieces of sliced turkey.

Cheese and pizza bites.

I actually ate another piece bite too, and when I realized I was still starving I got a bowl of cereal.

I haven’t had Lucky Charms in years!

We were supposed to go to the fair today but it is raining buckets so we are just hanging out around the house. And watching House, they have the newest episode on dvr. Hope everyone else is having a sunny Saturday.

What are your Saturday plans?

20Sep2009

Peppers and Pie

by Emily

My biggest accomplishment this afternoon was getting rid of my headache, but that’s actually a pretty big accomplishment in my book! I finished GhostWorld and I can officially say I’m not a fan 😦

After crappy movie hour I finally did my kitchen to-do’s. I pre-made pasta for lunches this week, made dinner, and…..I made a pie!

Tyler Pie to be exact. I can’t give you the recipe, but it is from Pie, Pie, Pie; Easy Homemade Favorites by John Phillip Carroll. I’ve made things from this book throughout the years and I highly recommend it. Here is the description he gives in the book –

Incredible as it sounds, in the past, it was not uncommon to christen foods, particularly desserts, after political figures. Named for the 10th president of the United States, John Tyler of Virginia, this pie has its heritage in the South. Though the ingredients are simple, the pie has a caramel-like flavor and a smooth texture that combine to give it a soothing quality. It is a suitable for breakfast as it is after a good meal.

More on that later though, dinner was a success! I pulled the recipe completely from my head and it ended up being great 🙂

Stuffed Peppers, serves 4

5oz ww penne pasta
1C chopped broccoli
1T evoo
8oz 99% lean ground turkey
1/2C marinara sauce
4oz log goat cheese
4 peppers, any color (we used red, yellow, and orange)
1/4 shredded cheese (we used 2% cheddar)

Cook pasta, following box directions. In the last 3-5minutes of cooking stir in broccoli. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 475*. Cut the tops off of the peppers. Using a spoon, scoop out the pith and seeds, careful not to break the bottoms of the peppers.
Put pot back on stove, turn heat down to medium and heat evoo. Add turkey meat and cook for 2-3minutes. Pour in marinara sauce and finish cooking meat through. Remove from heat.
Add pasta and broccoli back to pot, along with goat cheese, and stir to mix.
Spoon pasta into peppers. Split cheese ontop of the peppers. Place peppers on a foiled cookie sheet.
Bake for 15minutes.

Notes on the recipe –

* Think anti-Sir-Mix-A lot with the peppers, get ones with flat bottoms (i.e. they will stand alone)

*I did not do this, but I highly recommend preheating the peppers for 5-10minutes

* Each serving has ~400calories

Our peppers were pretty small so I ate some filling on the side.

I took too much though, I ended up leaving most of the extra filling. I needed room in my belly for pie!

It was pretty good, it had a nice eggy taste to it. I got some free coupons for Wholly Wholesome products so I used one of their pie crusts.

We watched “The Open Window” while we ate, which was also a strange movie. And now it is late, and bedtime. Nighty night!

Do you bake?

14Sep2009

The Buzz

by Emily

Good afternoon all! I hope everyone is having a painless Monday. As you know, I didn’t go to bed until after 2 last night, but once in bed I didn’t fall asleep until after 3! I don’t know how on earth I managed to wake up at 9am but I think my excitement over breakfast was a factor.

I pan-heated two chicken apple maple sausages.

And put my leftover oven-roasted root veggies into eggs. I heated 1T SmartBalance Light in a pan, heated the turnips and parsnips, cracked in two eggs, scrambled, and added a small handful of sharp cheddar at the end.

Very tasty! I will officially say that turnips and parsnips (and whole okra) are a success, they will be entering the regular line up!

After breakfast I hurried to the hospital for my 4hour volunteering shift. At 20’clock I clocked out and apparently became a cereal magnet. I used my lunch voucher to buy some granola and skim milk to eat later this week,

and when I got home I found a Kashi coupon and sample in the mail.

You can click here to get your own sample, I said “surprise me!”

In spite of its abundance, I knew that cereal was not going to cut it for lunch. I spent most of my volunteering time delivering blood and medicine, which means I took the stairs a ton! (when I am taking patients places I obviously only take the elevator) I decided to give Flat Outs a try with another sandwich.

I know it looks unassuming, but he’s just being modest.

1 Flat Out
homemade honey mustard (1T dijon mustard, 1t honey)
6 thin slices turkey
~1/2C shredded carrot

This was very satisfying. I still found the wrap a bit chalky but overall the taste combo was fantabulous. I totally only ended my lunch with almond butter straight into my mouth for the protein.

It was 100% the 6g of protein in the packet, not that it was maple flavored almond butter, and certainly not that I like squeezing it straight into my mouth 🙂

I am feeling very lucky to have received Justin’s samples, 2 thumbs up!

In just a bit I am going to head out to campus. Class isn’t until 6:30 but I need to print off the class notes and pick up some forms. Dinner will be something thrown together because Adam claimed the tofu leftovers, but I am planning on doing some baking tonight!

Foodbuzz Excitement

I couldn’t wait to tell you guys about the excitement I mentioned yesterday – it’s official, my friend Camile and I will be attending the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival in November!!! We booked our tickets and hotel room yesterday and we are both so excited! Do you know anyone else who is attending?

Also, I forgot to mention before, but one of my photos was featured on the main page of Foodbuzz the other day. It’s clearly not a big deal, but the husband was so proud of me he took a screenshot.

foodbuzz

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: turkey

Seriously, Make It

Dreams of Root Vegetables

Ice Ice Baby

Curried Chicken and Cider Soup

Savory Instead of Sweet

House in the House

Peppers and Pie

The Buzz

Foodbuzz Excitement