Tag Archives: vegan

Hello, Hello, Goodbye, Goodbye

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Hello, reader.  I was AWOL yesterday because I had the beginnings of a migraine and put myself to bed at 4 in the afternoon!  Not fun.

Also, Hello to Vegan Month!  I desperately needed to go to store, so yesterday I had to make do with the vegan things around the house.  And of course I was insanely hungry all afternoon.  <– bad timing

Breakfast was a super tasty pumpkin smoothie.

1 cup Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Almond/Coconut Milk Blend, ~1 cup canned pumpkin, 1 frozen banana, 2 Tbsp maple syrup, and a big shake of pumpkin pie spice.

I did lots of snacking when I got home from clinic.  2 oz of roasted pumpkin seeds,

a giant Honeycrisp with tons of melted Biscoff,

a (FNCE sample) bag of Food Should Taste Good Olive Chips,

and a big bowl of cereal.

Then I put myself to bed with a migraine.  I had a paper due this morning so unfortunately Adam had to wake me up at 10pm so I could write it.

I ate a veggie sub from Subway – lettuce, tomato, green pepper, cucumber, pickles, red onion, and bbq sauce – while I worked.

Breakfast was the last of the pumpkin seeds,

and a green pear.

I got lunch at Wegman’s during my massive shopping trip.

Veggie goyza,

and inari.

I ate half of both then brought the rest home to Adam.  We both loved the inari!

And I ate this candy bar – like a vegan Snickers – while I blogged.

Goodbye to my belly button ring.

I’ve had it in since I was 15 (12 years!!!!!!!!!) and am so sad that it is gone now.  But I’m having a minor surgery this afternoon and they told me I had to take it out.

Also, Goodbye to you guys for a bit.  The minor surgery is on my hand and I sure I will not be up for typing this evening.  I’ll “see” you later this weekend.  Wish me luck!

Past and Future

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Wow; long time no blog!  It’s been a week, which feels crazy.  Last weekend, Adam was out-of-town on interviews and since I didn’t want to broadcast that all over the internet I kept mum.  Then the week was a busy disaster.  One night I came home from work and got straight into bed at 8:20.  One night I drank too many pumpkin beers and got a little drunk.  One night I was out late working on a group project.  And last night the dog threw up and then when we went to clean up I threw up.  Good times.

The Past: Some Things Worth Highlighting from the Last Week

Annie Chun’s Spicy Chicken Ramen.

This soup came together in a snap and it felt fairly authentic.  It was spicy without making you want to run for the gallon of milk.

Another apple-cereal bowl.

This winner creation had steamed (aka microwaved) Honeycrisp apple with Special K Vanilla Pecan, All Bran Bran Buds, honey roasted peanuts, tons of cinnamon, and skim milk.

The new gelato place on Elmwood has pumpkin.

It was good, but the coconut half was even better.

These two pumpkin beers get two thumbs up.

The Long Trail was good, the Saranac was great.

The Potato Chip chocolate bar from Chuao is ridiculous.

Such a perfect melody of salty and sweet!  And the crispiness was fun too.  Now I want to try all of the other flavors!

Arby’s is selling a Peppermint Stick Swirl Shake.

If you like candy canes (who doesn’t?!) you’ll love it.

Mr. Pizza sells a veggie pie that is great.

It was packed with veggies, including green olives!

The Future: A Vegan Challenge in November

Yep, starting next week I’ll begin my annual 1-month vegan challenge.  One of my IRL friends agreed to do it with me and I’d love to have some of my internet friends join as well.  Think about it???

It’s 10-11-12!

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I’m blogging a two-day recap from a blanket nest with a killer migraine, so please excuse any typos.  I was hoping to be back on a “normal” blog schedule by now, but I’m not sure that’ll ever happen this semester!

Going back to yesterday… Wonder of wonders, I made it to the gym!  20 minutes on the elliptical; random level 6.  The machine was out of water so I drank a fruit punch g2 while I worked.

It was embarrassing to have so much fuel for such a short workout but I ended up being very thankful that I had it.  I guzzled most of it during my workout, then refilled the bottle with water and drank all of that on the drive home.  I guess I came back from Philly a little dehydrated.

From my trip to the gym, I came back short on time.  Thank goodness Adam had the day off yesterday; he drove me to school and packed my breakfast.  FNCE expo samples were heavily featured.  An iced coffee with skim milk.

A mini apple pie Larabar.

An apple it its true form.

And a serving of Cheddar Cheese Beanitos.

I was a big fan of the (pinto bean and flax-seed) chips.  They were nice and crunchy with just a touch of spice.

I’m also a big fan of things working out in the lab.  Look at what I made in Microbiology – spread plates and pour plates!

Adam’s undergrad degree was in Microbiology Immunology and sometimes it is downright embarrassing to show him my class-work!

I had several to-do’s after lab, but I made it home in time to make dinner before work.  My mid-day meal was pretty lame.  2 small corn tortillas microwaved with ~1/4 cup shredded cheese.

Plus a 2% Fage with Peach.

And the last two Buttered Rum Raisin Cookies from the batch I brought my friend.

We are getting in all of our Christmas stock now and work was more like a workout; I carried boxes up and down the stairs for my most my shift.  I was very glad to have dinner already finished when I got home.

Green Tuna Enchiladas; serves 4-6

  • 1 tsp evoo
  • 1 medium green bell pepper, finely chopped
  • 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
  • (2) 10 oz cans tuna
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 cup green tomatillo salsa
  • 12 small corn tortillas
  • 4 Tbsp light half and half
  • 3/4 cup reduced-fat shredded taco or Mexican-style cheese
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Heat evoo in a large pan over medium heat.
  2. Add onion and peppers to oil and brown, about 7 minutes.
  3. Add tuna and 1/2 cup salsa to veggies and cook 2 more minutes.  Remove from heat.
  4. Spoon 2 T filling into each tortilla and place into a 8×11 inch casserole, seam-side down.  Too keep tortillas from cracking and breaking, it is helpful to cover them with a damp paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds.
  5. In a separate bowl, stir together the last cup of salsa with half and half.  Spoon mixture over enchiladas.
  6. Sprinkle cheese evenly over casserole and bake 20 minutes.

Dinner did not fill me up like I was hoping.  I ate a huge spoonful of Skippy Natural Super Chunk with Honey; aka the very best peanut butter ever.

And I had dessert.  I am working on a hot chocolate recipe so I’m not going to share the ingredients now, but I will tell you that this batch included a serving of Caramel Apple Milky Ways for funsies.

It was ridiculous good.  Ridiculous.

Moving on to Tuesday… Today had a productive start but has steadily gone downhill.  I had a difficult time getting out of my warm bed and ended up eating breakfast on the walk from my car to the hospital.  A Sweet Tango apple,

and a Full Moon Brownie Z-Bar, which I actually hated.

I couldn’t put my finger on what the problem was specifically, but the taste of the bar was not good to me.

Today was my busiest day at clinic yet.  I had a patient on my own in the morning, then worked on another in a group later in the afternoon.  We had our first practice with tube-feeds today and it was both fascinating and frustrating.  We’ve learned a lot in school but it’s all been in isolation; in the real world conditions overlap.  For example*, you might have a patient in End Stage Renal Disease that has increased protein needs for wound healing and is also a Diabetic. *just an example, this wasn’t a specific patient that we worked with today

Also, my friend Janessa and I offered to turn-key some of what we learned at FNCE, so we did a short presentation on ketogenic diets for epilepsy.  The group had to stay late so that we could present and I love them all for still being interested in what we had to say.

I ate a late lunch during my afternoon errands.  Vegan pecan cornbread stuffing from the co-op.

Buffalo peeps – run to the co-op to get some of this stuffing, it had the perfect blend of flavors and textures.

Then hot bar at Wegman’s while I ran through my notes before shopping.

I did three types of vegetable stir-fry.

I am glad that I got in veggies and time studying, because both were in short supply when I got home.  Minutes after walking in the door, I got an immense migraine.  It came on much more quickly than they usually do and made me unbelievably nauseous.

Adam brought home pizza for dinner and I ate a big plate once I was able to get out of bed.

Now I have to go try to study for tomorrow’s giant exam.  <– so screwed

What is your favorite store-bought peanut butter?

I’m Packed, With Pizza

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In less than 12 hours, I’ll be headed to Philly!  Guess I should be getting in bed, huh?  Between clinic, packing, and baking what felt like a million things, it was a busy day.

Food at the hospital.  GoGo Squeez cinnamon applesauce packet and a vanilla Stinger waffle.

1 serving of Vanilla Almond Special K with Tempt vanilla hemp milk, chopped plum and nectarine, and 1.5 Tbsp chunky honey peanut butter.

Taste-test #1; look for the recipe on Monday.

Here’s a hint –

Taste-test #2; look for the post on Tuesday.

Taste-test #3; my Buttered Rum Raisin Cookies.

Actually, I “tested” two cookies.  Adam and I have decided that these cookies are the best I’ve ever made!  My friends and I are staying with a high school friend of mine for a night before the conference starts and I’m saying “thank you” with a big box of cookies.

Grocery store sample.

Adam and I split this plate of carbs and veggies (lasagna, mac and cheese, kale, tofu, and broccoli).

I ended up mostly sticking with the greens.  I realized two bites in that the “vegetarian lasagna” was loaded with pork!!!!  So sad; but on the plus side we got our food comped so Adam ate for free.

I tried again with pizza plate for dinner.

Veggie slice, buffalo chicken roll up, baby carrots, and blue cheese for dipping.

When was the least time you ate something you didn’t mean to?

All I Need Is Popcorn

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I had to work this afternoon but I did manage to get in some nutrients first.  Cereal and milk (cereal and milk, cereal and milk!) for a late breakfast.

That’s 1 serving each Vanilla Almond Special K and All Bran Bran Buds with sliced plum and nectarine and Tempt Vanilla Hemp Milk.

I did co-op hot bar for a late lunch.

A tiny bit of bbq seitan, 1 stuffed grape leave, and 2 kinds of massaged kale salads.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, fruits and vegetables are so good!!

That’s not to say that I’m not still excited about junk.  Like this caramel apple cookie from the giant box my mother-in-law sent.

Or some of the Chocolove Salted Peanut Milk Chocolate Bar I bought for Adam.

Holy frick; guys, this tasted just like Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut chocolate bars from my childhood.  I loved it and definitely plan on buying more.

Something else I’m excited about?  I got to leave work early!  I pretty much look like a** and my bosses told me to go home early and get some sleep.  Instead of sleeping I’m staying up late to watch tv, but the extra time with the husband and dog feels precious.

Dinner was an Asian-style feast.

This baked sweet and sour chicken with sweet and sour sauce from Wegman’s,

roasted broccoli,

and Adam and I split a serving of Annie Chun’s Sprouted Brown Sticky Rice.

Everything was delicious!  The chicken recipe is a keeper (not exactly healthy but much healthier than the traditional) and the rice acheived perfect texture in 90 seconds.

My thoughts on tv?  Bones was touching, Grey’s was ridiculously sad, and New Girl seems like it is going to be awesome.  All that’s left to do is pop a bowl of ‘corn.

Appletastic

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Today was a much better day!  Mostly because I accomplished tons and ate a healthy and amazing tasting dinner.  Also, I’m a little drunk.

Yesterday wasn’t the best day and it was clear from my post that I was a little depressed.  Several of you commented on my consumption of Halloween candy pre-Pumpkin Month and all I can say is “it won’t happen again.”  I’m so ashamed!  🙂

For breakfast I packed a sandwich to eat in class.  A slice of 2% colby and 2 slices of Applegate Farms turkey bacon on a toasted Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin.

It was a little dry but oh-so-tasty.

Plus the last serving of my caramel apple sugar babies.

These guys win as my #1 favorite Apple Month candy.  But eating them at 9am did make me a little sick.

I got a ton accomplished this morning, between a break in class and the time after my Micro lab, I polished off several school to-do’s.  I am way (way, way, way, way, way) behind on studying but it felt good to make a dent.

Then I went to a orthodontist appointment.  My last full-time-retainer-wearing orthodontist appointment!

I screamed when I heard the good news and scared the crap out of my orthodontist.  Then I told him I was going to go swish coffee.

I didn’t actually get any coffee because I had another appointment, but I am looking forward to leisurely sipping through my morning class for the rest of the semester.  It’s also worth mentioning that I didn’t have time for coffee or lunch.  <– remember that when I remind you that I’m drunk a minute from now

My 2nd appointment dealt with a recall on my car.  It turned out I did have the defective part and I was very glad that I could get it fixed for free.  I guess when I called them “stupid errands” yesterday I spoke too soon!

I worked at The Spot for an hour or so before I headed home.  Then I made us an appletastic dinner, complete with on-theme booze.

Adam and I split this Crispin Honey Crisp Hard Apple Cider while we cooked.

Delicious!

The “soft” cider was even more amazing though; we also took swigs of this Red Jacket Fuji Apple Cider.

It was so perfectly sweet!  We loved it.  And it helped make dinner amazing.

  1. I melted 1.5 Tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Then I sautéed 1 pint sliced mushrooms and 1 small chopped Sweet Mayan Onion, with a sprinkle of salt.
  2. Next I added 4 cups cole slaw mix and 1 cup apple cider and cooked until the cabbage was soft.
  3. I removed the veggies from the pan, added another 1/2 Tbsp butter and 8 oz sliced Naysoya Super-firm Sprouted Tofu.
  4. I cooked the tofu until crispy in 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp maple syrup, and a sprinkle of salt, then put it on top of the cabbage.

Soooooooo good.  The veggies were sweet and savory and the tofu had the best texture.  That ‘fu is going to be my go-to from now on.

Now I’m off to hopefully kill my buzz with popcorn.

If I can get myself together, I’m going to try to bang out another hour or so of work tonight.

Do you have any ciders, hard or otherwise, to recommend?

Midnight’s Dinner

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I had a lot to say about today, but now it’s clear – like, blogging at 1 am on a school night clear – that I’ll have to keep it quick.  It’s funny how the longest days have the shortest posts!

I slept through yoga (boo!) but also got to then sleep in a bit (yay!) because I had the morning at home.  Our clinical experiences this semester are divided up into three sections, two are in the hospitals and the final rotation is community, i.e. basically almost everything an RD does outside of the hospital.  I’m in community first.  During this rotation we have site placements some days and “free time” other days to work on a very long list of community-oriented assignments.  Among other things, we have to complete a case study on creating a wellness program and pick a nutrition topic on which to generate a variety of informational media.  Long story short, one of the required mediums is a bulletin board in the Dietetics’ building hallway.  Today I worked on the case study and the bulletin board.

But first I ate breakfast.

3 servings (I was finishing the box) of Cinnamon Pecan Special K with Blue Diamond Coconut/Almond Milk and chopped plum and nectarine.

It was a hungry morning; before I left the house I also ate a handful of honey roasted peanuts,

and leftovers.

The last Reuben Stuffed Turkey Burger on the last onion roll with 1000 island dressing.

At 11:30 I walked to meet a friend and we spent the next 7 straight hours at school working on the case study.  It is now complete.  Phew!

We did take a quick break in the afternoon for sushi.

My veggie sushi was pretty bland without wasabi (I swear it was in every package except the one I picked up!) but you couldn’t beat the price.

We spent the rest of the evening running around between three stores to find the supplies for our bulletin boards.  Why, oh why doesn’t Buffalo have a teacher supply store?!

My friend dropped me off just before 9pm and I trudged (my heavy laptop was still in my bag) down Elmwood to buy Adam a candy bar as a reward for his long day.  Oh yeah, he still wasn’t home.

I trudged back home, completed another assignment, and finally Adam called at 11pm to tell me that he was home but he had contact dermatitis from the scrub soap and we needed to go to the pharmacy.  Yay.

When we did finally get home we had to go right back out so the dog could take a very late, much-needed walk.  Sidenote – All the people without dogs and husbands were out partying because it’s Thursday and I joked with the dog about how he was out on the town.  I told him he was ….. wait for it ….. a dogutante.  <– I’m hysterically funny and also maybe a little punch-drunk with tiredness.

During our ridiculous walk I purchased a Subway sandwich which I ate while I completed yet another assignment and wrote this post.

6-inch turkey with lettuce, tomato, green pepper, red onion, pickles, cucumber, and a tiny bit of creamy chipotle sauce.

Post’s done, time for bed!

P.S. Gratuitous dog pictures –

Hot Dog!

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2nd day of the semester was a success!  I promise I’ll stop counting them soon though.

I started my day with a smoothie for the walk to school.  1 scoop bourbon vanilla protein powder, ~1.5 cups Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, medium frozen banana, and ~2 cups frozen blueberries.

My smoothie matched my shoes!  Actually, it matched my whole outfit.

I found this great loose-fitting racer-back tank in a dressy fabric at the Gap outlet this summer and bought it in all three available colors.

I got to wear jeans because we were on campus for clinical orientation today.  Tuesdays and Thursdays for the rest of the semester we’ll spend 8 hours a day in clinic, aka practicing our skills out in the field for our internship hours.  Today we met with instructors, filled out paperwork, and spent several hours practicing calculations.  <– I remember more than I thought, yay!

I packed this vegan tortilla soup for lunch.

Supplemented with a cheese stick I got at an info table in the quad.

Sadly it took my friends and I for-ev-er to find a table and by the time I finished waking back and forth from two buildings with my hot soup it didn’t really appeal to me any more.  I ate half, plus all of the cheese stick and a Diet Pepsi from the vending machine.  Note – this set the trend apparently because every meal thereafter was also unsuccessful!

After class was over 2 friends and I set out on a mini journey.  We stopped at Anna’s house along the way for sunscreen, then walked a little over a mile to Delish to try out the East Park Pops.

The pops are made from scratch from local ingredients.  My mango pineapple contained only mango, pineapple, and fresh lime juice, no added sugar.

It all sounded really promising but unfortunately we just weren’t fans.  The pops were way too hard and icy and we all threw ours out a quarter or so through.  Janessa and I had been planning this excursion since summer so we were sad it didn’t pan out, but Delish’s new Black Rock location is adorable and we do want to go back for coffees soon.

We ended up having (tall, skim) iced caramel macchiatos from Wegman’s as our treat instead.

Buffalo students – Wegman’s is giving out their awesome student coupon books this week and our coffees were a dollar off.

We spotted jalapeño poppers on the hot bar and two of us went for one of those as well.  (Don’t worry, my friend is going to reuse that plastic container so we didn’t totally waste it.)

This was another idea that was better in theory, the poppers had cheese instead of cream cheese and I threw half of mine out.

Dinner was hot dogs –

Not that kind of hot dog!  Though, Webster, if you don’t stop eating my stuff I might consider it.  Adam and I regularly joke about taking a bite out of his meaty thighs.

This kind of hot dog –

I put two Applegate Farms turkey hot dogs on a bun, piled high with sauerkraut, relish, and ketchup.  The dog was devoured with gusto but its accompaniments were pretty “meh.”

Roasted asparagus that was undercooked and tasted terrible.

I choked down half.

Smokey Maple Baked Beans that were good but not what I was craving right before I went to a yoga class.

I ate 3/4 of those.

Thankfully I had a great workout to make up for my lackluster meal: a 90 minute hot yoga class.  I was worried about making it through a 90-minute class (I haven’t exactly been making the most of my unlimited yoga pass!), but it ended up being great.  The 90-minute session is almost easier than the 60-minute one because you do the same poses with more repetition so you have time to practice them.

All that stands between me and bed is a shower and 15 minutes of reviewing DNA with the husband.  I turned in too late last night and felt it in the morning so I’m trying to hurry.

What was the last food that you were excited for and then disappointed by?