I have got to stop falling asleep without blogging! Some days (many days) are crazy and boring and I skip posting. Other days are crazy and delicious and make me want to blog. But two crazy and delicious days in a row makes for one loooooong recap!
Breakfast was all about the FNCE samples. Gross was the Strawberry Del Monte Squeezable fruit.
There was a flavor there that I just didn’t care for. Almost savory?!
Great was the Jamba Juice Fruit-i-licious Probiotic Trail Mix (I ate the whole bag, or 2 servings).
It had tons of fruit and nuts and just enough chocolate to be fun.
I planned on making dinner before I went to work so I made a quick trip to the store on my way home from school. Coffee with skim milk to warm me up when I got home.
Archer Farms’ Cinnamon Vanilla Nut is the best flavor I’ve ever gotten from Target.
My lunch snack was a sweet tasting plate.
A sliced banana with crunchy honey pb,
and half of a Theo Bread and Chocolate Bar.
I love this bar! Normally 70% would be a little dark for me but the saltiness of the bread really brings out the sweet in the chocolate.
I also ate a 100-calorie bag of kettle corn.
I managed to get dinner made, but not with much time to spare; I ate on the walk to work!
Roasted green beans,
and a turkey burger on a bun with sharp cheddar and Miracle Whip.
I’m going to stay cryptic and just say “burger” because this recipe was so tasty that it warrants its own separate post tomorrow. I know most people scan these long recaps and I do NOT want this burger recipe to get lost!
After work, I ate a slice of turkey while I packed Adam’s lunch.
And that was it. It was quite lucky that I ate dinner for lunch because otherwise I would have gone to bed hungry.
I got my flu shot Sunday morning. PSA – Flu shots save lives. Even if you aren’t worried about the flu, you should get the shot because it helps protect the people around you. That said, I am having a major adverse reaction to my flu shot!
I couldn’t get a picture that really shows anything (it is surprisingly tricky to photograph your upper arm), but imagine a giant, raised, red area around my injection site. It itches like crazy and is making me insane. Adam didn’t see my reaction until Monday night but as soon as he did he fed me an allergy med and put me in bed.
When I say that Adam “put me in bed” on Monday night, it is worth mentioning that he let me pass out teeth unbrushed, jeans still on, and alarm clock unset! I managed to make it to school on time but I was very confused this morning!
There wasn’t much time for breakfast so I grabbed a Chocolate Zico Coconut Water,
and an Odwalla Chocolate Almond Coconut Chewy Nut Bar (a FNCE sample).
Dee-lish-us! The bar immediately moved to my “top five bars” list (now that Balance Bars aren’t good there is a major hole to fill!). It tasted like real food, really tasty real food.
We were on campus today so I also got to cash in a free coffee card at the book store.
3 shots of espresso with tons of vanilla sugar and skim milk. And then I twitched wildly for the rest of the day…
Instead of clinical practice at the hospital, today we had an intensive lecture on enteral and parenteral nutrition – i.e. feeding through a tube into the GI tract or through a vein. It is insanely complicated but at least I think the calculations are a ton of fun. I’m certainly not the smartest person in our program (not by a long shot!) but when we do any sort of math I’m usually the first person in the room to finish. Who knew as I struggled through 9th grade pre-calculus that I’d grow up to get all tingly over formulas?!
Another fun part of the day? A rep from Nestle came in and showed us some different products. We got to taste thickened water and thickened diet pepsi (honey consistency) –
Their commercial thickener is just xantham gum – like I used to use in my smoothies! – plus a few preservatives.
Also fun was the longer lunch period that let my friends and me go to Wegman’s.
I hadn’t packed food so this was very serendipitous.
Buffalo chicken chowder,
and a green veggie brown rice sushi roll with spicy mayo on the side for dipping.
Between buffalo sauce soup, spicy mayo dipping, and the wasabi that I slathered on top of my sushi, this lunch left me sweating!
I stole a fun sized candy bar from my friend for dessert.
Ignore my sandals, and note that I bundled up today for Fall.
Fall is here exhibit b – tea with skim milk and cinnamon sugar.
Fall is here exhibit c – the apple crumble candle I burned while I studied.
Fall is here exhibit isn’t she done with this gag yet?! – an apple crumble yogurt bowl.
This is another dish I plan on making often. A 0% Plain Greek yogurt topped with cooked apple (a chopped Sweet Tango microwaved for 2 minutes with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 2 tsp agave) and crumble (KIND Oats and Honey Clusters granola, a FNCE sample).
The rest of dinner was a random assortment of snacks while I studied. A chocolate chip cookie dough mini Larabar (FNCE sample).
A mini tortilla with 2 slices of Applegate Farms Honey Maple Turkey and melted sharp cheddar.
Cold, leftover green beans for veggie needs.
And a 100-calorie bag of kettle corn.
As I said, looooong! Like hot-dog-dog long.
Have you ever had an adverse reaction to the flu shot?
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
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?
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?
I realize that open season on pumpkin began a few days ago, but work with me here. My first day of the month was so fabulous that I couldn’t skip blogging it, even if a few days have passed.
I did, however, have my giant (soul-crushing) exam that morning so I started my day with a coffee energy drink from the vending machines.
But then I moved on to the juiciest, crunchiest, crispiest Jazz apple of the year.
Once home, I put the first wave into the fridge.
And made myself a salad.
– romaine topped with a heaping Tbsp each ground flax, buckwheat groats, and peanut sauce –
And soup.
– seaweed ramen –
I picked up a short, non-fat pumpkin spice latte on my walk to work.
Adam met me at the end of my shift and we walked over to Blue Monk so I could get the beer I’ve been coveting since September.
It is sweet and squashy and smells like the best dessert you’ll ever eat. <– which is funny because I actually hate pumpkin pie
And then I was wasted because apparently I’m a light-weight like no other. In spite of my obnoxiously loud giggles, we forged ahead and got food too.
An appetizer of marinated olives and pickled veggies with sourdough bread.
I ate ~25%.
And we split the veggie burger.
– Artichoke and chickpea patty with fresh tomato jam, cilantro aioli, on a whole wheat bun and sweet potato fries –
I ate 50%, minus most of my bun.
On the walk home we stopped at Spot for fallish desserts.
My caramel apple cupcake was old and stale (I ate ~33%), but it was still a fabulous end to the evening.
….
And then Tuesday was my first clinic day at the hospital and it was ridiculous and I ate all of my meals on the go, with no camera, the end.
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.
I know I promised you guys this recipe yesterday, but just wait until you read my recap post tonight. Mostly you’ll just feel sorry for me and/or think I’m stupid. But I promise, this recipe was worth the wait.
Spinach and Artichoke Egg Pie, serves 8
After only 4 hours of sleep last night I had to pull out the coffee Big guns Gulp this morning.
Actually, that’s only 4 oz of Chameleon Cold Brew; the rest of the cup was filled with ice and skim milk. I know it looks like chocolate milk and I swear to god it tasted like chocolate milk too! <– still love, love, loving the Chameleon Cold-Brew; winter is going to have to pry my iced coffee from my cold, blue hands!
I also packed a Honeycrisp apple with a packet of The Peanut Butter Co’s The Bee’s Knees.
That combo was tasty and fun to eat but it did not fill me up. By the time we got out of our final class I was so hungry I was salivating. I had to stop at Wegman’s on the way home and I ended up buying trail mix to eat in the car.
A .15 lbs mix of honey roasted, Cajun, and wasabi from the bulk bins.
I also had dinner’s carb early as a lunch appetizer because I couldn’t wait for my food to cook.
A rosemary roll dipped in evoo and pink salt. I’m not even going to pretend like I didn’t consider eating another roll when that plate was done! I didn’t (at that point!), I’m just admitting to wanting to.
From the oven came roasted green beans,
and a toasted sandwich of Applegate Farms sliced turkey and strawberry jam on a cheddar-jalapeño bialey.
Delicious.
This lunch did fill me up. Except then when I got home from work 6 hours later I did eat that 2nd roll.
I’m an embarrassment. But I was so hungry on the walk home that I thought I was going to cry.
I know hunger fluctuates but I’m assuming that today’s feelings were really due to sleepiness and/or hormones because I was uncomfortably hungry every minute of the day. Yuck.
For dinner Adam made a tweaked version of my spinach egg pie.
It was our best variation yet and I promise to share the recipe tomorrow.
I also may have edged the cake…
The plan was to stay up late studying tonight but I’m still hungry and super tired so I’m going to cross my fingers and hope that an early wake-up works out tomorrow. Good night!
P.S. How cute is Webster with his new, big bone?
Eating Chalk 