Tag Archives: veggies

Co-operating With My To-Do List

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I have officially accomplished more today than I did the entire rest of the summer, no lie.  On my to-done list:

  • go to the DMV
  • renew my BSC parking pass
  • make a copy of my proof of malpractice insurance
  • confirm my class schedule
  • sign up for the co-op
  • work
  • make 2 recipes for dinner
  • make snack for Adam’s poker game
  • complete summer work for my professional portfolio
  • put away clean laundry
  • set up binders for school
  • blog

Woot!  I work tomorrow and still have a few things to do on Sunday, but I feel good about heading back to school on Monday.

The DMV was amazingly quick and painless, probably because I got there soon after they opened.  I recently discovered that my licence expired more than a month ago so this was an important errand to accomplish before school starts and I have to drive to my internship.  My photo probably will look something like this –

Holy hair brushes, Emily, learn how to use one!  Also, I might be old enough that it’s time to figure out concealer before my next id photo.

I ran around all morning and didn’t have time for breakfast so I drank a Starbucks Vanilla Double Shot Energy on the walk to work.

Also on my walk, I stopped in at the co-op and became an owner.

This errand was even quicker and less painless than the DMV.  Locals, did you know that Lexington Co-op will refund your membership fee if you move?

For my lunch break today I grabbed food at Globe Market.

Side note – once school starts my buying food at work habit needs to die a quick death.

Thai Peanut Noodles that were astonishingly tasteless and disappointing,

and a crab cake that more than made up for the lackluster noodles.

I found a GIANT hunk of claw meat in my cake and was so pleased.

Work went well.  I dropped off the rest of the Cookie Butter Fudge a few days ago and apparently everyone really liked it.  My lack of breakfast hit me hard as we closed up shop at work.  A Starbucks’ unsweetened Arnold Palmer was consumed on the walk home,

and these surprisingly delicious Caramel Brule Chocolate Bites were shared with Adam while I cooked.

At least those purchases were bought via a birthday gift card with a 2pm treat receipt.

I went full-on fancy for dinner, though my plate did end up unfortunately monochromatic.

A Shallota Salmon Burger patty,

with a serving of Buttery Bok Choy Gratin.

Rachael Ray’s gratin only got middling reviews but my salmon burgers were a hit.  Several of Adam’s friends who are here playing poker tried them and gave rave reviews.

But maybe they were just sucking up because they knew I was making *brown butter and candied bacon popcorn* for them to snack on –

I don’t think I’ve ever been more jealous of a snack!  I consoled myself with a Rascal’s Wild Red.

But that was disgusting (it tasted like cough syrup to me) so a few sips in I traded up for a Michelob Ultra Light Cider.

Michelob will never be my beer of choice, but their cider was damn good.  120 calories per bottle (and naturally gluten free).

I assume it will be a late night for Adam but I’ve got an early morning at work so I’m going to go curl up in bed with a Patricia Cornwell novel.

Do you belong to a co-op?

Every Now And Then…

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… I keep it together.

You thought I was going to say “fall apart.” I did too, that’s why this is a half day post. I was planning to write (title: “What’s The Plural Of Crisis?) about why I wouldn’t be posting this week, but then I realized – I really didn’t want to fall apart. A lot of nonsense has gone down this week, and I’m totally nervous about school next week, but sometimes it feels good to keep it together.

Some good stuff happened in the days you missed too. I met with a friend who recently became a mommy for a walk around Delaware Park with her and the baby . They were both doing awesome and my must-get-knocked-up fervor was renewed.  I baked malted toffee blondies and brought them to a friend’s birthday celebration.  I watched more “Awkward.”

Today I worked.  Afterward Adam picked me up for an awesome date night.  We parked in Allentown and walked to the subway.  We stopped along the way for green juice.

I got a glorious mix of collard greens, spinach, kale, watermelon, and mango.

I pulled it together before went to work but my juice mix could have cheered anyone up.

We subwayed it to the canal for our date; a free Matt Nathanson concert.

We ran into friends that we haven’t gotten to see much this summer so even though we didn’t know many songs we still had a great time.  The only ones I could sing along with were “Laid” and a random White Snake cover.

A friend who couldn’t make it tonight gave me her booze tickets so we scored free drinks.

I had half of that Jack Daniels Lynchburg Lemonade before passing it off to Adam in favor of a Labat Blue Light with Lime.

Drinking in the grass with friends and free music?  Awesome.

After we journeyed home we had pizza for a late dinner.

Adam and I split three (big) slices; bbq chicken, buffalo chicken, and veggie.

I’m feeling very full, pretty tired, and much better!

What do you do to regain control if you feel like you’re about to wallow?

Awkwardly Awesome

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Hello again.  We had a family crisis this weekend so I was away from the blog, but now it’s all good and I’m all back.  Also we squeezed in a party and watched the dog squeeze his face into the last of my milkshake.

Obviously there were good part to the weekend too.

I had lunch for breakfast today.

Baby carrots,

some Libby’s Tropical Fruit Salad,

and a sandwich.

Turkey, pepperjack cheese, and tons of pickles on a sandwich thin.

Lunch for lunch was a salad.

Romaine topped with peanut sauce, nutritional yeast, buckwheat groats, and sliced Crispin Pink apple.

With Honest Tea Half and Half to drink,

and Cookie Butter Fudge (x2) for dessert.

Oh yes I did!  Recipe is coming tomorrow.

I started watching the first season of “Awkward” online while I ate.  I loved it!  Might be my new favorite show.  I watched while I wrote this post too, which is why it took so damn long!

I worked until 7pm today and was stupid tired when I got home.  Dinner seemed impossible and I ended up getting hot bar at the co-op at 9:30.  Vegan “cheesy” broccoli and orzo, an Asian cabbage salad, and some maple roasted tofu and veggies.

I know the picture is gross but it was all delicious and I felt fortunate to have skipped my planned dinner.

Six Hershey’s Simple Pleasures for dessert.

I plan on going to bed as soon as this episode of Awkward is over.  I also plan on going to yoga at 7am.  The 2nd plan is totally dependant on the first; we’ll see what happens.

Have you been watching Awkward?

Curry And Lemongrass, Too

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The past 48 hours haven’t been all that exciting, but they have been busy.  Work, fun, then work.  No working out, unfortunately.  I’m not even going to attempt a workout before my early shift tomorrow either.  I do have big goals for next week though, because I’m hoping to get myself started on a healthy schedule (re: bedtime, working out, and cooking dinner) in the week before school starts.

Thursday’s breakfast was a yogurt bowl.

Note – I’ve eaten a LOT of yogurt the past two days, be prepared.

This bowl was Wegman’s Low Fat Honey Yogurt topped with sliced yellow plucot and white nectarine and 1 Tbsp ground flax.

It was so good I did a similar breakfast the next day and plan on buying more of the honey yogurt asap.

I spent Thursday morning curled up on the couch with a Patricia Cornwell novel.  I’m hoping to blog quickly to get in bed with that same novel!  Reading and eating made for my perfect morning.

I took a reading break to walk the dog and snagged this white chocolate macadamia cookie from the co-op.

I should have made time for a real lunch instead of a cookie because I was starving by the end of my shift.

I had evening plans with friends and knew I would be too cranky to function so we stopped at Code Blue for juice along the way.

My customized drink included kale, spinach, collard greens, carrot, and watermelon.  So tasty and the fun ingredients were very exciting to try.

And it didn’t matter that we stopped for juice because our plans were a total bust.  We’ve been excited about seeing Salt-n-Pepa for a month but it just didn’t pan out.  The line was three times longer than the amount of people let in.  Boo!  But we did catch a few lines of “Let’s Talk About Sex.”

I got home late and had pizza for dinner.

1.5 (big) slices total.  Buffalo and bbq chicken flavored.

I spent the night by myself because the husband had 24-hour call (more like 32 hour call!) and the dog and I slept very fitfully on the couch.

Today’s breakfast was a repeat of Friday’s.

Wegman’s Plain Fat-Free Yogurt, sliced white nectarine and yellow plucot, and 1 heaping Tbsp each ground flax and Biscoff spread.

Then more yogurt for lunch.  Coffee with a honey stick and honey-roasted peanuts.

The honey + peanut + coffee yogurt combo is a childhood favorite of mine.

At work I drank a Big Gulp of diet pop and split this bag of mini Rolos with my co-worker.

I also had a jalapeño cheddar bialey in the afternoon (with a slice of pepperjack).

Adam requested Thai food for dinner and since he came home from a 32 hour shift and did the laundry, Thai food it was.

I got veggie Pad See Eiw.  The husband ordered and we forgot to say “extra veggies” for me so I was pleasantly surprised to see my plate chockfull of the green stuff.

From Sun Restaurant, by the way.  The noodles get a 10-out-of-10 but the sauce only got a 5.

Ben and Jerry’s for dessert.

Coffee Caramel Buzz.  Better than Bonaroo Buzz but not as good as Schweddy Balls.  <– I have officially eaten too much ice cream!

Buffalo Blue Cheese Black Bean Burgers, From Yesterday

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The past 24 hours have been odd but gratifying.  Mostly because I’ve done odd but gratifying things, like frying up a batch of bacon yesterday at 5:30 in the morning.

I ate three hot slices of turkey bacon and they were delicious.  And now you know our wonderful reason for having bacon in the house.

I ate a bagelwich with my bacon.

A Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin with two slices of turkey and 1 oz sharp cheddar.

In addition to bacon and breakfast before 8 am, I also cleaned the kitchen, registered for a conference, made a batch of pupsicles, and worked out.

1 hour hot yoga class.  I love how even if you’re not very good at yoga it’s still a nice workout.  P.S. Wanna know why girls who do yoga are so skinny?  For safety.  My boobs practically smoother me to death in rabbit pose!

After yoga I walked the little man.

We’ve had him more than a year now and I’m still amazed by how well he stops at cross-walks.

Pre-lunch snack was a plate of pickle slices.

And dessert first, since I had to make a last-minute trip to the store for a forgotten ingredient.

Trader Joe’s cookie butter dark chocolate bar, does that even need a description?!  Though I will say that I freaking adore the little bites of crunch embedded throughout the bar.

An epic journey of three stores in my sweaty yoga clothes later, we had panko.  And shortly after that, lunch.

Roasted green beans,

and Buffalo Blue Bean Burgers.

(recipe included at the bottom of this post)

In the afternoon I worked.  It was a good shift, I actually worked several hours by myself for the first time.  It’s always fun when someone trusts you to hold down the fort.

But then on the walk home I got a migraine.  I didn’t take my medicine in time and I ended up being down for the count the whole evening.  I curled up in a fetal position on the couch and Adam brought me to bed at 10.  Unfortunately by then my head felt better and my stomach was twisting with hunger pains.  I probably should have gotten up and eaten but instead I flopped around for several hours before falling asleep.

When I got up this morning cereal was the last thing on my mind; I wanted savory and lots of it.

This salad fit the bill.

With the bites I took while I filled my bowl, this salad contained:  a romaine base, 2 Tbsp light honey mustard dressing, 1 oz gorgonzola crumbles, 2 oz honey roasted peanuts, 2 slices turkey bacon, and 1 chopped Crispin Pink apple.

With a Green Dragon Tea from Honest Tea for drinking.

I also ate the last serving of Maple Pancake and Bacon Ice Cream.

That stuff was ridiculous good.  Pretty please go make it and see for yourself.

I’m actually about to eat another small dessert now too.  It’s a recipe I’m working on though, so no pictures for now.  Hope everyone else is having a sweet day!

Buffalo Blue Bean Burgers, serves 4 – 6

  • (2) 15.5oz cans reduced-sodium black beans
  • 1/2 cup, plus 2 Tbsp buffalo wing sauce
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 3/4 cup gorgonzola cheese crumbles
  1. Preheat the oven to 450*.  Foil and spray 2 baking sheets.
  2. Empty bean cans into a colander and rinse thoroughly – this is a heart healthy step that helps to further reduce the sodium in this recipe.
  3. Pour rinsed beans and 2 cups wing sauce into a blender and puree.  If you have a rickety blender you may want to do this in two batches.
  4. Empty blender into a large mixing bowl.  Add rest of wing sauce and eggs and stir.  Stir in panko and cheese.
  5. Using your hands, form 12 patties out of the bean mixture.
  6. Put patties on prepared sheets and bake for 20 minutes.  It is not necessary to flip the patties during baking.

Canoe-dle

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As the start of my 2nd to last week before school begins, I say “hello, Monday” very reluctantly.  My day got off to an odd start because I spent an hour searching for a food truck whose Twitter stream had lied to me.  I really want to cross that off of my birthday list before the summer ends.

I ended up getting lunch at the hot bar, which was probably cheaper and certainly healthier.

Chana Masala,

veggies,

more veggies with a little tofu,

and the large space was supposed to be fruit but I got flustered and forgot.

In a crowd I’m wonderfully decisive but when I’m alone I tend to get overwhelmed by too many choices.

I had a small iced coffee with skim milk while I shopped.

I’ve officially begun hoarding pumpkin things – I’ve got three cans of puree and three beers! – even though I know I won’t touch them until October.

When I got home I broke into an exciting purchase.

Luigi’s Birthday Cake Italian Ice.

Amazingly, it was a little too sweet for me and I only ate half.  I’ll have to see what I do with the rest of the cups.

At 5 o’clock I did manage to cross something off of my list, a friend and I cashed in a Groupon and went canoeing!

We went out on a two-hour ride and managed to keep up our paddling the whole time.  We even got to spot several deer.

It was fun to get some nature time.  Over all we did really well, though there was one very shallow area that we got stuck on in both directions.  On the way back I actually had to put my feet out of the canoe and give us a push!!  I can’t wait to see how my arms feel tomorrow.

Right now my biceps feel good, but I am pretty darn tired.  Like, dinner sounded like an impossible feat, tired.  Instead of cooking, I ate this spicy salmon brown rice roll for dinner.

And I’m going to fall into bed the minute I press publish.  Good night!

A Midsummer Night’s Date

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So I did, in fact, sleep through yoga.  I suck.  I have two weeks until school and then I’ve got class at 8 am five days a week so I need to seriously work on my getting out of bed skills!

Breakfast was a big pink smoothie.

Into the blender went 1.5 cups Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, a heaping 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, a heaping Tbsp pb, and 2 scoops of Tera’s Whey Organic Bourbon Vanilla Whey Protein Powder.

My smoothie tasted like a vanilla pb & j!

I also had 2 oz of the wasabi snack mix my parents brought.

I spent what was left of my late morning cooking dinner.  This quart of heirloom tomatoes played a big role.

I also finally used this Kelapo Coconut Oil sample that I got last summer at HLS.

And tri-color quinoa from last summer’s trip to Trader Joes.

The dog is afraid of the oven and this meal kept the oven and stove-top on for a solid hour and scared him deep into the back of the closet.

What a scaredy cat dog!

The end result was worth it.

Here are the general specs if you want to recreate it, for 4 servings –

  • 1 cup quinoa, cooked according to package instructions
  • 1 quart tomatoes, roasted
  • 2 large zucchini, sliced and roasted
  • 2 pints sliced mushrooms, sautéed in 2 Tbsp butter
  • 14 oz extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed and sautéed in 1 Tbsp coconut oil with seasoning of choice
  • sauce of choice (I topped my bowl with 2 Tbsp pesto)

The photos are actually of Adam’s bowl since my dinner looked like this –

I ate to-go because the husband picked me up from work and we walked straight to Shakespeare in Delaware Park.

We only caught half of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (I got out of work late and Adam has a strict bedtime) but we enjoyed what we saw.

We shared these cola gummis for dessert while we watched.

Buffalonians, have you seen any Shakespeare in the park this summer?

Cootie Catcher Sunday

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Today was all about family fun time.  My uncle, aunt, and cousin (and her adorable children!!) came over for the day to visit.

I had a great time playing with the two little girls.  Not even gonna lie, I loved getting a chance to color again.

And I even remembered how to make cootie catchers.

When can I have babies?!

I stayed up late knitting and slept through breakfast but I was ready for lunch.

I made an amazing grilled cheese out of rye bread, provolone, pimento cheese, and thick-sliced turkey.

Plus fruit salad on the side.

Chocolate for dessert.

Our last dinner continued the streak of tasty meals.

Salad with green goddess dressing,

and a serve-yourself main dish.  I put brown rice, celery, onion, cherry tomato, pineapple, coconut, cheese, and chicken gravy on my plate.

With a light Arnold Palmer to drink.

We ended our last evening with a final hour bike ride.

It was the best ride yet because we spotted deer –

We saw the fawn nurse!  Too cool.  I wish you had been there to see them, Adam!

Tomorrow we drive back to Buffalo and early the next morning my parents fly home. I’m planning in advance on not blogging tomorrow.  You can assume I’ll drink a giant diet pop and eat chips if I can find some good ones.  See you in Buffalo.