Tag Archives: veggies

Staying Alive, Staying Alive

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Let’s not talk about last night.  Dinner was a disaster, studying was a disaster, bedtime was a disaster.  Let’s not talk about this morning either.  No breakfast, no answers to the test questions, no remembering that my car was parked on the wrong side of the street and that deciding to walk would earn me a ticket.

Let’s just start this post at 11; that’s when the eats for today started anyway.  I spent the hour between my test and class in the food lab, planning for the Chili Sale.  We are selling on Tuesday and cooking all day Sunday so my group had to go think logistics.  We’ve got a specific plan for what all 18 classmates will be doing in the kitchen for 6 hours on Sunday, but I’m pretty sure it’s still going to be a shit-show.

Today’s food lab was the fat substitute group.  Normally I don’t snap pictures because I’m too busy taste-testing but there were a few things I couldn’t eat today so I had the time to photograph.  We tried regular and reduced fat samples of potato chips,

pudding,

and shredded mozzarella.

I could totally tell the difference between the original and modifieds!  Appearance, texture, and flavorwise.

After lab I got some real lunch (and breakfast!) at the campus bookstore.

Del Monte Tropical Medly fruit cup for vitamin C.

Plus this go picnic snack pack.  It contained crackers with hummus,

and roasted edamame, a fruit and nut blend, and a small square of dark chocolate (all of which were fantastic).

This ended up being a very filling lunch, though 520 calories is low to cover two meals.

I was stuck on campus until 2 so I got a little bit of studying done.  After our crazy chili week we have two super difficult weeks of testing and assignments and I’m hoping to be a little better prepared.  And speaking of being prepared … I am recertified in CPR!  That was what my committment at 2 was, BSC offers classes to students for free.  2 hours of chest compressions felt like quite a workout!  I can’t think of a better motivation to start hitting the gym than the fact that I might be too fat and out of shape to save a life.

This weekend is going to be super busy (I’m spending Saturday and Sunday on campus) so when I got home I did some preemptive cleaning and got ready for our weekly grocery trip.  Plus I put dinner into the crock pot.

I refueled around 7 with a Honeycrisp apple.

Plus half a Wolaver’s Pumpkin Ale, split with the husband.

We weren’t fans sadly, neither of us finished our half.  The first sip was heavenly but every subsequent taste felt a little more bitter.  I washed my mouth out with a cordial.

And then we were off to the store.

Thankfully dinner was preparing itself at home because we were HUNgry like Attila by the time we got home.

And this meal was gooood!

Roasted green beans.

Tofu “fish” cakes from More Make It Fast, Cook It Slow.

And a hunk of Piccolo bread from Wegman’s bakery.

Some notes on the bread – a) it was perfect; chewy yet airy; b) I dipped it in olive oil but couldn’t get a good photograph; and c) another (smaller) hunk was also hungrily eaten in the car on the way home!

Are you CPR certified?

Fruit In My Purse, In My Chocolate

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I should NOT be blogging right now but I needed a study break!  Tomorrow is going to suck; I’ll leave it at that.

Breakfast was grabbed quickly but ended up being good.  A Revolution Foods Organic Berry MashUp.

I’ve seen some chatter on the internet about how lame it is for grown women to eat “baby food” but all I have to say to that is – sorry you don’t know what’s good?  These are delicious and if you can find another way for me to stick a half cup of berries straight into my purse, I’m all ears.

Plus a sample box of Cascadian Farms Dark Chocolate Almond Granola from HLS.

This was so crunchy and tasty that I actually snapped a picture on my phone to remind myself to buy more!

Since you can already see my warm jacket peeking out from those pictures I’ll admit defeat and show you bundled up look –

It was in the low 30’s today, there could have been snow!  There’s even another shirt on under that top layer (which was Adam’s!).

Not to worry, no one could see that I was wearing stripes + stripes + plaid, that layer was purely for bundling.

Towards the end of our 4-hour class our instructor took us on a field trip across campus to see some of the research posters being presented by faculty from across the disciplines.  We got out of class early and they had food, score!

Fruit,

veg (that brown stuff is a hummus based sauce),

bit of pasta salad and a turkey sandwich with chipotle mayo.

The photos make everything look a bit bigger than it was in real life, this was a smallish lunch.  Good thing I supplemented it with Combos.

I’m having a Combos thing this week, so sue me.

The hours of 12 – 3 were spent hard at studying with some friends in a computer lab.

So. Much. Material!!!

Cherry cordials when I got home.

If this evening goes like I think it’s going to I suspect this will not be the only dessert I have today…

It’s About The Week

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Since Tuesday was completely devoid of veggies I made sure to fit some into every single meal today!  My life is still so all over the place and some days I don’t even come close to eating the healthiest diet.  I try to make up for those days by getting in extra nutrients on the days where I can.  Healthy living is more how your week looks than any one day in isolation.

For breakfast I got in a massive dose of Potassium and Vitamin K, aka pumpkin.

Into the blender went:

  • 1 medium banana
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 1 Tbsp chia seeds
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1 cup Plain Fat-free Stonyfield yogurt
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup

I ended up with a massive smoothie!

Lunch was all about Folate, or chick peas.

I topped a leftover half serving of channa marsala with some mango chutney.

I also snacked on this baggie of Combos during my last class.

I didn’t say every food choice was about nutrition, some things you eat just for fun!

Dinner was all about Lycopene (and some others), with baked eggplant in tomato sauce.

This dish was so darn good, even as leftovers!  A billion times better than it looks, that’s for sure.  I’m going to publish the recipe soon as part of a Foodbuzz sample post, it deserves some love.

The other half of dinner was mini rigatoni with sharp cheddar and evoo.

This bowl was delicious and I definitely went back for a full serving of seconds!  Plus a few big handfuls of unphotographed kettle chips; we had some reeeeeeally frustrating things happen at school today and I might have been stress nibbling a bit.

When you eat for health do you tend to look at things day by day or take more of a weekly approach?

The Best Thing Ever

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Some household things snuck up on me and I don’t have much time to blog dinner.  It was a good one though.

First course – Caesar salads.

Romaine lettuce base, Caesar dressing, and groats and “croutons.”

The dressing was Wegman’s Yogurt Caesar and it was great.

Nice nutritonal stats for a (creamy!) Caesar dressing too.

Entrée – Cheesy Tomato Eggplant Bake.

Think Eggplant Parm but quicker and much healthier.  I layered thinly sliced eggplant and marinara sauce into a casserole dish and baked at 450* for 30 minutes.  Then topped the dish with slices of 2% provolone and put back into the oven for a final 30 minutes.

It was wicked good; super cheesy and hearty.

Dinner, while good, was not the “best thing ever” though.  That title goes to my afternoon snack, which was delightfully low-brow.

A slice of Wegman’s Country White Bread, slathered in butter.  I saw Adam eating a slice of the white bread this afternoon and suddenly I wanted it more than I’ve ever wanted anything.  I spread on some butter (onto cold bread) and was in absolute Heaven.  I’m actually not sure I’ve ever been more satisfied by another food.  In fact, the husband told me I was creeping him out because I was enjoying it so much!

What was the last simple thing you blissed out over?

A Chick And Her Dog

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It’s 4pm and I’m still just as excited about my afternoon off as I was this morning!  I’ve haven’t been quite as productive as I’d like, but I’ve gotten far more done than I would have if I’d gotten home at 2pm.  It’s a bit hard to focus when the dog is doing THIS –

Studying got a little easier when he settled onto the couch and was no longer traipsing about on the table.

And my focus got an exponential boost when he settled in my lap for a nap, making it impossible for me to hop out of the chair and get distracted by something across the room.

Plus, I turned off the heat when I got home and it’s 64* in the house so a warm puppy in my lap felt heavenly.

On the food front I’ve been far more successful.  Dinner is half prepped and look at what I made myself for lunch –

Channa Masala!  Apparently we really are on an Indian kick.

I used Jenna’s (Eat, Live, Run) recipe and tried to follow it closely except for a few changes –

  • I didn’t have most of the spices so I used went with 1 tsp garam marsala, 1 tsp sweet curry, and 1/4 tsp chili powder
  • I used an extra Tbsp of butter
  • I skipped the ginger
  • I used extra tomato paste
  • I doubled the lemon juice

Oh, and I burnt the daylights out of the sauce instead of pincing.  Frick!  But I trudged forward with my blackened tomato paste and the end dish turned out pretty tasty, if not carcinogenic.

I topped my serving with fat-free plain yogurt and some mango chutney.

Delish.  I’d like to try the “real” dish at India Gate soon to see how my version compares.

I also snacked on a serving of kettle chips while I cooked.

Is there anything better than chip foldsies?

Quick Trip To Canada

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I went to Canada today!

We didn’t really do any exciting abroad things, but we did snap pictures as we drove past the falls.  We were just making a quick trip up to the International Marathon Expo.  I offered to drive up so that blog friends Katy and Holly could pick up their packets.

I actually was planning on running the half marathon with them until not too long ago, but that’s another story for another time.

Prior to our drive, Adam and I hit up the farmers’ market in search of eggplants.  We had success.  We also found breakfast.

The husband and I split this locally made cheddar-rosemary scone.

It was crumbly and delicious.  I need to put “make scones” on my life to-do list.

Then after Canada we headed to the grocery store.  Adam and I both got totally sucked in by this register line purchase.

We split the box 60:40 (his favor), but both took at least a nibble of all four flavors.

When we got home I made myself a plate of grilled cheese epicness for lunch.

2 mini sandwiches (that’s a small plate) of sourdough bread with cheddar, 2% mozzarella, and pickled jalapeno slices.

I cooked the sandwiches in a skillet with another smaller skillet pressed on top and they turned out so crispy. 

Plus melty, cheesy, and spicy.

With a cookie for dessert.

We had dinner planned but Adam was absolutely desperate to get back to India Gate.  We compromised by eating some veggies at home first.  In the form of salads.

This was an amazing salad too.  A Romaine lettuce base topped with groats, roasted zucchini, goat cheese, and champagne dressing.

The cheese was more of the world’s best goat cheese from First Light Farm and Creamery.

This time a double cream chevre with garlic and dill.

And the dressing was a Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program sample from Marzetti’s Simply Dressed Line.

Nutrition –

From the accompanying literature – “Marzetti Simply Dressed is made with a minimal number of all-natural ingredients, such as extra virgin olive oil, canola oil (a source of Omega-3 ALA) and sea salt, and does not contain any preservatives, trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, or artificial flavors or colors.”

After all that it’s ironic, but my only complaint was with one of the ingredients!  The dressing contained xantham gum (which I’m not opposed to in principle and do use occasionally in smoothies) and it made it way to viscous.  The thick, goopy, snotty (sorry) texture is not what I’m looking for in a dressing.  But the flavor was nice without being overpowering.  And I only needed 1.5 Tbsp (less than 80 calories) to feel like my whole salad was properly dressed.

‘Twas good all together.

But we hung out a bit too long between our salad course and the rest of our meal because we definitely had room for dessert, drink, and appetizer!

We started with Paneer Pakora, hhome-made cheese dipped in chickpea batter and deep-fried.

This was like the Indian spin on fried mozzarella sticks.  Here’s my serving –

We also ordered a fig lassi.

It was creamy with nice back hints of fig and these great little pieces of chewiness at the bottom.

We meant to share this 50:50 but I took a much larger portion because my meal was hot-hot-hot.

It’s not on the menu, but they were happy to hook me up with Tofu Vindaloo.

Vindaloo is a spicy, tomato based sauce that I’ve been dying to try because it’s notorious for melting your face off.  I ordered mine “hot” hot and while this was spicy it still wasn’t quite the heat level I was hoping for.  I’ve found outside of Thai food other types of heat just feel a little flat to me.

Adam repeated his order from last time, Chicken Makhani, boneless skinless tandori chicken breast prepared in tomato, butter, cream sauce and garnished with cashews and raisins.

My meals have all been good but I think there is really no way to beat this dish!  The cashews and raisins are little bits of chew embedded in every bite.

The bits of chew theme continued with fantastic rice.

I told Adam during this meal that chewiness is my favorite texture sensation.

Here was plate number 1 –

Rice, tofu, plus a taste of the Makhani sauce.  I ended up also topping my vindaloo liberally with raita to help cool things down.

For plate number 2 I ended up just layering all of the components into a pile.

It was a great combination of flavors.  And we came home with leftovers so we’ll have happy taste buds for lunch tomorrow too.

We didn’t want to kill the date-night vibe so we ended with dessert.

Gulab Jamun, deep-fried milk balls in a sweet syrup.

These were like little donuts with the slightest flavor of milk, like tres leches light.  The syrup had some sort of spice in it and lent another nice layer of flavor.  It was a fun end to a fun meal.

Which Indian dish should I check out next?

Good Marital Advice

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First things first.

Q – Which has more caffeine (no looking it up!) a grande coffee from Starbucks or a Red Bull energy drink?

A – The Starbucks.  330 mg versus 80 mg.  (source)

Also, I have no photos of my mid-day meal.  Lunch was consumed via food lab samples and I didn’t have time to photograph.  The lack of pictures stinks, but the meal was gooood.  Today was the fat/fat substitute group’s lab and we made regular and reduced versions of ranch dressing, buffalo chicken dip, french toast, red velvet cupcakes, and grilled cheese sandwiches.  In total I consumed about 3-4 big bites of each.  The cupcakes were beyond nasty (both varieties) but the dip was ridiculous good and we all stood around taking bites long after we were done tasting!  Plus I ate several pieces of sourdough while I was slicing bread for the sandwiches.

I had dinner all planned out but the husband arrived home from the hospital at 6pm and confidently declared that we were going out.  A good wife never contradicts her husband.

We ended up at Thai Orchid and our meal was mind-blowing.  Good call, honey!

I took a few bites of Adam’s Tom Kha soup.

And several more bites of his Pad Thai.

But mostly I was focused on shoving this into my mouth as quickly as I could.

Pad Kee Mao; spicy stir-fried flat rice noodles in chili sauce with broccoli, egg, onion, green and red peppers, and fresh hot basil.

I ordered mine tofu/vegetarian and Thai spicy so it came with extra veggies and burned my face off.

Heaven.  I was dying with happiness with every bite I took.

Now we are going to catch up on “Modern Family” and stick some spoons into this –

Did you guess the answer to the caffeine question correctly?

My Chemical Romance

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Can we just not talk about the fact that my diet today consisted of sugar, caffeine, and Lean Cuisine?  Goodbye phytochemicals, hello chemicals!

And I was even more of a disaster yesterday.  (<– hence, no post)  The dog ate some very important notes and made me sooooo mad!  By the time I finished cleaning up I just went straight to bed!  Thank goodness I ate a whole bag of chips for lunch so I was covered calorically 😉

I didn’t prepack lunch so this morning I grabbed what I thought was an apple off my shelf.  Nope.

Since I had no other food in my bag I did end up eating Good & Plentys at 8am!  I totally deserved the sugar-induced buzz/headache that followed.

Speaking of sugar, how cute are these?

There is a bake sale going on tomorrow and Janessa and I are bringing in cake balls.

Pumpkin cake, homemade cream cheese frosting, a dip in dark chocolate, and fall colored sprinkles!

We baked all through our break so I couldn’t get food, but I did make time for Starbucks.

That’s a grande, non-fat, caramel macchiato with pumpkin spice subbed in for vanilla syrup.  Genius!

School got out at 4:30 and then Adam and I had to get our flu shots and spend some time switching out our summer and winter wardrobes.  The seasons have officially changed!

I was beyond ready for dinner by the time I sat down to eat at 8pm.

These Thai -style Chicken Spring Rolls from Lean Cuisine rocked my socks.

I ate 6 (aka two servings) minus 1 for the husband who has become a recent Lean Cuisine addict.  I know that the sodium content sucks but they are all so dang good and our grocery store always has great sales.  Plus, for my personal diet I’m more concerned with saturated fat content than sodium.

Dipped in homemade peanut sauce these made a nice, satisfying dinner.

P.S. My mom just called to ask why there was no “Window Shopping Wednesday” post today.  Because I spent all day thinking it was Tuesday!?!