Tag Archives: veggies

Chipped Chompers

by

As you can probably tell from the title, this is not a happy post.  I mean, it was a fine day and all, but it ended with a bit of despair.

My smart breakfast held me over nicely through my 1st 2 hour class; oats for the win.  I was ready for lunch by the time we reached break though.  Mostly because I knew in advance how darn good my sandwich was going to be.

1 slice of 2% provolone and 2 slices of Applegate Farms Honey and Maple Turkey on a  toasted Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin.

The turkey was delicious and the sweetness of the bagel totally made the sandwich.

I also packed a baggie of baby carrots but they were so slimy I couldn’t even eat them.  Thankfully my friend Rachel realized that we were burning through our glucose stores cramming for the exam and she bought us Rochers.

Got to keep that brain powered.

I also bought a caramel apple frozen coffee.

But it was disgusting.  I’ve had the drink before and I know it doesn’t usually have a strong aftertaste but it was too close to class time to get back in line so I just threw it out 4 sips in.

I used both of my breaks to study today and the test ended up going ok.  Not as well as I would have liked, but I probably should have studied in advance for that!  I don’t want to do “ok” this semester, I want A’s!  It is worth noting though that I finished our 77 question exam in 17 minutes.  I’m a test speed demon.  <– that was with checking everything twice

I had to stay on campus after our test was over and I was starving.  I turned to the vending machines for sustenance.

The dietetics’ building’s machines actually have some healthy options, but Clif Bars are $2.50 and honey mustard pretzels are $1 so you see how that went.

My late home-coming was because I had a job interview at 6pm (fingers crossed!).  I think that went really well but sadly then the evening took a downturn. 

I ate my pretzels at 5  and then didn’t eat anything else so I was still starving.  The important point there is that at 7:30 I hadn’t eaten in almost 3 hours; that’s a key detail.  I came home and cleaned up the remains of the husband’s shoes (thanks a lot, Webster!), took the little monster on a walk, and was just catching up with Adam when I felt something in my mouth.  “I think I chipped a tooth.”  Adam told me to shut up – it’s possible I’m paranoid about my teeth and it wasn’t like I was currently eating anything – but did get out his otoscope.  And, confirmed; I chipped a tooth!  I chipped two teeth last year using my old retainers but tonight I basically cracked one of the previously chipped molars in half.  Ouch!

We had to cancel our hot, crunchy dinner and we also had to go buy Adam new insoles so while we were out we picked up Subway for dinner.

I got a 6inch veggie sub with pepperjack cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, lots of pickles, and yellow mustard.

And I also scarfed the last quarter of Adam’s tuna sub.

Eating was a little painful, but no worse than hunger pains or a day without veggies.  Bleck.

Have you ever chipped a tooth?  Any food suggestions (or warnings) until I can get it fixed?

Wegman’s Jackpot

by

We didn’t get in bed until past 11pm and the dog snuggled me awake 10 different times during the night but somehow I did manage to get in a 6am gym session.  Woo-hoo!  30 minutes on the elliptical at level 5.  My feet kill and I was moving pretty slowly, but I got some movement in and spent some time reviewing my notecards.

When I got home I grabbed a coffee for the road but didn’t bother taking a picture because the dog ate my camera cord.  Coffee, English Toffee syrup, Silk Plain Almond Milk.  I think y’all know what that looks likes.  Instead, here is a picture of Webster the Destructor –

I had a nice break between class 1 and 2 because my test only took half of the alloted time.  The test went well, probably not an A but definitely not an F.  We’ve had mostly multiple choice questions for the past year so I need to get used to the short answer, matching, etc. format.

I ate my breakfast on the break (I uploaded my photos after I packed lunch last night).  Mini box of raisins,

serving of Love Grown Granola (HLS swag),

and a Trader Joe’s applesauce packet.

I ended up going ahead and eating my lunch during the same break (phone pic).  I packed a frozen serving of leftover kale and beans which I plated and stuck in the campus bookstore microwave. 

There was a bit of tofurkey sausage and parmesan on the bottom too.  Even frozen and defrosted the bbq kale and beans were still delicious!  I’m sad this is all gone and plan to make another batch soon.

Eating lunch at 10am left me pretty hungry come my second break but I distracted myself with some computer time.  <– I even started writing this post!

After school I had to run to Bagel Jays to pick up some halvah for a school presentation later this week.  They were all out, but the cashier did have a suggestion of where I could find more.  And an epic journey to the Wegmans 25-minutes away with an international section ensued.  In the end that hour was completely worth it though; I ended up finding all sorts of goodies that I haven’t spotted elsewhere in Buffalo!

Adam and I have been searching for everything matzoh every since we left Miami!  And I was excited to eat a snack find right away.

Pizza flavored snacks (chips? crackers?) from Bissli.

Adam and I split the package and we both loved them.  The flavor was pretty mild but the texture was unlike any snack I’ve ever had, very hard and crunchy!  When I turn my epic Wegman’s journey into a monthly event I will definitly be buying more Bissli products.

I also drank a Wegman’s diet root beer and pretty much died and went to heaven.

Sidenote -I don’t show you all of the diet soda I drink (I’d never get off the computer!), just the interesting ones.  Diet cola is my favorite thing on Earth but other sugar-free sodas tend to make me gag.  I’d sooner dehydrate than put Diet Sprite in my mouth.  But this root beer was amazing; perfect balance of sweet and spice, no aftertaste.  This actually was the best root beer I’ve ever had, diet or regular, period.

We ate our snacks on the road because we were out searching for a camera cord replacement.  Many (many) stops later we finally had success.  By the time I had the ability to photograph dinner Adam and I were completely demoralized.  He actually called my mom and begged to charge dinner!  She’s the best lady ever, so out we went.  And wouldn’t you know it, we wandered into restaurant week.

How serendipitous!

My pictures of dinner are all terrible.  I’m hoping it was the lighting because if I need to buy a new camera right after I sprang for a new cord I might just cry.

Course 1 was soup;

a jalapeno cheddar corn potato chowder.

This had a nice spice to it but was too rich for my taste.

For my entrée I ordered the tortellini ratatouille.

That’s not it.  I was two bites in I was complaining about the lack of veggies when I came to a startling realization – this was the tortellini Bolognese.  Pros – my entire pre fixe meal was comped.  Cons – I ate a cow!!?!

Our waiter was apologetic about the mishap and soon enough I had my ratatouille.

Much better, this had tons of veggies.  I ate 2/3 of my meal and brought the leftovers home for a happy husband.  He ordered steak with a Stilton crust and was thrilled.

For dessert I ordered peach cobbler with Grand Marnier and chantilly cream.

I never really consider the cobbler but this was a lot of fun to eat.  I finished all of the peaches and cream and 3/4 of the cobbler.

Not so fun is the fact that my stomach started hurting halfway through dinner.  It was bad enough that the pain was making me sweat (though not bad enough that I’ll skip dessert, apparently!).  The issue was probably the creamy soup, but I’m going to blame the beef!

Are there any foods you don’t eat?  When was the last time one slipped into your meal?  Veggies – how do you react when you accidentally consume some flesh?

Shrimptastic

by

I can’t even tell you how freaking good it feels to be back to blogging.  I know I don’t always blog everything (though if I blog for a day than I include everything that goes in my mouth) but going extended periods without posting just feels strange!

I’ve got a busy week ahead – 3 tests and 2 projects by Friday – so I set my alarm for 8am to get working.  I got a little distracted by house organizing and puppy training but I got a good bit of work done too.  I was extra fueled by coffee.

Into my big mug (thanks Janetha!) went 2.5 cups of coffee, 2 Tbsp English Toffee syrup, and a big pour (~3/4 cup?) of Silk Plain Almond Milk.

Hello, dog.

I went unorthodox for breakfast because I found the last serving of bacon, corn, and shrimp chowder lurking in the back of the fridge.

Food safety regulations would have called for tossing this but it tasted great and I feel fine.

Around 12:30 I headed over to Delaware Park for a run.  Running at high-noon wasn’t my best idea but this ended up being a terrible workout in general.

  • ran 1.75 mile lap in 19:30
  • paused break for peeing and stretching (I drank a big cup of water with my big cup of coffee; slosh city)
  • “ran” 1.75 mile lap in 24:30
  • walked 1.75 mile lap in 43:30

That’s 3.5 miles in 44 minutes plus 1.75 miles more walked.  This run was pretty much a shitshow.  9 minutes into my second lap my feet went completely numb and I had to walk to avoid twisting my ankle.  Adam had tightly tied my shoes for me but loosening them didn’t help and I wasn’t off pins and needles until I actually took my shoes off.  I wanted to finish my last walking lap because I had my notecards with me to review so I ended up doing 1.75 miles barefoot.  It seemed like a good idea at the time but my gigantic, excruciating blisters indicate that it was actually a terrible idea.  Ouch!

I was at least cheered up by my shower thanks to this lavender soap my mom sent me –

When I was a kid my mother loved lilac (which smells like cat pee, by the way) but my dad and I couldn’t get it together so we’d always buy her tons of lavender-scented goodies.  I teased her for years about being an old lady but in the last year or so I’ve become completely obsessed with all things lavender.  Guess I’m the old lady.

Adam offered to help me hobble through the grocery store so I did a quick-lunch out of hand.  A black plum,

and a Sweet Tango apple.

Holy crisp and juicy, Batman!  I was so thrilled to loudly munch through a fresh apple; Sweet Tangos are divine.

We did Wegmans and the co-op and when I got home I hungrily dug into this container of Dr. McDougall’s Spicy Kung Pow Noodles.

Pretty darn good.  The was a nice amount of spice to these and it felt like a ton of food for 220 calories.

Dinner involved more shrimp and tasted better than it looked.

On the left is a small serving of Cooking Light‘s Bombay Shrimp Curry.  My changes to the recipe included using ground mustard instead of mustard seed, skipping the cilantro, and using a veggie mix with peas, corn, carrots, lima beans, and green beans.  I also skipped the rice because I had just eaten pasta.

Unfortunately, we hated it.  Adam and I both could barely choke this down.  The flavor was strangely flat and it was spicy in an unpleasant way.  Do not recommend.

I know the stuff on the right looks bad, but I promise it tasted sooooo good.

Cheesy baked eggplant!  Using this Italian eggplant I picked up at the farmers’ market last week.

For two – into my mini casserole dish went a thin layer of marinara, a layer of thinly sliced eggplant, a sprinkle of salt, a thick layer of marinara, and 2 slices of 2% provolone cheese.  Baked at 450* for 45minutes.

Gah; this was unbelievable!  The eggplant got soft enough to cut with a fork and baking the cheese intensified its flavor x100.  We are going to make this again as a main meal very soon.

For dessert I used Mixchief Jell-O Mix to make Cherry Coke Jell-O.

How fun!  It wasn’t as strong as I would have liked but I would try it again and substitute more cola for water next time.

That bowl had 2 servings but I only ate one.  To be honest I’m feeling pretty unsatisfied; I think I will most likely end up adding enough dessert to this day while I study.  I’ll update later if I do.

How often do you update your blog?  Does it feel strange to take breaks.

***Updated to add – I did have a 2nd (fiberific) dessert; 1/3 cup of All Bran Bran Buds with 2 tsp of crushed Heath bar.  No picture because the dog chewed through my camera cord.  <– ugh!

Anchovy Enjoyment

by

Why the frick am I still awake?  My Sunday tiredness has not disapated at all, in fact it seems to be getting worse, so logging 6 hours of sleep before tomorrow is such a bad idea.  Quick post, quick post.

The dog didn’t get walked (rain), my run got skipped (duh), but I did finish all of my necessary school work (yay), and dinner did get made.

Bagna Cauda Cauliflower Pasta from last month’s Everyday with Racheal Ray.  The recipe isn’t online yet so I can’t link but here is a shot of the ingredients –

My changes were –

  • only using 2 Tbsp of evoo
  • substituting regular, white garlic
  • using 10 ounces of locally made garlic parsley tagliatelle
  • using reduced fat half and half
  • adding 1 Tbsp of all purpose flour to my sauce (I think the reduced fat .5&.5 kept it from thickening properly)

Quite good, but definitley a time consuming recipe.  I can’t believe I like anchovies?! 

I had enough time to starve while we cooked so I plated myself a gigantic serving.

I waited 30 minutes to digest my heaping bowl of pasta but when I was still hungry I made myself a yogurt dessert bowl.

A Wegman’s 0% Honey Greek Yogurt topped with a sliced black plum and 2 tsp of crumbled Heath bar.

Yum; I am so glad that plums are still in season!  Locals – this Wegman’s line of Greek was great, definitely on par with Chobani.

And zzzzzzzzZ!

Blood From A Stone

by

I stayed up until past 1:30 last night!  I didn’t really get much work done but I did have fun eavesdropping on the boys’ funny poker smack talk.  I planned on staying in bed for 8 hours but the husband got up with the dog and lured me from under the covers with farmers’ market trips and coffee.

He made me a warm to-go mug with Silk Almond Milk and English Toffee Syrup.

We bought a few things at the market but we did some giving too.  Adam gives blood regularly and when he spotted the donation truck we popped in.  I’ve never been able to give blood because my veins are tiny and wimpy – the last two times I’ve had to have blood taken for blood panels I had veins in both arms popped!  One time I tried to give in college and the man meanly told me he wouldn’t be able to do it without a children’s needle and that I should work out more!  But guess what I did today –

Booyah, I’m finally a blood donor!  They had to (carefully) use a vein in a sort of odd placement – Adam said it was probably a branch of the cephalic vein – but I managed to produce a full pint!  I think being a donor is really important, I’d also like to donate marrow in the future, and I am so excited to finally join the ranks of big kids who give blood.

When we got home I made a fantabulously tasty cereal bowl.

A serving of Barbara’s Vanilla Almond Shredded Wheat topped with a sliced plum, a sliced plucot, and more almond milk.

This combination of flavors and textures may actually be my favorite thing ever; the types of sweetness play off of each other so well.

I did a tiny bit of work in the morning and then Adam and I had errands to run.  Our fridge was basically empty, which lead me to one of my more “creative” concoctions.

The last Tbsp of light sour cream with the last Tbsp of blue cheese crumbles, a few capers, and a dash of A-1 Steak Sauce.  Spread on top of a Bagel Thin.

I actually thought the end result wasn’t bad, but Adam was in love with it so I ended up sharing most of the bagel with him.

I also ate this big bunch of grapes.

And this 2 oz mix of yogurt covered raisins, peanuts, and pretzels.

I needed more of a lunch though because I thought I was going to pass out from hunger by the time we got home. Thankfully we had 7pm plans so there was an excuse to have an early bird’s 5 o’clock dinner.

I am pretty much done with Saigon Cafe because their “Thai spicy” is apparently my mild and bland, but we had a Groupon so I gave it one last shot.  Crisp tofu to start.

Deep fried tofu with peanut sauce, it’s hard to go wrong.

I ate four pieces of tofu with sauce.

For my meal I ordered the tofu tamarind, Thai spicy, with extra veggies.

What exactly would this dish have looked like without the extra veggies?!?

And, I’m done. Saigon Cafe does ok noodles dishes but their meals are always disappointing. I ate about half of my dish with two bites of rice and two stolen bites of Adam’s Pad Thai.

It was a double Groupon night and our main activity was Art By You.

They provide the materials and a quick lesson and you provide the talent, or not.

I went from this,

to this,

to this.

Let’s just say I’m artistically challenged! I had a great time though!

Adam thought it was fun too, and it was great to do something artsy with him.

We weren’t ready for the fun to end so now we’re cuddling on the couch and watching “That ’70’s Show.”  I’ve been hungry all day so I did dinner take 2 from Moe’s.

That’s a kid’s quesadilla with corn salsa, plus chips with queso dip.  I also snagged most of the husband’s chips too.

I’d like to say that I’m done but Adam put a frozen pizza in the oven and I’m pretty sure I’ll end up having some.  I’m putting away the camera for now though.  I’ll end with my favorite shot of the day.  Whenever we leave him alone too long Webster gets into our reusable bags like an asshole.  When we got home this evening he was stuck in one of them and wearing it like a cape.

I thought Adam and I were going to die laughing!

Have you ever donated blood?

We Didn’t Have To Make Dinner

by

Can I just confess that I’m actually not thank goodnessing for Friday?  I’m not ready for the weekend yet.  I really wish it was Wednesday and I could relive Thursday but chose to do some freaking work instead of being a lazy.  Ce la vie.

For breakfast I brought the last 1/3 serving or so of leftovers from last night (pasta with peas, spinach, and nutritional yeast).

This was very pleasing to eat cold for some reason.

Plus the very last serving of dried hibiscus.

So sad, I’d give anything to live near a Trader Joe’s!

I also got to supplement with coffee; my first class teacher was an hour late this morning (flat tire) and I had time to go with a friend to the bookstore coffee shop.

With skim milk.  I post coffee pics because of the milk (I post everything with calories minus my vitamins and random nibbles…and days I don’t post at all!) but I realize that these mug shots are less interesting than the traditional kind.  I probably should have just skipped mentioning this one all together because I didn’t get to finish it before I went to the Dietetics computer lab and I threw half of it away.  Usually I eat and drink in the lab like a rebel but they mentioned it in the meeting yesterday and I was so so glad that I’d thrown mine out when a professor came in and yelled at a few classmates.

We were in the computer lab for my 2nd class but I ended up staying late and finishing an entire assignment that isn’t due for another 2 weeks!!!  I was so proud of myself.  And so glad that the husband nicely waited to pick me up.  <– he drove me to and fro today because I’m wearing a backless top in spite of the 45* morning  <– it is September and I will wear my September clothes, damnit!

Adam took the dog to the vet before he picked me up; someone is so excited about being cone and stitch-free!

That’s Webster sticking his whole head under the crack in the bathroom door!

I didn’t get home until past 3pm and I was more than ready for lunch.  Green grapes.

Plus leftover vegan Philly filling topped with a dollop of light sour cream and tons of Sriracha.

Meh.  Even with the sriracha this was bland and the texture just wasn’t right.  I ate about half before moving on to other leftovers; 2oz of bread (also from the Phillys) microwaved with Smart Balance Light.

Chewy bread makes me happy; Adam and I have both been craving pizza with good crusts all week.

We made plans with friends to come over for dinner last week, but Adam told me at 5 o’clock that the boys were also coming over for poker later so we had to do an emergency run to the store.  I was getting pretty hungry so I was thrilled to be handed a Wegman’s sushi sample.

I also snagged cookies; a whole wheat butterscotch drop and a cinnamon nut rugelach.

This was actually my first time trying rugelach and now I’m smitten; it was so chewy! 

Patrick and Michelle came over this evening but THEY cooked for US!  They brought over supplies and equipment; it was so much fun to watch some legit steaming take place in my kitchen.

They ended up putting together a great meal.

Sticky rice,

steamed shrimp and some stir-fried veggies,

and steamed tilapia with a spicy black bean sauce.

The fish was like butter; so creamy and good.  Thank you so much guys!

My only contribution to the meal was dessert,

but Patrick ate at least 3 S’more Oat Balls so I think I did good.  I stuck to one but I will note that I brought some in to my school friends this morning and they all gave good reviews as well.

The boys are (loudly) playing poker in the living room so I’m going to stay up and try to get some work done before my busy weekend begins.  I just spent 45 minutes catching up on the phone with my parents too.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Oh, Balls

by

Oh.  Hello there.  Are you here to hear me talk about my balls?  Well calm down, I’m getting to that.  I do have some exciting ball news but there was lots of excitement today.

Like my discovery of my new favorite smoothie of all time.

I know it doesn’t look like much but this new combination was freaking amazing.  I put 1 cup of lemonade and 2 Tbsp of chia seeds in my blender and left them to soak.  Five minutes later I added 1 cup of frozen strawberries and then blended like crazy.  Here’s an outside picture so you can really see the color –

Un-be-leave-a-bull!  The chia seeds mostly blended but still left a nice chew and their nuttiness was the perfect foil to the sweet and sour of the strawberry lemonade.

Even better, my smoothie actually held my stomach through my 4 hour class.  I attribute this to the chia seeds.  My 2 Tbsp of chia seeds gave my smoothie an extra 140 calories, 5 grams of protein, 11 grams of fiber, and 7 grams of polyunsaturated fats (mostly omega-3s).  source

That’s not to say I wasn’t ready for lunch though.  We had a “welcome back” department lunch today, complete with food.

I took a slice of mushroom pizza,

a few fresh veggies,

and some amazingly fresh strawberries and watermelon.

I also grabbed a 2nd slice later on.

In other lunch news I finally had an apple month win!

This caramel apple iced coffee from my school’s coffee shop totally hit the spot.  I did only drink half of that monster (I thought I was ordering a small) but I definitely made sure to get every last lick of caramel out of my cup.

Fully fueled, I headed to the gym for a L-O-O-O-N-G spells long workout.  I had a time goal and a length goal and I ended up hitting my time goal long before my length one; ie I took too many walking breaks and was slow!  I did a looong warm up and looong cool down with walk/run intervals in between that ended up being a lot of walking. 

In the end I covered 9 miles in 1 hour and 53 minutes.  As slow as you can move and still call it running but the distance at least is nothing to sneeze at.  P.S. I’m having some issues with the bones in my right foot but my legs feel great; yay!

Alright already, let’s talk about the balls.

S’mores Oat Balls.  Click here for the recipe link.  I swear to God this recipe was inspired by the S’mores Quaker Chew Bars and not my desire to say the word balls repeatedly after eating and rewatching Schweddy Balls.

The recipe was simple but the end result was delicious yet subtle.  Part s’more, part oat, totally acceptable for breakfast!  I resisted any nibbling while I assembled but I did eat two balls as soon as they were formed.

Make them at home, I promise you’ll love my balls.

Since we ate dessert first dinner needed to be a 15 minute affair.

I prepared 2 servings of spirals pasta, stirring frozen spinach and peas into the mix in the last few minutes of boiling.  Then I made Emily’s Nutritional Yeast Sauce and tossed everything together.

Yum, I thought the nutritional yeast was really good; though that could have been my love for peas with pasta talking.  Head over to The Daily Garnish (recipe link) to see all the benefits of nutritional yeast, but suffice to say dinner was healthy.

Adam has a test tomorrow and I have a really hard time sleeping when he’s not in bed (the upcoming surgical rotation should be fun!) so I’m going to stay up with him.  Studying, blog reading, perhaps a shower; who knows what I’ll get done.

P.S. I used the word “balls” 10 times in this post.  Sorry, Nana!

Bacon, And Corn, And Shrimp, Oh My

by

Wednesdays are my long days (8 – 4:40 on campus) but today didn’t feel so bad.  I’ve fallen into the swing of 8 am classes and my friend Janessa and I had a group project to work on that filled up our long break between classes.  Throughout the day I did eat all of my packed lunch components.  I also bought a short apple cider from the school coffee shop.

This wasn’t a total fail like the Tim Horton’s cider, but it still tasted a lot like warm apple juice.

I need to find a good cider before the end of September Apple Month!

Adam came to pick me up at the end of the day and wanted me to go to Wegmans with him to pick something up for school.  He plied me with hot bar.

I caved easily.  To be fair, I genuinely needed some greens to go with my dinner.

Plus a few pieces of chicken for good measure.

It’s a good thing I was still hungry when I got home (ha! when am I ever not still hungry?) because I got to work cooking an actual dinner.

I’m not sure what corn chowder is supposed to look like but to me that looks like success.

I pulled the recipe for Bacon-Corn Chowder with Shrimp from Cooking Light last month but I was waiting until it felt more like fall to try it out.  Here were my changes –

  • using 5 strips of (Applegate Farms) turkey bacon and crumbling it all into the soup
  • skipping the thyme
  • throwing in 2 extra cloves of garlic
  • leaving my frozen corn frozen when it went into the pot

I gave myself a large serving and happily tucked into the first soup of the season.

Adam and I thought that the recipe was good, but not amazing like we wanted it to be.  I wanted the flavors to be more vibrant and definitely sweeter.  I think a large part of the problem was using frozen corn; I’d love to make this again but with fresh corn off the cob.  We gave it a 6.5/10 but considering how low-calorie it was (~300 calories for 1 and 2/3 cups) the flavor certainly wasn’t bad.

My taste buds weren’t fully satisfied by the meal though.  I actually ended up making myself an after-dinner coffee.

A little bit of lukewarm coffee, a Tbsp of sugar, and a lotta bit of Plain Silk Almond Milk.  I hope the caffeine doesn’t keep me up!