Tag Archives: veggies

Tough Transitions

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I did not get enough done today (don’t I say that every day?!?!) so I’ll keep this post simple.  I did accomplish a walk to the farmer’s market/co-op for some local goodies.

And a trip to Wegman’s to complete the groceries.  We had a hot bar coupon so the husband and I got lunch.

Can you guess which side of that container is mine?

I filled up on an assortment of veggies,

with sesame tofu and chicken.

Not even an hour after eating I felt empty.  The feeling was so bad I ended up walking to get a (ginormous) slice of bbq chicken pizza.

Post-pizza I had a Double Fudge Brownie mini ice-cream.

And then I was FULL.  I ate my 2nd lunch around 3:00 but I ended up calling it dinner because I haven’t gotten hungry again!

I am finding the transition back to school to be much harder than I expected; and I didn’t think it would be easy!  I think part of the issue is that I didn’t just quit my job and go to school, but rather worker bee –> unemployed –> student.  Do you have any advice to help me become a student again????

Jalapeno Popper Burgers; Booyah!

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Remember when Adam and I went on an epic, fruitless quest for jalapeno poppers?  Yeah, f*** that.  I may not be able to get poppers as long as I live in Buffalo, but I can make something even better at home – Jalapeno Popper Turkey Burgers.  Click on the dish name for the epic recipe.

Turkey, cream cheese, panko, and jalapenos are pretty fantasmic all on their own, but adding sharp cheddar to the mixture took it over the top.

The husband and I were swooning the entire dinner.  And the recipe (with cheese!) has less than 500calories.  We rounded out the meal with some roasted asparagus.

Fabulous.

Do you prefer jalapeno poppers with cheddar or cream cheese?  Cream cheese all the way baby!  You actually can find the cheddar variety in Buffalo but I turned up my nose.

When in Random

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I’ve been all over the map today so this post is going to seem a little random.  I didn’t get much any schoolwork done but I did have a lot of fun – lunch at the Co-op with Katie, hanging out with the husband, and a trip with a group of friends to the Buffalo Wing Festival.  It’s sort of essential that I get a good night’s sleep and rock out my work tomorrow so I’ll keep this quick.  Bare minimum description in 3, 2, 1…

This small banana chocolate bar was 33cents at the grocery store.

It was super light and tasted like airy banana cream pie.

Co-op hot bar lunch (for reference, this was the small box, about the size of a novel).

Buffalo-style tempeh,

cashew noodles,

a stuffed grape leaf,

and some pasta with delicious homemade ricotta and marinara.

I also bought the best Hello Dolly (7-layer bar) I’ve ever freaking tasted!

The wing festival was super crowded and really poorly organized (boo) but we had a good time hanging out with the other couples at least.  I only got to sample a few wings, Hawaiian, smoked, and Guinness bbq.

You can assume I ate about half of that; when it gets to close to the bone I get squeamish and Adam finishes them for me.

Crackers with smoked gouda spread, split with the husband.

Yogurt mix bowl – Vanilla 0% Siggi, a chopped peach, cinnamon chips, and tons of cinnamon.

For dinner we cooked up some pizza.

Tandoor Chef caught wind of how obsessed I am with their Pad Thai and graciously sent me some Naan Pizza samples.  I was more than happy to do a review, I think Tandoor Chef products are amazing!  A lot of their offerings are vegan, it is by far the most authentic “ethnic” food I can get in Buffalo, and everything tastes so fresh you have to check the box to remember that it was frozen!  Tonight we tried the Margherita Naan Pizza,

and the Cilantro Pesto Naan Pizza.

Check out the nutritional stats –

Reasonable amount of sodium and saturated fat for a good dose of protein.  I think that a full pizza (as opposed to a half) is a more realistic serving size though.  That makes it a little calorie-dense, but since the ingredient list is just “real” food it’s ok.

Adam and I each tried half of each flavor (he ate some of my crusts though).

Even though our crazy oven caused us to burn them we were still big fans.  The tomatoes on the Margherita tasted fresh and juicy and the cilantro pesto had a great spice kick to it.

I’m getting in bed now, but I’ll probably play Word Feud with Adam for a bit before sleeping.  Good night!

What’s your take on hot wings?

The Farmers’ Market Feeds My Soul

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What better way to announce my Zevia giveaway winner than to toast one in her honor?

Caitlin (commenter #5), this Zevia Cola’s for you!

By the way, after you e-mail me your address so I can get your prize sent off, I suggest drinking the Cola flavor first.  Cola is hands-down the best Zevia out there; it doesn’t taste diet at all, but the flavor isn’t exactly “Coke” either, much earthier.  There is almost a coffee note to it.

This morning the weather was wonderful and I took a nice walk to the Co-op and the farmers’ market.  Look at my bounty of local goodies –

I’m most excited about the plethora of peppers,

I ended up with two purple, one lime, and a pimento!

The only fail was breakfast; I planned on getting something to eat at the farmer’s market but there were so many tasty things to choose from that I got overwhelmed and ended up with nothing 😉 Instead I had a fat-free raspberry lemonade yogurt when I got home.

I finished up my grocery trip at Wegman’s.  We had a coupon, so I got myself a small iced coffee.

– With skim milk and sugar-free caramel syrup. –

I’ll cop to my lunch being a little strange, if you’ll promise to try it yourself anyway!

I pan cooked chopped eggplant, broccoli and okra in a big splash of chicken broth, then finished it off with ~1/2T of evoo.  Then I added 2t of mango chutney to the skillet, along with 2T each raisins and peanuts.

I know it sounds odd, but I swear that the flavors work.  It’d be great with a bit of spice too.

I’ve got a TON of schoolwork to do this long weekend but we have some fun planned in for tomorrow too.  And a dinner on the agenda for tonight that I’m totally jazzed about.  See you then!

~*~*~ It’s time for some shameless self-promotion!

1) Check out my mini guest post at Iowa Girl Eats.

2) I’m throwing my hat into the ring for Project Food Blog!  Actually, I’m thinking about resigning before it even begins, but check out my profile anyways!

3) Are you following me on Twitter?

Gourmand on the Go

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I left the house more than 20 hours ago, good golly it’s been a full day!  Another clue that things were busy – 1o0% of my food was eaten on the go today.  I would say I’m definitely mastering the art of eating healthy on the fly.

This morning’s breakfast contained some pretty snazzy components –

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a chocolate Oikos, 3 dried figs, 1/4 cup of homemade granola, and a plucot.  Things got less fancy in a hurry when I had to load those guys into a to-go cup –

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Still delicious though.

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I didn’t have time to finish before my first class started so I had to throw out some of my stellar combo, but breakfast on the go is a work in progress.

Lunch was identical to the other day; Whole Grain Sandwich Thin, Laughing Cow Queso Fresco and Chipotle cheese wedge, and three slices of turkey.

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I hate to be repetitive but I see many more of this exact sandwich in my future; it’s just so good!  I thought I was going to hate the Arnold’s Sandwich Thins (I got them as a free sample from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program), but they are actually exquisitely doughy.  They remind me a lot of when I was a kid and a I would mush a piece of bread up into a single, delicious square.

I did mix up my side though, a sliced cuc.

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Classes were pretty intense; I finally attended my last nutrition lecture and it’s going to be a lot of work.  I’m taking 7 courses this semester (several are 1-credit labs) and I’m already feeling a bit overwhelmed.  As soon as classes were done today I curled up with my planner, binder, and a computer to map out my assignments for the semester.  Todoist was key.

I was stuck at school until 5pm (rain) so I ended up searching the food court for sustenance.  Thank goodness I gave it another chance, I found a build your own salad place.

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Romaine base, 2 servings of roasted veggies, green bell peppers, carrots, red onions, and blue cheese crumbles with a bit of balsamic.  It came topped with a tasty breadstick.

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We were only home a minute or two before we headed back out.  Our dinner plans were Korean night with a group of friends.

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Gleesh our friends are good cooks!  My bowl was sticky rice with carrots, cucumbers, kim chi, garlic paste, nori, and an egg.

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Yum!

Korean night eventually turned into boys’ only poker, and I sat on the couch catching up with the girls until after midnight.

Adam insisted on pizza on the way home (guess which one of use was drinking instead of driving?!) and I wanted to take part in the fun so I had him cut a slice in half for me.

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Tasty bbq chicken pizza, without undoing my day’s worth of healthiness.  I mostly wanted a taste anyways.

It’s another busy day tomorrow, Bedtime, Bedtime, Bedtime!

Have you ever tried Korean food?  What’s your favorite dish?

I Envy No Man

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It’s almost Friday!  Weekends have been pretty much meaningless to me this past unemployed year, but now that I’m starting back to school next Monday they are exciting again.

I spent forever running errands today because parking was ridiculous everywhere I went.  Also helping orphans catching up on “Make it or Break it.”  I managed to make time for some amazing meals though; I’m seriously excited about every single thing I ate today.

Chicken Enchilada Suiza Lean Cuisine.

Frozen meal win, this was delicious.  A chicken enchilada with cheesy sauce,

and a pile of rice that got mushed around in the cheese sauce.

With an Orange Zevia (free sample).

I’m usually not one for orange sodas but this guy was totally thirst quenching.

Also, a mini bag of kettle corn.

I spent some time wifing it up in the kitchen, baking some chocolate chip cookies for the husband.  I stole a tiny one.

I would have eaten more, but I had already stashed 2T of dough away into the freezer for something amazing.  Keep reading…

Dinner was kinda off the hook.

Think tasty leftovers x10billion.  I topped a bed of roasted green beans with 1cup of corn, a serving of shredded bbq chicken, and some homemade bbq sauce.

Shredded chicken, corn, and roasted green beans are all pretty big favorites of mine and together they were unstoppable!  The balance of spicy-salty-sweet was perfect here.

But nothing was topping dessert.

I’ve had food-processor-envy all year, but tonight I envied no man; tonight, I got to make Gena’s famous banana soft-serve!

Only my batch was extra fabulous because it also had frozen cookie dough blended in.

This bowl was 2frozen bananas and 2.5T frozen cookie dough.  Swoon!

Have you gotten to try banana soft serve yet?  Thoughts?

Healthy BBQ Chicken Sandwich: How To

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First, you’ve got to meet a boy (or girl!).

Trick said boy into marrying you.

Put a crock-pot on your wedding registry.

Place two thawed, humanely raised, skinless, boneless chicken breasts (~1.5lbs) in the bottom of said crock-pot.

Pour in enough reduced sodium chicken broth to cover both chicken breasts.

Do some salt and pepper action.

Set your crock-pot for 8hours on low and walk away.

Meanwhile, join Foodbuzz.  Attend the 1st Blogger Festival and bring home a bottle of Maple Barbeque Sauce with Horseradish.

Join the Tastemaker Program and receive a sample of Arnold’s Multi-Grain Sandwich Thins.

Go back to your crock-pot and remove cooked chicken to a plastic container and shred using two forks.

Pour your bbq sauce (approx. 10Tbsp) over the shredded chicken.

Plate.

I recommend serving alongside a green, perhaps some roasted asparagus?

Roasted figs with goat cheese and honey for dessert.

Live happily ever after.

Of course that’s all subject to some personal interpretation, but those are my basic steps!  😉

Sugar Sodas Are Toast

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Today was another one of those days where I plan to go to the gym and then get distracted for hours.  This means that working out gets pushed back, and lunch gets pushed back, and so on.  I’ve got precious few days left until school (i.e. real life) starts again though, so I’m enjoying the unstructured time!

I had to go to the co-op for a few things this morning so I extended my walk a couple of blocks to The Spot for coffee.

Grande iced toddy with skim milk.  The caffeine was supposed to power me through my work out on an empty stomach – I’m, perhaps, a bit gun-shy from yesterday – but I messed around so long that I finally had to cave and eat breakfast.

Toast with Smart Balance and Crofter’s Strawberry Spread.

I never ever eat toast for some reason, but I really enjoyed this.

My right leg (my tendonitis leg) had a bit of a twinge in it all morning so I planned a treadmill interval workout that would allow me to get in the amount of time I wanted without too much impact on my legs.  Since I knew it was going to be a longer work out I put a packet of Cherry Lime Propel (thanks, BlogHer) into my water.

Thumbs up, Propel!  This tasted great and I have to believe it played a role in the fact that it took me forever to get hungry this afternoon.

My treadmill work out –

  • 6 minutes walking, warm up
  • 20 sets of intervals – 2minutes running/2minutes walking (40minutes total)
  • 4minutes walking, cool down

In the end that added up to 50minutes; 4.13miles.  I finished things up at the gym with 10minutes of abs work and stretching.

When I did finally get hungry in this afternoon I made myself a protein packed lunch –

Broccoli, eggplant, and cole slaw mix sautéed in some homemade peanut sauce.

Just yum!

To drink (in addition to h2o, of course!) was a Zevia Ginger Ale.

I’ve worked with Zevia before, and while nothing can replace my Cherry Coke Zero love, I’m a big fan.  Soda with no sugar or chemicals?  I’d say that’s pretty perfect for an addict enthusiast like me!  Zevia was recently featured in Oprah’s magazine so they sent me some free samples to celebrate.  I’ll be doing a giveaway later on too.

The ginger ale was yummy, just like “regular” ginger ale but a little less sweet.  And it didn’t have that awful spice aftertaste that some brands get.

What is your favorite flavor/brand of soda.  My very, very favorite thing on Earth is fountain diet coke (with ice and a straw) with a shot of cherry coke!