Tag Archives: veggies

Sick Spouse

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Did everyone have a good weekend?  I hope so!  Today wasn’t really definitively good or bad for me.  I didn’t do anything fun and I still didn’t get as much work as I’d hoped done – Adam picked a hell of a weekend to get a cold and be needy – but I got enough done.  Plus I spent the whole day with the husband, and even when he is a whiney, snotty mess that still thrills me ❤.

Breakfast was supposed to be a serving of Van’s waffles with 1T maple syrup, cinnamon, and sliced plum.

Looks good, no?  No!  I don’t know why I fail at breakfast lately but something about how I heated this up made it inedible.  I took three torturous bites and moved on.

I was planning on studying at The Spot today but it was inexplicably packed to the brim.  I took a very irritating walk up and down Elmwood and finally Adam and I decided to go study at Wegman’s.  We got salad bar for lunch and then sat in the cafe and worked.

[small bites of – curried chicken salad, chicken salad, cucumber salad, sesame and general’s chicken, lo mein, Asian green beans, wok seared veggies]

I was hungry the whole time we were there so when we left the store I bought a bag of honey mustard pretzels.

Inhaled.  I also ate ~a serving of the husband’s Divine Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut Bar, unphotographed.

On one hand I am irritated with myself for eating junky food all day (especially on a rest day).  But on the other hand I had another “do I need this?” moment that I’m proud of.  The plan all day had been to get pizza – buffalo chicken pizza with ranch, yum! – for dinner.  When I finished my work at 9:30 we were heading out to get it when I realized: I ate 400calories of pretzels and 200calories worth of chocolate; I wasn’t hungry, even though pizza sounded good!  Since pizza does not = fruits and veggies I should eat because they provide nutrients, I decided to skip it.

How often do you eat pizza?  Is it one of your favorites, or just another meal?  I always thought I wasn’t that into pizza, but then we moved to Park Slope and lived next door to the best pizzeria on the planet.  We ate pizza 2-4x per week!  By the time we moved it was actually embarrassing because we were in there so often 😉

An Afternoon Giveaway

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This is going to be a quick post, but I wanted to give y’all time to win!

Today’s been a bit crazy, but I found out some major good news about an issue with my program (via a 1.5hour meeting I didn’t have time for!) so I’m happy.  I had my 8am library class today, so I packed a Chocolate Bumble Bar to nibble between classes.

I’ve liked every BB I’ve ever tried, but this flavor is definitely a new favorite!  It was sweet in the most pleasant way, sort of like cocoa mixed with honey?!

I attended a “Welcome to the Dietetics Department” lunch this afternoon.

Fruits,

veggies,

small slice of cheese pizza.

You’d be surprised how “normal” the food is at dietetics events; the last one was just cookies and pretzels.

I snuck in a visit to the gym after my meeting.  35minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6.  Followed by a few minutes of strength/stretching.  I can’t believe how long I went without working out last year; I think I’d be going insane with school if it wasn’t for the gym!

I just got home a few minutes ago and I’ve already housed this Yoplait Greek Strawberry Yogurt.

I tried a Yoplait Greek at Kristen’s house a few months ago when I was in Orlando for my half marathon, but I hadn’t seen them available in Buffalo until last week.  While I finally found them here so I scooped some up (with my own money, fyi).  A Yoplait rep contacted me to say she saw them on the blog, and I thought of you guys!  I feel like a lot of people wouldn’t think of Yoplait because it’s not one of the “traditional” Greek brands, but it’s actually a really good product.  Additionally, I feel like this stuff could be “Gateway Greek,” for people who haven’t made the leap yet; the strawberry one is actually strawberry flavored rather than plain with fruit on the bottom.  The rep was more than happy to send me so coupons, and that’s where you guys come in!

Want to try some Yoplait Greek yogurt?  I will be picking two readers (randomly) to receive a free coupon.  All you have to do is vote for me for Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog.  Then take a screen shot of the voting page and send it to me at emilyhwaxATgmail.com.  You have until noon on Thursday, good luck!

He’s Just Like Garfield

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I did not get enough work done today!  I got behind from my “free” weekend last week and I’m still making work up, and I have 4 exams next week so things are feeling a little crazy.  But I did something so that feels good.  Progress, people!

This morning we sent the in-laws off with a hearty breakfast from Panos.

I ordered “The Fix,” which was Two eggs, scrambled with Feta, in a grilled Pita, served with homefries.  I made some adjustments – mozzarella subbed in for feta, plus broccoli and spinach.

I forgot to ask for no butter on my pita so I ended up taking a few sandwich bites and then eating the insides out.  I left a lot of my huge pile of hash browns as well.

I think we sent them off full!  I wrote my blog address down for my m-i-l so she might start stopping by (hi Barb!).

I spent the morning studying – and internet time killing 😦 – at home.  The last of the 7-layer bar was calling me.

I cut it up into little pieces for ease in eating without crumming on my Orgo book.

Around 3 the husband came home from the lab and we drove over to my campus so I could go to the gym.  My knees have been feeling off so I decided to do a nice low-impact treadmill run.

  • 5minute walking warm up
  • 20minutes jogging
  • 5minute walking cool down

I covered 2.53miles.  I finished with a super quick stretch, the gym was closing as I left!

Adam and I studied in the library for a couple of hours – although, again, I got distracted by the internet; gleesh!  I packed some plums and a Babybel Light to snack on.

I also opened this Turtle candy bar my in-laws brought me.

I ate 1.5 and gave the rest to the husband.

I should not have wasted any more time, but when we got home and Adam asked if I wanted to go for a walk my answer was “of course!”  We didn’t have any destination in mind so we ended up visiting the store kitties.

The “store kitties” are two cats that live in a clothing shop on Elmwood, the husband is obsessed with them.  They are ginormous; one has huge paws and is just a big cat, and the other is a total fatty. 

Sidenote 1 – Adam and I have been talking for weeks about baking a lasagna just so we can take a picture of it with the fat cat.  Sidenote 2 – when we lived in Park Slope there was a store puppy, a french bulldog that visited a shop 13 blocks from our apartment.  We walked those 13 blocks at least 3 times a week so we could go in and be total dog creepers.

Dinner was a cinch when we got home because my m-i-l brought us all sorts of home cooked goodness.

Rosemary chicken (just to note, I only ate one of those two pieces, I don’t think I’m a fan of chicken thighs),

with roasted potatoes.

All we had to do was pan-steam some Red Russian Kale, finished off with a bit of sesame oil.

I dipped every component in ketchup 🙂

This meal felt very hardy.

Now I’m already late for my goal bedtime and I’ve still got to shower; I’m off!

Do you have any “store animals” in your neighborhood?

New Fish, Blue Fish

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For dinner tonight we took Adam’s parents to the new sushi spot that just opened on Elmwood, Blue Fin.

My camera was dying and the lighting was low, so please excuse my poor photography.  The meal was delicious; I got one healthy roll and one fun roll.

For health, I ordered a California hand roll.

Hand rolls are my favorite sushi order, I love the texture of the nori.

For fun I ordered a roll to split with Adam.  This bad boy had asparagus, cream cheese, white fish, massago, eel sauce, spicy mayo, and tempura; I believe it was called the Blue Mountain Roll.

It was a great mix of flavors and textures, but very heavy; if you are ordering sushi to be healthy please be aware that rolls with cream cheese are neither traditional nor low-calorie.  They are tasty though!  I ate three pieces.

We were given chocolate with the bill.

We took the in-laws to Delish for local ice cream after dinner.  It was too cold outside for that to appeal to me, but I did pick up an adorable mini casserole dish!

They were on sale and I’ve been wanting one forever.

My mother-in-law is amazing; she was in the kitchen all day yesterday and she brought us pounds (literally!) of tasty foods.  She actually brought so much we can’t eat it all this week!  I portioned out the chilli into baggies in one cup servings and have them on a cookie sheet in the freezer.

That’s how I deal with all soup/soft leftovers, once they are frozen they are a cinch to stack and store.

I did a little bit of school work when we got home and I snacked on a snickerdoodle from my m-i-l.

I didn’t actually eat much real food today so I probably should have skipped the cookie; I’m learning.  We’ve got breakfast plans at 7 tomorrow so I’ve got to get to bed.  Sweet dreams all.

What is your favorite sushi order?

When It Rains…

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…it pours!  Today was dark, rainy, and cold, which totally set the gloom and doom scene for this frustrating day.  At one point it seemed like everything that could go wrong would.  My pants got soaked, my bag was so heavy my right arm started to fall asleep, I didn’t do well on my quiz, I’m frustrated by the cat muscle lab, I forgot my lunch…  But eventually the sun came out (metaphorically of course, it stayed grey here all day) and things started to work out.  I can easily find a silver lining in most of today’s mishaps.

When I got to campus this morning I bought a small coffee – with 2 creamers because there was no skim milk – to sip while I did my last-minute review. 

I quizzed with a friend and we both felt pretty confident.  By the time I headed into lab there were only about 5 words out of the 200 that I didn’t know – – – and 3 of them were on my version of the quiz!  Since the quiz was only 12 questions that is a lot, arrrgh.  It is frustrating to know so much of the material and still earn a poor grade.

I was pretty irritated with myself when I realized I forgot my lunch, but I ended up getting a surprisingly good lunch from Taco Bell in the food court.

I got the Ranchero Chicken Soft Tacos (it comes with 2) and they were fresh and tasty.

We had to sample what we made in Food Prep Lab today but most of the items were red meat so I ended up only taking a small bite of muffin.  I’m not sure whether or not I’ll be able to take photos in lab, but the amount of food each week will be so small it doesn’t really matter if it goes undocumented.

I attended the introductory meeting of Roteract (a service club I’m joining) and then headed to the gym.  It doesn’t matter what the weather looks like outside, a workout always makes me feel good!  I did 30 minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6; followed with a few minutes of strength/stretch.  After I carried all of my stuff home I set out with Adam for a walk to the Co-op.  I don’t think anything feels better after a gym session than stretching my legs out with a walk. 

I have a philosophy statement due tomorrow so I worked on that most of the evening.  I hate those types of assignments – half of the reason I didn’t go to graduate school was because I didn’t want to write a personal statement! – but I think I did a pretty good job in the end.  FYI on the schoolfront – I got a 100% on my extra credit presentation and my Orgo teacher called me out in class to say I did a good job on my homework notes; go me!

I had a small handful of dried hibiscus and a chocolate-covered fig when I got home.

The rest of dinner was a little bit small.

I wanted to make chips out of the local Red Russian Kale I got at the farmers’ market, but those turned out like this –

The green bean fries were much more appetizing.

Honestly, dinner was pretty much an afterthought anyways, all of my thoughts were on this –

Oh yes, a 7-Layer bar from the co-op; be still my heart. 

I’m going to take a quick shower and then eat it in bed with a magazine, Heaven!

What’s the weather been like in your area?  Summer still?  Fall-like?  Or did you have gloom and doom like me?

Word to the Wise

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This has got to be a quick post so I can get back to studying.  Word to the wise – Weekends are for working; embroider that on a pillow for me, will ya?

I actually had to leave campus and head home soon after eating lunch, because there were no working printers (grrr).  It ended up being a good thing because I got a ton of work done for my night class and now I’m a few weeks ahead on those assignments.  Plus, I got to eat an ice cream cookie sandwich.

I headed back to campus for class, during which I gave a 15minute presentation on school foodservice management.  It was a bit embarrassing to be the first to go, but I’m glad I got it out of the way.

I’ve been getting green every time Meghann mentions her gingerbread granola so when we spotted this at the Co-op yesterday I squealed with glee.

The nutritional stats were pretty sound (store bought granola can be a fat/sugar bomb), the price was right, and gingerbread?!  I ate a serving with skim milk this evening while dinner cooked.

Sadly, the taste wasn’t quite right.  I’ll keep eating it but the flavor was much spicier and less sweeter than I was expecting.

Dinner was the last of my Naan Pizza samples from Tandoor Chef.  Roasted Eggplant.

Nutrionals and ingredients.

This time I stuck to a single serving because I was splitting with Adam.

Yet again, I was blown away by how wonderful Naan is in the pizza crust medium.  This is the exact amount of chew I want from all my crusts!  The eggplant was perfectly crunchy and not greasy at all.  Now that my samples I gone I definitely plan on purchasing more Naan Pizzas with my own money, sooo good.

We had green bean fries on the side.

I seriously never thought roasting a green bean could create such magic.  These were fresh local green beans and they were even more amazing than usual.

All together.

We are going to take a diet soda walk and then it’s to the books.  My first Anatomy quiz has 200+ bones on it and is Thursday, who else thinks I should have started studying before tonight??

Any brand recommendations for a good gingerbread granola?

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.