Greens, Beans, and Time Machines

by Emily

I am officially caught up with school and ready to take my final exam tomorrow 🙂 I’ve definitely disliked being blog-neglectful, I can’t wait to get back into a schedule after the move is over. For now, even though I love you it’s got to be another quickie (TWSS!).

Breakfast/lunch were sort of spread out in three courses throughout the morning and afternoon. I managed to get enough to eat, but consume in shifts that allowed me to study. #1 A big bowl of fresh watermelon chunks.

#2 A serving of Barbara’s Shredded Oats topped with Silk Almond Milk and blueberries.

By the by, I hear a lot of people talking about binging on cereal and if you are one of those folks I highly recommend this stuff. It is not very tasty dry from the box but fantasmic with some Silk Almond Milk.

#3 A long overdue green monster; 1frozen banana, 1cup frozen spinach, 1cup calcium + vitamin d oj.

When Adam got home this evening we played hookey from moving and instead took a long walk. Our long walk was supposed to be an hour or so, to the ice cream store and back. Instead we fell into a pointless fight and spent hours huffing and crying (who me? I’m not stressed about moving!). Don’t pointless fights just feel like you accidentally fell into some sort of time machine? It’s like you can’t even believe how late it is when it’s over. We did make it to the ice cream store eventually, but they were closed. So instead we split a slice of melty pizza to hold us over for late dinner.

The husband had chicken to use up and I made myself a Mexican bowl of sorts.

Into the skillet went 2tsp evoo, chopped shallot, a small chopped potato, half of a chopped green pepper, black beans, 1egg and 2egg whites, 2T shredded cheddar, salt and tons of paprika.

I also had some green bean fries on the side.

It is late late late, Futurama–> bed –> goodnight!

Do you ever have pointless fights with your SO or do you bottle up your emotions and save them for times that actually count?

P.S. I also enjoyed a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Lara Bar, yum!

17Jul2010

The Brock Brought It

by Emily

I actually ended up passing out without eating dinner yesterday, so that’s where the evening post was. Do you ever get too tired for dinner?

Today was the first day (of many days) of moving. Ugh, ugh, ugh! We’d want to use the moving truck only for things that have to be moved by truck, so we are trying to get all the little stuff over there this week. Today we made a big dent in the office. My eats were kind of all over the place, as I imagine they will be this entire week. At least I’ve found that moving will be a more than adequate workout 🙂

Maple Walnut Cookie Bar.

12oz Jamocho shakes, a la birthday month gift certificates.

Wegman’s salad bar.

Goat cheese stuffed zucchini blossom,

broccoli and wok seared veggies,

sweet and sour chicken.

I quickly realized that I had taken too much food, but the husband was more than happy to finish off the last 1/3 for me.

My greatest creation, another sundae bowl.

Usually I make these with a little bit of homemade key lime pie ice cream and a lotta bit of 0% Plain Oikos, but today’s ratio was the reverse, making it more of an actual sundae. Topped with blackberry topping and a grumbled graham square.

This was also the last of the ice cream, I’d be lying if I said I’m not a little heartbroken.

Dinner was very late but also exciting; a trip to JP Bullfeathers for the sandwich I’ve been dreaming about the past month.

The Brock – a turkey paninni with cole slaw and 1000island dressing.

It was just as delicious as I’d imagined but 10:30 was a little late for dinner so I ended up eating half and bringing the rest home.

Tomorrow is going to be another full day, we want to move all our storage bins and I’ve got a paper due on Monday. I hope everyone else is having a good weekend!

Which sandwich topper do you prefer: cole slaw or sauerkraut?

15Jul2010

Get On The Train

by Emily

No, not that train.

The gravy train! (which is a bit of a misnomer here as well, but just roll with it).

Actually, first I’ve got to go back to that sundae I talked about in the last post.

When I posted I had just sat down to eat my sundae, but I hadn’t really dug in yet. Oh-My-God! That thing was insane! I couldn’t decide what the best part was, everything was good, but together it was fantastical! Siggis yogurt is so thick that it’s basically firm, the key lime pie ice cream is the best thing I’ve ever made, and something about turning the blackberries into topping seemed to make them practically seedless. I think it was the combo of just a little sour, just a little sweet that pushed it over the edge for me. So here is your homework; you pick one but if you do all three you’ll give yourself an A++

Ignore the shockingly high, “what, I don’t have rent to pay?!?” price tag and buy yourself some Siggis yogurt.
Buy the reasonably priced (because it’s such an investment) Pie, Pie Pie: Easy Homemade Favorites, by John Phillip Carrol and make the blackberry topping that is supposed to go on the Blackberry Sour Cream Pie.
Get hitched so you can get an ice cream maker via registry, then make Rachael Ray’s recipe for Key Lime Pie Ice Cream.

Now that you have your homework, back to the gravy!

I told you I had a strange dinner in the works – an open-faced turkey sandwich with gravy. Very traditional and yet very unorthodox for our house. I topped a piece of beer bread with thick sliced turkey breast and provolone, put it into a 450* oven until the cheese was nice and melty, then topped the whole thing with fat free turkey gravy.

It was delicious but the flavor wasn’t quite what I was going for, I’m not sure what was missing. The husband loved it though.

We also had big plates of green bean fries on the side.

Other than okra, green beans are my favorite veggie to roast.

And some Dove dark chocolate for dessert.

What is the most “traditional” meal you’ve prepared lately?

P.S. I don’t know what kept this meal from being filling but Adam and I both got more to eat later on since we were both so flipping hungry!

11Jul2010

Watermelon in a Smoothie and Beans in Some Soup

by Emily

I hate doing all these drive-by posts but things have just been so busy. A little rush is worth it though, it was wonderful getting to meet our new niece.

We got in the car around 10 this morning and I was thrilled to see a Sheetz where we could buy fresh food in time for lunch.

I got a chicken burrito with fire roasted tomatoes, rice and beans, colby cheese, diced tomatoes, lettuce, green peppers, diced onion, and salsa.

And ate an apple packed from home on the side.

We pulled back into Buffalo around 5:30 and I immediately got to work unpacking and heading to the grocery store. Once I was home for good, the husband helped me whip up some delicious soup. More specifically, White Bean Consomme with Almond Milk, from SELF magazine.

I ate a serving of Salt and Pepper Sommersalts on the side.

It ended up being the perfect quick meal.

I also made a huge smoothie to drink.

Tons of frozen watermelon chunks blended with a Simply Raspberry Lemonade.

Pink!

We didn’t finished dinner until 9:30 but I knew I’d be happiest if I got in some sort of a workout. 10minutes of stretching and strength moves later, my day is complete and I’m on my way to shower and sleep.

What is the most unusual application of watermelon you’ve tried this summer?

10Jul2010

Taking a Page from Janetha

by Emily

Meals

Quaker Express Cinnamon Roll oatmeal.

Gelati from Rita’s,

coconut cream ice with soft serve twist.

Tasty, tasty dinner.

Sliced cucumber,

and veggie pizza.

Times that pizza by 2, I was starving!

Moves

1hr +ish of speed walking around the neighborhood with Adam.

9Jul2010

The Sea Cow

by Emily

After my ultimate breakfast lunch was a bit of a disappointment. I’d been salivating over the thought of green bean fries all week, but when I opened the bag today they were all slimy! I almost went ahead and roasted them anyways but I was afraid it would be like eating a sea cucumber.

Instead I got my veggies from a bowl of Dr. McDougall’s Vegetable Soup.

On the side I roasted a small handful of baby red creamer potatoes; baking spray and salt, 400* oven, 20minutes.

In the last 5 minutes of roasting time I stuck in an onion bun with a slice of colby jack cheese.

All together they made a pretty tasty lunch combination.

I realize my day needs some fruits and dairy, but I’ve got those food groups covered with my planned dinner. Said dinner will be consumed in the car, because we are driving to PA for the weekend to meet our new niece! I’m very excited, but it does mean that I have 1hour now to pack, do some sort of work out, shower, and be ready when the husband gets home.

Just for fun – what is your favorite marine creature? I have a minor otter obsession. And, of course, the sea cow!

Jokes.com

Jim Gaffigan – Manatees

comedians.comedycentral.com

Futurama New Episodes

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Russell Simmon Stand-Up Comedy

9Jul2010

Sample

by Emily

It’s been a fun evening but I probably should have been in bed hours ago so I’ll try to keep this short 😉

When the husband got home this afternoon we took a much-need 1hour nap. Then we geared up to go to the gym. I realize today probably didn’t provide the best circumstances for a work out (lack of sleep, not a lot of food) but I’m finding that if I take even one day off from gyming it that one day turns into two, and three, and so forth. It’s like my lack of motivation snowballs. So for the next 30days or so – the amount of time it takes to form a habit – expect to see some sort of formal workout from me every day. Even if it’s just 10 minutes of stretching, hopefully making it “official” will keep me motivated.

Today’s workout was 30minutes on the elliptical. I set the machine to level 6 random, and did backward pedal/forward pedal intervals as well as several sprints.

I gave it my all and was so tired afterwards I had a hard time raising my arms to wash my hair in the shower! I think I managed to look pretty cute though, dontcha think?

The only thing I like more than ruffles is trying out new restaurants with the husband and that is precisely what tonight’s date entailed.

We’ve had SAMPLE on our radar ever since we wandered past it last month during the art festival. The concept is that you get to SAMPLE a lot of little tastes. It’s like tapas but the serving sizes are even smaller, single portion, no sharing.

The husband and I are a unit though (gag) so we managed to share a bit. Like the cheese plate we split –

Carmelized onion, goat cheese, and roasted pear butter pannini. Housemade ricotta cheese with fire roasted pineapple chutney. Aged provolone “fondue” with roasted tomato & basil pesto and baguette cubes. I ate about 1/3 of this; it was ok, but nothing exceptional.

Or the 2-for-1 rum drink special that prompted us to order strawberry mojitos –

The husband’s entrée consisted of little sandwiches and “lots” of meat –

Cuban sandwich, steak frites, beef on weck, and pulled pork.

I got one sample plate to taste, Fish and Chip –

Beer battered salt cod served on a crispy potato guafrette with napa cabbage cole slaw. The cole slaw was crazy good, but I was glad to only have a small bite of the fried fish.

I took the healthy route for my meal and choose something of the “Small Plate” menu instead of the “Sample” options. Beet salad –

Tender green salad with roasted beets, gorgonzola cheese, and beet vinaigrette topped with housemade candied walnuts. This was very good, but certainly not the best salad I’ve ever had. I prefer this combo with goat cheese.

For dessert we split the Sample Some More –

Housemade graham crackers, chocolate peanut butter cream, bruleed vanilla marshmallow with dark chocolate sauce, and peanut brittle, served with dark hot chocolate. This dish was a winner, you can’t go wrong with ‘smores!

In the end we agreed that we had a good time but probably wouldn’t go back (unless it was to sit at the bar and eat dessert). The concept was wonderful but the execution wasn’t quite there.

I knew Adam would still be hungry but in my effort to feed him I shared too much of my salad and ended up a bit hungry myself. We drove around for awhile and ended up grabbing a 4-piece chicken nugget kid’s meal at Wendy’s.

I know a lot of bloggers wouldn’t eat Wendy’s, period, but I was actually pretty proud of myself for this choice. My meal wasn’t quite big enough so I had hunger and not appetite (look at that nutrition vernacular!) and this was a reasonable little meal. We are going out of town again this weekend so our fridge is pretty bare and I can’t think of any fast food option that would be a better choice than a kid’s meal. I could have probably done without the fries but Wendy’s fries are sooo good – I like the extra squishy ones – and I did share some with the husband.

How do you get/stay motivated for your work outs? Any tips for me as I get back into shape?

8Jul2010

Long but Loving

by Emily

Hello again! I hope that everyone got over the week’s hump nicely. I’ll describe my situation succinctly: I will never put off my work for 4 days in a row again! It’s been a painful experience that I don’t want to soon repeat. The last 48hours have been stressful, but my eats have all been so good that there was no way I wasn’t posting them; hence the long recap post.

Wednesday morning I made a breakfast that was truly a thing of beauty –

A serving of Van’s Belgian Waffles topped with 2T maple syrup, the last of the strawberry sauce, fresh blueberries, and a cinnamon sprinkle.

Gah! I always used to think that I didn’t like waffles, pancakes, etc, but that was just because I didn’t know to top them off with fruit and cinnamon.

{study, study, study}

Lunch was some Allergaroo Spyglass Noodles.

These were super tasty, and just the right about of food.

I wanted to keep lunch light because it was Katie’s birthday last week and we had a cupcake date. It ended up being too hot for cupcakes, but locally made ice cream certainly fit the bill.

I got a small scoop of A Date at the Zoo, coconut ice cream with wine poached dates, brazil nuts, and chocolate chips. Yes, it was as amazing as it sounds!

{study, study, study}

When hunger hit (hard) later in the afternoon I sliced up a big plate of cucumber to munch while I studied. Unphotograhed accountability note – I also ate ~ 1/3 of a salmon patty straight from the container.

The water-dense snack was a good choice, because when the husband got home at 6 we headed out for a run.

I didn’t wear my watch, so I have no idea what the times are, but it was a good workout. We did a mix of running and walking (with a few stops so I could fuss with my socks, eek I’m not sure if it’s the shoes or the socks but something with my new shoes isn’t working) and covered 3miles in total.

When you have good leftovers a healthy tasty dinner can literally be less than 2mintues away!

Over a bed of spring mix lettuce I combined 2/3cup microwaved frozen corn, a salmon patty, and a big scoop of medium chunky salsa.

The flavors of this salad went together so well! It filled me up but it tasted so good that I kept scraping at my plate so I wouldn’t lose any of it 🙂

{study, study, study} um, {study, study, study, study}

That’s right folks, I pulled an (almost)all-nighter! I stayed up until 4am doing the reading I should have done over the weekend. Ugh.

I fell into bed for 6hours or so and then got right back to my books. My messed up sleep schedule messed with my hunger in turn, and breakfast just didn’t sound good. I did nibble on a serving of Jammie Dodgers throughout the morning though.