I’m Free!

Can we talk about how excited I was to get out of the house today?  I spent Tuesday – Friday inside, all day, on the couch, with my foot up.  Ugh!  I can’t really walk normally but I could hobble well enough to do a grocery trip with the hubby.

I took my first foot-in shower this morning and it ate up breakfast time so we ended up getting lunch at Wegmans.

Udon veggie noodles,

and veggies.

I also had a tasty piece of Adam’s sushi.

Whilst grocery shopping I also spotted this –

I don’t think it’s quite what Angela had in mind 🙂

The plan now is to head to the Spot for some school work, be back for dinner!

What’s the longest time you’ve spent cooped up inside?  I’d say 5 days is definitely a record for me, one I hope never to break!

Chicken for Cookies

Even though the cookies were great I kept myself from eating more because I knew dinner would be equally tasty.  I had another item to try from Suzanne’s Specialties –

so we made this Cooking Light recipe, Black Pepper and Molasses Pulled Chicken.  We didn’t have all the spices but we followed the basic idea.

Alongside we also made some baked green bean fries.

Delicious. 

I loved this recipe, pulled chicken is so hard to find and it is so tasty.  I burnt the green beans a bit but salvaged them with some Parmesan and Garlic Seasoning.

I’m a little bummed about still being in the house but Adam brightened my spirits when we drove out to UPS and came home with this –

expect an excited review this weekend!

P.S. Head over to Melissa’s site for some light (ha) reading.

*****Updated to add – is there any way you’d think I wouldn’t eat a 2nd cookie before bed?!?  🙂

Salad as an Eraser

I needed a bigger breakfast, I was so hungry mid-morning I made some less than stellar choices.  It’s crazy how hungry you can get sitting on your butt all day; when I’m active and busy I’m satisfied with much less food.

That’s said, I’ll never apologize for popcorn.

Sprinkled with Kernel Season’s Sour Cream and Onion.

And then I had this.

“This” would be a serving of pretzels with 2T of semi-sweet chocolate chips melted on top.

Eaten with chopsticks of course.

The Reese’s tree is the point at which I probably needed to just say no.

But then I brought things back around with my “real lunch,” a nice healthy salad.

Made with some very tasty components – layer of lettuce,

chopped green bell pepper,

baby corn,

1T babaganoush,

the best dressing on earth (seriously, buy this!),

and a little bit of cheddar.

All added up to a tasty dish.

I’ve got some school work to do this afternoon and I’m hoping to balance long enough to prepare dinner tonight.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t dreading my eventual shower, but I’ll probably try to squeeze in a bit of strength training beforehand.

Do you find your hunger increases with or inversely to your activity level?

Monday Night – Tuesday Night

Yikes, this is going to be a looooong recap.  And that’s if I keep the details breif!  We’ve had lots and lots of good food and fun the last couple days.

After my last post we drove out to Ashley’s to get chicken patties.  They were beyond delicious, but my camera seems to have eaten the picture, whoops!  Then my parents, Adam and I went out to The Point to explore a bit.  We sat and watched the waves hit the rocks and it was wonderfully serene.

For dinner we went to Lotus, my favorite restaurant on St. Thomas.  We took my parents along, even though it was our anniversary dinner!

First we stopped at Fungi’s for a beer,

and then we went to Lotus.  We did lots and lots of sharing and it was a pretty fabulous meal.  Uptown Wonton Soup chicken/cilantro/crispy shallots/white truffle oil.

We got some amazing rolls to share – 1. Joe’s Stoned Crab sea scallop/jicama/scallion/topped with sesame seeds and hot sesame oil.

2. Shaggy Dog tempura shrimp/scallion/avacado/topped with spicy kanikami crab mix/sweet amai yuzu drizzle.

3. Soho House smoked salmon/spicy blue crab/asian slaw/scallion cream cheese/entire roll tempura/spicy yum yum and amai yuza glaze.

Here are all of my servings –

I also had a few small bites of my parents Green Apple Pad Thai,

and a few bites of Adam’s Muy Thai Tofu.

For dessert we I got the Blond Brulee white choclate ginger mousse/crisp banana brulee.

I let everyone else take a small taste but mostly I dominated this, I was swooning!

When we got home I also had a small slice of my dad’s Lindt Sea Salt bar.

We got up beyond early Tuesday morning to join my aunt’s family over in St. John.  Due to our lack of planning and 7:30 ferry time breakfast ended up being less than stellar –

No matter, it’s hard to be hungry when these guys are staring into your car!

My family picked us up and we drove to Ram’s Head Bay for a day at the beach and a hike.  The hike was 1.6miles each way and absolutly amazing.  These are only a tenth of my fabulous pictures.

The hike was very, very hilly and quite a workout.  I drank water on the way and had a few big swigs of Adam’s soda and a cheese cracker when we got back.

Then I spent hours shell collecting.

Before we took a second shorter hike over to Drunk Bay.  The beach is covered with rock sculptures people have made over the years.

Adam added a unicorn before we left.

I was burnt to a crisp at this point – in spite multiple applications of 70spf – so we headed to Skinny Legs for lunch.

My Painkiller was nasty so I ended up leaving most of it.

But my sandwich hit the spot.  I got the grilled cheese with tomato and onion and asked them to add as many veggies as possible.

Devoured.  Then we went back to their rental house for showers and naps.  And more cheese crackers.

My parents came over in the evening and we got take out from “The Chicken Man.”

Plantains,

coleslaw,

small piece of white meat,

fries with amazing bbq sauce.

Mmmn.

My portions were pretty small and I definitly ended up getting nachoes once we got back to St. Thomas!

Finally, just so you know I am “skipping” the last two days of December.  I have a long flying day tomorrow and don’t want to start my new year with an “old” recap.

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays Blog Readers!  I dragged my whole family to school so I’ll keep this quick.  I don’t have many food pictures today, so I’ll take a moment to show off all the red and green I’ve been rocking this week –

After my last blog post I spent the day setting up for our Christmas Eve bash.  I had some random snacks for lunch; carrots,

a Hello Dolly,

a few nuts,

and half of a tuna salad sandwich.

I did lots of nibbling during the party but I ended up not taking any pictures.  My parents had the lights low and there were a TON of people in our little house so I ended up skipping it.  A fabulous time was had by all though.

Christmas morning with my parents and husband was wonderful.  Just 3 years ago today, Adam was proposing to me under the Christmas tree!!!

My mom and I made a great, festive breakfast.

I had an eggnog scone that was super tasty, I plan on buying more packs from this company.

And we made scrambled eggs with red and green bell pepper and white cheddar.

Plus I had a small glass of nog, I think I actually like Silk Soy Nog the very best!

My dad’s sister’s family is flying in in a few hours and then we are all going over to my mom’s sister’s family’s house for dinner.  Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Tuesday Afternoon – Thursday Afternoon

My family’s Christmas Eve party is tonight and we’ve got lots of setting up to do so this will have to be kept quick.

Tuesday Afternoon….

After my last post Adam and I set out for some exercise.  We ran on the waterfront downtown together.  We did walk/run intervals for 40minutes.  I’m not sure exactly how far we ran but I burnt 450calories.

Adam and my parents made chili for dinner (which I’m really not a fan off, unless it’s from ED&BV) so I pieced a few things together.  Like a smoothie –

1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese, 1/2 cup pineapple, 1 small banana, splash milk, squeeze honey.  Topped with nutmeg.

My mom also reheated me a slice of pizza from the freezer, Adam ate all of my half from the other day so it was just plain cheese.

We went out for drinks with some friends but I was the driver so I stuck to diet coke.  We stayed out past 1 though, so we were a little sleepy the next day! 😉

Wednesday…

Our plan was to go study at our favorite coffee shop, but due to our late start and some unexpected traffic it just didn’t work out.  I was planning on blogging too, but I forgot my camera cord, doh!  We did get tasty sandwiches to eat in the car while we ran errands with my mom though!

I got a whole wheat wrap with sweet potato, goat cheese, spinach, and spicy hummus, YUM.

I was feeling really sick later in the afternoon (NOT because of the sandwich, spicy food does NOT seem to affect my stomach) so Adam made me this yummy tasting plate.

Thankfully I rallied in time for dinner.  Adam and I cooked for my parents and grandparents, who are down visiting as well.

Adam made a Real Simple recipe for roasted red pepper turkey meatloaf,

and I roasted up some okra and green beans.

My mom provided dessert –

A teensy sliver of rum cake a parent brought her,

and a peppermint chocolate cookie.

I ate a snowball a little later too.

And a cup of Eggnog’n Tea.

And then we went out drinking way too late for the second night!  Good times were had by all, but I did stick to diet coke again.

Thursday Morning….

I think the no-booze rule saved me last night because I was able to get up this morning and go for a run!  I did ~ 45minutes/490 calories, and ~3miles.  I did my pt when I got home before I dove into this –

holy food am I glad I can find the pineapple Chiobani down here!

Although I was probably most excited about this Carebear spoon I dug up!

Now as soon as we leave the library we are heading home to prep for the party.  There won’t really be dinner or lunch today, more like lots of snacking on really tasty things.  🙂

I probably won’t be posting again until after this weekend, so to all my readers who celebrate – Merry Christmas!

Monday – Tuesday Afternoon

Hello from sunny St. Thomas!  This will be the first of many recap posts since I only have computer access when I go to work with my mommy (my parents don’t have internet).

Things started up yesterday at 3:45am!! when we made our way to the airport.  The one benefit to leaving at that hour is we got to see the festive skyline in complete darkness.

Our flying day wasn’t so bad, we had 2 stops but at least everything went smoothly.  On stop #1 Adam bought Taco Bell at 8am!  I had one slice of his chicken quesadilla.

Our next flight was our long flight so I saved my eating for it.  I’m not gonna lie, I thought I was super clever to back a baggie of salad and a small container of Sabra Babaganuosh.

Yums, I think this is about as healthy as plane eats can get!

I also packed some sliced yellow bell pepper, cucumber, and Kerrygold cheese.

And I supplemented with a few buys from the airport store.  Dried bananas and cherries.

The price and nutrional stats on these were both pretty solid.

Any finally this 100 calorie pack of mini meranges.

They were super tasty and adorable.

I only ate about 3/4 of the pack though, for 100calories it was a LOT of food!

Our 2nd stop was Puerto Rico, which meant we had to take a teeny tiny Cesna Prop to get to St. Thomas.

I actually flew a plane that was just a little smaller for my last birthday so it was pretty fun; we were happy to be home though!

While we unpacked I ate a Dove Peppermint Bark candy.

And then we headed out to dinner at my parents’ favorite pizza spot.  It was dark, so you can assume the food was about 90% better than the pictures look.  Adam and I started by splitting a ceasar salad.

And then we all shared pizzas.  I ordered my half with – spinach, artichoke, pineapple, mushroom and no cheese.

Second piece.

Yums.

I was glad I went no cheese because I had room for a tasty snack when I got home.

Kona coffee with skim milk,

and two small pieces of 7-layer bar (Hello Dollies for you Southerners).

And……..bed!

This morning was supposed to start with a run but I was just to exhausted, I need to get myself on a proper sleep schedule this vacation!  I ended up waking up around 9 for breakfast.

Pom Chiobani and half a sliced banana.

We spent the day running errands with my parents; my family throws a huge Christmas Eve party so there was lots of shopping to do.  Here’s what I snacked on throughout the day –

An apple,

and a seasonal gingerbread Cliff Bar.

I also grabbed this package of trail mix as we headed out to school.

Now Adam and I are headed down to the school field for this morning’s belated run.  The next few days will be a whirl of baking and presents so hopefully we can fit in a little bit of fitness!  See you soon!

What’s the strangest plane food you’ve packed?

Rocked Recap

‘Tis the season for recaps!  We are going home tomorrow for Christmas and since my parents don’t have internet the posting schedule will be a little off.  I’m going to school with my mom several times so there will be some loooong posts coming sporadically.  Yesterday’s recap is due to sleepiness not internet though.

After my exam – which I think I did pretty well on – Adam picked me up and we did our final bit of Christmas shopping.  By the time we got home at noon I was starving.  I had these two samples from Sabra to try, so they were the basis of my lunch.

The animal plates I bought for Adam’s surprise party actually have dipping wells, so I knew they would be perfect for this lunch.

Half a yellow bell pepper,

3/4 of a cucumber,

1 T Sabra Jalopeno Hummus,

and 1 T Sabra Classic Babaganoush.

Yums, Babaganoush is so tasty and it’s creaminess with the fresh veggies went so well with the Jalopeno hummus.

It was a pretty light lunch though, so I ended up drinking 3/4 of this Odwalla Vanilla Al’Mondo Protein Super Protein drink.

It was delicious, and I needed protein before our next adventure, ROCK CLIMBING!

Adam and I went to an indoor gym with some friends and we all had such a good time.

We were there from 2:30 – 5 and it ended up being such a great work out.

Afterwards we headed to the mall to catch Avatar.  It was good, but not great, in my opinion.  I was captured for most of the 3hours, but towards the end my large diet coke caught up with me and I just wanted it to be over!

By the time the movie got out it had been hours since we had eaten so the four of us went to TGIFriday’s for dinner.  I got the bbq chicken salad.

It was only ok.  The menu listed tons of veggies, but the real thing was mostly iceberg lettuce with too much dressing.

I was so hungry that it got devoured anyway.

After dinner our friend Benji came home with us to watch a movie.  I think I was on the couch for 5minutes before I went to the bedroom and passed out.  A combination of studying from 10am – 2am the day before, the stress of taking the exam, the rock climbing work out and being up from 6 – midnight was just too much for me.  Adam said he found me on the bed in my winter coat with my sneakers still on!

That tiredness continued through the day, as I slept all day long.  Seriously.  I haven’t eaten anything yet and my suitcase is empty.  Time to get cracking!

Before I go, the winners of my Amy’s giveaway are –

  1. (#1) Katie – winner
  2. (#4) Katie Moo – runner up
  3. (#11) Traynharder23 – runner up
  4. (#13) Jessica – runner up

Ladies, send me an e-mail at emilyhwaxATgmail.com with your address so Amy’s can ship out your prizes!