Tag Archives: veggies

Things I’m Loving From Trader Joe’s

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Buffalo doesn’t have a Trader Joe’s (yet!), but that doesn’t mean I can’t pine over the goods I plan on purchasing once we are back in the city this summer.

The following are some of the things I bought when I was in Ohio last month.  They were all new to me and most of them I’ve now decided I can’t live without!

1.  Roasted Coconut Chips.

roasted coconut chips

Coconut chips are nothing super new – I’ve been picking them out of tropical trail mixes since I was a kid – but it was nice to see them get their own package.  These guys are perfectly sweet and crunchy.  Nutrition stats for 1 oz – 160 kcal, 1 g protein, 4 g fiber, 10 g saturated fat.

2.  Zesty Nacho Kale Chips.

zesty nacho kale chips

I love the idea of kale chips but the ones I try to make up at home end up being tiny, burnt, kale carcinogens.  And the amazingly delicious ones sold at Wegman’s cost more than $7 a bag.  This 2-serving bag was less than $6 and the chips were the best I’ve ever had.  They seem to have roasted giant leaves without cutting them up first so the chips are big and chunky and delicious.  Nutrition stats for 1 oz – 150 kcal, 6 g protein, 3 g fiber, and 1 g saturated fat.  Plus 130% RDA for Vitamin A!

3.  10 Minute Bulgur.

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This was our first time trying bulgur and we both loved it.  The taste and texture were exactly what I’m always hoping for from rice.  <– no, I can’t describe it any better than that; I love food and I love writing but there is a reason I’m not a food writer, people!

It really did cook in 10 minutes – it’s pre-cooked – making it a super easy grain for a quick dinner.  We paired it with black beans, tomatillo, sautéed spinach, and avocado.  A one 1/2 cup serving, which turns into a ton when cooked, has 280 kcal, 11 g protein, and 6 g fiber.

4.  Organic Sweetened Condensed Milk.

organic sweetened condensed milk

SCM, aka nectar of the gods, is nothing new, but the squeeze bottle system sure is nifty.  I love putting SCM in coffee (like a lazy Vietnamese coffee) and this way I can use 1-2 Tbsp in my cup occasionally without having to worry about storing the rest.  This was a nice blurb to see on the back of the bottle – “Trader Joe’s Organic Sweetened Condensed Milk is made from organic milk from cows not treated with hormones or antibiotics, and sweet organic cane sugar.”

Are you lucky enough to have a Trader Joe’s in your town?  What are your favorite TJ’s goods?

Bento Box Lunch

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Today’s lunch was packed Bento-style.

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If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the awesome care package that Cascadian Farm sent me awhile back:

cascadian farm care package

Among the goodies was a Bento Box lunch box from Laptop Lunches.

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The box is dishwasher and microwave safe and the little boxes are the perfect size(s) for lunchtime goodies – two of mine came with additional lids.  It is pretty awesome.

Today I packed a fruit and veggie spread.  Cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes with a sprinkle of salt.

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Roasted coconut chips.

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Nacho kale chips.

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And Kiwiberries.

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Yum!

Have you ever used a bento box?  Do you carry a lunch box to work/school?

On The Run

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This morning Adam, Webster, and I headed to the park.  They went frolicking and I went running.  I started the Couch-to-10k plan, again.  I refuse to go back to week one (I’ve started the plan four times in as many months, it’s embarrassing at this point) so I did the first day of week two – intervals of 4 minutes walking / 1 minute running, x 8.  Plus 5 minutes of straight running at the end as I hurried to find a dog and husband who are bad at following directions!  I was great to be outside.

The rest of the day included schoolwork, a shift at work, and an evening of tv.  In fact, we are mid-Bones right now so I’m keeping this short.

Here’s what I ate…  An Alter Ego Mini Dark Velvet chocolate bar.

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This stuff was amazing, the perfect blend of milk and dark chocolate.  It had dark’s tang with the creaminess of milk.  Total love.

Soft pretzel.

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Vegan chicken nuggets with some sharp cheddar.

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A Salty Peanut Awesome Bar.

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This would have been awesome, but the whole flax seeds kind of ruined it for me.  Nonetheless, this Yumvelope (the source of the bar and the candy) was a good one.

Hot bar (two of the wontons were Adam’s).

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Two kinds of sautéed veggies plus a piece of sweet and sour chicken.

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.15 lb of gummi candy.

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A giant slice of Buffalo chicken pizza with blue cheese for dipping.

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I am, in a word, stuffed.

Today

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Some of the things I thought today –

Man, it has been a looooong time since I last blogged.

I made the right decision.  Part of the reason I’ve been blogging AWOL is because I was making a giant, life-changing decision and I’m pretty sure positive I made the right one.

The end of this semester is going to be insane.  We have two business plans to create in the next month and we were told to expect 40 plus hours of work each week on top of our clinical hours.

Some of the things I did today – 

Went to my first day of clinical practice in long-term care.

Took a glorious, 70* walk on Elmwood with my husband.

Attended night class.  With the curve I scored a 100% on the first exam!

What I ate today – 

A mealy apple.

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A packet of Artisana Cacao Bliss.

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Chocolate Almond Coconut Clif Mojo Bar.

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A low-fat strawberry milk.

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A (salted caramel chocolate nougat) candy from the latest Yumvelope.

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Veggies from Globe Market, ~.25 lb each.

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Thai carrot salad,

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and Greek vegetable salad.

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Lays Chicken and Waffles potato chips.

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Dinner.

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Amy’s Alphabet Soup,

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and a soft pretzel with yellow mustard.

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I also thought a lot about the tragedies at the Boston Marathon today.  If you or anyone you are close to were effected, please know that you are in my thoughts.

Me Jane

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Doesn’t it feel too late in the week to still be Monday?  Anyone else?  I have several personal/professional/school things going down at the moment and honestly my head is spinning.  This post is going to have to be “Me Emily.  Me eat food.  Food good.” style.

Coconut Delight Raw Revolution bar from the bottom of my purse for breakfast.

bar

Pear.

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Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt,

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with Justin’s Maple Almond Butter swirled in.

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The last of the bbq pop chips (1.5ish serving) with dip.

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Also Cheetos.

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A new recipe for dinner.

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Roasted green beans,

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with a vegan chicken salad sandwich.  <– me promise to share the recipe tomorrow

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Drinks whilst brainstorming with a friend.

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Jameson diet coke x2, lemon drop x1.

Bed.

I Forgot A Title Again!

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It is problematically late, but tomorrow’s exhaustion will definitely be worth it.  I spent the first half of the day cuddling in bed with husband.  Literally, the first half.  It was fabulous.  Then we went to lunch and ran a few errands, and I spent the remainder of my day working on a giant project for my internship.  I am 100% finished with it, wahoo!

Brunch from Pano’s.

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Chicken slavaki wrap,

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with french fries.

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I ate half of each.  I’d been craving french fries like crazy but the sandwich wasn’t as exciting.  Not bad, but I’m just not that into chicken; the feta made it.

Iced coffee with Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk and sugar.

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The coffee was salted caramel flavored from Wegmans and it was yummy.  I have a little bit of my cup left and I’m looking forward to it for breakfast.

A giant bowl of Lays’ Chicken and Waffle Chips.

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This finalist flavor was pretty good; the flavor was definitely “chicken.”  Embarrassing sidenote – I was talking with Adam about the dog and I heard “I usually just shake my bag of chips at him,” come out of my mouth.  The juxtaposition of usually with my bag of chips may have been my come-to-Jesus moment about how fat I’m getting.

At least nibbling does help me focus on work; I am 80% more productive with food next to my laptop.  Final snack plate.

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Honeycrisp apple,

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with ~1/2 serving of Alter Ego Quinoa Dark Chocolate.

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The chocolate was fun.  I’m excited to have Adam try some because he adores quinoa.

Dinner was a bit of a failure.  I sautéed frozen carrots and Wegman’s Japanese Stir Fry mix with a packet of Naysoya Shirataki Fettuccine in canola oil, then tossed in a serving of my peanut sauce and let it get nice and crispy.

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Sauce was great.  Veggies were great.  “Noodles” were slimy and terrible.  I ate ~half then gave a bite to Adam who promptly spit his chewed-up mouthful back in my bowl.

It was bedtime two hours ago is time for bed!

Shades Of White

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My 2nd day as a soon-to-be surgeon’s wife was good but busy.  I have a gigantic quiz tomorrow and we have to score at least a 90% on it to remain in our program.  <– yikes!

No breakfast again.  I do have some bars in my cabinet but the mornings are my busiest hours and I don’t remember to eat and even if I did I wouldn’t have the time.  Instead I just really enjoy my lunch.

On today’s menu – a (2 Tbsp of) chunky peanut butter and (2 slices of) turkey bacon sandwich (Thin).

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A green pear.

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And a package of seaweed snacks.

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I also grabbed a coffee.

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A mix of regular and decaf with hazelnut creamer.  I started adding a scoop of ice to my cups – after watching a classmate do it the other day and being impressed with her genius – and it makes my coffees so much more enjoyable.  I definitely prefer my “hot” beverages luke-warm.

In the afternoon I snacked on a scoop of 1% cottage cheese with half of a Liberte coconut yogurt and a sprinkle of shredded coconut.

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I realize the picture doesn’t really show any of that though; my camera doesn’t do shades of white.

<– Sidenote:  I’ve decided that my first foray into fiction is going to be a book titled 50 Shades of White, the pendulum swing from 50 Shades of Grey.  It will be 500 pages of a waspy couple having missionary-style sex and peeing with the door closed.  You’d read that, right?  😀

Other afternoon snacks included a handful of tortilla chips,

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and a stolen square of Adam’s Godiva Milk Chocolate Salted Caramel Bar.

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I wanted to snack after dinner too, but it’s better that I didn’t because I already ate enough today.  Sometimes nibbling helps me focus on studying but our pantry is looking ruff…

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Don’t worry, our dinner was better than that joke.

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I had a handful of Terra Thai Basil Curry Vegetable Chips.

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A pile of roasted green beans.

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And 2 turkey egg cups.

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{Inspired by this recipe}  We put two slices of turkey inside each of our muffin tin cups / filled the bottoms of chopped sautéed mushrooms and green onions and shredded cheese / topped each cup with an egg / then baked for 30ish minutes in an oven preheated to 350 degrees.

I spent the rest of the evening cramming and I’ve got to get back to it.  Tomorrow’s quiz is on the macro- and micronutrient values for the serving sizes per food group for a diabetic and renal diet.  Lots and lots of numbers to know; we can’t all lay around on the job…!

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