Almost Spring And Almost Celebrating

by Emily

Today has been just fantastic, one of those days that reminds me how happy I am with my life. I felt totally blessed.

First, lunch. I was too busy for breakfast but I did have a nice noon-time meal. Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt. So smooth and creamy, and the flavor was better than any other coffee yogurt I’ve ever had.

Cascadian Farm Crunchy Oats & Honey Granola Bar.

GoGo Squeez Cinnamon Applesauce.

’twas a good lunch.

But the news I got just before lunch was even better – Adam is going to be a surgeon! Ok, so it wasn’t surprising news, but it was good to have things confirmed. Today is the first half of Match Day and on Friday we’ll learn where (and if) we’re going to move. So exciting! I opened the e-mail and burst into tears, right there on the Neuro floor. Apparently I’ve been a little bit stressed. But I can’t stress enough, how proud I am of my husband!!!

I got home before him this afternoon so I got him a few congratulation gifts.

I may have stolen a few bites. 2 dumplings,

and 2 big bites of frosting.

Yum!

And I got more good news this evening – my night class was canceled! This meant I had free time to celebrate the real news with Adam. The past two days have basically been Spring so we took a long walk up Elmwood, in sandals natch.

My taste buds are even more ready for Spring than my feet. We wanted to get take-out so we could go home and watch “The Nanny” and I had the hardest time choosing food because I had to have something fresh. I couldn’t stand the thought of cheddar, popcorn or runny eggs, my usual favorites!

I ended up getting a green juice for our walk.

And bringing a salad from Ashker’s home.

I added banana peppers, tomatoes, and kalmata olives to the Roasted Turkey, Apple, Walnut Salad; which also came with spring mix, feta, craisins, and Vidalia onion dressing. It was exactly what I’d been craving.

Dessert was something amazing.

I’ve been stalking local freezers for weeks and I squealed with joy when I finally spotted Ben and Jerry’s Liz Lemon Greek Frozen Yogurt last night.

Three things you should know:

I adore both lemon and lavender in dessert
I have a legit problem with Ben and Jerry’s ice creams
I recently decided that Liz Lemon is my spirit tv character

I had 1.5 servings and loved every bite.

Buffalo people – I found my pint at the Elmwood Tops.

Have a great night!

9Mar2013

2nd Friday

by Emily

I did manage to pack breakfast today – eating before I leave the house is never gonna happen – but I got so into my patients that I totally forgot to eat it. The services I’m currently on are fascinating: Neurology Step-Down and the Surgical ICU.

At least lunch looked a lot like breakfast. A Quaker Apple Walnut Oatmeal

topped with Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

That combo is out of this world.

I ended up staying almost an hour late this afternoon because I took on another patient at the last minute. Thankfully I was able to head out for fun as soon as I got home. By the by, I know I mentioned working out today, but my right foot issue has flared up badly and if I’m honest with myself it’s probably at least another week or two before I’ll be back on a treadmill. Boo!

Yes, it is the first Friday of this rotation, but during the second Friday of every month the art gallery on my campus hosts a free event for the public. There is art – well, some art and lots of “art” – and nibbles.

I’m not sure what that red sauce was but it sure was tasty, my veggies were even better than my cheese.

I ate this piece of Easter candy before I headed out for the evening.

I met up with some friends for drinks before we headed to the gallery.

Couldn’t resist getting another McKenzie’s cider.

After the museum, a friend and I headed to Blue Fin to get some sushi specials for dinner.

An asparagus roll and a spicy crunchy crab roll, all for $10 including tip and tax!

What’s the best deal on sushi in your town?

5Mar2013

Cider House Run

by Emily

Let me apologize in advance for what is sure to be a post riddled with typos. I’ll do my best, but I can’t make any promises. I’m two days in and I’m going to have to agree with my friends who were in the previous rotation – this placement is exhausting.

Breakfast was a Pirouette Cinnamon Pecan Barre.

This bar was in my Yumvelope shipment. The ingredient list is great – dates, walnuts, pecans, agave nectar, hemp seed, rolled oats, hemp protein, ground flax-seed,brown rice protein, vanilla, cinnamon, sea salt, peanuts – but I wasn’t a big fan of the final flavor; too much date.

Plus hospital coffee with 2% milk.

We get free soda and coffee at this hospital so expect to see a lot of caffeine breaks!

Lunch was an easy assortment. A Pear Chobani.

A Honeycrisp apple.

And 70% dark chocolate.

I also packed this blue algae nut butter packet but I threw it out one lick in.

Much too gaggy.

At the end of the day, Adam texted me that he and a friend were at a bar near our house so I met them for a quick drink.

The McKenzie’s Seasonal Reserve Hard Cider was great. It had notes of cinnamon that were quite tasty.

I headed straight from Cole’s to meet my friend for a gym visit. I’m back to the Couch to 10k plan, right where I left off, though obviously I’ve got to stick with it this time. 2 minutes of running/3 minutes of walking, x 10. I am fat, I am out of shape, I was still a little drunk – my workout was so flipping hard!

In spite of my extreme tiredness and Adam’s messing up our meal plan by eating while I was at the gym, I managed to cobble together a good dinner. I was worried about not having enough to eat, but I think I ultimately went a bit overboard!

My favorite black-eyed pea salad,

green beans with shredded parmesan,

and 1.5 servings of Wegman’s vegan “chicken” nuggets with sweet and sour sauce.

Everything was delicious. Those nuggets are awesome.

Have you ever done the inebriated workout?

4Mar2013

Poor Puppy

by Emily

I had a few silly things to complain about, but the dog had another seizure today so that kind of all pales in comparison. He’s doing ok now but we are going to have to meet with the vet soon and possibly rethink our strategy.

Regardless, it’s been a long day and just want to go to bed. Keeping this quick…

Kit’s Organic Chocolate Almond Coconut Bar.

Pear.

Honey wheat Sandwich Thin with white bean truffle spread and tempeh. (I ate the tempeh raw and I am officially never doing that again – I am still sooooo bloated and sick.)

1/2 serving Green and Black 70% Dark Chocolate.

Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt with Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola. Both are heavenly and the combo was fantastic.

Leftover stir-fry. The last 2 servings each of roasted broccoli, white basmati rice, and copycat CF spicy cashew chicken went into a skillet with 1 tsp sesame oil and 2 large eggs.

Ridiculous cookie.

Please go give your pets a big smooch for me.

3Mar2013

Copycat Cashew Chicken

by Emily

Today’s eats have been mighty tasty. I could wax poetic about flavors for hours, but we saved up the last two weeks of Castle and are in the middle of a very tense marathon!

Bagel for breakfast.

A Garlic and Italian Herb Bagel Thin (a new flavor!) with smoked salmon cream cheese.

Fruits and vegetables for lunch, split up before and after work. Roasted broccoli with lots of melted sharp cheddar before.

Honeycrisp apple with 1/2 Tbsp melted peanut butter after.

The apple was good, the cheesy broccoli was better.

Dinner was an absolute success.

We followed this copycat recipe for Cheesecake Factory’s spicy cashew chicken. We doubled the sauce and subbed Sriracha for cayenne pepper but otherwise followed the recipe.

Flipping amazing! Served with white basmati rice,

and more roasted broccoli.

We loved every bite and are eagerly awaiting leftovers for dinner tomorrow.

Single-serve cookie dough for dessert.

Also amazing.

And with that, I’ve got to go – Castle is blowing my mind.

Do you watch Castle?

3Mar2013

And We’re Off!

by Emily

Today was officially my first day off (from both school and work) since January 20th! 42 days straight!!! I didn’t even work full shifts for most of those days but it was still nice to have 24 hours all to myself for a change.

We didn’t do anything all that exciting with our newfound free-time but it still felt pretty damn nice. We did a major grocery trip, started watching Battlestar Galactica (please tell me that the episodes are faster paced than the movie?!), and Adam currently has the guys over for poker.

Breakfast was a bowl of peanut butter and bananas, squared.

2% Banana Chobani Greek Yogurt topped with a sliced banana, 1 tsp of melted peanut butter and 1 crumbled Cascadian Farm Crunchy Peanut Butter Granola Bar.

So flipping good.

Lunch was even better.

I took enough Pho home last night for Adam and I to both have lunch with the leftovers. I beefed mine up with some roasted broccoli and a soft-boiled egg. Plus more Sriracha, of course.

The entire bowl was delicious and the egg yolk melting into the broth was so amazing that it almost made me cry.

For dessert we shared this plate of samples.

Oh Nuts! offered to send me their Passover Cake & Cookie Sampler and I happily accepted.

Neither of us liked the brownie piece (too dry) but we thought that the jam in the sandwich cookie and raspberry jelly roll was nice. By the by, everything was gluten-free and kosher.

I also had an Adora calcium disk.

I am going to try to remember to take one every day for the next while, but I probably won’t blog about it again.

Dinner ended up being a (giant!) container of hot bar.

A little bit of mac and cheese and brussels sprouts and a bunch of chicken. Apparently I was in the mood for protein.

I made the poker players some Mac and Three Cheese Cups but they were gone before I could snag one. That’s a good sign!

What’s your longest run without a day off?

2Mar2013

(Pho)ning It In

by Emily

I regularly drop off the face of the blogging planet and I haven’t even started my next rotation yet! It’s rumored to be time-consuming and exhausting, but I’m sure that won’t keep me from hitting my 30-days goal this time. I mean, I made it an entire day the last round!

You missed – bubble tea with a friend, Adam and I splitting an entire bag of chips and dip for dinner, and other stuff that can’t have been that exciting because I honestly can’t remember any other food item from the past two days.

Also, the end of my purple hair.

I had to get rid of the streaks before my next rotation so I’m back to brown, albeit a darker, redder brown. I’ll try to get a picture in good light this weekend.

Today was the end of my winter break make-up and an on-campus meeting before we switch placements (I’ve got five weeks of clinical rotation in a local hospital coming up on Monday). Coffee was needed.

I earned a free coffee with a book store punch card so I went big (literally!) with a venti non-fat half-pumps toffee nut latte. Note – I drank my giant coffee and a diet pop in lieu of water all day and I totally paid the price this afternoon.

I was running late this morning – we ran out of water in the middle of my shower!!! – and I packed a fairly ridiculous trio of foods for my breakfast/lunch. A green pear.

A Honeycrisp apple.

And a package of Annie Chun’s Brown Sugar and Sea Salt Roasted Seaweed.

I wasn’t exactly full, but at least it all tasted good.

Our meeting got out a smidge early and three friends and I made it over to the mall for some high school-style fun. We wandered, window shopped, and got froyo.

A little plain tart with tons of popping boba for me!

Unfortunately, my dehydration kicked in during the fun and I ended up getting hit with a bad migraine. {Sorry to be such a downer guys!} I made it home just in time to throw up in my own bathroom; always a plus. Then I took medicine, and a nap, and managed to feel much better in an hour or so.

My boys joined me for the nap and this scene occurred –

They are too cute.

Once I rallied, Adam and I headed out for a fun dinner.

Red Pepper might be my new favorite restaurant. They gave us free tea and fried wontons,

and served me the best bowl of vegetarian Pho I’ve ever had.

Adam and I both thought that the broth was swoon-worthy.

I took the 2nd half of my trough home with me and we are quite excited for leftovers tomorrow.

‘Night!

27Feb2013

Coconut Chocolate Lavender

by Emily

Howdy! I have not been following my sleep schedule – – at all – – but I can say that today was quite productive. Every item on my list is now to-done!

The dog has been getting in and out of bed all night long recently and between that and my usually fitful sleep, mornings have felt very difficult this week. I barely had time to make it to work today so I had to take breakfast with me on the walk. This Wegman’s Bean and Cheese Burrito was good but not great.

Something about the flavor and texture made me long for a beverage, and I ended up exploding pinto beans all down the front of my winter coat.

I ate a Honeycrisp apple mid-morning.

Then I spent the rest of my day holed up in the basement like a retail hermit. We got in tons of tons of shipments on Monday and I opened and priced 99% of them today.

I never did have time for lunch at work (I kept my packed food in the fridge for an easy lunch tomorrow!) and I ended up doing double dinners. First was Wegman’s hot bar on a mini-date with the husband.

Wok-seared veggies,

and chicken dumplings and chicken salad.

Adam and I are obsessed with the dumplings’ dipping sauce and the combination of the sauce stirred into my chicken salad was the bomb.com. <– legit, it tasted so good that was the first expression that popped into my head!

I also ate a big bag of Easter candies from the bulk bins and gave myself a stomach-ache.

A little pain was worth it, the sugar rush totally helped me through the remainder of my internship journaling. Minus breaks for making food and eating food, I chugged away for the remainder of the evening.

Our home dinner was vegetable fried rice.

In the wok (for 2) –

1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
~1 heaping cup peas
~1 heaping cup roasted broccoli
~1.5 cups leftover brown rice
1 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1.5 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp Sriracha
3 large eggs

The dish had the potential to be great, but it was way too salty. It’s been awhile since I’ve used fish sauce and I forgot what a sodium-punch it packs. I ate a little less than 2/3 of my plate.

Dessert was a giant, delicious cookie.

Coconut Chocolate Lavender Cookies = this recipe for single serve cookies plus 1 tsp minced culinary lavender and chopped Sweetriot 70% dark kickin’ coconut chocolate subbed in for chocolate chips.

We were both big fans of the big cookies and big taste.

The winner of my Hey Shuga! giveaway is:

(#1) Jenny, shoot me an e-mail with your mailing address.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: veggies

Almost Spring And Almost Celebrating

2nd Friday

Cider House Run

Poor Puppy

Copycat Cashew Chicken

And We’re Off!

(Pho)ning It In

Coconut Chocolate Lavender