Day One Of Thirty? {Again}

by Emily

Complaints first – The chance for 8-hours of sleep passed before I even started this post. All of my end of internship assignments are due on Friday and I’m freaking out. I ate two snacks after dinner and I am still flipping hungry.

Complaints aside, it wasn’t a bad day. We got lots (and lots) of shipments at work so I was nice and busy.

The morning started with smoothies.

For two: 1 Thai young coconut, ~1 cup frozen blue/blackberries, 1 medium frozen banana, and 2 Tbsp Hey Shuga! <– don’t forget, you still have another ~hour to enter my giveaway!

I didn’t have a lot of time for lunch so I kept it simple. A Garuka Bar (from my yumvelope).

The sweet peanut butter coating was addictively good; I planned on snacking on it throughout a task but every time I tried to walk away I took another bite instead!

I also had a Fage 0% Greek Yogurt with Cinnamon Apple Raisins.

The flavor isn’t listed on the Fage website and I’ve only seen it at Target. The apple compote was good, but nothing can really compare to the pure decadence of the honey and strawberry flavors.

I only had an hour between work and night class so Adam and I cashed in a coupon for Subway for dinner.

6 inch turkey with lettuce, tomato, green pepper, banana pepper, red onion, and honey mustard on Italian herb and cheese bread.

I knew my sandwich wouldn’t quite fill me up and I shared this peanut butter spoon with Webster when I got home.

Then I also had a plate of baby carrots with the last of some smoked gouda spread.

And a bag of Smart Fries.

I ended up dipping my “fries” in yellow mustard. And then I had a big glass of water; methinks I’m a bit dehydrated!

19Feb2013

Asian Carbs

by Emily

The title describes every single thing I ate today! At least I managed to cover a good spread of the continent – Thailand, Japan, and India.

Adam wasn’t excited enough about my Pad Kee Mao leftovers, so I ate them myself for breakfast.

Amazing. Broad rice noodles (when cooked in a Thai dish and super spicy) are my favorite food.

I rounded out the meal with a spoon of peanut butter.

I left a little bit behind for the dog and he was on Cloud 9.

Lunch was spicy avocado Inari.

Yes, contrary to ~~popular~~ Adam’s belief, that orange stuff in mayonnaise-based. But when you husband sweetly delivers you lunch at work you don’t turn it down just because you’re doing a silly challenge.

We used a groupon at India Gate for dinner.

I got Chana Bhatura.

I ate half of my chickpeas, with rice. And 1.5+ of my fried dough. I tried to eat less but half the times Adam went to take a bite I ended up snatching it away from him!

The flavor was very similar to the Johnny Cake I grew up eating and I was having a total taste memory.

Adam is in bed (he got under the covers at 8:45!) and I should be there too but I have a mental problem that keeps me from making healthy sleep decisions so instead I’ll probably get some dessert and watch Law and Order: SVU.

P.S. I picked a winner for my Slow Cooker Desserts giveaway – (#1)

Cori, e-mail me with your mailing address so I can get your prize sent out!

19Feb2013

Back On Winter Break

by Emily

My title’s no joke – I am officially back on winter break until the 28th! Since I started my rotation early I’m spending the rest of this portion of the semester catching up on the days of winter break that I missed. I do have a placement with an outpatient RD on Thursday, but other than that the time is mine. I’m not doing anything super exciting; in fact, I work every single day of the next two weeks! I’m hoping to get back into the gym habit too.

My last day of senior practicum was bittersweet, I loved this experience so much more than I was expecting to. I am going to post some more about the internship after I gather my thoughts, but for now I’ll stick to breakfast.

Breakfast. A packet of Spiru-Tein Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Protein Powder shaken with 1.25 cups Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.

I didn’t really love the texture/flavor all that much, but at least this kept me full through rounds. p.s. – this flavor has bee pollen in it so it won’t work for strict vegans

Lunch was packed with veggies. I brought a container of roasted butternut squash and green beans,

and topped it with a thing of Sea’s Gift Sweet Seaweed Snack.

That combo was ridiculous good. I actually drove to Wegman’s the minute I was done with the day to buy more of the sweet seaweed!

Can I brag for a second? I brought the nutrition department a thing of my Triple Butterscotch Blondies to say thank you and everyone raved about them. You know a group of dietitians doesn’t go for seconds on a dessert unless it’s good!

I couldn’t have a blondie – they are sooooo not vegan – but when I got home I did eat 1.5 servings of So Delicious Coconut Milk Cookie Dough Ice Cream.

The flavor of the ice cream is a little bit funky, but the cookie dough pieces are the best I’ve ever had (vegan or otherwise).

Let’s do a final Fashion ~~Friday~~ Monday –

I accented my outfit with this great bracelet my mom sent me for Valentine’s.

That is seriously such a “me” pieces of jewelry.

Since the college is closed for Presidents’ Day, my night class was cancelled. This meant I could go out for celebratory drinks and dinner with friends.

I didn’t plan on drinking much, but I kept a Tea’s Tea Green Tea with Grape in my purse for rehydration purposes.

Really I only drank 1 Jack and ginger ale.

I was embarrassingly tipsy afterward.

My friend had a friend visiting from out-of-town so we had to shower her the wonder of Sun Restaurant for dinner.

I went with the Pad Kee Mao, ordered Thai spicy. Thai-style fried wide rice noodles with hot and spicy sauce, mixed vegetable, and basil leaves.

There wasn’t egg listed in the description, but it was definitely present in the dish. I’ve already cheated on the Vegan 20 Day more than once though, so it’s not like it was a big deal.

I ate a little more than half of my pasta, then brought the rest home for Adam. I also brought him a whole order of the tea leaf salad that he loves to help bribe him into making me popcorn.

Score! I smothered that bowl in melted SmartBalance Light and it was amazing.

Did you have the day off for Presidents’ Day?

17Feb2013

The Sunday Scurry

by Emily

I’m in a quandary: I want to blog because yesterday I started my “30 days of blogging” challenge again, but I want to get off the computer so I can hang out with my boys. I didn’t say it was a large quandary. I’ll just keep this quick.

Leftover pineapple crisp (from my Slow Cooker Desserts cookbook).

Ritz crackers with white bean truffle dip.

A lunchtime snack plate.

Honeycrisp.

Crunchy peanut butter.

1 serving of Sweetriot 70% Dark Chocolate with Kickin’ Coconut*.

Co-op hot bar after work. Fried seitan, cucumber salad, and peanut noodles.

Homemade Thai curry for dinner.

Green curry and light coconut milk with a bit of tamari and rice vinegar. Nasoya Black Soybean Tofu Plus** fried in coconut oil. Tons of broccoli and a can of straw mushrooms. Cashews. Tasty Bite Thai Lime Rice.

My boys.

*the chocolate was out of this world; it had all the healthiness of dark but the creaminess of milk chocolate

**Adam and I both want to buy this tofu again; we didn’t press it but it still stayed firm and got nice and crunchy, plus it had a good, different flavor

Don’t forget to enter my cookbook giveaway.

16Feb2013

Kool And The Gang

by Emily

Q: Do you know what these two things have in common?

A: I used the Kool Aid to (re)dye my hair!

I never captured it in a photo, but over the last week or so I lost 90% of my purple and was left with a lot of white/grey streaks. Since I don’t have an appointment to go back to brown for another two weeks, this wasn’t exactly a good thing. So last night the husband helped me sit with my head in a bowl of concentrated Kool Aid.

It was windy today!

I’ve still got some white but overall it looks much better. We’ll have to see how long the color lasts. I used to dye my highlights with Kool Aid in high school and I remember getting at least a couple of weeks out of it.

The hair photos were taken on my way to work. I woke up this morning feeling a bit under the weather; I had a fever and I was super achy all over. Adam fed me an aspirin and I stayed in bed until the last possible second. I’m feeling much better now {knock on wood}. And thankfully I was only working a partial shift.

I skipped breakfast for bed and was very excited about food when I got home this afternoon.

1/3 cup of Nature’s Path Coconut Chia Granola with Naked Vanilla Oat Milk and tons of chopped dapple plum and nectarine.

Plus lots of tea. A cup of Revolution Tea Lavender Earl Grey,

and a cup of chai with 1 tsp honey an hour or so later.

I carried the lavender theme over to my snack as well.

My mom got these floral candies from a student whose parents are from Japan.

My dad says they all taste like peach, but I swear the ones I tried had subtle differences.

We spent a long-ish time on errands this evening and I got a small plate of hot bar to keep from getting too cranky.

Maple cinnamon roasted sweet potatoes plus sautéed veggies and 3 pieces of General Tso tofu. It’s been ages since we’ve roasted sweet potato fries and we definitely need to make them again soon.

Dinner didn’t take very long to prepare once we got home, but it sure was good.

I had 1.5 servings of Wegman’s Don’t Be a Chicken Meatless Nuggets dipped in honey.

They were great, far more enjoyable than I ever find chicken nuggets to be.

I made use a hot spinach salad for our veggie component.

(recipe to follow) We loved it. The spinach was super creamy and there was such a good mix of textures.

Dinner didn’t really fill me up though, and I ate some Smart Fries while I wrote this post.

Much better.

Hot Spinach Salad, serves 2

1 Tbsp Earth Balance vegan butter
1 pint white mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 pinches salt
3 heaping cups raw baby spinach
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup smoked almonds
1 Tbsp evoo
2 heaping Tbsp vegan sour cream

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown mushrooms with butter and salt.
Add spinach to mushrooms, tossing until greens are completely wilted.
Add remaining ingredients to pan and cook 1 more minute, stirring regularly.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Have you ever dyed your hair with Kool Aid?

11Feb2013

And A Class To Go Before I Sleep

by Emily

My mom texted to check on me after I didn’t post last night, but I promise I wasn’t snowed in/buried alive/on a bender – I’ve just been busy! Monday wasn’t quite as crazy as Sunday, but I am getting this post up early before night class so I have some tiny chance of painting my nails this evening. If I miss another holiday colors polish opportunity I will be so sad.

Sunday I ate this Tandoor Chef Vegetable Pad Thai for breakfast.

Not traditional “morning food,” but one of the best frozen entrées ever. It is a little calorie-dense at 490kcal a package, but the texture and flavor makes it taste like a splurge and not a sad frozen dinner.

I tried to take a cup of my latest impulse purchase to work with me, but ended up passing Adam my glass after one sip.

I love Silk’s almond milks but I think I am just not a soy milk girl; this had such a strong aftertaste to me. Thankfully the husband enjoys it so our carton won’t go to waste.

Adam and Webster picked me up from work, and we got this box from the co-op hot bar on the way home.

Vegan “cheesy” pasta and 3 stuffed grape leaves, shared 70-30 my favor.

We also split this Opal apple.

It is fun to try new varieties, but we probably won’t get this one again for the increased price versus “regular” apples.

I was tired from work, and really didn’t want to go to the gym, so I bribed myself with this Justin’s Chocolate Almond Butter packet.

That stuff is just chocolate frosting, I swear!

At the gym, I finished my first week of CT10k workouts. 4 minutes walking/1 minute running, x 8. Except I shouldn’t listen to Fiona Apple while I run because I’m obsessed; I ended up running for 10 minutes straight in the middle of my workout.

Dinner was all over the place, but the components were all good. A handful of baby carrots.

Pizza crusts stolen from the husband.

A bit of Chocolove Currants and Almonds in Dark Chocolate.

Who knew I loved currants? They definitely helped break up the intensity of the bar.

Finally, we made tasty smoothies.

Thai young coconut, frozen banana, frozen blueberries, and a bit of brown sugar.

Adam has recently decided that he is obsessed with Thai young coconuts, so expect to see more of these. Especially since our coconut was so exciting – it was pink!

Apparently it’s a common variation relating to the varied levels of phenol found in the coconuts.

Today I grabbed a Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar for breakfast.

I attended a workshop on TPN in the morning so I got to eat in the hospital rather than my car, which was nice.

Lunch was another tasty black-eyed pea salad.

Black eyed peas with bread and butter corn, green pepper, smoked almonds, and green Tabasco. I made a big batch so my lunch for the next two days is already packed.

With a serving of the dark chocolate for dessert.

And when I got home I ate a pear.

I took care of a few things for school when I got home from the hospital, and sudddenly I was starving.

Dinner was pretty lame, but I’m in a hurry trying to get to school so I can finish some reading before class.

And lame doesn’t mean it didn’t taste good!

A box of Health is Wealth Asian Spring Rolls,

with a dipping sauce of chunky peanut butter and Smart Balance Light.

Mmmmmmn!

P.S. – You can still win! Comment on this post before midnight for a chance to win a copy of the “Petite Treats” cookbook.

7Feb2013

Petite Treats Book Giveaway

by Emily

Since the giveaway ties in with breakfast, I’m going to post this day in reverse! Also I’m going to do it quickly, since I’m late picking up the husband.

Dinner – Veggie summer roll from Wegmans while we knocked next week’s grocery shopping out of the way early.

Lunch – A tempeh sandwich with Sriracha Nayo and Strawberry Crofter’s on a Sandwich Thin.

A pear.

And more soft strawberry licorice.

Breakfast – A ridiculous coffee in the car on the longish drive to an off-site clinic. Venti soy latte with (half pumps) cinnamon dolce syrup.

And delicious mini scones.

Actually, Blueberry Lavender Skookies. <– squeeee!

The skookie recipe came from Petite Treats; Mini Versions of Your Favorite Baked Delights, a book I was sent to review.

Here is what the publishers said about it –

Good things come in small packages—and now so do all of your favorite desserts!

Introducing “Petite Treats,” an adorable cookbook featuring delicious, bite-sized, reduced-guilt sweets that are sure to charm family and friends at any gathering.

From the authors of “Mini Pies” and founders of the Seattle-based Mini Empire Bakery, “Petite Treats” shows you how to miniaturize everything from tiny fruit scones and mini pies to bite-size brownies and cutesy cannoli—sweet satisfaction guaranteed.

This book includes dozens of full-color photos and easy-to-follow recipes, as well as decorating and presentation tips. Let “Petite Treats” be the star of your next holiday, birthday or cocktail party.

And here are my thoughts –

a good mix of healthy and decadent treats, all in the miniature
the instructions were easy, and easy to follow!
some recipes are vegan (like the skookies)
they included a mini piecaken (a pie within a cake) so you know that the authors must be on top of their dessert game!
the pictures make me drool

They gave me the opportunity to share a book with my readers too. Since you guys like me, I knew that y’all love things that are small and sweet! <– that was so corny I think I made myself throw up.

For a chance to win a copy of the book – simply comment on this post by midnight on Monday (February 11th).

6Feb2013

Ball Of Stress

by Emily

I’ve been trying to let myself sleep in as late as possible this week and bars help me do that. I ate this White Chocolate Macadamia Clif Bar in the car on the way to the hospital.

I’m feeling a lot better from Monday but I’m still making a point of not skipping breakfast.

For lunch I veganized my favorite bean salad by swapping out cheese cubes for spicy Nayo.

Black eyed peas + chopped green pepper + smoked almonds + spicy Nayo.

Nothing is ever as good sans cheese but this was still pretty damn good.

With a Mango Coconut Sparkling KeVita.

And cola breeze and sour mix and match gummies for dessert.

I found these Goody Good Stuff Gummies at 7-11.

They are vegetarian and pretty good, though they are a little soft for my tastes. The husband loved them though; he had one taste and rest of my bags were gone.

I am having a really great time at the pediatric hospital, but I have to admit that I am really stressed out right now. There are a lot of things happening in my school and personal life at the moment that are freaking me out. I can’t talk about any of it on the blog, but I will say that I am a giant ball of stress. My stomach hurts all of the time.

Thankfully I had the afternoon free to decompress. I did some fun baking (and tasting!).

Then I brought a friend some of my baked goods and we had a mutual vent session.

And I walked to and from the gym. The icy patches made the trips take forever, but it was a good way to clear my head.

At the gym, I did another Couch to 10k treadmill workout. 4 minutes of walking / 1 minute running, x9.

I ate these Darrell Lea Strawberry Licorice while I cooked dinner.

I kept it simple.

Adam and I shared a package of Tasty Bite Channa Masala – bulked up with some frozen veggies – over a package of brown rice.

Easy peasy.

What do you do to let off steam when you are feeling stressed?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: veggies

Day One Of Thirty? {Again}

Asian Carbs

Back On Winter Break

The Sunday Scurry

Kool And The Gang

And A Class To Go Before I Sleep

Petite Treats Book Giveaway

Ball Of Stress