Tag Archives: workout

Just Like Jamba

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We got into bed after 1 a.m. last night so this morning was a little painful. Luckily I knew just the thing to get us through.

When we were in undergrad at UMiami, Adam and I developed a Jamba Juice obsession. I grew up on an island, we had rum huts, not smoothie shops! I poured through websites about the “underground” flavors (white gummi bear anyone?) and knew the calorie counts for my five favorite orders by heart, but my favorite were the holiday offerings.

Pumpkin was pretty good (my Pumpkin Pie Through a Straw is better though), but December was where it’s at. One year there was a mint strawberry smoothie that rocked my world and then disappeared forever. I know the combo sounds a little funky, but it’s magical. I check the website every holiday season but I’ve yet to see its return.

So when this West Soy Chocolate Peppermint Soy Beverage popped up on my grocery shelves (I actually bought this in October, but that’s another story) I had a delicious idea.

Mint chocolate strawberry smoothies.

For two (Adam loved his as well) I blended 2cups frozen strawberries, 2 cups chocolate peppermint soy milk and 1 vanilla Chobani.

A little sweet, healthy, and a lot magical.

During class I smacked on 2 servings of Sahale Snacks Valdosta Pecans,

and whilst cramming studying I also had a Cliff Spiced Pumpkin Pie bar.

A lunch with the perfect amount of fun and siety to get my through to my anatomy exam.

I also took my notecards on a trip to the gym.  I needed to be able to read the entire time, so I kept my workout low-impact but lengthy.

  • 35minutes on the elliptical, level 4
  • 25minutes on the treadmill, walking on an incline

I had a shocking amount of focus; I think the gym will have to be my new study spot for finals!

Then I took my Anatomy exam (ok, but not as good as I hoped), met with my Orgo teacher about my failing exam, and walked home in the cold. 

It’s time for a (much needed) shower and some (much needed) fun!

Do you live near a Jamba Juice?  What’s your favorite order?

Highjinks Highlights

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Turkey Day #2 was a success!  This is our last night of family time so I’m going to keep this picture-heavy and words-light.  For accountability’s sake – do be aware that I ate a TON more food than I managed to photograph, I’m just showing the highlights.

When I woke up this morning I looked over to the cutest sight on earth – the husband was holding baby niece on one side and had 5-year-old niece cuddled up on his other side!  #myovarieshurt

Before the gluttony began, Adam and I started the morning with a run.  We did a quick 1.5miles.  I was very glad to get some movement into my day.

Now the food (again, just the highlights).  0% Honey Chobani.

Our contribution #1 was deviled eggs.

I enjoyed one with some *delicious* cocktail shrimp.

Contribution #2 was this Poinsettia Popcorn Tin.

1-800-Flowers.com sent me this to review and I decided to share the wealth with the in-laws.  Butter, cheese, and caramel.

Oh.my.god.  You can assume I had many many handfuls.  Everyone agreed this was delicious, great for the holidays.

My dinner plate – white meat turkey topped with cranberry sauce, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and veggies with dip.

My dessert plate – chocolate cake and crock pot cake (a beyond amazing recipe which I will be making on my own and sharing soon).

And lots of kisses.

Applegate Farms Thanksgiveaway Winners

Via random integer generator –

Kristisn (#2), Jess (#4), and MaryBe (#5)

E-mail me at emilyhwaxATgmail.com with your addresses guys!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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I hope everyone enjoyed their turkeys/tofurkeys and had a good day of family time!

We had a great holiday.  We ate with a family friend who hosted the big meal at noon; it seemed a little odd to eat that early, but it was nice to have the rest of the day free.

Adam and I actually started off our day with a little activity; my grandparents live right off of a path so we walked over for a run.  We covered 2miles total (in the rain!) and had a lot of fun.

We kept breakfast small because of our early meal.

A mixed bowl of Frosted Flakes and Blueberry Special K with berries,

and a small glass of oj.

Before I show you my lunch (Thanksgiving) plate, I should probably prewarn you – I hate Thanksgiving!  I like the idea of being thankful and getting together with loved ones, but for all the foods I love, I pretty much hate the traditional Turkey Day fare.  Which I suppose works out because I’m the only one who never leaves the meal feeling stuffed!

Sweet potato casserole, a roll, a deviled egg, marshmallow salad, corn casserole, and a bunch of green beans.  Sans turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes I managed to put together a pretty good meal 🙂

The dessert table was gorgeous, but my pumpkin love affair doesn’t extend to pie!

I did eat a Halloween reject when we got home though.

In the afternoon we took my grandma to see “Love and Other Drugs.”  It was funny and sweet, but *disclaimer* basically just one long sex scene!  So, um, don’t take your grandma 😉 (she enjoyed it!)

Dinner’s feast was much more my scene.

Leftover salad from yesterday,

roasted red pepper and tomato soup,

and the best grilled cheese I’ve ever eaten.

Seriously.  Pumpernickel rye bread spread with honey mustard, topped with 2 slices of extra sharp cheddar and spicy pickles, grilled on a skillet with a bit of butter. 

Oh.my.god!

Dessert was a small slice of coffee cake.

Not gonna lie, I cut this slice out from the middle of the cake so I could get that big chunk of topping!

Good family, good food, good day.

Don’t forget, you have one more day to enter my giveaway.

Rain is a Proven Cause of Random

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Today was spectacularly unproductive.  It was raining sideways so I skipped my trip to campus (and class and the gym).  I didn’t do a stitch of school-work.  My carrot salad was an inedible fail.  I snacked too much and didn’t eat dinner.  I haven’t even started packing for our trip this Wednesday.

But you know what?  That’s ok (cue Stewart Smalley).  I have so much work to get done over Thanksgiving that it doesn’t really matter that I added a little more.  I’m the queen of last-minute packing so I know I’ll get it all sorted out tomorrow.  And Adam and I took the time this evening to squeeze in a 10minute strength/stretch session; booyah!

My eats today were random, and not very healthy, and delicious.  Pumpkin Pie Pudding.

This stuff was gloriously thick, I still can’t believe that I made this!

Topped with a crumbled macaroon, perfection.

A small handful of Sahale Snacks Valdosta pecans.

An ice-cream sundae.

And a bunch of Garden of Eatin’ Blue Chips,

dunked in salsa and sour cream.

At 9:30 I managed to bribe Adam into a warm-up with promises of pumpkin pie from the Co-op.  .5mile run out, .5mile walk back.  Followed by 10minutes of mat time.  Our mini workout session left me glistening with pride and sweat, so we’ve got to hit the showers and get to bed!

What are your Turkey Day/weekend plans?

Be Still, My Heart

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I ended up not going to the gym today, I didn’t want to risk the shower.  I don’t know whether or not we can get hot water when the power is off, but I didn’t want to find out on a sweaty day 😉

I did, however, get in enough movement that I don’t feel guilty about missing the gym (Who am I kidding?  I never feel guilty, that’s how I let weeks go by between visits!).  I walked so much today that my feet actually started to hurt, and that’s a real feat for me!

  • home to school
  • school to home
  • home back to school
  • school to Wegman’s
  • Wegman’s to the Co-op
  • and finally home

My excitement over that much walking time is why I’m trying to calm my heart.  Although I’m glad it’s not too still, I needed him beating for Anatomy today!  We did EKGs in lab and it was actually a lot of fun (aka I’m a nerd).  First we checked my heart rate reclining (70beats per minute), then again after I sprinted up and down the stairs for a few minutes (113beats per minute).

Lab let out early, which is why I had time to make the mid-day trip home.  I couldn’t actually eat any lunch (I couldn’t open my fridge because of the power situation), but I did have a nice snack.

Sahale Snacks Valdosta pecans with cranberries, black pepper and orange zest.  Yum!  These tasted exactly like candied nuts, even though they have way less sugar.  I actually opened these on Tuesday and it was all I could do not to eat them all before I got a chance to blog about them!

I also had a macaroon.

I imagine those wouldn’t keep for too long, but 3 days later they are still damn good!

Food lab today was about grains and starches; my group made saffron rice pilaf, bulgur salad, and creamed toast with asparagus and eggs.  And you’ll notice none of those dishes made it onto my plate….

Hey, we did a good job, those items just weren’t my cup of tea!  I probably ate about 3/4 of what’s shown there, as I said, somethings were better than others.

After class I made my groceries trek to pick up a few items, which left me leaving the co-op at 5pm, starving.  Vegan Thai tapioca pudding to the rescue –

I’m sorry I don’t have a better picture, but I actually ate this on the walk home!  I can’t even begin to describe how good this stuff is – chewy and sticky in the most amazing way.  Be still my heart.

I also had a spoon (x2) of crunchy pb when I got home.

Served alongside a nice portion of heat; thank goodness our power is back on!

Dinner was simple simple, boxed mac and cheese gussied up with broccoli, 1oz of sharp cheddar, and a sprinkle of Sriracha.

I hate to add cheese to mac and cheese but this was a 33cent store brand box and the flavor just wasn’t cutting it.

Much better.

Now I’ve got to make like a banana and split; I have a huge presentation tomorrow morning and I’ve got to go rehearse.  Note – actually first we are returning some cans for cash and using it to buy candy….but then I’ll rehearse!

Three Sets of Cookies

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Man, oh man, has it been an interesting day!  Many ups and downs and LOTS of time in the kitchen.  This has to be an extra long post to fit in all of the crazy!

I started things off this morning with a pot Wegman’s eggnog flavored coffee.

I had two big mugs with a sprinkle of nutmeg and lots of skim milk.

The coffee made me feel so full that I never got around to breakfast, which was a good thing because I spent the morning immersed in Orgo Lab work.  I got so much done that I had extra time to play this afternoon (also a good thing!).

In addition to schoolwork I spent some time in the kitchen.  Many blogs have led me to believe that you can turn this –

into coconut butter with some food-processor loving.  25minutes later here’s what I got –

Not quite what I was hoping for.  This was actually my 2nd failed attempt; the last time I was afraid I didn’t blend long enough so I decided to give it a second go.  Well, today I processed for 25minutes (10minutes longer than all the recommendations I’ve read) and I still didn’t reach creamy perfection.  I did, however, make my food processor very, very hot, so it seemed like time to quit.

I was feeling down about my failure when I realized that I could still turn my pulverized coconut into something amazing!  I got so excited I wanted to get started right away, but that would have meant missing Orgo and Anatomy and since I skipped class two weeks ago to catch up on Grey’s Anatomy that seemed like a bad idea 😉

Instead I grudgingly ate lunch.

Progresso Chicken Tortilla Soup (bought with a free coupon from BlogHer).

This was just spicy enough and very satisfying.  More on that in a minute though…

I also had a small Sweet Tango apple and a serving of Garden of Eatin’ Blue Chips.

Yums all around, the Sweet Tango was so crisp and juicy.

Sadly, lunch ended up turning into a massive fail, as I spent the next 45minutes throwing up  😦  I have an intolerance to some (not yet identified) food preservatives and apparently the canned soup contained an offender.  Side note – if random additives don’t make you puke I still highly recommend the soup!

I headed to class and when I felt 70% better at 3pm I headed to the gym.  I realize that sounds a little crazy, but it’s been practically a month since my last workout (!!) and I’ll be damned if a can of soup is going to keep me off of the treadmill!

I walked for 3minutes to warm up, ran/sprinted until I reached 2miles (17.5minutes), then walked another 5minutes to cool down.  All total – 25minutes and 2.3miles.  All the while thinking of cookies.

I walked home from the gym and wandered down Elmwood gathering my needed ingredients.  After a quick trip to Wegman’s it was time to get baking.

My yellow stand mixer, wedding gift love!

I hunkered down in the kitchen and ended up churning out three different varieties of cookies!  I tweaked/created the recipes to accommodate my pulverized coconut surplus and achieved success!

First, an attempt at Jenna’s macaroons with coconut subbed in for almond meal.

Plus some cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

To make Coconut Mini Macaroons with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling (recipe at the end of this post).

Holy creative culinary masterpiece, I am so proud of these cookies!  This was my first time using my stand mixer, my first ever attempt at macaroons, a recipe combo I thought up on the spot, and these little beauties are so tasty!  Mine are not as pretty as Ms. Eat, Live, Run’s, but there is no way hers are any more delicious!

Next, I made a batch of American-style coconut macaroons.  I followed this recipe from Cooking Light, but used 2cups of pulverized coconut and full fat sweetened condensed milk.

They don’t look anything like the original (and they spread a little bit) but the taste was fantastic!  If you like coconut but don’t like the stringiness of traditional macaroons I highly recommend trying this variation.

I had extra batter (just coconut, flour, vanilla and sweetened condensed milk) so I poured in ~2/3 cup of oats to make some no-bakes style cookies.

Coconut Oat No Bakes?  These were awesome as well; I might make a batch of batter again sometime just to create the no-bakes!

I did a meal’s-worth of snacking while baking alone (assume ~2 of each cookie), but I still took the time to make a snazzy dinner for the husband, bazam!

Mushroom and Sausage Ragu with Polenta from Cooking Light.  I used plain button mushrooms and subbed in 12oz of Al Fresco Roasted Garlic Chicken Sausage, but other than that I stuck to the recipe.

Delish!  This was rich and creamy and meaty but not too heavy.  I think the sauce will be even better leftover.

This won’t be as early of a bedtime as I’d hope for my 10 day challenge, but with the amount of kitchen productivity I had today I’ll take it!

Have you ever made macaroons (either kind)?  Are you comfortable going your own way with recipes or do you prefer to stick with the book?

My version of the cooking recipe follows.  I know the instructions seem lengthy, but these are deceptively simple, and definitely worth the effort!

Coconut Mini Macaroons with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling, makes about 25 mini sandwiches

for the macaroons

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup pulverized sweetened dried coconut*
  • 2 large egg whites, room temperature
  • 5 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 drops green food coloring

for the filling

  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon extract
  • 4oz 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese, softened
  • 1 drop red food coloring
  1. Preheat the oven to 350*.  Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Combine powdered sugar and pulverized coconut, mixing to achieve a homogenous mixture.  Whisk if needed to eliminate any lumps.
  3. In a large, clean bowl with the speed set on high (speed 8 on Kitchen Aid stand mixers) whisk the egg whites until they are foamy.
  4. Add granulated sugar and food coloring and resume mixing on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks are formed.  Watch carefully; if you overmix the air bubbles will be destroyed and the mixture will curdle.
  5. Working in two batches, use a spatula to fold in the coconut mixture.  Do not overmix.
  6. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag, or a large baggie with the tip of the corner cut off. 
  7. Pipe small circles, evenly spaced onto the baking sheets.  Each cookie should be between the size of a quarter and a sliver dollar.  You can use the tip to flatten/spread the batter; peaks or “kiss” shapes will keep the sandwiches from sitting flat.
  8. Bake for 12minutes at 350*.  Do not open the oven door during baking.
  9. Wait 90 seconds after removing from oven, then carefully peel the macaroons from the parchment paper and set aside to cool.
  10. Meanwhile, prepare your filling.  Combine all filling ingredients in a medium bowl and beat 1-2minutes until smooth.
  11. Identify sets of two cookies that are similar in size.  Spread a thin layer of filling on a flat (bottom) side and sandwich macaroons together.
  12. Store uneaten cookies (if there are any left!) in an air-tight container.

Spooky Saturday

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It’s been a full and fabulous day!  A race, some shopping, good eats, going out with friends; yup, it was pretty perfect!

Our morning started bright and healthy with the Jack O’ Lantern 5k.

The course looped 3.1 miles around Goat Island (Niagara Falls) and was beautiful.

I split a Cliff Crunchy granola bar with the husband on the drive up.

Today’s race had everything going against it – I had to run alone (Katie had to back out at the last minute and the husband wanted to actually run), the lack of bathrooms meant my full bladder bothered me the entire course, I was slow as all get out, and it was frigid out.

But you know what?  Even a terrible run is still a great one!

I don’t know my exact time but, it was something less than 31:20, I’ll take it!  I was terrified of coming in last (ask me to tell you that story sometime!) but I ended up only coming in behind 75% of the racers.

We hit up the food tent afterwards – Adam housed at least two sandwiches – and I ended up eating part of an ice pop.

I didn’t really it get it together to eat a real meal after that and my hunger ended up hitting hard later in the day.  The husband requested a pumpkin chocolate milkshake (he’s a genius!) and I did take a few sips of that before we headed to the grocery.

Adam had to go into the lab in the afternoon so I went with him and did some school-work.  I packed a snack for while I studied.

Apple slices and baby carrots dipped in a serving of sun butter.

Unfortunately this was around the time my hunger hit and I ended up not getting much work done.

Afterwards we headed to the mall to pick up a few things.  We must have done at least 4 full loops of the mall and by the time we stopped at Cheesecake Factory I was ready for diner!

Bread, x2 with butter. (Sorry for the blurry pictures, I don’t know why CF is always so darn dim!)

I ordered off of the appetizer menu for dinner and my salad was still huge!

The Fresh Vegetable Salad – Asparagus, Green Beans, Tomato, Cucumber, Roasted Beets, Apple, Edamame, Radicchio, Romaine and White Cheddar All Chopped with Pomegranate Vinaigrette.  I subbed in spicy peanut vinaigrette for my dressing, which somehow also got me edamame; score!

This is sooooooooo good.  <– That’s what I said to Adam at least 10 times during dinner 🙂  Huge as it was, I still managed to finish 2/3 of it.  I have a nice takeout container for lunch tomorrow as well.

I stole a few of Adam’s french fries too.

After we got home a couple of friends came over and we hung out for a bit before heading out to some nearby bars to check out people’s costumes.  We had a lot of fun, but I didn’t bring my camera so you’ll have to take my word for it – I’ll show you my “costume” tomorrow!

While we were out, Adam and I split a Woodchuck Cider.  And once home I ate part of a vegan pumpkin pecan blondie.

What a day, what a day.

Going on Walkabout

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Walk to The Spot

Katie and I were supposed to meet this morning for breakfast and a study session,

but we spent most of our time talking, whoops!

We did manage the breakfast part though.  A grande iced (it was so warm here today!) coffee with skim milk,

and a thing of artichoke and spinach humus.

I know that humus is a strange breakfast but it sounded so good I just couldn’t pass it up!

Unfortunately the flavor was too garlicy for my taste buds, but it was nice to get some veggies into my morning.  I finished about half each of the humus and the bread sticks.

Walk to school

I had a busy time on campus today – a meeting, two classes, and another meeting, all back to back.  I snacked on a small vegan pumpkin pecan blondie before my first meeting.

And during Anatomy I ate this Balance Pure Cherry Pecan Bar.

I was a little unsure about the flavor – I got it on super sale at Wegmans – but I ended up being a fan.  It wasn’t as amazing as the cookie dough variety, but it also wasn’t as caloric and had fewer grams of saturated fat.

School fun facts – 1. They recently discovered taste buds in our lungs.  2. I did such a good job on my Orgo homework (rewriting the class notes) that he gave me extra-credit points!

Walk to Wegmans

I knew I needed to get in a couple hours of solid concentration with my Orgo notes, so I headed to the Wegmans’ Cafe to study.  And to get a tasty dinner.

Veggies, veggies, everywhere,

and green beans and chicken and eggplant in garlic sauce.

Since I was alone, and therefore wasn’t sharing a drink with the husband, I decided to try this fun looking drink.

I don’t know if it tasted exactly like chai OR cola, but the flavor had a nice spice and wasn’t too sweet.

Walk Get picked up and drive home

I covered more than 2 miles just in transit today, but canceling my run was Adam this evening wasn’t an option.  We ran one mile out and walked one mile back, with a very exciting destination in the middle –

One morning few weeks ago, I was taking a walk and talking on the phone with my mom when I spotted that window display…..and I made such a loud exclamation of glee that the owner (who was in his car outside) asked me if I’d like him to open up the shop specially for me!  Excited much?  I told him I could contain myself, but my mom told me that for my ‘fall gift’ (yes, she’s crazy) I could go charge a couple of pumpkin brews.

Nice!  We are very excited about our selection.

A sampling of pumpkin/seasonal beers,

a Root beer from Abita (one of my top 3 favorite beer companies),

and a few Tuskers, our new favorite beer that is almost impossible to find in Buffalo! 

The Village Beer Merchant is awesome about having a great selection of things that are absent elsewhere in Buffalo, and the employees are all super nice and helpful.

Adam had to crack open a Tusker the minute we got home, and he saved a few swigs in the bottle for me.

Ahhhh.

What is your favorite type of beer?  I actually don’t like beer that much, but I have three obsessions – 21st Amendment, Hell or High Watermelon; Abita, particularly the strawberry and winter brews; and Tusker.