Tag Archives: yam

Scotty Doesn’t Know

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We had an impromptu date night tonight; the husband called up another couple on a whim and invited them over for dinner and “Eurotrip” watching.  Actually, Michelle was feeling sick, but the boys and I whipped up a pretty good meal as a threesome!  (maybe we got in the cramming position…..clearly I’m still a bit delirious!)

Before that though, we made a few trips and finished all of our grocery shopping for the week.  Hunger final hit while in Target so I grabbed a single serving pita chips and red pepper hummus from the cafe.

De-lish-us!  I am continually impressed by Target. 

For dinner I made Chicken Cutlets with Fig Compote (recipe from Family Circle),

Adam made some roasted sweet potatoes,

and Patrick made a side salad.

We did good!  I took small servings because my cold has made my appetite all wonky.

And I still couldn’t even finish what I took, I left ~1-2bites of everything.

I didn’t actually fit in a stretch session, but we got in a pretty good workout of side-splitting laughter!  “Eurotrip” is one of my favorite movies; “here’s a fun fact – you made with your sister man!”  Actually, in order, my favorites are –

  1. Super Troopers
  2. Eurotrip
  3. The Hangover
  4. Knocked Up

I’m a bit of a guy in my entertainment choices 😉

We’ll say I worked up an appetite chuckling, because I did find room for dessert!

I’ve been waiting to make Rachel’s Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies since I bookmarked them months ago!

Mmmmn, you can’t go wrong with pumpkin and butterscotch and the texture of these was awesomely cakey.

Tomorrow morning I’ve got to get up early to go to a 5k Heart Walk, yikes!  I’m going as part of a service group I joined so I can’t bow out, let’s hope I’m feeling healthy in the morning.

Be honest, did I get “Scotty Doesn’t Know” stuck in your head?

Sick Can Equal Super

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So I don’t know what the deal is with my tummy, but it turns out it wasn’t hunger.  I felt queasy all afternoon (I’m NOT preggers) and when I went to lay down I actually fell asleep before I could even set the alarm, Adam had to take the train home from work!  I really hope that it’s something random and I’m not getting sick because I don’t even know how I would deal with that with summer school.

We rescheduled our run for tomorrow and when we went out to pick something up at UPS we got dinner from Wegman’s hot bar instead of cooking.

I’d be lying if I said I’m not always excited about hot bar, even in spite of a tummy ache!  And tonight’s selections seemed especially tasty.

Wok seared veggies,

steamed broccoli,

roasted sweet potato,

and it turned out that awesome vegetarian meatballs from the other day are vegan as well, sweet!

In the end dinner was perfectly filling and super tasty, almost worth the bellyache.

When I got home I got straight to work reading for Sociology, and I’ve got to hurry and get showered and bedded so I can continue in the morning.  See ya tomorrow afternoon!

Beans and Bloggers

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Lunch and dinner today had a lot in common; both involved beans and both were inspired by some of my favorite bloggers.  I think my favorite thing about blog-land is all the fun things I’ve been inspired to try.  Green monsters, running a half marathon, Greek yogurt, nut-butter crusted parsnip fries……

Lunch came from Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point.

I love sweet potatoes and I love baked beans, but I don’t think I would have come up with pairing them all on my own.  I used one big sweet potato (13oz) and 1/2 cup of baked beans.

The flavor combination was perfect, I prefer sweet potatoes sweet to savory (i.e. with butter and brown sugar to ketchup or salsa) and this was the perfect blend.  Plus I loved how much it looked like a papaya 😉

I spent my afternoon cleaning, confirming that I don’t have skin cancer, and running errands; all whilst listening to Regina Spektor, who(m?) I’m obsessed with.  I did not get ready for our trip tomorrow, but that’s what tomorrow is for, right?

Dinner was supposed to be a bean burger recipe that Allison of Green Dog Wine raved about.  But one of the reasons I’m obsessed with Allison is that she does cool things like go out to restaurants in the middle of the week, so when the husband begged for suggested Cheesecake Factory I wasn’t too hard to convince.

The best thing about CF is the bread.

I had one slice of each type.  As well as one of the husband’s avocado eggrolls.

For dinner I went with the spicy cashew chicken.

This meal is sooooooo unhealthy but we got to CF like once a year so I’d rather get my favorite thing.

I only ate half of my meal though, because I knew we were ordering dessert.

White chocolate caramel macadamia cheesecake.

The husband and I split it, minus the whip cream.

It was great to go on the mid-week date with the husband!  And my food was delicious, but honestly when it was all said and done I wished I had just ordered a salad.  I’m finding it’s harder to enjoy “splurges” when everything I eat is unhealthy (duh!).  I am so ready to get back to the old me!

Veggies eaten today: 1.5cups, not exactly killing this goal

What is your favorite item from the Cheesecake Factory?

Sunday Night Dinners

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I hope everyone has had a great weekend!  It’s been an interesting Sunday around here; both Adam and I barely got any sleep last night so the whole day has felt like a dream.  As thrilled as I am about the warming weather, we are in that strange time where a blanket is too heavy but a sheet is too light and we don’t know whether we want to turn on the heat or the ac.  Hopefully we’ll get things figured out by tonight!

We slept in and lounged around so I didn’t eat until close to noon and I ended up having breakfast and lunch in reverse.  Lunch first –

Eggplant, and yam, and brussels sprouts, oh my!  I tried to mix up my seasoning with balsamic vinegar and sadly this wasn’t as tasty as my usual veggie skillets so I’ll spare you the recipe.  It sure looked pretty though.

Probably because it wasn’t the taste I was expecting, lunch didn’t satisfy me at all.  I ended up eating ‘breakfast’ a little later.

1cup Kashi H2H with 2T dried cranberries and 1T cinnamon chips.  And skim milk of course.

The cereal did the trick.

My parents, who don’t do a whole lot of cooking, always make fish on Sunday nights and have a fancy dinner.  Sadly this tradition began after I moved out, which is probably why it hasn’t caught on in my house.  We have things like Dairy Queen for Sunday night dinner.

We had to repark the car for the weekday morning so Adam suggested taking a drive and we ended up at DQ.  I’d be lying if I said that my turtle blizzard didn’t feel like the perfect dinner!

I’m glad I got in some veggies at lunch, but I didn’t eat a single piece of fruit today.  Healthy living fail!   And an issue I’m actually going to address in another post later today.  Be on the lookout for it this evening.

Does your family have any special traditions for Sunday night dinners?

A Spot of Tea

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I had my head buried in the books all morning so it ended up being a late lunch.  I have three more chapters worth of notecards to make before I can get into the nitty gritty of reviewing.

The husband’s been nagging me to cut back on the diet soda (a.k.a my lifeblood) so today I gave iced tea a try.  I combined 4 bags of Snapple berry tea with 3cups of water in a saucepan and heated them to a low simmer. 

Then I cut the heat and let them stew for five minutes before discarding the bags.  Finally I dumped in a tray of ice-cups.  Voila, a pot of tea –

My strainer ladle was the perfect serving implement.

And I enjoyed this glass x2 while I studied.

I also enjoyed geeked out over a few of these.

Cherry-cola salt water taffy, I am so onboard!  Cherry cola is one my favorite flavors (my favorite diet soda addiction is Cherry Coke Zero), in fact I’ve already decided to order a Roy Rogers next time I’m in a restaurant!

Around 2:30 I finally came to a stopping point and made a worth-the-wait lunch.

  1. First I put 1t canola oil into a saucepan over medium high heat.  Once the oil was warm I added in 1/2 a medium sweet potato, chopped and 1/4cup roughly chopped red onion.  I seasoned the veggies with s&p and spicy Hungarian paprika.
  2. I cooked the veggies for ~5minutes before adding 2 handfuls of fresh kale.
  3. I poured 1/4cup h2o over the kale and let the water disappear before I added 1/2cup black beans.
  4. Finally I poured in 1t chipotle oil and toss everything together.

Yums!  I’m not a vegan, but my favorite meals are always a combo of veggies.

When Adam gets home around 4 he’s driving me to The Spot for a study session with Caroline.  I’m probably going to be at the coffee shop every night this week and I’d rather not spend that much $ on food so hopefully my late lunch will be able to hold me over until a late dinner.

What do you drink all day long?  I have no plans of quitting soda, but I did agree to cut back a bit, and more importantly drink more water!  In addition to my tea I’ve already also had a few glasses of the plain stuff.

Jump Up and Catch A Kungry

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*If you can tell me where the title of my post comes from you will have forever earned my deepest respect.

It’s been a strange day; I slept terribly last night and I’ve been out of sorts all day.  Plus I’ve been soooooooo fricking hungry!  Boo.  My hunger couldn’t distract me out of another awesome layered outfit though.

I know breakfast is a strange time for dessert, but I picked this up at the Co-op yesterday and I just couldn’t wait anymore!

I had half of the Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie (on the adorable little plate from my secret valentine).

Even that was too intense though, I ended up bagging up half (so I ate a 1/4) to bring to the husband.

For lunch I had fries and chips.

The healthy kinds!  Kale crisps,

and oven baked sweet potato slices with garlic powder.

How gorgeous are these guys?!?

I should have eaten more calories though because by the time I made it through my first class I was so hungry I wanted to gnaw off my own arm!  The vegan choices at school were less that stellar, I need to always pack a healthy snack.  I had a single serving package of peanuts.

And I split this candy and chips (the unhealthy kind) with the husband.

By the time I got through with my second class my hunger had turned into a dull ache.  Or maybe that was just the aftershock from my terrible test grades.  I knew my sickness (and, ahem, lack of preparation) were going to kill me.  I got an 86% in Anthro (class average was a C-) and an 80% in Chemistry (class average was a 59).  At least they posted semester grade averages with Chem and I still have a solid A.

Now that we are home I’m so hungry that I’m not even hungry any more.  Does this ever happen to anyone else?  I’m so uncomfortable that I probably won’t even eat dinner, I wasn’t the hugest fan of the lentil soup anyways.  The recipe was a total success – Adam was in love with it – it’s just not my thing.  I might make another batch of cocoa though…the husband hasn’t had a chance to taste it warm yet! 😉

Tuesday Afternoon – Thursday Afternoon

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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!

Blizzard Provisions

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I haven’t accomplished much since breakfast.  But really I can’t blame myself for being distracted – it is practically blizzarding outside!  Maybe not a blizzard to you Northerners, but the snow is coming down sideways and that’s enough for an island girl like me!

I wasn’t sure what I wanted for lunch, but when I saw a yam on the counter I knew there wasn’t really a choice.

Even more exciting that sweet potato fries is the fact that my oven is glowing purple like that for the picture.  I chopped up a small sweet potato, sprayed and sprinkled liberally with evoo and salt, and put it in a 475* oven for 30minutes or so.

It took longer than I expected and I ended up having a few snacks.  First, I tried this new cheese.

Kerrygold Aged Cheddar.

I only had a small square, but I know this will go perfectly in a grilled cheese sandwich sometime later this week.

Post-cheese, I was admiring the holiday tea set my m-i-l gave me,

when I remembered something very seasonal I had forgotten in the cabinet:

Rice Nog!  I’m not gonna lie, I bought this in October and squirreled it away for the proper season.  Be warned, this is good, but not even close to Silk’s Soy Nog.  I had 1 cup, which I heated for a minute in the microwave before topping with nutmeg.

I ate it by the window, but I didn’t need a warm to drink to remind me why I’m glad to be inside today –

Eeek.  Sweet potato oven fries were the perfect warm meal.

I made some – better tasting than looking – Thousand Island Dressing for dipping purposes.  2T sweet pickle relish, 1T lite Miracle Whip, 1T ketchup.  There ended up being way too much, you could probably cut those measurements down to teaspoons.

If you’re wondering why I squeezed the taters onto that small plate, it’s because I was reusing my apple plate for this morning.  I’m into dish conservation!

I’ve got lots of cleaning and a little bit of class work to do before I have to run some errands.  Thank goodness Adam is driving me tonight, there is no way I’d be going out alone!  I probably would choose to not go out at all but tonight is my final lab (yay!) and I have to check out in person or face a $100 fine.

Are you stocked up on “in case of emergency” provisions?  What items does your family stock?  We are not stocked, a fact we need to rectify this weekend.  There’s really no excuse, my dad has called to remind me at least 10 times since November!