Sandwiches, Smoothies, and Schedules

Hello again, happy Monday!  This will definitely be the longest recap post I’ve done in a while – Friday through Monday.  Physically things have been low-key but mentally there’s been lots of drama – my flight was canceled!  And since I’m in St. Thomas it could have meant getting into Buffalo on Tuesday and not having a ride and missing class.  I was freaking out a bit.  Thankfully 45minutes on the phone + my firm but calm voice got me on a different flight that leaves/gets in on pretty much the same schedule.  And now my layover is shorter and in Philly and not Charlotte.  🙂

I’m a big proponent of the firm but calm voice.  I was polite, and said multiple please and thank yous, but unwavering.  I didn’t ask whether or not I could get on another flight, I simply said “I will be leaving St. Thomas tomorrow, what can you do to help me make that happen?”  And it worked.

Anyway, back to Friday.  My mom served me a slice of cake,

which promptly got stripped of it’s icing because I don’t eat cake.

Then I moved on to greens, a small container I put together at the salad bar we stopped by.

Lettuce, beans, corn, cheese, 1 hard-boiled egg and a drizzle of light Cesar.

I also made myself some frozen coffee – coffee, ice, skim milk, and 2T sugar.

Soo much better than Starbucks could ever do.

Dinner was all about the leftovers.

Oven baked okra is kind of my favorite.

And I served up some leftover baked tofu on toasted rye with hot pepper raspberry preserves and sharp cheddar.

Friday night I did end up going out to meet some friends.  We had a good time and I had a few drinks but photo-taking was abandoned in favor of trying to keep my balance on one leg!  I don’t know how on earth I managed to stand on one leg past 2am but a fun time was had by all.

For Saturday morning breakfast my mom and I hit up one of my favorite places on earth – Barefoot Buddha.  I had fresh-made lemonade,

and a Bigfoot Bagel Sandwich.

Frittata, smoked turkey, turkey bacon, cream cheese, spicy sauce…

I love these sandwiches so much I ate them on my wedding day!  I know most brides say they are too nervous to eat but I was just nervous my friends would devour them before I got any 😀

We hung out and studied for a bit and I had a passionfruit, banana, coconut smoothie.

We laid low the rest of the day before going out to a fabulous dinner at The Cellar.  We did a lot of sharing and the lighting was low so let me apologize for the picture quality in advance.

There were way too many things I wanted off the drink menu but I finally settled on the Caribbean Champagne.

Champagne with coconut rum and key lime juice.  GREAT combination.

We split a cheese plate that was kind of out of this world.  The goat cheese was my favorite but the stewed plums were pretty fantastic as well.

My plate –

And at The Cellar the chef always sends out an amuse bouche.

Ahi wontons.

Plus homemade bread and butter.

For my meal I got the Vegetable Cutlet – panfried, potatoes, peas, carrots, eggplant and pickled papaya, and tiki masala sauce.

The cutlets were delicious but my favorite part of the entire meal was the eggplant wrapped papaya.  I ate one cutlet and took the other home, and I had a few bites of my dad’s tamarind mahi as well.

We were stuffed, but couldn’t not order a dessert plate to share.  It came with little forks,

because we got four little desserts!

NY cheesecake with fruit sauce and bananas foster,

cinnamon creme brulee and chocolate mousse.

Yum, yum, yum; I wished I could have had a BIG serving of the bananas foster.

Sunday morning I made a nice green monster for breakfast.

My mom and I got our nails done (green again, I’ll show you later!) and then I picked up nachos for lunch from the bar I used to work at.

Yum, but I think it’s time to be fully done with any sort of nachos for a while.

We saw a matinée of “Our Family Wedding,” during which I munched on a box of Nerds.

I would like to show you dinner but it was so dark at our table I never could get a picture.  I shared green bean fries with my parents and ate half of a tamarind turkey burger.

When I got home I had 2 maple pecan sticky blondies for dessert.

Dreena would be sad to know I deveganized these, but at least I made the recipe for my parents!

This morning (Monday) I’m hanging out at school for a bit before I head home to pack.  I brought a pineapple Chiobani for breakfast,

but that didn’t begin to cut it.

I ended up also having an egg and cheese biscuit from Wendy’s.

It is 100% time to stop eating like I’m on vacation!  Especially because I’m not sure what the workout situation with my leg is going to be like.

I had fabulous spring break but I am more than ready to get back with the husband and back on a schedule.  I get in late tonight so I won’t be posting today’s eats but hopefully Tuesday my sleeping, eating, and blogging will all be back on track!  I can tell you now though, that I have a Greek Gods honey yogurt in the freezer for a pre-packing treat!

When you get to the end of a vacation are you sad it’s over or ready to get back to business?

It Must Be the Jalopenos

I’ve come to the conclusion that a month spent eating nachos on the couch somehow turned me into a certifiable bad-ass.  I’m probably really a dumb-ass but for now I’ll keep feeling cool.  Why am I a dumbbad-ass?

  • the biggie – I quit a job I hated to persue hapiness
  • I ran a half marathon without training
  • I finished said stupid idea in two and half hours
  • I’m going to lose a couple toenails before all is said and done
  • I got a 2nd tattoo
  • I spent the last 5 days walking around on a semi-broken leg!

That last one came from my doctor’s appointment.  The x-ray was inconclusive and I’ll know more after tomorrow’s bone scan but she’s pretty certain its a stress fracture.  I’m not even going to address what that might mean as far as when I can start running again (bad-asses don’t cry!) but for the time being I’m rocking crutches.

Before I headed to my appointment I ate a Nonfat Peach Chiobani for breakfast.

And once I got back I had lunch.

A baggie of baby carrots,

and the other half of yesterday’s airport chicken sandwich.

Then I spent the afternoon reading blogs, whoops!  I have a TON of make-up work to do for school this week and I have got to get on it.

What have you done lately that made you feel like a bad-ass?

Oh the Places We Went!

Hey guys!  My second day in Orlando was so much fun; we are having a great time and eating lots of tasty foods.  Sadly, I feel like I need to keep this post quick because it’s bedtime and I’m tired.  It’s funny how the better the quantity of blogging material I have the more the quality of my posts go down.

Kristen was great about getting food requests to have in the house this weekend.  Breakfast was Dannon Greek yogurt with a chopped nectarine, topped with a tsp of strawberry jelly, in a go cup.

The nectarine was so delicious, Florida is definitely the place to be for fresh fruit right now.

After breakfast we trekked to Disney to pick up our race packets and hit up the expo.  I had a good time checking out the fun shirts and stuff but didn’t really have money to spend.  I did pick up a belt pack (i.e. fanny pack) which I proceeded to wear for the rest of the day.

We did lunch backwards today, dessert first then grown-up food.  First things first, Menchies!

I’ve been jealous of Meghann for months and my envy was totally justified, this place was ridiculous!

I got original tart yogurt with fresh fruit and a small dab of marshmallow sauce.

YuuuuuuuuM!

Lunch was not new to me, but is something I’ve been missing in Buffalo – Whole Foods salad bar.

I got seitan and veggies, bbq seitan, kung pow chicken, a stuffed grape leaf, and some roasted veggies.

Then we met up with a bunch of our friend’s friends at Universal Studios.  Seriously?!  I could not have had more fun today.  This was my first time at Universal and it was amazing.

Even if I did get a little wet.

My favorite part was the Dr. Seuss area.

Fun fact – my tattoo was partially inspired by the star bellied Sneetches.

It was so great to walk around all day and stretch my legs.  When we left the park I, ahem, refueled with a white chocolate and heath covered marshmallow stick.

Our dinner plans were for Seasons 52 but sadly there was an issue with our reservations and the plans fell through at the last minute.  We had driven past an Elephant Walk on the way that my friend Camile was super excited about so we ended up going there.

I had a diet coke and amaretto to drink before dinner.

And I ate 2 pieces of tempura salmon sushi for an appetizer.

I really wasn’t sure what to order for dinner.  The food choices were more American-Chinesse than what I usually prefer (authentic as possible Thai).  They had honey shrimp, sesame chicken, and similar things that sounded good but I knew would be unpleasantly unhealthy.  I ended up ordering tofu and veggie stir fry and asking for the sauce on the side.

My meal ended up being pretty tasty, I was definitely not disappointed.  I didn’t eat any of the rice but I pretty much decimated the rest.

We had big plans of heading out after dinner but we were all so tired it seemed much more pleasing to come home and go to bed.  I know 11:30 isn’t exactly early, but it will make for a better wake up tomorrow than a night of drinking would have!

What is your favorite Dr. Seuss story?  I am a really really big Seuss fan.  The Sneetches, Yurtle the Turtle, and The Butter Battle are all favorites but Oh, The Places You’ll Go really has my heart.

Busy Busy Bee

I want to get my packing done this evening and I HAVE to squeeze in some quality time with the husband so I’ll keep this snappy.  `_< (oh yes, that was an alligator!)

I like to make to-go smoothies for breakfast on the mornings I have 8am lab.  My first proclamations were not wrong: I love Green Monsters!

This had 1 frozen banana, 1 cup oj, and 1 cup frozen spinach.  I took a better lit picture at la escuela to show of its Kermit-esque awesomeness.

I was in the bathroom because I realized I couldn’t not show you guys today’s layered look!

Love it!  Adam and Katie both asked me why I was dressed up today.

I was with Katie because we had a lunch date today!  I packed us a lovely spread from home to save a little $.

 Turkey and 2% provolone sandwiches with hot pepper peach preserves.

And caramel Oikos with blueberries.

We ate at the Wegman’s coffee bar area and Katie bought me a lovely Nutty Irish (hazelnut and Irish cream syrups) skim milk latte.

After lunch we walked around the store a bit and I managed to get some gifts for the friends I’m seeing tomorrow that I’m quite excited about.

On the way home we split this package of Newman’s Own Peppermint Cups.

Meh.  They aren’t bad I guess but I much prefer Yorks.

Adam had a suture clinic from 5 – 8 so he dropped me off at the Spot to do some studying.  I am completely caught up for Chemistry, yay!  I got dinner there, a Mike’s cheese and egg bagel sandwich.

Plus a skim iced latte.

Still on the agenda for tonight?

  • pack everything but my chargers into my suitcase
  • separate the laundry
  • paint my toe nails and shave my legs, eek!
  • cuddle with the husband and try not to cry about 12 days apart

Gotta get cracking!

*****Updated to add – packing is never fun.  Which is probably why this seemed like such a good idea –

Shamrock Shake!  😀

A Season Behind

I’m so frustrated!  My insomnia is back in full-force lately and not sleeping at night is pushing my mornings back which I don’t have time for this week.  Breakfast was good though.

I found this Low-fat Maple Vanilla Stoneyfield recently, seasonal flavors are so exciting!

I wanted the yogurt to be the focal point of breakfast so overnight oats sprang to mind.

Last night I combined the yogurt with 1/3 cup oatmeal and 1/4cup skim milk.  This morning I topped the mix off with 1/2 cup blueberries and 1/4 cup Kashi Go Lean Crunch.

Perfection.  This was one of my best combos ever.

I have a follow-up foot appointment around noon today so lunch will be eaten on the go.  I’ll do a lunch/dinner post later, I’m not even going to try to go to bed early tonight, instead I’m going to focus on crossing off some of my major to-do’s.

The Good Snow

Last night was ridiculous; it was past 2am when I finally stopped tossing and turning.  Needless to say, my 6:30am alarm was promptly shut off.  I have to leave for volunteering in just a bit, so my homework assignment is still looming on the horizon.

A good breakfast can always make your forget your troubles, at least temporarily!

This bowl was Dannon Light and Fit Toasted Coconut Yogurt, topped with 1/2 cup blueberries, some crumbled banana bread (from my bloggie Valentine package) and 1t coconut flakes.

I’m getting a little sick of snow, but this lookalike was too gorgeous to hate!

Gotta jet!

How do you like coconut?  My friend told me she hated it yesterday and I almost couldn’t believe it.  Coconut is in my top 5 favorite, although I think it’s best to use a fresh young coconut for cinnamon smoothies.

Me: 0, Hunger: 4

I’ve been super busy (and stressed) all day and that paired with my intense hunger somehow led to me eating 4 full meals today, whoops!  The amount of school work I have to do over the next few weeks (particularly while I’m home, boo) is sort of staggering.  I’m actually looking forward to seeing whether or not I rise to the challenge 🙂

I was feeling a bit empty still after breakfast so I grabbed a Yoplait Light Red Velvet Cake yogurt.

This wasn’t my favorite flavor, but I was pretty entranced by the color.

My study session ended up being split between two coffee shops.  First Starbucks, where I ate a low-fat egg white, spinach, and feta wrap with a nonfat tall latte.

Then the Spot where I had a Cajun Turkey Wrap (ww wrap, sliced turkey, pepperjack cheese, cajun sauce, l/t).

I ate 2/3 of the sandwich plus a 2nd diet coke.

Finally Adam picked me up around 7:30 and I headed off to get my “real” dinner.  We were so excited to try this newest location of …..

Moes!  I’ve been seeing the Florida bloggers gush about this place for years so I was super excited to try it out.  Adam and I were NOT disappointed.

I did some damage on the huge bag of chips the gave me,

but my main meal was this fellow –

A Junior Homewrecker (burrito – little bit of rice, black beans, tofu, cheese, salsa, cilantro).

Yum, yum, yum.

I would say it’s been a good day but I’m going to try to bang out some of my online Chem homework so my day seems far from over.  I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

What’s your opinion on “Fourth Meal?”  Just for Taco Bell or awesome idea?

Dreena Burton, I Love You

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!  Can we talk about the fricking Maple Pecan Sticky Blondies?!?!?!

I only had 1/2 as much of the pecan topping as the recipe called for – the best part – and they were delicious.  When I make them again with the full amount I’m pretty sure my head is going to explode.  They are chewy, and almost spongy, the topping is the world’s best mix of sweet and salty and the molasses adds a fabulous layer of complexity.  I had two.

And the minute I woke up this morning, before brushing my teeth, and even before I peed, I ate another one!  Buy Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan.  Do it NOW.  Make these blondies.  If you are worried about the “strange” ingredients don’t be.  I subbed out the ‘regular’ stuff for half of the ingredients in the recipe and it worked out fine.

Gah!  I’m still kind of not over it, but I can’t talk about blondies all day, you want to hear about breakfast. 

Last night I mixed up 1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup plain skim soy milk, 1/4 cup soy vanilla yogurt, and 1T maple syrup.  I am not a soy yogurt fan but it was leftover from the blondies.

This morning I topped the bowl of with a sliced banana and a spoonful of pb.

Pretty tasty.

I have class this afternoon and leftovers are on the dinner agenda, overall it looks like a low-key day.  By the way – I’ve decided NOT to run before my race.  I am not going to be able to increase my fitness in 10days, but I can give my leg a chance to rest up and heal.

Blondies or brownies, which are your favorite?  To me brownies = ick, blondies = yum.  I will say though, that ALL of my favorite blondies have been vegan.