Tag Archives: yogurt

The Have Nots

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I am so flipping excited to be back to blogging!  In fact, I’m excited about doing pretty much anything.  You see, I’m getting over a case of the “have-nots.”  It was a nasty one.  The past week I have not:

blogged ~ washed my hair ~ cooked ~ done any school work beyond what was immediately due ~ worked out ~ read any books ~ cleaned my house ~ eaten anything with any real nutritional value ~ been nice to my husband ~ taken a moment to appreciate my life

I told you it was bad.  I finally got so sick of myself that this morning I started getting back to doing.  I did three hair washes in the shower.  I made and ate two healthy meals.  I took a walk.  I went to school.  I finished a major assignment.  I pre-made Adam’s dinner.  I took a moment to reflect.

My plans for the weekend are big but doable – 1. spring clean our storage containers.  2. switch out our summer and winter wardrobes.  3. eat lots of fruits and veggies.  4. get in some strength training.  5. make notecards to start prepping for exam week.  6. read the 2nd Hunger Games book.  #6 is the only task that’s really urgent 🙂

How do you get back in gear when you’ve got a case of the have-nots?

Back to blogging?  This morning breakfast was pink, pink, pink.

I blended together 1 cup of skim milk, a 0% plain Yoplait Greek yogurt, 1 cup of frozen blackberries, and 1 Tbsp maple syrup.

Tangy but tasty.  I froze a bunch of blackberries when they were on super-sale a few weeks back so I expect to have this again soon.

When my class was over this morning it was too pretty out to go home so I extended my walk up Elmwood to the Co-op.  I perused some fun looking products but came away with only one.

A Relax drink from Solixir.  With blackberry, chamomile, passion-flower, jujube, lemon balm, and hibiscus.

It didn’t really have much flavor but for 50 calories and no added sugar I’m not complaining.

My food was feeling preppy so to go with breakfast’s pink lunch was green.

I started with a Crispin apple.

Then I had a green-on-the-inside twice baked potato with basil and cheddar.

Recipe is down below.  But I have to show you what I used for my basil –

I bought this Gourmet Garden Basil Herb Blend the other day on a whim but I think it’s going to become a kitchen staple!  So much easier than cutting up my own basil or throwing out my own basil when it rots in the crisper.  I see a lot of herbs in this week’s meal plan future.

Finally a big pile of roasted green beans.

Better than french fries!  <– and I can tell you that for certain because I ate french fries for dinner two nights this week *whoops*

Basil and Cheddar Twice Baked Potato

  • 6 oz baking potato
  • 1 heaping Tbsp finely chopped basil
  • 2 oz 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar
  1. Microwave potato to desired doneness according to your microwave’s specifications.  (my potato took 7 minutes at full power)
  2. Cut two thin slices of cheddar, about 0.5 ounce worth, and then roughly dice the remainder of the cheese.
  3. Cut potato in half and scoop out the flesh, taking care not to get too close to the skin so that the potato can still hold its shape.
  4. Mash potato insides, basil, and diced cheddar.  Spoon filling back into potato skins and top each side with a slice of cheese.
  5. Bake for 25 minutes at 425 degrees Farenheit.

Sugar Saturday

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Today’s been sweet, literally.  And it’s not over yet; I’m having a bowl of ice cream the minute I publish this post!

Breakfast was another fabulous yogurt-cottage cheese mix.  A Liberte Coconut Yogurt served over the 1+ serving of 1% large curd cottage cheese.  Plus a sprinkle of toasted coconut.

I don’t really enjoy cottage cheese by its lonesome, but mixed into yogurt or oatmeal it’s the bee’s knees.

We ran errands for what felt like forever today (3 stores for groceries?!!) and for lunch I introduced Adam to Manhattan Bagel.

I had a toasted jalopeño cheddar bagel with lox cream cheese.  The bagels were great, nice and chewy, but the service was so bad I doubt we’d ever go back to that location [the Delaware location for any reading locals].

A frozen iced coffee was split at Wegmans.

Plus 4 pieces of salt water taffy from the bulk bins for dessert.

Watermelon was a favorite but I also enjoyed cherry cola and cookie dough.

For dinner we cashed in a Living Social deal for Thai House.  We tried a lot and overall it was good but not great.  Our appetizer was little fried cups with crab meat.

Meh.  I only ate two but Adam did finish the rest.

Our meals came with soup so we both ordered Tom Yum.

Yum indeed; (jeez that was corny!) the soup was perfectly sour.

Another plus was the 2-1 deal on “thai-iced” beverages.

The husband did coffee and I did tea.

Delicious.

And for my meal I ordered the House Noodles, extra spicy.

Broad rice noodles with brocoli, boy choy, peppers, and egg.  The extra spicy was actually spicy, a major plus over other local Thai places.  But the noodles didn’t have the amazing “marshmallow” quality that I look for in good broad rice noodles.

Now we are home enjoying Cokes with lime.

And ice cream soon!  Tomorrow brings lots of studying for Monday’s exam and a visit to the theatre for The Hunger Games!!!

What I’ve Been Up To

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Hi there! It hasn’t been the best week but it certainly could have been worse. Here is some of what I’ve been up to –

My trip to Ohio was sad but good. It was great to see my cousins and meet some babies.

I’m not sick anymore (yay!) but allergies are going to be rough this season. On Tuesday I did get the most carsick I’ve ever been. I moaned and cried the whole way home from Ohio and it was ridiculous.

The dog is still sick. He is having a severe allergic reaction and if his eyes aren’t better by Friday he has to go to a doggie dermatologist (yes, that is a real thing). He’s wearing a cone so he won’t scratch and it’s beyond pitiful.

My Wednesday test was pushed back to Monday because I stumbled into class in Adam’s sweatshirt (that I’d worn for the past 24 straight hours) and my teacher took pity on me and sent me home. I took my statistics test today and I think it went well.

I didn’t feel right taking photos the last fee days so no recap. But here is what I ate today –

Breakfast.

Reduced fat cottage cheese topped with a caramel Oikos and some toasted coconut.

The cottage cheese/yogurt mix rocks my socks, particularly with coconut.

Late lunch.  A slice of naan with cheese (leftover from Indian for dinner on Wednesday).

And a plate of roasted green beans.

I bought a family size bag of green beans before we left for Ohio last week so expect to see a lot more of these.

In class snack.  Cara cara orange.

Cara caras are so flipping good!  They almost never have seeds and they’re pink.

Dinner was not well-planned.  We desperately need to go to the grocery store and when I got home from class at 8 we wandered up and down Elmwood in search of food.  I ended up with a 2-2-2 from Panos.

It was insanely dark but it was 2 buttermilk pancakes, two sunny side up eggs, and home fries; smothered in butter and syrup.  I piled everything into a huge mound and tried to get a little of each part in every bite.

Dessert.  A sliced green apple with 2 Tbsp of caramel sauce.

The caramel sauce basically turned into a solid, impenetrable ball, but the apple was good.

Question – how do you order your eggs to get them made without excess fat?  I tried to order them “dry,” like toast but that gave the impression that I wanted my yolks well-done.  I finally just said “without excess oil” but I feel like there must be short-hand for this.

Loop De Loop

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I’m going to apologize in advance just in case this post makes no sense.  I’m tired, and sick, and pretty damn loopy.

After my run and cookie consumption I started the day cautiously optimistic that I would keep feeling good.

To eat in class I packed a green pear,

and a 2% Pineapple Siggi’s.

I loved the 2% fat content of this yogurt but the pineapple was pretty weak.  There was no pineapple flavor and the pieces of fruit were few and far between.  But the yogurt itself was wonderful.  I enjoy the original Siggi’s and the 2% variety was a little sweeter and the texture very creamy and less stiff.

Adam was done at the hospital around the same time I finished my classes so I walked home to meet him for a date before work.  I’m not even gonna lie – he took me to dinner at my school’s food court and it was the best damn date I’ve ever been on.  I love spending time with the husband so much!  First we stopped in at Ashker’s for smoothies since we have a Groupon.

I can’t remember my exact selection but I know that it had a few fruits, carrots, and ginger.

It would have been fantastic except that I forgot that I freaking hate ginger.  The texture was spot on but it was just way too spicy for me.  I could only drink a third or so but the husband happily finished off the rest.

Then we walked back to campus.  I work in the basement of a dorm building so Adam clearly couldn’t hang out with me but I’m a total creeper so the simple fact that he was in the same building as me was exciting.

We were both starving (like gnaw your own arm off starving) so we hit up the food court and ended up discovering a new, totally adorable, perfectly priced “asian” kiosk.  We split a Vietnamese coffee for 99 cents.

And I got a tasty lobster roll.

It was good!

We are bottomless pits so we got pizza too.  $4 for two slices packed with toppings; apparently college food courts are the place to go for a cheap date!

My veggie slice came with banana peppers, roasted red peppers, and black olives.

Tonight was my last shift at work (the calling sessions only last for a month) and I was sad to say goodbye.  Of course there are people who are total jerks to tele-fund-raisers but most people were really nice!  I had several older alumni sweetly tell me that they loved talking to me.  I’ll miss it!

I’m not sure anyone will miss me after tonight though; today’s sickness levels hit their peak mid-shift and I basically hacked up a lung in the corner all evening.  By the time I met Adam I could barely talk.  The loopiness had set in at that point so it’s possible I also told bad jokes and laughed like a hyena the whole walk home but I can’t really blame that on the sickness.

But it definitely was my sore throat that demanded a strawberry milkshake.

Mmmmn, if I could set up a constant stream of icy beverage down my throat that would be excellent.

I had to stay up to set up my class schedule for next semester (I can register tomorrow morning) but now it’s clearly time for bed.  So goodnight!

Humbolt Fog

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Last night’s sleep session was a disaster.  Usually my sleep issues are related to falling asleep but lately if I get woken up I can’t fall back to sleep either.  The dog woke us up in the middle of the night and it took me at least another hour of tossing and turning to get back to rest.  The husband brought home some sort of bug from the hospital and my throat was killing me.

I overslept today and the morning was rushed but I managed to do what I needed to do, mostly.  I was heading to the gym after 9 am so sticking with my monthly goal I ate a small breakfast before I left.  A few sips of strawberry Powerade Zero,

and a half of a Vanilla Almond Luna Bar.

I didn’t have much time at the gym but something was better than nothing.  20 minutes on the elliptical at random level 7.

After a quick walk home and an even quicker shower I made a Lemon Cookie Smoothie for breakfast.

The last time I made it was apparently a dark and stormy night and I wanted a chance to get some better less awful photographs for the recipe page.

It probably wasn’t my best use of time though; I made it halfway through my smoothie before I had to throw it away and rush out the door.  I didn’t have time to pack lunch and having half a smoothie digesting in my stomach just made my hunger stronger all afternoon.

I got out of clinic a bit early and when I spotted a Manhattan Bagel on the drive home it felt like an oasis in the desert.

I was eating the chips that came with my meal before I was even out of the parking lot.

But chips only seemed to anger the beast (aka my stomach) and I ended up eating my bagel on the ride home!

Eating while driving is sort of nice because instead of dreading red lights you can use them to shove food into your face.  And my bagel was quite enjoyable; I got a veggie sandwich on a rye bagel.

Red onion, lettuce, tomato, banana peppers, veggie cream cheese, and a little bit of chipotle mayo.  I thought the veggies were pretty weak but the bagel was super chewy and good.

I had my 2nd to last shift at work this evening and then I came home to an easy salad dinner.

I needed a vehicle for a veggie, a fruit, and this amazing looking cheese, and salad fit the bill.

This Cypress Grove Humbolt Fog Chevre was delicious.  Sadly the blue cheese and goat cheese were in layers and not the hybrid mixture I was hoping for, but both were quite tasty.

Along with chunk of cheese I had romaine lettuce, groats, chopped honey crisp apple, and Stubbs BBQ Sauce for dressing.

Those ingredients sound strange together but it worked.

I’ll see y’all in the am for some running and some baking!

Commercially Yours

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Does it feel like a Thursday to anyone else?  My brain just cannot accept that it’s Monday!  The husband thought it was later in the week too so I’m not alone.

Monday’s lunch was munched in class.  A pink lady apple,

a caramel Oikos,

and a giant iced coffee (coffee, Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk, English toffee syrup).

After class I had a group work meeting and then it was off to work.  My job only lasts for a few more days and I’m definitely going to miss the experience (and $!) when it’s over.

The husband is the man you wish your man would be (is anyone else still in love with the Old Spice commercials?!) so he not only picked me up from school but had dinner waiting when I got home.

A salad of Romaine topped with groats, raisins, ground flax, and Newman’s Own Light Caesar dressing.

And a serving of California Pizza Kitchen’s BBQ Recipe Chicken frozen pizza.

CPK is my favorite chain of all time and this pizza was no slouch.  “White meat chicken with a spicy-sweet barbecue sauce, red onions, cilantro, and smoked gouda and mozzarella cheeses over [their] famous crispy thin crust.”

The flavors were great, but the serving did feel a little small.  I’m going to try to go to bed soon instead of eating more though.  I have a few e-mails to send for clinic and then hopefully I’ll be off to slumber.

What is your favorite commercial?  Mine is Burger King’s Angry Whopper commercial (see below) because it reminds me of the “Broodwich” episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Three Dessert Sunday

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The weekend is over and I didn’t catch up on any sleep, aaaahh!  After our late night (cough, 4:30, cough cough) I was thrilled to wake up to a pre-made breakfast.  Overnight oats in a jar.

In a pb jar with just a little peanut butter left (approximately 2 Tbsp) I combined 1/4 cup of oats, 1/4 cup Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk, and a caramel Oikos.

It was delicious.  And I have another round of OIAJ planned for tomorrow too, woot.

Lunch was leftovers.

They weren’t mine but they were good.

My mom got this cucumber salad as the side with her meal at Lagerhaus 95.

This afternoon I had a shift at work and an errand to run so I was thrilled when I came home to dinner already made.

Adam made tuna mac (cheap mac and cheese with spinach, edamame, and tuna stirred in).

I added more veggies (edamame and peas) and cheese (a few cubes of sharp cheddar) to my serving.

It was good but box mac and cheese is always disappointingly bland.

Then came desserts.  Yes, sssssss; there were three.  First was a Jell-o ‘Smores Pudding cup.

Meh.  I thought it would be more exciting than it was.  But Adam loved it, and now I’m inspired to make a better, homemade version soon.

Second was apple dippers.

A green apple dipped in a heaping Tbsp each Crunchy Biscoff and Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter.

Delicious.  You can’t go wrong with either of those dips.

Finally, I ate four Dove Coconut Cream Eggs.

Perfect!  My mom bought me these for Easter with strict instructions not to open them until next Sunday but they are already mostly gone, whoops.

What Easter candy are you most excited for?

Baked Potato Casserole Or Party Potatoes Light

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Hey there!  I’ve skipped a few days of blogging but here is some of what you’ve missed –

  • my mom is coming tonight (yay!)
  • early tomorrow morning my mom and I are setting off for Ohio for a weekend with my grandparents; we’ll be back Monday afternoon
  • this afternoon I had coffee with blog reader Jessica; she is looking into Dietetics programs and I told her a little bit about my experience at BSC
  • the assignment I’ve been putting off all semester – writing a business plan summary – is finally complete!
  • a serious amount of chocolate was eating during the completion of the aforementioned assignment
  • my baking bad luck streak is finally broken

That is a Buttered Rum Raisin Cookie and it was fabulous.  I’m sharing the recipe on Monday but I’ve already eaten 10 since yesterday afternoon so I can promise that it’s a winner.

All I have to share from today is dinner, but it was definitely worth sharing.

Roasted green beans,

a small pile of shredded chicken with Stubbs bbq sauce,

and a serving of my newest creation worth sharing – Loaded Baked Potato Casserole.

Omg guys, that casserole is so flipping good!  I was setting out to make a light version of Party Potatoes but I think I ended up with something even better.  They are seriously like a loaded baked potato, but extra creamy and cheesy and good.  And the dish isn’t too too heavy so you can have a nice big serving.

Loaded Baked Potato Casserole, serves 4

  • 3 medium potatoes, roughly cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 4 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 3 slices cooked turkey bacon, roughly chopped
  • 5 oz extra-sharp cheddar, shredded
  • 1 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup panko-style breadcrumbs
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.  Prepare a cookie sheet and an 8 x 8 inch casserole dish with baking spray.
  2. Place chopped potatoes on prepared sheet and season with salt.  Bake 40 minutes.  Place roasted potatoes in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Set aside approximately 1 Tbsp each bacon, cheese, and green onions.
  4. Add  Greek yogurt and remaining bacon, cheese, and green onions to the potatoes.  Stir to combine.
  5. Pour potatoes into the prepared casserole dish.  Top evenly with panko breadcrumbs and reserved bacon, cheese, and green onions.
  6. Bake for 20 minutes.