Playing Catch Up

I had big plans to go to the gym this morning, but when the alarm went off I felt like I’d been hit by a truck.  I thought I was all caught up on sleep from Saturday’s 4am fun, but clearly not.

Instead, I went back to bed and didn’t get up until 15minutes before I had to leave the house.  Clearly once I got to school coffee was a necessity.

A medium non-fat latte with sugar-free Irish creme syrup.

We got back our pre-Spring break Biochem exams today; my 85 was even more frustrating when I realized that I had circled B (correct) but written A (incorrect) for a key question.

Lunch was random but delicious.  First a Yoplait Key Lime Greek Yogurt.

Sooo thick and sweet, really tasty.  This tasted more like really thick regular yogurt than Greek yogurt (not a bad thing); the tang all came from the lime flavor.

I also had a Revolution Foods tropical fruit packet.

And during my second break I ate this roasted seaweed snack.

This was bought on a whim, but now it’s going on my permanent grocery list!  It was salty and crunchy, and the portion stretched a really long way for only 30calories.

My class didn’t get out until a little late, then Rachel came over to get some notes, and then I went to the gas station for some coffee (looking forward to iced tomorrow), and by the time I was home I was starving.  I made myself  a snack plate while I cooked dinner.

Baby carrots,

and half an everything bagel with pb and low-fat cream cheese.

I think my month of no-hunger is catching up to me, I felt like I could gnaw my arm off all evening!

Thankfully dinner came together in a snap.

Roasted asparagus,

and lobster ravioli (from our trip to Trader Joe’s) tossed in Newman’s Own Roasted Garlic marinara sauce (free via Foodbuzz Tastemakers’ Program).

This was good, but not filling enough.  Honestly the only reason I didn’t eat an after dinner snack is because I was so hungry I couldn’t decide what I wanted.

I wish I could tell you I filled my evening studying for Wednesday’s big, super important test.  But instead I took a much-needed nap.  As soon as a take a quick shower I’m back to bed to catch up on sleep!

What’s your favorite brand of Greek yogurt?

Often Blogged Activities

We’ve reached the week’s end, but I suppose the weekend is more exciting to those of you who aren’t on spring break 😉

It’s my mom’s last day here, but we kept things low-key.  We did have fun introducing her to often blogged activities.  Like eating yogurts at home for breakfast.

I went with Greek Gods fig on the bottom.

Soooo good!  I don’t actually like figs that much, but this yogurt is my favorite.

We spent the day running all sorts of fun errands, like going to Target, buying groceries, and hitting up the post office.  We live large like that.  We did at least introduce my mom to the blog fodder that is Wegman’s hot bar.

I got bunches of veggies,

with sweet and sour chicken and a mushroom bun.

The afternoon was low-key, but come 5pm I was still starving!  My hunger has definitely returned.  I made myself a cocoa for the drive to dinner.

Dinner, by the way, was from Spicy Thai, and it was fantastic!  The three of us shared an appetizer plate to start.

Veggie egg rolls, tofu tod, tempura eggplant, and crab rangoon.  Yes, this dinner was rather fried.

For dinner Adam and I split cashew chicken,

and Pad See Eiw with tofu.

The cashew chicken was not our favorite,

but the pad see eiw was ridiculous good.

If you haven’t tried broad rice noodles yet you’re crazy!

And for dessert, we introduced my mom to the awesomeness that is mini ice-creams.

I went with Double Fudge Brownie.

All is right with the world.

Tomorrow we’ve got to head to the airport at an ungodly hour, and then we’ve got brunch plans and I’ve got a volunteering obligation.  I’ll be back another evening 🙂

Have you jumped on the single-serve ice cream bandwagon yet?

Seeing What Buffalo Has to Offer

Another late post for another long day, yesterday that is 😉  My mom is in town until Saturday so we’ve been exploring all Buffalo has to offer.

We started our morning with a trip to Sweet_ness 7 Cafe,

a creperie.

It was our first trip, but we were totally impressed by the adorable details, comfy setting, and exciting menu.

I was pretty jazzed to see hibiscus lemonade available.

This was barely sour, and even less sweet, a near perfect lemonade by my standards. 

For breakfast the three of us split two crepes, one sweet and one savory.

The Irish Blessing, which came with a side salad, was caramelized fresh apples with brie.

The apples were literally caramelized, so sweet and chewy!

The Celtic Love Spell had Nutella and fresh whipped cream, with bananas.

Melty Nutella is pretty much the pinnacle of happiness.

The fillings were fun (obviously!), but the crepes themselves were delicious!  I don’t know much about crepes, but from what I’ve read these were perfectly made.  They had the best eggy smell!

Afterward we headed to another new (to us) and fun location – The Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

ABG has a lot of older pieces, but it is actually a gallery based around collecting contemporary work, not a museum.  It was really interesting to see the “created by” and “purchased by” dates side-by-side, many of which were less than a year apart.

There were bunches of works that I loved, but I didn’t take any pictures out of respect.  I did purchase postcards of two of my favorites from the gift shop,

and we snagged a free print that an artist was giving away to help promote his work.

I can’t wait to get that up on the wall and give this place a little class!

For lunch we went back to an old favorite, JP Bullfeathers, and were greeted with the good news of Restaurant Week.

Unfortunately we won’t be able to make it anywhere else (we tried many spots, but reservations for dinner were impossible), but Adam and I did take advantage of this menu.

I went with the Cajun Haddock Caesar Salad, with balsamic on the side subbed for the dressing.

This was my first time trying Haddock and I think I’m a fan, it’s a nice flakey white-fish without a lot of strong fishy flavor.

The specialty portions were super generous too, I could only eat half of my meal and now Adam has a nice lunch for later this week.

I did have room to try a Valomilk for dessert.

There’s an old-fashioned candy store on Elmwood and it’s sort of irresistable.

I also snacked on a Wallaby Caramel Apple Yogurt while we figured out a dinner plan.

Ultimately we decided low-key was the way to go, and headed to Moes.

I got a kids’ quesadilla with corn salsa,

and chips with queso.

My mom got a kick out of eating something I blog all the time; I think we’ll probably hit up the hot bar tomorrow too!

The rest of the evening was spent on this dorky/awesome venture, which I’ll blog more about in a few weeks.

Have a great night morning!

Is there an art museum and/or gallery in your town?  Do you prefer modern or classic art?  I’m all about modern; there was a series made with ink and soap bubbles on display today that could have held my attention all afternoon.

Biochem Makes Bad Bloggers

I’ll leave the correlation between fences and good neighbors to Robert Frost, but in my experience Biochem makes bad bloggers.  Especially Biochem exams one has not adequately prepared for!

Yesterday’s post was sacrificed to a cramming session.  Unfortunately, the cramming session was then sacrificed to a orthodontist appointment and subsequent headache.  You can’t win ’em all!  Our teacher is very, very kind, so I probably ended up with a B anyways.  Sidenote – I swear I’m usually not such a terrible student, my (22day!!) sickness is really taking its toll.

I am blogging today though, with pictures and everything, but there’s the problem of not having much to blog.  My involuntary breakfast ban continues, but I did get coffee.

A grande non-fat latte with almond roca syrup (2pumps instead of 5).

I was hungry for lunch – my brain used up all my glucose on the exam – but I hadn’t done a great job of packing.  I brought a Revolution Foods tropical fruit packet.

And the newest Fage, 0% with Mango and Guanabana.

Oh. My. God.  Did you know that Gaunabana is the formal name for Soursop, my favorite fruit of all time that I almost never see outside of the Caribbean?!?  When I was saw the flavor at Wegmans I was so excited I bought two right away (and did a fairly embarrassing dance in the aisle!).  It was divine! 

Yogurt perfection aside, I hadn’t packed enough food!  Thankfully the vending machines in the Dietetics building are stocked with mostly healthy things, so I was able to get this packet of tuna salad and crackers.

It was a little strange – I don’t usually add water chestnuts to my tuna salad – but it did the trick of holding me over through my last nutrition class.

I spent my break between classes working on my lab assignments and watching the snow pile outside.  Then, wonder of wonders, my night class so cancelled!

Eeeeeee!

I came straight home (the husband picked me up) and dove face first into a plate of Granny Smith apple with a serving of Smuckers Natural PB with Honey.

Then we got started on dinner. 

Lemon Chicken Fricassee with Biscuit Topping from Rachael Ray.

We followed the recipe except –

  • substituting olive oil for shortening
  • substituting chicken breasts for thighs
  • using a frozen peas and carrots mix that also had lima beans, corn, and green beans
  • using some packaged frozen biscuits rather than making them

It was ok.  Only ok.  Adam said 6 out of 10, I said I won’t be eating any of the leftovers.

Plus a side salad.

Arugula topped with leftover roasted butternut squash, craisins, buttermilk blue cheese, and Newman’s Own Lite Raspberry and Walnut Dressing.

The salad was tasty at least.

The meal might not have been very good, but the entertainment was; season 5 of Futurama is finally on Netflix Instant Watch!

Did/do you watch Futurama?

Measure It Monday

It’s hard to measure where I am in my sickness because my symptoms keep changing.  I feel much more perky but my congestion and seal-cough continue.  I would say I’m 2-3 days from well?  Hopefully!

One vestige of deathly sickness that remains is my complete and total lack of interest in breakfast.  As a future RD I know the morning meal is important, but I just can’t make myself eat it right now.  I did get a big coffee when I got to campus though.

Grande nonfat latte with 1 pump of Irish Cream syrup, delicious.

As foretold, lunch was dinner’s twin.  A serving of Newman’s Own 4 Cheese Pizza,

and roasted green beans.

Plus some fruit snacks my mom sent during the break between classes.

We’re learning about breast-feeding in my Nutrition Throughout the Life-cycle class and it is so interesting!  The benefits of breast vs. bottle are immeasurable, even more vast than I had previously thought.  Plus we are exploring (just a bit) the socioeconomic factors that come into play.  Fascinating!

Random sidenote – I walked to and from school today in jeans and Adam’s sweatshirt, no coat!  Boo-yah.  The temperature is set to drop again tomorrow but I’m getting very excited about spring.

While prepping dinner I snacked on (an exact) serving of Popcorners.

Do you measure out things like chips, or just eat from the bag?  I only put my hand in a bag of chips if I’m planning on eating the entire thing, which I sometimes do!  Otherwise I always use my food scale to measure out a serving.  When it comes to snack foods like chips, the difference between 1-2 servings in satiety and satisfaction is nill, but the caloric difference can be huge.

Dinner was quick and easy but so tasty and wonderful.

Only 4 ingredients and no measuring required.

Goat cheese tortellini, butter toffee almonds, cubed butternut squash, and balsamic vinegar.

Cook the pasta as directed.

Roast the squash.  Actually, roast the squash, get nowhere, and finish it off in pan with a bit of butter.

Reduce the vinegar.

Combine everything (plus nuts) and fall in love.

This was perfect; a little savory and a little sweet.  Plus, you really can’t go wrong with goat cheese.

I made myself a broiled grapefruit for dessert.

But then I discovered that I hate grapefruit.  Oh well, at least I know.

Instead I had a cupcake.

Not just a cupcake though.  I just took the picture to show you guys how cute and perfect it was.

Instead I crumbled it over a Stonyfield 0% Chocolate Underground Yogurt,

for a much less cute, much more delicious treat.

Say it with me – “Mmmmmn!”

What sort of foods do you measure?  Do you use cups/spoons or a food scale?  I measure cheese, snack items, cereal, peanut butter and maple syrup.  Plus a few other things I’m sure I’m forgetting.

Newman’s Own Vlog

I got a lot accomplished today, but we are reaching the ‘loopy’ portion of the evening so it’s important that my cold-carrying self keep this quick.

Lunch was a dynamic duo, 0% plain Chobani,

with a Justin’s maple almond butter packet.

I say I don’t like almond butter, but really everyone likes Justin’s Nut Butters!

If you want to see what we had for dinner, you’ll need to watch the most embarrassing video on earth –

It’s a shame that my vlog debut had to correspond with what was supposed to be a professional-ish video for a contest, but that’s life.

Disclosure – Flip Cam and Newman’s Own products were provided by the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program.

Stimulating Conversation

We are mere hours away from Friday!  Thursdays I have my morning lab and (sometimes) an evening Nutrition class, which is why I was on-campus, and not blogging, all day.

Adam and I both tossed and turned all last night, making Starbucks at absolute necessity this morning.

I got a grande soy latte with cinnamon dolce syrup.

For lunch I brought my corn and black bean pizza leftovers,

and a temple orange.

I stayed on campus for my 4+hour break to get work done, but I definitely also chatted with a friend for a long time.  Since we talked about memoirs, bipolar disorder, and bezoars, among other things, I’m going to count that time as educational 🙂

Adam couldn’t pick me up until after 7:30 and then we had to go to Wegman’s to do something about our empty larder situation.  We ended up grabbing hot bar and having a cafe booth date.  Random assortment of (Asian style) green veggies and tofu,

with a brown rice veggie sushi roll.

The husband and I talked about micronutrient absorption on our “date,” so I’d say I’ve covered my intelligent conversation quotient for the week!

We got groceries (good), drove all the way home before we drove all the way back to get the almond milk we forgot (bad), came inside and chipped my tooth removing my retainers (worse), and made this dessert (great).

Stonyfield Vanilla Soy Yogurt topped with peanuts and marshmallow topping.  Marshmallow topping is vegan; I’m not sure how I’d classify that new fact.

On the agenda for tomorrow is a 2-week late trip to the gym, please keep your fingers crossed for me that we don’t get the 10inches they’re predicting?

What’s your town’s weekend weather prediction?

Dinner for Breakfast Through Dinner

Thanks for all the well wishes for my sick laptop, guys!  Adam’s been a sport about letting me use his and for now I’m viewing it as a glass half full situation because it keeps me from wasting so much time on the internet 😉

There was a situation this morning with the applesauce (you so don’t want to know) so my breakfast ended up being a little less breakfasty.

Apparently I like my morning meals spicy and veggie filled.

This vegan Enchilada from Amy’s was pretty great though.

I also had a cup of Eggnog’n tea with a splash of Silk Hazelnut Soy Creamer.

Lunch was random if nothing else.

A plain So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt with some Crofter’s Strawberry Jam,

and a Thai Peanut Primal Strip.

If you’re going to write in and ask “but, Emily, weren’t you hungry after that lunch?” don’t bother.  Yes!  I was satisfied for an hour or so and then I was starving.  I sat through a club meeting after school where everyone was eating pizza and it was pretty torturous.

I was pretty ecstatic that I had time to buy a sandwich before my night class.

I got a 6inch sub with green pepper, red onion, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pickles, black olives, and bbq sauce.

One of the things I’m loving about the vegan challenge is that I’m learning that it’s ok to skip the cheese sometimes.  Before I would have automatically ordered a slice of cheddar on this sandwich and it was totally fine without it.

It was a great night because we got out an hour early from my music class, and then it got even better when I walked in the door to dinner.

I set the husband up with the ingredients and recipe for Cooking Light’s Spicy Moroccan Chickpeas, and then he did the rest before I got home.

Go, husband!

The rest of the evening involved the pre-lab due tomorrow and the chocolate-covered strawberries the husband bought for Valentine’s.

Hasta!

Do you automatically put or skip cheese on your sandwiches?  What’s your favorite kind for sandwiches?