Jump in De Line, Rock Your Body in Time

Ugh-dates –

1. The Wegman’s blueberry coffee is just not good 😦  It has a super burnt bitter taste.  I even added sugar (and skim milk) to my second cup and I still didn’t like it.

However, Adam says I can’t buy more until this is gone and there are some holiday flavors I’m excited about so I’ll be slugging this down.

2. The Orgo notes assignment that was due today took up my entire morning.  I was so slammed for time I couldn’t even eat!  Must work on the weekends, must work on the weekends, must work on the weekends….

UP-dates –

1. The husband has been bringing chocolate chip pumpkin squares to school and his classmates like them so much someone even requested the recipe!  It’s not actually my personal recipe (thanks, Martha), but it’s nice to feel like a good wife.

2. I lit a cinnamon pumpkin candle this morning and it brought my Halloween corner of the mantle to life.

Anyway, I didn’t have time to eat so I packed myself 2 servings of Sahale Snacks to munch during Orgo.

After my first set of classes I spent yet more time dealing with transfer credits and my class schedule.  The good news is that I’ve had two victories; the bad is that I call BS on the fact that they won’t accept my writing credits.

I spent so much time that I almost didn’t make it to the gym before lab.  I had to rush rush rush and eat food from the vending machine while I hightailed it across campus.

A pre-gym Rice Krispie treat is better than no fuel at all!

And a short work out is better than no gym time at all.  I did a quick treadmill session.

Lab went quickly tonight – all we were doing was building models – and I was home in time to make a nice dinner.  First though, I made a nice snack.

A Caramel Oikos with canned pumpkin and homemade pb.

I was starving when I got home and I didn’t want to be too hungry to enjoy my dinner.

And dinner was delicious;

I claim the 2nd night of Sandwich Week to be a success!

BLTs.  Rather, TBSTs – turkey bacon spinach tomatoes.  On sourdough with a smear of homemade mayo.

We ate roasted asparagus on the side.

Yum!  And this took all of 10minutes to throw together; dinner really can be healthy, tasty, and quick all at once.

We shelled out a bit of extra cash and bought Applegate Farms bacon; it is so much better than the other varieties we’ve had.

Turkey bacon doesn’t really make ‘bacon grease,’ but it does stick to the pan and make delicious browned bits.  There’s no chance I’m letting that go to waste; I scraped up the browned bits with a scrambled egg.

We got in the October spirit by watching “Beetlejuice” while we ate.  I love that movie, but I don’t think I’d realized before how sad it is.

I’ve got an Anatomy Lab quiz tomorrow to study for (announced at the last minute, arrrgh!), so I’m off!

What do you like on your BLTs, ya know, beyond the B, L, and T?  M (mayo or mustard)?  S&P? C(heese)?

Why Don’t I Accomplish Things on Sunday?!

I’m going to set a blogging speed record today because it’s bedtime.  Especially with the amount of school work I did today (cough, cough, none, cough), I want to be well rested for tomorrow.

As we went to get in bed last night the husband and I both realized that we were starving.  It was a bit ridiculous.  We ended up getting staying up, getting pizza, and watching the Simpsons’ Halloween special.

Breakfast = beautiful.

Plain fat-free Dannon with canned pumpkin, homemade pb, 1/4 cup gingerbread granola, and a bit of honey.

2nd breakfast (my hunger from last night didn’t wane all day), was more yogurt.

Low fat coffee topped with peanuts and honey.

Lunch was a sandwich from Lean Cuisine, Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Chicken.

Dinner was looking at me!

That fried egg is sitting atop a bed of sweet potato and kale. 

I precooked both veggies in the microwave to cut time, then cooked them in a bit of butter with salt, pepper, and paprika.

More pumpkin?  Dessert was a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Square.

Con leche.

Goodnight!

Life As I Know It

It’s been a rather fun day, especially for a Thursday!  We’ve managed to pack in a lot of good times.  Plus, look at the sun rise I woke up to today:

Not quite as impressive foodwise; I’m not sure how I managed to get so completely out of food!  We actually made a special banana stop this evening so I could make myself oatmeal (a real breakfast) tomorrow!

I did the best I could with breakfast today though.

I knew I didn’t have time for lunch between classes so I tried to make a bowl that would hold me over for the long run.  0% Plain Oikos, maple syrup, homemade pb, peanuts, shredded coconut, and craisins.

Filling, and actually a very tasty combo of flavors.

I got some good news in Anatomy, an A+ on last week’s practical exam!  And in between classes I finished all of my work for tomorrow, which meant I had time to play later on.

Food lab today was all about veggies.  My group experimented with the effects of cooking techniques.  Did you know – if you want your broccoli to look extra green and appetizing you should use cooking water that’s a bit alkali (baking soda).  If you cook it in an acidic medium (with vinegar) you’ll end up with a very unappetizing olive-green shade.  I didn’t sample any of our experiments, but I did take some tastes of the dishes the other groups made.

Adam came to pick me up from school because of the rain, and we took a spontaneous trip to the movies!  You know we split a medium popcorn 😉

We saw “Life as You Know it,” which I’ve been jazzed about for months.  Normally I hate chick flicks but something about Katherine Hiegel makes me unable to resist!  The movie was adorable, very touching but with a lot of funny moments as well.  I give it two thumbs up!

Our apartment is seriously foodless, so when we picked up my banana we also swung by Moe’s for a quesadilla.

I ate my fair share of chips too.

And a honey vanilla caramel apple.

Have you made these yet?  Do it!

Now we are watching “Nightmare Before Christmas.”  Adam’s been trying to get me to see if for years and I’m actually totally loving it.  Hope you all have *sweet* dreams!

Pour Some Sugar On Me

I’ve had that ubiquitous Def Leppard track stuck in my head all weekend.  Around midnight on Saturday I even requested it be added to the party playlist!  And “Pour Some Sugar on Me” is a fitting anthem for this evening as I’m currently buzzing from a major sugar high.

Let’s cover dinner first shall we?

The tofu I was pressing earlier was cooked up this evening into my fabulous Coco Loco Tofu.  If you haven’t tried this recipe yet I highly recommend it; it’s the dish that got the husband hooked on tofu!

We used the remaining coconut marinade to cook down a big batch of kale.

The creamy (coconut), tangy (rice vinegar) sauce was the perfect complement to the kale.  Sometimes I hate how much greens cook down though; I swear that is a big serving of veggies!

I was ravenous while we were cooking dinner so I made myself a tiny bowl of 0% Plain Oikos with homemade chocolate pb, Crofter’s strawberry spread, and a pinch of shredded coconut.

Tasty, but ruined my appetite for the main event; I ended up only eating 2/3 of my tofu and sharing the rest.

I worked up an appetite for dessert stirring, stirring, stirring in the kitchen.  40minutes later I was rewarded with caramel apples!

I pulled a recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray for Honey-Vanilla Caramel Apples.  I decided to make a half batch of apples (Adam won’t eat any) and save the rest of the caramel for other means. 

Granny Smith, Paula Red, Crispin.

I haven’t tasted an actual apple yet because I made myself too sick on caramel, but I can already tell you that this recipe is a keeper!  The honey vanilla caramel is divine and it was easy as pie to make.  There is a fabulous deep roasted flavor that makes it addictive; there was a lot of this –


Healthy dinner, check; most of my school work up to date, check; satisfied sweet tooth, check plus!

Caramel, candied, or naked, how do you prefer your apples?

An In and Out Post

Can I do 100 words or less?

We had a late dinner party to attend yesterday so I did some random snacking to tide me over until 9pm.

Two of our Russian friends provided a traditional ethnic feast.  My plate included potatoes with mushrooms, salad, and bellinis with caviar (omg, the caviar!).

The table also had liver and onions and tongue!!!

We didn’t get home until after 2am – I was the only non-drinker in the room – and even abstaining from alcohol couldn’t keep me feeling peppy today.  Let’s sum Sunday up with more random snacking.

Also picture and unphotographed glass of chocolate milk and several extra handfuls of peanuts.

Word Count – 111

The Pants

What, I drop that mega-post on you and then I just disappear?  Sorry about that!  I was in a terrible mood yesterday and it just didn’t seem right to subject anyone but the husband to me.  Plus, I was actually in such a terrible mood that I couldn’t even get it together to make dinner so there wasn’t a whole lot of foodage going on.

A lot of times a bad day is just about a bad mood, and even though I know that I still couldn’t shake my rain cloud yesterday.  possibly because I had to get up at 6:30 on a Friday.  I rolled out of bed early, but on the wrong side of the bed!

I had to get up early to attend a meeting about an honor society I was invited to because of my summer school grades.  What I didn’t learn until after the 7:15am meeting is that I’m actually not eligible until after a 3rd semester at my school. 

The minute we left the meeting I was starving.  Not just hungry, stomach-growling, headachey, starving.  Nothing was open until 8:30.  I buy a medium coffee with skim milk.

I wait.  I get really psyched about an oatmeal bar in the food court.  It turns out a bunch of people called in sick and actually nothing is open.  I could go get food from the coffee place though.  I know it doesn’t make sense to some people, but I get more picky as I get hungrier.  If my stomach feels like it’s eating itself I want something good; I don’t want a dried out bagel or a mass-produced croissant.

I ended up wandering around campus for 1.5hours in futile search, getting hungrier by the minute.  Finally, minutes before class, I found this cup of grapes.

The grapes lifted my mood considerably.  But then in class I learned that the portfolio assignment due next week has to be turned in in an actual portfolio.  An actual expensive portfolio.  I’m sorry, I realize it’s not exactly cool that I have to budget for a binder, but it pisses me off that I’ve had to spend so much money on school supplies this semester.

After my 2hour class I went straight to a group meeting for a project.  We didn’t finish until it was time for Orgo, good thing I had eaten those grapes! 😉

I had absolutely no understanding of what we were talking about in Orgo.  None.  I started freaking out about the next test, and being super angry with myself that I let myself get behind on the reading.  By the time Anatomy was done I just wanted the day to be over.  I didn’t even go to the gym as planned, I just went home.  Sidenote – I do realize that the gym would have certainly lifted my spirits, but I was still starving.

I poured myself a serving of Terra Chips Blues.

The plan was to refill the bowl with some food-food as soon as I was done.  Yeah, about that; I never got off the couch!  I just let my bad mood spiral out of control.  Not doing any errands, or doing anything fun, certainly didn’t make me feel better and it just got worse and worse.

This morning I was determined to have a good day.  Really, it’s all about attitude.  When the alarm went off at 7:40 I read a magazine in bed before getting up.  I took a much-needed shower.  I cleaned the apartment – that one’s not actually that fun, but the mess was stressing me out.

I made a healthy, tasty breakfast.

A serving of Special K Red Berries with skim milk,

and some leftover fruit (papaya, mango, grapes, watermelon) I brought home from food lab.

Adam and I went on errands and took care of business (including buying that portfolio!).  When we got groceries we also got smile-inducing hot bar and a diet pop.

Who doesn’t love hot bar?

A bunch of green beans with a little bit of eggplant tomato salad,

cashew chicken with a tiny bit of fried chicken,

roasted veggies.

To round out the good mood vibes, I got a fun package from my parents.  With seasonal gifts.

And “the pants.”

Some background on the pants – When Adam was a freshman in college (I was a sophomore) his mom sent him a great pair of pajama pants.  They were super comfortable and I borrowed them often.  As time went on I eventually just stole them.  I was wearing the pants the Christmas morning that Adam proposed.  I wore them through recovery from all my various injuries.  The pants are the item I would save if the house was on fire.

The pants have been getting thin (they are old and I wear them a LOT).  I hardly ever wash them, and my mom has done many minor repairs.  Well, a few weeks ago I tore a huge hole through the left knee.  I sent my mom the pants in tears.  She rocks, and now I guess they are “the capris.”

When I mailed the pants, I threatened my mom several times that I would stop loving her if she threw away any of the fabric.  Instead, she made the legs into a pillow (dont’ worry, she also saved the scraps!) –

Adam and I love it.

I guess the point of the very long, whine-filled post is that today is a better day.  It always is.  And this took me so long to write that I took a snack break and ate a Brown Cow 0% Strawberry Greek Yogurt with homemade chocolate pb.

The end.

Do you own anything like “the pants?”

Pumpkin Powered

Happy Hump Day!  Sorry for bailing on you guys yet again, apparently I have not quite kicked my cold – I spent yesterday in another hours long afternoon nap!  On a similar note: I have not been to the gym in more than a week (and it’s killing me) so at this point I might as well wait until I am fully well; my back to sweat date is Friday.  I might try to sneak in some strength/stretching before then, but no walking home in sweaty gym clothes!

I had to get an immediate start on work today so I made myself a bowl of “power-up pumpkin” for breakfast.

I topped a 1/2cup of 0% Plain Oikos with 1/4cup canned pumpkin, a bit of homemade chocolate pb, and two small crumbled pumpkin butterscotch cookies.

The flavor combo was divine!  My favorite part is the awesome texture of cookie crumbles melting into the yogurt.  Plus, maybe it’s a mother’s love thing, but don’t even try to tell me this bowl isn’t still pretty once it’s stirred –

It’s like pumpkin tie dye!

I think it helped to power me up too; I took notes on the online lecture we had to watch and finished my Orgo Lab work for tonight.  Gotta get back to work!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveway!

A Sick Day from Life

Welcome to the work-week!  Sorry to leave you hanging, I had to take a “sick day” from life this weekend.  The Heart Walk was a ton of fun, but ultimately a bad idea.  I started with a fever and after spending that much time outside – you’d be surprised how long it takes to walk a 5k – I was done.  I slept for 4.5 solid hours Saturday afternoon!  We did manage to have a bit of fun this weekend though….

Trying out this “Hurricane Simulator” at the Mall – strange! – while getting plain tart froyo.

Using the food processor to whip up a batch of homemade chocolate peanut butter (no recipe as of yet, it still needs tweeks).

Eating tons of Butterscotch Pumpkin Cookies.

Mostly we cuddled up on the couch and watched tv though; it was heaven!

I knew today needed to be all about school work – I have a huge Anatomy Lab test on Thursday – so I started my morning with a cure-all (hopefully!) yogurt mix bowl!

0% Honey Oikos Greek Yogurt topped with canned pumpkin,

gingerbread granola,

homemade chocolate pb,

and a cherry pumpkin on top!

I’ve got a giveaway coming with lunch, be sure to stop by!

What was the highlight of your weekend?