Tag Archives: yogurt

The Farmers’ Market Feeds My Soul

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What better way to announce my Zevia giveaway winner than to toast one in her honor?

Caitlin (commenter #5), this Zevia Cola’s for you!

By the way, after you e-mail me your address so I can get your prize sent off, I suggest drinking the Cola flavor first.  Cola is hands-down the best Zevia out there; it doesn’t taste diet at all, but the flavor isn’t exactly “Coke” either, much earthier.  There is almost a coffee note to it.

This morning the weather was wonderful and I took a nice walk to the Co-op and the farmers’ market.  Look at my bounty of local goodies –

I’m most excited about the plethora of peppers,

I ended up with two purple, one lime, and a pimento!

The only fail was breakfast; I planned on getting something to eat at the farmer’s market but there were so many tasty things to choose from that I got overwhelmed and ended up with nothing 😉 Instead I had a fat-free raspberry lemonade yogurt when I got home.

I finished up my grocery trip at Wegman’s.  We had a coupon, so I got myself a small iced coffee.

– With skim milk and sugar-free caramel syrup. –

I’ll cop to my lunch being a little strange, if you’ll promise to try it yourself anyway!

I pan cooked chopped eggplant, broccoli and okra in a big splash of chicken broth, then finished it off with ~1/2T of evoo.  Then I added 2t of mango chutney to the skillet, along with 2T each raisins and peanuts.

I know it sounds odd, but I swear that the flavors work.  It’d be great with a bit of spice too.

I’ve got a TON of schoolwork to do this long weekend but we have some fun planned in for tomorrow too.  And a dinner on the agenda for tonight that I’m totally jazzed about.  See you then!

~*~*~ It’s time for some shameless self-promotion!

1) Check out my mini guest post at Iowa Girl Eats.

2) I’m throwing my hat into the ring for Project Food Blog!  Actually, I’m thinking about resigning before it even begins, but check out my profile anyways!

3) Are you following me on Twitter?

Gourmand on the Go

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I left the house more than 20 hours ago, good golly it’s been a full day!  Another clue that things were busy – 1o0% of my food was eaten on the go today.  I would say I’m definitely mastering the art of eating healthy on the fly.

This morning’s breakfast contained some pretty snazzy components –

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a chocolate Oikos, 3 dried figs, 1/4 cup of homemade granola, and a plucot.  Things got less fancy in a hurry when I had to load those guys into a to-go cup –

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Still delicious though.

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I didn’t have time to finish before my first class started so I had to throw out some of my stellar combo, but breakfast on the go is a work in progress.

Lunch was identical to the other day; Whole Grain Sandwich Thin, Laughing Cow Queso Fresco and Chipotle cheese wedge, and three slices of turkey.

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I hate to be repetitive but I see many more of this exact sandwich in my future; it’s just so good!  I thought I was going to hate the Arnold’s Sandwich Thins (I got them as a free sample from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program), but they are actually exquisitely doughy.  They remind me a lot of when I was a kid and a I would mush a piece of bread up into a single, delicious square.

I did mix up my side though, a sliced cuc.

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Classes were pretty intense; I finally attended my last nutrition lecture and it’s going to be a lot of work.  I’m taking 7 courses this semester (several are 1-credit labs) and I’m already feeling a bit overwhelmed.  As soon as classes were done today I curled up with my planner, binder, and a computer to map out my assignments for the semester.  Todoist was key.

I was stuck at school until 5pm (rain) so I ended up searching the food court for sustenance.  Thank goodness I gave it another chance, I found a build your own salad place.

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Romaine base, 2 servings of roasted veggies, green bell peppers, carrots, red onions, and blue cheese crumbles with a bit of balsamic.  It came topped with a tasty breadstick.

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We were only home a minute or two before we headed back out.  Our dinner plans were Korean night with a group of friends.

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Gleesh our friends are good cooks!  My bowl was sticky rice with carrots, cucumbers, kim chi, garlic paste, nori, and an egg.

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Yum!

Korean night eventually turned into boys’ only poker, and I sat on the couch catching up with the girls until after midnight.

Adam insisted on pizza on the way home (guess which one of use was drinking instead of driving?!) and I wanted to take part in the fun so I had him cut a slice in half for me.

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Tasty bbq chicken pizza, without undoing my day’s worth of healthiness.  I mostly wanted a taste anyways.

It’s another busy day tomorrow, Bedtime, Bedtime, Bedtime!

Have you ever tried Korean food?  What’s your favorite dish?

The Day Took an Upswing

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After my rocky start this morning the day got much better.  I’m glad that I’m becoming more successful at defusing my all-or-nothing issues.  Something may not be as good as all, but it’s sure better than nothing!

I have two classes on Mondays – Organic Chemistry and Anatomy.  Eeek, both courses seem like they are going to be a lot of work!  I’m feeling extra thankful to have a doctor-in-training for a husband, I have a feeling I’m going to have lots of questions!

I spent most of my afternoon on housekeeping; financial aide issues, taking an online violence course requirement, actual house cleaning…  I also made a pretty amazing snack, full of new and exciting things. 

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Like my new bowl (made by local artist Jennifer L Clark) –

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I feel in love with this bowl during the Elmwood Arts Festival last weekend.  It’s handmade and the yellow and black polka dots fit perfectly with my dream house decor scheme.  I love things that are mod but rustic all at the same time.

I also tried some new (to me) yogurt, Oikos Chocolate.

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The fabulous people at Stonyfield caught wind of how obsessed I am with their products (due to my raving about this froyo recipe) and set me some free product coupons.  I normally stick with 0% plain but since I had the coupons I decided to go a little crazy and try something new.  The nutrional stats are pretty great, especially for something that feels so desserty.

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I was expecting the chocolate to be too sweet but it ended up having the perfect balance with the tart yogurt.  I’m not sure why, but this was much thinner than regular Oikos.

Finally, I tried out a new granola recipe today, Honey Coconut Crunch.

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My batch got a little overdone but I definitely recommend making it yourself.

Oh, and this white nectarine felt like new since it’s been so long since they’ve been in season!

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In my new bowl went 1 Oikos Chocolate, a chopped nectarine, and 1/4cup of my homemade granola.

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This was the perfect texture and flavor medley, I foresee an encore soon!

Sadly, through a series of annoying events, each one more annoying than the last, dinner never happened.  We did take a walk to pick up some cupcake liners which will allow us to make dinner tomorrow though.  I’m hungry, but at this point it’s more important that I get in bed.

Have you ever made your own granola?

Peanut Butter and Sneaky

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This morning’s breakfast was all about the PB&J.  (Actually that’s SB, but you know what I’m saying.)

But looks can be deceiving, the proper acronym should be OOIASBJ – Overnight Oats In A Sunbutter Jar!

There was a little less than 1 serving of TJ’s Sun Butter left,

so last night I poured 1/3cup oats and 2/3cup Silk Almond Milk into the jar.  This morning I added some plain fat-free yogurt and a dollop of Crofter’s Strawberry Spread.

Have you tried OIAJ?  What sort of jars have you utilized?

Activia Desserts for Dessert

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I wasn’t in the mood for breakfast this morning, but I was all about the pizza pizza!

I roasted up some broccoli, put it on a single-serving crust with marinara, and topped it with 2% sharp cheddar.

Mmmn, broccoli and sharp cheddar made the perfect pizza combo.

A bit later I snacked on some sliced green apple and a few pretzels (way to finish the whole bag before I got any, Adam!).

And for dessert, Activia Desserts.

I buy Activia for the husband because he has some tummy issues and it seems to really help.  I usually just stick to Greek yogurt but the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor sounded so divine that I had to try it.  Good decision; the cheesecake flavor was spot on, nothing like the “cheesecake” fat free yogurts I’ve tried in the past that just scream artificial sweetener.  This was creamy and sweet and pleasantly thick for regular yogurt.  All for 140calories, I think I’m  a fan.  If you’d like to try some yourself go here for a $1 off coupon.

We’ve got a tasty dinner planned, but I’ve got my eye on a mini bag of kettle corn in the meantime.

*Update to Add – I’m going for it, mini bag of kettle corn here I come!

Happy Birthday Danielle

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It’s been a busy day and I’ll keep this quick. I have an early morning tomorrow so I’m already up way too late.

I was not feeling the gym this afternoon, I wanted to play with my new phone, I wanted to play with Adam, my leg hurt… But I’m learning that for me one day off exercise turns into twenty, so I hauled my butt to the gym. 30minutes on the elliptical, level 6, random. In the end I loved it; I’m not sure how I managed to skip the gym so much this last year, exercise makes me so happy!

It was our friend Danielle’s birthday today and by the time I was out of the shower the boys were in the kitchen baking burning some cupcakes. I put myself together a snack while they cooked.

Pomegranate and Passionfruit Siggi’s, Stonewall Kitchen Mimosa Jam, and crunchy peanut butter.

I still cannot get over how much the Siggi’s yogurt looks like a big scoop of ice cream, it is so aesthetically pleasing!

We had to pick up beer before we headed to Benji’s house and I brought a soursop nectar to drink along the way.

Sadly it had added sugar and was way too sweet, I tossed it after just a few sips.

I was starving and cranky by early evening but thankfully Benji is practically a gourmet cook and he hooked me up with this plate of awesomeness.

That is sunflower bread from the co-op with strawberry balsamic vinegar,

and homemade gazpacho.

Yum! It was such a fresh and tasty way to satisfy my hunger.

We spent a large portion of our evening at Wine Thief, where I in fact passed on wine in favor of a Labat Blue with Lime.

I also snagged a small slice of communal pizza.

The pizza was good, and upon perusing the variety of the food menu Adam and I declared that we have to go back for dinner soon.

The rest of the evening was spent in a wicked game of Pictionary.  Fyi – my team won 😉  I didn’t partake in any more booze, but I did nibble on this Strawberry Soy Joy bar from BlogHer.

Can how many days can you take off from the gym before you lose your motivation?

Smoothies for a Man

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I usually go to the store alone, but when Camile was visiting last week we did a quick trip that was a family affair.  Adam apparently forgot what the plethora of packaged goodies looks like, especially because most of what I bring home each week is produce, and he was excited by something in every aisle. 

The frozen food is the last stop in our store, and the last thing Adam thrust at me was a package of Yoplait Blueberry Pomegranate Smoothie starter.  It’s possible that I smacked him and yelled that going to the store with him was like babysitting an ADHD riddled child; but that’s really beside the point.  When I reminded him that he doesn’t like blueberries or pomegranate he simply crowed “but it’s a new flavor!”  Ok, then.  We did not leave the store with the smoothie starter; we also left behind a thing of peanut butter cookies, a vegan-style Snickers bar, and Camile’s assurance that Adam was aware of her severe nut allergies.

Lo and behold, one of the first free coupons I received at BlogHer was for the Yoplait Smoothie products.  I carefully watch our food budget and I try to keep Adam healthy and happy, but only a monster says no when it’s free.  If Adam and I are ever in Nevada and the Pussycat Ranch is having a BOGO special it’s likely I’ll give him a baseball coach butt slap and a ‘go get ’em champ!’  When Adam found the package in our freezer he was excited but confused.  Thankfully he has a terrible memory, “Of course, I never say no to the man of the house.  No, I would never hit you…in public…with a bag of frozen peas.”

Wife of the year that I am, this morning it was time for smoothies –

*That’s my serving, Adam got a slightly bigger, much manlier, disposable Subway cup.

The instructions say to blend with 1cup of skim milk but I used half skim cow and half plain almond milk.  Each bag contains two servings, live and active cultures, and two full servings of fruit.  I like blueberries and pomegranates so I thought the flavor was good, just too sweet.  Normally I read the nutrition panel and ingredient list before purchasing, but free!

Oh.  Milkfat, sugar, fructose, corn starch.  I love that Yoplait is encouraging people to eat more fruit, but my smoothies only contain fruit, not filler.  And this wasn’t any quicker than assembling one of my normal smoothies.  If you are substituting this for a milkshake or have a serious portion control problem then this is the product for you; but otherwise I say skip it.

Now I’m off to find something with more than 120calories to finish off my breakfast.

Have you tried this or any brand of smoothie starters?  What is your favorite smoothie combination?

The Best Kind of Morning

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Sooo, about that last giveaway … awkward!  Yeah, that was a bust.  No one commented before the giveaway closed, but would you mind commenting on that post now to let me know why that giveaway sucked so hard?  Any feedback would be appreciated.

Today I had the best kind of morning, I started my day off with a run with the husband!  We are trying to work out the schedule and logistics of being able to workout together before class this year.  I’m also trying to work on getting on a proper sleep schedule; I got in bed at 10pm last night and even though it took me half the night to fall asleep, when the alarm rang at 6:30 I got out of bed.

Cons of this morning’s run –

  • We went for 30minutes and I still had to take several walking breaks
  • We ran on a path around the nearby lake so I have no idea how far we went
  • I’m so pathetically out of shape that Adam barely gets a workout when he runs with me

Pros of this morning’s run –

  • I got out there before 7am and ran for 20minutes
  • We got to run near the lake and it was gorgeous
  • I’m looking forward to the journey back to fitness, even especially the hard work and pathetic stats in the meantime

While Adam was in the shower I got my stretch on, and after my shower I put on yoga pants again so I can continue to take stretch/strength breaks throughout the day.  I start classes in 10days so it’s important that I get myself back into good habits before then.

I also made sure to eat a refueling breakfast.  Also a creamy, dreamy, tropical breakfast.

I threw some Plain Fat Free Stonyfield, a large banana, a serving of Goya frozen soursop pulp, and some Naked Coconut Water into the blender and 2minutes later I had perfection. 

Soursop is my favorite fruit (it comes in even slightly ahead of coconut!) and I highly encourage you to try it if you ever get the chance.

I got some carbs into the mix as well with a serving of Kashi Strawberry Fields cereal with Silk Almond Milk.

Every food group minus veggies?  Check.

I have a pretty packed to do list today, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t most looking forward to setting up my new dayplanner –

“See” you for lunch!

What were a pro and con of your morning?