Big Apple Rainstorm

When I woke up this morning I felt so tired I told A I could stay in bed until 5 – looking back that might have been the better idea!  We had a fun day but things weren’t quite working out for us.

I’m not gonna lie – the first thing I ate today was Ruffles potato chips, unphotographed, straight from the bag.  Then we headed up to the city to hit up the Big Apple Bbq.  On the way we stopped at Dizzy’s and got a lemonade to split.

There were TONS of people at the park, and live music. 

I had a few sips of A’s apple cider.

We had a good time people watching but discovered that there was NO chicken at the event, so my dreams of a pulled chicken sandwich were not going to happen.  A was not happy about being pushed (he had a questionable mole removed from his back this week and has stitches) so we decided to split.  No soon did we leave the park then it started to rain!

We ducked into the spot across the street and discovered a fresh juice bar.

I got carrot, spinach, and pineapple.   I thought this was delicious, maybe I can be a real blogger after all!  As we walked down the street we spotted Punch which looked fun,

so we went inside for the brunch menu.  They brought a basket of bread/muffins to the table,

and our meal came with drinks.

I got a Bloody Mary, and salmon eggs benedict with the sauce on the side.

I wasn’t really feeling this meal, I ended up only eating half of everything (incudling the drink and the hollandaise).  I was pretty hungry still as we hurried to the subway through the rain.  I ended up eating another serving of chips when I got home.

 

At least this time they weren’t straight from the bag!

We have low key plans for tonight (and know to bring our umbrellas!) so hopefully this evening will work out a little better!

What is your favorite bbq food?  I really liked pulled chicken sandwiches but feel like you can’t find them anywhere.

Sunday Side Up

Sunday night was our “going out night,” which clearly had something to do with why I didn’t post last night!  I actually didn’t drink very much, but I’m feeling a little sick this morning so I think there is something up with my stomach.  Yesterday was the best New York spring day.  Everything was just so wonderful, I got pretty choked up when I thought about moving away.

Sunday morning A worked on his ‘Husband of the Year’ award by making breakfast for my friends and I.

I was served 2 eggs sunny side up with toast with SmartBalance.  It was very yummy – A makes the best eggs.

After breakfast we headed out to do some NY exploring – we met up with some of K’s family in China Town!  Our first stop had to be bubble tea.

I got a strawberry milk tea with bobba,

delish!  We had a pretty great walk, we looped through China Town to Little Italy and finally into SoHo.  I took my first trip to the pearl trading company and feel in love – I even got some gifts for some of my fellow Brooklyn bloggers.

I took them to Economy Candy so they could get some gifts and then I continued to spread the obsession by showing everyone Sugar Sweet Sunshine.  You know I got a pistachio cupcake!

Seriously, I don’t even like cupcakes, but this might be my favorite dessert of all time.

Then it was time to head home and change for dinner.  K’s cousin lives in Williamsburg so we headed there for dinner and drinks.  We did dinner at Planet Thailand (where the first blogger meet up was).  I loved the way they incorporated beer bottles into the bar decor -

For my dinner drink I got a Dirty Jolly Rancher.

And to eat, Pad See Eiw.

I subsituted vegetarian duck for beef.  Somehow my drink had really kicked in and I was so tipsy by the time dinner came that I devoured the entire plate and felt very ill.  I ended up getting a diet coke at our next stop – Alligator Lounge.  But I did eat two slices of mini pizza.

Alligator Lounge gives you a free mini pizza with every drink you order!  Our next stop was even better though – Barcade.  1.  The outside wall is a mural made of beer bottle tops.

 

2. There is a Space Invaders scene in the bottle tops.

3. The reason for the Space Invaders is because Barcade is stocked with tons of old video arcade games!A caught a shot of me rocking out Tetris.

I also got my butt kicked in Quebert, Dig Dug, and several others.  All while enjoying an Abita Turbodog.

Abita Strawberry will always be my favorite, but for a dark beer this was pretty darn good!

We came home and crashed and today – I’m late and I’ve got to run, See Ya!

What’s your AIM?

Especially for a Monday, it’s been a good day!  Per usual, I have to do a quick post before bed.

This morning for train breakfast I did a Cool Mint Chocolate Clif Bar.

I love this flavor!  I had moved away from Clif bars for a while but they really are one of my favorites.

For lunch I packed a butter popcorn pudding, a red Bartlet pear, and a yogurt.

I actually ate the yogurt during my 9:30 prep because I found at I was meeting with the literacy coach at lunch and wouldn’t have as much time to eat.  It was a seasonal flavor from Stoneyfield, apple pie.

When I ate the pudding at lunch I crumbled a True Delights bar into it and it was divine.

(Especially for a Monday) my school day was pretty good.  I got through an entire lesson/activity about making predictions with all of my classes.  Plus I (decided over the weekend and) announced today that I created an AOL Instant Messenger name for my students to ask me homework questions on.  They were all pretty excited about it.

I stayed after school to call some parents and then came home to 1C Kashi Go Lean with skim milk.

Halfway through my bowl of cereal I realized that I was home early enough to make it to a 5:45 class at the gym.  I ran the .6miles to Crunch and took a 30minutes Abs and Stretch class.  A and I ran some errands on the way home and then I made the posters for the week that I neglected yesterday.  While I worked I ate some baby carrots with 2servings of hummus.

Then it was time for dinner.

We made a Rachael Ray recipe from my magazine binder.  I’ll post the original recipe, and my substitutions, both are good!

Spinach Ricotta Pie

• 10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and sqeezed out
• 15oz container ricotta cheese
• 8oz garlic-herb spreadable cheese
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1C chopped marinated artichokes

Grease a 9in pie pan with evoo.  Preheat the oven to 375*.  In a large bowl, whisk together both cheeses and the eggs.  Add the spinach, artichokes, 1/2t salt and 1/4t pepper and stir to combine.  Pour into prepared pan and bake until golden, about 45minutes.

My Substitutions

• I used 10oz of collard greens instead of spinach
• I used fat free ricotta cheese
• I used 7oz of Farmers Cheese instead of the garlic-herb spreadable
• I used an extra 1/2C of artichokes
• I had an 8inch pan so I made 1pie and 5 “muffins”

Very tasty!  For my substitutions 5 (huge) servings have 225calories each.  I ate about 1/4 of the pie tonight.

We watched “House” while we ate, so I was pretty much in heaven.  I also broke out these mini fruit slices for dessert.

Nothing sour about them, but still pretty tasty.  I ate two servings.

All in all, a pretty good day!  P.S. It’s also possible I demolished 3T of chunky pb straight from the jar before my shower.

Do you have an aim?  I remember this being so popular in high school/college, but none of my friends use it any more.

Do you make substitutions to recipes or do you follow to the letter?

CONTEST CONTEST -  Melissa is giving away bbq sauce.  Sarah is giving away Bob’s Red Mill goodies.  Strawberry Shorstuff is giving away some bars and cute t.

Little Bits

Hello folks!  Sorry for my two day hiatus, life has been a bit crazy.  On Tuesday I was running late and actually fell on the way into school.  I skinned both my knees, hurt my elbow, and we thought I broke my finger at first.  I’m feeling better now, but I kind of limped around in a daze all Tuesday.  I stayed super late after school so my students could work on projects and by the time I got home around 8 A met me at the train and I looked like I had been hit by a bus!  On Wednesday I spent my entire evening (and most of the night!) getting all my grades in order.

So that leads to today.  I met with my principal and got my grades for the quarter ok-ed (a meeting during which she decided my gradingsystem is amazingand actually asked me to make copies of my book so she could show others!!).  And my students have officially finished the aforementioned projects.

However, walking into my room is like walking into a glitter ocean!

For train breakfast this morning I ate a White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Clif Bar,

Yum!

And for lunch I packed a yogurt and a big baggie of green grapes.

The yogurt was a Rachael’s Vanilla Chai, sooooo good!  I am so buying the other Rachael’s flavors!

Today was nice and easy, especially because there was an assembly at the end of the day to give the kids their high school acceptance letters.  I left as soon as physically possible and came home and had a snack.

Mary’s Gone Crackers and baby carrots with a trio of dipping sauces.  Roasted red pepper and basil hummus,

Stonewall Kitchen Maple Pumpkin Butter,

and Stonewall Kitchen Hot Pepper Peach Jelly.

I might have enjoyed a handful of gummi cola bottles when I was done.

A and I hung out a bit and even went to the grocery store.  Sadly, I realized once I got home that we forgot half of what we needed and will have to go back tomorrow but it’s always nice to take a walk.

For dinner I started with two scrambled eggs.

I didn’t whiskthe eggs and the yolks and whites ended cooking separately which was very tasty.

And I also made a roasted sweet potato.

The bowl is ketchup and maple syrup.  I have never done roasted sweets in sticks like this before Ah-Maze-ing!  I think I will cook them longer next time so they are more fry like but the flavor was just too good.

I have to scurry off, I am definitely eating a mini bag of popcorn before bed!  Have a great night!  P.S. I promise my next post will be longer

Like a Virgin

Today was another day of rush, rush, rush!  This morning I actually turned off my alarm and fell asleep – I was super lucky to wake up in time to only be a few minutes late.  Actually, I was dreaming about being late to work while I overslept!

I didn’t have time to pack breakfast at home, but thankfully I bought this Kashi Go Lean Bar to eat on the train.

It was another crazy day at school, because I had a coverage 1st period.  My school doesn’t hire subs, so when people are absent (which is all the time because my school sucks) we get assigned teaching periods on our preps.

For lunch I packed an encore of yesterday’s lunch.

A baggie of green grapes,

and a Smart Ones frozen meal.

Unfortunately, this meal was disgusting!  Note to self: never buy this flavor again!  I took half a bite before I threw it in the trash.  Luckily there was leftover food from a function last night in the library so I ate 5 (unphotographed) bites of macaroni to fill my stomach.

After school I stayed to work with some students and set up my room.  Then I spent an hour calling parents.  When I finally got home I had to rush to get dressed and rush to get back out to Crunch.  Thankfully I made it on time for my 60minute Virgin Yoga class.  Loved it!  I counted that towards my arms reps for the day.

Amid my rushing, I did manage to get the mail on my first trip home and I discovered the Quaker True Delights bar sample I requested had arrived.

I ate it on the way to the gym.

I stopped at the store on the way home to buy veggies for dinnerbrinner.  Scrambled eggs with brocolli and cauliflower (I ate some extra veggies on the side too),

an everything bagel with spinach artichoke cream cheese,

and a glass of Nonfat Plain Kefir, liberally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

All together.

It was a tasty meal, but unlike last night’s too little hunger, tonight I had too much!  I was feeling unsatisfied so I ate the last of my Target nonfat Greek yogurts.

HoneyAlmond topped with a handful of banana chips.

Crunch!

I actually have grading to do still so I’ve got to rush off to get it done!  I’m looking forward to tomorrow in a big way – other than staying at school to work on a project, my only to do is reading the book I’m starting in class next week.  Have a great night!

Do you ever eat brinner, or is breakfast only for the mornings?

Mix ‘n Match

Good evening, morning, midnight!  It’s been an exciting day.  Amid the fun I crossed off all but one item (school work, shocking right) on my to-do list.

Post breakfast I finished up my resume, applied to a grad program, recorded my #s/qs for all the other grad programs, and planned our meals for the week.  A was out and about shadowing a local podiatrist so I was all alone to work.

When A got home around 4 it was time for a late lunch.  I bought this Lean Quisine pannini on a whim, but it was pretty tasty.

The plate is just for show because I actually wrapped it in a papertowel so I could eat it on the go as we headed to the grocery store.

On the way there (post-sandwich, pre-shopping) we stopped and used our Starbucks card.

I had a tall, nonfat iced chai latte.  I realize it’s below 40* outside, but I’ve been super parched all day.  Does anyone else find that hot drinks are just not thirst-quenching?

On the way home from the store I attempted to stop into a little store to redeem a coupon for Kefir (never tried it before).  Store #1 had them, but they were months past date – yuck.  I ended up running around to 3 different stores while A went home with the groceries.  All total I scurried an additional 1.6miles before I had success!

Once we were both finally home it was time for dinner.  I am really big on mixing food cultures so we made some Mediterranean Style Huevos Rancheros.  For 2 -

• pour 1T evoo into a hot skillet.  Saute 1/2 a large onion, chopped.
• add 3C raw spinach to the pan
• add 2egg tomatoes, chopped to the pan
• add 1/2C marinated artichoke hearts to the pan
• beat 3 eggsin a separate bowl and add them to the veggies
• once the eggs have mostly set, add 1/2C crumbled blue cheese
• split eggs between 2 WW tortillas
• top each with 1T roasted red pepper and onion relish

Since we were eating brinner, I knew I had to have coffee.

Cappuccino flavored Kefir!

All together now.

I actually didn’t take a single bit of the tortilla and it ended up being a sort of wasteful “plate.”  We ate quickly and hurried out to the movie theatre – to find that both of our movies were sold out   So we bought tickets to the 10:20 shows and ran some more errands before we went home.

When it was finally time to head back to the movies I was a little hungry again so I packed 2clementines (I also bought a large diet coke) as a movie snack.

I also bought a (small, NOT movie sized, YaY) bag of Shockers.

I saw “He’s Just Not That Into You” (sidenote – I HATE chick flicks, I am a total dude about movies, but the acting talent in this looked too appealing) and A saw “Slumdog Millionaire” so I could discuss it with him.  He thought it was great too, two recs, go see it!

It’s 1:30 in the morning so it is definitely time for bed, sweet dreams all!

Sunny Side Up

It was a good start to what I’m sure will be a good day!  We woke up and did some low-key hanging out, watching bad tv, etc.  Around 10 o’clock I realized that

1. I had to leave the house to run errands before we could eat breakfast (pick up my photos, get milk)
2. I would be eating a lot of craptastic food today (you will see in a later post!)

so I decided that a 2mile run on the way to errands was in order.  I did a loop around the Slope that ended at my Kodak store.

It was great!  I will say it again, I love love love to run!  I am super out of shape but I did at least run the entire time.

When I got home it was time for a lovely breakfast.  I made myself a fantastic bowl of savory oats.

I used 1/3C cooked oatmeal.

 Stirred in 3 slices of chopped turkey bacon.

Sprinkled on a bit of extra-sharp cheddar and dried oregano.

And topped it with an egg A cooked for me.

Voila – Sunny Side Up Oats!

I also added about 1/4t of SmartBalance before I stirred it all up.

I know the picture quality isn’t great but the taste was the best!  I dare all my readers to make this for Sunday breakfast!

I have to run to the shower so we can get started on our day.  What is the most fun thing on Your Saturday agenda?

Stir Fried Rice Minus Rice

I’m blaming the fact that my starving streak continued on not eating flax this morning!  However, my “running late train breakfast” was pretty tasty.

I think I’ve finally tried all the Lara flavors now   This was good but not even close to my new favorites (coconut cream and pistachio).  I was a little annoyed, however, that they call it KeyLime Pie when the ingredients include regular lime juice concentrate.  Key lime is key lime, I found it odd that such a whole foods company would feel the need to do that, especially when Lara bars would sell no matter what you called them.

I have a lot of preps on Thursdays (my schedule is a little screwy this year) and I managed to get my room completly set up for the upcoming test, score!  I did get some help from my students during their elective period so that made it less tedious.  I also ran upstairs and took a quick snack break.

I know Bugles are disgusting for you, but who can resist making witch fingers out of them?!?

For actual lunch I packed 2clementines, a Kashi dark chocolate and coconut bar, and a strawberry jam 2% Fage.

I adore my fatfree plain Fage, but these twofer packages are sooooooo good!

I stayed after school and worked with a student, and then I wrote my plans and set up my materials for tomorrow.  Then I called every single parent!  It felt great to actually accomplish things.

Shockingly, I was hungry when I got home; are you noticing a theme?  I had leftover stirfry veggies, but no protein.  Those ingredients/lack of ingredients led me to a delicioso meal – Stir Fried Rice  Minus Rice.

• 1serving – heat 1C precooked veggies (whatever you like) in a small skillet with 1T evoo
• mound the veggies so there’s a hole in the center and crack two eggs into the hole
• allow the eggs to set before stirring in
• plate, and top with a few sprinkles of hot sauce – I used Chipolte Tabasco

Yum!  Look at the fabulous egginess.

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I will be having a snack later, but for now, that’s all folks!  What’s your favorite way to eat your eggs?

Quickie Post

A is giving me death eyes because I’m keeping him up (and I still have to shower!) so this has to be quick!  Once I got rolling I did work all afternoon.  I ate some snacks while I worked.  A serving of Kashi Cheddar Crackers topped with a bit of natural peanut butter; I also ate about 1T of peanut butter straight off of the knife.

And an hour or so later I topped two slices of Arnolds Enriched White Bread with about 1.5T each TJ’s Lite Mexican Cheese and put them in the oven at 450* for 6minutes.

And another hour or so later I made a peppermint sundae!

I used my seasonal peppermint ice-cream and the Rothchild’s dip my mommy sent me in my Advent package!

Around 6 A and I walked to Staples to make some copies and get some supplies.  On the way back we stopped in at Starbucks for a couple hours to do some grading.  We shared a Goat Cheese and Portabello Sandwich while we worked.

My half, next to my h2o with two Emergen-Cs.

And when we finally got home it was time for dinner.  I made a Rachael Ray frittata.  The quck recipe is -

Mix together 15oz part skim ricotta with 7oz farmers cheese.  Mix in 4 beaten eggs and 1t minced garlic.  Add in 1C chopped marinated artichokes and 10oz pressed frozen spinach.  Pour into a greased pie pan and cook at 375* for 45minutes.

Here was my piece.

I worked on posters, and watched House! while I ate.  Now it’s time for shower and bed.  I hope everyone else had a fabulous back-to-work-night!

Feeling Scabbulous

It’s been a relaxed (but over-caffeinated day).  I managed to do not a single piece of school work which means tomorrow will be pretty busy!

A and I woke up and made breakfast together.  We sauteed leftover mushrooms and onion in a little bit of evoo and then beat 2 eggs and 1/4C of skim milk in a separate bowl and cooked them all together.  We had some TJ’s sourdough toast with Smart Balance on the side.  His and hers.

I topped my eggs with a bit of bella gravy.  The coffee has 1/2C of eggnog in it which made me happy.

Then we spent the next hour or so packing up Christmas gifts.  We used green (the color and the earth-concerned) packing peanuts and red stuffing to make them more festive.

The post office in our neighborhood is astonishingly slow so that ate up a good portion of the day.

When we finally did head home we stopped and got pizza on the way home.  I had an eggplant slice with a diet coke.

Look at that yummy eggplant.

I did my pizza crusts in soda, it’s my favorite thing about pizza.  Does anyone else do this?  I also really like pretzels dipped in diet cherry coke.

I ate some TJ’s mangosteen for dessert.

 

I also tried to eat some of this dried pomelo but one bitter bite left me with an awful taste in my mouth for the next hour, boo.

I spent a delightful day relaxing with A and for dinner we ate some “day after Turkey Day” leftovers.  I let A eat the rest of the stuffing, but I supplemented my plate with some sauteed kale.  We cooked it with a little evoo and I topped mine with a sprinkle of maple syrup and red pepper flakes.

My eyes were bigger than my stomach again, and I left about a 1/4 of this on the plate.  The mug is eggnog’n tea with a little splash of real eggnog stirred in.

Moving on to my next warm, caffeinated beverage – we cracked open this coffee from Fresh Market.

I didn’t love the flavor of this, I think our Folgers is better than this, it was a little bitter.  I had a cup while A and I played Scrabble!

I also had a bowl of Smart Balance popcorn during another game.  And I took an unphotographed Huge bite of sunflower butter while I helped A make his game snack.

I was an English major, I have a bigger vocabulary than A, and A is a terrible speller, but he always kicks my ass at this game!  I don’t think I’ve ever beaten him.  We had a lot of fun though, we love board games.  Some of our most fun nights in college (and we did got to Sunshine U so there were a lot of fun nights!) were spent playing board games with our roomates.  What dorky trend are you rocking?