Tag: dessert

Bien grande

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That title applies to my lunch …

And subsequently to my stomach.

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When Mildred and I left the site visit this morning, it was just about time for lunch. Her husband works in the neighborhood where we were, so he came and joined us for an impromptu Mexican feast. I was actually just going to eat the lunch I had packed while they ordered their meals, but Mildred insisted that I “let” her treat me … so I did. I’m nothing if not compliant ;-). I ate loads of those chips above — they were still hot! — and most of the guacamole and salsa.

I ordered the most beautiful chicken quesadilla:

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(By the way, this was a real Mexican restaurant with no sort of fancy whole wheat, fat-free/soy cheese, yogurt-instead-of-sour-cream options. Sometimes, you just need to roll with it!)

I ate the whooooooole thing. Riccardo got another dish of guac, and I used that to smother the quesadilla post-picture, too 😀

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Plus tostones (x3!):

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And some of Riccardo’s fish (x2!) and all of the onions and peppers that came with it (unpictured):

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On our way out, I grabbed this candy to eat because it was pretty:

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Phew, I was F-U-L-L. No need for dinner tonight. Thank you, Mildred, for supporting me through two whole meals!! The lunch I had packed is resting securely in the fridge at work to await Friday’s lunch (no work tomorrow because I have class).

Back at the office, however, I did still go a little sugar-wild with a strawberry lollipop:

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And a baby Heath bar bite:

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And approximately four unpictured mints. And the two dates and two prunes extracted from my packed lunch:

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I’m home now and snuggled in my pjs with a mug of sugar cookie sleigh ride tea and an evening palate cleanser of 1/3 cup yogurt mixed with about 2 tbsp of my morning pumpkin gingerbread crockpot oats:

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What size is your belly today, and why?

(Pssssssst, have you seen the new developments at Healthing It? Go check now because there may me something (i.e. something free!) in it for you …)



Patty-cake

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But not the kind of cakes I usually fall prey to at work, thank goodness!

Mid-morning snack was more “yogurt of the week,” aka fresh pumpkin yogurt with every fruit/spice under the sun and golean crunch:

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Really one of the most delicious combos in the world. Anything with yogurt and golean crunch (especially when it’s had the chance to get soggy) takes the cake, HA.

And then came the real cakes! Three (yes, three — need to get my apple in somehow!) Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Black Bean-Salmon Patties:

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Lunch was super short on fresh produce since I have none in the house (since I basically decided I didn’t need to grocery shop over the weekend and did not adequately think through the week!), but my coworkers helped me out as usual. In addition to my wrinkly roommate grape tomatoes, I also ate the tomato slice from Myrna’s sandiwich and some of Belkis’ steamed veggies:

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Dessert was a special treat from the tissue box! A dark chocolate caramel Ghirardelli Square from Rosalie:

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And then, throughout the afternoon, I stumbled upon dessert numbers 2 through 5 because Belkis refilled her candy jar and I took a candy with me for moral support each time I needed to leave my desk and/or brave the artic chill outside:

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(Don’t be fooled by the mini-pictures. Those are some sizable candies!)

Mid-afternoon snack was another desperate attempt for produce/protein. I had 3 Kavli crispy thin crackers (in pieces) with a combo of pumpkin, roasted red pepper hummus, and peanut butter that I whipped together from the ends of containers last night (there are about 2 tbsp in that little cup):

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And a later mid-afternoon snack (or another throughout-the-day snack, as it turned out) of toasted pumpkin seeds, two dates, and two prunes

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Which I followed with a little spoonful (maybe 1/2 tbsp) of office peanut butter (aka crunchy skippy):

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I don’t know what the deal was today — I was so munchy! My lunch didn’t do its job, and I don’t have all the produce on hand for snacking like I usually do. What was I thinking?? I don’t have time to go to the store, so I’ll have to scrounge around for something extra tonight.

My final snack of the work day was this 100 calorie candy pack that’s also been hiding in my tissue box:

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I was excited about this pack because Oreos (or any cream-filled sandwich cookie, really) are my favorite type of cookie. But while these candies were filled with that unique chocolate-cookie crunch, the most critical component of the cookie was missing: the cream!! Serious oversight on the part of the 100 calorie people. If that chocolate coating is supposed to stand in for the cream, it does a poor, poor job of it. An Oreo is not an Oreo without the cream.

When I got home, I started rummaging through all my emergency “shelf-stable” food to see what I could rustle up as a lunch supplement for the rest of the week. I’m excited about what I made … but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the debut ;-).

Dinner was the last of my asparagus, steamed, with a piece of baked sweet potato and a toasted morningstar farms Asian veggie pattie (and a sprinkle of my homemade parmesan of course):

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Mmmmm, love those patties!

Dessert was a return of my favorite combo: 2/3 cup golean crunch (the rest of the box) mixed with 1/2 cup of yogurt. I let it sit and “marinate” while I cooked the lunch food and dinner, so it was perfectly tender when I finally got around to it:

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Ahhhhhh, so good! I could eat Kashi GoLean Crunch for every meal and still be such a happy camper.

Is there a food that you can imagine eating at every meal without getting bored?

No rest for the snowy

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Just as I predicted this morning, today was business as usual (40 minute subway delay aside, grrrrr). By the time I got to work, I didn’t even have time for my usual snack before running out for my first visit at 10:45! I dove into lunch when I got back around 12:30.

The other half of yesterday’s quesadilla, deconstructed :-):

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And a cup of fresh pumpkin yogurt (also with apples, banana, dates, prunes, golean crunch, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, cloves — I clearly went a little ingredient-happy, but it was delicious!):

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The end of my baby carrots (still left from last week’s work meeting) and a tbsp peanut butter:

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Lunch dessert was one prune and one date (saved the others for dinner):

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And a big strawberry lollipop to power me through the freezing, windy 20-minute snow- and slush- walk to my afternoon visit:

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Sadly, the mom was not home. All that sloshy walking for nothing! Except the exercise, I suppose. Maybe it balanced out the lollipop?

I was legitimately hungry from all the “exertion,” so I had this bar around 3:30:

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Again, it was tasty … but too processed for me to want to go out and buy it for real.

At about this point, I realized I had not planned so well for the day. I think I was kind of expecting something to get cancelled along the way (don’t know why since nothing ever does around here), but no go! The only thing that got cancelled was the Monday parents’ group with Inginia, during which I usually partake in one of Inginia’s scrumptious group lunches! With no group and my evening class still on at Hunter, I was definitely short a meal.

I contemplated my food planning failure while chewing on this fruity tootsie:

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I came to the conclusion that there was no way around having to spend some money, which I figure is ok since I only spent $5 on groceries this week anyway (a gallon of milk for yogurt and a can of black beans for the BSI) — though I might need to tend to that now that I see how low on food I really am!

Anyway, here’s the dinner I managed to put together for class:

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I paid $4 for that baby cup of white bean, broccoli, and sun-dried tomato soup from Hale & Hearty:

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Plus my weekly manchego cheese samples from Butterfield Market:

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An apple from home (my last one — what will I do tomorrow??):

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My other prune and date and two Tate’s Bake Shop chocolate chip cookie pieces (also samples from the market!):

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And somehow, Emily couldn’t finish the oatmeal raisin cookie that she brought to class as her dinner, so she let me do the honors.

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Thanks, Emily!

And that’s that! I did a bit more nibbling tonight as I prepped tomorrow’s lunch (think big spoonfuls of pumpkin yogurt and golean crunch falling into my mouth by accident …) which I hope gets me through the day without necessitating any more extra expenditures!

Here are some things that are more noteworthy than my evening nibbles:

1. Spiceaholic at One Bite at a Time is hosting this week’s BSI. Make sure to visit her so you can find out the new secret ingredient! And congrats to Becca for winning last week’s contest with her Black Bean & Avocado Cornmeal Muffins!

2. Comment for a cause! All you have to do to contribute to this food drive is leave a comment for the very generous athlEAT here.

3. Finally, go win some more bars with Strawberry Shortstuff. She has tons to give away!!

Do you ever get tired of free stuff? I do NOT! 😀

The big cheese

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Wellllll … I did not so much work on the group presentation today. As usual, I took a quick break from homework to do one thing in the kitchen, and now it is three hours later. While preparing my yogurt for the week’s lunches, I helped myself to some of the overflow:

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The yogurt has fresh pumpkin, dates, prunes, banana, apple, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, whole cloves, almond extract, and golean crunch mixed in. And pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top, of course.

Quesadillas were in order for dinner. I made my tortillas the same way I made whole wheat wraps here, but I used half whole wheat flour and half blue cornmeal. (I love this blue cornmeal that I have because it is very coarsely ground and adds texture and crunch to everything. It’s especially amazing for coating chicken or fish before browning in a pan, mmmmmm.)

Anyway, once the tortillas were done, I layered on the filling:

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  • last 1/4 cup salmon
  • last 1/4 cup black beans
  • salvaged rotten roommate scallions and grape tomatoes, sauteed in canola
  • last 2 oz. fat free feta

The other tortilla went on as a lid, and everything went into the oven for a melting session.

Meanwhile, I decided it was time to disrobe my parmesan cheese!! I have a small dairy-making hobby with weekly yogurt (which you know already), occasional cottage cheese and ricotta, and even more occasional hard cheese. Yesterday, I finally finished the round of blue cheese cheddar that I made in the fall. I call it blue cheese because it tasted sort of like blue cheese and had a penchant for turning blue from mold. Nothing a damp paper towel can’t fix, though. Before and after:

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Making your own cheese will do wonders for your mold tolerance.

Anyway, the blue cheese/cheddar was a thing of the past, so it was time to move onto bigger and better things with my parmesan! This parmesan has been aging in my fridge for nine months. That’s right — it takes at least as long to make parmesan as it does a baby! When I made the cheese last summer, I remember thinking that it would never be ready, but the day has finally come! Here it is pre-wax removal and post wax-removal:

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Of course, I had to taste a hunk right away:

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Success!! It’s salty like the Dead Sea, probably from all the brining it had to survive, but quite tasty. And very hard and crumbly, mmmm, perfect for grating. So that’s exactly what I did! It went on top of my quesadilla, along with salsa left over from a work meeting last week, steamed asparagus, and freshly ground black pepper.

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(Btw, that’s 1/2 the quesadilla. The other half is planned for tomorrow, depending on what kind of food I come across throughout the day.)

Inside:

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Mid-demolition:

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Dessert was more homemade fro-yo — I’m hooked! This mix contained scrapings from the batch of pumpkin gingerbread crockpot oats I made today, plain yogurt, and a tsp of peanut butter. Mmmmmmm! Again, I topped it with light whipped cream, toasted pumpkin seeds, sprinkles for flair, and a baby raisin walnut toast:

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And then, because I needed some extra love to pump myself up for the week, a chocolate heart:

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I’m in bed now with a mug of sugar cookie sleigh ride tea and a book, and I am pretty sure that sugar plums will start dancing through the room any second …

What’s your hobby? And is it food-related?

You need a microwave for that?

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Happy March! In honor of the new month, I’ve been marching right through my to-do list all day :-D. Laundry’s done, one assignment is done, another assignment is part-done, and I’m thinking about starting work on my group presentation any second now …

For breakfast today, I finally experienced the delicacy that is the Fitnessista Breakfast Cookie. Look how huge it is!

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Following Gina’s instructions, I prepped the cookie last night, making several adjustments because I don’t have protein powder. My b-fast cookie included:

  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 large ripe banana, mashed
  • 1/4 cup fresh pumpkin puree
  • 2 chopped dates
  • 1 chopped Hershey’s Kiss
  • 1 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
  • 1 tbsp toasted spicy/salty/sweet pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened soymilk

I spread the whole thing on a plate in cookie shape and left it in the fridge overnight. It was still somewhat goopy this morning, so I put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes to firm up as I’ve seen other bloggers do. (I thought later that powdered milk would have been good to replace the protein powder. I might try that next time to see if it removes the need for freezing.)

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When I finally got to sink my teeth in … YUM!! I ate it with a spoon from the inside out since the inside was less firm and melting faster — and I always like the edges of “baked goods” the best anyway:

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I expected the cookie to take all of 30 seconds to eat, but it took much longer! It was firm and chewy (not to mention the frozen spots that tasted like ice cream), and I really loved the addition of pumpkin seeds because they kept my teeth so busy and added extra crunch. I was also worried that I would miss my hot oatmeal, but I kept the longing at bay with a cup of hot soymilky black tea:

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I had expected to get hungry for a snack before lunch since I usually bulk up my oatmeal with yogurt, but there was no need! The cookie held me over for a solid four hours.

I kept my lunch main course light because I had big plans for lunch dessert! I mixed together a quick salmon and black bean salad with leftovers from making yesterday’s BSI Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Black Bean-Salmon Patties.

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The salad had:

  • salvaged ends of rotton roommate lettuce
  • 1/4 cup canned salmon
  • 1/4 cup black beans
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 2 tbsp salsa
  • 4 shredded baby carrots
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • paprika
  • 1 oz fat free feta, 1 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds, and freshly ground black pepper all sprinkled on top

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This salad was actually so delicious that I kept refilling it with more lettuce because I didn’t want it to end!

img_4896For dessert, I had this little single-serving bag of Kettle Corn that I picked up from work. I hadn’t had kettle corn in ages, but I remember loving it!

Which brings us to the title of the post. This is microwave popcorn, and I forgot that I do not have a microwave! Whoops.

So, first I tried setting up the popcorn bag in my makeshift double boiler.

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Once the cover was on, I waited. And waited. And waited. When there was still nothing after 30 minutes, I threw caution to the wind, tore open the bag, and dumped its contents straight into the pot:

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Sweet sounds of popping began within mere minutes of the cover going on :-).

Meanwhile, there was melted kettle corn butter all over the empty bag that I definitely did not lick.

Fully popped:

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Mmmmm, it was better than I remembered!! Of course, I sprinkled cinnamon on top, too.

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In other news, it’s snowing again???? Give me a break!

Some things to do:

1. Submit your best recipes for inclusion in the Foods That Fit Blogger Cookbook ASAP.

2. Go win some yogurt and yogurt accessories from Yogurt and Berries!

How dependent are YOU on the microwave?