Tag: dinner

Cultured grapes

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Before I ran out for errands this afternoon, I made myself a little snackie of 1/2 cup grapes and a cinnamon and pb-stuffed date:

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It was so yummy, I felt like I was eating a pint of ice cream all by myself … but better :-D. Dates are the ultimate wonder food.

I was on a mission to use coupons that have been taking up space in my wallet for MONTHS, so I set off in hopes that Target would come through for me on these items. I just missed the bus about four times, so I ended up walking the whole mile and a half to get there. And, of course, Target was overflowing with rude people, the check-out line was wrapped around the store three times, and I couldn’t find what I needed anyway. I went down to the Pathmark and had a litte more success (though it was not what I’d call an efficient trip, either!). Here’s what I got:

img_4021Yogurts and milk for yogurt-making, fat free ricotta for fun, 2 red bell peppers (only $1.99/lb!), grapes (only $.98/lb!), sea salt riceworks (free with coupon — I finally found them!), LiveActive chocolate raspberry granola bars ($1 off coupon). Total: $16, bringing the week’s tally up to $36, still $4 under budget, whaaaaaat!

Side note on yogurt-making: Every 3-4 batches, I use a completely fresh starter (aka pre-made yogurts) to make sure all the good bacteria is thriving. I usually like to mix two types of yogurt so I get maximum culture variety. Therefore, the batch that is incubating tonight includes: l. acidophilius, bifidus, l. casei, l. rhamnosus, s. thermophilus, and bifidobacterium lactis.

This is my first time using Rachel’s brand yogurt, so we’ll see how it turns out. It’d better be good because I had to wait 10 minutes for them to price-check it at the store, only to have the clerk refuse to sell it to me since it wasn’t in the system yet and had no assigned price. I begged and pleaded until he let me scan the cup of Stonyfield again instead.

Three hours after I left, I was back home.

For dinner, I had another slice of pumpkin kibbi (I’m telling you, this is SO good!) with steamed asparagus spears:

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I love asparagus plain, but I sprinkled it with a bit of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for visual variety.

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Dessert was a treat. I’m generally a plain yogurt kind of girl, but when I buy the little cups to make yogurt like I did today, I often get them in fancy flavors for fun since I only need half (or less) of each cup to use as the starter.  For my dessert, I mixed together the remaining chocolate underground yogurt with the remaining mango pineapple passion fruit yogurt, added about 1/4 cup fat free ricotta, and sprinkled the top with shredded coconut and leftover chocolate-covered pretzel from my blogger secret cupid package.

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And I surrounded the whole thing with grapes and chopped strawberries for dunking:

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I don’t have to work tomorrow, so I’m going to do something completely wild and leave the apartment after 9pm (to walk three blocks and watch TV with Ting and her friend, haha). Have a good night, and good luck tomorrow if you’re going back to your regular routine!

Chocolate everywhere

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This afternoon, I received the package from my Secret Blogger Cupid … and fellow New Yorker apparently! Nicole from Another One Bites the Crust sent these fun goodies:

GIANT Lindt milk chocolate hazelnut bar, conversation hearts, and chocolate-covered pretzel

GIANT Lindt milk chocolate hazelnut bar, conversation hearts, and chocolate-covered pretzel

I’m most excited about this:

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Some broke off during the photo shoot (whoops), so I had to eat it:

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I’ve done ok on my to-do list today but not as well as I’d hoped! Where does the time go?

1. run/yoga

2. CVS/library/grocery store

3. work homework

4. grad school homework

5. hair dye

6. BSI

7. contribution to work Valentine’s lunch

8. sorting student loan confusion

While out erranding, I got some unexpected groceries! After sampling a mozzarella ball and marinated mushrooms at the gourmet market, I went to the cheap grocery store and CVS for the following:

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2 library books, tp, 3 boxes of hair dye (on sale for $2.50 each!), pumpkin, vanilla, sunsweet ones (.75 off coupon), strawberries, molasses (because I used up roommate's last week!), oranges (for BSI), bear naked vanilla almond granola ($1.50 off coupon)

Total: $35. Food total only: $20!

While I worked on my BSI (keep reading for recipe), I did a bit of snacking. The hazelnut bar came at just the right time :-).

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(Ummm, I had quite a bit more than pictured, but I quickly broke it up into small pieces and put it in the freezer before too much damage was done!)

Also, had to “clean up” after myself while cooking and scrape all bowls (with my tongue):

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Dinner needed to be (somewhat) light. I had  steamed asparagus with a bit of grated homemade cheddar:

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Along with 1/3 of a wheat bagel and 1/3 of a nut and seed bagel with 1 tbsp peanut butter, a chopped date, and cinnamon:

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For dessert, I had the mini-version of my BSI submission (which also happens to be my contribution for the work Valentine’s lunch tomorrow and my entry for the Quaker True Delights recipe contest): Orange-Cranberry Dark Chocolate Heart Tart:

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Holy yum!! That’s right, VeggieGirl, I said it :-).

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And now back to the battle for a timely bedtime! Am I the only one who feels like every night is a race against the clock?

Bed without dinner

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That’s right — I’ve sent myself to bed without dinner! And I’ll show you why …

I was hungry hungry the second I got to work today. I ate grapes and drank sugar cookie sleigh ride tea before the meeting at 9:30:

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Mid-meeting, I couldn’t hold out any longer and had to break open the yogurt. Today’s combo included 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/3 chopped banana, 1/2 chopped apple, 1 tbsp raisins!, 2 tbsp pumpkin!, cinnamon, ginger, and 1 tbsp Kashi Golean Crunch!:

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I wasn’t even hungry again yet, really. But I needed something to wake me up! It was sooooo hot in that room.

Post-meeting, I caved to a candy craving:

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And another one:

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And then these chewy strawberry fangs attacked my phone and I had to act fast to carry out a successful rescue:

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Plus, I ate a few regular mints and a few more sugar-free mints. Ahhh, this candy habit is becoming troublesome!! I probably could have halted the trainwreck had I known what was coming later in the day …

But before sugargate #2, I had lunch. A mix of Belkis’ habichuelas, Inginia’s gandules, and Vianni’s vegetable rice:

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The last 1/3 cup of my kale and date curry:

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And many tastes! A bite of lentils with turkey (this was AMAAAAAAZING, bursting with flavor) that Belkis’ cousin made:

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A tortilla chip from Wendy and a bite of spaghetti with meat sauce from Jessica:

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And a chicken and cheese taco that Deborah’s mom made, mmmmmm!

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I had an apple with some work pb (Jiffy) around 2:

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And green beans before meeting #2 at 3:15:

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And then, T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Delicious trouble, but trouble nonetheless. If you’re sensitive to photographs of ridiculous dessert, you should probably run away from the computer very fast.

In honor of a coworker’s 10th anniversary with the agency, a surprise celebration was planned to take place during the meeting. Involving this:

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Again:

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That is MOCHA frosting, in case you’re not an expert on this sort of thing.

Sadly, Rosalie wasn’t able to come in today, so we had to have the celebration without her!! We saved her some of this amazing cake, and I documented everything with the camera of course. I love this picture because you can literally see the cake vanishing into thin air:

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I had TWO enormous pieces (I’m really not exaggerating), plus lots of frosting
that I scraped off the cardboard. I couldn’t stop. Everything about this cake was amazing. Even though it was from a bakery, it still tasted homemade. And the coffee flavor kept it from being so overbearingly sweet. And the texture, ahh!! Perfectly moist. It all went something like this:

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So, for this reason, I am in bed without dinner!! One of my friends from home has been reading the blog and emailed me today to say, “You must weigh about 10 pounds! I have been following your blog, you are crazy healthy!” Kerri, this is why I do not weigh 10 pounds! (and thank goodness for that :-))

I came home and ate a very very quick palate cleanser to remind myself how wonderful healthy tastes (although that cake was so goooooooooooooooood). Two spoonfuls of pumpkin, two spoonfuls of yogurt, cinnamon, and grapes:

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I felt very wholesome after that.

And then I spent a few minutes playing with a special treat that arrived today:

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Yes, MY PRIZE from being one of the lucky winners of Tina’s Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt! Look at all of the goodies Tina sent:

z-bar, pria bar, trio bar, adora calcium disks (!!), $5 off Boboli coupon, Tazo teabags, Burt's Bees lip treatments, chocolates, AND candy bracelets!!

z-bar, pria bar, trio bar, adora calcium disks (!!), $5 off Boboli coupon, Tazo teabags, Burt's Bees lip treatments, chocolates, AND candy bracelets!!

THANKS, TINA!!! This is such a variety-filled, fun package. I can’t wait to play more with all of my new treats :-).

AND, I have the day off tomorrow!!! I’m feeling so relaxed right now. My goal is 12 hours of sleep tonight. Do you think it is possible?

I’ll have to resume productivity mode as soon as I get up, but it’s nice to have a few unrushed minutes right now. Tomorrow’s agenda includes: a sweaty run (because did you see all the cake I ate?), errands to CVS and the library, preparing my contribution to our work Valentine’s lunch on Friday, figuring out what to make for this week’s BSI, work homework, grad school homework, hair dye, sorting out student loan confusion, and more! Are there even enough hours in the day?

P.S. Go visit Meghann to participate in her brilliant Gracie’s Gear giveaway!

Fiberific

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The bean theme continued today. Who knew it was possible to have so many beans so many different ways … all in one day?

Before the fountain of frijoles started up, however, I had my usual mid-morning snack at 10:30. I think the sugar cookie sleigh ride tea may have been flirting with my yogurt:

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The yogurt included 1/2 cup yogurt (obv), 1/2 chopped apple, 1/3 chopped banana, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and 1 tbsp kashi golean crunch. Always the highlight of my morning :-).

The bean-fest began at lunchtime. Apparently, I’ve been bean-collecting lately without even realizing it! Here’s how it started:

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I brought the green beans (for yesterday actually, but I didn’t get to them then). Vianni made the rice and beans top center, and I mixed in a bit of brown basmati that I brought from home today (I was thinking ahead this morning, clearly!:

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The beans on the left are the beans I froze a few weeks ago when my coworker Belkis made them for me:

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This is half of the portion I brought in yesterday for lunch (which I never ate). The other half is planned for tomorrow, along with the other half of the beans on the right, left over from the parents’ group with Inginia yesterday:

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The item at the bottom of the plate put a temporary halt to the bean theme. Along with her beans, Vianni also brought me this deliciously seasoned meat:

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Next up, I had one bite each of Myrna’s spaghetti and yucca:

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And a rib that Deborah’s mom made:

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A bit of sancocho that Mildred’s mom made (see the plantain and pumpkin pieces?!) and a bit of Inginia’s cabbage soup:

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Plus some of Nitza’s chunky sabra hummus on pieces of the amazing Eli’s health loaf (and on a piece of lettuce):

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Bean tally so far: (1) string beans, (2) Vianni’s red beans, (3) Belkis’ habichuelas, (4) Inginia’s gandules, (5) Nitza’s hummus (aka garbanzos).

Candy today was a slight improvement from yesterday. I still had 4 of my sugar-free mints, but I didn’t go as wild on the real candy jar. I had one mini chocolate lollipop, a mini tootsie roll, and a giant strawberry blowpop:

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And an orange for my 4pm snack:

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The beans came back en force for my dinner:

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One piece of pumpkin kibbi (garbanzos again):

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1/4 cup Belkis’ beans:

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And 1/2 cup kale & date curry (lentils):

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Phew, I think that just about covers it! Belkis’ beans were a repeat, so I consumed a total of seven different types of bean dishes today. How is that even possible?

I am home a bit earlier than expected because Gina had to reschedule the movie we were planning to see tonight, but I am thrilled about it :-). I think I will get to bed on time. Wild. Do you have a bedtime?

Don’t forget to check in with Mara at What’s for Dinner? for more info on this week’s Blogger Secret Ingredient (BSI) contest featuring oranges!

Jelly belly

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In other words, get ready for lots of candy and lots of beans. I can’t believe the day is finally done! Now I get to wake up tomorrow morning and do it all again. Except I’ll be replacing the class portion of the evening with a movie, haha. Not SO incredibly draining :-).

Mid-morning snack happened at 10:30 with my sugar cookie sleigh ride tea and some yogurt:

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This was 1/2 cup plain yogurt with 1/3 banana, 1/2 chopped apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and 1 tbsp kashi golean crunch on top:

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I put the Kashi on when I packed the lunch last night because I love how the soggy/chewy texture it gets from sitting in yogurt. Almost like oatmeal, which we all know is a major addiction of mine.

Kind of like candy. I bought myself these sugar-free mints hoping they would slow me down on the candy front because I’d actually rather eat real sugar than fake sugar. But it did not work because I had four of these today:

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Which would not have been so bad had I not also discovered this candy tin in the 2nd floor kitchen at work during the parents’ group:

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I think I ate about four candies from that? Ohhh, right, and two giant lollipops, once of which was another candy chicken:

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I really love these chickens, though. It gets spicer as you go because of all the chili powder inside. I tried to capture the texture in that second picture. Can you tell? It makes me want to try grilling peaches with cayenne pepper or something. And, um, I’m pretty sure I also ate another chewy strawberry fang. So the sugar-free mints were not effective. They were a complete failure.

Someone brought these mini pumpkin muffins in from Whole Foods. I was tempted, but the first ingredient was sugar. In a pumpkin muffin? Come on, WF! And, errr, since we all know how opposed to sugar I am, I did not eat any of these.

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Except that there were crumbs left in the muffin cups when the muffins were gone:

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And since I have this compulsion about not letting anything go to waste and all …

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Yeah, I might as well have just eaten a muffin. I know.

Then it was time for the parents’ group. I had packed a lunch (of course) since you never know, but I’ll just save it for later in the week (there’s a rumor afoot that Vianni’s bringing me more food tomorrow). But anyway, Inginia made the lunch for the parents’ group. I had about 1/3 of this bowl of the crispy rice from the side of the pot. Yes, it was white rice, but do you see how perfectly crispy it is???

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I had two bowls like this for lunch:

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I made a soup salad combo, so one side was for these amazing beans cooked in pork broth:

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The other side was veggie soup (with the best shiitake mushrooms in it!):

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I followed the bowls with another cup of steaming hot beans, mmmmm:

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And (maybe 5 cheez-its and) a graham cracker:

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My 4:30 pm snack was this orange:

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And samples of manchego cheese and hot chocolate at 5:45 while on the way to class:

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At about 6:45, I broke into my dinner: 1/2 cup of kale & date curry (still delicious!) and 1/2 piece of the pumpkin kibbi I made last night (both recipes are on the sidebar):

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My last bite of the night came in the form of this apple around 7:15:

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I left class at 8, got home at 9, blogged till 9:30, and now it is bedtime. I’m tired. Are you tired?