Tag: groceries

The vanishing weekend

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Ahhh, it’s tomorrow already?! How did that happen?

Things kept taking longer than I expected all day long, so I didn’t even end up leaving to go to the grocery store until about 6:30. My body’s used to dinner at that time, so I had a few early evening snacks to tide me over until I could really eat.

Two small dates with 1 tsp peanut butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon:

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The last 1/2 cup of the pumpkin-banana yogurt mix I ate at lunch with 2 tbsp golean crunch sprinkled on top (and 2 sprinkled straight into my mouth :-D):

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And a Sunsweet One:

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Good thing I snacked — due to several complications in the self-checkout line at the store (HATE self-checkout), I didn’t get home until 8:30!

Loot includes 3 lbs apples (only $1.99), kale (for the BSI of course), 2 pears, 1 red onion, mushrooms ($.99), asparagus ($1.99/lb), 5 bananas, 3 sweet potatoes, 1 cucumber, whole wheat 8-inch pizza crusts (free thanks to my coupon from the Carrots ‘N’ Cake scavenger hunt prize pack), fat free feta, eggs, tomatoes on the vine, crunchy peanut butter, canned wild salmon :

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Total: $25.62!! Great price, even by my impossibly strict standards.

I set right to work cooking … and cooking … and cooking for the BSI. I nibbled the whole time I cooked, of course, so I wasn’t all that hungry by the time I was done — and it was 11pm by that point anyway. Still, I had no choice but to sample the finished products. Kale-Crust Pizza and Stuffed Kale Leaves:

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They were both MUCH more successful than I had anticipated! I wanted to eat a lot more after these bites, but I restrained myself because I am definitely not hungry and it is l-a-t-e.

For dessert, I broke out the next truffle in line from the BSI: Spinach prize Brandi sent. I present to you the Sassy Mango-Lime dark chocolate truffle:

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Inside:

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Mmmmmm, it was SO good. As a general rule, I love anything that combines fruit and dark chocolate. And the citrusy pep from the lime perfectly complemented the bittersweet richness of the dark chocolate. I actually only ended up eating half because I don’t want my fun with truffles to end! I had the half along with some Italian cookie chunks:

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And conversation hearts:

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OK, I’m off to see how much longer my eyes can stay open. Tonight will be round 2 of eye-masking, and I hope it is just as successful as last night! Tomorrow’s plan is homework, homework, and more homework. You’ll get to hear all about it — how did you ever get so lucky, right? — since I’m sure I’ll be eating the whole time :-D.

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?

Breakfast + breakfast

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I finally got down to business this morning with homework. I still have lots more reading to do, but I finished a paper proposal that I need to turn in tomorrow, yay!  While I worked, I had soymilky chocolate caramel enchantment chai and 1/3 of the seedy bagel I rescued from work last week toasted with a tbsp peanut butter and 1/3 sliced banana:

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With cinnamon sprinkled on top of course:

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After I finished the proposal, I went out for some errands and stumbled into several cheese samples and this bite of cherry pie, mmmmm:

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I didn’t mean to do a big grocery shop and actually went into the store just for one thing, but I found all sorts of sales! Here’s the haul:

img_3428Two boxes golean crunch, unsweetened Silk (free with $8 purchase of the 2 goleans), 2 white grapefruits, pitted dates, morningstar asian veggie patties ($3.50 sale), grapes ($.99/lb!), asparagus ($1.99/lb!), 2 boxes frozen spinach ($.86 each!), yam, green beans, nonfat cottage cheese ($1.99), mints to refill Belkis’ candy jar, sugar-free mints for me (I’m hoping that the chemical sugar-freeness of them will slow me down on the candy consumption!).

Total: $26!!

Once home, I put together a quick lunch (or breakfast part 2) around 2:30. I had done some freezer maintenance earlier this morning and found tons of frozen fresh herbs that we’ve had in there for at least 16 months. So I made an herby scrambled egg with dill, basil, rosemary, and sage; the grape tomatoes I rescued from Hunter last week; and some freshly grated homemade cheddar and ground black pepper:

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I also made butternut squash fries with the remaining 1/4 squash from last night. I tossed the pieces of squash with olive oil, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, coarse sea salt, and fresh ground black pepper and roasted them for 15 minutes at 425:

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I enjoyed my meal with more tea and more “studying”:

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Back to work!

Question: Are your Sundays for productivity or for relaxation??

Sunlight!

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Good morning! I’m in such a good mood — I love my Thursday morning time with daylight :-). I went for a quick little sunrise snow run outside this morning in the 11-degrees-but-feels-like-negative-1 weather (about 2.5 miles) and then came home and did the 20-minute Gentle Hatha #1 from yogadownload.com. Once again, I’m not a yoga person at all, but I really enjoyed this class — such a relaxing and thorough stretch! Total workout stats, including “transition” time:  56 minutes, 281 calories, average heart rate 115, highest heart rate 171.

Breakfast this morning was yet another bowl of crockpot gingerbread spice oats. Only two more servings left after today — sad! With 1/2 cup healthy cream cheese icing, extra powdered ginger, and two cumbled graham sticks:

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Again:

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I could take pictures of oats all day!

I’m currently sipping on some soymilky black tea, and I’ve got class later this morning followed by a group field advisement meeting … but I could actually be home by 3:30 if all goes according to plan! Here’s the lunch I’ll be enjoying during advisement:

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You can probably guess, but just in case you’re stumped, the lunch includes 3/4 cup kale and date curry with 1/4 cup cooked brown basmati rice, an orange, and Greek yogurt with chopped apple, chopped banana, and ginger. I’ve got some work homework to finish up when I get home, and then maybe I can get moving on this week’s BSI (I bought spinach yesterday for $2, bringing the week’s grocery total to $33) because competition is fierce and I want to win those chocolates!