Matched!

Hey all,

Guess what?! I matched! I will be heading to the Terry Children's Center in New Castle, DE next year for my pre-doctoral internship. It's APA approved, will allow me to do rotations in residential, day treatment, inpatient, assessment, and a juvenile detention center, AND IT'S CLOSE TO HOME. Get ready for me east coast, I'm comin' home.  It was one of the best days I've had so far. I can officially say that I'm one step closer to becoming a licensed psychologist.  I'm so grateful, and had such a great time celebrating with friends that weekend. I can't wait to start a whole new food adventure in the Philly area.

However, now that I matched, my motivation to finish this semester slash write my dissertation proposal is non-existent. Oh well! I'll do what I can. The next few months are going to be action-packed, full of wedding events, graduation, and vacation!!! In order to deal with the (happy) stress of all this excitement, I've been cooking up a storm! Here are some of the recipes we had from last week.

West African peanut soup! My aunt actually texted me the link for this recipe a couple weeks ago, and it is so tasty. We didn't even add any rice or meat, but it was super filling. Here is the link: http://cookieandkate.com/2013/west-african-peanut-soup/

Flax and blueberry vanilla overnight oats. CAN WE SAY TEXTURE? Holy moly. These were thick and delicious. Steve and I had them twice during the week. They are a little heavy, but if you need a more filling breakfast to get you through to lunch, these are great. Plus you make them the night before, and can take them on the go. I added blueberries, pecans, and honey to mine. Here is the link: http://pinchofyum.com/flax-blueberry-vanilla-overnight-oats

Home-made ramen. YUM. A much healthier version of ramen, with carrots, mushrooms, and kale. This was relatively quick and easy, a great weeknight meal. Here is the link: http://pinchofyum.com/quick-homemade-ramen

Honey chipotle chicken bowls with lime quinoa. Chock full of flavor and variety. The chicken marinade was super flavorful and I would probably use it again just to spice up regular old chicken. That combined with the avocado, other veggies, and quinoa made this salad super filling. Plus, I'm partial to this blogger because she is so funny and has the best recipes. Here is the recipe: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2014/01/honey-chipotle-chicken-bowls/

These different meals kept my week interesting and tasty. However, doing all this food prep is quite time consuming during busier weeks, so I think this week we will keep it more low key. Now for a workout!

I've been really into treadmill circuit workouts lately, but I threw this one in to tone up my tush for Puerto Rico. You do a variety of moves (step-ups, pliet squats, weighted lunges, deadlifts, squat with side leg lifts, superman, lying hamstring curl, donkey kicks, bridge kicks, and ball planks with leg lifts) for 15 reps, three times through. My butt is still burnin'. Here is the link: http://www.fitsugar.com/photo-gallery/34166328/Ball-Planks-Leg-Lifts

Happy eating :)

Hibernation.

Hey foodies.

Okay, this weather makes me not want to leave the house. I do sometimes (regretfully), but it is a struggle. Thus, I cook. Here is another day of healthy-ish meals, plus an extra dinner, a workout, and some Valentine's Day recipes.

Breakfast: Kale and blueberry smoothie

I apologize for not taking a picture, but when you always wake up 20 minutes before you have to leave, it is difficult to find time for photography in the morning.  This smoothie was so easy to make. I had to get used to the consistency of kale instead of spinach at first, but it adds a decent texture.

Here is the recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2014/01/blueberry-kale-smoothie.html#more

Snacks: Hard-boiled eggs, veggies and hummus, and fruit

I've been trying to do more food prep on Sundays before the week starts, and it makes my life so much easier. Having eggs and fresh veggies ready to go for the week is super convenient and less expensive than grabbing lunch on the go.

Dinner #1: Meatball and tortellini soup

OMG YUM. This is another great weeknight meal that warms the bones when you are hibernating (like myself). It makes a ginormous amount that lasts for many a meal (or only a few when you are living with Steve Donlon). I made it right before we had to rush to a volleyball game, and it was super quick to throw in the pot and reheat when we were ready to eat. I added too much tortellini obviously, due to my pasta addiction. Do they have meetings for that?

Here's the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/meatball-tortellini-soup.html

Dinner #2:  Chicken sausage gyros

I'm absolutely positive I have posted this before, but I just had to again. It's so easy and I want to bathe in this lime cilantro yogurt sauce..I mean..I really like it...Awkward. I also used the leftover pita bread for snacks with hummus this week, and used leftover kale from my smoothies instead of spinach.  Here is the recipe: http://bevcooks.com/2011/10/chicken-sausage-tacos-with-cilantro-yogurt-sauce/

Dessert: Greek yogurt with fixins'

So Steve and I got enough candy for Christmas that we put it in a sack. Yes, a sack. So we call it "sack o' candy." Sack o' candy is not helpful for trying to eat less sugar. At all. Like, counterproductive probably. 

So not that this dessert has NO sugar, but I like to tell myself that it's slightly healthier than sack o' candy. I take one plain greek yogurt and add whatever I have on hand. In this picture, I added some chocolate chips, coconut, and pecans. Delish. 

 

Workout: Cardio

I've been trying to switch up my cardio, and found this 60-minute interval-based workout that goes by quickly and is good for working up a sweat. I found it on Pinterest, but the link doesn't work for some reason so here is the picture.

Valentine's Day!  I know everyone thinks this holiday is super lame, but I just LOVE love. So...sorry I'm not sorry. Here are some recipes that I made for my valentine yesterday:

Red velvet puppy chow (http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2013/01/red-velvet-puppy-chow.html)

Nutella mascarpone french toast (http://www.grilledcheesesocial.com/2011/02/la-la-love-you.html)
     -I used this salted caramel hazelnut spread instead of nutella and it is BOMBBBBBBBBB dot com. I put some in my smoothie this morning. I wouldn't be surprised if I eat the whole jar this weekend oops.

Chocolate pretzels (http://www.crazyaboutmybaybah.com/valentines-day-chocolate-pretzels/)

Heart cake (http://katiebrownhomeworkshop.com/make-my-heart-sing/)

 Other than that, nothing too crazy going on in my life. Just playing the waiting game for next Friday and getting excited to go visit my lover in D.C. next week for a conference. I am feeling very appreciative of this calm before the storm (and after the craziness of January), and am trying to relax as much as possible. This equates to a lot of Ernie snuggling and watching Bates Motel on Netflix. It's pretty bad, but I can't stop.  I hope everyone is staying warm and eating delicious food :)

Happy eating!

Oh wait, you still have a food blog?

Hey there everyone,

Remember that time I had a blog and didn't write in it for four months? I would say this won't happen again, but really who knows.

So last semester was THE WORST and I almost died but not really. I did pass my preliminary exams, which is wonderful because I never want to look at those hundreds of pages ever again. I also submitted internship applications, heard back from places, and went on a month of interviews across the country. So it's been a little busy. Hence the absence.

Traveling was very fun, but I am happy to be back home. To save money, I drove. And I drove. And I drove. I drove from Milwaukee, to Illinois, to Ohio, to New York, to Pennsylvania, to Maryland, and then back to Milwaukee. Plus a few flights thrown in there. I got to stay with amazing hosts, like Kevin and Bri, Casey, Lisa, Katie, and Andrea!! Thanks to everyone for putting up with me, and providing me delicious food and drink.  I was able to meet up with Steve a couple times for adventures in Baltimore and Chicago, and listened to some great books on audiotape. Listening to David Sedaris and Jim Gaffigan I'm sure was more entertaining than reading them. Overall, it a little hectic but flew by. I didn't have any problems with my car or the weather, thank you Jesus, and it is all over. My rank list has been submitted, and my fate is sealed. I find out in two weeks. So basically, it's going to be a really fun, stress-free couple of weeks. Did I mention I should also be working on my dissertation? This year is kicking my arse.

Back to the blog. Driving across the country does not really lend itself to good and healthy eating. It lends itself more to Subway and Chex Mix. I have a serious Chex Mix issue (traditional obviously), and was really proud of myself for only buying it twice. I did get to experience some amazing meals. Here are some highlights:

-Jeni's ice cream in Columbus. This place BLEW MY MIND. I got it twice in two days and took a picture of how many spoons I had from all the samples I asked for. Oops. But with flavors like sweet potato with toasted marshmallow, riesling pear sorbet, and whiskey pecan, how could I not?
-Some Italian place in Little Italy in Cleveland with amazing vodka gnocchi.
-Duck fat fries at Rye in Baltimore. Amazing cocktails, and amazing duck fat.
-Andrea Cividini's amazing crab cakes in Delaware!

However, now that I am back in friggin frigid Milwaukee, it's time to get back on track. So here was breakfast, lunch, and dinner for one day this week.

Breakfast: Grapefruit and hard-boiled eggs.

You know what? I like grapefruit. I didn't know that. Plus I could eat a million hard-boiled eggs, so this breakfast was bomb.  Also coffee. That was key for this first full week back to work.

Lunch: The Big Vegan Bowl.


So this took A LOT OF PREP. With this, one of our dinners this week, and Superbowl party food, I felt like I spent all Sunday in the kitchen. Which is actually my dream come true. But still. I would've liked to watch some more Parks and Rec re-runs. This is pretty healthy and very filling. I seasoned the sweet potatoes with cumin and garlic powder, and threw them with chickpeas, carrots, red cabbage, avocado, and hummus. Here's the recipe: http://ohsheglows.com/2014/01/06/the-big-vegan-bowl/

Dinner: Cheeseburger Casserole

YOU GUYS MAKE THIS RIGHT NOW I DON'T CARE WHAT TIME IT IS. This was seriously so easy and delicious..perfect for those cold weeknights. I want to just eat this everyday for the rest of February. Here's the recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/03/cheeseburger-casserole.html


Superbowl dip!

Chocolate peanut butter dip. YUM. We also ate it with apples, which was also successful. Here's the recipe: http://www.crazyforcrust.com/2012/02/peanut-butter-football-dip/

That's all for now! I'll try to post more frequently now that I'm moved from procrastinating prelims to procrastinating dissertation.

Happy eating!