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Nectarine and Date Salad with Feta

Hello! I hope everyone’s week is going well! Today, I’m sharing a recipe with you all which basically what I’ve been having for lunch every day at work, so stick around until the end of the post!

I started work at 7am today, so a quick breakfast was in order. Cherries+polenta+Luna bar. I probably eat too many bars, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I currently have a healthy alternative baking in the oven which is a total experiment so we’ll see how that turns out!

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I didn’t get to have lunch until 1:30, so I was pretty ravenous and tired by then! Lunch was a salad with dates, nectarines, chicken, and feta (recipe at the bottom).

Plus Mary’s crackers.

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I’m trying not to get froyo at work more than once a week, but since I was so hungry, I had a small cup with blueberries.

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After working the rest of the afternoon, I had a quick snack before Crossfit. A random bar I found that didn’t haven anything I’m allergic to (i.e. nuts-which nearly every bar has), a banana, and a couple of pieces of these freeze dried apple/raspberry balls.

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Crossfit was good, but my hip has been bothering me lately when I squat for some reason, so I’m trying to be gentle to it. I worked on power snatches (not landing in a full squat), and did very shallow overhead squats in the WOD which was 12 minutes of overhead squats, push press, and push ups on the minute with an increasing rep scheme. Not a crazy intense one, but I got a good shoulder burn!

Dinner was a few Cooking Light recipes from the Cooking Light app. The app is so convenient-they even make meal pairings with main dishes and sides, and it’s easy to scroll through different recipes based on their principle component (like poultry). Today, we had BBQ chicken which I ate over a piece of gluten free bread, coleslaw, and mashed sweet potatoes with sage and browned butter.

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For a little something sweet after dinner, I had a little sunflower seed butter and raspberry jam on gluten free bread.

Now-recipe time!

Date Nectarine Salad

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Ingredients:

For the salad:

8-10 oz grilled chicken breast, chopped

1/2 c feta

2-3 nectarines, chopped

about 15 pitted dates, chopped

3 large handfuls of lettuce

For the dressing (adapted from Cooking Light)
3 T white wine vinegar
2 T olive oil
1 T minced shallots
1 T fresh chopped parsley
1 t Dijon mustard
1/8 t salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 garlic clove, crushed

Mix up the dressing, and then toss it all together!

Serves 3

 

 

My Life: Puppies, Vet, Food

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What has been going on lately leaving me such little time to post? This one is part of it! She’s quite the handful. Fortunately, I think we’re starting to get through the worst of the biting phase, but it’s still a work in progress. She started puppy school a couple of weeks ago, and already knows come, sit, down, and shake. She’s a bit headstrong though, and still somewhat easily distracted. She listens to every word we say, and cocks her head to the side when she doesn’t know what we’re saying or if she hears a new noise. She puts her tongue and mouth on everything, and anything is fair game to be chewed on. The weird thing is she really likes licking feet and ankles. She’s also started jumping up to put her front paws on all the furniture. It’s only a matter of time before she’s stealing food from counters!

Work at the vet has been going really well, and I really like my job. That said, it’s basically my entire life right now, to the point that I have dreams about it every night.

And finally, food. Because I’m home, food is a lot more interesting! Last Sunday, I went to another Giant’s game with my mom and got cauliflower flatbread.

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And a hot fudge sundae. YUM.

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Oh, and a sunburn. Look at what a beautiful day it was in SF though!

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Other notable and colorful meals?

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A teriyaki bowl with asparagus. Quick and easy.

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An egg white scramble with spinach, nutritional yeast, and lemon thyme salt, plus oatmeal and an amazing nectarine. My friend who lives on an orchard visited me again last weekend!

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My current go-to work lunch. Recipe coming soon!

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Eggs with brown rice/quinoa blend, plus a nectarine for breakfast.

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Cooking Light Asian Lettuce Cups with mint snow peas, plus brown rice/quinoa.

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A post-workout protein smoothie into which I accidentally dumped a third of the container of dark chocolate cocoa powder, hence the intense color. The smoothie was half cocoa powder, and the other half was a frozen banana, soy milk, a pinch of protein powder, and a handful of spinach.

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Froyo at lunch at work. Want to hear something terribly sad? I realized I’m allergic to one of my favorite froyo toppings! Apparently the last ingredient in Heath bars is almonds. On the one hand, this makes me really sad that I won’t be able to enjoy Heath in my froyo any longer, but on the other hand, I’m glad I have an explanation to why I was having a significant mystery allergic reaction. Boo.

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Brown rice+my copycat SweetGreen salad-watermelon and feta!

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A very pale but delicious dinner. Cooking Light’s lemon marinated grilled chicken, rice with feta and spices, and frozen then baked cauliflower with Greek seasoning blend.

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A simple breakfast of eggs, and blueberries/a tiny banana with sun butter.

And finally:

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The Primavera salad from Le Boulanger with no nuts and added chicken!

What’s the best thing you ate last week?

CS

Happy Friday! Who’s ready for the weekend? My night will be spent on schoolwork. Meh. On the plus side, I was reading some of my posts from this time last year and they were so much more sad-my last fall was so much harder!

Anyways, I’ve been working on CS since my last class. Until my next class in a little bit which is CS section. Which is directed followed by CS lecture. After which I’m going to lock myself in a coffeeshop off campus and work on my CS problems.

YAY.

On the fitness front, I went to Crossfit this morning so I wouldn’t waste time this afternoon waiting for it to start and I can get to work sooner. I had plans on running this evening before locking myself in said coffeeshop, but I can. not. walk.

Yesterday I did squats. And while I know it’s a bit early for Halloween, I’m definitely rocking the Frankenstein walk. Yesterday morning’s workout incorporated a new piece of equipment for me-the stair climber. I wanted some low intensity cardio I could zone out for, so I spend 45 minutes on that thing. The good news is that I didn’t fall off…I followed that with 8 minutes of 2 squats every 30 seconds, for a total of 32 squats. I didn’t even go that heavy-last time I used 20 pounds more (and then I REALLY couldn’t walk the next day). But man. Ow.

Foodwise, breakfast has been yogurt bowls.

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And lunches have been packed or bought quickly. The first is a Trader Joe’s salad that I really enjoyed!
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Yesterday before lab I was starving so I ran to a cafe for a quick turkey, cranberry, and brie on whole wheat.

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Lunch today was an old classic from the summer-green bean salad with balsamic vinaigrette, dried cranberries, and sunflower seeds. Plus a little turkey stolen from the dining hall the night before.

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In addition, last night I learned the true meaning of the “death” in the death by chocolate cake at the dining hall. Yeahhh I felt like death! I seriously could not focus on anything, so I went outside and practiced my jump roping. Note to self-next time: LONG SLEEVES! I have some nice little welts on my arms now. Cute.

Ok, now I really need to get back to CS….