food

Going Soy and Dairy Free

MaryLeave a comment

For lent this year, in addition to my typical no fried food give up, I decided to do something very good for my diet and give up soy and dairy as well.

My mom said that she’s pretty sure I’ve always been lactose intolerant, I was diagnosed, then un-diagnosed in the fifth grade. However, my body has never really tolerated it that well, and it’s been something I needed to quit for a long time, so God was really the best excuse to finally do it.  In addition to being lactose intolerant, I found out the very hard way that I was soy intolerant, almost worse than my lactose problem. So I decided to give up both.

This has been a lot harder than I thought and I think I’m only about two weeks in, so I thought I would give you some tips.

What to Eat

  • Enjoy Life products are dairy, soy, peanut, and gluten free, along with a host of other allergens. You can also see what places sell what items on their website.
  • Annie’s brand products. Be careful depending on how allergic you are because something in the factory use dairy so just be advised. I’ve found snacks at Target and Giant Eagle.
  • Almonds. For some reason I have had the most luck with almonds. Almond milk, almond the snack food, and they come in different flavors.
  • Subway. While  you have to skip the cheese and flat bread, with a simple Google search you can find a complete list of allergens in each item you might want in your sub.

Cooking Tips

  • The more basic the better.
  • Buy veggies, go with simple things like chicken
  • Make sure everything you’re cooking with doesn’t have soy or dairy, including any oils and cooking sprays.

Anyone else soy and dairy free?

12 Days of Christmas: Day 9- The Best Bits of Christmas

Mary1 Comment

day 9
My computer is currently resting while it waits for a screw so I’m using my iPad. Therefore, today’s post will be kind of short and simple because I hate typing on my iPad. 

  1. Seeing and spending time with  family. This year it is especially important to me because I missed Thanksgiving so I’m really missing everyone. 
  2. Lots of sweets. I like to try all of the cookies and other things that people bring for dessert. 
  3. Everyone is happy on Christmas. Everyone might be cranky leading up to Christmas but I feel like on Christmas everyone is happy. 
  4. Christmas Eve mass is just beautiful and celebratory and I love that it makes me feel festive every year. 
  5. The food. It’s a feast. 
  6. I love all the decorations. It just shows how much people care about the holiday which I think is pretty cool. 
  7. I find that people ar more generous around the holidays and I’m glad that they are helping and caring for more people.  
  8. The youthfulness it brings to people. I love that people have a childlike attitude at Christmas time. It’s like everyone wants to believe in Santa. 
  9. Festive wear. Holiday sweaters, need I say more?
  10. Love. Everyone loves and shows their love at Christmas time. 

What are your favorite parts of the holiday?

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IHOP Cinnamon Sugar Double Dipped French Toast Review

Mary2 Comments

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I had this around when it first came out, and of course I was blown away. However, I could not let my first opinion mislead me, I had to try it twice, and it was just as amazing, if not better than I imagined the second time. The Cinnamon Sugar Double Dipped French Toast has beat out every meal I have ever gotten there.

I have since referred to this as the Holy Grail of French Toast, it has beaten out my classic favorite (Double Chocolate Chip Pancakes) and is my now go to order. I didn’t even look at the menu today, I ordered two of these and some turkey bacon. This has quickly turned into my favorite meal.

It’s the brioche french toast double battered with corn flakes and oatmeal. YUM. It’s sweet, but not too sweet if you know what I mean. It’s the perfect balance.

So if you’re heading to IHOP any time soon, definitely try this, also if you weren’t planning on going soon, do go because it’s great.

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30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 5

Mary5 Comments

blog challenge day 5

I don’t know that I’ve ever expressed this here but I am one of the pickiest eaters I know. There are few foods that I do like and I am currently not eating a lot of them because they are very unhealthy. I don’t know where this problem stems from because both of my parents will basically try anything but I won’t if it looks weird or smells gross. However, I do have some really good favorite foods.

I love french fries. Like I could live off of french fries and be content- fat, but content. They are without a doubt my favorite food. I love curly fries and shoestring but anything more than that is too potatoey and I can’t eat it. I don’t really like potatoes so it’s weird that that’s what my favorite food is made out of.

I also love chocolate which is basically what my diet consists of until I run out. I love any kind that doesn’t have fruit or jelly in it. I will eat it and eat it all. White chocolate is not real chocolate I dare you to argue with me about that. It does not provide any of the health benefits that regular chocolate does.

I really like pesto, basil, and mozzarella sandwiches. A normal person would call this a caprice but I hate tomatoes so therefore that’s not what it is when I eat it. However, cheese doesn’t always agree with me like other dairy products so I usually stay away from it but I still really like it.

I like chicken. This is so plain and bland but I could really eat chicken for every meal. I usually don’t care how it’s cooked, I prefer it grilled well fried but that’s really bad so for my mind I say grilled. I just love chicken. It’s the best meat to eat.

I love cheetos. Like the crunchy ones. They’re the best kind. If you put them in the microwave for five seconds they taste so much better too, I read that in a book and I tried it and it changed my life. They’re the best snack food. Also, the baked ones taste very similar to the regular ones so save half the fat and enjoy all the taste.

What’s your favorite food? I guess you can tell that I’m pretty unhealthy but that’s okay. I like terrible foods but I’m okay with that. I hate mashed potatoes- feel free to comment about that too.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Mary3 Comments

thanksgiving

So yesterday I shared what I was thankful for because today I wanted to share with you my Thanksgiving day. It started at work, which I don’t think I’ll ever do again mostly because it really ruined my mood for the whole day but I tried to get over it to have a good time with my family. After work we went to my Aunt Jen’s house for dinner. Here are just some pictures from there that I thought I would share with you to show you what I see on Thanksgiving. With the exception of the two pictures of me in them with my youngest cousin Chloe.

Minus work I would say I had a great Thanksgiving. It was great seeing my family for the first time since the summer really. I saw my grandparents a few weeks ago and I see my sisters and parents every month but my extended family I hardly see. Chris (my cousin) and Rachael (his now fiance and basically a cousin already) are both in college too so I see them less often the rest of the family or at least it feels like it. It was also the first time I’ve seen them since they’ve been engaged so that’s pretty cool.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! What was the best part? I liked the bread (even though it was a little burnt it’s the best). I know these pictures aren’t super artistic or breathtaking but I just wanted to capture a few memories and moments.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Picky Eater Problems

Mary2 Comments

I don’t know if I ever actually shared this with you guys but I’m an extremely picky eater. This is a serious problem for me all the time, so here’s a list of picky eater problems. Go ahead and make fun of me all you want, but I just don’t like a lot of foods!

  1. Asking restaurant for plain foods and they don’t understand that I want chicken and bread and that’s it. On the other hand at some places when they mess up you get it for free so that’s cool.
  2. It’s hard to eat at a friend’s house and polite. It’s hard to say “oh I don’t like that” usually it ends up “I’m not very hungry”  and it still feels rude.
  3. The comments people make at what you do like or how you eat things like “Don’t you want some ketchup on that?” no, no I don’t want to put some nasty tomato paste on my delicious french fries, no thank you.
  4. The other comments like “Oh my gosh you don’t like mashed potatoes?! That’s so unamerican!” Like sorry I don’t like vomiting and that’s what makes me want to vomit.
  5. Eating out is a pain in general, if you’ve never been there before and don’t know what you like so now you have take forever to find something semi familiar with a few ingredients you like or something close to something you like so you don’t spend $10 on something you hate.
  6. It’s hard to eat at the dining hall because there’s nothing I like because they don’t make anything plain.
  7. Your mom had to plan around dinners so nothing touched so you might have made some of your other siblings picky too (sorry Julia and mom and dad).

Is anyone else a pick eater? My top least favorite foods are mashed potatoes, applesauce, anything with baked fruit in it, smelly foods, and mayo. What are yours? Let me know in the comments.

XOXO,

Mary.

The College Struggle

Mary8 Comments

First and foremost I have some things to touch base with you guys on. If you have any questions leave them for me here also please read that post it’s very important, secondly I have fixed the pictures from the Ball and my walk downtown so if you wanted to see those please recheck them out. Also I would really appreciate it if at least one person asked me a question, like you would be my new favorite if you did.

You guessed it guys, I’m going to do another list. I just wrote a serious post but I don’t feel like doing the research to finish it so that’ll come another day so I have to do something rather quickly to post this and head to bed to rest up for my Arabic test tomorrow, please pray for that to go well, I’m a stressing. Anyway, so lately I’ve been noticing things that only really happen in college which really make it a struggle so here it goes. I’m going to numbers instead of bullet points because I’m feeling fancy today. Ooo switching it up.

The College Struggle

  1. Showers. Showers are a daily struggle, which is awful because I typically love showers, like at home if I have time I could spend like a good half hour in the shower. Anyway, the struggle first and foremost, is that here, if the water gets too hot it will SHUT OFF and you have to wait FIVE whole minutes until it comes back on. I can’t even tell you how many times this has happened to me, I like a hot shower and I get punished for it, not even fair.  Anyway, another horrible part of the shower is the freaking shoes. I hate it so much I feel like my feet never get properly cleaned. Also I get really annoyed when someone is in the shower I like, because I’m very specific and there’s only like two I like really so if they’re both taken you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m not going to be a happy camper.
  2. Exam Weeks. No I’m not talking about final week or even the week of midterms, it seems to me that professors decide to have every major exam during the same week and it drives me insane. Let’s split this up guys, okay?
  3. Dining hall food.Let me tell you this stuff is hit or miss. And being a Catholic on Fridays during lent is actually ridiculous, last week they didn’t even have fish! Tonight I had a good piece of brisket so I though, oh let me get another, and it was awful. Literally hit and miss for one food in the same day. Also the vegetables are covered in salt and butter, that is not how I like my green beans thank you very much.
  4. Time is an odd thing, like I lost all concept of time here. I could be studying and all of the sudden it’s 7 and I missed dinner, I’ve done it and it’s the worst.
  5. Snacks are a struggle. Like at home with my family chances are if I want something we have it, with a few exceptions. Here if I get a sudden craving for something I most likely have to suffer or if it won’t go away I have to take a trip to the store which I don’t like to do that because in case you weren’t aware I don’t like to leave my room.
  6. Leaving my room. Every morning I wake up, and if it’s a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, you can see me supporting my pajamas in the dining hall filling my to-go box with french toast or a bagel, and always, always, always sausage. It’s also a struggle when I try to leave for like dinner and after I’m done for the day because half the time I have stuff to do or I’m too mentally drained to move. However, once I get over myself I typically enjoy myself.
  7. Dorm rooms. Okay I only really have one complaint about mine right now and it’s this freaking broken tile. It is driving me mad and it keeps getting worse, to be honest I just need to go buy some super glue and piece it back together before it’s completely gone. I also really need to clean my room but that’s more of a personal thing.
  8. Taking classes you don’t need. I’m not going to be a translator, why am I taking a language? I’m not going to be a scientist why do I have to take a bio lab? I should only have to take classes that pertain to an idea of what I want to do. I know for a fact that I’m not going the science track so I shouldn’t have to take any of those. I should take classes for things I’m interested in.

Okay so that’s it for now I believe. I might add more. Please ask me questions, please. I don’t want to have nothing to answer tomorrow, because that’s embarrassing. Also go check out those other posts please. That’s it for now. Thanks for reading!

XOXO,

Mary.

Ten Facts.

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Sometimes I get annoyed when I write titles because I feel like they try to dictate my post, so today I’m waiting to write one until I see where this post goes. So I feel like when I first started my blog about seven months ago, I didn’t really know what I was doing so I would just write stuff about myself, or my thoughts, or just random whateverness, mostly like I do now. In that seven months, I feel like a lot has changed but a lot has stayed the same (still don’t know where I’m going with this). You guys have been through a lot of stuff with me. Kinda. You’ve missed a lot of the big stuff that’s happened in my life too, well things that are big now, but with more big things that come with the future, you probably won’t be missing a lot of my life, just  a little less than 18 years. Isn’t that weird to think about? I think what I’m trying to say is that you guys still don’t know much about me. So today I think I’m just going to ten pretty big things that you’ve guys missed in my life and that I’ve neglected to talk to you about.

  • I hate sleeping so much. I know that’s a weird thing for a teenager/ college student to say but I hate it. I just feel like it’s a waste of time. Like yesterday we had a snow day, and I slept in until 11:45, then I couldn’t sleep last night, so currently I’m running on about 3 hours of sleep. I will never let myself sleep in that late again. Plus I keep thinking about all the productive things I could have done during that time, like I lost a good three hours, and then another four trying to fall asleep. If humans didn’t have to sleep I would have been fine because none of those things would have happened. Imagine how much more we could do if we didn’t have to sleep, the world would either be a lot better or a lot worse.
  • When I get excited about something I get all worked up which involves either hyper Mary who is a lot of fun, or angry/happy Mary, and even I don’t know what to make of her. There has been a lot of both of these Marys the past week or so with blogvention stuff and planning and ideas. I would be getting excited again but I’m too tired from sleeping too much.
  • I don’t like potatoes. I only like really thin fries and potato chips. Apparently this is an odd phenomenon that many do not understand. Along with cheese, I’m just not a fan. So cheesy potatoes really not a fan.
  • I write in corners of everything, give me a pen and paper and I will fill it with thoughts and things I have to do. My notebooks in classes that are particularly boring are filled with the beginning of stories, things I have to do, ideas for blogvention, ideas for other things I have up my sleeve. I’m not even good at drawing, but that doesn’t stop me from doodling everywhere.
  • I will start ignoring a person as soon as they start talking down to me. I can’t stand it. I’ve actually left rooms or left places or even situations because I got so frustrated at people for treating me like I was stupid. I just get really angry, one of my least favorite things. Ever.
  • I love reading but as soon as someone tells me to read a book I can’t. Like it just no longer interests me. And by someone I mean teachers. Like at my school we had a first year read, and I had been planning on reading the book because a teacher in high school suggested it to me, but as soon as it was assigned it no longer held my attention and there were all of the sudden a thousand books to read.
  • I’ve never had something that I like really excel in and it used to drive me crazy, and sometimes it still does, but it’s also kind of cool to be able to dabble in a lot of stuff. Even though I still think it would be cool to just have something come naturally to me, I wouldn’t mind it at all.
  • I get my hopes up really quickly so I when things don’t work out I get really upset. Especially when like a hundred percent sure something is going to happen so I tell people about it and then it doesn’t happen I’m more upset because I get really embarrassed. This happened last year with prom, I thought I had a date and when he canceled I was so upset not only because he canceled but because I told people I had a date, and it was kind of embarrassing to then show up without one.
  • Popcorn makes me really sick. I get horrible headaches and my throat swells with a nasty cough. Such a weird thing to make you sick. Sometimes I forget how awful it makes me feel so I eat it anyway and then I realize how big of mistake that it.
  • I’m either really good or really bad at finishing things. Like some days I get on a role where I just finish everything I touch, and then other days it’s physically painful to do anything. For example, I started this post yesterday and I decided I didn’t want to think of ten things, so I stopped at three and that was not sufficient enough for a post so, I started another, deleted it, and then finally decided to finish the one I ended up posting yesterday. Therefore not all of the stuff is really true like when it says yesterday it means two days ago, however I’m too lazy to go back and change it so you’re going to have to deal with it. Sorry.

Well guys thanks for reading. I’m still looking for someone to help me with the details and stuff of blogvention if anyone is interested contact me! Now I have to go painfully finish my sociology paper, wish me luck. I’m not looking forward to it.

XOXO,

Mary.

13 Questions Tag

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Guys I know none of you like tags but I just love them so much.  So here is the 13 Questions Tag. I hope you enjoy. Side note: feel free to check out my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/marysaverageadventur/about and follow me on twitter and instagram @mrmilligan13 :) Thanks for reading!

The 13 Questions Tag

1. What do you order at Starbucks?

If it’s hot out iced coffee with either caramel or hazelnut and if it’s cold either a caramel latte with extra foam or a regular coffee with room for cream.

2. What’s one thing in your closet that you cannot live without?

Probably my leggings or my collection of oversized sweatshirts, seriously that is like what I wear everyday.

3. What’s one thing that most people probably wouldn’t know about you?

I can’t wear socks to bed without feeling like I’m suffocating.

4. Name one thing that you want to do before you die

I want to go to at least one country on every continent- including Antarctica.

5. What’s one food that you cannot live without?

French fries that’s why I’m fat.

6. What quote/phrase do you live your life by?

One of them is a text post from tumblr and it goes like this:  “do you think God ever gets sad like “what do you mean you don’t love yourself i worked so hard on you….”  and then someone comments exactly what I’m feeling “…why is this so uplifiting?” but it really is, whenever I feel bad about myself I think about this and I know that He wouldn’t want me to feel like that because no matter what He loves me and made me in His image and I should love that about myself.

7. What do you like and dislike about the WordPress community?

I really like the support that everyone gives through comments and how no one is really tries to self-promote their own blogs through comments.  I don’t think I have really been around long enough to find something I don’t like about the community yet.

8. What’s your number one most listened to song on iTunes?

The last time I checked it was “The Best Laid Plans” was, it’s by We the Living and I was obsessed with it for like all of tenth grade (I think) but basically that was all I listened to.

9. What kind of style would you define yourself as having?

A relaxed style- I can really dress up a pair of leggings.

10. Favorite number

5

11. Two hobbies

Crocheting and building random things

12. Two pet peeves

I have to many but I guess to big ones are people who abbreviate words with numbers just shorten words in general. I also don’t like when drawers are wide open, it drives me insane.

13. Guilty Pleasure

Chocolate.

Food and Boys: Two of my Favorite Things.

MaryLeave a comment

Let’s start with food. College food. I know everyone complains about dining hall food, so for me being a super picky eater I was really nervous about the food here but after being for almost two weeks, it’s really not bad. And if it is bad you don’t eat it and it helps you avoid the freshman fifteen. Now some tips for those of you who don’t like the dining hall food. I know my school, as well as many others that I visited had “flex” dollars or money that would be on a card that could be used at a coffee shop, sandwich place, or whatever else they have on campus, so say you look at what’s for lunch and you don’t like the sound of it you have a fall back plan. I have yet to use mine, but I  think one day this week I’m gonna try it rather than eating more chicken in the dining hall. Another tip is snacks in the dorm room. At my school we can’t have toaster, but if you like poptarts, they are just as good in the microwave. Oreos dipped in peanut butter has to be one of the most delicious things ever. Protein bars are awesome, especially if you’re running late or you’re feeling too lazy to go to the dining hall for breakfast. My last tip is actually about the dining hall is to stay away from anything that sounds too good to be true, because it probably is, sometimes they try to get too fancy, and it’s better just to keep it simple and if it’s too extravagant it’s probably not going to be very good.

Anyway onto the next topic of boys. First here’s an apology to all of my guy followers because you might not be very interested in this section, but then again maybe a girls perspective will benefit your game. Who know? Not me, that’s for sure. So before I start this here’s a little background knowledge about me and my experience with boys, and it’s not a lot at all. Freshman year of high school I had my first boyfriend and that lasted for a little over a year, and then I didn’t know what to do outside of a relationship, so I rebounded. My rebound guy was a total ass and he kissed me in public and I hated it. He really like a lot of tongue and that was just disgusting so I broke up with him. After that I was lead on by my best friend (yes he was a boy) for a good year and a half, like the rest of sophomore year, all of junior year, and the beginning of senior year and we went from being inseparable to not even talking, he broke my heart in more ways than one. Then my last brush of romance was awful, this guy basically just repeatedly screwed me over for my senior year and one of the worst parts was I stopped talking to a really great guy just because I thought I was in a monogamous relationship, but really to him I was just another girl to play. So that is my very little past with boys, any questions or advice on high school relationships and continuing them? Post in the comments please:)

Now continuing onto why I’m putting this in my awkward adventures as well as college advice and shit. Anyway, my advice girls is don’t hook up with anyone during the first week as a freshman, it doesn’t matter if you are a slut or not, you will get that reputation and you do not want that following you around the next four years. Next piece, if you are having a guy over, tell your roommate, that is not something they need walk in on! Finally, at least this is what I’m trying to do is just have fun and meet different guys. To be honest I’m a prude and I’m not going to have sex until I’m married so when I have fun I mean like cuddle and watch movies and play board games with. So I just want guys friends, and if a friendship could blossom into something more like a romance I’d be fine adding some kissing or making out into the mix of that but for now I just want fun and not serious. Any questions or things you are trying with guys (or girls) or advice you have for anyone, please comment, I would like to know that someone out there is enjoying my work! Thanks so much to all of you who started following this blog, or liking my posts, it seriously means the world to me.

XOXO

Mary