Last night I made a breakfast cookie for this morning using chia seeds!  I figured they’d have time [...]]]> Hey there, chickadees.  Talk about a humpday! I didn’t even realize it was Wednesday until it was almost 5:00… this week is going by so slowly.  It must be an after-effect of the holidays, but seriously!

Last night I made a breakfast cookie for this morning using chia seeds!  I figured they’d have time to plump up and turn into the “gel” if they soaked over night.

In the cookie:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• big splash of skim milk
• 1 tsp almond butter
• toppings: cinnamon, 1 almond nose, 2 prune eyes, goji berry smile (makes Jim look a little bit creepy!)

I made Ari one, too, but added more oats and left out the chia.  (He must not have been feeling this particular mixture; there were only two little spoonfuls missing when I got home from work.)

I thought I took my time to get ready this morning, but when I got to work I realized that while I’d thought I’d applied brown eyeliner, it had really been purple!  Whoopsies.  But hey, why not pretend you’re at the club when it’s 9 AM on a Wednesday? Spice up your day!

Around 11, I snacked on a tangerine (and ate another one at 3).

For lunch, I had the last of the Tomatoey Spiced Chickpeas with mixed greens and pita bread.   I actually ate with my coworkers and not at my desk,  but since I’m still new I didn’t want to explain the blog to a big group of people all at once (although some do know).

At 4:30, as the work day was coming to a close, I had half of a Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch Clif Bar.   I really wasn’t all that hungry, I just wanted something to chew on.

When I got home, the band was packing up and getting ready to leave for tour.  I helped load the van (no need to strength train when you date a musician… music gear is heavy!) then made dinner.  I’ve been wanting to make Heidi Swanson’s Sushi Bowl for ages, and I did!  I made a few adjustments for time and taste, starting with substituting her tofu for Gliding Calm’s.  I also added sesame seeds to the marinade.

Instead of cooking a new batch of rice, I used up the last of the Harvest Grains blend.  This is a keeper! You don’t even really need to use the recipe (although the dressing is mighty fine).

I sipped a glass of The Big Red Monster wine with dinner… the beast was unleashed.

Anticipating the next month’s Arilessness, I made myself a huge bowl of Coconut Bliss ice cream (Mint Galactica, Naked Coconut, Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge) with homemade chocolate sauce (two kinds of melted chocolate chips + water).

You can bet you’ll see a lot of that in the next few weeks.  I miss my boy already.

Yesterday I woke up feeling a little adventurous and decided to try out Heather’s Asian Fusion oats using tahini, [...]]]> Afternoon and happy New Year’s EVE!  Last year I was working at a restaurant when the ball dropped… not ideal, but it could have been worse.  This year’s going to be a lot more fun!

Yesterday I woke up feeling a little adventurous and decided to try out Heather’s Asian Fusion oats using tahini, miso and honey.

It was good, but I guess in my heart of hearts I was still half-expecting a sweet, nutty breakfast and I just couldn’t get past that.  So, although I hate to waste food, I tossed that batch and made a new bowl of oatmeal with banana, almond butter, and Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter.  I was a happy girl.

There was no time to waste.  After running some errands in the neighborhood with Ari, Josh and I went to a local deli to build-our-own-salads.  I got a small bowl of mesclun with chick peas, red beans, artichoke hearts, corn, carrots, cucumbers and sesame ginger dressing on the side.

Then I met up with my friend Will, who I haven’t seen in almost 2.5 years! Luckily we were able to meet up during his short visit to the city.  We went to Starbucks (and lamented the lack of independent coffee shops on the UWS); I got a grande skim mocha.  ‘Tis the season!

After coffee, I met up with Ari to do some last minute sale shopping (you can always find the best deals between Christmas and New Year’s), then found my little redheaded friend in the same neighborhood for dinner.

We happened upon a cute little Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side; we were so excited for dinner that we didn’t even take note of the name!

As soon as we sat down, we were given plates with soft, warm focaccia and olive oil.

We shared a bottle of Estrella Cabernet Sauvignon to warm our cores…

For my entrée, I ordered the Tre Colore Gnocchi with portobello and shiitake mushrooms, goat cheese and marinara.   A warm bowl of past was just what I wanted, and this was perfect.  Don’t you love gnocchi?!  I did a pretty good job on the dish, and just about finished it.

After spending a couple hours catching up and eating, we made our way to Magnolia Bakery for dessert.  I got the cupcake of the day: German Chocolate!

I wolfed it down in about two bites   Then I made my way downtown to meet Ari and the rest of the family and we piled in the car and drove to their parents’ house for the holiday.  Not everyone had eaten, so we made a pit stop at Roy Roger’s (more on that later!)…

Good times.

Have you sent me your questions entered my giveaway? Git ‘er done!

Have a safe, healthy and AWESOME New Year’s!!! What are you doing to ring in the New Year?

Sorry for disappearing yesterday… somehow the hours just got away from me.  It was a beautiful day, though, so I’m not going [...]]]> Sounds like summer, hmm? As much as I love squash and the like, I’m going to be sad when summer’s fruits and vegetables are no longer.  Maybe I should pick up canning!

Sorry for disappearing yesterday… somehow the hours just got away from me.  It was a beautiful day, though, so I’m not going to complain about it.  What I will moan about a little, however, is that my camera is dying.  Crucial functions are no longer working, so the photo quality is pretty crummy.  Guess I’ll be picking up some more shifts at the restaurant…

For breakfast yesterday, I made breakfast cookies for me and Ari.

Ari’s was made according to the usual method, but I experimented with mine a little bit.

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1 tbsp PB2
• 2 T almond milk
• 1/2 scoop protein powder (I just bought a new kind, vanilla-flavored Designer Whey… not what I wanted, but it was on sale)

• toppings: cinnamon, 1/2 peach

After fumbling around on the computer for an embarrassingly long time, I headed down to the gym.  I did 16 minutes on the stairs at level 10 (whew!), arms, 3 minutes of running at 6.5 and 9 minutes walking at 4.0 at a 4% incline, and abs.

Total time: 58:05 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 191 (96%)

Average heart rate: 155 (78%)

Calories burned: 551

On the way out of the gym, I snacked on an apple:

I had some things to pick up chez maman et papa (read: magazines), so I brought my leftover stir-fry uptown and heated it up with a scoop of Thai red curry paste:

To rehydrate the veggies and keep them from sticking the pan, I added a couple tablespoons of skim milk and the last of the bag of Trader Joe’s Multigrain Pilaf.

I’ve been so thirsty lately, so I had about a gallon of water (with said reading material):

For dessert, I had a mango with a little sea salt:

A little later, I met up with my Greg at Starbucks.  I got a Grande Unsweetened Passion Tea Lemonade and sucked it down pretty fast on a stoop.

I had a lot of reading to do and limited time, so after leaving Greg I went home to get some work done.  Midway through, I broke for a quick dinner: spinach with salsa, hummus, a Laughing Cow wedge, grapes, and a chik’n patty.  Is it weird that fake chicken is one of my favorite things to eat?

For dessert, I had dried fruit, dark chocolate, and almond butter.  One day I’ll change, but that day is not today.

We tried to watch a movie and go to bed early, but Ari’s having some wisdom teeth issues and I’m still an insomniac, so morning came waaaay too early.  I had every intention of getting up to run- and I even did get out of bed and put on my gym clothes- but my eyes were burning and I just couldn’t get myself out the door.  Tomorrow is another day.

We went to the diner for breakfast… A was looking pretty unhappy because of his teethies so I was nice and didn’t photograph him this time.

Our omelets (egg whites with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and feta) took a while to come out, so I ate it in 5 minutes flat so I wouldn’t be late to work.  Oof.

I also inhaled some buttery whole wheat toast on my way out the door.

I stopped at a bakery on the way to work and picked up a seeded roll to eat the oysters with.

A while ago I won one of Erica‘s contests, and she sent me PeTA’s Vegan College Cookbook.  I vaguely remembered a pickle/chickpea salad (and I think Erin made something similar a while back), so I whipped up one of my own.  It was pretty good, although not the most aesthetically pleasing things:

• 6 oz plain Chobani Greek yogurt
• 1/2 can chickpeas
• 1 BIG garlic dill pickle
• two shakes cumin
• two shakes rice wine vinegar

I ended up only eating a few bites of oysters and half the roll, but I scarfed down the salad and apple.

Later on, I snacked on a Chocolate Brownie PURE bar.

Nutrition facts can be found here.

Pros: Dense dark chocolatey taste, with walnutty hunks.  Very fudgy, like a “real” brownie.

Cons: Like Larabars, it’s a little high in calories to use as an end-of-the-meal treat.

Would I buy this again? Yes, for a satisfying chocolate fix.  However, I’m still having a hard time tracking these down and have only found them in one Trader Joe’s.

After work, I met up with Caitlin for coffee.  We went to Third Rail, a coffee shop in the West Village that’s only been open for 11 days.  I got an iced coffee with skim milk and sugar in the raw:

After a lot of window shopping (and sighing), we stopped at Caitlin’s for a pit stop, where she kindly fed me a banana.

After leaving her house, I went to McNally Jackson Books for a reading from Heavy Roation, a collection of essays of authors reminiscnces of records that changed their lives.  Each story was accompanied by the song featured in it, the highlight of which was a cover of the Jackson 5′s “I Want You Back.” You’d be amazed how high the [male] singer could sing!

The reading didn’t end until 8:30, by which point I was beyond ravenous.  I raced home and grilled a wrap with spinach, pepper jack, hummus and a Morningstar Farms Mushroom Lovers Burger.

I ate it with a side of more spinach dressed in rice wine vinegar and sesame oil.  I ate it all fast, standing over the sink, like Diane Lane in Must Love Dogs.  Yep.

Dessert was the same as last night (scroll up), but I was really craving some Tasti D.  Maybe tomorrow.

Off to bed.  Hope you had a great Tuesday!

So, the reason my workout felt so good was thanks, I believe, in part to this article [...]]]> Good evening! Today ended up being a rather nice day, despite the horrible weather.  Class was interesting, Step was great, and I tried out a new recipe that is both economical and delicious. Sounds pretty nice, huh?

So, the reason my workout felt so good was thanks, I believe, in part to this article that I read this morning.  Basically, having caffeine before you exercise will help you perform better.  Usually after my morning java, unless I’m meeting friends at a café or have some serious studying to do, I don’t usually have any more because I have so much trouble falling asleep as it is.  Well, today I had a cup of coffee right before Step, and I felt great! I didn’t need to stop at all, and didn’t feel like I was petering out halfway through.  Kind of ironic that I made this discovery the day my coffee pot broke!

After class, I ran a mile on the treadmill at a combination of 5.7 @1% incline, 6.6 and 6.2 at 0% incline.  Just a week ago I wouldn’t have been able to run this fast comfortably, but I didn’t feel like I was straining and it felt pretty fantastic.  I’m convinced this is from running outside, a little faster that I’m used to, on a natural terrain that isn’t 100% flat.  I did some arm work after class and a little ab in addition to the ab work we did in class.

Total time: 1 hour 28 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 191 (96%)

Average heart rate: 141 (72%)

Calories burned: 743

After my workout I had the last half of my WCMN Clif.  Oddly enough, I really liked it today! This may be because I was STARVING and scarfed it down in 10 seconds flat.

After Heather and Mark’s genius Chobani/ Oikos blind taste, I decided to have my own tasting. Although Kristina commented on my preference for Chobani (which I love, don’t get me wrong) when she sent me the coupons, my true Greek soul mate is Fage 0%.

Oikos 5.3 oz Plain

			Serving Size 1 Container
			Amount Per Serving
			Calories 90		Calories from Fat 0
					% Daily Value*
			Total Fat 0g		0%
			Sat Fat 0g		0%
			Trans Fat g
			Cholesterol 0mg		0%
			Sodium 60mg		3%
			Total Carbohydrate 6g		2%
			Dietary Fiber 0g		0%
			Sugars 6g
			Protein 15g		30%
			Vitamin A 0%		Vitamin C 0%
			Calcium 20%		Iron 0%
			*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
			OUR FAMILY RECIPE: CULTURED PASTEURIZED ORGANIC NONFAT MILK. CONTAINS FIVE LIVE AND ACTIVE CULTURES INCLUDING L. ACIDOPHILUS, BIFIDUS, AND L. CASEI.

This was thick, tangy and smooth.  Infinitely tastier than the Vanilla variety, this has the “true” Greek flavor I have come to love and expect when it is marked to be such.

Fage 0%

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 cup (2 servings per container)

This was a little thicker than the Oikos, but less tangy.  They are probably equally smooth.

Which is better? Hard to say!  I’m going to have to cop out and call it a draw… I’ve been eating Fage for years.  The first time I had Greek yogurt was when I was on a trip to France during the heat wave in high school.  It was served with honey, at room temperature, and although I can say with 100% certainty that it was NOT fat free, it was the most delicious thing I’d ever tried. So when we saw it being sold in the grocery stores… well, you’ve all tasted it, so you know the rest! So, to bring this tangent to a close, I would be more than happy eating either Fage or Chobani.

Dinner tonight was fast and easy because I cooked the beans during the day! (Dry beans and lentils are so much cheaper, and although they can be a little bit of a hassle, it’s really worth it.)

The recipe was from the March 2009 issue of Gourmet, in the “Quick Kitchen” section, for Tomatoey Spiced Chickpeas.

The only changes I made to the recipe were to substitute cilantro for parsley (gasp!) and quarter the ingredients.

I served it with Oikos and Kashi Original Pilaf, and garnished it with some extra cilantro and mint.

This was so, so good. Perfect combination of textures and tastes (tangy/creamy, spice/sweet, nutty) and left me completely satisfied.  The magazine gave a suggestion for how to use the leftovers, which I might try for dinner tomorrow!

Dessert, which I’m about to eat, will be dark chocolate and prunes and dates with almond butter.

I’m going to settle in bed and watch part of a movie and hit the hay. It’s a good life!

Bonne nuit