I seem [...]]]> Hey hey-yo! How are you? How was your Wednesday? I can’t believe that one week from tomorrow is Thanksgiving!  I usually try to wake up early enough to catch some of the parade, then my mom and I make our famous sticky buns.  Do you have traditions you keep up every year?

I seem to have unleashed the oatmeal beast within me yesterday, because that was just what I wanted this morning.

In the bowl:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup pumpkin
• frozen berries
• frozen pineapple
• flaxy peanut butter
• cinnamon
• agave

The rest of the morning was spent preparing for an interview.  I went into the city an hour and a half early so, subway problems or not, there’d be no chance of being late.  I had so much spare time that I went into a deli to go over my notes and read some Canadian snail mail.  To secure a seat, I bought some fruit salad.

The interview went well, I think; I was given an assignment to complete for Friday, so I went straight home to get started.  I needed some brain fuel, so I made a quick salad:

Our house guest came into the kitchen while I was assembling it, took one look at the bowl, and said, “Are you really going to eat all of that salad?! You must have a really fast metabolism!”  It was a salad of great girth, I’ll give him that. But of course I ate every scrap

In the mix:

• spinach
• grape tomatoes
• 1 grapefruit
• 1/2 avocado
• leftover salmon
• dressing made with rice vinegar, sesame oil, sesame seeds & chili flakes

The Lindt store on 5th  was handing out holiday truffles on the street today, so I snatched one up and had it for dessert.

My body must have needed sleep because I nodded right off after lunch! Today is the fourth consecutive day I’ve gotten up significantly earlier than I’m used to, and the rest of the week will be no different.  Hopefully in the next few weeks there will be more early mornings and regular hours, if you catch my drift! When I woke up, I made some coffee and snacked on these Jalepeño Honey Mustard Pretzel Sticks from Kay’s Naturals.

These are my favorite of the Kay’s products I’ve tried; they’re satisfying, and didn’t leave me with horrible garlic breath the way the protein chips did.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent working.  When it was getting close to dinner time, I simmered and marinated some tempeh using the recipe for Hot Sauce-Glazed Tempeh from Veganomicon.

After about an hour, I plopped the tempeh onto the George Foreman, the apartment-dweller’s best friend.  Aren’t grill marks satisfying?

I proceded to make one of the best sandwiches on earth: The LVP Reuben.

A reuben sandwich is traditionally made with corned beef, Swiss cheese, saurkraut, and creamy salad dressing.  I don’t remember eating one even when I did eat meat, but my version is much more appealing to me.  It’s based on one of my all-time favorite sandwiches: grilled cheddar with Granny Smith apple slices on Peppridge Farm Cinnamon Raisin Swirl bread.  Tonight, I went a step further…

Grilled cheddar with Hot Sauce-Glazed Tempeh, Gala apple slices and baby spinach on Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel bread.  My tum is grumbling at the memory.  I also had a bowl of Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potato Leek Soup, garnished with cinnamon, nutmeg, shredded coconut and parsley.

Dinner for 1, at home, does not have to be boring.

Luckily I had the foresight to plan my dessert early in the day; I had two bananas sitting in the freezer and  waiting  to be processed into Chocolate Banana Soft Serve.  Three words: Move over, Stögo! I topped mine with roasted almonds and walnuts.

It was rich, creamy, and far better than anything packaged I’ve bought recently.  You better believe I licked up every last trace of “batter.”

I can’t wait to play around with this! There are so many options based on what’s in the pantry alone.

After dinner I finished my reading, and just as I was about to e-mail my notes to myself (I type everything out on my Blackberry… it’s an odd habit), the memo deleted itself.  I searched IT message boards, asked people I knew with Blackberries if there was any way to retrieve data that wasn’t backed up on a computer… nothing.  Seven hours of work has been LOST.   So… tomorrow will be another early morning.  It’s not the end of the world.

Bonne nuit

Yesterday started off on a good note with [...]]]> Hey there! How was your Tuesday? Mine began in a hurry and ended with ice cream, and now I’m in bed watching Michael Clayton.   Ari’s leaving tomorrow to go Vigilante and we’ve all got things to do, so this is going to be a quickie!

Yesterday started off on a good note with a generous portion of Oats In A Jar.

In the mix:

• PB jar w/ about 1 T PB
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 2 dried apricots
• 1 dried fig
• dried cherries

Mighty fine, I tell ya.  I should finish jars of nut butter every day!

After breakfast, I hustled over to Starbucsk to get some work done.  I sipped on a Grande Skim Misto with a shot of espresso for a few hours…

… and spaced my lunch out over about four hours to maximize my efficiency.  Every 100 pages, for example, I could eat another part of my meal.  It’s a pretty good trick! I had honeydew…

… samples of marble cake and hazelnut-espresso truffle drink (too sweet for me)…

…mixed greens with fake chicken nuggets…

TJ’s plain nonfat Greek yogurt with YouBars‘ Chocolate Peanut trail mix…

… rebel carrots…

… and a grapefruit.   When I was really young I used to snack throughout the day rather than have square meals, and there’s something to be said for this! It works nicely when I’m trying to be productive, but I think I prefer eating three times a day, plus snacks.  Do you eat three meals or snack throughout the day?

Dinner was a really, really big salad.  I love these! I eat almost an entire head of romaine or bag of spinach at a time.

In the mix:

• 1 handful spinach
• 4 romaine leaves
• 1 sweet potato
• 1 Gala apple
• 1 TJ’s frozen salmon patty
• dulse flakes
• cilantro-chili vinaigrette

I overdid it on dessert a little bit… I just kept going back for more Edgies!  My tum was a little unhappy with me when I went to bed, but I’m pretty sure the brownies were worth it

I thought I was going to wait until tomorrow to share this with you, but today my physical therapist gave me the okay to run.  With the exception of the two minutes I ran on the treadmill during my first therapy session, I haven’t really run since I hurt my knee during my 10K race.  My therapist only let me run for 15 minutes, but it felt great! I didn’t feel any pain in my knee, and felt proud that I had followed the doctor’s and therapist’s orders to stay off my legs until the time was right.  But baby, I’m back!

What made you proud today?

It’s one of the first songs I remember seeing on Pop-Up Video. Whatever happened to that show? It was so good! I also remember seeing Marcy Playground and Meredith Brooks on there… oh, I hate getting old.

Anyway, happy [...]]]> I couldn’t find this on YouTube, but it’s worth watching for a trip down memory lane.

It’s one of the first songs I remember seeing on Pop-Up Video. Whatever happened to that show? It was so good! I also remember seeing Marcy Playground and Meredith Brooks on there… oh, I hate getting old.

Anyway, happy Friday night! A week from today my family will be here (!) so this is pretty much my last “real” Friday in college.  Appropriately, this will be a doozy of a photo post… I’m going to have to get a space upgrade for my Wordpess account soon!

I went to Whole Foods today and pretty much stuck to my list, which is something to be celebrated.  There were tons of samples:

Trout spread:

Spicy guacamole (I really wanted an avocado but these were all really hard, so a really nice WF man went “to the back” and found one for me. Thanks, WF man!):

Spanish cheese:

Food Should Taste Good chips:

More cheese:

I went to the cafeteria for lunch today. The had big soft pretzels; even though these are on every street corner in New York, I never really crave or eat them! Ever since Meghann, Jenna, and Caitlin have been raving about their Greenwise pretzels, though, I’ve been craving them.

I made a salad with spinach, carrots, cukes, cauliflower, celery, and a jalepeño.  They had dijon (my favorite mustard) for the pretzels, so I made a delicious mustard/lemon juice/olive oil vinaigrette.

Tofu cutlet with “salsa verde” :

I ate about 2/3 of the pretzel; half with mustard and half with peanut butter and jelly.

… and finally, a grapefruit.

I first read about black bean brownies in Hungry-Girl a few years ago. After seeing Angela’s batches a few weeks ago and Lindsay’s yesterday, I decided to try them myself.

I used the Happy Herbivore recipe, and followed her directions with the exception of swapping brown rice syrup for agave nectar.

I also, once again, didn’t read the directions properly and forgot to mix in the oats until the batter was already in the pan.

The batter was really good, but when baked the brownies themselves didn’t have a whole lot of taste and were kind of dry. Sad, but I’m not giving up yet!

I snacked on an orange while I was eating batter baking and cooking.

My friends Becky and Sarah had a lovely potluck tonight.  I brought the “brownies” and some cheesy green (read on).

There was red vino:

Spinach salad with strawberries, cucumbers and gorgonzola:

I made a plate with a Barefoot Contessa pasta salad Becky made, salad, oranges and quiche.

Gina has been raving about quiche recently, so I decided to whip one up.  I used the same original recipe that she did, but also made my own substitutions.  For the cheese and dairy, I used 1/2 cup manchego, 3/4 cup nonfat cottage cheese, 1 cup nonfat yogurt, and 2 tbsp 4-cheese blend; for the spices, pinches each of nutmeg, cumin and cayenne.  The color was a little too light, so I added 1/2-1 cup broccoli florets to the mix.

It was really good! It ended up tasting more like a soufflé; whipped and very light and an excellent side.

I also had a bowl of black bean soup with cheese that Sarah made:

More oranges, salad, and chips (potato + yellow corn) and salsa.

For dessert, I had a frosted pumpkin square my friend Krista made:

She’s writing a cookbook called “The Book of Nom.” Genius. Nomnomnom.

Finally, even though I was insanely full, I had a dark chocolate truffle that Carlye brought.

I definitely ate a lot tonight and didn’t make it to the gym as I’d planned, but I had a really nice night with my friends. There is so much love in sharing a home-cooked meal!  Anyway, I’m going to hit the hay and get up early to work, work it out, pack, etc.  Hope you had a faaabulous night.

Well hello! I hope you’ve had a marvelous day.  Mine was pretty good, thanks… the morning and early afternoon were spent in the library, before I broke for lunch.

We had tacos again for lunch… I think this just happened a week or so ago… or maybe my [...]]]> (And Fanny too, while you’re at it.)

Well hello! I hope you’ve had a marvelous day.  Mine was pretty good, thanks… the morning and early afternoon were spent in the library, before I broke for lunch.

We had tacos again for lunch… I think this just happened a week or so ago… or maybe my brain is just fried.  Anyway, I had refried beans, ground tofu, yellow rice, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa and a little cheese.

For dessert, I had 1/2 each of a magic bar and a PB chocolate chip bar.

I went back to the library to finish my edits and handed in my English capstone- almost two hours early!  Even though I still have another paper and a review to write, I was so happy and proud to be finished that I decided to take the rest of the day off and just enjoy life. (Did I mention that I get shmaltzy when I’m not stressed? Bring on the corn…)

I did some non-academic reading on the grass (and even got a little pink strip of sunburn!) and had a grapefruit.

I went to my last Step class today.  I hope I can find a gym that has sessions… it’s such a fun way to exercise!

Total time: 59:20 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 182 (91%)

Average heart rate: 129 (65%)

Calories burned: 397

I was a little sore from doing bicycle crunches two days in a row (they’re not apart of my normal ab series), so I decided not to strength training and just go home and relax instead.  It was a good night.

Tips for how to let the good times roll:

#1: Put on your favorite T-shirt and comfy pants (circa junior year of high school).

#2: Splurge on some good wine and enjoy every sip.

#2.5: Have a rebellious snack while pondering life’s fine things (see #2 & #3):

#3: Make a delicious and satisfying dinner.  Get creative and experiment!

Believe me when I say: this was one of the best salads I have ever had. The star was broiled coconut shrimp, which made the meal feel really indulgent, despite how healthy it was.

Sweet and spicy coconut shrimp

• 3 tsp light coconut milk
• 1 tsp brown rice syrup

I use brown rice syrup as an alternative to agave when I bake vegan treats; it has a milder taste than honey.

• pinch chili flakes
• pinch ground ginger powder
• 6 frozen shrimp, thawed with tails removed
• 1 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut

Combine all ingredients in a broiler-ready pan.  Toss shrimp in, coating them nicely and coat them in coconut.

Return shrimp to pan and broil for about 5 minutes, flipping once about halfway.

Meanwhile, I toasted some hazelnuts at 400˚ for 7 minutes.

I then used the back of a big knife to crush the toasted nuts and make a delicious dressing.  I combined the leftover shrimp/coconut mixture (I saved the extra bit in the bowl) with hazelnuts with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

I made a huge salad:

• Romaine
• tomato
• green peas
• Sweet and spicy coconut shrimp
• 1 navel orange
• feta cheese
• hazelnut vinaigrette

I also steamed some carrots and had some green water:

There were more peas than would fit on my salad plate (I can’t wait to go home and have big bowls again!), so I ate them with the carrots.

This was the perfect meal.  There were so many tastes (sweet, salty, toasty) and textures (crispy, crunchy, chewy) that came together really well.  The wine was also some of the best I’ve ever had! I think this was my first time having Fumé Blanc (Robert Mondavi 2005) , and I became a quick fan.

Dinner held me over for a good two hours before I started to think about dessert.  To finish up my comfort meal, I had dried fruit (apricots, dates, prunes, figs) with almond butter (my Justin’s squeeze pack experience was more pleasurable than last time) and dark chocolate.

And finally, tip #4: Relax with Pam, Jim, Meredith, Izzie, Blair and Serena all in one night and don’t feel an ounce of guilt. Woohoo!

Have a great night.

This morning [...]]]> Good evening and happy belated Monday! I’m still having so much trouble with both WordPress and Firefox… I don’t know if it’s those programs, my connection, or my computer (which it better not be). Anyway, I’ve got a full day of foodstuffs and a product review, so I’m going to get a-crackin’!

This morning I made a big POM/orange/berry/ginger smoothie.

• 1/4 block silken tofu
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup POM juice
• 1/4 cup frozen berries
• 1 orange
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger powder

I love this combination. I think it’s my third time making it in a week! I also had two big cups of coffee. 

Lunch was a-MA-zing. I made a crack wrap with manchego and American… holy moly. 

I finished up the last of Happy Herbivore‘s Inca or Aztec Corn Soup:

Had an apple:

And enjoyed it all with Cholula. (Hummus + hot sauce = mmm.)

My French professor brought organic oatmeal raisin cookies (I remembered my camera this time!). It’s funny that I used to think that any cookie without chocolate wasn’t worth having… I guess you could say that my palate is maturing!

I had a quick workout at the gym: 25-ish minutes on the elliptical and abs.

Total time: 38:55 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 176 (88%)

Average heart rate: 143 (72%)

Calories burned: 310

The post title refers to the gorgeous day we had.  I didn’t have to haul too much to campus today so I got to walk, and it was so warm! I love sundress weather. 

I try to save my frozen dinners  for nights when I have class at 7, so I whipped out Healthy Choice‘s Lemon Pepper Fish Complete Meal. 

Have you noticed that almost every frozen dinner company makes a version of this? And yet, when it comes to the “vegetarian option,” with the exception of Kashi,they all seem to think this means “pasta.”  This is often a problem at restaurants and catered events, too. Grr.

I forgot to take a pre-microwave picture, but here it after cooking.

I always plate my frozen dinners to make them a little less depressing.

Breaded fish and rice pilaf:

Broccoli: 

Caramel Apple Crisp:

Those weren’t enough veggies for my hungry tummy, so I steamed up some rebel carrots (and drank the water). 

A few weeks ago I blogged about Healthy Choice’s reinvention of its products. Although I’m skeptical of any packaged food that claims to be a full meal, I decided to give this one a try.  I’ll review each of the four components of the dinner:

Fish (pollock): very fishy, as cheap fish often is. It was mush and overcooked, and the breading fell off as soon as I cut into it. 

Rice: mushy and overcooked, but not chewy and tender at all. 

Broccoli: definitely the best part.  It was crisp and perfectly cooked, although it was sitting in a LOT of water.

Caramel apple crisp:  Completely inedible.  It was sweet and gelatinous, and the oat topping was mushy.  There was nothing “crisp” about this dessert whatsoever, and I threw it out after one bite. 

Would I buy this again? Not a chance. Healthy Choice struck out big time with this one, and did not succeed in changing my perception of their product from the microwaved dinner my grandfather used to stockpile in his freezer  to a healthy, quick and tasty option that I would ever want to consume.  I know I’m being harsh, but I’ve come to expect a lot from these frozen meals.  I know it’s possible to make cost-effective food that tastes good; you should be able to feel happy and satisfied with your meal even if it came out of a box in the freezer.  This is 2009, people. 

Whew! Excuse that little rant.

My dinner fiasco left me feeling unsatisfied, so I had a grapefruit during class. 

I was really hungry when I got home from class (sayonara, science requirement!) so I made a big bowl of GoLean! Crunch Honey Almond Flax / Fiber One Honey Almond Clusters with an apple and skim. 

I’m still feeling snacky so there might be some cookie-eating going on shortly (to fuel my studies, of course).  I have to be up pretty early for my last independent study meeting; we’re going to a coffee shop near the house I lived in last year which should be fun.

Hope you had a great day! Night

Edited to add: I just had some more cereal.  It was what I wanted, so why deny myself, right?

This morning I went to the library and got [...]]]> Afternoon lovepies! I hope your Saturdays are going fabulously.  Mine has been okay… most importantly,  I got out of the house! One of the things I’m most looking forward to about the end of student life is not being shut up indoors all the time.

This morning I went to the library and got all set up with books, snacks (and that cute little GPS).

I snacked on a grapefruit, making extra careful not to squirt my neighbors.  (The library finally gave up on prohibiting food and drink, and there are not just funny little signs everywhere that say “Spills happen! Just let us know ” ).

I went with some friends to the Coffee Gallery, a coffee shop that’s connected to the Open Book center for book arts in Minneapolis.

This place is pretty much a paradise for bibliophiles… it has printmaking exhibits, bookmaking workshops, readings, performances (musical and otherwise), a [very tempting] gift shop, and a cozy little coffee shop.

While studying, I got a bowl of Zuppa di Pasta & Fagioli, or literally “hearty bean and pasta soup.”

I also got a cup of African tea (with milk and sugar) and a chocolate raspberry biscotti, to make up for the biscotti fiasco a few days ago.

This was pretty much the perfect lunch, and held me over very well.

It was nice to actually study with other people for a change, but I got a little distracted towards the end because I was 95% sure the lead singer of my favorite band in the entire world (aside from the Upwelling, of course ) walked into the shop. I frantically  stalked looked around for him, but he disappeared.  I just looked at their tour schedule, though, and they’re in Salt Lake City today.  Oh well!

When I got back, I went on a halfhearted run; I didn’t want to be out for very long but I wanted to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.

Total distance: 1.34 miles

Total time: 13:16 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 203 (102%)

Average heart rate: 178 (86%)

Calories burned: 147

I came back and hand cottage cheese with cinnamon and a banana.

There might be an Easter egg in my near future, in addition to more book cracking. Have a great Saturday night!

I took a glorious two-hour nap this morning, then woke up and made lunch.  I mixed one 5 oz can of tuna with 1/3 avocado, one small [...]]]> Good evening! The week is already halfway done for me, and I’ve just been informed that I have one month and six days left of college.  Yikes!

I took a glorious two-hour nap this morning, then woke up and made lunch.  I mixed one 5 oz can of tuna with 1/3 avocado, one small canned tomato, red onion, mustard and lemon juice, and plopped it on a bed of romaine.

I also had  one of the messiest pink grapefruits.

Got my news and vitamins on and ate in about ten minutes.  The nap was worth it, though!

I snacked on a Banana Bread Lärabar throughout the day.

I went to thirty minutes of Step today and did about five minutes of arms and back on the way out.  I love running outside, but since I’ve started I haven’t been doing any strength training at all.

Total time: 35:53 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 187 (94%)

Average heart rate: 142 (71%)

Calories burned: 290

I went to Whole Foods later to get some necessities, and I’m pleased to report that the date/fig/nut crisis is over and I am fully stocked.

I saw this recipe on Jenna’s blog last night and had almost the same ingredients so I decided to make a similar dish.  It’s pretty similar to the curry I made last week, but this uses tempeh instead of tofu.

I used sesame oil instead of coconut, and added some  spinach and canned tomatoes to bulk up the veggie content.

When Kristina sent me the Oikos coupons she also sent me coupons for other Stonyfield Farms products.  I decided to put one to good use when I was at Whole Foods, and got this After Dark Nonfat Frozen Yogurt.

Frozen Yogurt- Nonfat After Dark Chocolate

			Serving Size 1/2 Cup (85g)
			Amount Per Serving
			Calories 100		Calories from Fat 0
					% Daily Value*
			Total Fat 0g		0%
			Sat Fat 0g		0%
			Trans Fat 0g
			Cholesterol < 5mg		2%
			Sodium 60mg		3%
			Potassium 220mg		6%
			Total Carbohydrate 20g		7%
			Dietary Fiber 0g		0%
			Sugars 18g
			Protein 4g		8%
			Vitamin A 0%		Vitamin C 0%
			Calcium 15%		Iron 0%
			Thiamin 2%		Riboflavin 10%
			Vitamin B6 2%		Vitamin B12 6%
			Pantothenic Acid 4%		Phosphorus 10%
			Magnesium 6%
			*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
			OUR FAMILY RECIPE: NONE
			INGREDIENTS: CULTURED PASTEURIZED ORGANIC NONFAT MILK, NATURALLY MILLED ORGANIC SUGAR, ORGANIC COCOA, ORGANIC RICE SYRUP, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, CAROB BEAN GUM, GUAR GUM, ORGANIC VANILLA FLAVOR. CONTAINS: S. THERMOPHILUS, L. BULGARICUS, L. ACIDOPHILUS, BIFIDUS AND L. CASEI LIVE ACTIVE CULTURES.

It had a really creamy, deep dark taste. I would definitely buy it again, especially when I added these!

Last week when I saw my aunt, she told me she’d been eating a lot of chocolate fro-yo with mandarin orange slices. I wanted to try it out, but bought pear halves by mistake! It was still delicious with the frozen yogurt and half of a No-Pudge Chunky Monkey brownie.

The other half of the brownie was feeling lonely, though, so I ate it.

I’m off to watch Heroes with Ari on iChat.  Have a great night!