Yesterday we needed a little something to get us out of bed, and that thing just happened to be… [...]]]> Good afternoon! I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but the City is all doom and gloom today! Around noon it started pouring, and it’s been gray and rainy ever since.  No matter!

Yesterday we needed a little something to get us out of bed, and that thing just happened to be… Dunkin‘ Donuts.  Yes, you read that correctly.

I got the eggwhite garden vegetable flatbread sandwich (which comes with American cheese) and an iced coffee.  It was fine… a little strange because the eggs had clearly been pre-formed into a triangle a long time ago, because the top was completely smooth and dry.  However, it’s a good option when all you have to choose from is fast food (or your boy wants a breakfast sandwich).

I didn’t have enough time to go to the gym, so I went for a quick 2 mile run.

Total time: 23:46 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 197 (99%)

Average heart rate: 146 (73%)

Calories burned: 210

After hosing down (or taking a shower, like a civilized person) I headed into the city for a doctor’s appointment.  On the subway, I snacked on a Granny Smith apple:

After the doctor, on my walk to Union Square, I happened upon a sample station of water. I’d thought this was called “Immunity Water,” but I coudln’t find it online.  Does anyone know what this brand of water is called?

Then, hungrily, I browsed through all of the wonderful stalls at the Union Square Farmer’s Market.

Everything looked great, but I decided to go to Whole Foods for lunch instead.  There, they had another beverage station set up for samples of Mossé.  I had a taste of the cherry flavor, and liked it very much.

I was more in the mood for coconut water, and was so excited when I saw this new flavor: O.N.E.‘s Cashew Fruit! (The nutrition facts are available on their website.)

I liked it! It tasted tropical, sort of like a peachy mango.  They have a lot of other interesting flavors, and there are coupons for them in the “Whole Deals” booklets at Whole Foods.

The salad bar was better than usual.

• Farro w/ mint & peas (I want to make this!)
  
• Crunchy sprout salad
• Vegan chicken salad (And this!)
  
• Snow pea and napa cabbage slaw
• Vegan pesto tortellini (1)
• Mexican apple salad w/ mint (And this! Spicy but fantastic.)
  
• Green beans
• Spinach
• Seaweed salad (And this!)

After lunch, I walked over to Trader Joe’s for an overdue grocery shop.

Back in Queens, I bought a couple more things for dinner (mostly fruits & veggies, and the new Larabar flavors).

After unloading all the groceries, I was more than ready for a snack.  I had a bowl of 0% Fage with a peach and 2 tbsp low-fat granola:

Dinner was excellent.  The new Gourmet magazine has a lot of fantastic recipes, but this one came right from the “You Asked For It” column (it was, incidentally, my job to organize these letters when I worked for Gourmet): avocado-strawberry salad with orange vinaigrette.

Who says salads have to be boring?

I halved the recipe to make two servings; I used one avocado, one orange, 1/2 pint of strawberries, and goat cheese.  I added a little tofu to round out the meal, and ta da! Instant summer.

I celebrated Wednesday by having a glass of Italian frizzante that my friend Howard brought me.  It’s a fruity prosecco that’s light and not too sweet, and went perfectly with the salad.

Dessert was the old reliable: dried fruit, dark chocolate, and almond butter.

I spent the rest of the night watching two of my favorite gentlemen duke it out… pretty fabulous Wednesday, if I do say so myself.

I also chopped off my hair again.

Night

This morning was the usual breakfast cookie, coffee (I didn’t have time to brew a pot, so [...]]]> Good evening! I hope you’ve had wonderful weekends full of trips to the beach, outdoor activities, or whatever makes you happiest.  Mine was lovely, even though I had to work today, so I can’t complain

This morning was the usual breakfast cookie, coffee (I didn’t have time to brew a pot, so Folger’s Instant it was) and vitamin cocktail.

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1 scoop peanut butter
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 2 tbsp skim milk
• cinnamon
• 1 orange for garnish

Work was fine.  We had a couple hours where things were a little crazy, but the rush ended early and things weren’t too stressful for long.

For lunch (at 3:30), I ordered an egg white omelet with veggies and salad.  I grated parmesan on the eggs and covered them with a sprinkling of parmesan and pepper flakes, and a lot of ketchup and hot sauce (not pictured).

I joined the clean plate club with this one.  That’s what spending 8 hours on your feet without eating (unless you count the orange slices from the bar try ) will do! The only problem with these omelets is they’re cooked in a lot of oil, but I don’t want to irritate the chefs too much so I just let it go.

The gym was a-calling (it’s been a while), so I went straight from work.  I did 20 minutes on the stairs, a lot of strength, and started with the bike but realized I was just too tired.  I didn’t let myself succumb to feeling guilty for not having a 1 hour + workout… I’m really trying to get rid of this “all or nothing” mentality I have about exercise once and for all.  Anyway, I hopped off the bike after about two minutes and just moved on to abs.  No guilt!

Total time: 52:04 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 181 (91%)

Average heart rate: 139 (70%)

Calories burned: 398

After the gym, I went to Trader Joe’s for some groceries.  I’m going away on Friday, but I need enough to get me through the week, so I just got some staples.  The line was unbelievably long (about a 45-minute wait), but the prices couldn’t be beat!

• blueberries
• canned chunk light tuna in water
• low sodium minestrone soup
• nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• organic blueberry fruit spread
• extra firm tofu
• spinach
• dark chocolate truffle bar
• flattened banana strips
• frozen mango/berries
• organic cucumbers
• PURE bars (finally!!! I jumped out of the line when I spotted these)
• clover honey
• Puffins cereal
• Mediterranean hummus (I’d originally picked a different flavor, but the guy in front of me in line convinced me to get this instead)
• Organic Greek yogurt, honey flavored
• organic carrots
• bananas
• Almond Breeze
• Multigrain pilaf
• roasted unsalted almond butter, creamy

I didn’t have time to go to the samples booth and I was STARVING on my subway ride home, so I had half of a Peanut Butter Cookie Luna Bar.

Even after my Luna bar snack, I was still pretty hungry so I snacked on some rebel carrots while getting dinner ready.

For the past few weeks, Miss Gliding Calm has been making the most beautiful creations with seaweed and other Japanese ingredients.  A couple nights ago, in the wee hours of the morning, I found a magical bodega (the same bodega that sold the $2.99 medjools) that had them on display in the front of the store, so I knew it was a sign.

Inspired by Gina and Erin‘s jicama rice, I made some of my own out of daikon.  I don’t have my own food processor, so I just diced about 1/4 of the root as finely as I had the patience for.

I laid out the ingredients for my cucumber avocado roll:

I only used half of the length of this sheet of seaweed to make the roll, and used the rest to make little “wraps” with the leftover cucumbers and avocado.

They turned out pretty well! With the rest of the avocado half, I made wrap with a Morningstar Farms Chik’n Patty and a Laughing Cow wedge.

I doused the sandwich in mustard and (daintily, of course)  dipped my sushi in soy sauce.

The daikon was a great addition! I didn’t miss the rice one bit.  Now, if only I had that food processor…

Now that I’ve finally stocked up on almond butter again (I haven’t bought a jar in almost two months!), I can enjoy my favorite dessert again! I had a dried date, fig, apricot and prune with a scoop of AB and some TJ’s truffle dark chocolate.

I missed this.  Peanut butter is good on everything, but nothing beats an AB-stuffed medjool. Just how it is.

There’s a mindblowing amount of work to get done tomorrow, and I’m trying to get back on a semi-normal schedule, so I’m hoping to be sleeping by midnight.  Too much of a pipe dream?  What time do you go to bed and get up? How many hours of sleep do you usually get and if you take naps throughout the day, how long are they?

Bonne nuit

This morning, my mom made us some scrambled eggs.  This is her go-to sick food, lazy dinner, out-of-groceries food, etc.  I can never get my eggs to taste like hers… because not only does she [...]]]> Happy Sunday!  We still have a few hours of the weekend left, so I hope your morale is stellar.

This morning, my mom made us some scrambled eggs.  This is her go-to sick food, lazy dinner, out-of-groceries food, etc.  I can never get my eggs to taste like hers… because not only does she use butter (I don’t even know if we have any in the fridge here) but she has that inimitable mother’s touch.  (Hi Mom!)

Baguette with jam/ marjarine and fruit  (x 2):

The Veggiepatch clan does not mess around with breakfast.  Look at all the different types of jellies and honeys!

We decided to go see Rachel Getting Married (because I goofed up the theaters… we’d meant to see Milk!) and went to Starbucks and Breadsmith to kill some time before the movie.  I got a tall coffee (which my mom accidentally poured whole milk into… I’m still alive) and split a mini chocolate babka roll.

We wandered into a cooking store, where they were sampling all different kinds of olive oils and vinegars. I had a little piece of bread with a v-e-r-y flavorful EVOO.

Then my dad got a call from the airline saying their flight had been canceled due to weather… he managed to get them on another flight but it was leaving three hours earlier so we had to skip the movie and go straight to the airport.  Sad, but I’m glad they got on the flight… they just are not lucky at all with flying this weekend!

I came home to this box from Diana over at POM Wonderful.  I LOVE this stuff, and I’m very excited to incorporate it into some recipes. Thank you, POM!

I unloaded all my groceries while deciding what to have for lunch.

Dairy & Protein

Grains & Carbs... the English muffins were on sale so I ended up with three packages!

Nuts, figs, canned things & other miscellaneous goodies.

Fresh produce!

I made a salad with romaine, grape tomatoes, onion, a Dr. Praeger’s California veggie burger (dinner is going to be something “California”-themed from Veganomicon, to give you a hint!) and a Laughing Cow Light wedge.

A juicy navel orange (it is so nice to have fruit again!):

With some Annie’s Woodstock dressing for dipping.

It’s always hard to get back on track after a vacation(ish), but this was a pretty filling lunch.  I toasted the burger like I saw Sarah do with a patty and Miss Gliding Calm do with tempeh… great idea, but it doesn’t work so well with these soft burgers! It was almost a disaster, but only a tiny piece crumbled to the bottom of the toaster.  I have to make sure I remember it’s in there the next time I use it!

My friends I was with in Paris and I decided to have a Sisterhood of the Traveling ______ type thing so we can keep and touch and think about each other, even when things get crazy and we may not have time to talk on the phone.  I got a sweater in the mail (modeled by Jack, my favorite green monster) from my friend Lindsay today… can’t wait to see what adventures I have in it!

Well, the long weekend is coming to a close and it’s back to reality (there goes gravity! Yes, I’ve seen 8 Mile about 5 times, big dork that I am) and school life. Hope you have a wonderful rest of the day!

The girls and I had such a ball at TJ’s today.  I did get into that sort of frenzied, glazed-over state that happens when I’m overwhelmed with a lot of grocery or clothing options.  Oh, it was heaven.

They were giving out samples of vegan chili (yum!) and coffee shots [...]]]> Or should I say… mecca?

The girls and I had such a ball at TJ’s today.  I did get into that sort of frenzied, glazed-over state that happens when I’m overwhelmed with a lot of grocery or clothing options.  Oh, it was heaven.

They were giving out samples of vegan chili (yum!) and coffee shots with agave and cream (utilitarian yum!) which I promptly spilled all over me.  I’m a little messy, what can I say?

My haul was substantial but worth every penny.  I think that macaroni & cheese snuck into my cart without my knowledge, though.

Carb-a-licious goodness:

Cans, frozen goodies, nuts and raisins (I used to get the Jumbo mixed variety in Paris… I was feeling a little nostalgic):

Produce!

Protein and dairy:

These mamas are SO GOOD.  I was (and still am) avoiding unpacking, so I bagged them and the almonds in individual portion-sized baggies. I ate the dregs at the bottom of the bag… if you like pretzels, buy these NOW.

Jalene and I had a nice, sit-down meal together for the first time in six weeks (and probably longer, because of all that finals hoopla).  We had salmon patties, sweet potato with B&B, and broccoli.

I’m going to unpack, eat something sweet and chocolatey, and catch up on my “stories.”  Goodnight lovelies!