I was up at 8:30 on my own and was anxious to get the day going.  Now that I don’t have as much free time as I used to, I don’t like to waste any of it!  I had a quick, scrumptious [...]]]> It’s been quite the productive day, if I do say so myself!

I was up at 8:30 on my own and was anxious to get the day going.  Now that I don’t have as much free time as I used to, I don’t like to waste any of it!  I had a quick, scrumptious pumpkin cake to start the day on a good note.

• canned pumpkin (last dregs of the last can… must restock ASAP before they leave stores!)
• egg whites
• 1 tsp TJ’s pumpkin butter
• 0% Fage Greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp flaxy pb
• 1 tsp lemon curd
• agave nectar
• cinnamon
• nutmeg

After breakfast I made a meal plan for the week, then went out to shop for it.  Although I went to four stores, I got most of my groceries not at the expensive health food store, but in the ethnic aisle of my local supermarket!  Get a load of this hot ticket:

That would be Coconut Oil from Guyana.  If I had purchased a similar item at aforementioned health food store, it would have cost me $15.  This little guy was $2.49!  What’s the most interesting food item you’ve found where you were least expecting it?

I spent the rest of the morning making a few lunches for the week; I’m going to be out at least two nights so lunch will be one less thing I’ll have to worry about.  Despite a gloomy forecast, it was beautiful out  and still early in the day so I decided to go for a run.  It was great! I really needed to get outside and breathe fresh air, see living trees (we have a fake plant in our bedroom), and just go.  It was a success!

Total distance: 4.5 miles

Total time: 42:19 minutes

When I got back I did a quick ab series, then made lunch.  Hugh dropped by, too!

In the mix:

• curly-leaf kale
• spinach
• carrots
• celery
• tempeh bacon (finally found it!)
• grape tomatoes
• goji berries, soaked to plump
• dried cranberries
• pumpkin seeds
• Rosemary Quackers
• agave/rice vinegar/soy sauce/toasted sesame oil/sesame/salt/pepper vinaigrette

I made some of Mama Pea’s Vegan Energy Bars to put in my desk at work…

… which had to be sampled to make sure it was good, off course.  It was

I got into bed to read for work nap, and woke up hankering for a crisp Fuji apple. (Recycled photo alert!)

Ilana, Christine and I had the first of many Family Dinners tonight, served pot-luck style.

“I’m cooking!”

We sipped probiotic cocktails…

Ilana made delicious green beans, mushrooms, and broccolini using a family friend’s trusted recipe.

Christine made a refreshing veggie-full salad with mixed greens, green + red pepper, grape tomatoes an scallions.

She also made vegetarian chili + cornbread!

We certainly did not go hungry; we feasted like queens!  Everything was delicious, and I’ll be very happy to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

For desesrt, I made the same vegan chocolate mousse that Dynise (the Urban Vegan) made at the cooking demonstration on Saturday.  It’s so easy: 3 ingredients, and it only takes 5 minutes!

My food baby (Claude) is quite content tonight

I’ve been having trouble fitting my huge metal water bottle into my purse to bring to work every day; Christine found these genius collapsible, BPA-free and environmentally friendly water bottles.  Look how cool they are!

I’ll let you know how I like them.

Please excuse me while I take my time catching up on your e-mail questions… I’m a little behind. Off to do some reading for work… hope to be asleep by 12!

Have a great night

Last night, after we got back from the wedding, I hunkered down to do some reading and prepare for my interviews.  All of that brain stimulation must have shot my metabolism into [...]]]> Good evening, Upper East Siders!  How are you? I’m taking a little work break to blog and catch up on my Gossip.

Last night, after we got back from the wedding, I hunkered down to do some reading and prepare for my interviews.  All of that brain stimulation must have shot my metabolism into overdrive, because only a couples hours after dinner,  my tum was a-grumblin’ something fierce! I thought I might just be thirsty, but that didn’t seem to be it.  Finally, I put down my book and headed into the kitchen to make a bowl of Kashi GoLean and Smart Start. Problem solved!

This morning, I woke up bright and early to see Ari off.  As I mentioned, he’s going Vigilante through December, and had to leave at 7:30 this morning.  I tried to go back to sleep, but my mind was already up and ready to go.  I had to be at physical therapy at 10 anyway, so I just got up and made breakfast.

Taking Jess‘s advice, I heated up half of a Trader Joe’s Berry Mango Bran Muffin, crumbled it up, and tossed in on top of 0% Fage with some warmed frozen berries and a scoop of flaxy PB.  I really like this peanut butter, by the way.   It’s both crackly and crunchy and adds great texture!

Quite the mess!

My therapy session went well… I still have a lot of tightness in pretty much each muscle in my legs, so I have to keep working on that.  Repeat after me: yoga, rolling and stretching, okay!  When I got back, I briefly chatted with the guest who is staying with us, made myself an apple-cinnamon snack, and retreated to my room to be interviewed (via phone) with the HR department for the company I’m interviewing with.

It shaped up to be one of those days where I was constantly hungry, so I made something as soon as the clock showed that it was even remotely close to lunchtime.  Ellie reminded me yesterday about the beauty of the crack wrap, so I made one with a whole wheat wrap, three-layer hummus, and a slice of Jarlsberg cheese.

I ate it with half a can of Progresso’s Fat Free Lentil soup.   This isn’t the tastiest of the canned variety, but I had a hankering for soup.  I’ll definitely be making my own in the near future!

Finished up the meal with a piece of salt water taffy for a sweet end.

I’ve been searching in vain for the seasonal Celestial Seasonings teas (like Sugar Cookie and Gingerbread)… any New Yorkers know where I can track it down?  I settled on a cup of Sweet Coconut Thai Chai, which was a good substitute…

…but it knocked me right out!  Ari caught me snoozing at 5PM when he woke me up with a phone call.  Whoops! I snacked on some carrots to perk me back up…

… then did Yoga Download‘s Hip Opening Flow #2.  I have trouble practicing yoga for more than 20 minutes when I’m not in class… does anyone have tips for staying in the moment? Turning off my phone would probably be a good start!

I heated up some leftover Coconut Barley Pilaf and made a quick salad with kale, broccoli slaw, grape tomatoes, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar.

Honestly, as much as I love my fancy salad dressings, I could probably make a sesame vinaigrette every night and be happy.  It’s simple, but so delicious.  I don’t even use measurements or mix anything together… the vinegar and oil just get drizzled on.

I made another quick dessert, starting with a tri-flavored chocolate sauce using Pure Dark cardamom chocolate, semisweet and bittersweet chocolate chips.

I added a few drops of water, microwaved the bowl for 35 seconds, then mixed in some Brown Sugar ice cream.

And thus concludes another day’s passing without having spent a single extra dollar on food.  I’m going to have to buy some fresh produce soon, as we’re running low on fruit and vegetables, but otherwise the kitchen is pretty stocked.  It’s a satisfying feeling.

Back to work… it’s going to be a late night.  Bonne nuit

Just now, as I made my breakfast, I’d almost convinced myself I was in a Parisian flat getting ready for the day with the rest of the rest of the workforce. It’s a crisp [...]]]> For some reason, this post didn’t go up this morning when I pressed “Publish”! Sorry about that, folks

Just now, as I made my breakfast, I’d almost convinced myself I was in a Parisian flat getting ready for the day with the rest of the rest of the workforce. It’s a crisp day out, but the windows are open, letting the fresh air (and an upstairs neighbor’s cigarette smoke) waft in. It’s about 2 there right now… my parents are probably having a simple lunch somewhere, and Ari is getting ready for his show tonight in Manchester. I haven’t really heard from my parents (except a frantic back-and-forth with my dad about physical therapy), but it seems like the Upwelling‘s tour is off to a great start!

Yesterday morning I played a fierce game of “snooze” with the alarm clock. You might be wondering why I even bother setting alarm given that I don’t have a job, but I find that I really need to keep myself on a remotely “normal” schedule so that things get done and I don’t lose my mind.

Breakfast was a little different yesterday.

I cooked 1/3 cup of 5-Grain Cereal in 2/3 cup of water, then microwaved a diced apple with cinnamon and a little brown sugar. (Blew the fuse with this one… the dishwasher and dryer was already running in the kitchen, and the vacuum was in use in another room. Whoops! But a girl’s gotta have her breakfast ) I topped everything with 1/4 banana and a big scoop of peanut butter.

I haven’t had any hot cereal other than oats since I graduated, but I’m going to keep this up. It’s a nice change!

My knee was feeling a little better when I woke up, so I decided to go to the gym and see how using the bike felt. Well… not so great. It hurt to go faster than a snail, but the slow pace was really frustrating. I ended up getting off after 20 minutes, hobbling over to the machines to try arms, getting even more frustrated, and leaving. The combination of an over- crowded locker room and no hot water in the showers led to a minor meltdown… there were a few tears as I stood under the shower head, freezing and wondering if this was the end of my running career. Then I moved on with my life.

My friend Hannah and I met at Whole Foods for lunch, and I loaded my box with some of my favorite comfort foods.

Including but not restricted to:

• Mixed greens
• Steamed broccoli
• Artichokes
• Sweet Potatoes
• Baked Tofu
• 1 Plantain
• Vegan Chicken Salad
• “Detox Salad” made w/ ground cauliflower
• Whole Grain Taboule
• Kale & Cantaloupe salad

I also sneaked in some coconut water

After lunch I went home and made some calls to physical therapists, trying to get an appointment.  No luck!  So, I decided to relax a little and settled into bed with a book, a cup of chai, and an apple with cinnamon.  Very cozy!

This quote would be more appropriate if it ended with “honor your body“, but I can do both.

For some reason I was hungry for dinner a lot earlier than usual, so I ended up getting dinner ready around 6:30.  I diced up an heirloom tomato…

… and mixed it in with the leftover Lemony  Rigatoni w/ Chickpeas & Broccoli, which I topped with parmesan.

I had a few leaves of romaine on the side, as well as a big rebel carrot.

Ilana came over a little later, and after I made her a quick dinner, we had an ice cream party!  Good sleepovers are not complete without them.

I had a bowl with half Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter Cup and half Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean. with a hearty drizzle of hot fudge.

Speaking of ice cream, remember the almond-less Vanilla Swiss Almond? Well, I finally got around to calling Haagen-Dazs, and they were very nice about the mix-up and should have a coupon in the mail.  All’s well that ends well!

I’ll be back a little later with the physical therapist’s diagnosis.  Hope you’re having a great day!

Good morning, everyone! Ready for Tuesday? I pressed snooze one too many times this morning, so I’m a little less prepared than I would have liked, but you can’t win ‘em all.

Yesterday, first thing in the morning, I popped a square of Amadei’s 70% [...]]]> For some reason this post didn’t go through this morning…

Good morning, everyone! Ready for Tuesday? I pressed snooze one too many times this morning, so I’m a little less prepared than I would have liked, but you can’t win ‘em all.

Yesterday, first thing in the morning, I popped a square of Amadei’s 70% Toscano Black chocolate.

This is apparently the way chocolate “should” be eaten, and I agree… having chocolate in the morning made me feel like a queen!

In terms of real “breakfast” food, I decided to break into my new stash of Amazing Grass. From the reviews I’ve read by other bloggers, the Grass can be a bit… strong, on its own, upon first taste.  I decided to play it safe and blended the Berry Green Superfood flavor with water and a banana.

Upon first taste, it was a little thin, so I added a scoop of chunky peanut butter.

It was perfect! I took my green smoothie outside, to enjoy it in its natural habitat

After breakfast, I hit the books for a few hours before work.  In the middle of my reading, I shared an apple with my interim boyfriend, Monster.

When I work, I try to keep myself on track and away from distractions the same way I do when I run. “In fifty pages I can have a snack…. When I get to the next chapter I can check my email….” (“In two minutes I can walk for thirty seconds…”)  When I could stand my hunger no longer, I broke for lunch.

I’ve had this package of Fantastic World Foods Spicy Thai Vegetarian Soup for-EVAH.  I bought it when I was still in school and have seriously carted it all over the place, thinking it would make a good, quick meal.  I even brought it with me to the Summit! (Sounds like a security blanket, hmm?)

I’m not a huge fan of packaged noodle soups, but these noodles are baked, not deep-fried, unlike conventional ramen soups. The nutritional profile is pretty good, too, and the ingredient list is short and comprehensive.

I bulked up the meal, making it LVP-friendly.

I took advantage of my leftover steamed kale and GC-tofu and stirred them into the soup.

Not bad! It did need a little more flavor, however, so I added some miso paste, Bragg’s, and Sriracha. Noodle-slurping good

Dessert was something really special.  I’ve been meaning to make Gena’s Lemon Chiffon pudding for a week, and I thought I deserved to have it on a Monday.  It was so, so good. Who would have thought avocado would make a good dessert? The lady’s a genius.

During work, I had an Amazing Grass Organic Green SuperFood Whole Food Energy Bar.

I reviewed this bar way back when, and still enjoyed it. I liked it more with every bite! I was paranoid that it was getting stuck in my teeth, though, so it took me over an hour to eat so I wouldn’t humiliate myself in front of the customers!

Ramón was in a ridiculously good mood yesterday, and said we could have whatever we wanted to eat! I went with the special salad (mixed greens, a sliver of avocado, apple, tomato, walnuts, and goat cheese), topped with…

GRILLED SHRIMP! I was a happy girl.

I stopped at a new frozen yogurt place, Yogurt Station (one of FOUR fro-yo places on St. Mark’s) and got a huge cup of nonfat peanut butter, chocolate, cake batter, and green tea. I went a little crazy with the toppings and added mango, mochi, Heath bar, and a chocolate-covered pretzel.

All that for $3.73! A gal’s gotta treat herself sometimes.

Have a great day!

Yesterday morning, some of us met at 7:30 for a run. We [...]]]> Good morning and happy Monday! By now, I’m sure you’ve all read numerous recaps of the 2009 Healthy Living Summit… I know I have! It’s interesting to see everyone’s take on it, because, like us bloggers, no two experiences are the same.

Yesterday morning, some of us met at 7:30 for a run. We hadn’t had coffee, but look at all those smiling faces! (Thanks to Caitlin for letting me bogart her pictrures )

I joined the 3 mile group, and enjoyed great conversation (pug or German Shepherd?) with like-minded ladies.

We ended up going about 3.5 miles, and I know I could have gone on longer. Having someone (or 10 someones!) to run with makes all the difference.  Do I see a race in my future?

Total time: 33:36 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 192 (96%)
Average heart rate: 172 (86%)

Calories burned: 380

After the run we had over an hour until breakfast, and I needed something for my tum.  Coffee!  I spent an embarrassingly long time trying to find the filters…

… only to discover they were “tea bag” style, and the filters were the coffee. Doh.

The group reassembled and went to Finagle A Bagle for lunch.

Talk about maximum efficiency! The bagels shoot out, assembly-line style…

They are then sliced by a giant spinning blade.

There were so many interesting bagel choices! French Toast, Honey Grain, Stuffed Vegetable…

The line was long, but we were all in an out in no time.  That’s progress, baby, progress.

We found a grassy knoll to sit on and enjoyed our breakfast outside, enjoying the last minutes of the Healthy Living Summit.

It took me a little while to set up my breakfast (I can be a little high-maintenance about that, if you haven’t noticed : On a toasted honey grain bagel, I spread light cream cheese on half, and Barney Butter with honey on the other half.

I also made sure to get some fruit in.

I was in a little bit of a rush to make the 12 PM checkout, but I managed to grab Heather to take a sunglass-twin photo. Why spend good money on fancy shades when you can get sexy ones like these at Target?

I hustled back to the hotel, grabbed my stuff, and hobbled out.  When I got to the station, I surveyed all of the food choices.  Not great, but I did manage to find a Greek Salad at D’Angelo’s.

I wasn’t a fan of the creamy dressing it came with… a relief, because I knew it would also stink up the bus. (I removed the onions for that very reason!)

There was an absurd amount of feta and olives, and I left a lot behind.

I also munched on an apple while reading my copy of Body + Soul from the swag bag. There are some great recipes in there that I can’t wait to try!

The ride from Boston –> New York is almost five hours, so I needed another snack. I went back to the swag bag for a Fruition bar, made by the makers of Pro Bar.

Here’s an idea of the size of the bar, using my camera case:

Pros: There’s a definite strawberry flavor here.  It’s very soft and grainy, so you don’t have to work too hard to eat it like some other sports bars out there. It reminds me of something I ate as a kid during snack time at school (which is reinforced by the sticky fingers you will get upon eating this). I like its snack size; you don’t have to make the 400 calorie commitment that you do for a regular Pro Bar. It also has very pretty packaging!

Cons: It’s a little too soft for me. I wish it would either be firmer like a Larabar, or crunchier like a granola here. There are oats in here, after all, so it shouldn’t be so soggy!

Bottom line: Would I buy this? Maybe. I want to try the other flavors of Fruition; I’ve heard rumors of Blueberry, which sounds pretty good. I don’t know how widely available they are yet (I’ve never seen them in stores), but keep your eyes open!

I shlepped about 100 pounds home from Chinatown and just wanted a comforting meal.  I made my old standby comfort food:

Gliding Calm tofu; a sweet potato with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar; steamed kale with rice wine vinegar; brown rice. This meal really feels like the equivalent of a big bear hug.

Do you have any comfort foods or meals you turn over and over?

I enjoyed dinner with a small glass of Villa Farnia di Farnese’s 2008 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo that my friend Howard gave me.

Frank Bruni describes this as a “good, solid, dependable wine;”  a staple in Italian restaurants.  It is medium tannin, smooth, and has the taste of black fruit.

I enjoyed the wine while watching Revolutionary Road and munching on one of Jenna‘s chocolate chip biscotti.

Er, make that two biscotti. I didn’t want the first one to be lonely!

Another great day. The Summit was a blast.  I had so much fun meeting over one hundred women who love to do some of the same things I do! Who’d a thought, in high school, that that would be possible?

It’s back to the grind, unfortunately, and I have a lot of reading to do. Hope your week is off to a great start!

Yesterday, I started my morning with [...]]]> Good morning and happy humpday! The week goes so fast when you’ve had a long weekend.  I can’t believe Boston is in two days!  I still don’t know who all is going to be there, so if you’re reading this and are going, please drop me a line!

Yesterday, I started my morning with another awesome parfait.

• plain nonfat yogurt
• 1 white peach
• 1 plum
• 2 cherries
• cinnamon

Yum!

This didn’t hold me too well, sadly, and I had to break into one of my snacks on the way to my internship.   I’m running dangerously low on fig bars; a trip to TJ’s is greatly needed!

I went to Starbucks on my lunch break.  Even though I brought lunch with me, I wanted a place to sit and get out of the sun.  It was almost 100 yesterday! I ordered a tall iced coffee (and added skim and sugar in the raw) to grant me a chair.

I brought 1/2 serving of my leftover spinach fettucine con vongole:

I still had some leftover dressing from my raw “peanut” noodles, so I brought that and dipped leftover steamed kale and romaine in it. Deliciously messy.

With an apple, it made a pretty good for a lunch on the go!

After a few more hours of work at the office, I headed across town to go to the restaurant.  I’d been craving a smoothie all day, so I stopped at Elixir.  Every day they have $5 specials, so I went with that and got the Smart Start: banana, apple cider, orange juice, strawberries, melon, gingko, and protein powder.

A pretty hefty “snack”, but I thought I was going to have to power through another 8-hour shift.

Thinking I would have to wait until 11 to eat dinner, I split a Ginger Snap Larabar with my friend Cornelius around 7.

Unfortunately, by 7:45 I’d only had one table (whose grand total came to $11.92), so I went home with a wrinkly dollar in my pocket. I should have only made $.65 after tip-out (we have to give back 35%), but the busboys, bartender and manager didn’t want the $.10.

I took a salad to go; new policy says that wait-staff can only have plain lettuce or plain pasta, so I took my dinner home and beefed it up.

I added tomatoes, goat cheese, a chik’n patty, hummus, red pepper flakes and lemon vinaigrette.

I was craving chemicals for dessert and had a Skinny Cow vanilla-flavored Skinny Dipper.

While watching Almost Famous for the 23rd time, I did some therapeutic laundry-folding and felt a little better.

Sorry for that little rant. Today will be better! Ho ho ho.

Afternoon! Well, it’s evening now, but when I started first trying to post this it was 3.  The internet has been pretty funky for the past week… how’s a girl supposed to surf Shopbop do important research?

I had a couple of things to pick up at Target today, but for once [...]]]>

Afternoon! Well, it’s evening now, but when I started first trying to post this it was 3.  The internet has been pretty funky for the past week… how’s a girl supposed to surf Shopbop do important research?

I had a couple of things to pick up at Target today, but for once I actually stuck to the items on my list.  They usually have samples on the weekend, so my timing was ideal! I got a little slice of cheese quesadilla with salsa.

It tasted so good and quenched my shopping stress-induced hunger.  I hadn’t been planning on having one for lunch today, but what with my new hummus purchase…

Crack wrap it was! I saw that K used American cheese yesterday so I tried it out.  Not quite as good as the cheddar, but still pretty darn delicious.

I had it with an orange…

… and a small Green(ish) Monster to get some veggies in.

Green(ish) monster:

• 1 cup kale
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1 diced apple, warmed
• 1 tsp flax meal
• 2 ice cubes

Then the baking bug hit.  Ever since middle school, baking has been my favorite form of procrastination.  I’d been planning on using my brown bananas to make bread, and today was as good a day as any.

Veganomicon‘s Lower Fat Banana bread, Lilveggiepatch-style

• 2 mashed bananas
• 1/2 cup NSA wild berry applesauce
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup nuts (I used walnuts and pecans), chopped
• optional: more nuts (I used hazelnuts) for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 and coat a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

Mash bananas very well and mix in applesauce, sugar, oil and agave nectar.  Gradually stir in flours, spices, baking soda and salt.  Stir in nuts.

Garnish with nuts and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor with butter and jam (not pictured, but I used Stonewall Kitchen’s Wild Maine Blueberry)

I also finally, after over a year of lusting after them every time they appeared on a new food blog, made Dreena’s Super-Charge Me Cookies.  Sarah (happy birthday!) posted the link to the famous recipe the other day, which just about made my week.  Sad but true!

(If I were staying longer than two more weeks I’d invest in some steel wool to get those burn marks off my cookie sheet, but…)

Of course I had to taste one (délicieux).  I’ve been playing the  let’s-see-how-many-times-I-can-do-the-dishes-in-one-day game… I’m  up to four.

The cookies went into my salad tupperware… you can see where my priorities are.

Unfortunately I used up the last of the almond butter

There’s really no point in buying a new jar for the next two weeks, but I don’t know that peanut butter will be quite the same on my dates and figs.

Anyway, time to get to work.  Hope your Saturday is going wonderfully and you’re doing something fun tonight!