Yesterday I was up at the crack of 4:50 to get my booty to the gym and log 7 miles before work.  I popped an Aleve and grabbed two Clif Peanut Butter Shot [...]]]> Looks like you guys really want to win some nut butter! Keep the entries coming; you have until tomorrow

Yesterday I was up at the crack of 4:50 to get my booty to the gym and log 7 miles before work.  I popped an Aleve and grabbed two Clif Peanut Butter Shot Roks (the company sent these a while back) on the way out the door… I liked them! Not two “protein-y” and just hearty enough to satiate me at 5 AM.

Luckily I was so worried about hurting my knee that I didn’t find myself getting too bored on the treadmill.

Warm-up: 5.8 mph

Mile 2-5.5: 6.4 mph

Mile 5.5-6: 7.5 mph

Mile 6-7: 6.2, 5.8., 5.0, 4.5, 4.0, 3.5

Total time: 1:07:55

I dropped my iPod twice while I was running, and the first time after I had to stop and retrieve it and then start up again it really hurt.  It was pretty sore on the walk home, too, so while I ate breakfast, I iced.

Breakfast was the first breakfast cookie I’ve had in months!

This was a particularly good one.

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• splash of skim milk
• 1 tsp Maranatha No Stir Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• toppings: goji berries, cinnamon, Greek yogurt, pumpkin, dried fig, agave

As soon as I got to work, I go an ice pack out of the freezer and kept it on my knee for most of the day.

Despite my long run, breakfast held me over really well!  I only needed an orange to hold me until lunch (I ate the apple later in the afternoon).

For lunch I had leftover Chopped Coconut Miso Salad and Everything Pretzel Crisps.

One of our coworkers thought Danielle and I were sisters… I don’t really see the resemblance, do you?

In addition to the apple, I also had a Caramel Chocolate Forze Bar in the afternoon.

After work I went to a networking happy hour (hello, $4 Absolut cocktails!) then came home to a delicious meal grace à Daddy-O: sautéed broccoli rabe, roasted tomatoes, octopus braised in red wine, and brown rice.

I also had a small bowl of mushroom and wild rice soup.

For dessert I had a bowl of Ciao Bella’s Blackberry Cabernet sorbet with chocolate sauce… somehow it was a little camera shy   Before I got into bed, I took one of my coworker’s suggestions (she’s run three half-marathons) and took a warm bath, then rolled out both IT Bands and glute muscles.  My calves are pretty sore today and I have a feeling my knee isn’t going to be much better.  I’m instating a “no running until Sunday” rule.

Off to go walk the pooch and get ready for the day.  Have a great weekend!

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.

On Christmas morning, we headed into the living room to open presents, drink [...]]]> Another Christmas has come and gone, but for the first time that I can remember, I’m not experiencing that “let down” feeling one day, even two days after that’s similar to what I felt my first day home from sleepaway camp.

On Christmas morning, we headed into the living room to open presents, drink tea and coffee, and chat.

I was completely shocked to open a package and find…

the new Canon PowerShot s90!  I’d been debating on whether I wanted to get an SLR or a smaller camera; I wanted an SLR for the quality, but didn’t want the hassle of carrying around another bag all the time.  Well, this camera has the quality of the SLR, and it automatically adjusts to the appropriate setting, be it portrait or macro.

Eager to try out my new toy, I wasted no time by snapping photos of our special Christmas-morning breakfast: banana pancakes!

I wanted some protein…

…so I topped my three pancakes with plain Oikos Greek yogurt and real maple syrup.

It was quite a festive morning.

We hung around the house for a little while (Ari read me the first 20 pages of the camera manual), then headed out to the movie theater to see Sherlock Holmes.  We always see movies on Christmas Day, and tend to go to the big blockbusters.  The rest of New York City seemed to have the same idea as us; the line was so long it snaked up three flights of stairs!  Luckily, my parents got there early and were in the front of the line.  We tease my mom for wanting to get to movies, restaurants, and airports early, but sometimes she’s right

Meanwhile, Ari and I stopped at a deli to get lunch.

My spinach salad had beets, mandarin oranges, carrots, curried shrimp cucumbers, blue cheese and honey mustard dressing on the side.

We also snacked on chestnuts my dad had roasted in the morning…

… and sneaked some homemade, unbuttered (but generously salted!) popcorn in… all of a sudden, I can’t get enough salty snacks!

The movie was really good (as was the eye candy); although I fell asleep for the first hour.  I don’t know what’s wrong with me- you really can’t take me anywhere! The theater was pretty warm, though.  It was pouring rain when we left the theater, so we hurried home to leftovers and a warm apartment.

We had pumpkin/sweet potato/coconut soup…

… pasta using slow-roasted tomatoes for sauce (delicious)…

… and a palate-cleansing fennel-and-navel-orange salad.

We gobbled up the last of the bûche de Noël for dessert, of course!

The magic of the holidays doesn’t seem to be dissipating, no matter how old I get or how “adult” my life may seem to be.  It’s not about gifts or fancy dinners, but a time to share with my family and those I love.

I hope you had a happy, healthy and safe holiday.  Until next year…

Read about last year’s Christmas at the LVP household!

There are few things more exciting and anticipatory for me than Christmas morning… I hope that feeling never goes away! Everyone else is still sleeping, and, “as giddy as a schoolboy,” I am up and ready to bring on the holiday! But I’ll be a nice daughter and girlfriend [...]]]>

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

There are few things more exciting and anticipatory for me than Christmas morning… I hope that feeling never goes away! Everyone else is still sleeping, and, “as giddy as a schoolboy,” I am up and ready to bring on the holiday! But I’ll be a nice daughter and girlfriend and can wait a little bit longer. Let me tell you about Christmas Eve!

I had the best of intentions yesterday… I really was planning to go to the gym before work. I even made breakfast the night before to take with me and eat at the office! Jim really is the best of all portable breakfasts.

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 packet Tera’s Whey Bourbon Vanilla protein powder (I think this made my cookie fluffier than usual)
• 1 banana
• 1 scoop Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter
• 2 T skim milk
• toppings: prunes, goji berries, cinnamon

This was a winning combination. The sweet spicy peanut butter was excellent, and the goji berries plumped up over night and were soft and chewy, not hard and gummy as they usually are on their own.

Anyway, as you’ve probably guessed by now, I didn’t make it to the gym. I just snoozed, and snoozed… and snoozed! I ended up getting up an hour later than I do on regular days! Good thing I packed my breakfast. At work, I also snacked on an apple. (Skirt by J.Crew, tights by Trina Turk for hue.)

We had an early close at the office, so my mom met me and we went to Le Pain Quotidien for lunch.

I wanted something hot, so I got a small soy chai to warm up. It needed the teensiest bit of extra sugar.

For my entrée, I ordered the Organic Tofu Salad with nori, mixed greens, and three savory dressings. It also came with organic bread.

We split a slice of pumpkin pie for dessert… it was Christmas Eve, after all! (I’m not a huge fan of this kind of pie crust, so I cut it off. This can also save you about 100 calories, if you are so inclined.)

New York is in full Christmas swing right now.

We stumbled on a holiday crafts fair on our walk home!

I was very excited to find a stall selling Fine & Raw chocolate.

After chatting with the self-described “Fine & Raw elf”, we knew we had to try some raw hot chocolate.

We split a small cup with a “shake” of sea salt… divine. I’ll have to try their chocolate bars sometime!

Finally, we headed home to get started on the festivities!

Ari came over, and we all started on the tree.

I am very picky about who gets to top our tree… Santa always wins!

No tree-trimming party is complete without champagne…

Cheers!

My dad really outdid himself to make a special Christmas Eve dinner for us to enjoy together.

We had a bottle of Joseph Faiveley Mâcon-Villages to complement our meal.

Whenever there’s wine to be opened, Ari has to do it.

This wine key is supposed to be idiot-proof, but I just can’t figure it out! It’s become a bit of a joke.

We started with a pumpkin and sweet potato soup made with a coconut milk base, sweet spices, cilantro and toasted peanuts:

Curried lobster (!), Israeli couscous with cauliflower, and herbed tomatoes he slow-roasted for five hours. It was a fabulous meal.

As per LVP tradition, we closed the meal with bûche de Noël (“yule log”). Ours came from Balthazar; we’ve been getting these for years and years and after careful research are convinced this is the best one.

It’s a chocolate cake with vanilla cream, marzipan, and hints of rum and mocha.

After dinner, we all watched Christmas Vacation. We couldn’t find our copy last year (very sad), but this year was a success. The only Christmas movies Ari had seen are It’s A Wonderful Life and The Santa Clause (one of my favorites), and I think he really liked it! After the movie, we migrated back to the Christmas tree to continue with our Christmas Eve tradition…

… reading The Polar Express aloud together.

Charley tried to read a little, too.

Well, I think it’s time! I’m going to go rally the troops. Have a wonderful day, wherever it finds you. Stay merry

This morning [...]]]> Evening! How was your Monday? Mine was lovely, but very long.  I’m about ready to roll over and go to sleep… then wake up and do it all again!  This is working life, I guess. I actually really like having a routine, I just wish there were  more hours in the day.

This morning I was a little rushed to get things ready (and left a few dirty dishes in the sink for Ari… whoops).  We’re still really low on groceries; I’ve gotten some little things here and there, but haven’t done a big shop.  I think I’ll probably wait until after the holidays, though.  Anyway, I wanted to make a pumpkin cake, but I really didn’t have enough pumpkin.  And thus, the pumpkin-banana cake was born! I just mixed up a banana, pumpkin, pumpkin butter and egg whites together and microwaved them for 3 minutes.  I topped the mixture with plain yogurt, lemon curd and flaxy peanut butter, and mixed that all up, too. Mm-mm good!

At work I snacked on a Mocha-walla bar; I wasn’t exactly hungry, but it was a little slow in the office because of the holidays so I think I just ate out of boredom.  These bars always make me think of my friend K!  This was pretty good… not my favorite, but I’d probably buy it again.  I like the chunks of chocolate!

I stopped at Whole Foods yesterday to pick up some things (mostly protein) that I can mix into salads for fast and easy lunches to bring to work.  I’ll be honest: I’m not too proud that I haven’t been able to cook as much as I’d hoped, but I think I’ll get a better hang of it once I’ve settled in a little better.

My salad today had spinach, edamame salad, cabbage slaw, corn salad and sesame-baked tofu.

I ate with a friend from work, who stopped at Pret-à-Manger for her lunch.  While there, I picked up a container of antioxidant vinaigrette to dress my salad with because it was made with blueberries!  The sales clerk didn’t even charge me for it.  Tis the season for kindness and generosity

Back at work, I snacked on an apple and did some research.  Yep, I get paid to read! I love my job

One of my coworkers made my day when he not only brought me a copy of Sarma Melngailis’ Living Raw Food (which I have been lusting after for months), but a raw coco-nutty treat as well! It had raisins, seeds, coconut, and all sorts of good things. I think it’s high time my food processor was put to work to make some of these goodies.

When I left work, I high-tailed it to the West Village to meet my parents, George, Judy and Anita for Judy’s birthday dinner at Il Mulino.  Almost as soon as we sat down, we were given an amuse boûche of marinated tomatoes, mussels and fried zucchini.

We were each also given hunks of parmesan (which I may or may not have brought home with me)…

…and a bread basket for the table with the most delicious smoked chili oil-soaked strips of crusty bread.

The ladies ordered Manhattans…

… and we toasted Judy.

My dad and I split two appetizers: fresh calamari sautéed in a spicy herbed tomato sauce…

… and black squid-ink linguini with scallops, shrimp and calamari.  I only had a few bites of this (although it was quite delicious)… I wanted to save room!

For my entrée, I ordered the branzino special.  This was the most tender sea bass I’ve ever eaten: light, fluffy, and oh-so delicate.  It really only needed a bit of lemon!

After Jud blew out her candle…

we split three desserts six ways:  The best flourless chocolate cake I’ve had in my life, with the best whipped cream I’ve had in my life.  Seriously.

The sweetest fresh strawberries with cinnamon sabayon…

…and ricotta-mascarpone cheesecake.

We were also brought out glasses of grappa, and toasted again.  (I only had a sip, and gave the rest to George.)

Happy Birthday, Judy!

It was a wonderful night.

This morning I woke up bright and early, eyes-a-burnin’, ready to work.  I made a pot of coffee (and drank [...]]]> Evening! How are you doing on this fine Thursday? Today has been a strange day and I’ve felt a little out of sorts for most of it! Not in a bad way, just… different.

This morning I woke up bright and early, eyes-a-burnin’, ready to work.  I made a pot of coffee (and drank it black, which is unusual for home-brew… I usually only drink it straight when I’m out) and got breakfast ready.  It was nutty,fruity, and choco-coconutty.

In the bowl:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup water
• frozen berries
• leftover un-balled chocolate snowball dust
• flaxy PB

I worked all morning, got ‘er done, and before I knew it, it was almost time to go to physical therapy.  But what about lunch?! I made a very quick salad, and ate it even faster.

In the mix:

• baby spinach
• escarole
• grape tomatoes
• 1/2 Gala apple
• celery
• Morningstar Farms Pizza Lovers Burger
• sesame vinaigrette

When I left the house it had started raining, and kept on for the rest of the day.  I got to the subway and they were doing track work on my line again, so I had to call my PT and push the appointment back. Again.  They must hate me! But I was able to get an appointment at 3:30 instead of 2, even though I probably would have made it on time.  I was scheduled to run five miles today; it would have been too dark by the time my appointment was over and I got back home, but I didn’t have enough time to go to the gym first.  Quite a conundrum! So I decided to push the run back until tomorrow, but it’s supposed to rain again so I might just have to tough it out and get wet.  I’m going to have to figure this out soon, though, because it’s getting darker earlier and earlier now (4:30) and I don’t think it’s a good idea to run in the park at night by myself.

While I was weighing each option, I took shelter from the rain in the subway and snacked on a cup of Strawberry Oikos.

My appointment went well; I did a lot of leg work on the pilates machine which I have a feeling I’ll feel tomorrow!  Even though I had recently eaten, my stomach was grumbling the whole time and as soon as I walked out of the office I dug into my purse and found an Apple Pie Larabar.  Never underestimate the importance of the “emergency snack.”

The bar held me over for a while, but when I got home at 5:30, I was already thinking about dinner again.  I think it must be the darkness outside that’s throwing off my internal clock.  I looked in the pantry, the fridge, and the hanging produce basket to see what I could see.

Brandi‘s pasta-stuffed squash inspired me, so I decided to combine two of my favorites: roasted veggies and loaded macaroni and cheese.  I cut an acorn squash in half and rubbed each with olive oil, salt, pepper and cayenne; then I roasted them at 450˚ for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, I sipped on a glass of Rosemount Sauvignon Blanc.  Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite white wines, and from my experience, unless the wine is really cheap (and you remember buying it at the liquor store near your college’s campus), it’s a pretty safe bet.

Rosemount is an Australian-based vineyard. In traditional French Sauvignon Blanc,  Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon grapes are often blended together; Sémillon come from Bordeaux and Southwest France, whereas Sauvignon Blanc can come from Bordeaux, the Loire Valley, southwestern France and Languedoc.(FWFD 19).  “Sauvignon Blanc is the dominant grape variety (60 to 100 percent) in most of Bordeaux’s dry white wines, whereas Sémillon dominates the sweeter white wines…. The Sauvignon Blanc part of the wine offers immediate charm; it’s crisp, lively, herbaceous, light0bodied, and develops early” (FWFD 70). Rosemount’s version is also a Sémillon blend.

When the squash was just about done, I made a bowl of macaroni and cheese mixed with tuna, nutritional yeast and chili flakes.

I packed the mixture into the squash halves and baked them for 2 minutes longer.

These were so good! I loved the sweetness of the squash, the saltiness of the tuna and the cheesiness of the pasta noodles.  I know I’ve been getting a little crazy with my mac ‘n cheese lately, but it’s so much better that way

I was craving ice cream for dessert, so I started with a Pure Dark Chipotle/ semi-sweet/bittersweet chocolate sauce.  A few drops of water, 30 seconds in the microwave, and a quick stir gives you melty freshness that’s far better than Hershey’s.

I added a little Brown Sugar ice cream, and had a nice lil sundae for myself.

I needed to take the night off from thinking about (un)employment, so I climbed in bed with my dessert and popped Wristcutters: A Love Story into the DVD player.  It was pretty cute, in a twisted sort of way.  I’m going to try to get a quick yoga sesh in and hit the sack.  Bed before 10? You betcha!

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

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