Days after holidays are hard when you have to say goodbye to family and head home. There’s just that little feeling of something missing..

I am cheering up by relaxing with my boys and catching up on blogs and Biggest Loser.

My morning started with some plain yogurt, granola, raisins and slivered almonds. After the picture was taken I drizzled a little honey on top.

Along with a cup of OJ(please excuse the messy table).

We packed up and headed out by noon, around 1:15 we pulled over to eat our lunches. Mom packed “gobblers”..

The story of the gobbler begins about eight years ago at this point we had already spent a couple summer’s on Martha’s Vineyard, a small island off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass.

We actually lived there for a few months, at the beginning of my freshman year of high school. We heard of “Humphrey’s Bakery” and it’s awesome sandwiches. One day, we pulled over into the little shop that’s pictured on the website and I saw the “Turkey Gobbler” sandwich which had turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce on fresh bread. I thought it sounded good so we ordered it. Well it was a HUGE sandwich on crusty, fresh french bread. The turkey was real turkey and was every time we went. They actually cooked a turkey everyday to make your sandwich amazing and at the time it was 5 bucks. The best deal on the island. It’s now 6.50 but trust me, they could charge 10 for this sammie. Now every day after Thanksgiving, my mom always makes us gobblers. We weren’t together last year, so I happily ate!

She made it on some Publix white mountain bread my sister had bought(her favorite). It was awesome!

We also picked up some fuel. With DD iced coffee it can be really good or really bad. Sadly, this was one of those bad DD times. They didn’t add any sugar or sweetener at all. I need a little something here! Luckily I had some sugar packets in my car from past DD trips, I used a few but they don’t really dissolve easily in cold liquid. I drank about half.

Now we are home. Leo is sleeping..

..he’ll be a little sad for the next few days but I think he’ll cheer up. My sister brought him here so that we could be his “foster parents” for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. She lives in NYC and manages a popular BBQ restaurant there. She works long hours and so Leo is usually home by himself a lot. Also, it’s hard for her when she wants to go out with friends after a long day, or one of her few days off and has to choose between leaving him alone longer or going out. This is a trial run, and we’re happy to help her out.

I miss my sister already, this was the best visit we’ve had with each other in a while. Sometimes we get tense with each other but this time there was none of that. We are 5 1/2 years apart in age(I’m younger) and as I get older I feel like we can relate a lot more and just really be there for each other. She is an amazing sister and I am really blessed.

Here we are at my wedding where she was my maid of honor..

Love you and miss you already Jen!

Right now we are making dinner out of things we have. It’s smelling yumm..

Apple pie recipe to come tonight.

Katy

Count me in as a yogurt fan-boy!  I’ve always loved the stuff but after starting the low-carb nutritional lifestyle I saw that most of it contained too many carbs to eat very often.  And out there in the low-carb community there’s as many opinions as there are low-carbers as to whether yogurt is a permitted food.  The disagreement comes about because the label on most whole fat unsweetened yogurts shows 11 carbs per cup, but some say that’s not really the ECC (Effective Carb Count) because the active bacteria cultures in yogurt convert the lactose (milk sugar) into lactic acid and therefore should not be taken into account in the nutritional analysis.

Well, much to my pleasure award winning cookbook author Jennifer Eloff posted an article entitled ‘Include Yogurt on Your Low-Carb Diet’ this morning on her excellent Low-Carbing and General Health News blog.  She does a fantastic job of debunking the yogurt myth and giving us the facts from the scientific studies.  I’m not going to requote it all here, so be sure to click on the link and check it out for yourself.  It’s a very informative and worthwhile read!

Dairy is one of those things I love and wanted to somehow make it a part of my low-carb nutritional lifestyle.  Now of course milk can’t be a part of it since it has so much lactose but that’s OK, there are other dairy products which fit in very well.  Jennifer even talks about hard cheese being a healthy product…and I love me some seriously sharp cheddar.  I also occasionally eat some cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, cream cheese and kefir.  Lots of choices out there.  My dairy milk substitutes are almond milk or coconut milk.

Now back to the yogurt story.  Just be sure you eat the whole-fat plain yogurt if you’re low-carbing.  Sounds uninteresting and blah, you say.  Use some Splenda, stevia or one of the other many natural sweetener blends out there today to sweeten it to your taste.  Flavors….you can use one of the myriad of wonderful flavors of sugar-free syrups made by DaVinci or Torani.  Or add some berries, fresh or frozen, another great low-carb value.  Or some flax-meal or slivered almonds.  Or a little no-sugar-added coconut.  Lots of choices out there.

And one of my favorite yogurts is Greek yogurt.  It’s much thicker, richer and creamier….heavenly it is!  Try it sometime and you’ll see what I mean.  And yogurt is a great addition to low-carb protein shakes too.  Well, that’s enough of my raves about the wonders of yogurt.  Let me know what your favorite way to eat yogurt is.  I look forward to hearing from y’all!

There Really is Life Without Donuts!

Ron, aka The Former Donut Junkie

Hopefully with a title like that it’ll be easy to find in the archives How was your Thanksgivings?(if I haven’t already read about them on your blogs). Mine was pretty fantastic I’d have to say. But why take my word–the proof is in the pictures!

Firstly, the relatives were running “a little behind”. This is absolutely expected every time. So it didn’t really change anything. I knew Thanksgiving lunch wouldn’t be for a few hours, and I had no plans to touch the appetizers, so I got a head start on dessert.

Deep Chocolate Vitatop With Cocoa Greek Yogurt

Can you tell I had a chocolate tooth? I just mixed cocoa powder and sweetener with the yogurt and voila–it was so thick I think had it been frozen for 30 minutes it would have been like ice cream. At around 1:15 the relatives showed up(which impressed us who thought they wouldn’t be here until 1:40). They came bearing gifts.

Organic Balsamic Vinegar And Lemon Pepper Oil

Maple Syrup From Berlin

*Swoons* Something tells me my relatives are finally starting to “get” me; the maple syrup actually was on my Christmas list!! Now I need something to take its place, right? As predicted, my little cousins had one thing on their mind: video games. They aren’t allowed to have game systems besides a computer(they’re only 8 and 3) so my house is like gold. When they were doing that, the adults had appetizers:

Homemade Meatballs, Whole Food Stuffing Stuffed Mushrooms, Cheese Platter, Trader Joe Chicken Wontons

I’m pretty much the opposite of a grazer, and was still satisfied from my vitatop, so I was fine skipping all this. My mom’s meatballs are kind of famous within the family; maybe some day I’ll steal borrow the recipe and make it with bison and organic sauce. I don’t think I’ve seen someone attack appetizers like my grandfather on those wontons. Apparently he’d been “saving” calories all last week for today. Probably not the healthiest thing but when you’re 75 who’s to say you can’t do what you want.

Carved Turkey

The turkey rested while people chatted and then we got to carving. Notice how on the left it’s pulled like pork and on the right it’s nicely carved in tact. Guess who did the right My mom was anally organized about the table and had labeled everything a place so set up was fast.

Thanksgiving Table

Like usual, my mom and I were the first to the table with the old people behind only because they’re… slower. And the uncle, aunt, and cousins were running around enthralled with video games, haha. My cousin wanted me to help him on a level but I told him I was hungry, and when my grandmother said I’d need to prioritize with my own children I assured her that’s a ways away. And then there was food.

Turkey, Stuffing, Roasted Brussels, Organic Jellied Cranberry

Delicious. The turkey, from Whole Foods, was free-ranged so I felt perfectly fine digging right into it. Ironically, I probably took less than 2oz of meat! I think meat being absent so much while I’m at school makes a little seem like a lot and have me appreciate it more. My “strategy” going in was just to take 3 or 4 foods, even though there were plenty more on the table. I didn’t want to do a “sampler” of everything; I knew I’d have all this for leftovers so I’d rather eat what I did take and ignore what I didn’t. No regrets here or in the foods I did choose. I’ve loooooved cranberry sauce from a can since being a boy and am so happy that this didn’t have HFCS in it. Here are my 3 living grandparents also enjoying the meal:

Enjoying The Meal

We swiftly started heating up pies, defrosting desserts, and cleaning plates. I completely failed on taking a picture of the dessert line up but there was my pie, Trader Joe lemon bars, homemade berry pie from my grandmother, store bought cheesecake, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, and a Carvel birthday cake.

Blowing Out The Candles

Tuesday was my grandfather’s 75th birthday. Happy birthday! Hopefully he doesn’t eat like that everyday or there’s no way he’s hitting 76, haha. There was also another unique item welcomed to the table.

TruWhip

This week I received a coupon from TruWhip to try and review their product. Could you think of a better time than Thanksgiving? Unlike its competitors, TruWhip is 100% natural, 70% organic, with no hydrogenate oils or HFCS. Not only was I happy to try this but it felt great to serve to my family. I took plate of the natural goodies that fit my hunger.

Pumpkin Pie, Trader Joe Lemon Square, TruWhip

What a sweet way to end the meal. The pumpkin pie came out as good this time as last time. The lemon square from Trader Joe was good but not superb; it was definitely better than any lemon bar I could’ve made from scratch. The real shocker here was the TruWhip, which everyone seemed to enjoy. It really tasted just like the competitor to me. I must admit there are some things I miss since eating all-natural so it’s always fun when groceries like this come along. It was light and airy, sweet with a hint of cream. I think the only one who wasn’t convinced it was an identical match was my mom, who went in with a slanted opinion to begin with. I think a carton is only 4 or 5 dollars, and since it can be refrozen for another holiday, this is completely worth buying and keeping around for a naturally special event.

Everyone had a good time and piled out by 5 o’clock. I think the most tired of the day was Montana, who was already sleeping on the couch. We tried passing off as much leftovers as we could but in the end our fridge was full. At least what we have is real food we can work into any meal over the next few days. By 5:45 I was feeling munchy.

Raw Vegetables

I started to work on the leftovers with the raw veggies. My mom couldn’t understand how anyone would still be hungry after Thanksgiving; I believe it’s called not eating 3 slices of Carvel cake? I was happy with eating until I was comfortably full and knowing how much was enough–I absolute despise that “overstuffed” feeling. Right like clockwork I had a dinner for one made and ready for 7.

Brussels And Tempeh Bacon With Maple Syrup, Grand Marnier Sweet Potatoes, Lightlife Breakfast Sausages

3 delicious meals in one day–how lucky am I! I wasn’t quite up to real meat for the time, so instead I let my protein be soy sausaged and tempeh bacon. I steamed and then pan seared some brussels to add some crust, and drizzled maple syrup at the end. The sweet potatoes were one of the dishes I passed over at lunch because I knew there’d be leftovers, and I rather liked this because it made it feel like I was eating a completely new meal! They were pretty good, but I think my mom had a heavy hand with the alcohol because these were pungent, haha

You know I was right there for the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special(it helped that Survivor was just a clip show, too). After a cup of coffee for good digesting, I got to work on more leftovers.

Plain Soy Yogurt With Cranberry Sauce

I will never understand how something like cranberry sauce has become accepted with dinner and not as dessert but I’ll just be thankful for that We got 365 organic and it is perfect. Not only does it not have HFCS but it’s and also a little less sweet so that the tartness is evenly balanced. Between the textures of jellied cranberry soy yogurt and the flavors this was just to die for.

I was also thankful for NBC’s People Of The Year special. I really hope it wasn’t just me. I think I’m becoming old, because in my head I thought of this as “The Today Show + 60 Minutes + Miracle Grow” and practically wet my pants in anticipation. It lived up to what I hoped. I’m really tired of the Octomom and balloon boy, but I could never get tired of hearing praise for Taylor Swift. Right before I went to bead I had what my day was lacking–whole grains.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Almond Butter And Smart Balance Peanut Butter

That brought me back to my roots. I’m liking the double nut-butter topping now as opposed to the nut butter and a topping(like chocolate). Not sure why, maybe I truly am just nuts for nuts

This morning there were plans to maybe attack Target for Black Friday sales with my dad, but my parents had to leave for a funeral at 8:30(irony) and the sales just weren’t as appealing as last year so we called it off. Today it’s planned raining all day so it will, by all likelihood, become a rest day, and I will be between the kitchen baking and my computer studying. Again, hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Now get to work on them leftovers

This week was a short week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, so I worked out with Alan 3 times this week instead of the usual four. Enjoyed two fabulous turkey dinners, one for lunch and one for dinner with different sets of friends; and both were really fun and muy delicioso. I abstained from any pie but nibbled on the olives. I’ve still only lost 14.5 pounds, so I ordered some goodies off Amazon to give me some extra help… more on that later.

It seems everyone assumes that I must be eating like a horse since I’m being completely faithful to my workouts yet not losing weight, but in fact, I’m eating healthier than ever and in very reasonable portions. For instance, a yogurt for breakfast; a salad with hard-boiled egg for protein for lunch and no dressing; a bowl of homemade chili for dinner; yogurt for a before-bed snack; and water, water, water, water. That can’t be more than 1200 calories, surely. All I know is to stick with it, and my contrary metabolism has got to cave sooner or later. I did splurge and have one beer on Wednesday evening at the school festivities, but all I got for that was a horrible headache. Me + beer = Le Miserable!

Alan is planning to mix up my workouts since he says my core is very strong now; so we will be doing an assortment of upper and lower body weight training in addition to cardio intervals and core exercises. I just keep doing whatever he recommends, because I always feel better after my workouts than I did when I walked in; and I’m so energized and strong, I don’t want to lose all the progress I’ve gained. I just want to keep making significant gains in my confidence, endurance, energy, and strength. The amazing thing is that when I first started I was so far behind everyone else, but now I’m one of the strong ones. I’m one of the people who’s always hanging out in the weight room after school, dressed and ready to work. I’m realizing that one reward I’m receiving that was totally unexpected is the confidence that other people are expressing in my determination, and the respect in their voices when they comment on how I’m so consistent and faithful to my regimen.

Another thing that never seemed real to me before is that once I started to change my story, I could also help other people to change theirs too. I mean, if I can become disciplined in this, ANYONE can. And it’s not by strength of will except for the first two or three weeks; after that, my motivation has been totally based on the benefits I’m reaping in how I feel every day, and how I sleep, and how much more content I am with my life. It also helped me a lot to have people I didn’t want to let down. Alan is a terrific friend, and I didn’t want to let him down. My friends Gretchen, Kim, Beth, and Rhonda were cheering me on. That has been so helpful! So even though I’m kind of bummed about not magically dropping 25 or 30 pounds over the last 13 weeks, I know I’m on the right track, and since this is a life change, I’m not stopping for anything.

Things I never imagined before have now become a possibility to me. Firstly, trekking all over Egypt and climbing pyramids was my short-term goal. And that is only two weeks away!!! But I’m also looking forward to coaching soccer next year. I was already planning to do it this year, and all excited about it, but then there was a scheduling conflict with the classes I’m teaching to my colleagues every Tuesday and Thursday after school, so now that is postponed till next year. I’m thinking of my future vacations as opportunities to hike and bike and climb and swim and challenge myself in all sorts of ways. Isn’t that crazy?

More importantly, as I take more risks in the physical realm, I believe it will empower me to meaningfully demonstrate more faith in other areas of my life… being courageous and positive in my actions where before I was fearful and negative.

This week, I watched the movie Pay It Forward, and the words of the main character, a middle school student who believed in the power of change, really stuck in my mind.   It was less about helping yourself than being available to help others.  He said that it’s not enough to plan something out that you want to do for someone; you need to keep your eyes open and see where the need really is; and the thing that you give has to be a huge sacrifice, something you really don’t want to give.

No Guts, No Glory

After reading the book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller this week, I became inspired to “rewrite” my own life story, to throw away the boredom and routine in order to live a life more stressful, more painful, more sacrificial, and more REAL than I could have dreamed possible. Because things that are worth achieving are worth earning the hard way.

Open to Change

I no longer desire a life of comfort and ease, of TV and movies and pseudo-happy endings; of selfishness, vanity, safety and security. I want my life to BE more, to MEAN more, to MATTER more. I don’t know exactly what that entails, but I’m open to change. And at my age, I don’t have a lot of time to waste!!!

Again, I’ll try to keep this quick, but it’s been a great Turkey Day.  I’m thankful for family, good food, and my wonderful husband.

We slept in until 10:30 this morning (I’m feeling sick again, boo!) and then woke up to the world’s tastiest breakfast.

My grandma is so cool, she had Greek Gods’ Honey Greek Yogurt waiting in the fridge for me!  I had a small bowl of fruit,

and honey Greek yogurt with berries and a sliver of homemade coffee cake.

Mmmmmmn!  I was in love with this breakfast!  If it wasn’t Thanksgiving I would have gone back for another bowl!  I think I’ve got my aunt hooked on Greek yogurt now too

We went to a family friend’s house for Thanksgiving at 1, so we headed out around noon to socialize.  Look how cute my grandparents are!

I’ve gone to Thanksgiving with this family ever year I’ve been with my grandparents and it’s always so much fun.  They have the best decorations, I wish I could have gotten more pictures.

I made a small appetizer plate with pretzels, honey raspberry dip, and crackers with dirty martini dip.

And I had a light beer to drink.

As I mentioned before, I am actually not much of a Turkey Day food fan!  I didn’t even eat any turkey meat!  I tried to just take a small bit of everything.

Clockwise from the top – stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy, corn casserole, sweet potato casserole, roll, jello mold salad, cranberries.  I finished everything on my plate (except for the roll which I gave away).  I didn’t actually eat very much, but I didn’t do seconds because I knew dessert was coming.

I actually gave away that mini cake in favor of a second cookie!

It was great getting to catch up with people and Adam was definitely stuffed!  He took a fat nap before we even headed home, and hit the couch asap.  My grandmother and I wanted to take a nice walk but unfortunately it was raining.  The other disappointment was that there was nowhere for me to volunteer.  I really wanted to put in some time at a food bank or soup kitchen today but everywhere my grandma called had too many volunteers.

We ate dinner around 7, and I was actually hungry again.

Leftover sweet potato casserole,

and a yumtastic sandwich – turkey, cranberries, cream cheese.

Plus apple and celery salad on the side.

I was still a bit hungry so I went back for more salad.

We played cards after dinner.

I had a coffee with 2% and an amaretto stick,

a mini 7-up,

and a small handful of caramel corn.

We kept my grandparents up past midnight playing cards, I’d say it’s time for bed!

How was your turkey day?

After Thanksgiving, the air of the season jumps straight to Christmas.  I’m talking about trading pumpkin pie yogurt for jingly bells and white snow.  To be honest, I’d rather have the former… (Why, Stonyfield?  Why?!)  Jingly bells and white snow are nice and everything, but I can’t forgo the fact that even crueler weather is on the way.  o__o  I need to up my lotion and nut butter intake to make sure I keep crackly skin to a minimum.  Bleh.  Let’s not forget the midyear exams that will shortly follow winter break too… ><

What’s your (least) favorite part of winter? Holidays.  Angels.  My birthday.    Cold.  Wind.  Midterms. 

But it’s not winter yet!  And today was the first day of “fall” break (aka 4.5 days of food food FOOD!), so I’m in a particularly good mood right now—cutting off any and all negativity! 

Yesterday afternoon, I went to my favorite Korean grocery store to buy only the foods that I needed the most in order to save money.  … Psh, no.  What kind of food-lover-nerd does that?  I mean, I spend more on food than clothes, and I think that grocery shopping trumps clothes shopping by a long shot, even though I enjoy both.  Yes, my friends think I’m insane, but what gives?  I can’t deny the truth, or else that would really count as insanity…

Ze haul was quite enormous, so I won’t post everything.  I did, however, buy two kabocha squashes for the pie I’ll be making for my family today.  I’m a little nervous—this is my first time baking a pie!  o_o  I’m modifying the spice-kissed pumpkin pie recipe from 101 Cookbooks and partially winging the crust, so I’ll post about how much of a failure my pie was after I make it/we eat it. 

A pair of delicious kabocha lovers… :*

Some whole spices (cinnamon + cloves) for grinding—

My first time purchasing whole spices.

Oh, and I finally found chia seeds!!!  I was so excited—it seems like the entire blogiverse has eaten these teeny babies in some form or another (chia pudding, chia cookies, etc.), but I never had the chance to try them.  UNTIL NOW!  Muahaha, I can’t WAIT to use these.    Suggestions, anyone? Gimme the gold~

Chia chia come to mama…

And I restocked on my beloved MSG-free furikake and black sesame seeds!

Mostly shaved bonito flakes. 

Good for my hair, I hear?

Ohhh… and I bought another box of dried persimmons. Man I love these things—so sweet, fleshy, and delicious!  They’re absolutely my favorite dried fruit, beating out apricots by just a smidgen.  Seriously unique texture.  Unlike most dried fruits, the innards aren’t “chewy,” but rather, soft and melt-in-your-mouth.  It’s amazing—I encourage anyone who has the tiniest appreciation for anything tasty to give one of these a shot. 

Jewels of autumn.

And they’re even lovelier when they have a plentiful amount of sugary snow crystals…

I had a speedy snack after my long journey in food heaven: Fage greek yogurt, pumpkin purée, TJ’s pumpkin butter, cinnamon, peanuts, and the last of the Bear Naked Chocolate Delight granola. ‘Twas love, but now I need more granola.  :|

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I can’t exactly talk about my Thanksgiving traditions, because in all honesty, we don’t really have any.  It’s basically just turkey + Chinese sides + mashed potatoes, year after year (I mean, this is my first time making pie, after all).  Actually, we mostly just go to parties… So that’s why you should tell me: what are your Thanksgiving traditions?

As for the post title, I’d like to give 100% thanks to my family, my friends, the Lord and the many ways He has blessed me, and more recently—you guys!!!  The blogger community!  Blogging has been so much fun this month, and hopefully, it’ll continue to serve as an outlet for my creativity and strange humor, as well as a chronicle of my life and every delicious bite that enters my mouth.  I’ll be salivating a lot for sure for the next four days…

Got a really ugly essay and an assignment out of the way this week.
Three more slightly less ugly but equally time-consuming essays due next week.
Then exams already? How does this happen?!

I’m sipping my third cup of coffee for the morning. I had intentions of doing some mad essay-writing this morning but I tossed, turned, stressed and dreamt of disturbing things all night so these earlyish hours have consisted of recovery via caffeine and picture sorting. Yet another long overdue week-long recap with few words is coming at ya. This will probably continue for the next couple weeks while school kicks my butt a little harder than necessary.

This week’s food in pictures:

Breakfasts

April’s Halfway Oats. Added some jam, slightly too much therefore they were slightly too sweet but that’s  besides the point. The method itself is pretty awesome.

Toasted egg white sandwich with roasted red pepper hummus and edamame spread. The wee piece of abj toast beside it was tossed since I somehow made it hard as rock. Boo.

Weetabix, yogurt, apple, clementine.

Coffee and Soup?

Naw. Coffee and OATS. Overnight oats with protein powder, banana, flax and clementine to be exact. Oh my daaaarling Clementine…

Pumpkin, protein powder, banana, flax, Vector. No idea. I didn’t know what I wanted to this just kinda happened.

And this was this morning. Egg wrap with garlic hummus, salsa and spinach. My appetite has been wonky lately so my craving for this was slightly out of character.

Lunches

Not quite so great at getting pictures of these…

Tuna mixed with FF sour cream, dijonnaise, BBQ

Squash salad with brocco, spinach, shrooms, salsa, honey mustard dressing.

Tofu wrap with hummus, spinach, dijonnaise

Dinners

Gardenburgers (mmmmmmmmmmmm) with dijonnaise, laughing cow, lettuce and tomato on rye

Alongside a pizza sliver (or two…)

Sweet potato topped with refried beans, salsa, spinach and sour cream

Bowl of random leftovers – rice, squash and steamed broccoli stem topped with marinara + carrot sticks

Potato Leek Soup – We had leeks in our fridge for a while. I had never used leeks before. The only way I had ever heard of them being used was in a soup so I went scoring the net for a recipe. We only had chicken broth so my batch was definitely not vegan.

PB&J blended spinach oat bran ? This was last night. I told you my appetite was wonky. This was all I really wanted to I went with it. I didn’t finish it but it was pretty good. Definitely not thick enough though, it was like green soup after I blended it all up.

Snacks

Many apples, dates, pb and coffee. Every day, often many times a day.

First try of the Tropical Fruit Larabar – I liked! Definitely wouldn’t be in my tops since I found the orange peel flavour a bit overpowering but at the same time it reminded me a bit of a creamsicle which is cool in my books. My personal version would bump up the coconut and pineapple and bump down the citrus and crumble factor a bit. Extra points to this flavour for the wrapper colour. I’m a sucker for neon colours, what can I say?

Mounds of egg whites on english muffin

Silken tofu blended with pumpkin, cinnamon, stevia and frozen mango.  

Yogurt, frozen blueberries, wheat germ what what. Slob?

I hope everyone else is doing well. Blog reading bursts are keeping me somewhat sane in between school stuff. I can’t comment much right now but I’m still trying to read as often as I can.

And Happy Thanksgiving to all of you over there in the US! I celebrated my Canadian Thanksgiving a month ago so I won’t be suffering any turkey hangover this weekend but eat something extra pumpkin-y for me

I didn’t feel that much pressure to get out and run yesterday. At the same time, I wasn’t sure how many opportunities I’d get today and tomorrow, so I decided to take the time and go out. It was a slightly slow 6.7 but felt good to be active for an hour(because I firmly planned on being lazy the other 23). When I got home, I challenged myself to make a lunch not with the microwave. It’s simple enough but there’s so many flavors and textures it just can’t achieve. After planning out a menu, I got to work with my fancy pan I won from some Hood milk promotion last month.

Brussels And Sausage In A Pan

First I scrambled 2 eggs and cooked those in the pan to the perfect doneness–so much easier than in a microwave! Then I steamed raw brussels for 3 minutes in the microwave and then pan-browned them for another 2 minutes. I also heated up a pre-cooked chicken sausage in the microwave(btw, all these uses of it don’t count ) and finished that in the pan.

Scrambled Eggs, Spicy Chicken Sausage, Brussels Sprouts

This deserves a Holy Yum award. Brussels sprouts are seriously my favorite green vegetable and by far the best thing here, even though they were a bit dry, with a touch of salt. The browning gave a good crispness to the outside. The sausage was also quite good. Note: It was real meat and not faux meat. I think I can love them equally. The fennel in it was really impressive. For dessert I had something that took neither pan nor microwave.

Oikos With Banana Pineapple Rum Jam

So perfect. Well, OK, it could have used more jam, but then again my ideal would be eating the jam from the jar with a spoon, which is a no-no when it costs as much as this one does. I had a lovely evening on the couch planned, but then my mom asked if I wanted to accompany her to Market Basket while she picked up some last minute food. My knee-jerk reaction was a big yes, and next thing I knew it I was in the car. Oops. At least I brought a little work with me. For those who don’t have a Market Basket, it’s a place full of interesting finds…

Christmas Decor

Oh, Canada. What are you doing up there? Jk, but Market Basket does have good finds. It’s right across the way from Whole Foods, and while it might only carry about 30% the same stuff, what it does have is very often cheaper. The only thing I could find on my list this trip was a 4-pack of deep chocolate vitatops for 3.69. they had faux meat, but unfortunately nothing all-natural and breakfasty It was pretty late when everyone was done, so I was happy to grab a snack in the car.

Banana Walnut Gnu Bar

Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow. All you have to do is read my review to know I loved this. I don’t like bananas that much, but I swear anything that tastes like bananas I’m game with. And this was just like banana bread. There wasn’t a large presence of walnuts, but that was fine by me since I don’t care for the. And all the fiber filled me up and kept me calm when I realized I still had to make the pie! Yikes. By the time we got home it was dark and I was getting anxious about that, until I remembered this is the simplest recipe and I didn’t even need to check my computer to remember how to make it.

Unbaked Crustless Pumpkin Pie

There was a mini-issue with the pesky water bath, but otherwise crisis averted and sanity restored. I felt a little something was in order along with a pat on the back.

Chocolate Elan Frozen Yogurt

This snack ended up being a little littler than I expected; who knew we were almost out and there was hardly a serving left in the container! Too bad nobody realized this over the past 4 weeks we’ve been having freezer-space issues. Normally I’m happy to finish an ice cream but I love elan and this flavor so much I feel like I need to get an exact replacement for it. I watched 1 of the 2 SNL’s I slept through and then the pie was done.

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

It had a couple bubbles but no cracks and definitely nice and firm so that it will stand on its own at the table. Amen And then there was dinner.

Haddock With Soyaki, Beets, Parsnips With Peach Salsa

Not quite my pan-licious lunch, but this was pretty good, too There was a little more beets taken after the photo and we finished it all! We didn’t want any leftovers going in to Thanksgiving. I swear this house empties of all vegetables when I’m not here so I made sure we got good ones at Market Basket. Parsnips are so good for a soft and white vegetable; I don’t like white potatoes because they always taste dry and starchy but I think I’ve found a new friend in parsnips.

I almost forgot about The Biggest Loser last night! I was so thankful my tivo reminded me of it. I brewed some coffee and had a naked dessert.

Deep Chocolate Vitatop

I kept racking my brain to try and figure out what to do with this vitatop. It finally occurred to me: If it wasn’t coming naturally, it wasn’t meant to be. And this vitatop tasted just delicious on its own. It was great to see where former contestants are and to know they’ve really changed their lives. I think finding and staying with that balance must be the toughest thing. There was another snack.

Oikos With Turbinado Sugar And Chocolate Chips

Turbinado sugar is good for you because it has the minerals crystalized in, right? And it’s from Trader Joe’s so it cures cancer, right? We’re just going to go with all of that because this hit my sweet tooth. It was so depressing seeing the winner who gained back so much weight. Clearly, though, he felt bad about it, too, so it’s hard to be upset with him.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Mighty Maple And Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter

Let’s just say, this bowl took a lot of work to figure out what to do with it, but I’m happy where I settled. I forgot how good and chocolatey(not to mention thick) the chocolate sunflower butter is. And probably a better choice at 10:30 than chocolate chips with my sugar tolerance(or lack thereof).

I set my alarm for 7 this morning. On a holiday–why’d I do that? To run, of course. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen but it was actually reasonably warm and I felt refreshed with only 8 hours of sleep. I grabbed a bar for the run.

Amazing Grass Chocolate Whole Food Energy Bar

What a delicious way to start Thanksgiving I ate 3/5ths of it on the run and then never needing the last bit. I ended up doing 10.55 miles–my longest run outside! The course was completely new to me; they demolished a bridge near my house which pretty much eliminated as options all my longer runs but I figured out a new course that worked perfectly. I came home to a house already smelling of food–love that. I got a touch creative with breakfast:

Pumpkin Yogurt With Smart Balance Peanut Butter And Nog Cream Cheese Frosting, Peanut Oikos

Ok, I’ll admit it, I used the microwave for the oats and I don’t regret it because this bowl was perfect. The frosting, which I dreamed up on the run, really made it; the recipe is 1oz greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon low fat cream cheese, and 1 tablespoon Silk Nog with 3 drops vanilla liquid stevia. I wouldn’t give such precise measurements if I weren’t convinced those are the measurements of the Greek Gods. It’s sweet but not so much that you lose the cream cheese, and it’s entirely seasonal.

Happy Thanksgiving, all! Now I’m kicking back, watching The Parade with Pikachu just having floated by. My relatives are coming in just 2 hours! I’m so excited, even though I realize the 2 little cousins will probably have me tearing my hair out of my head by the end of the day, haha.

NuNaturals giveaway! I think they’re stevia taste the purest(and this is coming from someone who, from time to time, nibbles on his plant).

Today did not start out well. I was having the WEIRDEST dream ever, and must have turned my alarm off during said dream, because when I actually woke up and figured out where I was, it was 6:15 am, and I had to be out the door in 15 min! ACK!

I threw on some clothes, washed up, and put some food in containers and was out the door. I even made it to class on time, but had to wait until after class to dig into breakfast. Boy was I hungry!

In the thermos I had yogurt, the last of the quince, and pomegranate arils. The other container was just some Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal to combine with said yogurt & fruit.

Yogurt close up!

It was horrendous weather all day. It just rained, and rained, and rained. Good thing I had my new fancy boots – they kept my feet dry and warm! But to warm the rest of me up, I had to hit up the Sbucks.

Do I even have to say what’s in there?

My last volunteer shift at Agora later, and I was on my way home. First thing on my mind when I walked in the door? What’s for lunch?

I made a grilled ham & cheese sandwich with baby spinach and red pepper jelly. Too bad my cheese didn’t want to melt.

I also heated up a bowl of broccoli soup my sister had made on the weekend.

Topped with a little more cheddar. What’s better than broccoli & cheddar?!

Rainy day food, for sure!

With a Werther’s Original candy for dessert

I spent the afternoon at home, expecting an important phone call. Of course, my mom then ended up on the phone all afternoon, and we don’t have call waiting, so I figured they called and got a busy signal. But, low and behold, and 5 pm I received my call. Looks like I’ll be working with a dietitian on a project at Children’s Hospital. Alas, it is only volunteer, but still – it’s all about boosting that resume, right?

Dinner was served way too early for my hunger, so I only had a bit.

Meatloaf, green peas, and apple/craisin/pecan salad. There were baked potatoes as well, but I wasn’t feeling it. And wouldn’t you know it, all my close ups turned out poorly. So this is all you get!

I made a quick trip up to the store to get a couple things (I was all out of good peanut butter), then had a sweat session with the dvd’s. Then it was time for me to satisfy my baking desires!

I had a hankering for muffins. I thought oatmeal and apple should be involved. I searched out some recipes, decided on this one as my inspiration, concocted a variation in my head, then assembled the required ingredients.

Some mixing, grating, scooping, and baking later, and I was presented with this:

Apple Carrot Raisin Oatmeal Muffins

makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (would have used whole wheat, but we had none)
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1 tbsp ground flax seed
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 small apple, chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins

Method

1. Combine dry ingredients (oats through salt) in a large bowl.
2. Combine wet ingredients (milk through vanilla) in medium bowl.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry, then add carrot, apple, and raisins.
4. Mix until just combined – don’t over mix! (you know how muffins go).
5. Divide equally between 12 greased or lined muffin cups.
6. Bake at 375 F for 20 min, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

These turned out really well. I was a little worried that my wet to dry ratio would be off, but it was perfect. They are hearty, moist, slightly sweet, with a nice balance of spices. Both of my parents tried them out, and gave them the thumbs up. I think they would be a great breakfast muffin, pairing nicely with your favourite nut butter.

Obviously, I had one as my evening snack, with a another cup of chamomile tea.

I still have another project on the stove, but it’s totally time for bed, so I guess I’m calling it done. I’m sure you’ll get to see it tomorrow. Night!

Repurposed beverage cooler

What is this???  Don’t know?  Read on.  I love when I can reuse or repurpose old things. I almost took this beverage cooler to Goodwill on several different occasions.  It was actually in a donation bag when I rescued it for its new life as a . . .  yogurt warmer.  I don’t know about your house, but mine goes through a lot of yogurt.  I’m ashamed to admit that back in the days when we were a more “disposable” household, we went through Go-gurt by the gallons.  I’ve long since stopped buying Go-gurt for the kids because of both its waste factor and the fact that it is made of corn, coloring and chemicals.  However, Hubby was a hold-out on the Go-gurt.  He packs his lunch every day and appreciated the convenience factor of the stuff.  I finally won that battle when his doctor explained to him that he may as well eat sugar as Go-gurt since it has little or no actual nutritive value and is mostly sugar, food coloring and artificial flavoring with enough yogurt added in so that they can call it yogurt.  

Because we eat so much yogurt, this summer I started making my own.  It was actually a first step on my road to cheese, but it is so easy and economical that I can’t imagine stopping now.  If you google yogurt making, you will find lots of different recipes; some even have videos.  I’ve been making yogurt regularly enough that I have it down to a science: 

Quart of milk ready to heat.

First, fill a quart jar with milk.  You can use soy milk if you prefer.  Put the jar of milk in the microwave and heat it until it reaches 110°.  (My microwave takes just over three minutes to do this.)  Many recipes tell you to heat the milk to 180° to scald it and then cool it to 110°.  I did that when I first started making yogurt, but I don’t anymore.  If you’re a purist and you prefer, you can heat the milk on the stove, but it takes a longer time and you have to watch the milk carefully and stir it often to keep it from scorching to the bottom of the pan.  Plus, you have to wash an extra pan.

Wait until the milk reaches about 110°

The milk may not be exactly 110° after the initial time in the microwave.  Heat it a little longer if it’s necessary.  If you have accidentally heated the milk to more than 110° or purposely heated it to 180°, you will need to wait for the milk to cool.  If you heated your milk significantly past 110°, putting the jar in a bath of cool water will help it reach the correct temperature faster.  Whether you are heating or cooling the milk, monitor the temperature fairly closely unless you like having to reheat your milk over and over again to try and get the proper temperature. The bacteria that turn milk into tasty yogurt thrive at about 110°, so keeping the temperature as close to that as possible will help ensure your success.

The last tablespoon or so of yogurt from my last batch.

Once you’ve gotten the yogurt within a degree or two of 110°, get out your old jar of yogurt, or if this is your first batch, you can use a tablespoon of PLAIN store-bought yogurt.  Even if you are making soy yogurt, you will need to use cow yogurt as a starter for your first batch.  You can dump (or spoon) the yogurt into the waiting jar of warm milk, but I like to dump the warm milk into the jar with the old yogurt in it to rinse all the yogurt out of the jar without wasting any.  After several batches of yogurt, you may need to buy a new plain yogurt to use as a starter.  I haven’t had to buy a new starter, but I do every once in a while.

Warm milk dumped into the jar from the previous batch.

After I’ve dumped the milk into my old yogurt, I like to dump it back into the clean, new jar.  I feel like it helps to keep things more sanitary, but it is probably not necessary.

 Now that you have a jar full of inoculated warm milk, tightly screw a cap on the jar.  If you used a standard-mouthed jar you can either use a canning lid and ring or a standard-sized top from a commercially-made jam or pasta sauce with the same size lid.  Either way, make sure the lid is on securely so that water won’t seep into your yogurt in the next step. 

The lid is on securely

Remember the beverage cooler from the start of the post?  It’s time to get that thing out.  My old cooler is the perfect size to hold a quart jar of yogurt.  Fill the cooler about half full of 110° water.  It can be a little warmer, but I wouldn’t recommend water any cooler than that.  You can warm water in the microwave or a kettle, but I’ve found if I turn the hot water on in my kitchen and let it run for a moment until it heats up, it is almost exactly 110°, so I just fill mine with hot tap water. 

Yogurt in warmer submerged in warm water

Over the sink, set the jar into the warm water.  If you don’t do it over the sink, water will overflow all over your countertops when you submerge the jar of milk.  The jar should be completely under the water and the water should be level with the top of the jug.  This keeps the water warmer, which keeps the yogurt warmer.  Screw the lid onto the cooler and let it rest for about seven hours.  I generally make the yogurt at bedtime and take it out in the morning, but it can be made in the morning if you have time to deal with it. 

I’d show you the finished jar of yogurt, but it looks just like the jar of milk except thicker.   So, instead I’ll show you what I do with the yogurt to make it convenient and portable.  These cute little plastic cups are available in the canning department of a store near you.  They’re designed to be used in the freezer for jams, but are perfect for single serving yogurt.  They actually come in packs of five for around three dollars, but one of mine seems to have “magically” disappeared.  You can make the cups up one at a time but I like to make them all up at once to make packing lunch easier.  Spoon a little jam, jelly, honey, pie filling or applesauce into the bottom of each cup.  I used apple jelly, but I really like peach and cherry.  Scoop yogurt in on top of the spread.  Make sure you leave a little “head room” in each jar and screw the lids onto your cups and you’re finished. 

Just like disposable yogurt cups from the store only reuseable!

Making your own yogurt may seem intimidating, but you have nothing to fear.  Homemade yogurt saves money and eliminates a great deal of garbage that is involved in pre-packaged yogurt.  A quart of premade yogurt costs over $3, more if you buy individual containers or organic yogurt, and even more than that if you buy locally made yogurt (if it’s available where you live).  When you make cheese, you have a lot of whey left over.  With yogurt, there is no waste, so homemade yogurt costs whatever your paid for your milk.  If you pay $3.59 a gallon for milk, you will get four quarts of yogurt for that $3.59.  Even if you buy organic or local milk, you are saving money on your yogurt.  Plus, homemade yogurt is delicious! 

MMMM. That would be a cool place to live in. I;ve had yogurt everyday since I’ve been home. Except today because I ran out .

day one: watermelon. Artificial sugar across the board. YUCK!

look at those stats

oh, but it was disgusting obvi.

I’ve been quite busy because I’m planning to go abroad (either Australia or Germany–can’t decide!) and my school had a protest against the budget cuts. I’m also trying to get around 50 more members for sidekicksocial.com/sfsu so that I can at least get my stipend. It would be nice for Christmas. I only have a few more days. I also lost the court case–or did I tell you already? And that missing 1010, is really starting to hit home.

Failure to adequately prepare combined with the closure of non-essential campus facilities plus misty cold air like there’s a cloud on the ground along with the unfortunate results of a deadline check (December means December 1, not December 31) left me making do with the leavings at the campus coffee place with one hand while the other tapped out this book review, finishing both at roughly the same time.

Hi, friends.  I’m blogging from work on my lunch break.  Things are verrrry sloooow around here and I can’t really come up with anything to do because all the people I work with are gone!  I haven’t gotten a single phone call or e-mail all day, which is highly unusual.

Because I’m bored, and have been struck by some kind of random insatiable thirst the last few days, I’ve been pounding water like crazy.  My Camelbak bottle is 24 ounces and I’ve already had 3 of them today.  Yesterday I drank probably 5 over the course of the day.  I need to pace myself this afternoon because I’ve got a 5 hour car trip ahead!

I also mid-morning snacked on a banana that wouldn’t make it until we get home on Saturday.  I love them when they’re brown on the outside!

Lunch today was a basic affair.  Since I cooked so much last night, I didn’t feel like putting much effort or thought into lunch so I went with a classic–AB&J!  Or, more specifically, two slices of 100% whole wheat bread, two tablespoons of Trader Joe’s creamy almond butter, and Smuckers organic grape spread.  Sometimes, you just want to go back to the basics:

I also had a container of Blueberry Chobani over some formerly frozen strawberries with a little added cereal for crunch.  (I’m out of my beloved Bear Naked granola.  Sad face.)  Before and after:

And for dessert?  A PB kiss!  Just one, for real.

(Sorry for the bad phone pics.  I brought my camera today, but needed to be able to get the photos on my computer to blog!)

This was a pretty calorie dense and filling lunch, but I planned things that way because we’ll probably be having a late dinner on the road…and the last thing I want is to be starving in a fast-food drive thru.

As soon as work is over I’m driving home and we’re getting right back in the car for our 5 hour trip to visit T’s mom and dad.  They don’t have wireless, so you won’t get a Thanksgiving recap until Saturday, but I’ve got some great stuff ready to go for you guys (including what might be the longest post in Fit Bride history on Friday).

Happy Thanksgiving!  Don’t forget about my Thankful Tee Giveaway!

**Caveat: Amazing Grass is having an awesome sale right now! Go to there website(accessible through the button to the right) and enter the code BAR09 on any purchase of Amazing Grass bars and get 20% off! Isn’t that awesome? I think I’m going to have to stock up on the chocolate peanut butter protein bars–so good**

I’m pretty sure that title is the last thing people who eat around me would expect me saying but–let’s face it–it’s true; and there ain’t nothing wrong with food fried in good oils in moderation Wait, where was I? Oh yes, yesterday morning was filled by a light-hearted class in which 3 people ditched for Thanksgiving were mysteriously sick. 3 might not sound like a lot for a college class, but you notice it in the Classics. I was so relieved when I got out I wanted to jump for joy’ instead, I kicked it into gear to get back to my dorm so I could pack and go. I basically combed the room, thinking of everything I could possibly need for 5 days and throwing it somewhere else. Around 1 I realized I was hungry. I wanted a repeat of yesterday’s amazing spicy oats, but I needed something faster and portable so I racked my brain for a veggie dish.

Broccoli Salad And Flamegrilled Gardenburger With The Heat Is On PB

Stewed Tomatoes With Crumbled Morningstar Breakfast Patty, One Lucky Duck Raw Rosemary Quackers

Ok, this was still basically my breakfast, just with oats metamorphosed into broccoli. I just could not get enough of The Heat Is On! The stewed tomatoes were dining hall fare and I wish I could have thought of something more intricate to do with them but I did not have the chance. It game me an opportunity, though, to sample and review the One Lucky Duck Rosemary Quackers. They were not exactly what I was expecting/hoping for, but it was fun to try something raw. I think I’ll be sticking with baked chips from now on, though(and, yes, the occasional fried ) Well this is what things looked like when my dad showed up:

Packed And Ready To Go

That’s 2 bags of food, an extra bag of clothes/toiletries, a backpack, laundry, a coffee maker, and a stevia plant. I suppose 5 days is a while and deserves all this, right?(Back me up here). We swung by the mail room to pick up some last minute arrivals, and hit the open road. I got a package from Gnu Foods and I couldn’t wait to dig in, so I didn’t.

Chocolate Brownie Gnu Foods Bar

Um, yum?! This hit my chocolate tooth. And the nutrition was astounding. I loved reading the company info they sent in the car(because I was doing that instead of work). They’ve created their own blend of grains and seeds to give each bar 12 grams of fiber! When I read that, I took it slow and drank a ton of water–smart move. I can’t wait to try the other flavors now, though somebody remind me NEVER to eat this pre-run(for obvious reasons).

Before we got home, we swung by Framingham to hit up Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. It’s really fun when these are right next to each other. I tried to stick with just buying essentials/sales and coupon items/what we still needed for Thanksgiving, because I know we’re going to have a lot of leftovers pretty soon. In the end, I think I stuck to my mission mostly.

Groceries

The big unmarked bag is about 2lbs of steel cut oats, like I go through anything else that much. The lemon bars were a new Trader Joe’s product for Turkey Day as is the TruWhip(can’t wait to try this!). Of course, the one thing that made me ditch my entire plan of items was my vegan whole wheat cinnamon raisin rolls. But seriously, how often do you find these? I went with the grab and run method… The fiber bar held me over really well but by the time we got home and I completely unpacked it was 5 and I was famished. I went for a meal rather than a snack.

Amy's Shepherd's Pie With Colby Jack Cheese

An Amy’s meal, that is. I think I’d been wanting to try this for a few months; last weekend I bought it with a coupon on the cheap, and I broke it out yesterday. I was not going to wait 45 minutes for the oven, so instead I nuked it for 3 minutes and topped it with 1 ounce of colby jack cheese which I’m pretty sure would have had a “Don’t touch. For Thanksgiving” note on it were my mom more careful. The meal was okay, but I don’t think it ever would have held me over on its own as a dinner or anything. I supplemented this with another snack.

Empire Apple

2 apples in 2 days? I think I’m setting a personal record. A very sad and low personal record. Thankfully, unlike the last one, this tasted juicy and fresh. Considering I picked it 3 weekends ago, I’m now wondering how old the apples from the dining hall must be… I caught up on Top Chef and The Next Iron Chef–you know, my chef shows. As a family, we all were slackers on dinner, so when the time came and passed and no one was doing anything it was a little frustrating. I felt hanger(hunger –> anger) coming on, so I went for something I knew would make me a happy boy again.

WildWood Original Veggie Burger, Broccoli With Soyaki Sauce

I’d never actually tried this veggie burger before, but I was 99% sure I’d like it because it’s fried. I learned in 11th grade bio that humans crave fat because of our ancient ancestors who got the opportunity to eat so little that nature is to pile it in and store it when we come across it. Why fight nature, especially when it’s healthy fat and portioned, right? Needless to say, it hit the spot, and I think I’m making a permanent place in my fridge for those little fried wonders.

I spent quite literally the rest of my night tying up loose ends and doing other work on the computer. It wasn’t the dream way to kick off vacation but C’est la vie. It gave me a great chance to watch The Biggest Loser and have some blogger faves as dessert:

Oikos In A Cherry Butter Jar With Dried Cherries, Cherry Dark Chocolate, And Vanilla Sugar

Can we fry this somehow? Paula? Scratch that. I think jam jars are so much easier to empty out than nut butters. Fortunately, both are good options. I just love the spoonfuls of whole jam towards the end, which are bites of tart heaven. I’m really enjoying all you new commentors who might have read this for a while but just got to saying something and getting to find new blogs that way. Keep it coming! Afterwards I just had to break into these.

Vegan Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Roll

Food like this are what rededicate myself to an all-natural diet; I challenge any mass-bakery product to rival this. And it’s vegan to boot! It almost makes me think I could be vegan… and then I remember yogurt, cream cheese, flavored nut butter, fish, meat, etc. It wouldn’t work.  But is anything better than peeling back layers of yeasty dough? I think not. Maybe… Paula, can we fry this? I wish I were kidding here.

Peanut Butter Gnu Bar With Mighty Maple

I was a little worried eating this right before bed. 12g of fiber? That’s dangerous. But everything worked out fine, and this was a great peanut butter treat. This bar probably would have been a little bland on its own but with an extra dose of peanut butter it was the perfect piece of toast. I find it funny that most of America has trouble getting in enough fiber when I got 100% just between 2 bars both of which felt like “desserts”. I think Americans need to learn to love fiber more.

I did was not feeling the pressure to get up and run this morning with no warm gym and treadmill to entice me. I slept in almost until 9(that’s really late for me) and instead spent way too long deciding on how to make a bowl of oatmeal. I am very happy with the conclusion of that thinking.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Smart Balance And Mocha Milk Chocolate Frosting

Holy yum. Let me walk you through this one. I did a standard pumpkin base with 1 1/2 tablespoons Smart Balance Agave Sweetened. I’ve decided I really like this version better than the molasses sweetened; I don’t know why but the flavor “works” better. For the frosting, I melted a Newman’s Own Organic Mocha Milk Chocolate square and then mixed that with 2oz sweetened Oikos. Ahhhhhmazing. The milk chocolate with the peanut butter comes out just like my childhood favorite candy.

I might head out for 6.7 miles in a bit. Or I might not run at all today. While I’d enjoy it, there’s plenty I have to do around here that would keep me occupied. I might just have to make an identical bowl of this oatmeal.

Secret Santa Alert!! Who doesn’t love this time-honored tradition? Well there’s a blogger’s version about; visit this post for all the info to join in!

I love that it feels like Friday, but really its Wednesday!!!!!

WAKEY WAKEY!

I’m in such a good mood, an its only 8:47 in the a.m an i’m the only one up besides my mom, and i haven’t even talked to anyone yet!  I am in love with the holiday’s and i wish it was Thanksgiving and Christmas season all year round!!!!  Anyone else feel the same way??

Per yesterday’s morning video, i mentioned that my camera is pretty much in the shits (sorry for my french) so yes pictures will be far and in-between.  I apologize to the max! I’m hoping to improve my writing skills and describe all the scrumptious meals that i sunk my teeth in yesterday.

Breakfast went a little like this.  A rich creamy strawberry yogurt with chunks of real fruit inside, mixed in with a subtly sweet crunchy Fiber One cereal.  I mixed it in and spooned it straight into my speaker!

Lunch was not even speak worthy, since it was thrown together in a mere 3 minutes.  Dinner though, was a salad creation!  We had a leftover chicken breast from the other night, so what i did was cut it up in chunks and threw it on top of my bed of crisp romaine lettuce, gorgeous red peppers, crunchy cummbers, and spicy red cabbage (yes i do think that red cabbage has a slight spice to it).  I dressed this fab salad with red wine vinegar and a little bit of EVOO!  I assure you i shoveled it into my mouth, and enjoyed it MUCHO!

Yes i looked like this after!  My skin has a healthy glow..NO? hehe

So let me tell you a little story (as if i haven’t overloaded this post with words already) Yesterday while on my way to my last class of the day, i was talkin to sissy on the mobile, and she had told me that she had a surprise for me.  I got all giddy cause i LOVE surprises!  She was babysitting and i new she was going to be late, so i new i wasn’t going to get it till this morning.  Welllllllll, to my surprise the second i walked into my living room where the TV is, in my spot (i have my “certain” tv spot where i sit EVERYTIME) was THIS!!!!!

YES YES YES!!!! thats right!  its the new issue of O magazine with ELLEN on the cover!  i had been looking for this forever and had no luck finding it!  I actually squealed and gasped when i saw it!  Reason number 234985047 why i love my sissy!!!

THANK YOU!!!!! (she’ll probably read this later today!)

I’m so happy!!!!!

Alrighty, i believe i’ve rambled on enough!

I want to know Thanksgiving plans from each of you!!? Give me the Dish!?

Have a Great day! xoxox

I know that I should be writing about Thanksgiving recipes and things to inspire fantastic sides and brilliant ways to bake or fry your turkey, but I am not that well organized and will not be cooking our Thanksgiving this year. For the first time in probably 7 or 8 years I will be going home for Thanksgiving and having my mother cook it for me. Lucky me. I plan on lending a hand in the kitchen, but have always had the experience of being kicked out of the kitchen by my mother and sister, we’ll see how it goes this year.

As for fall, I have really been enjoying all of the winter squashes that I’ve been finding at the market. This one was called a pie pumpkin or a sugar pumpkin and I used it to make a soup, though it ended up not being enough pumpkin and I had to buy a can of pumpkin purée at the last minute to make up for it. This recipe was inspired by a recipe that I found on my favorite cooking blog, Smitten Kitchen, I have been getting a lot of inspiration from the recipes that she posts lately. I have been wanting to try this one for a long time and finally had all of the ingredients at hand to stumble upon it once again!

Black Bean, Pumpkin & Leek Soup

• Two 15.5 ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 4 cups broth (I went with chicken broth)
• 2 15.5 ounce can pumpkin puree (I roasted one pumpkin and used one can, take the short cut and use the canned stuffed, it works just as well)
• a few springs of cilantro
• 1/2 cup of green pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted
• plain yogurt or sour cream for garnish

Coarsely puree beans in a food processor.

In a 6-quart heavy kettle cook leeks in butter over moderate heat, stirring, until leeks have softened and are beginning to brown. Stir in bean puree, broth, pumpkin, and cumin until combined and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 25 minutes, or until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Season the soup before serving, I read somewhere that you should salt beans after they have already been cooked through. Is that right? Maybe you need to salt them before they are cooked, pregnant brain, you help me not!

Serve soup garnished with yogurt, toasted green pumpkin seeds and cilantro.

One Year Ago: Roasted Cauliflower, Raisins and Anchovy Vinaigrette

It seems like my father became Santa Claus early this year- I got my Christmas gift already. And its a…

Drumroll please.

A new camera! So its time for my old camera to take a break. Today’s pictures will probably be the lasts taken by my dear senior citizen camera.

*Sniffles* Sad, isn’t it? Anyway, I made a special breakfast for my brother and cousin this morning because its one of the rare days where my cousin sleeps over. Also because I know you all are tired of seeing my same boring cereal.

I made yeasted pancakes. Erm, slightly burnt yeasted pancakes.

My cousin and brother commented that they taste like french toasts! Its probably because this recipe uses yeast. I only tried this as I thought the yeast would make the pancakes fluffier when left to rise overnight. But then again, even as the batter became thicker after sitting in the fridge for a good 10 hours, the pancakes didn’t rise as much. I think using baking powder is a much faster way and it makes the pancakes more noticeably fluffy.

They enjoyed the pancakes very much though.

I had my usual, a bowl of cereal.

After breakfast I followed my parents to Tangs as there was a sale for members. My mother got her Christmas present too! A coffee machine, to be exact. Its by Nespresso, the one which uses the capsules. 

Then we had lunch at Imperial Treasure Congee and Noodle House at Ion’s B3. I didn’t bring out my camera so no pictures, sorry! We ordered quite a few dishes from the dimsum selection but I feel there’s one I have to comment on- the salted egg yolk custard bun. I remember during my previous visit to Imperial Treasure at Great World City I did not have any room for the custard bun so now I’m going to express my opinion on it.

I felt that the skin was rather thick and I could still feel some gritty parts in the custard, which was golden and flowy. I would prefer Tung Lok’s or Canton-i’s although its not too bad. 

The beef horfun with black bean sauce my parents ordered was also excellent, according to them. Full of wok hei.  

My dinner plan was practically flushed down the toilet. I turned up at Raffles City’s Cedele outlet and my conversation with the cashier went something like this:

“I would like to have a Calcutta Chicken Sandwich, please.”

“Sorry, but we are out of our special chicken.”

“Okay, then I would like the Grilled Vegetable Sandwich.”

“Sorry, but we are out of that too.”

She then went on to list all the sandwiches which were unavailable AND most of what I would order were all unavailable. Sighing in defeat, I asked for a slice of carrot cake. Guess what?

Sold out.

So I went home to have my bowl of cereal. Haha! Oh by the way, the Cedele at the basement is closing down for renovations starting tomorrow.

Such a disappointment… Looks like my grandpa camera did not get much snapping action today.

Tomorrow its “successor” will be taking over so the quality of the pictures will turn out much better, I hope!

So I don't own any parfait glasses. So sue me.

Parfait. Parfait. That’s francais for Perfect.

Tonight I had a perfect parfait.  I used some amazing blueberries from Dan’s Farm Market on Oldfield Road. Sadly, ’tis not the season, so they were berries I had frozen earlier this year, not fresh.  But I’ll take that any day over the flavorless and pricy imported versions available in the produce section of the grocery store.  Besides, frozen fruit kinda goes with the whole Parfait theme anyhow.  I tossed in a few slices of banana and some giant red globe grapes.  I topped it with just enough french vanilla almond granola for texture.  And amidst all of this I layered the WORLD’S MOST AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS YOGOURT: Méditerranée Lemon from liberté.  If you have not been introduced to this unbelievably divine creamy fabulousness, you really must run, not walk, immediately to the nearest grocery store and purchase this, the Holy Grail of Dairy Products (I didn’t come up with that on my own – as much as I wish I had.  Go here and you will see I am not alone in my worship for this product).  When P had his first bite tonight he said, in a hushed and reverential tone, “Mmmmmm … I have never had yogurt like this before.”  Seriously.  When you eat this stuff, angels come out singing and stuff.

The Fixin's

I apologise.  Besides waxing poetic about the brilliance of fantastic yogurt from Quebec, there’s not really a whole lot exciting that I can write about a parfait.  It’s a dessert.  It’s a breakfast.  It involves sweet dairy products and fruit.  There’s lots of different versions of it.  About as many different versions as there are different kinds of fruit and sweet dairy products. If you google “parfait”, you will come across 5,660,000 hits.  Search “parfait recipes” and you at least narrow your search to 770,000.  It would take a long time to try them all out to find the parfait Parfait.

After consuming my own delicious parfait dessert tonight, I did some more research and discovered that there are also savoury parfaits – kind of like paté.  I found this recipe for a chicken liver parfait with apple and saffron from Gordon Ramsay that sounds like it might actually be pretty darn tasty … so far as chicken livers go.  So I imagine there’s a lot more to parfait than just some berries and yogourt (or ice cream or custard or creme fraiche).  But, in the end, it’s really just another version of a Sundae.

Speaking of which, remember how I said the Brandied Fruit was too nasty and I wasn’t even going to try it? Well, when I went to throw it out, I felt that I would be delinquent in my duty and besides, all that fruit and brandy had been pretty expensive so I figured I should at least taste it.  I mean, it looked atrocious (see picture – I know – I said I wouldn’t, but I had to suffer and therefore I felt the need to share), but it smelled okay … kinda.  In any event, as I had thought, epic failure.  I actually gagged.  Clearly I have something to learn about that stuff.  Considering myself suitably humbled by the experience, xoxo - B.

Yuck. Brown nastiness.

The PMS Monster is back!

I don’t know who invited him because you can bet that THIS GIRL does not send out these monthly invites.

(Like my rendition of the nasty beast?)

All day I have wanted carbs, carbs, carbs.

I mean, check out what I had for lunch:

Homemade pizza on a homemade whole wheat tortilla, plus a serving of Arnott’s cheddar cheese crackers. (Oh my gosh, so good!)

And then dinner:

Plus two more servings of Arnott’s crackers. (I wasn’t full after eating the spaghetti, but I probably didn’t really need two servings of the crackers.)

Dinner actually just worked out in my favor tonight. When the husband and I planned out our meals for the week on Sunday, we chose tonight for spaghetti. Good job husband.

My afternoon snack was a whole Einstein Bros. Cinnamon Swirl and Raisin bagel.

Even breakfast was pretty loaded with carbohydrates.

I finally gave overnight oats the chance it deserved.

I’ve been cringing at the thought of cold oatmeal for weeks now, It occurred to me yesterday that I’m already eating cold oatmeal via The Breakfast Cookie, so why not take the plunge and try the real deal?

I mixed 1/2 cup rolled oats and about a half cup of milk together and stuck the bowl in the fridge overnight. This morning I added a small banana, 1 tbsp of peanut butter, and some cinnamon. I would have loved to add some plain yogurt like Jenna suggests, but mine is still frozen.

Overnight oats were a hit for me. Definitely not the miss that savory oatmeal turned out to be. I would like to try it with yogurt added in the morning whenever I can store yogurt again without it freezing. No idea when that might be.

If anyone knows how to make my Japanese refrigerator stop freezing everything please shoot me an e-mail. You will take the spot of my favorite reader for sure!

And now, because it has been far too long:

Here’s your next challenge: Try eating oatmeal a new way this week. There are tons of ideas floating around Blogworld. Savory oats, Oats in a Jar, The Breakfast Cookie, and Overnight Oats are just the beginning. If you are up for the challenge leave me a comment and I’ll link back to you!

Evening! How was your day?  Mine was just fine, but I’m ready to crawl into bed and call it a night!

This morning when I woke up at 8:30, I panicked for a few minutes before remembering that my boss (at my internship) had canceled work for the day. I was up and ready to go, though, which things to do and people to see!

I was excited to try these goji berries with my breakfast.  I’ve only ever tasted these chopped up and mixed into other things, but when I snatched them right up when I spotted this bag on sale for $2.19 at the food co-op this weekend (they’re usually almost triple that price).  Goji berries are rich in antioxidants, and among their many benefits they are touted to improve eyesight (they’re rich in beta carotene), boost immunity, and spice up your sex life

I tossed them in with Greek yogurt, 1/2 toasted Trader Joe’s Berry Mango muffin, warmed frozen berries and flaxy peanut butter. The goji berries are firm but chewy; the texture really complemented the rest of the mess.

This held me over for a really long time.  The rest of the morning was spent reading, researching, and waiting until I was digested enough to go for a run.  I warmed up with a 20 minute hip opening flow, then set out for an easy 2 mile run.

Total distance: 2 miles

Total time: 20:09

Most of my runs are going to have to be in the morning now that it’s getting dark earlier; I’ll have to crank out some long runs on the treadmill when I’m in Russia, however.  I’m a little nervous that I won’t be able (psychologically) to run 7 miles on a treadmill…. What are you tips for making it through a long treadmill session?

Lunch was pretty basic (and very green): the last of the spinach and rice soup and a crunchy salad (spinach, broccoli slaw, celery, roasted almonds; sesame oil/rice vinegar/sesame seed dressing).

My interview was at 3:30; when it was over I hopped right back onto the subway and headed home.  I had 1/3 of a Key Lime Pie Larabar on the ride back:

I found myself in one of the rare instances when I didn’t have anything to read on the subway… it was completely disorienting.  I always have a book with me (sometimes two!); I would have brought one to prom if it had fit in my clutch!  Ari calls me his word nerd.

When I got home, I went straight to the kitchen to unwind and get dinner started.  I’ve had my eye on Martha Stewart’s recipe for Roasted Cauliflower with Pasta and Lemon Zest (in the November 2009 issue) for quite some time… a little too much time, because the head of cauliflower I’d bought in anticipation a couple weeks ago had started to mold.  But have no fear! I just sliced off the offending areas. I’m frugal, what can I say?

While slicing onion, I remembered what one of my cooking teachers always said: always cut out the middle greenish part of an onion.  I can’t quite remember why that is; I think it has something to do with it not being fully developed yet and causing stomachaches.

I was eager to try out this pasta… Nature’s Place is Hannaford grocery store’s natural, minimally processed brand.  Fresh (not dried) pasta always tastes so much better to me.

Plus, they look like little nests! Two “nests” make one serving.

When the veggies finished roasting (perfectly crispy!), it was all I could do to keep myself from eating them all right off the baking sheet.  I’d already made quite a dent in the cauliflower while I was chopping it… if I wasn’t careful, I wouldn’t have any ingredients left for dinner!

I tossed the roasted cauliflower with the pasta and added lemon zest, fresh parsley, and a drizzle of olive oil.

When it comes to parsley and other fresh herbs, I’m of the “more is more” mindset.

Lest you think this was a dainty, “ladylike” portion…

I had enough fuel to run a marathon with this baby.  Come November 6, you just might find me eating it!

There wasn’t too much room in my tum for dessert, but in the words of Tim Gunn, I made it work.  Dried figs and prunes stuffed with dark chocolate chips are so good… and they just keep me going back for more.  They kind of look like frogs, right?  I seem to have successfully eaten nuts in some form or other for every meal and snack today.

I’m off to seal my day with a lunar flow practice and hope to be in bed by 10.  I’ll make it work.

Bonne nuit

Edited to add: Kristina from Stonyfield Farm wants me to let you all know about a fun “Greek” opportunity!

“When consumers buy our quarts instead of single-serving cups, they pay less for their yogurt, but we know that a quart is not as convenient as single-serving cups for on the go consumption,” says our President and CE-Yo Gary HIrshberg. “The reusable yogurt cup gives our quart buyers the convenience of the Stonyfield 6 oz cups by providing a way to create easily transportable single servings for anywhere, anytime.”

Yogurt lovers just have to buy four Stonyfield yogurt quarts through December, and mail in the foil lids (describing this offer), and they’ll receive the reusable, eight-ounce yogurt cup made by Preserve®. Made from 100% recycled plastic, the cup is perfect for yogurt-lovers on the go, the ideal size for breakfast or a snack, with room to stir in fruit or granola. It’s dishwasher safe, BPA-free with a screw-on lid – and it’s made in the US.

Consumers will also get  $4.50 worth of Stonyfield and Preserve coupons along with the cup.

Our recycling partner since 2000, Preserve uses innovative methods to turn used materials (including used Stonyfield yogurt cups) into stylish, useful household products like toothbrushes, colanders, cutting boards and tableware. Preserve products are 100% recycled and recyclable too.

Consumers can mail clean foil lids, with name, address and phone number on an index card or 4” x 6” sheet of paper by February 28, 2010 to:

Stonyfield Farm
Reusable Cup Offer
PO Box 4840
Manchester, NH 03108-4840

Cups will be shipped starting in January, 2010 with delivery in 10 to 12 weeks. This offer is good only in the US, while cup supplies last, and is limited to one cup per household (to better spread the love around).

So save those lids!

Hey guys!

My presentation went well, so thank you for all of your good wishes. I’m super tired now (yes, I know it’s early!) so this is really just going to be a visual post! Please forgive me!

Lunch

spinach, tempeh, black beans, corn, tomato, less Na soy sauce, ginger, lemon juice

Dinner

Silk vanilla yogurt, Pumpkin Flax Plus cereal, apple, cinnamon, peanut butter

~Meredith

Hey y’all!  Welcome to the end of Tuesday!

I am rushing around trying to get packed, Sissy all set up (she will be alone on Thursday and Nick will be home with her on Friday), do laundry and try and clean up the place a bit.  I hate coming home to a dirty house!

As for the eats of the day…

Morning snack was the other 1/2 of my apple from breakfast.

Yes, I took a bite before the picture, or maybe someone took a bite out of it while it was in the break room fridge???  How many people bring reusable lunch boxes to your work?  It is embarrassing how many people bring plastic bags to a place dedicated to the environment.  I guess this shows that the place may be environmental, but that doesn’t mean the people are.

And my lunch?  Well it was a bunch of all different sorts of things.  I am trying to use things up before I leave.

All of my Tupperware to combat all of the plastic bags at the office.

Brown Cow greek and the remainder of the pom arils, peanut butter and celery sticks.

Leftover buttercup squash mouth.

Lots of crunch and ubber filling.

We had our usual Friday crisis.  How do they know we are off for 3 days?!?!?!  Those Fates are tricky!

I slowly made my way through my PM snack for the last hour of work.

Clementine, shredded wheat, mixed nuts.

After work I went to the gym for a quick workout so I could be home to say good bye to Nick!  I did 25 min of the hill and then 30min of negative splits.

Dinner?!?! What to make????

Tofu. Roasted Veggies. Wheat berries. Check, check and check!

Tofu mixed in maple syrup, EVOO, salt, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg.

Wheat berries cooked normally with a little goat cheese mixed in.

Roasted onion, broccoli, mushrooms and carrots in EVOO, oregano and S&P.

Wow, I did not realized how full this would make me feel!  I also must admit I had a few (yes really only a few) Kashi crackers while I was waiting for my food to cook.

OK it is time to get crackin’!  Biggest Loser is on in the background I have some on MamaPea’s maple chick peas to take out of the oven!

See you bright and early!

Yay Maine!!!!!