Better Than Candy
I promise you something in this post is actually better than candy! 8-| Did you ever expect to hear that from me?!
Trader Joe's Almond Butter
It was not this extra scoop of Trader Joe’s almond butter I had with breakfast. Almond butter is good–it’s really good. But it’s not candy…
Vegan Chocolate Fudge
And my microwave vegan chocolate fudge doesn’t count because it is candy. I just have to say I love a life where I can wake up and before doing anything else make fudge; that makes me a happy boy 🙂
9 Laps
This run was so long, and so brutal; the winds were intense today and it felt like wherever I ran, I was going into them. It doesn’t help that my neighborhood is hilly or that I forgot to stretch after yesterday’s run(rookie mistake). But I’m always prouder of a tough run I stuck out than a longer run that felt easy.
Yellow Curry Tofu Over Vegetables
This was certainly not candy. Whatever made a New England boy think he could cook Thai food? I just heated up tofu in a pan and simmered it with coconut milk and yellow curry paste. It was delicious, but I was a little too quick to throw in extra salt and garlic, so that my mouth was on fire. I couldn’t in good conscious feed this to anyone without having them sign a waiver.
Lipton Lemon 0 Calorie Naturally Sweetened Pure Leaf Iced Tea
I cooled down with this new tea from Lipton I was sent to review. Oh. My. God. All through high school, I had an addiction to Arizona diet iced tea, which I guzzled faster than water. This was like that and so much more; the flavors of lemon and black tea really shined and it was all perfectly sweetened with stevia! This can’t get on store shelves fast enough in my mind.
Oatmeal With Honey Maple Peanut Butter
Organic Fuji Apple
Over the course of the afternoon I snacked on an organic apple and oatmeal with high-protein honey maple peanut butter. The peanut butter tastes OK–certainly not better than candy–and is only high protein because of whey powder(not a fan) so I probably won’t buy another container once I’m done with this one. So what was better than candy?
Raw Local Honey
Raw local honey. How local?
Local Farm
Let’s just say I walked there and back in less than 15 minutes. When I got there, I asked the woman who runs it if they sold raw honey and she looked at me as if to say “Are there fish in the sea?” God I love rural America. Anyway, I bought a jar, walked home, and dug in with a spoon.
Raw Local Honey
Oh my stars. Words can not express how good this tasted. No honey I have ever had compares to raw, crystallized honey. This was the best $6 I have ever spent. Expect a lot of this over the Summer; she tells me the hives are almost ready for a second turn, whatever the hell that means.
Grilling
After not having meat since Wednesday and writing this scathing post on my hatred towards “veganism” but love of a plant based diet, I finally wanted meat again, and so we happily fired up the grill.
Grass-Fed Burger Over Bitter Greens, Grilled Potato Fries, Pickle
What says American comfort food better than a burger and fries? Just making the healthy swaps of grass-fed beef and grilling the fries in a moderate amount of EVOO really pumped up the nutrition of this meal, too. Now I won’t lie: That honey jar sitting on the counter is looking really good right about now.
Winning this giveaway would also be sweet like candy, too…
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 9 so far )To-Done
Some days call for a to-do list, and others call for a to-done list. What’s a to-done list? It’s simply writing down everything you’ve done and needed to do after you do it. I love them for days I feel overwhelmed and need reassurance that things are getting done even if it seems like there’s more to do. And really, who has time to make a list beforehand? Here’s my to-done list of the day
Goldenberry Goji Pranabar
- Eat this Pranabar I’ve been carrying around all weekend
- Make a review page for the goldenberry goji flavor explaining how delicious the orange, goji berries, and goldenberries combine to be, and how amazing for energy agave(raw, unrefined sugar) and almond butter(slow-burning fat and fiber) are.
14 Miles In 1:58:20
- Run the same distance you said you would never run again and it was crazy ever to do once.
- Find Eastleigh Farms where (hopefully) we’ll be getting our dairy from over the Summer on the run.
Oatmeal With Chocolate Almond Butter And Mocha Almond Fudge Coconut Milk Ice Cream
- Try an Holly inspired oatmeal creation involving homemade chocolate almond butter and Mocha Almond Fudge coconut milk So Delicious ice cream. I know nowadays it seems like my blood is made of coconut milk ice cream, but this was actually the first flavor I ever tried after hearing Jenna rave about it.
- Write an apology letter to Justin saying how much I love his chocolate almond butter but that they’re impossible to find and that I think I’ve discovered the “secret ingredient” to awesome chocolate nut butters.
- Shower while drinking mocha teeccino–no time lost here.
Roasted Walnut Broccoli And A Grass-Fed Grilled Burger
- Roast broccoli while you have the resources and time.
- Use up the last of the beef that’s a week old(!!). It certainly wasn’t at its prime, but it was edible and I couldn’t stand the thought of wasting animal meat.
- Grill!!
- Try an amazing new combination of broccoli roasted in walnut oil and topped with soy sauce and toasted walnuts–heaven.
New Hampshire Goat Milk Fudge
- Break in to the local, goat’s milk chocolate fudge picked up in New Hampshire the day before and devour for dessert.
Goat Milk Fudge
- Call the neighbors. Tell them not to worry about the moaning and that it’s just me eating really really good fudge
- Browse new cameras and laptops online because I might be in the market.
Red Delicious Apple
- Keep my claim as red delicious apple king while getting more raw fruits in me
- Spoil Montana before I leave him.
Oatmeal With Chocolate Peanut Butter
- Write an apology to Justin for my first letter confirming my addiction to his chocolate peanut butter.
- Bring sexy oatmeal back as a snack.
- Pack up the car and head back to campus
- Plug Averie’s giveaway for Tropical Traditions coconut oil for things like my coconut oil chocolate or raw vegan brownies(which taste great with a shmear of coconut oil on top)
What have you added to your to-done list lately?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 16 so far )Target Finds And 10 Reasons To Love Home
Hey, all! As if I couldn’t be more confusing, I’m back to blogging from my dorm. I felt good enough today to come back for my Thursday classes. In all honesty, I wanted to come back early today to go to the classes I missed, but common sense prevailed and I needed to rest. Would you believe those are the only 2 classes I’ve missed all year?! I’ve always been the type of person who hates missing classes and trumped to school when he was sick >:-( Were you like that? Or were you more than happy to have an excuse to miss class 😛
Newman's Own Organic Super Dark Chocolate
I knew I was feeling more like myself when I wanted to snack on some Newman’s Own Organic Super Dark Chocolate before lunch…
Grass-Fed Burger, Indian Fries, Sea Salt & Vinegar Pop Chips
The weather today was lovely. It took every ounce of my strength not to break rest and move around outside. Instead, we gassed up the grill to enjoy the sun. I prepared sweet potato fries with EVOO and indian spice last night before I got sick, so we reheated those up along with a grass-fed 85/15 burger. And then there were Sea Salt & Vinegar Pop Chips with extra sea salt. Yum! I think I’m addicted to chips in the good weather.
Jokerz Candy Bar
Jokerz Candy Bar
As we drove around town to run some errands, I cracked open a Jokerz candy by from Go Max Go Foods. Love these! If I didn’t limit myself to 1 a week I’m sure I’d be in the poor house before I knew it. Speaking of the poor house, my favorite store, Target, will do that to you. And look what I found!
Luna Protein Cookie Dough Bars
S'mores Z-Bars
Disclaimer: I didn’t actually buy either of these; I have enough bars to last me through a snow storm and more. But I did find it interesting that 6 cookie dough Luna protein were only $5.99! Also, remember Spooky S’mores? They’re now a permanent flavor! Wahoo! I think I’m going to base my diet around bars now just so I can run out and have an excuse to buy these(not really(sort of)).
Fruit & Nut Boomi Bar
Boomi Bars are a good deal more natural than the Luna’s, anyway. I loooved the nutty flavor of this one; something about whole hazelnuts really put a smile on my face 🙂 And it was a good deal fruity, too. It just seemed to have too many sesame seeds 😦 I’ve never been a fan, and this wasn’t Fruit & Nut & Seed.
Yummi Bears Sourz Multi-Vitamin
I made one last purchase at Whole Foods that was a tough decision to make: Yummi Bears Sour multi-vitamins. In the past, I’ve always been somewhat against multi’s, saying that it’s better to just pay and get your nutrition from the foods you eat! And I still believe that. But lately I’ve been frustrated with the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in my diet. And, short of going to Whole Foods every few days and dropping way too much $$ on produce, I haven’t been able to find a fix for this. The sudden illness just put that all over the top, so I thought for my last month on campus I’d keep the nutrition up by taking a multi-vitamin to ensure nutrition. Yes, I realize these are children’s and yes I realize they’re sour bears. Why else would you think I’d buy them 😉
Tofu And Tempeh With Broccoli And Coconut
Dinner was a simple 5 ingredient meal:
- Soy Sauce
- Tempeh
- Tofu
- Broccoli
- Coconut Shreds
I cubed the tofu and tempeh and threw those in a pan over medium-high heat. As they were cooking, I added the soy sauce to sauté them in. Meanwhile, I steamed broccoli in the microwave for 3 minutes and then threw that in the pan for the last few minutes while everything cooked down. Over the top, I added shredded coconut for the nuttiness of it(it probably would be more flavorful toasted but I already had washed the pan and moved upstairs. I don’t normally love tempeh, but from time to time it’s a nice change of protein.
Going home reminded me of all the reasons it’s a great place to be. In fact, I’ve found it easier not to want to go home simply by forgetting all the reasons it’s a great place to be. But, alas, I can’t fight those feelings anymore, and so I made a list of the 10 things I’m looking forward to about living at home over the Summer.
- Montana(and the other people, potentially)
- A bigger refrigerator
- A quiet room and bed
- Fresh produce and food
- Grilling
- Baking
- All my wonderful neighbors
- Farmer’s markets visits
- A paying job(?)
- Less expectations and more time to be lazy 😛
Why do you love home?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 23 so far )Naked Running And Eating Raw
Do you ever go running naked? No, not like that; get your mind out of the gutter 😉 I mean, do you go running with or without a Garmin? I love my 205 and usually won’t run without it. Today, however, I noticed it was low on batteries before I got going. Yikes! There was nothing I could do other than take it off and hit the road. I didn’t know really how far I was going at any time. All I know is when I was done I felt like this:
Dead Tired
And I had ran for 1:51. Wow! Time really got away for me. It wasn’t until after lunch that I was able to sit down and map my run, only to find that I ran 13.4 miles. That’s .2 miles more than my half-marathon last weekend and a new outside distance PR! No wonder I felt beat. The first thing I did was grab this from Hannafords:
O.N.E. Coconut Water
I had never had coconut water before. To be honest, it tasted a little like feet 
BUT I love the potassium content here. I don’t think I get much potassium, so this boost was welcomed, and I hope it really does help with recovery and hydration like I hear hyped up so much.
Grass-Fed Burger, Broccoli, Ketchup Fries
Grass-Fed 1/3 Pounder
You know what tastes really good after a long run? A burger on the grill–not going to lie there. This was 1/3 pound grass-fed beef(I figured I needed a little more for recovery), and while it was a little overcooked it was so juicy from the grilling. I can’t wait until Summer! On the side was steamed broccoli and Snikiddy Classic Ketchup Fries. These really tasted a little too sweet for me, even though it only had 2g of sugar. I thin the beauty of a french fry in ketchup is salty/sweet and there wasn’t enough salt here.
Ginger Root Beer Zevia
Gotta keep hydrating 😉 This time I had a ginger root beer Zevia. Don’t worry; between running and then I had also had at least 2 full water bottles. I just kept needing more!
Organic Fuji Apple
Aaaand it was feeling like a bottomless pit day by the time I grabbed this organic apple not much later. I love increasing mileage; the downside, however, is going through groceries like crazy. I won’t even begin to rant how cheap empty calories are but how expensive nutritious ones can be. Of course, there are also those empty calories that cost a lot, too…
So Delicious Cookie Dough Coconut Milk Ice Cream
I would be lying if I said that my cookie dough cashew butter from this morning wasn’t inspired because I was willing to go straight into this ice cream at 9am. It was just as good at 4am, but I didn’t want to spoil my appetite for dinner. As part of continued birthday celebration, we drove in to Boston to eat at Grezzo’s raw vegan restaurant. I’ve eaten here twice before(here and here) but this was the first time my parents had eaten raw. Even though I had a burger at lunch, a raw one seemed just as good for dinner.
Grezzo Sliders
The Grezzo Sliders were 2 sunflower patties served on bleu cheese greens, pickled cucumbers, and avocado slices between tomato “buns”. This was tasty–not very filling or big but a nice “appetizer”. The chips(potato slices soaked in vinegar and dehydrated) were a lot better than their sweet potato chips. Even though this was my “entree”, I really thought of my dessert as the main course.
Brownie Sundae
Oh yes. Let me talk you through this one. That would be vanilla bean cashew milk gelato with cacao nibs on top of a raw brownie covered in a coconut oil chocolate fudge sauce and brazil nut shreds with a few macerated berries. It was tasty! I didn’t care for the nibs, but besides that the gelato was amazing; it tasted like true vanilla. There are 2 types of “ice cream”s I like: low/no-fat frozen yogurt, or vegan. Heavy dairy just doesn’t do it for me, so this was brilliant. The brownie was OK but really not much more than my raw vegan brownies.
All Gone
Done and done. This “impressed” my dad. Really? Did he know me? I’m a card carrying member of the clean plate club, and the sliders weren’t much. Besides, this was my “birthday dessert”, so I was willing to go all out here 😉 It was definitely a lot of sugar, though, because I was all too willing to “let my body move to the music” and vogue to the radio on the way home.
Synergy Trilogy
And now I’m sipping on a Trilogy kombucha. The perfect way to end this night? I think so. My meal has made me think I want to incorporate more raw foods into my diet. And I’m not talking about going to the salad bar more often; I mean the raw foods that take days to make but come out intensely flavorful like nut cheeses. I put this out there only because I feel like saying it on the blog will make me accountable to follow through. And really, who doesn’t love a good nut cheese 😉
If you’re looking for giveaways, here’s one giveaway for coconut oil and here another. There’s also one for an iHerb shopping spree and last(but so not least) a giveaway for raw chocolate.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 26 so far )Surprise!
Surprise! It’s Monday. How much does that suck? Miss the weekend race recap? Read all about it here.
Surprise! Oprah hates surprises; did you know that? She would not like this post.
Sweet Potato Fries
Surprise! These were all from 1 sweet potato! Granted, it was a hugh jass one, but I think that’s impressive nonetheless.
Surprise! I stayed home while my parents went to Whole Foods. I’m pretty sure this is theopposite of how things should be, but I was worn out from my race and needed to sit on the couch with my friend, Mr. Computer 😀
Perfect Apple
Surprise! This apple actually tasted good!
Grass-Fed Grilled Burger, Sweet Potato Fries With Chipotle Cayenne Parma
Surprise! I still eat the same at home as at school, just with different equipment 😀 I asked for red meat for dinner, so we heated up the grill and made some burgers. Mmmm so much juicier than in a pan! And I love how spicy the chipotle cayenne parma makes sweet potato fries; they’re like a new experience.
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Surprise! My parents picked up a chocolate flourless cake at Whole Foods the day before my birthday to celebrate while my grandmother was around! This really was a surprise; I saw the sketchy brown paper bag they hid it in, but could only guess what it was. You have no idea how relieved I was when I realized they understood gluten-free eating and got an appropriate style cake; that’s love for ya 😉
Purely Decadent Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Coconut Milk Ice Cream
Surprise! When we got So Delicious cookie dough ice cream, we also got the peanut butter chocolate swirl, which I’m ready to confess is my new favorite frozen dessert. OK, I don’t think there’s actually much surprise here except from my dad when he realized how much ice cream I need to grab for a few days at home.
Flourless Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream
Surprise! Could you see this one coming? How could I not take the two fattiest pieces of dessert in our kitchen and combine them? 🙂 I was refueling from a half-marathon, after all. Needless to say, this was tasty. But I think my mom and I agreed there are better flourless chocolate cakes out there, hers included.
Surprise! My stomach got me! 30 minutes later I was not feeling so hot :-X It had been so long since I’d eaten something that rich made from dairy, I forget that a lot of milk fat really doesn’t sit well in my stomach. That plus a sugar rush had me wanting to be near a garbage tin for the rest of the night. Could I possibly regret it, though? Not a chance.
Oatmeal With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter
Not A Surprise! You didn’t have to be psychic to see a final bowl of oatmeal before bed coming. I wasn’t sure if I’d see this come back up, so I kept it small with just a little butter toffee peanut butter. And before you say “Isn’t that dairy fat, too?”, butter is the 5th or 6th ingredient and 2 tablespoons has just 2g of saturated fat, so I can’t imagine there’s much.
Cards And A Present
Surprise! was how I felt when I woke up to cards and my favorite chocolate bar. Awww, what a perfect way to wake up 🙂
Surprise! I’m going to keep the rest of the morning a secret for a good birthday recap tonight or tomorrow morning. What a shame because there’s already been cake mix involved and it’s not even 10am 😉
Surprise! Not even 24 hours after my last half marathon and I’ve signed up for my next! I was actually thinking about this before yesterday. It’s perfect. It’s the Providence Marathon, so let’s just say I know the streets quite well 😉 It’ll hopefully be a nice, warm May day, too. And I might be able to coerce a Brown friend of mine into running, too, which would be great. My only concern are the hills around Providence but I’ll have a while to work with those.
Surprise! You or I could win either Tazo tea, gluten free goodies, or coconut butter in either of these giveaways.
What has been a surprise in your life lately?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 26 so far )I’ve Got A Hot Dog
And, yes, I’m talking about this stud:
Montana
This is what he looks like 2 minutes after waking up. If you wait 3 minutes you’ll find him back asleep again. That’s pretty much what he does. Everybody left the house leaving me to wait around until lunch. It feels like this house lacks “real food” whenever I’m gone. That’s why I pack an entire shopping bag full. See? I’m smart–food smart 🙂
BBQ Tempeh And Broccoli With Goat Cheese
Pineapple Chobani With Pumpkin Flax Granola
I listened to the back of my Lightlife tempeh box which says it’s best grilled and skewered some BBQ tempeh. I loved the smoky flavor that it gave it and nuttier texture, but I still don’t know that the BBQ flavor came out. The broccoli was for the green(or maybe just an excuse to eat hickory smoked goat cheese). And the Chobani was a bit of early dessert. Even though I had the thought “I could be having ice cream instead of this” I chose the yogurt; what has happened to me? Clearly, that granola has a bit of flax and a bit of crack. Immediately after lunch we got on with the afternoon festivities…
Empire Apples
Apple picking! Would you believe every Saturday so far this season I’ve came home has been rainy? It was windy, but not a raincloud around, so we hit up Tougas Farms for their final weekend. The trees were pretty picked but we made do.
Apple
Naturally, one snuck in my mouth on the walk out. I forget which type this was but I had an Empire; it was very nice and crisp and reminded me of a less sweet and visually attractive Red Delicious. After that we went to Target in search of some elusive Archer Farm’s Vanilla Cranberry Peanut Butter. Alas! No luck 😦 Next up was Hannafords for some general baking and eating goodies before heading to Micky-D’s(for a coffee, of course) and home. Here was the loot of the odyssey.
Groceries
Greek yogurt–obvs–, Organic PB cups for an Evan Halloween :-), pumpkin, oats, apple butter, soy milk, tofu, and organic Smart Balance butter. I didn’t want to spring for the organic but the regular stuff apparently has artificial flavor. What are they flavoring it? Just like I don’t like butter, I don’t like fake butters either. But I know they’re necessary for a certain recipe I was thinking of making so I sucked it up and tried not to touch it too much. I was also pretty hungry and in need of a little mood booster, so I busted out the last of my old Smart Balance peanut butter.
SB PB And Chocolate Chips In A Jar
And then all was right with the world 🙂 I don’t think any of my other jars are quite close to being finished, so I really savored this one. I tried catching up on Tivo and some homework but I got distracted and needed to try out a recipe
Vegan Pumpkin Brownies
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 15oz can pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup soy milk
- 1/4 cup pumpkin butter
Pumpkin Brownies With Pumpkin Butter
Preheat your oven to 350. In a bowl, sift together the first 5 ingredients. Add in the pumpkin, soy milk, and vanilla and mix well. The batter will be thick. Spread into an 8×8 pan. Scoop pumpkin butter into a ziploc bag and snip off one end. In lines, squeeze the pumpkin butter. Then, with a knife, alternate cutting motions in both directions to make an effect. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Pumpkin Pumpkin Butter Brownie
If you love fudgy brownies, these are definitely the ones for you. They didn’t even taste like a pastry but more like solid packed pumpkin and chocolate. I used too little sugar and baking powder, but I adjusted the recipe accordingly so hopefully yours will come out a bit more flavorful. Be sure to tell me if anyone tries these 😀 This was a nice appetizer for dinner.
Salmon, Asparagus, Maple Mustard Tofu
A dinner, by the way, that was eaten spread over 30 minutes of being on the couch translating latin and running to answer kids at the door. I wasn’t feeling salmon. I feel like there’s an expectation for me always to want salmon or some meat when I come home, but that’s just not true. I tried introducing some alternative protein to the meal with grilled tofu. I liked the Nasoya firm better than what’s at my dining hall, so I might be adding it to the shopping list from now on, but I think it was too firm; when I reach for the ‘fu, I want something mushy and funky. There was also this humongous apple:
Mutsu Apple
It’s hard to tell, but this was big(TWSS). I ate it quick and sloppily just so that I wouldn’t have to feel hungry running back and forth to the door! God that gets annoying, and is so unfruitful. Next year I’m hitting the streets again. At least that way you get candy for your work. Now I just need to find an organic street… I did have a partner in answering the door:
Montana
I told you I had a hot dog. He didn’t actually fit in his costume so we just held and threw it over when people came to the door. We didn’t get too many visitors, which my mom was very pleased with since that left her with a good amount of candy for herself.
So Delicious Vanilla Soy Yogurt With Newman's Own Organic Milk Chocolate PB Cup And Vanilla Sugar
Would it have been Halloween if I didn’t buts into a little candy? Clearly not. This was actually an educational experience. I learned a) when it comes to peanut butter and chocolate, milk is the way to go. I would have thought dark because in general I love that way more than milk but it just works with the peanut butter. Also, b) candy is better on top of yogurt. It feels like a sundae. I wonder if organic coated candies leak organic coloring like M&M’s do. That’d be sweet. c) Vanilla soy yogurt actually tastes like vanilla. Unfortunately, this boy likes his soy yogurt to be as funky as tofu, so it was a bit of a letdown 😦
4-C Scone With White Chocolate Wonderful
Cranbran Vitatop With White Chocolate Wonderful, Toast With Peanut Butter Cookie Spread
Vanilla Cranberry was clearly the flavor obsession of the night. I was a little disappointed I couldn’t get the Vanilla Cranberry peanut butter 😦 Word from the foodie is that it’s in Woburn but that’s a good hour in the wrong direction for me. I’ll find it yet. I don’t even remember when I baked my last batch of those scones; I love finding pastries hidden in the freezer. I think I need a spare freezer just for english muffins because they never seem to be where I want them.
Did anybody else feel that extra hour? I woke up at 8 7 and felt both well rested and not lazy. That was nice. Instead of hitting the streets, I hit the kitchen. I’ll save what I whipped up and my breakfast for the next post 😉
A cookie giveaway from one Nutricious gal
Something’s Fishy
Happy first day of September! I can’t believe it’s at that point of year and Summer’s almost over? I think I’ll have my Naturally Nutty review ready for Sunday, which will work out because I won’t feel like posting after moving in to my dorm Sunday. Speaking of that, if any of my eats look weird and random this week(err, moreso than usual that is), it’s because I move in to my dorm Satrurday and am eating out “my food” from the fridge and freezer. That being said, let’s roll onto the post.
In case anyone worried I wasn’t getting my morning dose of peanut butter after my breakfast, I’ll calm your nerves:
Peanut Butter Z-Bar
Since making an effort to eat more “food”, my bar count has definitely gone down, but I can’t resist the occasional Z-Bar. Plus, just check out the ingredients and you’ll see how legit this is. I mean, the first ingredient IS peanut butter. Whole Foods, please have these on sale again so I can use the coupon from the Whole Deal to get $2 boxes again, kthnxbai. For lunch, I went with something old and something new.
Grilling
Tuna Burger With Peach Salsa, Eggplant With Soyaki Sauce
I had soooo many tuna burgers at the beginning of the Summer but kind of stopped eating them inexplicably. Oh why was that? Who knows, but I had to eat this bun before it went bad and it’s so thick it needed a thick burger(call in the tuna burger) to do it justice. I never tried grilling up eggplant before; I don’t think I’ve even eaten it outside of chinese takeout or eggplant parm, so this was definitely new. I loved how soft and creamy it came out, and it soaked up the sauce like a sponge. Yum yum yum, definitely adding eggplant to my list of OK veggies. For “dessert” I opened these.
Newman's Own Organic Wintergreen Breath Mints
Ok, not really dessert. I just needed something to get the fish out of my breath and I remembered these in the big box Newman’s Own Organic sent me a while back. The color threw me off a bit; these were almost a light brown or dirty white. Then I realized it’s Newman’s and they’re organic so it’s probably a good thing they aren’t some weird artificial neon green. The flavor was very strong and… minty? Repetitive but accurate but repetitive. They were very good and I’d recommend them. You could go with a commercial brand but why get a dose of artificial coloring and ingredients when you’re trying to freshen your mouth? We went to Roche Bros again and I got this again:
Kashi Mountain Medley And Kashi Vive
It’s totally a recycled pic because I was too lazy to recapture the cereal loving. I hoped to get something different, but the only Kashi cereal I’ve tried is Honey Sunshine and they didn’t have any, so I went with these since (I assume) they’re good. And for 2.50 total, it really was a steal. Well what does anybody else feel like snacking on on an August afternoon?
Pumpkin Oats With Maple Peanut Butter
Pumpkin oats, of course! I don’t know why, but this definitely hit the spot. Something about the sweet peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth that always works 🙂 Plus, I cleared our fridge of that huge Pumpkin can that’s lasted me since Georgia, sweet. I also had this sometime before dinner:
Carrot Cake Non Dairy Ice Cream And Elan Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
I thought to combine my two current faves in the freezer. I don’t know if I’d say the carrot cake ice cream tastes exactly like carrot cake, but it’s pretty good nonetheless; it’s hard to judge because so many different recipes for carrot cakes have any number of add-ins. I loved the parts where the carrot and vanilla met and sort of made a creamsicle flavor. Thank God my mini-fridge for Brown has a freezer is all I can say. Dinner was another dose of Omega-Sea’s:
Broccoli, Corn, Bluefish
Salmon is still my favorite, but bluefish isn’t bad either. Just add some salt(read: a lot of salt) and it really brings out that ocean flavor. After dinner we went down to the Marlborough shopping plaza where we bought this:
EZ Leather Chair
Like my wheels? I remember hearing a good chair is worth the investment for college since you’re going to spend so much time sitting and studying in it(in theory). This was 50% off today only, and my parents kicked in a little moola, so I got it for 40 dollars–niceeee. It’s super comfortable. Like, I could’ve fallen asleep in the test model.
We got back and I felt like cookies and milk coffee for a bedtime snack.
Newman's Own Organic Ginger Hermits
I still can’t taste the difference between the ginger and original flavor, but that’s ok because they are both amazing. If you’re a hermit fan(which is my type of cookie), definitely try Newman’s Own Organic. I don’t think I could bake any like this, and they each have 10% your DV of iron. Wtf? I also had a mondo caramel/toffee craving but nothing we own seemed to have caramel and buying a new pint of Stonyfield’s Creme Caramel FroYo would NOT have been conducive to cleaning out the freezer, so I went with a toffeelicious peanut butter:
Butter Toffee Peanut Butter And Fig And Almond Blondie
This peanut butter definitely hit the spot. It’s sweet and buttery and slightly crunchy–clearly one of my favorites from Naturally Nutty. I wish I could say the same for the fig and almond blondie but not so; this batch did not come out quite like the first, and I didn’t even finish it. I’m going back to the recipe post to update it with what should work better. The night kind of went downhill after that: The rest of the banana bread had some mold on it(granted there were only like 2 slices left) and I broke the plate in the pic. After that I switched to a plastic plate, made some breads with spreads, and called it a night.
I did not feel well rested this morning when the alarm went off at 7. I think I slept 8 hours, but I dreamt about snakes, and I never feel well rested after dreaming about snakes. Is that normal with anyone else? I felt like being a little productive before running so I started boxing food for my dorm:
Breakfast Box
That’ll last me… a week? Haha, hopefully much longer… hopefully. I ran 7.5 miles even though I planned on doing 6. Isn’t it crazy how we grow overtime? July 1st I wouldn’t have thought 7.5 miles would be realistic and September 1st I’m adding to my runs just for the hell of it. I surprisingly wasn’t feeling anything for breakfast which I suppose was good and let me continue cleaning out the fridge.
Carrot Juice, Water, English Muffin With Fluff And Vanilla Almond Butter, Vanilla Goat's Milk Yogurt With Peanut Butter Flour
Goat’s milk peanut butter yogurt, coming to a grocery store near you!… Probably not; the tang is a little too weird on this one. I’ll stick with my plain yogurt + PB flour + chocolate syrup from now on. Fluff is amazing, isn’t it? This isn’t actual fluff; it’s vegan marshmallow creme made by a local company with all-natural ingredients, but fluff is easier(and funner) to say.
Today’s the last day of the Whole Foods sales so we’re going to pick up more steak. when else can you get quality meat to feed 3 for $4? Never. Gotta love the sales.
P.S. Eating Machine is having a Zevia giveaway. This diet soda is my new crack, so check it out: http://eatingmachine.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/zevia-giveaway/#comment-174
And I almost forgot, September means Holey Donuts new monthly contest. I’ve never tried these but they look so good, don’t they? To enter, just visit www.holeydonuts.net then send Holey Donuts! an email with the name of my blog in the subject line(Food Makes Fun Fuel) and your name and that’s it, you’re entered! 5 people get free donuts and 1 person gets $1000(That’s a lot of donuts). AND if the $1000 winner is one of you and you put my blog in the subject line, I get $500 dollars. So help a brotha out, won’t you?
Going Farther, Getting Nuttier
I can’t wait until the end of this post to brag recap about today’s run, because I’m just too excited. Check this out:
10.05 miles in 1:20:12
A NEW PR! The farthest I’ve ever ran is 8.5 miles. This morning I planned 6 miles around the neighborhood, which is about 6.7. But on my 4th or 5th lap I felt so good that I started thinking(and me thinking is usually dangerous) “why wait until Saturday to do my long run? If I feel good now I should run what I’m feeling”. So I just kept going and going like the energizer bunny and 9 times around plopped me at double digits, and at 800: min/mile, a pretty great pace for me.
That excitement aside, let’s look at the food that fueled this morning… in a fun way. See? the name of this blog has a point. I was really sore after the run yesterday. I cut myself some slack and said no core for the day; I may not know how to take a rest day from running but I find the little ways to cut myself slack. I figured a walk around da hood would raise some spirits. I came by some awesome neighbors playing outside who lifted my mood, but the rest of me was still pretty shot after I got home so I sat down with a snack and some heavy reading.
Eat This Not That And A Peach
Have you ever held that book? The hard cover makes it heavy(and expensive :-(). Also, notice the keen placement of the peach. I will eat this and not that. I flipped through a few chapters–mostly looking at the pictures like I’m a 2 year old and this was Peter Rabbit. I was pretty stoked when I found this in the Best Drinks section:
Drink This: Best Bottled Juice--Odwalla Carrot Juice
You go, Odwalla carrot juice. Now just don’t be so expensive and maybe I won’t have to give you up when I go off to college. Seriously, if you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it. I’ve used it as a post-run drink all summer since it has more potassium than OJ or a banana and has a naturally sweet flavor with almost 1 pound of carrots in each cup.
I grilled for lunch because I was having a Darius Rutker “It won’t be like this for long” moment.
Salmon Burger On The Grill
Do you think I could befriend the cooks at the Brown dining halls and use all their fancy crap for cooking and bond like we’re in some Disney Channel Original movie? It’s a thought…
Salmon Burger In FlatOut Wrap With Lime FSTG Chips, Salsa, And Avocado
I also thought I’d give the lime flavored Foods Should Taste Good nachos a try since lime is one of my favorite flavors(love that saltiness). Of course no chip taste test would be complete without salsa, which was habanero and lime because I’m that matchy-matchy, and some avocado. My first impression of the chips was that they had a good lime flavor, but were a little underseasoned. I added some salt and that fixed the problem. The texture was very crispy without tasting stale and reminded me of the fresh baked nachos from a Boston tacqueria, Fajitas And Ritas. I was really pleased with them overall and can’t wait to see how they stand up against the other flavors. Once I go through them all I’ll be ready to give a full review.
By the end of lunch time, the Kennedy’s were on all the local stations, so there wasn’t much reason to stick around watching TV. Yes, we all loved Senator Kennedy, but can’t the family get 24 hours of peace? We went to the Framingham farmers’ market, which had a solid attendance.
Framingham Farmers' Market Peppers
I knew I wanted to get some peppers to grill for dinner so I grabbed 3 of those, as well as an eggplant. I don’t know what I’ll do with it yet, but with so many recipes floating around the blogs I’m sure I’ll find something. We also got some sharp cheddar made from raw milk. Intriguing, no? On the way home we stopped by Super Stop And Shop were I was a super shopper. Super.
Kashi Cocoa Beach Granola, Smartfood Peanut Butter And Apple Popcorn, Elan Decaf Cappuccino Frozen Yogurt
I had a coupon for a free Kashi product so I went with their expensive granola which is never included in the sales. It has chocolate, almond, and coconut, so this will go well with… EVERYTHING. We had a coupon for a dollar off Elan’s which expires in 4 days–nice catch there. I love that this is Decaf Cappuccino flavored, as opposed to their coffee. I don’t think coffee ice cream would have enough to really keep me up at night, but better to be safe than hyper. And Smartfood apparently has a new flavor–peanut butter and apple. I couldn’t turn it down while it was still on the sale period.
When I got home I knew just what I wanted to make: Banana Goodness Bread
The Sugar
No sooner did we go through the last loaf that I was ready to make the next. I considered making slight alterations to the recipe to include my peanut flour. But I got some pleads requests to not change a thing, so I pleased my fans. That’s really all the added sugar that goes into the bread, yet it still comes out with a deliciously sweet flavor. This time I used unrefined sugar from the Whole Foods bulk bin.
The Secret Ingredient
I also changed up the yogurt from Vanilla Bean to Banana Vanilla. Sneaky, sneaky.
Oven Ready
The cinnamon sugar topping really adds the finishing touch. All it is is 5 grams of sugar with 1/2 a teaspoon cinnamon mixed in a bowl and sprinkled over.
Once that was in the oven I had a little something to hold myself over.
Elan Decaf Cappuccino Frozen Yogurt With Cinnamon And Midnight Moo
This came out really mocha-y and delicious, but I think next time I might forgo the chocolate sauce and just go with chocolate chips for the bit of texture difference. While I was waiting I got a little impatient and made another one of my favorite recipes while the baking supplies were out.
The Peanut Butter Boy's Scones
These scones are so delicious. I’ve developed an unexpected love of scones over the Summer. They’re just the ultimate food and can be breakfast, dessert, or a portable snack, so what’s not to love. The Peanut Butter Boy’s recipe for scones is definitely tied for my favorite with my own Loaded Scones. I made these vegan by swapping out the egg for flax and some water. Finally everything was baked.
Banana Goodness Bread And Peanut Butter Scones
Hiya, carbs. I’ll see you later tonight 😉 I also made myself a little let’s-eat-this-stuff-to-get-rid-of-it snack before dinner.
Peanut Butter And Apple Popcorn, Raspberries, Cinnamon Raisin Bread
I finished off the pint of raspberries I picked, and ate the butt(lol, butt) of the cinnamon raisin Vermont Bread Co. loaf. The popcorn was ok. It didn’t have a strong peanut flavor but reminded me of cracker jacks. And I loved the dried apple slices which were totally random and tart. My mom really loved it when I made myself a meatball sub for lunch last week and saw this as an easy dinner to cook great meal for the family.
Meatball Sub With Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Grilled Peppers
We also grilled the peppers from the farmers market and sampled the cheese. I’m not a cheddar aficionado, so I can’t say much about it other than it was really tasty. My mom who loves cheddar seemed incredibly impressed. Maybe raw milk is the way to go? The highlight of dinner came when we got a knock on the garage door, which was obviously the UPS man but my dad answered thinking it was someone coming to chat us up.
My Package
Naturally Nutty Nut Butters
If you’ve been reading this for a while, you might remember how I celebrated my first paycheck by buying 3 flavors of Naturally Nutty, which I reviewed here. Well to celebrate my last week of work I bought myself the 2 flavors I was really impressed by–Vanilla Almond Butter and Butter Toffee–as well as 3 new flavors–Honey Roasted Cinnamon, Mocha, and Vanilla Peanut Butter. As a special surprise, Katie from Naturally Nutty sent me a sampler of a new surprise sampler they’ll be releasing soon. Thanks, Katie! I love surprises and I don’t think anything will be more of a surprise than trying to guess what this could be.
Mocha Peanut Butter On A Split Scone
When the king of peanut butter’s recipe meets the queen of peanut butter’s peanut butter, you know it’s going to be good. I’ll save an in depth review for once I’ve tried all the new flavors. All I can say is the mocha definitely delivers the flavor it promises, and you can’t ask for more than that. To follow that off I did some more bread and spread lovin’.
Banana Goodness Bread With Dark Chocolate Almond Butter
Carrot Ginger Muffin Top With Smart Balance, Toast With The Surprise Peanut Butter
Going 18 hours without that bread was a sin. What was I thinking? Of course, I decimated the bananas in this house between that bread and freezing some for soft serve, so I should get on that today. Then I needed to try the surprise flavor, because when someone sends you an unlabeled jar in the mail with your name written on it, you need to taste it, right? 🙂 I had it along side a muffin top(which are 10 times better when they’re from an actual muffin) and some smart balance for a good comparison point. Again, I’m saving any detailed review for a special post, and I’m not sure how much about this flavor I should/am allowed to give away. All I can say is I’m 95% sure I’ve pinned it, it blew my mind, and I’ll DEFINITELY order a 15oz jar when it’s available.
So, ya’ll already know about this morning’s run. I wasn’t feeling any particular flavor for breakfast oddly, so I went with what was handy:
Cinnamon Raisin Bread With Honey Roasted Peanut Butter, Carrot Juice, Chocolate Banana Yogurt With Cocoa Beach Granola, Banana Bread
I also added a peach and threw some wheat germ and ground flax on the yogurt. I really liked my new granola, but it was almost a little too clustery for me. I like clusters and single oats, and this seems to be all clusters. I suppose that’s better than all oats. And the peanut butter is sweet and delicious with the cinnamon raisin bread. Today I plan on sitting on my heiny most of the day and admiring my mileage. That being said, bluefish is on sale and sounds like the plan for dinner so we’ll need to pick up that. And apparently yesterday was my 2nd most viewed day ever, which is awesome and so I thank you all for reading. I’ll try to keep it fresh and funky.
Go here for an exciting coupon giveaway: http://www.fitandfabulouslife.com/2009/08/27/another-coupon-giveaway/
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 11 so far )Flour Flying Everywhere
Yesterday morning I put on my work clothes and did some heavy lifting.
The Spare Bedroom
I can’t believe move in day is in less than 2 weeks? I feel wicked prepared, but also very not prepared. I have most of the big stuff, so today I focused on finding pencils, binders, etc., and moving that huge ass trunk. A hernia, fallen cactus, and 20 minutes later, I was spent. That’s enough for one day, right? I mean, it IS over a week away. I needed sunlight being trapped in that room so I stepped outside with a peach.
Going For A Walk
When I got back, we needed to go next door to let out our neighbors’ new cat. His name’s shadow, and he was a stray that’d been roaming the neighborhood for the past 2 weeks. Finally my parents and neighbors got wicked attached to them and apparently he’s been adopted. I’m pretty sure that breaks about 3 rules my parents taught me but apparently never learned themselves?
Shadow
After that I was pretty cranky, which definitely meant lunchtime. I tried making a salmon and tuna burger with our leftovers–bad idea. I should know not to take on difficult cooking projects when I really just want to eat, but I needed to relearn that. I settled for a pretty sweet reincarnation of pizza and wings.
Trader Joe's Individual Pizza Grilled With Buffalo Bleu Kettle Chips
What a knockout combo. Of course I grilled the pizza which gave the bottom that crusty, burnt flavor. We used to have pizza parlor pizza and wings every Tuesday. Looking back, that was fun, but definitely not healthy and something to eat every week. Plus, fresh basil? I would eat this meal in a heartbeat over that greasy stuff.
After “the soaps” we jumped in the car, swung by my grandmothers condo, and took her to Roche Bros. I needed something for some shopping energy.
Banana Goodness Bread
This loaf is definitely on its last leg. Roche Bros. was a reminder of why I’m not much of a fan of shopping other places than Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Does anybody else find it ridiculous that grocery stores these days have special sections for “natural” products? I mean, it’s a food store, you’d hope most of what’s in there is natural. But that’s just not the case these days. And Whole Foods is lovingly termed Whole Paycheck, but have you ever tried buying Whole Foods quality stuff at regular supermarkets? That’ll be your paycheck and your bonus. Whole Foods can actually be quite affordable; the trick is to shop the sales and use the coupons from companies/The Whole Deal and you can get some real bargains. That all being said, I did get some loot(with a little help from a stop at a natural food store on the way back)
Watermelon, Carrot Cake Ice Cream, Bulk Bin Oats, Cinnamon Sugar Grinder, Banana Vanilla Yogurt
The wallaby yogurt and spice grinder is for my next banana loaf–I am so on top of this planning thing. The oats were from the natural stores’ bulk bin, which are rocksome for getting high quality cheap grains and seeds. And the dairy free ice cream was another find from the natural food store.
Carrot Cake Ice Cream
How could I turn this down? I couldn’t obviously. Carrot cake is my favorite dessert so I needed to give it a try. The base was absolutely delicious, like a frozen form of carrot juice with cinnamon and nutmeg, and absolutely none of that soymilk flavor. In the ice cream was big globs of gingerbread dough, which were surprisingly soft and moist, almost like eating right out of a freshly mixed batch. Overall this was really good, but not quite what I was expecting. I love raisins and pineapple in my carrot cake, as well as a little cream cheese frosting. Still, this was great for what it was. The nutrition threw me off in a non-favorable way. No fiber or protein? That’s one of the reasons I’m not a fan of non-dairy ice creams: Because you miss the nutrients from milk. Still, it was a great treat, just not something to be eaten if you’re looking to get filled up.
I also really wanted to try out my new peanut butter flour today, and one recipe instantly caught my eye. I majorly tweaked it to fit my particularities–aka no butter and low sugar. Even for being tweaked so much, these came out great.
Maple Peanut Butter Muffin Tops
Ingredients:
2oz Mighty Maple Peanut Butter
2oz reduced fat cream cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup peanut flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking powder
Cinnamon sugar for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350. In a bowl, blend the cream cheese and peanut butter with a mixer. Crack in the eggs and add the milk and maple syrup. Mix until well incorporated. In a seperate bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Sift the dry into the wet and mix until fully smooth. Using an ice cream scoop, dump the dough onto lined cookie tins. Dust with cinnamon sugar and bake for 10 minutes or until puffed and firm.
Maple Peanut Butter Muffin Tops
I’ve never made muffin tops before, so I was a little dissappointed when these didn’t turn out just like the picture. But then I figured they probably used real muffin top tins, which apparently exist, so boo on them. While these cooled we had dinner:
Halibut, Watermelon, Asparagus, And Corn With Sunflower Butter
Yours truly grilled the watermelon using some fun kabobs. It makes them so juicy and sweet, almost like they were dusted with sugar. The halibut was ok, but when I heard how much wild halibut costs “on sale” my jaw hit the floor. Seriously? That’s a lot of nut butter. Speaking of nut butter…
Naturally Nutty Vanilla Almond Butter And Butter Toffee Peanut Butter
A package came for me at dinner time as well and it was this lovely gift bag from Katie over at Naturallynutty.com I ordered 3 of their flavors last month and wrote a review here. Katie loved my review and clearly figured out how much I LOVED these two flavors and was nice enough to send me 2 8oz jars! This package really threw me off at first, because I also am waiting for another ordered I placed to try 3 new flavors, which is apparently in UPS’s hands in Ohio at the moment. So much peanut butter! It’s a good problem to have, though, like a REALLY good problem. Thanks again, Katie! Now I have some jars to take to college and some to leave home. To anyone who hasn’t gotten a chance to try some of this peanut butter, I highly suggest treating yourself to some from their website. They’ve been my celebration-purchase of choice for my first and last week of work.
For dessert I needed carbs–loads of them for running. Obv, my favorite source is breads and spreads, so I loaded up on those.
Maple Peanut Butter Muffin Tops With Maple Agave Syrup
Frozen Cherries, Toast With Vanilla Almond Butter, Carrot Ginger Muffin Top With Cream Cheese
Hey, what’s that fruit doing there? Ever notice how the same food appears on every blog. Well, it’s quite simple. After reading all of each others blogs, how could we not get cravings for the food we see? Frozen cherries was all over blog world last night and nothing felt like it would hit the spot better. The muffin tops were really delicious–not much of a maple flavor but HUGE on the peanut butter and protein. I did some mental math and found out there’s at least 5 grams of protein per top. My one problem with muffin tops is that they’re ugly which is the only reason I don’t think I’ll be making them again unless I get my hands on a special tin.
Waking up this morning was an odd experience. Usually my alarm radio is playing Daughtry and having some light hearted talk about the Red Sox but today it was all reminiscing about Senator Kennedy. Reminiscing? It took me a while to put the pieces together and realized he passed away. I’m not a very political person in the least, but one thing I do remember is him taking the time to meet and shake the hands of my entire 7th grade class on a trip to DC, so he was definitely a great man by my standards.
Normally my mornings are pretty standard: Run 5-7 miles, shower, make breakfast, blog and eat, do my email/website round-up, all while watching my Regis, Kelly, and Rachael Ray. Not a bad life, right? 🙂 But this morning I had a bagel-hankering. After pleading for arranging a ride I was good to go for a new plan. I ran the first 3/4ths of the run I was planning but then took a turn and ended up at this humdinger of a place:
Panera Bread
It’s definitely been a while. I ran here at the beginning of the Summer but it was always a 2.5 mile walk back, and that just wasn’t a wise use of my time. I went in expecting to get a French Toast bagel but what was this? A new signature bagel? Cherry vanilla?! That’s definitely one of my top flavor combos so I knew I needed to order it. I got one of each, came home, toasted up half of each, and unleashed my armory of spreads.
Cherry Vanilla bagel With White Chocolate Cherry Almond Butter And Cherry Butter, French Toast Bagel With Pumpkin Butter And Mighty Maple, Carrot Juice
Breads and spreads make my life. I had an awful thought last night: What if my roommate is allergic to nuts? He’d be dead if he got within 10 feet of me. I’m sure he would have mentioned this in one of our emails, right? Here’s hoping. Today we’re totally hitting up a Farmer’s Market for some Great Harvest bread. This is a chain, but there are only 2 in all of MA and I’ve never tried them before. I think they’re good though, Kath from KERF seems to really like it.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 9 so far )Dinners For Dessert
Before I begin, can I just say what amazing songs can do for a run? I wasn’t sure how today’s 6 would be but I really pumped through it with the help of some Cobra Starship and Black Eyed Peas. All I need is a 3-hour mash-up of I Got A Feeling and Good Girls Go Bad and I could run a marathon. Haha, ok maybe that’d get a little boring after a while, better throw in some Don’t Trust Me 😉
Backtracking a ton, for lunch Thursday I really couldn’t pick anything or even a theme so I threw a bunch of things onto a plate:
Bunless Salmon Burger, 1/2 An Avocado, Refried Beans, Guiltless Gourmet Lime & Chile Nachos
It all sort of works, except for the salmon burger which is a bit random but soooo good. I’d only had these with parmesan cheese before which I thought brought all the flavor; I was way wrong. I should see what brand they are/how they’re seasoned because these really don’t need a damn thing on them. I put the chips on to eat the refried beans with but then I ate the chips straight and had the beans with a spoon 🙂 They’re so much better that way. For dessert I kept up with cleaning out the freezer.
So Delicious Coconut Milk Mocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream
So Delicious is so delicious. And it’s on sale again this week at Whole Foods! Once this pint’s gone I’m going to pick up another(or 2 or however many I can get away with). I checked and the almonds in this are roasted and salted which makes all the difference and the flavor pop. And I like it because it’s pretty low on sugar and high on fiber for an ice cream, and sure it has a lot of saturated fat but it’s plant based.
We hit up CVS for a new passport picture. I’m a little weary that they didn’t let me see the picture and I still haven’t looked at it. Oh well, as long as it’s not God awful I’ll live. Then we went to Hannaford where I bought… nothing! Nada. Zippo. When was the last time that happened? No clue, but I couldn’t find anything. We got home and I made a little snack.
Raspberries, Plain Yogurt, And Sliced Almonds
I never would have pictured myself as a plain yogurt person just a few months ago but now I dig it. It has only milk and bacteria in it and a great flavor(ps. tart is a flavor). Well then I got to work on using up the figs from Whole Foods, some of which I’d let go moldy(oops). I used the adapted version of VeggieGirl’s Fig And Almond Blondies from Mindless Living which I adapted a little myself. Check it out.
Ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons canola oil
6 tablespoons(about 1/3 cup) honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/4 white whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 ounces fresh dates, diced
2 ounces slivered almonds, toasted
Preheat your oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix together the first 5 ingredients. Sift in the flout, baking soda, and salt. Add in the dates and almonds and mix until well incorporated. Pour into an 8 x 8 baking pan and bake until golden, about 35-38 minutes.
There was a little accident during this recipe.
Finger Wound
I cut myself with a butter knife dicing the figs. Wtf? I’ve done much more dangerous stuff; I’ve diced mango and avocado in a rush at 9am with a steak knife and didn’t brush the skin. I must have been off my game, but I washed it and worked on. Here were the beauties out of the oven:
Fig And Almond Blondies
No time to taste quite yet, though. Right after this I started making the 4-C scones I posted yesterday. And as soon as those came out of the oven, dinner went on the table.
Grilled Carrots, Turkey With Steak Sauce, Corn With Sunflower Butter
Yes, you read right, sunflower butter on my corn. I’ve been having trouble falling in love with this butter so I thought it’d be better on a savory dish instead of toast. Funny story: As I put it on the corn, my mom said “I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that”. After a short explanation of how sunflower butter is NOT peanut butter, she just rolled her eyes and smothered butter on her corn. Oh the irony. It tasted pretty good on the corn, though I think there’s more potential out there to be found.
Well, let’s see. What could possibly have been for dessert…
Fig And Almond Blondie And 4-C Scone
Let’s see, where to start. How about at YUM! The fig and almond blondies were amazing and a hit around here. They’re definitely going to be the first thing I make whenever I get my hands on figs again. Major props to Mindful Living and VeggieGirl. I don’t know that I would ever change the recipe anymore, but if I did it would be to swap the 2 tablespoons canola oil for 2 tablespoons olive oil. It might sound weird but a fruity olive oil would go perfectly here and just lend a very subtle flavor to the overall dish. And the 4-C scones were also delicious. Like I said, the recipe as is doesn’t have a very pronounced cashew flavor; it mainly serves as a healthy fat in the recipe. To get a better flavor, swap out all the cream cheese for cashew butter, or simply cut your scone in have and spread more cashew butter on! After all this sweetness, I needed a bit more savory:
Snobby Joe
I told you there’d be dinners for desserts. Again, microwaving lentils is not the proper way to make them, but it gets them soft enough to chew, and that’s all I cared about. Is it said this dish is so fiberous, proteinrific, full of health benefits, and I would have it on my death bed? I ate this watching Big Brother. Ok, I know there are other obsessed people out there: Don’t be shy and admit it. What the hell was with Shima? I would NOT have given up an opportunity of being on Big Brother like that. I hope they throw in some cool twist to replace her.
Well that certainly makes good running fuel because the next morning I was up at 6 and out at 6:30. I kind of forgot that I run at 6 before work on Wednesdays, so I was really confused when my alarm went off, but eventually it hit me and I got the pot o’ joe brewing. I ran 5 miles a little slower than 8:00 min/mile pace but I think that’s because it’s been so darn hot up in New England lately(and, yes, it was hot at 6:30am). I finished up, showered, and threw together a breakkie before hopping into the car:
French Toast Oatmeal, 1/2 Banana, Vanilla Greek Yogurt With Vanilla Almond Butter
I had some oats soaking for the past 2 days that needed to be used or losed so I made french toast oatmeal. I’m really liking this new concoction(especially when I added a bit more maple-agave blend this time ;-)). And I tried something I’d actually never done before–nut butter on yogurt. I always like having yogurt and nut butter be somewhere around my breakfast, but I wasn’t sure how to fit the nut butter in with the french toast oatmeal without toasting up some bread, until I remembered seeing this on some other blogs. It was pretty good considering the vanilla/vanilla combo; I made sure not to stir it in to keep the flavors pure. It’s not my preferred way of eating either but it’s a great way to fit in both to a balanced breakfast.
Work was… work? This is my last week. I was willing to work another week but they didn’t quite have the money for that. I’m lucky to have gotten a job and so many paychecks as is in this economy so I’m very thankful for that. I brought in 5 4-C scones and they were all gone by 11:30. I also packed one for myself(grab I packed it seperate or I might not have gotten it!). For lucnh I was feeling cheesy and we hit up UFood.
UFood's Veggie Cheeseburger
It’s easy to eat veg when they make it this tasty. I ate my pickles on the side; I like them but don’t want them playing with my burger flava. And they put wayyy too much ketchup on the bottom which made it sweet like a candy bar. I scraped that off with a knife and swapped it for some mustard/steak sauce. Much yummerer. These were buy 1, get one at CVS so I thought I’d give it a try:
Sobe Lifewater Yumberry Pomegranate
It’s naturally sweetened with Stevia. I really enjoyed this flavor; it was like a great Hawaiian–not overly sweet with a touch of tartness from the pomegranate. It’s also fortified with plenty of Vitamins which I’m sure I already get enough of but why not get some more? I would definitely buy this again. The one question I have is if it is “all-natural”. I know it has natural flavors and is naturally sweetened, but I’m a little confused with some of the ingredients which (I think) are the added vitamins.
I broke away from the bars for an afternoon snack:
Cinnamon Raisin Bread And Justin's Maple Almond Butter
I picked up the maple almond butter pack at a Starbucks a while back and finally got to use it. Those things are so handy and portable; I’d love to stock up on them but the expense isn’t worth it considering I usually eat toast at home where my pantry is right at hand. Still, it was nice to eat fresh food instead of packaged stuff(not that I see much wrong in packaged stuff so long as it’s wholesome). But would it kill my office to get a toaster?
Dinner was pollock; I’m becoming such a fish snob I don’t even want to eat anything other than salmon, but I closed my eyes, covered it in Soyaki, and tried pretending. Then I placed a celebratory last-week-at-work order to Naturally Nutty(!!). I’m getting myself some new flavors but I’ll keep it hush hush until the package comes. We all went for a walk and when we got back I wasn’t quite ready for dessert, so I had another dinner for dessert:
TJ's Instant Mac N' Cheese And Al Fresco Buffalo Chicken Sausage
Here’s where I don’t even make sense to myself; I try to limit the amount of animal meat I have at meals as a self-challenge, but apparently desserts don’t count? Maybe that’s just me over thinking things. Either way, this was good and hit the spot. What with cheese doesn’t hit the spot?
English Muffin With Mighty Maple And Vegan Fluff, Fig And Almond Blondie
Finally I was up for something more desserty. I love this Vegan Fluff I found at Whole Foods. It’s a local company and it’s all natural made with real vanilla bean. It’s as nutritionally void as regular fluff, but it doesn’t have vanillin so it fits in with my first motto in To Live By… And to stop raving about those blondies would be a sin. There’s only 3 left on the counter as of 9am this morning and 6 in the fridge. Yikes, I better eat them up before others do!
Like I said, I ran a pretty decent 6 miles today. Later we’re going to Whole Foods and Trader Joes to pick up some essentials(like bread) and some not-so-essentials(like whatever works its way into my hands). I dreamt up a recipe on my run that I’m itching to try for my last day of work tomorrow(!!). If it goes good be sure to look for it on Saturday. Until then, g’bye!
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