Mint Everything And Stress Sleep
This has got to be quick; I’m done with 1 class but I need to make lunch and eat soon for back-to-back midterms in the afternoon–yikes! Not sure how those will come out…
So Delicious Coconut Milk Mint Chip Ice Cream
I love mint. There is copious amounts of it in this post, and it disappoints me that it’s so hard to find as a flavor. Should I invest in a mint herb? I’d probably eat all the leaves right off… I kicked off things by having some mint chip so delicious coconut milk ice cream. I love that you can’t taste the coconut in this flavor! Nothing should get in the way of me and my mint 😉
Deep Forest Mint Chocolate
But the chocolate in that wasn’t satisfying enough; I need a lot of chocolate to be satisfied, in case you hadn’t noticed. So I had a little bit of Endangered Species deep forest mint right afterwards just to hit that sweet tooth. I’m not crazy about this bar; that’s probably why I’m still working on it after 7 or so months.
Oatmeal With Pepita Sun Butter And 1/2 Raw Mint Chip Macaroon
I wasn’t sure if I even could work mint in to my oatmeal, or–if I could–how would it taste? It turned out fantastically. I took 1/2 of my favorite raw macaroon from Emmy’s organics and sprinkled that over plain oatmeal with pepita sun butter. The flavors of vanilla and mint were amazing here. It definitely tasted like dessert oatmeal 🙂 And then I hit the hay early to try and get some good rest.
9 Miles in 1:20:57
Nothing was pretty about this morning’s run; it was one of those times you can only be thankfully for what you could control and let the rest go from your mind. I’d rather just gloss over it while I (don’t) have the time and say I pushed through 9 miles and then quickly showered and made breakfast.
Pumpkin And Egg Oatmeal With Cinnamon, Vanilla, And Maple Almond Butters, Soy Yogurt With Milk Chocolate Peanuts
Soy Yogurt With Milk Chocolate Peanuts
It was mostly the typical, portable goodies. I added pumpkin and an egg white to my oatmeal to make it a little french-toasty and topped it with Justin’s maple almond butter and Naturally Nutty’s organic cinnamon vanilla almond butter. Can you even process how amazing that flavor combination was? Like french toast, I tell ya. And then there was So Delicious plain soy yogurt(unsweetened) with milk chocolate coated peanuts. Is it bad I would consider those a “healthy fat”? I like to not question and just crush(and then eat!).
Red Delicious Apple
And now as I’m writing this post I’ve demolished this apple.
Stress Sleep
First up, I’m not saying sleep like you’re stressed. I’m telling you to put a stress on sleep. That’s the best thing you can do for your mental health at a time when you might otherwise be distracted. We’ve all been there: Too much to do and the first thing you’re willing to sacrifice is sleep. But that’s not the answer. In fact, in times when we just need clarity, sleep can be the most beneficial thing for us and boost brain power and concentration in our waking hours. It also helps to “normalize” hunger cues. Despite a 6:15 wake-up call, I prioritized and managed 7 and 1/2 hours of sleep last night to be a sharp thinker for my tests. Between 7 and 8 hours is the recommended amount, but this varies slightly between person to person. How’s your sleeping?
Catch Up, Run, Devour!
Things I need to do more often: Relax! But that’s not happening now, so let’s get into it.
Tips To Save
I’ve been wanting to bring this one up for a while. I get asked a lot “How do you save money on groceries?”. My answer is that there are tons of ways! You just need to tap into them!
Proteins
1. Buy off-brand and do it yourself! These are two biggies anyone can do. If you trust a store brand, it’ll often be cheaper than the name ones. I buy a lot of Trader Joe products, which are almost a dollar off their competitors at normal price. I also try to buy the raw ingredients rather than premade/seasoned, which are always more expensive. And the best thing you can do is simply cook for yourself! You’ll save a lot more if you buy proteins and cook them than if you order them out.
If you’re asking yourself “what’s he going to do with a pound of beef in a dorm room?” I’m thinking the same question 
Yogurts
Yes, I do acknowledge my yogurt obsession, but this brings up 2 more tips.
2. Follow your favorite brands on Twitter. It sounds weird, but by doing this I won 12 Chobani in one of their contests, and you could too! It’s a great way to connect with your favorite brands. I tweet @So_Delicious all the time, and while it hasn’t won me anything so far, it’s really fun!
3. Store sales and coupons! I’m sure we all had mothers who sat at the table clipping coupons and reading circulars until the cows came home, right? Well, turns out she had a point! If you check, you’re favorite foods(like Oikos) just might be cheaper this week. And if you pair a $1 Oikos sale with a $1 off Oikos coupon from the circulars, that’s a freebie right there!
Groceries
4. Fan Your Favorite Companies. Similar to tweeting, email and Facebook are two great ways to stay up to date with your favorite company, and they often help you right back! In this picture, I managed a free bag of Popchips because I get their e-newsletters, and 2 free Nature’s Path products because I won a fan contest on Facebook by being their friend. It does pay to be friendly!
I hope that has enlightened or at least amused you. Personally, I loooove seeing other’s groceries 🙂
Almost Empty Smart Balance Peanut Butter
While I was home yesterday, I grabbed this out of our pantry. Who takes almost empty things just to use them once and throw them away? Apparently, me!
Pumpkin Oats In A Jar With Chocolate Chips, Vanilla Greek Yogurt
I also seriously felt like I needed protein, since I had so little all day. I added an Oikos in to put my mind at ease. Does anyone else make the oats in a bowl, and then add them to the jar? I just don’t really trust microwaving that plastic for 2 minutes. Also, for good measure, there was Trader Joe’s chocolate chips involved. There always are 🙂
Last night I could not sleep for the life of me. I think the attendant at McDonalds gave me real coffee instead of decaf at 6pm, which threw me off for the night! I tried to get sleepy; I shut down everything but the TV at 10. But then 11 rolled around, and I was up. And then 11:30. Finally, I had a snack.
Nature's Path Pumpkin N' Spice Chewy Granola Bar
I’m not saying something as carby as this bar is good at 11:30 when you can’t sleep. But it did hit a certain spot, and was free because of the Nature’s Path Facebook coupon, so left me with good conscious. The flavor reminded me of anything and everything toted as “frosted” from my childhood. And I was a little disappointed that even the seeds weren’t hard anymore but rather chewy. Anyway, I don’t think I actually fell asleep until after 12:30, which definitely P.ed me O, if only because there’s so much I could have done with that amount of time, and I knew I had a long run in the morning.
10 Miles in 89:51
I’ll start with what matters: I did it! Woohoo! The first time I hit 10 miles on the treadmill I remember needing a movie to keep me going. Well, this time I had The Today Show. I tried to get their early to dominate the TV’s but most of the ‘mills were taken by 7am! Let the competition begin. I felt a little lagging half way through, but then a gym friend showed up, and we talked about the opening ceremonies and not being able to be awake for the whole thing, haha. The time was a little slower than I’d like–a 9:00min/mile pace. But hopefully I’ll get speedier once I get more used to these distances.
Better Than Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
It’s also been a rather slow(but busy!) morning; I took 60 minutes between getting of the treadmill to do everything I had to do before sitting down to a breakfast. Time gap much? I pulled out these new seeds for some optimum nutrition and worked them in to some favorite foods.
Pepita Sun Butter Oats, Soy Yogurt With Hemp And Pumpkin Seeds
Agave Soy Yogurt With Vanilla Stevia, Pumpkin Seeds, And Hulled Hemp
Clearly, when I get on a theme, I get on it. I had a somewhat obligatory bowl of oatmeal with pepita sun butter from Naturally Nutty. Since that has pumpkin, flax, and hemp, naturally my yogurt should follow suit, right? It was a glorious reunion with soy yogurt after a week of being out of it! It was nice and sweet, which gave good contrast for the pumpkin seeds and hulled hemp. I guess overall it was a pretty seedy breakfast 😉
Back On Track
I tried this last week and liked where it got me! But then some things took a downturn over the weekend, so here’s to me getting back on track.
1. Meal plans. In short, I need to make them. They may not be necessary, but they make life so much simpler, especially on work days, so why not? Any ideas for all that beef? I have a few, but I’d love to hear what you can come up with!
2. Planned Runs. Last week I hit my running goals spot on, and I hope the same for this week! Mon: 10. Tues: 5. Wed: 10. Thu: 7. Fri: 8. Those are the goals, at least.
3. Protein & Fat. I feel like I was doing so well at incorporating more protein and fat and then–what happened? Over the weekend was beans and chips and oatmeal–oh my! Hopefully, this one will come naturally if I stick to number 1 and number 4…
4. Eat Nutrition! I don’t mean to demonize carbs, I really don’t. But the fact is that heavy carb items–sugar, oatmeal, starchy vegetables–are also usually not as nutrient dense as light vegetables, seeds, nuts, and proteins. I was not a fan of Thrive by Brendan Brazier, but one point that stuck out to me was that he went from eating 8000 calories of starchy, white foods a day to 2000 of nutrient-rich ones and became 10 times better in what he does.
5. Work First, Internet Later. This is more of a one-day goal, specifically today! I have a HUGE to-do list before the week starts up, and anything beyond my inbox just does not need to be addressed soon I figure. So for now, it’s work work work!
And now, drumroll please….
The winner of my biggest contest thus far is reader Melissa MC! Congrats! I will contact you for your information. If you didn’t win, keep an eye out for more contests soon and more coconut oil recipes!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 25 so far )Going About Things The Wrong Way
Today I feel like there’s been a lot of going about things the wrong way. But I’m OK with that! In fact, I’m better than OK because realizing you’re doing something wrong is how you do it right the next time.
Leftover Wild Atlantic Salmon, Trader Joe's Instant Mac And Cheese
As tasty as my lunch was(and it was tasty), I realized that my view on food this week was wrong, wrong, wrong. I was going on with a mentality of eating basically to empty out things and have less to deal with Friday. Well, I tried to convince myself that I’d be “OK” if I was living off unpumpkined oatmeal and peanut butter for the second half of the week but that’s just not how I’d feel. New plan: Take it low and slow and eat what I want, when. If stuff’s leftover, it’ll just follow me back home.
I realized I was approaching this week’s finals and papers with the wrong mindset. This one’s harder to explain, especially pertaining to the Latin paper, without boring the crap out of all of us. New plan: Have a plan. Take things as they come. But most importantly, know you’re still a very accomplished person no matter what and 1 bad final or paper could never change that.
After lunch I was craving an apple(weird, right?), and staring down the apples on my microwave from the dining hall. However, clearly they were overripened and would have upset me more than feed any craving. New plan: Go buy an apple from the mail room convenience store.
Red Delicious Apple
Apple Crispness Close Up
I’m not into buying things I can get for free, but oh my God was this worth it. It was ripe, and crisp, and juicy, and 120% hit the spot like no other apple has since we went and picked our own. While I was there, I also got a really awesome package.
Beads For Life Bracelet
Cranberry Orange Nut Bread Clif Bar, Mint Carob Bar, Chocolate Whole Food Energy Bar
I won a giveaway from Errign’s blog for a Beads For Life bracelet and she could not have thrown in more perfect secondary prizes. I can not count how many times I’ve picked up carob chips and wondered how’d they taste only to tell myself “Finish the 2 types of chocolate chips, the white chocolate chips, and the peanut butter chips first, and then you can buy some carob”. I can’t wait to make some minty yogurt, and that bracelet is going to be the perfect gift for someone. Thanks Errign!
I realized that I was not doing a favor by letting myself run low on yogurt to clean out the fridge.
2% Yogurt With Cherry Butter And Goji Cherry Cacao Cookies
New plan: Stock up on Greek yogurt when you find it. Because I go through it like wildfire and this was my last plain. And it was incredibly tasty, too. I thought I’d use my last 2 goji cherry cacao Goji Gourmet cookies after perusing their new site. 9.5/10? You bet these are one of my favorite products. This was a nice protein snack, but then I needed fatty fats.
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Pepita Sun Butter And White Chocolate Chips
I thought I was reading myself right when I wanted vanilla and decided to add white chocolate chips to my oatmeal. Unfortunately, they just weren’t hitting the spot.
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Pepita Sun Butter And Vanilla Almond Butter
New plan: Scrape off the white chocolate chips and replace them with vanilla almond butter. This was a really Nutty bowl with the pepita sun butter and vanilla almond butter, and it was much better than the original. Sometimes you need to undo a little of what you’ve done to get it just right, but isn’t it so worth it when you do get it right?
Lastly, I’ve been cheating myself and you all a little(though mostly myself) by never tapping in to the communal kitchen. Yes, we have one. And there’s pots and pans to use so long as you clean up after yourself. I was inspired by Caroline to make scrambled tofu. Of course, in her case there’s no egg involved and I was also craving egg, so I mixed 3oz soft tofu with 1 scrambled egg
Cooking The Tofu And An Egg
The pan was odd and took some getting used to but I got the hang of it once it heated up.
Broccoli, Grilled Portabella Mushroom Caps, Roasted Red Peppers, Scrambled Egg And Tofu
New plan: Make use of the kitchen here more next year. This was delicious. The tofu and egg had the perfect meld of runnyness and chewiness which went perfect with some vinegary ketchup. I’ve also come to the realization that soy doesn’t sit so well with me. New plan: Nothing. It may not sit with me but I still like it and that’s not going to stop me from enjoying it so long as it isn’t a health hazard. The whole meal was nice, as I wasn’t feeling like something too heavy but wanted to really get my veggies in.
And now to finish off the night I’ll be potentially finishing up my paper, studying a bit, and then getting a good night sleep. I have a Latin final at 9 tomorrow. The timing is not good for me at all but c’est la vie. I’ll sleep in, have some rushed oatmeal, and hopefully rely on talent to get through it(because I don’t plan on studying for it with the other, more threatening final on the horizon). Have a good night!
Here’s a truly holiday giveaway for you all to enjoy
Go check out the new Actors’ Diet website for a giveaway
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 12 so far )The Swing Of Things
Good morning! In case you were travelling over the weekend, there was a new recipe dreamed up on Black Friday, a review of Clif bars, a day that had me blushing beet red, and a 2nd, meatless Thanksgiving.
After that awesome lunch, I needed time to digest on the couch with Montana, and then got to work on my next project.
Christmas Tree
The Christmas tree. After chopping it down yesterday and leaving it in the cold overnight, we finally brought it in. Traditionally, I do the lights and the cranberries while my mom does the ornaments afterwards; since I was moving back to my dorm I needed to do this snappily. I was happy at the end 🙂 I love the lights on a Christmas tree. I think the ornaments are always nice and personal but it’s just not a tree to me if it doesn’t light up.
Afterwards we got to packing up. I dreaded this. It always feels like I have more going back than coming home, and this time I knew I did because of all the leftovers and extra clothes. Ugh. Thankfully with enough helping hands in the house this wasn’t too bad and shaped up pretty quick.
Packed Bags
I think it was a backpack, 3 bags of food, 2 of laundry, 2 of random machinery, and a stevia plant. Because, really, how could I live without all of that? We swung by my grandmother’s apartment to pick her up because she likes to come “just for the ride”. Wouldn’t it be nice to have time to go for a ride just because you have nothing else to do? 60 more years and I’ll be there.
Double Chocolate Pillow
Of course before hitting the highway we wento McDonald’s for some decaf and I broke out one of these cookies. I think it’s always the case that things grow on me after a few days, because 4 days later and I’m now becoming obsessed with them. Seriously, just smelling the cocoa–bliss. On the way down we stopped at Target looking for a movie. Alas, no luck 😦 But underwear was on sale and that’s close enough to grab, right?
Moving back in was actually quite quick and painless with enough helping hands(again). The rug looks awesome since my mom brought down her vacuum to clean it up(thanks!). I definitely lost track of time in all of this and realized I was hungry. A little cookie is not a substantial afternoon snack, but you know what is?
Laloo's Strawberry Darling Goat's Milk Ice Cream
Ice cream. I’m surprised this has survived the common freezer for so long, but yesterday I decided it was time to polish it off(only about 1 serving left anyway). I love the tang of the balsamic vinegar in this. Something tells me adding balsamic vinegar, even an organic one, to strawberry chobani wouldn’t work the same. When all the groceries were away I enjoyed staring at a full fridge.
Full Fridge
Really? Is there anything more blissful? I’m surprised I managed to cram it all in there; it looked like it might not make it and I’m glad I left some tofu at home for another weekend. I also found this which I snuck into my bag:
The Killer Angels
I don’t really “pleasure read”, and if I had time to, I’d probably choose a book I haven’t read, so I’m not sure why I brought this. But I do love and recommend this book for anyone wanting to read a psuedo-historic novel. I did a huge paper on it and the battle of Gettysburg in 11th grade. As you might know, I’m a Classics major, but besides that American history 1640-1865 is my other area of interest. There’s a movie, Gettysburg, based on this book I have yet to see but I can’t wait to find it some day.
Dinner started off a little disgusting; I went to get one of my sweet potatoes and found it covered in mold–yuck! That’s actually never happened with the food I keep under my bed but I guess there’s a first for everything. Instead, I had to improvise.
Broccoli, Turkey Breast, Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin With Lightlife Breakfast Sausages And Maple Syrup
You know how sometimes your eyes are bigger than your stomach? Yeah, story of my life day. First there was being stuffed from a stuffed tofurkey and acorn squash, and then there was this. The turkey wasn’t anything special, I just wanted to eat it up before it got moldy like a sweet potato. The english muffin with sausage was the real money maker here. Does anybody else remember McGriddles from McDonalds? That’s EXACTLY What this was like, except with infinitesimally less trans fat. Oh my God, so good. Rest assured it will be made again. Unfortunately, there was one casualty during dinner.
Broken Amazing Grass Bottle
My Amazing Grass bottle 😦 I dropped it on the floor while it was full and water went pretty much everywhere–fun. After cleaning it up I went to the bathroom and tried refilling it, wondering why it kept being empty. Smart one, Evan. I think they carry these at Whole Foods? That’s what I’m hoping at least. After getting ahead(ahead! not catching up!) on work I made a snack and settled in for A Dog Named Christmas.
Peanut Butter Soy Yogurt With Fig Jam And Peanut Butter Chips
I don’t expect much from cheesy, holiday, made-for-TV movies, but this one was even below expectations. I expect them to suck, but to also be cutesy, and the child acting in this was not cutesy. This snack also did not disappoint even though I was iffy on the flavor combo. I think I forgot to sweeten the base but thankfully I bought a Vanilla flavor. I completely forgot I even had fig preserves but they were still just as good. And the pb cheeps were nice and sweet, nothing at all like real peanut butter and yet just as magical 🙂
After I’d put up with bad child acting for an hour, it was time for a new Brothers & Sisters. Last weeks episode was not on because Adam Lambert needed to whore it up at the AMA’s, but this week there were supposed to be great plot twists and secret revealings–it did not disappoint. Midway, I snacked on this:
English Muffin With Pumpkin Cream Cheese And Honey Maple Peanut Butter Topped With Me And Goji Granola
2 english muffins in one day? I was on a roll. I liked the crunch from the granola. And the gojis I’m sure were some decent brain food. I also love “rediscovering” peanut butters I forget about. Brothers & Sisters I thought was awesome–can’t wait until the wedding(or will there even be one?) next week.
I was exhausted so I knew I wanted shut eye but for some reason, as tired as I was, I wasn’t getting to sleep. I don’t know how much I slept overall or how many times I woke up/had weird dreams. This was one harsh “welcome back” to the swing of things. When I woke up, though, I was ready to meet my old friend–the gym. I made a quickie snack.
Kashi Strawberry Flax Waffle With Banana Peanut Butter
Normally I like bars that I can take on the treadmill but for some reason this was what appealed to me best. When I got there, it was packed for 6:50am(read: 3 other people). But then it quited down and the regulars started showing up. I didn’t concern myself too much with pace or anything; I was plenty happy to be back and watching the Today Show(does anybody care about Tiger Woods’ car crash at this point? really?). In the end I did 12 miles in 1:38:59. That’s almost exactly like yesterday, which is good because I tend to be slower inside than out. When I got back, I relearned how to make a dormroom breakfast.
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Pepita Butter And Maple Frosting, Eggnog Yogurt
This microwave just ain’t the same as the one back home. For the oats I used Caitlin’s pancake frosting recipe with a little vanilla stevia. I think my cooking skills were on vacation and are just getting back, too, because everything was underseasoned/sweetened. Afterwards, I added more stevia and cinnamon to the yogurt and some vanilla sugar and salt atop the oats and that perked things up.
And so, clearly I’m relearning dorm life after a week of bliss. I suppose with finals and papers coming up I won’t even notice the time between now and Christmas vacation, right? Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s cyber Monday, and as dirty as that sounds I have some deals to catch.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 18 so far )
What Makes A Good Day?
Is it setting a distance PR?
Is it starting the day off with this Amazing Grass bar?
Decaf Coffee And Plain Chobani
Is it abusing using your meal plan to hook yourself up with coffee and greek yogurt before class?
Is it getting an email that you have a package waiting for you in the mailroom after Latin class?
Wildwood Sample Products
Is it getting a great box of soy products from Wildwood including burgers, yogurt, and baked tofu to sample and review?
Is it making lunch with a new condiment?
Wicked Natural Caramel Mustard Dip
Caramel Mustard Tofu, Broccoli And Sliced Carrots, Flamegrilled Gardenburger
Is it having a lunch that tastes almost like a dessert, except with a vinegary kick to it?
Is it vegetables that taste fresh with a little salt even though they’ve been in the dining hall God-only-knows-how long?
Is it an old, favorite vegan veggie burger with a smoky kick?
Lemonade Vitamin Water 10
Is it standing 1 foot next to Emma Watson when you go to the convenience store in the mail room to grab a drink between classes?
Epic Poetry Paper
Is it getting an A you totally didn’t expect because, even though your work kind of sucks and you gave up hope half way through a paper, the teacher sees enough progress and takes enough pity to give a damn good grade?
Peanut Butter Chip Cascadian Farm Granola Bar
Is it eating a granola bar with very low fiber and protein and no fortified vitamins or minerals but that has peanut butter chips in it?
Is it forgetting your water bottle in Greek History class, invading the room and another class 2 years later, and getting mistaken as an “escort” for a sick girl?
Is it watching Oprah, but an episode that unfortunately has no porn stars, ex-vice president nominees, or ex-vice president nominee’s grandbaby’s daddy who’s becoming a porn star?
Pumpkin Oats With Cranberry Frosting And Cranberry Vanilla Peanut Butter
Is it having a colorful bowl of oatmeal that reminds you you don’t need artificial ingredients or colors in your life for edible things to look and taste amazing?
Is it being inspired by New England to make a dish with pumpkin, vanilla, and cranberry as the flavors?
Carrots And Caramel Mustard Dip
Is it dipping carrots straight into the jar?
Is it convincing yourself that this is better than just eating straight caramel because there’s mustard and vinegar in their, too?
Local Products
Is it a day when, despite the fact that the Farmers’ Market ended two weeks ago, local companies arranged to send their products to Josiah’s for a special night?
Is it buying more caramel mustard for Thanksgiving and a new jar of local jam and paying with 2 breakfast meals because you eat oatmeal in your room every morning?
Baked Scrod, Sweet Potato, Steamed Vegetables
Is it the dining hall having fish, sweet potato and steamed vegetables all on the same night?
Is it laughing at how the one night that you don’t get food from the vegetarian line your friend, a completely careless meat eater, won’t touch the fish?
Greek Yogurt With Raspberry Chocolat Jam And Shaved Newman's Own Organic Super Dark Chocolate
Is it having a dessert with fruit and chocolate that clocks in with 20+ grams of protein?
Is it being convinced that because fruit is the first ingredient, jam with chocolate is still reasonably good for you?
Is it having no unread emails in your mailbox for the first time at 8:45pm?
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter And A Vegan Pumpkin Molasses Cookie
Is it having your favorite bowl of oatmeal, with the same exact combination of ingredients/nut butter/topping that you’ve had umpteen times?
Is it watching a new Modern Family and laughing a little too hard at “she came to the Halloween party as Sigfried and half of Roy”?
Deep Chocolate Vitatop With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter
Is it eating one of your favorite desserts ever with a blend of chocolate, peanut butter, and toffee just because you can?
Is it getting 50% your daily value of iron in said dessert?
Is it knowing and respecting your body well enough to listen to it when it says it wants to go to bed at 10:20?
Amazing Grass Chocolate Whole Food Energy Bar
Is it waking up and feeling energized, and grabbing this bar you’ve been dreaming about on the way to the gym?
Is it watching television shows you’re about 8 years too old for because they make the treadmill an enjoyable experience?
Is it running 10 miles in 83:41 when you only planned to go 7 miles because you feel so darn good?
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Pepita Sun Butter, Nog And Cinnamon Soy Yogurt
Is it that your room smells like fresh cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg at 9am?
Is it when you realize that you won’t have to give up anything going vegan for a day–again–but rather just find different ways to love the food you normally eat?
Is it the thought of winning this amazing coffee filled giveaway?
I think it’s all of those things(especially the Emma Watson one ;-)) What about you? What makes it a good day?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 18 so far )A Collegiate Dinner
To everyone who asked how the peanut butter was, I tried to sum it up at breakfast: it’s very thin and runny. The vanilla gives it a nice sweetness. And the cranberries were a bit of a surprise, namely that they’re very finely chopped and not whole, but you still get a lot of cranberry flavor in each bite even if you can’t see them. Considering it’s a store brand flavored nut butter, it’s really good, so I’d buy one if you see it.
Speaking of pumpkin, yesterday’s pumpkin oats really held me over, so I wasn’t very hungry come lunch. I grabbed some random veggies from the dining hall, and went back to my dorm, first to catch up on internet stuff and then make lunch for later.
Cranberry Mustard Tofu, Sweet Potato, Zucchini
To be honest this wasn’t so spectacular. I thought I might hit upon the next tofu genius recipe by putting together mustard, TJ Cranberry apple butter, maple syrup, salt, and cinnamon, but it was mostly a flavorless mess. The sweet potato, on the other hand, was perfect; sweet potato never disappoints. Now I’m down to 1 under my bed so I should stock up soon. I ate this mostly in Greek History, in which my professor, who’s pretty much the most opinionated man, hateful of anything deemed “good” by pop culture, professed his love for Michael Scott. I knew he had a soul somewhere in him.
I had a slip in my mailbox which meant I needed to go to a window and get in line to get a package. 2 people in front of me was Emma Watson, but I realized I only had 2 minutes until my class upstairs started so I had to bail and get the package later. Lame. My teacher was late, too, so I totally could have stuck around. Anyway, I had not 1 but 2 packages waiting for me. Exciting!
P.B. Loco Peanut Butter Samplers
The first was some samplers from P.B. Loco to try and review! I’ve had the chocolate chip cookie dough, but I don’t think I’ve properly reviewed it in the new format yet, so expect that soon. Also, I’ve never had(but have oogled many times) the white chocolate raspberry so I can’t wait to give that a taste! Thanks, P.B. Loco!
Strawberries And Cocoa MojaMix
The 2nd package was equally exciting. Remember when I mentioned winning a Mojamix? They run weekly contests on Facebook to win a prize and 2 weeks ago I was the lucky winner! I got to make a trail mix of my own, and I went with ginger granola with cacao nibs, chocolate sprouted sunflower seeds, dried strawberries and persimmons, and chia seeds. Great, now that I’ve just told you all about these contests I’m sure I’ll have a lot more competition for the future.
I spent the first part of my afternoon walking up Thayer Street to Blue State Coffee. I had a hankering for a carrot cake cupcake, even though it’s not Cupcake Friday, but they were all out 😦 Next I found another of the dining halls(yes, it’s been 3 months and I’m still “finding” things), and made it back to my dorm, where I had something like carrot cake…
Bolthouse Baby Carrots
This is the raw and vegan version of carrot cake 😉 Jk to all my raw and vegan readers. I KNOW you guys know how to do dessert and do it well. Mucho blog reading resumed and eventually I made a real snack.
Banana Oats With Chocolate Hazelnut Spread And Maple Vanilla Frosting
Yum. This was perfect with vanilla powder, vanilla stevia, and Trader Joe cinnamon. The chocolate hazelnut spread I use is made by Rapunzel. It’s organic, and has about half the sugar of Nutella, but it’s still not really a nut butter. I ate this while watching Sarah Palin on Oprah. Anybody else watch this? I felt like it was all pretty tame, except when her grandbaby’s-daddy came up. He totally deserves the bashing, though; there’s no way 20 years from now he’s going to look back and think Playgirl was a smart call. Afterwards I had one of my favorite in-a-jar snacks.
Oikos In A Jam Jar With My Mojamix
I love the spoonfuls of just jam you get when you do this. And my Mojamix is off the wall good! I couldn’t really sense the chia, but the dried strawberries were heavenly and my new favorite dried fruit. The persimmons were a bit flavorless but maybe the sweetness of the Oikos was too much for them.
By the time 6:30 came around I was pretty hungry again. I met a friend from High School at the dining hall for dinner, as planned. I decided I didn’t need to look at the menu for tonight and just go in. Bad call. There were random vegetables I wouldn’t have minded, but nothing that was a meal. I still wanted to catch up so I sat with him and talked while he ate, and made like I wasn’t hungry(though I probably came off like a spaz because I was planning my dinner in my head). Once he was done, I grabbed some things and pretty much ran to my room to cook.
Canned Tuna, Flamegrilled Gardenburger, Trader Joe's American Cheese, Glaed Carrots, Green Beans With Mushrooms
Beautiful, no? I learned from Le Cordon Blue Collar. I think some of you were in my class 🙂 I’m not saying all my other meals have been Grade A, but this one felt unique, and like my first real “your in college” meal: random veggies from the dining hall, canned tuna, frozen veggie burger, and a slice of American cheese. God bless America. As random as it felt it hit the spot. Oh, and apparently TJ makes cheese that refuses to melt. Like at all. Oh, oh, and my dining hall does have canned tuna at the salad bar, but over the Summer my mother, who’s one of the least picky eaters ever ironically, convinced me if I don’t eat only a specific type of canned tuna at the rate I do then I’m going to die of mercury and so now I only eat light tuna from Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. She implants that anxiety into me but then eats God-knows-what tuna salad sandwiches from Subway. Thanks.
My entire night was ups and downs but I’ll abbreviate. Downs: Spilling water all over and behind my bed. Cutting my knuckle at some point on something. Sneezing a hell of a lot and concluding I’ve got a head cold. Only getting done 1 poem in Latin. Ups: Winning a coupon giveaway. Excusing copious amounts of coffee because coffee has antioxidants. And this oatmeal.
Carrot Cake Oateal With Cream Cheese Frosting And Banana Pineapple Rum Jam
Believe it or not, I’ve never made carrot cake oatmeal before. And let me tell you, this was weird and complicated. I could never do this on a hungry stomach, but I had enough patience for dessert. I assembled the base oatmeal, shredded carrots, and raisins, and cooked that with a lot of water. On the side I made a cream cheese, yogurt, and vanilla stevia frosting, and topped it all with banana pineapple rum jam. I recognize that there are a ton of variations on carrot cake but my version(aka, the correct one ;-)) always must involve raisins and pineapple. It was good, but the carrot shreds were too long(they were from the salad bar). I’d like to try this again more homemade.
Carrot Ginger Muffin Bottom With White Chocolate Wonderful Harvest Spice Granola Bar With Cream Cheese Frostin, Silk Nog
That oatmeal with 2 cups of coffee did a number on me and completely filled me up. I didn’t even have an appetite for anything more, but I felt like I should have had an appetite. As much as I hate a feeling of needing to eat, I made this spread. And after I decided that I really wasn’t hungry for the muffin, I ate it and a few fingersful of peanut butter from the jar. Oops. The only part that really annoyed me was losing that sense of control.
After any time like that, I like to get a good run in and have a healthy breakfast. You could argue I do that most days but some days feel better than others. I felt like I struggled the first few miles but once I got control of the tv straightened up my form it became easier. My original gym friend, who I hadn’t seen much lately, introduced herself as Gail. Apparently, she works on the first floor of my building and has seen me walk past her window. And now I know her name I can stalk her on the faculty website. Score!(big jk on that last part). I ran 10 miles in 84:14, and when I got back I was ready for some super suprerfood.
Vanilla Greek Yogurt With 2 Goji Orange MintChip Cookies
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Pepita Sun Butter And Vegan Pumpkin Molasses Cookie Crumble
My superfoods of choice were goji, pumpkin, orange essence, mint, and pepita. I think that’s a good line-up no? The oatmeal totally hit the spot with some salt of course. Can salt be a superfood, too? I was thinking of having eggnog yogurt, but then I realized just how much I have that and how little Nog I have left and though better save it for a rainy day. Instead this yogurt was just perfect! I love these cookies; such an interesting blend of flavors that in the end just work. And now that I’ve had a breakfast that didn’t rely on white chocolate, I feel fresh and revitalized.
Today is one of those days where I’ll have a lot of free tie but I’ll probably be spending it feet up in front of the TV. I’m not a person who can nap; I used to be but I’m not anymore. I’d love to nap to get rid of this head cold but instead lounging around with warm nog will have to do.
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Seasons And Seasonings
Seasons: Fall
Yesterday morning was fairly autumnal in New England. To be honest, I’m a man of extremes, and I’d rather it be hot hot like Summer or start with the snow. Of course, I won’t feel that way when I have to walk to class in the snow. I was so happy when Greek got out at 12 because I had my entire day planned out in terms of “errands” to run. First I swung by the dining hall and then to my room, where I read some emailed and edited(read: spell-checked) my Epic Essay. At the same time I was making lunch.
Broccoli With Red Peppers, Sweet Potato, 1 Egg Plus 1 Egg White With Raw Cheese
Seasonings: Red Pepper, Cheese, Salt
A commenter asked yesterday if I eat broccoli every day. Pretty much 🙂 Except last Sunday(I checked). It’s undoubtedly one of my favorite vegetables, and the easiest to self prepare, so I think I’ll stick with it. Besides that, this lunch was pretty average. I felt like I hadn’t had a sweet potato in too long, and definitely needed it here. I was sure to stealthily scrub it in the bathroom first so the skin would be extra delicious. I really was ready to go right when I finished eating. But of course the one day I have a lot to do there’s an actual plot progression in Days Of Our Lives. What the hell was with that? I stayed to watch the whole episode, and headed out at 2. First was a swing by the mail room. No mail, but I did pick up coffee.
Organic Decaf
Seasonings: Stevia
Definitely my favorite part of that building 😉 Next up was getting my “staple” groceries. I piled on a mile walking down to Waterman Street Whole Foods where I got to see all this weeks sales; nothing particularly exciting, but I was ecstatic to see that Oikos is still on sale! They also had these adorable all-natural gingerbread men coated in chocolate I almost bought but they were a bit out of my price range and a luxury. And look what I spotted near the checkout.
Silk Nog And Pumpkin Spice Drinks
Seasons: Autumn, Winter
This is the first time besides Hannafords I’ve seen the Silk Nog, and the first time I’ve seen pumpkin spice besides the Eating Machine’s blog. I just love finding things I see on other blogs; I think learning about and trying new products is my favorite thing about the blog world. After that, I hopped over to Eastside Market. Again,t he sales weren’t too impressive, so I stuck with the staples. I picked up a snack at Whole Foods to eat on my walk back.
Cantaloupe
Seasons: Summer
I’ve been wanting cantaloupe for a while after seeing them on blogs. Just as good as they were during the Summer! This was also perfect because it was prepackaged at exactly .5lb which wrung up to exactly 2.00. I like it when things work out like that. I had to swing back by the mail room to pick up eggs(they sell a lot of decent groceries there). Then I snuck my food into the library to print out two of my essays including the Epic Poetry one. God, that felt good. There might have been some more coffee at that point. I aimed at getting everything done in 2 hours and I got back at 3:53. Score.
Groceries
After that, I broke bended the rules. I knewI had a ton of work and needed to grab my dinner early so I could work the rest of the night knowing I didn’t have to go out for anything. Unfortunately, yesterday was also this big, special BBQ dinner at The Ratty where you couldn’t take things out. Well sneaky little me snuck in a food container and snagged some BBQ asparagus, extra sauce, and some peppers. I was a bit worried it would leak in my sweatshirt but that thing needs a wash anyway. When I got back I put that away for later and made a study snack.
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Pepita Sun Butter And Maple Yogurt Frosting
Seasonings: Cinnamon, Vanilla, Allspice, Maple
This was divine. The frosting had Oikos with maple syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla stevia. Sicne the main flavor in the pepita sun butter are vanilla and allspice, it all just went together. I read what I was supposed to have done for Wednesday for the rest of the evening; I hate that feeling of being behind and catching up. I’m one of those annoying people who would rather be working ahead of the syllabus. At some point, I decided to put things away and make dinner.
BBQ Tofu, BBQ Asparagus, Whole Foods Stuffing
Seasons: Summer, Autumn
Seasonings: BBQ Sauce, Salt, Thyme, Rosemary
BBQ is a cuisine I don’t eat much, and this reminded me why for the most part. I like for foods to just taste like their natural selves, and be enhanced by salt. BBQ, on the other hand, is all about sauce and the flavor from that. The tofu was nice and lightly seasoned(since I was the one who prepared it) but as for the asparagus I ate about 1/2 and threw the rest out after getting a big bite of mostly sugary sauce. If I was enjoying it like I might have been if it was an oriental sauce I would have kept eating it, but the flavor wasn’t working so I felt free to ditch it for these:
Pepper Strips
Seasonings: None
These tasted much cleaner, and made up for the veggie fail. But lets talk about the stuffing. Whole Foods makes the best stuffing. I knew I had to get it when i saw it on the prepared food line. It’s not whole wheat or healthy or anything, it’s just good stuffing. Actually, it’s the best and the only one I’ll eat. I’m sure I’ll be inhaling unholy amounts on Thanksgiving. Survivor was excellent last night. Russell plays the game so well, even if he’s a little jerk. I made a quickie snack between that and Grey’s.
Soy Yogurt With Trader Joe Mini Peanut Butter Cups And Vanilla Sugar
Seasonings: Vanilla Sugar
This was a new brand of soy yogurt to me. It tasted nice and soy-y like I was hoping for. Texturally and nutritionally I prefer So Delicious brand but this is a bit cheaper and more widely available. Grey’s was really good. Like really good. I like how this season is going. I think it’s becoming clear who the next to go after George will be. There was some late night oats involved after I did all the work that I should have done by Wednesday.
Oatmeal With Smart Balance Peanut Butter And Baking Chips
Seasoning: Chocolate Chips, Salt
For Leno, I turned off my computer, put away the books, and made my favorite bowl of oatmeal. This is when I unwind every day and I wouldn’t want it any other way 🙂 I think I prefer the agave sweetened Smart Balance to the molasses one; the flavor is the same but the agave stays thicker on oatmeal. As for cleaning the bowl, you all had wonderful suggestions of letting it sit overnight in water. However, I go with a simpler route. I just assume I’m going to be having oatmeal for breakfast and leave it be for the time. I hope that’s not appalling, haha.
I think my roommate got home at around 6 this morning? And my alarm went off at 6:15. Great. After I fumbled around trying to make coffee, because it’s dark again, I also made a pre-workout snack.
Chocolate Brownie Z-Bar With Smart Balance Peanut Butter
Seasonings: Salt
The Smart Balance and chocolate is a flavor combo I just can’t quit. I probably should have prepared this earlier, because I ended up eating it on the treadmill and made a bit of a mess. Oops. Hopefully no one allergic will be using that treadmill today, plus I washed off what peanut butter touched the machine. I ran a slowish 10 miles in 85:34. I think I ended up walking around too much yesterday doing errands–2 official Pile On The Mile miles but probably a good 3+–and tuckered out my legs. instead of fight it, however, I let the pace be what it was and went with it.
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Protein Honey Maple Peanut Butter And A Vegan Pumpkin Molasses Cookie, Pineapple Chobani
Seasons: Autumn
Seasonings: Cinnamon, Salt, Ginger
Delicious. The high protein honey maple peanut butter actually reminds me almost exactly of butter toffee from Naturally Nutty. I was thinking of making my own yogurt with plain Oikos, full fat Voskos, and banana pineapple rum jam, but prepackaged is so much simpler 🙂
And now I leave you with the emails I wake up to: “The vet changed Montana’s medicine to a people one. I had to go to CVS pharmacy to get it. The lady asks “Does Montana have any questions for the pharmacist”?. I said hes a dog. hee hee.”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 16 so far )Mister Antebellum
After yesterday’s run I was so dehydrated. I didn’t even realize how bad it was until I took a trip to the bathroom and remembered when my mouth felt dry back at mile 2… I will definitely 100% be bringing a water bottle with me whenever I go to the gym from now on. I did this morning and, though it was a bit fumbly drinking on the tread, I’m glad I did. Yesterday, after about 2 full water bottles at breakfast, I grabbed this on my way to class:
Zevia Cola
Some people like their caffeine from coffee, I prefer Zevia cola 🙂 I must admit, I was considering not going to class at all yesterday; if I didn’t I could just dedicate a large chunk of time to essay writing and I’m much better at doing projects all at once than split up. Nevertheless, I was a good student and went to them all. That was good for Latin because we got our old essays back.
Catullus Essay
See that little thing that looks like a teepee? Yeah, that’s an A 🙂 This was definitely needed to give me a boost of spirits. By the way, this professor has the tiniest, neatest hand writing ever. Times New Roman’s got nothing on her; I can hardly read half her comments. After that I swung by the dining hall and went to my dorm to finish up computer stuff and lunch.
Broccoli, The Heat Is On Tofu Salad, Brussel Sprouts And Carrots
Lemon Bar Larabar
Lunch was magnifico. I also bought some Chobani and baby carrots but decided not to go with them. I love that The Heat Is On tofu salad though so I’m sure those carrots will get used yet. And this Lemon Bar was the first of the Larabars I was sent. Loved it! It was so pure and lemony, but also sweet. The only thing I thought was weird was cashews and almonds; why not one or the other instead of mixing flavors? Also, I got a whole almond among the mostly chopped nuts, which threw the texture off a tad. But overall this was not a lemon 😉 Oh, and we got more graded back in class.
History In Class Midterm
Double wahoo! Ok, this was a little expected after the teacher called me out in class, but it was so nice to hold it and see it was real. I still have 1 midterm essay to write but since I did so well on this and feel pretty good about the other two, I’m not going to sweat or rush this last one. Epic, on the other hand, would have been a great choice to skip to get work done. Oh well, but the good thing about that was I got to check my mail and find this.
One Lucky Duck Samples
The people at One Lucky Duck sent me these 4 samples of raw, organic, and vegan snacks! How exciting; of course all my eats are all-natural and a good portion organic, but raw and vegan is something I haven’t tapped in to much. Thanks, One Lucky Duck! I’ll have to think of a special time and place to enjoy these delightful cookies 🙂
When I got back to my dorm I had a coconut craving. I think I need to explain something here about coconut: I hate it in anything that is not coconut flavored(i.e. when granola randomly has it as an ingredient). But as a distinct flavor, if I’m in the mood, I don’t mind it at all. This was all I could find, though, that had coconut that I had:
Tropical Fruit Tart Larabar
2 in 1 day? I’m burning through these babies. The tropical fruit tart was good, but nothing like the lemon bar. The only flavor that I really got was pineapple. Still, it was better than I thought it’d be. From the stories I’ve heard I expected to be spitting this out on the floor. I watched the newest SNL in the afternoon. I’m a huge Taylor Swift fan so that was great to see; she wasn’t hysterical, but she was decent, and for someone who’s only 19 and not an actress or comedian it was a job well done. I don’t get why her musical performances weren’t online, though. Anyone know where I can watch those? I also got a bit of inspiration for some oatmeal.
Frosting Ingredients
Pumpkin Oats With Eggnog Frosting
This was inspired by Sunday’s breakfast and snack, and it was sooo good. For the frosting I did 2 ounces Greek yogurt(full fat) and 2 tablespoons eggnog with vanilla stevia to taste. Seriously, that was some of the noggiest, best frosting I could have hoped for. I think I should have let the oats cool just a bit, though, because the yogurt did not like the hot oatmeal. After some working I ended up at The Ratty with a friend for dinner.
Sweet Potato With Black Bean Taco Filling, Beets, Broccoli Spears
I was having a moment where I couldn’t decide if I was hungry or full; I think the heated up yogurt wasn’t sitting well in my stomach(still make the frosting for a cool dish if you get the chance!). After seeing what was available, I realized I was hungry. There was huge broccoli spears, whole beets, and roasted sweet potatoes. To eat a little something other than just plain veggies I took some taco filling and mushed it on the potato–yum! I love the sweat heat it added. Catching up was equally exciting because we hadn’t been both available for dinner in a while.
When I got back to my dorm I blasted a bit of Lady Antebellum(hence the title ;-)). By 8Â I couldn’t quite understand why I wanted to go to bed. I mean, I know I’m practically a grandpa, but 8? That’s way before Leno. Then I remembered the <5 hours of sleep I got and it started making sense. I decided it’s worth staying awake if only for the emails I get from my parents. One was from my mom, complaining my dad takes forever to get home from work and about how much she loves pineapple Chobani(and I don’t think I ever saw her even eat a yogurt in the 18 years I lived at home). Then 1 and a half hours later I get an email from my dad(I guess he does take a while getting home) telling me about blog contests for gas relief products. Thanks.
So Delicious Soy Yogurt With Chocolate Chips And Vanilla Sugar
Naturally there was yogurt and chocolate chips. I t’s definitely a full blown addiction now, which is sad because Agave Sweetened So Delicious Soy Yogurt is no longer a sale item 😦 I do love that this is a completely vegan snack though, not to mention one with a hefty dose of fiber 🙂 Heroes really didn’t grab me last night. As in, I was too busy working/staring at my yogurt to even notice what the plot was.
TJ Carrot Ginger Muffin With Smart Balance Peanut Butter And Ginger Cream Cheese
This was gingerlicious as well; I don’t remember the last time I had this flavor muffin in my fridge. I forgot how good it is! The ginger preserves suggested pairing it with cream cheese, and they were sooo right. Then again, I pair everything with cream cheese, so they had a good shot with me. Naturally, I needed to dehead the muffin like I was Henry VII to eat it.
Chocolate Brownie Z-bar With Butter Toffe Peanut Butter
I discovered I’m out of chocolate vitatops 😦 But fortunately a Z-bar was there to lift me up. I’m honestly thinking I should buy the 5lb tub of butter toffee peanut butter next time from Naturally Nutty because I am going through this like wildfire. I decided to go to bed early because I was so exhausted, but Kathy Griffin was on Leno so I knew I needed to stay up at least until 10:30. Did anybody else see her new stand up special? Hysterical. Even my mom laughed at most of it. Anyway, 10:30 and I was out like a light. I heard my roommate come home some time but wasn’t awake for more than 2 minutes, and slept in until 7.
This morning I wanted something lighter and simpler at the gym so I decided on 7 miles in 58:26. I must be a very influential person because this morning while I was watching the Today show the 50 year old weight lifters turned another TV onto the Cartoon Network! There is something very amusing watching a 300 pound man stationary bike to Pokemon.
Pumpkin Patch Oatmeal
Eggnog Yogurt
Tis definitely the season 🙂 I used only oat bran today instead of an oatmeal/oatbran mix(because I overpoured). It’s so nice and creamy with pumpkin but I think I prefer the oats for a little bulk and texture. Of course, what makes pumpkin oatmeal if not pepita sun butter and pumpkin seeds mixed with a little bit of honey> So sweet and delicious! And I need to buy about 5 more cartons of the Silk nog at the rate I’m going through. Just 6oz Greek yogurt and 1/4 cup makes the perfect, noggy protein.
Today I have just Greek which will be a guest lecturer(aka a waste of time), and then the whole afternoon to do work(aka go to University Plaza Whole Foods). I completely forgot to get nutmeg for my nog while I was home so I’ll definitely be on the lookout for that, and I think coconut is still on sale, too! Enjoy your day!
PS. Holly has a giveaway for some amazing sounding protein powders. These are seriously gourmet.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 22 so far )Take Your Time
Yesterday was great, not for any other reason than I had time. Yes, it seems like something so simple. But think of the origin of stress in your life and I bet 80% of it would be solved if their wasn’t an ever present time crunch over our heads. It’s a vicious cycle, mostly because we all want time but put pressure on each other. So I ask you today, if you’re in the leadership position, to tell someone to take their time. Or if they say “I just didn’t have time”, rather than roll your eyes, tell them you understand, because I bet you do. All it takes is a few outliers to break the cycle and get the motion rolling in the opposite direction.
After Mid-breakfast, I left my dorm  little early to give myself time to get coffee and make it to class a little early(normally both do not happen). I think I managed a few odd looks walking around with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon; people need to read more blogs. When I got out, I was nice and full from my oats; this gave me the time to go back to my room, read a little(blogs, not books ;-)), and let the rush at the dining hall die down. Eventually I went and got some food, and then came back and took the time to make a quintessential Evan lunch.
Broccoli, Sweet Potato, Flamegrilled Gardenburger, Sauteed Spinach, Steak Sauce
There’ something really great about sitting down to a meal where you know all the flavors and you know you’re going to love them. Unfortunately, this meal reminded me how low I am on 365 steak sauce; add that to the weekend grocery list. I took my time eating this to the tune of Days Of Our Lives. When Rachael Ray came on, I asked myself what I really wanted to do for the day. Well that was obvious–go grocery shopping, of course. But did I have time? I just told myself “You have time because you’re going to make time” and headed out. I was working with an October food budget of .92 cents…. Yeah–not going to happen. Just because I wasn’t going to stick to it didn’t mean I would go nuts; I decided to dip into November but only buy what was on sale, I had coupons for, or I really wanted.
Groceries
Mission greatly accomplished. I got everything you see above plus an acorn squash(who apparently missed the photo opp or is blending in with the background so well I can’t even see him) for 3.54. Impressive, right? My momma didn’t raise no fool. The Oikos, Stonyfield, and Lightlife tempeh all fell under coupons. The soy yogurt was a sale item; normally I would have gotten plain but they didn’t have any and the sweetened form only has about 5g more sugar anyway. And the pumpkin, Z-bar, and acorn squash all fell under the “I’m going to be kicking myself in 2 hours if I don’t buy these” category. Since I dont plan on winding up at a grocery store today, I think I did reasonably well for October. Of course, I made a snack within minutes of entering the door.
Oikos Parfait With Mini PB Cups And Vanilla Sugar
How funny that I had this right after thinking to myself “Why is it that I’m always buying yogurt at the grocery store?” This was such a sweet treat. Maybe it was the hefty does of vanilla stevia I put in… I love the Trader Joe’s mini peanut butter cups; I cut each one in half so they were all crumbly and it reminded me of getting a Reeses mix-in at Coldstone. More yogurt like this to come? I think so. I took the time to work on my email stuff, and then set aside the time for homework; I think setting them aside rather than rush at everything at once, as tempting as it is, really cuts the stress. And when you really want to save time, what’s better than prepackaged oats?
Kashi Vanilla Creamy Oatmeal With White Chocolate Wonderful
I love the combo of vanilla on vanilla; what can I say, I’m just a vanilla(bean) kind of guy 😉 I’ll spare you the gory details of the time I spent studying for my history midterm, and skip ahead to dinner. I told who I was going to have dinner with earlier that I would be too busy studying to eat at the cafeteria. It probably would have saved me time to just go to The Ratty, pick up a plate of food, and walk back to my dorm with it. But sometimes we need to make time to do the things we love, and I love making my own food. I was feeling a BBQ mood so I went for a real western meal.
BBQ Tempeh, Acorn Squash, TJ Mac N' Cheese, Zevia Cola
Yeehaw! What a fun meal this was. It was my first time trying this Lightlife tempeh; you can read my review or get a sense of how it was by me being happy I still have 1/2 the package left for another meal 🙂 The acorn squash was fun to prepare and delicious to eat; I cut it, scooped out the center, and microwaved this 1/2 for 4 minutes. I love how this squash tastes a little buttery without actually needing butter(I don’t eat butter. I know it’s all-natural and certainly has simple ingredients but I just don’t touch the stuff. It’s not a diet or health thing, it just gives me the willies.). And of course any BBQ needs soda and a mac n’ cheese dish to round it out. Now if only BBQ’s had natural diet soda and whole grain pasta more often…
I swear I do study sometimes. Like all through Survivor, for instance. I know I must have been focused on something other than the show because I wasn’t sure who to expect being voted off at the end. I couldn’t help but laugh when I heard this from my dad: “I had my oatmeal in my maple almond jar today. The jar was good for oatmeal but that almond butter just clumps.” We’ve infected the general population.
Carrot Ginger Muffintop With Smart Balance And Chocolate Chips
I think I’m getting back on my muffin top obsession, which means muffin bottom yogurt to come. Also, my Smart Balance obsession hasn’t left, just switched jars. I’ve gone from agave sweetened to molasses sweetened; it was hard to tell how “funky” the flavor here was because the chocolate chips also sweetened it. Clearly I’m not too concerned with the GI load of agave vs molasses if I’m throwing chocolate on top… Grey’s Anatomy was as good as ever last night; did you know that surgery of Dr. Sheppard’s was based on a real medical surgery that was deemed as equally impossible? It’s great seeing art imitate life.
Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Roll With Pepita Sun Butter And Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
I couldn’t decide what to do with my last whole wheat cinnamon roll so I let it go both ways(TWSS). I find adding a bit of real vanilla sugar to the stevia, cream cheese, Oikos mix gives it a purer flavor. And that pepita sun butter is plenty vanilled-up already. One last snack rounded out the night:
Chocolate Brownie Z-Bar
When I buy something at regular price “because I really want it”, I need to eat it the same day, right?
This morning I gave myself time by setting the alarm a little earlier for my long run. I’d been having trouble with pace and this morning I finally settled it; I just accepted that while my outside pace is 7.5mph my treadmill pace is more 7mph and to push it everyday is just not the way to go. I let myself go at my new pace and just kind of enjoyed the morning, watching the crazy costumes on the Today show. I did 12 miles in 1:43:18, which was actually my first time ever running between 10 and 13.1 miles.
Banana Goodness Bread Toast With White Chocolate Cherry Almond Butter, Vanilla Oikos With Newman's Own Organic Super Dark Chocolate And Dried Cherries
Clearly, I took all that time and put it into making this breakfast, and it was well worth it. I just looooove dark chocolate and cherry. How could you not? I also like cutting up a square of chocolate so that it gets unequal and crumbly and looks really “professional”. I’m not sure how big a fan of the toasted banana bread I am; somethings are just meant to be soft and mushy.
Today has so much excitement. It’s Cookie Friday! I’ve got some ideas, but we’ll have to see how the day plays out. It’s also the day before Halloween, so I’m going to all 3 of my classes in full costume. You’ll have to wait and see what that it 😉 And I have a history midterm! That one’s… not so exciting.
Sodastream giveaway! I might no drink the soda but I would looooove those flavor essences–it’s been so long since I’ve had seltzer why is that?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 12 so far )Just Your Average Sunday
Yesterday was all I could ask for from a Sunday. I rolled out of bed at 8:30, which is about as late as I’ll ever sleep in these days. I had no plans for running, and I wasn’t quite ready for breakfast. Hmm… what to do…
Kashi Vanilla Blueberry Raspberry Muffins
Bake! I hate shelling out all that money for blueberry raspberry oat bran muffins so I thought I’d give a hand at doing my own. I used my lazy man’s muffin recipe, and did 1/2 blueberries and 1/2 raspberries. Ps. I’m trying to get this recipe picked up by Kashi, so if you have connections hook a brother up 😉 The best part of these is they really require no flavoring or healthifying since the oatmeal packets and berries do it all for you. This was my “mystery muffin” at breakfast yesterday:
Pumpkin Pie Yogurt With Tempeh Bacon, Mystery Muffin With Mighty Maple
Muy bueno. It was really good, but I’m also going to be critical on myself because it wasn’t quite at blueberry raspberry oat bran muffin level. I think these were a bit too soft and wheaty, whereas the others are firmer and branier. My oh my, those are words only an oatmeal-lover could adore, haha. Nevertheless, it was good with mighty maple(and I’m sure will be great with cream cheese :-))
Did I say yesterday would be a rest day? Well for the first time in a while the sun was out with no clouds, the temperature was heating up, and I hadn’t ran around my neighborhood in a long time. I headed out at 11 and did 6.7 miles in 53:33. I didn’t realize how fast that was at the time, but I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever done 6 laps around my neighborhood(which has 3 hills, one being a real crusher). I got back a bit before lunch and (re)learned something about myself: I’m kind of an ass butthead when I’m hungry and feel like I can’t eat what I want when I want. I really wanted my “breakfast foods” fast but had to wait for a family lunch. I tried to not be so tense and just put things on my plate I’d eat:
Salmon, Asparagus
The asparagus were a special request, which I had about twice that amount of. My excuse is that I wanted smelly pee when I went back home. I finished my plate and grabbed a quick dessert:
Whole Soy & Co Chocolate Hazelnut Frozen Yogurt With Banana Goodness Bread Mix-In
I don’t think it’s called dessert when you plan it and eat it with others who are on their meals.I felt a lot better after this because it was what I wanted. The banana and Nutella frozen yogurt went together as well as the real things do–Yuuuummmm. It was a lot easier to sit down and study after that while scratching Montana. My parents spoil me, I spoil him, it’s all part of the circle of life. I wasn’t in a huge rush to get back to school but better sooner than later. We stopped at Market Basket on the way to pick up two things:
Stonyfield Frozen Yogurt And Matthew's Whole Wheat English Muffins
And better yet this was only 3.69. The english muffins were on sale from 3.09 to 1.50; I prefer Trader Joe’s but that’s not remotely between my house and school. The ice cream is normally 2.69 and I had a 50 cent off coupon. It was probably the last of its flavor and I had to push aside about 100 other pints to find it, but I was determined for that price.
When we got back to school, things went as smoothly as I could have hoped for. The roomie was gone; my dad helped me put things away, and I was snacking on this:
Maple Nut Clif Bar
This was another one of the bars Clif sent me. I was a bit hesitant to try it because I thought I had had it before and not enjoyed it. I must have thought wrong because this was awesome. No lie. Read all about it here. It might have been because I could have gone for anything maple at that time, but this was really good. It might be high on sugar, but anything maple and low sugar tends to be a disappointment, and I would gladly eat this instead of any sugary dessert any day. I got a bit more done before breaking in to this:
Stonyfield Cookies N' Dream Frozen Yogurt
I planned to have it after dinner, but I guess a little fell into my cup and then my mouth sooner. Oops 😉 I love this frozen yogurt; Stonyfield does not skimp on the cookies part. I take “cookies n’ cream” as the ingredient list, which would suggest that it be loaded with cookies first, and cream second. This isn’t too creamy, buy it has plenty of cookies. And the fact that it’s not creamy makes it lighter so you can enjoy more of it(I might or might not have eaten a whole pint of this before in one sitting before. Again, oops ;-)). Before I left home, I grabbed a good amount of leftovers from lunch, and made a meal out of that and stuff from the dining hall:
Glazed Carrots, Cooked Spinach, Acorn Squash, Salmon
College has definitely got me loving leftovers more. I forgot how good acorn squashes are; this one was baked back at home so it was super soft but I’m wondering if it’s possible to make one in the microwave. I’ll have to experiment with that next time I make it to a farmers market. I haven’t been loving salads lately so cooked spinach is an efficient way to get my greens for the week. And, of course, the salmon was good again. Thank you, mommy 😀
I must be getting old because I was overjoyed when 60 Minutes was on at 7 and whatever sports event on before it didn’t run long. I wonder if I can qualify for senior discounts at the grocery store? I’ll take the money where I can get it. Last night’s form of procrastination came in the form of reminiscing. My elementary school headmaster is retiring, and I couldn’t help but think back to those days and start to miss them so much. Since when is art not a class? or book reports not the biggest assignment? and what happened to school plays in cheap costumes? or singing song about planting daffodils? I guess we can’t really in all sensibility go back to those times, but I’m positive I’m going to be reliving them through my children some day.
Oatmeal With Maple Almond Butter And Maple Syrup
Funny enough, I don’t remember ever having oats as a kid. For breakfast, I remember M&M Kudos bars, and the occasional fishy tasting medicine pill wrapped in white bread, but never oats. Maybe me having them twice a day is making up for lost time. This started as a healthy bowl with pumpkin and sliced almonds. Then I realized that was all (figurative) vegan fluff and I really just wanted something maple(thanks, Clif). Luckily, no matter how much sugar you put on oats they’re still healthy, right?
Toast With Mighty Maple, Banana Goodness Bread With Organic Chocolate Hazelnut Butter
Now that I have a replacement jar of Mighty Maple, I’m excited how low my old jar is getting! Pumpkin oats in a jar? I think so. For the “Nutella” like spread I use Rapunzel brand. It’s organic so it has all natural ingredients. It also has more hazelnuts and less sugar per serving than Nutella so it’s more like a nut butter. I’ve also found an all natural Italian brand at Market Basket I might try after this jar runs out. Brothers and Sisters was great last night; I really think that show goes underrated. My hunger suddenly woke up after that oatmeal because I also needed this:
Deep Chocolate Vitamuffin
That and some water did the trick. It might have done the trick too well; fiber is a loud thing to fall asleep to while still digesting.
This morning… I don’t know where I was(figuratively, of course). I got on the treadmill and nothing felt so hot. But I had it in my mind to do 10 miles and this time in particular I really just wanted to finish. There were some annoying bathroom breaks and my right foot flared up again but I tapped into my stubborn Pollack side and kept going, finishing in 83:53. I was sure to stretch my right foot extra special and I think I’ll do that again later today just for security.
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Pepita Sun Butter, Pineapple Chobani With PB Puffins
10 miles is a lot of time to think about breakfast, and I think I went through 20 different scenarios, but this was a good one to settle on. Pepita Sun butter is kind of like the holidays in a spread, with all its allspice and vanilla goodness. And I completely forgot how much an addiction PB puffins are; I should eat up the bag, too, before it goes stale, right? 😉 That’s my excuse anyway.
Sunday felt too good to believe that it’s Monday already and the work week is back. Let’s all commiserate so that the time will pass faster.
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