Stress Running
I was hoping that stress wouldn’t kick in this semester for a while but apparently not 
Last night while blogging those 8 miles from the morning totally caught up with me! I was starving not an hour after dinner. First I tried chocolatey oats…
Oatmeal With Chocolate Sunflower Butter
Good(of course), but not quite enough. It is important to point out that the chocolate sunflower butter by Naturally Nutty was the first nut(technically seed) butter I liked before Justin’s new line. I was still pretty hangry, though, and so reached for some protein.
Pomegranate Chobani
This was definitely better. I couldn’t get any plain from the dining hall with my meal points, which I’d prefer, but as for flavored I like to grab the pomegranate, pineapple, or vanilla if I have to. This was nice, but afterwards when I went to brush my teeth I heard something a bit distressing. It’s not something that blogging will help anyway, so no need to mention it. But it definitely put me into a downward spiral for the night and led to a bad nights sleep. I’m also not above stress eating.
Coconut Oil Chocolate
To be fair, 80% of this was want but a little bit was probably chocolate for the sake of stress relief. I turned off my computer at 10 but don’t think I actually got to sleep until way later; it’s too bad Conan’s no longer new or I probably could have caught him 😦 I did wake up surprisingly refreshed(and full) for a run.
Running Stats
I planned to do 5 miles. I might(or, rather, did) run 8 miles in 70:46. I didn’t even look down to check my mileage until after 6 miles, so I thought why not continue until time became a factor? I got really into some thoughts and Adam Lambert, who’s surprisingly therapeutic, and of course Cartoon Network on the television. Needless to say, this put me into a bit of a rush for a grab-n-go breakfast.
Pumpkin And Egg Oatmeal With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter, Vanilla Chobani With Cherry Butter And 2 Goji Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Vanilla Chobani With Cherry Butter And 2 Goji Chocolate Cherry Cookies
The oatmeal was the first time I tried pumpkin and egg whites. It tasted so much more like a pumpkin pie! But needed sweetness or saltiness to make it interesting. On top of the Chobani I added a spoonful of Cherry Butter and then 2 of my favorite cookies from Goji Gourmet. Oh my God–I forgot how good these were with the dried but not stale(!!) cherries; they tasted so fresh and absolutely perfect. My favorite part of the morning had to be walking in to Greek class early and getting asked about how much I’m doing for my half marathon; when he heard I just finished 8 miles he basically said eat up! Sorry if this has been an otherwise downer or stress-influenced post 😦 Hopefully after some clarification in my life I’ll be back to my not-so-serious me 😀
That just seems scary…
Here’s a lovely valentine’s day contest! And another for all the chocolate lovers.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 11 so far )Not So Blissful
OK, the title is a bit of an exaggeration on my evening, but it’s punny as you’ll see 😉 First of all, way to go Saints! I wasn’t even watching the Superbowl and didn’t have a team, but after hearing it was their first time ever winning, that made me happy for them. Everyone deserves their 15 minutes 🙂 Instead of watching it, I was mostly glued to Fox and Modern Family, as well as my plate.
Emmy's Organics Raw Vegan Coconut + Vanilla Macaroons
Emmy’s Organics sent me some delicious sounding raw macaroons which I could not wait to try. Naturally, anything raw deserves a big ol’ raw platter to be served on.
Chocolate Avocado Pudding With A Coconut + Vanilla Macaroon
I only needed 1/2 of one of my 7 avocados to make this pudding; that means I’m going to have plenty of pudding I’m guessing 🙂 The Coconut + Vanilla Macaroon was simply remarkable. Normally, I’m skeptical whether vanilla things are going to be flavorful; the whole vanilla beans put my mind at ease but then the true vanilla flavor really wowed me! And I also tasted the rich hint of coconut oil. These cookies were definitely a winner. While I was on a roll, I thought why not try another new coconut product:
Artisana Cacao Bliss
From Artisana, I decided to eat this on some oatmeal. At first it was very clunky, but after sitting a while in the microwave it melted… sort of.
Oatmeal With Cacao Bliss
I’m not going to agave nectar sugar coat it: I had high expectations for this Cacao Bliss and was really let down. Another blogger has toted this as “like frosting” and plugged it like crazy recently, so I thought it must be amazing, right? It was actually a bit more like chalk than frosting and bitter than sweet. The nutrition was stellar, but I needed something really chocolaty to get over the disappointment.
Justin's Chocolate Almond Butter
Justin’s Chocolate Almond Butter to the rescue! Maybe the cacao bliss will be better in cold applications–I don’t know. I’m certainly up for ideas.
This morning it felt so good to get back up at 7 and hit the gym(didn’t think I’d be saying that any time soon). Surprisingly, all 3 of the working treadmills were already in use! I’m happy more people are working out, but a little sad how that pushes me aside. I biked a bit while I was waiting for a free one and snacked on this.
Nature's Path Organic Peanut Choco' Chewy Granola Bar
Mmm, yum! This was a Nature’s Path Organic product that I won off their Facebook contest. I just love these Peanut Choco’ Chewy Granola Bar because of the whole peanuts and how sweet they are! Then again, their first ingredient is sugar Oh well, a good workout warrants carbs anyway so then was definitely the time to enjoy it if ever.
Running Stats
I eventually got my ‘mill and ran the 8 miles scheduled in 71:30. If you’re wondering “Why does he take pictures of random lengths and times?”, I don’t really. I take a photo at the end after running 60 minutes. At that point, the treadmill turns off and resets itself. For example, today I ran 6.74 miles in the first hour, and then really finished after the last 1.26. Well after that, breakfast was a favorite of mine.
Vanilla Yogurt With Peanuts, Pumpkin Oatmeal With Chocolate Peanut Butter
Oikos With Vanilla Stevia And Peanuts
More Justin’s nut butter, this time the Chocolate Peanut Butter. I love it because I feel like I’m getting my chocolate peanut fix but not straying far from just average peanut butter nutrition(had to do it). I was going to use some store bought peanut granola for the oatmeal when I decided to go with an even better, nuttier, 1-ingredient, gluten free granola: peanuts! So much simpler and better, and definitely less processed–love it.
New things
Obviously, I love trying new things. At the end I recapped all the new reviews I did for this post(as always, the * means it was a sample from the company and the absence of them means I bought it or something along those lines). I also love hearing about others try new things. Ginger Jul recently tried my pumpkin bread and said she loved it. I hope she took pictures for her blog! If anybody else makes a recipe of mine, I’d love to hear it. I also thought it’d be fun to pick some new things I want to try but have no immediate plans to; right now, I want to eat jungle peanuts–never had these before and think they might be interesting–and I want to make almond milk from scratch! What about you? Anything new you want to put into your life?
Peanut Choco’ Chewy Granola Bar
Eating Raw With Bloggers
Good morning! I meant to set something up last night that’s exciting to auto-post, but clearly that didn’t pull together in time. Such excitement will have to wait for the week, but I can show you what exciting things did happen. Lunch was about a 7 on the excitement scale.
Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, And Cauliflowe With Grass-Fed Steak And Colby Cheese
Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, And Cauliflowe With Grass-Fed Steak And Colby Cheese
I think 7 is very good for leftovers. I steamed some vegetables and shredded some raw & probiotic colby cheese on top(but remembered not to stick it in the microwave because that would defeat the purpose of raw!). On an inside grill, I reheated the leftover steak in grass-fed butter, and then poured the drippings after cooking on top. OK–the steak was good, but the drippings were fantastic. Butter and beef fat–yumm. After lunch I made a little dessert.
Raw Vegan Brownies With Frosting
Raw Vegan Brownies With Goji Berries And Hulled Hemp Seeds
Before you start drooling too much, this was only 1 pan. The first photo was a before and the second an after shot 😀 But I didn’t make these all for myself(though I could have); last night there was a Boston blogger meet-up at Grezzo’s Restaurant which is all raw so I thought this would be an appropriate(and tasty) dessert, recipe here. Let me also show you my new adoration:
Bob's Red Mill Hulled Hemp Seeds
Bob’s Red Mill hulled hemp seeds. I don’t know where to begin. The nutrition? Fantastic. The preparation and care they put into providing and packaging their product? Amazing. The inherint, nutty vanilla flavor? Sock it to me. These were perfect for an afternoon pick-me-up.
Chocolate Avocado Pudding With Chocolate Coconut Oil And Hulled Hemp Seeds
Now that’s exciting. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as filling as I was expecting. Was there not enough fat? 
Sooo, after reading other blogs, I decided vanilla froyo must be the missing secret ingredient. We may not have self-serve frozen yogurt around Boston, but we do have freezers and delicious varieties of name brands.
Elan's Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
My favorite, for anyone keeping track.
Elan's Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
That hit the spot and held me over for dinner. It’s cool. It’s creamy. It’s everything a vanilla should be. Unfortunately, that’s all she wrote for it.
Empty Container
At least I made plenty of space in the freezer for another container!(which will probably be an exact replacement of this one :-P). Right before leaving, I found more evidence of my exciting insensibility: Something that I thought I brought to school, looked all over for, decided I left at home, looked all over for and could never find turned out to be in my backpack all the while. Thank God I can laugh at myself because I give me a kick 😀
At 7 I arrived at Grezzo’s and found a great number of bloggers and readers. There were 9 of us in total; it was all set up by Melissa at Crunches For Cupckakes. Thanks, Melissa! I think I was the only one to have eaten there before(documented here). That didn’t matter much because the menu had completely changed for dinner. I wasn’t sure what to order but I ended up going with a pasta dish(I know–I was surprised with me here, too!) that 5 other people also got.
Gnocchi Carbonara
The “gnocchi” were made out of cashews and oat flour, I believe, and in a nut-cream sauce. It was delicious! They were soooo rich and doughy and simply melted in your mouth. I think I liked them way more than regular gnocchi. The cream sauce was also good, but I only ate about 6 peas; I’m just not a fan of raw vegetables.
Bloggers
One of the interesting things brought up at the table was if we thought we could eat like this much. The easy consensus was no. For 1, raw takes sooo much preparation; some of our food was made and sat for days in advance. That’s simply not easy to do on a working schedule. The other reason was simple: We love hot food! Oatmeal, baked vegetables, microwaved vegetables–I know I, for one, couldn’t give up things like that. A big bowl of baked veggies and tofu with maple syrup is totally my comfort food. At first I wasn’t planning for a dessert, but… c’mon 😉
Chocolate Mint Cookie With Chocolate Frosting
Surprisingly, this was one of their less extravagent desserts; can you believe it? Check out Lauren’s blog for a shot of her brownie sundae. Next time I go, I most definitely want to try their gelato. The rawest ice cream I’ve had is banana soft serve so that would most definitely be a kick. All in all it was a great night and my first chance to meet some awesome bloggers. I even got a few new ones to add to my blogroll! After stopping at a party where my parents were to say hi to old friends, we didn’t get home until late. Let’s just say it’s been a while since I’ve seen Saturday Night Live live. I also wasn’t terribly tired and a little voracious. I think the cookie had ton of agave nectar, which won’t spike your blood levels but will keep you going and going and going(I was like the Energizer Bunny!). The other half of that was that eating raw meant so much less volume of food, even if it was calorically dense. The solution?
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Vanilla Peanut Butter
Pumpkin oats! Another example of why I could never go raw 🙂 I certainly enjoyed my night and I can’t wait to go to my next blogger meet-up someday!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 20 so far )A Little Clunky But Not Wholly Displeasurable
1) That’s what she said.
Packed Bag
2) That’s a pretty good description of coming home for the weekend, too. I definitely forgot how much I loathe packing. But, I managed to keep it very simple with 1 bag and only 2 peanut butters(plus my backpack and some dirty laundry). Annoying? Yes. But not as wholly displeasurable as having to completely move out and then back in over break.
Like I mentioned, our first stop was Chocolate Fest! There was tons of samples throughout the stores of different chocolate creations. First, I scoped it all out. Then I decided that some of it was skippable(I mean, I can cover a banana in melted chocolate, too :-|). Finally, I dove in 😀
Chocolate Cherry Braised Beef
Raw Chocolate Truffle
Mexican Chocolate Chili
Salmon In White Chocolate Butter Sauce
Sweet Scoops Mocha Mudslide Frozen Yogurt
The braised beef–was absolutely fantastic! It might have been my favorite of the night. It might just be my inner carnivore saying that. But I really loved it because first you got the really fatty meat flavor that just fell apart in your mouth, and then you got a kick of cherry at the end. The raw truffle was really good, too. I could totally make this at home, though(and I snatched the recipe to do so). The chili was another winner; I told you I was a carnivore 😀 The salmon, on the other hand, was really bad. What were they thinking if they tasted it? I thought it had potential because white chocolate and chickpeas are a fantastic combo, but apparently that need not apply here. And, for dessert, some Sweet Scoops frozen yogurt. I’ve actually been thinking of buying that flavor for a while, and it was really good. I don’t know, though, if it’s worth the price compared to Elan’s Decaf Cappuccino frozen yogurt(which also is decaffeinated and so better for night time snacking).
That actually wasn’t that much, so when we actually got home after an hour I was hungry… for the supper not waiting for me 😦 I decided to just throw something a little cooky together that’d be veggie-tastic and filling.
Brussels In Grass-Fed Butter Sauce
Chocolate Avocado Pudding With Goji Berries And Coconut Oil
This dinner was a bit clunky but not wholly displeasurable. Actually, it was pretty tasty 😀 I don’t think I’ve had brussels in 2 weeks! What a shame. They really soaked up the butter. On top of my pudding, I added some Navitas Naturals Goji Berries and coconut oil; I loved the goji berries here for a good dose of antioxidants! The coconut oil tasted a little out of place, oddly I think coconut butter would be better here(butter is always better 😉 But that’s another story). Speaking of Gojis, I had a sweet surprise waiting for me…
Goji Gourmet Cookies
How yummy does that all look? Among a few packages I got was this one which I won from totalfitgirl’s contest(ironic, I know, but there weren’t any gender rules for entering as far as I know :-)). I’m pretty sure it was only for the chocolate cherry cookies, and the rest of this was thrown in by my friends at Goji Gourmet. Thank you! Now I’m stocked well with one of my superfoods.
Was it just me, or was Grey’s not so good last night? Should I have gone with The Office and 30 Rock? That’s quite possible. A few more things made coming home a little clunky. A) I had noo toothbrush. Whoops. B) I had no alarm clock and freaked out until I dug out a really old one. I then decided that I wouldn’t even set it and let myself sleep in. C) I found out that one item I specifically came home for might very well actually be in my safe at school. Ugh. After most of that was resolved, I was happy for oats.
Cornbread Oatmeal With Mighty Maple
Cornbread, because I could. In the batch went 1 egg white(sorry, yolk, but I didn’t need you right then :-(), 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum and 1/2 a teaspoon aluminum free baking powder. This came out perfectly corny.
Like I said, I didn’t set my alarm this morning and slept in a full hour. A full glorious hour. You need to take advantage of things like no drunk people in the hallway and nothing to do once you’re actually up 🙂 A few more things that made my trip not wholly displeasurable:
Trader Joe's Oatbran And Tofu
Food! More specifically Trader Joe goodies my mom grabbed on her way home just for me(like anyone else here would be picking out tofu or know which one to get) 🙂 You can bet that I already have some tofu pressing for lunch as we speak(and using the oatbran as a weight! Haha). Beyond that, I also used the oatbran in breakfast.
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Nutritional Yeast And SB PB
Plain Oikos With Vanilla Stevia
A bit cheesy, but not wholly displeasurable. No wait–wholly pleasurable because it’s a bit cheesy. That’s how I would describe the pumpkin/nutritional yeast/smart balance combo. There’s something so “homey” about it. AND now I’m about 1 bowl away from OAIJ!! It’s shaping up to be a splendid trip home.
Language Lesson: This is directed to no one in particular; this is just something I thought of as I was making my breakfast and want to address now. If you are buying your Greek yogurt and buy more than 1 container of Oikos, please do not say that you picked up some “oikoses”. That is just wrong. Oikos is a Greek word meaning house. It is the nominative, singular form. For plural, you’ll want to say you picked up some “Oikoi”. Sounds a little funny? Welcome to Greek. If you all want to be super overachievers, do 1 better by saying “Oikous”. That’s the correct form when it’s the object of a verb. But, I’d totally be happy if I ever just heard Oikoi, too 😀
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 20 so far )Roasting Away Anxiety
Disclaimer: I don’t know how this post is going to read because today has been “just one of those days”. Nothing’s been wrong; but I’ve still felt… uncomfortable? anxious? stressed? all the way through. It’s a bit ironic I’ve felt like that today, since I have something to celebrate: This blog hit 100,000 page views. That, to me, feels like 100,000 hugs from you readers. Considering only 89 of those came from the first month I was blogging, the growth has been trememndous and I couldn’t really be happier with my readership. I think I’ve never gotten a single bad comment and all I ever get are wonderful words and that alone lifts my spirits so much.
Enough sappiness aside–after blogging I was so ready for a warm lunch in my tummy, with another built in dessert!
Steamed Broccoli, Lightlife Sausage Style Meat With Red Onions And American Cheddar Cheese
Goat Milk Yogurt In A Raspberry Jam Jar
After 4 or 5 months, I should feel pretty cozy taking food photos in front of people, especially the roomie, right? This just felt awkward for some reason. But how could I miss a beauty like this. Maybe this blog should be Confession of an Onion Addict because I could not get enough in the Lightlife Sausage. For the cheese, I used a Trader Joe’s american cheese square; it’s all natural and tastes just as overprocessed as the supermarket kind that’s why I love it 🙂
To round out the meal, I had YIAJJ(Yogurt In A Jam Jar)! I think I go through that jam more than any other; it’s the best! I totally need to make a review page for it because it gets a 10/10 in my book. I ate the yogurt in my Greek History class, and ironically felt no unease or discomfort come to thing about it. I guess I don’t consider eating straight out of jars unusual?
Lucky for me, Latin class was cancelled today. The 2nd class of the semester was cancelled; that’s a good sign. Even better, I rushed back to my dorm, hopped on Twitter, and was able to be around in time for Chobani’s Spoons! If you don’t know what that is, the gist of it is that I won a case of 2% Chobani, and having lowered my meal plan this couldn’t possibly have happened at a better time. To celebrate, of course I needed to eat some Greek yogurt.
Cherry Greek Yogurt With Cherry Green & Black Dark Chocolate
Ah, yes. This greek yogurt shipment will be well recieved. I stirred some cherry butter into plain and then added the remainder of the Green & Black bar my mom gave me for Halloween. It was… well a little disgusting, to be honest. The chocolate was good, but the dried cherries in the bar went bad. I didn’t even know that was a legitimate concern. Of course, I ate it anyway.
Maybe this is when things starting feeling a little blah; I had a meeting with my peer advisor at the bookstore. Because of miss-scheduling on her part, she was a little late, but I really didn’t mind. What did bug me was how a “quick check in” was really 40 minutes of fun-but-slightly-awkward-and-aimless conversation. At one point, we drifted from classes to something that called for the line “as a kid, you don’t see your parents naked but you see your Barbie doll naked”. Frankly, that was not the case with my childhood, but I wasn’t about to say that. When I finally did break free and make it back to my dorm, I really needed something with pizazz.
Pumpkin With Nutritional Yeast, Sea Salt, And Sweet Cacao Nibs
Pizazz… was not here. This was one of those things that felt like it would come together great in my mind, and ended up tasting like its individual components–quite disappointing. I also managed to realize all at once that a) the hour away from my dorm took a real toll on my work productivity and b) I had nothing in mind for dinner. Anxious! First up…
Pajama Bottoms
I needed to get comfy so I slipped on pajama bottoms. At 6pm? You betcha. With that aside, I knew that what I really needed to calm my nerves was something homey, like a roasted meal. I found some ingredients and stuck them in the oven for 40 minutes with some maple syrup.
Baked Maple Tofu With Roasted Sweet Potato And Broccoli
Raspberry Steaz
This has definitely made me feel 90% better; there’s just something about roasted vegetables, wouldn’t you agree? I wanted to switch up the greens at dinner but broccoli is all I had that roasted well. A little maple syrup at the end really livened it all up and brought out the earthiness. I love how the sweet potato and broccoli just soak it up, too.
What’s your comforting hug after a long day? Clearly, mine is roasted vegetables. A tin pan and aluminum foil(100% recycled) was the best investment of this semester so far. Maybe you’re a mac n’ cheese person? Macaroni has never really been “my thing” and even cheese is “meh” with me, but I can understand how it would be comforting. Give me some good ideas! There will be plenty more dinners this semester 😉 Now I just hope I can focus and not get too caught up in The Biggest Loser and American Idol.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 23 so far )Built In Dessert
Routine, routine, routine! I feel like I’m settling in to my new weekday routine pretty well, but Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be packed. I guess that’s a price I’m more than willing to pay, though. No complaints here 😀 Excuse me if I’m short on words because I’m short on time. Some things don’t need words, like how amazing this combo is:
So Delicious Soy Yogurt With Milk Chocolate Peanut Sunspires
Gah! I’m drooling thinking about it. I’ll admit: Like a vegetarian who misses meat, I’m an all-natural eater who misses some of the “silly things”, like colored M&M’s and Swedish Fish(*drool*). Sunspires mend my heart a bit, though they need to come in more colors! Still, I do get a kick about mixing them all in…
Yogurt Mixed Up
Pretty!…ish? If it were frozen, it would remind me of a McFlurry 🙂 Ahhh, I remember having way too many of those one vacation in Florida as a kid; that’s what vacations are for, right? Note to self: Bananawhip + Sunspires = McFlurry? It’s a possibility and something to try…
Heroes has me so lost at this point, I’d think I’m watching Lost! Claire’s father had another family? How old is he? Mostly I just waded through some homework while I was trying to figure that one out. I also realized I was putting off a chapter of a book that was only about 7 pages. I think I could deal with 7 pages 🙂
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Chunky PB, Agave Nectar, Sea Salt, And Nutritional Yeast
I didn’t want to have the “same ol’, same ol'” pumpkin, nutritional yeast, and Smart Balance agave peanut butter oatmeal before bed. Instead, I started with oatmeal and then added pumpkin. To top it, I threw on some Crazy Richard’s chunky peanut butter(which was basically a clump of whole peanuts–yum!) and squirted on some agave nectar. Then I added a little nutritional yeast and sea salt at the end. So… I ended up with the same ol’ same ol’ anyway, haha. I think you just can’t ignore perfection. Does anybody else though find agave nectar not that sweet? It’s supposed to be 1.7 times sweeter than sugar but I can hardly taste it 😦
This morning I was pumped to be up at 6:15!… Not really, but I was up at least. I hopped out of the room and into the gym. I’m surprised I was only the 2nd one there; someone really wanted to get their elliptical in I guess. I, of course, grabbed my treadmill and got going for 5 miles. I love that I’m building speed again! This way I’m not falling too behind in my morning rush 😉 I finished in a sweaty 44:54 and got right back into the dorms to throw together a breakfast and check emails.
Egg White Oats With Honey Maple Peanut Butter And Cinnamon
Raw Vegan Coconut Oil Chocolate
Holy protein, Batman! That’s what I was thinking over my oats. After cooking them, I beat in 2 servings of cage-free egg whites(from a carton), and cooked it until puffy. Then I topped it with high protein honey-maple peanut butter. Yum! It needed something, though, so I threw in some cinnamon. For something that has no sugar, does anybody else find egg whites surprisingly sweet? And not agave nectar? Maybe my taste buds are just all crossed. Breakfast had a built in dessert with the chocolate bar–I think I need to make this an every meal thing 😉 Actually, I packed it for Greek class, and by the time I got to it the agave nectar had seperated a lot from the cocoa powder and coconut oil. It still tasted good; I just needed to mix it up and eat it with a spoon. Now I see why every chocolate bar has soy lecithin(except Vivani)!
That was speedy. On the list: Make a replacement chocolate bar, Greek History reading, make lunch, Greek History, no Latin today because it was cancelled(sweeet), meeting with peer advisor, and then I’m free for the day! It’s going to be a long run one. Gooo!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 16 so far )Grocery Shopping RI
The Grammy’s are starting soon, and I’m not sure if I want to watch them, so I’ll just type super fast just in case. Speaking of grammies, I saw mine today. But first, lunch.
Jalapeno Al Fresco Chicken Sausage, Broccoli With Soy Sauce
I just could not get in to the idea of “brunch” so I had a late breakfast and a small lunch. I wasn’t that hungry but I had an odd craving for broccoli and soy sauce(how good does that sound?) so I threw on one of these sausages and called it a meal. Voila! Plenty of sodium for one day. At the end of this, my dad arrived and brought a few goodies from home, mostly being things I forgot. Are chopsticks essentials? No, but they’re fun 😀 My mom and grandmother(who came along “for the ride”) were waiting in the car and they took me to Trader Joe’s.
Trader Joe Groceries
Would you believe there’s just 1 Trader Joe’s in all of Rhode Island? The next closest one is the one in Framingham I go to when I’m home. I don’t know how you Trader Joe-less folks do it. Actually, I do know: You go to Whole Foods and pay a little more. Sorry 😦 I just wanted to get every simmer sauce and curry I could find for meals! But realizing that wasn’t practical in my dorm fridge I just got mostly plain things like tofu, tempeh, salmon, pilaf, and the rest of what you see. Clearly there’ll be more pudding with all them avocadoes 😉
Libby's Pumpkin
After that, I made us take quick detour to McDonalds for coffee(which I defend by pointing out that everyone else in the car got coffee driving down and didn’t bring me one), and then we went to Stop & Shop for some pumpkin; I knew if I went in it would take 10 minutes and I’d come out with 5 extra things, so this time my dad just did the shopping. He still took 10 minutes, but got the 1 thing on the list.
Whole Foods Groceries
Whole Foods Groceries
And then, of course, it wouldn’t have been a trip without going to Whole Foods. I was actually a little disappointed with this sales period; there was soooo much I picked up and wanted to try but couldn’t really “justify” getting. Instead, I kept it simple again. I guess the two “treats” I got were the dark chocolate coconut candy bar(umm, yum!) and some dark meat turkey for dinner. The Crofter’s Organic Europe Superfruit spread I had a coupon for because, if you remember, I got a bunch of their jams to review for the blog but that one unfortunately broke during shipping. One “fun” thing I almost bought was vanilla goat milk frozen yogurt with brownie pieces in it coming off sale Tuesday. It took a lot of restraint from buying that, restraint and the promise of this:
Vanilla Greek Yogurt With Peanut Butter Chocolate Black Bean Brownie And Chocolate Peanut Butter
I defrosted one of the peanut butter gluten free brownies I made for New Years and crumbled it warm into a yogurt. Then I melted a little of the Justin’s chocolate peanut butter in the microwave to drizzle over. Holy yum! Vanilla brownie ice cream who? This completely had my attention while I was catching up on emails/putting groceries away. Unfortunately, I still felt like I could chew my arm off, so I had another snack while waiting for dinner.
Apple
A little mealy but not bad for free from the dining hall. Dinner was a sweet potato I threw in the oven at 5 and the dark meat turkey I bought. I really didn’t know how to make it so I called home. No answer. I then called my mom. No answer. Finally, my dad picked up his cell phone. Why was no one answering? Because they stopped at a casino on the way home. I’m glad nothings changed in my absence.
Cooking Dark Meat Turkey
Since I couldn’t get in touch with my mom, I went ahead and guessed that the turkey would be fine in a pan on its own since it should have enough fat in it already to cook. That was pretty much right. I cooked the meat through and then let it rest for 5-10 minutes while I worked with the sweet potato and such.
Turkey Burger With Ketchup, Sweet Potato With Cinnamon And Sea Salt
Ah, this came out wicked good*said in a Bauston accent*. I don’t think there is any real “trick” to meat; I think there are just old rules which people either follow or ignore. Don’t work with it too much. Let it sit. And, if you really want flavor, use a fatty cut. It’s that simple to get something juicy and delicious. The sweet potato was perfect and practically fell apart after roasting for 90 minutes. I was craving cinnamon on a sweet potato and that hit the spot. I think I will watch the Grammy’s soon; I hear Elton John and Lady Gaga are performing together and how could I miss that?
Tomorrow’s the first day of February, and let’s just say there’s a bit of a special surprise in store for the morning post. I also have my “long run” of 8 miles first thing. Ahhh I need to start stockpiling fuel via chocolate!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 20 so far )Excuse Me, Your Head Is Blocking The Fridge
7:53: Get into some comfy pajamas. It’s going to be a good night
8:23: Find Disturbia on TV; decide to watch even though I’m a scaredy cat for movies like this.
Burnt Sugar Crumbly Chocolate Fudge
8:30: Think fudge would be a good thing for dessert, even though I can’t remember the last time fudge did anything for anyone’s hunger
8:40: This fudge is really weird and hard–not really like church fair fudge but it’s sweet and that’s nice
9:12: Realize while doing Greek homework that Plato was soooo much dirtier than people give him credit for. Why don’t I remember things like this from 9th grade?
9:23: Why am I watching Disturbia?!?!
Chocolate Avocado Pudding With Coconut Butter
9:30: Start the process of making chocolate avocado pudding, mashing avocado, cocoa powder, and coconut milk kefir in a bowl
9:40: Start cleaning the mess I’m making, throwing out bits of avocado, and cleaning the bowl.
9:43: Coconut oil? Coconut Butter? Cacao Bliss? Why can’t I decide?
Artisana Coconut Butter
9:47: Coconut Butter
9:52: Still cleaning; still hungry
9:53-9:57: Photographing the chocolate pudding
9:58: Screw it–I’m hungry and need to eat something now and no longer even want this damn pudding.
Cheesy Pumpkin Oats With Banana Peanut Butter
10:02: Shove the pudding in the fridge and make oats with pumpkin and nutritional yeast, topped with banana peanut butter.
10:12-10:23: Simultaneously admire and devour the oatmeal while burning my tongue because it’s so hot.
10:25: Need something sweet; feeling self-destructive.
Ginger Ale Zevia
10:32: There are worse ales I could have reached for.
10:52: Learn through Mythbusters that if I hold a gun the wrong way, my thumb will be cut off. Great.
11:02: Sleep. Glorious sleep.
3:17: Wake up, and now having trouble falling back asleep.
3:25: Roommate and 2 people I don’t know(maybe?) come in a little giddy. They whisper a lot and fall asleep on the floor.
3:27: Amazed at how the drunk people can fall asleep faster than I can and WOW DOES ONE OF THEM SNORE LOUD.
3:34: Ok, I’m hungry and not sleeping. What do I want?
3:35: I want that damn pudding but one of their heads is blocking the fridge. Would it be rude to wake whoever that is up?
3:37: Pry the door open, grab the pudding, head downstairs to the dorm kitchen.
Chocolate Avocado Pudding With Coconut Butter
3:40: Heat it up and start digging in. As I walk back to my bed to finish it
3:45: All gone. I like fat. I really like fat. Why do I eat protein and carbs?
4:02: Finally back to some shut-eye
7:07: Wake up and th 2 people on the floor are gone. Ugh, why is the gym not open until 9 on the weekend?! Would it be bad to watch Cartoon Network until then? I’ll just go back to sleep.
8:41: Wake up after a dream nightmare about never being able to find sour cream & onion popchips. If that’s the world I have to live in, I don’t want to live. On the bright side, I can get ready to go to the gym.
8:58: Chugging some decaf hazelnut coffee and out the door.
Running Stats
9:03: Starting my 5-miler after stretching the left calve which was acting up
9:08: Getting way too in to “Single Ladies”; resisting the urge to put my hands up and regretting that I didn’t put a ring on it
9:22: I’ve got Cartoon Network on TV, my iPod blasting, I can do this!
9:49: That felt great. Maybe could have done more? Tomorrow’s my long run so I wasn’t going to push it.
Walking Stats
9:50-10:25: Cool down with a two mile walk followed by stretching.
10:12: What time am I going to finish? When will I get back? Will it be breakfast or lunch?
10:33: Back in the dorm, roommate’s still sleeping, should I be shocked by this? Not at all.
10:46: Hop out of the shower and run back to the room.
1047-10:48: Have a fight with the scale to get it to turn on and stay on. It does, which is a sign that I should eat a “breakfast”.
10:55: Oops, people are starting to get up. Perhaps I should put on pants?
Banana Cinnamon Oatmeal With Walnut Butter, Goat Milk Yogurt With Raspberry Jam
11:02-12:02: Oats come out of the microwave and I start eating. Write a “cutesy” blog post, Twitter a bit, talk to a friend on the phone, e-mail my dad, and finish breakfast saving a huge bite of walnut butter for the last bite.
12:04: Publish.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 20 so far )Too Cold For Anything Else
Today has just been too cold for anything other than what I did and was done. My hands are recirculating, and my jeans have been long swapped for PJ’s by now. I suppose that when they announce an “Extreme Cold Advisory” on the news, they mean business. Backing up, I had some weird cravings for lunch. It was just too cold to want something real or excited. I managed to reign back my cravings a bit and make a semi-normal lunch.
Root Beer Zevia, Turkey With Mighty Maple, Hickory Honey BBQ Baked Kettle Chips, Steamed Broccoli
Turkey With Mighty Maple, Hickory Honey BBQ Baked Kettle Chips, Steamed Broccoli
Did maple peanut butter jump out of the jar onto my turkey? It just might of… with a little help. I prefer dark meat, so if I’m going to have white meat turkey I better stick some fat in there somehow; the sweet maple was pure craving, but at least it worked well with these chips.
To-Do List
I probably should have heeded the weather warning and stayed indoors just because I could but I had a bit of a list to work on. At least while I was out I managed to get it all done. I’m officially on a lower meal plan, trading 110 meals and 125 flex points for about $240 dollars;It’d definitely be a “better bargain” to have stayed on but what’s the use if it goes to wast? Nada.
Books And Notebooks
I ended up returning 2 of my books and buying them new; I try to buy used when possible but these were a little too used and they’re books I’ll be looking at for a while so I figured the extra money was worth it. The final total for the semester was around $350–not bad considering the majority of the books are in my concentration and I’ll need beyond this semester.
Tazo Calm Tea
It was too cold not to get tea while I was near a campus convenience store. I threw everything on the bed and considered making a snack, but wanted to get to a dining hall right at 4 to grab things for dinner and get in for the night before it got colder. Or so I thought. I got there at 4:10. They opened at 4:30. But unless I wanted to go back into the cold(absolutely not), I would just have to wait there. So I did. I didn’t end up getting back to my room until 4:45.
Cooked Vegetables, Raw Broccoli, Sandwich Lettuce, Apples
At least it was a productive shopping trip. I don’t know if you’re supposed to load up two large take out containers with vegetables, but no one particularly stops you if you do. You might get odd looks, but no words. I was starving and just threw together the best thing I could think of.
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Mighty Maple
It was too cold not to eat pumpkin oats with maple peanut butter. Nothing would have made this better, unless it were made in the jar; I think that’s a principal of life. Instead of eating more after this, which definitely would have spoiled my appetite for dinner, I just decided to invest a little time and “make something” that’d be nice. Since I was craving Indian, I mixed 2/3 a can of chickpeas, 1/3 cup pumpkin, 2 tablespoons ketchup, 1 tablespoon steak sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons indian spice, and enough watter to thin it. Normally I’d prefer a tomato based sauce but it was too cold not to utilize pumpkin(and that’s all I had on hand). That made about 3 servings, so I took 1 and saved 2.
Vegetable Melange, Pumpkin Indian Chickpeas, Raw Vegan Brownie
Pumpkin Indian Chickpeas Wit Full Fat Greek Yogurt
Raw Vegan Brownie With Raw Chocolate Frosting
This was pretty darn good. The chickpeas came out nice and spicy, with the pumpkin to add some savor factor. A dollop of full fat yogurt, though, really made the whole thing come alive; the dish needed fat and depth. Speaking of fat, the raw vegan brownies are still just as delicious. It was too cold not to have something sweet to finish of dinner. Do other people eat the best part of their meal at the end, too? I always did this as a kid, but people would confuse this for me not liking something and picking it off my plate before I would get to it. Not cool. No one got my brownie.
Don’t think having chocolate with dinner meant there won’t be some for dessert; it would just be too cold to ignore chocolate like that. I do feel somewhat bad on skipping out on a friend’s birthday party tonight. But if I went–and in this cold–I wouldn’t be enjoying myself, and I’m not convinced she’d notice me there amongst the other 100 facebook friends attending. So after all I don’t feel bad about ditching it for some light and humorous reads.
Homework
Wow are there a lot of giveaways going on now. Here’s one for a bread machine. Here’s another for coconut oil! Here’s one for some delicious bars. And here’s one for iHerb shopping spree! Here’s one for chocolate. And how about one last one for chocolate, here!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 11 so far )My 25 Hour Week
It feels a little surreal, but 25 hours after my first school week of the semester began, it ended. It hasn’t even hit me really that today is my “Friday” and tomorrow’s the weekend. I could get use to this.
Because I had a little extra time before my 2nd class of the day, I decided to make lunch in the kitchen again! This time, I cooked a “burger”.
Lightlife Gimme Lean Beef Soy Meat Burger
Yeah, I wish 😛 What this actually was was 4oz Lightlife‘s Gimme Lean Beef shaped into a patty with some black pepper and cooked in a pan with EVOO.
Lightlife Burger With Ketchup, Green Beans, Smashed Banumpkin With Cinnamon And Sea Salt
But holy yum was that a good burger! I’ve had this beef before heated up in the microwave and it didn’t do it for me, so I wasn’t looking forward to this in all honesty. But yum! Cooked in a pan with fat it tasted like a real burger(albeit an overcooked burger since I like my meat practically mooing). I think I made up a side at this meal; I had an intense banana craving and wanted to get a little funky, so I mashed 1/4 cup pumpkin with 1 small-medium banana and seasoned with sea salt and cinnamon. This was sooooo good–try it! It’s similar to a sweet potato, but the sugars in the banana make the cinnamon POP!
I loooved my next two classes. The first had a hilarious professor who’s very much in the old style of teaching. My only problem with it was the class was PACKED. I have a feeling it’s a class a lot of kids are taking for fun or to slack off in, but I need it for a Classics concentration so I ain’t going anywhere. My next class was OK, but a little duller in comparison and a lot smaller. At least I know 2 of them from last semesters’ classes. Midway through, I could feel hanger coming on.
Organic Raw Vegan Chocolate
I broke this out midway through. I’m becoming so obsessed! Now, instead of making one when I feel like it, I always have one made already for me chilling in the fridge. When class got over, one of the people I knew asked me where I got this and said it smelled excellent; when I told her I made it, she called that “brilliant”, haha. No arguments there!
I walked ran to my dorm to watch Oprah’s interview with Jay Leno. I have to say–I’m liking him less and less through this whole process. I know it’s not his fault so much as NBC but… And I think Oprah was a lot easier on him than she could have been; where were the hard hitting questions, Oprah? While I was watching this I did two things: I made another organic raw vegan chocolate bar for my next craving and made a snack for then.
Creamy Greek Yogurt With Raspberry Jam
Greek yogurt is the perfect snack; it’s a complete protein so you really feel like you’re getting something out of it, too. For my taste and my wallet, lately I’ve been mixing 3 parts Trader Joe’s 0% with 1 part Trader Joe’s full fat, and sweetening with vanilla NuNaturals stevia. I’m running out of that last ingredient and can’t help but question to stick with it or try Sweetleaf or Whole Foods brand. Any recommendation? Dinner tonight hit just about every spot:
Chickpeas With Pasture Butter And Sea Salt
Broccoli With Pizza Cheeze Sauce
I’ve had MAJOR chickpea cravings all week, but didn’t want to open up a can with so much other food to eat. Tonight was the night, and with pasture butter it tasted very much like soft popcorn–yum! For my broccoli, I made Meagan’s cheeze sauce, but added ketchup to it–another winner. The only slightly disgusting thing was thinking at the end that sliding the pool of melted butter/leftover sauce/sea salt into my mouth would be a good call; that was a bit too much sodium, even for me. Coffee will dilute that, right? I think so.
Here’s another contest to win coconut oil of your very own.
And here’s an absolutely awesome article on nut butters with all my favorite brands interviewed–you must read this!
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