Month: February 2009

A Sandwich-y day … plus BSI entry!

14 Comments

Aaaaaand, once again, Saturday has completely vanished!!

Lunch this afternoon was blogworld-inspired and beyond delicious.

img_4817

I’ve been thinking about this sandwich combo ever since SnackFace featured it in wrap-form earlier this week. The only difference is that I didn’t have apple butter, img_4806so I used fresh apple instead.

And check out this individually wrapped slice of whole wheat bread. My coworker Jessica comes into work every morning with about 7 slices! Apparently, the school her daughter attends gets donations of food and encourages parents to take any extra.  Jessica’s file cabinets had started to overflow with bread, so she gave me a few slices last week with instructions to “go home and make a sandwich.” So, Jessica, that’s what I did! My coworkers are feeding me even on the weekends, haha :-).

So back to the sandwich. Two slices of whole wheat toasted with mashed banana on one half and a tbsp chunky pb on the other:

img_4807

And slices of sweet potato and apple in between:

img_4808

I also added a sprinkle of cinnamon because, as we know, I’m an addict.

img_4812My sandwich went into the oven for about 10 minutes to melt everything together (the pb slice of toast was on top so the pb would drip down as it melted and infiltrate everything). Ahhhhhh, DEEELICIOUS! I ate the sandwich with steamed asparagus on the side.

img_4819

On the side, I ate a bowl of toasted pumpkin skins:

img_4822

My afternoon snack consisted of 1/3 cup fresh pumpkin, 1/4 cup plain yogurt, the holy trinity of spices, a chopped date, and toasted pumpkin seeds:

img_4825

Afternoon snack #2 consisted of gouda samples from the market by my apartment (I saved the chocolate samples for later):

img_4827

And then I got crackin’ on this week’s BSI: Black Beans. As usual, I wasn’t about to spend money on anything new, so I gathered every potential ingredient I could find in the fridge and cupboards and came up with Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Black Bean-Salmon Patties. And thanks to suprising twists from the apple, balsamic vinegar, blue cheese, feta, and adobo, these aren’t your usual black bean patties, let me tell you!

For dinner, I had a patty on 1/3 toasted sundried tomato bagel with a dab of forty spice hummus and cucumber slices:

img_4855

With grape tomatoes and more sliced cuke on the side:

img_4861

Dessert #1 was the chocolate samples I saved from my gourmet market trip earlier. I had samples of Brooklyn Fudge in — are you ready?? — dark orange almond, dark cinnamon almond, and dark wasabi pecan (there’s also a little piece of dried mango and a dried mulberry on the side). Mmmmmmm:

img_4830

Dessert #2 was “ice cream”: a mix of 1/2 cup fresh pumpkin, 2 tbsp soymilk, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, 1/4 mashed banana, 1 tsp peanut butter, and cacao nibs (from above). I topped the ice cream with a squirt of light whipped cream, sprinkles, and a toasted piece of raisin walnut bread (from the event I attended in this post):

img_4878

Dessert # 3 was my long-anticipated Aztec Gold truffle, the last of the prize-pack of truffles Brandi sent for my BSI: Spinach win. Clearly, I love the spicy-sweet combo, so I’ve been looking forward to this guy like crazy!! Look at the gold sparkle:

img_4872

And inside:

img_4873

See that big chunk of candied orange peel? Yummmmmmm. This truffle did not let me down! I’m so sad that I have none left now :-/.

For my final snack of the night, I had a prune and a dark chocolate heart:
img_4884

I’ve been so lazy ever since my run this morning. Soooo, I have no choice but to buckle down on the schoolwork for real tomorrow. Does your to-do list ever seem so long that it’s impossible to start?

Chocolate-covered breakfast

9 Comments

But before we get to my real breakfast, pre-breakfast was a small sliced apple with sprinkles of cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom:

img_4793

I bagged the apple and snacked on it during the subway ride to meet Kate for our five-mile-run that started at her apartment and then went over the Brooklyn Bridge and back. If you’ve never walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, you’re missing out because it’s a beautiful stroll. Running across the bridge, however, is like running up a mountain against hurricane-force gales. Despite the wind’s malicious plans for us, we made it through :-). Stats: 56 minutes, 448 calories, average heart rate 146, max 170.

My post-run breakfast was inspired by the chocolate-covered vegan/katie and the case of jocalat larabars she is giving away (and the chance to earn three extra entries for using one of her recipes ;-)). I combined three of Katie’s breakfast grain procedures in one scrumptious breakfast: banana bread in a bowl, brownie batter oatmeal, and the blended grains technique. I started with a smaller portion of banana oatmeal than Katie calls for in her recipe, so I also blended in 1/2 cup fresh pumpkin puree, 1/2 cup yogurt, a tsp-sized peanut butter ring-around-the-edge, and a sprinkle of unsweetened shredded coconut to sufficiently fill my bowl:
img_4800

img_4804I had my chocolate-covered brownie batter banana bread in a bowl blended oatmeal (what a mouthful!) alongside soymilky chocolate caramel enchantment chai (my last bag of it :-() and a glass of water.

The breakfast definitely deserves a big YUMMMMMMM! The CCV’s techniques added delicious flavor complexity and a perfectly creamy texture to the bowl. Thanks for the ideas, Katie!

In addition to the CCV giveaway mentioned above, you should also head over to Just Sweet Enough to get a look at the yummy snacks Nicole has up for grabs in honor of her 50th post! AND, Simply Fabulous is giving away Trek bars!

I’m off to maybe get something done today. Hopefully I can find the muscle strength I need to crack open one of my textbooks!

Do you prefer smooth food or chunky food?

Only food can make me move

10 Comments

Well, I finally dragged myself off of the couch last night and got around to some food, food of course being the only thing that could have made me move any sort of muscle. I threw together a random smattering of things to make some approximation of a salad:

img_4767

img_4772

The bowl had sauteed mushrooms, onions, and asparagus; a chopped sun-dried tomato; an egg yolk (leftover from something my roommate Tara made with egg whites earlier in the week); a bit of chicken (leftover from someone’s lunch at work); fresh cilantro and spicy red and green sauces (leftover from the taco my coworker Nydia gave me earlier in the week); chopped cucumber, fat free feta, dried basil and oregano, freshly ground black pepper, and drizzles of truffle oil and balsamic vinegar.

img_4771

Then, while slaying a pumpkin, I snacked on some more things, including some golean crunch clusters with a drop of soymilk, the teeny ends of a sweet potato I had just baked, more centerpiece conversation hearts, and bits of pumpkin flesh/skin/seeds as they were ready to taste:

img_4777img_4778img_4781

Because it was Friday night, I had more peanut butter frozen yogurt just like I made it on Thursday. This time, I topped the fro-yo with sauteed apple and banana. Loooooove that carmelized fruit:

img_4786

After finishing the night with fro-yo, I finished it a little more thoroughly with hazelnut chocolate:

img_4787

And then, it was time for bed. Tara gave me a fresh pair of earplugs, and they were amazing again! I hadn’t realized how much power the others had lost, but the difference was like night and day … literally, haaaaaaaa.

Also, go visit Lucky Taste Buds! if you’re in the market for free Barney Butter (and who isn’t??).

Exhaling

13 Comments

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh, it’s the weekend :-D.

I was up before the crack of dawn this morning for my arms on the step + stairmaster workout — it was 44 degrees by 5:15 am, so I didn’t even need all my extra layers, yay! Stats: 1 hour and 11 minutes, 446 calories, average heart rate 130, max heart rate 165.

Today’s oatmeal blend was the same as yesterday’s: 3/4 cup banana bread crockpot oats, 1/2 cup yogurt, unsweetened shredded coconut, nutmeg, and a tsp of pb:

img_4748

Alongside the oats, I had half a broiled grapefruit. If you’ve never tried a broiled grapefruit, you should. I love grapefruits the way they are, but I know lots of people find them a little too sour — and broiling ups the sweetness factor by a million. My motivation for broiling this half grapefruit actually came from the fact that it has been sitting in the fridge where one of my roommates left it nearly a month ago, and I noticed today that it had started to sprout a little bit of fuzz. I knew she’d throw it out anyway, so I rinsed off the fuzz and stuck it in the oven to burn off anything that might kill me. It turned out deliciously:

img_4749

Plus soymilky black tea and water:

img_4750

I ate my yogurt right before my 2-hour supervision meeting at 10. The mix included 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup fruit salad left from Wednesday’s meeting, cinnamon, cardamom, and a sprinkle of golean crunch:

img_4753

img_4755I also had a very special treat waiting for me at the office today: habichuelas con dulce! On Wednesday, Vianni made mention of this phrase, and my ears perked up. “Sweet beans? Beans with sugar? What is habichuelas con dulce??” All the ladies in the office started conferring, and it was decided that Belkis would bring some in for me to sample (notice the two whole cups of sample to the right) since her mom is visiting from the Dominican Republic and cooking up a storm. Habichuelas con dulce is a Dominican dessert drink traditionally prepared for Ash Wednesday. Belkis gave me a brief rundown of the procedure: the drink basically consists of kidney beans blended with milk, sugar, cinnamon, and more. Belkis’ mom also added raisins and batata after the blend, so there was fun textural variety, too.

img_4756img_4761

I had one cup cold at 11:57 as my lunch appetizer and one cup warm as my lunch dessert at 2:36 :-D. It was a cup of heaven really — kind of like eggnog on steroids!

Sandwiched (time-wise, not literally!) between my habichuelas con dulce, I had more fun with coworker food. The last cup of Nitza’s soup (it got me through 3 meals!):

img_4757

And the perfect soup accompaniment: steamed veggies and grilled chicken! Apparently, Mildred and Myrna were thinking of me yesterday — when I wasn’t even AT work — and actually saved their lunch leftovers so I could have them today! The chicken had been so deliciously marinated, and the veggies were some of my favorite to eat steamed: broccoli, carrots, and chayote:

img_4760

Myrna and I ran our parents’ group from 1-2:30, and I snacked on a few of our group snacks throughout: some slices of apple and orange … and about 3/4 cup of apple jacks (errr, because I needed more sugar). When was the last time you had apple jacks? I was probably 6 and probably snuck them at some friend’s house when my mom wasn’t looking!

I raced out of the group at 2:30 to get ready for my 3pm visit … but the mom ended up rescheduling for next week! It took me a minute to adjust my plan mentally, and I instinctively ate two massive lollipops (plus two small unpictured hard candies) in the ensuing brain blip:

img_4762img_4764

I quickly recovered with a new plan (and my second cup of habichuelas dulces) and set to work. At 4, I broke for carrots and 1.5 tbsp hummus:

img_4763

At 5, yo salí de la oficina!

I’ve got a group presentation to work on this weekend and a whole slew of errands and tasks to complete … but right now I’m taking a break, thinking about eating dinner, and relaxing on the couch with some Seinfeld. It’s been too long, Jerry! There’ll be time enough for work tomorrow … or there probably won’t be, but I need a little breather! What’s on your weekend list?

Dinner in phases

12 Comments

My meal schedule tends to evolve based on when and where I come into contact with food! While walking home from the subway station yesterday afternoon around 3:30, for example, I stopped into Union Market (purely for the samples, of course) and came upon dinner part 1, which I brought home and arranged prettily on a plate with decaf soymilky sweet coconut thai chai:

img_4713

Findings included the sampler cup of antipasti, cheddar chunks on baby toast squares (I actually had 3 of these), and 3 cookies:

img_4715

The cookies deserve a closer look:

img_4716

Sandwich cookies are my favorite!

I also had a package waiting for me when I got home. (Is there anything as satisfying as interesting mail?) It was the Country Bob’s sauce I won from Allison at Green Dog Wine:

img_4721

I have big plans for this sauce and a block of tofu. Just wait!

Dinner part 2 was 3/4 cup of the delicious soup that my coworker Nitza made for me along with my last 3 slices of kale-crust pizza (:-( so sad to see it go):

img_4724

Hearty chunks of health:

img_4727

Kale-crust pizza, I hope we meet again soon:

img_4732

Dinner part 3 happened a couple hours later and was inspired by Heather who was inspired by Sarah to make peanut butter frozen yogurt. I followed Sarah’s procedure with 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 tsp peanut butter, and a drop of vanilla. But I couldn’t stop, so I also mixed in 1/3 mashed banana, 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and sprinkle of cinnamon and cardamom. I froze it for 20 minutes, stirred, and froze it for 20 more. Voila!

img_4734

I considered sprinkling chocolate pieces over the top but decided against it in light of my cookie spree earlier in the afternoon. I had more fruit salad (also with cinnamon and cardamom) on the side instead:

img_4737

Perfect way to end the night!

Also, congrats to Lindsay at For the Love of Oats on her one-year blogiversary!! To celebrate, she has some pretty exciting (and lucrative!) contests lined up, so go check it out!

I’ll be back after work with today’s food … followed by a serious movement to catch up on sleep!

Do you prefer to eat all at once or in pieces?