Dessert again?

12 Comments

Since I had cupcakes for dinner at work yesterday, I only had room for dessert last night.

img_7588

Wait is that some cupcake in there? How did that happen?! 😛

The platter (aka teacup saucer) included a slice of healthy cheese cake and two itty bitty pieces of cupcake that “didn’t fit” in the freezer container last night, along with a Newman’s prune and dried apricot and 1/3 cup of fresh pineapple.

img_7587

(Ugh, I hate the lighting in my apartment at night. Yellow always ends up looking so yellow.)

This also happened:

img_7591

Those are strawberries stuffed with cashew-almond butter and not chocolate. I’m aware that I’ve started to make this distinction every time the butter makes its appearance. I think it’s probably more to remind myself that, while I may have eaten an entire tub of chocolate frosting yesterday, these strawberries played no part in the incident.

img_75931I also mixed up today’s breakfast last night (and licked the bowl several times along the way). I’ve been wanting to try the Bob’s Red Mill extra thick rolled oats for ages since I love “bite and texture” in my food … and this package promised to deliver both of those critical elements. (I usually opt for steel-cut or whole oat groats because I know they’ll give me the right chew.) Would this extra thick variety would be any different from regular old-fashioned rolled oats?

Into the mix went 1/4 cup extra thick rolled oats, 1/4 cup  yogurt of the week, 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk, 2 tbsp PB2, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1 tbsp Newman’s dried berry blend. After a quiet night in the fridge and a quick stir, my overnight oats definitely passed the visual thickness test:

img_7598

They were so thick, in fact, that I actually added another splash of soymilk this morning (along with chopped strawberries and unsweetened coconut):

img_76051

And they were chewy, thank goodness! I can tell right now that they will be ideal breakfast cookie material. I’ll have to experiment further to see how the “extra-thickness” holds up on the stovetop.

On the side, I had a seven-legged creature made out of an oven-toasted slice of pumpkin muffin (from my freezer’s bread bag) with a melty tbsp of cashew-almond butter and more sliced strawberry:

img_7602

With soymilked mexican sweet chili tea:

img_7601

I’m enjoying my leisurely mini-break so far — no class today because of Passover and no work tomorrow because of Good Friday. There’s quite a bit on my list, but I’m fine with that since most of it is enjoyable!

Next on the agenda is my triumphant return to outside running! The sun is shining, my leg is feeling strong, and so am I 😀 I’m going to digest for a few, and then I will be gone with the wind. Just kidding. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Are you slow and steady or fast and furious?

(Do you like nuts? Go enter my Pistachi-YES giveaway!)

A day without cake …

24 Comments

… is apparently a day I will never have to know for as long as my internship continues! I think I have had more cake in the past seven months than I have had in my entire life. There has been birthday cake, baby shower cake, rum cake, tres leches cake, banana bread pudding cake, smiley face green-frosted st. pat’s cake, DIY cake … and that’s just in the past two weeks!! Obviously, I’m building up to the fact that I ate more cake today. But obviously (or maybe not so obviously, haha), it was not the first thing I ate at work today. Nutrition does play a part in my life, too.

My strawberry-banana-apricot-papaya-cardamom-nutmeg yogurt kicked things off a little bit after 11:

img_7559

There was also some Newman’s ginger mint action (x6?):

img_7560

Lunch happened around 12:30. I brought along about three cups of a fresh spinach and arugula mixture and used it as a bed for my two heated “entrees” which included the last cup of Mediterranean chicken pasta:

img_7568

And 1/2 cup of asparagus and portabellos in curry butter:

img_7567

On the side, I had 1/3 cup of the chicken and rice Vianni made for me (I also brought home a full cup of it for another time, yum!):

img_7566

For dessert, I had about 1 tbsp hershey’s kissables and a baby guava hard candy. I did not know dessert x 1000 would be arriving later.

img_7570img_7571img_7573img_7574

Around 3:30, a serving of Newman’s spelt pretzels came out to play with the last 2 tbsp of Inginia’s guacamole from Friday:

img_7576

Just after 4, I heard Deborah calling my name from down the hall in a familiar mischievous tone that was scary and exciting all at the same time. The next work out of her mouth? Cuuuuuuuuuuuuupcaaaaaaakes!!

Deborah had fortuitously come across some inside knowledge in the course of traversing the building. Our City Harvest delivery had arrived and, along with it, boxes upon boxes of cupcakes from Buttercup Bake Shop that we could not give out to the families! Obviously, Nydia and I flew down the four flights of stairs to round up what we could for ourselves and the other ladies on the floor.

I came back upstairs with a sampling that included German chocolate, chocolate chocolate, devil dog, and red velvet:

img_75771

The crumbs started flying:

img_7579

I meant to have just a couple little bites, but I think I ended up having about two cupcakes’ worth of bites!

img_7578

img_7581img_7582

img_7583img_7584

Ahhh, well … just another day in the life 😛

At the end of the day, there were still 2.5 cupcakes left on the conference room table next to my desk, so I packed them up to bring home for the freezer. Here’s a little peek into one of my many freezer-organizing systems:

img_7586

On the left are a couple stacks of the healthyish cheesecake I made last Friday night; on the right are today’s cupcakes cut into manageable portions for easy extraction in a dessert emergency.

Do you manage extra dessert items by tossing them, storing them, or eating them right away? Or is there a fourth option you prefer?

And if you are in need of safe pistachios, make sure you enter my giveaway here!

Rating the day

11 Comments

It was a good morning!!!

img_7545

I am SO happy today because I had an excellent workout this morning for the first time in 11 days 😀 I never thought I would miss exercise so much! As I was going to bed last night at 9:30, I took two naproxen in the hopes that they would hold me through this morning since I didn’t want to have to take one on an empty stomach. I also set my alarm for 4:50am so that I could get the heating pad going on my “right gluteal muscle” for a few minutes before I had to move. I was out the door by 5:13 and did a 4.5 minute jog to the gym very lightly. It hurt a bit, but now that I’m not as worried about tearing something, the pain didn’t really bother me and seemed stable rather than worsening.

At the gym, I spent about 1/2 hour doing month 1 of the 2009 Self Challenge strength workout. I tore it out of the magazine at the gym a month or so ago (shhh) and decided now would be a good time to start because a few of the exercises involve lunges and squats like the sports doctor recommended yesterday. I did all of the exercises as written, though I had to do the “make it easier” option for the “arm accentuator” and the “total transformer” because they did seem to aggravate my groin and glutes in a way that made me nervous.

I followed the strength with 20 glorious minutes on the Stepmill at Level 10, 7 minutes of leg stretching, and the 4.5 minute jog home. Again, mild discomfort, but nothing seemed to be worsening! Of course, that’s what I thought when I was running those 10 miles two weekends ago and the pain all of a sudden got much stronger. But anyway, I’m not planning to go quite back up to 10 miles yet — I might give 3 a shot tomorrow — and I’m also running very slowly and paying loads of attention to my posture and form. Hopefully, I am on the mend for good. And I so appreciate all of your support. Reading your stories, opinions, and advice has been super helpful, so please keep it coming!

Breakfast today was more overnight millet:

img_7552

I’m really loving the texture. Some of you commented yesterday that you were surprised this worked with millet without any cooking. Again, the texture is still a bit crunchy, but if you try to bite a grain of raw millet, you’ll see it’s pretty easy to do even without the benefit of an overnight soak. Just to reiterate the process, I mixed 1/4 cup dry millet with 1/4 cup yogurt/ricotta/dried apricot blend and 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk and left it in the fridge overnight. This morning, I gave it a stir and topped it with pineapple, strawberries, and unsweetened coconut. See the little millets?

img_7553

If you try it, let me know what you think!

On the side, I had two teeny pieces of toasted pumpernickel baguette and a little raisin-walnut toastie topped with 1 tbsp cashew-almond butter (not chocolate) and more coconut:

img_75511

Plus, my new Yogi Mexican Sweet Chili tea with a splash of soymilk.

I feel so satisfied now — I’m full of good nutrition, and I finally got my morning sweat going again 😀

On a scale of 1-10, how was your morning?

If you missed it earlier, check out my pistachi-YES giveaway!

And another contest I am DEFINITELY entering with all of this leg drama is the one for McDavid Compression Wear going on now at Run to the Finish. Go check it out!

Pistachi-YES (aka another giveaway!!)

90 Comments

Are you sad that pistachios have been recalled? I was, too, until I found out that the pistachios from Everybody’s Nuts are safe! Even better, Everybody’s Nuts has offered to send a prize pack of three bags of their yummy nuts to one lucky reader. Check the bottom of the post for more details!

img_7538

Dinner last night was more delicious Mediterranean pasta mix on top of about three cups spinach and arugula (looooooove arugula!). And love the parm:

img_7539

I chopped my pineapple and ate the core plus what I could salvage from the scraps for dessert. (The dark blob is not a turd. It is a fingerful of cashew-almond butter!)

img_7541

And, now for the giveaway! Like I said, Everybody’s Nuts is going to send three bags of their safe and salmonella-free nuts, each in a different flavor, to ONE lucky reader! To enter, all you have to do is:

1. Leave me a comment on this post telling me why nut recalls make you sad

AND

2. Link back to this contest from your blog OR email me at talesofexpansion@gmail.com to let me know that you are blogless but still want to enter!

The contest will run until 6pm EST on Monday 4/13 to give you ample time to recover from any holiday-ing this weekend. Go nuts!! (I had to do it. Could not help myself.)

Caramelized onions …

23 Comments

… may have been the best part of my day 😀

I attempted to go to work this morning. I was still in pain, but I made it down the subway steps and into the station. And then I did something strenuous (like breathe), and sharp pains started shooting all around. I stopped moving for a minute and tried to decide whether I should continue. I think I walked in four circles because I didn’t know what to do! I finally told myself I was being ridiculous and obviously could not go to work in that state since work involves walking all over East Harlem and up and down apartment building steps and playing with babies on floors. I came out of the subway and called my mom to confirm that I was not being a slacker. She reassured me, and I went back home (even though I still felt guilty and more guilty for feeling so unreasonably guilty) to hunt down a Sports Medicine doctor (apparently my insurance only has ONE) and set up an appointment for this afternoon.

In the meantime, I still had to eat. I got hungry again around 10:30 and had my yogurt (same mix as yesterday).

img_7507

img_7482Almost forgot, a mom brought this fun papaya yogurt for me yesterday! I don’t like fruity yogurts by themselves, but I mixed it into the big batch of plain + fruit and it added a tasty extra layer.

To make myself feel useful, I did more push-ups and crunches and added in some triceps dips off the coffee table (thanks, Jess!). A surprising number of you mentioned on my last post that you use your pets as exercise props. Freaks! No, just kidding, I think that’s cute and very resourceful. Almost makes me wish I had a cat.

The highlight of being home today was that I could use the oven and the proper tools to prepare my lunch … critical components because I was having pizza!! I made it on Sunday but didn’t let myself taste-test any because I knew I would need it later in the week.

I started with this mini whole wheat Boboli pizza crust that I got for free, thanks to the coupon that Tina sent in my Valentine’s package. I was so excited to open the package and see that that crust already had some cheese baked onto it, mmm:

img_7393

Because I like my crust well-done, I baked it by itself for 10 minutes at 450 while I got to work on toppings. I had two things that I knew I wanted to include: the caramelized onions from last Tuesday night’s event and the last bit of goat cheese that was languishing in my fridge. Working from there, I made a sauce by immersion-blending the goat cheese with 1/3 cup plain Oikos yogurt and a few tomato slices (all I had!). I spread most of the sauce onto the crust.

The first layer of toppings involved the last five olives from a jar in the fridge and the last three radishes (thinly sliced) from my office’s food pantry leftovers a while back. Over that layer, I drizzled a bit more sauce for glue-action and added all of the chopped caramelized onions, a bunch of cooked chicken pieces left from a work event ages ago (they’d been stored in my freezer, obviously), some roasted red pepper pieces, and sprigs of cilantro. I also mixed a splash of balsamic vinegar into the last drops of the goat cheese sauce and drizzled that over the top:

img_7394

I grated on some fresh parm and put the pie in the 450 oven for another 30 minutes until it got browned:

img_7398

And half of that pizza became today’s lunch, yay! Since I was home, I got to reheat it on the pizza stone and serve it to myself properly:

img_7508

It far exceeded my expectations! The sauce got so thick and goaty after all the baking, and the crunchy crunchy crust was the best part.

img_7510

I can’t wait to have the other half on Thursday!

I whipped up a quick little dessert of approx 2 tbsp of that same yogurt mix with a biscotti bite (speaking of which, congrats to Kelsey, the highest bidder on these in Meghann’s bake sale!) and a spear of Hershey’s chocolate (plus sprinkles of Pb2 and nutmeg for glare management). It was like a mini Stonehenge:

img_7520

Shortly after dessert, I was off to the doctor! To make a long story short, he thinks my problems involve a right gluteal strain and a left hamstring strain … and .. wait for it … he gave me permission to run through the pain! (within reason, of course, whatever that means) He also noticed that my hip adductors are weak and probably led to the strain, so he recommended that I get going on some lunges (I just wrote lunches, haha) and squats to strengthen the muscles. And I can do all of this now, apparently! This is good news, but now I feel like I’ve been being a big baby for the past week and a half. But everyone has been saying to stay off it and rest! I guess the answer is that there is no answer …

The doc also suggested that I look into neoprene knee compressors. I went to the sports store to investigate, but the guy there told me the compressors would only be a quick fix and the problem is more likely with my sneakers since I’ve been using the same ones since September for running and every other sort of activity. He had me run on a treadmill (which oddly enough did not cause me any pain!) and showed me how my feet are flat and my toes turn out, meaning that I need sneakers with extra support. He seemed sincere and not just trying to get a bigger sale, and what he said made a lot of sense. I just checked my sneakers here, and they do have that grey marking on the insole that indicates the support … but I can see how they’d be not so effective after all these months. So new sneakers are on the agenda. Maybe I can squeeze in a trip to Kohl’s when I’m home in MA this weekend?

With all of that in mind, tomorrow morning I’m going to get up, jog through the pain to the gym, and do squats and lunges! I can’t wait (sarcasm). I am, however, excited for the return of sweat.

The naproxen I downed while in agony this morning was clearly at its peak of performance, so I took advantage of my mobility by doing some errands around Union Square since I was there anyway. I sampled my way across several avenues as an afternoon snack. (If you’re still awake and reading, thank you! I don’t blame you if you’ve fallen asleep.)

Poor excuse for charoset from Garden of Eden:

img_7524

Teeny bites of lemon tart and macademia tart from Whole Foods:

img_7526

Kettle Corn from the WF customer service desk:

img_7527

Strawberry dipped in chocolate (x2) from Trader Joe’s:

img_7528

Frosted carrot cake (!!) and jam tart from Union Market:

img_7531img_7529

I also actually bought some groceries this time. Can you believe it? For about $22, the goods included a pineapple, strawberries, medjool dates, spinach, arugula, sunflower seeds, peanuts, and Yogi Mexican Sweet Chili tea:

img_7533

I’m sipping on the tea now with some unsweetened soymilk and … it’s interesting. It’s got an oddly sweet aftertaste and I somehow managed to not notice in the store that the #1 ingredient is licorice … a not so favorite flavor of mine. But, with a little luck, I should be able to acquire the taste since the tea cost $4 even with the coupon I had!

OK, I could go on, but I think I need to cut the cord here because this post is like a novel as it is! Have you ever run through the pain and lived to tell the tale?