Persistent funk

Hello, hello, hello!

Breakfast involved more overnighting.

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We’re out of oats, so I combined 1/4 cup millet with 1/3 cup of the yogurt mixture I’ve been having for lunch this week (oikos, ricotta, banana, strawberries, dried apricot) and 1/3 cup unsweetened soymilk. I’m out of fresh produce, too, the horror!, so I topped it with another 2 chopped apricots, dried berries, and coconut.

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The millet overnighted well. It was still pretty crunchy, and I like that in a grain.

On the side, I had two slices of pumpernickel baguette from the freezer with 1 tbsp cashew-almond butter mashed with the last tsp (tear) lemon curd and sprinkled with more coconut.

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I know it looks like chocolate, but I promise it is cashew-almond butter. The nuts just got a teeeeeeeny bit burned.

And green tea and lots of water (to make up for the water missing from my fruit!):

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So, I did NOT end up going to the gym this morning since I was in all that pain last night. Instead, I got up at 6 and sat on the heating pad for 10 minutes before I started moving. It’s a little better today, but I just want to be normal! I did some crunches and push-ups (cough, like 10) to try to pull myself out of the cizerfunk, but it’s not the same. And I still feel the guilt! And then I feel guilt for feeling guilt because of things like this that pop up in google when I’m just trying to double check the spelling for “persistent.” I keep thinking I should be taking advantage of this time to develop pecs of steel or something, but I’m not. I’ll probably have to start soon, though, if this keeps up! Pull-ups on the shower rod, here I come …

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever used as an exercise prop at home? I need some ideas!

Friday and Monday collide

First things first: don’t forget to go visit Meghann’s Bake Sale and place a bid on my biscotti bites (or one of the other amazing treats up for auction) to support leukemia research!

Next, what is wrong with my body?? The pain in my leg has migrated to the back top of my right thigh and become super sharp every time I take a step! And I went so easy on it this morning at the gym. I’m back on the ice pack and ibuprofen now — hopefully it is better in the morning. Ugh.

Anyway, today’s food!

My morning yogurt snack today included a one-cup mixture of plain Oikos (yes, even I need to take a break from making my own sometimes), ricotta, mashed banana, chopped dried apricot, strawberries, nutmeg, cardamom, and a sprinkling of Total Cranberry Crunch (it’s good, but it’s no golean crunch):

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I opened a new pack of mints:

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And proceeded to eat all 12 (though, to be fair, it took me from 10am to 7pm to accomplish this mind-boggling feat).

I was so excited to eat today’s lunch because it included delicious leftovers from Friday’s shower! My main course incorporated Maria’s Mediterranean-ish pasta. Just like I did for dinner last night, I combined Maria’s pasta with some of my roommate Tara’s similarly seasoned whole wheat pasta for an extra punch of whole grain satisfaction. I further bulked the pasta with cooked chicken that I found in my freezer left over from still another work event 🙂 Today’s cup:

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On the side, I had 1/2 cup of asparagus and portabello with curry butter from Saturday:

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And some lettuce and tomatoes from Deborah’s salad:

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Mildred brought in leftovers from her husband’s birthday part this weekend, so obviously that involved me having tastes of her yucca and chivo:

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And lemony birthday cake, with a thick layer of custard (ahhh, yum!) in the middle:

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Mid-afternoon, Nydia presented me with some pastelon de calabaza that she made over the weekend:

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It’s lightly sweetened cinnamony pumpkin layered with seasoned ground meat and perfectly salty-sweet, mmmm.

I’m pretty sure I was saying, mmmmmm, all day long.

I was still hungry (seriously, when will my appetite realize I am not working out the way I was before??), so I had my packed serving of Newman’s spelt pretzels with 2 tbsp of Inginia’s guacamole from Friday.

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And right before I left, I had a Teddy Graham courtesy of Katty:

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And a Newman’s chocolate alphabet cookie courtesy of me:

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Dinner at class involved more of Friday’s bounty: Maria’s salad plus some slices of spicy tamale and manchego cheese samples from the gourmet deli:

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Ahhh these tamales were delicious but WAY spicier than the rest!! My mouth was on fire for 10 minutes. In fact, it was post-salad that I ended up inhaling the rest of my pack of wintergreens. I needed ice!

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On the side, I had about 1/4 cup of Emily’s chicken vegetable soup from Hale & Hearty:

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For dessert, I ate this PistachiOh! Dr. Weil bar that Melissa brought to the blogger brunch a few weeks back:

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I loved the spices in there. I’m pretty sure cardamom was involved.

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And these sample crumbs of Tate’s Bakeshop cookies, also from the gourmet deli:

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(I know they look huge, but they were really more like the size of my thumbnail!)

And near the end of class, I was completely dragging and in pain and falling asleep and even feeling slightly delirious with fatigue, so I ate the rest (12 or so) of those Newman’s chocolate alphabet cookies to snap me out of it. Their oreo-ness did the trick.

And check out this AHHHHHHmazing Fage giveaway going on at The Hungry Yogini. Free yogurt for a month?? I might just die of happiness if I win that one!

And you can also win some Annie’s treats at Danica’s Daily!

I am going to sleep with my fingers crossed that (1) my leg starts doing what it’s told, (2) I win those giveaways, and (3) someone bids on my biscotti bites!

What are you crossing your fingers for today?

But where’s the sweat?

While breakfast was still fast asleep overnighting in the fridge this morning, I was on my way back to the gym!

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The gym is two short blocks plus two long blocks away from my apartment. It takes me 7.5 minutes to walk there or just under 4 minutes to jog. My plan was to walk the first two short blocks to warm up and then try jogging the last two long blocks. But two steps into the jog, my leg said NO. I listened and made myself walk the whole way.

I found strolling through Brooklyn at 5:15 on a deserted, pitch-black Monday morning to be a little bit creepy. There’s something unsettling about knowing that I canNOT run if I need to. The route I walk does, however, provide a lovely view of the Statue of Liberty, so I focused my attention on the scenery instead of on the shady gypsy cabs.

At the gym, I did 30 minutes on the elliptical at a low resistance and easy pace (which means there was really no sweat happening) and then spent a good long time with a thorough stretch and some abs. It felt good to be back to my routine, but it was a bummer to not be able to push like I normally do. I’m feeling a lot of unreasonable guilt, too. For so long when I was younger, exercise = good and no exercise = bad. And I like to be good! I didn’t think I had that mindset anymore, but being forced to stay off my feet has made me realize I kind of still do. I was so jealous watching everyone else huffing and puffing! I’m thinking of reacquainting myself with the rower tomorrow since that’s mostly upper-body-powered, right? Maybe I can get a better workout that way.

So, breakfast:

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Last night, I combined 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats, 2 tbsp golean crunch, 1/4 cup chopped dried fruit (Newman’s prunes, berries, apricots, and raisins), 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk, and 1/4 cup plain Oikos. Here’s what it looked like straight out of the fridge this morning:

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After a stir:

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And topped with strawberries, unsweetened coconut, and a spoonful of cashew almond butter.

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I’m sipping green tea on the side and getting excited for my favorite day of the week (JOKE). Be back laaaaaaaate tonight after class!

What makes you feel guilty?

Tomorrow’s the day

As usual, I did some snacking while I got my lunches ready for the week. Among other things, I had a dried Newman’s apricot while I was chopping them for my yogurts:

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img_7381I ate the pretty one in the middle 😀

I also broke into these spelt pretzels from Newman’s because they seemed like they would pair nicely with the guacamole I’m planning as a snack for tomorrow. I ate two just to make sure I liked them 😛 I couldn’t really taste any difference between these and regular non-spelt pretzels, but I’m not really a pretzel connoisseur, either. I do think it’s worth noting that these pretzels are not whole grain, as they are made with plain spelt flour and not whole spelt flour:

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Dinner was more leftovers from Friday’s shower. I mixed Maria’s pasta with a similarly-seasoned whole wheat pasta that my roommate Tara left behind this weekend. Careful inspection seemed to indicate that the pasta included tomatoes, spinach, pine nuts, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and non-fat feta. Perfecto! I had a cup of the pasta mix on top of a giant bowl of Maria’s green salad:

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Plus four tamale slices (two spicy and two plain chicken) for garnish.

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Ooh, I almost forgot to mention that I mixed in the stems from Tuesday‘s caramelized onions.

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Yum, perfect sweetness!

friendsSpeaking of perfect sweetness, Yasmin from It’s a Wrap! has passed this sweet Friends award onto me. I felt so touched after reading the award description:

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and to be friends. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated.

Awwwwww, exceedingly charming?? Thanks, Yasmin! I’m so glad I’ve “met” you.

The next part of the award, of course, is that I need to deliver it to eight other deserving bloggers, who should then pass it to eight more (until everyone ends up with it :P). I’ve gotten to know so many great ladies in the short time I’ve been blogging … and these eight are just a few of them.

  1. What’s For Dinner?
  2. Banana Cabana
  3. BranAppetit
  4. yum. run. !!!
  5. Bites of the Day
  6. Heather Eats Almond Butter
  7. SnackFace
  8. Healthing It

Thanks for your support and for coming back to see what I eat (and what I find) each day! You all inspire me to be a better scavenger, and you’re all invited to come over and help me with leftovers any time 😛

For dessert tonight, I defrosted the small and slightly mangled inaugural slice of the healthy(er) cheesecake I made Friday night:

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I also got this genius idea to stuff a giant strawberry with homemade cashew-almond butter and a little chunk of Hershey’s:

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Wowwwwwwwwwwwaaaaa. I will be doing this again.

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And finally, in honor of Meghann’s Bake Sale that starts tomorrow (Monday), I had a dollop of healthy cream cheese icing with two jasmine tea biscotti bites:

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Meghann put her Baker’s Spotlight on these goodies last week, and you can see it here if you scroll down to the bottom of the page. Not to toot my own horn (ok, yes to toot my own horn), these bites are sooo good. I keep forgetting just how good until I take one bite and want 300 more. And they’re healthy 🙂 So head over to The Inner Workings of a College Graduate tomorrow to place your bid!! 😀

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Tomorrow morning, I’ll be going back to the gym for the first time in over a week (the longest week ever). I am hoping that my ruined leg has had enough “quiet time” to support me in this endeavor because the rest of my body is desperately craving some heart-pumping activity!

Do you have any fresh starts planned for this week?

Winnerzzzzz

It’s time to announce the winners of the Bob’s Red Mill giveaway! To recap, five winners will receive one full package each of the Bob’s Red Mill food product of their choosing. Between comments, linkbacks, and emails from non-bloggers, this contest generated 205 entries. Using random.org, here are the five lucky ducks:

#49 Emily‘s linkback:

What’s your AIM? « Super Caloric Chalk Dust […] CONTEST –  Melissa is giving away bbq sauce.  Sarah is giving away Bob’s Red Mill goodies.  Strawberry Shorstuff is giving away some bars and […]

#142 Jogger’s Life linkback

Contests Around Blogville « Jogger’s Life […] Tales of Expansion is giving away freebies from Bob’s Red Mill. So exciting! I love Bob’s. […]

#57 Genesis

im really excited for your giveaway. i just started blogging and this is the first giveaway ive entered because im really excited about the product. i would love to try the apples, cinnamon & grains cereal. that would totally make my morning. thanks for the giveaway chance.

#102 Amandamoo

What a lovely contest! I’d love the oatbran or meusli! Mmmm… grains…. mmmm…

#68 Vani

 

amazing giveaway!! I’ve been wanting to try cooking with wheat bran . . . and their pancake mixes look so yummy . . . oy! Too many choices!

Congratulations, winners! And I’m especially psyched that Vani and Emily (my two fellow Slopers as evidenced here and here) elbowed in there, too. What are the odds?! Ladies, I’ll be emailing you all shortly to get your final Bob’s Red Mill selections and your shipping info.

Onto breakfast!

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I had a dazzling breakfast cookie waiting for me this morning. I mixed the rest of last night‘s oatmeal-protein porridge combo with just under 1/4 cup dry old-fashioned oats, 1 tbsp each Newman’s own raisins and dried berries, 1 tbsp nonfat powdered milk, 1 tbsp PB2, and 1 tbsp Hershey’s chocolate crumbles. I flattened the mix onto a plate in cookie form.

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Because I made it from already-cooked oatmeal, it was still super soft this morning. I stuck it in the freezer for maybe an hour or so while I got my laundry going, took care of some other business, and downed a pot of green tea. To unstick the cookie from the plate post-freeze, I ran hot water over the bottom of the plate and then popped the whole cookie off with a spatula and transferred it to a fresh plate.

Next up, I mixed 2 tbsp Pb2 with 1/4 cup healthy cream cheese icing (ricotta was on sale, and I had coupons for free vanilla Oikos, hence the frosting overload lately!) and frosted my cookie with the peanut butter cheesecake blend 😀 Topped with three chopped strawberries:

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And a cashew-almond butter center:

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Mmmm, so filling and delicious. It was a lovely reward after the laundry man yelled at me for trying to stuff too many things into one dryer this morning. But it’s not my fault! I had actually planned to use two dryers today, but they were all taken and I didn’t want to hang around waiting. I just put it all in one and doubled the time 😛

When was the last time you got yelled at?