Sample day

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Today, I ate everything I packed … plus more! I was so munchy all day long. Both of my visits today were completely in Spanish, so I think the extra mental-energy-burning made me hungry :-).

When I ate my mid-morning orange, I decided to try something crazy that I’ve seen Meghann do: top it with peanut butter:

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It was ok, but I still prefer pb on apples, bananas, and carrots!

Inginia brought in tastes of a healthy-ish sweet potato pie she made, so I had some as mid-morning snack #2:

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And mid-morning snack #3:

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After my lunch (kale + date curry and yogurt/fruit, exactly as planned), I also tasted a bite of Mildred’s homemade lasagna:

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YUM!

At 3:30, I dug into the carrot sticks with my peanut butter and raisins:

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I’ve never been a fan of celery, so this is my version of ants on a log. While I was eating it, I kept thinking of the story that my sister Emily told me about her trip to the Amazon and eating ants from the lemon trees there. I wonder if it is anything like eating raisins stuck to carrots with peanut butter?

At 4:10, I couldn’t hold out any longer and finally broke into the Quaker True Delights bar that I’ve been carrying around since Monday!

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The nuts in this bar were plentiful and evenly distributed, and there were loads of cranberries … but only cranberries! Where was the rest of the berry “mix” implied by the title?

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Honestly, this bar tasted kind of on the blah-side. Your regular run-of-the-mill granola bar. My favorite of the three has definitely been the dark chocolate raspberry almond bar … even though it only had one almond. I stick to my initial analysis that Quaker should drop the “almond” from the bar’s title because that would leave nothing to be disappointed about when the eater notices that it is almond-less!

Just before I left work, Inginia heated up her dinner, and I had to go investigate. As my last official bite of the work day (except for candy #6 from Belkis’ candy jar that flew into my mouth next), I had a taste of her tilapia with sofrito, garlic, and lemon juice:

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I think I need to do a coworker kitchen tour. They keep bringing in foods for me to try with the most delicious seasonings! And I love days like this that are full of such a variety of flavors. It was like sample day at Whole Foods :-).

When I got home, I put together a pretty odd dinner (accompanied by sugar cookie sleigh ride tea!):

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I sauteed the rest of the yellow squash (rescued from Hunter Monday night) with minced garlic, cilantro, canola oil, soy sauce, 2 tbsp of Vianni’s rice from yesterday, raisins (!!), and a fun twist: wasabi paste!

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I was in the mood for spicy/sweet/salty all in one dish, but I was apprehensive about how this mishmash of random things would taste:

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It was kind of ridiculously delicious.

For the side, I made an open-faced Banana Fudge Vitatop sandwich (one vitatop sliced down the middle) with a tbsp of peanut butter and sliced banana. I oven-ed the whole thing for seven minutes at 400 to make everything melty together:

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I want another one right now!!

But I’m trying to restrain myself. I may need to have a bite of frozen carrot cake in a minute though :-). We’ll see!

Do you prefer days full of random bites or days full of separate and complete meals?

The best laid plans …

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(Don’t forget to go visit Brandi — She’s hosting this week’s BSI: Spinach!)

As usual, I have a food plan for today. And as usual, my generous coworkers may throw it into a tailspin :-D.

After the gym this morning (I did Tina’s 45-minute treadmill run for the 3rd time — love this workout! Stats: 1 hour, 6 minutes; 538 calories; 149 average heart rate and 183 max heart rate ), I came home to a gingerbread theme. A shower with this new soap that my stepmom Rae Ann gave me for Christmas:

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Followed by a cup of gingerbread spice crockpot oats topped with 1/3 cup healthy cream cheese icing, 1/4 cup plain yogurt, more ginger, and two crumbled graham sticks:

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With Celestial Seasonings chocolate caramel enchantment chai + unsweetened Silk on the side:

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If you recall from yesterday, I crafted the main course of today’s lunch plan from the chicken + rice Vianni made (see previous post) and the other half of my kale + date curry:

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I left the above entree in the work fridge last night and gathered everything else I needed for today once I got home:

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orange (mid-morning snack), yogurt (lunch dessert), pb + raisins I've been carrying all week, carrot sticks (from Monday night's findings) for afternoon snack, end-of-day apple, and emergency granola bar

Today’s yogurt contains 1/2 cup plain yogurt, chopped apples and melon (both from Monday night‘s findings), raisins, almond extract, and nutmeg:

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I’ll report back later on how it all pans out!

Do you plan your daily food? How closely do you stick to your plan?

Groceries are becoming obsolete

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Wow, free food just seems to breed more free food, and I’m loving it! I feel like everyone’s looking out for me — and that’s such a nice feeling in the midst of the working-full-time-for-free-while-in-grad-school lifestyle :-).

As Vianni left work last night, she announced to me, “Sarah, if I cook tonight, I am bringing you food tomorrow.” And she did not let me down! Just as she did last week, Vianni walked in this morning and immediately unloaded a tupperware of her seasoned chicken and vegetable rice onto my desk calendar/placemat:

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How yummy does that look?? I put it right in the fridge to await lunchtime.

And the food kept coming! I ate my orange as a mid-morning snack, and when I got back from my first visit of the day, there was a ripe banana sitting on my desk, also from Vianni. The banana is now chopped and happily resting in my freezer :-). I couldn’t sit down and eat with my coworkers because I had another visit at 1pm, but I joined them for a five-minute “pre-lunch” before I had to head out. Mildred shared her sopa de mondongo (and some avocado!) with me:

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When I was in Peru last summer, I always heard talk about mondongo, the miracle hangover cure. I never tried it because many foods in Peru were on the no-no list according to my Peruvian host family — food health standards there are, ummm, not enforced so much.  I ended up sick several times though, so I probably should have taken the risk anyway!

But back to today, yayyyy for new food experiences! I was so excited to finally join the I-have-eaten-mondongo club. The meat in mondongo is actually tripe — aka cow stomach — which might make some of you feel ill. But even though I’m not the hugest meat fan in the world, I’m all for experimentation in the name of cultural experience ;-). Now that you know what you’re looking at, here it is again:

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I only had those two little spoonfuls since I knew I’d be back in an hour or so for my real lunch … and what a feast I had! Vianni brought me a TON of food. I made myself a plate with some chicken, her rice mixed with the brown basmati (for whole grain health, of course) I’d brought, and about half of my curry on the side (for veggie-power):

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(In case you can’t tell, these are teeny dessert plates — not regular-sized dinner plates!)

This chicken was so good!

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And here’s a close-up of the yellow rice to brown rice ratio:

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Vianni brought me so much food that I was able to save some of the rice and chicken to have with the rest of my curry for lunch tomorrow and bring home an additional cup of rice (now in my fridge). Thank you Mildred and Vianni!

For lunch dessert, I had my Greek yogurt + apples + bananas + raisins + ginger:

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Perfectly filling! I ended up eating my afternoon snack of broccoli trees + roasted red pepper hummus around 3:30, and I had my apple as I was leaving work at 5:00 to tide me over until dinner. I did not end up eating the raisins + pb that I had packed to go with it (although I did have my five daily pillow mints from Belkis’ candy jar), and I still have the Quaker True Delights bar in my bag that I’ve been carrying around all week! Maybe it will come in handy tomorrow? It’s anyone’s guess!

Dinner

Normally, Tuesday is a double workout day, but today, it became an inadvertent rest day! I was up so late last night deliberating about the BSI that I opted for seven hours of sleep in favor of five hours of sleep followed by 5am gym. I was still planning to do running club tonight, but after a very hectic morning of running late and several false departures from my apartment (forgot my hair elastic, forgot my cell phone, lost my keys, etc.), I decided that I needed a night at home to regroup! Glad I did because it ended up snowing alllll day, and by the time 5pm rolled around, the only place I was headed was to my apartment. I made a quick little scramble of leftovers and some of this week’s food collection:

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In the teacup, we have the rest of last week’s GC tofu, yellow squash (from the stash I found last night at school), 1 date, and the final bit of goat cheese from the lecture I attended last Thursday. I sauteed everything with minced garlic, drizzled it with balsamic vinegar, and sprinkled it with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Yummy and classy!

For dessert #1, I returned to my old stand-by: the Vitamuffin. This was a dark chocolate pomegranate vitatop with yogurt, honeydew (also from last night‘s findings), nutmeg, and ginger:

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And for dessert #2, a spoonful of the frozen carrot cake I saved from when Mildred brought it to work last week:

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Perfect way to end the day!

Oh, and speaking of how everyone is looking out for me, huuuuuuuuuge thank you to Erin Gunn, the most amazing friend who overnighted my camera battery to me last night because I left it at her apartment over the weekend! No one was home when the mailman tried to delivery it (of course), but I’m expecting redelivery within the next two days and will hopefully be able to return to my camera ASAP. In the meantime, thank you to roommate Brigitte for continuing to let me kidnap hers 24/7!!

And now it is bedtime because I will be returning to my 5am gym schedule tomorrow, snow or … snow.

The bag that I carried (yesterday)

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This is the bag that I carried:

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This is the lunch that stayed in the bag that I carried:

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These are the bagels left over from a meeting that joined the lunch that stayed in the bag that I carried:

pumpernickel, flax & sunflower, wheat, sun-dried tomato

pumpernickel, flax & sunflower, wheat, sun-dried tomato

This is the parent group’s lunch that went into my belly and steered clear of the bagels that joined the lunch that stayed in the bag that I carried:

Inginia prepping ...

Inginia prepping ...

roasted chicken, rice + beans, avocado, apple slices, pb (x2 plates! (but they're mini-plates))

roasted chicken, rice + beans, avocado, apple slices, pb (x2 plates! (but they're mini-plates))

These are the parent group’s apples, browned too soon, that went into the bag, following the lunch that went into my belly and steered clear of the bagels that joined the lunch that stayed in the bag that I carried:

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This is the lunch that became a dinner during class at Hunter and left the apples, browned too soon, that went into the bag, following the lunch that went into my belly and steered clear of the bagels that joined the now-empty tupperwares that stayed in the bag that I carried:

greek yogurt + apples + bananas + ginger

greek yogurt + apples + bananas + ginger

kale + date curry

kale + date curry

This is the produce rescued from the lobby of Hunter that filled the empty tupperwares left by the lunch that became a dinner during class and left the apples, browned too soon, that went into the bag, following the lunch that went into my belly and steered clear of the bagels that joined the now-refilled tupperwares that stayed in the bag that I carried:

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honeydew melon, grape tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots, apple flowers

craaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy, right?

craaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy, right?

Plus this piece of cranberry goat cheese!

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So, needless to say, yesterday was a typical day in the life of a professional expander :-). And the bag was heavy. And I am sufficiently stocked with produce for the rest of the week. Additional visual highlights:

avocado

avocado

rice + beans

rice + beans

seeds

seeds

produce

produce

This morning, I enjoyed a bowl of gingerbread crockpot oats exactly the same way I did yesterday.

I’ve also repacked the same lunch as yesterday (I only had to replace the orange, the curry, and the yogurt), and we’ll see what happens as the day unfolds!

P.S. Missy at Missy Maintains is giving away Popchips! Check here for details!

BSI: We have a winner!

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In case you’ve been living under a rock, here are the Blogger Secret Ingredient: Dates entries one last time:

  1. Submitted 1/27 by ttfn300 at Tri to Cook: Butternut Squash & Date Puree
  2. Submitted 1/28 by Meghann at The Inner Workings of a College Graduate: Perfectly Portioned for One Roasted Eggplant, Date, & Kale Curry
  3. Submitted 1/29 by Denise at Denise’s Kitchen: Pork Candy (aka Stuffed Dates with Goat Cheese & Prosciutto
  4. Submitted 1/31 by Brandi at Bran Appétit: Barley Date Pudding
  5. Submitted 2/1 by Kate: Mystery Date Muffins
  6. Submitted 2/1 by Emily at Sheila Moon/Big Swingin’ Cycles Team: Powdered Sugar Coated Date, Walnut, & Butter Balls
  7. Submitted 2/1 by Vani at Fit for Free: Whole-Wheat Coffee Cake Muffins with Date-Nut Streusel
  8. Submitted 2/1 by Victoria at The Idle Loaf: Banana Date Coffee Cake
  9. Submitted 2/1 by Kath at Kath Eats Real Food: Blue Cheese, Date, & Pecan Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
  10. Submitted 2/1 by Tina at Carrots ‘N’ Cake: Oatmeal Date Cookies
  11. Submitted 2/1 by Biz at Biggest Diabetic Loser: Date Wontons
  12. Submitted 2/1 by Andrea at Bella Eats: Peanut Butter Date Blondies
  13. Submitted 2/1 by my mom: Date, Feta, & Toasted Nut Stuffed Butternut Squash
  14. Submitted 2/1 by Jenna at Eat, Live, Run: Whole Wheat Date-Banana Bread Cookies

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This was pretty much an impossible contest to judge. Have you looked at those entries?! Every single one of these recipes could not help but be delicious. Obviously, I could not make my decision based on potential deliciousness alone (since everyone would win). I returned to my original post about the contest to review the challenge I had initially set forth: “I’m looking for creative and innovative ways to work dates into more substantial meals and side dishes.”

I went back over the submissions and narrowed the list down to a few whose recipes addressed that specific challenge: ttfn300’s Butternut Squash & Date Puree, Meghann’s Perfectly Portioned for One Roasted Eggplant, Date, & Kale Curry, Kath’s Blue Cheese, Date, & Pecan Stuffed Pork Tenderloin, and my mom’s Date, Feta, & Toasted Nut Stuffed Butternut Squash.

Before I go on, let me just take a moment to drool over all of the other recipes for appetizers and desserts. Have you seen Andrea’s pictures of her Peanut Butter Date Blondies???? My jaw is still on the floor from looking at those last night … over 24 hours ago! And Brandi turned one of my favorite comfort desserts ever — rice pudding — into the nutrition-packed Barley Date Pudding. Vani & Victoria made two unique and dazzling versions of coffee cake — Whole-Wheat Coffee Cake Muffins with Date-Nut Streusel and Banana Date Coffee Cake — and Biz developed a dessert recipe for Date Wontons unlike any I have seen before.  The list does not end, and I am pretty sure I’ll be buying dates every week for the next six months because I plan to try all 14 of these recipes!

So, back to the winner. I was down to the four finalists. The recipe that really made my mouth water the most — if I have to be totally honest — was my mom’s! What can I say? Good taste runs in the family! But I can’t choose my mom to be the winner! (Sorry mom — I’ll make it up to you next time I’m home.) Meghann’s recipe was another highlight of the bunch — clearly I was a fan since I made a variation of it for lunch this week. One recipe, however, stood out for its use of dates as the star ingredient. If I were eating this meal, I would be able to recognize the dates — both flavor-wise and visually — and I know that this combination of ingredients is failproof. So, now that you’ve been dragged along through this whole deliberation process, it is time to announce the BSI – Dates winner: Kath of Kath Eats Real Food with her recipe for Blue Cheese, Date, & Pecan Stuffed Pork Tenderloin. Congratulations, Kath!

As the lucky winner, Kath will be receiving:

– TWO boxes of Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Tea

– one dozen Earl Grey Biscotti Bites

– plus a couple more little mystery prizes

Thank you to everyone who participated! I appreciate your thoughtful and creative entries, and I can’t wait to try them all over the coming months :-).

Your host for next week’s BSI is going to be Brandi at Bran Appétit, so check out her blog because she’ll be announcing the new ingredient sometime in the next 24 hours!