Longer than necessary

March 23, 2009February 6, 201517 Comments

Ahhh the trains today were out of control! Delays all morning, delays all night. Reason #56498 to leave NYC. Alas, I’ve got many months of grad school to go.

My morning fruit ‘n’ yog was so pretty that I had to take a picture of it from the side:

My 1/2 cup of fruit salad was the same combo I’ve been eating all weekend — pineapple, mango, banana, plum, strawberries, grapes — and I topped it with plain yogurt + lemon curd + cinnamon and a sprinkle of golean crunch.

Mmmmm, yogurt perfection.

Plus a pre-visit sugar fix:

While on my visit this morning, the mom basically deposited a hefty square of tres leches cake onto my lap. How could I refuse? Obviously, I couldn’t.

I love tres leches cake — it’s probably the most moist cake you can imagine, given that it’s soaked in condensed milk and all. Mmmm, again. Unfortunately, I don’t take my camera with me to visits, so I didn’t get to capture the beauty on film/memory card/whatever it is. However, Beryl was just about to tuck into a banana-rum mini-bundt cake when I got back to the office, and she generously offered to let me take a picture before she demolished it. So, in lieu of the tres leches cake I did eat, here’s the banana-rum cake I did not eat:

Lunch during the parents’ group today was a low-key affair since only a couple moms came in. I had a cup of raisin bran with 1/2 cup 1% milk and a few banana pieces:

And then, I ate the rest of the banana smothered with about 2 tbsp peanut butter (aka perfection) and an orange:

I probably ate another orange’s worth of wedges after that, too. Girl loves her fruit 🙂

A boredom lollipop:

Later in the afternoon, I broke into the Quackers samples that Melissa brought to yesterday’s blogger brunch:

Ooooh, they were so good! I made a little dip for them out of goat cheese, plain yogurt, dried basil, and freshly ground black pepper. Perfection again (there was lots of it going around today, apparently).

A breath-freshening mint:

I inhaled pretty much all my dinner right at the start of class tonight. The spread included a cup of roasted veggies:

With manchego cheese samples from the gourmet market:

Two stuffed collard greens leaves:

I made these with the same method I used for my Stuffed Kale Leaves, and I stuffed them with some of the mixed-grain salad I made last weekend.

Hiding under the stuffed collard greens is some scrumptious roast chicken left from Mildred’s lunch today:

The chicken couldn’t have come at a better time because I was feeling a little bit low on protein!

Dessert was a few banana and orange pieces left from the parents’ group this afternoon.

And look what was waiting for me when I got home!

My prize package from Abbie’s Foods That Fit giveaway!! I’m so excited for all of these treats: cocoa java almonds, 2 oatmeal squares, PB2, single-serve nutella, single serve Barney Butter (which I’ve never tried!), and sugar cookie sleigh ride (just as I’m running out of my last box of it … SO perfect) 😀

I was stilla bit hungry, so I actually broke into the almonds as part of this little snack set:

The ramekin on the left has two more stuffed collard greens, and the ramekin on the right has 1/2 cup fruit salad with a mix of above-mentioned almonds, trail mix, and vanilla-almond granola.

But I wasn’t quite done! Last treat of the night:

A chocolate macaroon from One Lucky Duck, another of the samples Melissa brought to lunch yesterday. Ahhh, this was so dense and chocolate-y. I want 10 more of them now.

But what I really really want more than anything else is go to bed. So that’s what I’m off to do!

And make sure you go check out julie golean because she is giving away HER favorite things, and her favorite things look pretty tasty 😀

Brief interruption

March 21, 2009February 6, 201512 Comments

Ahhh, there’s never enough time! I’m working furiously to get a midterm paper taken care of today so that I can enjoy the NYC blogger brunch with a clear conscience tomorrow. I have a feeling I may be up all night …

Onto the food! Breakfast, 10:30 am:

On the left is an oatmeal combo of sorts. I stovetopped 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats with a small chopped apple, the usual spices, and 1/2 cup water. Then, I mixed the oats with 1/3 cup plain yogurt and a little dollop of lemon curd. On top went more lemon curd, a ring of chopped strawberries, and 2 crumbled basil-spice meringue kisses.

On the right is a little 1/4 cup pile of mango surrounded by a starfish (so I can pretend I’m on the beach) of soy-lime coco loco tofu (the last of it) spread with 1 tbsp cinnamon-cayenne peanut butter and topped with more toasty coconut pieces.

At some point late morning, I got up to make more tea and got sidetracked chopping all of my fancy fruit into an enormous fruit salad. Hmmmm, procrastinate much? I made a little snack plate of the pineapple core and the mango pit (with some homemade almond-cashew butter in the background).

Lunch was a group effort.

This salad was a mix of work contributions — from Inginia: greens, cranberries, roasted peppers, apple slices, roast chicken, garlic & lemon juice dressing; from Nydia: greens and corn; from the food pantry’s overflow: fresh spinach; from me: strawberries, goat cheese, toasted cashews, s&p.

Variety:

I’m still feeling munchy, so I bet lunch part 2 is just around the corner.

A couple things worth mentioning before I re-enter serious productivity mode (does that even exist?):

1. Danielle at A Year of Healthy Eating has presented me with my first-ever blogger award:

eward Danielle was actually my first non-family/friend commentor on the blog back in January, and I’ve been hooked reading hers ever since because I love her honest and realistic approach to health. Thanks, Danielle!

In the spirit of community, I am going to pass this award onto two other bloggers who brighten my days! Diana at Soap & Chocolate usually gets me laughing out loud, but my laugh was louder than average today when she amped up one of my oatmeal methods and renamed it “Apple Aneurysm Baked Oatmeal.” And at the other end of the spectrum, Vani at Fit for Free consistently challenges me to reflect on my food-related behaviors with her thought-provoking and sincere posts. Thanks, ladies!

2. Mo Diva has let loose a torrent of peanut butter madness at Food Snob. Check it out!

OK, back to the midterm paper race against the clock! Who will win?? And do you ever spend hours working on something and then realize you haven’t gotten very far at all?

Greens, greens, nothing but greens

March 20, 2009February 6, 201517 Comments

I kind of wish today were St. Patrick’s day again because I was really on a roll with the greens!! Just as soon as I got past the non-greenness of my 10am snack …

The identical twin of Wednesday’s yogurt:

And two packs like this of baby gum:

A little past noon, we all settled in for lunch. My coworkers had ordered pizza, so I ate what I packed 😀

Another fajita wrap sampler, just like yesterday:

(There were actually two pieces of that white one, but the first piece flew into my mouth too fast for the camera!)

And a giant salad filled to the brim with goodies:
This is a 4-cup container packed with spinach, asparagus,
radishes, grated carrot, strawberries (finally tried strawberries in a salad — yum!), goat cheese, and about 1/3 cup of mixed-grain salad. I dressed it with balsamic vinegar, truffle oil, coarse sea salt, and black pepper.

It was such an exciting salad to eat — the nuts and dried fruit from the grain salad added perfect chew and brilliantly complemented the sweetness of the strawberries! Nothing like surprise food donations to perk up the standard lunch fare 🙂

A closer look at the inside:

After lunch, Mildred and I went down to check in on the bi-weekly brown bag staff lunch. Today’s theme was “words of wisdom,” and I pulled a really good one out of the basket of words … but I left it at work, hmph! While at the lunch, I nibbled on 1/4 of a cinnamon muffin:

And half of a zucchini muffin:

And there was a bit more fancy candy action.

(Plus two unpictured mints!)

Afternoon snack around 3pm was the very end of the asparagus guacamole (still as green as the day it was born!) and riceworks:

At 4:30, Nydia broke out an array of fresh and fruity produce! I had about three times the amount of grapes and strawberries pictured:

After work, I headed downtown to meet two of my old coworkers from the SCORE! days for dinner. (Sidenote: SCORE! (and not Scores) is where I worked as a director for the three years between undergrad and grad, the savings from which are now paying my living expenses … until they run out in May!)

Anyway, Karimah and Deana both happen to be pregnant right now and due within three weeks of each other late this summer! As a semi-professional expander myself, I certainly could not turn down the chance to dine with two pregnant ladies 😛 Here they are getting ready to tuck into their BBQ feast:

They ordered veggie tempura for an appetizer, so I had to have a few batter soaked nuggets for fun:

I ordered the spinach salad with BBQ’s famous rotisserie chicken, and I was very pleasantly surprised when it arrived complete with mushrooms, raisins, AND walnuts:

The picture doesn’t do it justice — this salad was HUGE. Raspberry vinaigrette came on the side, and I probably used about a tbsp of that for drizzling as I ate through the massive bowl.

When we finished, there was still a bunch of veggie tempura lingering:

I ate the choicest bits of crunchy batter and then peeled the rest off to devour the veggies like so:

I also rescued the uneaten cornbread from the ladies to bring home for future use.

And because they make pretty pictures, Karimah first ordered a virgin peach daiquiri but then sent it back in favor of a virgin pina colada when she realized the daiquiri still had a strawberry base:

I actually ended up drinking about half of that mammoth colada before we left because I haven’t quite mastered the art of asking the waiter to please wrap my frozen drink for me to take home, thanks.

And quite fortuitously, the waiter brought us extra change and Karimah and Deana gave it all to me … so my meal was nearly free! Thanks, ladies 😀

We all waddled out of the restaurant after — Karimah and Deana with their authentic baby bellies and me with my spinach baby belly (much more pleasant than a cake baby belly, however!) — to head to the subway.

And very quickly before I dive headfirst into my bed and zonk out, I came home with another load of delicious food donations! Giant salad with roast chicken and garlic/lemon dressing from Inginia, Dominican pork and beans from Mildred, salad greens and banana/grapes/strawberries from Nydia, and the two pieces of cornbread from Deana and Karimah:

Expect to see these items resurfacing in my meals over the next few days!

Do you mostly eat IN or OUT during the weekend?

Giveaway alert: Another chance to mix your own granola at EatFabInNyc!

Food business

March 18, 2009February 6, 201514 Comments

Today was relatively calm on the food front — a rare occurrence! — because most of my coworkers spent the afternoon in a workshop. I was so busy catching up on paperwork this morning that I didn’t even notice I was hungry until around 12:30!

For lunch, I finished up all of the food I had collected on Monday: Inginia’s mac & cheese, Vianni’s fried rice, and my mixed-grain salad.

On the side, I had my last cup of roasted veggies from Friday night‘s collection:

Also on Monday, a mom brought me this fancy mango yogurt smoothie drink.

I’m definitely a plain yogurt girl and find the flavored ones too sweet, but I wasn’t about to turn down good nutrition, added sugar or not! I mixed half of the shake with half of the plain yogurt I had packed and topped it with 1/4 chopped apple and 1 tbsp vanilla almond granola.

It was delicious, and I have another identical yogurt combo waiting in the work fridge for lunchtime on Friday :-).

Dessert was a piece of chocolate chip blondie and a piece of oat-and-jam bar, also from the event last Friday night:

When I finished with my visits later in the afternoon, I enjoyed another 1/3 cup of asparagus-guac with a serving of riceworks:

This asparagus guacamole is great! It keeps really well (no browning whatsoever), and I can barely tell that it’s not all avocado! This batch is a little bit on the bland side, but that’s only because I took the shortcut route and mixed it with jarred salsa instead of fresh stuff. Next time!

I also had two fig newtons from Nydia with a spoonful of vanilla frosting left from all of the cake excitement this week. Far be it for me to let a jar of frosting languish …

And I ended the day with this Bomba Acida from Belkis’ candy jar. It wasn’t sour at first, but I’m a candy-biter — and WHOA did I get a shock when I bit into the middle of this one!

The middle was filled with some extremely sour liquid — my eyes actually started tearing! But I crunched through until the whole thing was successfully ingested, of course.

I’m so pleased with how all of the food I’ve gathered this week lasted exactly through today. The work fridge has been full of my leftovers all week, and now it’s not. Perfect timing since I won’t be there tomorrow (class day). Thanks to all my food contributors!

I also picked up yet another load of overflow food bank donations as I left the office at the end of the day … but you’ll have to wait until my next post for those!

Obviously, food maintenance is my favorite and most satisfying sort of house/office-keeping task. What’s yours?

Forbidden foods?

March 17, 2009February 6, 201519 Comments

My festive morning continued at the office today without skipping a beat. First on the agenda? Pina coladas!!! You heard read right — Myrna came through at 9am with a giant homemade batch. “But it’s alcohol-free,” she explained apologetically. Fine with me! I had about 1/2 cup, and it tasted just like a tropical island, mmm.

Then, I noticed Belkis’ son Emanuel sitting in the conference room. She explained that his school was indeed closed for St. Patrick’s day (have you ever heard such a thing) and that he had baked us a cake to celebrate!! Here’s the masterpiece: a yellow cake with vanilla frosting and a cherry smiley face 😀

Belkis started talking about how they should have frosted it green, and Inginia piped up that we still had green food coloring AND vanilla frosting left from play-dough and cake yesterday. I ran down to fetch the supplies and set Emanuel up with his new project. I also helped myself to two or five spoonfuls of frosting.

When I got hungry for real later in the morning, I had a cup of cantaloupe, also left from yesterday’s group.

Katty and I had to leave around noon to head up to the Bronx for a lecture on bilingual language development, so I ate my cup of roasted veggies and drank another half cup of pina colada to tide me over.

I also packed up a hefty piece of cake for the road. You didn’t think I’d pass that up, did you?

When we got to the institute, there was a sign that no food was allowed in the auditorium for the lecture! I wasn’t about to wait two whole hours until 3pm for the rest of my lunch, so I quickly inhaled my cup of mac & cheese (from group yesterday), fried rice (from Vianni’s lunch leftovers yesterday), and mixed-grain salad (from my lunch yesterday).

On the subway platform after the presentation, I ate my asparagus guac with a serving of sea salt RiceWorks.

(Side note: I made this guac on Sunday, and look how green it still is without so much as a stir! I think it’s a combo of the lime juice and asparagus.)

And finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, my green frosting-slathered hunk of cake:

Oh, it was sooooooooooo good.

While I was standing on the subway platform tucking into this ridiculously satisfying pile of refined sugar, I spent some time considering Vani’s Forbidden Foods Challenge. The idea is to demystify a food that you usually force yourself to avoid, whether for fear you’ll lose control and overeat it or for its scary nutrition facts or for any other number of reasons. Vani’s suggestion is that you challenge yourself by keeping it in the house and enjoying it in moderation; in essence, this challenge is designed to help you take control over a food that you feel has controlled you in the past.

So once again, I was standing there eating maybe my fourth giant slice of cake in two days … and wracking my brain to think of an appropriate food for the challenge. When I got off the subway in my neighborhood nearly two hours later, I stopped into the local gourmet shop to peruse the aisles (and sample cheese, roasted duck, and a giant hunk of hard sourdough pretzel). And I realized, nothing is forbidden … as long as it is FREE. The food restrictions I impose seem to boil down to money more than anything else. I examined dozens of delicious sounding organic cookie products, locally produced ice creams, full-fat stinky cheeses, dried fruits, fancy nut butters … and I kept thinking: I can make this myself for less money, more health, and more flavor. And if I don’t make it myself, I’m sure I’ll stumble upon it in sample form at some point 😀 No craving was strong enough to make me want to spend the money on anything except for produce!

But, I love the idea of this challenge and really wanted to participate! And that is when my eyes alighted upon the shelf of fancy spreads … full of chutneys, jams, syrups, etc. And I realized, I never buy condiments. They always strike me as such a luxury and never even cross my mind as an option. Granted, I can make most of them myself, but one in particular caught my eye. Meet my forbidden food:

I love lemon curd, and I probably haven’t had it since I was 12 and went to traditional afternoon tea at a fancy Boston hotel with my family. OK, maybe I’ve had it since then, but only in similarly rare situations. To me, lemon curd represents the epitome of luxury, class, and sophistication — none of which I have! It’s not something I would ever buy because, not only is it a ridiculously frivolous product, but it’s also full of butter and sugar. Seems silly when I could just mash a banana on my scone and call it a day.

So, $8.99 later, I am the proud owner of my first jar of lemon curd ever. And I am EXCITED. It was pricey, but the Forbidden Foods Challenge is conveniently taking place when I have done next to no grocery shopping due to free produce flying at me from every direction, so I can make it work. And this $8.99 jar is going to last me a while because I’ll be eating it in moderation. Lemon curd of this quality, made only with real and natural ingredients, is bound to pack a powerful flavor punch. A little will go a long way.

Thank you to Vani for encouraging me to loosen the reins — both financially and nutrionally — in a healthy way!

Have YOU joined the challenge?

Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition

A Natural(ish) Parenting & Food Blog

Tag: colleagues

Longer than necessary

Brief interruption

Greens, greens, nothing but greens

Food business

Forbidden foods?

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