Happy birthday, mom!

April 4, 2009January 23, 201921 Comments

In honor of my mom’s birthday today, I filled my evening with sweetness 😀

I mentioned earlier that my roommate Tara had donated some overripe bananas and aging strawberrries to me since she’s out of town for the weekend. She also donated some banana peanut butter oatmeal which obviously needed a place of honor in my dinner tonight.

I mixed her cup of oatmeal with the remaining 3/4 cup of protein porridge and then heated half of that mix in the oven. Alongside 1/3 cup healthy cream cheese icing, lots of strawberries, and a slab of cashew-almond butter:

Sometime after that, I had a minor snack attack and grabbed a few tortilla chips right out of the bag. I also had a couple tbsp golean crunch with a spash of unsweetened soymilk:

For dessert, I made a sampler platter of treats.

The platter included the last slice of chocolate-frosted chocolate brownie from my freezer bag:

Healthy cream cheese icing, strawberries, and a jasmine tea biscotti bite:

Plus the star:

Remember when I got to have cheesecake batter for dessert earlier in the week? My roommate Brigitte saved me a big slice of the finished product! (Side note: Brigitte cooks in a way that I would never have the guts to. The entire cheesecake included six full packages of real cream cheese plus loads of real butter.) I had half of it with a twistie-tie “M for Mom” since I couldn’t find any birthday candles:

Ummm, and then I went back and had the other half of the slice. It’s my mom’s birthday, after all! And it was also SO good. Especially the crunchy chocolate wafer crust. Ahhhhh!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!! Thanks for giving me an excuse to eat lots of sugar (as though I needed another one :P).

How often do you eat REAL (as in, not healthy) desserts?

Don’t forget to enter the Bob’s Red Mill giveaway. The contest ends at noon tomorrow!

Elastic waistband, please

April 3, 2009February 6, 201524 Comments

By the time I got home from work today, my pants no longer fit! I can’t believe I’m showing you this picture, but I feel like it’s important I accurately represent myself when I say I feel expanded. I’m not talking about: Oh, I’m so bad. I ate two cookies today. (P.S. If you’ve been reading along, you know I would never say that anyway!) I’m talking about: Ohhh, I really enjoyed my food today … but maybe too much because now I feel decidedly uncomfortable!

The day began with another bowl of black and white protein porridge since it was such a hit on Wednesday:

I can’t get over the contrast:

Now, I want the real deal!

Once at work, I opened up the next flavor of Newman’s Own Organics breath fresheners. I think I ate four of these peppermints over the course of the day.

Today was another brown bag staff lunch. I ate the collard greens, vegetarian baked beans, and cornbread that I packed:

Plus 1/2 cup cooked spiced apples with 1/2 cup healthy cream cheese icing and a sprinkling of golean crunch:

And then it was time for communal treats: fruit salad and pecan pie!!!

Obviously, I had seconds:

I took that picture of plate #2 in the elevator, and a woman in there asked, Oh, are you documenting your lunch? I said, Yes, I am … and every other meal, too!

After lunch, Mildred, Jessica, and I got to work decorating the nursery room for Heather’s surprise baby shower.

As I filled the goodie bags, some of the candy that was supposed to go into the bag went into my belly:

And then it was time for the shower! Myrna finally managed to get Heather down into the room sometime around 3:30. We surprised her … but not enough to make her go into labor (phew):

Here’s the “snack” spread with Maria’s green salad and pasta, Mildred and Myrna’s chicken and cheese empanadas, tamales, myrna’s flan pudding, Inginia’s guacamole, tortilla chips, Deborah’s fruit salad, mini-quiches and jalapeno poppers:

My plate — a big one this time — with (clockwise from top) pasta salad, fruit salad, empanada with green sauce, tortilla chips, guacamole, 1/2 tamale, and flan pudding:

I had another plate just like it.

Plus two bowls of salad like this:

And Myrna’s homemade pina coladas made a repeat appearance, yum!

Beryl led us in some games — I won a bar of soap because I remembered all my nursery rhymes! — and then it was time for dessert 😀

Look at the magnificence:

I had a bowl with one slice of chocolate mousse cake:

And one slice of custard fruit tart (my favorite dessert!):

I had another slice of fruit tart after that 😀

After we packed up all the leftovers, I somehow wound up coming home with a ton of food, including 11 empanadas (now in my freezer), 4 tamale halves, 4 cups of green salad, 2 cups of pasta salad, 1/2 cup fruit salad, 1/2 cup guacamole, and 1 cup of flan pudding. How did that happen?? 😛

I turned the flan pudding into my Friday night project. When I got home, I mixed the pudding with two cups of healthy cream cheese icing and two eggs. I put the mix to the side and then pressed a bunch of crumbled graham sticks (that have been in my freezer since some time in January) into the bottom of a pie plate with a bit of millet (for crunch) and canola (for glue and nonstick-ness). I baked the crust for 10 minutes at 450. Before and after:

Next, I poured the batter on top:

I baked for one hour at 375 and then turned the oven off, cracked the door, and let it sit in there for another hour:

(That dark spot is a raisin from the cream cheese icing. It’s not an ant. In case you were wondering.)

And now I have a beautiful and healthy(er) cheesecake. I sliced it into 12 pieces and put it in a container for the freezer (because I do not need any more dessert right now)!

There were crumbs left in the pie plate. I obviously ate them:

And now I really wish my leg would let me run!! The weather was beautiful earlier this evening (before the flood started), and I was so jealous of all the runners out for their dusky jogs. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’m at least elliptical-ready by Monday!

I’m also not sure if I’ll ever be hungry again (I know, I say that all the time), but I guess we’ll find out about that soon enough.

When will YOU be hungry again?

And if you haven’t entered the giveaway yet, hurry up because there are just two days left!

Bits ‘n’ pieces

April 2, 2009February 6, 201524 Comments

***giveaway giveaway giveaway giveaway giveaway giveaway giveaway giveaway***

I’ve got to say that I’m feeling the lack of exercise this week. The regular cheery Sarah keeps disappearing! Maybe there really is something to that whole endorphins thing 😛

I got up at 7:30 this morning (because Thursday is my leisurely class day) and worked for two straight hours on some work homework that was supposed to be done yesterday, ack! At 9:30, I realized I had to leave for class in 30 minutes, so I heated breakfast and got ready fast fast fast.

Breakfast today was the same protein porridge mix I had on Monday, with apples and bananas mixed in, yogurt on the side, and PB2 poured over the top:

Mmmmm:

Since I ate that around 10, moments before I walked out the door, I didn’t bother bringing a full lunch to class — just a couple snackies to get me through.

Chopped apple and spices on the bottom with lemon curd + healthy cream cheese icing and golean crunch on the top:

And a chocolate chip Z-bar:

I also finished a sleeve of my Newman’s Ginger Mints when I was bored during class. They set my mouth on fire, but I liked it!

On my way home from the subway station, I stopped into Ladybird for a sample of carrot muffin:

(It was so sunny out!)

Lunch main course was an entire plate full of the fancy apps from last night’s re-enactment:

(That’s a lot of tuna I think. I don’t mess around.)

There’s still a ton of tuna left, so I bit the bullet and put the whole container in the freezer. It’s half raw anyway, so I figure it will freeze fine, and I can just cook it all the way through when I’m ready to use it again.

I had way more work homework to do, and I comforted myself about that by finishing the bag of white cheddar soy crisps:

With salsa:

And then some Newman’s Own Organics dried berries, apricots, and prunes:

Once again, who knew Newman’s made dried fruit?? I thought it was all salad dressings and Ginger-Os!

I also had half a chocolate rugelach and a piece of oatmeal chocolate chip cookie from the freezer cookie bag:

Two more hours later, I had finally gotten all my work done. I struck out to do some errands. Obviously, I stopped into Union Market while out to have sample gouda and cheddar cheese cubes and these sample pieces of pecan pie and fudge pie:

When I got home, I prepped food for tomorrow, which meant more bites of protein porridge, yogurt, cream cheese icing, fruit, baked beans, etc.

Finally, I was able to settle down for a(nother) nice little desserty treat:

A scoop of healthy cream cheese icing “ice cream,” a scoop of raw chocolate mousse “ice cream,” hot apple topping, a sprinkling of pb2 powder, and graham cracker crumbs.

Mmmmm. I’m so sleepy. I hope I can go to bed soon!

Does your mood change when you’re not working out?

FYI, Becca’s giving away some SERIOUS goodies from the CIA!!! (Intrigued? Go check it out!)

Re-enactment

April 2, 2009February 6, 201517 Comments

So, Kate came over last night for my meal-of-the-year re-enactment, courtesy of the amazing leftovers I was lucky enough to snag at Tuesday night’s Electrolux ICON event. After sharing the leftovers with my coworkers earlier in the day, I still had about 1/2 cup of risotto and a hefty segment of lamb tenderloin left … not to mention the seared tuna and molten lava cakes hanging out in my fridge. I was worried about the damage I might do if left to my own devices, so Kate popped over to relieve some of the expansion responsibility (because, oh, what a heavy burden it is).

I started us off with fancy apps:

OK, so my seared tuna atop wasabi-infused guacamole and a white cheddar soy crisp is not exactly on level with the giant-spoon classiness I experienced Tuesday, but I think it is a close approximation … and it tasted delicious. Kate and I had two each.

Kate and I both prefer our meat closer to well-done than to rare, so I fired up the oven to give the lamb a few more minutes. While that was cooking, I worked on the risotto. Since I brought such a small amount of it home from work, I decided it needed (1) bulking and (2) healthing. I sauteed the veggie scraps I salvaged from the event (asparagus peels, mushroom stems, and spinach) with garlic and olive oil and then immersion blended them into a paste (another non-classy variation of the Chef’s method). The paste went into a pot with 1/2 cup cooked brown rice, the remaining 1/2 cup of risotto, and lots and lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

The result: enough food for two! Colorado Lamb Roast, Spring Asparagus Risotto, and Carmelized Onions:

I think I am most excited about those onions!! Thank goodness I still have a bunch more in the fridge 😀

Can you guess what came after dinner????

Yes, the chocolate molten cakes!! I tried to keep presentation as true to the original as possible. Sadly, I had no gold dust on hand.

I heated the lava cakes in their tins for about 10 minutes at 350. When they were warm, I slid a knife around the edges and inverted them onto the plates. In lieu of the magical chocolate disk, I topped each cake with a square of Newman’s Own Organics orange dark chocolate. Ohhh, yum. I daresay this chocolate actually improved the cake (which I didn’t think was possible before I took a bite!). Seriously, look at the melt-action taking place here:

The “ice cream” was actually about 1/2 cup each of lemon curd-infused healthy cream cheese icing which I iced via the freeze-for-20-stir-freeze-for-20-stir method. It needed color for photography’s sake, so I topped it off with a blueberry sauce I made by simmering a couple tbsp of Brigitte’s homegrown frozen blueberries until the juice thickened.

One last look at the whole package:

As much as I could eat molten lava cake every night for the rest of my life, I am relieved that Kate helped me so that I do not have to! Expansion does have its limits, even for me 😛

In case you would like to try your hand at re-enacting this meal from scratch (something I haven’t even attempted yet!), I have created a page of Chef Steelman’s very own recipes right here!

Have you re-enacted anything (food or non-food) lately?

And have you entered my Bob’s Red Mill giveaway?

Whirligig + reviews

April 1, 2009February 6, 201518 Comments

Ahhhhhh, I haven’t stopped moving all day. My commenting and replying are temporarily on hiatus as I try to climb over this mountain of work. I will catch up on everything ASAP, I promise!

And by the way, every single one of the selections you’re submitting for the Bob’s Red Mill giveaway is making me drool. If only I could afford the whole line of products …. Keep those wish lists coming!

Breakfast feels like it happened about 10 years ago, but I’m pretty sure it was delicious:

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I hope you can see the striking resemblance to a black and white cookie because that’s what I was going for:

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The “white” contained 1/2 cup Healthy Cream Cheese Icing topped with unsweetened shredded coconut. The “black” contained 1 cup protein porridge mixed with 2 tbsp raw chocolate mousse, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and 2 tbsp PB2 powder — topped with Hershey’s Kiss shavings and a hefty spoonful of extra dark cashew-almond butter:

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The cashew-almond butter is delicious, but I keep expecting it to taste like chocolate fudge (even though I’m the one who made it!) because it is SO dark.

Oh, by the way, today is April Fools Day, if you did not get the memo! I clearly hadn’t gotten it at 7am because my dad (of the no-brown-foods and almost-birthed-you-in-the-Dining-Room fame) got me with a trick for, ohh, the 27th year in a row. You’d think I would have caught on by now! This time, he emailed to tell me that something was wrong with the blog because every time he typed in the address, Kristie’s blog popped up instead! I replied that he must be mistaken and maybe he had accidentally clicked on one of her comments? It never even crossed my mind that this could be a trick. He’s so good at getting in there with something subtle and just believable enough!

picture-425 Anyway, that breakfast kept me so full all morning (as it should have — holy protein plus no cardio in days!) that I didn’t even need my typical morning snack. Plus, I was racing around crazily what with my visits and work to make up from Monday. My “injury” was kind of giving me a lot of pain today — I think I overdid it with the hobnobbing around town last night plus the nonstop visits today that required loads of traversing East Harlem from end to end on foot.

In lieu of a snack, I opened a pack of Newman’s Own Ginger Mints and maybe ate 4-5 over the course of the day. Again, they’re not sugar-free, but neither are the seven pieces of candy I usually swipe from Belkis’ candy jar on a daily basis. This seems like a healthier alternative … plus I love ginger, and these ginger mints taste like the root itself has been shaved right into the mix!

Lunch was a repeat of what I had yesterday: collard greens and baked beans from Monday and Myrna’s rice and salad from yesterday.

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The whole early childhood department at my office ate lunch together today in honor of April Fools, so I also got to try some coconut water and a big hunk of fresh coconut meat from Jessica:

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Mmm, it was tasty!

Next, I enlisted the captive audience in helping me with more product reviews. First up:

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Rosey said:

I like the chocolate on the outside, but I don’t like the caramel. And I usually like caramel.

I had to try one for myself, obviously:

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I thought it was delicious, but I tend to not be all that picky when it comes to chocolate and caramel!

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Sarah (the other one) said:

Oh, wow! This is different from Reese’s. It actually tastes like real, creamy peanut butter inside. I like it.

Sarah ran out and gave one to Erik in Environmental to try. He said:

Holy sh**!! This is amazing.

I tried one, too (obviously again):

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I second the other reviewers’ sentiments. I’m not going to judge when it comes to chocolate and peanut butter!

Finally:

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This review needs no words, as Heather and the baby are clearly in ecstasy. Just to bring the point home, Heather said:

These are good. They are a good chocolate-y dessert.

Rosey and Jessica said:

They taste like shortbread cookies with chocolate in them.

Sister Suzanne said:

I like them because they’re not too sweet.

Sarah (the other one) added:

Yes, a good snack treat.

I ate four.

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To me, they tasted like the cookie part of an Oreo. Again, not going to complain!

Immediately following lunch, I raced across el barrio for my 2pm visit. I ended up staying a little late because the mom needed help with something, so I decided to bus it back to the center to make my 3:30. I had to run to catch the bus. OWWWWW. And I was still 10 minutes for the session!

I had my “morning snack” of fruit salad (the end of it), yogurt + ricotta + lemon curd, and granola at 4:30.

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Quickly followed by an orange:

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As I mentioned earlier, I brought in the leftover risotto and lamb from last night to share with everyone at lunch, but there was still quite a bit left at the end of the day. I shot a quick email to Gina and Kate (with whom I had to break dinner plans last night for the event) to see if they’d be interested in an impromptu dinner party of leftovers. Gina couldn’t make it, but Kate was up for the re-enactment challenge which will be coming soon (as in sometime tomorrow) to a blog near you (ummm, this one).

The week is halfway done. Are you running behind, ahead, or right on schedule?

(And you know I’m going to keep reminding you about the Bob’s Red Mill giveaway in every post until Sunday!)

Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition

A Natural(ish) Parenting & Food Blog

Tag: dessert

Happy birthday, mom!

Elastic waistband, please

Bits ‘n’ pieces

Re-enactment

Whirligig + reviews

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