Awake

March 16, 2009February 6, 201514 Comments

Before I get to today’s breakfast, remember that time I ate a week’s worth of food in the space of one hour? I know, I know. You’re saying, “Which time does she mean? There are millions!” Let me be more specific. I’m talking about this time. Well, you’re in luck! The full story of the evening, complete with pictures of the most beautiful food in the world pre-demolition, is now available in my guest post at For the Love of Oats. Get a napkin ready because you’ll need it to wipe the drool off of your desk.

Onto today:

It took me HOURS to fall asleep last night. I don’t know what was going on, but it was well after 1am by the time I dozed off! I knew an extra hour of sleep and yoga would serve me better than 5am cardio, so I got up at 6:15 and did the beginner Power Yoga #3 from yogadownload.com. I had a delicious Fitnessista breakfast cookie (and pb2 experiment #3) waiting for me when I was done:

This slab of perfectio contained 1/2 cup oats, 1 packet chocolate pb2, 2 tbsp homemade chocolate mousse, 2 tbsp plain yogurt, 4 chopped strawberries, 2 chopped toasted almonds, and one chopped date.

I decorated the top with a square of Godiva dark chocolate and a dollop of plain yogurt (which I also used to “ice” the edges of the cookie):

It had solidified well after a night in the fridge, but I popped it in the freezer
for 20 minutes or so before eating because I prefer it half-frozen. I’m pretty sure this was my best breakfast cookie combo yet. The pb flavor really came through (much more than it did yesterday with a similar combo in hot oatmeal form) — in fact, the cookie was reminiscent of peanut butter-chocolate-strawberry cheesecake! It made me thrilled to be awake 😀

I kept things steamy with a mug of soymilky black tea (and the triumphant return of morning sunlight!) on the side:

I love starting my day with a million pictures of oats 😀 (Speaking of which, don’t forget to check out my guest post at For the Love of Oats!)

What makes YOU thrilled to be awake?

P.S. …

1. Check out Vani’s brilliant, healthy, and fun Forbidden Foods Challenge. This is hands-down the BEST blogger challenge I’ve seen!

2. Thinspired is giving away some exciting British snackaroos!

No sugar; extra balls (+ laundry Qs answered)

March 15, 2009February 6, 201524 Comments

I met Gina, JQ, and Di this afternoon at Tea Spot, a teashop in the village, to celebrate Di’s engagement. Here’s the guest of honor modeling her tea ring:

We had to order our teas two at a time so that the other two could guard the table because tables are hard to come by around here. I had been planning to order a regular ol’ pot of earl grey, but Di started asking the guy behind the counter about frappe-y drink possibilities. Good thing she did, becaue the menu gave no indication of the fanciness available!

The guy was very helpful (there’s just something about a man behind a bar, is there not?) and opened several barrels of their loose leaf tea blends to waft the tantalizing scents in our direction. He explained that we could choose to mix any of the blends with fancy tea powder (the kind that is sweet and milky already when you add water to it). Di got almond cookie with taro powder, and I got creme de chocolate with taro powder. When we were through, we sent Gina and Q up to Chris at the bar, and they came back with butter toffee/taro and coconut/taro. We did a little merry-go-round of taste tests — all delicious!

Also, Beadie’s earrings made their public debut, earning a number of appreciative comments:

As Chris, our barista(o?), had warned us, the teas tasted strikingly similar to the addictive blend present in bubble tea. I knew in advance that this would be a problem, as I was out-of-my-mind addicted to the tapioca balls all throughout college, thanks to my old roommate Ilin who introduced me to them freshman year. I left the teashop with an uncontrollable craving for the real deal and stopped into Hanco’s, the bubble tea cafe that just opened in my neighborhood (yay! except that it took the place of the Tea Lounge, which was way better) on the way home to satisfy the urge. I ordered an unsweetened jasmine tea (because the bubbles are sweet enough all on their own) with extra balls:

I saw those flowers when I walked in and chose a yellow straw for color-coordination purposes. Also, inspired by pretty green girl and St. Patrick’s Day (I am part Irish, after all), I greenly saved my cup from the Tea Spot so that Hanco’s could refill it instead of giving me more plastic.

The balls masquerading as a biology experiment:

I made another stop at the laundromat to check in on the status of my clothes and found that they were, in fact, washing my clothes for me and told me they’d be done in an hour. Total cost? $21 … exactly three times what I pay to do it on my own! Eek! Oh well — it wasn’t in my budget, but this one-time expense won’t break me, and I’ll be more careful next time. Plus, I saved so much money on groceries Friday night that things should balance out. More good news: not only did the laundry man avoid putting my delicates in the dryer, but he actually lectured ME because he could tell that one of my wool sweaters had been dryer-ed in the past! And now everything is folded, so I don’t have to spend tons of time putting stuff away right this minute to keep it from wrinkling.

I spent a good chunk of time tonight getting food and lunches ready for the week. The veggies I scored Friday night got roasted. Before:

After:

I used half of this giant avocado to make more chocolate mousse a la Heather. Before:

After:

With the other half of the avocado, I made asparagus guacamole, a trick I’ve heard about before but never tried. I needed enough guac for a week (and I knew that half an avocado, no matter how gigantic, would not cut it), so I threw in a bunch of steamed asparagus to make it stretch.

Before (1/4 avocado + steamed asparagus):

After (post-immersion blending):

After after (mixed with salsa, the other 1/4 avocado because I like it chunky, lime juice, s&p, and red pepper flakes):

I had a few bites — the asparagus flavor came through slightly (which is fine with me since I love asparagus), but it’s still definitely guacamole :-D.

I had been planning to eat some of the roasted veggies and guac for dinner, but after the balls and all the nibbling-while-cooking, I wasn’t hungry at all. I almost ate it anyway since it was all prepared and ready to go, but I listened to my intuition (thank you, Intuitive Eating) and realized I just wasn’t interested. I will save it for when I am hungry and can really enjoy it.

It’s past my bedtime as usual, so I’m headed straight to bed!

How do YOU feel about the balls?

Renewal

March 14, 2009February 6, 201510 Comments

Well, today has certainly been all about recovery after my wild eating spree at the book signing last night! 1pm came along and I still wasn’t the slightest bit hungry. This is highly abnormal for me because I’m usually ravenous within one hour of waking up. I had been up since 7:30! I decided that a run was in order to speed the process along. On my way out, I grabbed a date for healthy sugar power:

My whole body felt creaky and achey at the beginning of the run, but all my muscles and bones and joints seemed to start communicating with each other more effectively after a few minutes. I was in the mood for sightseeing, so I ran out to the mansions at Flatbush Malls — the most beautiful neighborhood in Brooklyn, according to me — and around the outside of Prospect Park. Stats: 5.75 miles, 61 minutes, 509 calories, 152 average heart rate, 182 max. I totally zoned out during the run and ended up really enjoying it. I felt so refreshed after — but alas, still not hungry!

I sorted my laundry for the ‘mat tomorrow, I dyed my hair, I did some other things on the list … and I finally felt a little bit hungry around 4pm! I did a happy dance and then whipped up the balsamic-strawberry yogurt sundae that I’ve been dreaming about ever since I created these Balsamic-Strawberry Oaties earlier this week for the BSI.

Also involved in that sundae were 1/2 cup Greek yogurt mixed with vanilla and cinnamon, more chopped strawberries, and a drizzle of homemade balsamic syrup. Yum! Definitely lived up to my fantasy.

Then, miracle of all miracles, I was still a little bit hungry! I re-toasted a piece of herby chicken parm toast from yesterday and covered it in 2 tsp homemade almond-cashew butter and cinnamon:

The traces of herby tomato sauce on the bread actually complemented the almond-cashew butter brilliantly. Hmmmm, I wonder what I can do with this knowledge in the future …

I continued to give my body what it needed with a pot of Yogi Renew green tea from the samples I received last week:

The tea actually tasted a little bit like grass. But, hey, I guess you have to suffer for your renewal, right?

At some point a little later, another mini-wave of hunger hit me. I decided it was time to break out sample #1 of PB2! I cut the packet open and tasted some of the dry powder — hmm, tasted like peanuts.

The directions said to mix the packet with 1.5 tbsp of water … so I mixed it with 2 tbsp yogurt. Magic:

My pb-yogurt sauce became the dressing for a cup of last night’s fruit salad:

(I also mixed in a couple of chopped strawberries and topped it with a sprinkle of vanilla-almond granola.)

The verdict? As much as I did not want to like PB2, I have to admit that I think it has sucked me in. There are so many potential uses! Would I buy it? I’m doubtful, especially now that I’ve mastered the art of making my own nut butters from scratch. But, I have the rest of the samples to go through and an entire jar on its way from the Foods That Fit giveaway, so we’ll see how addicted I get!

In other giveaway news, you can win yet another chance to mix your own granola, thanks to Diana at Soap & Chocolate. I’d LOVE to win this one, but I really think I’ve been too lucky! I can still hope, though …

Speaking of Foods That Fit, Abbie posted a fun recipe for wheatberry salad today that I knew I had to try since I had all of those pilfered cranberries from last night.

I made a few substitutions based on ingredient availability — I subbed a rye berries/kamut/barley/brown rice mixture for the wheatberries and cooked the grains in leftover whey from making Greek yogurt; dried apple rings and dates in place of the apricots; and chopped almonds in place of the pistacios and pine nuts. I “tested” a couple of spoonfuls when it was done — delicious!

Just like Abbie said — perfect salty-sweet combo!

The cooking continued because I can’t stop once I start! I combined two recipes to prepare the other half of my tofu block: the coco loco tofu Emily made earlier this week and soy-lime tofu from Eating Well. I soaked the tofu slices for two hours in a marinade of 2 tbsp white rice vinegar + 2 tbsp lime juice + 2 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil and then dredged each slice in unsweetened coconut and baked like this. I tested one slice on another piece of chicken parm toast with 1 tbsp almond-cashew butter:

The coconut flavor was surprisingly strong, and that made me happy. I can’t believe I haven’t thought to put coconut on tofu before. Thanks, Emily!

For dessert, I had about 2 tbsp of half-frozen homemade chocolate mousse (freezing it seems to make it even MORE chocolate-y, if that’s possible) with a crumbled basil-spice meringue kiss and coconut sprinkles:

Hmm, for a day of no appetite, this has been a surprisingly long post!! My tum is feeling ALMOST back to normal, so I’m hoping for a crazy appetite when I wake up in the morning :-D.

What do you prefer: big appetite or no appetite?

Buzzzzzzzzzzz

March 13, 2009February 6, 201516 Comments

That’s what my oven sounded like all night last night! I’ve had so many kitchen adventures in the past 12 hours, and they’re all starting to pile up on me. Here’s a long and time-consuming quick recap.

I baked my BSI: Strawberries entry (recipe to come soon) yesterday afternoon and had to taste-test half of one right out of the oven:

Mmmm, I have so many ideas for how to incorporate these into my meals/desserts! I also had plenty of the batter while mixing. The batter may have even tasted better than the finished product 🙂

Next, I tried my first ever RiceWorks brown rice chip in Sea Salt flavor while I packed tomorrow’s lunch — it was tasty enough, but I probably wouldn’t ever spend money on a bag of these (I got the bag for free with a coupon).

Dinner last night was all courtesy of my trusty oven. I slathered half a block’s worth of tofu slices with Country Bob’s all-purpose sauce and baked until crispy. I had half of the tofu I cooked with half of a grilled portalbello mushroom cap that roommate Tara asked me to take care of for her before it went bad (the other half of each will make an appearance in my lunch later today … I think), quartered and roasted brussels sprouts, a few salvageable chunks of Brigitte’s romaine from the crisper, and a sprinkle of my homemade parmesan

Blackened edges are my favorite!

Dessert was a compilation of treats. I toasted the end slice of Brigitte’s gram’s zucchini bread and topped it with 2 tbsp chocolate mousse and 2 chopped strawberries.

On the side I had the other half of my BSI: Strawberries creation.

How rich does this look?? (And it tasted even richer!)

Oh, and remember when I conceded defeat to my cuisinart mini-prep plus when all it gave me was nut dust (delicious nut dust, to be fair) instead of the butter I was after?? Reading Heather’s post last night got me inspired to try again. I roasted up a load of cashews and almonds and threw them back into the processor — this time for nearly 10 minutes (I had to hold the button down the whole time because that’s how fancy my kitchen appliances are), as per Heather’s instructions — and it actually worked!! Look at the creamy nut butteryness:

Thank you, Heather, for helping me emerge victorious from the food processor battle. Never again will I pay too much money for nut butter that cannot possibly compare to homemade.

I had to try some right away on top of a date. I swear there’s a date hiding somewhere under there. (And yes, you still see some nut dust — it’s from the side of the processor bowl that I obviously scraped clean before washing because crumbs are not allowed to go down the drain.)

And I probably also had a small spoonful of vanilla ice cream with a chopped Hershey’s Kiss right before I went to bed …

Today’s biggest news is that, oh my goodness, I have giveaways coming out of my ears! A rundown:

Click here if you like donuts because Food Snob has two dozen of them!
And click here if you’re hangry because you’re out of juice and want to be able to make your own.
Click here if you’re feeling short on southern charm (or if you just really like New Orleans cuisine).
Click here if you’re into granola customization (and who isn’t?).
Click here if you love seasonal produce, especially of the sort that means spring is here!!
And finally, click here if you are not opposed to birthdays and chocolate

Phewwwww, I’m ready to go back to bed after explaining all of that! But, alas, it is time to go to work :-). I’ll be back later with breakfast, a workout, and potentially some surprise food encounters.

How have your kitchen appliances come through for YOU?

I figured it out!

March 11, 2009February 6, 201515 Comments

Ahh, this post is going to take me forEVER! I’ve had such a variety of nibbles today. Somehow, eating other people’s food never gets old 😛

I had my yogurt at around 10 this morning during our department meeting. In addition to 1/2 cup plain yogurt, the mix included chopped pear (wrinkled and rescued from roommate who got it for free with an order of sushi!), chopped banana (from Belkis yesterday), nutmeg, and 1 tbsp or so of golean crunch:

I was already hungry again when the meeting ended at 11:30, so I dove right into my cup of fresh pineapple — topped with about 1/4 cup of my supervisor Heather’s leftover Nature’s Path granola that didn’t fit in her yogurt during the meeting:

We broke for lunch around 12:30. I had the last cup of my spinach-chickpea dal:

Plus about two cups of the grilled chicken salad that Myrna couldn’t finish:

Dessert was a Ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate square from Rosalie:

Afternoon snack #1 was two teeny pieces of pineapple cake that Belkis made:

Belkis was very excited to share her cake because she just learned how to bake (she’s a master chef of bean-based Dominican dishes as you may recall, though). She made the cake all by herself from a boxed mix and was super proud that it worked and tasted good. She was especially pleased to see me licking the foil:

And then a mom came through the office selling candy to raise money for her kids’ school. I did not buy any, but plenty of my coworkers did. Inginia bought a snickers bar and sliced off this little piece for me:

I know it looks enormous, but it really was less than an inch long …

When I got hungry again around 3, I had this 1/2 cup of veggies left over from Mildred’s lunch:

I went out for a great visit immediately post-veggies. I’m doing a video project with one family that involves videotaping the parents interacting with the 7-month-old baby in 10-minute segments for us to watch all together later. They had so much fun being movie stars!

When I got back at 4:15, I had my final-ish work snack of 3 Kavli crispy thin crackers spread with 1/2 mashed banana (also left from Mildred’s lunch) and 1/4 cup chocolate mousse:

(Dad, I’m sorry it’s so brown!!! But chocolate tastes too good to eliminate based on color alone 😀 )

Also, I think Brach’s candy should start paying me, because all of this found its way from Belkis’ candy jar to my mouth at some point today. Chocolate mint, ice blue mint, cinnamon, star mint, and orange center hard candies:

Dinner started early tonight. Mildred and I picked up Pura on our way out of the office, and Pura happened to mention that they had just celebrated Kathy’s birthday … and had leftover rellenos! Mildred and I both snapped to attention when we heard that, so Pura set us up.

We each had a slice of rellenos maduros (sweet plantain relleno stuffed with ground meat, yummmmm!):

And split this slice of rellenos de papa (potato relleno stuffed with ground meat):

On the walk to my apartment from the subway, I stopped into the gourmet market for 3 miniscule sample cubes of cheese, samples of marinated mushrooms, and an entire ginger-lemon cookie’s worth of sample pieces:

And, waiting for me when I got home, I found more samples (what a day, right??). New tea flavors are so exhilarating:

I proceeded to make myself dinner #1273 which consisted of 2/3 of a sliced apple toppped with cinnamon and 2 tbsp chocolate mousse:

I can’t get enough of that mousse!

I may have also eaten a little chunk of chocolate while preparing (spoiler alert!) tomorrow’s breakfast, and I definitely nibbled on all the components of tomorrow’s lunch as I got that ready, too. My belly is so content!

Oh, I almost forgot! I figured out what went wrong with the basil-spice meringue kisses the other day! They collapsed because I did not add any cream of tartar, duh. I decided not to use it at the last minute when the whites whipped up so fast and sturdily, but I think the “mix-ins” were too heavy to keep the meringues afloat while they baked. I tried it again tonight with 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, and they held their form! I sampled one right out of the oven:

Perfect! I’ll get the recipe up a bit later. Of course, the BSI: Basil ship has sailed (and very deliciously, I might add, thanks to Brandi’s basil-strawberry scones), but I still have time to get in my entry for the Eggland’s Best Egg Recipe competition! 😀

Phew, are you sick of reading about all my food yet??

It would be so amazing if I could go to bed right now, but alas, I have to go pretend to read an article for tomorrow’s class enough to write a passable summary of it, blech. I’m planning on an 11pm bedtime so I can get up at 7 for a run before I have to leave. And the clock starts ticking NOW!

** If you could use a little comfort in your life, click here for a chance to win it!**

Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition

A Natural(ish) Parenting & Food Blog

Tag: Experiments

Awake

No sugar; extra balls (+ laundry Qs answered)

Renewal

Buzzzzzzzzzzz

I figured it out!

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