Phew, that was close!

April 12, 2009February 6, 201520 Comments

Today had the potential to be yet another monster of an expansion day, but my tummy is kind of relieved that it was not!

When I got up this morning, I went downstairs (ohhh, to live in a multi-level house again …) to the living room so I could do my Self Challenge 2009 workout. What can I say … I’m serious about fixing my legs! I can feel my poor little muscles getting stronger again, too, and I was able to do some of the exercises that hurt too much to do last week, yay!

My dad picked me up a bit after 11 am, and we headed over to LA Roberts, a NaMA (that’s coolspeak for North Attleboro, MA) restaurant, to enjoy Easter all-you-can-eat brunch with Rae Ann (my stepmom) and her family.

Some background on LA Roberts: it was the fanciest place in town in 1987. In 1987, I distinctly remember that the all-you-can-eat brunch included yogurt because it was the only thing I would eat. The famed LA Roberts brunch seems to have devolved over time because there was no yogurt this morning, hmph. Nor was there cereal, toast, peanut butter, or jam.

The brunch did, however, come through with lots of lukewarm serve-yourself buffet platters full of foods that are not my favorite: ham, sausage, hash browns, other potato things, scary quiche. Because I’m good at scavenging, however, I put together a lovely little big spread.

Let’s play a game. I’ll show you a picture of the item, and you see if you can guess what it is. I’ll provide the answers at the end.

Item #1:

Item #2:

Item #3:

Item #4:

Item #5:

How do you think you did?

The answers, clockwise from the beans: (1) baked beans (I found them in a tin between the maple syrup and the whipped cream, hmmm), (2) broccoli (I spooned out all the broccoli from a giant vat of chicken penne alfredo), (3) fruit salad topped with apples in syrup (I found this teeny bit of fruit salad on a table by itself in the corner, floating in a flood of its own juices … or the juices of its originating can), (4) piece of berry scone (yes, the scones were pre-cut into fourths, but that ended up being fine with me since it was actually too sweet, if you can believe that coming from me, the cake queen. I ate half and gave the other half to my dad), and (5) the star of the show, a slice of French toast with thawed frozen strawberries.

I think I managed to do pretty well for myself, and I was pleased the the food was good enough to eat but not good enough to lead to further expansion.

The company was also quite enjoyable. My step-uncle (?) David brought bunny ears for everyone to wear. My dad was serious about arranging his perfectly. It was clearly a multi-step process:

As soon as we finished eating and the bunny ears were properly arranged, we all headed back to my dad and stepmom’s house to relax for a few before I had to leave to catch the bus. I received some fun Easter goodies that will surely be making an appearance quite soon.

At 2:15, dad and I left to go pick up my mom so they could both take me to the bus station in Providence. I heard through the grapevine that, after the big drop-off , my mom went back to my dad’s house to hang out with my stepmom’s family and they all passed a lovely afternoon together.

What a whirlwind trip! It’s relatively easy to get to MA from here, but I so rarely have the time and it always ends up being very rush rush rush. I hope I can go back for a more leisurely visit this summer!

As you know already, my bus came equipped with Wi-Fi. So excited that Peter Pan is moving with the times! If only my computer could have lasted longer without a charge …

On the bus, I ate my packed “snunch” of 1/2 cup matzo muesli with 1/2 cup plain yogurt and a cup of fruit left from yesterday’s chocolate fountain. Pardon the blur. We had some bumpy roads, and I wasn’t about to wait for smoothness to dive into this!

I got back to my apartment just before 8 and made a little snacky plate while I raced around to get ready for the week. The plate included the final two pieces of pumpernickel baguette with cashew-almond butter and coconut, a pile of peanut roasted chickpeas, and some overflow fruit salad from home that I couldn’t fit into a container for the fridge.

I also had this itty bitty piece of a slice of my mom’s birthday cake.

She saved and froze (now you know where my dessert-freezing compulsion comes from) the slice for me from her birthday celebration with my step-dad’s family. Wallen, step-grandpa (I’m realizing I’ve never had to explain these family members in writing before, so I’m suddenly having to concoct labels I’ve never actually used!), makes the most amazing chocolate fudge frosting from scratch, so my mom requests it on yellow cake every year.

I’m in bed now and it’s wayyyyyyyyyy past my bedtime — not how I wanted to start the week! — so I need to hit the sheets stat.

What is your favorite activity when traveling as a passenger in any kind of vehicle? Sleeping is mine.

Don’t forget about the pistachios!

Dessert again?

April 9, 2009February 6, 201512 Comments

Since I had cupcakes for dinner at work yesterday, I only had room for dessert last night.

Wait is that some cupcake in there? How did that happen?! 😛

The platter (aka teacup saucer) included a slice of healthy cheese cake and two itty bitty pieces of cupcake that “didn’t fit” in the freezer container last night, along with a Newman’s prune and dried apricot and 1/3 cup of fresh pineapple.

(Ugh, I hate the lighting in my apartment at night. Yellow always ends up looking so yellow.)

This also happened:

Those are strawberries stuffed with cashew-almond butter and not chocolate. I’m aware that I’ve started to make this distinction every time the butter makes its appearance. I think it’s probably more to remind myself that, while I may have eaten an entire tub of chocolate frosting yesterday, these strawberries played no part in the incident.

I also mixed up today’s breakfast last night (and licked the bowl several times along the way). I’ve been wanting to try the Bob’s Red Mill extra thick rolled oats for ages since I love “bite and texture” in my food … and this package promised to deliver both of those critical elements. (I usually opt for steel-cut or whole oat groats because I know they’ll give me the right chew.) Would this extra thick variety would be any different from regular old-fashioned rolled oats?

Into the mix went 1/4 cup extra thick rolled oats, 1/4 cup yogurt of the week, 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk, 2 tbsp PB2, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1 tbsp Newman’s dried berry blend. After a quiet night in the fridge and a quick stir, my overnight oats definitely passed the visual thickness test:

They were so thick, in fact, that I actually added another splash of soymilk this morning (along with chopped strawberries and unsweetened coconut):

And they were chewy, thank goodness! I can tell right now that they will be ideal breakfast cookie material. I’ll have to experiment further to see how the “extra-thickness” holds up on the stovetop.

On the side, I had a seven-legged creature made out of an oven-toasted slice of pumpkin muffin (from my freezer’s bread bag) with a melty tbsp of cashew-almond butter and more sliced strawberry:

With soymilked mexican sweet chili tea:

I’m enjoying my leisurely mini-break so far — no class today because of Passover and no work tomorrow because of Good Friday. There’s quite a bit on my list, but I’m fine with that since most of it is enjoyable!

Next on the agenda is my triumphant return to outside running! The sun is shining, my leg is feeling strong, and so am I 😀 I’m going to digest for a few, and then I will be gone with the wind. Just kidding. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Are you slow and steady or fast and furious?

(Do you like nuts? Go enter my Pistachi-YES giveaway!)

Caramelized onions …

April 7, 2009February 6, 201523 Comments

… may have been the best part of my day 😀

I attempted to go to work this morning. I was still in pain, but I made it down the subway steps and into the station. And then I did something strenuous (like breathe), and sharp pains started shooting all around. I stopped moving for a minute and tried to decide whether I should continue. I think I walked in four circles because I didn’t know what to do! I finally told myself I was being ridiculous and obviously could not go to work in that state since work involves walking all over East Harlem and up and down apartment building steps and playing with babies on floors. I came out of the subway and called my mom to confirm that I was not being a slacker. She reassured me, and I went back home (even though I still felt guilty and more guilty for feeling so unreasonably guilty) to hunt down a Sports Medicine doctor (apparently my insurance only has ONE) and set up an appointment for this afternoon.

In the meantime, I still had to eat. I got hungry again around 10:30 and had my yogurt (same mix as yesterday).

Almost forgot, a mom brought this fun papaya yogurt for me yesterday! I don’t like fruity yogurts by themselves, but I mixed it into the big batch of plain + fruit and it added a tasty extra layer.

To make myself feel useful, I did more push-ups and crunches and added in some triceps dips off the coffee table (thanks, Jess!). A surprising number of you mentioned on my last post that you use your pets as exercise props. Freaks! No, just kidding, I think that’s cute and very resourceful. Almost makes me wish I had a cat.

The highlight of being home today was that I could use the oven and the proper tools to prepare my lunch … critical components because I was having pizza!! I made it on Sunday but didn’t let myself taste-test any because I knew I would need it later in the week.

I started with this mini whole wheat Boboli pizza crust that I got for free, thanks to the coupon that Tina sent in my Valentine’s package. I was so excited to open the package and see that that crust already had some cheese baked onto it, mmm:

Because I like my crust well-done, I baked it by itself for 10 minutes at 450 while I got to work on toppings. I had two things that I knew I wanted to include: the caramelized onions from last Tuesday night’s event and the last bit of goat cheese that was languishing in my fridge. Working from there, I made a sauce by immersion-blending the goat cheese with 1/3 cup plain Oikos yogurt and a few tomato slices (all I had!). I spread most of the sauce onto the crust.

The first layer of toppings involved the last five olives from a jar in the fridge and the last three radishes (thinly sliced) from my office’s food pantry leftovers a while back. Over that layer, I drizzled a bit more sauce for glue-action and added all of the chopped caramelized onions, a bunch of cooked chicken pieces left from a work event ages ago (they’d been stored in my freezer, obviously), some roasted red pepper pieces, and sprigs of cilantro. I also mixed a splash of balsamic vinegar into the last drops of the goat cheese sauce and drizzled that over the top:

I grated on some fresh parm and put the pie in the 450 oven for another 30 minutes until it got browned:

And half of that pizza became today’s lunch, yay! Since I was home, I got to reheat it on the pizza stone and serve it to myself properly:

It far exceeded my expectations! The sauce got so thick and goaty after all the baking, and the crunchy crunchy crust was the best part.

I can’t wait to have the other half on Thursday!

I whipped up a quick little dessert of approx 2 tbsp of that same yogurt mix with a biscotti bite (speaking of which, congrats to Kelsey, the highest bidder on these in Meghann’s bake sale!) and a spear of Hershey’s chocolate (plus sprinkles of Pb2 and nutmeg for glare management). It was like a mini Stonehenge:

Shortly after dessert, I was off to the doctor! To make a long story short, he thinks my problems involve a right gluteal strain and a left hamstring strain … and .. wait for it … he gave me permission to run through the pain! (within reason, of course, whatever that means) He also noticed that my hip adductors are weak and probably led to the strain, so he recommended that I get going on some lunges (I just wrote lunches, haha) and squats to strengthen the muscles. And I can do all of this now, apparently! This is good news, but now I feel like I’ve been being a big baby for the past week and a half. But everyone has been saying to stay off it and rest! I guess the answer is that there is no answer …

The doc also suggested that I look into neoprene knee compressors. I went to the sports store to investigate, but the guy there told me the compressors would only be a quick fix and the problem is more likely with my sneakers since I’ve been using the same ones since September for running and every other sort of activity. He had me run on a treadmill (which oddly enough did not cause me any pain!) and showed me how my feet are flat and my toes turn out, meaning that I need sneakers with extra support. He seemed sincere and not just trying to get a bigger sale, and what he said made a lot of sense. I just checked my sneakers here, and they do have that grey marking on the insole that indicates the support … but I can see how they’d be not so effective after all these months. So new sneakers are on the agenda. Maybe I can squeeze in a trip to Kohl’s when I’m home in MA this weekend?

With all of that in mind, tomorrow morning I’m going to get up, jog through the pain to the gym, and do squats and lunges! I can’t wait (sarcasm). I am, however, excited for the return of sweat.

The naproxen I downed while in agony this morning was clearly at its peak of performance, so I took advantage of my mobility by doing some errands around Union Square since I was there anyway. I sampled my way across several avenues as an afternoon snack. (If you’re still awake and reading, thank you! I don’t blame you if you’ve fallen asleep.)

Poor excuse for charoset from Garden of Eden:

Teeny bites of lemon tart and macademia tart from Whole Foods:

Kettle Corn from the WF customer service desk:

Strawberry dipped in chocolate (x2) from Trader Joe’s:

Frosted carrot cake (!!) and jam tart from Union Market:

I also actually bought some groceries this time. Can you believe it? For about $22, the goods included a pineapple, strawberries, medjool dates, spinach, arugula, sunflower seeds, peanuts, and Yogi Mexican Sweet Chili tea:

I’m sipping on the tea now with some unsweetened soymilk and … it’s interesting. It’s got an oddly sweet aftertaste and I somehow managed to not notice in the store that the #1 ingredient is licorice … a not so favorite flavor of mine. But, with a little luck, I should be able to acquire the taste since the tea cost $4 even with the coupon I had!

OK, I could go on, but I think I need to cut the cord here because this post is like a novel as it is! Have you ever run through the pain and lived to tell the tale?

Tomorrow’s the day

April 5, 2009February 6, 201523 Comments

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:

I 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:

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:

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

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

Yum, perfect sweetness!

friends Speaking 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.

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:

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

Wowwwwwwwwwwwaaaaa. I will be doing this again.

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:

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!! 😀

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?

Repurposing leftovers, part 671

April 4, 2009February 6, 201511 Comments

I was in no rush for breakfast this morning after yesterday’s expansion-fest, so a leisurely breakfast experiment was in order. I worked on a pot of Berry [much needed] Detox tea throughout the process.

“Worked on” was an appropriate phrase to use, as it turned out, because it was hard work to choke this thing down. I’m usually a fan of sweet and spicy combos, but anything berry-flavored should not be setting my throat on fire! I think the culprit was some rooibos in the blend — I really can’t stand that flavor. On the flip side, however, the teabag managed to break open in the pot, and I kind of enjoyed chomping on the little bits of orange peel that accompanied every sip.

Anyway, the experiment:

First, I mixed 1/2 cup of protein porridge with about 1 tbsp of Newman’s dried berry blend. Next, I smeared a bit of canola on the bottom of a pie plate and pressed the porridge blend onto the plate in a thin, flat strip. I baked for 20 minutes at 375, used a spatula to flip, and baked for another 20. Here’s what I came out with:

Doesn’t look like much, does it? BUT I mashed 1/2 an overripe banana (thanks to roommate Tara for donating her aging bananas and strawberries to me!) with 1 tbsp of PB2 and spread that onto my protein porridge berry flatbread. With a sprinkle of cardamom:

Yum! I enjoyed this experiment. It will have to happen again.

On the side, I chopped the rest of the banana into the 1/2 cup fruit salad from work yesterday. The lucky fruit salad got a topping of 1/4 cup healthy cream cheese icing and a drizzle of lemon curd.

I probably also had 4-5 smarties from yesterday’s shower favors:

I started to think about lunch around 2, even though I wasn’t nearly hungry yet. I’ve seen this tasty-looking asparagus recipe popping up over the past week courtesy of Michelle and Heather. Since I just happened to have a stash of fresh asparagus (and two giant portabello mushrooms caps) in the crisper, I decided that now was the time to jump on the curry butter train! I followed the recipe exactly, except that I added in those portabello caps.

When I got hungry (closer to 4), I ate 1/2 cup of the finished product on top of a pile of the salad that I brought home from work yesterday. Also involved in the salad were a ring of tamale slices with a little bit of guac pizzazz (and freshly grated parm and ground pepp):

A better view of the pizzazz:

Reminder: the Bob’s Red Mill giveaway ends tomorrow at noon. Get your entries in!

Also, go check the giveaway at N Her Shoes! You don’t have to enter, though, because I really need some new workout gear for ME 😛

Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition

A Natural(ish) Parenting & Food Blog

Tag: Experiments

Phew, that was close!

Dessert again?

Caramelized onions …

Tomorrow’s the day

Repurposing leftovers, part 671

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: