Tag: fruit

Snow run

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As planned, Kate came over this afternoon so we could go on our own run instead of heading into the city for running club tonight. I’m so glad we went when we did because it started snowing as soon as we stepped out the door. Most of the sidewalks were still lacking a good shovel, so the going was slow and our legs got a serious workout. I tried to pretend it was beachy sand again … but I must have used up all my imagination magic this morning. The snow got progressively heavier as the run went on — I could hardly see by the end. My next running investment will have to be a pair of ski goggles! Stats: 43 minutes, 4.23 miles, 410 calories (total for today is 888), average heart rate 165, highest heart rate 179.

For lunch, I started with red cabbage. So pretty before it’s cooked!

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After chopping and steaming the red cabbage, I mixed it with the rest of last week‘s sofrito rice from the freezer.

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And of course I heated a heaping cup of yesterday’s red lentil-peanut soup. I can’t say enough about this soup! It’s so thick and filling — a perfect winter meal. I garnished it with a little piece of basil from my basil plant to make it prettier:

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Lunch from the rice’s point of view:

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For dessert, I had more sugar cookie sleigh ride tea alongside some pumpkin yogurt:

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I used 1/2 yogurt, 1/4 cup pumpkin, 1/4 large banana (some mashed, some chopped), 1/2 apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger:

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I feel completely satisfied right now and nowhere in the vicinity of hunger … but I’m guessing the 888 calorie burn will catch up with me soon enough and I’ll be at it again!

Gourmet brunch, thrifty style

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If you’ve been paying attention, you know that my dinners out this weekend have provided me with two new food items: whole cardamom pods from The Ayurveda Cafe and freshly baked bread from Le Pain Quotidien. This morning, I combined the two to make Cardamom French Toast!

I broke into a cardamom pod, and here’s what I found inside:

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I gathered about a tsp of the seeds (and I still have more pods left!):

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Because I don’t have proper spice grinding tools and I didn’t feel like using a knife to chop the teeny seeds to smithereens, I added them to my French toast batter in the hopes that they would soften as they soaked. In addition to the cardamom, the batter contained 1 egg, 3/4 cup skim milk, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. I sliced last night’s bread so I had four pieces:

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And pressed the bread into the batter bowl so it could soak in the fridge for 30 minutes while I worked on other things:

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Eventually, I heated 1/2 Tbsp canola oil in a nonstick pan and dumped in the entire contents of the bowl. Some of the bread pieces fell apart because they were so saturated with the batter. Can you spot the cardamom?

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Once the French Toast finished cooking, I topped it with cinnamon and a tsp of my roommate Brigitte’s (of the pulled pork fame) maple cream. Have you experienced maple cream before? It tastes exactly like those leaf-shaped maple candies they sell in Vermont … except that it’s creamy (surprise!).

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Here’s my brunch spread with Nutcracker Sweet tea, the last half cup of chopped cantaloupe and strawberries (with nutmeg), and French Toast:

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Mmmmmm:

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Of course, I ended up topping the toast with the fruit:

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I loved the cardamom flavor in this dish. The whole seeds were definitely more flavorful than my ground cardamom, and they added a fun crunch to the meal. Because some of the seeds were still a little too strong, I’ll probably soak them longer or find a way to crush them next time.

Although delicious, I’m not sure how long this meal will hold me over since the bread was definitely not whole grain. I will very likely be eating again sooner rather than later!

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Before I left for the movie, I threw together a very quick and very late lunch. I heated the rest of Thursday night’s steamed cabbage in the oven and topped it with the last of my sofrito sauce:

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And of course, because every meal must end with something sweet, a toasted Chocolate Fig VitaTop with a tsp of peanut butter, a half cup of chopped strawberries and cantaloupe, and a drizzle of yogurt:

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Because I can’t help taking 10,000 close-ups:

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After the movie (Bride Wars — a little bit cute and funny … a big bit sickeningly predictable and superficial), I accidentally went out to dinner with the girls (review to come) and put myself over-budget on entertainment spending before the week has even begun. Dear Sarah: You are not allowed to engage in any social events requiring money for at least one week. Sincerely, your bank account.

After dinner, I decided to hit up the Food Emporium right by the subway station. Holy expensiveness! I used to shop at Food Emporium all the time without realizing the ridiculousness of their prices … but that was pre-grad school when I had an actual income and before I figured out how to prepare fresh food. Everything cost 2-3 times what I usually pay in Brooklyn and I was soooo tempted to abort the mission, but I kept thinking about how much I did not want to have to drag myself to the store tomorrow in the snow. I spent $16 for this paltry showing:

bananas (3), oranges (3), red pepper, red cabbage, dried chickpeas, dried lentils, gallon skim, carrots

bananas (3), oranges (3), red pepper, red cabbage, dried chickpeas, dried lentils, gallon skim, carrots

Right now, I’m preparing my yogurt for its overnight incubation, clearing the fridge of roommate-forgotten rotten produce, and enjoying this little late-night snack:

sugar cookie tea and a freezer-saved conference room cookie from work!

sugar cookie tea and a freezer-saved conference room cookie from work!

Night night night!

Lazy brunch

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All week long, thanks to this and this, I’ve had a pancake craving snowballing out of control. I was ready to take action when I woke up this morning, so I developed a single-serving recipe for Apple-Cinnamon Pancakes with Peanut Sauce.

Hot off the pan:

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All seven pancakes topped with the sauce and flanked by Nutcracker Sweet tea and a bowl of cantaloupe and strawberries:

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I dumped the bowl of fruit on top of the pancakes because I’m a mixer:

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Yum! Despite the laziness, it’s been a productive morning because I have (1) satisfied my pancake craving and (2) completed four loads of laundry. Next up: Bride Wars with the girls!

Brown bag Q&A

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Today, as intended, I finished the last bits of lunch that I prepared on Sunday. Pork & beans, sofrito rice, yogurt/fruit, carrots, orange, and an apple and a mini-Luna (my backup-emergency-snack and my because-it’s-Friday-snack, both of which I definitely ate):

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Total food expenditure for the week: $30 groceries, $10 specialty teas (hello Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea!), and $19 restaurant (from tonight’s dinner … review to come). I am ready to start a fresh week with new food tomorrow!

Have I mentioned before that I sit next to a candy jar at work?? I try to limit myself to 3-5 mints per day solely for “breath freshening,” but some days, like today, I just go crazy and start walking to the jar every 30 seconds for fruity tootsie rolls, dumdum lollipops, mini candy canes, etc. So it’s pretty safe to make a daily assumption that I’ve had about 3-5 hard candies (or 8-10 on a day like today) in addition to what I picture!

Also, I received a question about what kind of bag I use for carrying my lunch tupperwares to work. First, in case you can’t tell, my tupperwares are single serving-sized, as opposed to average-sized tupperwares that probably fit 3-4 servings. The two larger tupperwares in the picture above hold one cup each, and the smaller one holds 1/2 cup. I can fit everything pictured, including my 28 oz. klean kanteen water bottle, into my BuiltNY lunch bag:

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My sister-in-law and brother gave the lunch bag to me (packed with airplane snacks to keep me going for the whole trip back!) when I visited them in San Francisco about a year ago, and I’ve probably used it every weekday since to pack and carry my lunches. It’s perfectly stretchy and durable — and it never fails to fit my lunch buffet!