Tag: groceries

Caramelized onions …

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… 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).

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img_7482Almost 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:

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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:

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

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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:

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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.

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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:

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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:

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

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Kettle Corn from the WF customer service desk:

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

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

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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:

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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?

Repurposing leftovers, part 671

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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.

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“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:

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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:

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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:

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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.

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

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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.

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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):

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A better view of the pizzazz:

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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 😛

Greens, greens, nothing but greens

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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:

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And two packs like this of baby gum:

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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:

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(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:
img_6309This 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:

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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:
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And half of a zucchini muffin:

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And there was a bit more fancy candy action.

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(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:

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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:

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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:

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

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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:

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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:

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

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

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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:

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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:

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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!


Half-baked

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Ever since accidentally making lemon-meringue oatmeal yesterday, I’ve been fantasizing about recreating the amazingness today … the crumbling meringue crunch, the tart lemon custard, mmmmmmm. But before I get carried away, I want to give a few more details of the cooking procedure since it was such a success!

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Last night, I combined 1/4 cup dry steel-cut oats in an ovensafe bowl with 2 tbsp unsweetened soymilk, 2 tbsp water, 1 small chopped apple, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Over the top of the mix, I spread about 2 tbsp plain yogurt, solely for moisturizing purposes since cooking yogurt kills off the healthy bacteria. Here’s what it looked like before going into the fridge:

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This morning, I got up for my run and even made it all the way outside, but I just wasn’t feeling it! Rather than force a run and hate it, I just jogged once around the block and came back home to do some Gentle Hatha #2. While I was yoga-ing, my oats were cooking in the oven, covered, for 30 minutes at 375. Here they are right out of the fridge, after mixing and before going into the oven:
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They came out of the oven looking like this:

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In my pretty glass bowl, I layered the hot oats on top of 1/3 cup lemon custard (yogurt + cottage cheese + 1 tsp lemon curd). Just like yesterday, I crumbled two basil-spice meringue kisses over the top and added another dollop of lemon curd. Around the side were two balsamic-strawberry oaties dotted with homemade almond-cashew butter.

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Mmmmm, just as tasty as I remember! I am so enjoying this experience of indulging in a pricey, fancy condiment that I never would have considered buying if not for the Forbidden Foods Challenge. It’s good to remember that I am allowed to treat myself every once in a while — my pennies do not always have to go toward things that are abolsutely necessary.

For an out-the-door snack at 10am, I had another oatie with about a tsp more of almond-cashew butter.

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In class this morning/afternoon, I thoroughly enjoyed my donation-fueled lunch. First up was my chicken fajita sampler.

Two pieces of regular chicken fajita wrap with tomato salsa and black beans:

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One piece of spinach fajita wrap with beans, brown rice, and roasted veggies:

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And one piece of sun-dried tomato fajita wrap with chicken, beef, and roasted veggies:

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The whole family:

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For crunch and spice, I had my snack of the week: 1/3 cup asparagus guacamole with a serving of riceworks.

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And for dessert, a 1-cup blended mix of plain yogurt and the cottage cheese from last night’s fruit salad, decorated with grapes and berries (also from the salad) and topped with vanilla almond granola:

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On the way home from class, I had to switch trains at the Whole Foods stop, so I decided I might as well stop in for some samples :D. I had a handful of almonds with raisins and dates, 5 cheese cubes, 2 crackers with artichoke spread, and a bunch of carrot matchsticks with spicy miso dressing. I also img_6269accidentally bought a bunch of things because they were on sale for unbeatable prices: 2 pounds strawberries ($2/lb), brussels sprouts ($1.99/lb), pineapple ($2.99), unsweetened soymilk ($3.20), 2 mangoes (2 for $1.50), goat cheese ($2.99), plum (free because it was sitting on the counter left from the previous customer!). Total cost: $16.50

I’ve been baking up a storm with a special project this afternoon (and eating lots of batter along the way!), but I imagine I’ll be back with dinner at some point!

Do you ever accidentally grocery shop?

Found dinner

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img_6232Lunch yesterday may have been uneventful, but dinner certainly was not! As I mentioned last night, I gathered a number of overflow food pantry items on my way out of work, thanks to Mildred and Pura! The goods, pictured to the right, included two packages of chicken fajita wraps, a container of fruit salad with cottage cheese and jello, a flounder sandwich, a pumpernickel baguette, three pumpkin muffins, a blueberry bagel, and a banana (from Jessica earlier in the day).

I sliced the bread items and added them to my freezer bag of carbs for enjoyment at a later date, the banana went into my countertop bowl of fruit, I portioned the 12 fajita pieces into 3 lunch-sized containers, and I kept the flounder sandwich and the fruit out for playtime dinner last night!

The flounder sandwich was loaded with mayo, which I’ve never been able to stand, so I dismantled it completely. I rinsed the lettuce and tomato until all evidence of mayo was obliterated. I also rinsed all of the breading and mayo from the teeny flounder pieces, brushed them with dijon, dredged them in coarse blue corn meal, and seared them in canola on the skillet until browned. They went on top of the clean lettuce and tomato:

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The sesame bun was soggy and loaded with mayo as well, so I pulled out and discarded all the gushy insides. The dry sesame-ridden outer layer went into the oven for 10 minutes at 450 until it turned into sesame chips that I could dip in some asparagus guacamole:

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I rounded out the meal with steamed asparagus and two slices of soy-lime coco loco tofu:

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Next order of business was the package of fruit salad. I immersion blended the 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, the results of which will appear in breakfast and lunch later today along with the berries and grapes :-).

For dessert, I ate the jello and the remaining fruit (pineapple, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe) topped with about 1/3 cup of crumbs from the pumpkin muffin-slicing earlier and a dollop of chocolate mousse:

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Ummm, YUM!

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And then, of course, there was dessert dessert: one piece of Lindt hazelnut chocolate, fresh from the freezer 😛

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So, it seems I really can’t go a day without having at least one meal deliciously inspired by donations from work. I don’t want this internship to end! (Aside from the food, I actually really do enjoy the work … and my coworkers, of course!)

Have you found any food lately?