Tag: nuts

A wrench …

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… has been thrown into my plans.

But just so that you don’t get too bored too fast by too many words, here’s another mini Tale of Expansion from my coworker Nitza, who had the honor of experiencing an authentic homemade Ethiopian feast at a friend’s home a couple weeks ago.

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OK, it’s not so much a tale as a photograph, but I wanted to share because Nitza has been showing me this photo for a week, and it has made me drool every time. Ethiopian food is such an adventure.

So, back to the wrench. Kate and I did our 10 miles on pretty much the same route I did last weekend, through Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights, over the Brooklyn Bridge, and back. Stats: 1 hour and 49 minutes, 916 calories, average heart rate 152, max 173.

Now the bad news. I have had some slight inner thigh muscular discomfort for a couple of weeks. I figured it was probably some minor tug or tension or something due to the increase in running, and I’ve been focusing more on stretching and yoga this past week to make sure that nothing gets too out of whack. I started the run really slowly and gently today to give my body time to warm up, and it worked. Discomfort seemed a thing of the past by mile 3.

In mile 7, however, the muscle pain flared up again! I kept going because it was manageable, I wasn’t feeling fatigued, and I had a lot of things on my to-do list that I wanted to get home for! This may have been a bad idea. When I got home, I immediately did the 20-minute Yoga for Runners #1 from yogadownload.com because I felt in serious need of stretching and injury-prevention. After yoga and a shower, I was finding walking through the apartment to be an abnormally painful and arduous endeavor. I tried to bend down to get something in the fridge, and I couldn’t. My analysis is that I may have pulled or even sprained my right groin muscle somehow. I know — very cool, right? This could be a disaster.

I tried to carry on as normal and sat on an ice pack while I ate my muesli brunch.

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The muesli consisted of 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk, 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, and about two tbsp chopped dried fruit (berries, apricots, prunes, and raisins) from Newman’s Own Organics (yet another thing I had no idea that Newman’s made before yesterday). I let that mix sit for an hour during yoga and shower, and then I ate it on top of a cup of my tropical fruit salad and topped with some trail mix:

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And the pain persisted. I thought of the haircut, the laundry, the cleaning … everything I was finally going to do this weekend since I don’t have a ton of homework for once. But I couldn’t move!

I got up briefly from my ice pack around 4 to heat up linner. Here it is between the petals of the gorgeous roses Myrna gave me yesterday at work:

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I had some of Myrna’s chicken lasagna topped with homemade parmesan:

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And the rest of the Granny Smith apple slices from my work meeting on Wednesday with cinnamon and homemade almond-cashew butter:

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And then I hobbled to my room and napped for four hours because there was nothing else to do. I woke up a little after 8, got a new ice pack, took 3 ibuprofen, and called my mom and cried for an hour. I’m thinking I may need to go to the emergency room tomorrow? I’ve never had an exercise-induced injury before … and especially not a sprained groin which seems like the most awkward-possible location of a muscle sprain ever. Do you have any advice for me?

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things look less bleak in the morning. I don’t know what I’m going to do about this!

A club, a review, and a trash can

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Ohhhh dear, it’s going to be another one of those still-full-from-yesterday days…

On the way to the book club last night, I tested a piece of organic sugar-on-the-go from the package I received yesterday:

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Who knew Neman’s made breath mints? I certainly did not. Anyway, as far as cinna-mints go, it tasted like a cinna-mint.

img_6834When I arrived, Amanda set me right up with a delicious pear martini.

We actually discussed the book — something that has never ended up happening in any book club I’ve attended before! I think it helped that (1) this book, Those Who Save Us, was really intense, moving, and thought-provoking and (2) Amanda, Meghan, and I were the only ones there for the discussion portion. (P.S. Amanda and Meghan live there, so I was actually the only one there :P)

Amanda and Meghan had prepared a substantial spread of goodies to get us through the chat.

A port-wine cheese ball with melba toasties:

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(I think I ate about five of these over the course of the night.)

Baby carrots:

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(Probably ate about 20 of these.)

Jelly Bellies:

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(Errr, the jar was full when I arrived and empty when I left Sorry, Meghan!)

Peanut m&ms:

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(See comment above about jelly bellies.)

And peanuts:

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(Ditto. Yup, I mindlessly housed about two cups of peanuts in the space of three hours. Was I hungry for any of it? Nope. At least my body is now swimming in healthy fat …)

We also went to town on the snacks I brought. The last single-serve bag of kettle corn from the pack I found at work:

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And, the star combo of the night, Newman’s protein-infused pretzels (a close examination of the ingredients list seemed to indicate that the protein comes from pea flour?) with Nutella for dipping:

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Demonstration:

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(I might have repeated this action 12 or more times.)

Willie arrived in the midst of all this and had never tried protein-infused pretzels or nutella, so we peer-pressured him. Game face on:

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The aftermath:

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(You may not be able to tell, but that’s a look of pure pleasure. Really.)

Willie is also very thoughtful and aware of my compulsion to eat everything in sight, so he brought us a six-pack of Dunkin Donuts:

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Left to right, top: powdered chocolate frosting-filled, Boston Cream, powdered cinnamon-apple-filled; bottom: chocolate-frosted with sprinkles, jelly-filled, strawberry-frosted cream-filled.

I had the winning idea of cutting all the donuts into fourths so we could try little tastes. Which led us (or me at least) to try many tastes:

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Soon after the donut demolition incident, Damon, Laura, and Owl arrived. And things start to get fuzzy.

It started out innocently enough, with Owl boldly getting the ball rolling on the still-unopened Newman’s bite-sized chocolate chip cookies:

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Everyone loved these. I had two:

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The innocence continued with a simple pass-around-the-pretzels-so-I-can-try activity:

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Amanda somehow noticed a striking difference between these pretzels and all those that had come before. Her evaluation was poetic and beautifully-phrased, but I can’t remember it.

Things kind of deteriorated from there as everyone got carried away with the idea of doing a product review. Meghan and Amanda administered a blind taste test on Willie:

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And on Damon:

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The boys took it seriously:

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Interestingly enough, even in the blind taste test, everyone preferred — and noticed a striking difference between — the regular store-brand pretzels and the extra crunchy and subtly salty protein pretzels. Perhaps even more interesting, both Willie and Damon guessed that the store-brand pretzels (the non-preferred product) were actually Newman’s because they assumed that an organic and protein-infused pretzel could not possibly taste as good as a less-healthy and no-regard-for-nutrition-or-the-environment brand.

Amanda said it best:

I will definitely buy Newman’s Own Organic protein pretzels next time.

Newman’s should hire her.

In conclusion, my tummy hurts this morning. And my planned 10-mile-run (as opposed to accidental) with Kate is imminent. And I am hoping that the run will leave me feeling rejuvenated and refreshed and like I ate whole grains and produce last night instead of a trash can.

How are you faring this morning?


Misplaced birth

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The spinach oats kept me going until about 10:30 this morning — 3 to 3.5 hours seems to be the most distance I can get out of a bowl of oatmeal. Fine with me since the hunger means I get to start eating earlier 😀

I had a small chopped apple with one of the packets of Barney Butter that came in my Foods That Fit prize pack.

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It was my first time trying Barney Butter, and I was enough of a fan to pull apart the little packet post-squeeze and make sure I took care of every last one of the 90 calories in there!

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As tasty as the BB was, I don’t think I’d buy it. It has a bunch of unnecessary ingredients in it that I’d rather get from, say … cake! My nut butter can keep being made out of just nuts, thank you very much.

I was hungry again by 11:30 and decided to honor the feeling pronto with lunch #1: three more of the stuffed collard greens that I described last night and a sampling of my roommate Tara’s baby hydroponic tomatoes because she told me they were blogworthy and I agreed.

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The green ones look like mini-watermelons — so cute!

I ate real lunch at about 12:30 and, since I am once again the luckiest girl in the world with the most amazing coworkers, Myrna cooked last night and brought in a TON of food for me! I shared it with Vianni, and there was still some leftover to put toward tomorrow’s lunch. Here’s my bowl:

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My roasted veggies are in the back, and Myrna’s culinary masterpieces are in the front: rice with corn, potatoes, and chicken breast. I don’t even like potatoes, but Myrna seasoned these so beautifully that I actually ate all the skinny burnt pieces I could get my hands on.

Myrna supplemented the food she cooked with her leftover mangu from yesterday, be still my heart. I had about a cup of it.

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Next, Belkis appeared with her famous black beans and rice. I was in heaven and had about 1/2 cup:

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And for dessert, another tongue-painter candy:

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I have to say that I was kind of nervous about these “paint” candies because having a bright tongue could potentially challenge my credibility with clients, but I’m so weak when it comes to strawberry-flavored candy! Luckily, there was no lasting damage to my oral pigmentation yesterday OR today.

I had to leave for another visit around 1:40 and could tell hunger was coming back for me, so I ate my pretty yogurt before I left:

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A number of you commented yesterday about how delicious my yogurt breakfast combo looked when I ate this for a morning snack. I would just like to clarify that never in a million years would this itty bitty container with 1/2 cup fruit and 1/2 cup yogurt suffice for breakfast! It’s all about the oats 😀 That’s why they get their own post. I just use the yogurt as a tasty vehicle to keep the munchies at bay inter-meal!

And an on-the-way-to-the-visit breath freshener 😉

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When I got back to the office at 3:30, I had another super exciting treat waiting! Belkis’ cousin had stopped by with some freshly made habichuelas con dulce, YUM. I inhaled about a cup. Look at those big chunks of sweet batata!

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Perhaps I should have been born in the DR. Mom and dad, what were you thinking with the whole Massachusetts thing?

I had one more candy before calling it a day:

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I’m going to go out on a very sturdy limb and say that habichuelas con dulce is my new favorite dessert drink (my old and other favorite dessert drink is the balls of course). What is your favorite dessert drink?

Now I’m home, and I just remembered I have an assignment for class due Thursday that needs to get done stat!! Ahhhh, I’m off to go bury my head in the books … or the overpriced coursepack, as the case may be. I hate remembering things like this last minute! I’ll be back eventually with dinner because I’m 150% sure I’m about to eat in 3 …2 … 1 …

I’m addicted …

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… to spinach oats! How weird is that?

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And the gym actually WAS open this morning! I didn’t except any probs today, though, since they’re actually open 24 hours during the week, starting Monday at 5am. Someone’s alarm must have forgotten to go off yesterday. It happens. Anyhow, today I tried to listen to my old-lady achy joints and did 30 minutes on the elliptical followed by a thorough stretching session (plus the jog there and back). Stats: 1 hour and 1 minute, 338 calories, 122 average heart rate, 171 max.

I prepared today’s oats the same way I had them yesterday, except that I mixed the granola sprinkling with a bit of trail mix:

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And my standard soymilky tea in front of the pretty window photo:

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I’m off to do some serious work! Are you working or pretending to work right now?

By the way, there are like a million amazing giveaways (thanks to An Apple a Day for putting them all in one convenient post for me to steal!) going on right now:

1. Too much fun stuff to mention at Missy Maintains.

2. Almonds up the Wazoo at Melissa’s Journey.

3. Ahhhh, a brand-new Vita-Mix (!!!!!!!!!) at Jumbo Empanadas.

4. Barney Butter at The Hungry Yogini.

5. A variety-filled goodie bag at meloncauliflower.

6. And another Quaker spa prize pack at Run, Eat, Repeat.

Good luck!!

Longer than necessary

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Ahhh the trains today were out of control! Delays all morning, delays all night. Reason #56498 to leave NYC. Alas, I’ve got many months of grad school to go.

My morning fruit ‘n’ yog was so pretty that I had to take a picture of it from the side:

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My 1/2 cup of fruit salad was the same combo I’ve been eating all weekend — pineapple, mango, banana, plum, strawberries, grapes — and I topped it with plain yogurt + lemon curd + cinnamon and a sprinkle of golean crunch.

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Mmmmm, yogurt perfection.

Plus a pre-visit sugar fix:

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While on my visit this morning, the mom basically deposited a hefty square of tres leches cake onto my lap. How could I refuse? Obviously, I couldn’t.

I love tres leches cake — it’s probably the most moist cake you can imagine, given that it’s soaked in condensed milk and all. Mmmm, again. Unfortunately, I don’t take my camera with me to visits, so I didn’t get to capture the beauty on film/memory card/whatever it is. However, Beryl was just about to tuck into a banana-rum mini-bundt cake when I got back to the office, and she generously offered to let me take a picture before she demolished it. So, in lieu of the tres leches cake I did eat, here’s the banana-rum cake I did not eat:

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Lunch during the parents’ group today was a low-key affair since only a couple moms came in. I had a cup of raisin bran with 1/2 cup 1% milk and a few banana pieces:

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And then, I ate the rest of the banana smothered with about 2 tbsp peanut butter (aka perfection) and an orange:

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I probably ate another orange’s worth of wedges after that, too. Girl loves her fruit 🙂

A boredom lollipop:

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Later in the afternoon, I broke into the Quackers samples that Melissa brought to yesterday’s blogger brunch:

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Ooooh, they were so good! I made a little dip for them out of goat cheese, plain yogurt, dried basil, and freshly ground black pepper. Perfection again (there was lots of it going around today, apparently).

A breath-freshening mint:

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I inhaled pretty much all my dinner right at the start of class tonight. The spread included a cup of roasted veggies:

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With manchego cheese samples from the gourmet market:

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Two stuffed collard greens leaves:

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I made these with the same method I used for my Stuffed Kale Leaves, and I stuffed them with some of the mixed-grain salad I made last weekend.

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Hiding under the stuffed collard greens is some scrumptious roast chicken left from Mildred’s lunch today:

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The chicken couldn’t have come at a better time because I was feeling a little bit low on protein!

Dessert was a few banana and orange pieces left from the parents’ group this afternoon.

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And look what was waiting for me when I got home!

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My prize package from Abbie’s Foods That Fit giveaway!! I’m so excited for all of these treats: cocoa java almonds, 2 oatmeal squares, PB2, single-serve nutella, single serve Barney Butter (which I’ve never tried!), and sugar cookie sleigh ride (just as I’m running out of my last box of it … SO perfect) 😀

I was stilla bit hungry, so I actually broke into the almonds as part of this little snack set:

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The ramekin on the left has two more stuffed collard greens, and the ramekin on the right has 1/2 cup fruit salad with a mix of above-mentioned almonds, trail mix, and vanilla-almond granola.

But I wasn’t quite done! Last treat of the night:

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A chocolate macaroon from One Lucky Duck, another of the samples Melissa brought to lunch yesterday. Ahhh, this was so dense and chocolate-y. I want 10 more of them now.

But what I really really want more than anything else is go to bed. So that’s what I’m off to do!

And make sure you go check out julie golean because she is giving away HER favorite things, and her favorite things look pretty tasty 😀