Tag: nuts

Magical properties

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While I had my new coffee bean grinder out last night, I obviously needed to use it to grind some of my Bob’s Red Mill flax seeds! Feeling inspired by Sarah’s flaxseed pudding (fyi, I’m talking about the hilariously entertaining Sarah and not me!), I ground three tbsp of the seeds. Half I kept aside to use for tomorrow’s breakfast, and half became part of my dinsert:

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In a small saucepan, I immersion blended the 1.5 tbsp ground flax seeds with 1/4 cup silken tofu, 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk, 1/4 cup water, cinnamon, vanilla, and 1 chopped gooey Medjool date. Once blended, I brought the mix to a low boil for a few and then poured it into a ramekin that went into the fridge for a couple hours.

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While the pudding was setting, I snacked on three jasmine tea biscotti bites.

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Before chilling, the pudding was already pretty thick because of the tofu (I wanted to use it up before I left for the weekend), but after — wow! The flaxseeds definitely changed the consistency so that it actually set kind of like regular pudding would.

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I loved it alone but, this being dinsert and all, I needed it to be a bit more substantial. So I threw on chopped mango (Myrna gave me a whole mango at work the other day!), blood orange, strawberries, and blackberries along with the rest of the peanut roasteed chickpeas and some of my frozen Easter chocolate-caramel-nut candy.

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Mmmmmm, I am so excited about this flax seed “gelling” discovery. I never knew it had these properties, and I have a pretty full bag of them left so I can keep experimenting!

I used the other 1.5 tbsp of ground flax seeds for my breakfast this morning. I enjoyed my tofu oat bran with prune groatmeal topping for the third day in a row … with two (hmm, three four) key differences. First, I added the flax to the saucepan while stovetopping the bran last night. Second, I cooked the bran and assembled it with the groatmeal in an ovensafe bowl last night to allow for easy oven-reheating while getting ready this morning. Third, I topped it with homemade sunflower seed butter in place of my completely devoured cashew-almond butter. And fourth, I ate it in a takeout container on the subway 🙂

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In case I haven’t mentioned it yet, I’m loving the tofu oat bran! I think I could even eat it plain without any of the toppings. The fat from the tofu and soymilk add such a rich flavor to the already creamy oat bran. And the addition of ground flax made it even thicker! Such a satisfying combination.

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Despite the satisfaction, however, I got somehow hungry at 9 am while waiting for the plane in JFK (probably because I didn’t have any water to drink!) and whipped out this baby sweet batata that I baked last night:

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I’m now in the Charlotte airport awaiting the arrival of my super special local tour guide who offered to help me fill the afternoon until I meet Wife (who went wild for scones here) who’s driving up from GA this afternoon!

Have you made any magical food discoveries lately?

Danger zone

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Breakfast this morning was delicious and complex:

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But before I get into the details of this multi-layer marvel, I have to fill you in on my morning at the gym 🙂 I did my Self Challenge strength workout last night before I went to bed so that I could focus on cardio this morning and get to work on time! I did 20 minutes on the Stepmill, 12 minutes on the elliptical, and 12 minutes on the treadmill (plus the jog to the gym and back and some stretching).

This was my first time back on the treadmill since the muscle-straining incident (which occurred outside and not on the treadmill, btw). Usually, 5.5 is a very comfortable treadmill pace for me that falls on the lower end of my treadmill speed range. This morning, 4.2 was all I could handle! Anything faster than that forced me into a too-long painful stride. My range of motion is so limited. I’m not a fan of being injured, and this slow recovery makes me nervous for both the 10k I’m running on May 9 and the half marathon I’m running on May 30. I suppose the flip-side is that the injury is seemingly forcing my body to work unusually hard for cardio and I burned something like 560 calories this morning. But I’d rather be burning fewer calories if it meant I were healed :/

Anyway, back to breakfast:

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I went Bob’s Red Mill crazy on this combo. Before I went to bed last night, I pulled out the crockpot and filled it it with two cups of whey from Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk, 1/2 cup BRM whole oat groats, 1/2 cup BRM triticale berries (similar to wheat berries), 1/2 cup pumpkin muffin crumbs (from the freezer), 1/2 cup chopped Newman’s Own prunes, and a big pile of cinnamon. I cooked the whole thing on low overnight.

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This morning, I cooked 1/4 cup BRM oat bran on the stovetop with 1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk and then immersion blended it with 1/4 cup silken tofu. That became my base layer.

I topped the tofu oat bran base with 1/2 cup of the crockpot prune “groatmeal” and topped that with a tbsp of cashew-almond butter and a sprinkle of unsweetened shredded coconut.

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picture-526Exciting, right? It was quite the production! I’m looking forward to doing it again tomorrow, too!

When I got to work this morning, check out what was waiting. Our very own agency Martha Stewart (aka Jessica) was inspired to bake her famous mini-cupcakes by the tray from yesterday’s mini-pumpkin muffins. She just knew it would make the perfect carrying case for her signature goodies.

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I milked these two over the first two hours of the day.

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They were the perfect morning snack!

However, the entire tray of cupcakes spent the rest of the day on the infamous conference room table. Here’s the view from my desk:

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Where is the most dangerous spot to leave treats lying around in your life?

Also, The Professional Vegan did a great review post today of a NYT article about “aspiring vegans” who follow “veganish” lifestyles. This is relevant because the subject of the article, Jeffrey Masson, was interviewed at Angelica Kitchen, a fabulous vegan restaurant in NY where I have eaten!

Con dulce, por favor

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It’s been another sugary day around these parts!

Someone brought in Whole Foods mini-pumpkin muffins this morning and planted them right on the conference room table (aka an inch away from my desk). These muffins never really tempt me, though, since the ingredient list is right there and sugar is first on it. I always get so disappointed in WF when I see that. I did, however, take up a crumb collection and eat that once all the muffins were gone:

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Just before lunch, Myrna came around handing out a fun new food tool to everyone that Tupperware sent her because she started doing Tupperware sales. I had packed the perfect snack to test it out. Just watch the magic here:

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Pretty amazing, right? So I’m now the proud new owner of an orange peeler 🙂 I shared some orange and ate the rest:

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For lunch, I had another mama creation that came home with me from MA on Sunday: a cup of chicken, kielbasa, and root vegetable casserole.

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I also had another bite of Vianni’s tuna noodle salad:

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And 1/2 cup of Myrna’s rice and beans:

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And pulled a teeny bit of Myrna’s taaaaaaasty saucy chicken off of this bone:

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I also had my fruit salad + yogurt + golean crunch (from MA, too — I go grocery shopping in my mom’s fridge at the end of every visit):

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img_7938The star of the meal, however, was clearly Mildred’s husband’s habichuela con dulce (a traditional Dominican dessert drink that appears between Ash Wednesday and Easter and that I’ve raved about here and here). I definitely refilled my cup three times. The best comparison I can come up with is that it is like drinking liquid pumpkin pie. In other words, habichuela con dulce is delicious beyond your wildest dreams.

Two of my afternoon visits ended up canceling, so I accompanied Mildred on hers. Both happened to take place in excruciatingly hot apartments. When we finished, Mildred decided that she needed ice cream and that I did, too. Here’s my kiddie scoop of Rocky Road, courtesy of today’s sugar fairy:

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Now, I have not had Rocky Road ice cream in forever, and I’ve probably never had it from Baskin Robbins, but I have to say that this was the best Rocky Road I’ve ever had. It was amazingly creamy, and what’s more, the marshmallows were perfect little pockets of fluffiness! Every other time I’ve had Rocky Road, the marshmallows have been so frozen and mixed in that they weren’t even identifiable as such.

Around 3:30, I broke out another of the cheese sticks that mom sent back to NY with me. The m&m mug and I fought over who would get to eat it, but I won of course. It was no contest, really.

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In my final sugar hurrah of the work day, I heard Jessica whispering something about chocolate cake from down the hall. I got up to investigate, and she informed me that it was Cleo’s birthday in Preventive and they were struggling with a cake overage. We went upstairs together to assist.

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Cake rescued; crisis averted.

Umm, this spoonful of whipped vanilla frosting is on my camera for some reason. I don’t know why? 😛

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I got home and prepped a necessarily light dinner of salad, jasmine tea biscotti bites, and leftover almond sunset tea from this morning. Dinner enjoyed the company of my new Easter decorations: a straw bunny from dad and stepmom, a Lindt dark chocolate bunny from step-grandma, and a spread-eagle bunny planter also from step-grandma:

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The salad contained lettuce, arugula, 1 tbsp Newman’s dried berry blend, 1 tbsp peanut roasted chickpeas, grated homemade parmesan, and a drizzle of Annie’s lite gingerly vinaigrette:

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A few more tbsp of the chickpeas went directly from jar-to-mouth 🙂

What sweet things did you eat today?

Cake and cookies

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After the exercise class last night, I was only slightly hungry (and mostly tired) so I put together a little snacky plate with healthyish cheesecake, peanut roasted chickpeas, and prunes and apricots with PB2.

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There’s also a little piece of the caramel-nut-chocolate candy (on the stick) that my step-uncle gave me for Easter yesterday.

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As I mentioned, I took the Open Cardio Gyrokinesis class last night at the Madison Park location of kinespirit, a fancy gyrotonic studio, with the coupon that Melissa from Fitness NYC brought to the blogger brunch last month. Melissa very accurately reviewed and described the class here.

My experience was pretty much identical to Melissa’s (although my instructor was Christina). I was exhausted yesterday after work and almost didn’t go to the class at all, but I’m so glad I did! It was gentle and easy on my body and my poor strained glutes and hamstrings, yet it somehow snuck in a vigorous abs and arms workout I didn’t even realize I was getting. As Melissa explains in her review, gyrotonic seems sort of in the same family as pilates, although it is definitely NOT pilates. I was apprehensive going into the class because I don’t normally frequent this type of out-of-my-budget small private studio, but Christina and the rest of the staff were very welcoming, and I felt comfortable right from the start! Definitely check out Melissa’s review that I mentioned above and go experiment with some gyrotonic if it sounds good!

This morning …

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I’m quite enjoying this almond sunset tea! I probably need to rename it almond sunrise tea.

My breakfast cookie was such a success yesterday that I replicated it exactly for today’s breakfast:

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In case anyone is struggling with breakfast cookie texture, I’ve noticed a few key tricks that seems to help tremendously in solidifying the cookie in the fridge overnight:

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(1) As you mix the “cookie dough” the night before, it should be as close as possible to the consistency of real cookie dough. You should be able to pick up all the dough in your hands, roll it into a ball, and flatten it onto a plate. (For me, this involves adding no more than 1/2 tbsp of liquid, if even.)

(2) The addition of dried fruit works wonders because it helps the oats soak up all the moisture.

(3) Frosting makes everything better.

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I had a boat egg on the side again as well.

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Brandi asked yesterday why I called it a “boat egg.” Does anyone else do this? I thought it was a common thing, but maybe it’s just a weird family thing! My parents always called hard-boiled eggs sliced this way “boat eggs” when I was little. I think they did this for two reasons: (1) they sort of resemble little canoes in looks and in the way they slide around the plate (right?) and (2) it made the eggs more exciting for me to eat, along the same lines as “broccoli trees.”

Do you remember fun food names from your childhood that helped motivate you to eat?

Nut safety (and a winner!!)

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First things first. It’s time to announce the winner of the Everybody’s Nuts Pistachi-YES giveaway! Random.org has made its selection from the 93 entries (including comments, link-backs, and emails from non-bloggers), and the winner is #78:

Amie: The nut recall makes me sad because then nuts get a bad name. :(

Amie, I will be emailing you soon to arrange for delivery of some safe and disease-free nuts 😛

Onto the food!

As I was sipping my sugar cookie sleigh ride tea at 9:23 am this morning, I noticed one of the nurses set a promising foil-wrapped platter down on the other end of the conference room table, along with a pile of plates and knives. This could only mean one thing: cake. I didn’t want to seem too eager, so I whispered across to Rosey that there was cake in the conference room, and she hopped right up and headed down to get the ball rolling. And it turned out to be banana walnut, yum! Here’s my piece, heated in the microwave and then slathered in whipped vanilla frosting that I found in the fridge:

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The cake kept me going until lunchtime, when I broke out another fun treat: butternut squash, ground beef, and eggplant shepherd’s pie from mom! She packed this big slice in the food bag I brought home from MA yesterday.

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I think there’s kale in there, too? I had it on a bed of arugula. It was perfect and yummy and tasted like mom’s cooking because that’s what it was. I wish I had more!

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I also had a bite of Vianni’s tasty tuna macaroni salad:

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And finished Mildred’s salad for her:

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And two of Mildred’s daughter Adriana’s chicken nuggets:

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I haven’t had chicken nuggets in years! Somehow, they tasted better than I remember …

Post-lunch was a blood orange. I shared half with my coworkers (finally, they liked the looks of something I brought in!) since they were intrigued by the color. None of them had ever seen or heard of a blood orange before.

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I also had some blurry yogurt art made from fruit salad and yogurt that traveled from MA to NY with me yesterday:

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I was hungry again by 2:30 and had a cheese stick, also courtesy of mom:

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The final mom treat of the day came at 4:30. I broke up two of mom’s kitchen sink muffins (she sent me home with a ton yesterday!) and spread about a tbsp of cashew-almond butter over them before microwaving to get it all melty, YUM:

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It’s probably worth mentioning that I left my Newman’s mints at home by accident, so lots of other candies made their way into my belly throughout the day.

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I stayed late at work because I was planning to go to the 6:30 gyrotonic class at Kinespirit with the free coupon Melissa gave out at the blogger brunch last month. I was somehow still feeling a little bit underfed when I left work and knew I would need to last until I got home at 8:30, so I had an emergency spoonful of the office’s extra chunky Skippy:

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That did the trick!

I was very unsure of what to expect from the gyrotonic, but it ended up being just what I needed tonight. I’ll have to talk about it more in my next post because I’m too tired now!

What’s the best exercise class you’ve ever taken?