Scrump-dip-liumptious

March 30, 2009February 6, 201517 Comments

Woohoo, the Bob’s Red Mill giveaway is off to a great start! Keep those entries coming!

In other exciting news, I am back safe and sound from the doctor. While waiting to go in for my appointment, I took this beauty out of the candy jar:

The outside was a white mint candy, and the inside was a real chocolate surprise, mmm.

The doctor pressed a lot of muscles in my back and in my leg, but nothing she did caused extra pain, so she thinks I had a big muscle spasm that resulted in some sort of enzyme explosion that is now causing me discomfort (or this is at least what I gathered from the broken English). She prescribed me an anti-inflammatory (which I’m debating about even fulfilling since I can just use ibuprofen) and sent me on my way with instructions to wait three more days before exercise and to try some stretching in the meantime. So I have big gentle yoga plans for tomorrow morning.

On the way home from the doctor, I stopped into my favorite beauty salon hair hackery, aka Supercuts, for a discount trim that turned into OMG, I have no hair left. Whatev, it will grow back in a month! I also snacked on three Newman’s Own Organics cinnamon mints. I’m actually enjoying these mints because (1) I don’t go through them the way I go through gum since they don’t have the addictive chew and (2) I’m not loading my body with weird chemicals and sugar-free sugars.

Also, in typical “expansion” style, I stopped into two gourmet markets on my way home (it was my first foray outside in over 48 hours!!) for samples: cotswald, gruyere, and fontina cheese cubes; roast chicken on a toothpick; and a tomato and mozzarella wrap sliver :D.

Dinner tonight was more snackiness since I haven’t been doing so much food prep the past couple of days:

Doesn’t it kind of look like a head, with wild soy crisp hair on top, guac and salsa eyes, and crazy apple teeth?

Those soy crisps are the Newman’s white cheddar kind … and they’re super tasty! I generally don’t buy snack foods like this, but if you do, these won’t let you down. They were especially delicious dipped into the salsa and homemade guac:

The other dinner component involved two slices of pumpernickel baguette toast topped with about 1 tbsp of super-dark cashew-almond butter (told you I roasted the nuts too long!) and some apple slivers for color:

Dessert was the stuff dreams (or my dreams, at least!) are made of: the rest of the apple slices dipped in leftover cheesecake batter (!!!!) from a roommate project and crumbled graham sticks.

I have two questions for you tonight:

1. What is your favorite dip concoction?

2. Did you get any good news today?

And remember to enter the Bob’s Red Mill giveaway if you have not done so already!

A club, a review, and a trash can

March 28, 2009February 6, 201515 Comments

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:

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

When 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:

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

Baby carrots:

(Probably ate about 20 of these.)

Jelly Bellies:

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

Peanut m&ms:

(See comment above about jelly bellies.)

And peanuts:

(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:

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:

Demonstration:

(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:

The aftermath:

(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:

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:

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:

Everyone loved these. I had two:

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

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:

And on Damon:

The boys took it seriously:

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?

La bomba

March 27, 2009February 6, 201512 Comments

OK, confession time: I was prematurely harsh in my comments about this afternoon’s pizza and “staff development” event! I should have known that my perfect internship would not let me down 🙂

But first things first. The second I arrived at my desk, Beryl popped over with the last bite of her coconut rum cake (she let me photograph the banana version on Monday) that she’s been devotedly saving for me:

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Whooooooeeee, was this cake something! The coconut flavor was definitely there, but so was the rum. Nothing like a shot of hard liquor to get the Friday started …

Before I went into my two-hour meeting with Heather, I snacked on the same best-ever yogurt/fruit salad/golean crunch combo I’ve been eating all week:

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After the meeting, I chowed down on this yummy stick of nutrition that Melissa passed out at the blogger brunch last Sunday:

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Even though I knew lunch was imminent (the event was about to start), I wanted to pad my stomach so I didn’t end up eating half a pizza (or a whole one) by “accident.”

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I was a fan of this bar — it tasted dense and healthy and was definitely satisfying. BUT, it does have sugar added … something I always think is so unnecessary when dates are involved!

The event started at 12:30, and here’s what was waiting when we arrived downstairs. Five boxes of pizza:

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Salad:

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Cookies (store-bought trio and homemade-by-Heather chocolate chip) and lemon squares (also homemade by Heather):

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Strawberries and cool whip:

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Here’s how I began:

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Round two:

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Yes, that is a second slice of pizza hiding underneath the salad (which is topped with salsa and tortilla chips) 😀 This pizza was surprisingly tasty, if quite a bit chewy. I patted down the grease with napkins and ate every bite except for the big pieces of plain crust on the end (I wasn’t sure my jaw would be able to handle them!). The best part was the crispy cheese:

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I followed the pizza with two of Heather’s delectable lemon squares:

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They were like perfectly buttery shortbread cookies topped with a thick layer of lemon curd … and we all know how I feel about lemon curd after this past week 😀

I also had a big bowl of strawberries with a heaping mound of lemon-square-crumb-topped cool whip:

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Plus another bowl just like it … except this time I topped the cool whip with a crumbled chocolate chip cookie:

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And then I had a homemade chocolate chip cookie straight up.

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Throughout the rest of the workshop, I snacked on loads more strawberries dipped in cool whip. Then, I made myself a giant bowl of just strawberries to munch on so that I could be distracted from eating all the cookies:

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Interspersed through all the eating was a great workshop! A group called YerbaBuena came to teach us about Bomba, one of the oldest musical traditions of Puerto Rico. The workshop still related to the theme of the book we had to read, but it was much more fun than the breakout groups and role-plays I had expected.

Mildred and Deborah danced while Jessica drummed:

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Vianni, Belkis, the workshop leader, Jessica, and Maria went wild on the drums:

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MORE dancing … Myrna, Mildred, Deborah, Inginia, and Jessica:

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Yes, clapping is the best dance move I can pull off.

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The day was pretty much over when the workshop ended. I celebrated with these candies (plus another mint):

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As Mildred, Pura, and I were leaving (Mildred drives me to my subway station downtown), I spotted this squirrel after my own heart through the windshield:

That squirrel was literally clinging to the tree by his toenails so that he could use both hands to eat the cookie he found on the ground!

I came home to (and brought home with me) a LOT of excitement! A dozen roses from Myrna as a thank you for the help I give her with her papers (AWWWWW!); a cup of strawberries, 4 cookies, and leftover salsa from the workshop; a fun Stonyfield bag filled with yogurt coupons; and a lifetime supply (or close to it) of Newman’s Own Organics products for later review:

I’m not even going to show you the inside of that box because it is just TOO overwhelming (in a good way) … but rest assured that you’ll be seeing everything as I get to it over the next 10 years.

I’m off to discuss yet another book at the book club my friend Amanda is starting — and I’m obviously bringing some Newman’s to contribute to the snacks of the night!

Now that I have so many snackss, I need ideas! How do you or would you use a million pretzels if you had them?? Any favorite pretzel snacks/meals you can suggest?

Frosted Friday

March 27, 2009February 6, 201515 Comments

I had a snacktastic breakfast this morning:

But gym before breakfast. I did 15 minutes on the bike followed by 30 on the elliptical (again, trying to go easy on the old knees). Stats: 1 hour and 10 minutes, 397 calories, 123 average heart rate, 171 max. I know that strength has been conspicuously absent from all of my workouts this week. All of a sudden, I just can’t even stand the thought of doing the same old, same old. Coming up with a new plan is at the top of my agenda for the weekend.

My snacky breakfast began with 1/3 toasted blueberry bagel with 2 tbsp of a spread made of Greek yogurt, part-skim ricotta, goat cheese, lemon curd, and cinnamon. Topped with sliced strawberries:

You MUST try this combo!! (Emily almost already has, with her blackberry and lemon curd filled wedding cake, drooooool.)

Breakfast snack #2 was 1/3 cup healthy lemon [curd] cream cheese icing (hidden on the bottom) topped with the last 1/3 cup spinach oatmeal, another dollop of icing, a spoonful of homemade almond-cashew butter, unsweetened coconut, and sliced strawberries:

Along with a couple tbsp granola/trail mix/cocoa-java almonds for gradual mixing in:

With soymilky black tea and sunlight of course 😀

This afternoon will be interesting, as we have a four-hour long “fun” event planned that is going to involve discussion (and perhaps break-out groups and role-playing, my FAVORITE, haaaaa) of this book.

Lunch is going to be provided, but word on the street is that it will be pizza from a local pizza spot. I am aware that I live in NY, home of the best pizza in the world, and the notion of free lunch pizza should excite me … but I work in East Harlem. Not exactly the pizza capital of the city …. I’m bringing a bunch of snacks just in case.

P.S. It’s Friday! What will be the best part of your day today?

P.P.S. I mentioned the other day that I should have been born in the DR (Dominican Republic) because I am in love with the food my coworkers bring to share with me. My dad replied to the post, “We thought about having you born in the Dining Room but thought better of it.” His comment made me laugh out loud, and so I wanted to share 😀

All-in-one

March 26, 2009February 6, 201518 Comments

Well, I suppose it’s time to get moving on a recap of the entire day! Seriously, where does the time go??

I got back into the cardio groove this morning (thank goodness because my body was craving some sweat action) with a solid run around the park. Stats: 4.2 miles, 41 minutes, 380 calories, average heart rate 160, max 173. Despite the cloudy chill outside, the air sort of smelled like spring. Do you know what I mean? And I saw a few little yellow daffodil buds peeking out on the side of the road. Very exciting!

I got crafty for breakfast. Last night, I mixed 1/4 cup of my spinach oatmeal blend with 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats and spread it on a plate to set in the fridge breakfast cookie-style. This morning:

Because the cookie behaved so well, I smothered it with 1/3 cup of modified healthy cream cheese icing: nonfat Greek yogurt, part-skim ricotta, cinnamon, vanilla, and 1 tsp each of lemon curd and goat cheese. You may be skeptical of the goat cheese-in-a-sweet-meal combo you’ve been seeing on here lately, but believe me when I say it pairs perfectly with the lemon curd!

I topped it all with strawberries, granola/trail mix, and some cocoa-java almonds:

I was running ridiculously late for class, so I ended up rolling the whole thing into a breakfast burrito of sorts and stuffing it into a container so I could enjoy on the train.

And enjoy it I did!

I continued nibbling all throughout class, starting with a sliced apple and my second packet of Barney Butter from the Foods That Fit prize pack.

(Sorry for the recycled picture! I got to class too late to do my usual photo shoot before it started.)

Next was the last two stuffed collard greens:

With a half cup roasted veggies:

And, of course, my colorific tropical fruit salad + yogurt topped with golean crunch:

After all the healthy, I needed chocolate and peanut butter stat. Luckily, Lisa came through with this golden nugget:

When I got back to the Slope later, I popped into the library to return a couple books and pick up my latest reservation, Gastropolis. I’m so excited for this one!

I also stopped into Union Market for samples — a cube of gruyere, two rice crisps, and some marinated mushrooms. I continued the snacking when I got home with 1/3 cup of fruit salad with trail mix and dark chocolate-pomegranate tea (leftover black tea from this morning, a fresh bag of TJ’s pomegranate white tea, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, splash unsweetened soymilk, spinkle of cinnamon):

(Warning: Before you try this at home, I did not sweeten this tea because I was in the mood for some bitterness. If you’re not into straight unsweetened cocoa powder, you should prob add some sweetness!)

I got hungry again around 4:00 and decided to just go straight for dinner instead of messing around with some sort of snack endeavor. I made a quick open-faced sandwich with two slices of pumpernickel baguette (from work last week), a smear of goat cheese, slices of radish and granny smith apple (also from work), and two Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Black Bean-Salmon Patties.

In the background, you can see the last 1/3 cup roasted veggies that I tossed in for bulk:

Dessert was brilliantly fun! I heated about 1/2 cup of the Sylvia’s banana bread pudding from work yesteday (thanks again, Pura!) and froyo’d a mix of 1/3 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup part-skim ricotta, 1/2 mashed banana, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tbsp peanut butter, and 1 chopped hershey’s kiss. Here’s the resulting chocolate chocolate chip peanut butter banana ice cream sundae, garnished with sliced strawberries to appease my dad and his brownness-aversion 🙂

And to conclude, I had 1/2 a chocolate rugelach (from the Gastropolis event mentioned above) and two Jasmine Tea Biscotti Bites.

Speaking of the bites, more reviews have been popping up around the blogworld, thanks to Vani and Brandi. Three dozen of these goodies could be all yours on April 6! Make sure you save the date so you remember to bid on these and other treats during Meghann‘s bake sale for a good cause!

kreativ In other exciting news, Dulcie of Daily Dulcie and Leanne of Fuel and Fitness have both awarded me with the Kreativ Blogger award. Thanks, ladies!! This is such a huge compliment coming from bloggers of your “kreativ” caliber 😀

When and where do you feel most creative?

Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition

A Natural(ish) Parenting & Food Blog

Tag: snacks

Scrump-dip-liumptious

A club, a review, and a trash can

La bomba

Frosted Friday

All-in-one

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