Tag: snacks

You need a microwave for that?

14 Comments

Happy March! In honor of the new month, I’ve been marching right through my to-do list all day :-D. Laundry’s done, one assignment is done, another assignment is part-done, and I’m thinking about starting work on my group presentation any second now …

For breakfast today, I finally experienced the delicacy that is the Fitnessista Breakfast Cookie. Look how huge it is!

img_4888

Following Gina’s instructions, I prepped the cookie last night, making several adjustments because I don’t have protein powder. My b-fast cookie included:

  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 large ripe banana, mashed
  • 1/4 cup fresh pumpkin puree
  • 2 chopped dates
  • 1 chopped Hershey’s Kiss
  • 1 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
  • 1 tbsp toasted spicy/salty/sweet pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened soymilk

I spread the whole thing on a plate in cookie shape and left it in the fridge overnight. It was still somewhat goopy this morning, so I put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes to firm up as I’ve seen other bloggers do. (I thought later that powdered milk would have been good to replace the protein powder. I might try that next time to see if it removes the need for freezing.)

img_4891

When I finally got to sink my teeth in … YUM!! I ate it with a spoon from the inside out since the inside was less firm and melting faster — and I always like the edges of “baked goods” the best anyway:

img_4895

I expected the cookie to take all of 30 seconds to eat, but it took much longer! It was firm and chewy (not to mention the frozen spots that tasted like ice cream), and I really loved the addition of pumpkin seeds because they kept my teeth so busy and added extra crunch. I was also worried that I would miss my hot oatmeal, but I kept the longing at bay with a cup of hot soymilky black tea:

img_4887

I had expected to get hungry for a snack before lunch since I usually bulk up my oatmeal with yogurt, but there was no need! The cookie held me over for a solid four hours.

I kept my lunch main course light because I had big plans for lunch dessert! I mixed together a quick salmon and black bean salad with leftovers from making yesterday’s BSI Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Black Bean-Salmon Patties.

img_4899

The salad had:

  • salvaged ends of rotton roommate lettuce
  • 1/4 cup canned salmon
  • 1/4 cup black beans
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 2 tbsp salsa
  • 4 shredded baby carrots
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • paprika
  • 1 oz fat free feta, 1 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds, and freshly ground black pepper all sprinkled on top

img_4906

This salad was actually so delicious that I kept refilling it with more lettuce because I didn’t want it to end!

img_4896For dessert, I had this little single-serving bag of Kettle Corn that I picked up from work. I hadn’t had kettle corn in ages, but I remember loving it!

Which brings us to the title of the post. This is microwave popcorn, and I forgot that I do not have a microwave! Whoops.

So, first I tried setting up the popcorn bag in my makeshift double boiler.

img_4898

Once the cover was on, I waited. And waited. And waited. When there was still nothing after 30 minutes, I threw caution to the wind, tore open the bag, and dumped its contents straight into the pot:

img_4909

Sweet sounds of popping began within mere minutes of the cover going on :-).

Meanwhile, there was melted kettle corn butter all over the empty bag that I definitely did not lick.

Fully popped:

img_4910

Mmmmm, it was better than I remembered!! Of course, I sprinkled cinnamon on top, too.

img_4913

In other news, it’s snowing again???? Give me a break!

Some things to do:

1. Submit your best recipes for inclusion in the Foods That Fit Blogger Cookbook ASAP.

2. Go win some yogurt and yogurt accessories from Yogurt and Berries!

How dependent are YOU on the microwave?

A Sandwich-y day … plus BSI entry!

14 Comments

Aaaaaand, once again, Saturday has completely vanished!!

Lunch this afternoon was blogworld-inspired and beyond delicious.

img_4817

I’ve been thinking about this sandwich combo ever since SnackFace featured it in wrap-form earlier this week. The only difference is that I didn’t have apple butter, img_4806so I used fresh apple instead.

And check out this individually wrapped slice of whole wheat bread. My coworker Jessica comes into work every morning with about 7 slices! Apparently, the school her daughter attends gets donations of food and encourages parents to take any extra.  Jessica’s file cabinets had started to overflow with bread, so she gave me a few slices last week with instructions to “go home and make a sandwich.” So, Jessica, that’s what I did! My coworkers are feeding me even on the weekends, haha :-).

So back to the sandwich. Two slices of whole wheat toasted with mashed banana on one half and a tbsp chunky pb on the other:

img_4807

And slices of sweet potato and apple in between:

img_4808

I also added a sprinkle of cinnamon because, as we know, I’m an addict.

img_4812My sandwich went into the oven for about 10 minutes to melt everything together (the pb slice of toast was on top so the pb would drip down as it melted and infiltrate everything). Ahhhhhh, DEEELICIOUS! I ate the sandwich with steamed asparagus on the side.

img_4819

On the side, I ate a bowl of toasted pumpkin skins:

img_4822

My afternoon snack consisted of 1/3 cup fresh pumpkin, 1/4 cup plain yogurt, the holy trinity of spices, a chopped date, and toasted pumpkin seeds:

img_4825

Afternoon snack #2 consisted of gouda samples from the market by my apartment (I saved the chocolate samples for later):

img_4827

And then I got crackin’ on this week’s BSI: Black Beans. As usual, I wasn’t about to spend money on anything new, so I gathered every potential ingredient I could find in the fridge and cupboards and came up with Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Black Bean-Salmon Patties. And thanks to suprising twists from the apple, balsamic vinegar, blue cheese, feta, and adobo, these aren’t your usual black bean patties, let me tell you!

For dinner, I had a patty on 1/3 toasted sundried tomato bagel with a dab of forty spice hummus and cucumber slices:

img_4855

With grape tomatoes and more sliced cuke on the side:

img_4861

Dessert #1 was the chocolate samples I saved from my gourmet market trip earlier. I had samples of Brooklyn Fudge in — are you ready?? — dark orange almond, dark cinnamon almond, and dark wasabi pecan (there’s also a little piece of dried mango and a dried mulberry on the side). Mmmmmmm:

img_4830

Dessert #2 was “ice cream”: a mix of 1/2 cup fresh pumpkin, 2 tbsp soymilk, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, 1/4 mashed banana, 1 tsp peanut butter, and cacao nibs (from above). I topped the ice cream with a squirt of light whipped cream, sprinkles, and a toasted piece of raisin walnut bread (from the event I attended in this post):

img_4878

Dessert # 3 was my long-anticipated Aztec Gold truffle, the last of the prize-pack of truffles Brandi sent for my BSI: Spinach win. Clearly, I love the spicy-sweet combo, so I’ve been looking forward to this guy like crazy!! Look at the gold sparkle:

img_4872

And inside:

img_4873

See that big chunk of candied orange peel? Yummmmmmm. This truffle did not let me down! I’m so sad that I have none left now :-/.

For my final snack of the night, I had a prune and a dark chocolate heart:
img_4884

I’ve been so lazy ever since my run this morning. Soooo, I have no choice but to buckle down on the schoolwork for real tomorrow. Does your to-do list ever seem so long that it’s impossible to start?

Only food can make me move

10 Comments

Well, I finally dragged myself off of the couch last night and got around to some food, food of course being the only thing that could have made me move any sort of muscle. I threw together a random smattering of things to make some approximation of a salad:

img_4767

img_4772

The bowl had sauteed mushrooms, onions, and asparagus; a chopped sun-dried tomato; an egg yolk (leftover from something my roommate Tara made with egg whites earlier in the week); a bit of chicken (leftover from someone’s lunch at work); fresh cilantro and spicy red and green sauces (leftover from the taco my coworker Nydia gave me earlier in the week); chopped cucumber, fat free feta, dried basil and oregano, freshly ground black pepper, and drizzles of truffle oil and balsamic vinegar.

img_4771

Then, while slaying a pumpkin, I snacked on some more things, including some golean crunch clusters with a drop of soymilk, the teeny ends of a sweet potato I had just baked, more centerpiece conversation hearts, and bits of pumpkin flesh/skin/seeds as they were ready to taste:

img_4777img_4778img_4781

Because it was Friday night, I had more peanut butter frozen yogurt just like I made it on Thursday. This time, I topped the fro-yo with sauteed apple and banana. Loooooove that carmelized fruit:

img_4786

After finishing the night with fro-yo, I finished it a little more thoroughly with hazelnut chocolate:

img_4787

And then, it was time for bed. Tara gave me a fresh pair of earplugs, and they were amazing again! I hadn’t realized how much power the others had lost, but the difference was like night and day … literally, haaaaaaaa.

Also, go visit Lucky Taste Buds! if you’re in the market for free Barney Butter (and who isn’t??).

Exhaling

13 Comments

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh, it’s the weekend :-D.

I was up before the crack of dawn this morning for my arms on the step + stairmaster workout — it was 44 degrees by 5:15 am, so I didn’t even need all my extra layers, yay! Stats: 1 hour and 11 minutes, 446 calories, average heart rate 130, max heart rate 165.

Today’s oatmeal blend was the same as yesterday’s: 3/4 cup banana bread crockpot oats, 1/2 cup yogurt, unsweetened shredded coconut, nutmeg, and a tsp of pb:

img_4748

Alongside the oats, I had half a broiled grapefruit. If you’ve never tried a broiled grapefruit, you should. I love grapefruits the way they are, but I know lots of people find them a little too sour — and broiling ups the sweetness factor by a million. My motivation for broiling this half grapefruit actually came from the fact that it has been sitting in the fridge where one of my roommates left it nearly a month ago, and I noticed today that it had started to sprout a little bit of fuzz. I knew she’d throw it out anyway, so I rinsed off the fuzz and stuck it in the oven to burn off anything that might kill me. It turned out deliciously:

img_4749

Plus soymilky black tea and water:

img_4750

I ate my yogurt right before my 2-hour supervision meeting at 10. The mix included 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup fruit salad left from Wednesday’s meeting, cinnamon, cardamom, and a sprinkle of golean crunch:

img_4753

img_4755I also had a very special treat waiting for me at the office today: habichuelas con dulce! On Wednesday, Vianni made mention of this phrase, and my ears perked up. “Sweet beans? Beans with sugar? What is habichuelas con dulce??” All the ladies in the office started conferring, and it was decided that Belkis would bring some in for me to sample (notice the two whole cups of sample to the right) since her mom is visiting from the Dominican Republic and cooking up a storm. Habichuelas con dulce is a Dominican dessert drink traditionally prepared for Ash Wednesday. Belkis gave me a brief rundown of the procedure: the drink basically consists of kidney beans blended with milk, sugar, cinnamon, and more. Belkis’ mom also added raisins and batata after the blend, so there was fun textural variety, too.

img_4756img_4761

I had one cup cold at 11:57 as my lunch appetizer and one cup warm as my lunch dessert at 2:36 :-D. It was a cup of heaven really — kind of like eggnog on steroids!

Sandwiched (time-wise, not literally!) between my habichuelas con dulce, I had more fun with coworker food. The last cup of Nitza’s soup (it got me through 3 meals!):

img_4757

And the perfect soup accompaniment: steamed veggies and grilled chicken! Apparently, Mildred and Myrna were thinking of me yesterday — when I wasn’t even AT work — and actually saved their lunch leftovers so I could have them today! The chicken had been so deliciously marinated, and the veggies were some of my favorite to eat steamed: broccoli, carrots, and chayote:

img_4760

Myrna and I ran our parents’ group from 1-2:30, and I snacked on a few of our group snacks throughout: some slices of apple and orange … and about 3/4 cup of apple jacks (errr, because I needed more sugar). When was the last time you had apple jacks? I was probably 6 and probably snuck them at some friend’s house when my mom wasn’t looking!

I raced out of the group at 2:30 to get ready for my 3pm visit … but the mom ended up rescheduling for next week! It took me a minute to adjust my plan mentally, and I instinctively ate two massive lollipops (plus two small unpictured hard candies) in the ensuing brain blip:

img_4762img_4764

I quickly recovered with a new plan (and my second cup of habichuelas dulces) and set to work. At 4, I broke for carrots and 1.5 tbsp hummus:

img_4763

At 5, yo salí de la oficina!

I’ve got a group presentation to work on this weekend and a whole slew of errands and tasks to complete … but right now I’m taking a break, thinking about eating dinner, and relaxing on the couch with some Seinfeld. It’s been too long, Jerry! There’ll be time enough for work tomorrow … or there probably won’t be, but I need a little breather! What’s on your weekend list?

Dinner in phases

12 Comments

My meal schedule tends to evolve based on when and where I come into contact with food! While walking home from the subway station yesterday afternoon around 3:30, for example, I stopped into Union Market (purely for the samples, of course) and came upon dinner part 1, which I brought home and arranged prettily on a plate with decaf soymilky sweet coconut thai chai:

img_4713

Findings included the sampler cup of antipasti, cheddar chunks on baby toast squares (I actually had 3 of these), and 3 cookies:

img_4715

The cookies deserve a closer look:

img_4716

Sandwich cookies are my favorite!

I also had a package waiting for me when I got home. (Is there anything as satisfying as interesting mail?) It was the Country Bob’s sauce I won from Allison at Green Dog Wine:

img_4721

I have big plans for this sauce and a block of tofu. Just wait!

Dinner part 2 was 3/4 cup of the delicious soup that my coworker Nitza made for me along with my last 3 slices of kale-crust pizza (:-( so sad to see it go):

img_4724

Hearty chunks of health:

img_4727

Kale-crust pizza, I hope we meet again soon:

img_4732

Dinner part 3 happened a couple hours later and was inspired by Heather who was inspired by Sarah to make peanut butter frozen yogurt. I followed Sarah’s procedure with 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 tsp peanut butter, and a drop of vanilla. But I couldn’t stop, so I also mixed in 1/3 mashed banana, 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and sprinkle of cinnamon and cardamom. I froze it for 20 minutes, stirred, and froze it for 20 more. Voila!

img_4734

I considered sprinkling chocolate pieces over the top but decided against it in light of my cookie spree earlier in the afternoon. I had more fruit salad (also with cinnamon and cardamom) on the side instead:

img_4737

Perfect way to end the night!

Also, congrats to Lindsay at For the Love of Oats on her one-year blogiversary!! To celebrate, she has some pretty exciting (and lucrative!) contests lined up, so go check it out!

I’ll be back after work with today’s food … followed by a serious movement to catch up on sleep!

Do you prefer to eat all at once or in pieces?