Patty-cake

But not the kind of cakes I usually fall prey to at work, thank goodness!

Mid-morning snack was more “yogurt of the week,” aka fresh pumpkin yogurt with every fruit/spice under the sun and golean crunch:

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Really one of the most delicious combos in the world. Anything with yogurt and golean crunch (especially when it’s had the chance to get soggy) takes the cake, HA.

And then came the real cakes! Three (yes, three — need to get my apple in somehow!) Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Black Bean-Salmon Patties:

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Lunch was super short on fresh produce since I have none in the house (since I basically decided I didn’t need to grocery shop over the weekend and did not adequately think through the week!), but my coworkers helped me out as usual. In addition to my wrinkly roommate grape tomatoes, I also ate the tomato slice from Myrna’s sandiwich and some of Belkis’ steamed veggies:

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Dessert was a special treat from the tissue box! A dark chocolate caramel Ghirardelli Square from Rosalie:

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And then, throughout the afternoon, I stumbled upon dessert numbers 2 through 5 because Belkis refilled her candy jar and I took a candy with me for moral support each time I needed to leave my desk and/or brave the artic chill outside:

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(Don’t be fooled by the mini-pictures. Those are some sizable candies!)

Mid-afternoon snack was another desperate attempt for produce/protein. I had 3 Kavli crispy thin crackers (in pieces) with a combo of pumpkin, roasted red pepper hummus, and peanut butter that I whipped together from the ends of containers last night (there are about 2 tbsp in that little cup):

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And a later mid-afternoon snack (or another throughout-the-day snack, as it turned out) of toasted pumpkin seeds, two dates, and two prunes

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Which I followed with a little spoonful (maybe 1/2 tbsp) of office peanut butter (aka crunchy skippy):

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I don’t know what the deal was today — I was so munchy! My lunch didn’t do its job, and I don’t have all the produce on hand for snacking like I usually do. What was I thinking?? I don’t have time to go to the store, so I’ll have to scrounge around for something extra tonight.

My final snack of the work day was this 100 calorie candy pack that’s also been hiding in my tissue box:

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I was excited about this pack because Oreos (or any cream-filled sandwich cookie, really) are my favorite type of cookie. But while these candies were filled with that unique chocolate-cookie crunch, the most critical component of the cookie was missing: the cream!! Serious oversight on the part of the 100 calorie people. If that chocolate coating is supposed to stand in for the cream, it does a poor, poor job of it. An Oreo is not an Oreo without the cream.

When I got home, I started rummaging through all my emergency “shelf-stable” food to see what I could rustle up as a lunch supplement for the rest of the week. I’m excited about what I made … but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the debut ;-).

Dinner was the last of my asparagus, steamed, with a piece of baked sweet potato and a toasted morningstar farms Asian veggie pattie (and a sprinkle of my homemade parmesan of course):

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Mmmmm, love those patties!

Dessert was a return of my favorite combo: 2/3 cup golean crunch (the rest of the box) mixed with 1/2 cup of yogurt. I let it sit and “marinate” while I cooked the lunch food and dinner, so it was perfectly tender when I finally got around to it:

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Ahhhhhh, so good! I could eat Kashi GoLean Crunch for every meal and still be such a happy camper.

Is there a food that you can imagine eating at every meal without getting bored?

A Sandwich-y day … plus BSI entry!

Aaaaaand, once again, Saturday has completely vanished!!

Lunch this afternoon was blogworld-inspired and beyond delicious.

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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:

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And slices of sweet potato and apple in between:

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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.

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

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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:

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

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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:

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With grape tomatoes and more sliced cuke on the side:

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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:

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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):

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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:

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And inside:

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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:
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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?