Tag: veggies

Can it be true?

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Guess what!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s DONE.

At 11:02 this morning, I officially finished my LAST paper of the semester. It happened way sooner than expected, and I am thrilled. Now, for the next 2.5 weeks, I am completely free of school AND work (except for two more Thursdays of class and one half day retreat for work).

For breakfast while I worked this morning, I had half an apple sprinkled with cinnamon because I still had plenty of food in my belly from last night.

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When I finished, I had a celebration lunch of muffin-cauliflower oat bran. I made cauliflower oat bran yesterday morning (thanks to Heather for inspiration, once again!) and was a fan, so I decided to jazz it up today with some extras. I actually prepped the bran yesterday by immersion blending these ingredients:

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That’s one cup of steamed cauliflower, 1/2 cup raw oat bran, 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk, and 1.5 cups of chopped frozen pumpkin muffins and bran muffins. These muffins did not make the strawberry birthday cake cut the other day because they were too seedy:

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In addition to the above ingredients, I also blended in 3/4 cup water, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. All of that sat in the fridge overnight.

IMG_9654For lunch today, I scooped out 1/2 cup of the cauliflower-muffin oat bran and heated it in the oven for 30 minutes while I addressed some long-neglected cleanliness issues in the kitchen. My stomach was still feeling confused from last night’s feast, so I decided simple would be better with the bran. All I was really wanted was a big, melty pile of nut butter, so I pulled out yet another gem from Artisana.

When the oat bran was ready to go, I served it to myself on a bed of 1/2 cup plain yogurt and topped it with that big tbsp of pecan butter, lots of cinnamon, and some strawberries:

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Hit the ol’ spot!

I’m off to take care of some other long-neglected necessaries. I have two weeks to get my life under control before it becomes unmanageable again!

What is long-neglected in your life?

Product moved

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First things first: the cakes were a success in class last night! I did not have to bring any home with me, so my plan to move all the sugar out of my freezer was effective. I just have two little chocolate cupcakes that wouldn’t fit in the tupperwares to cart up there, and that’s it. Phew, cake-overload disaster averted.

Also, in honor of my birthday yesterday, I went shoe shopping at Payless. This is irrelevant to food on the surface, but it’s actually connected because food is the only thing I have spent money on since starting grad school. Until yesterday, I hadn’t bought shoes in two years because I needed the money for groceries. Evidence:

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Yes, that is the sun shining through the hole in the sole of my shoe.

Here are my new friends:

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My feet are happy.

Back to food, I had an early egg salad dinner around 4:30 before heading up to class. To make the salad, I chopped one of my Eggland’s Best peeled hard-boiled eggs and mixed it with 1/3 cup plain yogurt, 1 tsp dijon mustard, paprika, dill, cayenne, and one cup chopped arugula. I topped it with 1/8 chopped avocado, coarse sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

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Dessert took place at class, of course 😛 My cakes were so good!

Piece #1:

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Piece #2:

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And a cupcake!

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It’s back to the grindstone for me today. I have one more paper left, and it’s not going to be a fun one! It’s due Thursday morning, so you know how I’ll be spending all of today and all of tomorrow … with a little fun break for an exciting event this evening 🙂

Will you be taking any fun breaks today?

Caked

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I’ve tried to be consistent with my birthday food theme today (theme = must eat cake at every possible moment). After breakfast #1 (pumpkin pie flax-oat bran), the gym, and breakfast #2 (cake and frosting tasting), it was time for breakfast #3!

IMG_9470While at the gym, I got an exciting idea for carrot cake custard pudding, and I set right to work when I got home. The custard involved two grated carrots, 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, a chopped package of Peeled apricot-a-lot, and a chopped date:

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The above ingredients got immersion-blended with an egg, baking powder, a couple splashes of soymilk, 1/4 package of silken tofu, vanilla, nutmeg, ginger, and LOTS of cinnamon. I poured the batter into two greased ramekins and baked for 20 minutes at 350.

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IMG_9472To ice the custards, I blended some of the leftover strawberry-cake frosting from earlier today with this baby jar of Artisana walnut butter. Brillllllllllliant! But wait, by the time I finished making my carrot cake custard pudding, it was time for lunch! Hang on carrot cake, I said.

IMG_9495I was excited to eat lunch because I few days ago, Vani dropped off this package of organic wheat Ramen noodles for me to try. She had mentioned the noodles on her blog and offered to donate her other package to me when she saw how excited I got. I was excited because, growing up, I pretty much would not eat anything aside from Ramen noodles. We called it Ruthie Soup in my family because my cousin Ruthie loved to eat them when she was a baby. Whenever I went to a birthday party, I take along a package of Ramen because I didn’t like pizza! I thought the Ramen would be an ideal way to celebrate the first lunch of my 28th year.

While the Ramen cooked, I steamed a broccoli stalk and two sliced carrots and then sauteed them with garlic in canola oil. At the end of all that, I mixed everything together and had half for lunch over a big bed of arugula and topped with homemade parmesan and freshly ground black pepper:

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This healthed-up version was not quite the Ramen I remember, but it was good enough!

My carrot cake custard pudding then became lunch dessert:

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It was incredible!! It tasted a ton like carrot cake, and the frosting was sooooooooo thick:

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I am excited I made two of these!

Now it’s time to head up to class with all my cakes. I hope they get eaten because I do not want to bring any of this stuff back with me. My freezer needs a break!

What needs a break in your life?

Pineapple bomb

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Featured Snack Failure: Pineapple Cream Cheese Icing

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img_9192I’ve had a major food disappointment. When this Just Pineapple Powder (freeze-dried pineapples crushed into a powder with nothing added!) arrived for me from Just Tomatoes last week, the first thing that popped into my mind was pineapple cream cheese icing and how amazing it would taste slathered on a hunk of carrot cake. I never got around to making the carrot cake, but the icing simply could not wait.  I followed my own instructions for healthy cream cheese icing and then mixed half the packet of this powder into it. It tasted fine in the moment  — not as pineappley as I would have liked but nothing I would turn my nose up at. I packed a cup of it and planned to use it as a dip for my apple slices at work the next day.
When the appointed time arrived at work, I went to the fridge and excitedly lifted out what was going to be the best snack of the year. I could tell something was wrong immediately. Before I even opened the container, I could see that my icing had turned to complete liquid. I opened it to take a taste and nearly gagged as I was hit with overwhelming bitterness, not unlike my mom’s unfortunate pineapple-ricotta pie experiment last Hanukkah that I ended up repurposing into this. I should have known no good would come from the pineapple-ricotta pairing! Now my pineapple powder is gone, but if I had more, I would try mixing it with straight cream cheese. I have a feeling that would be more successful.

Anyway, all was not lost because I obviously had to find a way to re-use the pineapple cream cheese icing nastiness. I’ll save that story for another day.

img_9186With the other half of the pineapple powder packet, I had more success. I’ve already mentioned the pineapple-coconut- ginger peanut butter I made in some previous posts, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out. I don’t remember exactly how I did it, but I know that the process involved my coffee bean grinder, my immersion blender, some heat treatment, lots of taste-testing, and these:

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(side note: I had a bite of this Peeled pineapple before I chopped the rest for the peanut butter and, ohhhhh my goodness, it was amazing. I don’t understand why it’s so hard to find unsweetened dried pineapple. It’s SO sweet on its own without anything else added.)

At first, I didn’t think the peanut butter was pineappley enough, but that may have been because I’d been taste-testing it all afternoon and had become immune to the flavor. In subsequent days, however, I have not noticed this problem. In fact, I can’t stop taking little tastes because the flavor of each ingredient comes through so deliciously!

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In conclusion, I wish I had more Just Pineapple Powder. It has so much potential, but I have not been able to tap it fully yet. (And be cautious when mixing with yogurt and/or ricotta!)

Featured Contributions: Wednesday

Well, you know what I had for breakfast, you know what I had for lunch, and you know that at least one of my snacks involved a variation on an item mentioned above. All that’s left to address is the contributions!

Fresh coconut from Jessica:

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I actually took a smaller piece to eat and brought this bigger one (about 2 inches by 2 inches) home for a special project that is underway as I write.

Small forkful of spicy shredded chicken from Mildred’s taco. It was too hot for her but perfect for me:

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Trouble from Nydia involving between 1/4 – 1/2 cup of mixed nuts (especially brazil nuts and hazelnuts, yummmm!) and approximately seven yogurt-covered pretzels:

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I decided that the nuts and pretzels were going to count as my dinner. Oh, and then I heard that there were leftovers from a belated cinco de mayo party in the Parent & Me group downstairs, so these slices (yes, plural) of coconut cake roll also became dinner:

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And this piece of pecan doughnut from the famous Doughnut Plant also became dinner on the drive home when Pura passed it up to Mildred and Mildred shared with me:

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(You’d have to be pretty thick in the head to turn down a Doughnut Plant doughnut. If you ever have a chance, you MUST try their tres leches doughnut. No words.)

There was also a GIANT mango from Myrna to thank me for proofreading her paper (next to 1/2 cup for perspective):

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I did not eat it tonight, but I diced it and gnawed all the extra flesh off of the skin as I did so!

Have you had any snack failures recently? Where you able to rescue them?

Holes and suction cups

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Featured Lunch: Huevos Expan-cheros

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Perhaps you remember last Friday (or perhaps you don’t) when Nydia brought a ton of food to work that her mom had made:

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Nydia is Puerto Rican (as in, she was born in Puerto Rico, and her mom is from there, too), so I can only imagine that this beans, pork, and rice brilliance is some sort of secret Puerto Rican delicacy. It might be better than chocolate cake?

Anyway, starting this past weekend and continuing through my lunches this week, I’ve been milking Nydia’s leftovers by parceling them out into this pile of perfection:

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My “huevos expan-cheros” (if you’re lost with this name, I am very cleverly making a play on huevos rancheros) include one beaten egg fried in a tsp of canola, wrapped around a hefty handful of arugula, and topped with 1/2 cup of Nydia’s mom’s rice, beans, and pork (I mixed them all together), a drizzle of plain yogurt, and 1/8 sliced avocado:

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It’s pretty much safe to assume that every day around 12:15 this week, I have been (and will continue to be) closing my eyes in ecstasy with every. single. bite.

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Featured Contributions: Tuesday

Tuesday, like most days in my office, was full of fun little contributions that kept me on my toes all day long.

Avocado slice and salad extras from Nydia and Jessica’s salad:

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Salad extras from Mildred and Myrna’s salad:

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Because everyone ordered salads for lunch, Mildred decided it would be a good idea to supplement with glazed donut holes:

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I did not have a salad for lunch (I had huevos expancheros, of course), but I still decided it would be a good idea to supplement with three donut holes.

Inginia also appeared with some leftover lunch items of absolutely staggering flavor complexity. I was full so I had little tastes, almost passed out from delight, and then brought the rest home to use for dinner. Here’s 1/2 cup peppery salmon noodles:

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And the most beautiful non-dessert contribution ever, Inginia’s homemade ceviche! I managed to sneak about a cup of this home with me, and I devoured it over a bed of arugula and 1/2 cup couscous-lentil mix from the restaurant last Thursday.

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This ceviche rivaled even the ceviche I had in Peru, the ceviche (or so they claim) capitol of the world, and it looked like a rainbow to boot.

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See the little baby suction cup? Awwwww … Mara, can this qualify for Cute Food Saturday?

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SweetiePie from Just Sweet Enough gave me this sweeeeeet award, and I’m tickled pink purple because I think her blog is super, too! Go check it out, especially since she recently baked something called Derby Day Brownies that made me go weak in the knees … while I was sitting down. Also, I hereby pass this blog award onto to anyone who is still reading my blog despite the sporadic posting and nonstop talk of stress. Please go right ahead and post this badge on your site immediately! I love reading everything you write, and I find it one of the best ways to de-stress. Muchas gracias!

When was the last time you had a donut hole (aka munchkin!)? Also, how frustrated do you get when suction cups do not stay stuck where you put them?