Tuesday, March 31, 2009

drool.

this was the best dinner i've made in a while. breaded apricot-almond-goat cheese-stuffed chicken breasts with homemade pesto, served over soft polenta... alongside a strawberry-cucumber-arugula salad, tossed lightly in a homemade walnut oil vinaigrette. dddamn! i follwed this recipe but used basil instead of the mint, added a couple extra apricots, and used at least 3 oz. goat cheese instead of the 2 that the recipe called for (because i goat cheese).


lots of pictures...


microwave polenta is great. i mixed up 1/2 c polenta, 1 c milk, 13 oz water, 1 tsp salt, put it in a huge pyrex measuring cup, and nuked it on high for 6 min... then i whisked it and nuked it for 6 more min. it looks quite liquidy when you take it out, but after about 4 minutes it thickens into a perfect soft polenta. this made 2 hearty servings.

i have LOTS of leftovers, but i will be freezing half the recipe. yay!

in other news, i was SO excited to get this in the mail today:


free bars from honest foods! THANK YOU SO MUCH honest foods! i am quite full now, but i am already planning to try one of these as a pre-run snack tomorrow morning . but what flavor to pick first...

i did have room for more strawberries. these local berries were so much better than the last batch, and they did not perish upon arrival to my apartment. i'm guessing they were fresher to begin with, due to the shorter travel incurred. i'm eating these with chopsticks because my dishwasher is completely full and i am sick and tired of doing dishes after all the dinner cleanup. also, i love these chopsticks!

with a cinnamon honey stick drizzled on top


laterz.

fashionable or. . . ?

i'm thinking ode to 50's housewife here... my legs are white but not quite THAT white... i'm standing in the light but i couldn't figure out anywhere else to take the pic.


hope this is OK!

keep on truckin'

i've hit some BAD body image, but i've just got to keep on going. i just made myself a fab bowl of oat bran, and while it tastes good, i keep having unwanted-but-automatic thoughts telling myself that i shouldn't be eating this or that i should leave a third in the bowl.

:: minor freakout over this slightly-larger-than-usual bowl ::

today's mix:
  • heaping 1/3 c oat bran
  • 1/3 c vanilla soymilk, 1/3 c water
  • 1/2 large banana
after cooking:
  • 1 T flaxmeal
  • 1/2 cashew cookie larabar
  • 1 prune
  • handful pecan + cranberry mix
  • spoonful homemade pecan butter
  • maple syrup drizzle

... but you know what? i'm thinking my lunch-- packed-- is actually slightly smaller than most:

smoked turkey, hirtenkase cheese, and smidgin' o mayo...

+ arugula!

mighty, but not all that huge...

packed with a veggie bag

i packed muesli-soaked yogurt for a snack:

wallaby pear yogurt + rough 1/4 cup bob's red mill muesli + 2 prunes, snipped

just gonna keep on going...

Monday, March 30, 2009

cuppa tea

i seem to want something sweet & comforting every night. i guess that's not such a horrible thing. tonight it's just a simple cup of lemon ginger tea with a cinnamon-honey stick, and a square of chocolate.

dipping in

i opened my fridge upon entering my apartment today... i needed a snack while prepping dinner. i munched on carrots dipped in roasted garlic hummus:


while driving home, i decided tonight would be a raid-the-freezer-for-leftovers night. i remembered that i had a serving of plumped-ginger-caramel shrimp + a serving of cooked rice in my freezer, so i figured i'd put a small amount of energy into making a veggie. i stopped off at teeter on my way home, and i was inspired when i saw the big, green artichokes. i haven't had artichokes in a looooong time, and really didn't know how to cook them, but i picked one up!

after googling for a while, i learned that artichokes are quite easy to cook... but i didn't really feel like waiting 45 minutes to boil/steam mine. so... with guidance from a few helpful sites, i decided to NUKE it! i wrapped it in plastic wrap, per instructed, and zapped that sucker for roughly 12 minutes. and you know what? it came out great!

plumped ginger-caramel shrimp over rice, artichoke heart, and artichoke leaves. oh, and i made a quick dipping sauce with honey, mustard, apple cider vinegar, and garam masala!


success, yet again!

plug for kashi

nope, i don't work for kashi... but heed my advice. go out and buy kashi island vanilla! i've read about this cereal on several food blogs, and so, when my usually obscenely-priced harris teeter put the cereal on sale for $2.50, i bought a box.

these are the grown-up and tastier version of frosted mini wheats. SO GOOD!


of course, i couldn't eat just ONE kind of cereal...

kashi island vanilla mixed with mainely maine granola, blueberries, and vanilla soymilk

nO aLmOnD bUtTeR oR bAnAnA?!?!?! no worries, i got that covered later .

i went for a nice run this morning. once again, i went slightly over "budget" for my weekly running allowance. but only by a mile or so. i had a whole foods granola bar before i left, but i just wasn't in the mood for snapping a picture.

i packed lunch @ 6 this morning, pre-run:

smoked turkey, baby greens, small amount of mayo, and aged hirtenkase* cheese on 12-grain harvest bread


*i finished the aged gouda that i enjoyed so much, and so i asked the cheese guy @ whole foods what he'd recommend as something similar but different, so that i could try out something new. i tasted this as i was packing, and it's very good, but not quite as tasty as the gouda.

packed along with...

... strawberries and veggies-- carrots, bell pepper, a few cherry tomatoes

and for a snack...

small banana (and not quite all of it because the end was dark ) with the remaining 1/2 of a previously opened maple-almond butter squeeze pack. i think i have almond butter/banana withdrawal if i skip it for more than... half a day!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

mishaps

i've had 3 mishaps today:

1) i washed my hair with conditioner instead of shampoo because i switched to a new bottle and... well yeah, it wasn't shampoo
2) i spilled decalcifying liquid (used to clean my coffee machine once a year or so) on my shirt and most likely ruined it (it's in the wash now but it's not looking promising)
3) my dinner exploded in my microwave

#3 caused a very un-aesthetically pleasing picture...

leftovers: whole wheat shells & cheddar w/ cherry tomatoes, pea puree... plus a tangelo and a kiwi (i was seriously craving fruit)

lets hope these mishaps don't continue...

oops.

so i have to leave in 10 min. for a DATE, which i'm rather nervous about... but anyway, i asked the guy if i should assume he will have eaten lunch, and he said yes... it's 12 now and i'm really not hungry but figured i should eat something.

i meant to microwave then toaster-oven this guy, but stupid me flipped it over halfway during the cooking, not realizing it was going to leak... so i'm now eating this as pictured:


eek, gotta run!

here comes the sun!

after a dreary day yesterday, the sun has reappeared. i decided to celebrate that with a cold bowl:
  • FREE oikos greek yogurt - blueberry
  • 1/4 c bob's red mill muesli
  • 1/2 banana
  • 2 strawberries
  • 1 fig
  • sprinkling salted peanuts
  • drizzle (1/2 packet) maple-almond butter

i liked the muesli better last time, when i had soaked it overnight, but this was still great. i think my favorite oikos yogurt so far (from all my free coupons) has been their plain. i think the sour/tartness is actually stronger than chobani/fage-- something i like. but i could see others finding it a bit strong.

my coffee tastes especially good this morning .

Saturday, March 28, 2009

water ice!

so i really wanted water ice tonight... if you haven't had it, you are missing out! it is like a soft version of italian ice... icy but smooth at the same time. rita's finally made it to the south, and a store opened just 10 minutes away from where i live. i called a friend after dinner to see if she'd want to go for a treat, but it was pouring by the time she called, and neither of us would have wanted to go in the rain.

so i decided to make my own treat. i blended about 1/2 cup passion fruit sorbet with about 1/2 cup frozen cherries (my immersion blender works for EVERYTHING):

+ 1/2 a graham cracker sheet


here is where i tell myself that this was totally fine, and really not all that unhealthy (the sorbet is 110 cals per 1/2 cup for goodness sake) and that my snacks are all fiiiiiine.

my nutritionist scared me slightly with a story of one of her clients who got married and started eating more sweets and gained weight. of course the story had a point-- it was that minor changes here and there AREN'T going to make a difference, and it was only after her client made consistent changes in how much she was eating that she gained weight. but sometimes i wonder if i'm not doing a little of that. was i hungry for this snack? i'm not sure. i was definitely hungry for b/l/d today, but i'm not sure about the snacks. but the problem is, i'm not allowed to trust that my hunger will always be present. i'm guessing that i needed at least one of the snacks, considering the running, but it's the fine tuning that scares me. i've REALLY noticed a difference in how my clothing fits recently, and i want the weight gain to STOP. but unfortunately i can't tell my body where i want my set point to be... it has to figure that out for itself. and the work comes in accepting that.

where did the day go?

i have no idea how it is now 6:38 p.m. after lunch i lazed around on my bed reading. i started feeling sleepy after that, so i had a snack:

a mocha made with a bit of coffee leftover from this morning, vanilla soymilk, and a T hot chocolate mix... note i hadn't even cleared my lunch dishes...

and...

2 dates stuffed with white chocolate wonderful. these are actually the small dates (not the huge medjool ones), but they look huge in the pic!

afterwards i went to visit a friend, who works in a sporting goods store nearby. we chatted for a bit while it wasn't too busy. when i got home i failed miserably at getting any real cleaning done. i vacuumed my kitchen and bathroom and that was it. i think my 5 mile run actually tired me out more than i thought it did.

i started getting hungry at around 5:30. and for some reason i thought about having eggs! i almost NEVER have eggs-- not because i don't like them, but because i don't really think of them, and i'm not all that good at making them. so after a bit of internet research on eggs and the art of omelet making, i decided on a stovetop + broiler omelet method.

i opened my fridget to discover that my jarred salsa didn't look all that good (i can never go through those), and i didn't have any fresh herbs... but i did have arugula! so i made an arugula salsa/pico de gallo with tomatoes, red onion, chopped arugula, lemon juice, mustard, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and s&p.

then i had to decide on my omelet filling. though the actual egg preparation initimated me a bit, this part definitely did not. so many things would work well as a filling. i decided on a veggie version, and sauteed up some onions in a bit of olive oil with some diced orange bell pepper, and then added some arugula at the end to wilt the leaves. voila:


and of course, i needed cheese. and it just so happened that i had an unopened package of whole foods' goat cheese (love the stuff, it is like $2.99 and is dated a few months in advance so you can buy it for some unknown time in the future).

i would have taken more pics of my process, but if i had i think i would have messed up. i'm very pleased with my first ever omelet result:

topped with the arugula salsa, and served alongside buttered toast

the goat cheese rocked!

pumped.

i just ran over 5 miles! i'm not sure of the exact mileage, but based on time/route i'm going to guess 5.25 miles. it was the ideal running weather-- 65° with a mix of clouds & sun. after my usual 3-mile path i just wanted to keep on going!

while i was in the shower afterwards, i thought about what i wanted for lunch. i had just about 1 more serving left of the fabulous 3-yr. aged gouda, so i decided on...

amy's veggie burger w/ melted aged gouda on a toasted ezekiel english muffin with ketchup, carrot sticks, and a champagne mango

mmmm, a perfect lunch!

early to bed, early to rise..

i got up at 7 this morning... but i actually feel quite refreshed. i don't remember when i went to bed last night, but it wasn't very late (i'm thinking around 11?).

i'm currently having a fabulous bowl of oat bran. i would never have thought of crumbling a MUFFIN into oatmeal/oat bran if it weren't for kath's post.
  • 1/2 c oat bran, 1/2 c vanilla soymilk, 1/2 c water
  • 1/2 banana
topped with:
  • not quite 1/2 homemade blueberry oat bran muffin
  • sprinkling brown sugar
  • sprinkling white chocolate chunks
  • spoonful almond butter
... served alongside a few fresh strawberries. lately the strawberries i've been buying have had a shelf life of like, 2 days, but these are local, so i thought i'd give 'em another try (because i strawberries).


i've been going through almond butter about 5x the pace of any other nut butters in my pantry/fridge. i have a jar of white chocolate wonderful, and while it's tasty, i don't CRAVE it. i do sometimes get a straight-up pb craving, though.

i'm excited for a run later this morning because it is 60° out. but for the next hour, i'm going to sit on my couch and crochet .

Friday, March 27, 2009

uh oh...

perhaps against better judgment, i'm having a glass of wine-- the last time i had a glass of wine by myself i lost clarity in my decision making skills, and ended up slipping into the disorder... but i refuse to let that happen tonight.

seriously, what goes better with wine than chocolate and what not to wear?

seriously.comforting.dinner.

i REALLY didn't feel like cooking tonight, but i also didn't feel like a frozen pizza. i remembered i had a box of annie's whole wheat shells & cheddar at home, and on my way home decided that this box would taste nice with some cherry tomatoes. so i stopped off @ whole foods, where i bumped into my friend F (who was off to a yoga class). i bought what seemed like an impossible amount of fruit, but i know it really won't be!

when i got home, i started boiling some water, and thought about what i wanted for a veggie. i wasn't really in a salad mood... and then somehow... i'm not sure how... i thought of the pureed peas i used to eat ALL the time in france when i was a nanny. both because the little girl (who was 3 at the time) loved them, and because i loved them too! the girl's mother always made them with canned peas (she told me the texture came out funky when she used frozen), pureed with a bit of creme fraiche, s&p. oh how i wish i could find creme fraiche here... we used to get 30% (fat content), which was perfectly creamy and delicious, and the stuff i find here in the US is like 90%. not that i'm unwilling to eat it, but clearly it wouldn't taste the same. so i settled for the only thing remotely creamy that i had in my fridge... greek yogurt!

oh, yum.


i wish my kitchen wasn't a mess right now (i need to empty the d/w so i just stuck all the dirty dishes in the sink and left the counters unwiped). but really, it shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes... i'm just lazy tonight!