day-o-sando(s)

Another day of work. Another home-made sandwich.

You know the drill. Subway to work, starbucks run for an AM caffeine dose (grande soy latte), work work work work...

Here's the rest of what I packed for myself. The apple was HUGE which is why I sliced it (to enjoy in multiple sessions). With lunch I had a soy latte and then another refilled cup of plain soymilk.

I (again) skipped the gym - this week is just NOT happening in the work out department! Instead, I had some dates and another soy latte on the way home from work. So much better than running on the elliptical!

New bread!!! (sorry the picture is so dark)

The newest product I bought to try out was sprouted soy crunch bread by Alvarado Street bakery. It is made with organic and live sprouted grains PLUS has extra soy protein. More importantly it is GOOD. This is by far my fav bread now. It's soft, unlike Ezekiel's breads, and I love the crust with the crunchy grains, as well as the nooks and crannies in the bread that allow more places for condiments to catch in...mmm.

I had a few pieces with hummus...

and a few others with a fresh organic avocado...

and finally a few more with avo plus vegan "chicken" spread...

Then I had a few more pieces with the last bit of hummus...this bread is dangerously good.

Dessert was dried edamame.

holy BIPOLAR batman!

Some days I just don't like my job. More on that later though.

To start, I made my lunch last night. The normal sando :)

Plus, apple slices and a combo of raisins and yogurt covered raisins.

I left for work early, headed to starbucks for my AM soy latte and before I could blink it was noon and I was barely under way with my work load. Seriously, I can't put into words how insane all my patients were today. Thank goodness I got a venti this morning because I didn't get to step out for a lunch break until 3:30 (and I didn't even realize how late it was either, that's how busy I was with these crazy ass patients).

Soooo, by the time I got to east my food I was running on empty...I needed soy latte recharging in a major way. Naturally, I enjoyed my lunch with another venti soy latte, and then refilled the cup with plain soy milk from the bar (yes, I'm crafty like that).

I easily downed the second venti soy milk along with the raisins that I packed.

The remainder of work went similarly horrible...let's just say, I discharged my bipolar patient before I left for lunch and when my shift was over I was still dealing with him (oh, and did I mention the hospital security had to get involved). Awesome!

Clearly I was in NO mood to work out after the day I had. I left the hospital super late, I was exhausted, and all I wanted was to curl up with a soylicious treat. So I did.

2 vanilla silk soy milk bottles and a venti iced coffee...which I enjoyed as 3 servings

Here is the first one in a beer stein (check out how much of the venti iced coffee is still left)! After this I was ready to go to bed, but Kyle forced me to eat more...and I caved.

I had the rest of the raisin bran, which was 3 huge bowls with (you guessed it) MORE soy milk.

Then I had even more yogurt covered raisins. WAY too much food.

No gym + food coma = :(

Some days I just can't get moderation under control...I am a very all or none girl. One minute I am content with coffee, the next I'm downing my 4th dinner. Geez, talk about a bipolar day.

Ugh, some days I just DON'T like my job.

Pilates in the rain? Not so much

I got up early today (weekend early, not work early) to have a couple cups of coffee before I headed out in the rain.

After getting a decent caffeine buzz going, I walked to Jess' apartment to pick her up and we took the subway together to Union Square for a pilates class/fundraiser. It was a breast cancer event (after all, it IS nearly October) so everything had a pink theme. Clearly, I can't pass up on anything pink, especially when it is for such a good cause, and it didn't take much persuading to get Jess on board too. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't really cooperating for the event, and despite the huge tents, we were soaked. We got there early (which is shocking since Jess was involved) but only because I personally escorted her (I have no doubt in my mind that if we had decided to meet there, she would have arrived 45 minutes after it started). Either way, they were running behind schedule so we ducked into a Starbucks to chat. I couldn't resist ordering a grande iced coffee, which I loaded up with soy milk (mmmm...) as we waited. 30 minutes later, we went back to check in and get our gift bag full of goodies. Dripping wet, with nowhere to put all our umbrellas and crap, they had the nerve to tell us we wouldn't get the free pilates mats until AFTER the class! (WTF?) This was not what we wanted to hear, and being the fickle losers that we are, Jess and I bailed on the event, grabbing our free bags before the class even started...haha. In all seriousness though, the ground was wet, muddy, and they expected us to take our shoes off!?! Ummm, I don't think so.

So, shopping we went!

Jess spent $$$ at forever 21 on new teacher clothes. The change in weather called for a new wardrobe and I was more than happy to shop vicariously through her (since my work attire of scrubs is not thrilling in the least). Then we went to Trader Joe's for some vegan grocery shopping. We (accidentally?) had 3 servings of vitamins each because the gummies were so good they tasted like candy. Oops.

On the way home I stopped for another (yes, ANOTHER) iced coffee (grande in a venti cup). I added Silk vanilla soy milk once I got home.

Watching the soy milk swirl as I pour it in is seriously one of my FAVORITE things (I know, I'm weird).

And here is the final soylicious drink.

For my super late lunch I decided to make some breakfast pita sandos. I was ambitious and prepared 4 pita halves for packing.

To put in the pita: egg beaters, homemade blueberry rhubarb jam, and plain ff Chobani

The jam is the last of several delicious homemade jars from Kyle's grandma.

Half way there...

...and all of them stacked up, ready for consumption!
The warm eggs made the greek yogurt melt together with the jam, which was amazing. They were perrrrfect. Warm. Breakfasty. Very rainy day.

Gym: elliptical for 60 mins, abs for 5 mins, stretching for 3 mins (lazy sunday)

For dinner I wanted something warm, veggie-ish, and easy. So Health Valley canned soup it was. I usually add vegetables to prepared soup just to supplement it with something extra and bulk it up with wholesomeness (technical term).

It was good, but not great, just blah soup.

I also had a veggie souffle that I got from our whole foods. I LOVE these things. They have tons of different kinds of vegetables in them. I think I mentioned them in the past, so I will refrain from going into the details for the second time. Basically, yum.

While we watched football, I snacked on the rest (3-4) of the dried pineapple rings from Zabar's.

Bed time. Work early tomorrow!

flat screen, flat abs, flat food?

The weekend started off productive.

#1 - I cleaned out my closet to donate bags of unworn (and no longer fitting) clothes for the salvation army
#2 - Kyle and I finally bit the bullet and bought a 32 inch flat screen HDTV (sweeeeeet!)
#3 - I did some cooking (and tried a new recipe)
#4 - I dragged Kyle with me to the gym

So, Kyle was with his student at Minds Matter in the AM, allowing me to leisurely sip 2 cups of coffee while doing the crossword...until 3 pm! (btw my coffee was starbucks' blend with ff vanilla creamer, ff lactaid, and stevia sweetener)

I was so caught up doing errands around the apartment, by the time I realized how late it was, Kyle was on his way home. So, I asked him to pick me up something on the way home...

This is a VENTI - obsession much? Here is when you know you have a problem, when you are SO hungry and yet, nothing sounds appetizing EXCEPT a soy latte. Good thing I have a loving boyfriend who enables my habit :)

While we were out at Circuit City I needed food so I popped across the street to Zabar's for some snacks. Kyle and I were both having incurably hypoglycemic days, like bottomless pits!

After cabbing it home with our new baby (a Toshiba 32" LCD HDTV) it was gym time. Kyle begrudgingly agreed to go with me. Actually, I think we were both less than thrilled at the thought of exercising...either way, I made it there. Too bad my work out sucked. I was dead tired and devoid of energy (probably because I hadn't eaten enough) so I hit the road. No joke. How unlike me is that!? I didn't even really stretch. I literally hit a wall on the treadmill and subsequently got off and walked home. On the way I stopped for sugar (a healthy natural source of sugar).

Fresh juicy melon! Honeydew, cantaloupe, and watermelon, oh my.

This was just what I needed. I don't know why it took me all day to figure it out?

Anyways, for dinner I decided to get my chef on. Attempt 2 at baking tofu:

I started with Nasoya Lite Firm tofu (check out that fat slab below). First, I pressed it several times to get it as dry as possible.

Then, I sliced it into 7 flat slabs (approx 1 cm wide) to cook faster and added salt and extra virgin olive oil so it would brown nicely in the oven.

(before)

(after)

The tofu came out great. I am so happy with my success, considering my past record with baking tofu. Plus, it is way cheaper to marinade it on my own, and also healthier. It tasted great, not too soft, not too hard. It was flavorful and just the way I like it with browned crispy edges.

Once the tofu was done I stir fried some veggies (edamame, baby corn, carrots, pea pods, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots) with teriyaki sauce.

I snuck a few bites before the tofu made it's way to the veggies...

But when they finally did meet, they made a delish dinner!

Look at the zoomed in view of the teriyaki tofu and veggie stir fry (mmm...).

Post dinner we watched football and I snacked on a bag of salty dried edamame. Why won't my hunger go away?

"The problem is you're using a hatchet where you need a scalpel." -Obama

tropical storm Kyle

Rain. Boo. Good thing I was stocked up with these little silk soy milks :)

So I had 2 cups of coffee (basically a latte with the massive amount of vanilla creamer and soy milk I used) to which I added stevia for some sweetening. I also had a soy milk by itself while I watched yesterday's (2 hour season premiere) episode of Grey's Anatomy that I had tivo-ed. Here's my review: HORRIBLE! I couldn't even finish the episode, it was that bad. Seriously, I can't even believe how ridiculously awful the show has become. So sad.

After a few errands, it was lunch time, so I decided to try out Wednesday's new purchase, lemon pepper smart tenders. I figured I'd like them since they are by Lightlife (I mean, I can't live without their other products, especially the smart deli "turkey").

My review: They were very pepper-y and since I'm not a big fan of pepper I think next time I will get the "savory chick'n" flavor. They were definitely good though, and since it is hard to find a non-meat substitute for chicken that actually tastes like chicken, I was pleasantly surprised at how close this came. I will definitely buy it again. I think for future meals, it would be even better sauteed...maybe cut into chunks and added into a risotto or pasta dish with other veggies so the pepper flavor can be diffused by other food. I think I have some good ideas, so stay tuned.

I went to the gym after lunch and had a great workout! New music purchases on iTunes always lends itself to a high intensity gym sesh! I did ab work on the mats after and then stretched forever...I was kinda delaying leaving the gym because it was raining outside again.

I picked up a treat on the way home :) soy latte #3 (but only my first starbucks one for the day)

Pre-dinner snack was half the bag of edamame (post dinner snack was the other half)

Talk about a protein loaded day! All I wanted for dinner was even more "chicken" so I heated up some Health is Wealth vegan chicken-free nuggets. I love these, and the smell of them cooking always makes Kyle want to steal them away from me.

BBQ sauce and honey mustard on the side. Mmmm...

After dinner (and the presidential debate) I went out to meet up with Kyle and his boy posse (he had dinner at Rosa Mexicana with some of his work friends). I was the only girl for the night, but I didn't really care. We went to The Rusty Knot and I had a pretty gross glass of white wine. To say the menu was minimalist would be an understatement, there were 3 types of beer (one of which nobody had ever heard of) and one red and one white wine (which I later discovered were from a box)! One of the boys ordered their special (a word I use reluctantly to describe the concoction), called a "dark and stormy" which was dark rum, ginger soda, and some kind of beer (?)...nasty. The drink was passed around all night but still didn't get finished. I'm not sure I will be going back there. Still, the night was fun and I got to see people that I don't work with, so it was still a good Friday night.

sinus tach!

Ok, first things first - here is a photo of the coconut date rolls I was raving about yesterday. I had 3 last night, and the remaining 3 for dessert tonight (so mentally insert this picture again later after dinner). They are so dense! I have been looking FOREVER for these deliciously sweet snacks. In the past, every time I have seen coconut date rolls there have been almonds in the ingredients (yuck!) which immediately ruins them in my opinion...so I am excited beyond words to have finally discovered this new health food store that carries the un-nutty version of the bite sized treats. I also had half a bag of salty edamame last night, so here is the picture of that.


ANYWAYS...I had work again today, and as per the title of the post, I had a LOT of soy lattes. We are talking heart palpitations, people! I am fairly certain that if I had been on an EKG monitor I would be getting treatment.

Work today was fairly uneventful - nice and slow, as it has been lately (so I am getting spoiled). Not that people can control when they get heart attacks, but it seems like with the approaching JCAHO inspection, everyone is ditching the hospital, patients and staff! I wish they would just come and get it over with. Even after combining the 2 pods of the step down unit, there were still more nurses on the floor than patients!

But enough about work...lunch was the same sandwich of smart deli meat on Ezekiel bread, with a banana as my AM snack and yogurt covered raisins for my PM snack. Plus, another soy latte. I also went to the gym after work, despite my exhaustion and the rainy weather. It was even a good work out (probably because my baseline heart rate was still in the 110's from all the caffeine).

For dinner I was super lazy. I wanted something warm, but not too filling. I grabbed a can of organic lentils and heated them up (protein).

Then I went with my latest staple of hummus with veggies.

All together now.

The meal was lacking int he carb department, so I had a pita with the hummus too (no photo). And yet I still felt like I wasn't quite satisfied...

There is no way I could have foreseen the mess to come, I mean who would have thought popcorn would have been such a disaster to make? To make a long story short, I nearly burned down the microwave (and thus the apartment) because for some reason I got defective bags. Rather than pop the kernels, the bag set fire (seriously, fire). So, the edible yield of 3 bags was probably only 2 servings! Whatever, I guess that is divine intervention telling me to stop eating.

The salvaged portion.

I am pretty sure I had a few handfuls of raisins after this...tomorrow starts my 3 day weekend though, so I can get my cooking on and stop being such a sloth in the kitchen.