march, china, pajama party

March is here. In honor of that:

Out with the old, in with the new...

No more gold coast blend (you will not be missed). House blend, welcome home, I love you!

So far March SUCKS. I can't believe it's STILL snowing! Grrr. 8-10 inches in one day is too much? (that's what she said) But, seriously, I'm really annoyed with the East Coast. To make matters worse, my parents are in Hawaii for, like, the 9th time this year, and keep texting me pics of gorgeous sunsets and luaus. Ugh.

Ok, I'll stop the rants.

My coffee was frothy. Very niiiice. Yek shemesh.

Oh, and I ate my cereal mess in bed! Why not?

Eventually I dragged my behind out of bed to join the real world (sorta).

I blame all inactivity this weekend on the snow. I was in my PJs for 72 hours straight (I can't believe I just admitted that)...normally I'd never dream of skipping the gym on a day off, but I felt SO blah (correction: feel so blah). Sorry I'm in a Debbie Downer kind of mood, but why try to hide it. Shocking as it may seem, I'm not always rainbows and butterflies.

After a nice chat from Kyle via skype , I started my new book, Olive Kitteridge, and had a soynut butter-y piece of bread.

Kyle says "ni hao" from the Great Wall...

I can't believe we had a year+ bi-coastal relationship...this just feels weird. Come home already!!!

I've been passing the time with food. Not a healthy way of coping, and I'm no psychologist, but I'd say it's a pretty text book case.

Naturally, I turned to my first love, Sabra. Hey, while the boy's away...

I cut up a few slices of bread for dipping.

I felt so dainty eating my little bite-lettes.

(I'm pretty sure I didn't look dainty eating it though)

And the snacking continued for the rest of the day...

Dried pineapple rings = sugar high.

Sugar crash = curl up on the couch with crossword.

My thoughts on the Key Lime Pie flavor? Meh. It may be because I was so sedentary, or it may be because I had already had pineapple rings, but I was not feeling the overly sugar/tart-ness of this one. Sorry Larabar, this was a miss for me. I think coconut is still my #1.

I had multiple courses for dinner because I was bored, not because I was hungry. I mean let's face it, I did next to nada all day. I felt like a sloth and just thinking about it now makes me annoyed with myself. But, sometimes I just can't force myself to do things against my own will. Do I sound like a schizo or WHAT?!? Geez.

Course 1: pasta with Earth Balance (wow, Elise, creative AND healthy, someone call Top Chef's producers, stat)

Course 2: "eggs" with steamed brocc and grilled seitan

(this "course" I'm actually pretty happy with)...although I'm not sure the following desserts were quite necessary, since I was definitely already full by this point.

I melted some Earth Balance and drizzled it on top of the popcorn (it makes the salt stick better). Oh, and, I like healthy fat.

Naturally my salty taste buds were satisfied, but my sweet taste buds felt neglected.

No worries kids, I didn't repeat yesterday's dairy loaded chocolate disaster. At least today's dessert was vegan. No gluten or dairy, because, as my Dad says "even the monkeys learn." The dominant flavor in this was cinnamon. It tasted like a holiday cookie because there was a real spicy kick to it, but I liked it. It was a very dunk-able cookie because it soaked up soymilk really well, but didn't leave crumbs in the cup. That's a big selling point in my book. I'll probably never find them again, though, because I stumbled across them pretty randomly at a health foods store...in fact, I don't even know the name of the brand (if there is one?).

I stayed up late watching The Office on DVD (my friend hooked me up with seasons 1-4, so if you're the gambling type, it's a safe bet that that's what I'll be doing for the next 62 hours)

Obviously staying up late is a calorically demanding activity, so I had another late night snack.

Apple slices with a buncha chocolate soynut buttah.

Oh, and yes, my computer is still not turning on, so I'm using Kyle's ghetto fabulous Dell.

One last thing: To win some mega chocolate Larabar love, head over to Chocolate Covered Vegan, like, NOW!

i've got the golden ticket

This post will be quick and to the point because I am SO tired.

Big coffee + blueberry bran VitaTop muffin.

These are good, but not too filling. They'd probably be better as snacks because there is certainly not enough caloric oomph to get the day started.

So I had a cereal mess (a la Andrea)...I think I will eat all cereal out of this bowl forever-more. It's so fun!

Apple. (I know, it's a good thing I put a title for the pic, as you may not have been able to figure out what the above red, round thing was)

Lunch: SB&J (none other than soynut butter and home-made plum preserves)

I *heart* loaf end pieces!

Plus a blended treat made with 12 oz. silk soymilk, 2+ tbsp chocolate soynut butter, 1 banana, and enough ice to get the right consistency.

I sipped it with a straw (I'm proper and shiz).

The people at SoyJoy sent me a coupon for a free bar. So (against my better judgement) I bought one to try out. We all know how much I hate nuts, but every bar is made with almonds or walnuts (ick), so I reluctantly got the Raisin Almond, since I figured it was the closest to something I would maybe eat. Talk about a John Dorian style angel vs devil inner monologue!!

It went something like this:

Angel: Elise, you HATE nuts. This will make you sick.

Devil: But you like oatmeal raisins cookies? It's close! C'mon, try it.

Angel: You are going to regret it.

Devil: Just one taste, do it, do it.
Angel: Ok, just one taste...

Sorry SoyJoy, NOT a fan!!! (not even a little bit). This tasted like old biscotti made from uneaten christmas fruit loaf, with stale nuts. It was super gross. I definitely spit out the first bite and threw away the rest.

Another little secret they don't advertise is that the product contains dairy. What!? Sure there is soy in the ingreds, too, but mostly the name is just a gimmick. Don't be fooled, guys, this shiz, is NO good.

The last of the coconut date rolls. Note to self: buy more.

More snacky snacky: puttin' on the ritz (if you know the reference, I feel a little sad)

Chocolate soynut butter goes with everything

I kinda almost ruined my appetite for dinner with all the PM snacks. Fortunately, I'm a big growing girl :)

I'm way into these tortillas - verrrry GOOD! I especially like how you can see the grains. They don't taste all doughy like white flour tortillas, and they don't taste weird like those nasty lo carb ones. They are just perfectly wheat-y.

At the store today, I randomly found this massive sized Sabra, and couldn't pass...You can actually see HUNKS of glorious chickpeas in this tub! Chunky indeed-y!

In the wrap (that was packed too tight to close): hummus, baby spinach, matchstick carrots, some leftover seitan salad (and one lonely tofu cube)

A little blurry, sorry! I had to hold it closed with one hand, while doing some serious photog acrobatics in the other hand.

I had 2 of these wraps, and still my tummy was beggin' for more (not really, but I wanted more)

So, for dessert #1, I chopped up a Vita Brownie

...and mixed it up into a vanilla o'soy yogurt.

Hmmm...I'm not sure what to make of this. I think the yogurt combined with the brownie was just way to sweet. Don't get me wrong, I finished it (obv)...but I don't think it's a combo I will repeat. I guess if you're gonna make a dessert sundae with the Vitas, you may as well just do the damn thang right with frozen (not reg) ice cream (or soy fro yo, or whatevs).

Needless to say I wasn't satisfied, and even though I tried to watch tv, read, and draw to keep my mind pre-occupied (where is my BF when I need him!!)...I ended up having a huge dairy-loaded chocolate bar. EFF!! Tomorrow is gonna be rough. Good thing Kyle is in China (that should be a safe enough distance from the bathroom...). TMI? Sorry...

I felt like Charlie finding the golden ticket as I was opening it...

Oh dairy, how I missed you! This will bite me in the ass tomorrow (pun intended)!

Night kiddos!

Good news/Bad news

Well, the first piece of BAD news is that my computer is done-zo. Dead. No more. Wahhhh...(I got it in 9/2007!) I was on the phone today with the geek squad for way too long. Without getting into too much detail, my options are (a) pay $$$$ with no guarantees or (b) kiss the mo-fo goodbye.

I am so not tech savvy enough to deal with this. So it's on hold while Kyle's in China. Which brings me to the second piece of good/bad news...my better half is in China :(

While Kyle is taking the Great Wall by storm, I'll be doing my best to blog (ghetto style) on his old computer (this thing is from the ice age). But beggar's can't be choosers, so I guess I should be thanking my lucky stars for this old brick. I certainly can't blog from my blackberry (try as I might to understand the point of twittering)...what a fruitless search that was!

No AM pics, but I had coffee and soynut butter on toast (plus I may or may not have had a few spoonfuls on the side). No guarantees. There was also dried fruit and a big mug of silky coffee.

Lunch came early since I was stressed (really works up an appetite)!

There's some hummus among'us! (wow, that was a bad one)

Can't deny it - Sabra is the best!

I made up a platter of goodies, including baked tofu, quinoa, and me + Jenny (aka peas and carrots). Matchstick carrots are fun, no?

Whenever I make quinoa, I wait until the next day to eat it because the smell of making it puts me off so much. I even drain them first...and no luck. Maybe I'm just weird, but I like my quinoa cold (and odorless).

Check out the hummus lathered on the tofu in the background...

I went a little zoom happy.

I love the way quinoa looks.

Food porn.

Sorry, no more food pics for the day (dinner was leftovers and more of the same, anyways).

And the good news kept on coming...not that it brought my computer back to life, but you can't win 'em all.

Today was a big delivery day :)

POM Wonderful!!!

This was TOTALLY what I needed, like, at the perfect time. As I have mentioned in the past, I get so sick of apple juice at work, and I don't like other juices (or any HFCS loaded beverages for that matter), but now that my fave tea is done-zo...what's a girl to drink? I was really craving something sweet, and so I was really really excited to try this product out. Pomegranate seeds are one of my favorite fruits, but they are SO time consuming to peel and unwrap. Still, the flavor is well worth the work, and the health benefits are incomparable.

The juice was perfectly sweet, but not too sugary. Also, not at all bitter or overly tart, which was surprising considering how concentrated I thought it would be. I mean, all it is is PURE pomegranate!! Everyone must try! I know it's pricey, but you'll thank me when you are 100 years old and still running marathons and finishing New York Times' crosswords...

And did I mention? The company is just wonderful! THANKS again Molly!

Package number 2...VITA-licious!!

Brownies and muffins galore!

I put them in the freezer (as per the enclosed instructions) but not before grabbing on out to try, first! Talk about a stocked freezer!

For my first taste test, I opted for the choc/PB muffin. It was like a muffin top (Seinfeld anyone?) that had been flattened. The texture was more brownie-like than muffin and the cute little peanut butter chips on the top were good additions.

All in all I give this flavor a B. It was a bit too "healthy" tasting - also, as a chocolate lover, I'm not one to take my chocolate reviews lightly. It was still a nice ending to the day...dessert, then bed. I don't even want to THINK of the mess I have to deal with tomorrow.

I may be MIA for a bit bloggies. Wish me luck, I'm stressin'

virus schmirus

Ummm...my comp was hijacked this AM and is currently being crapped on by 823 little trojans.  I imagine they’re now tap dancing on the remaining fragments of my motherboard, since the screen is frozen with approx 75 internet explorer windows open flashing “system security firewall alert.”  Is this why I was supposed to keep that Norton thing up to date?

re-LENT-less

It’s that time of the year.  Lent.  I’ve been trying to think of what I should give up for a while now.  I’m not very good with restrictions, it always seems to make me want something more when I know I can’t have it (forbidden fruit).  Plus, nutritionally speaking, I’m in a pretty good place, balancing moderation with the occasional splurge (hey, I deserve it, I’m a hard working girl)!!  So, with that in mind, I decided against giving up anything food related, and instead chose television.  So, from now until April 11th, afternoon boob-toob-ing is out.  Gasp!  This is actually harder than it seems because on my days off I often have several days worth of crap TV to catch up on.  And believe me, lounging on the couch with the obnoxious ladies of The View, The City, and all things Bravo is pretty awesome!  But that’s the point of lent, right?  I mean it has to be something I’ll miss. 

Now that that’s out of the way, I have to say, today was kinda a mess of a day (food wise).  I had to give myself a pep talk half way through the evening because I felt like $&^% about a variety of things.  To start, my tummy was fighting with me from the second I opened my eyes this morning.  No idea why.

This helped.                        This did not.

Coffee + WF’s vegan chocolate pudding!  It might look a bit like poop, but it tastes like heaven :) 

I woke up to a venti cup of caffeine love – a wonderful surprise from my perfect boyfriend.  Since we have yet to replace our latest starbucks purchase errr…failure of a blend errr…AM crack, Kyle grabbed me the above life-saving coffee on his way back from his morning gym sesh.  Savior with a capital S.

The pudding, on the other hand, was WAY too rich and sweet for that early in the morning.  While it was what I was craving, it was a poor choice at 9 am.

Still, it was SO decadent and inviting, I couldn’t stop!  I dipped some figs in it, too.  The richness of the pudding combined with the natural sweetness of the figs was a divine combination. 

Plus, you KNOW how I love using those cute little plastic spoons.

 

Ummm, yeah.  TOTES OD’ed.

Figs are just so photogenic, though!

 

Here’s the cliff’s notes version of my brekkie:

Dried figs  +   vegan puddin’   =    stomach ache

My solution was baking some ‘fu.

Easy peasy lunch prep for my upcoming work-filled weekend.

I tested some out for lunch today, just in case it was poisonous…

It wasn’t :)

I also had some apple slices with soynut butter.  Ahhh, this stuff is SO effing good, like, lick-the-spoon-re-dip-it-and-lick-it-off-again, good.

I started to get a little queasy again after lunch so I got back in bed to rest.  I ended up finishing my book, falling asleep, and then waking up because my stomach was killing me.  It felt like there was a civil war going down between my spleen and my pancreas or something.  UGH.

I didn’t take any more pics for the rest of the day because, let’s be real, ritz and puffins just aren’t that interesting.

Nursing myself back to health.  Peace out.

Since I haven’t done a green post in a while: check out this site!  If you are planning on moving or know anyone else who is, this company rents out green boxes that have been recycled over and over hundreds of times.