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!

skinny bitch in the kitch

Even after working 3 days in a row, I still couldn't even sleep in! I woke up at 8 (but really just rolled over and turned the tv on). I actually got up an hour or so later, and got my coffee on.

SO frothy :)

A little later I decided to finish my dessert from last night. Yeah, vegan chocolate mousse is not exactly a typical breakfast food, but who's to say I'm typical. Me? Normal? Not so much.

More AM snacking continues...vanilla soy yogurt (these babies are HARD to find in the store lately, so I have kinda been saving this one). Why does it seem like every time I discover a new healthy vegan treat, it suddenly disappears from the store? I can't find soy "holly" nog for the life of me, and my fave hummus flavor has been out of stock for weeks! I'm really starting to get frustrated. If odwalla bars are the next to go, I'm going to cry, because those are now a MEGA staple in my diet.

Moving on. For lunch I had a breakfast-y type sandwich with whole wheat bread, ff Fage, egg beaters, and soy bacon (8 strips!!).

Side view...mmm

After lunch I started getting myself pumped up for some exercising. Yep, it was a big day - I FINALLY went to the gym after about a month off. It's amazing how out of shape you can get in such a short amount of time. I warmed up on the elliptical for 15 minutes, starting at level 7 and escalating the intensity up to 12. Then I ran for 30 minutes on the tread mill going SO slow (4.5) on incline 1 (I hate flat running, but I'm not ready to really push myself yet). After that, I switched back to the elliptical for a 20 minute cool down, starting at level 10 and making my way down to 7, with both forward and backwards pedalling. Then I stretched for an eternity, although I think being sore tomorrow is unavoidable after such a long hiatus from the gym.

After I showered I had a glass of soy milk, an apple, and some dried edamame to tide me over until dinner.

Errands done.

Guess what I'm making for dinner....

Thanks to my amazing sister's birthday present (Skinny Bitch in the Kitch), I am learning all sorts of creative ways to cook vegan-friendly meals. So, now that I have the time and energy, I am ready to take on a pasta dish from the "Italian Bitch" chapter.

I'll be cooking with seitan for the first time (although I've eaten it several times before, I've never made anything myself with it).

Here's the recipe for Green Goddess Pasta:

4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons refined coconut oil (I used EVOO instead)
6 tablespoons vegan butter (I used earth balance)
3 quarts water
About 5 teaspoons fine sea salt (I think I used WAY more)
1 1⁄2 pounds seitan

8 ounces whole wheat or brown rice elbow macaroni (I opted for Ezekiel penne instead)
2 zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1⁄4-inch slices
1 broccoli crown, cut into bite-sized florets (about 2-1⁄2 cups)
1⁄2 bunch (about 4 ounces) kale, cut into 1⁄2-inch strips
1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
1⁄4 cup pine nuts (I hate pine nuts, so clearly I omitted these)

And Voila!

It was a fairly simple recipe (I figured starting with pasta was best, though) and since it tasted excellent, I will consider it a success. So now that I graduated from the pasta realm, I can't wait tackle more of the recipes in this book! Thanks Laura!!!!

Did I mention I boozed on the TJ reserve while I chef-ed it up? I'm not even hungry for dessert!!

brrr...i heart comfort food

So, the weather here has definitely changed. It is cold. No two ways about it. And yet, I still found it in me to start off the day with iced coffee?

Plus vanilla silk soy milk. I am thinking I should just start investing in bigger silk cartons, since it has been established this will be a staple in my diet. Who am I kidding, this isn't just a phase...

Here's the iced coffee + silk soy milk

For breakfast I had some dried fruit (the rest of the papayas, I finished the pineapples a while ago). I tried so hard to get my butt to the gym, but it was just too hard. I decided to make up for my laziness by being productive in the apartment though...lots of long overdue cleaning went down.
Later for lunch I decided I needed some serious veggies. It has been way too long since I have had a "big salad." I had an organic lettuce blend with fresh broccoli and carrots that I chopped up. Then I threw in some cherry tomatoes and mushrooms (obviously also organic, plus all the veggies were locally grown). I topped it off with some dried cranberries and raisins, and voila!

Dinner was a pasta experiment. I steamed some fresh broccoli (I bought a crap load bc it was cheap so you'll notice it in a ton of upcoming meals/recipes), then I made Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted whole grain penne pasta. For a sauce I tried to make a fake cheese/parmesan topping (I have heard quite a bit about the brand "Vega!" but still haven't found it in stores). I used a big spoonful of Earth Balance's soy garden spread PLUS the entire bag of "Veggie" blended "cheese" shreds of Parm, Mozz, & Romano flavors. I also added a bit of ff plain Chobani to get the right consistency.

How real does that cheesy pasta look! (I should note, there are a few things I would tweak with this recipe next time). First of all, it was good, but not that flavorful. I needed a lot of salt, which I don't really like doing to home made recipes. Second, it was really expensive in the end, all those products were $$$ and the yield wasn't multiple meals worth (at least not with my kind of appetite). And finally, I don't really feel like it was that healthy. Granted I was in the mood for some warm comfort food, which by definition is not healthy, but still...I will try to modify this again later. Maybe a different soy cheese product?

Dessert (not pictured) was yogurt covered raisins (a LOT) and regular raisins. Mmmm...