raindrops on roses & whiskers on kittens

Now that’s it’s “summer” we have been sleeping with the bedroom windows open, but the thunder and lightning were so INSANE last night, I had to channel my inner Von Trapp and sing “My Favorite Things” to calm myself down…it was scary!

It woke me up it was so loud.  And just so you know, normally I sleep like a rock, so this was no joke.

Clearly I had a rough night’s sleep – enter coffee :)

These are a few of my favorite things…

Peach chobz (not as good as blueberry) and a bowl of melon.

I had a mid-morning snack of peanut butter + banana, just to tide me over until lunch.

Once I was full and fueled, I began my Hawaii preparations (planning meals for Kyle while I’m gone, downloading new music and yoga sessions on my iTunes, etc.) – sure it may be a bit premature (I leave on Sunday), but I know I have lots in the coming week, so the type A in me wanted to get things rolling.

That really worked up my appetite!  Lunch time!

I made a sammich with Za’atar tofu (baked with Sabrina’s spice mix last week) on one side, and roasted red pepper hummus on the other.  I already need another tub!

 

Fan-freakin-tastic.  Random question: Do you guys cut your sandwiches in half before eating them?  Or do you bite right in?  If you cut them in half, which half do you eat first?  I always cut mine diagonally, and eat the smaller half first.  That way I don’t get sad when I finish the first half because I still have the bigger part left :)  Haha, I’m a freak, I know.

Anyways, I feel like soy products have been getting a bad rap lately, so I just wanna say – errrthang in moderation kiddos!!  Tofu isn’t the devil, especially if you prepare it yourself.

On the side I had apple slices with a mini-tub of Tribe hummus…I may have dipped the sammie in the hummus, too (TWO kinds of hummus on ONE sandwich – now that’s my kind of meal)!

You know what this means…fresh lemonade!!

Lunch dessert = dried fruit platter with raw cow hide mango, pineapple, and papaya spears.

The skies parted, so I sprinted to the gym…my workout was good, not great.  It felt good to get my blood pumping, but the whole time I was wishing I was outside :(  On the plus side, I had the new Black Eyed Peas cd AND Jillian’s podcast (thanks Sarah!!) to distract me. 

I did some very necessary shopping on my way home…

I was hardly in the door when I ripped into these babies!  I had a obscenely embarrassing amount (TEN).  Cinnamon may even be better than the original!  The HUGE sugar crystals on top were the best part.  SoSoSoGood!

Even after half the box, I wasn’t full, so I crunched into this bright red loverrr.

And sipped on pounded a Cosmic Cranberry Kombucha (try saying THAT 5 times fast).

In case you were worried, I replenished my Sabra stash today. 

I have GOT to get a hold on myself..I bought 4 different flavors (3 of which were Sabra).  Can’t wait to see Kyle’s reaction when he opens the fridge…

For dinner I dove right into the classic Sabra (FIRST with a fork, and then with an english muffin).

Since yesterday’s “nachos” were such a success…I went with round two of the veggie slices “cheesy” chips – which I then decided could ALSO be dipped in hummus.  I mean c’mon, why not?! 

Who didn’t see this coming…haha.

Once my carb cravings were properly met (and surpassed), I decided to get some other food groups in (wait, hummus isn’t it’s own food group?) and made a plate filled with yum.

Mark your calendars kids, because this will go down in history as one of THE SINGLE best dinners of my life.

Lookie lookie: Chickpeas, edamame, brown rice, tofu chunks, shredded carrots, broccoli slaw, red bell pepps, and dried cranberries all a bed of spinach.

Oh.Em.Gee.

Beeeee-YOOT!

I was quite content after this bomb dindin.  I had some iced tea which required NO ice since this mug was stored in the freezer (the water freezes in the outside part) – so COOL! 

Like a built in cozie!

Eventually it was time for the big D.

Melted carob chips + PB + toasted Alvarado Street bread = mmmm!

This rocked me right into a food coma.  I was barely able to pack my lunch for work tomorrow before the zzzzzzs kicked in.

ICU…and I raise you!

Welllll…this weekend was pretty intense. 

I worked. 

I saved lives. 

Literally.

I try not to go into too much detail about my job (a) because of the whole patient privacy thing and (b) because I have a feeling it’s not very thrilling to read about.  But sometimes I wish I could share all the crazy things I see and do on a daily basis because, well, it’s a big part of my life.  Or at least a part.

Anyways, as I’ve mentioned before, I work in the cardiopulmonary critical care unit (CPCU), which is the step down unit for the surgical intensive care unit (SICU).  Basically I get patients after any open heart surgery (bypass, valve replacement, pericardial windows, etc.) and occasionally lung surgery, too.

Since the CPCU and the SICU work together, occasionally I’ll get sent to work in the SICU, which is what happened on Saturday.

My patient was on the verge of flat lining the entire shift…you can’t IMAGINE the kind of stress that can have on a person. 

It can be a little scary.  A whole lotta crap went down…but the only part that matters is that my patient is doing well now (and knowing it’s because of me isn’t too shabby either). 

Bring it on ICU!  (just kidding, please don’t, the stress of Saturday cost me 4 years of my life)

On Sunday I transferred my patient upstairs to the CPCU since she was a bit more stable.  I was glad to be getting back in my comfort zone.  Home base – yessss! 

Oh, and did I mention I got an additional patient on Sunday, too.  Heaven forbid my stress level enter a manageable range…

I left work each day in such an exhausted state…all I wanted to do was a swan dive into a pile of pillows pass the eff out. 

ANYWAYS, sorry about the rambling…I’ll get back to the real reason you read…let’s start with Saturday’s eats

Coffee & coconut date rolls – the breakfast of champions?  For sure.

Pre-packed lunch. 

Ensalada grande:  spinach, carrots, snow peas, cherry tomatoes, clover sprouts, dried cranberries, and more seaweed/sesame salad.

Courtney, I promise I’ll post more on the seaweed/sesame salad later!

More snacks: Newman’s Own dried organic apples, Berries GoMega odwalla bar, apple, and Ocean Spring Mixed Fruit crisps

Check out the cute starfruit!  By the way, anyone know what a jackfruit is?  Because I had some for lunch.

The best part of the day was when Kyle surprised me after work!!!  And guess where we went for dinner?

Whole Foods!!!! 

The baked tofu is one of my fave hot bar items, and you can’t go wrong with chickpeas…the wild rice/edamame/carrot mix was a new one for me and I LOVED it.  As usual, WF delivered.  My dinner was perfectly fulfilling and satiating.  Mmmm…

Later on I had some dessert, which wasn’t my best creation.

It was almost worthy of a “Heat the Salmon Butt” title.  But I did finish it, so I guess that says something.  I thought this was the vanilla flavor, so imagine my surprise after I mixed it all up and took a bite. Plain greek yogurt with PB and carob covered raisins? 

Fortunately, peanut butter masks anything and everything enough to delight my taste buds (and carob raisins clearly didn’t hurt either).

So I licked the cup clean :)

As for Sunday’s eats…I packed a similar lunch the night before.

The only difference between this salad and Saturday’s was the addition of baked tofu (the 3 leftover chunks from WF).

Estrogen?  Check!

The 2 remaining dried apple rings in the bag, an apricot Clif bar, an apple, and some ridiculously overpriced grapes.

Here’s an action shot of my salad half way through…

I love mixing my salads up in tuperware. 

Shake, shake.  Shake, shake, a shake it!

If you are looking at my lunch and thinking…that’s not very much food.  Well, you’re right.  I was starvin’ marvin by 4 pm – scavenging the unit for random eats.  The search was somewhat fruitless, as you would expect of a Jewish Kosher hospital (under construction on a Sunday no less).  Ugh.  I had 23 glasses of apple juice instead.  Awesome.

I nearly passed out on the subway ride home…which is why I was SO thrilled when I got home to this!

Look what greeted me when I walked in the door!  Kyle gets MVP for the weekend.  Meeting me downtown for a Whole Foods surprise dinner on Sat and BBQing vegan eats for me on Sun…I hit the jackpot with this one!

Look at him all proud of his skillz.  Cue master K! 

I love BBQ corn!  He also made mushroom/bell pepper skewers and LightLife smart tenders (plus 2 un-pictured chicken breasts for himself). 

I think I tried this brand of smart tenders long ago and wasn’t a huge fan, but this was a new flavor (Lemon Pepper) and wasn’t too bad. 

As I mentioned whined about earlier, I was hangry by the time I got home, so I immediately made up a plate.

I added 3 tender strips and a kebob to a handful of spinach and corn.

Hit. The. Spot.

Here’s plate numero dos, with a multi-v vitaminwater on the side.

Anyone tried these new lower calorie vitamin waters?  This was the first time I tried one and I’m still a little unsure how I feel (I’ve never tried any of the original vitamin water flavors either).  I noticed rebiana (the stevia extract) on the ingredient list, but I think it’s in the form of Truvia (the one with “natural sweeteners”).  Hmm…

 

Dessert was huge fruity melon mix and a pair of hermits.

So chewy and delicious!

After watching three horrendous hours of Celeb Apprentice killing my last few functioning brain cells, it was bed time.  Thank goodness I have Monday off!  I have so much catching up to do!

oil…from the gland of an otter

Apparently I have to choose between saving for a wedding, and keeping up with the food blog fads.  So, in the interest of staying engaged, I’m unable to juice for breakfast. 

No, not that kind of juice.  This kind.

So I settled for the poor man’s version (aka a smoothie). 

Into the blender went: 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup OJ, 3 oz POM, applesauce cup, frozen plain tofu cubes…

and the juice of 1 orange (hand squeezed).  Nice before and after, no?

The predominant color is the almond milk and plain tofu.  Good thing the POM brightened it up a bit, otherwise it may have looked a bit like Livy’s diaper.

I had to use the most massive thing I could find to put it in (there was just too much)!  My phone is there to show you just how big it actually was.  That’s what she said x2.

BTW, how appropriate is it that the hugest thing I could find was a beer stein from my UCLA days…gotta rep the alma mater (sorry Caroline).

This held me over for a LONG time.  Like, hours.

Eventually, I did need a little java to get me going.  Topped with froth and a dash of cinnamon.

I had a few treats to try out for lunch. 

Anyone ever heard of Za’atar before?  I hadn’t, but if you’re interested you can find out more here.  Basically, it’s a staple spice used in Arabic cuisine, and is believed to make the body and mind strong.  Plus, Sabra can do no wrong in my eyes, so it was a pretty safe “gamble.” 

 

I sliced up some (3!!) apples, popped open my can of Ocean Spring’s Harvest of Heaven Mixed Veggies snacks and dug in…

I practically inhaled this flavor of hummus!  Is it just me, or did Sabra just come out with a bunch of NEW flavors?  The other day at the store there were so many types I’d never seen before, and I had a seriously hard time not buying 5 tubs at once.  The size of our fridge was the only thing that held me back. 

That’s not even the normal 7 oz container, it’s a 14 oz tub!  Practically a VAT    …told you I inhaled it!

As for the Harvest of Heaven Veggie chips, they were decent. 

Pros: They weren’t as salty as I was expecting (47 mg per serving, 2% daily value), and didn’t taste greasy or leave my fingers all oily.  Plus, the nutritionals are pretty good (NO artificial preservatives, artificial flavors, MSG, wheat, gluten, nuts, corn, or added sugar).  There are a wide variety of vegetables, too, including sweet potato, taro, okra, yam, pumpkin, carrot, and green bean – all of which actually tasted like the actual vegetable, but in a chip form.  Not too shabby.  Plus they were thick enough to hold a LOT of hummus, and that’s the only thing that really matters, right?

Cons:  Some of these vegetables weren’t exactly meant to be chips, so the flavors weren’t amazing (ie taro).  Luckily I’m quick on my toes.  Easy solution – add a pound of hummus, and voila!  Any vehicle to get hummus to my mouth faster and easier works for me. 

In the end, I liked Ocean Spring’s Harvest of Heaven Mixed Fruit chips better, but these were still good, healthy alternatives to normal chips.

A bit later I had a Strawberry Chobz and a couple of dried pineapple rings.  Then, after my multi-course lunch, I headed to the gym (finally).

Stats: 60 min on the elliptical, 15 min on the bike, 15 min arms/abs on the mat

It felt great to finally be exercising again.  Woohoo!  Unfortunately, I’m working all weekend, so it’ll be a while ‘til I can get my cardio on again, which is why I made sure I had a solid sweat sesh.

I have no idea what I was doing the rest of the day, but next thing I knew my tummy was growling…dinner time!

I had to repeat my recent “cheesy” garlic bread because it was oh-so-tasty!  2 slices of toast + vegan buttah + vegan parm + garlic salt = Mmmm…

 

In order to even out the butter to substance ratio in my food, I enjoyed the toast alongside a veggie packed salad.  In this salad was half an avocado, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, broccoli slaw, cukes, and clover sprouts on a bed of spinach.  The other half of the avocado I ate on the side (plain with a dash heaping mountain of salt). 

I could live off of avocado alone.  Seriously. 

Anyone wanna move to Mexico with me and grow an avocado tree?  We wouldn’t need much with the nice weather and a life time supply of guacamole…

After Kyle got home and ate, I was getting a little stir crazy so we decided to go for a walk.  Perfect night for a PM stroll…

 

I had a bowl of berries (above) before we headed out…and carob covered raisins with medjool dates (below) after we got back.

Who missed my mega dried fruit desserts?  I did!  I did!!

Work tomorrow, so I’m off to hit the hay.  Happy weekend to the rest of you :)