Enough salads already

Up at 5.  Out the door in under 30.  Not a record, but not too shabby either.

I got to downtown way earlier than usual, so the bucks wasn’t open yet (eek!)…good thing I had Bruno’s to the rescue.  I’ve raved before, so my love for this tiny place is no secret, a small steamy coffee turned that frown upside down :)

Here’s my latest read.  I heart David Sedaris!  Makes the loss of express trains on the weekends somewhat tolerable. 

I managed to avoid the local trains today, so all was good.

Anyways, I enjoyed the above pre-packed eats throughout the day.

Cookies ‘n Cream LUNA = soooooo good!  This was the first Luna bar that I have been satisfied with!

One side was coated in white frosting, and the other side was chocolate crispy bar drizzled in more frosting.  Yes please!

I would DEF buy this one again, and it held me over nicely until lunch time.

I had a big ‘ol java over ice, too…while reading, eating, and people watching at Bruno’s.  My lunch salad was great and all, but I think I’ve had my fill of greens for a while.

I had TONS of psycho patients today.  It wasn’t too bad, though, because even though I wanted to pull my hair out at times, I wasn’t very busy, so it was also on the amusing side.  BTW, when I say “psycho” patients, I really mean it.  They had serious neurological issues (which means I’m not a bad person for talking crap about them, ok).

On the way home from work, I did a naughty thing…

Who knows what the people on the subway thought of me taking a pic of my Kombucha in my lap.  After I snapped the photo, I proceeded to open the drink, at which point it exploded all over me.  My paper thin scrubs were NO help whatsoever…and yet, all I could think of was how I lost $1 worth of my precious drink!!!!

I was ready for dinner when I got home, so I was happy that I had some food already prepared. 

Quinoa, chickpeas, and a heapin’ spoonful of sabra LOVE.

In order to avoid beige overload, I added in some shredded carrots.

Yeahhhh boiiiiiiiiiiii…

Obviously, this only fueled my stomach the beast more.  Enter course two. 

Philly cheese steak.  Strike that.  Toasty, melty veggie slices with seitan – that’s more like it   :)

How could I ignore my sweet tooth on the late night?  I couldn’t decide between two desserts, so I had both!

First, sliced apples, pears, and strawbz.

Second, Fig Newman's with peanut butter.

Is it totally ridiculous that I made a sammie with cookies and PB?!

Don’t worry, I already know the answer to this one.

Holy crap you’re hot!  Thanks for the shout out It’s A Wrap, clearly all my sassy blogger buddies deserve this, how could I choose!

Memorial Day Bite-lettes

Monday holiday!  Hooray!

It took this many cups of coffee to get me moving this morning…

Ok, I realize this looks a bit like a scene from Intervention (before the person has recognized they have a problem).  BUT, in my defense, it was for both me and Kyle, and I often make extra (for PM iced coffees), so don’t judge.

I frothed it up of course!

My breakfast wasn’t exactly traditional, but boy was it TASTY!

I forgot to mention how effing amazing these BITE-LETTES were last night.  I would DEFINITELY recommend them.  I could barely control myself from eating the entire tub all at once!  They are like mini-oatmeal raisin cookies – and since they are ”wholesome” and vegan, I don’t feel bad about inhaling them like they would spontaneously combust mission impossible style if I didn’t…

These cookies will self destruct in 5 seconds…

A little later I had a more complete meal to start the day off right.  ‘T'was divine :)

Since the weather was BEYOND fabeezy, Kyle and I decided to get our stroll on (whole life challenge – check).  After a few hours of adequately soaking up the sun multiplying our freckles, we returned to our hot stuffy apartment (AC time? I think so).  This east coast weather is very baffling to me.  I know I whine about it all the time, but it’s just so weird how one week it can be in the 30s and next thing I know, I’m sweating bullets in my paper thin scrubs…I mean, I haven’t even had time to put my umbrella away!  Probably because I’ll need it again a week from now…

But before this tangent gets outta hand, let’s get back to the food stuff.

Lunch.

A few more falafel balls, WF tofu, chickpeas, and carrot “noodles.”  YUM!  I really love carrots.  And they are pretty sweet when shredded; a great pairing for savory WF goodies.

I had a few more bite-lettes with silk for lunch dessert. 

After lunch we went to pick up a new suit Kyle had on hold.  We meandered through Riverside Park on the way downtown (I packed a few pineapple rings for the road). 

Could this plastic bag BE any more recycled?  The foggy look is SO hot right now…

Seriously, it’s a good thing we moved apartments a couple of months ago, otherwise I would still be hanging on to bags from 2007, all in the name of being green. 

I was dragging when we got back home – enter iced coffee :)

And now, completely random and off topic…

Two things you may or may not have realized about me (1) I do not have naturally straight hair and (2) I am pretty freakin’ lazy when it comes to putting effort into my appearance (my platinum blonde Los Angeles days are far behind me, and not missed in the least). 

So, that said, I may have discovered how I can use my inner slacker and still come out ahead. 

This is 4 day old unwashed hair.  Gross, you say?  Maybe. 

I mean, sure, some of the details of my job aren’t so glamorous…(use your imagination), but I didn’t have any contact precaution patients over the weekend, I didn’t exercise or work up a sweat, AND (not that I have to justify this to anyone but myself) I was out late with co-workers on Saturday night, so I just didn’t get a chance to shower.  And yet, each day I woke up with straighter and straighter hair, which is pretty amazing for not even lifting a brush in over 72 hours!!!  I may be onto something here…

Are you guys AM or PM shower people?  I’m a night time girl for sure.  Especially on days I work, I like rinsing the “nasty” off after a long day, while minimizing my routine in the morning.  But then, I guess going to bed with wet hair explains why it takes me extra long to get ready in the AM – since I have an afro to tame when I wake. 

Back to the food.

I’ll admit, the main motivating factor in going to the gym today, was the shower after. 

C’mon Elise, it’s been 3 days, suck it up and run so you can get clean.

I elliptical-ed for 60 minutes while zoning out to Kanye and the likes. 

When I got home I threw some quinoa on the stove before hopping into the shower…

When they were done, I tossed in some garbanzos…

This is an idiot-proof meal.  So easy.  So delicious. 

I ate most of it plain, but then decided to make a salad, too, so I added some into the salad.

Spring lettuce, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, quinoa, garbanzos, and raisins.

Mmmm….

After dinner I decided to get down with Jon and Kate + 8.  Kyle and I did 6 loads of laundry, too.  It’s a good thing all I wear is scrubs and work out clothes (both of which I have in endless supply).

For deezer, I had a few more oatmeal raisin bite-lettes, carobs chips and medjools dates.

OK, I finished them.  How could I leave those last few though.  They were lonely, and I heard them calling my name…

PS I responded to all your comments at the end of my last post. 

PPS Win a blog make-over!!  Zesty is a computer whiz.

Good morning upper west siders

Yeah, too bad I don’t live on the East side…then I’d be a true gossip girl.  Riiiiight.

 

I was in a barista kind of mood this morning :D

Froth machine + silk + truvia + cinn = the best coffee EVER!

Even better?  I had the day off, AGAIN!  Plus I am going home on Thursday for a girlfriend’s bridal shower/bachelorette weekend, so I’m beyond excited.  California sunshine here I come…

PB Puffins and an apple to get the day off right.  Somehow I wound up talking on the phone (mostly with my mom) for hours, and the next time I looked at the clock it was 3 pm!  What!?  So I made myself a really late lunch.

Soynut butter quesadilla, blueberry Chobz, and dried figs.

And a tall glass of home-made iced coffee (heavy on the silk).

And off to the gym I went…tread mill, elliptical, AND spinning (sweet!!)  I came home to quite a nice surprise too…

PACKAGE!!!!!!!!

I ordered sugar cookie sleigh ride tea last week, so I was like a second semester senior checking the mail every day for big packages.  Remember those days?  I don’t miss that phase of life!

So now I’ve got six glorious boxes of my fave tea…oh, happy day. 

As if the day could get any better, I had a dinner date with my girlfriend at Nanoosh (hummus bar heaven).  Me and Jess are both Upper West Siders, so I’m pretty sure Nanoosh took us into consideration when they were deciding where to start their business (obvi)!! 

I ordered a hummus wrap, which had spinach, cukes, tomatoes, bell pepps, quinoa and HUMMUS all in a whole wheat wrap. 

Oh. My. Goodness.  I wish my wraps tasted this good.  The freshness and crunch of the cucumber with the creamy smooth hummus was delish beyond words.  I’m going to have to start adding that to mine!  Genius!  On the side I had a quinoa salad with organic quinoa, red pepps, red onion, roasted walnuts and raisins.  I avoided the walnuts like the plague, of course, but the rest of the salad was SO good. 

Jess got the hummus with sun dried tomato pesto, and a side of carrots.  I’ll let you read her description of the whole wheat pitas, trust me, it’s accurate.

 

After dinner we decided to take a trip to my local health foods store (aka my idea of life support), so I could introduce Jess to the shelf that would single handedly rock her world lead to her ultimate demise.  I’m talking about the vegan dessert fridge.  How in the world Jess missed this key area in the store, is BEYOND me, but hey, that’s what she’s got me for!!  ***On a side note – I was also the first person to get her trashed in college too.  I’m noticing a theme of corruption!!!  Mwahahaha (evil laugh).  Erin can vouch for me, I’m not lying, “addicting” doesn’t even describe how amazing carob raisins are…

 

For dessert, I polished off this bag no prob and then moved on to figs and coconut date rolls.  Kyle was working late, so I may have had a bit more.

Oh SCSR, how I’ve missed you…let’s never fight again.

March on…

I guess the cold weather is back?  At least the weekend was nice, but talk about short lived. 

Good morning blog-loves!  I’m in an especially great mood this morning because I (again) was called late last night by my work to get the day off.  I still get paid, but because they were overstaffed, I don’t have to go in.  I don’t know if this is something to be worried about, though, since 2 other NY hospitals recently went under, and we really haven’t had too many cases lately.  And we all know our economy isn’t rockin’ right now…hmmm.  Still, for now, I’ll use the extra zzz time without complaints.

 

Brunch, while reading (NOT watching The View).

It’s prob pretty self explanatory, but J.I.C. you had a stroke over night and don’t remember how I roll: strawberry chobz, fresh berries, and oatmeal with soynut buttah LOVE.

 

Lunchies munchies (sorry about the rhyming) were an apple, carob raisins (the entire bag) and a lovely wrap.

This flax roll up contained spinach and enough SABRA hummus to feed an army.  I think Sabra is the only company thriving through this economic recession due to my hummus consumption alone.  I am totes their #1 fan.  Sometimes I feel like I should quit nursing and move to the Sabra factory.  But then I remember I’d end up gaining 50 pounds before orientation was through…so that’s a bad idea.  But a good plan B, just in cases…

Love Actually anyone?  I’m only completely obsessed, I mean, it’s not like I can quote the WHOLE movie or anything…

 

Can I just say how glad I am that the rest of the food blogging community has FINALLY discovered the amazingness that is Odwalla bars…I mean I’ve only been plugging them for a decade!  I should be their PR person or something!!  These babies are so good, you forget they are healthy, too.  Mmmm…

Gym anyone?  No thank you.  I forced myself to go, but I didn’t like it.

This plate of heaven was like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!  Carob raisins, dried papaya spears, and dried figgies.

Time to get dinner under way.  New product alert!  I finally bought Arnold’s Sandwich Thins (multi-grain), so I was excited to try them out.  Also, I got a new brand of veggie burgers.  Boca rarely disappoints, so I was pretty confident this meal was going to rock.

The sando thins were okay.  They reminded me of a cross between cheap bread and buns.  I still enjoyed it, but I think I’ve been spoiled by the goodness that is Alvarado Street Bread Co.  As for the burger – well, it was pretty thin, but still tasty.  I guess if you are used to Gary Null’s massive veggie burgers, everything else will be small by comparison…I added in some smart deli “turkey” and hummus to bulk it up.

On the side, I steamed fresh green beans and a combo of quinoa, brocc slaw, and assorted veggies.  DUDE.  I can’t describe to you how obsessed I currently am with veggie/quinoa mixes.  It is a-MAZ-ing!!!!  I also have recently discovered that my local Barzini’s sells fresh broccoli slaw that they make daily.  It’s SOOOO good.  Now I’m ruined from all packaged brocc slaw.  Maybe I’ll try to make my own; I wonder if I could put raw veggies in the blender? 

I only included this photo because I thought it was funny.  I had WAY more carob raisins than this, but how cute are those little buggers!?!

 

I also had figs and coconut covered raisins.  Shocker, right?  This was the first time I bought non-bin figs.  Way too expensive, never again!