economic recession, not so much!

Rise and shine, my Uncle Matt is in town.

I woke up early-ish to get a few things done before the day got too far along. Actually, that's a lie, Kyle got up early and dragged me out of bed with him. So I watched while he did laundry, made coffee, and went to the store for milk (oops, ran out last night curbing my hummus/bread late night fiesta). I'm so lucky to have such a fabulous boyfriend. I do my best to pull my weight, making him dinners on my days off, etc. but there's no denying it - he's one of a kind.


Sorry for the AM mushy stuff. Moving on to the real part of the day...

After 2 1/2 cups of coffee and 1 TALL glass of silk light soymilk, I was ready for the gym.

Or so I thought...


NYSC smelled gross - like B.O. combined with excessive bathroom sanitizer spray...plus, it is like 140 degrees on the upstairs. With a combo of factors like that, it really makes running on an elliptical hard when you can't breath. Needless to say, I got through it alive and hopefully just a bit stronger. Otherwise, I'm not sure it was worth it. I stretched minimally so I could just get the hell out of the place.


While watching football (I love Sundays) I had an open faced breakfast sandwich.

A Street bread with ff Fage, plus egg beaters and soy bacon.

I was lazy and cooked the "eggs" in the microwave.

It looks sloppy, but tasted heavenly. Trust me, even Kyle was salivating at the fake bacon.

After lunch Kyle and I headed out for some continued shopping...
nobody told me there was a recession. I was trying to get a bunch of stuff before leaving for vacation. Time restraints make shopping a difficult experience (I am really picky and tend to take 10 hours just to make up my mind about a pair of socks). What's even WORSE, I get worn out really easily, so I usually only last 2 hours. Do the math. Now it's clear why I come home empty handed 99% of the time. Even though it was the weekend, stores weren't as obnoxiously packed as they usually are. But, it's just a matter of weeks before the holiday shopping season begins - and that scene is one I try to avoid at all costs. Good thing I found some bomb ass stuff in the first few places! Crisis averted :)

After shopping I met up with Uncle Matt and Bart in Bryant Park. We watched the ice skaters and sipped on starbucks coffee. Then we had to hit the road so Kyle could get home for his ride to the airport. We grabbed Thai on the way home for dinner.

Whole Wheat Dumplings: Macro & Vegan. Ingreds: organic whole wheat flour, organic cabbage, organic carrot, shiitake mushroom, organic green onion, organic apple cider vinegar, organic agave syrup, paprika, tahini, sesame oil, black pepper, organic garlic, and sea salt.

They were packed in the container like sardines...I just kept going and I felt like I wasn't making a dent.

But of course I managed to polish the entire thing off (did you ever doubt me?) Here are the last 4 zoomed in. They were pretty delish.

Kyle also had extra Pad Thai Noodles that I stole. Talk about a carbo load! These were also vegan and macro. So, at least it was healthy (woot woot for whole wheat). PLUS, unlike chinese take out, it wasn't saturated with grease and oil. I like food.

not just the same old salad

I woke up to rain and cloudy skies, so I just wanted to stay in my PJ's all day long. Too bad for me, Kyle doesn't feel the same way about what proper rainy day activities are. Fortunately the rain seemed to clear up in the afternoon, so we managed to salvage most of what we were planning for the day.


Step 1: Caffeine, asap (bowling ball design).

Step 2: More caffeine (cherry design)

Step 3: Gym.

I gymed it hard. I was struggling too, but I gotta get my butt in gear, so I pushed through. I ran and streched and did abs, oh my.


Step 4: Lunch (actually snack, and snack often)


I was only so-so hungry, which was weird for only having coffee prior to my work out...so I had an organic honeycrisp apple (from my FD order), followed by a cup of o'soy yogurt (strawberry flavor).

This was the first time I tried the strawberry flavor, and it is definitely better than the peach. Vanilla is still my number 1, but this is a close 2.

Then we headed out to do some shopping. Gotta get some clothes for our (less than a week away) European travels! I packed a snack for myself, since I always get famished while scanning the racks...shopping really can be quite a work out!

I've been looking foward to this treat for a while! Sabra classic hummus and pretzels in a cute little package for the road. Could this BE any more perfect? Here's the problem: I don't like wasting food, and there were not nearly enough pretz to finish off the hummus (may-jah dilemma!)...you might guess where this left me. Yes, licking the container. Kyle was mortified, and I probably looked like a homeless person after months without food. Whatevs. I'm a food freak, embrace it.

I got a new pair of black slouchy ankle pumps, and Kyle got a new suit, 5 dress shirts, 2 ties, and 2 pairs of dress shoes (insert gasps here). He was on a mission.

Dinner was another salad (yes, I'm going to turn into a salad soon I am craving them for dinner every single night)! But it was so good it was not just another boring salad. I added in some leftover tofu edamame and corn mix below.

Also I added in more cherry tomatoes and raisins. Perfection.

Of course then my sweet tooth was calling...and yogurt covered raisins answered.

Then we went out to go see the movie Role Models on the late night. I was laughing my ass off the entire movie. SO funny. SO SO funny. Even though we got back after midnight, I still managed to find room in my tummy for some bread (4 slices of A Street) with hummus (sorry no pictures).

a day of waiting...

It's an apple!!!

Wow, I am talented! I have been practicing on my frothing technique, and this is the first design that really looks cool :) I used mostly skim plus (1/3 cup) with just a touch of vanilla "creamer."

Today started off with a nice snooze. No complaints there. After yesterday's neverending shift, I didn't feel the least bit guilty for sleeping in. After my coffee (a new blend from starbucks...more details later) I hit up the gym and ran for 60 minutes. I was feeling really pumped since I took yesterday off from working out. I stretched for 20 full minutes too, then did some ab stuff. On the way home I was in a rush, so I grabbed some sushi. It is my fav, with texturized protein, carrots, spinach, and brown rice.

I had to be home from 2-4 pm for my fresh direct order. Well, 4 pm came and went and there was NO sign of any fresh direct delivery...I snacked in the meantime (since we all know that's what I do when I'm stressed).

Good thing I had lots of shows tivo-ed to pass the time while I blogged and munched. Dried edamame (above) and the REST OF the corn nuts (below). Honestly, corn nuts are so good, they are rapidly climbing the charts of my fav things -- hummus better watch out or it will get de-throned soon. Salt just trumps everything.

Before I knew it 7 pm rolled around and I was getting super annoyed. WTF to these people think they are...I can't just sit around and wait for them? I had things planned. I have a life!!

I was totally starving, but I couldn't leave the house...so I made an iced coffee with the leftover coffee from the AM. Pretty delish, but I still wanted food, and after talking to a million different FD representatives, the food was no closer to arriving. Then, all of a sudden, it occurred to me to check with the doorman...and there it was. Sitting in the hallway, no notification, no nothing. Ugh. This company really has it's good days and bad days.

I was so hungry (and since I was still unaware that my food was actually just chilling 2 floors below me) I had Kyle pick me up some food on his way home from work. Big salad.

Lettuce, brocc slaw, cherry tomatoes, raisins, and tofu chunks.

Plus, the obligatory handful of dates for dessert. Weekend with my boyfriend tomorrow!

i hate prop 8

My last day of work for the week could not have arrived sooner - no joke, I was exhausted and my entire body was aching like a 90 year old geriatrics patient. I think I will need monthly massages just to keep myself walking! Anyways, the day started off bright and early with a Bruno's coffee...which actually didn't keep me alert enough at ALL. I was forced to do some non-vegan snacking just so I didn't keel over at work. I'm not proud of what I did, but sometimes my stomach takes over...I stole a patient's breakfast!!! In my own defense, the patient was NPO for a test, so the food was probably just going to get thrown out, so really I was being green. Anyways, I had corn flakes and milk (not even a cereal I like), and that seemed to tame the ravenous beast that is my GI system, at least temporarily.

The day was SO hectic, I hardly had a second to break so it was good I had this bar in my pocket!

Review: Odwalla's bars are YUM...superfood is actually my fav flavor (no refined sugar plus 500 mg of spirulina). The best part is there are no nuts, and it is packed with soy ingredients and other delicious things like grape juice conc, date puree, raisins, organic rolled oats, banana flakes, organic dried banana, oat bran, dried coconut, organic soy butter...yadda yadda, I could go on and on about these babies.

So I finally had time for lunch. At this point my stomach lining was just about eating itself. I had a sando with A Street bread (my new can't-live-without ingred) along with "turkey" smart deli slices, hummus, honey must, and broccoli slaw. A kinda new spin on my old classic (basically, I was out of lettuce, and I needed some form of green on my sandwich).

I also had a baggie filled with corn nuts...sorry this picture is a blurry mess.

I sipped on an iced soy latte over the pm hours at work. Then had an apple on the subway on the way home from work.

For dinner, I had a big salad with tofu. I added in corn and raisins to the below ingredients.

Ta-da!

Dessert was actually 5 times the amount of dates shown...mmm (SO good!)

Sleeping in tomorrow :)

OBAMA-mania

I had a hop in my step on my way to work, I guess that's just the effect that our new Pres elect has! Moving on, work was non-stop. The unit is just filled with chronic patients, who are FULL loads. Ugh! I knew I should have enjoyed that dry spell over the summer...now it's crazy crazy crazy!
So, like a good girl I packed my lunch (see below). And then I forgot it when I left for work.

So, I ordered a sandwich from Bruno's instead. I got a bomb ass sandwich (and $$ at that) packed with tuna, avocado, and bell peppers on a delish homemade whole grain bread. It was worth the cash - so I'll just have the packed lunch for dinner instead. I also had a Bruno's coffee with my lunch and then a soy latte to bring back to work for the end of the shift. YUMMY!

Here's my lunch turned dinner sando. SO good. Check out that smart deli "turkey" hummus and broccoli slaw...niiice.

But, that wasn't quite enough to fill me up, so I had a bowl of chili, too. Honestly, I'm surprised Yves' meatless chili has never made the HHH blog until now. I used to have these once a week - they are vegan, loaded with soy, and easy to make since they just need to be thawed. I keep them on supply in the freezer fo sho!

+

I added a bit of corn for some extra pizazz (and fiber).

Then I had to satisfy my hummus craving (it's always lurking back there somewhere) so I had some carrot sticks and bread dipped in sabra.

This stuff is heavenly. No other word to describe it!

Election Day

I hope everyone votes today (I did)!

I got to sleep in today (no work) but I had big plans. I switched my closet with Kyle's, which was a FAR bigger task than I thought it would be (it actually took me all day). While I was doing all that housekeeping I was vigilently watching CNN as they tracked the election. Exciting!!!

On to the food...

It should be no surprise that I used my froth machine to create a cup of delicious coffee with foamy milk. And as usual, I tried to make some designs...here's my attempt at a heart.

Then I had an O'Soy vanilla yog to get my energy up for the gym.

At the gym I elliptical-ed for an hour. Then I stretched a TON (I've been so achy lately) and did some ab work...go me!

Back to the houseowork and CNN...I had a nice lunch sando.

A Street bread LOADED with hummus...

Then the last of the lettuce and smart deli "turkey"...

Mmm...doesn't it look great (it's like the sandwich is doing the splits)

After all my chores I got hungry again, so I had one of the Gary Null veggie burgers in the pack.

I think I had it with a bit of hummus too :)

After my veggie burger snack, I headed out for my 4th trip to the salvation army to drop off ANOTHER bag full of clothes (talk about cleaning out my closet) and also for a bit of shopping. I was on a mission for a few things to fill out my closet, and some dinner items. The shopping was a bust, but I atleast got out of the apartment for a while, and I grabbed a nice big salad for din din.

To which I added this tofu edamame salad. It is macro and vegan and made with very simple ingredients including tofu, organic soy beans, sesame oil, a few spices and salt. The whole container is just over 300 kcals (although sometimes it seems a bit more oily than other times).

Such a nice final product. I have really been in a salad mood lately!!

I had a tall glass of SILK soy milk light for dessert...

vote vote vote (get out the VOTE)

Monday. Blah. After such a nice, relaxing weekend with my parents in town, the fact that I had to go back to work was a harsh reality. At least I was working with my lovely Miranda. I started off the day with a Bruno's coffee, which was as good as ever. Since, it was just the 2 of us with a full load, I only managed to squeeze in 45 minutes for lunch. Still...I had my typical sando (A Street, smart deli, lettuce, hummus, etc) which I packed the day before.

I also had a baggie filled with corn nuts, along with the rest of the things shown below (apple, raisins)...

The best part about work was my schedule change, so now I have tomorrow off!! I'm going back and forth about if it is actually a good thing or not, since now I have to work Wed and Thurs instead. But it will be nice to watch the election tomorrow all day and get some housework done. I made it to the gym this evening (Mondays are my fav gym days because Gossip Girl is on -- the dirty lives of manhattan's upper east side elite just makes the time fly by).

For dinner I wanted salad, AND I wanted to try out a new ingredient in my salad. I have been craving salad like crazy ever since my parents were here. I think if I go a few days without greens, I go into salad craving overdrive...also, the blog world has been raving about broccoli slaw, which I finally managed to get my hands on.

It is like confetti for your salad!! So good...plus even 1/2 cup of it adds so much to a plain salad. I also added some tofu edamame salad and raisins to the mix.

The end product was a massively amazing creation. I'm quite proud it.

Plus a handful of dates for dessert.