I.M.Healthy

I woke up to another day of ick weather.  It’s so hard to get excited for the day when you know it’s going to be spent mostly indoors. 

But then I found a surprise PACKAGE at the door!!!  What could it be…??

The wonderful people over at I.M. Healthy sent me my FAVE soynut butter, both creamy AND chocolate flavors!  I LOVE this stuff!!  Since you all have been asking about soynut butter, now you can see this amazing product, and go out and get it, to try it first hand.  It’s the perfect combination of salty and sweet.  It tastes exactly like ground up soynuts with a smooth and creamy texture – it just doesn’t compare to any other nut butters, and I’ve had extensive experience!!  Trust me, this stuff needs to be in your pantry, like, now!

So brekkie was an obvious choice.  Alvarado street bread toasted with creamy soynut butter.  I can’t wait to try the chocolate.  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!

I had a second brunch type meal later on (I don’t know why I bother labeling meals).  I guess since it was before noon, I couldn’t call it lunch.  Vanilla o’soy and 2 coconut date rolls with my coffee.

“Lunch” was kinda weird.  I wasn’t overly hungry, and I didn’t feel like making anything, so it turned into a snacky afternoon as I did errands around the apt (I apologize for the randomness in advance).  First, I had leftover veggies.

Followed by spoonfuls of hummus (you read that correctly).  Sabra is so tasty, sometimes you don’t need anything to dip in it, ya know?  As for the pretz…I TOTALLY dipped these in soynut butter!!!  Haha!

And later I made myself a dried fruit plate with papaya spears and pineapple.

Finally I got my act together and headed to the gym. 

GYM stats: elliptical 30 min, tread mill 30 min, elliptical 30 min, abs/arms/stretching 20 min  (I had a mega high from all those endorphins as I headed home)

**special shout out to Adrianna for the Ting Ting music rec, I’ve been trying to find that artist forEVER – thanks loveee

Dinner was an asian inspired noodle/veggie/tofu dish.

Tofu blocks baked with soy sauce.

Steamed edamame.

Steamed shrooms.

Steamed broccoli slaw.

Soy noodles.

All mixed up together – doesn’t it look YUM!  I drizzled a little bit of teriyaki sauce on top.  I def have un monton de leftovers.

Dessert?  Duh.  Dried dates and carob covered raisins (I de-pitted and stuffed because it’s just so much more fun that way)!! 

Note: After I finished this plate, I made myself another platter (unpictured) because I have no self control because the first one was out of this world.  AND I opened up the chocolate I.M.Healthy soynut butter for my first taste (I just couldn’t resist trying it out!!!).  I’ll save the full review for tomorrow, but HOLY YUM!  I was in sweet tooth heaven – my desserts will NEVER be the same again!  The creamy, smooth, salty, sweet, buttery texture was divine, but I def gulped down what felt like a gallon of soymilk.  This product is like a nut butter lover’s mecca (oh, and fyi, the chocolate soynut butter has no dairy).  Needless to say, I headed to bed ridiculously full, but quite pleased about my new dessert discovery. 

Who’s done with taxes?!  I am, I am!  (One of the few remaining perks of having a BF in finance) – that comment is in reference to our crap economy, NOT Kyle’s skillz! 

unique new york, unique new york

I love Will Ferrell. 

After yesterday’s mega sleep in, today I was back to the same routine…I had the day off, but still woke up early.  I read in bed for a bit, but soon enough, my stomach said “feed me,” so I obliged with a steamy cup of joe and toasted Ezek english muffin with Earth Balance melted and lathered on to the max. 

A repeat of yesterday, with soy milk and my new SF vanilla syrup.

This picture reminds me of snow white…I feel like I’m the witch offering a poisoned apple.

 

For lunch I was in a hummus mood (which is only natural since I’ve gone a full 3 days without sabra).  FYI, I’m apparently a stereotype.  Not JUST as a foodie, but as a white person in general…have you ever seen the this website, it cracks me up (and will explain my last statement).

 

WW tortillas and veggies with my sabralicious.

Sabra is my one and only (ok, except for carob).

My gym visit today was crap.  I wasn’t feeling it, and being my fave time of the month, I wasn’t in any mood to push myself.  I’m always looking for excuses…

On my way back from the gym it was pouring rain outside and I didn’t have an umbrella, so I was drenched and beyond gross when I finally got home.  ALL I wanted to do was put on my PJs and curl up with decadent sweets.  Good thing I had these chocolate & vanilla vegan lovies.  They were exactly what I needed.  Totally hit the spot.  I described the ingreds of the tofu “cheese”cake cups in an earlier post, so you can check that out if you want.

Anyways, I did a couple loads of laundry, cleaned the SHIZ out of our apartment, and by the time dinner rolled around, I was ready to get my cooking on.

Seitan on the grill for 7 minutes (so easy it’s unbelievable).

 

I also steamed a bunch of veggies on the side (I added some vegan parm on top too).

After dinner my cousin’s hubby came over for some vino (he’s in NY for a work thing).  Since my fam is so far away (back in CA), it’s always nice to get to see them.  Plus, my cousin is preggers (awww), so he’s almost a first time father, which made catching up even BETTER.

We are members of the Tobin James wine club, so we get boxes of wine each season, and they never disappoint.  Malbec is quickly becoming a fave. 

You KNOW I made myself a fatty dried fruit dessert platter.  Figs, coconut date rolls, and carob raisins, oh my!

Ok everyone, now head over to Caitlin’s page to win a Road ID.  Once you read her post about Lindsay’s story, you can’t deny that it only makes sense to carry a form of identification with you when out, so why not try to win one for free!

And finally a HUGE thanks to all the music recs.  I can’t wait to play on iTunes later to download some pump up jams for running.  Wahoo!  You guys are the BEST :)

day of breakfasts

I literally was craving brekkie foods all day…so why fight it.  I had today off from work (finally), so I allowed myself to sleep in and it felt great!!  Normally when I work, I have to wait to take my lunch break until my patients are stable, which sometimes isn’t until well after noon, so I end up going HOURS between my AM starbucks loading and my PM lunch (hence the need for my daily odwalla bars).  Anyways, the point I am getting at, is that after working several days in a row, I miss eating breakfast foods.  SOOO, I tried something new today.  Drum roll please…

Yes, after hearing every blogger and their mother rave about this amazing cereal OVER and OVER and OVER, I finally tried it. 

To be fair, I love every cereal, but to be truthful, PUFFINS are out of this world.  So airy and light, but still able to soak up the silk and bring out a crunchy, peanut buttery, delish flavor.  Basically, I’m in love.  I even made the bold move and added in chocolate soy milk to this bowl!!  Yum, like whoa.

I also had this warm cup ‘o love (aka coffee), to which I added my new SF vanilla syrup.  Mmmm…   Sleeping in.  Foamy hot coffee.  Puffins.  Catching up on blogs.  The morning was absolutely perfect.

I didn’t get hungry for a while after my bowl of puffins, but when I finally did, I was still craving breakfast eats.  So I threw some “eggs” and “bacon” on the grill.

Wake-y, wake-y, eggs and bake-y!

I actually rolled the soy bacon up in the egg and added some greek yogurt…

And it was tasty!  It looks like a mess, but it tasted like perfection.

The protein loading got me ready to kick some ass at the gym.  I was pumped after so many days off, so I did 60 minutes on the elliptical at a high resistance, followed by 10 minutes of running on the tread mill, and then 10 minutes walking.  Post cool down, I stretched and did some abs and arms.  On the way home I hit up our local health foods store for some MUCH needed grub.  I completely depleted the dried fruit last night, and it is NOT okay for me to be without dried fruit in the apartment,  Bad things happen…

I snacked on apple slices and figs while watching tivo-ed eps of the view.

And then, I decided I just had to have another bowl of PB puffins, (this time with o’soy vanilla yogurt).

I totally ruined my appetite for dinner :(  I’m so dumb sometimes.  Since it was apparent that I was going to be snacking the night away, without any formed meals, I had a plate of grapes.

Then another o’soy vanilla with chopped up figs and raisins.

And last, but not least, Alvarado street bread toasted with soynut butter. 

Melted nut butters on toast are DIVINE!

And you thought I was joking when I said I had breakfast food all day long…

PS.  I have NO CLUE what happened to my dessert pic (I swear I took it?), but I had carob covered raisins – shocking, I know!

Check out my Valentine’s Day card from my parents!  (The inside says “…and I’m laughing because there’s nothing you can do about it”). Cute, right?  I also got some iTunes $$, so now I need help with good PUMP UP music.  Any ideas guys?

I need really upbeat tunes that will keep me running with tons ‘o energy!!  So, puh-leez, send me suggestions on what you are currently running to, because I need motivation to train for this half marathon I impulsively signed up for in April (eek). 

the key to my heart

…is carob :)

I definitely went overboard with the carob today – it’s just SO good, I can’t help it.  Whatever.  It’s healthy, right?  It’s all veggiegirl’s fault!  Honestly, if I ever got my hands on a bag of carob chips (like Erin did) lord help me!

Heading in to work on Monday morning was a little depressing.  Everyone else is on DAY 3 of the weekend, but I’m on DAY 3 of WORKING…I know my work schedule generally rocks, so I shouldn’t be complaining, but it’s still sad when I know everyone else is sleeping in, enjoying a leisurely President’s day full of nothingness, while I’ve been at work for hours.  Pity party over.  I made my lunch the night before.

The dried fruit mix from my secret cupid is almost gone!  I bulked it up with some carob covered raisins (did you expect anything different, though?).  The sammie was full of bell pepps, greek yog, and smart deli “turkey.” 

I starbucks-ed it up all day (of course).  And when I finally got off work, I was SO effing exhausted.  I was only 5% awake by the time I left the unit (don’t worry, all my patients were stable, I was totally a good nurse) – unlike Saturday when we had 2 codes back to back and anesthesia didn’t respond so we had to intubate on our own (fyi both patients are doing great and will prob go home this week)…I don’t want you guys to think peeps are dying on me!

Ok, back to the eats.  My stomach was screaming for food by the time I got home, so while I made dinner, I snacked on some goodies (coco date rolls, dried fruit mix, and carob covered raisins).  Nothing like dessert before dinner, right?  Carob is an around the clock food as far as I’m concerned.

I made a big ass salad for din din, with the following ingreds:

soy-tein with spinach

baked tofu

bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower

all mixed togetha…

Nothing beats a MASSIVE bowl of greens.  Nothing.

My dessert was an obv choice.  I swear, the dried fruit companies’ businesses are thriving from ME ALONE…no joke.  

And then I polished off the last of my bag of dried fruit from my secret cupid :(

It was SUCH a great assortment, full of golden and dark raisins, cherries, blueberries, pineapple, cranberries, and papaya.  Sad to see it go…

SO tired, good thing I have the next days off to catch up on my sleep.

GOBO on the brain

All day long I was fantasizing about tonight’s dinner.  Kyle and I had plans for a night out on the town to meet in the West Village after I got off work to try out a vegan restaurant called Gobo.  The menu looked unbelievable, so I was basically salivating all day in anticipation.

But first, I had to get through a day of work. 

For some reason I was starving way more than usual today…then I remembered an article I read in Shape mag, which made me feel better (apparently pre-red tent time it’s common for an increase in appetite).  Um, sure, that’ll work as an excuse.

After yesterday’s horrendous commute, I left for work super early today.  Damn Murphy’s Law…of course I made it to the hospital in great time, which left me standing in front of Starbucks waiting for it to open.  Yeah, while they were filling the display case with pastries, I was outside freezing my ass off.  It was a little depressing.  They made it worth my while (free coffee in exchange for losing feeling in my toes – totally worth it). 

Lunch: sammie with smart deli “turkey,” greek yog, bell pepps, on Alvarado street bread

And an apple, odwalla bar, and HUGE bag of dried fruit with carob raisins, figs, and pineapple

I ate almost all of this before noon, so I was left to my own devices for the rest of the day (don’t worry, I managed to find some stuff around the unit…)

Not pictured: raisin bran cereal, grapes, apple sauce, and random leftover candy from Valentine’s Day

And FINALLY, the good stuff…

Kyle met me after work for a hot date at GOBO, in the West Village.  We walked from the hospital and it was a good thing we had a reservation because the place was PACKED and I was starving when we got there.  We started by splitting the five spice tofu rolls with mango puree, which was quite tasty.  The tofu was somehow both firm and yet soft at the same time.  The crispy wrap in which it was fried was flaky, but not overly oily, and the mango sauce had such a new and interesting flavor.  I only wish there had been a dozen more on the plate!

I feel the need to interject here and comment on the wait staff.  It was bad – like, tap-the-mic-is-anyone-out-there-BAD.  There.  I said it.  Now that that’s off my chest we can move past the awkwardness and go forward with the rest of the evening’s eats.

Kyle got the vietnamese spicy stir-fry rice noodles with bean sprouts(above).  He seemed to enjoy it, since he devoured the entire thing in a matter of minutes!  (No joke, Kyle eats faster than a speeding bullet).  As for MY dish (below).  I got the smoked beijing-style seitan with chinese broccoli.  It was not what I was expecting, but still very good.  The “meat” on the top is the seitan, which wasn’t prepared any way I’ve had seitan in the past…it was a bit chewy and reminded me of chicken skin.  That sounds way grosser than it was.  It was actually good, so don’t take that description the wrong way.  What was underneath the seitan was actually my favorite part of the dish.  In addition to chinese broccoli, there was also acorn squash, enoki mushrooms, and some other random greens…I swear the chinese broccoli was actually swiss chard, but what the heck do I know, it was a dark restaurant and my first bite was so hot I lost a layer off the roof of my mouth!

SO MUCH FOOD.  I really liked the enoki mushrooms (which looked like squirts of mustard on top of that seitan), good thing I don’t judge books by their covers.

Yeah, it was tasty.

We also split an order of yam and yucca fries.  They were INSANELY huge.  I didn’t really know what yucca was when I ordered them (it’s a plant root btw).  The yam fries were yummmmm to the max, though.  They were battered in something before being fried, but they weren’t greasy.  They were dense too.  They certainly weren’t like any fries I’ve ever had.  Oh vegan dining, how I love thee.

After our walk back from the subway, I was desperately in need of warmth.  So I thawed out over a steamy cup of sleigh ride sugar cookie tea :)

I couldn’t deny myself a dessert plate of goodies!  (figs and carob covered raisins)

NOM!

Bed time, back to work again tomorrow.