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 :)

Thursday

I thought it was Friday all day…so confused. 

Whatever, Thursday means The Office, so it’s all good.

5 AM.  Frothed me some coffee…and then I was off to work!

Since I was running crazy late, I had this little baby on the way to work.  For the record, I do NOT enjoy eating on the subway, especially when I’m drenched from my rainy mad dash to the station.

 

As usual, I made my lunch the night before to bring to work, which included a hugh jass salad of spinach, brocc slaw, shredded carrots, cherry tomatoes, snow peas, sprouts, dried cranz (Newman’s Own – holla!) and seaweed/sesame salad. 

Other yummies: Berries GoMega odwalla bar, apple, and Newman’s Own dried apples.

Notice a few newbies?  I thought I’d mix it up on you guys!

Newman’s Own organic dried apples are SO good.  Obviously I’m not shy about my love for dried fruit…and up until this point, dried apples weren’t exactly in my fave five.  But dates, pineapples, figs, and papaya spears should def watch their back(s). 

By the way, you may have noticed something missing from these last two posts…(Starbucks)

Yes, I successfully made it through my ENTIRE 12+ hour shift today without giving in to the seductive siren’s sweet sweet song. 

Just as I got off work, Kyle called. 

Since I told him yesterday to force me to go to the gym after work, no matter how much I begged and pleaded otherwise, or tried to weasel my way out of it...he wasn’t allowed to cave!  I needed to exercise.  It’s been over a WEEK people, clearly outside help is necessary!! 

Sure enough, in my exhausted state, I begged him to let me off the hook.  And like the wonderful fiancé he is, he didn’t give in!  I knew there was a reason…never mind.

Fortunately, the rain had stopped and the skies were semi clear, so we decided to take advantage and ran along Riverside Drive.  I think it was only 3.5 – 4 miles, but still, it felt GREAT.  I haven’t really exercised since the half marathon, and it’s weird (sad) to not have a reason to train.  Anyone else experienced this post-race let down phase?

By the time I got home I was hangry.  I cut up some butternut squash and coated them in cinnamon, salt, and a touch of stevia.  

While they were in the oven, I hopped in the shower, and by the time I got out, the most wonderful aroma had filled the apartment. 

Mmmm…

 

BN squash is the best comfort food.  In addition to the squash, I had a mah-jay ensalada mista.  The only reason it could be considered a salad is because there was raw spinach in it.  The main component was a dish I made on the side with shirataki noodles and steamed soy-tein with clover sprouts and spinach. 

I’m a big fan of clover sprouts.  I bought them instead of alfalfa sprouts a few weeks ago, and I haven’t looked back since.  The seed part crunches way more, and I love it.  The only downside is the shelf-life seems a bit shorter.  Still at the rate I go through ‘em, it’s not really an issue.  I add them to EVERYthing. 

 

I tossed the noodle/soy-tein mix in with more spinach, carrots, broccoli slaw, and voila!  Perfection.  I had a POM wonderful with my din-din, too.  I’m hooked on these. 

While watching The Office I polished off the last of my hermits   :(  Good thing I still have the cinnamon ones!

I guess that run really got my appetite going…

Bowl of fruity goodness.

Apples, kiwi, and berries galore (including strawbeezies, raspies, blackbizzles, and bluebz). 

Off to catch some zzzzzs. 

E-Claire out.

Working and grazing

(At the crack of AM) breakfast:

Coffee.  Froth.  CranBran Vitatop.  Off to work.

Snack:  Newman’s Own Organic Honey Wheat Pretzels

I ate these all day long, and finished the whole bag myself.  Addicting, for sure.  I rarely buy pretz because of this very phenomenon.  I especially loved this honey wheat flavor, though, because it has the perfect combination of salty and sweet – way better than regular pretzels.  The huge salt crystals kinda ripped up the roof of my mouth though.  I think that’s my issue though, not Newman’s Own. 

I swear I’ve gained 5 lbs from this Newman’s Own shipment in the last 2 days.  Time to slow my roll.

We had no food in the apt, so I was forced to go to WF for lunch:

Aside from the greens (buried below), the salad was topped with garbanzo beans, pasta pearls, beets, golden raisins, ‘shrooms, hummus, carrots, cukes, and other stuff I can’t remember. 

Ammmmazing.  Worth every penny.

Super lame raw snacks.  I know.  But like I said, empty fridge.

On the subway ride home I snacked on my fave Clif bar.

Time for my Wednesday raw meal!

The most important ingredient of all!

I had such success with this meal on Monday, I had to repeat it.  I mashed the avocado in with shredded carrots, clover sprouts, and broccoli slaw.

This time I used endive leaves to scoop up the avocado mash. 

SO tasty! 

I realize this wasn’t the most creative raw meal, but seriously you guys, our apartment is as barren as Madonna, so finding anything to make was a real stretch. 

Ok, I have to be honest here.  I was really surprised at how few raw ideas I had…actually to be fair, I had several ideas that I had to nix because they weren’t raw.  I kept wanting to use beans!  I never realized how processed my diet is.  I did notice an improvement in the way I ate during Leng’s salad challenge, but aside from salads, I generally don’t get very creative with produce. 

This is why the food blog community is so great.  Where would I be without Jenna and Gena pushing me outside my comfort zone?  Basically, I’m really excited to see what everyone else prepares on Wednesdays so I can get some good ideas for next time around.

I promise I’ll do better in future Operation Raw Wednesday (ORW).

My dessert was raw-ish (Gena’s definition).  I had toasted Alvarado St. bread with my second BB packet.  Wow.  This is way better than peanut butter FOR SURE.  I couldn’t really tell when I ate it with the apple slices, but with bread it’s definitely my preference!  How weird that I don’t like almonds, but love almond butter.  Mmmm.  Let’s just say, it totally lived up to all the hype.

Before I go to bed, I want to share a conversation I had with my mom tonight on google talk…

***back story: my mom and I were reminiscing about one of my stupid school projects from elementary school (writing a book)

[mom]: Instead of the story, you should have written a song called "If I Were a Boy" and made a lot of money.

[me]: huh? what ARE you talking about?

[mom]: Beyonce's song.  I LOVE that song.

[me]: OH.MY.GOD.  never thought id see the day...hahaha

[mom]: Go on Youtube and listen to Rin on the Rox sing that song in their bathroom.  They're so cute.  They like the acoustics of their bathroom and have put several songs on Youtube.  Hey, I'm SO hip.  Ha!

[me]: hahaha  im dying right now!!  i never would have thought youd be so up on the scene though.  you are one hip momma :)

[mom]: Thanks!

Ummmm…how hilarious is my mom?  At first her comment was SO out of the blue.  I mean, who randomly tells their daughter she should have written a song wishing she were a boy?  I was very confused.  But once I realized what she was talking about I was cracking up (keep in mind this is the same person who can’t even figure out how to retrieve a text or voice message on her cell phone)…

Oh, I had some orange slices, too.

Aight – night.

5/5

Happy Cinco de Mayo bloggies!

Five is my fave number, so I have always loved this date, add in Mexican food, and I’m partying like it’s my birthday!

Today was a ridic.  I couldn’t take pics of everything I ate. 

Cliff’s notes: wedding, food, wedding, food, wedding, food, wedding

The day started off rough.  I had frothing issues. 

 

**Side note: I didn’t know there was a difference in Stevia derived sweeteners (Truvia, Rebiana, PureVia, SweetLeaf, etc.), but after one of Gena’s posts, I looked on the back of my NuStevia box and was a little concerned to find the ever dreaded “natural flavors” on the list of ingredients.  So here’s my new and improved Stevia Extract In The Raw…

The only ingredients in here are Dextrose and Rebiana (Stevia Extract). 

I woke up knowing EXACTLY what I wanted – so that’s what I had.  English muffin with PB and an apple.

Right now you guys are probably doing google reader double takes, thinking you accidentally switched over to K’s blog, but it’s still me.  I just decided on a little ABC action this morning because, well, K’s so dang cool, I wanna be just like her (if you think I’m being sarcastic, you’re wrong, I actually am obsessed with the girl)!

I dipped the berries into the chocolate silken tofu pudding love in a bowl.

Even though that berries/pudding dessert was around lunch time, I made this real lunch later on. 

I’m all about the english muffins lately, and since sabra hummus goes with EVERYthing, I tossed some Newman’s Own organic dried cranberries on top for extra texture and a tangy kick.

For the 4th day in a row, I chose cookies over the gym.  Hermits are worth it.  I do feel like a sloth, but I think I’ll get back into my exercise routine next week…I have a lot of work coming up, and I really don’t have any motivation in this dreary weather to trek to the gym.  Plus, I want to get the location of the wedding ceremony and reception set…which is a far more annoying and difficult task than I thought it would be. 

        Iced coffee break.                 Strawbeezies.

I ruined my appetite for dinner :(  So stoopid.

I made a salad with mostly greens (spring lettuce, carrots, cauliflower and Newman’s Own organic dried cranberries) with a few chik’n strips on top.

To be honest, the salad was great, but I just wasn’t hungry, so about half way through I called it quits.  So not like me!?

Oddly enough, less than an hour later, I was hungry.

Smart Balance light, vegan parm, and garlic salt on toasted Alvarado Street bread …

JUST like cheesy garlic bread.

I probably should have called it quits here, I mean I didn’t do ANYthing remotely active today, I certainly expended no kcals.  But, as usual, I gave in to my late night cravings. 

Dates with PB (times 3).  Mmmm…

Random wedding question:  I have a few ideas for songs to walk down the aisle to (Here comes the bride, Pachelbel's Canon in D, Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, It’s Tearing up my Heart, etc.), but if you kids have any other ideas, please send ‘em my way!  Something tells me Kyle’s going to veto the Nsync suggestion.

Wait, is this a food blog?….or wedding research site?  Who says you can’t have your egg-free, dairy-free vegan cake and eat it too?!

VeggieGirl, how are your multi-tier baking skills?  Do you see where I’m going with this…hahaha!!!