Thursday, Wednesday, it’s all the same

Even though I had today off of work, I still had to set my alarm because I had an appointment.  So I was up and at em with the roosters pigeons (?), which was kinda nice because I rarely get to see my K love in the AM.  He made a massive pot of java, which I had with minimal frills (I was lazy and didn’t feel like frothing).

Crossword & coffee makes E a happy hippie :)

Yesterday’s oats were so bomb.com that I decided to repeat the morning routine.  This time I went with nanner slices, cinnamon, almond milk, and stevia.

I debated straightening my hair for all of 4 minutes, and then decided the dermatologist wasn’t THAT special.  I mean, sure med school is hard and all…but don’t expect me to bow at your feet make myself presentable for you.

Random rant to follow, scroll away if you are only here for the food:

I don’t understand HOW medical offices get SO behind.  I mean, I work in the hospital, so I empathize with healthcare professionals (let’s face it, all patients aren’t as delightful as you would hope), but come ON…can you just pretend that you care about being punctual?  I always try to get the earliest appointments (less time to get behind), so I don’t even want to think of when the poor suckers with afternoon appointments get seen. 

So, this morning I got to the doctor’s office a bit earlier than my appt (9:15 am), and watched the clock tick tock tick tock for a full hour before they finally called my name (45 minutes after my 9:30 appointment)…I guess there are some things that will never change – one of them being the tedious snail’s pace that the delinquent clerks at the front desk are so set on keeping. 

I didn’t get out until 11, and since I was already in Union Square, I couldn’t help but do a little retail therapy (not that the news was bad, but I have some thinking to do)…

In case you didn’t know, 14th St/Union Square is packed with my fave stores….so which temptation did I give in to? 

Whole Foods?  Nope! – I know, I know!  [insert gasp here]

Lululemon?  Nope!

Barnes & Noble?  Yep :)

I could have perused the aisles for hours, but I managed to keep it to 30 minutes and $30.  Success!

I had this ‘lil bugger when I got home.  GNU Foods flavor & fiber Cinnamon Raisin bar.

Meh.  It was a bit smaller and more bland than my odwalla love…the super protein flavor odwalla bar is more sugar-y, but in a good way, not a HFCS way.

Pros: The “It works!” quote in the top corner of the wrapper ‘aint no lie (wink wink) – granted I had a heaping bowl of oats for brekkie, so I think I’ve hit my fiber max for the day (hahaha, yeah riiiiight, as if I have a fiber max)! Cons:  As I mentioned before, it’s a bit small (I prefer the extra kcals in the odwalla bar if it keeps my tummy satisfied longer).  Also, it’s not as sweet as I was hoping it would be.  But that’s just me :)  In the end, I don’t think I’d buy it again.

Gym time!

I was pretty lazy today, and my workout was lackluster at best. 

I zoned out to Paris Hilton’s BFF show and the Duel while sweating out on the elliptical…pretty sure my IQ is significantly lowered from such thought provoking entertainment.

I went hummus cuhhhraaaazay when I got home.

Falafel veggie burgers!  Seriously? Seriously!

I had a couple mini falafel balls with some petite carrots, apple slices, and a toasted english muffin – all submerged in some FABBY sabra love!

I just had to dive back in with more apples.  Luuurve me some sabra!

All gone (tear).

I accomplished some very super duper important tasks after my late lunch.  Cleaning.  Cooking.  Wedding church research.  I felt like quite the housewife. 

I had a multi-course dinner.  Not even the Queen of England eats this well!  Trust me, she would be way jealous if she knew the vegan yumminess she was missing out on.

Course 1: Home-made seitan cutlet with re-thawed “cheesy” cauliflower mash, topped in a mini-mogul of vegan parm.

 

Course 2: Steamed green beans with more “cheesy” cauliflower.

Course 3: Red bell pepper

Psych!  (not that it’s that abnormal to make a bell pepper into a meal)  But, I did make a reeeedik sized salad (with a whole lotta crunchy bell pepper).

I bought the (above) gorgy beast yesterday, but was trying to hold off since we still have half a green bell pepper in the fridge.  But isn’t it purrty?  How could I resist that cute little spiral tendril and the shiny red exterior…so I sliced and diced my way to salad bliss!

I told you!!  This salad is SO big you can’t even SEE that there’s a bell pepper buried in there.  I can’t even begin to recall the ingreds, just assume if you can buy it in the store, it’s in the salad.

By the by, I’ve been downing chickpeas like it’s my j-o-bizzle, forcing me to make them (from the dried beans) on a daily basis now…I just finished my first bag today!  Clearly I’m obsessed.  So much cheaper!!

I was about to pop after this nosh-fest…but eventually I found the room for a bowl of melon (dessert is a non-negotiable in my book). 

It looks small, but this is actually about two cups of fruit. 

Are you proud of me for going a whole DAY without Kombucha?!

National running day!

Did you know Wednesday was National Running Day!?  Step aside hump day, you have been replaced.  Good thing I had the day off work, so I could get a nice exercise sesh in (in honor of the holiday, of course).

No work = extra zzzzs.  So I definitely slept in.  YES!

As I sipped my frothy coffee, I caught up on all the critical news (like the happs in J+K+8 and the crazies from the Jerz) – I’m soooo worldly. 

I went old school with breakfast…oats were my first love, and no amount of time apart can break that kind of bond. 

Naturally, I have classed up my act a bit since my grade school days (of Quaker’s maple and brown sugar packets). 

This bowl was overflowing with almond milk, cinnamon, stevia, and carob chips.

I KNOW you are drooling now :)

That massive bowl held me over for quite a while…so I got my inner-chef on (seeing as the rain was preventing me from doing any outside cardio).

So, a few days ago I received a wonderful treat in the mail from Miss RhodeyGirl. 

She was ever-so-sweet to send me some home-made Za’atar, after I had my first encounter with it a few weeks ago, and subsequently fell in love with it (to then never find it again).  Oh, Sabra how you tease me so…

Just opening the package, filled the room with the most a-MAZ-ing aroma.

I was soooo eager to use it.  First up on the menu, za’atar tofu.

Cut.  Press.  Spice.  Bake.  Flip.  Repeat. 

Done.

I sampled a few before packaging the rest up.  SUCCESS!!!

I hope the apartment smells like this forever.

Sorry I have no recipe, but I’m sure if you head over to RhodeyGirlTests and beg for more info promise her your first born child, she’d pass it along.  I keed, I keed.  She’s a gem :)  Thanks again girl!

Before heading off to corre corre, I had some fruit. 

I thought I had timed my run perfectly – can someone pass on the fact that it’s JUNE to the weather gods?!?! 

The clouds seemed to have put a cork in it, at least temporarily, but alas, the second my sneaks hit the pavement, I began to feel raindrops.  Next thing I know, the soft drizzle turned into a full on downpour.  Good thing I was only a block away.  I came back home, grabbed my gym bag, and headed off to the land of boring machines (aka NYSC). 

I did manage to change things up a bit, thanks to a Shape magazine workout.

• 30 mins elliptical (level 5-10) warm up (3.5 miles)
• 10 minutes stair master (level 10-12)
• 10 minutes treadmill (level 6-7)
• 10 minutes elliptical (level 10-13)

As usual, I finished with stretching, abs, and arms on the mats.  I left the gym high as a kite (on endorphins, duh)!

Post gym “refueling” (in the form of hummus) was very necessary.  No ifs, ands, or buts, I was dead set on a crack-wich.  I used home-made hummus and veggie slices (vegan “cheese”) and toasted it on the grill until the smoke alarm went off (which is my latest substitute for a timer). 

I also had one of these.

Yeah, this habit is going to destroy my wallet.  At $4, that’s like 25 cents per sip (ok, my math is not great, sue me).

I’m not sure my taste buds are refined enough to distinguish the difference between some of these flavors, but Trilogy did not disappoint (unfortunately). 

With so much fruit on hand, I basically snacked my way to dinner.

Because of this, my appetite wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit…but I knew I wanted those darn oat bran sesame crisps, so I created the entire meal around that desire.

I couldn’t find spinach at the store today (sad) so this is a fancy lettuce mix…not that you can even see the lettuce in my salad creations.

Is this not the definition of YUM?! 

Have you ever centered an entire dish around one (not so central) component?  This monster ensalada was my attempt to (healthfully) distract myself from the oat bran sesame stick obsession.  I guess I am just too dang smart, since I finished the rest of the bag of the sesame sticks after the salad was gone…

Note to self: don’t buy these in bulk.  Dangerous.  Very dangerous.

Dessert fruit platter (complete with mood lighting while watching Conan).

Life is…

A bowl of cherries!!!

 

We may have a problem on our hands.

Synergy has created an addict of me.  I’ve heard rumors of home-made Kombucha in the blogosphere, so I’ve got some research on my to-do list…

I digress.

I woke up effing early Tuesday morning (4:30 am) before work to do some stretching and rise & shine yoga.  Which as you can see, ended up in some AM nibbling in the form of cherries and superfruits kombucha.  I’m 3 for 3 on flavors.  It’s luuuuuurve.

I also ADORE summer fruits, so you can imagine how excited I am now that cherries are back in my life (melons and berries aren’t too bad either).  Mmmm.

Here’s what I packed for lunch the night before.  Dried papaya spears, apple, and super protein odwalla bar.

The salad is basically the same as yesterdays.  I also made one for dinner at the same time (always planning ahead).

For time saving purposes [insert 12 hour shift here]

One of my patients was a complete sweetheart, and since the day wasn’t insanely crazy, I was happy that I was able to spend a considerable amount of time throughout the say just talking to her.  Pretty sure she’s on her way out, so sad.

Look what her family sent me home with!

It’s hard to tell, but this is literally 4 melons worth of fruit…maybe more.  Heyoooo.  Prepare to see a TON of fruity desserts in the future.

When I got home, my pre-tuperwared salad smorgasbord was there waiting for me like a good wifey.

Size quantity DOES matter.

All I did was add in half an avocado…

And these new lovers…

SESAME OAT BRAN sticks.  Yes, I discovered ANOTHER new obsession worthy item.  Fortunately, these are way cheaper than Kombucha AND can be found in the bulk bins section of my local health food store.  They are the perfect topping central ingredient for my salads.  Salty, crispy, and delicious – what more could I want!?

In my eyes, the perfect salad has a million different ingredients, with a hint of everything, including something salty, something sweet, something crunchy, something crispy, and everything in between.  Basically, everything I can get my hands on.  In this salad, the sesame oat bran nibbles, dried cranz, bell peppers, carrots, brocc, chickpeas, and avocado made for a heavenly creation.

Guess what else I had…

It may alarm you should definitely NOT shock you to know that I consumed the entire bag of SP fries in the last 24 hours.

Even though I was already stuffed to the gills in carbohydrate bliss, I still had a fruity dessert plate. 

As I peace out, I’ll leave you with this…

Recently, my friend sent me this hilarious link to her debut on the Runner’s World website…check it out, she’s hilarious! 

(it’ll make you smile, if nothing else)

Back to life, back to reality

Soul II Soul anyone?  HA!

OK, but seriously, I am sorry I’ve been MIA. Turns out, my computer was not pleased with me, and decided to take it out on the power cord…

I guess that thing is supposed to be straight, not stuck at a 45 degree angle?

Nothing $50 and an overnight express order can’t fix…

Good thing I have my own personal Geek squad member Kyle to diagnose such problems!

Soooo, YEA!  I’m baaack!  WooHoo!  I missed you all!  I have a lot to catch up on, too. Although, to be fair, I worked the past two days, so it’s not exactly thrilling material.

I’ll rewind to Sunday night’s snack action.

Fruit bowl + dates + carob chips = mmmm :)

And now on to Monday’s eats!

I packed my lunch the night before, as usual.  My salad contained the above ingredients, minus the self magazine, which was a bit too dry and stale for my taste.

• Spinach
• Carrots
• Sprouts (clover!  I’m addicted, I’ll never go back to alfalfa again)
• Red bell peppers
• Cherry toms
• Sesame/seaweed salad
• Chickpeas
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli

I have NO ability to filter my creativity when it comes to salad making.

The rest of the yummies: dried mango, odwalla bar love, and an apple

This was my first time having dried mango without any added sugar, and I LOVED it.  Although the texture reminded me of raw cow’s hide – it was as taut as an African drum (not that I’m the expert on bongos, I’m just guessing…)!

Work was work.  Whatever.

I got home and made a nice delish din din.

Alvarado street bread toasted with 2 pieces of veggie slice “cheese.”

Add in some seitan cutlets…

Mmmm.

There may not be a cuter fruit than KIWI – aren’t they adorable!

I wasn’t quite satisfied so I threw some of these in the oven.

The process was fairly simple, aside from the smoke detector going off every other minute, forcing me to stand under the alarm waving a pillow for 10 minutes.  Oh the joys of living in a tiny New York apartment…

It all worked out in the end.

Don’t let the blackened charred parts turn you off…appearances can be deceiving.  I polished the entire plate off, and licked the salt from my fingers with complete delight!

One more fruit bowl, and I was off to bed!

I’ll get to Tuesday and today later.  For now, I want to catch up on your blogs, since I can finally comment leave my computer on for over 15 minutes!