Success!
Posted: May 4, 2010 Filed under: Tuesday | Tags: Chocolate, farmers market, salad, yogurt Leave a comment »I had a very successful evening! I signed up for TWO BARCS events and I went to the first farmers market of the season!
The first BARCS event is a Preakness Parade to support the initiative between BARCS and the MDSPCA to adopt 500 cats in the month of May. Adoption fees are waved and the kittens are coming in by the box load. My second event is at a Whole Food, grilling food for donations. That sounded right up my alley 
I have been feeling bad about not living up to my volunteering so I am really happy I can do two events this year.
Before my success of an evening I enjoyed my last day as an Maryland Center for Environmental Training employee. Tomorrow I will become a state employee, furloughs and all. Pension please!
I also had a lunch I couldn’t wait to dive into!
Plain Brown Cow and a salad with leftover zucchini boat stuffing on top of Romaine, hummus, avocado and carrots.
Totally delicious!
I repeated my snack of banana bar before heading to the farmers market.
The market was pretty light on items, which is to be expected. There were lots of plants and greens. I picked up the most amazing organic greens mix, asparagus and some pollet eggs. I will go into the eggs more at breakfast, but they are so cute! I cannot wait for farm fresh eggs. After seeing them on Ashley’s blog I knew I need some in my life.
When I got home from the market I did 30min of yoga sculpt in all its up dog glory and then got started on dinner!
Summer salad! Greens from the farmers market that included…
pea shoots…
baby beet greens with baby beets, and spinach, greens and kale.
I also added roasted onions, tomatoes, farmers market asparagus, Morning Star black bean burger (Sunshine are better), cucumbers all topped with a red wine rosemary vinaigrette.
I also had some lemon, mint sun tea.
See the mint leaves?!
After dinner I went on a 20min walk because the weather was so nice I couldn’t resist.
I had a little chocolate upon my return for a sweet little end.
Best. Chocolate. Ever.
I’m off to watch Glee and snuggle with my six toed, pansy eating BARCS baby
Have a good night!
If I Had Known Then What I Know Now
Posted: May 3, 2010 Filed under: Meatless Monday, Monday | Tags: kale chips pita, yogurt, zucchini 1 Comment »Today while I was running I passed a field of little girls playing lacrosse. It got me thinking about all of the things I would want to tell a young version of myself.
These are some of the things that came to mind…
- Being popular is NOT the most important thing in middle school
- You will be happier if you accept who you are
- Be nice to everyone!
- The people you don’t want to talk to because they are not in the ‘A’ group could be the best people you have never met
- A zit will not kill you
- Listen to your Mom. You may hate her choices when they happen, but you will thank her for them in the long run
- Grades do matter
- Chill with the white eyeliner – this is directed to 8th grade me
Obviously you can tell where I was as a youth. In the middle between the ‘geeks’ and the ‘cool’ people. I never really fit, but I know where I SHOULD have been.
I thank the happy valley land of Kent for slapping me in the face and telling me to wake up!
If you could go back what would you tell yourself?
Now lets get back to the lighter side of life –food!
Lunch was sort of a repeat from Thursday, but it was still good!
WW pita stuffed with homemade hummus, spinach, avocado and goat cheese. Along with plain yogurt, mango and kiwi.
I bet this would be really good with cottage cheese! I usually don’t like mixing fruit with my cottage cheese, but for some reason I want to try it.
My afternoon got busy in a hurry!
I didn’t get to my snack until I was in the car on the way home.
Banana bread bar. I like these better now, but they still need a little work. I think the banana needs to be processed more.
After work I got new keys for Tour roommate and then I went for my nice little run of about 4miles. It was a nice easy run.
Then it was time to get busy making my Meatless Monday meal.
Stuffed zucchini boats and S&V kale chips!
In my boats (I’m on a boat)
- 1 small onion diced and sautéed in EVOO
- 1/2 box of chopped onions diced
- oregano
- S&P
- 1 can of petite cut no salt added tomatoes
- 1/2 cup cooked wheat berries
- garlic
All thrown in a sauté pan with the zuc innards. I par baked the boats for 10min then stuffed and topped with BASIL FROM THE GARDEN and parm cheese. I cooked them for about 15min more til the cheese had melted.
I am kind of peeved that this picture is blurry 
I really like the S&V kale chips. They don’t need any ketchup!
Alright peeps I am going to get into bed early and watch House!
Night All!
Positivity Push!
Posted: May 3, 2010 Filed under: Monday | Tags: breakfast, muesli, peanut butter, yogurt Leave a comment »Another week is upon us. The weather is finally warm and the Orioles swept the Red Sox this weekend after only winning about 3 games all season.
All in all positivity this week is going to rule!
Let’s start with breakfast.
Even though it was raining out I still got some outdoor pictures, but Sissy did not get her daily dose of pansy. Maybe it won’t be raining this afternoon, but at least I don’t have to water my plants!
You can see my basil blowing in the wind!
I made up some Muesli
- 1/4 cup muesli
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- handful Uncle Sam
- handful vanilla almond granola
- chia seeds
- banana
- pb
Whoa the skies are really dark right now! I love a good thunderstorm, but not when I am heading to work.
Now where did I put my umbrella?????
Slicked Species
Posted: April 29, 2010 Filed under: Thursday | Tags: Amazing Grass, gulf oil spill, lentils, salad, yogurt 1 Comment »Do you remember this from last week?
A huge oil spill off the coast of Louisiana. Source
It is getting closer to land and when I head the NPR story with wildlife experts testimonials’ of the expected destruction I started to cry. The Gulf is such a delicate ecosystem as it is. There are already points when the waters become anoxic (no oxygen) and create dead zones in the middle of the ocean. This oil spill is going to kill a lot of things. From oysters beds to birds and sea turtles. What bothers me the most is that it took until today for any federal aid to head to the area. Now only when humans and the economy are at risk do we care. I don’t want to get to into it, but why wouldn’t the ecosystem be important enough to save on its own?
No matter who is helping, it is coming. This oil spill is going to affect this area for many years to come and some species that are already extinct may not make it out. If I could I would go to LA and help with the cleanup, but I don’t have the money or time off to go.
Off my personal environmental soap box.
Back to light hearted food topics 
Lunch was lovely!
Romaine and spinach with peppers, tomatoes and avocado with balsamic.
Plain yogurt with mango, kiwi and granola. This yogurt parfait was amazing! Fresh fruit >>>>>> than sugar fruit in most yogurt.
For my afternoon snack I gave the Amazing Grass bars another try. I just have an issue with the 27g of sugar! The second ingredient is sugar! I think I might try and make these on my own with my own Amazing Grass superfood powder. It will be cheaper at least.
After work I headed to the trail for a nice bike ride. I am really trying not to run two days in a row. It is going to be hard, but today I did a nice 12 miles on the NCR trail. I am pooped after. I cannot wait to have my road bike with tires that don’t slow me down.
I was starving when I got home! I showered quickly and has a slice of Dakota because I seriously felt like I could pass out.
I then had enough time to think though dinner and take the time to enjoy it.
French lentils on toast with kale chips.
Mix of French lentils, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and avocado.
I love lentils! I am a little peeved because Nick threw out my leftovers while he was doing the dishes I was too slow.
I just had some espresso bean dark chocolate and I am heading to bead. I’m not feeling so hot and I can’t stop thinking about baby birds covered in oil.
Night.
Do You Soy?
Posted: March 30, 2010 Filed under: Tuesday | Tags: chips, cookie, pizza, Sicily, tofu, yogurt Leave a comment »Sissy is ready to blog before Biggest Loser.
I embossed her to reduce scary animal eyes with flash.
My green monster and bagel held me over really well today. I also had a ton of work to do so it made the day fly by. Before I knew it the lunch bell was blowing.
Leftover pizza, strawberries and my very last Florida orange.
The dough was so chewy and pillowy. More peas please!
I knew I needed an afternoon snack that would get me through the afternoon better than the fruition bar so I wet with a classic; granola and yogurt mess.
Lots of tupperware for one day! 4 pieces total. I am not the only tupperware lover out there but Nick hates cleaning it. A small sacrifice for the planet.
I was still pleasantly full when arrived home. I had planned to go to the gym today due to the rain and excessive wind, but I just couldn’t do it. Instead I did 50min of Dave Farmers podcast. Looooots of chair. It was the focus of every position. I could feel the burn.
After yoga I got started on dinner!
I have cut down on my soy intake after doing a lot of research about how it can mess with me, but I still had a block of tofu to use. I figure every once in awhile is not going to kill me just READ THE INGREDIENTS OF EVERYTHING! It is sad that you have to check all of the food you eat. Do you still enjoy soy?
Anywho I marinated my tofu block is honey, EVOO, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, oregano and S&P.
Baked at 375 for 40min. Nice and crispy!
I put four slices of my tofu on spinach, cilantro, corn, salsa and a big dollop of guacamole.
I also had a bunch of broken chips dipped in leftover guac.
Multiply that by 2! I cannot help myself around chips and guac, but at least Nick was here to take it a way from me.
I had two delicious cookies for dessert!
This is a recycled picture to take a second look at how funny my hand looks in this picture. Weird!
Biggest Loser is really odd tonight and I am not sure I like it. Where are Bob and Jillian? Challenges? Trainer Tips? Come on people stop crying and get back to it!
Biggest Loser Burgers
Posted: March 16, 2010 Filed under: Tuesday | Tags: Sicily, turkey burgers, wrap, yoga, yogurt Leave a comment »It is Biggest Loser night! Quote of the night so far from Jillian, “You didn’t come on the Biggest Loser to go the Four Seasons, you have to loose 200lbs off your ass!” Looooooove it! I also love that Curtis Stone is on and this week is finally about food!
My day went by pretty quickly due to the fact that I was kept pretty busy. Deadlines before vacation will do that to you!
I worked until about 12:30pm and I was ready for lunch.
Plain Stonyfield yogurt, clem (that tasted like butt) and a green wrap that was a little early for St. Patrick’s Day.
In my wrap I had celery, arugula, avocado, LC wedge and cucumbers.
I continued to work through the afternoon and was finally on my way home and eating my snickie snack.
Baby organic gala and 1/2 of a strawberry pomegranate Odwala bar. I really enjoy these bars but rarely buy them. I need to change that.
My knee was telling me to not go running this afternoon even thought it was 62 and gorgeous! I opened up all of the windows and rolled out the yoga mat. I did 50min of a Dave Farmer power flow podcast, and my arms are still shaking!
I got to cook dinner by natural light! It was great.
I made up some turkey burgers with garlic powder, S&P, Worcestershire sauce and hot peppers.
I topped these little suckers with sauteed mushrooms onions and elephant garlic. I also had some hot dog relish, it was time to bring it back out.
I also had some sweet potato fries and swiss chard (!!!) topped with white balsamic vinegar.
It was so nice to find organic swiss chard at my regular Giant this week.
Now if you will excuse me Sissy and I need to get back to Biggest Loser and filling out our NCAA brackets!
Don’t forget to wear green tomorrow!
Night!
New Breakie!
Posted: January 28, 2010 Filed under: Thursday | Tags: pumpkin, quinoa, Stonyfield, yogurt Leave a comment »Goooood Morning! Welcome to Thursday! It is looking like a Murray, Federer finals at the Aussie open this year…at least that is what is predicted and Murray seems to have the match in the bag this morning.
This morning also brought a new to me breakfast!
Toasted Quinoa!
I sort of followed HTP’s recipe but I used pumpkin butter instead of maple syrup as my sweetener/ glue.
- 1/3 cup rinsed quinoa
- 1 tbs pumpkin butter
- 2 tbs unsweetened coconut
- 1 tbs flax
mixed and baked at 475 for 12 min – it was starting to burn!
I put my toasty mixture a top a bowl of pumpkin yogurt
- 1/3 cup pumpkin
- couple shakes pumpkin pie spice
- 2/3 cup plain Stonyfield yogurt
Breakfast is not breakfast without almond butter!
I ate every last spoonful of this! So crunchy and good!
This really needs to get added into my normal oat bran routine. It will be interesting to see how well it holds me this morning. There sure is a lot of protein in there!
I got to catch Michael Pollan on Oprah last night. I love the way that man speaks! They also had Alicia Silverstone on talking about vegans and she broke a rule in Pollan’s book when she showed us what was in her grocery cart, but we aren’t there yet 
Today’s Food Rule by Michael Pollan is Rule #10 Avoid Food Products claiming to be something they are not. ie margarine claiming to be “butter”. Oh wow we are on the rule I above referred too, must be fate! This is one that has actually made me thing a lot about my meatless meat balls “To make something like nonfat cream cheese that contains neither cream nor cheese requires an extreme degree of processing; such should be labeled imitations and avoided (law does not allow this). The same rule applies to soy-based mock meats, artificial sweeteners and fake fats and starches”. Read the back of a tofurky box…there is some really weird stuff in there. Why not just eat turkey or tofu?
Time to get a move on!
Enjoy your Thursday!
The End of the Weekend
Posted: January 24, 2010 Filed under: weekend | Tags: scone, Sicily, Stonyfield, taco salad, yogurt, z-bar Leave a comment »Hello! Sorry I have been really lazy this weekend. I’m not sure if it is the gloomy weather out today or the fact that I think not being able to “move” is seriously effecting my drive to do anything.
Backing up to yesterday afternoon…
BARCS training went well. I was really sad to see all of the animals that need homes and we also saw some questionable people trying to adopt. I stayed for an extra class and I have a tetanus shot scheduled for Wednesday and cat socialization class on Saturday morning. I made the decision to not work with the dogs because most of them are pit mixes and I just do not feel comfortable with them and they would know it.
After training I actually wasn’t very hunger for it being 2:00pm so I headed to Trader Joe’s for some goodies. I was out of coffee and that along with nut butter is my cue to head on over. I stopped into Starbuck for a soy misto to sip while shopping and by the time I left I was starving! I guess it was all that food in my vision. I dominated this Z-bar in the car.
Why was this my first Z-Bar? not too much sugar and whole grains, protein and fiber. I really enjoyed this little guy.
By the time I got home it was about 3:30pm so I didn’t want to eat anything too big and spoil my dinner so I went with plain yogurt, TJs fiber cereal (which is the same thing as the fruit and nut, but without the f&n), and some blackberries.
Now as for dinner, I really wish I would have remembered my camera because the food was real good at a local martini bar – I was really more like a normal bar. I had the hearts of palm salad and a Scallop BLT that comes with pepper bacon and a grilled tomato, no bun! Nick and I also split the Irish car bomb bread pudding (how unique we had to try!). Unfortunately the flavor was there, but the texture was off. More like a gelatin that a bread pudding. I also enjoyed a dirty martini throughout the meal.
This morning when I woke up I really wanted something different for breakfast. I opted for a “scone cookie” – they were a scone recipe, but I missed the thickness shape.
Blueberry scone with almond butter, plain Stonyfield yogurt with granola, banana and TJs fiber cereal.
My scones included: WW flour, applesauce, unsweetened dried blueberries, sugar, hemp protein (testing this stuff out), oat bran, and skim.
These were good and I think I could reduce the sugar even more next time.
After breakfast I did a few errands around town once I finally got my butt moving, and came home to make a rainy day lunch.
Amy’s Tomato soup and super grilled cheese.
In between two pieces of quinoa bread I had mustard, spinach, b-nut squash and goats milk cheddar. I really liked this cheese because it has that sour-ish goat cheese flavor.
Even Sissy wanted to be under the covers all day.
She loves this blanked and burrowing into it.
I wanted something light and easy for dinner so I went to town on Mexican salad.
Giant pile of romain heart covered in tomatoes, bean mixture, avocado and cilantro. I also had some blue corn chips and salsa on the side.
I my bean mix I heated mushrooms and onions until cooked then added no salt added black beans, garlic, tomato paste, chili powder and jalapeno.
Chippies.
Time to get back to some football!
I hope you had a great weekend!
Lots Of Beans Today!
Posted: January 19, 2010 Filed under: Tuesday | Tags: bean burger, kale chips, salad, Vitamuffin, yogurt Leave a comment »30min until Biggest Loser! Until then Sissy and I have been watching Dog Whisperer. Cesar is amazing with animals, but I am glad cats do not have as many issues. Ha, now that I think about it my mom’s cat needs Cesar to come and figure out what is up with her.
Work came and went without too many surprises given that we had the long weekend.
Before I knew it, it was lunch time!
I broke food rule #3 today with my vitamuffin. I am not that worried about it, there are many more things that I could eat that are worse. Also rule #64, which we still have a ways to get to addresses situations like this with “rule breaking”.
Along with my corn muffin top (these do not taste like corn muffins and they have way too much sugar for their own good) I had a lovely salad and plain Stoneyfield with blackberries. These berries were on sale this week at Giant, and I just couldn’t resist. I have been trying to only buy in season produce, but there are only so many apples and pears I can take before I need to switch it up. I will not be dabbling in the strawberries, peaches or nectarines – they look nasty.
My salad had, spinach, white beans, olives, avocado and carrots.
Delicious!
After work I headed to the gym and biked for 45min without pain in my knee, did some PT strength moves and core work. Unfortunately my knee is killing me now and I am currently icing it. I can’t wait to get to the bottom of this tomorrow, or at least take the first step!
At least my dinner was delicious!
leftover white bean burger – 1/2 cup white beans, Wocestershire sauce, tomato paste, thyme, S&P – mashed. I grilled it on the griddler, but my burgers do not like to stay together on there…I think I need to treat them more like a pancake and flip rather than press. They are too delicate!
I melted a piece of swiss on an Ezekiel english muffin with mustard, the totally topped with black bean salsa.
I like big burgers! I think next time I will omit the salsa, it sort of dominated the flavor of the burger. I did sample the bean mix while mixing and really liked it. Some times plain is just better.
Along with my burger I had some kale chips with ketchup!
For my sweet end I had my last square of Newman’s Own Orange Dark Chocolate.
Biggest Loser in T-10min!
Sissy is so excited! Not really, she is sleeping.
Night All!
New on the Menu
Posted: January 11, 2010 Filed under: dinner, Monday | Tags: Ellie Krieger, pasta, Real Simple, salad, Sicily, yogurt Leave a comment »Monday Done-day! Cheese!
My breakfast held me over amazingly well today. I also had a meeting from 9:30-11 so by the time I got back to my desk, I just figured I would wait until lunch.
This lunch included something new!
Pumpkin yogurt!
I didn’t zoom in on this because close up it highly resembles baby food, but I mixed plain yogurt, pumpkin, a little agave and pumpkin pie spice. It was good! It tasted so much more fresh than any pre-packaged pumpkin yogurt I have had.
Along with my yogurt came a salad of mixed greens, celery, carrots, maters, leftover butternut, 1/4 block temph, balsamic and Sabra sundried tomato hummus.
After work today I had an un-pictured apple and seltzer and headed to the running store before the gym. I inquired about orthotics and they said the only ones they really have are extra cushion because I walk pretty normal. They didn’t have my size so I asked that they hold them for me. We will see if they make a difference. I also saw a study on the news tonight that talked about how running shoes actually make us more prone to injury. Maybe there is some truth to these vibracore shoes with the many toes. I just hope my knee sleeves get here soon and they do some work for me!
At the gym I did 30min on the elliptical (the place was packed! Thanks new years resolutionists!) and then did arm, core and a bunch of PT exercises as well and a lot of stretching. The elliptical actually doesn’t hurt where as walking does? Go figure. I have no idea what that is about, but I am guessing it has something to do with the way I land when I take a step.
I had pasta punttanesca on the dinner plan for tonight and it took me all of 15min to make it!
I followed Ellie Krgier’s recipe except I didn’t have any arugula and I added some roasted red peppers.
The recipe makes 4 servings so I cut the pasta in half but left the sauce as is. I used parsley and oregano from the pots!
Along with our pasta I served up a lettuce-less salad. With avocado, tomato, S&P, balsamic and the last green pepper from my plants We had a bit of a fruit fly situation and it was coming from the soil of our pepper plants…no more green peppers or jalapenos until next summer…it seems to far away. At least jalapenos are only about 7 cents each!
I just read the new Real Simple and want to make about 300/400 new recipes they have! I also stuck the included stickers on Sissy and had some Newman’s Own dark orange chocolate!
Off to finish Pollan’s book! I am going to have a recap of my favorite rules, some are hilarious! When is his next book coming out??!
Night All!
