Worker bee

I’ve been busy busy busy working this week…and even though I haven’t exercised for even half a second (blah), it’s all worth it because I get to spend the weekend with some fantastic friends.

My packed lunches have been incredible if I do say so myself.  Satisfying my every want and need – sweet, savory, crunchy, creamy – you name it, I packed it. 

It’s all about options people. 

The main ingredients in these Heart Thrive cookies were oats, brown rice syrup, brown rice flour, rice bran, natural fruit juices, and lots of dried fruit (cranberries, plums, apples, pears).  But what I tasted above all else was the orange peel.  It was definitely the dominant flavor, even above the cranberries.  Now.  While I don’t love citrus, I do like the combo of orange and cranberry.  The “cookies” reminded me of my favorite bagel flavor from Noah’s (which is now discontinued).  However, I do take issue when such a strong flavor presence exists without it’s name in the title.  This should definitely be called orange cranberry, because it was a bit of a shock to my system.  As I was sipping coffee, the last taste I was expecting was orange peel.  Maybe for those who enjoy citrus, this isn’t a big deal, but  wasn’t in the mood.  Naturally I finished both, because even though they weren’t what I expected, they were still good.  But just in case the Heart Thrive people are reading this, maybe a rename is in order. 

Like the other Heart Thrive cookie I reviewed, this one was more bar-like than cookie-like, with a very dense and oaty taste. 

 

Knowing the Heart Thrives wouldn’t satisfy my sweet tooth, I packet a true dessert as well.  Holy.  Vegan.  Moly.  This vegan fudge has such a subtle coconut flavor but is mostly pure delicious chocolate…with a cranberry coconut accent.  Now THAT’S how I like my cranberries 😉

My crunch was in the form of a salad beast with spinach, apples, bell peppers, and raisins.

And as usual, hummus, carrots, pretzels, and an apple rounded out my work food. 

When I got home, I was completely exhausted.  I had no motivation to cook and I ignored every pre-made dinner option I had prepared over the weekend.  So frustrating.  I really want to (need to) figure out a way to satisfy myself after work without succumbing to my crappy cravings. 

This week, it seemed like when I got home from work I wanted nothing more than garbage.  And while I don’t like depriving myself of what I truly want, if there’s no nutritional value in it, I have a hard time not feeling guilty after eating certain things. 

This is what I had (times 3…maybe more…I lost count). 

I’m being honest here, this didn’t please me.  I pride myself on my Type-A-plan-ahead nature, and yet, I still raided the pantry upon stepping foot in the apartment (despite having stocked the fridge with tupperware upon tupperware full of quinoa, brown rice, roasted veggies, and fresh produce).  I may be a bit hard on myself, given my first 12 hour shift since May (!!) was on Monday, and it’s that time of the month (TMI?), but still.  I want to be proactive in getting to the root of the issue because I don’t want to make this a habit. 

Another thing that I’m mindful of (maybe overly so?), is that returning to work also marks a significant change in my workout routine.  These past few months have been especially great for me fitness-wise.  I’ve have nothing but ample time to work out – doing whatever I want, however often I want, and whenever I want.  Returning to nursing, while long anticipated, is still a change that I know I’ll have to adjust to…

Being a perfectionist, I’d love to have an easy breezy transition without any disruption to my healthy lifestyle.  But, I suspect that might be a bit unrealistic.  As far as expectations go, I’m going to try and be practical, and approach my new schedule like the scientist biology geek that I am. 

What do you do to solve a problem?  Find and fix the cause. 

So before I jump to any conclusions, or make any grand statements about big changes in store for myself, first and foremost I’m going to give myself some time to try a few things.  Clearly one week of work is not enough time to determine if this is a true trend or if I’m just in one of my carb craving phases.  Lord knows, I have weeks on end that I can’t get enough produce, so it may just be a quickie food rut. 

And I’ll work from there…

I am making a conscious effort here (and writing this post is a good healthy reminder) to cut myself some slack.  Nobody goes from one job to the next effortlessly, and going from no job at all is an even more drastic change…right?  I wish I had a timeline.  I wish I had it all plotted out.  But life is dynamic, not static, and you have to roll with it. 

Please note, the fact that I’m coming home and eating crap has nothing to do with my hunger.  I don’t arrive home starving because look at everything I bring to work! 

On this particular day, my pre-packed eats included oats-in-a-jar. 

I’m not especially passionate about OIAJ and here’s why.  I like planning out my bites.  I want to make sure my last bite of oats has everything in it to be “the perfect” bite (meaning a little bit of everything).  Eating out of a jar is great because it ensures not a drippity drop of nutbutter is wasted, but it makes it hard to see your food.  Clearly this makes my ingredient-to-bite distribution a bit more difficult to assess.  I’m such a freak. 

This peanut butter jar had oats, almond milk, chia seeds, raisins, coconut flakes, and NuNaturals vanilla stevia.

For lunch I had a huge tupperware of quinoa, squash, spinach and dried cranberries.

I know you can’t tell the true size of things in these photos, but this dish contained about half a pumpkin’s worth of squash and at least 1 cup of quinoa.  I also poured nooch on top.  Mmmm…Such a great combo.  I think quinoa, squash, and dried fruit is one of the best food trifectas around.  Add in spinach, and it goes from above average to stellar.  I freakin’ love spinach – just call me Popeye!

My snacks included the usual bars, apples, and carrots…plus the roasted pumpkin seeds yielded from the pumpkin I used in my lunch. 

These seeds were roasted for 20ish minutes with cooking spray, salt and pepper.  Simple and delicious. 

The Mango Maca flavor PranaBar was as good as I expected, but probably not my favorite flavor.  It had more nut chunks than the other Supercharger PranaBars.  I don’t have anything negative to say about this flavor, but I have come to hold these bars to higher standards than other brands.  Straight up, they are just the best around. 

On that note, I’m off to pack for San Francisco!  So excited to meet everyone 🙂

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To gym or not to gym

Thanks to random.org, a winner has been chosen for the Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil. 

Congrats to Jenna, who said “Happy birthday! I’d use the coconut oil to put on baked sweet potatoes (so good) and in baking!!” 

Email me with your address and I’ll be sure the oil gets to you.  I know you’ll put it to good use.  :) 

I have another giveaway planned for tomorrow, so set your alarms.

As for yesterday, ‘twas another day at orientation…

And, thus, another pre-packed lunch…

Starting with a salad and leftover pizza.

The salad had spinach, bell peppers, carrots, and raisins with an EVOO/lemon juice/agave/chili powder dressing. 

I also had two bars.  First up was the Blueberry Coconut Supercharger PranaBar. 

Ok, it’s official.  There are no better bars on the market.  Sorry Clif, sorry Larabar, sorry Odwalla, it’s just a fact.  Every single PranaBar is more delicious than the one before it.  This was only slightly blueberry flavored, with a whole lotta coconut.  Like the other PranaBars, the texture wasn’t nutty at all, it was gooey (but not in a bad way).  Just perfect.  And look at those stats? 

Organic.  Non-GMO.  Soy free.  Dairy free.  No sugar added.  Gluten free.  Vegan. 

In other words: Real ingredients.  Real food.  No crap. 

It really doesn’t get better than that.

The second bar I packed was a mini Clif Mountain Mix MoJo bar.  I had one of these little guys leftover from a 10K in Sept (love race freebies!).  It was okay, but was way too tiny to do anything real for my hunger.  I do love the salty/sweet combo in bars though. 

All together now. 

I got off work at 4 and since it was unexpected, I wasn’t sure if I should head to the gym, or go home first and then work out.  I was feeling pretty energetic so I ultimately decided to hit up the gym (I had my workout gear packed up just in case). 

I know I said I wasn’t going to join a gym now that I am back in sunny CA (where the weather is rarely an excuse to skip a jog on the beach).  The reason I changed my mind was because the price to join the gym was too good to pass up.  And because of where I work, I am hooked up with pretty good perks.  And because Kyle and I are married, my membership rate is even lower.  And because I am a sucker for a good deal, I made the plunge on Monday and joined.  $50 for the whole year is pretty unreal though, right?  And it’s a block from the hospital. 

One thing I may have failed to realize was the popularity of this gym.  Normally I won’t be getting off work at 4 pm (during peak hours), so this won’t really matter, but this trip was pretty crowded.  I did 15 minutes on the step machine thingy (I have no clue what it’s called) before I gave up on the other cardio equipment freeing up.  Instead, I ran to the track and did one lap (1/4 mile) intervals separated by steeple bleacher chases.  I only lasted 15 minutes and then called it a day.

Even though today’s trip to the gym didn’t work out, I know I’ll be really glad to have the option later.  Once my regular job hours start (next week), I’ll be doing 12 hour shifts, and getting off really early or really late.  Not ideal for outside running…enter gym membership.  :)  Do you belong to a gym?  How much are you willing to pay for it? 

On my drive home I contemplated what to make for dinner.  There was only one thing that sounded good though…

Peanut butter. 

Not very thrilling, huh?  I know, sorry. 

I had two apples, two pieces of Ezekiel bread, and 10 (unpictured) medjool dates…all dressed up in nut buttery goodness.

Sometimes simple is best. 

After all that carbage (not to be confused with garbage), I felt like some crunch.

Carrots & baby bell pepps…I’m gonna be glowing after all the B-carotene up in hurrr.

With the veg, I served up some home-made hummus with some serioussss height. 

I wasn’t hungry for dessert, but I did want a fizzy somethin’ somethin’ to help calm my stomach. 

Ginger lovin’ by Synergy did just the trick.  I am way too obsessed with Kombucha.  My finances can’t afford this habit. 

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Bruins, birthdays, and BBQs

Saturday was sponsored by the letter “b” apparently. 

Kyle and I woke up at 7 am to get in a morning jog.  I hate working out early in the AM, but I love how it frees up the rest of the day.  So conflicting.  The reason I don’t like rise-and-shine cardio is because I suck at it.  I’m slow in the mornings.  I don’t really start to function until an hour (or two, if I’m being honest) after I’ve been awake.  The route I took Saturday morning typically takes me 24 minutes (when I do it in the afternoon).  At 7:15 in the morning, however, it took me 31 minutes.  That’s a pretty big difference for a 3ish mile run.  I told ya – it takes my body a while to warm up.  Without coffee to grease my gears, I just feel slow and my joints feel creaky. 

By 8:15 I was packing my lunch for the day, and by 8:45 we were off to the Rose Bowl.

Here’s what I packed up:

Ezekiel english muffin sammie with avo, mustard, spinach, Cedar’s roasted red pepper hummus, and Daiya vegan cheddar “cheese.”

Ezekiel 7-sprouted grains English muffins are the best kind of english muffin ever.  And that’s a fact.  Don’t even try and tell me otherwise unless you’ve tried them yourself.  In addition to being ridiculously hearty, they are so fluffy.  If you think that sprouted whole grains are more like cardboard than carbs, you haven’t tried these yet.  I will say, Ezekiel’s sliced sandwich breads are a little tough for my taste buds, but their english muffins more than make up for those shortcomings. 

So if you’ve written Ezekiel’s products off (or other sprouted ones) because you’ve only tried their breads, please, do yourself a favor and try the english muffins.  You’ll never buy any other kind again. 

 

And if you happened to forget all the reasons SPROUTED grains are good for you, here are a few reminders:

• Phytic acid (a GI irritant) is reduced when you sprout grains before baking them
• Nutrients are more available to the body because germination pre-digests the enzymes that inhibit absorption
• Enzymes produced during sprouting break down amino acid protein bonds enabling digestion of the entire grain and increasing vitamin content
• Unlike enriched* grains, sprouted grains are made from the endosperm of the wheat kernel (the inside portion), which retains all the natural fiber, bran, and 22 vitamins and minerals

*Enriched bread is milled into white flour which requires the removal of the bran and the germ and results in the loss of it’s natural fiber, bran, vitamins and minerals.  In order to compensate for this, vitamins and minerals (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, iron and folic acid) are added back in, "enriching" the flour.

Also, as per the FDA’s guidelines, only 50% of a bread’s grains have to be “whole” in order for the bread to be considered “whole” wheat.  So always look to see that your bread specifies 100% whole wheat.

But back to my packed goods…

I also brought a baggie of homemade trail mix (with cheerios, raw almonds, carob chips, and raisins), a Braeburn apple, baby carrots, and a Raspberry Pomegranate Supercharger PranaBar.

I was nervous this would be either overly fruity or overly nutty, but it was neither.  I had half on the car ride to the Rose Bowl and the rest in the stadium. 

Pros: It held me over well, it wasn’t sticky, it wasn’t headache-inducingly sweet, and it tasted good. 

Cons: The texture was too uniform (?) – basically, I wanted to see more visible chunks of individual ingredients.

Would I buy it again?  Yes.  I love PranaBar for their organic, unprocessed, dairy free, gluten free, no sugar added, vegan, non GMO, all natural perfection.

We made really good timing on the way to the game, so we met Kyle’s parents at the Pasadena Whole Foods.  Lord help me, this place was HUGE. 

Lucky for me, Kyle’s parents know that it’s really not fair to bring me into a massive Whole Foods and then leave empty handed…

Vegan desserts up the yin yang.

How, oh how, shall I choose?

We picked 8 different vegan truffles and boxed them up for later. 

I couldn’t wait!!

Eventually we made our way into the stadium.

It was hotter than hot.  Blazing hot.  Triple digits hot.  You get the idea. 

With all our cheering, we were sweating like crazy.  And get this, the Rose Bowl ran. out. of. water.  Seriously. 

Remember those vegan truffles?

Oy.  Goodbye my sad melted liquid lovers. 

On the way home from the game, we stopped at (a different) Whole Foods to pick up dinner.  It makes me very happy to know that I’m not the only one with a healthy foods’ store addiction…my in-laws are just as obsessed with Whole Foods as I am.  Guess we’re a good match.  😉

I had a mini-stroke when I discovered my beloved Synergy Kombucha was back in stock!  YES! YES! YES!  For those who are now screaming in delight at their computer screens, this is not a mirage, they are officially back in stores (in the wine shop/alcohol section).

We also picked up some appetizers. 

Mary’s Gone Crackers – Original and Herb flavored

I’ve heard about these crackers for a while now, but was never able to find them in New York.  I did manage to find (and try) the curry stix, but wasn’t a fan.  I ended up using them to bread tofu and accessorize my salads & soups. 

Needless to say, I was really excited to give these a shot despite my iffy past with Mary’s Goods, since they are:

• wheat free
• gluten free
• dairy free
• vegan
• organic
• kosher
• non GMO
• whole grain
• hydrogenated oil free
• trans-fat free

Plus all the ingredients are recognizable things like brown rice, flax seeds, quinoa, and sesame seeds. 

I put them on a pretty tray and served them alongside two kinds of Cedar’s hummus. 

This is going to sound weird, but they reminded me of the wafers you get during communion.  If you aren’t Catholic, this comparison means nothing to you.  But basically, they were really light, crispy, and flavorful.  I liked how some were thicker than others.  Call me crazy, but it somehow made them feel more home-made (and less processed).  I loved the seedy, nutty flavor of the Original, and the subtle presence of seasonings in the Herb flavor.  They weren’t the least bit hard or stale tasting either, as many “healthy” crackers can be.  They were surprisingly airy while hearty at the same time.  Those are pretty opposing characteristics, but somehow Mary’s Gone Crackers achieved it.

Figs and wine made their way into the mix, too.

A nice spread, no? 

Ramsay’s 2008 North Coast Pinot Noir.  Love.  [Read: I might have to go buy another bottle] 

After chatting, munching, and more chatting the boys got to BBQing. 

Salmon grilled with EVOO, salt & pepper (for the fish eaters).

The vegan portion of the meal included:

Sumi salad, Israeli couscous, and butternut squash. 

So while the rest of the dinner party passed around the fish, I made myself this lovely plate.

In addition to Israeli couscous, this salad had eggplant, portabella mushrooms, wild rice, dried cranberries, sunflower oil, canola oil, turmeric, mint, oregano, thyme, sea salt, and black pepper.

The Sumi salad had cabbage, green peppers, scallions, almonds, sesame seeds, canola oil, sesame oil, rice sticks, rice vinegar, evaporated cane juice, sea salt, and black pepper.

The butternut squash dish had red chard, apple cider vinegar, canola oil, sea salt, and black pepper.  It was way more citrusy than I was expecting, and I went back for seconds and thirds of it. 

When more friends joined us, we poured more wine. 

I didn’t try any of the St. Francis Chardonnay, but the Dry Creek Meritage Zin was another winner.  For being so different from the Pinot, I actually don’t think I could choose a favorite between the two reds.  They were both great in different ways. 

After a few drinks it was time to sing to the birthday girl! 

What’s cuter, the monkey cupcake or the loving look on Kyle’s dad’s face?  Awwww…

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Social Light

This weekend was a reminder of why Kyle and I moved back to the West Coast.  No offense NYC, but when it comes to the weather and the social scene, California is where the party’s at! 

I may be well out of college, but that doesn’t mean I’m an old fart (yet).  This weekend I was drawn to keg parties and tailgates like a moth to a flame. 

I don’t mind a seedy bar once in a while either.

But before I get to the brew-fueled festivities, let me back up to Friday.

You like my new pink Wifey mug?  It was a gift from my husband ;) 

 

I had mega frothy coffee while making headway in my job search.  Keep your fingers crossed for me! 

I decided to break the fast with a bang.  Pancakes are a rare craving because I don’t wake up with an appetite.  But there are always exceptions when my stomach is involved, and on Friday that meant pancakes.

Vegan Whole Wheat Banana Vanilla Pancakes

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 drops NuNaturals vanilla stevia
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 banana (mashed up)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup So Delicious coconut milk French Vanilla “creamer”

Check out the banana inside.  Yummm…

After such a hearty breakfast (I’m usually into lighter fare in the AM), noon came and went and I still wasn’t hungry for lunch.  Since I had a date with a friend in the early afternoon, I headed out with an apple as back-up (hanger management, if you will). 

In-apple-propriate crotch shot.

We did some hospital stalking (job research at it’s finest) and then I came home to make a real meal.

For lunch I finally got a taste of the hottest ticket in town, DAIYA! 

I was scared to purchase the entire $5.99 bag (that’s a big expense if – heaven forbid – I didn’t like it).  Fortunately, for economical people like myself, Whole Foods sells it in smaller containers at a fraction of the price.

I started with the cheddar flavor. 

Vegan grilled “cheese” with a Zevia cola on the side.  Have you entered my Zevia giveaway yet?

Now I know what all the hype was about!  It does melt.  Win for me.  Loss for my poor bank account.

Later on I hit the road for a quickie 3 mile run and my daily Vitamin D dose, and then came home to shower and make dinner. 

All I wanted was more Daiya, so I threw together a recipe that is definitely delicious enough to share.

Cheezy White Bean Dip

• 1/2 can cannellini beans
• 1/2 can garbanzo beans
• 1/2 cup “ bean juice” from can
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup vegan cheddar “cheese”

Whoa.

I had it with veggies first…and after licking the plate clean of every last drop, I decided to make it into a second course, too.

Sweet tater with cheezy bean dip.  Can you believe how long it had been since my last sweet potato!?!  Criminal.

Winner winner faux cheese dinner. 

The night could have ended there and I would’ve considered it a success, but it continued on…

Let the good times roll…

Isn’t it amazing how pouring a can into a glass instantly makes Bud Light a classy beverage?  Or maybe that’s just my opinion. 

I was one beer deep before doing my hair and make-up to go out (poor decision), and two beers deep as we headed off to a friend’s place for some good old fashioned Friday night shenanigans. 

Sweet photog skills. :P  Let me fill you in on a little secret I recently discovered…grad students know how to party.  Why didn’t I choose a career in which happy hours were justified as networking opportunities?  I was just trying to hold my own.

PM snackage went down.  The above photo needs no further explaining. 

Saturday morning was a bit rough as a result, which made a double dose of java almost as necessary as air.  I probably could’ve used an IV to rehydrate myself, but coffee is much more practical. 

Recovery was the name of the game on Saturday morning, but by the PM we were off to Main Street to get our race day packets.

Oh, did I forget to mention Kyle signed us up for a 10K while we were on our honeymoon?  The couple that runs together…who knows. 

Lunch was a new creation, involving a revamped sammie of my favorite ingreds.

Avo. Chickpeas.  Daiya.

I hand-mashed the chickpeas so they would be a bit chunky, but still stick together and then added them atop a bed of melted Daiya “cheese.”  They were on the same slice of bread, which made the cheddar fairly elusive in the above photo, but a little queso goes a long way.  Smooshed into the other slice was half an avocado.  All together now…

Trio to be repeated. 

Like I said before, Kyle and I had to pick up our race packets with our bibs and goodies on Saturday afternoon, so I grabbed an apple for the road and off we went!

We stopped on the way home to get sweat bands, and I just had to take a photo with my girlfriend role model.

Hi Jillian!  Thanks for introducing me to strength training – I had no idea what I was missing out on!  Soon my abs and arms will look just like yours 😉

The walk back home took a bit longer because I was side tracked by Santa Monica’s community garden.

Note to self: work out green thumb soon. 

We also made a trip to The ‘Bucks for two iced soy mistos…and swung by WF for some essentials (bread)…and stopped into a sports bar to check up on the Federer match… 

After all the detours on our walk back to the casa we finally made it home…but it was a short lived layover in the hippie household.  No rest for the weary social.

Where were we off to, you ask?

Here’s a hint: it involved 75 minutes of traffic…and pre-packed eats.

Sure, the Rose Bowl is legendary in the sports world, but in the food world it is seriously lacking.  Vegans consider this your warning (unless you are willing to make a meal out of kettle corn).  Fortunately I smuggled in the above eats (minus the PranaBar which met it’s fate in the looooong car ride to Pasadena). 

PranaBar = My new favorite company.  Period, end of sentence.  I prefer real food to bars, but each and every flavor is perfection.  I could go on and on (consistency, size, texture, ingreds – nothing I would change).

18 Rabbits Bar – Of all the flavors, the Belle Bananas Foster was the last left on my shelf.  It was good, but not one I’d buy again.  It tasted exactly (and I mean exactly) like a bowl of oats with bananas and walnuts on top.  I don’t like walnuts, but if you do, this is the bar for you!

Tailgating at the Rose Bowl really takes me back.  Too bad not much has changed since I was an undergrad…drunk frat boys, long bathroom lines, and a losing team. 

Still, I love it all.  We left early enough to get home before midnight since we had such an early wake up call the following day.

True enough, Sunday morning Kyle and I got a bright and early start to the day with the Lexus 5000 Santa Monica 10K.  I look deceptively chipper for 6:30 am. 

We rarely run races together, but this was a nice route and I really enjoyed having a partner.  You like our new sweat bands?  Kyle wanted one for his head, so I was the lucky recipient of the unclaimed wrist band.

It was a chilly morning in Santa Monica, but the commute to the starting line wasn’t too bad.  We took the bus and arrived 8 minutes before the horn went off, which was perfect timing (in my opinion).  No need to shiver myself silly 30 minutes before it’s even go-time. 

I’m not sure what kind of turnout I was expecting, but there were way fewer runners as compared to the past races I’ve done in NYC.  I’m not accustomed to having so much space! 

The course was a slow and steady uphill for the first 4 miles, which was a bit tough, but it was all worth it once we hit the last two miles.  Downhill to freedom!  Weeeee!

I finished in 47 minutes (not too bad considering my honeymoon exercise consisted of…stretching eating). 

And now I’m officially a Santa Monica runner.  Watch out, a half marathon may be calling my name in the near future…

After a scalding shower, I warmed up even more with a few cups of joe.  It’s weird but I always feel freezing after morning runs.  The walk home was fine because my muscles were still warm from the race, but once I got home and stretched out, my body cooled down and I was left feeling pretty brrrrrr…weird. 

If it aint broke.

This batch of banana vanilla pancakes was topped with cinnamon.

I polished off the entire stack.  Happy belly.  Happy hippie.

If you know me, you know what the rest of the day was devoted to.

I know I’m a nerd, but I love love love Fantasy Football.  Kyle and I went to a friends house to watch games.  He has a 63 inch TV.  Do you have any idea how big that is?  It’s ridiculous. 

This post is getting mighty lengthy, so I’ll wrap it up with my gorgeous PM snack. 

Tropical frozen fruit + So Delicious coconut “creamer” + ice ice bay-bay

Not too bad for our first weekend after the honeymoon.  Seriously, who needs a job when you have such a rockin’ social life? 

Don’t forget, you have until Tuesday afternoon to enter my Zevia giveaway.

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Bread winner

This weekend Kyle’s at UCLA for an orientation of sorts, and I’m working it up.  (Yes, I do still have a job, but only for a few more weeks!)  Hey, someone has to bring home the dough, right? 

I packed my goodies, as per usual.

Salad.  Bars.  Teas.  Carrots.  Pretz/Raisins/Carob chips.  Hummus.  Apple. 

(I actually had two other apples that I bought at the Union Square farmers market on my lunch break, too)

The size of the salad looks dwarfed by the photo on the right, but trust, it was large and in charge.  It was a nice mix of spinach, delicata squash, matchstick carrots, and dried cranz. 

In the mini-tupp was the most tahini-rrific hummus ever (from Nanoosh).  It is so thick it has the consistency of cream cheese.  And, as a very lovely reader informed me, they actually do take-out hummus.  Score!!

I’m too tired to post my dinner because I haven’t uploaded the pics yet, but I have an even better post scheduled for tomorrow.  Kyle and I went to Blue Hill the other night and it was OUT OF CONTROL.  Hands down, it was my fave dinner in NYC.  Ok, that’s a bold statement since I’ve had some pretty fancy shmancy dining experiences…but I promise the post I do will blow your mind.  Mmmmm…I’m drooling just remembering it now.  HA!

Ok, snooze time since it’s back to the hospital I go manana.

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Westward bound

Off to CA, but here is how my morning has been…

Java.  Apples.  Cinnamon. 

[Hours of iTunes drama]

Another trip to Barnes & Noble (I blame the aforementioned tech issues for my purchase…but if there’s one thing I have learned when flying across the country, it’s to bring way more entertainment/food/supplies than you think you will need).

And so here’s what I packed…

Z bar, Boomi Bar, Prana Bar, apples, carrots, pretz/nut/raisin/carob chip mix, salad in a tupp.

Hopefully this flight will go NOTHING like my last one…I’d really like to rest.

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Erin Go Bragh

Oh happy day!  I love St. Patrick’s Day for several reasons:

• The start of March Madness
• Kyle’s birthday
• Green themed everything
• Boozing (to the nth degree)
• Random phrases like “sonny” and “me lucky charms”

Of course I am one of those people who takes the green theme above and beyond…so prepare yourself for what’s to come.

Green monster, complete with spinach, kale, frozen strawberries, mango, and Vita Coco. 

Natural sunlight.  Natural sugar.

Non-green joy.

After breakfast, I headed out for a run.  I made a quick loop in Central Park, came home and showered as quick as possible.  Why?  Because I wanted to be in the sun asap!  For this reason, my lunch was of the portable variety…

I finally managed to get my hands on some fatty medjools.  These babies were like the Donna Simpson of dates, which was especially delightful after going so long without them.  Does anyone know, is there an off-season for dates?  I say this because winter was a bit of a barren period for Whole Foods’ date supply.  They had wussy packaged ones without pits, but that’s not my scene.  The bigger the better.  Either way, I’m glad WF stepped up to the plate. 

Like yesterday’s MIX1 flavor, today’s blueberry-vanilla was exceptional.  And I’m not exaggerating.  I can seriously see myself bringing these to work for breakfast instead of coffee every day (instead of coffee you say?! – the horror).  I told you they were good.

While I was out basking in the sunshine, I had this Perfect Pumkin BoomiBar. 

T’was green, so I avoided pinching (it was quite delish as well).

I was oot ‘n aboot all day long, so when I got home I was definitely ready for dinner. 

For part of my dinner, I made what I am now going to refer to as my 40 cent meal.  Seriously, it was the cheapest thing ever.  Are you curious?

I have been craving Indian food for a while now…and so I present to you…

Split pea coconut curry

• dried split green peas (20 cents worth)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 2-3 drops lemon juice
• 1/6 onion
• 1 tsp curry powder
• Vita Coco coconut water
• salt & pepper to taste

*measurements are approximated as I kinda seasoned without actually keeping track

After letting the split peas get soft (15-20 minutes), I drained the water and added in the Vita Coco water and the onions.  After those simmered for a bit I added in the spices and just like that it was done!

I spooned it over a steamed sweet potato, broccoli, and coconut quinoa.

I cooked the quinoa in Vita Coco coconut water instead of water.  OMG!  Everyone MUST try this!

I can’t help but be a little proud of the color coordination…

Erin Go Bragh!

After dinner Kyle and I went on a walk, and we stopped into the ’Bucks for a decaf soy misto.  Mmmmm…

I ended the night with a trifecta of medjools.  Guess where I am heading tomorrow?  Home sweet home!

Since I will be out of town (and posting much less), I’m going to give you a little preview of what’s to come this weekend…

No, I’m not referring to pretzel chow sessions (although I’m not dismissing the possibility either…). 

I’m talking about the fact that Measure-Up bowls will be on sale in my OpenSky shop.  So bookmark it for the weekend, ok?  What else are you going to do with your tax return, right?  More details to come, but I just wanted to give you all a heads up since I got such enthusiasm after I showed them in my last post.

And yes, I had 3/4 cup of pretzels some time in the afternoon…who knows.  Some times photos find their way on my camera and I don’t even remember it happening.

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Marching on…

I would just like to say how awesome it is entering the subway at 5:45 am in darkness and reemerging to a glorious sunrise.  Light in the morning!  Can I get a hell yeah?

Anyways, here are my eats, pre-packed and ready for the trek to the hospital…

Apples, salad, carrots, hummus, and bars (PB&J Dipped MoJo bar, Super Protein Odwalla bar, and the latest PranaBar flavor to rock my world). 

In zee salad: spinach, steamed brocc, zucch, sesame/seaweed salad, and dried cranz.

My feelings about the Cranberry Goji Supercharger PranaBar cannot be masked.  Effing fantastico.  Every bar is better than the last.  This company has me hooked.  No others can compare.  My stomach is so happy with the wholesome un-processed ingreds, and it keeps my app at bay for way longer than any other bar.  Truly.

Luff.  Let’s talk about all the yummy stats shall we?  Organic, soy free, no sugar added, gluten free, vegan…I could go on and on…and MIGHTY tasty to boot.  Apparently my thoughts on Goji berries were in accordance with the rest of the blogging community…well, kids, try this bar, stat, because it’s the best use of Goji I have found thus far. 

After work I schlepped my way back uptown on the most obnoxiously packed subway ride.  It was kinda steamy, but NOT in a good way.

Hello lover. 

What goes best with carbs?  More carbs.  Duh.  Naturally, I turned to hummus to supplement my meal.  Some Italians like garlic bread with their pasta.  Well, (a) I’m not Italian AND (b) I detest garlic, so hummus-y bread is my version of the side dish.  Unlike the other day, today I managed to practice some self restraint and stop after one serving (like a normal human would). 

But don’t start giving me props for operation moderation just yet…

I rounded out my meal by eating half my weight in carob covered raisins…

And then so many pistachios that I completely fried my taste buds.  Apparently too much salt can be a bad thing?  Who knew?!?  I hope I can taste things again tomorrow. 

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Mother Nature must be mad

Can you believe this weather?  Haiti, Chile, Hawaii…makes the East Coast snow seem insignificant. 

There’s a car under there somewhere…

So I stomped my way through a good foot of snow to get to the hospital today.  Brrr.  I toted my usual eats with me too, including a big salad, a squash side dish, and apples and bars aplenty.

The big boy on the left contained spinach, steamed zucchini, carrots, brocc, chopped celery, chickpeas, and dried cranz.  Holy ingredients. 

The smaller side tupperware had delicata squash (I finally found it again! yes!!) with raisins.

Do you like celery? I used to love it, and then suddenly I was just completely over it.  How weird is that?  The only reason this salad had celery was because I happened to have two leftover spears from my bag of plane snacks.  I guess my main issue with celery is the fact that it is sold in such huge amounts.  Yes, I know you can buy the pre-cut sticks, but those are like 400% the price and this hippie’s on a budget.  Sometimes you just want a spear or two, but it seems stupid to buy an entire stalk with 50 servings worth, right?  I may be more apt to buy them and use them if I didn’t think that 90% of it would go to waste. 

Bars, bars, bars.  Apples and apples. 

Although I used to poo-poo the feminine focused snacks, I am getting into Luna bars more and more lately, and this Iced Oatmeal Raisin flavor was pretty good.  Oddly enough, the thing I love best about them is their less substantial nature.  Because they don’t hold me over very long, they are good when I don’t know if I will be able to go for a lunch break in a few minutes or an hour.  If I eat one, and then my patients are stable and I can slip away for a bit, I can still have my lunch without it being too much for my stomach. 

This baby, on the other hand, is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum.  I can’t emphasize it enough, Boomi bars are so good and they literally put my appetite on hold for hours.  The Perfect Pumpkin flavor was awesome.  The most dominant flavor was from the pepitas (my latest obsesh), and it married perfectly with the dates, raisins, crisp rice, apricots, and cranberries.  I wish I worked for this company because I think I could live off these bars.  Gah.  They are just too good!!

I loved my lunch so much that I made the same thing for dinner.  Delicata squash, raisins, and pepitas…oh, and  actually sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on top after and it was sublime.

In an effort to get a nice winter tan – au natural – I had a pound and a half of sweet potatoes with dried cranz.  I’m all about the faux glow. 

And for an added sweet touch, I polished off the night’s eats with a HUUUGE strawberry smoothie.  This one was packed with strawbeezies, xanthan gum, ice, silk soy milk, water, and a few drops of NuNaturals stevia (the liquid kind).

I also had a bunch (as in wayyyy too many) carob covered raisins.  I only photographed this one because it was so small and cute.  I find it funny when raisins escape the carob, or when carob coats a non-raisin (like the mini stem in this case). 

Guess who is working again tomorrow? Yo.

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The Sky’s the Limit

I have big news! 

I know I was a bit of a tease with my previous posts (alluding to a surprise and then holding out on you is not my style, so I apologize), but you don’t have to wait a second longer for the big reveal…DRUMROLL PLEASE…

I am now a shopkeeper with OpenSky, a site devoted to helping passionate people share their favorite products with the rest of the internet using world. 

I have been working a long time on getting my shop perfect for it’s grand opening, and although I still have lots of work to do, I am really excited to do a mini-debut now. 

It has several items that I use on a daily basis, and I’m sure you will recognize most (if not all) of them.  As you can see, I also now have a new tab at the top of my blog which will link you to my shop…so feel free to browse.  I will be highlighting the items here so you will know exactly what they are.  Most importantly, I want to emphasize that my blog is NOT a business venture for me, and I can give you my 100% promise that I will not be adding a single item that I don’t love and feel is fabulous.  Hungry Hungry Hippie is a hobby for me, and nothing more…so, dear readers, don’t think I’m going corporate or changing my blog in any way. 

This is only a tool to help you (since I often get questions about how I make something or what I use for another thing) and now I can show you exactly where you can get them!

Ok, enough on that…time for the food.

After a nice long weekend+ getaway, I was less than thrilled to be heading back to reality.  Starting a three day stretch on a hump-day wasn’t the most enticing schedule, but that’s why they call it work, right?  Right.  Naturally, I brought all the finest goodies to help get me through it.  If only food had that power…

This beastly tupperware had fists ‘o spinach, steamed brocc, carrots, chickpeas, and pepitas.  Simple and divine. 

This more modest salad had frozen corn, frozen edamame and dried cranz (the frozen eats thaw by my lunch time, so it’s not like I’m eating veggie popsicles for lunch).

This lover was the star of the day.  The only thing not vegan about Boomi bars is the honey, which is a pass in my book.  Now.  As we all know, I don’t like nuts, but, because I know how good they are for me, I am constantly working on it.  Cashew Almond sounds pretty nutty PLUS there were visible whole nuts.  Those are two things that generally deter me from giving such flavors a shot, but with the past PranaBar success, I was feeling ballsy, so I bit the bullet nut-packed bar and…turns out…it was DREAMY.  It reminded me of peanut brittle, but in a more chewy (bar) form.  Ok, maybe that’s not the best comparison.  It was lightly sweetened, but not sickeningly sweet (like I’d imagine brittle to be), and it wasn’t hard like brittle.  However, the flavor was a combo of nutty with crispy rice.  Like all it’s sibling bars, it held me over quite well.

Dinner was ready when I got home thanks to my food prepping.  Seitan with BBQ sauce, raisins, and pepitas.

On the side I had a few sando thins with a greek yog/nooch mixture.

It was like cheesy sauce on toasted bread.  🙂

It looks weird, but don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.

 

Yummy dessert-ables!!  Yogi-pretz, raisins, pepitas, and a meg-zoomed apple. 

Back to saving lives manana, so it’s time to get some shut-eye!!

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