kale chip disaster August 22, 2008

my first attempt at making kale chips failed miserably. i don’t think i put enough kale pieces on the cookie sheet because they came out crumbly, like melt-in-your mouth crunchy and not in a good way. also, they were WAAAAAY too salty, it ruined the flavor of the kale. i sprinkled on quite a bit of salt because i was afraid i wouldn’t like kale’s natural flavor. i was wrong.

i’m going to try again soon because i have a ton of kale sitting in the fridge now that i need to use. here’s last nights batch before going into the oven.

and close-up, bathed in salt and olive oil.

fresh out of the oven on my plate along with my chick’n sandwich.

you can totally see the salt concentrations… it makes me gag just looking at how salty they were. my sandwich was good though. it was a chick’n patty on an ezekiel english muffin with a tiny sprinkle of mozzarella (that i couldn’t even taste) and some spicy mustard.

i was probably full after just eating that but i was so disappointed in the kale chip disaster that i craved something creamy and cool and sweet. i compromised by adding a tbsp. and a half of agave nectar to some soy yogurt and pairing it with kashi h2h and slivered almonds. so really it was a trio of things in there, (not counting the agave) not a pair.

friday morning dawned bright and early today. after my shower i was hungry so i dipped into my cantaloupe.

lots of fresh juicy cantaloupe and i ate it all. cantaloupe is my all-time favorite favorite fruit ever. of all time. i love it so much that last statement wasn’t even redundant.

i wasn’t so hungry after all that cantaloupe but i packed some grapes and an almond butter & banana sandwich for mid-morning.

having eaten all of that i should be stuffed. but i’m definitely already hungry for lunch. i’m excited to share something i’ve actually cooked myself with my dad. i had a ton of stuffing left over the other night from the spicy bean stuffed peppers. i brought the filling to work with me today and plan to run next door for some lettuce we can wrap it in for spicy lettuce wraps! i know he’ll love them because they’re really hot and he likes jalapenos.

happy monday August 18, 2008

since when am i happy on a monday? since i have confirmed the suspicion i’ve had since friday that i’m getting a new job! so happy monday it is.

happy monday’s breakfast oats had double water because i ran out of soymilk but they still had a banana because i stole one from mom’s house last night, even in my painful partially blind stupor. i topped this last-of-my-oats bowl with the rest of my pecans (i have GOT to shop for food today, it’s down to the wire worse than ever before) and a soy-yo maple icing. i made it good today because i didn’t feel like gagging when i tasted it. it also added the creamy element that was missing from lack of soymilk.

delicious. happy monday’s lunch was the rest of the leftover amy’s lentil vegetable soup. i wasn’t going to eat this at all because i so thoroughly dis-enjoyed it last time but i added parmesan cheese (one of the only things left in the fridge) and half an avocado (more contraband from mom’s house). it was pretty tasty after the additives, i think i even liked it.

on the side i had 4 saltines and water. it was all i needed, this bowl filled me right up.

but then i remembered the snapea crisps so i had the rest to polish off lunch.

i had originally planned on working out as usual (today it would be spin) but my mom just called to invite me to happy hour to celebrate her birthday today! of course i’d rather go to that. suddenly i’m very happy i dragged myself out of bed yesterday to squeeze in an atypical sunday workout…

hurry August 16, 2008

this will be a hurried post because i don’t want to be late to my mom’s birthday party and i haven’t posted since yesterday lunch because i’ve been super busy. the pictures are taking forever to load so i’m gonna write everything up and then just put the pictures in at the end.

i had a z bar pre-workout and my workout was good. it was real good, i’m still sore. lots of awesome guided strength training. after working out i headed home to freshen up and pack my bag for the night so i could sleep at my parent’s house since the wine bar i was going to is closer to their place. i stopped over there to eat dinner with them before i went to meet the girls for wine. i snacked on a small handful of honey wheat pretzels before dinner was ready. then i had a small serving of the chicken and vegetables with black beans my sister made for everyone. at the bar i started with a glass of white, an Argentinian Torrontes. then we ordered some bruschetta, of which i had two halves. one of prosciutto, brie and fig and one of salami, manchego and pesto. i washed that down with a Malbec Rose. and then we shared a tuxedo chocolate cake for dessert. the girls really wanted to be on my blog so they posed for me

this morning i wasn’t hungry before my workout so i jazzercised without a snack. i got back to my place and made banana oats the same way as yesterday to fuel me for yoga. then i went to yoga!

after yoga i had pb&j on wasa crackers. and the rest of my h2h with soy yogurt and agave nectar with almond slivers. and just now i had the rest of my cucumber, sliced, with tomato quarters and lemon-yogurt hummus. and that’s all i’ve eaten since my last post…

pics!

sunday morning August 11, 2008

that happens to be the title of my favorite maroon 5 song. but it wasn’t raining yesterday so the lyrics don’t seem super appropriate here. anyway, sunday morning i made the best bowl of oats ever

- 1/3c. oats
- 1/3c. soymilk
- 1/3c. water
- small banana
- vanilla & cinnamon
topped with:
- 1oz. toasted walnuts
- blueberries
- maple so-yo icing

all of the flavors together were outstanding. the banana i used was very small but there weren’t enough oats to sustain it so the next time i made it (this morning, monday) i used 1/2c. of oats. i skipped the “icing” today, too, because it was too weird tasting. i am not a fan of soy yogurt unfortunately. yogurt is something i crave so it might make cameo appearances from time to time but i will continue to avoid eating it for the most part. today i also put the blueberries in while the oats were cooking instead of as a topping. both ways were good, i guess it’ll just depend on how ambitious i’m feeling any given morning.

another reason to have had 1/2c. of oats was the satiety factor. i was hungry again sunday after about 2 and a half hours. so i had the frozen kashi entree i got at whole foods, black bean and mango

i really hate onions but i ate them as part of this entree and it was ok. i couldn’t taste them mixed in with all the other flavors. but from now on i will only buy this if i’m desperate for something quick and easy because of that.

after i ate that, i decided i wanted some kashi h2h. just because. i love that cereal so much it is super dangerous to have it just sitting there when i could be eating it. i’m working on resisting…

and i’ve already confessed to sunday night so this post is over.

food July 31, 2008

what i actually ate today, since that is the real purpose of this blog: cereal with soymilk for breakfast; soy yogurt, blackberries, toasted sunflower bagel and soy latte for second breakfast; amy’s vegan burrito for late lunch. dinner is TBD.

i’ve decided to dabble in veganism. today i’m experimenting with it to see if it improves my digestion. so far it has. yesterday i was bloated after having cheese with my veggie sandwich and a kosher all-beef hot dog for dinner with frozen yogurt for dessert. today my stomach feels good so i’m gonna go with this kick as long as i can make it last and as long as it keeps my tummy happy.

you’ve heard it here first, i WILL go to jazzercise today. what a way to keep myself accountable, all i do is hit publish! i thought about skipping it but i really should go at least for the cardio. i won’t feel bad for skipping the strength portion though because i’m SO sore from bootcamp yesterday. my biceps are still burnin’.

in other related news, i begin the process to become a jazzercise instructor this saturday. woot. if anybody asks, i’m a fitness instructor…