Beam Green

It is much much too late so this will be a quick post (I am sorry it’s been so sporadic lately!).  This morning for breakfast I had a Cashew Cookie Lara Bar on the train.

This flavor was only ok.  It doesn’t even come close to pb cookie!

For lunch I packed a Jazz Apple and a lowfat strawberry yogurt.

The yogurt was Wallaby.

It was pretty tasty, and I liked the chunks of strawberry, but it was too thin for my liking.  I also ate a serving of Doctor Kracker Cherry Seminola Crisps.

Today was a ridiculous “school” day.  We were told point blank not to teach this week and babysitting is getting pretty boring.  I did manage to clean/close up my entire room today though, so that’s done.  I brought in Newman-O’s to bribe my kids into cleaning.

I enjoy these, but stuck to one cookie.  They taste like Oreos but have a deeper flavor, like the cookie is dark instead of milk chocolate.  I’ve also been carrying this tin of mints around this week and it’s been rocking my socks, they have the perfect amount of cool mintiness.

Plus, my nickname for A is Ice Bear so the tin alone makes me smile.

After a lazy hazy school day things got very busy after school.  I rushed home right at 3 for a dentist appointment.  My mouth is in good shape but I do need to make flossing more of a priority.  Next up was a trip to Dashing Diva; my eyebrows were so out of control I didn’t even want to attempt to deal with them!  I also got my nails done.

Bright purple to celebrate a fast-approaching summer!  My final event was Beam Green in Manhattan.  I stopped and got a pizza toastie for the train ride up.

This is basically just a pizza sandwich style – sourdough, marinara, mozzarella.

I am saving my thoughts on the event for tomorrow, but for now I’ll mention that I had a green juice and it was delicious.

A met me at the Subway when I got home (at 11!) and we made a quick stop and I picked up dinner.

I ate about half of this Vegan Chicken Lo Mein for a 300calorie serving.

And now I need to shower and collapse into bed.  Tomorrow will be better, I swear!

False Starts and Street Fairs

I took such a long weekend it’s hard to believe I have to go back to school tomorrow!  Today was a great day to end the fun though.  Somehow this morning I managed to convince A to go to a 9:30am spin class with me at Crunch.  I wanted to be well energized so I ate a spoon of TJ’s Sun Butter,

and a Sugar Free Red Bull before I left the house.

Things seemed good, we signed up for seats at the front desk and I went to the locker room while A went to claim our bikes.  When a woman told him she had my bike # he (politely) made her go back downstairs to check.  At this point I came in, along with 20 other people.  To make a long story short – we signed up on the wrong sheet.  Not only did we make the woman recheck, there were no bikes at all and we had to slink out of the full room feeling like assholes.  We felt so silly we didn’t even do a secondary workout, just went home!  I felt bad about missing the work out but as I write this post my legs are still on fire from Physique57 so I guess it’s actually a good thing

After the comedy club yesterday and the gym todayI thought I was doomed but somehow I did manage to make it to brunch today on time and intact!  I met up with a small group of blogger at Jane in Soho.

The restaurant was adorable and it was great getting to catch up.  I ate a tiny chunk of bread with fruit butter.

And since a cocktail came with brunch I tried the Bloody Mary.  [for which I have no picture]  It was spicy!  You could see the chunks of horseradish in it, possibly the best one of these I’ve had.

The menu looked fantastic and I had a hard time choosing.  There were several Benedict variations that all looked good.  I ended up with the Benedict Johnny.

Poached eggs, maple chicken sausage, corn pancakes, roasted tomato hollandaise.  It came with hash browns and I ordered the sauce on the side.

Delish!  Poached eggs are my favorite and these were very well done.  When I quit eating red meat, sausage was one of the few things I missed and this chicken sausage tasted exactly like what I remember from my childhood!  I left half of the bread and the potatoes but demolished the rest.

Once I split with the girls I headed to the next fun activity – a Park Slope Street Fair!  I’ve been excited about this for weeks and the experience did not disapoint.  A and I bought some foodie mini magnets.

And we each got a fun t-shirt.

We saw some live performances.

And I got a coconut bubble tea.

I abandoned the tea halfway through in favor of splitting a Brooklyn Summer Ale with A.

 

So fun!  There was so much food that I was glad I had already eaten, it would have been impossible to choose!  The fair ran from 14th – Flatbrush so it was a nice long stroll.

Afterwards A and I extended the walk and explored the outer edges of our ‘hood a bit.  At some point we split a Cappachino Cooler from Baskin Robbins.

We only bought this because we had to buy something (A had to use the bathroom) and this had the least amount of calories (210) but it was actually pretty tasty.

After some errands and blog tasks (I have a surprise later this week!) we made a quick dinner.  We made a grown up kiddie meal spin with this stuff.

We added 1C of collard greens to the mac during the last few minutes of cooking.  My bowl.

 

Looking back on the day I consumed way too many liquid calories (especailly for not drinking much booze), which is why I was still hungry after dinner.  Which is also why I got suckered in by a small (unphotographed) bag of popcorn when I went to the movies with A. 

It is an interesting school day tomorrow, I will see you all then!

I’m That Into Him

I had a really fun evening, it an unexpected sort of way.  First on the agenda was finishing up my business with a grocery trip.  A was busy so I finished out my Physique57 workout from this morning hauling 2 heavy bags back to the house!  On the way home I stopped for a fresh juice.

I got a small veggie blend – Apple, carrot, spinach, kale, celery, bok choy, parsley, lemon, cucumber, and ginger.

Delish, this was my favorite of all the juices I’ve tried!

A had an eye appointment at 5:15 so we threw together a quick meal.

A cooked the pasta (Rising Moon Organics Wild Chanterelle Mushroom Ravioli) and the broccoli/cauliflower together.

Then I topped my portion with a serving of TJ’s marinara sauce.

So tasty!  I like pasta cooked al dente and this had the perfect amount of chew to it.

The plan for the evening was to head to Manhattan to see a friend of a friend at a comedy club.  We got a late start because of A’s appointment and the rain but we were feeling good.  I even relaxed with a book waiting for the train.

Well apparently I was too relaxed because I followed A right onto a train headed the wrong direction!  Once we realized our mistake (on the moving train!) it was too late to make it to the show.  I was sad, but it was easy to get over once A suggested Wendy’s and a movie!  We split chicken nuggets and fries, my portion -

and watched “He’s Just Not That Into You.”  A had never seen it and he loved it – it is the perfect mix of touching and comedy.  I snacked on some new Lindt Mini Truffles while I watched.

I had one of each flavor – cappuchino, nougat, caramel.

I have some fun planned for tomorrow so I’m trying to make it an early bedtime but we’ll see how that goes.  Sleep tight!

What silly things have you done for a crush?  As you know I married my high school sweetheart, A and I have dated since my senior year (his jr year) in high school.  When we first met it was very casual – he thought I was hot and I wanted him to drive me around in his car!  Well as I spent some time around him I developed a crush.  A ran cross country so I thought “what better way to spend time with him than join cross country too?”  Good idea, except, I was already a cheerleader.  I somehow worked it with both of the coaches that I did cheer practice M, W, F and running T, R.  So I ran 2 days a week, which meant while everyone else was training and getting better I was basically maintaining.  Which meant I started off pretty strong but by the time the first meet rolled around……….I came in dead last and then puked!  The things we do for love!

Rolling, Rolling, What!?

Fred Durst lyrics aside, I’ve been on a roll this week with the productivity!  I’m pretty proud of today if I do say so myself.

I had no train breakfast (or lunch) today because A and I were going back to the doctors to get the blood tests we missed from last week.  It was interesting day of school – I did not teach a single class.  Exit projects for science and social studies are due tomorrow so every single period of 8th grade for the last 2 days has been devoted to finishing them.  It’s not that I mind helping with the projects, but isn’t the school sending the wrong message by instituting a mad rush?

I stayed after school to re-average grades for students who handed in make-up work today and then I met A at the doctor’s office.  Quick and painless.  I’m not afraid of needles, but I should be – I have really small veins and the last 3 times I got blood taken it involved 8+ sticks and a popped vein!  A went before me and was nice enough to save me his post-test leftovers.

He brought me about 1/4 of a Chipotle chicken burrito bowl.

I ate it on the walk home.

I didn’t even have time to sit when we got home because I had to make a quick turn around to make it to the gym by 6:15.  I did the best I could to approximate a meal by drinking a chocolate EAS on the walk.

60minutes of Virgin Yoga is just what I needed – I’m still sore from the class on Tuesday!  My balance is pitiful, even the first-times look more graceful than I do as I flop around like fish.

When I got home I hunkered down to work and finished my plans/materials for tomorrow, and 90% of next week, and 50% of the week after that!  The reason I had to do tomorrow is because I was informed that I will be teaching Social Studies for the next two days due to the upcoming state exam.

Dinner was quick and simple but delicious.

Yam Soba noodles + frozen organic asparagus = tasty meal for 2 x 2nights.

 

I topped my portion with a drizzle of evoo, a sprinkle of salt, and 1T toasted pine nuts.

Somehow after dinner I managed to convince A that a trip to the grocery store at 11pm as a good idea- so we went!  We got our groceries for next week.

Groceriers, grading, doctors appointment, plans, and the gym?  Sounds like a good day to me.

Are you afraid of needles?   I am not.  Which is probably how I ended up with 6piercings and a tattoo.

For Me?

In spite of the greatness that is a day off from my school, this morning got off to a rocky start.  I’ve been feeling sort of sad over the past week and when I overslept this morning I was feeling pretty down.  Example?  I ate half of this for breakfast:

But then, while I was wallowing, I got called downstairs to get this:

Which was filled with this:

I was feeling pretty lucky so I decided to end my pity party and get to work.  But first, I had to sample the new products!  Ferrero was kind enough to send me samples of each of their candy products, I felt it was my duty to eat one (or two, or actually three) of each flavor so I could review.

Ferrero Rocher is the original flavor.

Rocher chocolates are a tempting combination of creamy chocolate surrounding a whole hazelnut, within a delicate, crisp wafer…all enveloped in milk chocolate and finely chopped hazelnuts.  I am a big hazelnut fan, so I always enjoy these.  This is a flavor I am familiar with, because it is husband’s favorite candy – because of this every member of his family sent him a box for every holiday in college and Rochers basically took over our dorm rooms for several years!

Ferrero Garden is the non-chocolate offering.

It is composed of a sweet almond; rich coconut cream; delicate, crisp wafer; and shredded coconut.  I thought this was pretty unbelievable.  I am a major coconut fan and this is hands down the best use of coconut in a candy bar I’ve ever experienced.

Ferrero Rondnoir is the dark chocolate offering.

Ferrero Rondnoir dark chocolates are a unique offering of a dark chocolate cream surrounding a “black pearl” of fine dark chocolate within a delicate, crisp wafer…topped with crunchy dark chocolate morsels.  I am a dark over milk chocolate fan so I thought this blew the Rocher out of the water!  This is my new favorite candy.  It was the perfect combo of textures and flavors (although I strongly tasted coffee notes and was surprised not to see it listed).

Thank you so much Ferrero, this made my day!

After boosting myself with a sugar high I got down to business – I’ve written my plans for the week and gathered all of my materials.  I had a doctor’s appointment in Manhattan at 5:20 so I worked until about 3.  Then I took a break for a snack.  I used one small sweet potato to make my favorite oven baked “fries.”

Yum.

When I got outside I realized it was much warmer than I had anticipated so I traded in my jacket for this.

My appointment took forever – I had to wait for more than 40minutes!  I didn’t really mind though, because it gave me an excuse to sit and finish my new book.

By the time I left I was pretty hungry.  I stopped into Duane Reade for some things so I bought a snack for the train ride home.

100calorie bags of popchips might actually be the best thing since sliced bread (better, actually, because who really gets excited about sliced bread?).

When I got home A and I got down to business with one of my drugstore buys.

 

We have a really hard time remembering to take our vitamins so a daily pill storer (am for me and pm for A) is just what we needed.  I am taking a fish oil pill every day and a vitamin every day (alternating between a b-supplement, Flinestones chewables, and Centrum Complete).  Plan on this being a part of what I consume daily, at least for the next few weeks.

While I was uptown A cooked a Target box for dinner.

It tasted pretty good, but wasn’t very filling.  Plus, the sodium content is pretty intense, we probably won’t buy this again.  I washed my serving down with a virgin cocktail.

 

This was 1part POM, 1part Stirrings mojito mix, and 1part club soda.  All together.

After dinner A and I watched the best episode of House ever and I ate one serving of ColdStone Creations Jelly Bellys.

It was a great evening!  I am back to school as scheduled tomorrow so I’ve got to get to bed, sleep tight!

Did you watch House today?  What did you think?

Do you take any vitamens or supplements?

A Little Down, but Way Up

Howdy, Hola, Hello!  What a day it has been!  Before I describe the extreme awesomeness of today (get ready!), I’m going to discuss the not-so-awesomeness of yesterday.

I did nothingyesterday.  Zip, nada, zilch.  By 8 A managed to drag me out for a walk and an impromptu dinner but daylight hours were a wash.  From 9am-7pm I did no work, and worse had no fun.  For some reason I woke up with a headache and a bad mood that I couldn’t shake.  It was a beautiful day and A was dying to go outside all day and I just couldn’t make myself move.  I don’t mind procrastinating or not doing work (if you are a regular reader this is obvious!), but procrastinating and not having fun?  Not cool.  I didn’t even watch tv, and I would have loved to watch to tv.  I thought I was doing ok with school, and I am, and I’m doing ten bazillion times better than last year, but days like yesterday really make me think about how these two years of teaching have affected who I am.  I don’t know what I will end up doing next year (I don’t even know what state I’ll be living in until A hears back from grad programs), but I do know that I can’t go back to my school.  Does anyone else ever experience days like this?

On a happier, healthier note, today was fantabulous.  We had gorgeous spring weather and A and I took advantage by taking the mother of all walks through our ‘hood.  I love love love walks and we actually went so long today my feet started to hurt!  I’ll go back to the beginning and walk you through, hehe.

When we woke up we decided that there was no sense in even trying to work with the first day of 70+ weather outside our window.  We started by walking to the farmers’ market to look around.  We planned on eating breakfast at the market so we bought a goat cheese, basil, cranberry loaf thing.

We split most of this but did throw away most of the toppingless edges.  So good.

From the farmers’ market we walked 20+ blocks to the movie theatre.  We thoroughly enjoyed the spring flowers along the way.

 

After buying our tickets we actually did some more walking before the movie started.  Park Slopers have you explored the area around the park (13th-19thish)?  Very neat.  We saw “17 Again” and thought it was pretty great.  A is much more into chick flicks than I am and he loved it!  I mostly loved the serving of Soda Pop Jelly Bellys I packed.

From the movie we decided to go down the 7th Ave and then go home.  But then!  We are nerds, so when we spotted these chalked lines on the sidewalk we had to follow them.

After a long long long treck we came to this:

Lame.  Since our fruitless treasure hunt lead us to 5th Ave we decided to walk around there.  There are some wonderful looking places we hadn’t seen before, particularly a beer emporium we will be visiting soon!  After more walking A and I convinced ourselves it was necessary to go back to the Mexican place we went to dinner at yesterday for a late lunch.  Worth it!

Burrito Bar and Kitchen is un-frickin-believable!  So so so good, I almost can’t describe it.  1) Their drink menu features Cruzan rum.

2) They give you free chips with amazing salsa.

I didn’t eat many chips today, because my oh so healthy lunch choice was Chicken Nachos.

YUM!  I demolished this.  The flavors were amazing, but that didn’t stop me from adding plenty of chalulu.

Hands on our bellies, A and I were very happy when we got home. 

I would like to say that I was full, but I totally made a sundae an hour later!

This was a 1/2C So Delicious chocolate (coconut milk) ice-cream topped with 2t melted pb and 1t unsweetened shredded coconut.

I got in my missing tv time from yesterday while I ate my sundae, House rocks my socks.

Dinner tonight came in the mail yesterday, Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti ravioli.

Thanks Foodbuzz!

First we had salads.

This was a romaine base topped with lemon poppysead dressing, blue cheese crumbles, and dried raspberries.  The berries are from Nuts Online that my parents gave me in my Easter basket.

 

For the pasta we completely ignored the directions to boil and sauteed them in 1T Smart Balance instead.

So good!  I ended up basically eating my serving with my fingers (and enjoying them greatly).

For antioxidants we broke our a bottle of our favorite wine.

A poured me a small glass to enjoy with our dinner.

And now we are cuddling and watching our Netflix (Hot Shots Part Deux).  I (per usual) squandered all of my work time so I have a busy busy day tomorrow before we head back to school.  I wouldn’t have done things any differently!

When do you ignore directions?

Oh Baby!

Hello, hello.  I’ve been absent for a while, but it’s been a learning experience.  Life lessons?  1. I am not just tired, apparently I am pretty sick – yuck.  2. I pack in a lot of food for a sick person.  And in better news, SCCD was featured on Yourself in Five Years‘ amazing Perez Hilton style line-up!

After I left you Saturday night we had to throw together a quick dinner before we headed up to Soho.  I used the following things in my 15minute meal (take that Ray!)

4servings of ww pasta, a can of turnip greens, and Stonewall Kitchen Pumpkin Pesto.  Came together to make this.

I topped my serving with 1T toasted pine nuts and 1T sharp cheddar.  Very tasty.

Apparently 15minutes was too long though, so I snacked on a Key Lime Light and Fit yogurt while I cooked.

Then we headed up to my favorite area in Soho!  A is the sweetest husband in the world and he gave me a foodie-filled evening that rocked my socks.  Our first stop?

Babycakes!  A all vegan bakery I’ve been dying to try.  Look at how cute it is!

I got a chocolate chip sandwich cookie.

I swear I’m not just sayingthis because the icing is pink – this was hands down the best cookie I’ve ever had!  We will definitely be headed back to Babycakes, soon!

From there A and I went to Teany (another supercool spot)

and split a blood orange herbal iced tea.

And then A let me peruse the Whole Foods nearby.  Ohmygoodness, I need  to live near a Whole Foods.  I had to restrain myself because we are leaving for St. Thomas this Thursday, but I was literally gasping as I walked down the asiles.  I did buy a few fun things I’ll show you throughout this week.  On of which was -

a Truffle Pig milk chocolate truffle bar.  How cute is this?!

A often calls me truffle pig as a nickname which made us even more excited.  Even the bar itself is adorable.

We split it on the way home.

Somehow when we got home A convinced me it was time for a second dinner.  I don’t know what to say about this except that we were both still hungry.  We went to Mango, my favorite Thai place in the Slope.

I got a thai iced coffee to drink.

And ordered chicken pad thai.

So good!  Pad Thai was my standard order before I discovered broad rice noodles.  A and I both ate about 1/3 of our meals and then had them packed up to go.  To our annoyance, when we got home we realized they gave us little to go containers, and had thrown away about 1/3 of our meals!  Probably a good thing, considering that I ate the rest of mine as soon as I got home!

I was feeling substantially sicker by the time Saturday morning rolled around, but A convinced me to try his new Whole Foods buy.

Oh yes, that is pancakes in a squirt can!  I am not a huge pancake fan but I had to try some of these.

 

A made me three small pancakes which I topped with a small banana and a drizzle of maple syrup.

And then I went back to bed all day.  I slept and slept and slept and after my Rip Van Winkle-ing I felt well enough around 4:30 for A to drag me to a movie.  We were going to see Fast and Furious, but even though they sold us tickets there were literally not two seats left in the theatre!  We thought about seeing a later show but A had already ordered our movie snacks so we traded in our tickets for Monsters Vs. Aliens instead.  I ate (unphotographed) 1/2 a medium popcorn, a diet coke, and some Jr. Mints during the movie. [My throat is killing me, but yes, I do know that my food choices probably had something to do with why my stomach hurt!]

I crawled home from the movie to do some more sleeping, zzzzzzz.  A woke me up later when he ordered sushi, he got me an order of pineapple fried rice and it was delicious.

I devoured it, along with the side of (raw) pineapple that it came with.

And then went back to sleep.

This morning I am feeling pretty sick still but I have to go to school tomorrow so there is work to be done.  I will be back later, hope everyone else is feeling well!

Do you lose your appetite when you are sick?

(nonvegan readers) would you go to a vegan bakery?

A Story in Three Parts

First off, major love to whomever can tell me what book the title today comes from.  Because I have three major points today, and I’m too short on time to do a full recap, I’ve decided to divide this post into three parts.

Workin’ It Out

Today’s workout was abso-frickin-lutly fabulous!  I am so glad I tookthe time for myself to go to the gym.  I know this week will be gym light (I am going back to the doctor’s yet again tomorrow to deal with the stupid wart on my foot) but my goal for the rest of the year is to make it as much as possible.  I am such a happier (healthier!!) person when I am in shape.

Today I started with a 30minute Abs and Stretching Class at Crunch.  When class was over I hit up the treadmill for a 35minute interval session – I do 2minutes jogging/1minute walking.  For 35minutes I did 3.5miles and burned est. 300calories. I’m trying to build back into running while being cognisantof my bad joints, so you will be seeing a lot of intervals.  The 35minutes flew by with my fabulous gym mix:

1. “I Will Follow You into the Dark” – Death Cab for Cutie
2. “Rock Lobster” – The B52’s
3. “O… Saya” – AR Rahman and MIA (Slumdog soundtrack)
4. “Vitamen S” – Cham
5. “Loose Lips” – Kimya Dawson
6. “Crank That” – Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em
7. “Get Loose” – The Salads
8. “Heartless” – Kanye West
9. “Stolen” – Dashboard Confessional
10. “Paper Planes” – MIA

Eats

Today started normal but ended with Insane hunger.  I’m not sure why my hunger has been so wonky this year (starving or nauseous and hardly ever just normal) but in honor of upcoming bikini season (19days until vacation!) I think I will just be ignoring any craziness for a bit.

Breakfast

For train breakfast I ate a new bar that Melissa brought to brunch yesterday.

It was good.  I liked the taste and the chia seeds gave it a great chew texture.  My only complaint is that it was pretty sticky and I like to read while I eat on the train.

Lunch

Lunch was a plethora of fruitiness.

Dannon Light & Fit Pineapple Coconut Yogurt.

I hate this brand of yogurt usually (I don’t tolerate fake sugar outside of my diet cokes) but the seasonal flavor looked intriguing.  It actually wasn’t bad, the chunks were downright delicious.

A minneola.

I brought and extra and gave it to kids working in my room at lunch, upon which I learned that about 1/2 of them did not know how to peel an orange!

And finally 1/4C unsweetened dried pineapple from TJ’s.

Snacks

{Unphotographed = 1fun sized chocolate from a student + a disgustingly large handful of nuts}

A caramelapple bar spread with a bit of pb.

Dinner

I did a dinner in three parts to0.  We did three salads, three courses.

Course 1 -

A small salad of lettuce and shredded red cabbage topped with 15spritzs of Balsalmic Breeze dressing and a few banana chips.

Course 2 -

A serving of pasta salad.

A made this from a kit from Target.  It was only ok, we have two more varieties of kits in our pantry and we are not sure what to expect.

Course 3 –

 

Juicy Chicken Salad, serves 4

Places the following ingredients in a bowl and stir together gently.  You can eat right away or make a day in advance to allow flavors to combine.

*4 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
*6oz plain nonfat Greek yogurt
*1/2C pickle relish
*3/4C halved green grapes
*1t paprika

Vegan Challenge Reflections

(Sorry this is a day late)  I hope you all enjoyed the 2week vegan challenge.  I know that I did!  While I have decided NOT to be vegan for life I enjoyed the two weeks and definitely learned a few things.  I outlined a few off my final ideas below.

What I’m Keeping

1. Variety!  During the challenge I really pushed myself to shake up my lunch rut and I’m glad I did.  Our dinners were fun too.  Even though there were a few flops (tofu scramble), some recipes have become new favorites (strawberry tofu club).
2. Fake meat.  I knew I was a tofu fan, but I had no idea how enjoyable some of the other forms of vegan protein could be.  Fakin’ bacon rocked my socks, and the soy chorizo dish I made was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.

What I’m Losing

1. No ovo.  I like eggs, they are a healthy source of protein.  Plus they are in all of my favorite Thai dishes, life without authentic Pad Thai just isn’t worth it!
2. The dairy to soy conversions.  There are many soy products (tofu, soy pudding, edamame) that I greatly enjoy and plan on consuming for life.  However, withthe research still at a stall about the point at which soy becomes a cancer risk rather than help I don’t want to over-indulge.  I have a high risk of cancer anyway, my genes and I grew up in an intense sun area, which is part of why I am concerned with a healthy diet.  Since I enjoy regular dairy I do not want to consume an excess of soy simply to keep animal product off my cereal.
3. …..more specifically, soy yogurt.  Besides the fact that it lacks the tangy flavor and high protein of Greek yogurt, soy yogurts were impossible for me to find without added sugar.  Consuming extra sugar to get a taste I find second rate seems silly.

What I’m Changing

As you guys know I am mostly vegetarian.  I don’t consume a ton of fish/foul and I haven’t eaten mammals since the summer before 8th grade.  Part of the reason for this (in addition to tastes and health) is that I am unable to make peacewith the idea of eating a mammal.  Pigs are officially smarter than human babies.  While I don’t judge what anyone else eats, I am just not cool with that.  Besides a long long conversation about the treatment of animals breed for food.  I realize you could question why chickens/turkeys/fish are not worthy, honestly I’m not sure.  I feel ok about eating them though and it adds convenience to my life.

As far as animal products go, I do not have a moral issue with consuming them.  My issue lies in the treatment of the source of these foods – cows and chickens raised for eggs and milk.  On a related note, I do not usually consume organic products (my budget will not allow it), although I try to when I can.  A and I discussed this during our challenge, and I realized I see a pretty big difference between pesticides on the outside of a peach and antibiotics that are fed to a cow before she produces milk.  Therefore, A and I have decided to consume dairy/meat less often so that we will be able to afford organic in these products.  We are also going to make a more conserted effort to buy only from companies that provide humane conditions for their farm animals.  I realize that many of my points of view are rationalizations that work only for me.  I am not here to tell anyone what to do, I just wanted to share my own reflections from the 2week challenge.

What are your thoughts on consuming animals/animal products?

What are your thoughts on organic products?

I Love You, Weekend

What a day, what a day!  I kept turning to A (he was home from school because he had a doctor’s appointment for her hurt back) and saying “I can’t believe it’s not Saturday yet!”  It was like a fake butter commercial, but with more enthusiasm!

After my post this morning I headed out to the gym.  I snacked on this blueberry Z-bar for fuel while I walked.

This was a bar fail.  I’m a huge Clif fan but I will not be trying the z-bar again.

I planned on running at the gym but when I discovered that my i-pod was dead I totally lost my mojo.  I ended up being motivated by a People in the magazine rack to do 20minutes, level 8, on the stepmill.  I followed it up witha 5minute abs and stretching session.  Every time I make it back to the gym I remember how much I adore it, I need to stop letting work rule my life.  With 20days until I’m back in a bikini I can’t think of a better time to get motivated.

After the gym A met me at the grocery store and we stocked up on dairy goods for next week.  I’ll be giving my reflections on Sunday, but I can say now that A is not a vegan at heart.  After my shower we decided to enjoy our weekday together by heading to ‘Snice (we are getting a little obsessed)!

I tried the Vegan Tempeh Reuben.

Holy frick, so good!  I adore rubens, I’ve never had a real one because I stopped eating meat (mammals) before 8th grade, but turkey reubens rock my socks.  I am already excited for the one I will get at a place back home that uses cole slaw instead of ‘kraut.  This guy had the fabulous addition of sprouts.

I ate 90% of the sandwich and 15% of the salad.  A and I also split a Malted Milkless Shake.

This really did taste like the inside of a Malted Milk Ball.  The sweet stuff didn’t end there though.

We headed to the movies from lunch, and on the way we stopped in at Union Market.  I spotted this Ugli fruit, I’ve never tried one before, but I had to buy it!

Look at the size of it compared to my hand!  I am super excited to peel this big mama open.

We saw “I Love You, Man” which was fabulous.  Paul Rudd is such a great actor.  My only complaint is that they really went for the awkward moment comedy.  I am really unable to handle embarrassing tv/movie situations.  I almost never get embarrassed in my own life but when characters are in awkward moments I just die – I actually covered my ears during the wedding toast moment! 

For snacks I bought a large diet coke (obvi!) and brought along a mini bag of Ike and Sam’s kettle corn.

I almost never eat pre-prepped popcorn – if you’re going to be obsessed go for the real stuff – but I wanted to try this brand and it did not disappoint.  I also bought a vegan brownie from ‘Snice.

Tasty, tasty.

We fiddle-faddledaround a bit when we got home and got a late start on dinner.  Thankfully, it was an easy prep (with leftovers for tomorrow too!).  We made ww pasta, topped with fire roasted tomato and garlic pasta sauce, and this new buy.

This Gimmie Lean fake meat ranks pretty high on my fake meats scale; better than the beef strips but not as good as the fakin’ bacon.

I topped my bowl with a slice of veggie cheese and some roasted yellow squash and zucchini.

It was very satisfying and I am look forward to eating it for dinner tomorrow.

A is watching “Princess Bride” on TV and it is definitely sucking me in so I’ve got to go.  I’ll see you in the AM for a fun breakfast.

What genre of movie do you enjoy?  I am all about the comedy, other than Zach Braff (frickin’ unbelievably genius, his musical pairings are beyond brilliant) Jude Apataw is my favorite director.

Sunday

I didn’t quite cross off my to do list – I have grading to finish in the morning and I never made it to yoga – but it’s been a busy day!

Post breakfast I worked on school work and worked and worked and worked.  I ate lunch over a couple stages – dried mangosteen and a cherry starburst,

the last of the Kashi cheddar crackers (about a serving),

and a sliced Sonya apple.

Finally I packed up my stuff and headed out to my errands.

I spent forever making copies!  Plus, a teacher at school gave me her extra overhead (YAY!) so I had to get copies onto transparencies as well!  Using some gift certificates and coupons I saved $40 at Staples today – I spend so much money there I’m up to a Platinum rewards card!

On the way home we stopped into the pizza place for a late lunch, I got a cheesy broccoli calzone.

Which I paired with a handful of baby carrots.

Amid work, I also watched “The Great Mouse Detectives,” which put a smile on my face.  (fyi: we watched “Stardust” yesterday and A and I love-love-loved it!  Highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet).  During the movie I ate an oooold Dr. Pepper ice pop from the back of the freezer.

After more, more, more work it was time to start dinner.  I made salad as a first course while we cooked.

This was an iceberg blend base with dried craisins, wasabi peas, and homemade dressing.  For the dressing I shook the remains of a mustard bottle with evoo, apple cider vinegar, and a pinch of sugar.

A’s was the same, but bigger, and with nuts (geez that sounds dirty!).  His and hers -

For dinner we made Marinara Chicken.  I cooked four breasts (always skinless and boneless btw), seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano, and paprika, at 375* for 45minutes.  Later they were mixed with this stuff.

I cooked 1/2 the box of ww pasta according to the directions on the box.  In the last few minutes of cookie I stirred the chopped broccoli into the water.  After straining and putting the pasta-broc. mixture back into the pot I stirred in the tomato sauce.

Finally I topped my serving with 1/2 of a sliced chicken breast and some part skim mozzarella.

Delish!

I drank a virgin mojito with my dinner.

Made out of club soda and a stirrings mix.

It’s far too late, so I’ve got to split like a banana, have a good night!

P.S. In the am,

• fight bpa’s by winning this contest.
• look like a KERF supporter (you know I am!) by winning this contest.
• fight peanut butter boredom by winning Barney Butter here.
• and break away from your Lara bar rut by winning here.