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Archive for February, 2010


Perfect Panini

In Dinner on February 28, 2010 at 8:09 pm

Tempeh, caramelized onions and kale

Remember the Breville panini grill Stew got me for Valentine’s Day? Me too!

So I brought it out tonight to make this perfect little panini–tempeh, caramelized onions, kale and good old yellow mustard. The onions were sautéed in a little olive oil then I added water, nutritional yeast, corn starch and a little soy sauce. GOOD.

The bread is wheat and gluten-free millet from Food for Life and it is gooood.

I had it with some kale chips but they totally took a back seat to the wonder that was the sandwich.

BEHOLD, a sandwich

And this is going to sound really annoying but I just have to point out that the word “panini” makes me CRAZY. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure I’m not because I loved my Italian class… Panino is the Italian word for sandwich. So panini is just plural–sandwiches. How it became a singular English noun meaning flat toasted sandwich with fancy lines, I do not know.


Inside the Pantry

In Uncategorized on February 27, 2010 at 4:11 pm

Stocked

I’m excited about my pantry today because I just bought a bunch of glass jars for storing my goods. I like having everything visible and readily available so I don’t forget about it. I’m gonna need like 10 more though…

In these jars we have toasted soy sauce sunflower seeds, sun-dried tomatoes, cashews and almonds and dried apricots. The two big guys in the back have gluten-free oats and brown rice. The wee little guy in the front right is nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast is a complete protein and is a good source of B vitamins for all your vegans/vegetarians out there. You can sprinkle it on anything.

The pantry

On the other side of the jar shelf we’ve got the processed items–sweet potato chips, granola, graham crackers and cereal. The top shelf is “the reserve”–quick cooking oats, grits and barley; extra nuts, powders, etc. And the bottom shelf has all the spices/condiments.

What’s in your pantry?

Not everyone has a stocked pantry or fridge. Check out this collection from artist Mark Menjivar for an interesting look at hunger and food through a series of refrigerator photographs.

Check them out

Visit Feeding America to see how you can help.


Maple Toasted Sunflower Seeds

In Snack on February 27, 2010 at 3:49 pm

Maple toasted sunflower seeds

Oh I am excited about food today.

I’m reading The Kind Diet and one of Alicia’s favorite snacks is toasted sunflower seeds with a bit of “shoyu” (the fancy word for soy sauce). I had a massive tub of raw sunflower seeds so I made Alicia’s savory version (so good!) and then tried my hand at a sweet option by using maple syrup instead of soy sauce.

Just toast the seeds (about 1 cup at a time) in a sauce pan on medium heat. Stir to prevent burning. Let them go until they start to brown and pop. Then pour in about 2 tsp of maple syrup and stir. Remove from heat and spread out on parchment paper to dry.

I LOVE these. Great as a snack or over banana soft serve…


Banana Soft Serve

In Dessert on February 27, 2010 at 3:42 pm

Perfection

When Gena at Choosing Raw first posted this “recipe” she titled it “This Post Will Change Your Life” and I am happy to report that she is not lying to us. My life is changed. This is amazing.

What am I ranting about? Ice cream!

You love ice cream, right? Frozen yogurt, sundaes, whatever. I SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM.

Banana soft serve

I actually don’t even really like ice cream. I was more of a popsicle kid myself. My favorite treat at Dairy Queen was a lime Mr. Misty–no Blizzards for me. I’m not saying I won’t eat ice cream. I’m saying it’s not my first choice.

This is my new first choice: banana soft serve. Are you ready for the super complicated ingredient list?

Frozen bananas

Mmmhmm. That’s it. Frozen bananas. Put a chopped frozen banana in a food processor and let it go. It’ll whip up into a frenzy of delicious airy soft serve. Kill me.

So if you’re raw and vegan like Gena, this is your ice cream replacement. I am neither so I added a splash of almond milk and cinnamon to mine. You could use regular milk, cocoa powder, whatever you want. Oh and the toppings… I had some maple toasted sunflower seeds but the possibilities are endless… coconut, fresh fruit, chocolate chips… PEANUT BUTTER CUPS. Mmm.

Eat this!

I strongly recommend trying this. Use a small food processor (I used the chopper attachment for my immersion blender) if you’re just making one serving. If you throw one banana into a 10-cup food processor I feel like it’ll just fly around in circles and never combine.

Thanks Gena! I am forever changed.


Caturday 2/27/10

In Cats on February 27, 2010 at 8:08 am

Ralphie takes a break from stardom

Hello and Happy Caturday! It’s a glorious (catur)day when Weasel lets me sleep past 6:30am. Happy day.

In case you missed it, Ralphie is now famous. She is cat #6 on Simply Sweat‘s 10 Yoga Postures Performed by Cats. Ralphie demonstrates savasana, of course.

With all the time spent taking pictures of my food this week, Weasel felt neglected and sought many opportunities to sabotage the whole event.

I'll do it

She turned emo and retreated to my underwear drawer where she slept for an entire night.

You'll never understand me

Both cats are scarred from their experience finally watching Food, Inc.

Weasel readies herself

Stew and I saw it over the summer and have been trying to convince them to watch it but all they say is, “I don’t want to know what’s in my food! Then I can’t eat it.” Mmmhmm.

Ralphie watches intently

Both cats are now vegetarian and are demanding organic, non-GMO cat food.

Why would someone eat animals like me?

I must spread the word. Food revolution!

Ralphie encourages everyone to watch Food, Inc. It will change the way you eat… in a good way.


Eat Stuff: Day 7

In Eat Stuff on February 26, 2010 at 10:36 pm

Best.ever.

Last night I ate a piece of banana bread… and some apricots… and a bite of granola bar… and some (half a bag of) cassava chips. Erps.

This morning I accidentally made the best green smoothie EVER. I passed on the almond milk because I only had a little left and had to save it for my coffee lest I do without and turn into a raging monster. To make up for the lacking milk I used extra water and juice from a whole lemon rather than half. It.was.so.good.

Stew was off today… and look what I got a picture of after I got to work.

Green smoothie a la Stew

Remember the last time he made a smoothie? Hehe…

I had more brown rice with cinnamon, agave, almonds and a wee bit of almond milk.

Breakfast brown rice

Mint tea

Lunch was goooood. Spaghetti squash with spinach, kidney beans and marinara.

Spaghetti, sort of

Orange for dessert

When I got home I had an Amazon package–maca and mesquite! OK, so I order things that I see other bloggers eating. I can’t help it. I just have to know. Maca is some kind of Aztec root ground into a powder that’s supposed to give you super powers. Mesquite is a powder made of ground up seeds from the mesquite plant. I’ve seen people putting these two in smoothies, on toast, mixed in nut butter… anywhere!

I sampled each with some applesauce.

Maca with apple sauce

Mesquite and applesauce

Mesquite is so good! Sweet and almost caramel-y. Maca… not so much. It’s kind of… strange. We’ll see.

I also ate some dried pears with Nuttzo before heading to yoga.

Pear and Nuttzo

Yoga kicked my ass today. But this is a food post so… I had a Zico after class to rehydrate.

ZICOOO

And then made a roasted veggie feast complete with parsnips, carrots, asparagus, red onion and tofu.

Roasted veggies

I had them with brown rice, chickpeas, a squeeze of lemon and a bit of sesame tahini dressing.

Bowl of happy

I spent my Friday night at Whole Foods as all twenty-somethings do, right? I have no idea why but I bought these graham crackers.

But... why?

Who just buys graham crackers? I think because they had smores on the box… Anyway, I had them with some Crofter’s North American Superfruit Spread–cranberry, blueberry, grape and cherry.

Dessert

Plus Starbucks. Don’t judge me. The Whole Foods coffee counter was closed because I was out rockin’ so late on a Friday night! :-/

So that’s it. That’s a week. Game over. I hope you had fun. I know I did… EATING.


Finally Bought Weights

In Fitness on February 26, 2010 at 6:38 am

About time

Alright, so I LOVE Physique 57. I think it is fantastic. And the first thing they tell you in the intro is that you can’t do your weights with soup cans. You have to suck it up and buy some weights. So I did.

I got this pack of 2, 3 and 5 pound weights for $20 at TJMaxx (obviously).

Weighty weights

I think that for Physique 57 I’ll be using 3 and 5 for my light and heavy options. Maybe Stew can hold all of them in one hand and get some use out of them too.

I’m glad I finally bought some. I hope they don’t go completely to waste when I once again decide that I’m a yoga-only girl.


Eat Stuff: Day 6

In Eat Stuff on February 25, 2010 at 9:28 pm

Surprise!

Who’s sick of green smoothies? I’m not!

If you were actually waiting to see what I ate last night after the post, I regret to inform you that I didn’t eat anything else yesterday. I think acknowledging that I was mindlessly eating at night was enough to put a stop to it.

Anyway, look who joined me for coffee at work…

Weasel coffee

Stew got me that mini Weaz replica from some vendor on Etsy. I wish I had the name because she is amazing for doing that…

A few hours into the day I had brown rice with chopped almonds, cinnamon and wee tiny bit of agave nectar.

Brown rice for breakfast

Sorry to get all macrobiotic on you without warning. I’m reading The Kind Diet. It’s to be expected. Today I told Stew that I don’t think I’ll ever be vegan, raw or macro but I like to play around with foods from each diet. His response: I don’t even know what you just said. It’s coooool.

Lunch was actually exciting today. We went to Handi to ransack their buffet…

Mmmmm

Best Indian food around. Handi actually does the buffet seven days a week. Stew and I refuse to go for dinner because it requires far too much commitment to just one item. Give me all I can eat!

The vegetarian items were on point today–cabbage, tofu, broccoli and cauliflower. Joy. Dessert also blew my mind.

Dessert!

Fruit salad, carrot halva AND… some kind of pistachio nut pate that made my day.

Bite of love

After lunch I ate an apple even though I ate apples for dessert at the restaurant. Whateverrr.

After work I took a trek over to TJMaxx and ate some cashews and apricots in the car.

Frutos secos

I ate an orange when I got home (vitamin C! still sick!) and did P90X yoga.

I will protect you

I ate a carrot while I made dinner aaaand finally ate this:

Spaghetti squash!

Spaghetti squash with kidney beans, spinach, tomatoes and avocado. Mmm.

I need a dessert of some sort but I can’t decide what I want… another orange? We’ll see…


P90X Yoga

In Fitness on February 25, 2010 at 8:00 pm

90 minutes is a long time

A friend of mine gave me her P90X yoga DVD to try out in exchange for my opinion of it. I have heard a lot about P90X–that it is incredibly challenging, that it yields results, that most people give up before the results (because who has 90 free minutes?), and that the yoga is particularly challenging.

So I was a little nervous to get started…

:-/

My immediate reactions are:

1. 90 minutes is an eternity.

2. A countdown clock on a yoga move seems counterintuitive to the practice.

3. They could have done this in an hour.

4. That instructor is kind of aggressive… and competitive.

5. Is this over yet?

My yoga studio does do a 90-minute class option and if I were there I wouldn’t have even noticed the time passing. But there’s just something about a fitness DVD that makes the seconds crawl by. Perhaps it was the countdown meter at the bottom of the screen counting down each 60-,45- or 30-second move.

The countdown bothered me a bit. I’ve never heard that counting down the time you have left in a pose is wrong and I know that my instructors often count quietly to themselves as we hold, but something about that clock glaring me down just felt wrong. Especially when aggressive instructor man started yelling the countdown at the beginner-level student.

Whaa?

Need I channel Tom Hanks circa A League of Their Own and tell this man, “THERE’S NO YELLING IN YOGA.”

Seriously though. There’s no yelling in yoga. In addition to yelling, trainer guy seemed to me to be competitive and also quite condescending when interacting with the students and speaking down to his audience. Perhaps that’s just me. I’d predict he is a fantastic trainer but is not quite suited for yoga teaching.

The first 45 minutes of the video were good–standard sun salutations and warrior series followed by balancing poses. But the last 45 minutes seemed to just drag on and on from one slow stretch to another. Again, I feel like if I’d been in a studio I wouldn’t have noticed, but I actually fast forwarded through this part of the DVD.

I’m glad that people like P90X and I’m sure the entire system yields results. I also like that people think that the yoga DVD is the most difficult. I was expecting to find something really wild but since I’ve been practicing yoga for about a year now, I can confirm that that’s just how yoga is. This DVD, though excruciatingly boring, is not more difficult than the others I’ve reviewed.

Does everyone believe me now that yoga is not easy stretching? Hooray!


Bountiful TJMaxx Harvest

In Products on February 25, 2010 at 7:34 pm

Discount goods

Check out the bountiful harvest I picked up today at TJMaxx. For those of you who don’t stalk TJMaxx via twitter and Facebook, you might not know that today was their big Runway event–the day shipments arrived from their buyers at New York fashion week. Unfortunately the event only took place at select stores and mine was not one of them. But that doesn’t mean I can’t go and scrounge around the clearance food section.

I got Dorset berries and cherries granola, Joseph Banks cassava chips, Bare Fruit dried pears and LARABARS for $0.70.

The best part about the “bare” pears…

RAAR! I am the noun not the adjective!

Which, by the way, look pretty suspicious if you put them in a ziploc bag.

Not shrooms

I grabbed the Dorest cereal because it’s imported from the UK and is wildly expensive over here. Think like $7-$8. I got this box for $5.

I say to-mah-to

And what can I say but HOORAY to LARABARS for $0.70. Unheard of, really.


Eat Stuff: Day 5

In Eat Stuff on February 24, 2010 at 10:08 pm

Mangoooo

Last night after posting I ate an undocumented mango so I felt the need to report it today. I’ve also been compulsively devouring these RW Garcia tortilla chips pretty regularly. I ate them last night and will prooobably do it again after this because they are good.

Bitches be GOOD

On to today… I had a green smoothie. Shocking.

You again

I’m still feeling not so great so I once again popped echinacea and vitamin C. Once at work I had my standard coffee followed by an apple a few hours later.

Hello you cat

And an orange spice tea.

Orange spice tea = vomit

This tea is in no way repulsive but I definitely felt like I was going to throw up. I think the nausea and tea consumption were unrelated. At any rate, I left work around lunchtime to take care of myself.

I made an incredible black bean soup that I ate with brown rice and more of those damn tortilla chips. When will it end??

Best black bean soup ever

I’ll get the recipe for the soup up soon…

I read and napped most of the afternoon and rose to make the PB&J granola bars inside my head a reality and ate one of those.

I love you

Late afternoon snacks included…

Apple

Zico

And for dinner I had the vegan half of the cabbage casserole and salad. I replaced the ricotta with white bean puree and it was way better.

Cabbage casserole

I don’t put dressing on my salad because I find it to be quite revolting. I used a squeeze of lemon, drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper.

And dessert was an orange.

Orange!

You can never have too many oranges.

What will I late-night snack on tonight? Stay tuned…


Food Stamps at Fruit Stands

In Health on February 24, 2010 at 4:47 pm

Food stamps at fruit stands

Isn’t it a shame that poverty is one of the strongest predictors of obesity? And doesn’t it make sense with all the cheap and readily available fast, processed and packaged foods available for just pennies? Wouldn’t it be something if people in poverty could put their food stamps toward wholesome healthy foods rather than all that fake crap?

Last week I visited a farmer’s market in town and was pleasantly surprised to see that they do in fact accept food stamps. Wonderful! But do others?

According to The New York Times, food stamps at farmer’s markets were scarce in 2004 when the government switched from paper stamps to debit cards back in 2004. Debit card terminals are expensive and unlikely to make appearances at outdoor farmer’s markets. But in the six years since then, great strides have been made to make food stamp terminals available at farmer’s markets and in 2008 753 farmer’s markets in the US accepted food stamps with sales totaling $2.7 million.

Does your farmer’s market accept food stamps? Here are some tips from the Food Research and Action Committee to help get them there:

Tips from FRAC

Click to enlarge


PB&J Granola Bars

In Baked Goods on February 24, 2010 at 4:25 pm

Mmm, childhood

I had this idea for a peanut butter and jelly granola bar floating around in my head and also happened to have what I predicted would be necessary to make them on hand so I went with it. As always, my measurements are just estimates. But it should get you pretty close…

PB&J Granola Bars (Vegan, Gluten-Free, No Bake)

2 3/4 c gluten-free oats
2 tbsp whole flax seeds
1 c unsweetened apple sauce
3/4 c nut butter (I used Nuttzo)
4 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 c jam (I used strawberry)

1. Spread oats and flax seeds onto a baking sheet and toast for about 10-15 min on 350 degrees.

2. Combine apple sauce, nut butter, coconut oil and jam in a sauce pan and heat on medium to melt and combine. Smoosh up the larger chunks of jam if you have big fruit pieces.

3. Combine the sticky mixture with the oats and stir well. Press onto a sheet or pan and refrigerate until set.

PB&J granola bars


Eat Stuff: Day 4

In Eat Stuff on February 23, 2010 at 9:27 pm

Tea

Can you guess who’s on my morning mug of hot tea?

Baby Stew!

I’m sick today–just a little cold–but I don’t do medicine. Here’s how I handle it…

“When diet is wrong medicine can do no use. When diet is correct medicine is of no need.” – Ancient Ayurvedic Proverb

Standard tea + green smoothie = breakfast.

Green smoothie offers you protection

Second day of meetings = lame veggie sandwich again for lunch.

Veggie sandwich

I only ate half and then resorted to my snack stash. I don’t go ANYWHERE without snacks.

Cashews, apple, apricots and coffee

I had an apple for dessert and cashews and apricots to make up for my lacking lunch. The coffee is standard every morning.

Echinacea and Vitamin C

After work I started to feel pretty hellish so I popped an echinacea and vitamin C and then went for a nice long walk.

Blueberry-ginger Kombucha

I picked up a Kombucha along the way. If you’ve never had one, I encourage you to give it a try. Be warned: You’ll hate it. But didn’t you hate beer the first time, too? This, too, is an acquired taste. To me it tastes like dyeing Easter eggs because of it’s distinct vinegar odor. Don’t knock it til you try it.

I decided to eat dinner promptly at 4pm since lunch kind of sucked and my leftover corn chowder was calling my name.

Corn chowder with spinach

I added a bunch of spinach. So good. Nothing is more perfect than homemade soup when you’re sick.

Then I skipped yoga in favor of reading and a nap. After I woke up I did Physique 57 since I felt strong enough for physical activity but didn’t feel right going to the studio to infect everyone else.

And finally, I rounded out the night with carrots and banana bread with nuttzo since I ate dinner so early.

Carrots and banana bread

My food has definitely been off this week (and much lighter than usual). The all-day meetings messed up my snacking, which usually occurs 3 or 4 times a day and I predict the oncoming illness zapped the appetite I usually have for those snacks. No big. I’ll probably be fine tomorrow.

I think it’s important to listen to your body and feed it the clean, powerful foods it needs to fix itself. Medicine just masks the symptoms. Next time try to acknowledge the discomfort and then assess what happened to get you there. For me, it’s most certainly stress induced. I’ve been crazy busy, not sleeping, eating on the run and not eating as regularly as I usually do. Obvious time for an illness if you ask me.

Your body is designed to combat things like this. Let it do its job.

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” – Thomas Edison


Yoga is More

In Health on February 23, 2010 at 6:01 am

Love yoga

A few weeks ago, Heather at Then Heather Said asked me if I’d be willing to contribute a post to her More Than Series, a collection of blog posts to examine healthy living as being more than fitness and nutrition.

The following is my post about yoga for the More Than Series.

Yoga Isn’t Stretching

Like many people I reluctantly turned to yoga as an “easy” low impact exercise to help me “stretch” and strengthen my bum runner’s knees. And like many people I learned very quickly that yoga is a whole lot more than stretching. In fact, it has changed my life. Weight issues that I’d struggled with for years literally melted away with the pounds I lost and the damaging psychological pains associated with weight and food obsessions went with it. I learned to stop punishing myself with exercise, to accept myself and to challenge myself in healthy ways. But you’re not convinced that this silly “stretching” could do so much so let’s break it down…

Yoga looks pretty easy, right? Just stand there and look calm, right?

height=349

Exhibit A

Wrong. You are wrong. I was wrong. For the most part, the general population’s view of what yoga is and what it does for you is wrong. In my opinion, there are two schools of thought on yoga in America (excluding the teachers and students truly dedicated to the practice, of course):

1. Yoga is a nice easy stretch and will make an ideal interim between injuries.

2. Yoga is a trendy way to lose weight—all the celebrities are doing it.

I will admit to falling prey to both these assumptions. Yes, I turned to yoga as an “easy” exercise so I could recuperate after a running injury and, yes, my interest piqued when I heard Jennifer Anniston’s 40-year-old-and-still-hotter-than-me body was a product of her regular yoga practice.

These two different assumptions treat yoga as a workout, as a physical exercise for the body (which it is, and I’ll get into that) but what people neglect to consider is thatyoga is even more an exercise of the mind. If you approach yoga simply as an exercise, you’re missing out on its most powerful benefits.

Consider that Warrior pose above. I know that it looks easy, but it’s not so easy after 60 seconds in a 90-degree room. What do you do then when your body is screaming at you to straighten your leg, your thoughts are wandering in all directions, your heart is racing and you’re panting like a dog?

You focus on your breath. You clear your mind. You trust your body’s strength.

Yoga is not easy. The hot yoga that I practice in a 90-degree room is especially not easy. But neither is life. As I’ve learned to focus on my breath, clear my mind and trust my body to get through a difficult pose on the mat, I’ve also learned how to apply those practices to help me get through a difficult phase in life.

If I were a character in a novel, one of my (many) fatal flaws would be my inability to enjoy today. By dwelling on the past and dreading the future I rob myself of the beauty of right now. Yoga teaches me to be present, to pay attention to the moment and to appreciate today.

If you let your mind wander on the mat—especially in balance poses—there is a very good chance you will stumble and fall. The same is true in life. When my mind wanders all over the place from past to future without regard to my present state, there is a pretty good chance I will stumble and fall. The physical poses in yoga are really nothing without the added mental component.

And the mental side of yoga has been the biggest challenge for me. Physical improvements came quickly. And while no one is ever “perfect” in yoga, I find it much easier to get close to mastering a pose than to get anywhere near mastering my own thoughts. The human mind is a complicated beast, but I am confident that a continued dedication to the practice of yoga will help me continue to grow and improve.

And now for the most important question: Do I look like Jennifer Anniston?

No, not at all. But I don’t want to anymore. Yoga has helped me to be comfortable with myself exactly as I am. I have never said this, but I feel most beautiful when I’m on my mat—makeup-less, sweaty and exposed.

I have lost 25 pounds since I started a regular hot yoga practice last year. The most amazing thing about that, however, is that I didn’t even notice. For the first time in my life I was doing something without the explicit intent to lose weight. And for the first time in my life, I actually did.

I can’t promise you you’ll lose 25 pounds, but I can promise you that yoga will strengthen your body and your mind so that weight loss will be less of a concern. Your obsessions with weight will be replaced with an interest in whole-body (and mind!) health. And that, my friends, is more important than any number on a scale.

———————————————

Thanks to Heather for including me on the series. Be sure to also check out posts from:

Kat at Low Fat Kat

Julie at Cheese and Cookies

Photoshop Cooking

In Uncategorized on February 22, 2010 at 10:07 pm

Yes, please!

I guess we can’t wish for Photoshop cooking if we haven’t even perfected Smell-O-Vision yet. Come ON, scientists. They predicted that forever ago. Chop chop. Let’s do this.

When you’re done with that, make this adorable Photoshop cooking a reality.

Make it happen!

Is anything cuter than stop motion?

Nope!

[via Stew via Geekologie]


Eat Stuff: Day 3

In Eat Stuff on February 22, 2010 at 9:54 pm

Tea and green smoothie

Started the day with my standard hot tea and green smoothie. If you’re curious, my green smoothies contain: 1 frozen banana, almond milk, carrot juice, juice of 1/2 lemon, frozen chopped spinach, ground flax, chia seeds, cinnamon, water and wee bit of agave nectar. Involved, right? Yes. But worth it.

I had meetings all day so my constant snacking was a bit off. I brought my coffee and almond milk with me and managed to sneak in an apple around midmorning.

Midmorning apple, afternoon carrots

Lunch was catered and I had a special order vegetarian sandwich just for me.

Mmmm, sandwich

It was quite good. All kinds of roasted veggies in some type of vinaigrette and cheese.

I had some craziness to tend to in the afternoon so “dinner” consisted of oatmeal in a mug… in the car.

Oatmeal on the go

This was definitely the best oatmeal I have ever made. It was the same mix I always do but there was just something about it. Must’ve been the mug. This contained 1/3 c oats, coconut, ground flax, chia seeds, dried apricots, peanut butter, cinnamon and agave. Blow yo mind.

I gnawed on the carrots after dinner and then this massive strange-looking pear thing a while after that.

Monster pear

And now after 9pm I am finally back home and having a decaf hot tea.

I know that eating on the go sucks and that it’s “easy” to eat terrible things. But I’d argue that it’s just as easy to eat wonderful things. I just don’t buy it that you’re too busy for quality food. Re-prioritize. Plan ahead. It’s your body; don’t put bullshit in it.

*UPDATE: As of 11pm I have also eaten dried apricots, cashews aaand like half a bag of RW Garcia tortilla chips. It’s cool.


Cabbage Casserole

In Dinner on February 22, 2010 at 8:01 am

Cabbage casserole

Last night I made a lovely cabbage casserole…

LIES. That photo is of the Vegetarian Times’ version of the final product.

I did make a cabbage casserole but mine looked like this:

Cabbage casserole a la Katie

Vegetarian Times Cabbage Casserole

12 large leaves savoy cabbage (I just used Napa)
3 tsp. olive oil, divided
3 small leeks, halved, white and light green parts cut into 1/2″-thick pieces (1 cup)
1/2 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
3 slices lemon
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
1 15-oz. can chopped tomatoes
3 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley
8 oz. low-fat ricotta cheese (1 cup), drained (I did half with white bean puree instead)
3 Tbs. toasted pine nuts (Forgot about this…)

1. Blanch cabbage leaves in large pot of boiling salted water 7 minutes, or until softened. Drain, pat dry, and set aside.

2. Sauté leeks in a little olive oil and broth topped with lemon slices. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 25 minutes. Drain in colander, remove lemon, pat leeks dry, and set aside.
3. Sauté garlic about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, and cook 10 minutes, or until most of liquid has evaporated. Stir in parsley.
4. Place 3 to 4 cabbage leaves on bottom of prepared baking dish. Spread 1/4 cup tomato sauce over leaves, top with one-third of leeks, dot with one-third of ricotta, and sprinkle with 1 Tbs. pine nuts. They say you can repeat this layering two more times but I only had enough for two layers.

5. Bake 25 to 30 minutes in a greased pan at 350 degrees, or until strata begins to brown on top.

I made half of our casserole pan with the ricotta cheese and the other half using a puree of white beans, garlic and olive oil to have a vegan option. I haven’t tried it yet but Stew liked the ricotta side.


Eat Stuff: Day 2

In Eat Stuff on February 21, 2010 at 10:20 pm

Green smoothie goods

Day 2 of stuff I eat…

Of course I started out with a green smoothie, as I tend to do. But today was a bit off since I woke up at 6:30am so I had hot tea and an apple then and saved the smoothie for a few hours later.

Tea and apple

I find that waking up with hot tea seems to set my body right. It just feels good.

You know what else feels good? Putting spinach in a smoothie and chugging it. I know, I know. A lot of people don’t believe me. Just try it.

Green smoothie loves you

I went to yoga at 9:30am and had a Zico coconut water on the way home.

Zico kicks Gatorade's ass

Coconut water is a natural source of electrolytes which are in desperate need of replenishment after an hour of yoga in a 90-degree room.

After a necessary shower I had a slice of my crazy good banana bread with Nuttzo.

Banana bread and Nuttzo

Good lawd that was a perfect little snack. And I needed it to hold me over until Stew got home for lunch. But I couldn’t quite make it so I ate some carrots.

Carrots

For lunch we had vegan corn chowder with gluten-free tortillas for dipping.

SO GOOD

And I had coffee with almond milk and cinnamon and dried apricots for dessert.

Coffee and apricots

UMM, not one but TWO pits in my apricots. Come on!

My afternoon snack was 1/4 avocado with salt and pepper and Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips.

Snacky snack

And finally, dinner consisted of last night’s leftovers from The Bohemian–Moroccan tofu with roasted veggies and couscous–on a tortilla with some white bean puree.

Leftover dinner

That was a pretty glorious little concoction. Gotta love getting two meals for the price of one.

For dessert I had some chocolate peanut butter pretzels.

But my picture won’t load so use your imagination or ogle the peanut butter chocolate pretzels from Valentine’s Day. I threw the broken pieces of pretzels into the leftover chocolate peanut butter concoction and that’s what I ate tonight. Delicious.

Is anyone bored yet? HELL, I am. Five more days…


Perfect Corn Chowder

In Recipes and Meals, Soup on February 21, 2010 at 5:53 pm

Vegan corn chowder

Mmm, this was such an excellent lunch.

I keep a Recipes folder in my Gmail filled with a never-ending collection of delicious things I’ll never have time to make. Thankfully, there’s Sunday. So today I made my version of a vegan corn chowder I saw on Broccoli Hut (which she says was inspired by the Candle Cafe Cookbook).

Mine went like this:

Vegan Corn Chowder

1/2 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 can low sodium corn
1 c vegetable broth
1/2 c almond milk (Unsweetened! Imagine the horror…)
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 bay leaf (not essential)
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1/2 c shredded potato
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Saute onions, carrot, celery and garlic in a little olive oil.

2. Add corn (reserve about 1/4 cup), vegetable broth, almond milk, spices (except fresh parsley) and potato. Simmer about 15 minutes.

3. Remove bay leaf. Use an immersion blender to smooth out the consistency.

4. Add reserved corn for some texture.

EAT.

We had ours outside in the sunshine with gluten-free tortillas for dipping. So good.


Sexy Nightclub Workout

In DVD Talk Reviews on February 21, 2010 at 3:49 pm

Mmmhmm, I did this

Don’t judge me but… my review of Dance a GoGo Sexy Nightclub Workout is up on DVD Talk now. It’s true that I get to pick what I review and, yes, I picked this 3 disk box set. But I’m the only fitness reviewer so I would’ve ended up with it eventually anyway.

I looked like a straight up fool trying to do these routines–Music Video, Latin and Nightclub–and I was on the dance team for five years. Lame. The instruction is non-existent so it’s kind of hard to follow along. You might as well be watching a skanky music video and flailing your body around in time with the techno beat.

The best (read: worst) part are the tips from choreographer Andrea Lin:

1. Dressing sexy can make you fit!

2. Sitty pretty with efforts!

3. Walk in heels with style!

Yep. Sitty pretty with efforts. QUOTE.

Check out the review and let me know if you want it. I’m certainly not keeping it.


Eat Stuff: Day 1

In Eat Stuff on February 21, 2010 at 3:23 pm

Definitely.

A friend of mine suggested that I do a week-long series documenting all of the food I eat so that people can get a better idea of what’s going on in my food-centric mind, I guess. While I find the documentation of every single thing I eat to be monotonous and, quite honestly, a bit boring, I am going to play along.

A lot of the blogs I read are centered on the daily documentation of every bite consumed and while I find myself waiting with bated breath to see how Kath tops her morning oatmeal, I can’t imagine anyone cares to see what I’m consuming. At any rate, I’m doing it. Just for a week anyway.

I have no intention of making Sweet Tater a food documentation blog. I have no problem with that style. But most people who work that way started their blogs as weight loss food journals so they had a natural evolution toward what they are today. Mine didn’t start that way and I don’t see a need to move in that direction.

What did I eat on Saturday?

Well, it starts Friday night with dinner at The Green Room. I had The Green Room Salad–greens, green apples, candied walnuts and black mission fig vinaigrette. I added mozzarella since they make it in house and had Firefly with water and lemon to drink.

The Green Room Salad

Alcohol leaves my body hating me pretty hard these days (yes, just one cocktail) so Saturday morning I felt the need to start the day with hot tea and fruit rather than coffee.

A bit later I had carrots with Nuttzo and finally a coffee with almond milk.

Carrots and Nuttzo

Necessary

Before lunch I snacked on grapes–perhaps the best grapes I have ever had, in fact.

Best grapes of all time

Then Stew and I took advantage of the nice weather and walked to Coffee Underground for lunch. Coffee Underground brews some of the best coffee around, but their food has been on a steady decline for me over the past few years. It started with a tofu wrap made out of chicken followed by frozen fried green tomatoes and finally a large hair in my wrap yesterday. (I sent it back.) Enough is enough. I’m sticking to coffee here.

Black bean & hummus wrap FAIL

Stew’s omelet bowl was also not good and contained ham instead of his requested turkey.

Booo

Since lunch totally blew, we went in search of dessert and stumbled upon these delicious nut balls from Betty Lou.

Nut balls!

We shared two balls. That’s what she said.

Later in the afternoon I made some crazy good vegan gluten-free banana bread and had a slice.

And finally, I ended my eats for the day with dinner at The Bohemian–hummus, caprese salad and Moroccan tofu.

Moroccan tofu at The Bohemian

There you have it, Day 1. By no means a standard day considering the two meals out. Welcome to Saturday. It’s fine.


The Bohemian

In Restaurants on February 21, 2010 at 2:56 pm

The Bohemian

Why I would live within walking distance of a restaurant and yet never eat there is beyond me. So last night Stew and I finally had dinner at this neighborhood restaurant, The Bohemian.

The Bohemian has a cool laid back jazzy feel. It’s actually attached to a record store so that ups the cool factor.

Laid back and cool

We debated starting with the hummus or caprese salad until our waiter informed us that the hummus comes free as a starter at each table. Shwaa? Excellent.

Free hummus

Mmm, super good. I ate it with a fork. The warm pita bread was amazing.

Since the hummus was free we (obviously) went with the caprese salad to start.

Caprese salad

It was definitely good but I only had one piece. Just wasn’t in the cheesiest of moods, I suppose.

For the entrees you get to select a protein and then one of five different international spice profiles–Bohemian, Mediterranean, Moroccan, Singapore or Caribbean.

Pick your flavor profile

We both went with Moroccan, which comes with roasted vegetables, couscous, spicy harissa and yogurt sauce.

Stew's Moroccan shrimp

My Moroccan tofu

It was a nice sized portion and I actually ended up bringing half of mine home. I wasn’t that hungry going into dinner and two appetizers later there was just no way I was eating that entire plate.

So that’s one flavor down, four to go. I think I’ll try Mediterranean next time…


Crazy Good Banana Bread

In Baked Goods on February 20, 2010 at 6:24 pm

Gluten-free, vegan banana bread

I had some bananas nearing the end of their roads so I knew it was time for banana bread. And since Stew is doing a great job actively avoiding gluten to test his tolerance, I also knew it had to be gluten-free. I’m not vegan, but since I rarely buy eggs it’s just easier for me to make baked items vegan because I always have ground flax on hand.

SO, here we go…

Vegan Gluten-Free Banana Bread

2 c gluten-free flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/5 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 mashed bananas
1/2 c sugar
2 flax eggs*
1/2 tsp chia seeds
1/2 c almond milk
Brown sugar to sprinkle (optional)

1. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

2. In a separate bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Add sugar, vanilla, flax eggs, chia seeds and almond milk.

3. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients and stir until incorporated.

4. Spoon batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Mmm, banana bread

*To make flax eggs: Combine 1 tbsp ground flax with 3 tbsp water for 1 flax egg. This recipe would require 2 tbsp flax and 3 tbsp water.

I had a slice hot out of the oven and it is delightful. I wonder how it will keep though since gluten-free items are pretty finicky.

[Adapted from: Book of Yum] – Notes on adaptation: I subbed flax eggs for real eggs and almond milk for oil to cut down on unnecessary fat. I used 1/2 c of sugar because a full cup seemed excessive. I sprinkled mine with a little brown sugar to make up for it.


Physique 57 Review

In Fitness on February 20, 2010 at 6:01 pm

Physique 57 is awesome

Physique 57 sent me their DVDs to review (Ok ok, I asked them if I could review them. But hey, they said yes, right? Right.) and I am happy to report that this is absolutely a workout worth trying. It is like nothing I have ever done and worked muscles I didn’t even know existed.

They sent me all three videos–57-Minute Full Body, 30-Minute Full Body and 30-minute Arm and Ab Booster–as well as a playground ball and pump.

The goods

I’m so grateful they gave me a chance to try these videos since the entire set plus ball retails for $85. Right now they’re running a 30-day trial offer so if you want to give it a go now is the time.

Thanks, Physique 57!

So how did it go?

Well for starters, be ready to buy some equipment. Founder Tanya Becker even says in the intro that she’s not going to tell you it’s ok to use soup cans as weights and that you have to be dedicated enough to purchase sets of light (3-5lbs) and heavy (5-8lbs) weights. I’m not dedicated so I used my 8-lb medicine ball for everything. You’ll also need a playground ball, mat, chair or ballet bar (because I’m sure everyone has one of those laying around) and a thick pad (I folded up a blanket).

As for the workout… fantastic. My thighs were screaming. My abs were screaming. I feel like Jello 8 hours later. That’s my kind of workout. The moves were most certainly the strangest most unconventional exercises I’ve ever done and, honestly, are a bit awkward. But I’ll take awkward since the workout is most certainly effective.

I would absolutely recommend this video to everyone–uh guys, you’ll look ridiculous–but I know what it’s like to be a poor 20-something and would never have purchased the entire set myself. If you have to get just one, I’d say go for the 57-Minute Full Body–more bang for your buck. But I haven’t tried to Arms and Abs video yet and I bet that is pretty mind blowing as well.

Have you ever tried Physique 57? What did you think? Any New Yorkers ever visited the actual studios? Do tell…


Betty Lou's Nut Balls

In Products on February 20, 2010 at 5:42 pm

Betty Lou's nut butter ball

Who’s excited about nut balls?

Nut balls!

Today Stew and I discovered these tasty little gems at a little holistic health center down the street. Should I mention it was like 60 degrees and sunny and we got to walk there? JOY.

Anyway, we had a wretched lunch at Coffee Underground so we needed to lift the food spirit of the afternoon. We popped into Creative Health and came across Betty Lou’s Nut Butter Balls.

We shared one cashew pecan (above) and this coconut macadamia nut.

Coconut macadamia nut ball

Betty Lou started making nut balls for her kids 20 years ago when she decided to remove sugar from the family diet. Today she makes an assortment of nut balls, nut patties, bars, cookies, etc.

The coconut was definitely my favorite. 150 calories, 7g fat, 8g sugar AND 10g protein. Vegan, gluten-free, wheat-free, non-GMO.


Caturday 2/20/10

In Cats on February 20, 2010 at 9:06 am

Ralphie welcomes Caturday

Happy Caturday on this lovely almost-Spring morning. I know I’m getting my hopes up but you can’t blame me with the sun shining, birds chirping… Mmm, bring it.

I think I forgot to mention in the Valentine’s Day recap that the cats got a special love treat too–a rare serving of wet food. If you’ve ever scooped the poop of a canned-food-fed cat, you understand why I switched mine. So they shared a package of some kind of fancy pants organic Whole Foods cat food because that’s where I happened to be at the time. I do not buy my cats fancy food.

NOM NOM NOM NOM

Ralphie must be on a diet or is just depressed because Weasel ate most of both plates.

Cat Diner

Ralphie hates me.

Buy us real food, vegetarian.


Camel Milk Chocolate

In Products on February 19, 2010 at 11:33 pm

Mmm, camels

We’ve all heard of milk chocolate, of course, and here in the states (and most of the world) we can assume that the milk comes from cows. No longer, kids. Yes, it’s true. Straight from Dubai comes camel milk chocolate and, no, not just chocolate shaped like a camel [Although, aren't they cute?]… chocolate made with the milk of a camel.

Heh?

Check it: Al-Nassma, a Dubai-based chocolate producer is really cranking out camel milk chocolate. The milking of a camel must be an interesting sight. Hell, a camel alone would be an interesting sight, I guess.

Are you up for camel milk chocolate or are you a little freaked out? I’d eat it.


Dried Apricots

In Products on February 19, 2010 at 8:35 am

Organic unsulfured apricots

I got these really fantastic dried apricots earlier this week and I can’t stop eating them. Did you know they’re supposed to look like the little turds above and not like this:

More dried apricots

Most dried fruits contain added sulfur as a color preservant. From what I can tell in my approximate 45-second Google research phase is that sulfur is not all that harmful for you. It can trigger asthma in those who are susceptible.

Many dried fruits will also contain added sugar though and that to me is completely unnecessary and worth avoiding.

I really love dried apricots:

Diced up in oatmeal

Dipped in nut butter

Shoveled from the box to my mouth


The Dirty Dozen

In Health on February 18, 2010 at 9:48 pm

Can you clean the dirty dozen?

I just had to post this information from World’s Healthiest Foods because I find it hilarious that the list of produce coated in the most pesticide residue has been dubbed the Dirty Dozen. Sounds like a skanky burlesque team a la Pussy Cat Dolls.

Anyway, on the lineup we have:

  1. Peaches
  2. Apples
  3. Sweet bell peppers
  4. Celery
  5. Nectarines
  6. Strawberries
  7. Cherries
  8. Kale
  9. Lettuce
  10. Grapes (imported)
  11. Carrots
  12. Pears

Can you effectively rinse pesticide residue from the Dirty Dozen? According to WHF, yes. But you won’t eliminate it all and you can’t do anything about the pesticides already inside the fruit.

Really concerned? Buy organic.

PS – I LOVE PCD.


Tortilla Pizza

In Dinner on February 18, 2010 at 9:14 pm

Stew's gluten-free tortilla pizza

Tonight we made mini pizzas using the gluten-free tortilla recipe from Valentine’s Day for the crust.

Stew had green, red and yellow peppers, onion, tofu, monterrey jack and cilantro. I had asparagus, tofu and Cabot cheddar with carrots.

Ugly but delicious

I know mine is ugly but it was also, in a word, amazing. This is one of the most perfect quick little meals I’ve ever had. Those tortillas are just so easy and crazy good. I folded mine up and ate it like a taco.

I want another one.


The Office Season 3

In Holidays on February 18, 2010 at 8:07 am

Season 3 begins...

Today marks my two-year anniversary at work and subsequently begins my third “season,” as it were.

I like to think I am Angela because of the whole cat thing.

I love cats, too

BUT I’ll take Pam since this also marks two years since the day I met Stew.

Cubicle love

I was his editor. Ooooh. We sat in cubicles next to each other. Sparks flew.


Dioxin (Not So) Fun Facts

In Health on February 17, 2010 at 11:28 pm

DioxinAs I read through The Kind Diet and learn more and more about the horrors of Big Food, I’ve decided I will drag you through this mess with me by sharing occasional tidbits from the studies listed in the end notes. (Yes, I read the end notes.)

From The Kind Diet:

“Dioxin is the most toxic chemical known to science and is recognized as a human carcinogen. It is estimated that 93 percent (1) of our exposure to dioxin comes through eating animal products–beef, lamb, pork, chicken, dairy, eggs, and especially fish. Dioxin settles and accumulates in fat, so the more animal food we eat, the more dioxin we get. According to a study published in 1998 (2), the dioxin level in the blood of vegans was found to be much lower than that of the general population.”

1. Learn more about dioxin.

2. Read the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health study “Intake of Dioxins and Related Compounds from Food.”

Note that the first source cited appears to be a pretty amateur (and outdated) website managed by ActionPA, a Pennsylvania-based center for environmental justice. Suffice it to say they probably have an agenda. That agenda seems to be well researched and accurate, but you know… just pay attention. I feel like it’s kind of like citing a Wikipedia article.

That said, dioxin still sounds like something I’d rather not consume. What do you think?


Devouring The Kind Diet

In Books on February 17, 2010 at 10:01 pm

Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet

Today I took a rare escape from my desk to walk to the library during lunch and pick up a book I’ve been eagerly awaiting that was finally on hold for me: Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet.

Along the lines of Skinny Bitch, The Kind Diet talks about losing weight and saving the world by adopting a plant-based diet. The toll meat takes on our bodies is no surprise to me; I’ve been a vegetarian for 9 years. But both of these books are strongly pro-vegan and are filled with interesting information about the dairy industry that I tend to ignore–much in the way meat eaters ignore my vegetarian rants.

I already eat an almost vegan diet since yogurt is occasional, cheese is rare, and butter is non-existent in my kitchen, but I don’t expect to adopt the lifestyle or the label.

Then again, I’m only in Chapter 1. So we’ll see…


Tater Necklace

In Uncategorized, Weird on February 16, 2010 at 7:32 pm

Tater necklace

Please observe this hilarious potato neckless I shamelessly purchased for myself from Charms4You.

A gift for me!

What can I say? I’m a sucker for small spud-shaped jewelry, I suppose.

Silver tater

The best part about this whole thing is that my Etsy hunt through hundreds of pages of “food jewelry” finally landed me on THE best creator of precisely that. I want everything on this page. Especially the pretzel and the fork and the EVERYTHING and the stingray which, while not a food, is probably the best one.

Now if only I had a little “sweet” charm to wear with it…


I Love Spaghetti Squash

In Dinner on February 16, 2010 at 7:20 pm

Spaghetti squash love plate

I just wrote a whole rant about how tragic it is that the spaghetti squash season is coming to a close. But then I looked into and found that it’s actually readily available year-round. Who knew? Sounds questionable to me. Squash is definitely a fall/winter food.

Anyway, this plate is my beloved with black beans, spinach, tempeh, tomato sauce and some green beans. Such a joy.


Kentucky Blue Box Wine

In Weird on February 15, 2010 at 10:33 pm

Kentucky Blue Box wine

This will be the first and only Sweet Tater blog post my vegetable-hating brother will ever pay attention to… maybe.

Pay attention, fool

According to SlashFood, Elk Creek Vineyards has created a limited edition University of Kentucky Blue Box wine complete with pop-out basketball hoop. You know, to make it classier.

I can’t pretend to care about sports of any kind, but if pressed to pick a preferred college basketball team I suppose I’d say Wildcats because that’s who I grew up falling asleep to while my dad and brother watched the games. We were born in Kentucky, after all.

On a related note, nothing puts me to sleep faster than the sound of a sportscaster’s voice over the squeak of new shoes on a lacquered wooden floor. Nothing.

I went to a game once with my brother. His only request: “Please GOD just wear something blue.” Of course I didn’t have anything because I’ve been in a black and neutral phase for, like, 4 years so I had to go out and buy something on my way to the stadium. I ended up with what I thought was a pretty respectable blue outfit. He made fun of me relentlessly for my ugly $8 hat.

Not good? No?

Anyway, buy your Blue Box wine here.


Happy Valentine's Day

In Holidays on February 14, 2010 at 3:50 pm

Valentine's Day brunch

Stew and I celebrated our first Valentine’s Day together AND on the same continent. Last year I was in Spain so this year was quite an event.

On Friday I was surprised with this…

Breville panini grill

And this…

McClure's Pickles

And this…

CUTE BOY

And the impromptu/mildly disastrous/VERY delicious trip to Asheville.

So today I had some major catching up to do. Since Stew loves brunch, I had two options: go somewhere or make something amazing at home. I decided to try my hand at a homemade meal. But what would I make?

I thought about pancakes so I could use the griddle on the Breville, but I know Stew likes more savory breakfast items. Breakfast burrito = perfect. But I’ve also decided he has a gluten allergy and refuse to make him things that contain gluten until he sucks it up, gets tested and proves me wrong. So where can you get gluten-free tortillas? Answer: no where. Not even Whole Foods. No problem. I’ll just… make them?

Yeah, I made gluten-free tortillas. I found the recipe here and it was surprisingly easy. Very few ingredients. Very little skill required. PLUS I got to use my new rolling pin.

Homemade gluten-free tortillas

Inside the tortilla went: eggs, Monterrey jack cheese, jalapenos, green peppers, tomatoes, black beans, onions and avocado. They weren’t big enough to stuff as burritos so I made more of a quesadilla using the Breville.

Mise en place, bitches

Plus roasted red potatoes with green chiles and onion on the side. I had one with all that sans eggs and jalapenos because eggs gross me out and jalapenos make me want to die.

Stew's Valentine's Day present

We also had mimosas with fresh squeezed OJ and a crazy good chocolate cookie from Liz Lovely. Aw, how fitting.

It was a wonderful weekend. I am very lucky because I am very loved.


Laughing Seed Cafe

In Restaurants on February 14, 2010 at 3:26 pm

Laughing Seed Cafe

After what should have been an hour drive to Asheville became a five-hour drive–er, crawl–thanks to a snowstorm-induced rock slide on the highway Friday night, we had to turn our trip around with an incredible meal on Saturday.

Our original plan was to still go to Sunny Point Cafe but since we were already downtown we decided to stay on foot and try something new. Stew’s friend Veronica had recommended that we try Laughing Seed Cafe so when we spotted it we knew the search was over.

The worst part about this restaurant was that I wanted to EAT EVERYTHING. I was in heaven. I even told Stew I wanted to move to Asheville as if it was a long held dream of mine. Nope. I just really enjoyed my meal at Laughing Seed and want to eat it every day. You see how food owns my soul?

We started with the pate of the day–chickpeas and a million spices.

Better than hummus

I don’t just eat dips by the spoonful. In fact, it makes me ill to even consider doing that. But I definitely shoveled this into my face–no pita necessary. Fantastic.

I also had a cup of the soup of the day–a tomato base with a combination of a million crazy spices, like cinnamon, cumin, etc.

Tomato soup with a million spices

And Stew had a glass of Mead wine.

Mead wine

The commitment to just one entree each was a real ordeal. After much agonizing I finally settled on the Harmony Bowl–roasted seasonal vegetables, grilled tofu, brown rice and a sesame ginger dressing.

Harmony Bowl

And Stew got the Reuben. It’s probably important to note at this point that Laughing Seed is an entirely vegetarian cafe. Sorry, no corned beef here (is that what’s on a Reuben?). This was tempeh, purple cabbage and Swiss cheese…

The Reuben

This sandwich was hands down without a doubt one of the greatest things I have ever eaten in my life. It was perfect.

I wish I’d had room for dessert because a coconut cream pie was calling my name, but there was no chance. Plus, I’d already had a crazy fantastic cappuccino at True Confections earlier in the morning.

Cappuccino with soy milk

Don’t you worry, Laughing Seed Cafe. I’ll be back. And next time I’ll save room for dessert… AND maybe two entrees.


I Like to Say Things…

In Weird on February 13, 2010 at 3:55 pm

... and eat stuf

If this doesn’t sum up food bloggers, I don’t know what does. Maybe if you added a parenthetical “about myself” after “I like to say things…” then it’d be dead on.

This beauty comes to us courtesy of the design fools over at SEIBEI. There was simply no resisting this purchase. And I don’t regret it. It even came with free pins.

MAKE ME A SANDWICH

Don’t buy it. I saw it first.


ota.bars

In Products on February 13, 2010 at 3:47 pm

My first O.TA bar

Remember the grown up Girl Scout cookies I made for the Bake Sale for Haiti over at The Chic Life? Well, I actually won an item that I bid on in the auction and I was thrilled to collect my delicious winnings this week.

ota.bars

I got two different flavors of ota.bars from Ashley at Edible Perspective. Before she moved to Colorado, Ashley was working on making a business out of her bars–you can read about ota.bars here. I so hope she is able to get back to mass producing them because these babies are GOOD. First customer right here. Can I place an order, um, now?


Caturday 2/13/10

In Cats on February 13, 2010 at 10:19 am

Clothes, check; cat, check; toothbrush... damn

Stew and I made a last minute decision to drive up to Asheville last night in a rare Southeastern snowstorm just to eat at Sunny Point Cafe. The cats disapproved of us being gone two weekends in a row, but come on… SUNNY POINT.

Nope

As it turns out, the cats are in good company because GOD did not want us to go to Asheville either. It was snowing pretty heavily (for South Carolina) when we left but we felt pretty ok with the condition of the roads. But at 7:30pm and exactly 1 mile from our exit for Sunny Point the traffic slowed to a halt.

After an hour in the same spot I called the restaurant to let them know we’d be late for our 8:30 reservation. A 8:50 the manager called and offered to make us something we could pick up for free whenever we got through because the kitchen was closing in 10 minutes. This was amazingly generous offer (you see why we love this place?) but we turned it down because we didn’t expect to get anywhere any time soon.

A smart move since it took us over an hour to finally make it through. Yes, we got in at 10:45. UMMM. Turns out there was a rock slide two more exits up that had put a stop to any movement on the road whatsoever. We bailed on our dinner plans (obviously) and are going for brunch today.

But this post is about cats, right?

Right

Right!

So here they are attacking the hilarious frog balloon Stew brought home.

Intruder!

Come here and let me smack you

Never fear, cats. We’ll be home today. After we eat our weight in Sunny Point.

Bring me something

I won't give you the satisfaction of looking at you


Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzels

In Dessert, Holidays on February 11, 2010 at 10:27 pm

Peanut butter chocolate pretzel insanity

Tomorrow my office will either love me or hate me for bringing these calorie bombs of love and peanut butter. In hindsight, they would have made more sense in mini pretzel size but what fun is that? I suppose they also would have fared well as pretzel rods. But then how would they look like festive hearts?

Happy Valentine's Day

The moral of this story is: These are terrible for you but are also oh so delicious. So love me or hate me, you are probably going to eat them.

Here’s how it goes…

Fill pretzel holes with chocolate. Refrigerate to set.

Step 1: Chocolate

Fill chocolate-filled holes with peanut butter powdered sugar mix.

Step 2: Peanut butter

Then top with more chocolate.

Step 3: MORE CHOCOLATE

I ate so many pieces of broken pretzels dipped in delicious that I truly, truly want to die right now. In the best way possible.

So I trust everyone will love me for these. I had you at chocolate-filled holes, didn’t I?


American Pie Factory

In Restaurants on February 11, 2010 at 10:13 pm

American Pie Factory

No no no. Not that pie…

Nope

This pie…

Yes.

Yes, American Pie Factory cranks out pizza… pies. Stew and I have been wanting to try it for quite a while because they import their dough from NYC every week so it has that tasty up-yours flavor that comes only from New York water.

We were very happy with it, though the dough kind of took a backseat to the toppings–broccoli, basil, green peppers and tomatoes. I was surprised by the quality of the toppings, but my salad was lame.

We picked it up and brought it home but next time I think I’d like to stay there and give one of their entree salads a chance and get the pizza hot out of the oven.

I also want to say PIZZA PIE as much as possible while I’m there.

“Yes, I would like your finest pizza pie…”


FDA to Reassess Nutrition Labels

In News on February 11, 2010 at 7:25 am

Confusion?

Ever plop down on the couch with a full bag of tortilla chips and leave one episode of Jersey Shore (and several lost brain cells) later with half of it mysteriously gone? Now take a look at the serving size: 6 chips?! I can eat six chips before The Situation lifts his shirt up for the first time… Serving sizes are not representative of the way people really eat and the FDA has taken notice.

According to The New York Times, the FDA wants manufacturers to make servings sizes more realistic and also to post nutrition information more prominently on the front of packages.“If you put on a meaningful portion size, it would scare a lot of people,” said Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at University of North Carolina. So that instead of convincing yourself you’re getting the 140 calories found in 1 serving of tortilla chips, you’re much more likely to wolf down 300, 400 or even 500 calories in a sitting.

Hello, you tiny thing

Think about these mini single serving ice creams from Ben & Jerry’s. Packaged like this, it’s easy to see how much one serving of ice cream is. And it’s apparently tiny. Now increase the size of that bad boy to a full pint, grab your spoon and your remote control and I dare you to eat just one serving.

I don’t think that the consumption of multiple “servings” of a food at one sitting is necessarily a signal of a lack of willpower or control. I think that what is designated as a “serving” is based more on making an attractive nutrition label than acknowledging how much food will really be consumed. Like when one packaged muffin has four servings. Who eats a quarter of a muffin? The manufacturer labels it that way so that it doesn’t appear that their innocent muffin contains 50+ grams of fat, piles of sugar and excess calories. If you divide it all by four it’s much more inviting.

Do you follow serving sizes? Do you feel guilty when you eat more than one? Or do you skip the nutrition label all together?


Back to Yoga

In Yoga on February 10, 2010 at 8:12 am

It's baaa-aaack

As you may recall, I bailed on yoga for the past three weeks or so due to limited time and non-existent money. One paycheck and a vacation of excess later, I’m back on the horse. I did continue to practice yoga outside the studio. Some co-workers and I meet Tuesday and Thursday mornings at my office for a quick 30-minute class and I had two yoga DVDs in my queue to review this month.

But there is absolutely nothing like taking a class at the studio–my studio, that is. I know I’ve only ever taken classes at two yoga studios, but I am biased and hold a deep emotional attachment to the one I currently attend. That’s probably not very yogic of me… but it’s true.

Last night’s class felt fantastic. Maybe it was the first time being back in the heat. Maybe it was Allison’s constant encouragement. Maybe it was the first time I felt truly present in class. Mostly, I think what I felt was appreciation–appreciation that I could be there and do something I love and that I really think loves me back. Yoga forces you to be good to yourself–even when time and money are low. And aren’t they always?


Peanut Butter for Haiti

In News on February 9, 2010 at 9:12 pm

Peanut butter love

Ease of portability, affordability, a long shelf life and substantial protein per serving make peanut butter an ideal addition to supplies being sent to Haiti. According to a press release from Mississippi State University, four truckloads of peanut butter–totalling more than half a million 12-oz jars–have been delivered since January 22.

The Peanut Butter for Haiti project started in Georgia but quickly spread to Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. In addition to the efforts of peanut farmers in those states, Tara Foods, ConAgra and Smucker’s have also donated their packaged peanut butters to the cause.


Happy Anniversary-ish

In Holidays on February 8, 2010 at 10:16 pm

No more beer cans!

Stew is cute. So even though he makes fun of people who celebrate 6-month, 3-month or (God forbid) 1-month or less anniversaries, he bought me this beautiful fancy rolling pin for my 6-month blog anniversary.

Aww

Yep, 6 months ago I made my first post, and there have been another 581 since then. Thanks for following along. See you at one year.


Just Here for the Guacamole

In Dinner on February 8, 2010 at 3:23 pm

Super Bowl... of guacamole

Sorry football fans. I’m just here for the guacamole.

Though I was physically present at a Super Bowl viewing yesterday, I can proudly say I didn’t know what was going on for one single second of the game. I will say, however, that Doritos and Denny’s get honorable mention for most memorable commercials. The winner in my book goes to The Green Police. “How do you feel about plastic bottles NOW?” Haaa.

No, no football for me. Commercials and food are all that matter on days like this. And man did we have some food. Lindsay’s mom made a fajita feast complete with roasted veggies, perfect guacamole, beans, chicken and steak for the carnivores and a mind blowing salad. All this on top of the appetizers that greeted us at the door, of course.

Football fajitas

Who won? I jest. WHO DAT?!


Long Live the Cutoffs

In Restaurants on February 7, 2010 at 9:37 pm

Veggie burger at Breakers

As part of our Florida vacation, Amber and I demanded a trip to the beach. So Lindsay drove our whiny asses all the way to New Smyrna so that we could learn the hard way that even Florida gets cold in February. Perhaps shorts were a poor choice.

Long live the cutoffs

Whatever. I’ll be damned if I’m going to be in Florida and not get a chance to break out the infamous cutoffs. Give me three more months and these babies will once again reclaim status as my summer uniform.

Anyway, we did in fact drive to the beach just to eat a burger, freeze and come back home. We ate at Breakers and I had a veggie burger with a side salad. It was very good. I think they may have actually made their own patties… probably not.

Breakers

Then we took a few frigid pictures on the beach…

COLD

And then warmed up with coffee from a place awesome enough to display this sign:

...and a death stare

Maahaha. Joy.


The Most Fun

In Weird on February 7, 2010 at 12:58 pm

The most fun you can have with your clothes on

Last night we had the most fun you can have with your clothes on, so said this bucket of alcohol that was consumed at Howl at the Moon. I didn’t partake in the buckets because they’re way too sweet and last time we were here resulted in this:

Playing cowbell to "Livin' la Vida Loca"

So I stuck to my two vodka drinks and behaved myself this year. Sort of.

Alcohol is my dance fuel

Highlights included:

Lindsay and Amber's bucket

THIS guy. Does your wife know where you are?

Publicly humiliating Lindsay. Leave table at your own risk.

Everything Amber did.

Sandwich's social skills

Being in the same city.


Seasons 52

In Restaurants on February 6, 2010 at 4:12 pm

Seasons 52

Lindsay’s been talking about this fantastic restaurant Seasons 52 that cooks with local produce according to the seasons, obviously. And they claim that everything on the menu is under 475 calories. I think it’s a great concept and, surprisingly, is owned by Darden Restaurants–as in Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn and other atrocities of American casual chain cuisine.

I have friends!

I really do have friends. They just don’t live near me. It’s a tragedy. This weekend was a necessity and it has been the girliest 24 hours of my life. Someone asked me if I was coming down here to go to the Superbowl. Nope, sorry. Not even close. So far we have already designed engagement rings, eaten pizza, killed several bottles of wine, gotten mani/pedis (and you have to say it like that) and gossiped like we’re getting paid for it. Joy.

Anyway, I probably don’t have to tell you that the season is currently winter–even though it doesn’t feel like it here in Florida. At all.

I don't believe you

So naturally I was pretty excited to get my hands on some squash and assorted root vegetables. But first, we started with a lovely plum tomato and mozzarella flatbread and parmesan rosemary crisps.

Flatbread appetizer

As for an entree… Once I saw the Market Vegetable plate that the waitress described as “every vegetable you can think of” with almond cranberry tabbouleh, local Bosc pear and grilled tofu, I was pretty much set. I didn’t even let her finish her sentence. Sign me up.

Ignore that inappropriate squash

Amber got an incredible duck salad that comes out in a glass tube that is removed to reveal a tower of awesome.

Duck salad tower

Dessert was an elaborate presentation of little shots of assorted sweet things–carrot cake, red velvet cake, key lime pie, peanut butter chocolate pie, fresh fruit, rocky road, etc.

Baby desserts

Everything was fantastic. Loved it. I passed on dessert shots though since I had a major veggie fiber fullness thing going on. So I had coffee. Which only made things worse. We came home to pass out on the floor for a few minutes, but I was feeling anxious being inside with it being so gorgeous out so I quickly headed out to test out my new arch supports. Grannypants.

I am happy to report that I ran two miles with only mild knee discomfort but a new (negative) sensation in my hip. I’m a lost cause. It did feel really nice to run, though. Especially outside. Love.


Caturday 2/6/10

In Cats on February 6, 2010 at 8:31 am

What do you MEAN, Florida?

Happy Caturday from Florida! No time to talk. Time to get manicures…

I give you: cats.

Note: Stew

Awww

Ralphie waiting for me to come home

Please come home


Welcome to Florida

In Dinner on February 5, 2010 at 11:13 pm

Food in Florida

By some miracle of God, my friends and I all made it out of our respective airports, each in the path of an aggressive snow storm–LGA, DCA, GSP–and into Orlando just in time to greet the incoming tropical tornado warnings. Weee, weather.

You can’t tell from this picture just how wretched the weather was at home. But trust it was revolting. Cold, icy rain. No thank you.

Green smoothies belong in Florida

It was seriously a major stroke of luck that we all made it in time. But we’re here. And it’s warm. And the air conditioning is on.

My body went into shock when I stepped into the Orlando-Sanford and felt frigging air conditioning. I love it.

We’re staying at my friend Lindsay’s parent’s house and they welcomed us with a major food spread. Veggies and dip and CHEESE and this glorious little nugget of cheese, fruit and pastry.

Cheesy goodness

We also got to customize pizzas. Sandwich (yes, Sandwich) and I shared a multigrain crust with spinach, arugula, tomato sauce, pesto, roasted broccoli and zucchini, and mozzarella.

Pizza joy

We named it The Forest

Amber and Lindsay made basically the same thing but sans zucchini and broccoli and plus tomatoes.

They named it Earth

I have no idea why we named the pizzas. But, damn, they were good. Seriously. Really good.

Pizza and salad

Mmm, Carmenere

We also killed three bottles of wine and my leftover grown up Girl Scout cookies. Bam. Commence vacation.

Let's Hear It for the Boys

In Uncategorized on February 4, 2010 at 9:57 pm

...to blog... about food?

Ever get the feeling the world of food blogging is a decidedly female domain? Me too. That’s why I’ve taken it upon myself to compile a list of some of my favorite male food bloggers. And though I may be happily taken, I figure with Valentine’s Day just around the corner some of you may appreciate window shopping this meat market. Sorry, vegetarians.

So, while I like tooootally L.Y.L.A.S, all you girlie bloggies and tweethearts out there, I say:

Let’s hear it for the boys of food blogging.

Beard Guy at The Food in My Beard

Bully and Russell at Two Beer Queers

Cory at Zesty Cook

Evan Thomas at Food Makes Fun Fuel

Gregory at Freezer Burns

Joe and Luke at The Passion Fruits

John and Todd at Epic Portions

Jon at So Good Blog

Jonathon at Food and Travel Guy

Ryan at GrubGrade

Would I Buy It Again Guy at Would I Buy It Again?

And Honorable Mention goes to:

Mr. How Sweet It Is over at How Sweet It Is

For making a hilarious guest appearance on his wife’s blog.

There you have it. The men of food blogging, as I see it anyway. Who did I miss?


Wii'll Never Hurt Ourselves

In Gossip on February 3, 2010 at 5:38 pm

Ah!

I’m not a big fan of Wii as a new weight loss phenomenon–I feel like the energy exerted is equivalent to a brisk walk–but I don’t think it’s all bad. It’s not like it’s a total death trap… Or is it?

According to WebMD, a 14-year-old girl fractured her foot when she slipped and fell from her Wii balance board. And the Wii-related injuries don’t stop there. People get whacked in the face by swinging arms of friends too engrossed in their game of Wii tennis to notice they just took out someone’s eyeball. Or punched their hand through a window.

Or just straight up hurled the remote at their television… like this guy.

The point is: Wii will kill you.


Office Yoga

In Yoga on February 2, 2010 at 10:05 pm

Awesome

This morning I did 30 minutes of office yoga with two other ladies (are we ladies?) from work. We set up shop in the extra conference room–which, by the way, has a secret Batcave shower hidden in the wall–and did our stretchy meditative thing. Everyone that does yoga for the first time is always shocked that it’s actually not all stretching and meditation. Not at all. Yoga will kick your ass. Believe you me.

Anyway, we’ve decided to make it a twice-weekly regular occurrence, and my Tuesdays and Thursdays are now instantly more appealing.

At the end I read a passage from Meditations from the Mat, as is customary at my studio, and this is what we meditated on today:

“Our spirit lives in the moment, and that is where we must be, too, if we are to evolve. For most of us, though, everyday life is a construct of our imaginations. Caught up in a matrix of resentments and desires, we sleepwalk through our days, imagining positive and negative outcomes for events that will never come to pass. Explore this for yourself. Note the difference in a posture as your mind shifts from the present to your imagination. As you walk through your day, how often do self-doubt, fear and judgment of others occur in your imagination, and how often do they occur in the present? When you are actually fully present in the moment, feeling your body and hearing the sounds around you, do you experience fear, or peace?”

If you’re like me, you catch all of about 2 hours of your day because you spend the rest of it dwelling on the day before or dreading the day to come. Try to take in the present moment. I hear it’s nice.


Heeeey Kittens

In Weird on February 2, 2010 at 9:54 pm

Hey kittens

When I sit down to start a post, I always think in my head, “Hey kittens.” WTF, right?! I know. It’s not ok. The only time it would ever be ok to address an audience with “Hey kittens” would be:

1. When speaking to a room filled with kittens (and what a glorious event that would be)

2. Never

I don’t know why I do it. Probably the same reason my mind says “Frog off” every time I log off my computer. Huh?! I know. ANYWAY…

Heeeeeey kittenssss!

I’ll never do it again.


Dumb Food

In Products on February 2, 2010 at 8:50 pm

Smart Food is dumb

I got a free sample of Smart Food Popcorn Clusters in the mail yesterday. I was going to just throw it away, but I decided to at least taste it first so I could judge fairly.

For the record, I think these snacks (from Frito Lay) are completely ridiculous. Nothing about a food with sugar (in the forms of brown rice syrup and regular sugar) as the number 1, 4 and 9 ingredients on the list is in any way a smart or healthy snack choice. If one serving is a 28g bag and one serving also contains 10g of sugar… you do the math. I don’t know if you can even compare nutrients like that but I’m doing it.

Also, claims about the whopping 5g of fiber (and calcium!) are just silly. Yeah, this little bag of sugar also has 5g of fiber and yes fiber is good for you, but this fiber comes in the form of chicory root powder, not fiber in the form of whole fruits and veggies. Not the same.

Get your nutrients from real foods, please. Let’s stop kidding ourselves that a FiberOne Poptart is a health food…

In other news… these don’t even taste good. Too sweet. Entirely unsatisfying. Avoid at all cost.


What Rolling Pin?

In Weird on February 2, 2010 at 7:45 am

Miller Light = Rolling Pin

First of all, I don’t even know why we have Miller Light in this house. It’s not even good. It does come in handy, though, when I’m in need of a rolling pin.

I was reminded of my ingenuity last night when Stew and I caught a Tool Academy 3 promo in which a large shirtless tool is rolling out dough with a beer can so he can make boobie cookies. Sorry, it’s not on Youtube yet.

The point is: I am like a large shirtless tool in that I will use a beer can to roll dough.


Coconut Cashew Stir Fry

In Dinner on February 1, 2010 at 11:42 pm

Coconut cashew stir fry

There is about a 90% chance this post will disappear before it ever gets published–eaten by my bullshit Internet connection, broken computer, or both. But I’m going to risk it because this dinner was GOOD.

I’ve been pretty stressed out lately. And by “pretty” I mean “really outrageously.” I’m busy and I don’t like it. I stopped doing yoga because I don’t have the time or money. I can’t remember the last time I made a meal… and sat down and ate it. Do you know the last time I talked to my mom? Me neither.

I believe TI said it best when he rapped: “Your values is a disarray, prioritizing horribly.” Because exactly what I need right now is a rapper with poor grammar critiquing my life choices. How’s jail treating you, TI? But it’s true. I’m all over the place right now.

So tonight I came home at 8:45pm determined to make a delicious meal… and sit down to eat it. So I sautéed onion, toasted coconut, seasoned broccoli and assorted other veggies with curry powder, topped it with cashews, made it a real meal with some tempeh and sat down at the dining room table with a real fork and a real knife and I ate it. And it was delicious.

I’ve still got it.