Monday, May 24, 2010

I'm On My Internetz, Updating My Blogz

Hello all, time for another update. The food front has been pretty boring to be completely honest with you. With the exception of the awesome tuna steak sandwich I had at AW Shucks last night I haven't been experimenting much as of late. I've tended to fall back on "convenience food" even though I still try and prepare it as healthily as I possible can. Like last week we had tacos and when I make them I ALWAYS use turkey instead of ground beef> Brian likes turkey tacos so that's always a plus. I decided to get adventurous and try the Smart Grounds vegetable crumbles in my tacos since Brian's not too keen on fake meat (or "feat" as he calls it). They were super good, the texture was a little like room temperature cookie dough which was a little different but I think everything tastes awesome when it's covered in taco seasoning, it's pretty much a fail safe. I threw on some avocado, salsa, romaine and Tapatio and ate it before the X-Files theme even came on. I had a turkey taco the next day for lunch and it was just as good the second time around. I also tried out a new recipe for homemade protein bars which turned out really good. My recipe was based on a similar recipe I found on another blog called Love Veggies and Yoga and this woman makes THE BEST vegan deserts. I've also tried her "cookie dough balls" and they are freaking incredible. This is what I used in my version of Averie's No Bake Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Coconut Oil Protein Bars:

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 mashed banana
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup sliced almonds (I crushed mine into smaller pieces by hand while incorporating them into the mixture)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp flax seeds
1/2 cup raisins (or other dried fruit)
2-4 scoops of protein powder (I used Sun Warrior Raw Vegan vanilla protein but you can use whatever)

*optional: if you want to add some more fiber throw in 2 tbsp of chia seeds. I didn't have any handy but if I dd they'd for sure be in there too.

Throw all this in a big bowl and mix until everything is well incorporated. Play around with the amounts because sometimes the mix can come out too dry or too moist. I usually ad more oats or more peanut butter if either of those things happen. Line a baking pan with plastic wrap and spread the mixture and flatten out to your desired thickness. Put the mixture in the freezer and let set for about an hour. I took mine out and waited 15 mins in order to cut them into bars more easily and wrapped them in plastic wrap. because of the banana I would keep these in the fridge. They're so effing delicious and I recommend you try them if you're fond of bars. They taste WAY better than a power bar or something store bought and have a crap-ton of protein from the protein powder, almonds, and peanut butter. YUM. I think I ate mine in like three bites. That recipes should yield about 10 decent sized bars. Well, I hope you try out this awesome recipe and visit Love Veggies and Yoga for more awesome vegan deserts. Tomorrow is an all-day work day so no workout for me, but Wednesday it's back to hot yoga after a week of a pretty pathetic practice. Until next times, have good eats!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

OMG Finally,

I FINALLY get to make a new post! Well since the last post I've: finished my first year in grad school, made almost straight A's (B+ Come on!), been to the beach for the first time this year, eaten a lot of Skinny Dip frozen yogurt and lost a few pounds. All-in-all it's been a pretty good few weeks. On the food front, I've been eating out a lot since we've been going out a lot my my friends Emily and Pete. I've kept it relatively tame with potato and fish tacos and salads and I'm pretty proud of myself, with the exception of a few pizzas and more than a few drinks :(. I've been in the mood for salads a lot more lately since it's warmed up a lot. I've had one every day this week with just about every meal except breakfast. Speaking of breakfast, I am totally sick of oatmeal. If I have to eat it again I'm going to choke myself on it so I never have to. I eat oatmeal almost exclusively throughout the winter months and then cut myself off during the summer because I'm usually sick of it. In order to awaken my breakfast tastebuds I decided to make a little custom cereal with [me] & goji. They're seriously awesome and the containers are great. I've used custom mix sites like mix my granola, but that was more like granola and not a proper cold cereal. My [me] & goji mixes are great with almond milk and I've been enjoying them almost every morning!
I've also been enjoying all of the great fruit that has recently come into season like mangoes, guavas and STRAWBERRIES! I freaking love strawberries and strawberry picking. I went one year while I was in England and the strawberry were grown in troughs that were raised in the air at hip height so you didn't have to bend over for hours to pick them. Why it hasn't migrated over here I do not know, we have the technology damnit!I have been buying 3 mangoes at a time and I've even tried my had at cutting them in fancy ways (key word here is "tried")
Other than that I've just been working a lot. I went from plentiful leisure time to what feels like every waking moment I have is spent at work and I DO NOT want to be there on my summer vacation. I'm trying to get back into running but it's proving to be a challenge. I just can't seem to get myself past 5.5 miles without feeling like I'm going to die. I don't think my short legs and poor lung capacity were made to run long distances, but I've been at it for at least 3 times a week so we'll see how well I improve over the summer. Tonight I'm back to hot yoga after a 2 week hiatus and I'm so excited since I'll be doing 90 minutes with my favorite teacher! Plus I get to wear my new obnoxiously bright orange Lululemon tank top and it's freaking awesome. Well, tomorrow is another beach day and then BEERFEST on Saturday. It's my first and I'm sure it will be very interesting. Until next time, have good eats!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

I Apologize!

I feel so crappy that I haven't been able to do a proper update, but it's finals time and I'm really pressed for time which is unfortunately reflected in my meals so hopefully by next week I'll have a lot more to talk about. If I don't drown myself before finals are over then I guess I'll be back soon!