Things that make you go..........meh

Yesterday was the day of shakes that just should have been tastier.  Everything was lined up right, it all seemed so perfect!  Blendy Shake was a harvest medley of pumpkin, apples, cinnamon, yogurt, vanilla Formula 1 and spinach.  It was supposed to be happy, and comforting, and gently delicious.  Instead it was........boring, bland, chewy (from the apple skins) and kind of gritty.  Oh well, whatever...I drank it anyway and because of all the good stuff it was at least very filling.  So then I have lunch to look forward to!  It's going to be amazing!  I thawed berries overnight, yogurt, an egg, chocolate Formula 1, all Shakey Shaked up aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.........................boring.  FYI - blender cups are great and all, but that little whisk ball definitely does not break up berries very well.  It wasn't very sweet, had almost no berry flavor, ended up just eating the berries with a spoon out of the bottom of the cup when I was done.  All around just a sad collection of smoothie misses.  Not failures because they weren't undrinkable, just a distinct and significant aftertaste of "meh".

Shakey Shake, Aloe Juice, salad

Anyway, here is a picture of what my average lunch these days looks like, about half the time sub the salad with a cup of soup.  I am really digging the aloe vera juice drinks, although I am sure I could get a much more natural product than good old OKF from the ethnic market on the way home from work, but I like the little aloe gel chunks which you can't get from the concentrate, so for now I stick with these :-) I don't know if they are actually helping my stomach or not, but I haven't had much pain or any heartburn since starting on them so let's say yes to give me an excuse to keep buying them!

All the pills, in mah face!

I guess now is a good time to show a couple of the other things I am putting in my face these days.  These are my morning pills (in my pretty little bowl I have at work...multipurpose, mornings for pills and afternoons for portioning out a snack of mixed nuts!)  Wild Salmon Oil tablets from Trader Joe's, and my multivitamin and cell enhancer from Herbalife, and a few Advil this morning for good measure

I've been told I'm quite nutty before!

And here are the nuts that I am snacking on these days.  This really tasty blend from Lebanon with peanuts, pistachios, cashews, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, chickpeas and almonds.  Seriously, this is why I love my neighborhood in NYC, because the grocery store caters to so many different ethnicities you can find authentic stuff from pretty much anywhere in the world on their very crowded shelves.  You can even buy a whole goat...I'm not kidding, it just hangs there in the window at the meat counter.  It is crazy and glorious and so unexpected for an American market which just makes it even better!  Anyway, I also have a bag of plain old peanuts from Trader Joe's and Roasted Almonds.  I mix them all together and it makes for an interesting (and slightly less expensive) mixed nut combo.  A handful of these with a cup of herbal tea is my standard mid-morning and/or mid-afternoon snackum these days.

All the nuts hold hands and sing Kumbaya

I also found myself in one of those sad places last night.  You know the place, where you don't really want to be out but you don't want to be home alone either but you are anyway.  Then the negative voices in your head start making up stories about why you are alone that almost always end up making you just feel like crap about yourself and oddly angry for no reason at the people you love even though it's not their fault that your inner demons are lying little bastards!  Yeah, one of those nights.  A night best for curling up and watching Youtube videos of old Tony Awards performances, so that's what I did.  And I feel better today, not at 100% yet because I let those awful voices shake me up so much, but it reminded me of how much more is out there to be passionate about, how much is real, how much I love something bigger than myself in the arts, and I am moving forward from there.  So Viva La Vie Boheme my friends!

VIVA LA VIE BOHEME!!!!

Caramel Apple Weekend

Dolly Parton knows what's up

Dolly Parton has her Hard Candy Christmas, I have my Caramel Apple Weekend…it’s kind of the same thing except with less singing and dancing prostitutes.  So actually, it’s not the same thing at all.  But I still think I deserve a song!

This was a whirlwind of a weekend!  So first off, how did the Herbalife go?  Well, I would say mixed (or shaken, as it were).  Honestly, I only had 1 shake all weekend and didn’t take any of my pills…whoops!  Friday night I cooked dinner for a friend, shwarma seasoned chicken, homemade faluffins (falafels baked in a mini muffin tin…delicious and adorable!), green beans, hummus and pita bread.  So then Saturday morning there was one little chicken thigh left and that became breakfast.  I did end up with a shake for lunch, which worked better than I thought.  Honestly I got really hungry, still had to round up laundry, do dishes, go shopping, all this weekender stuff and nonsense and just started worrying about what I could throw together with what I had around without even thinking about the shakes, and when I did think about them I figured I was way to hungry for a shake to be satisfying.  But I caved (mostly because I had nothing easy to make or clean to make it in) and made myself a peach cobbler Shakey Shake, drank it while I was doing stuff around the house, and it was delicious and astonishingly filled me up until dinner!  I know, I know…I was skeptical, but it worked out and so it will make it that much easier to keep transitioning to that mind set going forward.  Of course part of the thing with weekends is that I really don’t have a set schedule that makes “breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks” a thing like it is on the weekdays.  If I am getting up around 11:30am, I am usually eating around 2pm, then maybe a snack later, but probably not much until dinner time and maybe a snack late night depending on how things go, but a third meal usually doesn’t happen and the chances of me being out are much higher.  Sometimes a shake is going to work in there, sometimes it isn’t.  But I do have the trust in them now that they can be quick, satisfying, and worth it if the other option for lunch at home is a box of mac and cheese or take out once I hit the road. 

***Peach cobbler Shakey Shake recipe – scoop of peach jam, big sprinkle of cinnamon, 2 scoops Vanilla Formula 1, carton of peach yogurt.  YUM!!!  Seriously, the good peach jam I got from the Greek market totally made this!  Tasted just like a big scoop of peach cobbler icecream or something. 

I actually did a lot of cooking this weekend.  My friend Jessica came over Saturday and I made salsa chicken (thin cut chicken breast filets, in pam, smothered in salsa, sprinkled with cheese, baked), roasted broccoli with balsamic/olive oil/Italian cheese/smoked sea salt, wild rice pilaf, and a very burned batch of cornbread mini muffins that we picked the centers out of because what wasn’t toasty was tasty :-P  I normally make cornbread from scratch, but for ease I had just picked up a box of Jiffy mix and a can of creamed corn…mix, bake, don’t burn, enjoy!  I obviously forgot one of those steps, oh well. 

Call them "Rustic" - they are still delicious!

I also made the aforementioned Caramel Apple Tarts of heavenly delight!  They got a little crazy because I didn’t have a top crust and the caramel went EVERYWHERE – oven is going to smell like burning sugar for awhile!  But they were super tasty and I am restraining myself from just sitting down and eating the pan!  Next time there will be more apples and a top crust to contain the caramel-ly goodness, but this was a winner of a dessert.  Recipe?  Ummmmm…make a pie crust, put it in your tart pan of choice, chop up a buttload of apples, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and lump them into the tart pans, put a glob of caramel in each one, sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar, bake at a hot temperature that seems about right for your oven (375ish for me) for about 30 minutes or until the pie crust looks golden brown.  Cool for as long as you can stand to keep out of them and then DEVOUR!!!!  I know, super scientific, right? This is why I am not a regular baker.

Fry 'em up!! Om nom nom

Sunday night was another cooking adventure.  I had bought a little package with 2 Butterfish at the store because they looked interesting, I have heard some tasty things about Butterfish, and they were only $3.  I see they have the heads on but that’s no biggie.  Of course what I DIDN'T see until I opened the package is that they also were still completely intact and had not been gutted or cleaned!  I had to laugh and think about how many of my friends would have freaked out at this, and instead I grabbed a knife and got into the good squishy stuff and then sent my dad a text thanking him for teaching me how to gut fish and not be squeamish about it when I was a wee youngin’ learning the outdoorsy ways.  Cut a deep X in the side of each of them, rubbed liberally with smoked sea salt, flower pepper and Greek oregano, dusted with whole wheat flour, and pan fried them in a cast iron skillet with searing hot coconut oil.  Took about 5-6 minutes to cook them through then I squeezed a generous half of a lemon on them and HOLY MOTHER OF YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!  Seriously, these little buggers (maybe 5-6 inches long once the heads were off) were so meaty and tasty and crispy and delicious!  I will be buying and cooking these all the times in the world because I am totally in love with them.  Plus, wild caught and small so low on the food chain = low in mercury…such a great and tasty way to get more fish into my regular diet.  Another batch of roasted broccoli, a glass of red wine, a tear jerker fest of catching up on Nashville and Glee it was a perfect Single Girl Sunday.

The Art of Pathetic

Had to deal with a sick doggy this weekend L Poor girl got into something that I can’t figure out and had a sad tummy all weekend (which means she also had a sad mommy who was tired of cleaning up after her because she wouldn’t tell me she needed to go out!!)  but she seems to be back to about 80% today.  Got a haircut for the first time in 12 months…I think he took off about ½ of my hair in bulk, it feels so oddly light now!  The very chic stylist also complimented my hair color and dye job, and since it comes from a $6 bottle of Garnier Fructis and my bathroom and this was a high fashion Aveda salon I felt pretty good about that…haha!  I am also way too excited about a memory foam bathmat I got that makes you feel like you are walking on clouds, and a snazzy double decker drying rack that tucks back into the corner of my TINIEST KITCHEN IN THE WORLD when not in use.  Seriously though guys, this kitchen is ridiculously small…I will share pictures at some point, but I am still learning to work around it and not drop things off my little 2 inches of ledge of prep space on one side of the sink and about 2 feet of counter on the other side.  I need a table or skinny island or something!  This will definitely be my biggest challenge to figure out how to cook well in this little bitty space.  But hey, if My Tiny Paris Kitchen and Mark Bittman can do it, so can I!  

A new haircut and a can-do attitude!

Bacon and Beer...mmmmmm...

So after Day 2 I am still feeling pretty good with this whole Herbalife thing.  Honestly, I have already spent

probably $40-$50 less on food this week than I would have and I don’t feel deprived or hungry at all so far.  Again, I am not being obsessive about what I eat when I’m NOT drinking the shakes, although because I also am focusing on keeping my digestive system happy I am not really eating a ton of junk or anything anyway, but for my main meal I am eating whatever I damn well please because falling back into disordered behaviors and thinking is WAAAAAAAAAY too easy when I start moving towards the “diet” mentality.

Anyway, yesterday was pretty easy.  Blendy shake** for breakfast tropical style with pineapple yogurt, shredded coconut, coconut milk, baby spinach, vanilla Formula 1 and water.  I snacked on some mixed nuts and tea halfway through the morning.  Lunch was a Shakey Shake** with almond butter, raspberry yogurt, coconut milk, chocolate Formula 1 and water plus I got a little cup of chicken soup (which was sadly mostly broth thanks to the noodle and chicken pirates of Au Bon Pain!!  Take your proper ratio of chunks to liquid ya jerks!!) to have something warm, and more nuts and tea in the afternoon.

(* Blendy Shake – includes greens, ice cubes, things that need a blender to combine.  **Shakey Shake – powder, liquid, maybe yogurt…can be mixed up in a shaker cup faster and on the go)

I was meeting up with a friend for dinner in the East Village, but I had about 2 hours to kill, so I walked

around for awhile and just soaked in the energy of a fall evening in the city, and then when I got cold sat down in this funky little indoor Belgian beer garden and had a YUMMY Tripel Karmeliet beer while waiting.  The best part was, because I am not holding any same or restriction around my food I was able to enjoy a beer, a salad, some French onion soup, and a very Greek diner plate of Bolognese and not feel like I had to stuff my face because it was my one food of the day, or restrict excessively because I had to be “good” (and then go home and stuff my face in hunger and frustration).  And because I am only spending money and stomach space on one “meal” a day I also have no issues making it the best and most fulfilling food I can, which is better for my body in the long run too.  Winner winner chicken dinner! (or pasta, as the case may be)

The issue came this morning actually, because I had failed to prep my Blendy Shake last night for breakfast, and I was running short on time and I only have the bottle space right now to make 1 Shakey Shake.  So whatever, if I have to substitute oatmeal and yogurt for one shake my life won’t come crashing down!  I figure it is closest to what a shake would be (and a whole lot cheaper) rather than having the shake for breakfast and going out to lunch.  But getting to work was a bitch and a half – bus was running over 20 minutes late, I got a different bus, which took me to a different train, which dropped me at a station that is twice as far away from work and doesn’t have a bus directly to the hospital.  So even though I raced to get out on time, I was still almost 30 minutes late to work and walked twice as far as normal.  Granted, it is only a mile, but I was cold and grumpy and annoyed and then I caught a whiff of the most beautiful smell in the world…

BACON!!!! 

Oh man, there is just something about the smell of bacon in the morning that is better than any other smell and better than bacon at any other time of day.  I didn't end up going and getting it, but it sure did trigger some happy and envious breakfast thoughts!

So, I am about to head into my first weekend on The Herb(alife) and trying to figure out how I am going to handle it.  I am not really telling anyone that I am doing this just because I don’t want to make it a big deal or have to explain or justify myself, or hear all the “good for you”s that I know would come and I think are wholly unnecessary and obnoxious.  Most likely I will just make good choices, try to choose light for any meals where I am with other people and not able to do a shake, and continue to not stress out over it because honeys…if you aren't enjoying your life (and the food that accompanies it) what’s the point??  Bottoms up boys and girls! Let’s make this weekend another new adventure!

Cranberry Love

So I finally got a fully functioning laptop! Yeah! I have spent the last 6 months with a laptop that wouldn’t type the letters W, S, A or D.  Understandably this made blogging difficult because it meant I either had to type a post missing all those letters, then go to a webpage and copy and past each letter individually throughout the post (which is probably one of the most annoying things to do EVER!!) or I had to post at school or at work.  And honestly, I found that time was more often used for, you know, school…or work But I got an early Christmas from my Mommy in the form of a fabulous little netbook, the perfect size to toss in my bag to take to school, and with up to 11 hrs of battery life.  So in other words – Tina is connected!!  Hooray!!

My food has been kind of boring lately.  I’ve been penny pinching and trying to stretch my food stamps  since my budget is about $30 a week so I’ve been taking bits and pieces from my pantry and eating the same thing almost all week.  It works though…still doing soup for lunch, been baking fresh bread using the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day recipe, lots of fresh fruit, some string cheese and almonds as snacks.  Hey, it may be basic but it is tasty, homemade and filling.  Can’t knock on that!

I have also been snacking on leftover cranberry sauce I made for Thanksgiving.  It was actually cranberry/apple sauce because when I made it with just the 1 bag of cranberries it didn’t look like very much, so I chopped up 3 apples, cooked them down a bit and mixed it in with the cranberries to bulk it up.  Of course I got to the potluck and someone else had brought a giant kettle of cranberry sauce so mine ended up coming home with me.  Hey, I’m not complaining…it’s good!  I put 1 bag of cranberries in a pot with about 1/2 cup of apple juice, the juice squeezed from 1 orange, the rest of that orange (peels and all), a dash of ginger and 1 cinnamon stick.  While it was simmering on the stove I brewed a cup of very strong Earl Grey tea.  After about 10 minutes I added the tea and then sweetened it up to taste with about 1/4 cup of brown sugar and about 1/8 cup of honey (the sweetening I did all by taste).  Let it all simmer about another 10 minutes and then pulled the orange and cinnamon stick out and put the sauce in a bowl.  Saw that the bowl was only about 1/2 full so I chopped up 3 apples and simmered it in another cup of strong Earl Grey tea for about 10 minutes until the apples were soft.  Added them into the cranberry sauce and refrigerated overnight.  By the morning it was nice and thick, bright red, sweet/tart and all the things I love about homemade cranberry sauce without just being a bowl of cranberry flavored sugar!  And this is what I have been nibbling on all week with lunch.

I have a bag of mixed chocolate/peanut butter chips in my cabinet that are begging to be baked into something…the question is, what?  Yet to be determined…

Holy Super Sweet Smoothie Batman!

Oh my GOODNESS!! My sweet taste buds are going wacky this morning! So I made my normal green monster smoothie with one BIG difference - I had run out of milk so I opened a can of light coconut milk and used about 1/2 a can of that alone with some water to make my smoothie. Holy moly it was amazingly good but CRAZY sweet...Honestly, when I first tried it I thought I had died and gone to heaven, but about half way through I realized that it was in fact too sweet for me. I think I am going to repeat this coconut milk experiment, but I am going to cut the amount by about half and make up the liquid with more water. It will still be super creamy, tasty and sweet, but a little lower in fat/calories/tooth aching sweetness.

On that same note - I am seriously considering going at least vegetarian and possibly vegan again. I haven't decided for sure, but there are a couple factors coming into play here for me.


1) I am poor and beans and rice and stuff are cheaper than meat
2) I am EXTREMELY opposed to industrial factory farming and for the past couple of years I have been very adamant about only eating local, organic, humanely raised meat and dairy products. However, referencing factor #1 I am no longer really able to afford those things anymore. I have caved on my principles the last couple of weeks and bought standard meat items and honestly, felt like total crap and a complete hypocrite about it.
3) I have a very sensitive stomach - I had my gallbladder removed when I was 22 and my system hasn't been the same since then. Eating a ton of animal protein just doesn't settle well with me in general, eating lower fat and lots of veggies makes me feel better on a day to day basis.
4) I have been vegetarian and vegan in the past for varying lengths of time and felt GREAT while doing it

So I haven't fully decided yet, and on a practical note I have a pound of ground beef, a pot roast and a package of chicken quarters in my freezer that I can't really afford to let go to waste. So I guess the question is, just jump in and do it? Work on phasing it out while eating meat for the next month it will take me to get through the meat in my freezer? I mean, on a practical note I eat quite a few meatless meals anyway...my lunches for this week were tortellini and broccoli salad and baked tofu with brown rice and green beans, so it's not like going meat-free is going to be a huge shock or change (however my chicken enchilada casserole would have to get altered - no more chicken, sour cream or cheese although the refried beans and collard greens and homemade salsa could stay)

Any of you who are reading this who are vegetarian/vegan or have made that switch in the past - what do you think? Any suggestions or ideas on how I should move forward?

Oh yeah - My birthday was also this past Tuesday September 14th...I am now officially 29 and on the homestretch to 30!! I celebrated by going to school, working, going to rehearsal, and then taking myself out for karaoke :-) And I am still recovering...I must be getting old, it wasn't this hard to bounce back after my 21st birthday!! It's time baby, I am almost 30...the time to be healthy has arrived and it can't wait any longer!!

Massive Cooking Weekend - No Cooking Week

So I have disappeared for a little bit because I have been crazy busy! The musical 7 Deadly Sins runs this weekend at school and I am the Assistant Stage Manager so I have been in rehearsals from 6pm-11pm pretty much every night, and this is after being in school and work from 8am-5pm every day!! Knowing in advance this would be happening, though, I took my free time this past weekend and did a MASSIVE cooking frenzy to stock my fridge in advance. And I have to say, it has worked out pretty well.

Here is a rundown of everything I cooked this weekend with some pictures. No real recipes this week because everything was more of a throw together:

1) Cherries and apples stewed in red wine and cinnamon

2) Potato and oyster corn chowder

3) Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

4) Chili
5) Brown Rice
6) Marinated Tofu
7) Peanut Butter Cookies
8) Sweet Potato Muffins
9) Baked Eggs
- I whisked together 8 eggs and about 2/3 cup of milk with some seasonings as if I was making scrambled eggs. Put a small piece of whole wheat bread in the bottom of each cup of a greased muffin tin, topped with a little diced cheese, and poured the eggs evenly into each cup and then baked. Yummy, but I would make a few changes next time. I would toast the bread first so it didn't get as soaked up into the egg as it did this time and I would add veggies like spinach or broccoli to bulk it up and make it more satisfying (and healthier!). I have also seen an idea to do this with a crust made of biscuit dough or puff pastry which would also be an option, although more expensive. I will include pictures and a REAL recipe when I do it again and feel happier with the results.

10) Baked potatoes

Holy hell! Looking at the list even I am overwhelmed by how much I did! But it has worked out great...I have been able to take chili over a baked potato for lunches, muffins and eggs for breakfasts, have a cup of chowder and a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner, pack a couple of peanut butter cookies as an afternoon snack/treat, marinated tofu with brown rice...it has been super easy just to reach in the fridge, grab something and go!


Now granted, I didn't do a whole lot of planning on this and I probably overdid it. For example, I baked 7 potatoes and I am NOT eating a potato a day. I did freeze half the muffins, but I will probably need to freeze some of the chili and brown rice too so it doesn't go bad because I just can't eat it all when I am one person and I cook for an army (something I still need to work on). I think for next week I am going to do some better menu planning, for one to make sure I am getting more veggies in my meals, and also so that I don't end up overwhelmed with a fridge full of food I just can't eat in 1 week.

I am still on a strict budget (and I will be for the next few years, might as well get used to it now!) so I won't be doing much more grocery shopping except maybe some fruit and veggies. I am also planning on going through my freezer to see what I have already stashed there that I want to thaw and eat before it gets too old. I know I froze a couple containers of black bean soup so I think that will accompany some quesadillas for lunches and dinners next week! This pantry cooking is actually a lot of fun and a great challenge - Use what you have instead of going crazy spending a ton on stuff for a single recipe.

Still feeling healthy and riding my bike to school every day. It is definitely feeling easier too! I am taking less breaks heading up the hill (only 1 pause this morning and I was stopping 3-4 times when I started 3 weeks ago!) and able to do it faster without feeling like I am dying. Once it gets to the point where I don't feel like it is pushing as much anymore, I am going to start taking the gears up slowly so it remains a good workout. As long as I keep the intensity high, it will continue to be a good 1/2 hr or so of exercise every day and that is a good start to getting healthy! I will say though, riding my bike after 6 hours of sleep and riding it after 8 hours of sleep I can sure tell a difference in how sluggish my legs feel...sleep really is key, and once the show is over I will start getting it again :-)

Lunch Ideas

So the ever fantabulous Fed Up With Lunch has a guest post today from Rachel who talks about packing her own lunches when she was in high school. She posted some awesome links with great ideas for a variety of lunches to pack, and of course anything that works well in high school (or elementary school for that matter!) works well in college. Now, some of the suggestions aren't aimed at me...for example, I don't need to cut my sandwiches in silly bear and star shapes to convince myself to eat them! But some of them are great new ideas for different sandwiches, or even totally new ideas that I can use (I am going to ROCK me some pizza quesadillas at some point).

So culled from the links that Rachel posted, here are a few of my favorites - Hope they help others out as much as they are going to help me :-)

15 Fresh Brown Bag Lunch Ideas ***Note from Tina - I am not putting all 15 in here, I am just putting in the ones I think will work best for me. Feel free to check out the link for the other ideas!***

• Pasta Lover's Lunch Salad. Pack a cold pasta salad and a plastic fork, and your pasta lover will love you, too! Make your salad with lean meat or low-fat cheese (so it has some protein), lots of vegetables to boost fiber and nutrition, and use a whole-grain blend pasta, like Barilla Plus. Then just drizzle some light vinaigrette over the top and toss. ***Yeah! I love this idea and used to do it all the time...time to get back to it!***
• The Fruit and Cheese Plate Special. Make crispy cracker sandwiches with whole-wheat crackers, slices of assorted cheese, and lean meats. Don't forget the fruit, which goes nicely with the cheese and adds fiber and nutrition. ***I am not a big fan of lunch meat, but doing this with slices of baked tofu sounds awesome***
• Bagel With Cream Cheese, Please. Bagels are a wonderful foundation for hardy sandwiches that stand up to being in a backpack or locker all morning. You can toast a bagel in the morning and simply spread some light cream cheese in the middle. Or make a bagel sandwich with, say, a little light cream cheese, some turkey, and cranberry sauce, then top it off with alfalfa sprouts or Romaine lettuce. ***This is actually great, especially for when I need dinner at the theatre because after getting tossed around my bag all day sandwiches on bread tend to get a bit too goopy for me***
• Carry a Cobb Salad. Plastic containers can hold the makings of a delicious salad lunch. Fill it with chopped green lettuce, chopped hard-boiled egg, light cheese, and/or lean ham. You can buy packets of light dressing, or just use extra packets of light salad dressing left over from your last trip to the fast-food chain. ***This would be a decent idea on the days when I can eat lunch at work...on days when I have 10 minutes to get from class to class, not so much***
• It's a Wrap! Wraps are a nice change of pace from the usual sandwich. Use one of the new higher-fiber tortillas, like the multigrain flour tortillas available in most supermarkets. Then fill 'er up with chicken Caesar salad or assorted lean meats, cheese, tomato, sliced onion, shredded Romaine lettuce, and light dressing. Just roll it up and wrap in foil. ***Same plusses as the bagel sandwich***
• Noodle Soup Cups. Many schools offer a hot water dispenser so kids can add hot water to packaged noodle soup cups. Some brands are higher in sodium and fat, and lower in fiber than others. Check out the options in stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. ***I have these awesome noodle soup packets from Thai Kitchen that I am thinking doing in a thermos in the morning...would need something else to bulk it up though, just a noodle cup is a little flimsy on staying power***
• Veggie Sushi. Not all kids will go for this one, but there are some out there who really like seaweed-wrapped sushi rolls. You can now buy pre-made sushi at many supermarkets, too. Choosing the veggie-filled sushi means there's no chance the sushi will get a little "fishy" while it's in your kid's backpack. ***I would LOVE to do this if I could find the seaweed cheaply...I could see making these the night before and having them ready for lunch the next day, and doing it veggie style also keeps the cost down***
• Toss Some Taco Salad. If taco salad is a favorite, you can pack the meat mixture tossed with the shredded cheese, tomatoes, and chopped Romaine lettuce in a plastic container. At lunchtime, your child can add crunchy, reduced-fat tortilla chips and a little light dressing. ***I am a TOTAL sucker for taco salad! Same issue as the cobb salad, but I would totally bring this to much on at work***
• Fried Rice Can Be Fun. When made with eggs or chopped lean ham and lots of veggies, cold fried rice can be a satisfying noontime treat. Make your own, or plan on leftovers the night before if you're ordering from a restaurant. ***Definitely doing this...easy, quick, uses leftovers...perfect!***
• Talk About Taquitos. I started doing this last year, and it seems to have stuck with my girls. I pop some Bean and Cheese frozen Taquitos from Whole Foods into my toaster oven in the morning, then let them cool. Then, I wrap them in foil and make sure they stay cool by packing a frozen juice box or small water bottle. By noon, they are cold, fun finger food. ***So I wouldn't buy frozen taquitos...but replace that with homemade and preheated bean burrito and you are speaking my language!***
• Meal Muffins. Certain types of muffins work as a lunch entree. If you bake them over the weekend and keep them in the freezer, you just have to pull one or two out in the morning. By lunch, they are nicely chilled and ready to eat. Try ham and cheese muffins, Mexican Cornbread muffins, or quiche muffins (quiche filling, baked with or without crust in a muffin pan). ***YES YES YES!! When I was a South Beacher I made tons of the mini quiches with egg, spinach and cheese...so easy to grab and go***

Vegan Lunch Ideas ***I would probaby make some of these vegetarian instead of vegan since my budget just doesn't allow for soy cheese or yogurt, but otherwise this is such a great list to get the mind going! I have starred the ones that I especially am going to remember***

Sandwiches:

Peanut butter and jelly
Peanut butter and apple or banana slices
***Peanut butter and grated carrots
Nut butter sandwiches on small crackers
Nut butter and jelly on a whole grain bagel
Peanut butter with sliced bananas rolled up inside a flour tortilla
***Hummus, shredded carrots and celery rolled up inside a flour tortilla
Hummus on whole wheat bread
Hummus with tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce
Hummus with sliced grapes
Hummus with grated carrot
***Hummus with sliced & sautéed mushrooms
Leftover pasta or grain dishes in a wrap
Cucumbers or tomatoes and soy cream cheese with sprouts in a wrap
Tofu mayonnaise mixed with nut butters, celery and peppers
Vegan cream cheese and jelly sandwiches, cut up into quarters or fingers
Avocado mashed on crackers
Roasted red pepper with tomato and soy cream cheese
Tofu egg salad in a pita pocket with lettuce

Warm lunches: ***I'm thinking I might need to spring for a small thermos or food jar to take some of these***

Heat these up in the morning and pack in a thermos.
Leftovers
***Bean and veggie soup with toast fingers to dip in it
***Rice and beans, with shredded vegan cheese on the side to mix in
***Pasta and marinara sauce
Frozen peas sautéed in a bit of olive oil and garlic powder
Canned chickpeas sautéed in a bit of olive oil and cumin
***Canned chickpeas and tomatoes sautéed in olive oil and basil

Cold Meals:
***Cubes of marinated/baked tofu
Ziti or multicolored finger food pasta with grated soy cheese and tomato sauce for dipping
Chickpeas, green beans and macaroni (mixed together, no sauce)
***Veggie dog wrapped in biscuit dough and baked
Baby potatoes and carrots, cooked whole, with tofu-based dip
***Falafel
***Baked white or sweet potato 'fries' with cubed veggie burger and ketchup to dip
***Taco salad - nachos with chopped tomatoes, guacamole, shredded vegan cheese and other toppings
***Quesadillas - vegan cheese with refried beans and whatever veggies are handy
Pancake with fruit spread to dip
French toast cut into bars with maple syrup, jam, or applesauce for dipping
***Cold pasta salad - use leftover vegetables, vary the shapes/colors of pasta and the salad dressings
Brown rice or whole wheat couscous based salad
Kidney or black bean salad

Snacks and Sides:
Fresh fruit with dip (vegan cream cheese mixed with juice concentrate or preserves)
***Fruit salad
Fruit cups
Dried fruit
Fruit leather
Banana
Raisins
Applesauce
Apple slices with peanut butter to dip
Apples, cut in half, cored and filled with peanut butter, make raisin eyes and pretzel legs, then wrap in plastic wrap, or a container
***Ants on a log - spread peanut butter or vegan cream cheese in celery and top with raisins
***Carrots, celery and pita bread triangles with hummus for dipping
Fresh veggies and hummus
Celery and carrots with peanut butter to dip
Broccoli with dip
Baba ghanouj (roast eggplant purée) for dipping veggies
Veggie/Fruity/Pirate's Booty
Baked chips
Peanut butter spread on whole wheat crackers
***Nuts
Trail mix
Granola bars
Dry cereal
Soy yogurt
Soy cheese cut in cubes

2 Fun Lunch Recipes

The first is a high energy peanut butter ball that would make a great grab and go lunch or snack item when around campus. The second just sounds yummy and fun!

Peanut Butter Bites

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder

1/2 cup raisins (or other dried fruit chopped small)

1/4 cup honey

Graham cracker crumbs (or crushed nuts, or shredded coconut, or mini chocolate chips, etc.)

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except the graham cracker crumbs. Shape the mixture into 1-inch balls. Roll in the crumbs and refrigerate. Makes 24.

Pizza Quesadillas

Place a flour tortilla in a nonstick skillet over low heat, spread it with tomato sauce, and sprinkle it with grated cheese, shredded meat, chopped vegetables and other fillings. Top it with another tortilla and cook it like a grilled cheese. When it has cooled, slice it like a pizza and pack it up!

Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

So after a great first week of school, I set myself up for the second week...to fail. Ok, so maybe failure is a harsh word. But I ended up NOT going to the grocery store yesterday to replenish my important basics of yogurt, almond milk and frozen spinach. I also fell into the trap of not falling asleep until late last night which means I overslept this morning and only had 20 minutes to get ready and out the door.

So what does that mean? It means that fortunately I had muffins still that I grabbed for breakfast, but no protein smoothie which means I need to be aware if I am more hungry than usual later today. It also means no morning snack of yogurt and granola, so again...lighter eating this morning means I need to be aware of my body later if I feel more hungry than normal. It also means I didn't have time to pack a lunch so I will have to buy something from the fast food wasteland that is campus. And being aware of my overly carb happy breakfast, I probably want to go with something more protein packed for lunch so that I don't TOTALLY crash this afternoon.So yes...this boys and girls is an example of "When you fail to plan, you plan to fail!" We will pretend I did it on purpose so at to serve as a valuable lesson to you all ;-)

So how am I salvaging this day?
1) I still rode my bike to school so I am still getting exercise.
2) I grabbed 2 muffins, one for breakfast and one for an afternoon snack so I don't fade too badly
3) I am going to make the healthiest lunch choice from the options available - possibly a veggie burrito or sushi and fruit
4) I am going to the grocery store after work to get those things I am missing
5) I am going to turn off the super awesome Quantum Leap reruns at a decent time tonight and get some real sleep (Did I just reveal what a geek I am? Because I totally have had a thing for Dean Stockwell since I was like 10 years old!)


Happy Monday everyone!

Pictures!

Ok folks, so I took some pictures to share with you today to make up for Tuesday's picture-less post.

First - a couple pictures of the lovely, tasty and nutritional powerhouse green monster smoothie! I drink a little bit while getting ready and put the rest in my water bottle and take it to school to drink during my 8am classes.


Also a picture of my yogurt and granola all ready to be mixed and consumed before my 11am class :-)

Now I have LOVED these Oikos individual organic greek yogurt cups with honey and they are perfect for bringing to school. However, my budget will no longer allow me to buy them so I am probably going to just be switching to regular plain yogurt and premixing it in my lovely 1 cup liquid-tight tupperware containers with my homemade granola. Oh the sacrifices of a poor student!

And here is a picture of the illustrious Blue Bomber - my trusty companion to and from school and all over campus.

Please note the helmet hanging from the handlebar (normally on my head) because safety is important and I have had a couple of bad bike accidents in my past (if you launch headfirst over the front of your bike and catch a handlebar in the gut you may end up with a face full of pavement, a lacerated spleen and internal bleeding...I'm just sayin'!), the backpack and water bottle with WATER in the basket up front, and the water bottle with smoothie in the handy dandy water bottle holder. Much like running, I may not be the fastest one in the pack, but by god I am going to get there!

For a couple of new items may I present my new breakfast goodie - pumpkin spice muffins!

"Now wait a moment!" You might be saying..."I thought there was no canned pumpkin available in the stores right now because of the big pumpkin harvest rotting last year!" And you would be right. For those of you who don't know, all the commercial pumpkins last year basically rotted on the vines and there has been no canned pumpkin available since Christmas last year until the new harvest ripens this year. So I did what any enterprising cook who wanted muffins would do, I baked sweet potatoes used the mashed meat from those instead. Voila! Made with whole wheat flour, sweet potato, applesauce instead of oil, and studded with cranberries and almonds. A not-too-sweet but oh so delicious breakfast item to keep in the fridge and grab all week. I will do a separate post with the recipe and nutrition info.

Note to self however - do NOT attempt to balance said muffin on the backpack in the above pictured bike basket and expect it to stay in place when going over a speed bump...1/2 a muffin was sacrificed to learn that lesson today. Will adjust for tomorrow :-)

Also a pic of my sandwich today. Tuesday/Thursday is my day that I have 10 minutes to eat lunch because I have class from 11am-2pm with only that short break in between. Last time I brought tuna and dill dip and crackers, and decided that eating pungent tuna before going into acting class was not the greatest idea. Last night I made some lemon dill hummus and turned it into a hummus/sprouts/cucumber sandwich for lunch today. Will let you know how that goes, but it sure looks yummy!

By the way...any suggestions or ideas on 10 minute lunches would be greatly appreciated!