Weirdest Sandwich Ever July 28, 2009

I’m starting to notice (at least when it’s not cloudy) the the sunn is rising later and later.  My breakfast and lunch pictures turned out quite dim.  But they still look better this way than with flash.  My morning monster is a mix of spinach, mango, peach, and chia seeds.

For lunch I threw together a giant salad containing red leaf lettuce, red pepper, broccoli, dulse, avocado, lime juice, Marti cheese, pumpkin seeds, and peas.

And in the afternoon I munched on a couple of plums, and juicy raspberries.

Then for dinner I made the weirdest sandwich I’ve ever seen, that turned out to be wonderfully delicious.  Inbetween two slices of ezekiel bread is peanut butter, thinly sliced beet root, tomato paste, and a big ol’ stack of beet greens. Peanut butter, beet, and tomato, a wonderful combination, who knew? (well, I kinda had an inkling, which is why I made it…).  And on the side was red pepper strips and a pile of plump cherries.

How about a sandwich innard close up?

Blend, Baby, Blend and an Impromtu Contest! July 17, 2009

It was so dark out today! Whenever I went to take a picture, the sun was very well hidden, and it kept threatening to start raining (spitting) but never quite came. Or I may have simple changed locations before the rain actually came in some cases.

Anyways, a blender action shot for breakfast. That monster contained a mango, chia seeds, and a whole lot of collard greens.

For lunch I had a salad mess containing cucumber, asparagus, carrot, red pepper and tomato with a Peach Bourbon BBQ sauce topping.

And in the afternoon half a pint of raspberries and a banana dissappeared.

I went to Whole Foods today for the first time in a couple of months, and spent some time browsing, which resulted me in sending too much money, but ending up with lots of fun new things to try. One of those things was a hunk of Marti cheese, which is a raw ewe’s milk cheese that to me tastes kinda like a cross between parmesan and muenster (aka pretty awesome). I used it as a topping for my dinner, a big bowl of blended soup containing zucchini, carrot, lots of red pepper, a couple small dates, thyme, sage, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

And some honeydew for dessert.

Another Whole Food purchase that I just tried is Stash Mint green tea powder. It’s made of regular tea leaves that are ground superfine so they dissolve instantly in cold water for iced tea. Unfortunately, I’m really not a fan, I even dumped out the rest of that glass. Though to be honest, I probably should have known I wouldn’t like it given my distaste for matcha green tea. So if you do like matcha, I say give it try, you’ll probably love it

So how about a quick, impromptu mini contest? If you do like matcha, or are just curious, leave a comment by Sunday night and I’ll randomly choose 3 people to mail a few packets of Stash Mint Green Tea Powder. I’d like to see some of you readers come out of the woodwork!

7 pounds of sweet June 14, 2009

I bought seven pounds of kabocha yesterday (it was going for 69 cents/lb!), 2 largish ones. And I steamed 1 whole one today to eat this week.

So breakfast part one was oatmeal cooked with a little banana, plus mango and cinnamon.

Then breakfast part two was a chunk of warm kabocha with a spoonful of sunflower seed butter. Oh yum.

For lunch I fixed up a romaine salad topped with black beans, strawberries, and feta cheese.

Plus a Gena inspired (though probably not entirely raw) soup of zucchini, lime, a little Simply Organic Creamy Dill Dip mix (not raw?), and some extra dried dill. It was quite good, although would probably have been better with some avocado.

In the afternoon some people came over to play Wii, and I made muffins based off of this recipe, but replaced the applesauce and part of the carrot with mashed kabocha, flax with chia, and 2 T of the agave with blackstrap molasses, and used whole wheat pastry flour. And then cut the recipe in half. They were met with excellent reviews, very moist and gingerbready. I had one stuffed with runchy PB (because I really needed to eat more peanuts this weekend…) and finished the last one plain.

And finally for dinner I had a plateful of steamed broccoli with pasta sauce for dipping, and a Tofurkey Beer Sausage donated by the roomie who has gone slightly crazy for them, and I have to agree, holy yum sausage!

Fruits and Peanuts June 13, 2009

…is all I ate today….well, almost…apparently sleeping in messes up my eating habits…

For breakfast, the trail mix fest started with a nectarine, strawberries, and some tasty roasted peanuts.

And a bit later there was a medjool stuffed with almond butter.

Then a series of snacks throughout the afternoon, since I didn’t really feel like preparing a proper meal. I had a juicy slice of mango.

About 3 times this many dried papaya chunks.

More peanuts, the evidence.

I broke the pattern a bit by pulling out the sandwich maker and sliding a bit of dill havarti between two bread slices.

And I made a nice refreshing treat, which I enjoyed while reading outside on my apartment building’s patio, and works wonderfully with this week’s BSI ingredient over at The Ungourmet, watermelon.

Watermelon Ice Cream. Twas beyond simple. I had some watermelon chunks in the freezer from the last melon I bought, so I threw ~ 3 cups of big chunks into the blender with ~1/3 cup plain, unsweetened soy milk, and blended until smooth. Absolutely delicious, and refreshing.

Then I just spent 1/2 and hour listing around the kitchen thinking I should make a salad or something for appearances sake, but realized I’m really not hungry, so I probaby shouldn’t. I promise, I’ll come up with something more entertaining tomorrow!

Superthick June 9, 2009

I ate my green monster with a spoon this morning, it was so thick. I went with a classic peach/mango combo today along with spinach, chia seeds, and ice instead of water. And it was soooooo gooood

For lunch there was a salad mess of zucchini, carrot, and Devil Dawg with yogurt, mustard, and chive dressing.

And a bowl of steamed kabocha with teriyaki sauce. I understand how this squash can be habit forming…

And in the afternoon I snacked on blueberries and a non-fuzzy golden kiwi (with the skin!).

When I got home I nabbed a dried peach before it could get in front of the camera while busy chopping up mushrooms for a giant stirfry. The rest of the bowl was filled with snow peas, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Shitake + snow peas + sesame has to be one of my all time favourite combos.

And for dessert there was a large slice of juicy sweet honeydew. And I went back for a sliver more, of course.

Mango Mint Madness June 8, 2009

Note to self: Catch up on sleep tonight.

After thoroughly enjoying the movie One Week last night, which made me want to take a road trip across the country, or at least to Northern Ontario, where I’ve never been, it took forever to fall asleep. Which meant I was very reluctant to get up this morning. But my green monster started to wake me up by the time I left for work. In the mix was banana, mango, chia seeds, chocolate mint, and a couple handfuls of spinach. Om nom nom…

Later in the morning I snacked on these biscotti thins that were found in the work kitchen. Well, technically I ate a different package, and brought these home for a picture…and because they were really good.

For lunch I brought the left over steamed broccoli and kabocha, sprinkled with soy sauce, along with a carrot and celery. And a Devil Dawg, which the cubicle-mate tried and loved and requested the recipe for

And for and afternoon snack there was handful of snow peas with bean dip, and the rest of the Saturn peaches.

Then finally, for dinner I had a giant spin-zuke-shroom salad doused in BBBV.

Plus a delicious homemade (not by me) peanut butter granola bar. Only half of it made it onto the plate though, the crumbly bits went directly from bag to mouth.

Fruit Infusion May 28, 2009

I went a little bit crazy last night when I got up in the midle of the night and opened my window for some fresh air. Because when I woke up this morning my room was cold and dark and there was rain pouring outside (but not inside, because my window only opens a crack). Let’s just say, all plans for a green monster were quickly abandoned. But my breakfast was still nice and colourful, and the vita-mix still came in handy . I drew inspiration from Heather and cooked some oat bran, then blended it with kale, pumpkin pie spice, and a banana. Then topped the oats with a spoonful of coconut. And it was delicious, of course.

Then I went a bit fruit crazy while preparing my lunch and snack. For lunch I fixed up a giant salad of spring mix topped with carrot, cucumber,red pepper, and a whole pile of mango. I was really enjoying the forkfuls of pepper and mango left at the end.

For a snack I had an Ambrosia apple with raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. Then I also had a few Kashi crackers offered to me by the cubicle-mate. They were supposed to be Honey Sesame, but they must have missed the powdering step at the manufacturing plants, because they were just plain, though still tasty.

When I got home I was really hungry so I quickly grabbed small bowlful of Dorset Fruits, Nuts, and Seeds Cereal.

For dinner I drew inspiration for this morning’s Hungry Girl email. I steamed a pile of asparagus and a salmon filet with lemon, and topped it with yogurt, lemon, and sage, then rolled it up in a tortilla. Absolutely wonderful wrap. Plus I had a Zucchini Spelt Muffin (the last one ) for dessert.

And I can’t believe I didn’t know So You Think You Can Dance was on last night and missed it! At least I’ll make up for it by enjoying it even more tonight.

There’s a Toe in My Furkey May 27, 2009

The sun was being incredibly uncooperative this morning. As in it was too busy hiding behind rain clouds to shed natural light on my breakfast and lunch. It brought me back to the dark days of winter, alas.

In order to brighten things up a bit I went tropical with my green monster. Kale, chia seeds, banana, and mango. Plus lots of ice since I took it with me to work to sip through the morning.

At home I did have a Zucchini Spelt Muffin.

For lunch I packed a wrap stuffed with Tofurkey, red pepper, spring mix, dino cheese, and lots of mustard. I had also packed a salad but ended up having it for dinner instead.

In the afternoon I snacked on a giant Honeycrisp apple and some cucmber slices.

For dinner I had the salad I made for lunch, zucchini, red pepper, carrot, and aspargus with BBBV (Back to Basics Balsamic Vinegrette) except I proteinfied it with scallops sauteed in an extra splash of balsamic vinegar.

And finally dessert was a handful of raisins and craisins. Plus a camera shy spoonful of crunchy PB.

What do you mean I need to go to work today? May 20, 2009

So it’s been a whole week since I went to the office, but this morning I had to go all the way up to work and spend the sitting in my cubicle. Don’t get me wrong, I like the work I get to do at the office (when I actually get work to do), but it was fun to do something more active and involved last week will doing the site inspection. At least we’re going to start inspecting another subway station soon, and it’ll take longer because we’re doing the WHOLE station instead of a couple of pedestrian passageways. Plus the station is even closer to home for me, I’ll probably just walk there
Before heading our for the commute this morning I crunched on a carrot with sunflower seed butter (which was amazing, I need to remember to eat this more often) as well as a Ginger Snap Larabar. I loved this bar, it has to be my favourite so far. I’ve been meaning to by ground ginger forever, and this bar will likely remind me to do it this weekend so I can replicate it.

For lunch I reverted back to the salad mess (can you tell I’m likeing these?). This incarnation contained caulifower, orange pepper, canned salmon, broccoli sprouts, and citrusy bean dip. Broccoli sprouts + bean dip = brilliant.

I also brought along the (somewhat) daily green monster. This mix included spinach, kale, chocolate mint, chia seeds, banana, mango, and a few frozen grapes.   But I never got aroung to drinking it a work, so I’m having it for dinner instead.  Minty, fruity love.

I did also have a 100 calorie pack of shortbread cookies from a very large pile in the kitchen at work for lunch dessert.  I doubt I’ll get hungry again before I go to bed, but if I do I’ll tack it onto tomorrow’s post.  My computer keeps telling me it want’s to turn itself off to update, so I’m taking it as a sign to read a novel for the rest of the evening.

I passed! May 19, 2009

I passed the first test I’ve had in over a year!  Not that I was expecting to fail or anything, it was for a safety training course, multiple choice, and not exactly designed to make you fail.  But it’s fun to hear that I passed anyway, and to earn a new sticker for my hard hat.  And to get a pretty cool tour around and subway yard, including checking out the bottom of a subway car.

Breakfast this morning started with RED monster.  I blended up the stalks from my beet greens, a tomato, chia seeds, raspberries, grapes, and a Nutribiotic Mixed Berry Brown Rice Protein Powder packet.  Besides, being a fun electric pink, it was pretty good…after I added a big spoonful of maple syrup.  The beet green stalks were fine, but let’s just say I’m never adding a tomato again.  Luckily, the extra sugar solved the acidic problem.  I guess I still don’t like tomato juice after all these years.

For lunch I brought a bagel-wich filled with avocado, tofu marinated in liquid smoke, and citrusy bean dip.  I was trying to go for a bacon type effect like actual smoked tofu (Pete’s really does taste like bacon), and while I didn’t really get it, the liquid smoke was still really good in the sandwich.

I also packed some red pepper strips and a Chocolate Chip Clif bar (which I shared with the cubicle-mate who was also doing the training session).

For dinner I fixed up two salads.  One featured a new vegetable for me, broccoli sprouts.

I chopped up some romaine and carrots and topped them with the sprouts, and a big dollop of citrusy bean dip mixed with avocado.  The sprouts were really good.  They were a bit peppery, which went perfectly with the creamy dip.  Toronto sprouts has some pretty cool mixes, and I get the impression they’re quite widely available in the GTA (I bought mine from Loblaws, but I see them in most of the smaller health food stores around too). Though, their own store has just closed because they’re moving to a bigger location.

The second salad was a fruity one. I chopped up honeydew, mango, (frozen) pineapple, banana, raspberries, and blueberries, then drizzled the bowl with a little agave syrup, simply delicious.