Falafel-ly Yummy July 16, 2009

Only half a day left to what has been a pretty crazy busy week! And it looks like I’ll actually get the weekend off, yay! All the better for going to see some wizarding action at the movies. However, tomorrow will also likely bring with it the posting of my tuition fees to my account, ewwww. I’m predicting $9400, which I know isn’t that much compared to some American schools, but compared to Arts and Science programs at most Canadian universities, that’s high! Silly engineering being a professional program.

Anyways, this morning started off a bit differently since I didn’t have to go to all the way up to work (in Markham) right away, only to Spadina Station for the morning. I thoroughly enjoyed a bowlful of oatgurt topped off with a peach and a spoonful of maple syrup. This bowl was truly divine!

I was able to stop off again at home around noon to drop off my hard hat, vest, and safety boots and grabbed some melon while I was at it to hold me over for the ride up to work.

Once there I munched through a container of cucumber, red pepper, carrot, and cherries. Plus I had most of a fresh whole wheat bagel I found in the work kitchen for someone’s birthday. And yes, I’ll admit it, that is a hair in my lunch and not on your computer screen. It was removed after the picture. At least it was my own 🙂

I was a busy bee all afternoon and didn’t get home till almost 8, at which point I made sliders! Not your typical slider though. On a base of collard greens I stacked tomato, cucumber, Sol Falafel patties, and the tahini-lemon sauce they came with. Om nom nom. Those patties are pretty awesome.

Leftovers Galore July 14, 2009

This morning started out with a sweet and tasty green monster. In the mix was lots of kale, a banana, nectarine, and chia seeds.

For lunch I repeated my lunch from yesterday (I just made extra yesterday), with a salad mess of broccoli, zucchini, asparagus, red pepper, and a hemp nut butter/lemon/mustard dressing.

I had the most wonderful snack, a fresh batch of oatgurt with a peach and a tiny drizzle of maple syrup. Absolutely delicious. And you can tell there are definitely bacteria growing when the lid of the container you put your snack in is puffing out when you go to open it in the afternoon. I’m counting on them being good bacteria considering they haven’t made me sick yet 🙂

For dinner I used the rest of my sprouted amaranth mixed with tahini and lemon juice to make a tabouli type deal with parsley, sage, tomato, and carrot. It’s really good, plus there are even more leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

And cherries for dessert.

Southern Hemi Influence July 8, 2009

This morning started out with a tried and true monster combo, spinach, chia seeds, banana, and papaya.

For lunch I had yet another salad mess with asparagus, zucchini, red pepper, carrot, beet, avocado, and the rest of my nectarine, balsamic, and tarragon dressing.

Which was followed by a cinnamon raisin ezekiel sandwich stuffed with an awesome PB2, dried apricot, cinnamon and maple flake filling.

And in the afternoon I snacked on the rest of my mulberries.

Then for dinner I was craving something weird (for the season), orange. So I stopped by the grocery store and picked up a clementine which probably came from WAY south of the equator and used it to top a beet green salad which was dressed with sesame oil and orange juice concentrate. And along that I had a tower pile of steamed broccoli and a tiny beet topped with raw mole. And the whole plate got a sprinkling of sesame seeds to make it look a bit prettier.

And dessert, dark chocolate!

Jiggle in a Wigglin’ Spree May 22, 2009

As promised, last night there was spice cake, with maple icing even. Don’t mind the flat appearance of the cake, my roomie bought an old cookbook from the 1930s and made a few radical substitutions. He used whole wheat pastry flour instead of white (though we were wondering if they even had white flour back then), and he used 1T butter plus 1 1/4 cups 1% milk instead of 1 cup cream and 1/4 cup milk. So while the wasn’t very light and fluffy, it did taste absolutely delicious. And the icing recipe called for Log Cabin Syrup, but we upgraded it to maple, which was fantastic with the spice cake 🙂

This morning I started out with a SUPER strong green monster. I wanted to actually drink it at home, instead of bringing it with me to work, and I want to have enough room left over to enjoy part two of breakfast, so I used the usual amount of kale (3-4 leaves), a foot long sprig of mint, only half a banana (instead of 1 plus a few chunks of other fruit), 1 T of chia seeds (instead of 2), and enough water to make a bit over a cup of green monster (instead of 3-4 cups). Let’s just say it was a bit stronger than I anticipated, but I drank it.

And I was still hungry enough to fully enjoy this big plateful of watermelon chunks (that didn’t fit into the big container destined for the fridge nor the bag for the freezer, so obviously it had to ALL be eaten this morning).

For lunch I had delicious (and out of focus) spinach salad topped with beets, carrot, and Back to Basics Balsamic Vinaigrette.

When I got home from work in the middle of the afternoon I had an extra sliver of spice cake…or two.

And for dinner I had another salad that did an excellent job of cleaning out the fridge at the end of the week. This one was a base of romaine, spinach, and hidden broccoli sprouts which I piled high with grape tomatoes, two fried eggs, “grilled” portobello mushroom, and lots citrusy bean dip (in order to finish the container). I grilled the mushrooms in a sandwich maker, and it worked surprisingly well (though no grill marks), I’m glad I had that idea. It helped that the mushrooms happened to be bread slice sized to start with.

And another idea I’m glad I had produced a lovely dessert I’m enjoy right now. Stash Goji Berry Green Tea + gelatin + agave nectar = wiggly jiggly goodness. This might become my go-to summer dessert, it’s pretty awesome. I started out by mixing the agave with the tea + gelatin, but the jello didn’t taste very sweet after it had set. So I mashed up the jello a little with my spoon and stirred in a drizzle more of agave, which gives the perfect amount of sweetness surrounding each bit. Next time, I’ll skip the agave in the jello and just add it at the end. I’d love to get my hands on some coconut chai to make jello out of, that sounds really good to me.

And I’m planning on a bit of chocolate later, Green and Black’s Milk Chocolate to be exact.

Unfortunately, it looks like I’m going to have to sit out of this week’s BSI over at Say Yes to Salad, I can’t find kabocha ANYWHERE! I’ll have to try one more time tomorrow and go up to Whole Foods.  I did puchase (what I hope will be) a pretty awesome new food though.  But you have to wait til tomorrow to see it 🙂

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.

Dippity-Do-Dah May 18, 2009

It was a dippity-do-day. And a wonderful lounge-y day.

This morning I leisurely made a batch of Raspberry Cornmeal Pancakes from ED&BV for my roomie and I, and we both loved them. They were especially good topped with his uncle’s maple syrup

For lunch I whipped up the first dip of the day, and made up citrus bean dip. It contained the dredges of my bags of chickpeas, kidney beans, and a few pintos to up the volume (~1.5 cups total after cooking). Then I added the juice of 4 sad little limes that have been drying up on the counter, and a pathetic looking orange that might have started growing a little bit of fuzz on the outside, plus a handful of thyme, a bit of sage, and a sprig of rosemary (that wasn’t large enough to actually taste). It turned out to be a pretty good dip. I scooped it up with red and yellow pepper strips, carrot, cucumber, and steamed broccoli. And lunch dessert was a side of honeydew melon.

In the afternoon I snacked on a couple of the best tasting yogurts ever (that I’ve tried so far, having no access to crazy american brands). And I ended up eating the last two pancakes leftover from breakfast too, reheated in the toaster (but no repeat pic).

The pancakes might have ruined my appetite for dinner a little, so I just sat down to a plate of steamed cauliflower and a tomato paired with dip number two of the day. A mashed avocado mixed with lemon juice and some massamun curry paste, deliciously creamy.

And now I need to pack a lunch and head to bed soon so I can get up EARLY to go to a training session that will allow me to wander around subway tunnels without getting electrocuted by the third rail 🙂

Mama needs to learn her colours May 12, 2009

As in Mother Nature. Why are all the purple vegetables called red? Red cabbage, red onion, and now red kale. Which featured in my delicious afternoon snack. But we’ll get to that in a bit.

For breakfast I started out with a fantastically awesome bowl of oatmeal. For some reason, I’ve never actually made pumpkin oats. I liked the idea, and it sounded good, it just never actually happen. That changed this morning. In the bowl is oatmeal, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup, and pumpkin seed butter. Amazing! I now understand why some people eat it so often.  The maple syrup helped too though, it’s so good!  From my roomie’s uncle’s sugar shack…because we only have 3 jugs of it occupying space in the fridge…plenty to last us the year.

For lunch I chopped up a red pepper, carrots, cucumber, and strawberries (sorry, no art today).

And I had a delicious green monster throughout the afternoon. I tried two new things in my smoothie today, red (aka purple) kale, and Vanilla Spirutein. Both were excellent, especially when combined with a banana, mango, and pineapple. There was a gritty nature to my monster, which might have been from the protein powder, but it could also have been from the pineapple since it was the core that I added. Either way I didn’t mind at all, I’m used to the slightly gritty ground chia seeds anyways.

I even got my cubicle-mate to try it. She obviously saw the green colour first and was intrigued, then when she caught of whiff of the scent she loved it, so I offered her a taste. She liked it, and asked what was in it. And the next question was “What’s kale?” Hehehe…oh dear.

There might have been a few parnoosh dates consumed upon arrival at the apartment, but the camera didn’t see.

Then for dinner I steamed a huge pile of broccoli, cooked up some chicken with sesame oil, and sliced a tomato with salt and pepper. Perfect.

And for a shocker, no cake tonight!

Orange and Green May 7, 2009

Those two colours seem to have been the unintentional theme today.

It was dark and cold and rainy when I got up this morning, which made me want a warm breakfast.  So I threw some of the awesome Hewitt’s oats my mom gave me, some Dorset Fruits, Nuts, and Seeds cereal, cinnamon, and a banana in a pot with water.  That oatmeal is seriously good…

While my breakfast was cooking I was busy chopping up some fruit and veggies for work.  I filled the classy broken-cornered Rubbermaid container with carrot, red pepper, snow peas, cucumber, and steamed broccoli sprinkled with lime juice.  And I channeled my inner Picasso while packing everything up.

The fruit side was covered by an orange, a granny smith apple, and blackberries.

For dinner I rediscovered the can of pumpkin that’s been hiding on the top shelf of the fridge.  Well, it was actually in plain view, but I tend to keep my food on the middle shelf, so if I stick something on the top shelf my eyes like to skip over it.  I sauteed more of the giant vidalia onion with mushrooms and soft tofu in olive oil, then mixed in pumpkin, water, pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup and a handful of chives, blended, then topped with a spoonful of yogurt for a delicious (and rather large!) bowl of soup.

Very Vert May 5, 2009

This morning started off with a bowl of President’s Choice Cinnamon Spice Multigrain Oatmeal (uncooked) mixed with a little maple syrup and topped with almond butter and a golden delicious apple. I loved dipping the apple in the oats before each bite for a crunchy coating.

For lunch I brought along a container of carrot, snow peas, cucumber, and red pepper.

As well as a fruit selection including tomato, blood orange, cantaloupe, and mango. Really good mango…

Later in the afternoon I tried an Elevate Me! Blueberry Cranberry Goji Berry Boost Bar. This bar was really good, I could definitely taste the berries, and they tasted REAL (which they were, obviously, but some bars still manage to taste fake). I think this would take second place behind the Chocolate Coconut Chew bar in an Elevate Me flavour competition.

When I came home I had a few dates before leaving again to run some errands.

And when I got home for the second time, I wanted dinner, but didn’t feel like cooking, and was craving a green monster. So I went SUPER-GREEN with green grapes, a lime, spinach, a banana, chia seeds, Natura unsweetened soy milk, and a little stevia.

This monster hit the spot perfectly, I loved the lime addition.

And finally my fellow Canadians may be interested in this sample up for grabs.

Where did spring go? April 24, 2009

It seems like spring has just started, yet tomorrow we’re set to jump into summer with a toasty high of 27!  That just seems a bit excessive.  But you can count on me mixing up some icy eats in the vita-mix.  But first what I ate today.

The day started with breakfast.  I have no greens left in the fridge OR freezer aside from romaine and the rest of the frozen asparagus.  And those seem wrong for a green monster.  So this morning I fixed up a veggie devoid smoothie (shocking, I know).  I drank up a tasty combination of Natura unsweetened soy milk, banana, Kaizen chocolate protein powder, PB2, and cocoa powder.  Pure choco-peanut-banana deliciousness.

I actually sipped that all morning long, and also had a russet apple with peanut butter first thing.

For lunch I had the rest of my pepper squash lentil soup.

And in the afternoon I snacked my way through an orange, pear, tomato, carrot, and cucumber.

Then for dinner I made a lazy-chefs salad, wherein I couldn’t be bothered to cut up the veggies into bite size pieces.  So my salad turned into romaine lettuce wraps filled with carrot, red pepper, and asparagus edamummus.

And for dessert I had poor man’s pie.  A slice of poppy seed rye bread topped with BUDD-AH and maple syrup instead of the traditional molasses, YUMMY.