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!

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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.

Beats a Frappuccino Any Day May 26, 2009

Strawberries and Cream green monster, yes please! I even have an ingredients shot for you because I was anticipating the colour of the actual drink to be kinda gross. My strawberries were looking pretty sad, so I used a lot to finish off the container.

The rest of the mix was kale, Natura unsweetened soymilk, and chia seeds. And it was creamy, dreamy, and delicious. And surprisingly green.

For lunch I happily chomped through the other half of last night’s burger, topped with stone ground mustard and ketchup. Just as delicious as before.

And I had a salad of zucchini, carrot, and grape tomatoes tossed in Back to Basics Balsamic Vinegrette.

Later in the afternoon I enjoyed a few blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries along with a Zucchini Spelt muffin. These muffins were good to start with, but after a day or two, they are truely amazing, so moist and flavourful! It might have something to do with the freshly grated nutmeg.

Then for dinner I brought out my steaming contraption (big pot, colander, and lid from another pot that happen to fit together perfectly), and fixed up some artichokes and aspargaus. For the dip I deviated from my typical tahini and lemon juice, and tryed a mix of hemp nut butter, fresh squeezed lemon, pepper, and thyme instead. And it was equally wonderful.

And for dessert I finished off the watermelon in the fridge and had another muffin, yummy.

Dinosaurs for Lunch May 25, 2009

This morning’s breakfast was going to be a green monster. But then I saw the roomie brought home some yogurts last night, so I nabbed myself one of those instead. Except instead of the granola it came with, I sprinkled on top a crumbled Zucchini Spelt muffin, and added a bit of plain yogurt to up the volume/reduce the sweetness.

For lunch I packed myself a giant salad containing romaine, cucumber, carrot, red pepper, and asparagus along with some Back to Basics Balsamic Vinegrette.

Plus a sandwich of Tofurkey, spring mix, cheese dinos, and Big Bull steak sauce on half a multigrain roll (the top half). I liked the tofurkey, this was the first time I’ve tried it and it makes a really good sandwich. It makes me want to make another batch of my own seitan using my new liquid smoke, and maybe adding the steak sauce directly to the “meat”?.

I also brought along some watermelon, strawberries, and the rest of the peach for afternoon snacking.

Then when I got home I made a rather extravagant dinner. Extravagant due to the price of the raw materials! I was in a spendy sort of mood when I went in search of kabocha at whole foods this weekend, and while they failed me in the squash department, I made out with with a package of Beretta Farms extra lean ground beef. Organic, grass fed, and local, yes please! $12/lb….um, once in a while, sure (but don’t tell my mom, she taught me to never pay more than $4/lb for meat)!

I saved part the meat for the freezer, and mixed some with parsley, roasted garlic, salt and pepper. Then shaped it into a giant burger, cooked up up, and ate half sandwiched on part of the remaining bun from lunch. My burger toppings were simple, more parsley and stone ground mustard. Absolutely delicious, I’m in love with parsley.

I thoroughly enjoyed it with leftover salad from lunch.

Chinese Bakery Day May 24, 2009

Breakfast this morning started out with an Activia Peach and Cereals Yogurt.

And it finished with raspberries, blueberries, and a handful of trail mix.  Which included awesome macadamia nuts.

I’ve been craving chinese bakery buns for a while now, and while it is rather unhealthy, it’s a rare occurance, so I figure it’s okay to indulge once in a while.  I paid a visit to chinatown and came out with a few goodies.  For lunch I had some steamed sticky rice with chicken in it, and a hot dog roll.  Plus grape tomatoes and half a small romaine heart drizzled in Back to Basics Balsamic Vinagrette for a little green.  Why is chinese bakery bread so good? (I know, lots of fat, no fiber).

All afternoon I was drinking lots of this.  And it was delicious and refreshing.  Chocolate mint, lemon slices, ice and water.

Late afternoon I made a batch of Zucchini Spelt Muffins from ED&BV.  I made half the recipe but still made 9 muffins because my silicone muffin liners are small.  They turned out really well, and they taste so good!  I’m looking forward to having them for breakfasts and snacks for the rest of the week.

For dinner I made zucchini fries tossed in teriyaki sauce and a tuna sausage.  I was really impressed by the sausage, from what I can tell it’s just chopped up chunks of tuna (ie. no filler) that have been seasoned and stuffed into the casing.  I don’t know what brand it was though, I just found them individually packaged on styrofoam trays like the other fresh fish fillets in the seafood case at Metro.  And double dinner dessert was a Zucchini Spelt muffin and a red bean mochi from the bakery.  I love me some glutinous rice.

And now that laundry’s done I need to make my bed and go to sleep.  I accidentally stayed up until almost four last night (this morning?) reading, but was still up by eight, so I am TIRED tonight.

Sweet and Sunny Friday March 27, 2009

What a warm and beautiful sunny day, I’ll accept yesterday’s rain along with today’s sun if it means winter is really over. This lovely Friday morning started out with a sweet treat for breakfast. Rooting around in the cupboard last night I found a jar of toffee sprinkles my roomie brought home from the ‘bucks ages ago. Throwing caution to the wind I added a liberal dosing of the tasty artificially flavoured corn syrup bits on top of my steel cut oats mixed with ground flax. A little bit, once in a while won’t kill me. And they were good, especially along with the spoonful of amazing Maranatha organic creamy peanut butter. Peanut Toffee Buzz is a Clif bar flavour, right? I entirely understand the flavour combination now. I also happily consumed my last cute little red delicious apple. Alas, no more “just for kids” fruits for me.

Later in the morning I tested a new (to me) variety of apple, Piñata, it was good, but I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between it and a gala without the label sticker. I also had a juicy blood orange. The apple is not pink inside, that’s just a drop of juice from the orange, it was making itself difficult to seperate into sections.

For a late lunch I munched my way through a giant pile of veggies along with some egg white fried in a bit of sesame oil. There was raw red and green pepper strips, carrot slices, and steamed broccoli.

For some reason I was starving by the end of the afternoon, I had no emergency snacks, and there were donuts and muffins in the kitchen due to birthdays.  So after resisting for a while, I finally chose a Tim Horton’s Wheat Carrot Muffin.  I only ate the top though.  I forgot how greasy store bought muffins can be…

Since I wasn’t starving any more, I took a detour on the way home from work and stopped by Planet Organic. They have two locations in the northern outskirts of Toronto and one in Missisauga (as well as BC, Edmonton, Calgary, and Halifax). Nomally I wouldn’t go to a grocery store so far from home, but someone mentioned them to me and out of curiousity I checked out their website. I saw on their flyer that a) Clif bars are on sale for a decent price, not the lowest ever, but decent and b) they say they have 13 flavours available. Now I don’t know about you other Canadians, but I can only count 7 flavours of clif bars I’ve seen in stores. So I had to go check them out. The fact that it’s a nice day for a walk helped.   And with images of apricots, blueberry crisp, and white chocolate macadamia nuts in my head, I set out.  Unfortunately, they lied a little and they cheated a little.  They lied because there were only 11 flavours, and they cheated because 11 includes the number of Luna bar flavours (I guess technically they’re Clif bars too).  Grrrr.  Ironically, there was one flavour I haven’t seen anywhere else, Peanut Toffee Buzz.  So as an ode to my breakfast I pick up a couple.  I probably won’t go back to Planet Organic though, over all they’re more expensive for the same products that are available in more convenient locations for me.

I tried a bite of the Clif bar when I got home.  It was good, but not great compared to the incredile discovery that was my oat toppings.  The bar needed more peanutyness.

Eventually for a late dinner I fixed up a quick salad of spinach, red pepper, carrot, lime juice, parmesan, and the last of the Sahale Snacks Socorro Macadamia nuts.  Nice and flavourful.