Sleepy Sunday July 12, 2009

So I didn’t nap before going to work last night, and instead drank a couple cups of coffee (mixed with freshly made almond milk and vanilla sugar). Oh my goodness, I am not used to caffeine. I was WIRED all night long. I think I’ve only had coffee one other time in the past year (and never have been a regular drinker), and it was just a single shot of espresso in a (latte art) latte, so I guess I kind of forgot how much coffee is too much. I also had the second piece of corn bread and a couple of carrots. I had everything set up for a picture, but apparently I didn’t actually take it, because it is nowhere to be found on my camera.

My stomach was slightly unhappy with my coffee consumption, so when I got home all I had before sleeping the morning away was a nectarine.

When I got up I enjoyed a banana spread with hemp nut butter.

Then while I was doing laundry, every time I walked by the sixth floor in the stairwell I could smell the most delicious salmon burger someone had cooked up. So for dinner I thawed a salmon fillet and marinated it in teriyaki sauce before panfrying. Along with that I finally tried out my first can of artichoke hearts, sauteed with olive oil and red onion, and tossed with whole wheat spaghetti. The final dish was good but I don’t think I’m a huge fan of the canned artichokes, I definitely couldn’t eat them plain…I’ll be sticking to the fresh ones in the future.

And for dessert, lacking in the veggie department but feeling unambitious in the food prep department, I mixed up a packet of Amazing Grass Kidz Superfood with water. Very tasty indeed. I’m interested in finding out how different the kids version tastes from the regular chocolate superfood powder. One note, the powder sure doesn’t do a very good job of staying in suspension in water, constant stirring is a necessity.

And now it’s time for more sleep, good night! (And some more green stuff tomorrow, I promise)

Goopy Sludge and Recognition June 10, 2009

Let’s try and make this quick, I’ve got some SYTYCD waiting for me 🙂

Goopy sludge # 1 of the day, green brown monster.  On the fruit side I chose banana, peach, and frozen raspberries.  And since I knew the raspberries would muddle the monster anyways, the green side was covered by leftover beet greens that had been hidden in the fridge and almost forgotten about, plus a little spinach, and chia seeds.  1/2 cup of cooked greens looks so small but packs a lot of punch!

My late morning snack consisted of a Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch Clif bar.  It was good, very cookie like, the peanuts were a nice addition without being in-your-face peanutty like the peanut butter flavour.  I would have been even happier with more chocolate chips though.

I was weird and swapped lunch and afternoon snack in the timing scheme of things since the clif bar did a good job of filling me up.  At lunch time I had a container of honeydew and blueberries.

Then later in the afternoon I dipped my way through goopy sludge #2 of the day.  I food processor-ized black beans, chili paste, PB2, lime juice, soy sauce, and a bit of water for a tasty spread.

And the dippers were carrot, cucumber, zucchini, and celery.

For dinner I started off with more honeydew (it’s a big melon, and really tasty!) and kiwi while I was waiting on the oven.

Then I had a fantastic serving of freshly baked kabocha, to which I added soy sauce when I got down to the  outer skin layer in order to make it super fabulous.

And along side that was amaranth pilaf.  I found amaranth a while ago from the bulk bins, and finally decided to cook it up with onion, parsley and thyme that got caramellized first before adding the grains and water.  They’re so cute and tiny!  And the pilaf had a fun chewy texture.  Although there was a slight bitter taste, so I think I was supposed to rinse the amaranth first, like you would quinoa.  At least I know for next time, and it was still pretty good.

And the recognition part of the day.  Every day I wake up and  look out my window to see a large billbord that is usually adorned with an advertisement for some CTV show.  Last year I wanted to ripe my eyes out a little bit after waking to Addison Sheppard for four months.  For the past few (3?) months the billboard has been bugging me because I didn’t know what show it was advertising.  I figure the title was hidden somehow in the gibberish behind the guy’s head but I could never pick it out.  This morning I was looking at the gibberish again and had a feeling I had seen it somewhere else recently.  I suddenly came to the realization that the advertisment is for The Listener!  Now I’m wondering why the sign has been up for months when the show only started airing last week (although apparently NBC aired it in March)…

Brought to you by the letter… May 17, 2009

B!  I noticed an unintentional theme to today while going back through my photos, beets, banana, beans, berries, bagel, balsalmic…  I seemed to be going through a certain section of the dictionary and eating all edible entries!

Let’s start off with another letter B, BSI: Bananas, courtsey of Lara at Thinspired. For breakfast this morning I fixed myself a beautiful bowl Banana Breakfast Pudding, which I originally accidentally made here. The recipe is simple, one banana, 1/3 package (~1/2 cup) soft silken tofu, 2-3 T water, and 1/3 cup oatmeal. Immersion blender, plus toppings = delicious 🙂

Though I would like to add a note that the quick cooking oats I used the first time blended more smoothly than the old-fashioned kind I used today. And my toppings of choice were raspberries and honeydew, sweet and summery.

For lunch I did a bit of chopping and trimming and came up with a fresh and flavourful salad of steamed green beans and beet root dressing with yogurt, apple cider vinegar, and tarragon. And on the side were two apricots that I picked up this morning, simply because they amused me in their extreme pointyness and non-fuzzyness (that are unfortunately a bit lost in the 2D photo). They were surprisingly too, apparently they’re “the first of the season”.

In the afternoon I snacked on half a bagel spread with strawberry, blackberry, and acai jam.

And a piece of chocolate. Cocoa Camino is awesome chocolate, but they could have added a few more (and larger) nut and berry pieces. Though the full size bar might have larger chunks in it, I may have to investigate that some time.

I was especially excited for dinner today after buying the beets in the morning. I usually don’t buy beets, because later in the summer I can easily get my fill for free from the parent’s garden, plus typically, I don’t even eat the root (that’s what compost piles are for, right?), just the greens, and grocery store beets tend to have pathetic greens. But today, I found a giant pile of beets sitting in the organic produce section with lots of BEAUTIFUL greens, and before I could even think about it, I found a bunch in my basket!

So for dinner tonight I sauteed the greens with sweet onion, tofu, olive oil, and a giant handful of parsley, thyme, and sage. Plus I pan “grilled” a portabello mushroom with balsamic vinegar and topped it with herbed goat cheese and tomato slices. Best dinner in a long time, the beet greens were so good!

And I did a even did a good job of trimming up my bountiful window herb garden. It’s grown a bit in the past three weeks, hadn’t it? I’ve even been cutting away at it before today…

And now for what will surely be a good Desperate Housewives finale, and getting ready to NOT go to work tomorrow, yay!

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.

Under the Sea April 30, 2009

I’ve inexplicably had that song stuck in my head all afternoon.  And I don’t know why, I didn’t even like The Little Mermaid when I was a kid.

Anyway, my breakfast this morning was a tasty blenderful of banana, apple, chia seeds, and spinach.

And lunch was a huge pile of various peppers and a couple of carrots.

Plus a pear and brie.

And I enjoyed the last of the Morning Glory bread.

I also grabbed a handful a my chinese trail mix I keep at work since I was starving by late afternoon.  I’ll get a picture some other time but it contains a variety of dried soy beans, raisins, goji berries, and pumpkin seeds, plus spices.  And it’s delicious.  My mom brought it back from Taiwan last time she went, but I’ve seen the same mix in chinese grocery store here.

Then for dinner I did an excellent job of cleaning out the fridge by steaming a pile of broccoli and tossing it with lime juice, stirfrying onion, mushroom, peppers, and snowpeas with sesame oil, and whipping up some egg fo yung (2 whole eggs, soy sauce, and sucanat).

Then to finish off (because I was really hungry, and that huge bowl wasn’t quite enough) I had half an enormous banana.

And now I need to go do a pile of dishes, and pack to go home for a visit tomorrow (and my mom’s birthday)!  I think I’ll have time to do tomorrow’s post before leaving, but expect a weekend recap on Sunday night or Monday when I get back 🙂  Though I don’t know how much of a post there will even be tomorrow because there’s a staff lunch at work and I plan to partake since my fridge is nicely emptied for the weekend away, and the hope of a shopping trip with a car on the way back….

Mixing things up April 28, 2009

This raining day started out with a mishmash breakfast of a beautiful bartlett pear, and egg with salt and pepper, and a breakfast cookie made simply of oatmeal, pumpkin, a few raisins, pumpkin pie spice, and a little stevia.  Random, but delicious.  I’ve been putting off a craving for pumpkin for a while because I needed to come up with something to do with the rest of the giant can.  I’ll think I’ll try freezing some.

Lunch was a slightly unphotogenic hodgepodge of fridge finds, red pepper, carrot, cucumber, lentils, snow peas, tofu and asparagus edamummus.  Again, random but delicious.

And in the afternoon I enjoyed a blended green monster of a banana, a russet apple, lots of spinach, and a couple spoonfuls of chia seeds.

When I got home I put the can of pumpkin to use to make sauce for a plate of steamed broccoli.  The sauce contains red onion and mushrooms sauteed in a little olive oil, then tossed with pumpkin, soft tofu, salt, pepper, and dried sage.  And with a sprinkle of lime juice on top, it turned into a delicious plate of food 🙂

And to finish the night, dessert was a delightful fruit and cheese affair.  Pineapple and brie to be exact.  This Allegro low-fat brie tastes rather amazing, I wasn’t missing triple creme brie in the least (well, that’s probably because I haven’t had any in years and forget just how tasty it is), and was perfectly happy to save the 40 or so cals per ounce.

I think I’m in love April 18, 2009

The good thing that I was hoping would work out today, did in fact happen. And as a result I’ve been having way too much fun in the kitchen.

But first breakfast. It was simple, and I wasn’t very hungy. I headed down to St. Lawrence Market and bought entire basket of russet apples, because they’re probably my favourite variety, and can be hard to find. So I had one along with a handful of Sahale Snacks Pomegranate Vanilla Cashews. Delicious.

For lunch I fixed up a quick wrap with a La Tortilla Factory Multigrain wrap, cucumber, red pepper, dill pickle, egg white, and whole grain dijon. It satisfied my craving for tangy salty dills.

In the afternoon I had an awesome green monster made with lots of spinach, a russet apple, a date, and water/ice.

Then a bit later I had a bowlful of strawberry banana sorbet.

And the rest of the sorbet topped with some raw pumpkin seed butter. I swear the butter looks A LOT greener in real life. It just refused to photograph green.

Can you guess what I did in the lobby of a stranger’s apartment building with a wad of cash after lunch today?

I’ll give you a hint, here’s my dinner about 5 minutes before I ate it.

I bought a VITA-MIX!!!!

And I love it. Thanks to craigslist it only cost me $275CND.  I’ve wanted one since I saw a demo at the CNE last summer, and when I saw it for that price I knew I had to act quickly.

I also made the almond milk that I used in the sorbet, since I just ran out of almond breeze anyway. And even with making all that stuff this afternoon/evening, there’s hardly any mess at all in the kitchen.

My dinner, after blending, became a beautiful carrot celeriac soup which contained ~1/3 celeriac root, 1 huge carrot, 1 small onion, 1 Kallo no salt veggie boullion cube, ~ cup water, pepper, thyme. And I ate half of that. I had celeriac for the first time as remoulade in France, and I fell in love with it, but this is the first time I’ve cooked with it myself, so I’m so happy the soup turned out very nicely.

Are you going to Scarborough Fair Bluffs? April 12, 2009

Today was a fun adventure to Scarborough Bluffs (33+ km > 3/4 marathon!). I’ve heard of them before, but never seen them, and going there has been on my todo list for a while.

But first breakfast, Peanut Toffee oats again. I cooked oat bran in unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, then topped it with peanut butter and toffee sprinkles. As delicious as ever.

I passed by these.  They don’t seem to have been adversely affected by the snow and cold since last weekend…

I timed the affair so I would get to Bluffer’s Park around lunch time.

I brought along some highly portable sustenance, a Raw Revolution Spirulina and Cashew bar, and a couple small bottle of water. The bar was delicous, but it a bit oily on the fingers. I especially liked the whole almonds and cashews hiding in it.

Then I had fun taking some pictures.

This little guy didn’t seem to mind that I was kneeling a couple feet away from him.

He was much more interested in eating his grassy lunch.

It’s not exactly yachting season yet…

But there were a few people around.

One of the nicer views of downtown TO on the way home from the Prince Edward Viaduct.

By the time I got home I was starving for some early dinner, and luckily my roomie was just finishing a huge pot of stuff, and offered to share (aka he made way too much and wanted help eating it up). I know there’s rice, lentils, parsnips, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, and soy sauce involved.

I also snacked on a plateful of snow peas, celery, and carrot along with a dollop of hummus.

Later in the evening I was hungry again for a snack, and realized I might have gotten a bit of a sunburn on my face from being outside for >7 hours (oops), so I went in search of a source of antioxidants, figuring they could only help.

My eyes landed upon a box of acai berry juice that’s being hanging out in the pantry for a while. This was the first time I tried this, and the juice was really good, but I was a bit put off by the layer of brown/green fat on top of it (that’s supposed to be there, right?). I’m not sick now so I suppose it is. And if the antioxidants are fat-soluble, then they are now on my lips, which I can only suppose will help with the burn.

I enjoyed the juice along with a piece of microwaved sweet potato with nutmeg, and a slice of Balderson 2 year old cheddar cheese.

And now I’m ready for bed, good night!

BSI Cabbage: Sweet Cabbage Dessert Soup March 22, 2009

This morning started out a bit late after I slept in.  I was in the mood for something quick for breakfast, and there’s not much else faster than cereal, so I filled a bowl with Kashi Seven Whole Grain Puffs, and finished a box of Nature’s Path Blueberry Almond Muesli.  No more freeze dried blueberry blue milk for me.  There was also a bit of unsweetened vanilla Almond breeze involved.

Later I had a blood orange and many cups of tea, mostly herbal.  I was working on clearing out the overflowing tea cupboard.  I discovered that Celestial Seasonings Strawberry Kiwi tea is really sweet, I actually went to check the package to see if there was somehow sugar hiding in the tea bag (there wasn’t).

When I started to get hungry for lunch I got to work on this week’s BSI entry.  Christina chose cabbage as the ingredient of the week, and I had half a head of red cabbage already in the fridge.  I did some thinking and came up with a flavour combination that sounded good, if a bit odd.  So here you have a recipe for Sweet Cabbage Dessert Soup.  I just can’t decide weather it should be a regular soup or a dessert soup, since it turned out sweeter than I expected, and for some reason tastes really rich (but in a good way).  I had it for lunch and it filled me up nicely.

The soup ingredients to make about 4 cups are:

1 onion, chopped
2 tsp almond oil (any not-strongly flavoured oil should be fine, my other choices were olive and sesame)
2 carrots, chopped (mine happened to be purple and yellow, but orange should be fine)
1/2 head red cabbage, roughly chopped
1 grapefruit, chopped
1 cup brewed mint tea
2 tsp dried mint
2 oz creme de cassis (black currant liquor)

I started out by caramellizing the onion very well in the oil.

Then I added all the other ingredients, carrots on the bottom, in the tea to boil, cabbage on top to steam, brought the pot to a boil, and let them simmer for about ten minutes, until the carrots are tender  (remember, more liquids appear out of the veggies).  After a stir it looked like this.

At which point I pureed the lot with my handy stick blender.  I like my pureed soup thick, so you might want to add some more mint tea or water at this point for a thinner consistency.

And I topped the bowl with an optional spoonful of yogurt and more dried mint (although fresh would have been a prettier garnish).  Part way through enjoying my bowl I realized it reminds me of the rhubarb sauce my mom make every summer.  It would actually probably go really well chilled on ice cream.  I think I’m leaning towards calling it a dessert soup.

And since these giveways tie in so nicely,

This soup would be even better pureed super smooth in a vitamix such as the one is being given away over at Jumbo Empanadas

And instead of the creme de cassis, I’m betting a shot of POM would work well, and can be had for free with coupons from Oh She Glows.

Anyway, speaking of ice cream, later in the afternoon I treated myself to some half-fat Vanilla Haagen Dasz.  Yummy.  But multiple that bowl by 2, it was a half serving anyway.  I also nibbled on a few FoodShouldTasteGood Chocolate tortilla chips.

Dinner time rolled around and I retrieved the half of the seitan burger I brought home last night from the fridge and made a new one.  Sitting on a whole wheat english muffin (organic from Whole Foods, really good) is romaine lettuce, the seitan patty, Big Bull Steak sauce, whole grain dijon mustard, broiled emmental cheese, and grape tomatoes.  A tasty burger indeed.  I should try making seitan some time….

Now I have some Nature’s Path Optimum Rebound cereal waiting for me to snack on while watching the Sunday night CTV trifecta of The Mentalist, Amazing Race, and Desperate Houswives.  Before heading to bed so I can get up for work tomorrow….

Layers of ‘Liciousness March 19, 2009

This morning started out with a wonderfully crunchy bowl of Kashi GoLean cereal with a banana, cinnamon, raisins, and unsweetened vanilla almond breeze.  The rest of the banana is hiding under the cereal.

Later in the morning I munched on a tasty Ruth’s Lemon Hazelnut Maca Power bar.  This bar is really good, it’s more pineapple hazelnut than lemon with big pieces of dried pineapple and plentiful nuts, and I love the chewyness of the hempseeds.  It’s a really good flavour combination that I haven’t seen anywhere else.

For lunch I dug into a container of sweet potato (the skin is hiding underneath), Yves Italian Veggie Ground Round, lentils, cucumber, and Big Bull steak sauce.  I mixed everything up before eating it, and it was delicious, sweet and savoury at the same time.

Then for a snack I had strawberries and yogurt, a wonderfully simple combination.

And finally for dinner I had a heaping plate of layers.  Starting from the bottom is onions and mushrooms caramelized  in olive oil and thyme, quinoa, steamed broccoli slaw, sole, and a topping of whole grain dijon mustard and a bit of parmesan cheese.  A lot of flavours again, but the end product was scrumptious (to borrow a word from the delightful Sharon)!

Now I’m finishing the night with the rest of the fruit salad.