Trust My Intuition

I wasn’t in much of a mood to cook anything too work intensive tonight for dinner, so I decided to make a simple stir fry of whole wheat penne pasta (1.5 cups cooked), a whole yellow bell pepper, broccoli, onion, a clove of garlic, some frozen stir fry veggie mix (the mix was more broccoli, sugar snap peas, baby corn, green beans, water chestnuts, red bell peppers, carrots, and mushrooms), 1 tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce, a teaspoon of lemon juice, some fresh ground black pepper, and some of my frozen leftover V’con broiled tofu.  Very tasty.  Sorry the pictures are so bad.  I had to use my phone to photograph this meal.  No fun.  The close up isn’t as bad though I guess.  This meal was 550 calories, 8 g fat, 18 g fiber, and 33 g protein.  

For a snack later I had another muffin.  How predictable am I?  I was going to have it with peanut butter again, but not only is that also predictable, there has been this bag of cashew-goji berry clusters in our pantry for a bit.  It needs to get used up, so I had one serving (1/4 cup) of that.  I was able to use my camera for this, although it turned out kind of yellow?  Still, it was much more clear.  My snack was 313 calories, 11 g fat, 7 g fiber, and 8 g protein.  

I’m sleepy and have nothing to do tomorrow.  Yippee!  I’m going to sleep in!  Tomorrow’s Thursday!  One more day until Friday!  Goodnight!  

This morning I went to get an employee physical at the hospital I will be working at.  I had to fast so, I ate breakfast when I got back at 10.  My LDL cholesterol was 150!  Yikes!  This is the first time I’ve ever had my cholesterol checked, and the nurse said that just means I need to exercise more.  I told my dad this, and he thought that was hilarious because compared to anyone we know I exercise plenty and am very health conscious.  So yeah…I’m hoping that number will go down for next time.  I came back home and made a bowl of oatmeal like yesterday except I used oat bran instead of cracked wheat.  It was 1/4 cup rolled oats, 1/6 cup oat bran, 1/2 cup soy milk, 1/2 cup water, 1 frozen banana sliced, cinnamon, 1 Tbsp wheat germ, 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal, 1 Tbsp walnuts, and 1 Tbsp honey.  It wasn’t overly sweet today, but I’m going to pick up some Agave Nectar when I go to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s on Friday!!!!!!!!! FINALLY!!  I’m so excited.  My boyfriend thinks it’s funny because I’m like a little kid going to the amusement park or something.  Breakfast was 460 calories, 13 g fat, 13 g fiber, and 14 g protein.  

I went to the gym around noon (With my sister!) and did a 45 minute cardio workout…35 minutes treadmill and 10 minutes on the stairmaster.  Then I did some arms, abs, and stretching again.  I made lunch as soon as I got home.  I threw it together very fast, and it turned out to be a super lunch!!!  I was so proud of myself haha.  I used one tortilla factory garlic and herb tortilla, heated it in the microwave and then sliced up 1/2 an avocado and some orange bell pepper for the inside.  I also added some salsa and black pepper.  YUM!  I had the rest of the orange pepper on the side with about 6 oz (the remains) of my plain nonfat yogurt, an orange, and 1.5 cups spaghetti squash with some tomato sauce/paste with spices (oregano, thyme, garlic powder, and pepper) and 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds (you can’t see them in the picture really because they’re mixed in ).  My sister was like..”that’s a lot of food!”  and yes, it is, but it’s only 530 calories, 22 g fat, 23 g fiber, and 25 g protein!  

I had to baby-sit for a couple of hours.  It was fun like always because little kids are always a joy!    I’m off to go make dinner!  

I went to the gym this afternoon and had a great workout.  I did 30 minutes on the treadmill running, 10 minutes stairmaster, pushups, abs, stretching, and finished up with 10 minutes on ET.  I had lunch right after.  I defrosted some of my dill tahini veggies from Thursday’s dinner and put it in two La Tortilla FactoryGarlic and Herb Tortillas with spinach and capers!  I had some more plain nonfat yogurt (a cup) on the side…bleh, carrots and celery, and a mango!!  I only have about a cup of yogurt left though!  My lunch was 550 calories, 14 g fat, 26 g fiber, and 30 g protein.  

I decided to make something new for dinner because I don’t have much leftovers thanks to finishing many of them over the weekend!  YAY!  I decided on Snobby Joes from Veganomicon!  I LOVED this recipe!  It turned out great.  I omitted the oil and salt though and served my 1 cup portion (1/5 of the recipe) on a slice of Ezekiel bread.  I froze the rest and had sweet potato dollar fries (with some S&P baked in oven and microwave to speed up the process) and half of an avocado topped with some snobby joe mix on the side.  This was a fun meal  and came in at 450 calories, 7 g fat, 21 g fiber, and 17 g protein.  

I finished dinner just in time to watch Penguin’s game three in the second series of the playoffs!  We won again and are now 7-0 in the playoffs (best record in the NHL so far!!)!     I had a snack during the second intermission.  I popped a banana bread muffin in the microwave for 35 seconds and had that with a blob (2 Tbsp) of Peanut butter!  Yum!  My snack was 363 calories, 17 g fat, 6 g fiber, and 11 g protein.  

My goodness I love peanut butter!  

I’m off to read In Defense of Food or maybe watch a movie.  Good night!  

This morning I thought I should use some of the cracked wheat cereal that has been laying around forever.  I wanted oatmeal though, so I compromised!  I used half cracked wheat and half oatmeal!  (1/8 cup cracked wheat, 1/4 cup rolled oats)  I added 1/2 cup soy milk and 1/2 cup water, 1 messy frozen banana sliced, cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar, 1 Tbsp wheat germ, 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal, 1 Tbsp walnuts, and 1/2 Tbsp honey!  This was good, but I think it was overly sweet for me for a breakfast.  Next time I would use sugar or honey…one or the other, not both!  I was having decision problems this morning though.  haha.  This meal:  433 calories, 12 g fat, 13 g fiber, 12 g protein.  I may need something little before the gym in a couple of hours as this meal is a little lower than usual.  As you can see, I changed the theme of my blog.  I did this because my old one didn’t show the full posts in the monthly archives.  Now, this one does.  I’m still getting used to this one though….we’ll see.  Happy Tuesday!  

For dinner I used the rest of my beanballs (they were frozen) to make wraps.  I put two each in two garlic and herb tortillas with some tomato paste, oregano, and spinach.  Quite tasty!  I also had some spaghetti squash with the rest of the frozen tomato paste and oregano and baby carrots on the side.  This was a quick dinner!  I had a banana bread muffin for a snack a little after.  I never went for a walk because it started to rain.  Boo  There’s always tomorrow!  I’m off to watch the rest of the Canadiens and Flyers hockey game!  Have a great night!  (Quick dinner, quick post I guess!)

570 calories, 20 grams fat, 33 g fiber, and 32 g protein. (Does not include the muffin…see my post on Cleaning Out the Fridge for the info on these)

Sorry, I didn’t get to post this weekend!  I was planning on driving with my boyfriend’s parents to watch his baseball team play on Friday, but at the very last minute I decided that I wanted to drive myself and stay at his school for the weekend.  That being said, I did not get to pack my camera with me as I was in a hurry to get out the door!  I assure you that you didn’t miss anything exciting because everything that I ate was basically leftovers!  That was very convenient for me in the packing process because I did not have to make any food!  I just took it out of the refrigerator and into the cooler it went and I was on my way!  How nice  So, I will just give you a run down of what I had.  I took a picture at home of my breakfast on Friday morning.  I woke up and had a half of a banana with a bit of PB before I set out for a 40 minute run.  My run wasn’t as good as usual because I don’t feel as energized during morning workouts.  (This is why I choose to workout in the afternoon or later in the day most of the time)  I had to get it out of the way though because I was leaving at 11 for the baseball game.  After my run I made something different for breakfast for a nice change.  I had 1/2 cup Ezekiel Golden flax cereal cooked on the stove with 1 cup soy milk, cinnamon, and a whole banana from the freezer sliced.  (I have trouble with frozen bananas…anyone have any tips?  I ended up scraping the skin off, and it seemed weird.)  Then I added 1/2 cup Nature’s Path Peanut Butter Granola (YUMMM), the other half of my pre-run banana sliced on top, and a drizzle of honey.  This made a tasty breakfast!  This plus my pre-run banana and pb was almost 700 calories, but it sure kept me fueled all morning long and I sure needed it because we didn’t end up eating lunch until 3:30!  I had a mango that I brought with me in the beginning of the game.  (My dad and boyfriend both think mango tastes like fish?  How odd is that?! I think it’s hilarious because my dad said this about a week ago, and the boy said it on Friday…soo weird)  

Okay, here is the run down…Lunch Friday was at T.G.I. Friday’s with my boyfriend and his parents.  Pretty much everything on the menu there has chicken, beef, or seafood, or some cream sauce.  They used to have a gardenburger but not anymore.  Their soup of the day was Fire Roasted red pepper tomato soup.  My only other option was a side salad, which would not hold me over at all.  The waitress said that the soup had a tomato base, so I thought okay…that should be fine.  It was good, and as I was eating it I knew it wasn’t vegan.  Sure enough, when I got to a computer I checked, and according to thedailyplate.com one serving (a bowl) has 338 calories, 29.2 grams of fat!, 14.7 saturated!!!!, 81 mg cholesterol (definitely not vegan), …the rest isn’t bad.  But, yeah.  This wasn’t vegan, and I was upset, but there was nothing I could do at that point.  I tried.  Not only was it not vegan, but it was loaded with saturated fat.  (heavy cream must have been in the ingredients).  

Onto dinner.  I ate food that I packed with me the rest of the weekend.  I had spaghetti with V’con’s basic broiled tofu (Recall Thursday’s meal).  I had that same meal without the veggies, and I loved it!  Much better without the tahini veggies this time.  I would have added other veggies, but this had to do!  I had some baby carrots and a huge orange too!  (425 calories, 7 g fat, 15 g fiber, and 21 g protein)   

Breakfast the next morning was 1.5 cups dry Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal, and a cup of leftover pineapple from my Pineapple cashew quinoa stir-fry from Wednesday’s dinner.  We went on a run in the afternoon plus did a stair workout.  It was about 30 minutes total.  We did a 100 yard sprint, and I did pretty well against him  We ran about 2 miles total, I’d say.  

I made lunch after exercising.  I had PB and J on Ezekiel bread with carrots and lots of fresh strawberries!  I was hungry still, so a bit after I snacked on more dry cereal.  He had some candy in his room, and I indulged in some of that as well.  :-p

For dinner I had my leftover Pineapple-Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry!  Boy is this stuff good!  The boy took a bite and even liked it!  I wasn’t surprised though.  Later we went to the store because he needed a few things, and we got some Soy Dream Vanilla Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert (Ice cream)!  He liked it too!  It was a nice way to end the night.  We watched Monster In Law on TV and then Charlie Wilson’s War, but I fell asleep during the last one…not my kind of movie :-/

And now for the more interesting stuff…

I left early this morning at 8 am.  It is only a little over an hour drive, so not bad at all, but I had to baby-sit at noon.  When I got home I made breakfast right away because my tummy was growling!  I had a nice comforting bowl of strawberry banana oatmeal!  1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 frozen banana, 1/2 cup soy milk, 3/4 cup water, 1 Tbsp wheat germ, cinnamon, a bunch of cut up strawberries, and a Tbsp of walnuts.  It sure hit the spot!  

I’m sure you can tell I added lots of cinnamon!

I had some mango before I left to go baby-sit because I knew I’d need something to hold me over until I got home to eat lunch.  I got home at 3:30 and had PB and J on Ezekiel plus a cup of plain nonfat yogurt.  Yes, yogurt.  I bought this when I was thinking about going vegan, and I know I said I’m not strict, but I don’t want to eat yogurt, milk, cheese or other completely dairy foods.  I eventually want to be completely vegan.  I have not wanted to eat this yogurt, but I made myself today as it will be bad soon, and I don’t want to waste food.  I might use some to make a smoothie tomorrow or sneak it in something else, so I don’t have to think about it as much.  

I need to get dinner started now…not sure what I’m going to make!  Probably nothing fancy.  I’m thinking of taking a relaxing walk later!  Have a good Monday everyone!  

I had a pretty good workout at the gym.  I did the usual 50 minute workout of 10 minutes stairmaster, 30 minutes treadmill, and 10 minutes ET.  Then, I came home and made dinner!  I heated up leftover spaghetti squash in the microwave and heated some tomato sauce on the stove that I had frozen.  I added some spices to the sauce plus some broccoli.  I poured it onto the spaghetti and topped it all with a Tbsp of sunflower seeds and 1/2 an avocado.  It was very tasty!  I loved it!  I had two slices of Ezekiel bread on the side with a bit of smart balance light.  This meal was 535 calories, 20 grams of fat, 21 g fiber, 25 g protein.  

I had a banana bread muffin for snack.  This was delicious!!!!!  I liked it better than my Veganomicon ones!  I think it was because of the increased number of bananas.  It was so doughy almost like it wasn’t cooked long enough.  I love that about them.  They taste very similar.  

I just got home from baby-sitting.  It was fun.  I put the kids to bed and then watched some of the Pen’s game!  They won  What a great game!  GO PENS!  

Have a great night everyone! 

Last night I decided that I am not really going to make any new recipes (well maybe one) until I finish all of my leftover foods in the refrigerator and the freezer first because everything seems to be piling up on me!  I need a clean slate sometimes.  It feels good.  

This morning my dog woke me up.  Well, actually my sister did by putting Kodie in my bed with me!  Kodie is not allowed upstairs, but sometimes we don’t like to leave him downstairs alone and sneak him up with us!  It was a fun way to wake up  I made pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast!  I finished the rest of pumpkin (almost a cup!) that has been sitting in my fridge, so I’m off to a good start already!  I used 2 bananas (I have sooo many banans…not necessarily a bad thing, but I froze them today as I just learned that I can add them to my oatmeal and smoothies that way), cooked them into 1/2 cup rolled oats, 3/4 cup water, and 1/2 cup soy milk (the usual).  I added cinnamon and nutmeg, 2 tsp brown sugar, and 1 Tbsp wheat germ.  This made an excellent bowl of oats!  I thoroughly enjoyed it  I also had a cup of green tea and some water with my pills!  I skipped the flax, walnuts, and pb today because the way I’d planned it I would be having plenty of healthy fats in my lunch and dinner.  The oatmeal didn’t hold me over as well, which wasn’t a bad thing since I had a late (10:00 am) breakfast.  This meal was 535 calories, 7 g fat, 22 g fiber!!, and 17 g protein!  (It amazes me that most people get about half of the recommended daily intake of fiber!  I’m almost there after one meal!  It really isn’t hard at all if you eat a healthy balanced diet)  Pumpkin helps out a lot in this area…I got 10 grams from my almost one cup!)

I made some banana bread muffins again!! I used part of Happy Herbivore’s fat free banana bread recipe and part of Veganomicon’s recipe!  I haven’t tried one yet, but they look and smell delicious!  

I used …

5 bananas

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened applsauce

2 Tbsp molasses

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

I mashed the bananas, creamed in the sugar, added applesauce and molasses..whisked together, added cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg…mixed again.  Then I mixed in the flour, baking soda and powder, and salt.  I poured into greased muffin tins and baked for 18 minutes at 350.  This recipe made 12 muffins.  Each muffin is approximately 153 calories, 1 g fat, 61 mg sodium, 36 g CHO, 16 g sugar, 4 g fiber, and 3 g protein.  Not a bad treat!

I was ready for lunch by 1:30.  I used one of my La Tortilla Factory Garlic and Herb tortillas and put the rest of my Veganomicon hummus and 1/4 of an avocado inside.  I had some vegetable broth leftover from my pumpkin ziti recipe, so I used the rest of that and heated it up on the stove with lots of spinach to make a soup.  I had strawberries, carrots and celery, and the rest of leftover cantaloupe on the side.  (Finished off 3 things in this meal!!!)  Totals for this meal:  460 calories, 22 g fat, 23 g fiber, and 17 g protein.

I’m going to the gym now for some good exercise because it looks like it’s going to rain!

I had a snack around 4:30.  It consisted of an extremely large orange and a banana bread muffin.

I began preparing dinner at about 5:30.  I made Veganomicon’s broiled tofu.  I cut up the tofu and made my braising sauce then popped a spaghetti squash in the oven for 45 minutes.  Then, I headed out for a run (with a tiny bit of walking) around my neighborhood.  I did about 4 miles.  My squash was ready when I got back, so I put the tofu in the oven and cooked some veggies (1 red bell pepper, 1/2 sweet onion, broccoli florets, water chestnuts, and bean sprouts) in a skillet with V’con’s Tahini-Dill sauce plus some whole wheat spaghetti on the side.  I should have just cooked the veggies with some soy sauce because this sauce just didn’t seem right.  Or maybe it was the spaghetti.  I wanted brown rice, but that would’ve taken too long.  I am thinking about freezing the vegetable and sauce mixture.  Any ideas on if this would freeze well?  I have so many leftovers of things that I need to freeze something or I’m going to end up with a lot of wasted food, which I don’t want to do.  I think the veggies with sauce would be good inside of a tortilla to make a nice wrap!  As for the tofu and the rest of the spaghetti…I’m going to have leftovers with veggies and soy sauce!  And I want to make a tofu sandwich as well.  So, my portion included a cup of pasta, 1/4 of the veggies, 1/4 of the tofu, and 1/4 of the sauce recipe.  I had about 1.5 cups of spaghetti squash on the side.  I was kind of confused on what to make tonight, and this is what happened.  I loved the tofu though!  I liked the sauce too, but it just didn’t go or something…. It was a very heavy meal at  682 calories, 28 g fat, 16 g fiber, and 31 g protein.  Have a good night everyone!  Tomorrow is Friday!!

I made Pineapple Cashew and Quinoa Stirfry from Veganomicon last night for dinner.  Well…sort of.  I didn’t have a lot of the ingredients on hand, but I had the main ones.  I had red quinoa, so I used that instead of regular.  This recipe was very good and soo flavorful.  I thought there was too much oil, so next time I would cut that in half maybe.  I had a salad on the side with american salad blend and spinach with a bit of balsamic vinegar.  I really do not like dressings, so use oil and vinegar mostly, but since my dinner had a lot of oil in it I just used the vinegar on my salad.  I had some peanut butter and honey on a slice of flax and fiber bread afterwards too.  The volume of this dish isn’t great.  That’s the only bad thing.   Calories for this dinner were about 640 calories!, 37 grams of fat, 11 grams of fiber, and 9 grams of protein.  No gym either yesterday.  My take home final went well.  I had trouble uploading the video I made because the file was so large, but it worked!!

This morning I woke up at 8 am to get ready to go back to the house of the kid’s I am baby-sitting.  I had a bowl of oatmeal with two bananas!, 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/2 cup soy milk, 3/4 cup water, cinnamon, 2 tsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp flax, 1 Tbsp walnuts.  It was soo good.  I love lots of banana in my oats.  There is a surplus of bananas in my house right now, and I seem to be the only one eating them at the time so I thought it’d be a good idea to use two!  This meal had about 500 calories, 13 grams of fat, 14 grams of fiber, and 14 grams of protein.  

 ”training?” went well again today.  I had fun!  I made the kids peanut butter and jelly for lunch, which made me crave it, so that’s what I made for myself for lunch at home!  Peanut butter and strawberry fruit spread on fiber and flax bread.  Plus I had carrots, red bell pepper strips, and big juicy strawberries on the side.  Yum-o! (502 calories, 18 g fat, 17 g fiber, and and 16 g protein.)  I am definitely going to the gym sometime before dinner.  

Kodie wanted his picture taken…