Hugh Laurie is a God

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Our run didn’t end up happening, but we did make a pretty banging dinner.

I veganized (and updated to fit our failing pantry) a recipe from “Fitness Magazine,” Lemony Fusilli with Chicken, Zucchini, and Pine Nuts.  My changes to the original recipe (which is available by clicking the link in the recipe title) –

  • sub in ww rotini for fusilli
  • halve the amount of evoo
  • use scallion whites and greens
  • sub in lemon zest for lemon peel
  • add the red pepper only to my plate at the end (husband hates the heat)
  • skip the basil
  • skip the parmesan
  • sub in 16oz of seitan for chicken

I don’t know if it was the extra 4ounces of “meat” or what, but we felt like this made closer to 6 than 4 servings.  Thank goodness it was tasty, because we have a lot of leftovers.

Post-dinner, during House watching (oh my god, the season finale, oh my god!) I snacked on 2servings of spice drops.

I was majorly craving something sweet but there was literally not a single piece of dark chocolate at Walgreens that didn’t have milk fat in it.

I am behind on my soc reading (already?!) so I’m trying to scoot my butt into bed so I can do some catch up in the am.  Happy Hump Day dreams!

Have you cooked with seitan before?  What are you waiting for?

Lots of New Things to Try

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I got the second day of Vegan Month off to a good start by trying out some new finds for breakfast.

1cup of Barbara’s Vanilla Almond Shredded Oats with 1cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk and 2 chopped nectarines.

I knew to expect a lot from So Delicious, but I was pleasantly surprised by the cereal.  The squares were nice and crunchy and just sweet enough.  I would definitely keep eating them once this month is ever.

I was in Sociology from 10:30 – 12:40, apparently we are going to have a pop quiz pretty much every day.  Also – quick rant – the class is 2hours + 10minutes so we can take a 10minute break, not so he can blather the entire time; grrrrr!

I had to go to the bookstore afterwards so I brought along a Primal Strip to try to hold off my hunger.

Tasty, tasty!  The texture wasn’t as hard as normal jerky (a good thing) but had the trademark chew, and the flavor was a good balance of sweet and salty, even though it was a bit sticky.  I bought a peanut version as well that I’m excited to try now.

When I got home I ate some yellow tortilla chips (less than 1 serving),

to keep from starving while I cooked up lunch.

I’m glad I didn’t eat too many chips, I would have hated to have been full for that bowl!

A small neon eggplant + ~3/4cup chopped okra + (too much)marinara.  It is definitely the end of okra season up here, I had to pick through the bin just to find that much.  I had never tried okra before this year and now it is one of my favorite veggies.

I was feeling unsatisfied after lunch still – I hate having to get so hungry because my schedule is thrown off – but I found the perfect thing in the depths of my freezer –

These Yoo-hoo popsicles are thankfully (disturbingly?) dairy-free, and two of them perfectly satisfied me.

On the agenda for today?  Some blog e-mails, picking up the husband, National Running Day, school reading, dinner…..

Sick Can Equal Super

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So I don’t know what the deal is with my tummy, but it turns out it wasn’t hunger.  I felt queasy all afternoon (I’m NOT preggers) and when I went to lay down I actually fell asleep before I could even set the alarm, Adam had to take the train home from work!  I really hope that it’s something random and I’m not getting sick because I don’t even know how I would deal with that with summer school.

We rescheduled our run for tomorrow and when we went out to pick something up at UPS we got dinner from Wegman’s hot bar instead of cooking.

I’d be lying if I said I’m not always excited about hot bar, even in spite of a tummy ache!  And tonight’s selections seemed especially tasty.

Wok seared veggies,

steamed broccoli,

roasted sweet potato,

and it turned out that awesome vegetarian meatballs from the other day are vegan as well, sweet!

In the end dinner was perfectly filling and super tasty, almost worth the bellyache.

When I got home I got straight to work reading for Sociology, and I’ve got to hurry and get showered and bedded so I can continue in the morning.  See ya tomorrow afternoon!

A Day of Firsts

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In case you missed it, June is Vegan Month.  And what better way to start off the month than with a Green Monster?

This bad boy had 1 frozen banana and 1 cup frozen spinach blended with 1 cup of calcium + vitamin d oj.

Green Monsters were my favorite discovery during my two-week vegan stint in February, and I think they are going to be instrumental in getting me through this month.

Today was also the first day of summer school.  I have an online nutrition class in July, but in June I have to be on campus from 10:30 – 12:40 M-F for Sociology.  Here we are looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed –

And then during one of my five trips to pee before class started I snapped a picture of me looking nervous.

And right I was to be nervous, this is going to be a hard month!  My professor is funny but his lecture voice is really hard to understand and the syllabus is totally unclear.  I hate when teachers want to be all loosey-goosey with the due dates; tell me what I need to read for what dates!  Plus we are not allowed to have any food or drinks in the classroom?!

I had some business to take care of on campus and by the time I got home it was after 2 and I was starving.  I grabbed the first thing I could to tide myself over.

3oz of baby carrots,

and 1oz of yellow tortilla chips.

I was so hungry I was actually getting light-headed and nauseous.  Once I calmed down a bit I made myself a frozen meal as well, Tandoor Chef Vegetable Pad Thai.

The nutritional stats on this are pretty good,

and it is delicious!

It tastes just like tasty, authentic Thai food from a restaurant.  The pasta is the right texture and it is perfectly seasoned.  Plus there are pieces of spongey fried tofu that I adore.  I give this two thumbs up and highly recommend you try it, vegan or not.

I’m actually still feeling pretty sick so I’m going to set the alarm and see if I can take a quick nap.  I have to pick up the husband from the lab later and of course I’ve got some reading to do.

What is your favorite type of frozen meals?

Vegan Month

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In case you don’t know, June = Vegan Month.  During June, Allison and I are our challenging ourselves (and anyone else who wants to join us) to stick to a vegan diet for one month.  You might remember that I’ve done a shorter version of the challenge before.  Here is my recap from my 2weeks in 2009, and here is the recap from the 2weeks this February.

I don’t think that I will ever eat a 100% vegan or vegetarian diet in the long-run.  I believe that humans did evolve to eat some animal products, and that I personally feel more healthy when I include them in my lifestyle.  However, I also believe that –

  • Eating many vegan meals each week contributes to a healthy diet.
  • Vegan cooking and baking can be fun and satisfying.
  • Veganism is kind to our planet and can be a great way to conserve energy.
  • The current industrialized dairy and meat industries are immoral (even though in theory consuming meat and dairy is not) and the best way to vote is with my wallet.

During June, we will not be consuming any animal products.  That includes red meat and pork (which I don’t eat anyways); fish and fowl; milk, yogurt, or eggs; and any products that include lactose or whey.  Allison and I decided that we WILL continue to consume conventional alcoholic beverages, even though we are aware that they are not all 100% vegan.  I also most likely WILL continue to eat honey, while I feel some modicum of discomfort about eating other animal products, honey is one for which I am guilt-free, and it seems silly to avoid it.

During Vegan Month you can expect to see –

  • new recipes, and new spins on some old recipes
  • some guest posts
  • and lots of new product reviews

I hope you enjoy reading about our challenge, and I’d love it if you decided to join us!  Advice, cheerleading, questions, complaints…….

Boston to Buffalo

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We’re back in Buffalo!  I can’t help but be sad that vacation is over, but it always feels nice to get back home.

Our last day in Boston was our best yet!  I love ending vacation on a high note.  How could it not be though, when you start the day off with froyo?

This time I got chocolate malt, gingersnap, blackberry.  I only ate about 1/3 of it and the boys finished off the rest.

Then we hopped on the T and headed down to Grafton Street Cafe for brunch.

When we walked by on Friday we spotted Conan O’Brian eating there, so we were all pretty psyched about it.  Sadly, it ended up being one of our worst meals in Boston.  Still, it was fun to see Conan the other day!

We ordered Bloody Marys,

extra spicy.

And I had a piece of bread with butter.

Nikki and I also split a plate of fresh fruit.

For my meal I ordered the Veggie Benedict with roasted avocado, hollandaise on the side.

I can’t even tell you how excited I was about poached eggs when we sat down but mine ended up being so poorly done that they were more like hard-boiled!  I ate as much as I could manage because I was hungry, but I ended up leaving a lot of food on my plate.

Our next activity was 1.5mile walk (over a bridge and through the sun!) away so we grabbed some skim iced lattes for the road.

And pretty soon we were on the river!

We rented a 4-person canoe and spent an hour zig-zagging around.

It was so much fun and such a good arm workout!  I was in the front of the boat so my steering duties left my shoulder muscles burning!

After we walked back to the city we picked up our car and helped Nikki and Ian run a few errands before packing up and heading home.  We got on the highway at 8pm so we planned on stopping for dinner asap but we had basically no luck.  I ate a small serving of pretzel m&m’s to tide me over.

But by 10:30 we finally accepted that the best we were gonna do was McDonald’s.  I tried to go as healthy as I could (480calories and no trans fat, btw) with a 6piece chicken nuggets,

and a fruit and yogurt pack.

Meh.  As much as I am a fan of the occasional fast-food meal I hate McDonald’s.  It was good to have sustenance though, since we pulled into Buffalo after 3am.

Today is so full of errands – unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping, school organizing – that I’m actually going to skip blogging.  I’ll be back tomorrow with the start of summer school and vegan month!

P.S.  Allison and I are doing Vegan Month in June.  Join us?

Best Day in Boston

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Today has been our best day of vacation yet!  We’ve done all sorts of Boston things and did lots of walking.  We’ve been doing some serious eating too.

After everyone was showered and ready this morning it was almost noon by the time we left the apartment.  The late hour makes it far less strange that we started the day with froyo.  I think I’ve found my heaven –

The flavor choices, oh the flavor choices!  I went with oreo, cookie dough, nutella.

It was amazing but I still only managed to eat half of it.  We’ll be back tomorrow!

Then we headed into the city to wander through Quincy Market.

We did some people watching and walked around the piers,

before setting on the Barking Crab for lunch.

Check out the view from our table –

It was a great choice, I finally got my seafood fix!

I ordered the fresh lobster roll, which came with fries and cole slaw.

Everything was fresh and wonderful.  My lobster roll had huge hunks of meat in it and I drowned my fries in malt vinegar.  I ate everything except for my bun.

Next we hopped on the T and headed back up to Harvard Square, where I spotted a Ben and Jerry’s truck.

Free ice cream?!?  Who turns that down.

I only ate half of it but it was still pretty exciting.

Our friend Ian rejoined us (with his roomate) and that point and we ended up in an outside cafe with a pitcher of sangria.

We took the party to an (inside) bar so the boys could play pool once the rain threatened our fun.  FYI – other than what I show in booze I stuck with diet coke and water for most of the day.  I also munched on an apple I had in my purse.

Doesn’t everyone do that when they’re in bars?

For dinner we headed to Deep Ellum, our friends’ favorite spot in their neighborhood.  They had an impressively innovative drink menu, lots of absinthe and elderberry liquor.  I went with the Vanilla Flip.

Brandy, vanilla syrup, egg, bitters.  It was shockingly good, it tasted just like Christmas!

For an appetizer Nikki and I split a soft pretzel.

And apparently I was hungry for dinner because I was halfway done before I remembered to take the picture!

That’s the last 1/3 of my vegan seitan burger and fries.  Again, I ate everything minus the bun.

We did a lot of “vacation eating” today; fries and ice-cream x2!?  As I mentioned before, I’m not going to miss out on fun foodie chances in Boston, but I did try to keep things in check by doing lots of walking, not drinking too much booze, and skipping the caloric items that don’t excite me (like sandwich buns).

We are actually heading back out in an hour or so because Ian’s friends are having a party, but I’d rather not deal with my camera this evening.  You can assume I’ll have 1-2beers and then stick with water.  Tomorrow we are squeezing in as much as possible during the day and then driving back to Buffalo in the evening.  I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to post again.

Are there any items you always skip when eating out?  I love bread bread – bagels, our sourdough loaves, or naan – but since sandwich bread doesn’t rock my socks I’d just as soon skip it.

Boston, Bubbles, and Boats

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It’s been another fabulous day here in Boston!  I’m feeling much better, thank goodness.  I was nervous that my episode last night was the start of some sort of illness but it seems like I just reacted to something I ate.

Nikki had to work today so Adam and I were on our own in the morning.  We wandered around Coolidge Corner and ended up stopping in at b.good for a late breakfast. 

I’ve seen this fresh fast food spot on blogs before and I was thrilled to get to try it myself.  Adam and I split a meal because we were so close to eating lunch at that point.

We got a turkey burger west side style (avocado, cilantro, tomato, and chipotle salsa).

And steamed veggies.

The husband got an amazing tasting chocolate shake,

but I went with water to try to rehydrate.

Afterwards we met up with our friend Ian and hopped on the T.  We wandered around Kendall (?) and saw some fun buildings.

And ultimatly went to lunch at The Black Sheep in the Kendall Hotel.

They had cute sheep decor,

and we sat on the porch in the sun.

I went with the Kendall salad – “baby spinach leaves tossed in our tangy maple vinaigrette, sprinkled with candied pecans, crumbled blue cheese, and marinated green apple slaw”

Delicious!  I think the combo of strong cheese and candied nuts on salad is perfection.

Next we headed up to Harvard Yard.  It was a gorgeous day and the geese were out with their babies.

We ended up laying out in JFK Park and goofing around.

Finally we headed in to explore civilization.  Adam got an amazing looking cupcake at Sweet (highly recommended by Tina),

but that wasn’t an option for me because I’d already spotted the…..bubble tea!

I got a frozen chai tea with boba.

So cinnamony and delicious!  It was pretty sugary though and I was trying to be careful with my stomach today so I deeply enjoyed half of it and threw the rest in the trash.

We headed up to Copley to pick Nikki up from work and went to sit outside Cafeteria for drinks.  I went with Diet Coke,

but I did steal the olives out of the husband’s martini.

We went from one adult activity to the next, Duck Tour!

The Duck Tour involves a land-water bus tour of important historical sites in Boston.  It was fun, but by the time we were done at 7:30 I was more than ready for dinner.

A final trip on the T took us to Common Ground where they, gloriously, had Abita Strawberry.

Sadly I wasn’t as impressed with the food selection.  I ended up ordering a fried chicken sandwich with honey mustard and swiss cheese.

I threw the bread away but finished 90% of the meat and fries.

Finally we headed back to the apartment to watch the Celtics game.  We might head out to a bar and I’m trying to convince everyone that frozen yogurt is in order but otherwise we’ll be having fun here.  Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!