Tag Archives: eggplant

Word to the Wise

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This has got to be a quick post so I can get back to studying.  Word to the wise – Weekends are for working; embroider that on a pillow for me, will ya?

I actually had to leave campus and head home soon after eating lunch, because there were no working printers (grrr).  It ended up being a good thing because I got a ton of work done for my night class and now I’m a few weeks ahead on those assignments.  Plus, I got to eat an ice cream cookie sandwich.

I headed back to campus for class, during which I gave a 15minute presentation on school foodservice management.  It was a bit embarrassing to be the first to go, but I’m glad I got it out of the way.

I’ve been getting green every time Meghann mentions her gingerbread granola so when we spotted this at the Co-op yesterday I squealed with glee.

The nutritional stats were pretty sound (store bought granola can be a fat/sugar bomb), the price was right, and gingerbread?!  I ate a serving with skim milk this evening while dinner cooked.

Sadly, the taste wasn’t quite right.  I’ll keep eating it but the flavor was much spicier and less sweeter than I was expecting.

Dinner was the last of my Naan Pizza samples from Tandoor Chef.  Roasted Eggplant.

Nutrionals and ingredients.

This time I stuck to a single serving because I was splitting with Adam.

Yet again, I was blown away by how wonderful Naan is in the pizza crust medium.  This is the exact amount of chew I want from all my crusts!  The eggplant was perfectly crunchy and not greasy at all.  Now that my samples I gone I definitely plan on purchasing more Naan Pizzas with my own money, sooo good.

We had green bean fries on the side.

I seriously never thought roasting a green bean could create such magic.  These were fresh local green beans and they were even more amazing than usual.

All together.

We are going to take a diet soda walk and then it’s to the books.  My first Anatomy quiz has 200+ bones on it and is Thursday, who else thinks I should have started studying before tonight??

Any brand recommendations for a good gingerbread granola?

The Farmers’ Market Feeds My Soul

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What better way to announce my Zevia giveaway winner than to toast one in her honor?

Caitlin (commenter #5), this Zevia Cola’s for you!

By the way, after you e-mail me your address so I can get your prize sent off, I suggest drinking the Cola flavor first.  Cola is hands-down the best Zevia out there; it doesn’t taste diet at all, but the flavor isn’t exactly “Coke” either, much earthier.  There is almost a coffee note to it.

This morning the weather was wonderful and I took a nice walk to the Co-op and the farmers’ market.  Look at my bounty of local goodies –

I’m most excited about the plethora of peppers,

I ended up with two purple, one lime, and a pimento!

The only fail was breakfast; I planned on getting something to eat at the farmer’s market but there were so many tasty things to choose from that I got overwhelmed and ended up with nothing 😉 Instead I had a fat-free raspberry lemonade yogurt when I got home.

I finished up my grocery trip at Wegman’s.  We had a coupon, so I got myself a small iced coffee.

– With skim milk and sugar-free caramel syrup. –

I’ll cop to my lunch being a little strange, if you’ll promise to try it yourself anyway!

I pan cooked chopped eggplant, broccoli and okra in a big splash of chicken broth, then finished it off with ~1/2T of evoo.  Then I added 2t of mango chutney to the skillet, along with 2T each raisins and peanuts.

I know it sounds odd, but I swear that the flavors work.  It’d be great with a bit of spice too.

I’ve got a TON of schoolwork to do this long weekend but we have some fun planned in for tomorrow too.  And a dinner on the agenda for tonight that I’m totally jazzed about.  See you then!

~*~*~ It’s time for some shameless self-promotion!

1) Check out my mini guest post at Iowa Girl Eats.

2) I’m throwing my hat into the ring for Project Food Blog!  Actually, I’m thinking about resigning before it even begins, but check out my profile anyways!

3) Are you following me on Twitter?

Sugar Sodas Are Toast

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Today was another one of those days where I plan to go to the gym and then get distracted for hours.  This means that working out gets pushed back, and lunch gets pushed back, and so on.  I’ve got precious few days left until school (i.e. real life) starts again though, so I’m enjoying the unstructured time!

I had to go to the co-op for a few things this morning so I extended my walk a couple of blocks to The Spot for coffee.

Grande iced toddy with skim milk.  The caffeine was supposed to power me through my work out on an empty stomach – I’m, perhaps, a bit gun-shy from yesterday – but I messed around so long that I finally had to cave and eat breakfast.

Toast with Smart Balance and Crofter’s Strawberry Spread.

I never ever eat toast for some reason, but I really enjoyed this.

My right leg (my tendonitis leg) had a bit of a twinge in it all morning so I planned a treadmill interval workout that would allow me to get in the amount of time I wanted without too much impact on my legs.  Since I knew it was going to be a longer work out I put a packet of Cherry Lime Propel (thanks, BlogHer) into my water.

Thumbs up, Propel!  This tasted great and I have to believe it played a role in the fact that it took me forever to get hungry this afternoon.

My treadmill work out –

  • 6 minutes walking, warm up
  • 20 sets of intervals – 2minutes running/2minutes walking (40minutes total)
  • 4minutes walking, cool down

In the end that added up to 50minutes; 4.13miles.  I finished things up at the gym with 10minutes of abs work and stretching.

When I did finally get hungry in this afternoon I made myself a protein packed lunch –

Broccoli, eggplant, and cole slaw mix sautéed in some homemade peanut sauce.

Just yum!

To drink (in addition to h2o, of course!) was a Zevia Ginger Ale.

I’ve worked with Zevia before, and while nothing can replace my Cherry Coke Zero love, I’m a big fan.  Soda with no sugar or chemicals?  I’d say that’s pretty perfect for an addict enthusiast like me!  Zevia was recently featured in Oprah’s magazine so they sent me some free samples to celebrate.  I’ll be doing a giveaway later on too.

The ginger ale was yummy, just like “regular” ginger ale but a little less sweet.  And it didn’t have that awful spice aftertaste that some brands get.

What is your favorite flavor/brand of soda.  My very, very favorite thing on Earth is fountain diet coke (with ice and a straw) with a shot of cherry coke!

Miso Tasty

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That mini bag of kettle corn was good, but dinner was better.

Miso-Marinated Tofu and Eggplant with Soba Noodles, from Health Magazine.  I followed the recipe pretty loosely, here are some of the changes I made –

  • doubled the tofu
  • used buckwheat instead of soba noodles
  • used neon and graffiti eggplant
  • used cole slaw mix for cabbage
  • used more veggies and less oil

Our version was pretty fabulous though.

The miso marinated tofu gets the best crust.

A cautionary tale – the boys left frosting the fridge from their failed brownies and this afternoon I ate at least 8 spoonfuls, straight from the jar.  Instant tummy ache and migraine.

Tofu, seitan, tempeh; pick a favorite.

A Grass Powered Day

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It’s been one of those run-around errands days and I’m not gonna lie – it was nice to have a busy day that didn’t involve carrying things!

I drove the husband to work this morning and then drove to Barnes and Nobel and perused the “For Dummies” selection.  Sadly I didn’t find quite what I was looking for; I’m updating the blog this summer and I’m feeling very overwhelmed.  Does anyone with technical know-how feel like taking on a charity case???

Mid-errands I snacked on a Green SuperFood Chocolate Whole Food Energy Bar.

During vegan month Brandi kindly got us some samples from Amazing Grass.  Disclaimer – any AG products you see on the blog for the next bit will have been free samples.

This was my first time trying the AG bars and I actually quite liked it –

There was a good mix of “green” and sweet that balanced perfectly and I loved all the nuts.  Plus it had 5grams of protein and was loaded with micronutrients.

Next I headed to an out of the way mall to see if this rumor was true –

It was!  It was! It was!

I have been lamenting the lack of froyo in Buffalo for months (ever since I got self-serve froyo in Orlando) so this rocked my socks.  It was no Menchies, but still pretty fantastic.  I got a small serving of tart (plain) with strawberries, mango, kiwi, and oreo.

Smile indeed!

My errands took me to the bank, the drugstore, the co-op and finally to my kitchen table where I laid out the plethora of clippings for the magazine binder.

My goal is to get all of that in before school starts in September.

I pulled out another AG sample for the rest of lunch.

Pomegranate Mango Infusion Amazing Meal.  I smoothied it up with 1/2cup frozen strawberries, 1cup Silk Almond Milk, and 1/2cup water.

I thought I was going to hate it but I totally didn’t!  Be warned though, it was a bit chalky, you definitely needed some extra liquid.

I also spent some time at the stove, whipping up a batch of fruit topping for waffles and yogurt throughout this week.

This batch included a mix of plums, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries; I can’t wait to dig in tomorrow.

I came back to Adam’s school to pick him up and stopped in the computer lab to register for my final course (there was a waiting list that just opened up).  Now that my schedule is complete I’m a bit nervous: 16credits including Organic Chemistry and Anatomy, yikes!

Our final errand of the day was grocery shopping, so you know dinner came a la Wegman’s hot bar.

I was hungry, my plate ended up beyond loaded!

An assortment of Chinese chicken (aka fried and unhealthy),

roasted veggies,

chili garlic eggplant (not fried, I don’t know why it looks like that),

and raw kale salad.

All de-Lish!

I’m actually blogging on Wegman’s wifi, I’ve gotta go get my groceries!

Do you prefer ice cream or frozen yogurt?  I’m a froyo girl all the way.

Funky Mood to Funky Monkey

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I ate 75% of my meals yesterday out of the house, which made it particularly annoying that I forgot my camera at home.  Hence yesterday’s missing post.  To be completely honest my funky mood hasn’t fully cleared up either.  I’m betting it has something to do with my lack of exercise; not moving makes me cranky!  I know that I have so so so so so much to do this week that planning formal exercise isn’t realistic, so I’m trying to have the husband drive me as much as possible so I get the 2.5mile walk home.

Today was one of those days I walked.  Since I had 1.5hours to sit at school and read before class I get breakfast there.

Not to worry, I’m still vegan, that leftover yogurt container housed a sliced up mango and a nectarine.

I also brought a ONE Coconut Water with Passionfruit to drink.

I did not love the taste of the coconut water, although I did finish it.  I’ve loved ONE in the past so I’m inclined to think that I prefer the good old simplicity of plain.

After class I walked home, stopping halfway at The Spot to finish up a Sociology chapter.  While finishing my walk I munched on a pack of Funky Monkey Purple Funk.

Thank goodness I had a snack to hold me over for my late late lunch!

Said lunch was made as soon as I got home.

A veggie skillet of half an eggplant, 1/2cup of frozen peas, and chilli garlic sauce.

The husband just called to say he’d be home late (i.e. late dinner) so I guess my late lunch was a blessing in disguise.

P.S. It’d been a while since I had the chilli garlic sauce, insanity spicy!  I cooled my mouth down with a glass of So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk,

and some salt and vinegar chips.

Phew!

What are your thoughts on coconut water?  I pretty much adore coconut in any form.

Hun-grrrr-E

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I was a hunger MACHINE this evening!  I had to run some errands and pick up the husband and by the time I got home my hunger had hit me like a train.  FYI – if you are participating in vegan month and are not eating honey then several of these items are off-limits for you.

First I ate a serving of Sriracha Peas.

I randomly grabbed these at Wegmans today (they were on sale) and they are so good!  Same concept was Wasabi Peas but a much deeper taste.

Next I ate 1.5servings of Gardein meat-free Buffalo Wings with honey mustard dipping sauce.

Product review note – I actually don’t like these wings at all.  The texture is great but the spice is over the top and has a weird chemically flavor to it.

Then I downsized a recipe from Women’s Health to make a single serving of honey eggplant (I baked instead of microwaved).

It was ok but not quite what I was expecting.  What is with me and the so-so recipes lately?!?

Next 1.5servings of salt and vinegar chips (I was craving something salty like you wouldn’t beleive!).

And finally another serving of sriracha peas.

Honesty, I’m still pretty damn hungry, but we don’t really have anything else for me to eat.  If I figure something out I’ll update later.

****Updated to add – I ate a cucumber.

No Sesame, Soba, or Savoy

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The plan for dinner tonight comes from an old (like, September old) issue of Health magazine: Miso-Marinated Tofu and Eggplant Over Soba Noodles.  You can click here to see the original recipe.  However, make the original recipe we did not.  Apparently the husband and I are both stupid.  Like, seriously.  And cheap.  So to recap; click above for the original recipe and read below for our changes.

  • I used 14oz of extra firm tofu
  • I skipped the garlic
  • I used evoo instead of peanut oil
  • I skipped the sesame oil (I would not recommend this, I’m sure it imparted a great deal of flavor.  We are too poor for nut oils though)
  • I used 10 oz of bok choy instead of Napa cabbage (because that is what the husband bought when sent for cabbage ….. he’s going to be a doctor folks!)
  • I used buckwheat noodles instead of soba noodles

Here’s what we ended up with –

It was actually quite tasty, although I can see how the sesame oil would take it over the top.  I loved the stickiness of the buckwheat noodles!

For dessert I stuck a spoon into the last serving of Biscoff spread.

Just, yum!

Do you own sesame oil?  What sort of dishes do you use it in?