Death and Taxes

Hey guys!  Sorry for rushing out on you last night, I managed to get to the hospital just in time so that neither the husband nor I had to wait.

This morning I went with a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast before volunteering.

I topped 1/3 cup oats with a splash of soymilk, a big shake of cinnamon, 1t maple syrup, and natural peanut butter.

Delish!  The mix of flavors in this was great.  I usually am not the biggest oats fan (especially without banana) but lately it’s been tasting so good to me.

Volunteering went well today, they kept me super busy for a change.  There’s another volunteer on my same shift now and we get along really well so it makes the time pass all the more quickly.  On my way out I used my lunch voucher to fill up a little container of pineapple.

Then for lunch lunch I made a big plate of roasted veggies.

Okra fries,

and kale crisps with garlic powder on them.

Sadly my tasty lunch was ruined by the fact that I was on hold for 15+ minutes trying to get my W-2 form.  I still just can’t quite get myself away from the soul-crush that is the NYC DOE.

I have plans for a study date this afternoon at the Spot and then a quick but fun dinner.  Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Have you started your taxes yet?  Do you go it alone or have someone/a service help you out?  We are using H&R Block this year.  Our goal was to finish them weeks ago but the lack of w-2 forms is really gumming up the works.

Packed Snacks Save the Day

It’s been a great day of family fun.  Bowling was great; especially because we had the bumpers up so I scored more than a 40 for a change!

While at the alley I snacked on a Buddy Fruit pouch.

Mushed fruit pouches are kind of my favorite thing but I never buy them because of the packaging waste.  However, the road trip seemed like a good excuse and it was a nice treat.

I tried to eat this Chocolate Green Superfood bar.

Eeeeeeyuck!  I had a bite, and I regretted it, the flavor tasted way off to me.

Unfortunately the superfood bar had been my main plan for the evening and I was starving by the time we made it to dinner.  I had a slice of bread (x2).

I’m not 100% that this was vegan but I was starting to feel faint by the time we sat down.

For my meal I ordered a plain veggie wrap.

Another failure; the wrap was chunks of cold lettuce with cooked peppers, which I hate.  I demolished the fries but couldn’t even choke down half of the sandwich.

Thankfully I had a better back up plan for dinner.  I’ve been eyeing these Allergaroo packages for months and I was glad to have an excuse to buy one.

The nutritional stats were pretty impressive and the meal was super tasty and ready in under a minute.  It would be super easy to stir in some veggies to this too.

All total this was probably my hardest day of the vegan challenge.  I am still pretty hungry (starving actually) and will definitely do some snacking this evening.  We are heading home tomorrow so I’ve got to soak in some family time but I’ll do a snack recap in the morning.  Good night!

What “for kids” foods are you a fan of?  I kind of love them all 😉

Deers Eat Oats, and Does Eat Oats, But Little Lambs Eat Ivy

The boys stayed up past 4am last night playing video games and for some reason I thought it’d be a great idea to sit up with them.  Nooooooooooo.

Somehow I managed to drag myself out of bed for breakfast around 10.  I packed a packed of Apple and Cinnamon quick oats from home.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this (Adam got the packet in a med school care package).  I wouldn’t go with added sugars and finer cut oats on a daily basis, but as a convenience item it was pretty tasty.

I also had a tropical fruit cup I found at the store last night.

There wasn’t a lot of fresh fruit available, we went at closing time, but the nutritional stats on this were pretty good.

Lunch was another marriage of home food and in-law food.  The banana and almond butter packet from home,

on a hamburger bun.

Yums.  I think this is a snack I will be repeating at home!

It’s nap time around the house now, but this afternoon we are going bowling!  I had hoped to get in a run while we were here but my left leg hurts so bad I can barely walk, what the hell is the deal?!?  Post-bowling we are going out to dinner, and I think the family consensus is Mexican, so we’ll have to see how many vegan choices I have.  See you in a while, crocodiles!

How do you make your oatmeal?  Microwave, stove top, quick oats, packets, overnight???  I do Old Fashioned Oats, but in the microwave or soaked overnight.

Hello from Ohio

Howdy folks, happy Friday!  Sorry for such a late post, our internet has been going in and out intermittently and this morning it was finally just off.  We picked a great weekend to be at someone else’s house computerwise, right now I’m using my brother-in-law’s internet 🙂

It’s been kind of long crazy day.  I did manage to make it to the gym though.  Since dinner last night looked like this –

I ate a pack of Luna Sport Moons on the walk to the gym.

I then I did a quick 2miles (we were already running late) on the treadmill.  All total with warm up/cool down my stats were 2.3miles and 25minutes.  I was so happy to have gone but now my left leg hurts so badly.  I’m going to do a post soon talking about the running situation.

After a quick shower, and an even quicker packing session, we were on the road.  We got into Ohio right at dinner time so we met the family at a local restaurant.  I was so hungry I ate my fruit bowl before I even remembered to snap a picture.

Even though we were at an “American” style dinner (the rest of the family had bacon cheese potato skins and french onion soup) I managed to find a good vegan meal.

Roasted veggies with terriyaki sauce on garlic rice.  I demolished it.

My sil and niece actually had a small party to go to after dinner but my bil took Adam and I to pick up some movies and games.  We stopped at the grocery store for snacks and booze and I managed to pick up some produce as well.  I have a bag of snacks from homw though so I’m not too worried about the food situation.

As I write this I’m nibbling the other half of my vegan chocolate peanut butter rice krispie.

I might have a few snacks while we all hang out but I’ll do a recap in the morning.  I hope everyone’s week ended well!

What is your favorite diner order?  I order blintzes whenever I can, or a good tuna melt.  I’m also a big fan of handspun black and white milkshakes.

Better than Bonobo’s

Today has been another mish-mash day.  I feel like this whole week is going to be crazy until I take my tests next Thursday and Friday.  It doesn’t help that my insomnia is back in full-force: going to bed at 10:30 meant falling asleep past 2am and waking up after 10.   Unfortunately, I actually haven’t even really started studying yet because the whole day has been swamped with errands. 

Thankfully we did have time for a bit of fun during those errands.  Like getting a Valentine’s gift from my parents when we went to the post office.

And enjoying lunch from Wegman’s salad bar.

Veggies = steamed broccoli, squash, and mushroom.

Protein = a tiny bit each tofu, tandori chicken, and general tso’s chicken.

We enjoyed a treat post shopping, Green and Black Milk Chocolate Peanut Bar.

My parents have been raving about this ever since we gave my dad one for Christmas, it has carmelized peanuts and sea salt!  My portion-

My lunch was pretty small, especially since I didn’t have breakfast so I knew I needed a snack as well.  We turned this,

into this.

The world’s best smoothie contained the flesh and water from 1 young coconut, with 6oz of lowfat plain yogurt, half a tray of ice, a drizzle of honey, and a huge shake of cinnamon.

Mmmmn.  Seriously, people who want to try the coconut chai from Bonobo’s, make this!

The rest of the day is going to be some sort of mix of studying, cleaning, dinner and gym.  See ya later.

Coconut, love it or hate it?  I LOVE it!  I can’t think of a single application I don’t adore it in.

Combos are Like Rocket Fuel for Studying

I have my first Chemistry quiz at 8am sharp tomorrow (as well as my first ChemII lab experiment!) so I’ll keep this short and sweet.  I hate doing one loooooong post, I like 2x or 3x days better.

Breakfast was delicious.

The last small serving of carrot cake pancakes smeared with sunbutter and maple syrup.

And a Cara Cara Orange.  I think I’m in love!  This had such a perfect balance of sour and sweet and it’s PINK.

My appetite has been crazy lately and I was so hungry I wanted to chew off my arm within minutes of finishing breakfast!  The only solution was to make my favorite snack of all time –

Cedar’s pita chips with feta spread.  I finished off the feta spread today and I just might have shed a few tears about it!

I randomly decided it was a fantastic idea to watch Make it or Break it in the middle of the day, which meant that lunch was an on-the-go affair eaten during Anthropology.

Naked Red Machine Juice and an Almond and Cashew KIND Plus Bar.

Plus the snack of champions a few hours later in Chemistry.

Combos and diet soda are always a winning pair 🙂

Dinner-dinner was leftover Cocoa-Coconut Chili (1C serving),

topped with 2% colby jack, 0% Fage, and some jalopenos.

Yum!  This is much healthier than the jalopeno and cheddar nachos I was inhaling a while back but just as tasty.

The plan for the evening is to study a bit and make it to bed before 10.  I do NOT feel prepared, I got a lot of catching up to do before my two tests next week.  I’ll let you know how the quiz went tomorrow at lunch, hasta!

Are you a combos fan?  I dare a 90’s child to say no!

P.S. My inner-fatty wouldn’t stop screaming so I ate this snack while I studied –

I want to call bad lighting but it really did look like that!  (Approximately) 1 ripe banana + 2T 0% Fage + 1T sunbutter + cinnamon + crumbled caramel filled cookie.

P.P.S. I completely forgot to do a Fest Check-in

  • Food – pretty good, if I had packed an apple or something I could have skipped the Combos
  • Exercise – meh, I chose not to work out in leiu of studying but this ties into T
  • Sleep – if I actually brush my teeth and go to bed now (9:40ish) pretty damn good
  • Time management – sucessful people do not watch tv shows about teenage gymnasts in the middle of the day!

Whine and Cheese

This was not my most sucessful Tuesday, I’ll keep this quick because I’m in a pretty bad mood.

Sooooooooo, my tasty oats this morning?  Two issues – 1. They apparently had no staying power, I was starving by 10am.  2. The 1/3 of yogurt is from the same container as last week’s 1/3 a cup in overnight oats.  It was a single serving cup of Dannon, which I placed inside a tupperware after I opened it.  I wondered about that decision this morning, but I figured it would all be ok.  Yeah, so not ok!  My stomach hurt so bad I thought I was going to die and I ended up going home after my first class.  Boo!

Between starving and sick I did squeeze in lunch at the school cafeteria.

It was a pretty lame lunch, sometimes food court situations are really overwhelming for me.  The excess of choices tend to induce mini panic attacks and short of that I choose quickly, randomly, and poorly.  Thus a sandwich that was neither healthy nor what I was craving.

Chicken salad on a spinach wrap with shredded lettuce, jalopenos, black olives, and blue cheese dressing.  I also had a side of pickles,

and some so-so chips I only ate due to extreme hunger.

Post lunch but before class I also grabbed a tall white hot chocolate.

In retrospect that wasn’t the best choice; I had it made with skim instead of whole milk but it was still too much sugar.  Which doesn’t mean that once I was curled up wimpering on the couch I didn’t eat this brownie.  😉

Or two servings of these guys, straight from the bag, not a good idea.

Given that chips are not that healthy of an appetizer choice I tried to keep dinner light.

The other half of my minneola and a kiwi bowl,

leftovers of the tastiest collards on earth,

mini pita with melted blue brie.

I promise to be in a better mood tomorrow!  But not a morning mood, I have my first chem lab tomorrow and it start at 8am, I clearly won’t be blogging until lunch.  Night.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!

Front-Loading Fruits

Isn’t she lovely?!?

It’s good to be back.  I missed you guys!  I’m not gonna lie though – the husband and I took advantage of the few camera free days and ate a bunch of crap (those of you who’re thinking “but you always eat a bunch of junk,” this was actually worse, gasp).  So this morning I front-loaded my day with antioxidant rich fruit.

First a tasty kiwi.

I love the taste of kiwis but eating them skin on makes me gag and removing the skin requires Iron Chef-like knife skills.  However, my Kiwi Bowl method works perfectly!

Next I tried this Siggi’s Pomegranate Passion Fruit.

The yogurt was disturbingly tart but topped with blueberries, half a minneola, and ~1.5t of agave syrup it was perfection.

A healthy start to the day is always energizing.

And I needed the energy.  Adam and I had lots and lots of fun this weekend, not limited to dinner at a new Vegan spot with Katie (me), purchasing/playing RockBand with friends (him), getting Adam hooked on Buffy reruns, purchasing my Bloggie Secret Valentine gift, and seeing “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.”  Whew!  All that didn’t leave much time for work so we actually set the alarms for 6am to finish homework this morning.

My homework is done but I have a long list of to-do’s for the day still:

  1. volunteering shift at the hospital
  2. errands – mail, bank, etc.
  3. a bit of blog business
  4. a bit of school business
  5. getting my new computer set up
  6. laundry
  7. a beyond necessary trip to the gym for training
  8. dinner

Yikes, I better get going!

it’s a 2fer day – 1. How do you eat your kiwi?  2. Did you see “The Imaginarium,” what’d you think?