Tag Archives: tofu

Hello, Hello, Goodbye, Goodbye

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Hello, reader.  I was AWOL yesterday because I had the beginnings of a migraine and put myself to bed at 4 in the afternoon!  Not fun.

Also, Hello to Vegan Month!  I desperately needed to go to store, so yesterday I had to make do with the vegan things around the house.  And of course I was insanely hungry all afternoon.  <– bad timing

Breakfast was a super tasty pumpkin smoothie.

1 cup Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Almond/Coconut Milk Blend, ~1 cup canned pumpkin, 1 frozen banana, 2 Tbsp maple syrup, and a big shake of pumpkin pie spice.

I did lots of snacking when I got home from clinic.  2 oz of roasted pumpkin seeds,

a giant Honeycrisp with tons of melted Biscoff,

a (FNCE sample) bag of Food Should Taste Good Olive Chips,

and a big bowl of cereal.

Then I put myself to bed with a migraine.  I had a paper due this morning so unfortunately Adam had to wake me up at 10pm so I could write it.

I ate a veggie sub from Subway – lettuce, tomato, green pepper, cucumber, pickles, red onion, and bbq sauce – while I worked.

Breakfast was the last of the pumpkin seeds,

and a green pear.

I got lunch at Wegman’s during my massive shopping trip.

Veggie goyza,

and inari.

I ate half of both then brought the rest home to Adam.  We both loved the inari!

And I ate this candy bar – like a vegan Snickers – while I blogged.

Goodbye to my belly button ring.

I’ve had it in since I was 15 (12 years!!!!!!!!!) and am so sad that it is gone now.  But I’m having a minor surgery this afternoon and they told me I had to take it out.

Also, Goodbye to you guys for a bit.  The minor surgery is on my hand and I sure I will not be up for typing this evening.  I’ll “see” you later this weekend.  Wish me luck!

Appletastic

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Today was a much better day!  Mostly because I accomplished tons and ate a healthy and amazing tasting dinner.  Also, I’m a little drunk.

Yesterday wasn’t the best day and it was clear from my post that I was a little depressed.  Several of you commented on my consumption of Halloween candy pre-Pumpkin Month and all I can say is “it won’t happen again.”  I’m so ashamed!  🙂

For breakfast I packed a sandwich to eat in class.  A slice of 2% colby and 2 slices of Applegate Farms turkey bacon on a toasted Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin.

It was a little dry but oh-so-tasty.

Plus the last serving of my caramel apple sugar babies.

These guys win as my #1 favorite Apple Month candy.  But eating them at 9am did make me a little sick.

I got a ton accomplished this morning, between a break in class and the time after my Micro lab, I polished off several school to-do’s.  I am way (way, way, way, way, way) behind on studying but it felt good to make a dent.

Then I went to a orthodontist appointment.  My last full-time-retainer-wearing orthodontist appointment!

I screamed when I heard the good news and scared the crap out of my orthodontist.  Then I told him I was going to go swish coffee.

I didn’t actually get any coffee because I had another appointment, but I am looking forward to leisurely sipping through my morning class for the rest of the semester.  It’s also worth mentioning that I didn’t have time for coffee or lunch.  <– remember that when I remind you that I’m drunk a minute from now

My 2nd appointment dealt with a recall on my car.  It turned out I did have the defective part and I was very glad that I could get it fixed for free.  I guess when I called them “stupid errands” yesterday I spoke too soon!

I worked at The Spot for an hour or so before I headed home.  Then I made us an appletastic dinner, complete with on-theme booze.

Adam and I split this Crispin Honey Crisp Hard Apple Cider while we cooked.

Delicious!

The “soft” cider was even more amazing though; we also took swigs of this Red Jacket Fuji Apple Cider.

It was so perfectly sweet!  We loved it.  And it helped make dinner amazing.

  1. I melted 1.5 Tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Then I sautéed 1 pint sliced mushrooms and 1 small chopped Sweet Mayan Onion, with a sprinkle of salt.
  2. Next I added 4 cups cole slaw mix and 1 cup apple cider and cooked until the cabbage was soft.
  3. I removed the veggies from the pan, added another 1/2 Tbsp butter and 8 oz sliced Naysoya Super-firm Sprouted Tofu.
  4. I cooked the tofu until crispy in 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp maple syrup, and a sprinkle of salt, then put it on top of the cabbage.

Soooooooo good.  The veggies were sweet and savory and the tofu had the best texture.  That ‘fu is going to be my go-to from now on.

Now I’m off to hopefully kill my buzz with popcorn.

If I can get myself together, I’m going to try to bang out another hour or so of work tonight.

Do you have any ciders, hard or otherwise, to recommend?

Awkwardly Awesome

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Hello again.  We had a family crisis this weekend so I was away from the blog, but now it’s all good and I’m all back.  Also we squeezed in a party and watched the dog squeeze his face into the last of my milkshake.

Obviously there were good part to the weekend too.

I had lunch for breakfast today.

Baby carrots,

some Libby’s Tropical Fruit Salad,

and a sandwich.

Turkey, pepperjack cheese, and tons of pickles on a sandwich thin.

Lunch for lunch was a salad.

Romaine topped with peanut sauce, nutritional yeast, buckwheat groats, and sliced Crispin Pink apple.

With Honest Tea Half and Half to drink,

and Cookie Butter Fudge (x2) for dessert.

Oh yes I did!  Recipe is coming tomorrow.

I started watching the first season of “Awkward” online while I ate.  I loved it!  Might be my new favorite show.  I watched while I wrote this post too, which is why it took so damn long!

I worked until 7pm today and was stupid tired when I got home.  Dinner seemed impossible and I ended up getting hot bar at the co-op at 9:30.  Vegan “cheesy” broccoli and orzo, an Asian cabbage salad, and some maple roasted tofu and veggies.

I know the picture is gross but it was all delicious and I felt fortunate to have skipped my planned dinner.

Six Hershey’s Simple Pleasures for dessert.

I plan on going to bed as soon as this episode of Awkward is over.  I also plan on going to yoga at 7am.  The 2nd plan is totally dependant on the first; we’ll see what happens.

Have you been watching Awkward?

Curry And Lemongrass, Too

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The past 48 hours haven’t been all that exciting, but they have been busy.  Work, fun, then work.  No working out, unfortunately.  I’m not even going to attempt a workout before my early shift tomorrow either.  I do have big goals for next week though, because I’m hoping to get myself started on a healthy schedule (re: bedtime, working out, and cooking dinner) in the week before school starts.

Thursday’s breakfast was a yogurt bowl.

Note – I’ve eaten a LOT of yogurt the past two days, be prepared.

This bowl was Wegman’s Low Fat Honey Yogurt topped with sliced yellow plucot and white nectarine and 1 Tbsp ground flax.

It was so good I did a similar breakfast the next day and plan on buying more of the honey yogurt asap.

I spent Thursday morning curled up on the couch with a Patricia Cornwell novel.  I’m hoping to blog quickly to get in bed with that same novel!  Reading and eating made for my perfect morning.

I took a reading break to walk the dog and snagged this white chocolate macadamia cookie from the co-op.

I should have made time for a real lunch instead of a cookie because I was starving by the end of my shift.

I had evening plans with friends and knew I would be too cranky to function so we stopped at Code Blue for juice along the way.

My customized drink included kale, spinach, collard greens, carrot, and watermelon.  So tasty and the fun ingredients were very exciting to try.

And it didn’t matter that we stopped for juice because our plans were a total bust.  We’ve been excited about seeing Salt-n-Pepa for a month but it just didn’t pan out.  The line was three times longer than the amount of people let in.  Boo!  But we did catch a few lines of “Let’s Talk About Sex.”

I got home late and had pizza for dinner.

1.5 (big) slices total.  Buffalo and bbq chicken flavored.

I spent the night by myself because the husband had 24-hour call (more like 32 hour call!) and the dog and I slept very fitfully on the couch.

Today’s breakfast was a repeat of Friday’s.

Wegman’s Plain Fat-Free Yogurt, sliced white nectarine and yellow plucot, and 1 heaping Tbsp each ground flax and Biscoff spread.

Then more yogurt for lunch.  Coffee with a honey stick and honey-roasted peanuts.

The honey + peanut + coffee yogurt combo is a childhood favorite of mine.

At work I drank a Big Gulp of diet pop and split this bag of mini Rolos with my co-worker.

I also had a jalapeño cheddar bialey in the afternoon (with a slice of pepperjack).

Adam requested Thai food for dinner and since he came home from a 32 hour shift and did the laundry, Thai food it was.

I got veggie Pad See Eiw.  The husband ordered and we forgot to say “extra veggies” for me so I was pleasantly surprised to see my plate chockfull of the green stuff.

From Sun Restaurant, by the way.  The noodles get a 10-out-of-10 but the sauce only got a 5.

Ben and Jerry’s for dessert.

Coffee Caramel Buzz.  Better than Bonaroo Buzz but not as good as Schweddy Balls.  <– I have officially eaten too much ice cream!

Canoe-dle

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As the start of my 2nd to last week before school begins, I say “hello, Monday” very reluctantly.  My day got off to an odd start because I spent an hour searching for a food truck whose Twitter stream had lied to me.  I really want to cross that off of my birthday list before the summer ends.

I ended up getting lunch at the hot bar, which was probably cheaper and certainly healthier.

Chana Masala,

veggies,

more veggies with a little tofu,

and the large space was supposed to be fruit but I got flustered and forgot.

In a crowd I’m wonderfully decisive but when I’m alone I tend to get overwhelmed by too many choices.

I had a small iced coffee with skim milk while I shopped.

I’ve officially begun hoarding pumpkin things – I’ve got three cans of puree and three beers! – even though I know I won’t touch them until October.

When I got home I broke into an exciting purchase.

Luigi’s Birthday Cake Italian Ice.

Amazingly, it was a little too sweet for me and I only ate half.  I’ll have to see what I do with the rest of the cups.

At 5 o’clock I did manage to cross something off of my list, a friend and I cashed in a Groupon and went canoeing!

We went out on a two-hour ride and managed to keep up our paddling the whole time.  We even got to spot several deer.

It was fun to get some nature time.  Over all we did really well, though there was one very shallow area that we got stuck on in both directions.  On the way back I actually had to put my feet out of the canoe and give us a push!!  I can’t wait to see how my arms feel tomorrow.

Right now my biceps feel good, but I am pretty darn tired.  Like, dinner sounded like an impossible feat, tired.  Instead of cooking, I ate this spicy salmon brown rice roll for dinner.

And I’m going to fall into bed the minute I press publish.  Good night!

A Midsummer Night’s Date

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So I did, in fact, sleep through yoga.  I suck.  I have two weeks until school and then I’ve got class at 8 am five days a week so I need to seriously work on my getting out of bed skills!

Breakfast was a big pink smoothie.

Into the blender went 1.5 cups Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, a heaping 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, a heaping Tbsp pb, and 2 scoops of Tera’s Whey Organic Bourbon Vanilla Whey Protein Powder.

My smoothie tasted like a vanilla pb & j!

I also had 2 oz of the wasabi snack mix my parents brought.

I spent what was left of my late morning cooking dinner.  This quart of heirloom tomatoes played a big role.

I also finally used this Kelapo Coconut Oil sample that I got last summer at HLS.

And tri-color quinoa from last summer’s trip to Trader Joes.

The dog is afraid of the oven and this meal kept the oven and stove-top on for a solid hour and scared him deep into the back of the closet.

What a scaredy cat dog!

The end result was worth it.

Here are the general specs if you want to recreate it, for 4 servings –

  • 1 cup quinoa, cooked according to package instructions
  • 1 quart tomatoes, roasted
  • 2 large zucchini, sliced and roasted
  • 2 pints sliced mushrooms, sautéed in 2 Tbsp butter
  • 14 oz extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed and sautéed in 1 Tbsp coconut oil with seasoning of choice
  • sauce of choice (I topped my bowl with 2 Tbsp pesto)

The photos are actually of Adam’s bowl since my dinner looked like this –

I ate to-go because the husband picked me up from work and we walked straight to Shakespeare in Delaware Park.

We only caught half of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (I got out of work late and Adam has a strict bedtime) but we enjoyed what we saw.

We shared these cola gummis for dessert while we watched.

Buffalonians, have you seen any Shakespeare in the park this summer?

Sun Shine

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My parents didn’t actually come to visit, not yet anyway.  They will be here soon (hopefully!) and it was a good day nonetheless.

Breakfast bowl.

Plain yogurt, sliced plums, fat-free sweetened condensed milk, and cinnamon.

1 – Cinnamon on yogurt is awesome.  2 – Having an open thing of SCM in the fridge has also been awesome.

When visitors come to town Adam and I like to pretend that we don’t regularly live in squalor so we cleaned the house.  Or rather, Adam cleaned the entire house and I made the bed and put away my own laundry.

Whatever, that bedspread hasn’t been on straight since the last time my parents were here.

For lunch we split a Mike’s Sandwich from The Spot.

I ordered, and when Adam asked me what we got I told him “a bagel with cholesterol, topped with cholesterol.”  Basically it’s an everything bagel with 2 eggs, melted provolone, and cream cheese.

It’s as amazing as it sounds.

Also amazing, was my workout.  60 minutes of hot yoga.  My standing series was pretty wobbly today but I made it further in a few of the seated poses than I have before.  I always leave the hot yoga classes feeling really, really happy.

Around 5, my dad called with some news.  The good news was they were still paying for dinner.  The bad news was they wouldn’t be eating with us.  I’m pissed that we lost a whole evening of visiting and fingers are crossed that they’ll be here at 10.

But we did have a fantastic dinner.  I keep a running list of ‘places to try’ on my cell phone and today we crossed off Sun Restaurant.

Sun sells Burmese and Thai cuisine and we tried a bit of both.

We started by sharing La Peth Thoat.  Burmese-style pickled tea leaf salad combined with crispy chana dal pea, fried garlic, onion, tomato, cabbage, peanuts, and lime juice.

I strongly liked it, Adam loved it.  The tea leaves and cabbage were delicious with the lime and the fried chickpeas (crispy chana dal pea) were fun to try.

I got Pad See U – ordered “Thai spicy” – as my entrée. Thai-style stir-fried wide rice noodles with thick sweet soy sauce, egg, broccoli, Napa cabbage, and bell pepper.

This was the best Thai food we’ve had in Buffalo!  My noodles were cooked perfectly and the dish was actually spicy.  I loved it.  I ate 2/3 of my plate and only managed to stop because I am so looking forward to having leftovers.

We split a Taro Custard for dessert.  Thai-style taro custard cake with coconut milk.

We’ve had this dessert at a couple of restaurants now and I think it’s just not our thing.  We both love the bites of taro but we always end up leaving food behind.

Please cross your fingers for us that my parents get in on time so we can have fun tomorrow!

My Last Day At Twenty-Six

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Tomorrow I begin my twenty-eighth year!  Isn’t it weird how you’ve starting a year that’s older than your age?!  Today was low-key but good, a great way to wrap up 26.

I started my day with a trip to the gym, sort of.  I overslept, then I had to drive Adam’s car and couldn’t park in the gym lot, then the parking machine stopped taking my money halfway through… blah, blah, blah; I only had 16 minutes to work out.  But I made the most of them!  16 minutes on the elliptical at random level 10, with several rounds of sprint intervals.

I had to hurry because I had a 10am appointment at the Sprint Store.  Yes, again.  Several new parts later, my phone is working again.  Thank goodness for phone insurance.

I ate a big bag of green grapes on the drive.

And made a delicious mug of caffeine when I got home.

Strong cinnamon vanilla nut coffee (brewed with cinnamon!) with 1 Tbsp fat-free sweetened condensed milk.

It was amazing!  But I don’t think I enjoyed myself as much as the dog, who was breakfasting on a ginormous bone.

Gah, cuteness overload!

I got called in early to work so there was no time for a sit-down lunch but I ate this pb&j LARABAR on the walk.

A pallet of boxes came in today so I spent my entire shift tagging and sorting new inventory.

The husband and dog met me after work for a walk and when I got home at 8pm I was glad to have dinner ready and in the fridge.  Pasta with Daily Garnish’s Creamy Vegan Sweet Potato Sauce.

I skipped the Earth Balance, used dark raisins, and topped my serving with 1 tsp chipotle oil, but other than that I followed Emily’s lead.  It ended up being a very good meal.

Plain yogurt with honey and chopped nectarine for dessert.

I’m ready for another year!