Tag Archives: veggies

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?

A New York Kind of Day

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Today was perfectly fantastic!  I ate all sorts of great food and we ended up walking more than 5 miles; basically it was my favorite kind of day.  It just felt like a Saturday in the city.  Perhaps because I dressed like I was in New York?

I’ve been trying to drink less (less, not no!) diet soda this month.  If vegan month means I’ll be eating no dairy – bone building – then it needs to also mean I’m eating no less chemicals – bone leaching.  I think iced tea is the answer, especially because it well help me to drink more water too.  Last night I mixed 5 cups of water and 7 bags of Eggnog’n in my new pitcher,

and this morning I made myself a big gulp.

FYI – Eggnog’n totally works just as well better cold!  The husband loved it too, and he usually drinks his iced tea with tons of sugar.

Other things the husband is currently loving?

S.S. Sea Salt Somersaults.  He made himself a big baggie to carry around all day.

Our first stop of the day was the farmers’ market.  It was pretty picked over by the time we got there, but Adam got some great homemade maple candy and shared a piece with me.

Wegmans – our next stop – was apparently where all the local goods were at –

We also got some hibiscus iced tea lemonade.

Once we got home and had all the groceries safely shelved we headed back out, this time on foot.  Our original destination was the Greek Festival,

but there was an admission fee and the food tent was mostly meat.  We trekked on (and on) until we came to Mezza, a brand new Mediterranean place that just opened yesterday.

At that point it had been more than 16hours since I’d eaten any solid food so pretty much anything would have sounded good!  Thankfully Mezza was just good, period!

I got Baba Ghanouj,

and stuffed grape leaves.

Picture lots of pita with that too.  Everything was ridiculously fresh tasting.  Usually Baba Ghanouj tends to be kind of greasy and heavy but this was totally light.  The husband thought he only liked falafel, but he loved everything he tasted today.  He inhaled more than half of my orders!

I probably shouldn’t have been quite so generous, because we’d barely made it down the block before I realized that I was actually still pretty hungry!  When we walked past the co-op we made a hot bar stop.

Vegan cheesy noodles and Pad Thai, Hunan tofu with broccoli, and 2 pieces of Southern-style tofu.  I ate while I walked which was messy but fun.  By the time we reached our apartment we’d covered more than 5miles, love that incidental exercise!

Later in the afternoon I found it totally necessary to inhale this coconut milk tapioca pudding.

It gave me a tummy ache but was soooo worth it!

I have to get up early because we have fun plans tomorrow and lots of studying to do (my first soc exam is on Monday).  In the interest of time and laziness we are going to eat popcorn for dinner and cuddle on the couch before bed.  Peace out!

What is your favorite Mediterranean offering?  Mine is stuffed grape leaves, the texture and taste of the leaves is just so interesting.

Sex in the City, PeeYoo

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Adam texted me just in time today to let me know he had to stay at the lab late so I did a quick turn-around and headed to the gym.  I did the elliptical for 20minutes, on random, level 6, then had a quick stretch before hopping in the shower and heading to pick him up.

Our fun activity was a movie date to see “Sex in the City 2,” so even though I was in a rush you know I took the opportunity to throw on a big necklace and headband!

If you’re wondering why that smile is more of a grimace, it might have something to do with this –

Dinner was consumed via movie snacks.

Baby carrots,

an entire cucumber, sliced, with salt,

2 servings of spice drops,

and I also split a small popcorn with the husband.

Perhaps not chock-full of nutrients but it was a lot of fun to eat.  I didn’t think the movie was quite as enjoyable though 😦  The fashion wasn’t as fun (harem pants, really?!?) and the Muslim traditions “humor” was forced and awkward.  I enjoyed the specific storylines about each couple but on a whole it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Did you see S&TC2 yet?  What’d you think?

Top it Off

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I am leaving to pick up the husband in exactly 29minutes so I’ll try to do this Speedy Gonzalez style.

This morning had all the components to make me cranky – I overslept and I didn’t get a chance to read and I was dropping everything I picked up.  Does that ever happen to you?  I think the main reason I don’t really wear make-up is because I’m always irritating myself by dropping the brushes!  Nothing a big smoothie can’t fix though.

1 banana + 1cup frozen blackberries + 2T unsweetened shredded coconut + 1cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk + 1t xanthan gum + 6ice cubes = filled to the brim.

The coconutty flavor in this was awesome, I don’t think there’s anything that isn’t better with coconut.

We actually got our 1ominute break in soc today (hallelujah!) so I took the opportunity to snack on a bag of Peeled Snacks dried pineapple.

Best dried pineapple ever!  I don’t think I’ve ever seen dried pineapple sans added sugar before (maybe at Trader Joe’s?) but this bag was just fruit, and since it’s available at Starbucks I don’t need to make a trek to NYC to get more!

After class I stopped in at Cafe59 – the coffee shop on my street – to get caught up on my reading.  While I worked I ate a delicious salad for a late lunch.

For a set price, they offer a build-your-own salad in which you get to pick lettuce, dressing, and 5 toppings.  I adore BYO in general, but this might be one of my best combinations yet.  I choose romaine lettuce and balsamic dressing with sundried tomato, green olives, Portobello mushrooms, marinated zucchini, and roasted garlic.

The flavor combination was kind of fantastic.  The big pieces of roasted garlic really made it.

The husband and I have some fun plans for the evening, I’ve just got to go get him!

What are your favorite salad toppers?  I’m partial to carmelized nuts and goat cheese, mmmmn!

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!

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!

Successful Sunday

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Finally, some productivity!  Actually doing something today was a nice change from Saturday’s pace.  Although I did sleep in still 🙂

Lunch was very, very orange.  An everything Bagel Thin with extra sharp cheddar and a honey tangerine.

With a serving of Guylian chocolate shells for dessert.

Followed by a run.  In today’s workout one bad turn deserved another; I ended up running further than planned once I realized how stupid it was to have gone without sunblock.  I really do have to stick to my pace plan and up my time gradually, but it did feel great.

  • 5minutes walking
  • 10minutes jogging
  • 5minutes walking
  • 3minutes jogging
  • 3minutes jogging

2.6miles in 26minutes.

Afterwards a trip to the mall with Katie was in order.  I wish I could tell you I was excited about my purchases, but basically I had to buy clothes for summer school because my pants don’t fit.  Woot.  More on that in tomorrow’s post.

The mall trip took longer than anticipated (why the frick are all the pants at BR/J.Crew/Gap so cheap and thin looking right now?!) and it was easy for Adam to talk me into hot bar for dinner.

Grilled broccoli,

wok seared veggies,

vegetarian meatballs = yums,

curried tofu salad,

and chick pea salad.

It turns out I went a little too vegetarian because this wasn’t all that filling.  I ate a cookie dough Balance Bar when I got home to finish filling up.

And I’ve been working on my binder project ever since.  I’m going back to immerse myself in blissful filing, hope everyone else had a great weekend!

No Breakfast, Recap Only

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This actually isn’t a recap AND breakfast post; in order to have eaten breakfast one would have had to gotten up before 11:30.  If it’s not obvious already, I had a bit too much to drink last night. 

We had a great time though; we went out with a couple the husband is friends with from school.  I’m going to keep this short and simple as my pictures are terrible due to the lighting (and I’d like to go eat breakfast!).  Note – I’m not using name because I don’t know them well enough to know if blog exposure is cool with them.

They suggested going to Allen Street Hardware Cafe which ended up being a fabulous idea.  I loved it there and can’t wait to go back.  The beer selection was huge.  Thinking back to a rave post about it from Kath, I ended up ordering a Tusker.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!  Other than Abita Strawberry and Hell or High Watermelon I never really like beer.  I don’t mind it, but it’s usually not my favorite.  Tusker is now added to my top 3 favorites though, it was delicious!  I usually finish my drinks way after everyone else (actually I usually don’t finish because I take so long they get warm) but last night I was ordering a second round before the rest of the group had made a dent in their drinks!

My meal was pretty fantasmic as well.  I went with the Chef Salad which was Mixed greens, roasted beets, red onion, carmelized pecans, goat cheese, and a roasted shallot champagne vinegarette.

Fabulous!  I forgot to ask for dressing on the side but it didn’t even matter because it was so lightly dressed to begin with.  The combination of goat cheese with beets was perfect.

After dinner we moseyed down the street to another bar.  I ordered a diet coke with Cherry Three Olives Vodka.

This was the point where I maybe should have just gone with diet coke.  Actually, everyone was a bit tipsy at this point because our attempt at couples darts took for-ev-er because we all were aiming so poorly!

A good time was had by all though.

The only downfall of the evening is that in my stupor I decided I was starving and I talked Adam into letting me eat a boatload of chips.

Ugh.  Probably the reason my hunger didn’t wake me up earlier this morning.

I should get off the computer and get back to the world though, 12:30 is probably a good time to start the day 😀

Are you a beer drinker?  What are your favorites?