tofu « Healthy and Sane

Entries Tagged as 'tofu'

3 steps forward, 1 step back

February 12th, 2010 · 19 Comments · Uncategorized, breakfast, oats, sandwich, snacks, tofu, yogurt

I had a bit of a breakdown last night. I forgot how much not following through my plans messes me up! I feel like this week I made so much progress. I (for the most part) stayed within my calorie range, diligently followed my training plan (with the necessary adjustments to allow for my twisted ankle to recover) and my confidence started building. Last night a decision to skip an interval run brought me straight back to square one. I went to a yoga class during lunch as per my training schedule, but after work the couch seemed so inviting that I decided to just go home instead. Well the couch wasn’t available because we still had people working on our kitchen until 7:30, so what was supposed to be a lovely evening by myself (Adam had plans with his buddies), turned into me being “imprisoned” in my own bedroom, and then a mini-binge out of frustration. So it looks like I took 3 baby steps forward Mon-Wed this week and then a giant step back on Thursday. Urgh I still can’t decide if I want to make up last night’s run today (it was supposed to be a rest day so I would have fresh legs for a long run tomorrow). Regardless if I do or not, starting next week I’m going to modify the schedule to eliminate post-work runs. I just don’t want to go through the “talk myself into it” exercise every Thursday, you know?

Anyways, before the stupid binge (which included a bunch of pecans, a Mojo mountain mix bar, chocolate covered edamame and chips!! <– I never want those!) my eats were super delicious. Let’s review, shall we?

BREAKFAST

Overnight oats with banana slices, Kashi Golean cereal, walnuts and raisins + coffee

Looks pretty but it wasn’t that exciting. I think overnight oats are just not for me. I’d rather have yogurt straight up… or hot oats. That’s just me

[398 calories]

The perfect bite!

MID-MORNING SNACK

[168 calories]

LUNCH

I was pretty proud of this one! It was so fresh and SO delicious (thanks to the sauce). Spinach, broccoli, snow peas, shredded carrots, TJ’s organic savory baked tofu + almonds in Jenna’s spicy sesame noodle sauce (I made it ages ago).

The sauce recipe made like a gallon and the stuff is caloric so I’ve been using only a tablespoon or 2 at a time. I have been keeping the sauce in a Nalgene bottle and it was as fresh tasting yesterday as it was a year ago. Just opening the sauce bottle in the morning got me super excited about lunch! The sauce aroma is amazing – tahini + sesame oil really are a match made in heaven.

Saucy lunch…

Brownie anyone?

[all together ~ 515 calories]

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

PURE cherry cashew bar – love them!

[200 calories]

DINNER

Another amazing meal – seriously prior to my binge I was eating like a queen!! Apple chicken sausage “dog” with honey mustard, pumpkin butter and fresh pear slices + baby carrots

The star of the show… the perfect balance between sweet and savory.

Before reading food blogs (and of course writing one), I would have never thought I’d like something like this. Good thing I’m more adventurous now – it was an incredible combination of flavors!!

The only thing that got documented as I was eating my weight in food…

KITCHEN REMODEL UPDATE

Our walls and ceiling are closed!! I can actually picture what the kitchen will look like now. It’s so open – I love it! We have less than a week left for it to be done (fingers crossed)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any fun plans for Valentine’s day? I think we’re going to wake up to the oh so romantic sound of kitchen remodeling.

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Easy giving with big impact

December 2nd, 2009 · 15 Comments · breakfast, salad, sandwich, snacks, tofu, turkey

I was on my way to TJ’s the other day and came across a wonderful coat drive exhibit. With my camera on me at all times I decided to snap a few pics for you guys.:)

This powerful exhibit could not be missed and reminded me of a coat I haven’t worn in a few years. I dropped off this coat at the dedicated donation bin the very next day. This was such an easy thing for me to do, yet I’m sure will have a tremendous impact on someone’s life. It’s getting cold here in Boston!! Have you gone through your closet recently and donated clothing you don’t wear? I do this several times a year, and still find pieces from college and even high school that I can’t seem to let go of. Every time I make a little step in the right direction, and I hope that someone out there is able to benefit from it!

With the holidays around us, it seems that everywhere you look, someone wants a donation for a charity. Although the causes are noble, it can get frustrating. We should be giving back all year long and not just during the November-December stretch. This is why I love when companies step up and make donating a whole lot easier, like by shopping!!

Boston readers – 15% of every purchase from Mint Julep in Harvard Square on December 10, 2009 between 5-9pm will be donated to The Boys and Girls Club in Somerville and Cambridge! You may be able to find a unique gift there, or even a little present for yourself I’m pressed for cash these days, but I may buy something small for a good cause.

All right, all right – let’s get to food!!

BREAKFAST

2 pumpkin spice waffles (one with choc chips, one with walnuts) with crunchy Barney Butter and 1/2 banana + coffee

LUNCH

PART I – turkey, laughing cow cheese + cranberry/cherry sauce on TJ’s ww Tuscan bread

PART II (a few hours later) – Oikos with remainder of cranberry/cherry sauce

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

DINNER

A larger version of Saturday’s salad + pan fried tofu

+ a tiny treat:

These chocolate calendars are at TJ’s for 99 cents!! I couldn’t give up such an amazing deal

I am now enjoying some ginger yogi tea…

Today’s yogi message: “I am beautiful, I am bountiful, I am blissful.” I’m leaving this post at that. Namaste. [PS - right before dinner, I practiced yoga for 45 minutes.]

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So you want intensity?

November 4th, 2009 · 21 Comments · chicken, dessert, sandwich, snacks, tofu

As predicted, I’m still sore from my Monday night Group Power class. I knew that lifting 45 lbs with my legs would have its effects In order to flush out some lactic acid out of muscles, I decided to take spinning. I took an abs class right before that, and then dragged my butt to the spin studio. Honestly, I really wasn’t feeling spinning but I didn’t want to run either and lifting wasn’t an option. Guess what? The spin instructor never showed up! As I was trying to warm up on my spin bike, thoughts of alternative workouts started going through my mind. What could I do that would actually be fun, yet intense? I know some of you gym class addicts have the same problem. If you miss the class, the instructor doesn’t show up, or your favorite class is permanently canceled for some reason, it’s hard to motivate yourself on your own and get the same intense workout you’ve been accustomed to.

My day dreaming brought me back over and over to Tina’s 30 (or 50) minute elliptical workout. It’s been probably a year since I’ve done it but the printout was still in my gym bag, and I was actually excited to give it a go again. From what I remembered it was a tough one… and yes, I remembered right! After the 5 minute warm-up at level 3, Tina gets serious. No more bouncing around on the elliptical, doing your time. You’ll be working with this one, and by working I mean sweating, huffing, puffing, wishing the fire alarm in the gym went off so you’d have an excuse to get off. This workout is intense!! I did it for about 40 minutes yesterday and thought I deserved a medal at the end. Can’t wait to do it again and see if I improve over time

BREAKFAST

Banana oats with nutella and sliced banana

Real nutella for breakfast? I say “why not?!” I like starting my day on a sweet note

SNACK

Cedar’s hummus with crackers (I ate 1/2 of the hummus and all the crackers) – delicious!!

LUNCH

2/3 tofu steak with apple butter and Laughing Cow cheese on Nature’s Pride whole wheat bread + baby carrots

It was kind of funny but the tofu with herbs + apple butter kind of tasted like apple sausage Delicious combo, btw!

DINNER

For dinner I was lucky enough to be invited to taste Shannon’s winning recipe for savory pumpkin pudding. Shannon will be the Nature’s Pride ambassador at the Foodbuzz conference in San Francisco this weekend, so if you’re there, I highly recommend you give this amazing dish a taste. I was blown away by how incredibly delicious it was!!!

I had a bit of seconds… SO good!

I brought some dessert over – Berryline peanut butter tart frozen yogurt. I haven’t had Berryline since August and forgot how in love I am with their yogurts. The peanut butter flavor was very yummy… I possibly went back there and got a pint to go

Delicious day, amazing workout. I can’t complain Do you have any workouts that you do on your own and absolutely LOVE? I want details

If you haven’t already, enter the Nasoya giveaway here.

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Cooking Light + Nasoya = delicious, healthy, budget friendly dinner (giveaway alert!)

November 3rd, 2009 · 58 Comments · Cooking Light, dessert, tofu, yogurt

Last month, I was sent an advanced copy of Cooking Light’s Healthy Budget Cooking issue for my review. I am already a subscriber to Cooking Light and love the magazines, so I was excited to get a copy of one of their “Best of” series that is not included in my subscription.

This economic downturn is affecting everyone, in one way or another. This issue with 104 healthy yet budget friendly recipes will ensure that you eat healthy without breaking the bank. My favorite sections/tips included…

These 2 tips really speak to me. I’ve been trying to incorporate more meatless meals since watching Food Inc. and during the spring and the summer, most of my produce comes from the farmers markets and near-by farms. It’s important for me to support local farmers, and often this also forces my husband and me to eat more vegetables, cuts down on our grocery bill, and really makes us appreciate the season. Cooking Light had lots of great recipes in both sections, and throughout the magazine!

But wait, there is more Lindsay, representing Nasoya, also contacted me recently and sent me some coupons to try Nasoya’s new wraps. I just bought ww wraps at TJ’s so I haven’t been able to taste test Nasoya’s wraps (they sound great!) but I did pick up 2 packages of organic extra-firm tofu for tonight’s dinner from the above mentioned magazine. How’s that for multi-tasking

I chose the recipe from the meatless section – tofu steaks with red pepper-walnut sauce and invited my mom over for dinner. I omitted parsley (my husband hates it) and the white wine vinegar (my mom hates it) – replacing it with some cooking white wine with lemon juice, and scaled the recipe up by 1.5 times just to ensure no one went hungry at my dinner table Oh I also cut down on oil a bit (used less than 2T for 6 steaks). For sides, I stir-fried some local brussels sprouts and reheated some cooked brown rice. Here is the whole meal:

Tofu closeup:

Red pepper walnut sauce:

And the brussels sprouts:

My portion:

The tofu steaks were so delicious. Very “meaty” – Adam said he thinks that non-tofu lovers would love this. He really raved about this meal! I think the sauce was really what put it over the top for him. He really drenched his plate with it and then practically licked it clean. We calculated that this meal costs less than $2 per serving and that’s using mostly organic and local ingredients! Thank you, Miranda, for sending me the magazine to review. I plan on making another recipe from the issue this week. It was hard to choose my favorites – great stuff in there!

Lyndsay also graciously offered to send my readers some coupons to try out Nasoya products!! In order to win TWO coupons for free Nasoya products, please leave a comment on this post. For some extra credit let others know about this giveaway and link back to this post. FIVE lucky readers will receive 2 coupons, each. I will announce the winners this Thursday night. Good luck!

THE REST OF TODAY’S EATS

Nonfat yogurt with apple slices, autumn olives, peanut butter Puffins and walnuts + coffee

Yes, I had a pumpkin whoopie pie for breakfast too. It jumped into my mouth as I was packing the rest to take to work. This is why they had to go!

Leftover chopped chicken salad from Not Your Average Joe’s

Another giant low fat cookie from the package 24carrot sent me. I thought this one had a more prevailing “off sweetness taste,” than the rocky road cookie. I think the nuts and marshmallows in the other cookie distracted me from that strange sweetness taste. Not sure how to describe it. It wasn’t bad per-se, but definitely tasted “healthy.” I’d have to be in a particular mood to like it. I did like how large and dense this cookie was. I like my desert to feel substantial

I think that’s all I have for today. I attended a Group Power class after work, which will surely make me sore for a few days. My workouts may get creative to make up for it

Don’t forget to enter the Nasoya giveaway!

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My head is getting to me

October 13th, 2009 · 20 Comments · Asian, Cooking Light, breakfast, comfort foods, dessert, salad, tofu, yogurt

Today was a tough one. There was a lot of self pep talk. Sometimes it worked; sometimes my head got to me. I need to get over the hump asap – it’s killing me! I woke up this morning and had a comforting breakfast – apple crisp yogurt!

It looked ugly, but man was it good. Warm apple crisp over cool nonfat yogurt, fresh apple slices and pecans. Definitely comfort food at its best! This breakfast kept me full for over 4 hours. In fact when lunch time came, I didn’t even want a full blown lunch so I had a snack – TJ’s organic double fiber blueberry muffin. So hearty and delicious. Love these!

So far, so good. Not sure if it was the anxiety at work that kept my mind wondering, or the fact that my co-worker stopped by to see how my race went (she ran it too!) and my dad called to tell me it’s ok (he read my blog post – I kind of avoided most phone calls this weekend). Oh yeah, I also had a recovery clinical massage for my sore legs and had to tell the girl about how the race ended. Somehow I couldn’t get the race off my mind and I just wanted to have that moment back so I could do things differently this time. I don’t remember exactly what happened. I’m still in awe that I walked off the course and just quit. It doesn’t make sense to me. I know my body needed the rest, but couldn’t I have walked for 0.6 miles?! I wanted the satisfaction of crossing that finish line SO BAD and now my first half marathon will forever be my worst nightmare. I can never have another first half marathon. I know this is irrational. My husband keeps reminding me that I blacked out (!!!!) and that I can’t keep blaming myself. I know I pushed too hard and that’s another reason I keep wanting to relive that moment – so I can pull back and finish. My sister and I emailed back and forth a bit and she tried to screw my head on straight about this whole thing. I know everyone else is right. It just really was traumatizing and I think the only way to change it IS to run another half, but race season is basically over (and it’s freaking cold outside!!!) so I’ll have to wait a whole year to do it again. Can I do it next weekend, lol? I’m all about instant gratification (you know, instant as in 2+ hours of constantly challenging my body beyond its limits)

Back to food – the next self-pep talk involved snacking. This gorgeous German chocolate cupcake won this time

Wowza. Amazing rich dark chocolate, pecans + coconut. I was in heaven! The problem with delicious treats like that is that I want more right after. Instead I decided to wait a little, and about an hour later enjoyed a healthier sweet treat: 1/2 FFL english muffin, Barney Butter + 1/2 banana – my favorite go-to dessert “alternative.”

Wait, did I forget to tell you all about lunch? Mixed greens, green and yellow beans, borlotti beans, hard-boiled egg and a scallop from last night’s dinner.

Dinner was also delicious and nutritious (hehe, this sounds like it should be in some kind of infomercial ). I had some nappa cabbage left from chop suey last week, so I searched around for another good recipe to put the rest to use. This recipe from Cooking Light for tangy stir-fried vegetables caught my eye, and I was even able to buy all veggies at the local farmers market. Sweet

You know the drill – I omitted the onions and otherwise followed the recipe (except that I used over 3 times the tofu, doubled the sauce and added a whole bunch of veggies without really measuring). The marinaded tofu was out of this world flavorful! Great spicy kick too! Adam and I were eating the tofu raw while the veggies were cooking. So delicious – the vegetables were so fresh and the recipe made them shine. My husband was excited about tofu. What have I done to him?!

And I wish this was it. I was full and satisfied. Did I stop eating? Nope. Somehow the chocolate covered almonds and roasted salted pistachios were consumed – in large quantities, while watching the Biggest Loser. I tried to talk myself out of the madness but gave in. Seriously, what happened? Literally a month ago I was on top of the world, eating intuitively, losing weight and feeling spectacular, and now I’m back to old stupid habits that I can’t seem to reverse. This needs to end asap, so I can once again be healthy and sane!

All right, this post became whinier than I planned on it. My apologies. Let’s see if I snap out of it soon and become the inspiration that many of you tell me I am. <3

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Entries Tagged as 'tofu'

3 steps forward, 1 step back

February 12th, 2010 · 19 Comments · Uncategorized, breakfast, oats, sandwich, snacks, tofu, yogurt

Easy giving with big impact

December 2nd, 2009 · 15 Comments · breakfast, salad, sandwich, snacks, tofu, turkey

So you want intensity?

November 4th, 2009 · 21 Comments · chicken, dessert, sandwich, snacks, tofu

Cooking Light + Nasoya = delicious, healthy, budget friendly dinner (giveaway alert!)

November 3rd, 2009 · 58 Comments · Cooking Light, dessert, tofu, yogurt

My head is getting to me

October 13th, 2009 · 20 Comments · Asian, Cooking Light, breakfast, comfort foods, dessert, salad, tofu, yogurt

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