So we are back to semi-regular food journal blogging. After a weekend away, I jumped back on the cooking wagon right away. That’s the best way to ensure that I’m eating nutritious foods. Here are the highlights:

I dug deep into my freezer and found an old box of Holy Donuts, which made an appearance in Monday morning breakfast.

I don’t know what kind this was. It was a bit stale but still filled me up.

I added something new to my green smoothie – sprouts. They made the smoothie taste a bit “healthier” but the almond milk + banana + peanuts still added a good amount of sweetness. Not bad. Not bad.

Lunch was a grilled veggie + Samira’s Homemade jalapeno hummus + Foxboro Cheese fromage blanc wrap. Yummy. No picture.

Dinner was AMAZING! Adam mentioned he was craving Chinese food over the weekend. Before I even had a chance to say: “I’ll make some” he added: I want it to be authentic and greasy. No can do on the greasy part. Sorry. I still made a Chinese dish for our Meatless Monday dinner and it was authentic tasting.

Pineapple tofu stir-fry (recipe from Eating Well can be found here)

The sauce was sticky, sweet, sour and a little spicy (I added chile-garlic sauce). This was seriously perfection. I HIGHLY recommend this recipe.

TUESDAY…

started on the right foot. With brunch! Well actually breakfast since it was 8am but it tasted like brunch.

Grilled eggplant, tomato and bacon egg & cheese

+ a bloody mary (virgin don’t worry, I don’t drink before work )!!!

I picked this McClure’s bloody mary mix up in Brooklyn before we left and I’m so happy I did. This mix is spicy and super pickly (not a word, but you get it, right?) – just how I like ‘em! I actually had another glass after dinner. This time I used about 1/2 mix and 1/2 water and it was a little less “I’m drinking tomatoey pickle water”… even though honestly I totally could. Yes, I am obsessed with everything-pickle. I may just make a quick one right now to take to work.

Conclusion: if you see this mix, buy a case!

LUNCH

Leftover pineapple tofu stir-fry in a wrap + carrots. Yep, still amazing.

DINNER

I picked up some grass fed beef at the farmers market the other day and decided to make Lauren’s beef, potato and root vegetable stew for dinner last night (recipe can be found here).

Yes, I know it’s basically summer but I don’t care. This was made in my crockpot (I just threw everything in after browning the meat) and was delicious. I did add a whole bunch of hot sauce, extra salt and pepper and garlic powder to flavor the broth a bit more. After about 6 hours in the crockpot, the meat was tender and the broth thickened up around the veggies.

Summer or not, I still enjoyed this inside our air-conditioned condo.

In other news: I tried a pecan pie larabar yesterday and thought it was incredible. Have you tried it yet? You should.

Oh and of course I promised a giveaway. This one is mostly to Boston readers. Remember the Healthworks event I attended at Alibi? Remember that crazy awesome swag-bag? One of the things included was a free cut + color from a new hair salon on Newbury Street – Rock Paper Scissors. I’ve tried enough salons to know that I can’t cheat at my girl Amanda at Jerel 119 but maybe you’re up for a free hair-do? Sues and Colleen really loved the experience there and have some pretty awesome cuts to show off.

So here are the giveaway rules:

1) Leave a comment if you are interested in entering the giveaway.

2) For an extra entry, blog or tweet about this giveaway (and come back here and let me know you’ve done so). If you don’t have a blog or a twitter account, tell a friend about this giveaway and after they enter, come back and tell me you’ve referred them here.

I’m going to have this open for a few days. If you win, please take some before and after pics and share them with us. Cool?

The rest of you are welcome to comment on anything else in this post. I think there is some good material here, no?

All right, it’s time for me to make my bloody mary and run to work. Happy hump day!

Everyone has their own reasons to “go meatless.” I believe that one can maintain a healthy body on a carnivore diet (with lean meats, omega 3 rich fish and of course portion control and a balance with veggies, fruit and whole grains) but I strongly believe in incorporating more meatless dishes into our weekly repertoire because of the impact this has on the environment.

From the Meatless Monday site… Why Meatless?

• REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide . . . far more than transportation.[3] And annual worldwide demand for meat continues to grow. Reining in meat consumption once a week can help slow this trend.
• MINIMIZE WATER USAGE. The water needs of livestock are tremendous, far above those of vegetables or grains. An estimated 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water go into a single pound of beef.[4] Soy tofu produced in California requires 220 gallons of water per pound.[5]
• HELP REDUCE FOSSIL FUEL DEPENDENCE. On average, about 40 calories of fossil fuel energy go into every calorie of feed lot beef in the U.S.[6] Compare this to the 2.2 calories of fossil fuel energy needed to produce one calorie of plant-based protein.[7] Moderating meat consumption is a great way to cut fossil fuel demand.

Every single person can help reduce the demand for meat (especially inhumanely raised meat) by going meatless more often. I knew I was already doing my part (I know I could always do more by becoming a vegetarian but it’s just not realistic for my lifestyle – we can only do our personal best) but committing myself to a Monday seemed limiting. Well, I’m taking on the challenge!! I like that I can plan a whole day of meatless eats (not just a random meal here and there). I think it happens by mistake once in a while but being more conscious about it made it fun. And you know what? I had some kick-ass eats today. Let’s review them!

BREAKFAST

Breakfast pizza + coffee

Ww tortilla, Barney Butter, nonfat yogurt, mango, Kashi golean cereal, shredded coconut + choc chips

So yummy!

MID-MORNING SNACK

LUNCH

Star ingredient #1: Ellie Krieger edamame “hummus” (recipe can be found here)

It was super galicky and very delicious. I used my vitamix so it was super creamy too. Love it!!

Star #2: grill… well a grill pan for now

Whole wheat Tuscan pane with edamame hummus, heirloom grape tomatoes, grilled zucchini and goat cheese – all pressed together

OMG – seriously I couldn’t get over this deliciousness. Goat cheese + grilled veggies is seriously the best combo on earth. Love <3

MID-AFTERNOON/PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

Clif mojo mountain trek mix bar

WORKOUT

I’m still getting over (or into?) a mild cold so an intense cardio workout was just not in the books. I attended a Body Pump-type class and it was tough. I sweated like crazy and loved every minute of it. What else is new?

DINNER

A little snack while prepping dinner: Doctor Kracker “flatbread” with edamame “hummus”

+ a meatless dinner – ma po tofu with steamed broccolini (recipe can be found here)

I used light tofu, omitted the beef and rice and added broccoli to the broccolini to bulk it up. This made 3 good servings with these lighter substitutions.

I LOVED this meal. It was quite spicy (I used 1T of sriracha) and tasted super authentic. I could see myself ordering it at a Chinese restaurant and being a very happy camper. Some brown rice would have been great to soak up some of the sauce but I thought we’ve been eating too much rice lately so that’s why I omitted it this time. I wouldn’t hesitate to make it again… and you shouldn’t either!

A lovely super charge me cookie to end a lovely day of meatless eats

What do you think of the Meatless Monday movement? If you’re interested, you can pledge to go meatless on Mondays here.

I resisted the urge to start my morning with a delicious garlic pickle but the craving did not go away and I finally surrendered mid-afternoon. This pickle addiction opened my eyes to other high-sodium things I’ve been craving (and consuming) lately. I think yesterday was the worst of it. I need to get my act together asap since high sodium consumption increases blood pressure and has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and stroke. I eat such a small amount of processed foods – I should not be worried about sodium but here we are.

BREAKFAST

Food for Life english muffin with Barney Butter, 1/2 banana and cherry preserves + coffee

Yummy breakfast. Stayed clear of pickles! Phew.

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

1T almond butter + baby carrots

Such a filling combo! I love this unsalted/unsweetened almond butter with carrots.

LUNCH

Kick-ass salad – that’s what’s for lunch!

Mixed greens, shredded carrots, steamed brussels sprouts, TJ’s baked teriyaki tofu (amazing!!!!), goat cheese, hot pepper rings + 1T Jenna’s sesame sauce

While making my salad, I finally had a large pickle (60% of daily sodium recommendation based on a 2,000 calorie diet). The hot pepper rings have also become a new favorite. My mouth was on fire and I was loving every second of it. The hot pepper rings are another 20% of the daily sodium recommendation.

I just realized that the tofu has another 25% of sodium + of course some of the dressing/sauce has sodium as well but I can’t really count that right now. Let’s just say that by lunch time, I already consumed 105%+ of sodium. Eek

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

Lunch was crazy delicious and very filling but I still wanted dessert. I decided to go to Paradise Bakery for a cookie after work (once I was less full) but was getting impatient waiting for 5pm. I considered hitting up the vending machine for some peanut M&Ms but then remembered that I had a serving of TJ’s Nutty American trek mix stashed in my drawer. This was not a cookie but it did satisfy my chocolate + nut craving.

DINNER

Have I had enough sodium yet? Apparently not! For a Friday night dinner, Adam and I decided to make a homemade pizza. I had 1/2 with buffalo chicken and 1/2 with mushrooms.

I’m sure the sauce, dough and cheese have some sodium but the most obvious source was the buffalo sauce. I always remember that (bottled) buffalo sauce is extremely low calorie (5 cals/tablespoon) and fat-free. This time I looked at the label to find the sodium content (I was getting paranoid… and for a reason) and saw a whopping 20% of daily allowance in a serving. I had at least 2 tablespoons if not more. Total so far: 145%!!!!

My half of the pizza is on the right. It was sodium laden but SO good!!

A little dessert after dinner? Sure, why not!

Godiva truffles I got from Adam for Valentine’s day. I forgot I had them so it was fun to re-discover them.

Adam joined me in the tasting and we ate all four. The box said 4 were a serving!

Yum!!!!

After dinner we changed and hopped on the T to meet our friends at Grendel’s Den in Harvard Square.

My sodium craving kicked in once again and I just decided to go with the flow and ordered a bloody Mary (I’ll do better tomorrow – have you heard that before? hmm).

Flash or no flash – both pics suck for different reasons, huh?

Grendel’s Den was packed. I was happy we were able to get a table on a Friday night!

Hmm, my friends are not looking too happy here. Hopefully a little more drinking will solve that problem

I wanted my blood Mary to be more-tomato-ey but it was kind of watered down. Oh well – I’m sure my heart was thanking the bartender for that one. Maybe he knew I had one too many pickles already

For my second drink I ordered a 10oz Hefeweizen

I love me some wheat beer… so creamy! But how sad does my 10oz pour look compared to Adam’s 1/2 liter? It looked like such a baby.

I drank about 3/4 of it so I guess it was the right amount for me after all.

11pm munchies kicked in and I knew just the right salty snack. Double hummus with tahini, vegetable crudites and pita wedges

Flash?

Or no flash?

Grendel’s Den’s food is cheap but kind of gross (I’ve been there before and all I have to say… you get what you paid for). With that said, I thought it was hard to screw up hummus. Apparently, it’s possible. This had waaaaay too much tahini and was almost bitter. The veggies seemed pretty fresh though. I had a few scoops of hummus with cauliflower and a pita wedge and munched on some carrot sticks. The rest of the table devoured it.   

Total sodium intake – over 200% of daily allowance. Certainly eye opening – I better get my act together. Do you track your sodium intake? Ever worried about over-consumption?

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.

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.]

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.

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!

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

TODAY’S EATS:

Breakfast: 1/2 FFL english muffin with a light laughing cow wedge and wild smoked salmon + oikos greek yogurt with organic Maine blueberries

Mid-morning/pre-workout snack: Classic Glo bar from the HLS swag bag:

So much hype about this bar! I think the seeds once again freaked me out a bit. I also spotted peanut butter in the ingredients list and was really hoping for pb flavor. Nope. The bar was definitely wholesome and packed with lots of great stuff, but I wouldn’t “buy it” if I had the chance. I guess I’ve been picky lately

Lunch: “cuban sandwich” – pulled chicken, ham, American cheese, pickles and dijon mustard on whole wheat bread:

I was hoping to toast it all up and let the cheese melt inside, but the toaster at my work had a different plan. It was still a yummy sandwich

Mid-afternoon snack: leftover cake

Today I had “real” dinner: kung pao tofu with brown rice to be exact. I followed this recipe from Eating Well pretty much to the T. I’m not sure what makes it “kung pao” tofu but it was delicious nonetheless. It was great to have a real home cooked meal. I feel like I’ve been combining ingredients lately (read: salads and sammies) rather than really cooking. This was great!

Post dinner snack: last candy bar from my trip to Israel:

By the way I completed 5 miles during the lunch break at 8:47 minute mile average pace. It was a tough run, not sure if I’m still a little weak from the flu or if it’s because I’ve been so inconsistent with my running (due to work, traveling and then the flu) over the past few weeks. Probably both. I’m pretty happy with this time overall (and that I finished it at all!). The important thing was to get my legs moving. They were sore, sore, sore.

Wednesday is tomorrow already. So excited about that.  I’m living for the weekends lately!

How do you stop the snack monster?

Oh and another random question: do you have any easy but delicious green bean recipes? I want to make some as a side dish tomorrow for dinner.

Before I get to my eats, I wanted to mention my run yesterday. It was HARD. We’ve complained about cold rain and nasty weather here in Boston for so long, and now are greeted with a billion % humidity and 80* weather. Can we have a little middle ground here?! As you guys know, I love treadmill running but since signing up for my half (which unfortunately they won’t let me run on the treadmill while catching up on celebrity gossip on E ) I am trying to get my body used to all the outside elements and embrace them. So that meant a run outside at 85* yesterday. I nearly died, I think, and I really hope I can blame the weather because it’s easier than thinking that maybe I’m not fit to run after all. No, no negative thoughts here. I’ll get there. So yeah, my little trick of taking a 1 minute walking break at mile 3 (kind of mid-way of my 7 mile planned run) turned into a walk at miles 2.5, 4.5, 5.25 and eventually at 5.5 when I officially declared to myself that my run is over and just started walking. I just couldn’t handle it anymore. Listening to Jillian didn’t even help. I just needed to walk. So I walked for another 1/2 mile and called it a day. My average pace with the 3 walking breaks was a 9 minute mile. Not great, but it was also quite hilly and it was seriously humid. I try not to concentrate on my pace during my long runs but just cover the distance. Unfortunately covering the distance is not always easy. I hope I am able to get there eventually. My mind tells me that I can do it but my body was telling me something very different during the run yesterday. I need to listen to it. It should come around. Btw, if you want to check out my training schedule, here it is again. I’ve been doing pretty well overall, and I have plenty of time, so there is nothing to worry about just yet

Now onto food. I find it much easier to eat intuitively during the weekend. There is no stress of work that’s making me want to reach for a cookie “to ease the pain” or “get away for a minute” and there is no rigid schedule to adhere to either. I really love it. I started the morning with exactly what I wanted: 1 Food for Life english muffin, 2 kinds of almond butter (Justin’s maple ab and Nuturaly Nutty white chocolate cherry ab) and blueberries and banana slices.

See the different almond butters on this half (Justin’s on the left, NN with cherry chunks on the right)?

I still don’t love either of these nut butters, and I’m running out of Barney – hope that shipment comes soon

My pre-run snack was a few walnut halves ans a banana bud. I don’t know if I needed a snack but I always get a bit nervous before my runs and it’s hard to distinguish between butterflies in the stomach and hunger. I decided to just eat a little somthin’somthin’

About an hour later I ran (see above) and ended up at my parents house. I hung out with them for a bit and had 2 pieces of eel/avocado maki that they were having for lunch:

Then my dad drove me home and I started making lunch, which for a minute I thought was going to turn into a disaster but somehow I saved the day So lunch was based on Kelly’s farmers market strudel recipe. I made a few very minor modifications – omitted the green onions, substituted greek yogurt for fromage blanc, used silken tofu and a blend of parmesan cheese and gruyere. The filling tasted great, but when I was about the assemble the strudel this is where things turned. I’ve never cooked with phyllo dough and couldn’t for the life of me separate the dough sheets. I tried and tried and then reached for the package in the freezer to see if there was some kind of secret to it. Do you want to know the secret? Use phyllo dough instead of puff pastry! Yup, I by mistake defrosted some puff pastry instead of phyllo dough. Oops Btw, I’ve never cooked anything with puff pastry either, so I didn’t really know what to do. I decided to just “wing it” and it worked out really great! I cut the dough in thirds (length wise) and then layered it, lasagna style. One layer of dough went on the bottom, then 1/2 of the filling went on, covered with another piece of dough, more filling and finally topped it with the last dough strip. I then pinched all the ends and baked it at 400* for about 15 minutes (until the dough looked nice and crispy). Puff pastry cooks much quicker than phyllo dough, so that was pretty cool. Here is my slice:

Oh man, this was so good! The puff pastry was so buttery and the filling was really delicious. This felt like an indulgent lunch for sure. I ate 1/2 of this, gave the rest to Adam… and then went back for a little more after a while My near disaster definitely turned out a great success, although I’m wondering if phyllo dough was a healthier option. I guess moderation is key with this stuff and my satisfaction factor was definitely high, which I think is the key to being healthy and sane You guys should definitely try this recipe – my version or Kelly’s. Delicious!!

At some point I munched on 2 dates:

And then attemped to have some leftover blueberry coffee cake with green yogi tea…

… but the coffee cake tasted weird. I picked the almonds off the top and tossed the rest. In the past I would have eaten it anyway, but part of eating intuitively means really tasting food and being selective. Why bother eating something when at the end you won’t be satisfied anyway and will want something else? I instead enjoyed my yogi tea and left extra room in my belly for an awesome dinner! That works too

Dinner will be covered in my next post, so stay tuned

Oh and I keep forgetting – check out Kelly’s Artisana giveaway. Man, I want to win it!!