Magnificent Monday

Hello World! Isn't it a fabulous day? I am still recharged from the weekend, in case you couldn't tell ;)

While I did get off to a slow start this morning...hitting snooze for 15 minutes, and then sleeping an extra fifteen, the prospect of one of Kristen's Cherry Chocolate Bomb Shakes eventually lured me out from under the covers.
However, mine was a tad bit less healthy than hers...

In mine:
half a banana
12 frozen cherries
1 cup of almond milk
2 TBSP hemp seeds
2 TBSP chocolate syrup

Despite the unhealthiness of the choc syrup, this truly was the bomb! I slurped it down in no time and carried on to work.

Work was work as usual and involved me taking frequent breaks to catch up on Google Reader and other various celebrity gossips from around the interweb. Finally, lunchtime rolled around and I broke out some leftover baingan bharta with rice along with a green apple.

Yep, just as good as yesterday evening! I hacked into the apple with that plastic knife so I could eat apple chunks with my fork and not get my hands sticky as I continued to catch up on Reader.

Two hours later I enjoyed a small coffee while I watched my screensaver transition,

along with a chocolate coin:

I finished up at work and headed home to get ready to work out. The weather was so beautiful, but alas I am trapped in a 2 year gym membership so my boyfriend and I headed to the gym. I had a pre-work out snack of a date dipped in PB.

Just right.

At the gym I did a very creative interpretation of a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout, inspired by Janetha. If you have never read her blog... Go There Now. Not only does she have awesome workouts and meal ideas, but her Jamaican Me Bikini Ready plan was enough to get my butt off the couch and onto the treadmill. And that's no easy feat.

Anyways, here's my Knockoff HIIT Exercise for the Treadmill:

Speed (MPH):     Minutes:
4.0 (warmup)         1-2
5.5 (jog)                2-4
6.0                        4-5
6.5                        5-6
7.0                        6-7
7.5                        7-8
5.5                        8-10
6.0                       10-11
6.5                       11-12
7.0                       12-13
7.5                       13-14
4.0                       14-16
5.5                       16-18
6.0                       18-19
6.5                       19-20
7.0                       20-21
4.0 (cooldown)    21-25

I am by no means some kind of speed whiz on the treadmill, so my treadmill workouts may look a little slow to some of you. This workout for me however, turned me into one sweaty chica! I usually don't sweat very much so that's saying something! It also may have had to do with the 79* weather outside and the lack of functional air conditioning in the gym.

After my treadmill session, I did lower body weights followed by abs.

I was seriously shaking when I got home! I am starting to realize that my recent workouts at the gym have been a little lackluster, so I am determined to step it up. I could definitely feel the difference today! On top of today's workout, I was sore from yesterday, in which I did a 15 minute version of the above workout. I feel great though, so I'm definitely going to investigate more HIIT workouts that I can do!

I hopped in the shower then whipped up a quick smoothie to drink while I made dinner.

In this mix was:
2 cups organic spinach
1/2 cup chopped pineapple
4 frozen cherries (the last of the bag)
1/2 banana (remainder from this morning)
1 cup of ice water

It was great and sustained me until I was able to chow down on some dinner. I was in a Flat Out mood tonight and decided to roll with a pizza! There are several recipes for pizza (and other things!) on the Flat Out website, so I looked at them, got some inspiration, and created my own variation.

I preheated the oven to 350* and placed the Flat Out on a baking sheet and baked it for 7 minutes. In the meantime, I thawed some frozen broc and chopped up some zucchini and asparagus.

I then removed the wrap from the oven, spread it with some marinara sauce, sprinkled it with garlic powder, and piled it up with the broc and zucchini. The asparagus didn't fit so I decided to cook it on the side. I topped the pizza with about 1/4 cup of reduced fat mozzarella and returned it to the oven for 10 minutes.

I love these little pizzas! It always surprises me that the crust stays crispy under all of those toppings...don't be surprised if you see another rendition tomorrow :)

I cut the pizza into fourths and was still amazed that each slice held up even when I held it by the very edge. This was so veggie-rich that it took me half an hour to finish! I love meals like that :)

After dinner I watched Gossip Girl (OMG OMG! Could it get any better?!) and am currently drinking a glass of chocolate almond milk while I blog.

How was your Monday?

Indian night: Baingan Bharta

Hello bloggers! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I know I did :) I have so much to share with you from the weekend, but today I want to share a special recipe with you.

This is my recipe for baingan bharta. I grew up in an Indian household and was raised eating Indian food almost every day! I definitely took my mom's delicious cooking for granted and after I moved away from home when I was 18, I missed Indian food a lot!

Over the past few years, I have slowly begun to learn how to cook Indian food on my own, and have a few recipes that I have perfected. Baingain Bharta is is a mashed eggplant dish that is full of flavor and spice. I hope you enjoy it!

Baingan Bharta (Serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

1 eggplant (on the larger side)
2 medium sized tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 green chili (optional- use it if you love extra spicy things!)
1 TBSP ginger garlic paste (or 1 inch of garlic and a clove of garlic)
1 1/2 TBSP ghee (or olive oil)

pinch of asafetida
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/8 - 1/4 tsp liquid smoke

1/2 cup steamed peas (optional)

Roast eggplant on a gas flame & peel. I use these directions, and do not drain the eggplant.
Roast the eggplant on the flame for about 10 minutes, turning as needed. When the skin is papery and flaky looking, take it off the heat and let it cool. You can peel the eggplant after that, or just cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides. Chop the insides into small pieces or mash with a masher if possible, and reserve. If you don't have a gas flame, you can roast the eggplant in the oven or even in the microwave.

Before:

After:

Next, blend the tomatoes with ginger garlic paste & green chili, if you're using it. I blend it until it's a thick liquid.

Heat ghee or oil and ad cumin and asafetida. Once the cumin starts sizzling and popping, stir-fry the onions until browned and add the blended tomato puree. Also add coriander powder, turmeric, chili powder, and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add eggplant and liquid smoke. 

(after adding eggplant to the tomato puree)

Cook everything together for about 10 minutes, and add the peas at the end- if you want to. I find that they add a good burst of flavor to the dish and have a little sweetness to counteract the spice. 

 I served this with rice and pappad, which is a thin crispy cracker with cumin in it. You can serve also serve this with naan or roti.

The pappad comes as a round uncooked cracker. You can either fry it, or hold it with tongs and heat over a gas flame.

Can you see the uncooked bottom on the lower left? The cracker becomes browner and puffy when it is cooked.

I love pappad! It is only 80 calories per round cracker and tastes wonderful with this meal.

All together:

 Tonight, I had my meal with a simple salad of romaine, carrots, and nutritional yeast. I served the baingan bharta on top of a little white rice. It was fabulous!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do :) Please let me know if you have any questions, or if you try it!

Also, I am willing to send a few people spices that they may be lacking. First come first serve!

Have you ever eaten Indian food? If so, what is your favorite dish?

Why did the carrot answer the door? Because the eggplant was baingan on it!

Back to life, back to reality

Hello Everyone! I am pleased to inform you that I am just about back to normal!
I took it easy for breakfast today and just had a banana, and I was fine after that. So, I tempted my tummy with an Odwalla Superfood bar for lunch and she accepted.

I was also back to class and work today...I missed laying in bed and reading!

After work my boyfriend and I did a huge grocery run. We went to Market Street, which is where we usually shop, Ghandi Bazaar (the Indian store), and Well Body (my nutritional yeast supplier). We were leaving the Indian food store and I asked my boyfriend if he'd stop by Well Body, and he replied-

"yeah, you've got to get your nooch."

What?! Since when does he know the word "nooch"?! He learned it on my blog, he said. I'm so proud :)

My stomach was actually growling the entire time we were shopping. It is so nice to have my appetite back! Also, the food smells of the store did not gag me. There were a few samples around the store and I had 2 little bread samples, a chip with salsa, and a tiny wine sample. It was good- some kind of Mediterranean blend by Llano,which is a West Texas winery. I'm not sure how it counted as a Texas wine, but whatev.

When we got home, I decided to look up one of my favorite recipes, Rhodey Girl's Falafel! This recipe is so awesome and Rhodey Girl is an absolute goddess in the kitchen!

I did slightly modify her recipe, though. I added a medium carrot (shredded), and also a secret ingredient:

1/4 cup of dehydrated almond pulp that was leftover from my almond milk

Usually the only modification to Rhodey Girl's recipe I make is to add a tablespoon or two of tahini. These almonds successfully added that nutty dimension to the falafel. Love it!

The recipe went off without a hitch, albeit slowly, due to our teeny tiny food processor.

Yes, that is a tablespoon measure next to the processor. Before I came along, that processor had only seen salsa...I have opened his eyes to new cuisines! :)

Here is the mix, pre-processing:

and 5 batches of processing later...

I tried a few nibbles at this point and it was spot. on.

I used a regular spoon to make the falafel, because I like how the thin edges get extra crispy in the oven.

Pre-Baking:

And half-way through, I put my thang down, flip it and reverse it...

I only ended up with 3 broken ones! These were perfect.

At the store, I picked up some full-fat, full-flava tzatziki sauce,

I also got some Flat Out wraps. About a year ago, I was absolutely obsessed with these wraps, but I ate them so much that I got played out on them. I think it has seriously been over a year since I've gotten these!

I spread the tatziki onto a wrap:

and added veggies (5 romaine leaves, bell pepper, and tomato) and falafel:

I wrapped it up, and it was huge! (TWSS)

(with an orange for side-by-side comparisons)

And I thought to myself as I ate this,

                  I don't falafel anymore ;)

 hello lover

Thanks for the recipe Rhodey Girl!

Do you have a favorite blogger recipe? There are so many recipes I'm dying to try from the blog world- I think that some of Angela's muffins may be next!

Tummy Bug

Good evening bloggers.
Phew! These past few days have been quite an ordeal...
Yesterday morning, all was well when I rose for breakfast. I was looking forward to incorporating my homemade almond milk with this:

Yeah, that box looks like it's straight out of the 1970s, but believe me, that stuff is good. I prepared it as directed (with water and a pinch of salt), and then poured cool almond milk over the top and gave it a squirt of agave.

That picture doesn't do it justice, but then again, neither does this one:

So, until the good people over at the Smell-O-Vision laboratories develop some Taste-E-Vision, you're just out of luck. Anyways, this was delish and I got through about half of it when a sudden wave of nausea hit me...

I'll spare you the gruesome details, but I must have tossed my cookies about 15 times between the hours of 8am and 1pm. I hightailed it to the doctor as soon as I could get away from work and was diagnosed with a stomach virus. "It's been going around," said the doctor oh so casually, as I sat hunched over on the examining table clutching my belly. I was prescribed some anti-nausea meds and sent on my merry way.

My boyfriend drove me to the corner grocery store for some being-sick-supplies and I couldn't walk more than 10 feet into the store without all of the food smells gagging me. I waited in the car and he emerged with-

The following photos are to be used only for re-enactment purposes and are merely intended to replace actual photography.

and

The Jell-O was prepared and put into the fridge to set while I promptly developed a fever and had to be put to bed. The rest of the night was basically a blur, with me falling in and out of sleep, and requesting that new Seinfeld DVDs be put into my television. Sometime during the ordeal, I managed to get down half of my Jell-O, along with all of the soup (in 2 separate servings), and a few Saltines. The soup was actually really good! It must have been if I am alive to tell you the tale of it today. I'm not usually a huge fan of Amy's soups because I find them a little bland, but this was wonderful and (oddly) thick. I've never had actual chicken noodle soup, but I always imagine it to be very brothy. This was not.

This morning I woke up feeling a little better, and decided to take a nice hot shower. I got up, felt extremely dizzy, and walked right into my dressing table. So, I went back to sleep.

I was up in another hour or so, feeling a little better- this time for real! I showered and got ready and started going over some notes- I actually had a grad school interview by phone at noon! I'm just glad the interviewer couldn't see the sorry state I was in.Well, the interview was supposed to be at noon, but silly me forgot about the time change (the interviewer's location was on the East coast), and I was caught off guard when I got the call at 11! The interview went well (fingers crossed), and I carried on to work.

I had no appetite when I woke up and forced a couple of Saltines down and sipped a Powerade through the day. I also managed to eat 2 rice cakes. I felt so weak and tired by the end of my workday that I ended up printing out a free pizza coupon that I had in my e-mail inbox and going to Dion's with my boyfriend. He got the pizza and I got a magnificent Greek Salad!

I had this, times 3. Unfortunately, I didn't keep all of it down. baby steps...

I tried to go back to sleep after we got home, but the sink full of dishes and messy kitchen was keeping me up. After an hour of restlessness I got up to clean the kitchen. Thankfully, I am starting to feel much better now! I'm going to call it an early night and hope for the best for tomorrow morning :)

Send happy thoughts my way! 

Raw Raw, ah ah a[lmond milk]

Hello friends! I hope everyone survived their Mondays :)

I have a wonderful recipe to share with you all! Almond Milk! I was feeling bored yesterday and not hungry at all (details on that soon), but I felt like being in the kitchen. After opening the fridge several times and rummaging around in the pantry, I decided to make almond milk!

I started with half a cup of almonds, which I soaked in warm water.

I drained the water several times and continued to soak until the "bitter smell" had subsided. I could have blanched the almonds and peeled the skins, but that seemed like a lot of effort and I am the Ultimate Lazy Cook.

I then blended with water and several squirts of agave nectar, until I felt the consistency and sweetness were correct.

With so much blending, there was a lot of foam on the top. I covered this and let it sit for half an hour, until the foam subsided.

Then, I needed the strain the leftover pulp from the milk. 

I don't own any cheesecloth or even a fine mesh sieve, so I was stuck using paper towels. I will probably invest in cheesecloth soon.

I formed a little "cup" with the paper towel and slowly poured the milk in. When the almond pulp became too heavy, I put it into another container to reserve it for later.

The milk was slightly sweet and so fresh tasting! My boyfriend tasted it and said he felt like it was nourishing his body with every sip he took.
I ended up with just over 2 mason jars full.

This probably would have made about 2.5 jars, but I tasted it a lot through the process of blending it so that reduced the quantity.
I had a lot of pulp left over.

I didn't want to waste this and thought about making it into a base for granola, but I found another recipe online that I liked better. You will have to wait and see what it is! In the mean time, I am dehydrating the pulp in the oven at 150*

I haven't used the almond milk yet- but I have plans for a special breakfast tomorrow!

While I was at work in the kitchen, I enjoyed a cool beer.
Before:

After:

That's right, I colored it pink! It was so much better after that :) But seriously, this beer was So Good. It's Hornsby's Cider, and in my opinion it was better than both Woodchuck and Ace ciders. I will definitely be getting this again!

And now, for my weekend eats!
Saturday evening we went to a Vietnamese restaurant with several friends. There were only 3 vegetarian options on the menu and 2 of them were noodle-based, so I went with the third option- Lemongrass Tofu.

I forgot to bring my camera (!!!) so my boyfriend was kind enough to let me use his iPhone to snap these pics. The tofu was served on a bed of lettuce and covered with cilantro. It was also served with a side of white rice.

This was really, really good! It was also really, really salty! I ate all of the lettuce and a little more than half of the tofu and half of the rice, along with 2 large waters!
I ended up eating the rest of it around 10pm Saturday night.

I supplemented my own lettuce this time.

Sunday morning I woke up super sore from my personal training session! I could barely raise my arms and my quads were also burning! I will definitely be repeating a few of the workouts the trainer went over with me. I was still pretty full from my late night leftover-eating, so I didn't end up eating until noon. My boyfriend took me out to eat at The Red Zone, formerly knows as Tech Cafe. It's a standard diner/breakfast place and I definitely got some standard diner food!

2 slices of whole wheat toast (I slathered these in strawberry jam), hashbrowns, and a cheese and onion omelet. Also peeking over the edge is a side of fried okra. When in Rome Lubbock. I promptly doused everything in Tabasco and ate everything but 1/2 of the omelet (I left mostly the cheese).

Well, I was still full from this huge meal 7 hours after I finished it...which is when I started experimenting with the almond milk. Then I got so caught up in watching television with my boyfriend that all of a sudden it was 10pm and I was starving. I needed some green in my life so I decided to make a salad. I topped a bed of romaine with an Indian food called patras.

I am not too sure how to describe the patras to you.

Does that help? No?
Okay. Fine. You can see the ingredients.

I get these in the freezer section at the Indian grocery store here, and I love them, especially after I squeezed a lime over it.
I was still hungry and made another one, along with 1/3 of a piece of naan with some fake buttah and nooch.

Loved it.

I was still full this morning when I woke up--. I need to stop eating so late at night-- but I knew I should eat something small to ensure that I maintain some sort of schedule with my meals. I ate an apple, along with some coffee (unpictured).

'Twas Delicious.

Unfortunately, even though I ate a small breakfast, my eats were just "off" all day. I was not hungry at all but knew I needed to eat something. I had a Clif Bar and some raw broc around 1pm.

The bar did not taste at all like Toffee. Fail.

Around 4, I snacked on 2 sugar-free cookies and 2 small handfuls of almonds and pecans.

And soon after I ate the rest of my Avial (coconut stew) with some croutons.

This looks like the blandest, plainest meal ever, but trust me it wasn't.

I was still feeling really strange after eating this and texted Colleen about it. She suggested- protein! Of course...I usually end up with a lot more protein in my body by evening-time, and my body was missing it today! I started planning a chickpea dish for dinner, and my boyfriend suggested Frozen Yogurt! It was perfect timing because a new place has opened up in Lubbock called Spoonful. I am pretty sure this is a chain, but their website is "Coming Soon."

So, I have always been totally jealz of all of you bloggers out there who get to go to your fancy fro yo places and pick your toppings and pay by the ounce. Until- today! Say hello to my new best friend:

This was about 2-3 ounces of the following yogurt flavors: Irish Mint, Birthday Cake, and Cookies N Cream. I went a little wild on the toppings (the variety, not the amount). I had strawberry, kiwi, graham cracker crumbles, Reese's crumbles, blackberries, and a "mochi," which was some kind of marshmallow or gummy thing that tasted like a yam (in a good way).

It was a dream come true.

I felt revived after eating this. I am so glad that we finally have a place like this here! I have been waiting for too long... I ate this while watching How I Met Your Mother (I am finally caught up!). I then cooked my chickpea dinner. After cooking, I just didn't feel hungry so I decided to give my mouth a rest and packed up the dinner for lunch tomorrow. I shall reveal it then ;) Also, Gossip Girl was on tonight, so I glued myself to that for an hour. I promise I don't usually watch this much television!

One thing I have learned from the past couple of days is to monitor my late-night eating. I need to stop eating after 8pm so that my meals for the next day aren't out of whack.

I also wanted to share a really interesting blog post on the Hierarchies of Fat Loss. I have always been a little "afraid" of lifting too many weights. I don't want to become bulky and I always thought that cardio with a minimal amount of weights was the best way to lose weight. However, this article reminded me that it is resistance training is the most important thing we can do to lose weight. I am so glad that I read this- I love lifting weights-even more than cardio, and now I have an excuse to focus more on it!

Have you seen this article? Do you already follow the advice it gives?