A Veggie Good Day

Hey Y'all, TGIF!

I have to tell you- yesterday, I was so inspired by Averie at Love Veggies and Yoga. I read her post Abs: FAQs & My Opinions, Trip, Comments Working, Embracing Bodies, Airbrushing right before I went to bed and I could not stop thinking about all of the things she discussed regarding diet, exercise, and how to really get the body we want. It is all about hard work, a clean diet, and disciplined work outs. I have been totally loving Averie's blog lately. I don't remember how I found it, but I'm glad I did! She is such an amazing person- wonderful mother, yoga expert, healthy eater, and such a down to earth real woman. I really look up to her!

Anyways, I did some deep thinking after reading her post, and decided to transition into eating a lot more raw fruits and vegetables than I currently do! Now, I am not saying I am going to become a raw foodist. But, I am hoping to really clean up my diet, and I know that fresh and raw foods are the way I will achieve that goal. I am going to begin cutting out a lot of processed foods. I hope you stay with me during this new transition in my life! I believe that I need your support to stay motivated! It may be a long journey...

Moving on, for breakfast today I enjoyed a large green smoothie!
This had:
1 large banana
4 large handfuls of spinach
1 scoop Jay Robb's Whey Protein
Enough cold water to blend well

Excuse the flash! After blending:

I half expected a Swamp Thing to emerge from this :) It was delish.
I went to work after breakfast and got a lot of stuff done!
I ended up having a coffee mid-morning:

This was from the coffee pot we share at work.

Around 12:30, I took a break for lunch.
Hello, Veggies!

Don't be fooled by the little container! These veggies were packed in there. I put the spinach and tomatoes into a bowl and they magically expanded.

This was 3 organic carrots, 2.5 cups of organic spinach, and 1 small tomato, chopped.
I had a little bit of Lite Ranch on the side, but did not use much of it.

So satisfying! This was really refreshing to eat. Doesn't the spinach look like basil here? Pretty real colors.
I ate while I was working so I wore a glove on my left hand to eat my carrots with! They turned orange on the tips :)

I work in a research lab so we have plenty of these gloves on hand. No pun intended. I wear them a lot when I eat at my desk in the laboratory because the computer keyboard and mouse are used by a lot of people and I do not think they get cleaned regularly. In my office I am much more relaxed.
I worked until 4pm and had a few prunes when I got home.
After running some errands with my boyfriend, we came home and I did Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred with 5lb weights as usual. Then, I had something very interesting in mind for dinner!
I saw an amazing looking recipe on Bridget's blog for something called Hot and Crunchy Chicken Cones. Obviously, I don't eat chicken...but I thought for sure that I could vegetarianize her recipe, which she originally found in a magazine at her dentist's office. Original recipe here. If I had seen this recipe in a magazine, I probably wouldn't have glanced at it twice. But, seeing it on a blog that I like made all the difference!
I modified the recipe quite a bit. This recipe might look intimidating because of the long list of ingredients, but I promise it was not hard at all. The recipe is also modified to cook for one.
Here goes:
"Hot and Crunchy "Chicken" with Mango Slaw"
Slaw:
1/4 cup diced mango
1/4 jalapeno
1/2 TBSP rice vinegar
1/2 TBSP agave nectar
1/2 TBSP water
bit of minced onion
1/4 cup Fage (or any other Greek Yogurt)
1/8 cup chopped cilantro
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 TBSP lime jice
1 and 1/2 cup coleslaw mix
S&P to taste

Combine ingredients Mango through Onion in a saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, combine the remaining ingredients (excluding the coleslaw), and mix well. Add this mixture to the coleslaw and combine well.
After simmering the sauce ingredients, puree in food processor. Add to coleslaw mixture.

Stir it up!

Cover and refrigerate.

Crunchy "Chicken"
6 strips of Morningstar Chik'n Strips
1/2 cup Special K Protein Plus
1 TBPS slivered almonds
1 TBSP black sesame seeds (I would have used white, but didn't have any)
a few dashes of crushed red pepper
pinch of salt
Splash of Egg Beaters + smaller splash soy milk

Preheat oven to 350* and warm chik'n strips in a skillet until heated through.

I love these- have never enjoyed real chicken the few times I tried it, but these are great.
In the skillet:

Combine cereal, almonds, sesame seeds, red pepper, and salt in the food processor and blend well. Pour into a shallow dish.

Combine egg beaters and soy milk in a separate bowl:

You will use a fraction of this mixture.
Add the chik'n strips to the egg mixture and cover thoroughly with liquid. One by one, add strips to the cereal mix and cover well. You will have to press the crumbs onto the chik'n strip. You'll use about half of the crumbs.
Once all of the strips are coated, lay them on a lightly sprayed baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes, flipping half way through.
End:

Remove coleslaw from the fridge and serve with chik'n strips on top!

I served this with 2 tortilla chips as a garnish.
What a pretty dish!

This tasted fantastic. I gobbled it up!

Should have made more than one serving :)

The Verdict:
This was one of the best things I have ever concocted in the kitchen! The changes I would make are to reduce or completely remove the Greek Yogurt. I have a feeling that the mayo in the original recipe would have tasted quite different. In the future (probably tomorrow) I will remake the slaw with double the sauce ingredients for the same amount of coleslaw mix and add a drizzle of olive oil. I also think I will not simmer the sauce ingredients- they seem like they would taste better in the raw! Other than that, I loved it! I may also experiment with more spices in the breading mix.

The nutritional stats on this dish are not too shabby, either!
This serving:
405 calories
12 grams fat
31 grams protein
50 grams carbs
9 grams fiber

Do you like to cook for only yourself? I don't mind at all! I showed this recipe to my boyfriend and he did not seem interested. I love to cook and do not mind taking the same effort I would use to make a dish for 4 and modify it for just myself! Do you have any good recipes for one?

Missing Instructions

Hi, everyone! TGIAF!

Today was a grrreat day! -Tony the Tiger
I woke up in time to make a faahbulous breakfast, but not with enough time to eat it! So, I grabbed a diet root beer (bad, I know), and headed to school. I had to buy my cap and gown today, but alas they were out of my "height." I was told to come back tomorrow. I carried on to class and found out that we were doing teacher evaluations today. Teacher evaluations = get out of class after 5 minutes. Hoorah!
My boyfriend picked me up from campus and I debated trying Subway's new breakfast. I decided that I wanted to research it before I went. We ended up at Smoothie King where an extremely hyper employee demanded to know what I wanted. I wanted to get my boyfriend a banana-strawberry smoothie with antioxidant booster since he is getting over his illness and still has no appetite for most things. I asked if they had something like that (I have only been to Smoothie King once, like over a year ago), and the employee barked out where it was located on the menu. Don't you hate that? There was nobody else in the store, and I like taking my time to look at menus. I felt very rushed an uncomfortable so I ordered the smoothie he suggested and got out of there!
I got to work early, and broke into my pre-made breakfast. Introducing: "cheesy" broccoli grits

 This was:
2 packets of Quaker instant grits
1/2 cup chopped broccoli
2 TBSP nutritional yeast
This was super tasty. People. I normally don't pay too much attention to how I feel after I eat things (unless I feel badly), but after I ate this- I was full of energy. I was alert and I was in a good mood at work. I am definitely making this again tomorrow!
Since I ate breakfast brunch so late in the day, I wasn't really hungry for lunch or hungry at all until 2pm rolled around. I went to the cafeteria at work but everything was put away except for the burger station. I ended up with pretzels and a bottle of water:

Some days when I eat a lot of carbs, it snowballs into more and more carbs. You will see what I mean with my dinner. Stay put.

I left work early because we were almost a month late to get our car inspection! I think some states have different rules, but in Texas you must get inspected once a year. We headed to a dealership where our friend works and I enjoyed a chai tea latte while we waited.

Liquid crack right there. I'm glad it was time to go or I would have sucked down another one. I <3 Chai. I drank it boiling hot, which always amazes my boyfriend. Can you drink super hot liquids? I've always been able to. It is my Indian-ness, I think.
Speaking of being Indian, I have been putting coconut oil in my hair once a week for the past 2 weeks. It is making a huge difference! My hair is softer and feels a lot thicker, too. I have really thin hair so I am very pleased by this. I also have really dry skin so I put it on my legs and it works there too! It did not thicken my leg hair (haha) but it really made a difference in minimizing the scaly/dry appearance. 
When we came home I was in the mood for a steaming hot shower and a little relaxation. I took the shower and put in the movie Heathers. Have you seen it? I love the quote,
"What's your damage, Heather?"

After the movie I was feeling very Indian again and pulled this out of the pantry:

Maggi Noodles are the Indian equivalent of Ramen. This right here is the stuff of my childhood! The difference between Maggi and Ramen are the flavors (they also come in Masala and Spicy Vegetable) and the fact that the noodles don't contain eggs. For some reason this packet had no instructions on the back... I gleaned from the front that I had to cook them for 2 minutes, and my boyfriend said that the Spicy Veg flavor says to use about 7-8 ounces of water, so I did that. I boiled away:

also with Maggi you add the seasoning to the water while you boil, not after the noodles finish.
After 2 minutes I tasted a noodle and it was a little too al dente, so I boiled for another minute and it was fine. I spiced:

Carbahol right there. See what I mean? This was very tasty- I eat these every once in a while. I always make sure I have one on hand for when I'm in the mood.
Funny thing about me and spicy food. When I was very young, my mom always cooked separate food for me- it was the same as what the family was having, but without spice! So, I grew older and never got used to eating spicy foods... Everyone made fun of me for being Indian and not tolerating spice! My mom was forced to cook separately for me even in high school, I only bought mild salsa, and I did not eat at Indian restaurants. One day, a few months ago, I woke up a changed woman. For some reason that day, I wanted to try my boyfriend's salsa. He likes it hot. I loved it! It wasn't too spicy. I didn't get hiccups upon swallowing. What?! I seriously thought I was pregnant or something- I mean, don't pregnant women's tastebuds suddenly change??
Obviously I was not pregnant, but something in my brain's spice-receptor shifted and I now love spicy food.
Strange.

Do you like spicy foods? If so, what is your favorite spicy thing to eat? My mom loves spicy food and puts crushed red pepper on her popcorn!

PS- Don't forget, I have a Formspring! Ask away!

Sabotage

Hola! Happy Hump Day!

Thank you so much for your comments and concern about me and the mango seed! I really appreciate it :) I may steer clear of pits now! I had no idea they could be so toxic.

I was a busy bee last night and very productively prepped breakfast and lunch for today. For breakfast I made overnight oats: 1/3 cup oats, 2/3 cups water, and a heaping scoop of Jay Robb's Whey Chocolate Protein powder. For lunch I packed a box of spinach, carrot sticks, sliced tomatoes, and 3 meatless meatballs, with a Flat Out Wrap on the side.

Viola! I rarely pack my lunches the night before because I'm lazy...I really need to start doing this! So I put my breakfast and lunch in the fridge and went to bed :)
In the morning I got my oats out and they were runny! I have made overnight oats several times in the past...but it has been a while- I think I usually add yogurt and less water maybe. I was very hesitant to take the first bite.

I decided to microwave it for 2 minutes before I ate it. Somehow, it worked! The oats were chewy and the liquid tasted really creamy. Great breakfast, I will do this exact thing in the future.
I had to be at work an hour earlier than usual today so I was slightly tired. I decided to try an experiment :) I have a pretty bad problem with Diet Coke- I love the way it tastes and the way it wakes me up, but it always gives me a slight upset stomach. I think it's all the caffeine- coffee does the same thing to me. So, I got a Caffeine Free Diet Coke and hoped that since it tastes the same, I would still wake up - Placebo Effect! And you know what? It worked! I was actually super productive until I went to the breakroom to refill the empty bottle with water... There on the table was a platter of various pound cakes!
I dilly-dallied in the breakroom, reading the nutritional info on the cakes and wondering if I could maybe, just maybe have a slice... I decided not to, then I changed my mind and emerged with this:

Lemony and glazed, this was super tasty. I am convinced that my boss is trying to sabotage our workplace. Pretty  much all of the ladies I work with are trying to eat healthier, but when donuts and cake keep appearing, it's hard to stick to goals! I think a sweet treat like this once in a while is alright though. And it was yummy, too! I composed a haiku about it and texted it to my boyfriend.

yellow lemony
pound cake, sugary and glazed
no, I can't decline

After eating this it was back to work, work, work. I had a lot of data entry to do today so I cued up Pandora to my Modest Mouse station and got to work. Do you like Pandora? I like Grooveshark too but sometimes I don't feel like making up a whole playlist. 
Around noon I broke into my lunch. I microwaved the meatless meatballs and assembled a wrap.

I was worried because I microwaved the balls last night before I put them in the fridge and again today. They became chewier, but in a good way! Love at first bite:

The only thing this was missing was some kind of sauce to hold it together- salsa, or hummus!
I got back to work after eating and ended up back home around 3:30pm. I was in a cleaning mood. Very rare for me. I reorganized the bookshelf and DVD rack in my room, sorted clothes, and vacuumed. I got rid of a bunch of junk, too! I'm trying to minimize my belongings now that I'm moving across the country in a few months. I felt empowered after cleaning and did Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred level 1 with 5 pound weights! I felt the burn and started sweating 5 minutes into the workout.
I have this level memorized, but when I do it without the DVD I feel like the workout is not as good- know what I mean?
Around 7pm I got started on dinner. I knew I wanted sweet potato fries, and decided to do a "diner theme" and had toast and "bacon" on the side. The toast was from millet bread and the "bacon" was Morningstar brand. Pre-Dinner, I was down to 2.5 slices of millet bread :( I keep it in the freezer because that's where it is in the store and run into this problem:

 I cannot get the slices apart! They just break apart and are not as fun to eat in pieces. I ended up with 3 mini pieces today and stuck the remaining chunk back in the freezer. Can you thaw this bread and store it in the fridge?
I carried on with the fries preparation. And they came out just right!

OMG. I think this is the most artistic picture I've taken for my blog. Progress, people.
The whole shebang:

I chowed down on this while watching The Parent Trap on ABC Family. I used to love this movie as a child! I would rent it and watch it over and over again.

Oh how I miss child-Lindsay Lohan.

What were your favorite play-on-repeat movies as a child? Some of my others were My Girl, Black Beauty, and Matilda.

Oh! And here is my sweet potato fry recipe:
Preheat oven to 400*

Wash and cut 1 sweet potato into strips (I like to leave the skin)
-I would also cut the fries a little smaller than I did, for better crispiness!
Spray a baking sheet with spray oil, and lay the strips in a single layer on it.
Spray again with spray oil.
Sprinkle with chili, cumin, and garlic powder.

Bake for 30 minutes, flipping the fries halfway.

Done!

The Mystery of The Mango Nut

Hi y'all!
So, I've been meaning to blog about something that happened Friday night. I bought a delicious ripe mango from the store and decided to try something new!
After peeling, cubing, and eating this juicy specimen:

I nibbled all of the goodness off the pit and wondered Can I bake this? Is it poisonous?? After some quick research, I found out that the mango is related to both poison ivy and cashew nuts. I read a few forums about people buying the roasted pit from a street vendor, or roasting them at home, as well as a few scientific journal articles here and here. So, step 1- they are edible. Step 2- there were no recipes for the roasted pit!
I decided to create my own. I put the seed on foil and baked it for half an hour at 350*
Before:

After, it became a little browned.

And it smelled heavenly! It was a roasty-nutty-sweet aroma and it filled the house! It made me want baked goods. I baked it for 15 more minutes and started hacking into the shell of the pit with some heavy duty scissors.

Finally I got the seed out...apologies for the orange-y picture, my kitchen was dim and the flash on the camera is horrendous!

At this point, it smelled like a roasted chestnut. The dark brown marbled part is a thin woody skin, and the lighter portion is the seed- it was a grayish color.
Now, I wasn't sure whether the seed was supposed to be gray or not- was it mold?! I didn't want to risk tasting it. The inside of the seed was also grayish.

Does anyone know anything about mango seeds? I really wanted to try eating this, but didn't know if gray was the natural color. For some reason, I feel it should be a cream color, or at least not gray.
Thus ended my late-night mango experiment... I would really appreciate any information anyone has about roasting a mango pit!

Back to the present...I woke up super late at 8:15am today, and showered and dressed quickly. I had a test at 9:30! Of course, I made sure to have a yummy breakfast before I left the house :)
This was 1 sliced banana, half a container of Fage Greek Yogurt, and some Crofter's Organic Strawberry Jam with MaraNatha Almond Butter.

This was really good, but I found myself somewhat overwhelmed with the almond butter. I didn't finish all of the nut buttery bites :( I think I will switch back to PB for a while- this happened to me the last time I had almond butter, too!
After eating I left to take my test- my LAST "test" of my undergraduate career- not counting the final exam! It went alright...I have a high A average in that class so I didn't bother with studying too much ;) After class it was off to work for a busy day! Several of the people I work with are students and have busier class schedules than me. So, Tuesdays and Thursdays, when 1 of them cannot come in, I am responsible for the extra work! I don't mind it at all, but I was super tired today for some reason and just wanted to get out of there.
I had a small lunch around noon since the banana concoction kept me full forever.
2 organic carrots, fat free cottage cheese, and nutritional yeast:

This was very very tasty, but I was hungry-hungry 2 hours later...I had a CLIF bar in my purse but wasn't really feeling it, so I decided to wait to eat again when I got home.
And eat I did! I made a big snack plate at 5pm. It had roasted cauliflower, 3 meatless meat balls, and half a wheat bun with Earth Balance. Plus- Sabra Garlic Hummus for dipping!

Oof. I am absolutely stuffed now! This was super good though, and it took me about an hour to make my way through all of this food. I halved this recipe for the cauliflower. Of course, I rarely follow directions and made some substitutions.
Instead of lemon juice, I used lime.
Instead of minced garlic, I used garlic powder (laziness at its finest- I had a jar of minced in the fridge!)
And I omitted the salt, black pepper, dill, and olive oil. Instead of olive oil I used sprayable Smart Balance :)

I love that recipe though! I am thinking about trying it with broccoli and ketchup in place of mustard tomorrow! Mmmm. I also love Ameena's Indian Cauliflower recipe, and have been thinking of a way to turn it into a roasted dish incorporating all of the spices she uses!

What's your fave roasted veggie?

Avocado Blues and "Protein Pizza"

Hello, friends! Stay tuned for a very long post! Hope you don't mind :)

Let's rewind to Saturday: the day of our friend Adam's birthday! We hosted a cookout for him at our house; it was a blast!
Here is Adam with his dog, Godzilla.

Isn't she cute?! Yes, she. She is named Godzilla! I love how her little paw is on Adam's arm :) Adam and my boyfriend have been friends since elementary school! I have known him for 3 years- will will miss him when we move!
Thank you all for the super sweet comments on my new dress! I loved wearing it! Unfortunately it was pretty windy outside so my dangly earrings were pulling at my ears.

me and my boyfriend :)
Just like at our last cookout, I barely took any pictures. I can usually get away with leaving my camera on a table and finding it full of pictures the next day, but this was not the case at the cookout.

I got a shot of my boyfriend and another friend working the grill:

Also...a slightly unhealthy fruit salad I made:

This had:
2 bananas
2 green apples
1 cup chopped pineapple
1 orange
and...1 chopped up Snickers bar!
I added sugar-free coolwhip to this before serving. I read about the Snicker's fruit salad somewhere on the blog world...can't remember where...but it seemed like something our guests would like! I wouldn't ever make something like this for myself, but it's fun to make sweet treats like this for friends :) And, everyone did love it! The cookout was a success and everyone but a few close friends left when it got dark out. After the sun went down, three of us sat inside and chatted away until 11pm.
I did not overdo it on the drinks this Saturday, but I did overdo it on the barbecue potato chips :( I felt so salty when I woke up the next morning! Luckily, my sweet boyfriend made me a great detox breakfast. This was a green smoothie with 1 banana and four handfuls of spinach, topped with Special K Protein Plus.

It hit the spot! I ate it while watching a Hills marathon on MTV...then passed out for 2 hours. In my defense, I had woken up at 7am for some reason :) After my nap, I wanted to go find a happy hour with my boyfriend and have a drink on a patio. I really wanted to go to a bar called Chimy's because Kendall told me they have really good Chiltons. Unfortunately, they were closed, so we went to Caprock Cafe. I had 2 Chiltons (they were okay) and ordered some guacamole. For some reason, it came covered with cheese...

And as I started eating the guac, I found that it was filled with shredded lettuce! It was more lettuce and less guacamole... I know I mentioned on here that I am allergic to avocados, but that I had eaten avocado enchiladas at a restaurant and seemed okay. I hypothesized that I was overcoming my allergy. Alas, it was not the case- I got a pretty bad stomachache after this. I think this may be one of the last times I eat avocado until I find out what the deal is. Sad times- I just love avocado and wish this wasn't the way it had to be.
After our drinks and appetizer, I had to go to work for a few minutes, then we went back home. We sat in the backyard for a little while enjoying the last half hour of sun (I put shorts on and stuck my legs in the sunniest spot of the yard :) ). With slightly browner legs-I tan very easily- I went inside to find something to make for dinner. I wasn't very hungry, but thought that the morning smoothie and afternoon guac weren't enough for the day.
I ended up warming up a frozen bean burrito and serving it on a lot of spinach with Greek Yogurt and salsa.

 It is not very photogenic, but I actually felt a lot better after eating this! I went to bed with my tummy satisfied...Only to be woken in the night by a not-so-satisfied tummy :( It seems that my boyfriend has the same stomach bug that I had a few weeks ago! We were both up all night and in the morning I got him some Powerade, crackers, and lemon-lime soda. He has only eaten 2 Saltines today! I made him some Jell-O also but he is just not hungry...I'm getting worried about him, but when I had the bug it was gone in 24 hours so hopefully he will be fine tomorrow morning! Send healthy thoughts :)
Moving on to breakfast today: I had prepped some overnight oats in a cantaloupe. Oats in a 'loupe! That kind of has a ring to it! This was:
1/2 cantaloupe
1/2 container of Yoplait Greek Yogurt
1/3 cup oats
massive amounts of cinnamon
The cantaloupe was extremely juicy, which facilitated the mush-ening of the oats- if it was less ripe, I would suggest using some water or milk.

Twas love at first bite.

yum!
This kept me full for 4 hours! Pretty rare for me :) I had a mixed veggie plate with a small amount of pasta salad for lunch, and an afterwork snack of Fiber One with raisins.
About an hour after my snack, I put in the 30 Day Shred and did Level 1-worked up a good sweat with my 5 lb weights!

If you are still reading...I have one last thing to leave you with- a recipe!
This is the same recipe as my Protein Enchiladas, just remixed!
Ingredients:
1 Flat Out Wrap
2 large handfuls spinach leaves,chopped (or equivalent frozen)
1/4 cup chopped yellow onion- I love onions, reduce if you don't!
1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese
half  6oz container FF Greek Yogurt (I used Yoplait X2 Protein), divided
1/4 cup red enchilada sauce
Spray Oil, I used Smart Balance Omega
pinch of salt 


Preheat oven to 350* and bake Flat Out Wrap for 7 minutes. Remove.

Sautee the onion with spray oil and a pinch of salt, then add spinach and mix until wilted. Mix it all together with the yogurt and cottage cheese (drain the cottage cheese Very Well).

I couldn't stop eating out of this bowl! This is delish on its own.

Spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce (you won't use the whole amount), on the wrap.

Then, add the topping:

Bake for 15 minutes.
This was slightly less crispy than I would have liked. In the future, I would skip the enchilada sauce on the wrap and use it as a dip instead.
Nevertheless:

This came out really well! Especially served with extra hot salsa on the side :)

To end this super-long post on a sweet note...
While the pizza was baking, I made a pretty dessert. This is:
1 sugar-free pudding cup
1 scoop of Jay Robb's Whey Protein (chocolate)
2 TBSP sugar-free cool whip (plus topping)
I mixed the protein powder with the pudding and layered it with the cool whip:

In a glass shot glass, it was perfection:

I licked the top and stuck it in the freezer to be enjoyed while watching Gossip Girl!

See you tomorrow for...The Mystery of The Mango Nut.