Food Makes Fun Fuel

December 2009
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Late Lunch

Posted on December 19, 2009 by Evan Thomas

Good afternoon! Is it afternoon already? Apparently, and by 4 hours. My how the day has gone.

Yesterday night I swear I could have eaten out the kitchen! Thank God we have such scrumptious food. First off, I made a bowl of oatmeal.

: Tierra Farms Organic Maple Cashew Butter

I got this new nut butter in the mail to sample and review. I haven’t had cashew butter much, but I consider myself a connoisseur of maple syrup, so I felt well qualified to dive in

: Pumpkin Oatmeal With Maple Cashew Butter And Maple Butter

I wanted to top this also with pumpkin cream cheese but it was all moldy! Oh well, maple butter was just as unhealthy. Overall, this cashew butter was a bit of a disappointment; it didn’t taste very mapley. However, cashew butter has always been a bit on the savory side, which doesn’t work with oats. And this was most definitely a sweet nut butter, so it worked really well here, and for that I liked this. I think this on some banana oats with no expectation of maple would be perfection.

: Red Delicious Washington Apple

After that I snacked on an apple while I waited for something to brew(I don’t even remember if it was a coffee or tea night… that probably means coffee). And then I decided to celebrate cookie Friday!

: Fluten Free Life Flax Shortbread Cookie

This was one of two cookies Gluten Free Life sent me. I had it stuck in the freezer so it’d be good for another friday and it seemed like the perfect time to thaw it.

: Gluten Free Life Flax Shortbread Cookie

This was really interesting. You might think flax would be used for a vegan replacement, but not here; this was just as rich and buttery as any shortbread should be. And oh my god was it delicious! Another great cookie by them. I liked how it wasn’t overly sweet. It wasn’t meant to be a sugar cookie, after all.

Running might be on a bit of a hiatus for the time I’m home. I’m trying to figure out how to go about this; it’ll definitely be too cold and snowy to run outside most days. I could join a gym but it’s hard to say how often I could get to it and use it(not to mention the cost). I’ve also been toying with the idea of cross training and resting for the month, which wouldn’t be a bad alternative either. Maybe even a “30 day cross training challenge” is in my future? Challenges seem to be popular with bloggers

: Pumpkin Oatmeal With Smart Balance Peanut Butter And Tempeh Bacon, Probiotic Chocolate Pudding With Yogurt

Well breakfast was not a challenge–I just went with my cravings! If you follow me on Twitter(EvanFMFF), you’d know those cravings were peanut butter, chocolate, and bacon. Yes, apparently I’m a pregnant man. This was soooo good. I added a little yogurt to the pudding to make it more protein-packed. And it was a nice break from putting things away.

Because there’s a HUGE storm acomin’ very soon, we needed to go out grocery shopping while my mom Christmas shopped. In theory, we were buying food for Christmas and beyond(because who wants to be out grocery shopping on the 26th?) so we needed A LOT and things that would keep. Beforehand, I made a snack because I knew it would be a late lunch.

: Doctor Kracker Klassic 3 Seed Flatbread

Instead of toast, I decided on some seedy flatbread.

: Klassic 3 Seed Flatbread With NuttZo

OMG yum! This was like a seed and nut heaven. I loved these flatbreads, and with the nuttzo it was perfection. I’ve been trying to think of snacks packed with more fat and protein than carbs; this definitely qualified and satisfied me. It might not have been as filling, but it gave me long lasting satiation during shopping, which was good because we were there forever. I figured the whole world would be out shopping before the storm, and I was right. The lines at Trader Joe’s were ridiculous! Thankfully, we really stocked up.

: Root Beer Zevia, Sweet Leaf Stevia, Ciolo Pumpkin Cream Cheese

What I payed for was my “fun” groceries. None of this was on sale nor did I have a coupon, but it’s all stuff that I feel is a treat that I can pull out to make myself happy at some point. We did get actual food, don’t you worry.

: Brussels Sprout Stalk

Like brussels sprouts. I find it so amusing how they are in their raw state; I actually didn’t know they came like this until I saw them on another blog! For 3.50, this was definitely a deal. I’m just glad I didn’t have to cut them off and clean them myself.

: Soups, Beans, Chips, Teas, Bread

We got more than this, too, but these were the more exciting pieces. Amy’s soup was over 50% off and it’ll definitely be good for the snowy nights. I had a coupon and the tea was on sale–score! And I had a coupon for free chips The bread is organic sprouted cinnamon raisin. That sounds so unique I can’t wait to see if it tastes the same. By the time groceries were away, it was almost 3! I needed a good, late lunch.

: Lightlife Sausage Meat With Onions And American Cheddar, Broccoli

How ironic that, even when I’m home, I cook in the microwave. This is definitely one of my favorite meals. That sausage with some boiled off onions and cheese tastes so delicious, and yet you’d never know it wasn’t some fatty cheesy beef from a sub shop. Great description of a meal, right? Dessert was simple and also decided by my taste buds.

: Green And Black’s Cherry Dark Chocolate

I love this cherry dark chocolate; I also think it counts as a fruit because there are whole dried cherries in there… just enrobed in the chocolate. I actually picked up another bar of this at Whole Foods today because it was on sale and I had a coupon, not realizing I only have 6 squares left of my last bar! Thank goodness. I swear it was light out when I started writing this; where has the time gone?

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Apple, Breakfast, Broccoli, Cashew Butter, Cherry, Chocolate, Cookie, Dark Chocolate, Dessert, Dr. Kracker, Flatbread, Flax, Gluten Free Life, Groceries, Lunch, Maple, Maple Butter, Nuttzo, Pumpkin Oatmeal, Shortbread, Smart Balance, Tierra Farm, Whole Foods, Yogurt | 12 Comments »

Dinner Standing Up

Posted on December 18, 2009 by Evan Thomas

I’m home and as you might imagine it is hectic! There’s so much stuff to move around it’s mind bogging. I’ve decided to quit for tonight and try again tomorrow.

Anyway, yesterday today(it’s been that long) I made a quick lunch before my final.

Sweet Apple Al Fresco Sausage, Sweet Potato, Broccoli With Caramel Mustard

I really love this flavor sausage, especially with a little extra maple syrup! I studied a bit more and then it was time for the test at 2. The first annoyance was how people kept making jokes for the first 10 minutes; the professor isn’t strict and the class if filled with seniors who at this point just want to graduate so it wasn’t distracting for anyone else and I just let it slide. I basically just wrote and wrote and after 90 minutes I felt I did enough. It felt so good to get out! And even though I understudied for this one, I still feel like I rocked it–go figure. I needed a snack after that work out.

Peanut Butter Chip Granols Bar

Yum! See all those peanut butter chips? Yeah, but we can still say it’s “healthy” because it’s called a granola bar. I decided to go check my mailbox one last time. Honestly, I had no expectations, so imagine my surprise when I found some lovin’!

Kettle Cashew Butter And Extra Rich Milk Chocolate

My extremely awesome secret santa got me these goodies! I noticed Kristie was a new commentor a few weeks ago, through which I found and followed her awesome blog. She really nailed me with these presents! A cashew butter they don’t sell anywhere in MA and a milk chocolate bar I’ve never had. Thank you sooo much. I can’t wait to try both of these!(I love that I got a vegan to buy me milk chocolate, too. That just seems so ironic and funny ) I grabbed a celabratory drink for finishing finals.

Chamomile Tea

No, not that kind of drink. Tea! I wasn’t sure how this would be but I believe the cashier girl said “Chamomile is really yummy”. How could I say no to that? Afterwards my dad was at my dorm and we started packing up everything(read: I packed and he moved it to the car). I should have snapped a photo of when he lifted my box of nut butters–priceless. When we were finished, the room looked like how I got it.

Empty Room

Isn’t that depressing? What’s more depressing is knowing I have to refill it in 5 weeks… let’s not think about it. All that moving made me starving! I realized it was 5:30 and all I’d had since lunch was a not-so-healthy bar. I needed food. So we stopped at Whole Foods.

General Tso's Chicken And Broccoli

At first I just grabbed the chicken. Then I thought “I should have some healthy vegetables”. Apparently the roasted broccoli would have been too healthy because the tso one was just right. This tasted just how I was hoping it would: guilty. Sometimes there isn’t anything better than fatty vegetarian fed chicken. Although, in all seriousness, I would like to get more fat and protein into my snacks, except I don’t know how to do that without reaching for “meal food” like chicken. Ideas? We stopped at Market Basket to stock up on veggies and fruits, and then started unpacking as soon as we got home at 7. Needless to say, there wasn’t much motivation to make vegetables for a “dinner” while we were running around putting things away, so I kept it simple.

Gluten Free Life Apple Pie Muffin

Apple Pie Muffin And Pomegranate Yogurt

Ok, there wasn’t much “simple” in the making of this muffin, but oh my god was it good! It tasted so nice and fresh with whole slices of diced apple. And the cinnamon in this was perfect. Even the top had a crispy coating to it–heaven! And I love how Gluten Free Life uses whole grain sorghum flour so it was a healthy dinner, too. Of course, even healthy muffins don’t have protein so I had a little greek yogurt to boot.

Like I said, soooo done putting things away for tonight. I don’t anticipate running tomorrow, so that can be my workout. My google reader is insane and it’s getting past my bed time. Yikes! TGIF

Filed under: Daily Update, Product Review | Tagged: Al Fresco, Bar, Broccoli, Cashew Butter, Chicken, Class, Dinner, Dorm, Gluten Free Life, Home, Lunch, Mail, Milk Chocolate, Muffin, Peanut Butter Chip, Sausage, Sweet Potato, Tea, Test, Whole Foods, Yogurt | 12 Comments »

What Was I Thinking?

Posted on December 18, 2009 by Evan Thomas

Have those words ever been uttered at a good time? Doubtful. What was I thinking joining Twitter? This is not helping my productivity(EvanFMFF… I’m such a PR harlot).

What was I thinking when I was mindlessly snacking on carby carbs yesterday afternoon?

Oatmeal With Smart Balance Peanut Butter

Note to self: Fat and protein are just as amazing; never forget that. Unfortunately, the Today Show has told me that the omega-3’s in smart balance peanut butter aren’t the ones we need. Then again, any omega-3’s are good omega-3’s and this peanut butter is quite tasty(and melts oh so beautifully). Therefore, I will eat my peanut butter, and have my fish too!

Chickpeas And Tuna, Green Beans With Cream Cheese

I was actually thinking of canning dinner and going straight to dessert when I wasn’t hungry for “real” food at 7. Then again, that’s not really like me, so I decided to just have dinner from a can(get the pun). I mixed a can of tuna and a can of chickpeas and had green beans from the dining hall(95% sure these were also from a can at some point) with a little cream cheese for flavor and fat. I don’t know how they can say there’s 2 servings of tuna and about 3 servings of chickpeas in those cans because they hardly made 1 dinner. Anyway, dessert was obvious.

Divine White Chocolate With Strawberries

Divine Advent Calender Milk Chocolate

What was I thinking buying myself all this Divine chocolate? It is clearly dangerous to keep around because it tastes amaaaaaaazing. I think it’s because they use butterfat and dried cream. It may add a little trans fat but it’s natural and life’s worth living. After that, I was clearly thinking I’m not done with white chocolate and berries.

Oatmeal With White Chocolate Peanut Butter And Raspberry Frosting

Maybe one of my New Year’s Resolutions will be to show restraint fro white chocolate. Until then, let the good times roll. I finished up studying for my exam and winded the night down with Leno and this bowl. I realized why it was so quiet and there wasn’t a loud frat party: They’ve all gone home already. Seriously, I’ll be the last kid on campus. Amazingly, after this bowl I still felt like I could eat more.

Cinnamon Raisin Gnu Bar

What was I thinking? I need to learn “I could eat a little more” does not mean “reach for the most fiberous thing on the planet”. This filled me up, and then some.

When I woke up, I was not thinking. Then again, that’s excusable at 6:30am, methinks. It took waaaaaay too long to occur to me that the person in the shower had not just woken up himself but rather was winding down his night. Everybody is done with finals I was not thinking about how cold it was, so the walk to the gym, albeit short, was quite hellish(0 degrees with wind chill).

KIND Almond And Cashew Bar

What was I thinking thinking that I wouldn’t need a bar to get me through my run? Luckily I had this in my pocket and clearly enjoyed it. My run itself was one GIANT what was I thinking. it was sabotaged from the start when I ate tofu, soy yogurt, and chickpeas(all of which don’t agree with me but I love) yesterday making major GI issues. Even though I wasn’t feeling up to par because of that, I wanted to get a good last run in, so I thought I’d go 16 miles. And I did. But I knew that was not the right choice when I was finishing up at 9:30 and everyone else had came and gone long before. The whole thing felt “off”. I was just happy to get back and eat breakfast.

French Toast Oatmeal

Greek Yogurt With Peanut Flour And Nuttzo, Advent Chocolate

What was I thinking? I was thinking a) I want to use up that last egg so I don’t have to worry about bringing it home and b) I’ll eat that advent chocolate now so I don’t have to “fit it in” to dessert later. At least those are practical thoughts.

Now I’m thinking more coffee will make me a happy studier. At 2pm I’ll be walking in to my final Final(slightly unprepared, mind you) and be burning through some pencils to get out of there and get home! Have a good day

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Bar, Beans, Breakfast, Chickpeas, Cinnamon Raisin, Dinner, Divine, Egg, French Toast, Frosting, Gnu Foods, KIND, Milk Chocolate, Nuttzo, Oatmeal, PB&Co., Peanut Butter, Peanut Flour, Raspberry, Running, Smart Balance, Treadmill, Tuna, White Chocolate, Yogurt | 14 Comments »

I’d Never Do That

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Evan Thomas

I’d never sign up for Twitter. No, not me. Who cares what I’m doing at 2:03 on a Wednesday afternoon? My account name is soooo not EvanFMFF for those of you who don’t want to follow me.

Maple Mustard Tofu, Broccoli, Acorn Squash With Maple Syrup And Cinnamon

I’d never eat butter. But if I did I’d know to keep some around my dorm(probably more like Earth Balance but work with me here). And if I did I might have put some on this squash. And it might have made it 20 times better. But that’s not me. What is me is “baking” in the microwave with 15 minutes on really low power. it totally got the moisture out of the tofu and let the flavor absorb–yum!

Trader Joe's White Chocolate Fudge Coated Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I’d never randomly scarf down two cookies in 2 minutes just because I wanted something crunchy. But if I did, it might have been these two. And it might have been because I was getting stressed out about my last final. And I definitely have came to the decision that I just don’t care at this point if I don’t do well because I’ve worked my butt off this semester and if they wanted me to be more invested in this final they should have put it in the beginning of the week like everyone else’s.

So Delicious Plain Agave Sweetened Soy Yogurt

I’d never eat a soy yogurt plain. Although this one might have snuck past that little rule. It was a lot thinner than their soy yogurt usually is, like they forgot to put the fiber in? Don’t get me wrong; this yogurt’s “thin” is still a lot better than plain yogurt’s consistancy, but still. It was weird.

Apple

I’d never eat another apple from the dining hall knowing how bad they are. I might have forgot that when I saw this on my microwave. It wasn’t so so bad. But reeeaaallly need to stop jumping at carbs right now for stress relief. Just sayin’, Evan.

I’d never go out when it’s single digits with the windchill. Seriously, why would I do that? To get coffee at Blue State and some veggies and fruit from the dining hall is the only explination I could think of. And you know what. It was cold. Two of my fingers I’m not quite sure where they are as I’m typing because I can’t feel them.

I’d never tell you about giveaways that I want to win, but if I did, I’d mention this tea giveaway and this Knock Knock giveaway

I’d never pressure family members. But if my dear father decides not to pick me up until Saturday, I just might go nuts.

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Apple, Broccoli, Cookies, Lunch, Maple Syrup, Mustard, Soy Yogurt, Squash, Tofu, Trader Joe's, Twitter | 11 Comments »

I Eat Chocolate Like It’s My Job

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Evan Thomas

I have a dirty, dirty secret.

Chocolate Stash

I have a chocolate stash. If that were all it might not be so bad. But I’m afraid that’s just what’s open… minus a milk chocolate orange and my chocolate chips. It’s only a problem if it’s an unwanted addiction, right? Sometimes I could probably get away with calling chocolate tasting my job; I am a product reviewer, right?

Endangered Species Dark Chocolate

I already reviewed this bar here a few days ago. I was craving just a simple, good dark chocolate and that’s exactly what this was. There was 2/3rds left so I just went ahead and finished it off After that, I decided to do a “taste test”.

Chocolate Nut Butters

None of these were new, but it’d been a while since I’d had some and never compared against each other. I’ve actually never been a fan of Dark Chocolate Dreams which gets a lot of love on the blogger world so I thought after a few months it deserved another try, also.

Oatmeal With 3 Chocolate Nut Butters

Fake taste tests are fun! And yet, it was just as I suspected. I loooove the chocolate sunflower butter. I wish it melted better, but oh well. It also has the least sugar of them all! Go figure, because it tastes just like chocolate. The dark chocolate almond butter was only OK and I’m still not a fan of dark chocolate dreams It got better with salt. Although I think I found grounds for a disqualification with the “dark chocolate” almond butter; it had milk powder on its ingredient list. In my book, if it has any form of milk, that makes it milk chocolate. Now if anyone made a milk chocolate peanut butter, I bet that’d be good!

Advent Milk Chocolate

Of course there was the obligatory advent chocolate. And maybe a spoonful of chocolate sunflower butter straight from the jar… maybe. Every night this week I’ve been going to bed earlier; I’ve just been exhausted. I think last night I was asleep before Leno finished, and only woke up once when my roommate came home around 1:30. When I woke up my legs felt a tad sore, but why wouldn’t they after yesterday’s 17 miler? Still, I went to the gym.

Great Date With Chocolate YouBar

Of course, the chocolateness continued. And oh my god was this fun running fuel. Seriously–love it. It definitely made my sluggish jogging on the treadmill sooo much better. And I have never seen the gym so empty. I ran for 1 hour 44 minutes for 12 miles and there were 6 other people there that whole time. Everyone’s gone for vacation but me! Oh well, I guess that was better than it being overly full. When I got back to my dorm I probably could have walked to the showers naked and back because it’s not like anybody’s around to notice.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter, Vanilla Yogurt With Banana Pineapple Rum Jam

I really think if I saw any chocolate at my breakfast I would have gone nuts; I just needed a break after all of that. Instead, I had yogurt with vanilla sugar and my favorite jam. I have a Pineapple Chobani in my fridge but this was way better. And the oats were simple pumpkin with a rich, buttery peanut butter–yum! And no chocolate, thank God

Have you ever worn yourself out of a food? I don’t think I’ve worn myself out of chocolate, but it’s definitely not going to be at the table any time soon today.

HoliDEALS update! Free shipping at Oh Nuts! today only with the code FSD09 if you spend $30 or more!

Filed under: Daily Update, Product Review | Tagged: Almond Butter, Banana, Bar, Breakfast, Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Endangered Species, Jam, Maranatha, Milk Chocolate, Naturally Nutty, Oatmeal, PB&Co., Peanut Butter, Running, Sunflower Butter, Treadmill, YouBar | 13 Comments »

Walking Around A Ghost Town

Posted on December 16, 2009 by Evan Thomas

As you’ve heard me complaining mentioning, my last final is Friday. This in itself is a bit annoying, but c’est la vie. What really is annoying, though, is that that’s quite late compared to other classes. In fact, I’d bet half the campus has probably already gone, and every hour or so I’ve heard a new person running down the halls screaming “I’m done, I’m done! I completely f-ed up that last one but I’m done!” If anything has me pessimistic about the end of the semester, it’s that most of all. But let’s get to the eats, shall we?

This morning was one of those times where I didn’t even have to be slacking off to just feel “behind” on things. When you turn off your computer at 9:30pm and get off the treadmill at 9:30am, apparently the internet is still hustling and bustling–go figure. When I realized what time the day had gotten to I decided to make lunch, even though I wasn’t super hungry.

Al Fresco Pepper & Asiago Sausage

These seemed good and promising for a new product so I thought I’d give them a try then.

Roasted Red Peppers, Sweet Potato, Al Fresco Roasted Pepper & Asiago Sausages

This wasn’t my favorite sausage, but I also didn’t mind it. It just sort of was. It sort of reminded me of a kielbasa from when I was a boy eating with my Italian and Polish family, but I definitely wasn’t thinking “cheese” during it all. It felt good just to dive into a sweet potato even though I wasn’t hungry; those things always feel good.

I ended up finishing internet things during Days and a little bit of Rachael Ray, which had Aretha Franklin’s meatloaf recipe featured. I think that has to be the most ridiculous thing; go find it online if you can. She substitutes “traditional” ingredients with corn chips and tomato soup. Then again, i suppose she’s an icon for her voice and not nutrition/recipes for a reason.

I ended up walking around and going to the mail room, when I realized this really was a ghost town. On the other hand, as I watched a friend’s roommate climb into a taxi to go to an airport to fly to Las Vegas to get hoe, I also realized I’ll probably be “settled in” long before some of these other people, so I can’t really complain(though I have a fun time trying ). While I was out I also picked up perhaps the most dangerous “food” in existence.

Zuzzy's Rocky Trail Cookie Dough

Pure cookie dough. Awesome. They used to sell this at my school’s cafeteria(which was really BU’s cafeteria) in High School but then it mysteriously vanished. As it turns out, it’s also sold at a certain dining hall here at Brown. It’s all-natural, with basically only ingredients you’d ever find in your own pantry. And the eggs have been pasteurized so they don’t carry diseases. Like I said, awesome.

Rocky Trails Unbaked Cookie

Things like this are why a food scale’s a good investment. Veggies? Pile them on the plate. Delicious bundles of rawness you might want to show a little discretion around. I remember eating the whole container(3.5 servings of not-so-goodness) many a day after Fencing practice. Anyway, it tasted like pure butter with sugar and chocolate chips. Like I said, awesome. This actually *might* be one of those cookies better cooked, and it was definitely better once it came to room temp. Afterwards, I realized I was still hungry. Don’t you hate when fun foods aren’t filling?

Vanilla Sugar Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt–she’s good. Sometimes, plain jane vanilla is the way to go. Though, to be honest, I hate buying the big containers. I’m so lazy, I’d just rather buy an individual sized one and pop it open. There–I’ve said it. I want to ruin the environment! Next I’ll be tossing the plastic necks from my Zevia 6-pack into the ocean =-O Jk

Oatmeal With Mighty Maple

One last snack of the day and I was done writing my last paper! It came just to the page limit, and probably has more jokes than content, but I have the kind of professor who will appreciate that–I’m sure. Who wants to read 20 kids write about why Athens fell over and over again? Not he. I tried getting together with a friend for dinner but, as it turned out, he too finished up and went home today! I swear I’ll be the last person on campus. That was OK because I’m still eating a lot out of my fridge and was able to put together a nice little meal.

Al Fresco Sweet Apple Sausage, Whole Foods Stuffing, Broccoli With Pumpkin Cream Cheese

With coffee on the side, because I’m classy like that Seriously, this could have been served at breakfast and I’d be fine with it. This sausage is much better, to me(could be all the maple syrup they load in it that doesn’t hurt). I think after I get a PhD or whatever I’m doing with this education thing, I should throw it out the window and run a diner. Aren’t diner’s the most fun? I love Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I wonder if Guy Fieri would come or I’d be to healthy for him…

I, like most bloggers, have no clue what day it is. I just got really excited for Survivor tonight and now I’m realizing it’s Wednesday, not Thursday :,-( Oh well. Modern Family, here I come!

Here’s a nuttastic giveaway from Meagan!

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Al Fresco, Broccoli, Cheese, Chicken, Cookie Dough, Dinner, Lunch, Maple, Mighty Maple, Oatmeal, Paper, Peanut Butter, Pepper, Sausage, Stuffing, Sweet Potato, Vanilla, Work, Yogurt | 11 Comments »

Savory Seventeen

Posted on December 16, 2009 by Evan Thomas

Good morning! Is it even still going to be morning by the time I post this, address my full google reader, and emails? Oh, who knows, but I’ve got Kelly Ripa and Anderson Cooper to keep me company.

Did you know yesterday was National Cupcake Day? Well, I was not in the position to go out and buy something for the fake festivities, but instead I brought the party to my oatmeal.

Oatmeal With NuttZo And Cream Cheese Frosting

The NuttZo was so fun and unique! I loved the copious amounts of seed and nut chunks. I’ve added it of my list of things to write reviews for, even though it wasn’t from the company or anything. I’ll definitely have that up after the weekend, if you’re curious. Meanwhile, this recipe had me not caring that I didn’t have a cupcake. This frosting is too good. I could(and sort of did) just eat it by the spoonful–yum.

Apparently on days when you don’t run 12 miles your hunger doesn’t go raging either. Who knew? That snack about did it for me in the afternoon as I worked on my final paper. It’s a very different assignment and basically I’m writing a screenplay about 5 ancient figures. Writing a play is tough work! I couldn’t imagine having to do it more often like some other bloggers. For dinner all I wanted was peanut butter, but I worried having oatmeal with peanut buter might make me lack veggies for my diet. Instead I decided to try to make Peanut BBQ Tofu.

Maple Syrup, Ketchup, Crazy Richard's Chunky Peanut Butter

How do you make BBQ baked tofu with a microwave and no BBQ sauce? Well, you get a little creative. What is BBQ sauce but sugar and tomato at its core? I mixed up 1 tablespoon chunky peanut butter, 1 teaspoon maple syrup, and 2 teaspoons ketchup. Then I brushed that on two pieces of Soft tofu and “baked” it in my microwave by cooking it at a low power for 15 minutes(note: this actually worked well for “baking” so long as you check every so often to drain excess liquid).

Peanut BBQ Baked Tofu, Broccoli With Peanut Flour, Green Beans

I think I went a little peanut crazy here. The tofu was awesome. I mean, it might have been able to be a little better if it were made properly, but truly this was something to be repeated. The broccoli with peanut flour was… interesting. It wasn’t bad, it just was what it was. Plus it was some good protein so no complaints. I think I’m starting a new tradition…

Q.Bel Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Wafer Rolls

…by having a chocolatey dessert every night after dinner. That’s a good tradition, right? I picked these up at Whole Foods yesterday and they didn’t make it 12 hours around me! Ha. They have great milk chocolate and peanut butter flavor. A Charlie Brown Christmas was on so chocolate and coffee totally went with the mood.

After Charlie Brown I realized I was exhausted; what a good reminder that you don’t need to run to tucker yourself out. I had a moment where I thought to myself “You can’t go to bed early. Can you? You can! Do it”. After that I shut my computer off at 9:20 and started winding things down. First I tasted this:

One Lucky Duck Cranberry Honey Bunches Bar

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a “gourmet granola bar”. I believe this was gluten free and definitely an interesting blend of ingredients, but it didn’t have much flavor, and I figured sugar right before bed was not what I needed, so I ate about half and saved the rest for a rainy day. I also had what’s becoming an obligatory bowl of oatmeal.

Oatmeal With Smart Balance And Advent Chocolate

No complaints here. I think the combination of peanut butter and chocolate makes this like a Reeses. After all that, I probably didn’t get to bed too much earlier than normal, but I still felt good when I woke up at 6:30. I can’t say I wanted any bar in particular but I just grabbed this to get out the door quick.

Nature's Path Orange Chocolate Optimum Energy Bar

Really, anything with chocolate would do, as always When I first got there, I was the only person. Before I knew it, the gym was packed. It’s a tiny satellite gym, so I was worried someone might want my treadmill, but I kept going. In fact, I kept going and going and felt great! The rest day really must have helped, because people kept leaving and the gym emptied back out and before I knew it I ran 17 miles again. I set that distance PR 2 days ago and today it felt almost effortless. I even did it over 2 minutes faster finishing in 2:24:38. Woohoo! After a quick shower I threw together something for recovery

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Walnut Butter, NuttZo, And Maple Syrup, Coconut Milk Kefir With Wild Berry Amazing Grass

Again, my hunger wasn’t raging and nothing really was too appealing–maybe I’m coming down with something? No excuse not to get some NUTrition, so I threw together oatmeal with walnut butter and NuttZo–soo good! And then instead of yogurt for probiotics, I mixed a cup of So Delicious Coconut Milk Plain Kefir with Kidz Wild Berry SuperFood Amazing Grass. This was like a nicely blended smoothie; I couldn’t believe it didn’t require a blender and was so healthy. Kefir is definitely a new favorite way to get probiotics.

I did it! I’m finishing this all before noon! As for my inbox… let’s not talk about it Time for more studying! Have a wonderful day!

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Amazing Grass, Bar, BBQ, Berry, Breakfast, Broccoli, Chocolate, coconut milk, Cream Cheese, Dinner, Frosting, Kefir, Ketchup, Maple Syrup, Microwave, Nuttzo, Oatmeal, Paper, Peanut Butter, Pumpkin, Q.Bel, Recipe, Running, Tofu, Vegetables, Walnut Butter | 14 Comments »

3 Down, 2 Nut Butter, And 1 To Go

Posted on December 15, 2009 by Evan Thomas

*Update* I’ve gotten a hold of some more deals for my HoliDEALS page! Check them out if you plain on doing any online foodie shopping.

Woohoo! I’ve officially completed 3 classes. I definitely didn’t rock out my final this morning, but I also didn’t tank it, so I’m fine with that. But best of all, it’s over! Now I have 2 1/2 days to write my Greek History paper, study dates and people, read for passage ID’s, and brainstorm 3 in class essays. That all sounds scary, but I’m just telling myself in my head that in 72 hours it’ll all be over for good or for bad and I’ll be heading home for the holidays

Last night, I started off my desserts with what else but chocolate.

Q.Bel Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Wafer Bars

After some of the other Q.bel products, this was a bit of a let down. It totally just didn’t pull together :-/ But it was so perfect in theory! Don’t you hate products like that? Oh well. What was awesome was finishing my Latin paper. It wasn’t due until Friday but I wanted to hand it in with my final so that I could be done with that class. My in-bed snack was very typical of this week and last.

Oatmeal With Smart Balance, Advent Chocolate, And A Milk Chocolate Newman Cup, Chocolate Vitatop

A bowl of milk chocolate and peanut butter goodness and a vitatop, because it’s “nutritious” I tried going to bed early but I don’t think that really worked out. At least it wasn’t an awful nights sleep so that I was well rested when I got up at 7:30. No run planned for the a.m. Instead I needed to get dressed, make breakfast, and prep for my final. I decided to give another new chocolate a try.

Endangered Species Dark Chocolate

I’m 95% convinced in a few years chocolate will be proven as a brain food. How could it not be?

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Honey Maple Peanut Butter

Pomegranate Greek Yogurt With Dark Chocolate

This chocolate was definitely the tastiest thing going here. It was just a crisp, clean dark chocolate. And it was so nice and thick that it made the chocolate shavings come out perfectly(can you tell that’s a big deal with me ). Does anybody else actually enjoy runny peanut butter? I get a little disappointed when my PB doesn’t melt and just sits like a rock o my yogurt. Oh well.

Like I said, the test went just like I thought it would. I had planned to run afterwards but it took a little longer than I planned. I also decided that, if I end up not running at all today, I’d feel perfectly fine with that. Some days I feel “lazy” not running but today is not one of those days. Instead I decided to go out and pick myself up a “treat”, obeying that 11th commandment we all know and love. So I grabbed a snack and walked to Whole Foods.

Almond And Cashew KIND Bar

Oh my how I love this bar. I picked it up a few days at the cafe where I can use my school card All it is is dates, honey, almond and cashews–fine by me! Anyway, I called ahead to Whole Foods to make sure they had the “treat” I was thinking of, and once I grabbed some coupons I was good to go. The walk there and back(2.5 miles) was so perfect and let it sink in that all of what I was stressing is 3/4 of the way done. I’m definitely a fan of stepping back and breathing. Lookie what I picked myself up:

Artisana Walnut Butter

Only a blogger would reward himself with nut butter… It’s so true, but this was perfect. I was thinking walnut butter sounded interesting for the past few months, and after I sampled and reviewed Artisana’s here, I knew I wanted to get myself a big jar. If I had a food processor, I’d be tempted to make my own. But what I love about this is the touch of cashew Artisana adds that I would not know how to replicate. I also got “standard” groceries.

Groceries

And by “standard” I mean copious amounts of yogurt and a Q.bel near the checkout Last day of So Delicious soy yogurt being 33% off in New England fyi! While I was out, I checked my email near the mail room, and it told me I had a package! I wasn’t expecting anything(or so I thought), until I saw what it was.

NuttZo

Another nut butter! 2 weeks ago, Kath had a deal where the first 1000 people on OpenSky got a free $25 towards their purchase with free shipping. Since NuttZo was less than $25, I jumped at the chance to get this for free. Wouldn’t you? Thanks soo much, Kath, for hosting that! I also stopped by the dining hall where they had steamed veggies. I think I got odd looks from the woman behind the counter for taking A LOT of steamed vegetables and avoiding the broccoli, but it was so worth it for this lunch.

Chickpeas And Steamed Veggies In Tikka Massala Sauce

For a Polish/Italian, I’m not so bad at making myself an Indian delicacy I tossed the vegetables(which I weighed on my kitchen scale out of curiosity and they were literally a pound. Thank God this wasn’t from the Whole Foods salad bar!) with the rest of my Tikka Massala sauce and some salt and curry powder. I also took a serving of chickpeas from the dining hall and had that along side. I think all the cream in that sauce might have upset my stomach a bit but it was soooo worth it. Now I’m sipping Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride to make things better, and it’s definitely working

Time flies because I walked in the door 2 hours ago and just now am finishing posting 2 hours later! I can’t complain because I just found a ghost story on the Discovery channel

A cookware giveaway!

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Breakfast, Chickpeas, Chobani, Class, Dark Chocolate, Dessert, Endangered Species, Groceries, Indian, KIND, Latin, Mail, Milk Chocolate, Nuttzo, Oatmeal, Peanut Butter, Pumpkin, Q.Bel, Smart Balance, Vegetables, Vitatop, Walnut Butter, Whole Foods, Yogurt | 22 Comments »

Going About Things The Wrong Way

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Evan Thomas

Today I feel like there’s been a lot of going about things the wrong way. But I’m OK with that! In fact, I’m better than OK because realizing you’re doing something wrong is how you do it right the next time.

Leftover Wild Atlantic Salmon, Trader Joe's Instant Mac And Cheese

As tasty as my lunch was(and it was tasty), I realized that my view on food this week was wrong, wrong, wrong. I was going on with a mentality of eating basically to empty out things and have less to deal with Friday. Well, I tried to convince myself that I’d be “OK” if I was living off unpumpkined oatmeal and peanut butter for the second half of the week but that’s just not how I’d feel. New plan: Take it low and slow and eat what I want, when. If stuff’s leftover, it’ll just follow me back home.

I realized I was approaching this week’s finals and papers with the wrong mindset. This one’s harder to explain, especially pertaining to the Latin paper, without boring the crap out of all of us. New plan: Have a plan. Take things as they come. But most importantly, know you’re still a very accomplished person no matter what and 1 bad final or paper could never change that.

After lunch I was craving an apple(weird, right?), and staring down the apples on my microwave from the dining hall. However, clearly they were overripened and would have upset me more than feed any craving. New plan: Go buy an apple from the mail room convenience store.

Red Delicious Apple

Apple Crispness Close Up

I’m not into buying things I can get for free, but oh my God was this worth it. It was ripe, and crisp, and juicy, and 120% hit the spot like no other apple has since we went and picked our own. While I was there, I also got a really awesome package.

Beads For Life Bracelet

Cranberry Orange Nut Bread Clif Bar, Mint Carob Bar, Chocolate Whole Food Energy Bar

I won a giveaway from Errign’s blog for a Beads For Life bracelet and she could not have thrown in more perfect secondary prizes. I can not count how many times I’ve picked up carob chips and wondered how’d they taste only to tell myself “Finish the 2 types of chocolate chips, the white chocolate chips, and the peanut butter chips first, and then you can buy some carob”. I can’t wait to make some minty yogurt, and that bracelet is going to be the perfect gift for someone. Thanks Errign!

I realized that I was not doing a favor by letting myself run low on yogurt to clean out the fridge.

2% Yogurt With Cherry Butter And Goji Cherry Cacao Cookies

New plan: Stock up on Greek yogurt when you find it. Because I go through it like wildfire and this was my last plain. And it was incredibly tasty, too. I thought I’d use my last 2 goji cherry cacao Goji Gourmet cookies after perusing their new site. 9.5/10? You bet these are one of my favorite products. This was a nice protein snack, but then I needed fatty fats.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Pepita Sun Butter And White Chocolate Chips

I thought I was reading myself right when I wanted vanilla and decided to add white chocolate chips to my oatmeal. Unfortunately, they just weren’t hitting the spot.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Pepita Sun Butter And Vanilla Almond Butter

New plan: Scrape off the white chocolate chips and replace them with vanilla almond butter. This was a really Nutty bowl with the pepita sun butter and vanilla almond butter, and it was much better than the original. Sometimes you need to undo a little of what you’ve done to get it just right, but isn’t it so worth it when you do get it right?

Lastly, I’ve been cheating myself and you all a little(though mostly myself) by never tapping in to the communal kitchen. Yes, we have one. And there’s pots and pans to use so long as you clean up after yourself. I was inspired by Caroline to make scrambled tofu. Of course, in her case there’s no egg involved and I was also craving egg, so I mixed 3oz soft tofu with 1 scrambled egg

Cooking The Tofu And An Egg

The pan was odd and took some getting used to but I got the hang of it once it heated up.

Broccoli, Grilled Portabella Mushroom Caps, Roasted Red Peppers, Scrambled Egg And Tofu

New plan: Make use of the kitchen here more next year. This was delicious. The tofu and egg had the perfect meld of runnyness and chewiness which went perfect with some vinegary ketchup. I’ve also come to the realization that soy doesn’t sit so well with me. New plan: Nothing. It may not sit with me but I still like it and that’s not going to stop me from enjoying it so long as it isn’t a health hazard. The whole meal was nice, as I wasn’t feeling like something too heavy but wanted to really get my veggies in.

And now to finish off the night I’ll be potentially finishing up my paper, studying a bit, and then getting a good night sleep. I have a Latin final at 9 tomorrow. The timing is not good for me at all but c’est la vie. I’ll sleep in, have some rushed oatmeal, and hopefully rely on talent to get through it(because I don’t plan on studying for it with the other, more threatening final on the horizon). Have a good night!

Here’s a truly holiday giveaway for you all to enjoy

Go check out the new Actors’ Diet website for a giveaway

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Almond Butter, Apple, Broccoli, Cherry, Cooking, Dinner, Egg, Goji Gourmet, Latin, Lunch, Mac N Cheese, Naturally Nutty, Oatmeal, Paper, Pepita Butter, Pumpkin, Salmon, Soy, Study, Tofu, White Chocolate, Yogurt | 12 Comments »

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