Food Makes Fun Fuel

November 2009
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Oct
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Positive Petes

Posted on November 14, 2009 by Evan Thomas

Some days it feels like all the Negative Nancies are out to get you. Those are the days when I like to think back and instead think of all the Positive Petes out there who make things better.

Decaf Coffee With NuNatural Stevia

Thankfully, I had enough time to run to The Blue Room for some coffee before class. There I ran into my first Positive Pete of the day, Gabe. He’s a friend from Greek and Greek History and a freshman like me. For someone who had only done 1 of his 3 history essays, he was definitely a Positive Pete Or maybe he just was over caffeinated. After that I ran off to Latin class, where I learned that “dry” has meant “sober” for many more millenia than I would have thought. There really was nothing in the dining hall worth picking up, so instead I made a simpler lunch with what I had.

Macaroni And Cheese With Sweet Potato

Apparently, “I don’t know what to make” means “Gimme carbs”. This was great for something so simple. I would have loved something green in there, but I wasn’t about to use a meal credit for broccoli alone, so I was happy with what I had and packed some bars for class in case I needed something more.

I turned in 2 of my 3 Greek History essays. Hey, that’s not bad, right The other one I should have set for Monday. The Positive Pete of the class was my friend Alex(read: Alexandra but no one calls her that). Some people are just great to sit next to because they make the best doodles and pick up on all the points to make fun of the teacher; that’s Alex. I’ve actually known her since I was a freshman in high school but we didn’t really become friends until I was a junior and she became a freshman here at Brown.

After that was Epic, and then a waddle up and down Thayer street. Doesn’t a walk sound more exciting when you use a more fun verb? By the time I got to my dorm, it was 3:30, but you might think it was 2am because my roommate was asleep, the lights were off, and the clouds covered any sunlight. Great. How did our sleeping schedules become so off? I made some oats, avec flash because it might as well have been night.

Banana Oats With Vanilla Almond Butter And Vanilla-Cinnamon Frosting

I’m having soooo much fun playing around with this “frosting” idea. This time, it involved copious amounts of vanilla powder, with a touch of cinnamon and NuNatural vanilla stevia. That with the vanilla nut butter from Naturally Nutty really enhanced the banana and oats. My only complaint was not being able to see this while I ate. Also difficult: reading The Aeneid by the light off my laptop. But that was ok because I was also blog reading and you definitely all count as Positive Petes I wasn’t really hungry before dinner but my eats were a little low so I found some cookies for Cookie Friday.

One Lucky Duck Gingerbread Cookies

Raw and vegan One Lucky Duck cookies to be exact. These were one of the samples they sent me. I was a little curious how a raw cookie would work but it worked just tastily! It reminded me of cashew butter with maple and ginger, but in a crisp cookie form. They didn’t have me rushing to the website to have more, because I’ve had plenty of cooked and non-vegan cookies I love, but for the raw eater in your life these would make a great treat. This was around 6 and at 6:30 I headed over to the dining hall.

Vegetable Melange, The Heat Is On Tofu Salad

It was really slim picking at the dining hall. I made some tofu salad with the last of my tofu before I left because I saw there was nothing I wanted. Anyway, what I had was decent, and I got to catch up with Positive Pete Adam. Apparently, he’s basically sold himself to science, and was trapped in a dark room Thursday night from 8pm-2am and had his brain waves measured. Weird. He’s the kind of person who I would expect running experiments like these, not being the lab rat, but whatever floats his boat. Since that was rather light, I had no hesitation busting out my treat for Cookie Friday.

The Vegan From The Cupcakerie

Can we just call it Cupcake Friday? That’s all I ever get. I went with The Vegan today–scrumptious. I swear the ones the woman didn’t give me had twice the frosting but I didn’t want to be “that customer” and point at the pile of frosting with some cupcake under it that I wanted. On TV was some movie where Adam Sandler was a football player married to Courtney Cox. I think it lost me at the point where Adam Sandler could be a football player and get Courtney Cox. Instead of trying to make sense of it, I made a snack.

Strawberry Yogurt Mess With White Chocolate With Dried Strawberries

Chocolate bars are the gift that keep on giving when you eat them in yogurt messes! On the down side, I’m going to need to restock on a lot of fruit jams pretty soon. For the yogurt, I did a 3:1 ratio of plain Oikos to full fat yogurt, so that it had just the right creaminess. It felt so nice to kick back and watch an episode of Leno not thinking about what’s due the next day I haven’t done. More breads and spreads to celebrate.

Carrot Ginger Muffin Top With Smart Balance Peanut Butter, Blueberry Vitatop With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter

I think a muffin top off an actual muffin tastes better, but I can’t complain about either Did anybody else watch the ABC 20/20 on crazy cat ladies? Sometimes I feel overwhelmed caring for one pet; how do people keep over 100 cats? That’s absurd. This morning I slept a good 9 hours and woke up naturally. That always feels excellent. I think I tapped into my own Positive Pete when I called running off for the morning; I’ll admit I’m one of the worse ones at taking rest days but even I can see when I need one. Instead my morning has been warm and rainy.

Coffee On A Rainy Morning

I’m thinking that today will be a rest day, and I’m already wondering how’d I get things done if I were running right now. Laundry is in the machine, I’m on my 2nd cup of coffee, and I’m getting geared up to make breakfast and right the 4th and last of my essays, all with a playlist of 51 Christmas songs playing in the background I also got word that a Positive Pete from high school will be visiting campus today so hopefully we’ll arrange a meet up! Too bad normal people don’t enjoy meeting at Whole Foods to catch up because I am out almost everything(even oatbran, and I just got my 2lb bag last month…). Have a great Saturday!

Who’s your best Positive Pete?

Filed under: Daily Update, Product Review | Tagged: Banana, Class, Coffee, Cookies, Cupcake, Dessert, Dinner, Frosting, Lunch, Mac N Cheese, Muffin Top, Naturally Nutty, NuNaturals, Oatmeal, One Lucky Duck, PB&Co., Peanut Butter, Sleep, Smart Balance, Sweet Potato, Television, The Ratty, Tofu, Vegetables, Vitalicious, Vitatop, White Chocolate | 15 Comments »

Seasons And Seasonings

Posted on November 13, 2009 by Evan Thomas

Seasons: Fall

Yesterday morning was fairly autumnal in New England. To be honest, I’m a man of extremes, and I’d rather it be hot hot like Summer or start with the snow. Of course, I won’t feel that way when I have to walk to class in the snow. I was so happy when Greek got out at 12 because I had my entire day planned out in terms of “errands” to run. First I swung by the dining hall and then to my room, where I read some emailed and edited(read: spell-checked) my Epic Essay. At the same time I was making lunch.

Broccoli With Red Peppers, Sweet Potato, 1 Egg Plus 1 Egg White With Raw Cheese

Seasonings: Red Pepper, Cheese, Salt

A commenter asked yesterday if I eat broccoli every day. Pretty much Except last Sunday(I checked). It’s undoubtedly one of my favorite vegetables, and the easiest to self prepare, so I think I’ll stick with it. Besides that, this lunch was pretty average. I felt like I hadn’t had a sweet potato in too long, and definitely needed it here. I was sure to stealthily scrub it in the bathroom first so the skin would be extra delicious. I really was ready to go right when I finished eating. But of course the one day I have a lot to do there’s an actual plot progression in Days Of Our Lives. What the hell was with that? I stayed to watch the whole episode, and headed out at 2. First was a swing by the mail room. No mail, but I did pick up coffee.

Organic Decaf

Seasonings: Stevia

Definitely my favorite part of that building Next up was getting my “staple” groceries. I piled on a mile walking down to Waterman Street Whole Foods where I got to see all this weeks sales; nothing particularly exciting, but I was ecstatic to see that Oikos is still on sale! They also had these adorable all-natural gingerbread men coated in chocolate I almost bought but they were a bit out of my price range and a luxury. And look what I spotted near the checkout.

Silk Nog And Pumpkin Spice Drinks

Seasons: Autumn, Winter

This is the first time besides Hannafords I’ve seen the Silk Nog, and the first time I’ve seen pumpkin spice besides the Eating Machine’s blog. I just love finding things I see on other blogs; I think learning about and trying new products is my favorite thing about the blog world. After that, I hopped over to Eastside Market. Again,t he sales weren’t too impressive, so I stuck with the staples. I picked up a snack at Whole Foods to eat on my walk back.

Cantaloupe

Seasons: Summer

I’ve been wanting cantaloupe for a while after seeing them on blogs. Just as good as they were during the Summer! This was also perfect because it was prepackaged at exactly .5lb which wrung up to exactly 2.00. I like it when things work out like that. I had to swing back by the mail room to pick up eggs(they sell a lot of decent groceries there). Then I snuck my food into the library to print out two of my essays including the Epic Poetry one. God, that felt good. There might have been some more coffee at that point. I aimed at getting everything done in 2 hours and I got back at 3:53. Score.

Groceries

After that, I broke bended the rules. I knewI had a ton of work and needed to grab my dinner early so I could work the rest of the night knowing I didn’t have to go out for anything. Unfortunately, yesterday was also this big, special BBQ dinner at The Ratty where you couldn’t take things out. Well sneaky little me snuck in a food container and snagged some BBQ asparagus, extra sauce, and some peppers. I was a bit worried it would leak in my sweatshirt but that thing needs a wash anyway. When I got back I put that away for later and made a study snack.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Pepita Sun Butter And Maple Yogurt Frosting

Seasonings: Cinnamon, Vanilla, Allspice, Maple

This was divine. The frosting had Oikos with maple syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla stevia. Sicne the main flavor in the pepita sun butter are vanilla and allspice, it all just went together. I read what I was supposed to have done for Wednesday for the rest of the evening; I hate that feeling of being behind and catching up. I’m one of those annoying people who would rather be working ahead of the syllabus. At some point, I decided to put things away and make dinner.

BBQ Tofu, BBQ Asparagus, Whole Foods Stuffing

Seasons: Summer, Autumn

Seasonings: BBQ Sauce, Salt, Thyme, Rosemary

BBQ is a cuisine I don’t eat much, and this reminded me why for the most part. I like for foods to just taste like their natural selves, and be enhanced by salt. BBQ, on the other hand, is all about sauce and the flavor from that. The tofu was nice and lightly seasoned(since I was the one who prepared it) but as for the asparagus I ate about 1/2 and threw the rest out after getting a big bite of mostly sugary sauce. If I was enjoying it like I might have been if it was an oriental sauce I would have kept eating it, but the flavor wasn’t working so I felt free to ditch it for these:

Pepper Strips

Seasonings: None

These tasted much cleaner, and made up for the veggie fail. But lets talk about the stuffing. Whole Foods makes the best stuffing. I knew I had to get it when i saw it on the prepared food line. It’s not whole wheat or healthy or anything, it’s just good stuffing. Actually, it’s the best and the only one I’ll eat. I’m sure I’ll be inhaling unholy amounts on Thanksgiving. Survivor was excellent last night. Russell plays the game so well, even if he’s a little jerk. I made a quickie snack between that and Grey’s.

Soy Yogurt With Trader Joe Mini Peanut Butter Cups And Vanilla Sugar

Seasonings: Vanilla Sugar

This was a new brand of soy yogurt to me. It tasted nice and soy-y like I was hoping for. Texturally and nutritionally I prefer So Delicious brand but this is a bit cheaper and more widely available. Grey’s was really good. Like really good. I like how this season is going. I think it’s becoming clear who the next to go after George will be. There was some late night oats involved after I did all the work that I should have done by Wednesday.

Oatmeal With Smart Balance Peanut Butter And Baking Chips

Seasoning: Chocolate Chips, Salt

For Leno, I turned off my computer, put away the books, and made my favorite bowl of oatmeal. This is when I unwind every day and I wouldn’t want it any other way I think I prefer the agave sweetened Smart Balance to the molasses one; the flavor is the same but the agave stays thicker on oatmeal. As for cleaning the bowl, you all had wonderful suggestions of letting it sit overnight in water. However, I go with a simpler route. I just assume I’m going to be having oatmeal for breakfast and leave it be for the time. I hope that’s not appalling, haha.

I think my roommate got home at around 6 this morning? And my alarm went off at 6:15. Great. After I fumbled around trying to make coffee, because it’s dark again, I also made a pre-workout snack.

Chocolate Brownie Z-Bar With Smart Balance Peanut Butter

Seasonings: Salt

The Smart Balance and chocolate is a flavor combo I just can’t quit. I probably should have prepared this earlier, because I ended up eating it on the treadmill and made a bit of a mess. Oops. Hopefully no one allergic will be using that treadmill today, plus I washed off what peanut butter touched the machine. I ran a slowish 10 miles in 85:34. I think I ended up walking around too much yesterday doing errands–2 official Pile On The Mile miles but probably a good 3+–and tuckered out my legs. instead of fight it, however, I let the pace be what it was and went with it.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Protein Honey Maple Peanut Butter And A Vegan Pumpkin Molasses Cookie, Pineapple Chobani

Seasons: Autumn

Seasonings: Cinnamon, Salt, Ginger

Delicious. The high protein honey maple peanut butter actually reminds me almost exactly of butter toffee from Naturally Nutty. I was thinking of making my own yogurt with plain Oikos, full fat Voskos, and banana pineapple rum jam, but prepackaged is so much simpler

And now I leave you with the emails I wake up to: “The vet changed Montana’s medicine to a people one. I had to go to CVS pharmacy to get it. The lady asks “Does Montana have any questions for the pharmacist”?. I said hes a dog. hee hee.”

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Asparagus, BBQ, Breakfast, Broccoli, Brownie, Cheese, Chobani, Cinnamon, Coffee, Cookies, Days Of Our Lives, Dinner, Eggs, Fruit, Groceries, Jay Leno, Lunch, Oatmeal, Peanut Butter, Pepita Butter, Pineapple, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Oikos, Running, Salt, Silk, Smart Balance, Snack, Soy Yogurt, Stuffing, Survivor, Sweet Potato, Television, Tofu, Treadmill, Vanilla, Whole Foods, Z-Bar | 16 Comments »

It’s Just Puppy Love

Posted on November 12, 2009 by Evan Thomas

Montana

Naturally, I’m talking about him. I don’t know why, but yesterday morning I was struck with a little homesickness for him. First, on my way back from the gym, I saw a squirrel on a trash can whose expression instantly reminded me of him(weird, but true). Then I got the most hilarious email from my mom saying he bit her toe last night. Okay, maybe that shouldn’t be funny, but I have an awful sense of humor. From what I gather, they were both sleeping in bed and she kicked him. The whole thing sounds like the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where they get into an argument because Raymond doesn’t like to be cuddled. Why is that show not on anymore? Oh the things I miss…

Anyway, class yesterday was dullsville. I got a horrible craving for chocolate chips in class which then led to the challenge of fitting them into my lunch somehow. I also swung by the dining hall to find something a bit more substantial. It turned out to be tempeh day on the vegetarian line! I filled up a container, some for lunch and a lot leftover, and then made the rest in my room.

Maple Mustard Tofu, Plain Tempeh, Broccoli

Peanut Butter Greek Yogurt With Chocolate Chips

This was definitely a protein overload(aka it sat like a brick in my stomach) but all tasted soooo good. I like the tempeh just plain; I think the flavor is so interesting on its own. It must be the whole fermenting thing. Of course, the yogurt was what really hit the spot I’m pretty sure my friend Alex in Greek History class couldn’t tell what flavor Chobani I bought but was too afraid to ask.

I didn’t actually do the reading for Epic today(oops) because I figured 6 pages of writing was torture enough. It worked out fine because we didn’t cover everything we were supposed to and what we did I read in the original Latin all 2nd semester of last year. When I got back to my dorm, I found out when exactly my roommate sleeps: 3pm. I think we’re just a little off in our schedules. I started working more on my paper and Greek(the only homework I have for today), and snacked on this bar:

KIND Almond And Cashew Bar

This has easily been one of my favorite bars all through Summer. I’m so glad they sell it at campus stores where I can use my points! It has a honey and date base which is nice and sweet, and the nuts taste really rich. I don’t know why but whole nuts are always more desirable in bar form than on their own with me. Plus it has Omega-3 from flaxseed(which is why it’s called KIND Plus…). This was very tasty while I watched about the woman who was torn apart by a primate. Did anyone else see that? It’s so sad, I couldn’t imagine an animal doing that much harm or a person living through it. I made some oatmeal after Oprah.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Mocha Peanut Butter

I don’t eat it much, but every so often I get an urge for this Naturally Nutty peanut butter. I figured the earthiness of it would work well with some pumpkin oatmeal. I added in nutmeg to deepen the flavor, and it was really strong. For dinner, I met with Adam at The Ratty.

Lentil Chili, Carrots And Zucchini In Garlic, Cooked Spinach, Raw Tomatos

This was definitely a “take the picture fast and don’t look too odd” picture, lol. The chili was OK, but not great; it needed more chili powder I’m guessing. I always like that carrot and zucchini medley, and the rest was pretty simple. I’ve stopped looking at what’s in the non-vegetarian line pretty much because I’ve expected weird stuff. Tonight, I got to see what it was via my friend’s dish: “paella” with fried chicken and unopened mussels. First of all, since when does paella have on-bone chicken in it? I’ve been to Spain and that’s not how they roll. Also, unopened mussels? Not smart. That pretty much describes why I pick up quality meat at Whole Foods to make dinner for myself some times. Meat and these:

Ginger Ale Zevia

This one I think had one of the weaker flavors, but maybe I just feel that way now that I’ve had ginger preserves which are spicier than all hell. Of course, by 8 I was watching the CMA’s. Go Lady Antebellum for single of the year and best group! I think any of those were good songs(like Chicken Fried!) but they deserved to win something. I think the entire show was just awesome.I’m not so secretly a country addict, with half of my itunes library being Sugarland and Taylor Swift alone. I had a little of this mid-broadcast.

Greek Yogurt With Cherry Butter, Dried Cherries, Vanilla Sugar, And 2 Goji Gourmet Cherry Cacao Cookies

These have to be my favorite cookie of all time. I’m definitely placing a big bag in my shopping cart from Goji Gourmet. By the way, congrats to them for being a Rachael Ray snack of the day! I hope that episode airs on a Tuesday or Thursday when I can watch it. I also now need to restock on cherry preserves; do you think I can get the register attendant to ring it up as cranberry butter like with the dried ones? Back to television, I was standing on my feet when Taylor won; that was so exciting for her! And of course I was rooting on Sugarland, too. Afterwards I made some breads & spreads(why haven’t I used that phrase in a while?).

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin With Ginger Cream Cheese And Mushed Banana With Baker's Chips, Chocolate Fig Vitatop With Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter

I really didn’t know what to do with this flavor vitatop but I think it worked well with chocolate sunflower butter for an odd but attractive duo. I either burn through english muffins or have to force myself to want them. Good spreads like this help with that, though. I think when Taylor won entertainer of the year that pretty much summed it up. Her reaction was priceless, and this definitely was her year.

This morning has just felt so “on” so far. I woke up at 6:20, and then decided another 20 minutes of sleep would be just fine On the way out of my dorm I grabbed a new Larabar.

Peanut Butter And Jelly Larabar

I don’t quite have time to write a review at this moment, which would be here once I set it up, but this was awesome. I really did not expect to like it so much and I hate relying on new flavors of bars when I’m out of the house but this was so dead on. This really powered me through 11 miles in 90:36. It must have, because I was only planning for 8, but I think I was meant to do 11. In that time I listened to every Taylor Swift song I have(which took 88 minutes) and got to watch a segment on the Today show about childhood diabetes and the foods we can use to prevent it. They didn’t promote oatmeal and pumpkin but I’m going to bet those are good ones

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Mighty Maple And Maple Syrup, Eggnog Oikos With Nutmeg

I think I’ve rightfully stopped fooling myself I won’t be having oatmeal and yogurt, even on days when I’m short on time like this morning. Silly me should have stocked up on Oikos last sales period but now I’m out Hopefully I’ll make it down to Eastside Market today for that and pumpkin, which I’m also low on(surprise, surprise).

These aren’t quite giveaways but I wanted to clue ya’ll in on some coupon codes I know. If you love peanut butter like me, check out P.B. Loco and all their fun flavors. Spend $30 or more and get a free “P.B.Loco Dreamy Creamy Peanut Butter” with the coupon BLOG1209. Also, if you spend $50 dollars or more, you can use the coupon FREET2009 to get a t-shirt! Clearly it’s worth it to pick out a bunch of fun and funky jars for yourself and Christmas presents and place a big order for all these freebies.

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Banana, Bar, Broccoli, Cherry, Chili, Chocolate Chips, Cookies, Cream Cheese, Dinner, Eggnog, English Muffin, Epic Poetry, Goji Gourmet, Greek Yogurt, KIND, Lentils, Maple Syrup, Mighty Maple, Montana, Music, Naturally Nutty, Nuts, Oateal, Oikos, P.B.Loco, PB&Co., Peanut Flour, Pumpkin, Running, Snack, Television, Tempeh, The Ratty, Tofu, Treadmill, Vitalicious, Vitatop, Zevia | 27 Comments »

I’m Kind Of A Big Deal

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Evan Thomas

I’m very important. I have many leather-bound books and my dorm smells of rich mahogany. Anchorman, anyone? I actually hate that movie but my 9th Grade Latin teacher was obsessed with it and Will Ferrell, so I have all the quotes down, and they pop into my head when relevant. Yesterday, I was kind of a big deal

Not in the morning, though; then, I just left my dorm with empty plates and bowls so I could get coffee before Greek. I knew it would be an unimportant class since our real teacher is away; instead we had a guest lecturer talk about basically everything I learned in Greek History class. Oh well, it was worth it just to hear our substitute pronounce war as “vowr-er” with his mid-European accent. I swung by The Ratty on the way back to my dorm, but ended up not eating until around 12:50 because I had a lot to tidy up and Google read before lunch.

2 Eggs With Portobella Mushrooms And Red Peppers, Broccoli, Carrots, Jalapenos, Mustard, Ketchup

If Picasso made an omelet, I’d like to think it’d look like this. This won nothing in terms of presentation; I don’t think half of the egg was cooked because I ended up pouring a lot of liquid on the plate at the end, but it was still tasty. I get asked a lot what’s from the dinign hall and what’s mine; in this case, everything was dining hall except the 2 eggs, mustard, and ketchup. Speaking of ketchup, I used to despise it. What is most ketchup’s except processed tomato and sugar? I still feel that way on the whole, but I’ve found two that really got my attention: Trader Joe’s store brand and Napa Valley Red Bell Pepper. The former is really vinegary and not sweet, which goes great with eggs and veggie burgers. The latter is spicy and great for robust burgers. Clearly, I put way too much thought into my condiments

I ended up skipping out on the last 10 minutes of Days to get out early to Whole Foods; how has Sammy not learned a thing about her baby? I feel like this story’s gone on so long the kid should be in preschool. I took a brisk walk to University Plaza. It was double productive because every trip to this Whole Foods piles on 2.2 miles As usual, I spent way too long oogling at too many thing I ended up not getting. I went in with the notion that this would be a “big” shopping trip but they didn’t have quite everything I wanted. Unsweetened coconut was on sale, but they didn’t even carry the sweetened kind; and salmon was on the salad bar but it was mixed with spinach and I wasn’t convinced it’d taste any good. After getting out with most of my wallet I stopped at McDonalds.

Newman's Own Organic Coffee

Well what else do you think I’d go there for I love this Newman’s coffee, and that all their sizes are only $1 from now until who knows when! I’ve taken advantage of that many times. I also nibbled on this new product.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Clif Bar

This White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Clif Bar was one of the ones I was sent to review. I wanted to love it; if I could find a portable, healthy excuse for white chocolate, I’d be overjoyed. Unfortunately, this didn’t have me jumping up and down. It was OK, but not what I was hoping for. I only took about 5 bites and didn’t even finish it, which is rare for me with foods, because I knew I’d be back to my dorm soon enough where I had unpackaged food to eat. I put the rest back into the wrapper for when I need some energy for running in the morning.

Right before I got back to my dorm, the coolest thing happened to me, and I was kind of a big deal. There are only a few of us in the gym at 7am(shocker) and it’s usually the same crowd. 2 of the other people are these big middle-aged men. Well, I ran into one on the road outside my dorm. It turns out he’s the dean of residential life, and he told me that every time he sees me running strong on the treadmill in the morning I’m an inspiration to him to work out(I think he’s trying to lose weight). I really felt like I had a fan when he was telling me other people look like they’re going to keel over on the treadmill but I have a strong confident posture. He also said I have a good choice in cartoons, lol! That was a great experience, and after it I couldn’t wait to run into him more at the gym knowing who he is.

When I actually got into my dorm, I felt so overwhelmed. I just needed to take things one at a time. I turned on the TV and plugged in everything electronic that needed charging. Then I unpacked what I bought.

Groceries

See? It was all very sensible. Oikos and oats I burn through in this room. I also needed some stevia for my coffee and 365 brand looked decent for 7.99. I also bought 365 nutmeg, which was the cheapest they carried. One other thing might have worked its way into my bag.

Divine White Chocolate With Strawberries

I wanted to treat myself with something for doing so well and (hopefully) what’s more to come. I have trouble when it comes to buying groceries to treat myself, but I finally settled on this bar of white chocolate; I’ve been eyeing it for a while, and if anything says nutritionally devoid and decadent it’s white chocolate, speaking of which…

Banana Oats With Mighty Maple And White Chocolate Chips

The next thing to do was make a snack, since I ended up not eating most of the Clif bar. I thought the maple, vanilla, and banana might be too much for one dish but not at all! Everything worked well together. I had 2 possible plans for the afternoon/dinner but I took the lame responsible road and cancelled them so that I could purely work on my essay; I find projects like this so much easier to take on all at once than try to draw it out. I got a good deal(about 1/3) done before it was time for dinner, which I already decided to make for myself.

Dinner Ingredients

These are definitely two staples to have in any dorm room: healthy, delicious, and instant. I did something which I thought was a little genius and used the water from the tuna to cook the macaroni in for added flavor.

Tuna Mac And Cheese With Acorn Squash

Perfecto! I know the old generation Italians would find fault with fish + cheese but we’re not in Italy here The acorn squash from home was so nice, even though it might have needed another 2 minutes in the microwave. Other than that, the buttery flavor went well with cheese from the macaroni, and the whole thing was just a salt mess–my favorite kind!

Flash foward to 8: Does anybody else just feel motivated to move when they hear The Biggest Loser theme song? I do and I love it. I got into my PJ’s, took up my essay books, and got ready for some quality television. I celebrated with trans fat.

Yogurt With Strawberry Jam And White Chocolate With Strawberries

This was awesome. And, yes, there’s trans fat in the white chocolate bar, but it’s natural from butterfat and only .2 grams in the whole bar(which I had maybe an 1/8th of. I was actually surprised the label mentioned trans fat, since companies aren’t required to list it if it’s less than .5 grams per serving. It’s definitely a curious thing to think how much trans fat is really in certain foods and how much it adds up to. Anyway, this was delicious and easily a new favorite chocolate bar. Sweetening it with jam makes the fruit feel fresher.

Silk Nog With Nutmeg

Newman's Own Organic Espresso Chip Cookies With Coffee

I’ve never been one for “milk and cookies”; this is about as close as I ever get. The nog on its own is a little thin and needs some extra sweetening, but you’d never guess that it wasn’t made with real milk let alone has no eggs in it. I don’t really get “espresso” out of these cookies but they do taste nice and chocolatey, and the espresso part is always a great excuse to make coffee(like I needed an excuse). I was really sad to see the entire Orange team go off The Biggest Loser. They had so much reason to be there, but they were on Jay Leno afterwards and it looks like they’re doing great.

Oatmeal With Semi-Sweet Bakign Chips And Smart Balance

I wanted to want anything else but this while watching Leno. Because, really, who wants to be washing oatmeal off a dish right before bed? instead of fighting the craving I went ahead and made the oats, knowing if you give your body what it really wants it’ll reward you.

That reward definitely came this morning. I woke up at 6:20 6:25 after snoozing a little bit. I felt the long-term energy from the oats still in effect, and head off for an undetermined long wrong. I took the rest of my white chocolate macadamia nut clif bar but ultimately decided that I didn’t want it this morning and didn’t want the burden of having something I felt like I “had to finish” and so tossed it at the gym. Anyway, back to the run, I ended up doing 12 miles and finishing in a quick 1:36:22! It felt good to pile on all those miles; if only my new gym friend had been there! When I got back I made a great breakfast, too.

Pumpkin Oats With Maple Almond Butter And Sliced Butter Toffee Almonds, Creamy Greek Yogurt With Blueberry And Raspberry Jam

I spent the entire time on the treadmill thinking “what else can I make myself besides oatmeal and yogurt to switch it up for breakfast”. But truly this is what I love to eat for breakfast, for flavor and satisfaction. For the yogurt, I mixed 4oz plain Oikos with 2oz full fat Voskos–oh my God was that good! It had just the right amount of cream to be not too heavy but something special. The best thing about creamy yogurt is it doesn’t need sugar or stevia because it’s a flavor all its own. I added some fruit jams and mixed them in and topped it with some more jam to get the pure flavor.

If you can’t tell, that yogurt got me way more excited than any normal person should be by yogurt. I’m sure I’ll be thinking about it all through Latin class now.

I know you’re a nut for nuts, so check out this giveaway!

Filed under: Daily Update, Product Review | Tagged: Almond Butter, Banana, Broccoli, Carrot, Chocolate Chips, Clif Bar, Clife, Cookies, Days Of Our Lives, Dinner, Eggnog, Eggs, Greek, Greek Yogurt, Groceries, Jam, Ketchup, Lunch, Mac N Cheese, Maple, McDonalds, Mighty Maple, Newman's Own Organic, Oatmeal, Oikos, Pumpkin, Smart Balance, Squash, Stevia, Tuna, White Chocolate, Whole Foods, Yogurt | 26 Comments »

Mister Antebellum

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Evan Thomas

After yesterday’s run I was so dehydrated. I didn’t even realize how bad it was until I took a trip to the bathroom and remembered when my mouth felt dry back at mile 2… I will definitely 100% be bringing a water bottle with me whenever I go to the gym from now on. I did this morning and, though it was a bit fumbly drinking on the tread, I’m glad I did. Yesterday, after about 2 full water bottles at breakfast, I grabbed this on my way to class:

Zevia Cola

Some people like their caffeine from coffee, I prefer Zevia cola I must admit, I was considering not going to class at all yesterday; if I didn’t I could just dedicate a large chunk of time to essay writing and I’m much better at doing projects all at once than split up. Nevertheless, I was a good student and went to them all. That was good for Latin because we got our old essays back.

Catullus Essay

See that little thing that looks like a teepee? Yeah, that’s an A This was definitely needed to give me a boost of spirits. By the way, this professor has the tiniest, neatest hand writing ever. Times New Roman’s got nothing on her; I can hardly read half her comments. After that I swung by the dining hall and went to my dorm to finish up computer stuff and lunch.

Broccoli, The Heat Is On Tofu Salad, Brussel Sprouts And Carrots

Lemon Bar Larabar

Lunch was magnifico. I also bought some Chobani and baby carrots but decided not to go with them. I love that The Heat Is On tofu salad though so I’m sure those carrots will get used yet. And this Lemon Bar was the first of the Larabars I was sent. Loved it! It was so pure and lemony, but also sweet. The only thing I thought was weird was cashews and almonds; why not one or the other instead of mixing flavors? Also, I got a whole almond among the mostly chopped nuts, which threw the texture off a tad. But overall this was not a lemon Oh, and we got more graded back in class.

History In Class Midterm

Double wahoo! Ok, this was a little expected after the teacher called me out in class, but it was so nice to hold it and see it was real. I still have 1 midterm essay to write but since I did so well on this and feel pretty good about the other two, I’m not going to sweat or rush this last one. Epic, on the other hand, would have been a great choice to skip to get work done. Oh well, but the good thing about that was I got to check my mail and find this.

One Lucky Duck Samples

The people at One Lucky Duck sent me these 4 samples of raw, organic, and vegan snacks! How exciting; of course all my eats are all-natural and a good portion organic, but raw and vegan is something I haven’t tapped in to much. Thanks, One Lucky Duck! I’ll have to think of a special time and place to enjoy these delightful cookies

When I got back to my dorm I had a coconut craving. I think I need to explain something here about coconut: I hate it in anything that is not coconut flavored(i.e. when granola randomly has it as an ingredient). But as a distinct flavor, if I’m in the mood, I don’t mind it at all. This was all I could find, though, that had coconut that I had:

Tropical Fruit Tart Larabar

2 in 1 day? I’m burning through these babies. The tropical fruit tart was good, but nothing like the lemon bar. The only flavor that I really got was pineapple. Still, it was better than I thought it’d be. From the stories I’ve heard I expected to be spitting this out on the floor. I watched the newest SNL in the afternoon. I’m a huge Taylor Swift fan so that was great to see; she wasn’t hysterical, but she was decent, and for someone who’s only 19 and not an actress or comedian it was a job well done. I don’t get why her musical performances weren’t online, though. Anyone know where I can watch those? I also got a bit of inspiration for some oatmeal.

Frosting Ingredients

Pumpkin Oats With Eggnog Frosting

This was inspired by Sunday’s breakfast and snack, and it was sooo good. For the frosting I did 2 ounces Greek yogurt(full fat) and 2 tablespoons eggnog with vanilla stevia to taste. Seriously, that was some of the noggiest, best frosting I could have hoped for. I think I should have let the oats cool just a bit, though, because the yogurt did not like the hot oatmeal. After some working I ended up at The Ratty with a friend for dinner.

Sweet Potato With Black Bean Taco Filling, Beets, Broccoli Spears

I was having a moment where I couldn’t decide if I was hungry or full; I think the heated up yogurt wasn’t sitting well in my stomach(still make the frosting for a cool dish if you get the chance!). After seeing what was available, I realized I was hungry. There was huge broccoli spears, whole beets, and roasted sweet potatoes. To eat a little something other than just plain veggies I took some taco filling and mushed it on the potato–yum! I love the sweat heat it added. Catching up was equally exciting because we hadn’t been both available for dinner in a while.

When I got back to my dorm I blasted a bit of Lady Antebellum(hence the title ). By 8 I couldn’t quite understand why I wanted to go to bed. I mean, I know I’m practically a grandpa, but 8? That’s way before Leno. Then I remembered the <5 hours of sleep I got and it started making sense. I decided it’s worth staying awake if only for the emails I get from my parents. One was from my mom, complaining my dad takes forever to get home from work and about how much she loves pineapple Chobani(and I don’t think I ever saw her even eat a yogurt in the 18 years I lived at home). Then 1 and a half hours later I get an email from my dad(I guess he does take a while getting home) telling me about blog contests for gas relief products. Thanks.

So Delicious Soy Yogurt With Chocolate Chips And Vanilla Sugar

Naturally there was yogurt and chocolate chips. I t’s definitely a full blown addiction now, which is sad because Agave Sweetened So Delicious Soy Yogurt is no longer a sale item I do love that this is a completely vegan snack though, not to mention one with a hefty dose of fiber Heroes really didn’t grab me last night. As in, I was too busy working/staring at my yogurt to even notice what the plot was.

TJ Carrot Ginger Muffin With Smart Balance Peanut Butter And Ginger Cream Cheese

This was gingerlicious as well; I don’t remember the last time I had this flavor muffin in my fridge. I forgot how good it is! The ginger preserves suggested pairing it with cream cheese, and they were sooo right. Then again, I pair everything with cream cheese, so they had a good shot with me. Naturally, I needed to dehead the muffin like I was Henry VII to eat it.

Chocolate Brownie Z-bar With Butter Toffe Peanut Butter

I discovered I’m out of chocolate vitatops But fortunately a Z-bar was there to lift me up. I’m honestly thinking I should buy the 5lb tub of butter toffee peanut butter next time from Naturally Nutty because I am going through this like wildfire. I decided to go to bed early because I was so exhausted, but Kathy Griffin was on Leno so I knew I needed to stay up at least until 10:30. Did anybody else see her new stand up special? Hysterical. Even my mom laughed at most of it. Anyway, 10:30 and I was out like a light. I heard my roommate come home some time but wasn’t awake for more than 2 minutes, and slept in until 7.

This morning I wanted something lighter and simpler at the gym so I decided on 7 miles in 58:26. I must be a very influential person because this morning while I was watching the Today show the 50 year old weight lifters turned another TV onto the Cartoon Network! There is something very amusing watching a 300 pound man stationary bike to Pokemon.

Pumpkin Patch Oatmeal

Eggnog Yogurt

Tis definitely the season I used only oat bran today instead of an oatmeal/oatbran mix(because I overpoured). It’s so nice and creamy with pumpkin but I think I prefer the oats for a little bulk and texture. Of course, what makes pumpkin oatmeal if not pepita sun butter and pumpkin seeds mixed with a little bit of honey> So sweet and delicious! And I need to buy about 5 more cartons of the Silk nog at the rate I’m going through. Just 6oz Greek yogurt and 1/4 cup makes the perfect, noggy protein.

Today I have just Greek which will be a guest lecturer(aka a waste of time), and then the whole afternoon to do work(aka go to University Plaza Whole Foods). I completely forgot to get nutmeg for my nog while I was home so I’ll definitely be on the lookout for that, and I think coconut is still on sale, too! Enjoy your day!

PS. Holly has a giveaway for some amazing sounding protein powders. These are seriously gourmet.

Filed under: Daily Update, Product Review | Tagged: Breakfast, Carrot, Chocolate Chips, Class, Coconut, Cookies, Cream Cheese, Dinner, Eggnog, Egnnog, Ginger, History, Jay Leno, Kathy Griffin, Larabar, Latin, Lemon, Lunch, Muffin, Music, Naturally Nutty, Oatmeal, One Lucky Duck, PB&Co., Pepita Butter, Product Review, Pumpkin, Smart Balance, Snack, Soda, Soy Yogurt, Sweet Potato, The Ratty, Tofu, Treadmill, voskos, Yogurt, Z-Bar, Zevia | 22 Comments »

I’m A Scaredy Cat

Posted on November 9, 2009 by Evan Thomas

Tougas Farm Apple

I’m afraid of biting into an apple only to find half a worm, but I went ahead and at this anyway for some pre-baking food yesterday morning. It was from the 10lbs we picked last weekend.

Vegan Pumpkin Molasses Cookies

I’m afraid of how many eggs I might have used making these so many times except for the fact that they’re vegan. Seriously, though, what is this? Batch number 3 or 4? We just go through them like wildfire around here. While these were cooling and my other baking project was cooking, I went ahead and had breakfast.

French Toast Oatmeal, Nog Greek Yogurt With Nutmeg

I’m afraid of eggs exploding on my in the microwave, but that seems not to be an issue when I make french toast oats. The eggnog yogurt was awesome; all it was was 6oz plain Oikos, 7 drops vanilla stevia, and 1/4 cup of this:

Silk Nog

I’m afraid of what I’m going to do when this is out of season. I asked my mom to buy me this from Hannaford since it’s the only place I’ve seen it and it is so good. I don’t remember the last time I had “real eggnog” and I don’t care after this. It tastes just fine in all its vegan-self

Pumpkin Bread Hull With Chocolate Chips

I’m afraid of losing recipes, which is why I’m glad to have a blog to post them on.

Moist Moist Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

7.5oz canned pumpkin

2 eggs

1/2 cup cinnamon applesauce

1/3 cup water

1 cup brown or turbinado sugar

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 teaspoon ginger

Pumpkin Bread Loaf

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 9×5 loaf pan. In a large bowl, mix pumpkin puree, eggs, applesauce, water, and sugar. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. When dry are evenly mixed, dump into the wet while stirring. Stir only until no more dry ingredients can be seen, but take care not to over mix. Pour batter into pans and put in oven until a knife in the center comes out barely wettened, or about 50 minutes. Let sit in pans for 10 minutes and then remove.

I’m afraid of how many miles we’re all piling on together. Guys(and gals), we’re rocking it. These numbers people are posting are incredible. I ended up for a 6.7 mile run around my neighborhood. One thing I don’t like about not running first thing is that my energy levels feel so much lower. I felt like I could’ve stopped at any point but I really wanted to finish what I set out to do.

Bison Medallion, Grilled Sweet Potato Fries, Parsnips

I’m afraid of red meat, but not bison. At much lower cholesterol and saturated fat levels with all the same flavor, what’s not to love? I’m clearly never afraid to eat my meat slightly undercooked. And the sweet potato fries were all my mom’s idea! She knows what her lil’ blogger wants when he comes home

Giovanni's White Chocolate With Cranberry Gelato

I’m afraid that if I didn’t eat this while walking out the door to go back to my dorm, I might have had the whole pint. This stuff rocked. It tasted like straight up white chocolate. It’s made by a local company based in Newton, MA in small batches. This was pure decadence, and I love that the ingredients were just milk, cream, white chocolate, cranberries, and emulsifier.

I’m afraid that this semester has been a bit of a waste of money food-wise. I’m on the best food plan option which gives me more dining hall visits than I know what to do with, and honestly, I love buying and making my own food; it’s one of those things that makes me feel valuable and responsible. Despite that fear, we stopped at Whole Foods and Eastside Market on the way back.

Groceries

I’m afraid that I’m going to get arrested, because at the prices I got some of this stuff for it was practically a steal. With sales and store coupon, the Oikos normally 2.19 was .25 and the chocolate bar usually 3.00 was 1.25. And a jar of ginger preserves was only 2.69! We thought it was a misprint since that’s cheaper than most of the store brand fruit jams, but it was correct.

I’m afraid to ask what happened Saturday night when I wasn’t in my room. My roommate left a note saying he had people over and someone dropped something that went behind my bed so they had to move a few things to get to it and tidy up after themselves. That’s all well and good, but, uhh, why was my comforter made on my bed upside down? Do I want to know?

Pumpkin Bread With Ginger Spread, Nog Greek Yogurt, Smart Balance Peanut Butter

I’m afraid I’m a little confused what season it is between pumpkin bread and nog Greek yogurt. Is it Christmas yet? Or am I supposed to halt for Thanksgiving? And are we officially done with Halloween or can I bust a spooky s’mores out from time to time? Someone please clarify.

I’m afraid of losing the remarkable friends I made in high school. Thankfully, that doesn’t look like it’s happening anytime soon, because they were there for me when I needed to do some Facebook ranting about my next semester schedule which took a backwards turn after thing started looking too good to be true.

Blue State Decaf

I’m afraid of spilling coffee grounds everywhere in my dorm room, so I went out for coffee. There was a heaping amount of cinnamon involved. I don’t actually get the change of flavor this supposedly has on coffee, but cinnamon’s supposedly good for us and it’s free so I went ahead and shaked liberally.

Flamegrilled Vegan Gardenburger With TJ Ketchup, Pumpkin Oats With Mighty Maple And Tempeh Bacon

And I’m afraid of sharing how random my dinner was last night, but I’m a food blogger and I’d be an awful one to deprive you of this laugh. I was feeling quite lethargic(vocab word!) and decided rather than forcing a “real” dinner on myself to just eat what I could convince myself into. Last night, that was pumpkin oatmeal(a vegetable and a grain) with a gardenburger, tempeh bacon, and mighty maple(3 delicious and vegan sources of protein). See? It was well rounded in the end.

I’m afraid the people on my floor must have thought “Who is that nut blaring and belting Sugarland?”

So Delicious Plain Soy Yogurt With Chai Dagoba Milk Chocolate And Ginger Preserves

I’m afraid that I give off the impression that all I eat is yogurt and chocolate. Except that’s probably the truth. They just work so well together in my opinion, how could you not love it? This new bar, even though it supposedly had chai and ginger in it, didn’t taste very special. Maybe I need to have it again.

I’m afraid to admit how little productivity got accomplished yesterday.

Oikos With A Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

I’m afraid that my eats were a bit stress affected last night, because they sure were off. First I decided that this Oikos was taking up too much space in the fridge, so it needed to be eaten with a milk chocolate Newman’s Own Organic peanut butter cup.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Roll With Cream Cheese Frosting

Then I made myself this beauty but decided that I didn’t really want this and threw it out after two bites. hate throwing anything out, but a began whole wheat cinnamon roll tops those charts, especially when it’s my last one. I just don’t know what got into me.

Sweet Vermont Toast With Cookie Dough Peanut Butter

I’m afraid of running out of hard to find peanut butters, but that doesn’t stop me from eating them. The only store I know that sells this is Roche Bros. for an arm and a leg but it’s so good I’ll have to buy another when it’s gone.

I’m afraid Brothers And Sisters is going to get screwed by the Emmy’s like the best shows usually do. But last night convinced me yet again it’s one of the best dramas on TV. Please tell me someone else saw the head shaving seen with Kitty; that was just so moving.

I’m afraid of falling asleep in class today because I had horrible insomnia last night. Despite trying to go to bed at 11, I don’t think I fell asleep until 1. Sugar was probably to blame. I had a few TJ mini peanut butter cups at the end of Brothers And Sisters as well, and no oatmeal last night(besides dinner) to slow down those quick carbs.

Peanut Butter Z-Bar

I’m afraid of depleting my bar stash because that means I need to buy more. I ate this around 12:45. I think the bready carbs are part of what helped me fall asleep.

Clif Peanut Butter And Jelly Mojo Dipped

I’m afraid of having to go to the bathroom while running at the gym because I feel like getting off the treadmill makes everything less of an accomplishment. Thankfully, that didn’t happen today. In fact, I set a new distance PR of 14 miles in 1:55:22!! I truly felt I needed to have a kick-butt workout to sweat out anything negative even though I only had 5 hours of sleep. The Mojo above was eaten around mile 10.

I’m afraid people think I’m crazy for watching cartoon network at 7am. But I just could not care less about whatever’s on CNN, and I’m not going to slog on a treadmill for 2 hours watching something I have no interest in because it’s the adult thing to watch.

Kashi Strawberry Flax Waffles With Strawberry Jam And Vanilla Almond Butter, Pumpkin Peanut Maple Soy Yogurt With Chocolate Chips

I’m afraid I might have lost a pound or so after these past few weeks/month of higher mileage, so feel free to kick me in the butt if I’m slacking on my eats, k? You won’t find that this morning. The Kashi waffles had on it vanilla almond butter by Naturally Nutty and Wild Oats strawberry jam(great combo). I’m not a huge fan of this new brand soy yogurt I bought last week because it’s so thin and doesn’t have much of a funky flavor at all, but it thickened nicely with peanut flour and pumpkin, topped with maple syrup and chocolate chips.

I’m afraid of skipping classes, even though that’s supposedly “OK” in college. If I weren’t afraid, I’d probably stay in my dorm and work on my essays today, but I’ll probably wind up going to all 3.

I’m afraid that you’re going to win and not me if I mention this amazing contest at Chocolate Covered Katie for some serious foodie appliance lovin’

So tell me, what are you afraid of?

Disclaimer: This post was about 20% serious and 80% me having fun. Isn’t that the way life should be

Filed under: Daily Update, Recipe | Tagged: Apple, Bacon, Baking, Bison, Bread, Breakfast, Clif MoJo, Coffee, Cookies, Dagoba, Dinner, Dorm, Eggnog, Eggs, French Toast, Gelato, Gradenburger, Greek Yogurt, Groceries, Kashi, Lunch, Maple, Mighty Maple, Milk Chocolate, Newman's Own Organic, Oatmeal, Oikos, P.B.Loco, Peanut Butter, Peanut Flour, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Bread, Recipe, Roll, Running, Silk, Sleep, Snack, Soy Yogurt, Sweet Potato, Tempeh, Toast, Treadmill, Waffles, White Chocolate, Whole Foods, Z-Bar | 22 Comments »

Productivity

Posted on November 8, 2009 by Evan Thomas

I guess my productivity is like condensation in New England: when it rains, it pours. Before i had showered, eaten, blogged, or even stretched yesterday morning, I had my laundry going. At 12, it was done and my bed looked like this:

Unfolded Laundry

Amazingly, I resisted the urge to put on freshly washed pajamas. Don’t lie; we all want to do that when it’s fresh out of the drier. Instead, I folded and put everything away, and worked on the first of my 3 history midterm essays while I waited for my dad to come at 2. I would have thought I’d get hungry by then but I think I was so immersed in writing I didn’t notice anything. I did grab this for a little pep:

Zevia Cola

Did you know all of Zevia’s sodas are caffeine free except this one? That’s because it’s naturally flavored and the kola nut naturally has caffeine. That really is making me wonder what’s in caffeine-free coke, though I suppose that’s so unnatural to begin with it doesn’t matter. When my dad did show up, we had a good laugh.

Frying Pan

He brought a package that came for me in the mail over the week. Neither of us knew exactly what it would be or who it was from. It turned out to be a frying pan I won last month; doesn’t everybody need a lightweight frying pan for their dorm? We put it back in the box to bring home. Because it was 2pm, I started wanting lunch, so we stopped at Whole Foods to hit up the salad bar.

Grilled Peppers, Lemon Rice, Gobhi Matar, Aloo Baingan, Chicken In Chettinad Sauce

Weighing food is the worst idea ever; don’t let me know if I’m about to eat well over a pound of sauce-laden goodness. This is actually one of the first times I ever had Indian; it’s not a common cuisine around my town and it smelled so good I thought I’d try it. I liked it but I bet there are better dishes out there to try. My favorite was probably the chicken, which was a very fatty cut of meat but very delicious as well. I consider eating ethnically to be productive because it’s expanding my horizon. I didn’t actually finish it all. I intuitively ate the first half, then ate another 1/4 because it was damn good

On the way home we also stopped by Market Basket; no matter when you go that store has the longest lines, and everybody’s cart looks like they’re coming from BJ’s. They didn’t have vitatops this time or the bread I was looking for, but we did get something for dinner, pumpkin for baking, gardenburgers, and Oikos and soy yogurt from Whole Foods. In the car ride I wasn’t able to write but I did come up with a decent thesis for my Epic Poetry paper.

When we got home I plugged in my computer and got to work(there might have been some Montana scrubbing in there somewhere). I finished my first essay and started on the next. Along the way, I needed a study snack.

Vitabrownie And Plain Soy Yogurt

The hug was entirely K inspired. Note: soy yogurt doesn’t hug quite as well as regular yogurt, but it kind of looks like a pillowy cloud if you ask me. This vitabrownie definitely needed a hug because it got a little squished in the freezer. Time in the microwave was totally the medicine for that. I was a bit more productive(get the theme of this post?) until it was time for dinner.

Mahi Mahi With Soyaki, Corn On The Cob, Beets

Wow is all I can say. It seems so simple and like the dishes I had all Summer but for some reason this was so much more welcomed yesterday. I think I haven’t had corn on the cob in months; talk about your whole grain. And the beets were fun if only because I haven’t had any in months again. They left behind a lot of red juice and I joked with my mom(sort of serious, though) that she should collect it to make red velvet cake. Did you know Whole Foods sells natural food coloring for the holiday season? Expect to see some come Christmas time. Also, the mahi mahi was much better than Friday’s chewier fish, and the soyaki sauce put it over the top.

Well what helps productivity more than a full belly? After dinner I finished my second essay(booyah) and printed some recipes I was planning to make, as well as catch up on DVRed shows. Like I said, when it rains it pours. Ice cream was a well deserved treat.

Purely Decadent Snickerdoodle Soy Ice Cream

Unfortunately, I finished off this flavor. This was definitely my favorite find from the Summer. And it seemes like they carry it at more and more stores these days! How exciting. I also had some coffee and worked on this blog post(see how productive I am doing things ahead of time ) Unwrapped was having a marathon on The Food Network = heaven. Heaven like these oats:

Pumpkin Oats With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter, Maple Syrup, And Pumpkin Molasses Cookie

Chocolate, maple, ginger, peanut, pumpkin, etcetera, etcetera. These were delicious fuel for… well lounging around and translating Latin. That takes energy, and plenty, trust me. My dad bought an 8oz container of chocolate butter toffee when he placed his Naturally Nutty order(ps. If my dad has placed an order all his own, what’s slowing down you cool cats?). It’s ok, but I think I like butter toffee peanut butter and chocolate chips better for the contrast.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin With Cream Cheese

One last snack and I was done. I wanted to try my dad’s maple butter he’s always loved that comes from our grandparents. There’s no butter in maple butter, it’s basically just crystallized maple syrup you keep in the fridge and spread like maple syrup. It was awesome! Though I could easily see myself going a little overboard with a tub of this in my dorm, haha.

Well remember how yesterday morning I had hoped to write 2 essays, pick a thesis, and translate 3 odes, and I thought that was a crazy amount? Well, I did everything but about 30 lines of poetry! I had no idea I’d actually get that much done. But I’m glad I did. What should I set myself for today? 1/2 my Epic essay sounds like a good goal. Let’s keep the productivity rolling. But first, this welcomed sight:

Recipes

Ingredients

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Baking, Chicken, Cookie, Corn, Cream Cheese, Dinner, English Muffin, Essay, Fish, Ice Cream, Indian, Laundry, Lunch, Maple, Market Basket, Naturally Nutty, Oatmeal, Peanut Butter, Pumpkin, Salad Bar, Snickerdoodle, Soy Yogurt, Vitabrownie, Whole Foods, Work, Zevia | 21 Comments »

Lemony Fresh

Posted on November 7, 2009 by Evan Thomas

Yesterday morning, the morning I ran the farthest, had the most to do in terms of classes, that was the morning I had ample time to grab a coffee before class. I do not understand life sometimes. My teacher, who never calls on me, did for Horace’s 11th Ode, aka the “carpe diem” poem. How fitting, I thought, and thankfully I was well prepared(lucky me it’s probably one of his easiest to understand). I decided to make lunch when I got back.

Exploded Eggs

I knew things got a little pressurized in the microwave, but I didn’t realize how much so. Don’t poke an egg yolk if you hear sizzling to check if it’s done, or else you get albumen everywhere. They were still decent enough to eat, though, so I went ahead and finished up the meal.

Eggs With Strawberry Marmalade And Broccoli

Tempeh Steak With Broccoli

This has been the week of repeat meals; first the tofu salad and now this. But when you find something good, why stop eating it! I wanted something acidic for the eggs so I added strawberry marmalade with orange liquer. And the “tempeh steak” was just 3oz leftover tempeh with mushrooms in 2 tablespoons 365 steak sauce and microwaved at half power for 5 minutes. This would be sooo good properly baked.

I took this to class and ate it there. My Greek history professor is such a character. First he said he didn’t have our midterms because the TA lost 3, one of which he “named” as mine. This was him being funny, but I’m so gullible I think my heart skipped a beat. Then he said he just was too lazy to finish them so far, but that one was very creative and stood out to him(he might have even said genius?). Anyway, it was mine! I was mortified to be singled out in the class like that, especially since it’s a large crowd of upperclassmen, but I also felt like I needed a recognition of good work like that lately because work has felt a little thankless.

Charity Bake Sale

Between class I found an awesome opportunity to be charitable. This table was set up with The Cupcakerie cupcakes, aka the kind of been buying myself for the past few Cookie Fridays, and all the proceeds were being donated to their charity. How could I say no? I grabbed my treat for later and headed off to class. The cupcake was for dessert at night, but I did grab this.

Vitaminwater 10 Lemonade

I forgot how fresh and sweet these are. But they’re 2.75 dollars at the campus convenience store! I could have had another cupcake for that money(although this was bought with my dining points whereas the cupcake was out of pocket). I hope the money for the vitamins was worth it; gotta keep that immune system up when it feels like everyone around me is getting sick.

Class was completely unhelpful in helping me choose an essay topic to write on. Now I feel like I’m going into the weekend practically blind of ideas. I’d like to have something to grab onto just so I feel like I’m heading in the right direction. I’d be glad to grab a B like on my last essay. Later on, around 4, I worked my way back to my dorm for a snack where I took a tip from the tipping point.

Pumpkin Oats With Mighty Maple And Maple Cinnamon Frosting

Did you all see on Caitlin’s blog yesterday morning her waffles with amazing greek yogurt “frosting”? I did. And it was stuck in my brain all day until I tried it on these oats. I did a little less than 1/4 cup Oikos, 2/3 tablespoon maple syrup, 3 drops vanilla stevia, and cinnamon. Wow! This was such a sweet winner. I love the way it flavored the oats drizzled on top, but never overpowered anything. Caitlin used some great spices I wish I had at my disposal in my dorm; I’ll have to try this over he Holidays when I’m home and making Christmas Oats. Later on, I grabbed this bar and stepped out of the dorm.

Kardea Lemon Ginger Bar

One thing I love about these bars is I feel entirely healthy and like I don’t need another veggie or fruit for the rest of the day Just kidding. This flavor was pretty good. It reminded me of a lightly sweetened lemon bar. I think if I was in Paula Deen’s kitchen I would have busted out the powdered sugar on it. After going up Thayer street, the night(and 5:20 is totally night) took me to Blue State.

Blue State Decaf

If you’re ever around Providence, skip the Starbucks down the road and stop at Blue State. I’m not going to say the coffee tastes entirely different, but it is quite good and they have such a friendly staff always. This was definitely one of those times where my own productiveness impresses me. I grabbed dinner to-go on the way back, watched The Office, 30 Rock, and How I Met Your Mother, assembled the pile of work I need to do over the weekend, took care of general hygiene(as in cut nails, shaved, but sadly no floss, sorry Ms. Everythingtarian), wrote 2 reviews, microwave roasted a squash, and changed my clothes. Whew. Dinner was a relaxing time to sit down.

Cajun Baked Pollock, Asparagus Tips With Lemon, Mashed Acorn Squash

Excitingly, fish was on the menu tonight. This actually had surprisingly good flavor; spices are a great way to turn the heat up in a dish without making it too heavy. The aspargus was a little… mutilated, but it counts as greens right? I also liked that it was cooked with lemon And I needed to use that other 1/2 of an acorn squash. Normally I eat it whole with the skin but I felt like something different tonight and mashed it. It was nice and light with a slightly buttery flavor; mashed acorn squash would be a great light dish at the Thanksgiving table(though I think I’d pass and opt for more sweet potato ).

The internet basically stopped working last night around 7. Not everything, but everything that mattered(email, google reader, runner’s world forum, etc.). I guess it was a good motivator to study and read *Sigh* Ghost Whisperer helped entertain me. I love this season so far; it actually has a plot and that’s so rare in television shows these days. This also helped with the boredom:

Luscious Lemon Cupcakerie Cupcake

Yesterday for Cookie Cupcake Friday , the one that seemed best to me was the lemon flavor. The base cake had a great, light lemon note to it, while the buttercream frosting had a much heavier, richer flavor. I loved the candied zest on top, which made the whole thing smell so perfumey. This was easily my favorite lemon treat of the day. We need to petition for something better to be on at 9 on Fridays. This is prime viewing time and I was watching Masterpiece Theater. Has anybody else seen that? Don’t. It’s nothing terribly exciting unless you need a good English accent fix. I kind of wanted pumpkin oatmeal with peanut butter at 10. What I didn’t want was a bowl to clean up at 11. Instead, I had a yogurt mess with the same flavors.

Peanut Yogurt With Vegan Pumpkin Molasses Cookie, Pumpkin Butter, Chocolate Chips, And Maple Syrup

My messes are too organized, but I just hate to make them not look so good This had perfect flavor in it. I need to make another batch of these cookies ASAP. I just can’t wait for Thanksgiving. The maple syrup was an after thought after the picture. Since when did maple syrup ever become an afterthought? It’s just too good to deny. I also snacked on this to Leno and hit the hay.

Deep Chocolate Vitatop With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter

9 hours of sleep. Need I say more? I suppose it is a “treat” that the gym doesn’t open until 9 and this morning was supposed to be below freezing. I woke up at 8:30 to good news; I emailed the professor of the class I want to be in and it seems like I’ll get in yet! This will make my schedule very awesome for next year, but I’ll disclose more when it’s official. I got to the gym only to find the usual shows I’d watch on Saturday weren’t on, so instead I let my ipod entertain me for an hour, and ran 7.2 miles in that time. There were only 3 machines and a lot of people so I was worried I’d get kicked off before I was done but I didn’t; the benefit of running at 7 is no one fights for machines. When I got back I put in a load of laundry, showered, and made two glorious messes.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Mighty Maple And Goji Ginger Walnut Cookies

Yogurt With Dried Cherries, Cherry Butter, And Crumbled Cherry Dark Chocolate Squares

See? I can get messy after all. I used a little less oatmeal this time because of the cookies(which are whole grain after all so that’s not heinous). I just love the maple and whole chunks of ginger! Talk about some sweet heat. The yogurt mess was equally good but also a bit of a let down. I put the cherries in the yogurt when I woke up hoping they’d rehydrate a little like the raisins did but apparently it doesn’t work the same. Still it’s quite delicious.

Today’s a bit in the air but there’s about a 90% chair of baking and sitting with Montana on the couch; I got word over the week he’s always looking for me to sit with when I’m not there and no one else sits with him! I also have high hopes of doing 2 history midterm essays, some Horacian odes, and picking a thesis for Epic Poetry. Hmmm, we’ll see about that *rolls eyes*…

Giveaways

Join me in celebrating An Apple A Day’s 1 year anniversary with her huge celebratory giveaway!

How about an Amazing (Grass) givaway at Fit And Fabulous?

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Broccoli, Cherry, Chocolate Chips, Class, Coffee, Cookie, Cookie Friday, Cupcake, Dark Chocolate, Dinner, Eggs, Fish, Frosting, Ghost Whisperer, Goji Gourmet, Greek Yogurt, History, Kardea, Latin, Maple, Microwave, Mighty Maple, Oatmeal, Peeanut Flour, Pumpkin, Running, Snack, Squash, Tempeh, Treadmill, Vitatop, Yogurt | 9 Comments »

Goji Gourmet Cookie Review

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Evan Thomas

Good afternoon! How appropriate that this comes on Cookie Friday. Coincidence? I think not. Last week I received samples of Goji Gourmet’s superfood cookies to review. Each cookie is all natural with no refined sugar, rich in antioxidants from goji berries and secondary ingredients, handmade, and–if I may say so–delicious! The goji berry often harvested in the Himalayas have 10 times the antioxidants of a blueberry, which really helps to bolster the immune system, especially during flu season. Goji Gourmet currently has 4 fun flavors but I’ve heard that a 5th is coming soon. Each flavor has other superfoods like ginger or cherries. So instead of buying a cookie from Starbucks this Cookie Friday, why not order a bag here? Or, if you have someone special in your life that you want to deliver a treat to(especially if they live far away and are–say–in college or something ), why not treat them to a surprise? Here are my reviews for the four flavors.

Goji Almond Oat

6.5/10: I like almonds and I like oats. But as “flavors”, I think they really need to have something special done to them to make them pop, and these just didn’t pop. The almond crunch of nuts was nice, but didn’t feel particularly special like the other cookies. Overall, I think these were really good as their basic “goji” cookie, and definitely the one to buy if you want the simple goji flavor. Other than goji, though, I think the flavors here are just too subtle.

Goji Cherry Cacao

9.5/10: I won’t beat around the bush on this one. These cookies were amazing! Truly, the only reason I couldn’t give them a 10 on my scale was on account of their limited availability and steep price. But on flavor and nutrition, consider these little gems. I loved the chocolate base with a cherry flavor infusion; and the chewy gojis with sweet cacao joined in perfect harmony. The simple ingredients are really what make these feel so wholesome, and the fact that they’re handmade drives it home. If you’re looking for your next bit of healthy indulgence, look no further.

Goji Ginger Walnut

8.5/10: These cookies were a bundle of pleasant surprises for me. I loved how they were flavored, not seasoned, with ginger. By this, I mean they had whole chunks of ginger and not simply the powdered stuff from the average kitchen pantry. This added great flavor as well as some additional superfood nutrition. I also didn’t mind that this tasted relatively low on walnuts in comparison to gojis and ginger; I’m not a big walnut fan, but those who are might care for more. Of course, the gojis added an interesting antioxidant boost and worked well with the other flavors. Overall, this was a surprising success with me.

Goji Orange MintChip

9/10: I’m always worried when a product has a lot going on, because I’m a man of simple taste–literally. In each little cookie, Goji Gourmet aimed to mix orange, chocolate, mint, and–of course–goji. Well somehow they rocked this one out. Each bite gave you these flavors, both distinctly and how they worked together. Everything accented each other for a very cool, clean, crisp flavor. Dare I say, these almost made my mouth feel as fresh as a breath mint? Another great flavor by Goji Gourmet.

Filed under: Product Review | Tagged: Cookie Friday, Cookies, Goji Gourmet, Product Reviews | 4 Comments »

I Act Like A Blogger When…

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Evan Thomas

I act like a blogger when I read other blogs rather than study for my test in 30 minutes. Fortunately, I peeled myself away from the screen to make it to class in time. The test was a bit longer than any of us thought it’d be but I feel like exactly the passages I studied were the ones on the test and that I did really well. I guess the Greek shirt just has good luck in it?

Broccoli, Carrots, Tofu Salad With The Heat Is On Peanut Butter

I act like a blogger when I get obsessed with a food. Now it is tofu salad with The Heat Is On peanut butter. Every time there’s carrot at the salad bar, I’ve convinced myself I’m doing the right thing by eating this. That, and it’s just too good to turn down. I used a little less tofu this time(because I ran out) and the peanut butter flavor was even better. Definitely needed some stevia and salt though to pumpkin it up.

Cinnamon-Raisin Greek Yogurt

I act like a blogger when I’m convinced Greek yogurt can be a “dessert”. All it needs is some vanilla, raisins, cinnamon, and voila. I was trying to recreate this amazing rum raisin gelato made by a Massachusetts company which is so light and smooth but I don’t have rum. I probably could find that in a dormitory pretty easy but I didn’t feel like “meeting the neighbors” with the line “Excuse me, do you have rum for my Chobani?”.

I act like a blogger when I spend 30 minutes making a granola for the Facebook MojaMix contest I won. I went with a ginger base with dried strawberries, persimmons, chia seeds, chocolate sprouted sunflower seeds, and cacao nibs. How awesome does that sound? I can’t wait till it comes!

I act like a blogger when I ditch on the end of Days Of Our Lives and all of Rachael Ray to go get groceries.

I act like a blogger when I almost neglect an awkward “Hi” with a classmate because I’m fascinated by how the raisins soaked up the yogurt liquid and were now cinnamon infused. Seriously, that was awesome. I didn’t even plan it like that but viola. The raisins got so moist and well seasoned, it totally converted me to liking raisins again.

Vermont Sweet Vermont Bread Co.

I act like a blogger when I get really excited about bread. I found a new flavor of Vermont Bread that has maple syrup as the 3rd ingredient! Don’t tell me that doesn’t sound awesome. Unfortunately, it wasn’t on sale and I didn’t have a coupon, so back on the shelf it went I’m just ecstatic to know this exists.

Groceries

I act like a blogger when I come home with pumpkin, tofu, and greek yogurt. I’m guessing 90% of you have these items in your fridge at the moment. I got it all for 4.38 using store sales and coupons! I’m getting good at that

Oikos With Chocolate Chunk Hazelnut Biscotti Granola

I act like a blogger when I position my greek yogurt and granola in a precarious position to take a picture of it, then proceed to drop it all in my lap. Fortunately, most of it stayed in the dish so I ate it anyway. I love this granola because it already has chocolate in it! Sure, it could benefit from a little more, but what couldn’t?

Pumpkin Oatmeal With White Chocolate Wonderful And Vanilla Powder

I act like a blogger whenever I use my $10 vanilla powder. It finally occurred to me to put this on oatmeal after 2 months. Oh my heavens was the vanilla on top of the pumpkin delicious. I’m sure the white chocolate peanut butter didn’t hurt, but the powder pushed it over the edge.

Tiny Apple

I act like a blogger when I get excited by tiny fruit because it makes me feel bigger.

Vegan BBQ navy Beans, Brussel Sprouts, Summer Squash

I act like a blogger when I whip out my camera in the middle of the dining hall to take a picture of dinner. That’s a fun way to meet people. I thought of you all when the main vegetarian dish was pumpkin ravioli in cream sauce I, however, was still a little pumpkined out, and the cream sauce made it a little less appealing. Instead I had the vegan BBQ navy beans. These taste just like good baked beans should taste like and were amazing. They had a very deep molasses and tomato flavor to them. All I could think about eating them was how smelly my run would be this morning but how I didn’t care.

Root Beer Zevia

I act like a blogger whenever I drink Zevia. Does anybody know a non-blogger who’s even heard of this? I don’t think I have, which is a shame because it’s so darn good. There’s even a Zevia giveaway from Green Dog Wine! Don’t actually enter it though, because that would lessen my chances and I need to restock

Newman's Own Organic Mocha Milk Chocolate

I act like a blogger when I choose organic chocolate because I know it’s better for the earth. Or maybe I ate this because it’s one of my favorite chocolates ever? Yeah, definitely the second one.

I act like a blogger when, instead of getting up to get my notebook out of my backpack to do work, I figure out how to see how many google reader subscribers I have.

Banana Goodness Oatmeal

I act like a blogger when a good night is evaluated on the basis of the oatmeal. Last night I decided to try and recreate banana goodness bread in my microwave since I haven’t made a loaf in a few weeks. I used 2oz banana, vanilla powder, and vanilla stevia in the oatmeal, and topped with semi-sweet baking chips. It was a decent substitute but of course not the real thing. I also sprinkled salt over the top at the end and I think that really helped the flavor.

I act like a blogger when I stress over watching Grey’s Anatomy or The Office. Oh wait, I was doing that years ago. Nevermind.

Fig And Almond Blondie, English Muffin With Banana And Chocolate And Cinnamon Vanilla Sunflower Butter

I act like a blogger when carbo loading couldn’t be easier. I defrosted one of Veggie Girl’s Fig And Almond blondies. After a few month of being frozen, they aren’t quite as good, but a little cream cheese fixed that. I also had an english muffin with mushed banana and chocolate chips(and salt, of course) and cinnamon vanilla sunflower butter. Perfect. Rachael Ray was on The Jay Leno Show and gave some hilarious answers to 10 at 10 in case anyone missed that.

I act like a blogger when I set my alarm at 6:15 to get up and do my long run. I had planned for another 13.1 miler today. I wasn’t particularly hungry but I figured food would be good so I grabbed a mojo.

Clif Peanut Butter Pretzel Mojo

Apparently, this bar isn’t just one of my favorites but a favorite of a lot of you guys, too! I just loved the saltiness. And the combo of pb chips and peanuts gave me good immediate and long lasting energy. I actually constantly forgot to be eating this, so it lasted me 13 miles. Speaking of which, I set a new PR record of 1:46:28! That’s the fastest I’ve ran a half marathon by a good 3 minutes

I act like a blogger when I choose running over course registration. As in, course registration opened at 8, and by the time I got back to my dorm it was 8:40. I didn’t think things would go so fast but 1 of the courses I really wanted to get into filled up fast and I got pretty upset with myself for letting me miss it. I’m hoping I can still wiggle my way into that class yet, but I’ll talk about that more once I know more.

Banana Oatmeal With Banana Peanut Butter And White Chocolate Chips, Vanilla Chobani

I act like a blogger when I feel compelled to perfect an oatmeal recipe the next chance I get. This time I used 3oz banana and a lot more salt. I think it came out a tad bit better.

I act like a blogger when I decide a theme like “I act like a blogger” would be cutesy for a post and then by the end I want to go back and delete every time I wrote those annoying damn words! Haha. Don’t forget it’s Cookie Friday! I need to get my thinking cap going. And I’m going to work very hard to fix that class situation I mentioned, because I am a bit disappointed and I’m sure I can get in if I pull some strings. Anyway, have a good day!

Filed under: Daily Update | Tagged: Apple, Banana, Beans, Blondies, Bread, Broccoli, Carrots, Chocolate, Chocolate Chips, Cinnamon, Class, Clif MoJo, Cookies, Dinner, English Muffin, Granola, Greek, Greek Yogurt, Groceries, Jay Leno, Lunch, Mail, Newman's Own Organic, Oatmeal, Oikos, PB&Co., Peanut Butter, Pumpkin, Raisins, Running, Snack, Squash, Sunflower Butter, Sunland Inc, Tofu, Treadmill, Vanilla, White Chocolate, Zevia | 17 Comments »

Food Makes Fun Fuel

Search

Tags

Archives

Positive Petes

Seasons And Seasonings

It’s Just Puppy Love

I’m Kind Of A Big Deal

Mister Antebellum

I’m A Scaredy Cat

I Act Like A Blogger When…

About

Pages

Blogroll

Search

Categories

Tags

Archives

Giveaways

About

Pages

Blogroll