Take Two!

February 4, 201012 Comments

Today was all about repeats.

Take Two #1: Dinner at Moosewood! On Thursday nights, students get 15% off!

Remember when I went with the lovely fella a while ago?? This time I went with some friends.

Sadly, I forgot my fancy camera! It was packed up and ready to go but in my rush out the door I left it behind. I did however have my crappy point and shoot (I really need a new one!).

Started with a delicious salad exactly like last time.

As an entree, I had a delicious Caribbean Pineapple-Peanut Stew: “Sweet potatoes, cabbage, tomato, bell peppers, and fresh pineapple simmered with ginger, lime, chiles, cilantro and peanut butter; served on rice, with jerk tempeh.” Spicy and tangy!

Ohh goodness! Sooooo delicious!

I also had a bite of Rhoda’s Alsatian Cheese Tart (Flaky pie crust baked with a filling of caramelized onions, Fontina, Gruyere and smoked cheddar
cheeses and egg custard; served with apple-celeriac remoulade).

Holy deliciousness! This was amazing! Although I still thought my stew was better 🙂

Take Two #2: Granola Bars!

Here’s my upDATED version:

2 cups oats
20g chia seeds
2 tsp cinnamon
1/5 cup of whole wheat flour
4 Tbsp Toasted Wheat Germ
1 oz dried coconut
5 dates, chopped
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 cup applesauce

Combine all ingredients, bake at 350F for 25 minutes.

They turned out great!!! So excited!!! Here’s the nutrition info for these babies:

Delish! Make these!!

Anyway, I’m pooped and I still have a ton to do!

Thanks for all your tea suggestions! I’ll be looking around for them in stores 🙂

Have a great night!!

Addiction

February 4, 20109 Comments

Hello, my name is Karla, and I’m a soup-aholic.

I love soup! I could probably eat it for just about every meal. However, I’m trying to keep it under control. Today (and yesterday for lunch too) I had a delicious soup I got at the Wegster.

I can’t even explain how delicious this soup is! Perfect amount of tang and not too salty, as boxed/canned soups often tend to be.While it looks and says it’s creamy, it doesn’t actually have cream in it! No lactaid pill needed!

The best part was it’s pretty healthy! Very natural ingredients and low cal also helps 🙂

Scrumptious soup was accompanied by my other addiction: Hummus/Cheese/Veggie wraps with lots of Tapatio!

I this wrap: hummus, pepper jack, romaine, raw kale, tomatoes, tapatio. Mmmm!

I need your help! I’ve been ending each meal with a cup of tea, which means I’m flying through tea! I need tea suggestions!

What’s your favorite tea?? Herbal infusions count too!

In other news… I’m soooo excited about dinner tonight! I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks! I can’t wait to share with you all!

Have a great afternoon!

Soup It Up!

February 3, 2010February 3, 201011 Comments

Hi all! Hope you’ve had a great day!

Thank goodness my presentation is done! Honestly, it was pretty terrible! Basically, me and another guy had to lead the class discussion for a 3hr seminar! Ugh! First, I couldn’t connect my computer to the projector because I have a newer Mac that doesn’t have the right port. Thanks Apple and Cornell, but it was okay I could go without. Sadly those hours I spent on the power point were all for nothing!

Then, the professor kept interrupting me asking me to talk about specific things. He didn’t want to discuss what I had prepared until the end of the class! So basically I had to search in the book for things he was asking for. Even though I had read it and it was basically the most basic thing even (push/pull factors of rural-urban migration… really we need to talk about this for an hour??) I got flustered and it was terrible. I should have talked to him beforehand to make sure I covered everything he wanted since I was the first to present all semester. Oh well, It’s done.

I was nervous before class so I had a light lunch (soup + cottage cheese + cucumbers). By the time I got home, I was starving!

I made a quick veggie lentil soup using a Thai Veggie Stock I found on sale at Wegman’s this week!

Delish! In my soup: 2 cups Thai veggie stock, ~1/2 cup dried lentils, 1/2 broccoli crown, some kale, and bok choy. First I cooked the lentils in the stock for about 10-15 minutes then added the veggies for a few minutes and voila! (Next time, I’d thicken it up with a little corn starch or throw in an egg!) For a little extra protein and just plain deliciousness I had 2 Morningstar Sausage Patties.

One in a tortilla because that’s how brown people roll.

Corn Tortillas > Flour Tortillas. What do you think??

Then the wonder that is Karin, inspired me again (I should really just start a fan club).

I made some homemade granola bars using a tweeked version of this recipe.

Sadly I messed these up for a few reasons…
1. Forgot to add the flour
2. Forgot to add vanilla
3. Needed more apple sauce but didn’t have any more.

Regardless, they taste delicious!!!

In my granola bars I used:

2 cups of oats
20g chia seeds
1-2 tsp cinnamon
some dried cranberries (only had 16g)
1 oz dried coconut
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup agave nectar (use more if you want sweeter)
1/2 cup of apple sauce (use more next time)

I mixed all these ingredients together and baked them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I could probably get 12 bars out of this. Here is the nutrition info for the ones I made:

Delicious, easy, inexpensive and healthy!

I think they turned out okay without the flour, but I think they would have been more bar-like had I used more apple sauce. Oh well! Next time! I can’t wait to make variations of these!! (PB in the future???) I need to run to the store to get more applesauce!!

Have you ever made your own granola bars? Any tricks of the trade I should know about?

Well, now I’m off to read a huge pile of things about climate change! Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading 🙂 Have a great night!!

P.S. Get a free sample of Kashi bar or cereal!! Click Here!

Pour Some Sugar on Me

February 2, 2010February 2, 20109 Comments

Happy Groundhog day!

I hope you had a fab Monday and an even better Tuesday!

You’ll be happy to know my class devoured the Banana Chip Cookies! I managed to resist and not eat a single one (except for the one I ate hot out of the oven on Sunday)!

Yesterday, I talked about my lack of February challenge. Even though I don’t have an official one, I really like Anna’s from Newly Wed, Newly Veg. For the month of February, she is cutting back on added sugar (it’s in the most unexpected places sometimes!). This doesn’t include natural sugar in fruits and veggies.

I think this is a great idea! Out of curiosity, I decided to count how many grams of added sugar I consume on an average day.

I don’t usually post everything I eat but for today’s experiment, here are today’s eats along with the added sugar count.

Breakfast: Coffee, PB Toast and Green Monster

Lactaid (3.3g) + GM (0g) + PB (0.5g)+ Toast (2g)= round to 6g

I’m shocked at how much sugar Lactaid has! 7g for 1 cup! Luckily, I only put 1/3 cup in my coffee each morning! Actually I sort of knew this… the added enzyme apparently starts to breakdown the sugar in the milk while it’s in the carton.

For mid-morning snack I had an unpictured apple and string cheese: 0g added sugar.

Lunch: Wrap, Fruit and Yogurt

Wrap: Honey Wheat Flat Out Wrap (3g)+ Hummus (0g)+ Pepper Jack Cheese (0g)+ Tapatio (0g)+ Cucumbers (0g)+ Tomato (0g)+ Lettuce (0g)= 3g

Kiwi: 0g added sugar

1/2 cup Plain Non-Fat Greek Yogurt (4.5g) + Strawberry Jam (6g)= 10.5

Total Added Sugar in Lunch= 13.5g

I had no idea plain Greek Yogurt would have 9g of sugar per cup! It doesn’t taste sweet!

Afternoon Snack: PB Toast + Tea

Wegman’s Omega-3 Bread (3g) + PB (0g) + Tea (0g)= 3g

Ugh, I’m pushing through this bread that is not very tasty 😦 Wegman’s you failed me!

Dinner:

After my afternoon snack, I was still starving, so I decided to have the first part of my dinner early. I started with some Kale chips.

Usually I just use some rice wine vinegar then throw them in the oven for 10 minutes. But today I decided to try out a sauce that I got from Tina‘s Open Sky dealio she had a few weeks ago. It was only $0.99 and free shipping so I figured why not.

I think had I seen the nutrition information beforehand, I would have saved my dollar. A serving (2oz) of this sauce has 120 calories, 2000mg of sodium and 28g of sugar! Essentially it’s sugar, salt and water. I’m a little shocked that this was on Tina’s Open Sky page (by no means am I trying to judge!). I suppose anything is okay in moderation. On my kale chips I used a little less than half a serving. Honestly, it did make the Kale Chip ridiculously delicious!

Kale (0g) +Wild N Mild Sauce (13g) = 13g added sugar

The other half of dinner was a corn tortilla with cheese both of which had 0g of sugar.

Although I may have something else later, probably a piece of fruit or something…

The Grand Total Added Sugar Consumption for the Day = 35.5g

That’s 142 extra calories, about 9-10 teaspoons.

I’m not entirely sure how to analyze this but it doesn’t seem like THAT much to me. What are your thoughts?

Is it realistic to not eat added sugar? Obviously it should be avoided where ever possible but is there such a thing as too healthy? Any thoughts?

Ugh so much to do tonight! Hope you’ve had a great day!!

Anyone else SUPER EXCITED about Lost?!?!?!

Happy February!

February 1, 2010February 1, 201014 Comments

So the January Recipe Challenge was somewhat of a failure. I ended up making recipes from 4 of the 7 continents!

I missed Australia, Antactica (which doesn’t really have civilization) and North America (which basically should constitute everything I eat everyday).

Overall, this was a very fun challenge! Even though I didn’t make it through all the continents, I discovered some great recipes and had fun in the process!

I was pondering the idea of a February Challenge; however, I’ve decided against it. In February, I’m going to concentrate on healthy eating/living and getting back into the swing of school. That doesn’t mean I won’t try fantastic new recipes and share them with you all! Do you have a February Challenge?

But on to today… I started February off with some spice!

Not that kind of spice!

I give you, Mexican Chocolate Oats!

In the mix:

1/2 cup oats
Chia seeds
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
Cinnamon
Dash of Cayenne
1 small banana
1 oz greek yogurt (for added creaminess and protein! stirred in at the end)
1 tbsp natural peanut butter

Pretty delicious! The cayenne gave it a nice kick to jump start my morning.

According to the World’s Healthiest Foods (anyone else love this site???), Cayenne has many health benefits!

Not only does is make your meals more exciting, but it also fights inflammation, reduces blood cholesterol, boosts immunity, helps prevent stomach ulcers and even helps in weight loss by raising your body temperature which uses more energy! (source)

Eat your Mexican Chocolate Oats! Basically any plain chocolate recipe can be made “Mexican” by adding cinnamon and cayenne. Try adding some to plain chocolate cupcakes! Sooo good!

Today is my first discussion section as a TA! Wish me luck!!

Hope your February is starting out well! Have a fantastic day!!

What’s your goal for February??

Ithaca is Gorges

January 31, 201013 Comments

This morning I woke up to find this little guy hanging out in the kitchen.

I actually took this picture yesterday, because he kept coming back. It was -6F when I woke up and yes the window was open. My apartment is an oven!

With the sunshine, it felt like a summer day. Then I checked the weather… Oh dear. However, that didn’t stop me from having a fabulous morning!

With a cup of coffee and the best green monster I’ve had in a long time, I started my next creation to bribe my class into liking me.

Apparently, I’ve got bananas on the brain. I made Banana Chip Cookies from 101 Cookbooks. The only changes I made were omitting the walnuts and using brown sugar instead of natural cane sugar.

Think of your favorite chocolate chip cookies… now add banana chips and make them *slightly* healthier.

Okay who am I kidding, they’re pretty fatty 🙂 I got 37 cookies from this recipe (even though the recipe says it yields 24).
Here’s the estimated nutrition info:

Pretty darn good! The banana chips add a nice crunch that makes them way more exciting than regular chocolate chip cookies. Plus since it’s a class on Modern Latin America… bananas are very fitting…Do you know what the “Banana Republic” is? And I’m not talking about the store!

I hope my class likes them!

While my cookie dough chilled in the fridge (I actually baked them in the afternoon), I chilled outside with Rhoda. Remember last time? This time it was colder so I wore an extra long sleeve shirt. 10F when I left and 15F when I got home! Burr! We did the same route. For some reason it felt a lot tougher this time, but just as lovely!

Arctic Tundra? No, just Upstate NY…

This is my favorite stretch of the run:

Sadly my camera died halfway through the run! Rhoda‘s camera was there to save the day!

Frozen falls!

Ithaca really is gorgeous!

Great pics, Rhoda!

Now I’m off to read since I’ve slacked off all weekend! Hope you all have had a great weekend! Have a great night!

Italian Toad in a Hole

January 28, 201013 Comments

Hi all! Thanks for all your nice comments about my 100! and my International Food Assistance post!

Is anyone else experiencing crazy weather today?! All of a sudden there was a blizzard at about 11:00am! I was not properly dressed!

On to food…I had the best dinner tonight. It was quicky, easy, healthy and most importantly delicious. It may not look that pretty but it was TASTY!

This sort of reminded me of a toad in a hole (you know, bread with egg in the middle) for some reason.

Behold: Italian Eggs over Polenta!

I haven’t quite mastered the pretty aspect but flavor was spot on!

I have a ton of recipes bookmarked and with all the talk of Italian food on Nicole‘s blog this seemed like the perfect way to get my fix.

I made a single serving since it’s just me. It was the perfect portion!

The recipe calls for a tube of polenta, but I didn’t have that so I made my own. It was super easy! I had never made polenta before!
Have you made polenta before??

I brought 1 cup of water to a boil with a pinch of sea salt in a small saucepan then added 1/4 cup of cornmeal and stirred like crazy for a few minutes until it started to come off the sides of the pot. I transferred that to a plate and let it solidify.

In the mean time, I added half a cup of pasta sauce to a pan with 1-2 cups of fresh chopped spinach. Then I heated it until the spinach wilted it. Then the best part… this is where the toad in a hole-ness comes in… I made a little well in the sauce/spinach, cracked an egg in it! Then it cooked covered for about 3 minutes, because I love runny yolks! (Cook longer if you want a solid yolk) Any runny yolk fans around??

Serve on the polenta!

The recipe calls for asiago cheese, which I didn’t have so I sprinkled it with some grated pecorino romano cheese.

Delish!

All this goodness for only 300 calories! (For full nutrition info, see the sparkpage)

Best dinner I’ve had in a long time! Highly recommend it! Really it could be enjoyed any time of day!

Now I’m off to watch Mad Men, because I’m obsessed! Have a great night!!

Happy Monday!

January 25, 2010January 25, 201013 Comments

Yesterday, I was down right restless. Today, I’m excited to have started! I woke up dark bright and early to find it pouring out. It was looking like it was going to be a dreary day. I checked the weather at it was 50 Degrees Fahrenheit!! Right now it’s 51F! Crazy! Two days ago we had a high of 30F!

This morning for some reason I was super nervous about classes. I’m not entirely sure why but I think it had to do with the fact that the lecture class I’m TAing for is at the same time as one of my core classes. Luckily, it’s okay. I talked to the professor of the class I’m TAing for and he said it’s not a problem if I don’t go to his lectures. I’m leading a conversational Spanish language discussion section so people can talk about the subject in Spanish, so not really that big a deal. So I went there to make a quick announcement about my section.

Then I headed to my first class, Introduction to Method of Planning Analysis. Sound fun right? Eh it might be. It’s required. I’ll suck it up and who knows I may love it! I sure do love me a good economic forecast!

After that I dodged umbrellas and puddles all the way home. It was 11:30 and I was starving! I tried hard to hold on til at least 12pm by putting in some laundry but I couldn’t wait til 12:00pm. I decided to counteract that gross weather with a fun, fresh meal.

Wet and Puddly all around!

I made a FANTASTIC sandwich! Hummus. Cheese. Cucumbers. Tomatoes. Need I say more?

So fresh tasting!

Finish that off with some kiwi, skin and all.

Eat Kiwi, It’s good for you! 1 fruit provides 95% of your daily Vitamin C! Do you eat the skin on kiwi fruit?

Heaven in a lunch! (For nutrition info on lunch, see my sparkpage)

Lunch was sealed with a kiss cup of tea! I’ve realized that ending a meal with a cup of tea helps keep my sweet tooth at bay and I guess helps my brain signal that it’s done eating.

I found this tea on sale at Wegman’s last week and since I love peppermint tea I had to try it.

I had never heard of Gypsy Tea but I loooved this one! The peppermint flavor is very mild but there’s something else in there that is simply fantastic! I can’t put my finger on what it is, but it’s oh so good!

I’m going to go get my laundry, start reading for class, then go to my next class! Hope you’re having a wonderful Monday!!

Finally Ready For Classes To Start

January 24, 201013 Comments

I’ve had enough.

I’m getting tired of sitting around and doing nothing.

I’m officially ready for classes to start again.

I know I’ll regret this tomorrow night when I start reading for my first classes but as of now, I’m over it. I think I’ve been a little anxious all day because I’ve been very snacky, but I think I’ve kept it to an okay level.

One of my many snacks today was this:

What is that?

No, Stonyfield hasn’t started making Pumpkin Flavored Greek Yogurt (although they probably should). Actually, it’s my version of Caitlin‘s Pumpkin Yogurt (her version uses equal parts yogurt and pumpkin).

Stonyfield sent me some coupons for yogurt samples so they were perfect to give pumpkin yogurt a try. Thanks Stonyfield!

I used a small 5.3oz container of Oikos non-fat greek yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin (not easy to come by these days as there as been a pumpkin shortage in upstate NY!) and 1 tablespoon of Agave nectar. All that goodness for only 160 calories (80 for the yogurt + 20 for the pumpkin + 60 for the agave nectar! Wonderful sweet treat!

Delish! Give it a try!

What’s your favorite way to enjoy greek yogurt?

I’ve literally done nothing all day, and I’m starting to get restless so I think I’m going to go to the gym (even though I didn’t plan on exercising today) to get my mind off upcoming classes and basically just get my blood flowing.

Hope you had a great weekend!

First Run in the Cold + The Giving Tree

January 23, 2010January 23, 201018 Comments

I’m not a runner, but I am occasionally known to go on a jog. I usually prefer to do so with someone else, a running buddy if you will. This morning, Rhoda told me she was going for a run, so I tagged along!

I was a little concerned because the last time I ran outside it was 65 degrees (few weeks ago in California). This morning when I went for a run, it was 17 degrees… kind of cold. Rhoda is a pro. She trained for a marathon in Michigan in the winter so she gave me some pointers.

1. Dress in layers. I wore a shirt and a jacket with slightly below the knee running pants (I really should invest in full length pants for this weather!).

2. Wear gloves and something to cover your ears. Forever I had no idea what those big headbands were for. Guess what?? They cover your ears!

Do you have any tips for running in the cold?

So I headed out and met up with Rhoda. Honestly, it wasn’t bad at all. I didn’t feel cold throughout the entire run. At one point I even pushed my ear warmers back to let my ears breathe a bit and removed my gloves (though only for a few minutes because the back of my hand started to get REALLY cold).

I didn’t really get cold until I was walking home after having cooled down. Then I was sweaty/wet and in below freezing temperatures. See the problem?

It was great though! We did 4 miles and chatted the whole time! It was also beautiful! I forget how picturesque it is here, especially in the winter. I wish I had brought my camera to take pictures! Oh well, next time! Thanks for letting me slow you down, Rhoda!

After lunch, I came home and showered then met up with some people for lunch at a new cafe in Ithaca called The Giving Tree. The cafe is a local, vegetarian place. Very cozy and cute with mismatched chairs and such!

At this point (around 1:30pm), I hadn’t eaten since breakfast at about 7:30am; I was ready to chew my arm off. I had a really hard time choosing what to order, because the entire menu was vegetarian so there were a ton of options to choose from! I got some coffee and a plate of eggs, home fries and toast, which is probably my favorite food on the planet! A bit boring, I know, but I had to go with an old favorite.