New Foods!

Sorry for the quick post today, I have a meeting in a few of minutes!

Yesterday, I had the best kapha balancing breakfast ever! On Wednesday, I made a batch of corn flax muffins out of vitamuffin mix and ground flax seed. I heated two of those up and gave them sunflower seed butter hats. OMG. I think I could eat this everyday, I love finding new foods and this was a pleasant finding.

The lovely Amanda at Chobanisent me a package of greek yogurts to try and I brought one of them to work with me. I had the strawberry flavor and I have to say that I really liked it. It was sweet, thick and creamy and put other preflavored yogurts to shame. I am really anxious to try the plain because I know I will love it for the texture. So, thank you to Amanda and Chobani, I am excited to try the rest of the yogurts!

A little later, I heated up a bowl of edamame chowder I had frozen from the weekend. I topped it with a colby jack cheese stick and called it lunch. It was just as good as the first time if not better!

I seemed to stay hungry throughout the afternoon and ended up having a few kashi crackers with hummus. And that didn’t do the trick so on my ride home from work, I had my favorite KIND bar, almond coconut.  I just love this bar. It did a nice job of holding me over until dinner time.

Dinner was a quick and easy meal. It comes together in about 15 minutes and really pleases the appetite. I made balsamic sloppy joes with soy crumbles. We had that along side roasted broccoli and mini whole wheat pitas for scooping.

For dessert, I cured my chocolate craving with a TJ’s milk chocolate cloud. It is milk chocolate filled with gooey caramel and pecans. Yum!

Thought Provoker: Do you enjoy trying new foods or do you stick with what you know?

In Balance

I had breakfast at work again yesterday, I think I am driving my co workers crazy with the smell of apples and cinnamon in the morning. I had barley with apples and almonds topped with cinnamon, nutmeg and a bit of ground ginger. This time, I didn’t top it with any sort of dairy and actually enjoyed it much more.

A couple of hours later, I had a wonderful snack! I had a few kashi crackers with basil hummus and a pear. The pear looked terribly beat up on the outside but was just perfect on the inside.

My snack really held me over for a long time, so much so that I forgot to eat lunch! When I realized I hadn’t eaten in a few hours, I had a pretty hefty snack. I topped greek yogurt with frozen cherries, pumpkin seed granola and agave. This was very filling and satisfying and held me over for another 5 hours!

After work, I had an appointment with my therapist. It had been a couple of weeks because she had a death in her family. I was excited to see her because I wanted to tell her of all of the changes I have been making. Light therapy, yoga and working to balance my dosha have really made some drastic changes for me. I guess I am not the only one that feels that way because my therapist told me that she thinks that as long as I can keep up with these things, I won’t need medication! She feels strongly that I have what it takes to pull myself out of this and hopefully what it takes to stay out of it.

The one change I haven’t made is consistent exercise which is recommended for me for a bazillion reasons including my therapist and my dosha. So, I’m going to really try and make some hard effort to really get in my 30 minutes a day. Being a kapha, I have a tendency to be a couch potato (who me?) so this will take some real effort on my part but I feel determined to find it somewhere.

After therapy, I came home and made dinner for the dear husband and I. I made creamy polenta topped with black beans and salsa. I simmered the black beans in the salsa for about a half hour so that they really soaked up the flavors. Once it was all together, I topped it off with a little crumbled cheese. This was such a simple meal to throw together and it was fantastic!

After dinner, I had a little treat that the chef sent me home with. Brownies with peanut butter frosting! I only ate one of my little take home package but the dear husband polished off the rest without any problems 🙂

Thought Provoker: What elements of your lifestyle are key to your happiness?

Warmin’ Up

According to my Ayurveda, a kaphas ideal time to eat breakfast is between 8 and 9 am though they should wake up before sunrise. I believe this is to ensure one does not feel weighed down. A Kaphas tendency is to be heavy and feel weighed down (uh…yeah) so lighter foods and less frequent eating helps combat that. I do worry about my blood sugar and will certainly eat whenever my body dictates but thus far, it seems to be working for me. And overall, I must say, I am feeling better. I feel much happier and everything doesn’t feel like a drag to me.

And with all of that, I ate breakfast at work, again, yesterday. I had barley with chopped apple, cinnamon and nutmeg. I warmed it up in the microwave until the apples were soft and then mixed in some cottage cheese. Hmm, this mixture I did not like so much. I guess I am not a fan of warm cottage cheese.

A couple of hours later, I had a few kashi crackers with sliced ham and a few prunes. This light little meal kept me going for a really long time!

T went out around noon and said she would pick up lunch and ended up not coming back until 2! I sipped on warm tea and felt fine. When she did return, she had a shrimp tempura roll for me. It wasn’t from our regular place and it really wasn’t as good either. They put a spicy mayo on top and the mayo actually tasted like miracle whip. And as some of you know, I am a pure bred southern girl and in my opinion mayo comes in a yellow labeled jar, Duke’s. There is no other kind unless you make it yourself so when a mayo isn’t Duke’s, I can usually pick it out. So, the sushi was a bit on the disappointing side. Lesson learned.

Lunch was so late, that I didn’t need an afternoon snack. Once I got home, I was hungry and I was excited about dinner. I made pinto bean burgers and roasted Brussels sprouts. I have been working for years, literally to perfect my bean burger recipe and yesterday’s version was pretty darn close. Here is how I made them:

Bean Burgers

1 can of beans, drained and rinsed until bubbles are gone

1/4 cup stuffing mix, crushed but still chunky

1/4 cup corn meal

1/4 cup salsa

1 tbsp mayo (Duke’s ;))

salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin

olive oil for sauteing

Instructions

In a large bowl, mash the beans until only a quarter of them are still whole. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and season with salt, pepper, chili powder and a pinch of cumin. The mixture should still feel wet but firm enough to form into patties. Shape the mixture into four small patties or two large ones and place on a parchment lined plate. Place in the freezer for at least 15 minutes until they feel more firm. Remove from freezer and put into an oiled skillet over medium heat. Saute on each side until very well browned.

After dinner, I made a batch of vitamuffins with extra peanut butter and chocolate chips. I ate mine warm and it was SO good!

Thought Provoker: What foods are you a purist about? Is there a food that you only a certain version of?

Burned Up

Yesterday, I woke up feeling ready to face the world and even incorporate some dosha balancing foods into my day. I waited until I got to work to eat and it worked out well. I steamed some cooked barley and chopped apple with cinnamon and nutmeg in the microwave and topped it off with walnuts and a splash of milk. To go along with my breakfast, I had a chai tea. Everyone that came into my office talked about how good it smelled and it tasted as good as it smelled.

A couple of hours later, I had a few prunes and kashi crackers. I also sipped hot water with lemon for most of the morning.

For lunch, T picked Panera and I wasn’t really sure what to get. I ended up with a bowl of french onion soup with whole grain baguette. This was my first time trying this soup and I must say, I don’t think I will ever get it again. It was really really salty. Salt was the only flavor I could taste so it was a bit dissapointing.

A little later in the afternoon, I had a little greek yogurt with cranberry orange relish. OOoooh, yuck. Cranberry is one of the recommended fruits to balance kapha as it is bitter. And bitter is was, I did not like it at all and after a couple of bites, I called it quits.

Once I got home, I was ready to make dinner. A dinner I had been planning to make for a couple of days and I was excited about it. And guess what, I burned it! I burned dinner. I don’t think I have ever burned dinner before. Sure, I’ve burned the bread or roasted the veggies a little too long but burned to the point of no salvation? This left the dear husband and I scrambling for dinner. We ended up with frozen pizza which turned out to be fine. I’m still looking forward to what I burned because it is a great recipe and I can’t wait to share it, so be on the lookout!

After dinner, we watched Brothers and Sisters and Army Wives on the DVR. Army Wives was exciting because they are building up to the season finale next week, I can’t wait!

Thought Provoker: I found that the warm foods and spice really did help me feel better. What time of foods make you feel good?

ps: sorry for misspelling, it is giving me an error everytime I try to spell check and I am a horrible speller 😦

Funky Sunday

I woke up yesterday and started with a snack. I knew the dear husband wanted to sleep in and I didn’t want to wait that long for breakfast. I had a pear and a heaping spoon of cashew macadamia nut butter. This was my first time with this nut butter and I must say, I liked it. The cashew flavor outweighed the macadamia but it was still delicious. Once the dear husband was awake, I made pancakes and eggs. I topped my portion of pancakes with apple butter instead of syrup and I must say, I really enjoyed them that way!

Hours and hours passed before I got hungry again and I can’t even really call it hungry. It was more like munchy, I was in a real funk for some reason and couldn’t get myself out of it. I made some popcorn for the dear husband and I to share and then some baked tofu. I used Gliding Calm’s rub and let it marinade for what I guess was too long. The tofu did not get crispy at all, it was really soft and fluffy. I think the key to the rub must be just brushing it on rather than letting it marinade. None the less, the taste was fabulous and I will use this recipe as a go to in the future.

By the time dinner rolled around, I still wasn’t feeling hungry, just munchy and I didn’t feel like cooking. I asked the dear husband if he preferred frozen pizza or grilled cheese and he chose grilled cheese. So, I made us both a couple of sandwiches and called it dinner. I ended up giving him most of my second one as it still wasn’t doing it for me.

After dinner, I thought some ice cream would make me feel better so I had a small bowl. It still didn’t do anything for me, so I just went to bed. Boo Hiss on funk days.

Thought Provoker: All day yesterday and a little this morning, I have been letting the diet mentality really creep back into my mind. I keep telling myself that starving myself and depriving myself is not the answer to cure my funk. How do you keep the diet mentality at bay?

Yoga and a Recipe

I woke up with a major food hangover yesterday, I didn’t want to get out of bed for anything. I had an 8:30 am yoga class so I got up anyway and made breakfast. I made 2 eggs n baskets with local nine grain bread and earth balance. I didn’t have anything on the side because I actually wasn’t hungry but I knew I needed to eat because I wouldn’t be out of yoga until late morning.

This weeks hatha flow yoga class was taught by Candy, a teacher I had never practiced with before. When I first saw Candy, my first thought was relief. She was overweight! I can’t tell you how many super thin yoga teachers there are in this world so to see one that I would consider to be like me, I was excited. For a couple of reasons, really. My big dream is to be a writer while teaching yoga “on the side”. She eased my mind that not all yoga teachers have to be thin.  And secondly, I knew my ego would not come in to play because I would not be constantly comparing how thin the teacher is to how overweight I am.  It was a wonderful feeling.

After class, I had a private lesson with Laura, the owner of the studio. If I have a mentor in this world, I do believe it is Laura. She compels me to want to live a yogic life and be my own best person. From the moment I met her, I felt a connection with her that makes me feel like she has been a cherished friend my whole life. Needless to say, I always enjoy my private lessons with her. This lesson was about a yogic approach to my anxiety, depression and seasonal affective disorder. I could write an entire article on all of the things that I learned but the biggest thing that I learned is that my body needs two different things depending on whether I am anxious or depressed. The two are so closely tied in my mind that I had just assumed the opposite. She taught me some “real world” techniques for when busting into warrior II just isn’t appropriate as well as the proper asanas and flows for when it is.  The whole session helped me understand why I enjoy the poses and the flows that I do with some real legit yoga wisdom to back it up.

In addition to the yogic techniques, we also explored a little more into ayureveda. We talked about my being a kapha and some of the foods that will help keep me balanced. From, that I have decided that I would like to educate myself more of these principles and probably make some changes to my diet accordingly. Laura urged me to take a real world approach and to avoid any extremist ideas which I find to be the most rational and intuitive. 

Once I was home from expanding my yogic horizons, it was lunch time. I was pretty hungry and wasn’t up for much involved cooking so leftovers and frozen veggies came to my rescue. I had a mango sausage with whole wheat couscous and steamed green beans with almond. The couscous and green beans didn’t really do it for me so I ended up only have a few bites.

After lunch, we headed to Barnes and Noble to look for books about ayureveda. That idea turned out to be a dud but we did get a latte while we were there 🙂 I got a toasted marshmallow mocha and a pretzel because I was still hungry from lunch. The pretzel was revolting, really, so I only had the one bite. It looks much better than it tasted.

Once we were home from B & N and the rest of our errands, I started on a pot of chowder right away. My friend was coming over for dinner and I knew it would be a really long cooking process. I had seen a couple of recipes for edamame chowder and with those, here is what I came up with.

Roasted Edamame Chowder

4 cups shelled edamame

3 tbsp olive oil

salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder to taste

3 slices bacon, cut into small pieces

1 large onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed with salt

1 lb of small red potatoes, sliced into half moons

2 cups frozen corn

4 cups chicken broth, plus more as needed

1 cup half and half

Cheddar cheese for topping

Instructions:

Pre heat oven to 400*. Coat the edamame the olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder and toss to combine. Roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes stirring often to ensure even roasting. Once roasted, turn off the oven but the leave the edamame inside.

Meanwhile, cook bacon on medium heat until crisp, about 7 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pan as set aside of paper towels. Remove as little or as much of the bacon grease as you would like but be sure to add a little olive oil if you remove all of it. Sautee the onions in the bacon grease (or olive oil) until they are translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in the crushed garlic and sautee for another minute. Add the potatoes and corn and sautee for 5 minutes. Add in the chicken broth and increase the heat to med high. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce head to med and let simmer for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through.

Remove half of the soup mixture and add to the blender and puree until smooth. Once smooth, add back to the cooking pot along with the roasted edamame. Stir well to combine and taste for salt and pepper. Turn heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes. After simmering, stir in the half and half and let stand for about 5 minutes. Top with crumbled bacon and cheese.

The chowder turned out great, I served it along side whole wheat yeast rolls and everyone was happy. The soup was rich and creamy and just what we needed on a cold rainy night! For dessert, I had a small bowl of local butter pecan ice cream, it was so good but it made me really cold. I think it is ALMOST time to retire ice cream for the season.

Thought Provoker: Do you make note of how certain foods make you feel? Do you have a tendency towards eating them anyway because they taste good even if they make you feel bad? My body does not like to be overloaded with sweets but my mind always wants to eat them. I try to only have a little but sometimes the sugar monster takes over.

Hungry With a Vengeance

I first want to give a shout out to Krista over at Krista’s Kravings for giving me a blog award! I really appreciate it and the fact that I won the award alongside Kath and Jenna really made me blush! Both Kath and Jenna were my inspiration for starting my blog and I will always see them the queens of food blogging! So, onto passing the torch!

I award Erin and Andrea at Care to eat because these girls, truly, just rock. I love how both of them aren’t trying to be anything but themselves. They are both funny, charming and have a great way with words.

Next up is Mi at Whole Foods for Whole Me . Can I just say that I lurve this little chick-a-di? She tells great stories and her food is always gorgeous! She makes me want to pinch her cheeks and, by george, if I am even in London, I plan to stalk her so I can!

And last but not least, Gina at Fitnessista. I love how devoted to her health, her pilot and her pups she is. She is so passionate about her life even though she is stuck in a boring town.

You girls rock! I hope you will pass the excellence award onto more wonderful blogs!

Now onto the food!

I woke up feeling like my normal self, yesterday. I slept for 11 hours and was loaded up with vitamin C. I started out with a bowl of shredded wheat with milk, banana, walnuts, cinnamon and a smidge of nutmeg. On the side, I also had a small glass of concord grape juic. Between the juice and the cereal. I wasn’t able to eat it all so I thought that my appetite wasn’t quite back yet.

I was wrong. Really really wrong. Around 9:30, my stomach started to grumble. I made peanut butter and agave on local nice grain bread.

Then, an hour later, my stomach was growling again! I decided to peek downstairs at the staff lunch and decided to go for it. It was burgers and for some reason, that sounded like just what I needed. I made mine with lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard and mayo. It was really good and it WAS just what I needed.

For a mini lunch dessert, I had a TJ’s chocolate merainge. Had I known I was going to like these so much, I would have bought many more of them. I will be sad to see the package go which will probably be soon because the dear husband likes them too.

Just before it was time to go, I had a little snack that The pro brought in, homemade banana bread! A friend of his made it and brought it out to the club to share. It was a tiny little piece but it was oh so good!

After work, the dear husband and I met at Uno Chicago Bar and Grill for dinner. This place is kind of known to me as the pig out place so we rarely go. We started with the shrimp and crab fondue, I had a couple of these little guys.

For the main entree we ordered a deep dish pizza with sausage, pepperoni and pesto. I ate about one and a half slices and stopped when I felt comfortably full. For some reason, the pizza tasted extra greasy to me and it wasn’t settling in the back of my throat very well. This made it really easy to not over indulge.

Such a savory dinner led to a big time sweet tooth. We stopped by Panera on the way home to pick up my favorite cookies, the triple chocolate chocolate chip. Once we were home and settled, I made sundaes with the cookies and ice cream. Once again, I didn’t eat very much because it just wasn’t what my taste buds had imagined.

Thought Provoker: Do you consider yourself a dieter or an intuitive eater? I consider myself an intuitive eater but sometimes I end up listening to my heads signals instead of my bodies signals. I generally listen to my body when it comes to the time to eat but not always WHAT to eat.

Feeling a Little Better

I woke up feeling a bit better yesterday. My stomach felt pretty normal to start with so I braved a bowl of shredded wheat. I topped it with milk, banana, walnuts, cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. I wasn’t able to finish the bowl but I did get most of it down with no problems.

The staff lunch sounded pretty bland so I decided to give it a shot. It was chicken and cabbage with bread and a salad. I brought the plate to my stomach and my stomach flipped after one bite. I ended up only eating the bread, in fact, I went back for a couple more pieces.

A little later, the chef was in a baking mood and surprised me with some star anise scones atop fresh whipped cream and honey. These were delightful but my stomach wasn’t game for eating too much so I only had two of them.

Finally, in the late afternoon, I got a food craving. I actually wanted food and so did my stomach. Now, I’m not talking a gourmet meal or anything but I was hungry. I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich! So, once I was home from work, I made myself a grilled cheese on white bread along with a glass of grape juice. The one sandwich didn’t do it, so I actually had two.

I was feeling pretty wiped out so after dinner, I went to bed. I must say, today, I am feeling much better!

Thought Part Two: Thanks to everyone who commented about the blogroll. I’ve been thinking of taking mine in a new direction but first, I guess I have to figure out what my direction is. Once I discovered google reader, I kind of left my blogroll alone unless someone asked me to be added or if I specifically noticed being on someones roll. So, at this point,  my blogroll is a mish mosh of blogs I read, reciprocal links and blogs I thought I loved and now I don’t actually read anymore. I think having the blogroll is fun and, of course, it increases traffic (probably not by much 🙂 ) for the people who are on it. So, over the next few days, I will be changing my blogroll to be just a list of links of blogs and sites I actually read and reciprocal links. I’m also considering creating a page for it rather than have it running down the side. What does everyone think?

White Bread and Smart Water

Yesterday, I was very ill. I went to the doctor and he said that I had the stomach bug that was going around and that I was severly dehydrated. I was thankful that I did not have the flu! He sent me home with medication and told me to drink plenty of water.

Needless to day, the days eats were not very exciting. I all I wanted was bread to eat, i didn’t think my stomach could handle much. We only had high fiber wheat in the house so the dear husband went out and got me some wonder bread along with a big jug of concord grape juice. The biggest food adventure of the day was when he made me a bowl of roasted chicken ramen noodles.  I also drank plenty of smart water and today I am feeling much better, no stomach symptoms only a small headache.

Sorry for the dreadful no photos post but I guess somedays are dreaful and photoless. I hope to resume semi normal eating today and I have a ton of blogs to read. I have 84 posts in my google reader so I apologize in advance for my lack of commenting, I just won’t have time with going back to work and all. I should resume normal blogging behaviors ASAP!

I do have a Thought Prevoker though! I’ve been wondering about blogrolls and notice that some people have lots, some have a few and a few even have none. What is your blogroll policy?

Life Goes On

I woke up ravenous yesterday. Probably because proper nutrition hasn’t been my strong suit these past few days. It’s funny how in the midst of feeling blue my eating turns to listening to my mind rather than listening to my body. My breakfast is a perfect example, days started with sugar never go well. I had a bowl of greek yogurt topped with pecan praline granola from TJ’s and a smidge of cherry jam.

The sugar and the jam caught up with me pretty quickly as I was really hungry again around 9. I had an apple with basil hummus. I liked this combo but I think it is much better with spicy hummus.

A couple of hours later, hunger struck again so I had a mango chicken sausage and roasted root veggies that I prepared over the weekend. I really loved the sausage, it was sweet and savory at the same time. I’d love to have it with a little mustard.

Shortly after, my stomach was growling again so I ate a few unphotographed prunes. Then walked in The Pro with a soy latte, just what I needed! I ended up only drinking about a third of it because the caffeine was getting to me.

By the time I got home from work, I was starving again. I made pesto and goat cheese chicken with whole wheat cous cous and broccoli and cheese. It was some kind of good, I think it will make it into the rotation for sure.

Easy Pesto and Goat Cheese Chicken

2 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken, pounded to 1/2 inch (I prefer thighs)

salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, poultry seasoning

2 tbsp good quality pesto

2 oz goat cheese

olive oil

Preheat oven to 350* and coat a baking dish with olive oil. Sprinkle each chicken piece with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and poultry seasoning. Spread the pesto evenly over the tops of chicken and place into oiled baking dish and bake for 25 minutes. Crumble one ounce of goat cheese over chicken and place back into the oven for 5 minutes. Turn oven to broil and broil until cheese is lightly browned then remove from the oven. Let the chicken rest for about 5 minute. Drizzle the chicken with the olive oil “drippings’ from the baking dish, it should be a gorgeous vibrant green color and infused with a lovely basil flavor. Serve over grain of choice.

After dinner. I made a quick dessert out of TJ’s inside out carrot cake cookies and ice cream. I ended up not really liking the combo and ate mostly the ice cream. I think I really wanted chocolate 😉

Thought Provoker: Do you have a hard time listening to your body instead of your mind when it comes to food?