give me carbs.

So, it's Monday. It wasn't a horrible day...or maybe that's just perspective from yesterday's horrible day.

It was pretty rainy all day, but I was relatively busy.

Breakfast was yogurt with stuff on top and my new 365 coffee!

Lunch was some spinach, chili, latkes, and a clementine. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Snacky was apples and a zbar.

I left work a little before 5:30 so I could have time to get ready for Bootcamp. Good thing I picked out my clothes last night...Traffic was a nightmare! 1 hour and 45 minutes to get home! I had to stop by Giant to pick one thing up and then rush home to change. Got home at 7:12, threw on my clothes and sneakers, popped in my eyes, filled up my water bottle and literally sprinted out the door. I was sucking wind by the time I got into class RIGHT before the first exercise started. I had a pretty crappy workout. Now any workout is better than no workout, but I had no energy and felt like I couldn't recover from a few stations. I tried to finish strong and pat myself on the back for having the dedication to show up...

Walked home in the rain and thought about dinner. I had a vegan "salami" and cheese quesadilla and half of a sweet potato w/ salsa. I was hungry and wanted CARBS!

This cheese is expensive, but the slices are thick, it's organic and vegetarian...oh and delicious!

Half moons.


I used the other half of the sweet potato and my peeled adult carrots to make soup. I just boiled some veggie stock, water and black pepper, added the dice sweet p and carrots with a dash of salt. Once they were soft, I used the immersion blender to puree it, then added some more S&P and a lot of curry powder. I think I'm going to freeze it and take it to the Wednesday Thanksgiving. I think my aunt will enjoy it :)



To finish this day off, I heated up a mug of apple cider. 'Tis the Season ;)

z made it safely to san francisco and his sister just picked him up from the airport. Four more dias.

pathetic.

I stayed in PJ's all day because I was extremely hungover. I drank an obscene amount of red wine last night and acted like a stupid, stupid girl.

Let's just say I'm in time out and I shouldn't have been able to use my phone when I got home last night this morning.

Ugh, I suck.

sopa vegetariana.

You may remember me going to a vegetarian fall soup cooking class last month at L'Academie de Cuisine...

Well, I took the second class today! Once again I had a great partner (with an awesome job).

Check out our masterpieces:

Ginger and Cilantro Red Lentil Soup with Lemon Cream

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Fall Spiced Caramelized Apples



Black Bean Soup with Crispy Tortilla Strips and Guacamole

The black bean soup was the BEST! The pumpkin soup was a close second.

I had a really good time and I know I'll be back to L'Academie for some more classes :)


Off to DLF's for my first of three Thanksgivings this year!

she's awake.

My alarm went off at 8:45 this morning, and as usual, I had a battle with myself about whether I was really going to the gym...Usually the answer is "heck no, it's Saturday morning," but I surprised myself and got up (fifteen minutes later). Threw on my clothes, put my eyes* in, and peeled a clementine for a quick morning boost. I jogged the 5-6 minutes to the gym, drank some water and set up my equipment for Bootcamp. This monkey butt got kicked, that's for sure.

The setup for Saturday is much different than the Monday class, but they both work me hard, so I'm not complaining.

I came home made some coffee and oatmeal. Then I chugged a glass of carrot juice with an H20 chaser.

Today's oatmeal:
- 1/3 cup oats
- 1/3 cup H20
- 1/3 cup unsweetened soy
- organic banana (melted)
- dollop of cashew butter
- dollop of cinnamon raisin PB
-topped with apple butter


I'm going to finish my second cup of coffee, chug some more water and hop in the shower. I'm taking the metro to Bethesda and want to give myself time to walk to the culinary school. I'll be back later :)


Side Love Note:
I asked z to text me when his train arrived in Canada, but promised I'd keep my phone on silent so I wouldn't wake up. Funny thing...I woke up at 3am for some reason, checked my phone and he'd sent a text just 10 minutes before. I was able to go back to sleep instantly :) Love is so funny...





*I'm considering LASIK. A couple people I know have gotten it and are really happy with the results. I hate having blood shot eyes, or having to switch from glasses to contacts for the gym, or not being able to see the clock when I wake up. My mom thinks it might be a good idea too...I'll keep you (all two of you) posted.

how much?

Picked up my car after work last night. Damage: $2,458.18 - Are you kidding me? UGHHHH!!

The night got better though, because I had a sleepover with hpants.

It started with some boxed Chablis and TV while we waited for the spaghetti squash and eggplant "creation" to cook. This is hpants' version of an eggplant parmesan, but much healthier. She slices eggplant and layers it in a casserole dish with spinach, tomato sauce, mushrooms and fresh mozzarella. I personally think it's better than the regular fried stuff, and over the spaghetti squash, it's delightful! For dessert we snacked on some oatmeal macaroons and PB/Fig cookies that she had made earlier in the week. Yum. We got cozy and watched Grey's and Project Runway and then went straight to bed. Her guest bed swallowed me and I slept really well! hpants gave me a fat free coffee yogurt with a ripe banana for breakfast. I actually really loved the combination, so I'll be purchasing the coffee yogurt in the future. And because hpants and B usually get to work earlier, I stopped to get a grande soy misto (in a red cup).

It's Friday and pay day :)

What did I eat today?

B: Fat free coffee yogurt with a ripe banana and a grande soy misto

L: Dr. Praeger's veggie burger on whole wheat bagel, organic golden delicious

S: Clementine, Back to Nature Granola to Go: Wild Blueberry Walnut with Flax Seed

Yes, I ate it out of the bag with a spoon.
So pretty and juicy!

D: Spinach topped with chili and carrot latkes with a little salsa :)

Dessert: I shouldn't have eaten dessert, because I was stuffed...but I ate a mini yogurt bowl with gojis, cranberries, almonds, walnuts, apple butter and agave with a cup of Decaf coconut chai. Woa...overload.

Goals for tonight:

- Finish this blog...

- Get insurance stuff taken care of at my parents house

- Go to the gym and get my booty on the treadmill

- Eat some dinner and catch up on this week's tv

- Clean/Organize apartment

- Talk to zboy while he's on a train to Canada

Agenda for this weekend:

- Bootcamp at 9:30 on Saturday morning

- Vegetarian Fall Soups (part two) at L'Academie de Cuisine from 1:30 to 4pm

- Pre-Thanksgiving at DLF's apartment - I think I'm making the gravy again ;)

- Possibly attend yoga on Sunday morning at 10:15

- Buy groceries for both our Wednesday and Thursday family Thanksgivings (I'm making some veggie dishes, cranberry sauce and dessert)

Jimmy Dean?

I finally made it home tonight (Wednesday) after having been at my parents since Sunday. I really need my car back...

After work:

Parents picked me up and we got Chipotle (second time in this week).

I picked up my comforter at the drycleaners.

It took me two trips from my parents car to get all my stuff (including yummy clementines from mom) upstairs.


I brought all my laundry home and sorted it on my bed...but haven't put it away yet.

Cut up two onions and two jalapenos. Sauteed those with some EVOO, chili packet, garlic and salt. Used my immersion blender to turn two cans of whole tomatoes into tomato sauce. Threw that all in the skillet for a few minutes. Drained a can of light kidney beans and black beans. Added those to the bottom of my crockpot and put the tomato mixture on top. Then added some frozen peas and corn. It's still hanging out on low. That will be my lunch tomorrow.

Chili today, hot tamale.

Then I peeled a bunch of adult carrots, so they're ready to eat, juice or roast. While I had my 5lb. bag out, I figured I'd juice some and store the juice with some lemon juice in the fridge.


Every time I juice carrots, there is so much pulp leftover and I hate throwing it away...so I thought, I know you can make potato latkes, but what about carrot? So I googled away and found this recipe for Gingered Carrot Latkes. I figured I'd try it. I used my carton of egg whites equivalent to 3 eggs and used my jar of chopped ginger that I keep in the fridge. I fried them up and had to taste one. HOLY COW! They were #1 Delicious and #2 they tasted exactly like a Jimmy Dean sausage. Not that I really remember what that tastes like...but that's what popped into my head. AWESOME and easy recipe! Soooo exciting :)

To me, you're perfect.

(Ok, so that's from Love Actually, but I think it's totally acceptable to say that to a freakin' delicious carrot latke).

I need to do some form of exercise since it's 10pm and I didn't go to the gym...again. Ugh, tubby tubby.

9 more days until z comes home. Not that I'm counting...

baby, you can drive my car.

This post is from Tuesday, but I was having some technical difficulties:

Yesterday, I had a 7am dentist appointment and they gave me a flouride treatment. That meant I couldn't have any hot liquid for six hours! Ugh...no hot coffee for me! The morning dragged on and I ate two bananas for breakfast. After lunch, I knew that caffeine was necessary so I used my free Starbucks Via packet and made iced coffee with a little chemical powder Splenda. Not half bad actually.

While driving home from work last night my temperature gauge started beeping and flashing red. Not a good sign....so I had to pull into a gas station to diagnose the problem (aka, talk to my dad). I bought a 20 dollar bottle of coolant to put in my car, but as soon as I started to take the cap off, all this red stuff started leaking out of the bottom! My poor Sadie girl was bleeding! I knew it wasn't good...but I filled up the coolant tank anyway. The light didn't go off when I turned the car back on, so I tried to drive home. I had to pull over two miles later. There was a flashing light, some smoke...and something was burning. My dad called a tow truck and picked me up. We went to Chipotle for dinner and to Whole Foods for some bananas and coffee. Hopefully my car will be fixed someday...ugh! z said I could borrow his car, but then my parents let me borrow theirs. I have felt so off this week!


Today:
B: Dad made me some stovetop oatmeal. I had mine with half a melted banana, Peanut Butter and Apple Butter! After this, mom took me out for a grande soy misto :)

L: Wilted spinach with a little soy sauce, one fresh tomato and a Dr. Praeger's California veggie burger

S: Hodge podge granola (mini airplane pretzels, almonds, blueberry granola and banana chips)

D: Roasted carrots, green beans, coleslaw, toasted roll and wilted spinach.

Dessert: Popcorn with melted chocolate chips!

Playing Catch-Up (as usual):

--Made some Banana-Aalmond bread, inspired by Cait . I used vanilla Oikos instead of plain, almonds instead of walnuts and I sprinkled a good amount of cinnamon on top before baking. I saved a piece for myself, hpants and z. It turned out really well!


z came over for dinner last Thursday and I really wanted to make him dinner. Everything turned out really good!

We had:
- Roasted acorn squash (EVOO, S&P),
- Roasted, fresh green beans (EVOO, S&P)
- Spinach salad with dried cranberries, a honeycrisp apple and Drew's Honey Dijon dressing
- Fresh baked whole wheat bread from WF
- One piece of natural pork from WF for z (cooked in a skillet with EVOO and S&P)
- Winter Hook Winter Ale

My plate.
z's plate.

--Went to Eighteenth Street Lounge on Friday...and had an interesting time with my girlfriends ;)

--I made myself a soy misto at home in the morning and had to take a picture because I love my AeroLatte frother :)

glamorous. ooh frothy, frothy.

--Saturday was my little brother's 21st birthday! Yikes. We went to Mongolian Grill in Bethesda. I love family and extended family dinners! I had a salad (times two) with spinach, lots of random veggies, cottage cheese, mandarin oranges, pineapple, uncooked tofu and a delightful sesame ginger sauce. I also ate 1 1/2 funfetti cupcakes that my mom brought! We really had a lot of fun!

After dinner, I headed to z's. He let me watch TWO episodes of Cats 101 on Animal Planet! He must really love me haha! We went to bed around 11:30 because we were both falling asleep on the couch.

We got out of bed around 9:15 thinking it was much later. We walked up to the farmer's market and picked up a cranberry, orange, applesauce loaf for breakfast. z brought me coffee on the couch where I was enjoying "my" blanket and the new Food and Wine magazine. While I was lounging, he cut a few slices of the bread and put it in the oven to get toasty! He also cut a grapefruit and sectioned my half for me :) After breakfast and the Washington Post, z suggested that we go to Roosevelt Island. We parked in Rosslyn and walked over the bridge. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. The weather was just gorgeous! We walked around the entire island and saw A LOT of puppies :) Then we sat down to look at the Teddy statue while munching on a golden delicious and some lemon-lime Gatorade (best flavor ever). I saw someone holding an iced coffee while we were walking back to the car...and I had to have one. Good thing my nice boyfriend had his wallet. He bought me a small Cosi iced coffee with soy :) When we got home we watched some football and I took a delicious nap while he packed (sniff, sniff). He's going to be gone for two weeks and I'm going to miss him a lot.

"Conservation means development as much as it does protection" - Teddy

Hi, Mr. Dragonfly!

Just keep swimming!
Absolutely gorgeous!

Sunday was one of the best days I've had...maybe ever <3