Experiment: Day 6

Again, I was only able to have one frozen entree today (lunchtime) since dinner is going to be Thai (Chris emailed me and told me he was treating me to dinner “just because”, which I find so sweet and endearing.) So for lunch, I chose Moosewood’s Organic Vegetarian Spicy Penne Puttanesca, which I had high hopes for considering I love the Moosewood cookbook so much.

Eh.

Cost: $4.99 from Whole Foods (I think!)

Calories: 300 but I only ate half the dish, if that.

Verdict: Plain, boring, blah. Really little flavor…actually, NO flavor at all. Sorry Moosewood but you really disappointed me with this. I’ve already read bad reviews on Moosewood’s frozen mac ‘n cheese, so I’m not even going to bother trying that. NEXT!

Experiment: Day 5

Do you ever have those days when you have a goal in mind but the day gets away from you and before you know it, you haven’t met that goal or plan? Today was like that for me. I woke up with the intention of completing day 5 of my frozen entree experiment but unfortunately, I was only able to have one frozen meal today rather than the two I originally planned for. So I guess today counts as a half experiment day.

Work was so busy that all I ate were random snacks with lots of creamy, salted almond butter from Trader Joe’s.

Breakfast = quick cooking oatmeal with almond butter

Lunch = sliced apple with almond butter

Snack = cup of FAGE yogurt and a giant spoonful of almond butter

Dinner (finally, here we go!) = Amy’s Indian Mattar Tofu (curried peas and tofu with rice and dal)

Cost = $4.99 from Whole Foods

Calories = 290 for the entire meal (not bad!)

Verdict: Considering how much I love Indian food, I was in for a shocking surprise to see how much of a portion of Indian food one should really eat. I don’t know if you can tell from the picture, but the amount of curried peas and tofu was petite and the rice was under a cup I would say. These are definitely the right amount of portions, but when I think back to how much Indian food I usually eat, I had to shudder. This girl can definitely put down her food, and I would normally eat three to four times this amount if I had no sense of portion control. The taste was just OK….kind of bland and not one of the best meals I have tried from Amy’s. The rice was good and light but the tofu and peas didn’t have much punch to it. Oh well. I won’t be getting this again but Amy’s has so much variety, I’m eager to move on to the other stuff. I would give this 2 out of 5 stars.

RESEARCH

Yesterday can’t be counted AT ALL for my week of frozen dinner experimentation. I was busy running errands all day and started the morning off having breakfast with Chris and a guest from out of town. Then I had a bachelorette party to go to but I had to be at the house by 5pm, so dinner consisted of little appetizers and sweets.

However, I plan on spending this whole week doing more reviews so I went to the market and picked up all sorts of frozen entrees that I will be eating this week. Ta-da!

Physique 57, Core Fusion, Fluidity, and Cardio Barre

I’m trying to get my ass in shape by firming up and leaning out. I’m not fat or overweight by any means – I am probably 5 feet 7 and weigh 120 lbs although when it’s that time of month, I can easily put on 5 to 7 lbs of water weight. But I’m really looking to tone up! I have an apple body shape, meaning most of my weight is carried in my midsection but I have incredibly slim arms and legs. The upside is that I can disguise my belly nicely with skirts (to show my legs) and long tops and shirts. As long as my arms are exposed, people think I’m skinny but that’s not really the case. The downside of this body type is that since I can easily disguise my figure, I’m less inclined to workout hard since in the back of my head I think, “Oh well, with the proper clothing I can look skinny.”

NO NO NO. Not anymore! That’s the old me. The new me just wants to be healthy, toned, and balanced! So I’m sticking to my plan of doing “one active thing a day” and am aiming to keep this up for the rest of my life. That’s a big commitment, I know, but then again it’s not. Doing one active thing for me can be anything from a 45 minute walk after work to a 3 hour home cleaning event to a one hour dance fest. Just something that gets me off the couch and moving!

For cardio, I am dancing, walking, jogging, jump roping, and doing cardio kickboxing at home to one of my many workout DVDs. But for strength training, I’m saying bye bye to the bootcamp style workouts with weights and using four well known programs that I know will garner much success and results if used consistently: Physique 57, Core Fusion, Fluidity and Cardio Barre. All three of these programs are pretty similar – they combine yoga and pilates with dancer-type ballet bar workouts to yield long, leans muscles, good posture and extra core strength. Also, I have these as DVDs…I don’t go to the actual classes. For one thing, I don’t have the money to blow on classes (average is $25 per class) and secondly, I love to work out at home!! In the mornings, I roll out of bed and turn on a DVD and get my workout over with. At night, after dinner and before bed, I punch out a session and hit the shower. It’s so convenient and I don’t have to deal with other people, parking, bringing water bottles and towels, etc. I loathe gyms because they remind me of sweaty prisons with heavy machinery (although here in LA it’s more like a meat market-slash-model/actress fest while wealthy and thin soccer moms read US Weekly while chatting on cell phones on the treadmill). Below are my reviews so far as I have used all of these DVDs thus far:

PHYSIQUE 57

Kelly Ripa swears by Physique 57 as her primary workout and there is a reason why. It kicks your ass. Literally! I just got the Physique 57 set of three DVDs in the mail two days ago but have already tried their 57 minute Full Body Workout and the 30 minute Express Workout (I still have to try the Arms and Abs workout later next week.) And boy, my legs and abs were SORE!! You go through some intense thigh and seat work (a nicer word for ass muscles) while holding onto a ballet bar or chair. Tons of squats, tiny pulses, and up-and-down moves while squeezing your heels together being balanced on your toes. OUCH! A fair amount of push ups, arm work with light and heavy weights, and some great moves using a light medicine playground ball (for example, keeping it between your thighs and squeezing it while shaking your hips to the left and the right. Did I mention this whole time you have to keep your heels touching together and stand at the top of your toes??) Oh, the pain. But it’s good pain. The instructor is kind of silly and goofy but she’s very motivating and says visual things like, “Squeeze the cellulite out!” Haha. Gotta love it. I heard classes are not only pricey but they only exist in NYC so the DVDs were the next best thing.

Physique 57 Rating: 8 out of 10 stars. I felt the burn. I like the energy. I love the music.

CORE FUSION

The Core Fusion series is a specialty held at the Exhale Spa in NYC and LA. I first heard about it from a friend, who swore that in two months, her body became a whole different machine. She went from out of shape to toned, firm, taut and her figure completely changed. Her waist whittled down, her thighs became long and lean, her posture was amazing and because of that, she looked like she grew two inches! Awesome results. Well, there’s nothing better than word-of-mouth referrals so of course I had to get the DVDs.

I got the three Core Fusion series DVDs: Body Sculpt, Pilates Plus, and Thighs & Glutes. I have tried all except the Thighs & Glutes. Like Physique 57, the Core Fusion concept uses a blend of yoga, pilates, light weights and the ballet bar or chair. However, I feel like Physique 57 focuses more on thighs and butt and Core Fusion focuses more on…well, the core. While my thighs and glutes burned like crazy doing Physique 57, my abs are seriously on fire when I do Core Fusion. The great thing about the Core Fusion DVDs is that it is 50 minutes broken down into five 10-minute sets. So it doesn’t even seem like a long time! You get a male and female instructor (I think hubby and wife?!) and they are perfect at cueing and instructing you what to do. Calming music, zen envrionment, simple yet effective. I REALLY like this series a lot and can see why people would get such success following these DVDs along with a good diet and a nice blend of cardio on the side.

Core Fusion Rating: 9 out of 10 stars. I can feel my abs sculpting themselves when I do these moves. Love the breakdown of 5 sets (10 minutes per set) and I cannot wait for the Abs & Arms DVD to come out in December 2009!

FLUIDITY

I got the Fluidity bar package as a gift and that’s actually how my love affair for ballet bar exercises began. This package came with three DVDs (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) as well as a playground ball and exercise bands. So it’s a complete package and well worth it since I use those bands for other strengthening moves like toning my arms and stretching my back. Excellent value. What I like about this program is that it utilizes the exercise bands, which can really lend alot to your strengthening and stretching routine. The instructor is not my favorite, and I can’t figure out why. Maybe it’s her leotard thong that totally shows her butt lol or just the way she talks but she kind of gets on my nerves. However, she did say something that really stuck with me: as long as you strength train using your own body weight (yoga or pilates), your body will shape to how it’s naturally supposed to look. No bulkiness, no thick arms, no meat-head style muscles. Just long, lean, firm limbs. Other than that, the workout is just like Physique 57 and Core Fusion but not as intense with the ab work.

Fluidity Rating: 7 out of 10 stars (but only because of the packaging). Take away the bands and ball and bar, and I’d give it 6 out of 10.

CARDIO BARRE

Cardio Barre is actually in Studio City, CA which is still quite far for me. But I first heard about this place when a male friend told me his girlfriend was taking the class there and “her butt literally got, like, three inches higher!!” Um hello, that’s all it took for me to buy this!

I actually really like the workout itself but cannot stand the male instructor. He’s just weird to me so I’d rather turn the sound off and blast music while following the moves on the screen. I like the Cardio Barre workout because it’s more cardio-based. It definitely gets my heart rate up way more than Physique 57, Core Fusion, or Fluidity. Also, you use weights in this program so if you enjoy utilizing 2 or 3-lb weights, then this is for you! Alot of stand-up style pilates, which is another favorite of mine.

Cardio Barre Rating: 8 out of 10. Gets your heart rate up and keeps it up. Good arm work for jiggly triceps!

Experiment: Day 4

Hi all, it’s Friday and Day 4 of my frozen foods/dinner/entree experiment. So many names to describe the pre-packed meals you find in the freezer aisle! Anyhoo, today I did something a little different. I only bought one frozen entree from Whole Foods but I used the serving tray (from one of my earlier meals, all washed and cleaned!) as a portion size container for a meal I made at home with leftover veggies (roasted bell pepper and carrots with salt and pepper) and served alongside 3 oz of Wildwood Aloha Baked tofu. Mind you, this experiment is more about portion size than anything else so using the serving tray counts as a freezer meal hopefully?? On to the food!

Breakfast = Nature’s Path Psyllium & Oatbran Cereal (I bought the cereal box because I’m planning on keeping it at work to have for breakfast next week)

Cost: $4.39 at Whole Foods (though I’m sure I can find it cheaper elsewhere)

Calories: 90 cal per 2/3 cup (but I ate double the amount coz I was starving after my morning workout – more on that later – and was craving cereal.) I had it with 1/2 cup of unsweetened Whole Foods 365 brand soy milk and that was 35 cal. I don’t like alot of milk with my cereal…just enough to “wet” it and that’s it! Soggy cereal is yucky to me.

Mid-morning Snack = 3 oz Wildwood Aloha Baked Tofu and roasted veggies (I was still hungry! That’s what happens when I workout hehe)

Cost: $3.99 for the tofu (divided into two 3-oz pieces)

Calories: 150 calories/3 oz of tofu. As for the veggies, um, I’m estimating 40 total?? I had about a cup and a half of roasted veggies with a dash of peanut satay sauce (that was like 20 cal)

Verdict: It was good but I added so much pepper to my veggies lol. Oh well. The tofu was sub-par. The flavor was bland and the texture was firm and almost rubbery – I felt like I was eating incredibly processed fake food, and even though the packaged tofu is a processed item, I feel like some taste less processed than others. Does that make sense at all or am I talking jibberish Reminded me of why I don’t buy marinated tofu anymore. Not really worth it.

Lunch = French Meadow Bakery Frozen Vegetarian Dal

Cost: $5.99

Calories: 370 (this is not within the range I want for my meals so I only ate half, which makes it 185 cal)

Verdict: Disappointing! I had high hopes for this dish considering how much I loved French Meadow’s Cuban Veggies and Brown Rice but this was plain at best. Zero flavor and it looked like brown and green vomit with a slab of rice – ewwww. The rice was supposed to be basmati but it tasted like anything but. I don’t expect super quality when it comes to frozen entrees but I had such success with the Seeds of Change penne and some other dishes that I was bummed about this frozen entree. Oh well, I learned my lesson! That’s what this experiment is all about

Dinner = Date night at Mama D’s in Manhattan Beach. I realize this is no frozen entree so I kind of cheated on the experiment today (sorry!) but how can I ignore date night and italian food? I’ll still give my review on the place, however, if you live anywhere near the South Bay or head down to the Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach neighborhood.

Verdict: Well, about five years ago when I worked in the area, I got takeout dinner at Mama D’s all the time. Not because I loved the food, but because it was easy and right down the street. I always remembered it as being over-rated, especially because it got rave reviews from all the locals. Granted, it’s very cozy Italian inside and frequented by the local families but I wasn’t super keen on the food quality. You get your usual pasta dishes and appetizers from here, but none of them shine with superior flavor. The prices range anywhere from $12 to $30 for entrees, and for that price, I have gotten some really amazing Italian food elsewhere.

Onto the meal this evening. We got seated immediately, which came as a nice surprise since there’s usually a wait. It was Friday eve, too, at 8pm so I was shocked that there was zero line and a few empty tables inside. Bad economy, maybe? Once seated, we were delivered an olive oil/garlic dish to dip the bread in but there was no bread. “It will be out in a just a minute,” the waitress promised. After 15 minutes went by, still no bread but we noticed that the servers were bringing out fresh loaves to all the other tables. Hmmmm. Another 10 minutes ticked on (by this time we had placed our orders and we thought the waitress saw our olive oil dish sans bread but apparently not) and we finally flagged down the server and asked for bread. Out came what looked like warm foccacia rolls, which we dipped in the oil and savored. It was alright at best…nothing special. I’ve had better.

We started off with an appetizer of bruschetta. Out came what looked like Pizza Hut garlic bread with almost-melted cheese and a small ramekin of roasted garlic and tomatoes. BLAH. I could totally make this at home and for $6.99, I felt ripped off. Three pieces of bread total.

For our entrees, I got the Caesar Salad and Chris ordered a pasta dish with sauteed spinach and calamari. My salad was sad, weak, and other than a couple tasty croutons, nothing was special about it. I’ve had some pretty spectacular Caesar salads before and this was a disappointment. On the other hand, I really enjoyed Chris’ dish and was happy he was feeding me a couple bites of it (thanks, hon!) Midway through our meal, Chris asked for a water but the server forgot and never brought it out. We didn’t bother asking anymore because for a tiny restaurant that wasn’t full (by the way, our server probably only had 4 tables to serve), I found this to be terrible service and just kept thinking about how her tip was dwindling by the minute.

I think the best thing about the meal was dessert (haha), which was two soft, chewy, chocolate chip cookies still warm. Who knows if they were homemade or purchased at the market but they were good. Kind of sad that the highlight of the evening was the cookies!

Why did we come hear, you ask, if I already had an opinion about it? Chris had never been and wanted to try it but I learned something tonight: if I already know a place isn’t that good, don’t let your boyfriend “fall and learn”! Just give him your opinion and try to steer him to the next best thing….oh well. Live and learn, right?

Rating of Mama D’s: 4 out of 10 stars. I can make better Italian at home. In my microwave. OUCH.

Experiment: Day 3

Real quick, I want to mention that I’m not blindly snapping up any frozen entree that I come across. Frozen meals have such a bad reputation and there’s a reason why – there are quite a few lines that are chock full of sodium, preservatives, MSG, artificial ingredients, saturated fat and calories. I’m looking for light, healthy, lean, preferably organic frozen meals that have the following:

1. 250-330 calories
2. Less than 4 grams of saturated fat
3. Between 500 and 800 milligrams of sodium
4. At least 3-5 grams of fiber
5. No MSG or artificial ingredients (meaning ingredients I can’t pronounce)
6. LEAN meals – no labels with “Hungry Man” or “XXL” or “GIANT”

Mind you, sometimes I might not be around these guidelines but I’ll do my best. I may also be eating more carbs than usual since a lot of these frozen entrees revolve around a starch of some sort but again, the portions are so tiny it’s OK. Plus I have been working out more lately and am balancing it out with light salads dressed in lemon juice (no oil) and plenty of water. Balance, balance, balance! I’ll leave deprivation to my late teens and early twenties

Day 3 Breakfast = Trader Joe’s Rice, Bean & Cheese Burrito

**Due to a broken camera, I couldn’t take a picture of the dish but pulled this image from heateatreview.com to show the size and portions. This is the chicken chile verde dish as opposed to my rice, beans & cheese.

Cost: $2.49 at Trader Joe’s

Calories: 260 (per burrito) Make note that there are TWO burritos, which equal 520 calories total for the whole package. Don’t fall into the trap of just eating frozen entrees without checking the serving size. Because this meal was basically two, I had one of the burritos for breakfast and the other one for lunch (served alongside another raw salad with carrots, greens and bell peppers.)

Verdict: I found this to be super satisfying. Remember, this dish came with TWO burritos but one serving only calls for ONE so I only had one for breakfast and then the other one for lunch. I also put Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce from Trader Joe’s on the burrito, which made for a spicy but ultra yummy meal. I felt like the spice also kept me satisfied longer…I’ve heard that before so maybe it’s all in my head. I would definitely purchase these again since they were cheap AND I had no problem with sodium content.

Day 3 Lunch = SAME AS BREAKFAST (see above) except served alongside a raw salad

Day 3 Dinner = Trader Joe’s Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas

Cost: $2.49 at Trader Joe’s (I think, I think! It was somewhere around there)

Calories: 150 calories for ONE enchilada (there were 2 in the box so the entire meal, which I had for dinner, was 300 calories total)

Verdict: Not as tasty as I had hoped. The inside was filled with spinach and corn and there wasn’t too much cheese, which contributed to the low calorie count. I even doused it with the hot sauce and the flavor was still sub par. I don’t think I will be getting this again unless I’m strapped for cash and time. But I love enchiladas so next time, I will try the Whole Kitchen brand (from Whole Foods) or Amy’s Organic.

Experiment: Frozen Entrees

Alright, before you start groaning and rolling your eyes and dismissing me, I’ll have you know that I’m no longer dedicating Pastries & Bacon to mainly high raw vegan foods. I’m taking a break (mentally and physically) from that lifestyle and going back to my roots: everything in moderation and doing what makes me happy, healthy, and balanced. Melissa from 2007/2008 is back and better than ever because this time, I’m incorporating healthier changes (like polishing off at least 62oz water everyday, having a green juice most mornings, eating a raw salad with every meal) while still having what I consider FUN with my food (that means a small cup of coffee in the morning, fatty brie or sharp parmesan with my pasta, etc).

So onto my experiment for the week: frozen entrees!! What this means is for the week, I’m going to leave my fridge COMPLETELY EMPTY and every morning, stop at the market on the way to work to pick up two frozen meals (one for lunch and one for dinner) plus a snack. The market is either Whole Foods or Trader Joes (both are right on my route to work so I’m not going out of my way at all). With each frozen meal, I am going to have a raw salad just to ensure I’m adding more nutrients and fill. Trust me, it’s not as unhealthy as you may think because I’m shopping smart when it comes to the frozen section, meaning I’m checking out the sodium, fat and fiber and protein content as well as the ingredients. No artificial crap for me although some processed ingredients might be scattered around here or there so please don’t judge.

Why am I doing this? Well for one, I’m just a wee tired of cooking and prepping meals. Need to take a break for a little bit. Spend less time in the kitchen and more time with my boyfriend, dog, friends, working out, being outside, gardening, etc etc. Face it, frozen entrees are convenient. No, I’m not lazy at all when it comes to cooking but a little convenience never hurt anyone Secondly, frozen entrees provide variety to your week – I mean, a different meal at every meal time! How awesome is that? I love variety so this is perfect. Third, instant portion control = instant calorie control. One of my downfalls is overeating and picking at leftovers and munching in the kitchen (see, I’m candid about my bad habits) so eating frozen entrees will definitely keep me from snacking since…there’s nothing left to snack on! And I don’t care if you eat raw, vegan, atkins, whatever…a calorie is a calorie. That’s math, plain and simple. Fourth, easy cleaning! We recycle so I’m very conscious about where the boxes will go…and I don’t have to slave away at the sink washing pan after pot after plate. YAY!

So here goes. I’m writing this a couple days in to my experiment so I’m playing catch up right now. Also, please note that my day includes some yogurt, fruit and other snacks so don’t be alarmed at the calorie count beneath each frozen entree – I’m eating MORE THAN THAT

Day 1 Lunch = Seeds of Change Venetian Penne Marinara

Cost: $5.49 (I think??) from Whole Foods

Calories: 300

Verdict: I like Seeds of Change because they use organic, real ingredients. Nothing processed, nothing fake. This was super super yummy but DANG! Those are some tiny portions!! The sad thing is that the portion size I got for the penne dish is really how much we should eat of pasta. This will for sure re-train my eye on gauging portion sizes (I like that!) I got real thirsty afterwards so the sodium content may have been a little too high for me. I chugged 50 oz of water after that so I felt alot better. I also added a giant raw salad on the side.

Day 1 Dinner = French Meadow Bakery Vegetarian Sweet ‘N Spicy Cuban Style Veggies

Cost: $5.99 from Whole Foods

Calories: 250

Verdict: SUPER SUPER filling and yummy. Came with brown rice and the mix of pineapple, veggies and a spicy sauce made it the perfect dish for dinner. I savored every bite and followed it up with a nice salad of greens, tomato, bell pepper and lemon juice. Not too shabby! Already planning on having it again for Day 2. And not thirsty at all either afterwards, meaning sodium content was good with my body.

Day 2 Lunch = Amy’s Organic Tofu Scramble

Cost: $4.99 from Whole Foods

Calories: 320

Verdict: This consisted of tofu scrambled with organic vegetables with hash browned potatoes on the side – real good, actually!! I was craving something “breakfast-like” for lunch so this did the job. I had a giant raw salad with it, too. Good for those who don’t like eggs but can eat tofu. I try to limit my soy intake because I believe it leads to stomach issues for me but the tofu portions were so miniscule it was all good.

Day 2 Dinner = French Meadow Bakery Vegetarian Sweet ‘N Spicy CubanStyle Veggies. AGAIN! Told you it was yummy!!

Broken Camera = Broken Heart :-(

So bummed! Yesterday at lunch, I pulled my Canon PowerShot SD750 (gift from Chris) out from my purse to snap a pic of what I was about to eat only to realize something is wrong! The lens is stuck and the camera makes a grunting noise an goes “beep beep beep” and the lens won’t close back in. Screen is blank, too. What to do…what to do. I could get it fixed but trying to save some money right now and repairing cameras can be so pricey. Luckily, Chris has a camera, so I’ll be borrowing that til I get this one fixed.

Contributing Editor Post: SEAFOOD

Got this in gmail yesterday: lobster, clams, shrimp and scallops over pasta. Um, my sister sure knows how to make me salivate on the other end of the computer.

Wolfpack!

Taken from the movie, “The Hangover”, which was such a hit over this past summer. Chris and I and Guido (the doggy) like to refer to us as “the wolfpack”. We seem to travel together from room to room in the house quite well.

MAJOR CRUSH

I confess, I have a huge crush on Michael Voltaggio from this season’s TOP CHEF. Not only is he talented, but check out his sleeve! Plus I’m a sucker for men who can cook – and I’m not talking about heating up leftovers either. I mean, real creative geniuses in the kitchen. I guess you could say Michael Voltaggio to me is like Ashley Judd or Alyssa Milano to Chris hehe.

2nd Football Sunday

As you all know, Sunday football started last weekend and we had a BLAST. So this most recent weekend, I upped the ante with some yummy meals.

Kicking off (get it?) football Sunday, was a scrumptious breakfast of whole wheat yogurt pancakes, taken from katheats.com (SOOOO good) and drizzled with some honey and smeared with butter, of course. We also had scrambled eggs topped with sliced avocado and fresh heirloom tomato. Chris’ version had bacon (of course) and I sliced up more tomato and sprinkled the slices with coarse sea salt instead.

After breakfast, I got into the “baking zone” and whipped up peanut butter & chocolate chip muffins and peanut butter cookies. I sort of wanted to use up all the peanut butter in the pantry and this was a great way to do so.

Sunday ended with an awesome dinner that was based on a recipe by new Food Network host, Melissa d’ Arabian.It was for her extra lemony shrimp scampi and Chris really loved this. We got our shrimp from Whole Foods, only to discover later that a pound was $2 cheaper at the usually-more-pricey Bristol Farms. Oh well…sorry to sound like a scrooge but I can be very financially-conscious sometimes!

Here is our appetizer of sliced heirloom tomato topped with homemade basil pesto and surrounded by a plumeria and pink flower (ALL from our garden!)

…and the dinner. YUM! Of course, I had to get my greens in so I served it alongside a salad of spicy arugula and tomatoes.

Disposable Containers Are Awesome

I got some of these disposable containers from Smart & Final and they are so great to use for a couple reasons: lightweight, instant portion control, see-through top makes it fun to see what you’ve got inside…I used it to pack two lunches for myself: Maryland crab cake salad (I purchased the crab cake from Santa Monica Seafood – one of my favorite places to shop for seafood and deli items) and raw veggie avocado sushi with a side asian salad topped with dulse and sesame seeds.

Thai, Twice

WOW. I have really really slacked on the posting lately and apologies all around. I’ve kind of taken a break for a little bit and re-evaluated my diet and lifestyle. I hate to say it, but I’m weaning off the super high raw for a little bit… as delicious as the foods are, I just can’t see myself limiting myself to eating a certain group of items (raw goat cheese, avocados, sweet potatoes, raw veggies) or not eating a particular group of things (bread, french toast, chocolate lava cake, etc.) All stuff in moderation, right? Well, I have to start practicing this so what I’m going to do instead is just make sure every meal (or most meals I have) are accompanied by a nice raw salad and then I can eat whatever else I want. I don’t know, it’s just an experiment to see how my body reacts but I love food and variety too much.

So onto something completely different: thai food. Actually, the thai papaya salad (aka SOM TAM), which I have grown to love and crave most days of the week. I picked up the salad at Araya Thai Cuisine in Westchester, CA and ordered two of them so I could take one to work the next day. Thinkin’ ahead, I am…

I love making this dish at home (I even bought the mortar and pestle used specifically for this dish from a Thai import company online lol) and I usually use this recipe from realthairecipes.com:

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon whole :garlic: cloves
• 2-10 :small chilies:, to taste
• 1 tablespoon :palm sugar:
• 1 tablespoon :fish sauce:, or 1/2 teaspoon :salt:
• 1 :long bean:, broken into 1.5″ pieces
• 1 :tomato:
• 2 teaspoons :lime: juice
• 1 cup shredded :green papaya:
• 3 tablespoons dry roasted :peanuts:
• 1 tablespoon :dried small shrimp:
• DIRECTIONS

1. First prepare the papaya by peeling the dark green skin. Then, hold the papaya in your hand, and smack the fruit lengthwise with a good sized knife. You want to create 1/2″ or so deep cuts into the fruit. Do this over and over until you’ve created a good amount of cuts. Watch your fingers! Then, cut the papaya lengthwise to produce long strips. You can also buy tools which can create long shreds, or even use a cheese grater (the big holes). Thai people use the knife method though!
2. In a ceramic mortar & pestle, add the whole garlic cloves and chilies. Pound with the pestle a few times to mash, then add the long beans.
3. Pound a few more times, and add a pinch of papaya. This helps mix the garlic & chilies. Pound some more.
4. Add the palm sugar, fish sauce or salt and pound more. Make sure everything is well mixed.
5. Add the tomato, chopped into large pieces. Pound more, but not as hard. Add the lime juice, dried shrimp and the rest of the papaya. Pound about 10-15 times while mixing with a spoon. You want to evenly coat the papaya with the juices while pounding the flavor into the papaya, but don’t pound so hard that the papaya disintegrates. Add the peanuts, mix and serve.

Football Sunday!

Today is the first sunday for football season so I’m sure many of you have been glued to the TV set watching game after game….oh wait, is that just me and Chris? LOL. Anyway, we like to start our football sundays off with a bangin’ good meal and today was a great way to kickstart football season.

Chris had a hodgepodge breakfast, which consisted of fried eggs, roasted potatoes and sweet chicken sausage…oh, and bacon of course!

I had another persisting craving for avocado mixed with truffle oil! I know…don’t ask why. I went out and bought white truffle oil and mashed it with a small avocado, topping it on a bed of fresh mesclun greens, baby yellow tomatoes from the garden and french green beans. So fresh. So good. I mean it looks so pretty – love it!

Craving Protein…Continued

I was still on must-have-protein mode last night and decided I would have breakfast for dinner, which meant a hella yummy three-egg omelette with greens and sundried tomato – mmmmm. It’s funny, I don’t usually eat eggs because sometimes they freak me out but I truly believe that when you’re having cravings that won’t go away, it’s your body telling you that it needs something. I have this feeling that my body is wanting some hearty protein right now, like eggs or raw goat cheese, so I’m gonna go ahead and honor my body…and give it what it wants

After dinner, I headed to my friend’s apartment for a housewarming party. I think I came under dressed, though, lol! All the girls were in short dresses, heels, and done up hair. I came looking like a frenchie sailor in my striped top, skinny jeans and ballet flats haha!

They had a delicious spread going on! Cheeses, crostini, baguette, artichoke and spinach dip and my friend’s famous crab dip. Freakin’ yum! I was so full from my dinner so I opted for three glasses of white wine instead haha. Not the best choice but I’m all about sauvignon blanc right now…plus one of the guests showed up with a white vino he got from Italy.

Me and my friends

Craving Protein

I don’t eat alot of protein but lately, I’ve been craving it! So yesterday for lunch I made Natalia Rose’s recipe for “Don’t Lose Your Cheesy Tacos” which never disappoints me See the recipe below:

3 oz raw goat cheese (thinly sliced) – yah, I like ALOT of cheese. Luckily, the raw goat cheese I get is so gentle on my stomach that I have zero probs. It’s awesome.

fresh raw corn from 1 ear

1 tomato (I used an heirloom from our garden)

1 clove of garlic

handful of cilantro (though I didn’t have any yesterday)

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together in a bowl. Layer on cabbage leaves with the slices of raw goat cheese. Roll up and EAT! It looks hella simple and easy but the flavors are delicious. Trust me!

Recap Part 3 – Final!

My flight out of Colorado was late – around 9pm – so before I left, my sister threw me a delicious BBQ. Dang, it was soooo good but I was sooooo full!! No complaints here, though. Everyone was making something so I decided to make asian potstickers as the appetizer. I got these thick, chewy, yummy potsticker wrappers from her local asian market and the filling was tofu and mushroom, pulsed in the food processor.

Getting steamed

Soft and chewy and doughy and 100% delicious

Served alongside three different dipping sauces – sweet chili, peanut and soy sauce with garlic and ginger

My sister wanted to make this roasted potato recipe, which was awesome. I ate more potatoes than I did anything else and I’m not even a huge potato person.

She also made simple roasted zucchini and baby portobello mushrooms

Nick, her boyfriend, was in charge of all the seafood (we had scallops, skewered shrimp and crab legs!!!) He was making a delicious mango vinaigrette to drizzle over all the food and it came out divine.

All the shrimp, waiting to get inhaled by us

All of it coming together – thanks so much, sis and Nick, for a wonderful time. XO!

Recap Part 2

I’m breaking up my Colorado posts – this one’s all about the picnic in the park my sister organized with me as the guest of honor (and a great excuse for her friends to get together haha!) We already decided on the menu before I even flew out there – it was going to be a potluck style so me and my sis made spring rolls (vegetarian and chicken) and deviled eggs.

My sis woke up early that morning to prep everything and make all our ingredients were ready in their bowls, waiting to be assembled. She’s so organized – geez!

Rehydrating the rice paper wrap

During the assembly. We added vermicelli noodles to the spring rolls and holy cow, were they good.

The goods

Time for the deviled eggs – I forgot how my sister concocted the filling but I did see a jar of mayo

The little halves waiting to get piped with the filling

My sister created a piping bag out of a ziploc and snipped a hole in the corner. It was so fun and easy to use. If you have kids, I highly suggest giving this job to your little one because they’ll have a blast.

Topped off with a sprinkle of paprika

Later, at the park. Me and my sis hanging.

The giant park, located in downtown Denver.

….and finally, the picnic!! PS: I ate WAY too many chips at the picnic haha.

Recap

Here’s a quick recap of my trip to Colorado – ugh, I have not kept up with my blogging this week! Yikes!!

City O’ City, the very cool vegetarian cafe by day/hoppin’ bar by night. Sorry for the blurred photo. It was dimly lit with candles.

I made my Key Lime Pie Shake for my sister and her boyfriend. The verdict? SUCCESS! They loved the tartness and subtle sweetness of the smoothie. It never disappoints. Check out the recipe here.

Me and my sister in Boulder, one of my favorite places! So indie, so hippie, so granola. How unlike LA haha.

Us with LARA Bar samples – there was a fair earlier that day and they were giving away pint sized portions of LARA bars – awesome.

Me with a freakin’ huge zucchini. Apparently, they have something called “Zucchini Races” where people stick wheels on these giant things and dress them up and race them down a ramp. Odd but I like it!

Good ole Boulder!

Had dinner at Pasta Jay’s that night. For dinner, I opted for a shrimp caesar salad because I was on carb overload and couldn’t look at another piece of bread or pasta for the life of me. I’ve been to Pasta Jay’s once before (about two years ago) and it was just as good as I remembered it.

The group of us

After dinner, we stopped by a gelato store next to Pasta Jay’s and I got the Dulce de Lece flavor mixed in with cappuccino. MMMMM!!! Their gelato is supposedly all organic, no hormones, no antibiotics, nothing but natural tasty goodness and local.

A Beautiful Plate

I got back from Colorado late last night so I’m still uploading my images to post. In the meantime, my sister happily sent over their dinner from this evening: a hummus starter, followed by asian spring rolls stuffed with shrimp and crab (leftover from the seafood bbq they had for me before I left yesterday). Mmmmm!!!

Blogging From The Blackberry

Ughhh I’m going to try real hard not to develop a bad Blackberry habit but I got a new phone today plus the unlimited internet pkg so it’s gonna be hard not to. I decided to cancel my internet at home so at least now I have it on my phone.Anyway I’m off to Boulder, CO for dinner at a place called Pasta Jays. It’s an awesome carb and cheese land lol. Anyway, below is a pic of me at the street market in Boulder, holding a giant zucchini which looks like a toddler in my arms. Hmmm…I’d love to take this sucka back to LA with me.

Bloggin’ From The Road

More like from Denver, CO! I skipped out of LA for Labor Day Weekend to come visit my sister and her boyfriend and am already having a blast. Last night after touching down, they picked me up and whisked me to downtown Denver to this AWESOME vegetarian cafe (by day) and cool dimly lit charming bar (by night). I didn’t take any pics unfortunately because by the time we got the food we were starving and ate so quickly haha! But we shared the mediterranean platter, which had hummus, sheep milk feta, olives, pesto, flatbread and falafel yummmmm. Then we moved on to their sweet potato fried croquettes, which melted in our mouths and I will definitely try to make that at home. Finally, we ended with an enormous florentine pizza, made on a vegan pizza crust with three cheeses, spinach and tomato. Heavenly! The place is called City O’ City so if you’re ever in downtown Denver, I highly recommend the place!

Packin’ Ahead

I made my lunch for tomorrow ahead of time because I already know I won’t have time to do it tomorrow morning since I have to jump into work early to get all my work done before labor day weekend. So I made an asian lunch inspired by you know who (TGOP) featuring an asian burrito, potstickers with a mushroom/pea filling and an avocado side salad. Hope this holds up well in the fridge overnight!

Giada’s “Checca” Sauce

So my internet at my house isn’t working!! ARGH! After a frustrating week of a blinking DSL light on my modem, I finally called Verizon and was on the phone with CS for 45 min before they solved the issue. NOT!! My internet worked for an hour and then the light started blinking and my browsers wouldn’t load – WTH! Sooooo frustrated. I had to get back on the phone with customer support and after another freakin’ 45 minutes, they told me they’d have to send someone out on a workday “between 8am and 5pm” to check it out. Um. NO. I’m not about to take a day out of my work time to wait for Verizon to come and check the internet crap out. So I’ve decided to (gasp!!) disconnect my internet at my house. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand, it forces me not to sit infront of my computer and surf the web considering I spend 9 hours at work staring at the computer (soooo bad for my eyes. I need to stop!) But I LOOOVE the internet. I’m addicted. A night of fun for me is surfing the web and listening to iTunes with a vodka tonic – so so pathetic lol.

So anyway, that brings me to this post. Since I didn’t have internet last night, I watched some way old Giada de Laurentiis “Everyday Italian” DVDs (yeah, I own a set) back from when she was sweet and nice and cool. Now, I feel like she’s gotten a little too snobby and wears way, way, way too much makeup on TV. I watched an episode where she made a Checca sauce, which is basically a raw tomato sauce that you make in the food processor with fresh cherry tomatoes, green onion, garlic and parmesan. I got inspired and came home tonight to make some for Chris and I. We picked the tomatoes from the garden and at the very end, I sliced up some fresh bufala mozzarella to toss in. I served mine with kelp noodles and Chris ate his with spelt spaghetti. Here’s the recipe:

2 lbs cherry tomatoes, halved
3 sacallions (white and pale green parts only), coarsely chopped
1 (1oz) peice of Parmesan cheese, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves
8 fresh basil leaves
4 Tbsp oliveoil
4 oz fresh Mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper (+ more to taste, if desired)

Serves 6-8 (serving size based on 8 1/2 cup servings)

• In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the cherry tomatoes, scallions, garlic, Parmesan, basil and oil just until the tomatoes are coarsely chopped (do not puree). Transfer the sauce to a large bowl.
• Stir in the mozzarella and 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper. Season with more salt and pepper to taste.
• Toss the sauce immediately with your choice of freshly cooked pasta (preferably with a long, thin strand such as spaghettini or angel hair: the fresh flavors seem to go perrfectly with these delicate pastas)

Oh, here’s a last minute caprese salad I made I don’t know about you but I’m a huge fan of yellow tomatoes!

Salads

I started having more salads again this week. I was getting carb face big-time so I have to cut back the amount of bread and crackers I’m eating haha.

Exhibit A: Tofu salad (smashed up extra firm tofu with some mayo, SPIKE seasoning, dijon mustard) topping a layer of fresh greens and the tomatoes from our garden

Exhibit B: Avocado kelp salad with shredded zucchini (purchased at the salad bar of Whole Foods) and some fresh mixed greens and lightly sprinkled sesame seeds. YUM!

Pizza, Please

OK I don’t care that I’m lactose intolerant and that I can’t eat regular cheese – seeing Amanda’s recipe for a Whole Wheat, Spinach, Blue Cheese and Apple pizza on The Grains of Paradise made me want to have some!! And that I did. I made the dough from scratch, following her recipe, which was a recipe from the Eat, Live, Run blog and topped it with fresh spinach, thinly sliced apple, and a sprinkling of blue cheese and goat cheese. OMG. Heavenly.

Before

After!

Serve me up a slice!

A New Kind of Breakfast

I wanted to make Chris a new kind of breakfast so I basically took dinner leftovers and threw it together with some eggs. I feel like adding eggs to anything can instantly turn it into a breakfast of sorts LOL. Anyway, I wouldn’t put this at the top of the “Breakfast of Champions” list and Chris mentioned it tasting “interesting” (we all know what that means) but it was my way of mixing s*** up!

I took some leftover quinoa salad that had diced cherry tomato and feta in it, and scrambled it up with some eggs and light soy sauce…

….then I fried up the rest of the potstickers from the night before….

….and voila! You have my interesting breakfast! Cheers!

DJ AM, RIP

This has absolutely nothing to do with food but I am saddened by the loss of Adam Goldstein (otherwise known as DJ AM, who once dated Nicole Richie and Mandy Moore). The weirdest thing was that I JUST saw him at his very last gig at RAIN at The Palms in Las Vegas when I was there two weeks ago…here we are right below his DJ booth, too!! Hehe that’s me on the left in case you have no idea what I look like

ZICO COCONUT WATER

Lucky for me, my friend Jules works for ZICO, doing their events and marketing. So this weekend, she gifted all of us (this was the same gal who orchestrated a round of golf and karaoke for her bday) with a huge box of ZICO coconut water and for the girls, CUTE Zico bikinis – brazilian cut to flatter the bum!! YAY!

For those of you who don’t know what Zico is, ZICO is a pure premium coconut water that contains more potassium than a banana, 4 other essential electrolytes, no added sugar, no fat, no cholesterol, and only has 60 calories. It’s the natural way to rehydrate and replenish. ZICO is nature’s sports drink (and highly regarded in the surfing and sporting community) – I’m a huge fan of coconut water so this is perfect because I don’t have to whack away at young coconuts! Thanks for the swag, Jules!

Us in our matching ZICO bikinis!