Some Things and Some Stuff

After ripping my last contact lens in Pittsburgh, I pulled out my phone to call my eye doctor and order a new box. I scrolled down to "D" for "Dr. Geri Bauer" (first name necessary because I used to see a Dr. Bauers when I lived with my parents...7 years ago. Okay, no longer necessary). 

"How many doctors is it appropriate for a 29-year-old woman to have in her phone?" I asked Tom (shout out). 

"If you have any more than 6, there's something wrong," he said.

I have 8. And a physical therapist. There's something wrong. And it's eating up too much of my time. 

I tutored right after work today and then rushed to my appointment with my rheumatologist. I waited for so long I had to cancel my next appointment, which was with my physical therapist. The bottom line: All of these mediocre health "issues" are taking up way too much of my time. 

The rheumatologist stands by his initial diagnosis of fibromyalgia, which I had hoped was maybe a bit premature. I definitely have hip bursitis, which is the only thing that's currently bothering me. Bursitis, he says, is actually common in people with fibro. So, according to him, the pain in my hip is a symptom, not the actual issue.

Since my stomach is still reeling from my weekend and my late-night hankerings, I'm not only going to try to stick to a vegan diet, but I am going to be mindful of eating foods that also aid in anti-inflammation (is that the correct terminology?):

Minus the meat, dairy, and unlimited cooked Asian mushrooms

Going to the doctor today also meant an encounter with the dreaded scale, something I've avoided since around the Super Bowl. I asked the nurse if I could not look at the scale. I didn't. However, as she was putting information into the computer, she mentioned that I weighed less than I did at my last visit...I knew that, but I also know that I weigh more than I did at the peak of my weight loss...which was still shy of my ultimate goal. 

When she left the room, I quickly snuck on the scale before the doctor arrived. Okay, it's not so bad. I'm up 5 lbs, but that also means I'm still down 5 lbs. Some pants are too tight, but none are so tight that they actually feel shorter. My gut may feel bloated, but it's not as roll-y as it was before. There is still hope.

The new bottom line: I need to get back on the horse. That means: the weekends are my time for recreation, but that doesn't mean I can go crazy with food. I'm officially back on the vegan horse, which seems like an oxymoron (speaking of which, just found a leak of Schoolboy Q's new album...can't wait to see him in 2 weeks).  

Okay, that was slightly irrelevant. Time to get back on track in more ways than one:

MONDAY = GYM AND COUNTING CALORIES. This week doesn't count because Monday was a holiday. 

Not much interesting food news to post (other than I've been stuffing my face in bed late at night), but I did try to recreate my Pittsburgh golden oat smoothie yesterday. 

I made this with one banana, a cup (I think? It was too early for memories) of oats, a cup of almond milk, turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger. And ice. No perfume, although it's in the photo. The result: Too watery. Needs less milk and more banana. Do over!

I also managed to stay vegan at Surf Taco yesterday. 

Costa Rican burrito bowl, no cheese, add guac

I was also excited to come home to a case of Brad's Raw Crunchy Kale from Laura!!! (I think I ate 3 already).

Nom nom nom...my bestie is the best

I got back in the kitchen today, too, because I was inspired by some Simple Veganista recipes. 

For dinner today, I made roasted cauliflower and chickpeas with mustard dressing. 

This was very easy and much more tasty than I expected - I mixed a head of cauliflower (cut into florets) and a can of rinsed and drained garbanzo beans with 2 tablespoons of EVOO and some salt and roasted it at 400 degrees for 45 minutes (stirring every 15). I kept checking the recipe to see what I forgot. No seasonings?! Surely you must be mistaken, Simple Veganista!

Meanwhile, I prepared two very uninvolved things: a cup of quinoa on the stove and mustard dressing. The dressing calls for a tablespoon of Dijon mustard and a tablespoon of whole grain mustard, and of course I chose today to bring my Dijon mustard to work and leave it there (it's always something - but better mustard than my wallet). I used 2 tablespoons of whole grain Dijon mustard (mind-blowing, right? Thanks, Trader Joe), 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, and a tablespoon of EVOO. I mixed this dressing with the beans and cauli when they were done roasting and had cooled for a few minutes. Oh, I also chopped up very little parsley and mixed that in, too. Whenever I go to chop parsley, I'm like "Why the F did I buy this?! I hate this!" ...but it was pretty unnoticeable in this mustardy goodness (I could eat mustard with a spoon).

I don't have nutrition facts yet, but this is supposed to make 2 servings with some leftover quinoa (yeah, serve this on top of the quinoa, BTW). This was a great portion size, absolutely delicious, and sometimes sinus-clearing (and almost a parallel sentence). I give it an A.

I also finally made rustic apple and pear crisp. 

This was also really easy: wash, core, and dice 3 apples and 3 pears. If you're like me, laugh at yourself and how inept you are at coring and dicing things.

Mix with 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, a tablespoon of cornstarch, a tablespoon of sugar, and a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon (crap, I used a heaping tablespoon). This goes into a 9 x 9 baking pan...or, if you're like me, an 8 x 8 baking pan and also a loaf pan.

Then mix together 1 3/4 cup oats, a cup of chopped walnuts (crap, I bought a half cup...improvised with another half-ish cup of sliced almonds), 1/2 cup pure maple syrup, a teaspoon of vanilla extract (imitation for me), and some salt. This goes on top of the apple-pear mixture, but it didn't seem to make enough for me. The recipe calls for an optional 1/4 cup of almond meal and it probably needs it.

This bakes at 350 for 35-40 minutes. I went with 35 since the oven was still cooling down from 400 degrees.

No nutrition facts here, either, but this serves 6. I mean...one. Because I'm about to eat the whole thing in one sitting.

Many Pictures of Gross Things I Ate

#1: Shout out to my broseph since middle school, Chris, who just read my blog from start to finish. I miss you, buddy!!

As I began writing this last night, I was in bed, stuffing my face with nacho kale chips I purchased for tonight. I finished eating them in the car on my way to the CVS drive thru (CVS is across the street).

Wanna see what I ate this weekend? (I don't).

We went out to Leggett's in Manasaquan because Steve's friends, Matt and Mary (hi guys!), participated in the Valentine Plunge to raise money for ALS. Leggett's was packed for the after party, so after a Bloody Mary, we ended up at O'Neill's, now known as Manasquan Beach House. 

The sliders and the wings are not mine. Well, neither is the pizza, but I ate a slice. The mac and cheese was supposed to be buffalo mac and cheese, so after Briele and I ate this one, we made sure to get the correct order.

In the shadows of my iPhone lies BUFFALO MAC AND CHEESE!

The stuffed avocado with mushrooms and herbed bread crumbs was amazing. 

As were the shrimp egg rolls and sinus-clearing wasabi sauce. 

When we got back to Steve's, Briele and I devoured the vegan cupcakes I had brought from Papa Ganache (can I have a job, please?): another caramel pretzel and a Samoa. 

We each got a half. The Samoa was AMAZAZING. (extra AZ)

Thus began the weekend of Briele's 26th birthday. After a food-coma-induced nap, we went to Connolly Station, my most recent version of Cheers, although I haven't been there in ages. While there, we had mucha tequila and this was the best we were able to look all night:

After sleeping until the wonderful hour of 11 AM, it was clear that we needed brunch so we headed to

This is orange juice. It goes well with champagne on a Sunday morning.

These are delicious potatoes. And challah French toast (chaaaallahhhhh!). And an egg white omelette with BACON and Brie.

After downing all of this and lingering at the table for a bit, we went to get (free) pizza at Johnny Mac's. Like every trip to Asbury Park, we ended at Confections of a Rock Star (cupcaaaaaaaakes!), where Briele paid homage to herself.

We probably ate more after that. Ever since, I've been moody and feeling farty and bloated. I had to buy coffee at work on Monday, and I had to put milk in it because there was no other choice, but I've gone back to eating vegan since then (woopty doo; it's Wednesday). 

Anyway, tonight is traditionally taco night, but because the weather forecast looks like this, 

Courtesy of Mrs. Boyarsky

I opted to stay home. I'm supposed to be leaving for Nashville tomorrow night anyway (provided that my flight will get off the ground in Snowpocalypse 2K14 # 8,0000), so I'm glad I have time to do some more stuff around the house, anyway. However, Solo Dolo Taco Night feels a bit like this:

Courtesy of http://www.amazingsuperpowers.com/

I put on the Taco Cloud playlist. I made my guacamole and assembled my ingredients.

I made some Spanish rice and heated up some vegan refried beans. Then I assembled my vegan burrito...

... and texted Steve and Briele, "I miss you guys."

However, without those two bad influences around, I could only muster 1.5 burritos :)

Pros: That Daiya cheese was good.

Cons: Whole Foods regular fresh salsa is better than their chipotle garlic. 

Well, time for my final preparations for Nashville and (but hopefully not) work tomorrow.

Adios!

Day Twenty: A quick but late post

I don't know if it's the vegan diet or the garcinia cambogia, but every morning that I get on the scale, I seem to weigh about 1 lb. less. That puts me at 8 lbs. down so far! I can make my stomach flat when I suck it in and my love handles are significantly reduced and almost non-existent (that's what I always notice first). It probably helps that last night, I decided to nap while the dishwasher ran (I needed that damn Ninja again) and when I woke up, I decided that I was tired enough to just go to bed without dinner. So here's how yesterday went: 

Totals	725	123	16	34	1,284	23
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	475	27	24	26	1,016	22
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

This should be a quick post becaue I didn't eat anything new and exciting yesterday and didn't eat much, period.

For breakfast I had the same smoothie + blueberries I had for dinner the night before. Of course when I was in a rush in the morning, it came out so thick it would barely pour from the pitcher. Plus I worried about walking around work with blue lips all day. 

For lunch I had vegatable stir fry leftovers.

I forgot to eat the hummus and celery I had packed for a snack. Then I left it in my car overnight, but it's been so cold, it's probably still good. I did try some delicious Brad's Raw Leafy Kale chips that Nancy brought in and their vegan cheese satisfied my cheese craving (temporarily; I did buy Tofutti cheese and a Tofutti pizza on my way home from work).

I finally had all of the ingredients for the vegan burgers and the satay noodle salad I want to make. I was set on the vegan burgers for dinner, especially because of the tofutti cheese. Alas, the Ninja was dirty again. I was famished so I snacked on a serving of Trader Joe's pretzel flats. Then I deciced to take an hour-long 6 pm nap while the dishwasher ran. I ended up waking up around 7:30 and after 15 groggy minutes out of bed, I decided to forget it and go to bed for the night.