I won!

I won a bottle of wine! For selling the most specials at work . I may not have a “real” job yet or a solid future plan at the moment, but I have a free bottle of Spanish Garnacha!!

In all honestly, I probably won more out of luck than my super waitressing skills. Also, the Bulgarian girl with the sultry accent who always wins these contests by a landslide was not working last night. But whatever….I have free wine, and I am happy.

After a run in the freezing cold today (I guess it’s winter now!), I picked up some lunch from Farm Cart downtown. Farm Cart is a new to-go lunch spot opened up by one of my favorite restaurants- Farm 255. They get all their ingredients from local farms, and everything is incredibly delicious!

I’ve been a few times already, and I always get their cauliflower soup:

It’s served with croutons, a drizzle of olive oil, and freshly grated nutmeg. Fantastic!! I love love love this soup!

Today I also got the tortilla espanol, which is a cold frittata with potatoes topped with red pepper jelly and served with a side salad.

Also very delicious. If you have never tried red pepper jelly before, you should!

What did you have for lunch today?

Oh, also, the restaurant I work at is having a Christmas party on Sunday and we are all bringing food. Everyone seems to be bringing some kind of dip or dessert, and I would like to bring something healthier but also tasty. I was thinking of maybe some kind of salad?? I think there will be plenty of carb and cheesy goodness, so I want to bring something with lots of veggies that people will like. Does anyone have any ideas?

Is it winter yet?

It has been getting colder in Georgia! Well, sort of. It was freeeezzzzing and rainy last night when I went out with some friends for dinner/drinks, but this morning when I went outside all bundled up ready for winter….it was magically 70 degrees and sunny. What season is it? Make up your mind Georgia! (I realize that winter technically does not start until later in December, but in my mind, after Thanksgiving = winter.)

I’m really not a fan of cold weather, but I am a fan of cold weather comfort foods! 

Exhibit A: Green lentils cooked with onions and red pepper topped with greek yogurt and a baked sweet potato.

Ok, so I know that the green lentils look a little gross in the picture, but I promise they taste great! Especially if you mash up the sweet potato in the lentils. Mmmmm….so warm and delicious!

Exhibit B: Gingerbread tea.

Definitely a new favorite! I’m sort of obsessed right now…

Adding to Simply Savor’s “You know your a health foodie when..”, you know you are a health foodie when you say things like you are obsessed with a tea flavor. I don’t think normal people don’t say things like that…

What is your favorite cold weather comfort food?

Good Morning!

I set my alarm early enough to go for a run before work today, but since I worked a double shift yesterday, waking up and running was so not happening. I should have known better. 

This morning coffee > running.

Me and all my bed-head glory with a BIG mug of coffee with pumpkin spice creamer. Coffee + pumpkin and cinnamon = true love. I’m on cup number 2! Whooooooooo cooooffffeeeeee!!!!!!

This creamer is probably one of the worst things you can put in your body (INGREDIENTS: WATER, SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OIL, LOTS OF CHEMICAL INGREDIENTS THAT SHOULDN’T BE IN YOUR FOOD…). But 1/2 tablespoon plus a big splash of skim milk per giant mug is plenty to put some holiday flavor in your caffeine. Everything in moderation.

Ok, I’m off for ANOTHER double shift. If you go out to eat today, please tip your servers well! (PS: 15% is BS especially if your meal is under $10…seriously!)

Have you ever worked in a restaurant before? Hated it? Loved it? And do you think you are a good tipper?

You might be over Thanksgiving posts by now, but…

….are you tired of pie recipes??? If you are like me, then the answer is, “No, you can never have enough pie recipes, especially when they involve pumpkin and chocolate!”

Chocolate Marbled Pumpkin Pie

adapted from  Food and Wine

• Pre-made 9 in. pie dough (I have actually never tried to make my own pie dough before…it always seems like a daunting task for some reason)
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar (original called for 3/4 cup, but I thought it was plenty sweet with 1/2 c)
• 1 tablespoon cornstach
• 1 heaping tbsp. cinnamon (original called for 2 tsp…rule of thumb: always, always increase amount of cinnamon in recipes!)
• other spices: 3/4 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• pinch salt
• 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup light coconut milk (original called for heavy cream)
• 3 oz. bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacoa chips…soooo good!)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F and line 9 in pie pan with crust.
2. Bake pie crust until golden (I did about 15 minutes.)
3. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, cornstarch, spices, and salt until smooth.
4. Whisk in pumpkin and coconut milk.
5. Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each 30 seconds. (This will prevent chocolate from burning….or you could melt it in a double broiler over the stove.)
6. Transfer 1 cup of pumpkin filling to a small bowl and mix melted chocolate.
7. Pour remaining pumpkin filling in crust.
8. Dollop chocolate mixture on top and swirl with a butter knife.
9. Bake pie for about 45 minutes.
10. Bring to large family holiday gathering and don’t tell any non-health nuts about subbing the light coconut milk for cream until they have enjoyed a slice!

Although desserts are my favorite thing to make for holiday, I also brought a big fall salad to our Thanksgiving:

In the salad:

• 2 bags mixed baby greens
• 4 Bartlett pears
• 6 slices of prosciutto, sauteed

I also made a grapefruit dressing:

• 2-3 tbls grapefruit vinegar (found at Trader Joe’s!!!)
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp honey
• salt and pepper

My whole plate at Thanksgiving:

Salad, turkey (we had 2 types: classic and mesquite roasted!), ham, butternut squash (recipe in last post), parmesan mashed potatoes, and stuffing (recipe in last post).

Un-pictured: sausage balls and cheese and crackers for appetizers, wine, pie, brownies, and decaf coffee with cream. This was ALOT of food!! 

While I was having a food hangover the next day, my brother was ready for a big breakfast:

That’s four pieces of bacon, two eggs, and cheddar cheese between two waffles.

Just to emphasize, in case anyone is just skimming this post, I did not eat this breakfast sandwich, I am drinking tea with a still-full-from-Thanksgiving stomach while marveling at my brother’s appetite.

Sometimes, I wish I was a teenage boy….

On another note, wondering what to get your green-living loving and foodie friends??? How about some edible shoes?

I would love to give these to somebody just to see their reaction, lol.  Have you started Christmas/holiday shopping yet?

13.1, lots of food, and family fun

My high school cross countries buddies and I have run the Atlanta Half Marathon every year on Thanksgiving since our senior year of high school! This year was our 6th time running it together. I can’t believe we have kept up the tradition for so long!

While running, we like to play a game where we take turns naming a Thanksgiving food for each mile. The first mile will be something small like warm rolls, and then we gradually move up to our favorite foods. Examples: this year’s mile 6 was sweet potatoes, mile 8 was wine (not a food, but whatever), mile 10 was pumpkin pie, etc. It’s silly, but it really gets us excited about finishing each mile and reminds us that soon we will be gorging on Thanksgiving food . How do you motivate yourself in long races?

Unfortunately, none of us had trained as much as we usually do, but somehow we finished right at 2 hours! That’s a 9:15 min/mile pace! I saw our time while crossing the finish line, and I couldn’t believe it. Then I stopped running and realized I could barely walk. Or bend my knees. Or stand up after sitting down without dramatically moaning in pain.

I have never been soooo sore and stiff after a race! I’ve literally been limping around all day. I guess I’m in really good cardio shape, but my legs were not ready for 13 miles! I think it will be a few days before I am able to run again….

On to the food! I actually took some good pics, but I left my camera cord at my apartment, and I’m staying with my parents for the rest of the weekend. However, I will share a couple links to recipes that my sister and I made today:

Rustic Bread Stuffing with Bell Pepper and Thyme from Epicurious. The changes we made were to use ciabatta bread instead of country style white and yellow and red peppers instead of green pepper. It turned out great, but I think the star recipe was….

Roasted Butternut Squash with Rosemary, Pecan, and Gorgonzola from Kayln’s Kitchen. We actually used walnuts instead of pecans (b/c the store was out of pecans when we went grocery shopping Thanksgiving eve…). This was hands down my favorite dish at dinner this year, and probably one of my favorite Thanksgiving dished of all time! We made this instead of sweet potato casserole this year (usually one of my favs) and I didn’t miss it AT ALL! We used about 5 pounds of chopped butternut squash, and it all got devoured except for this little bit:

The remains. (Picture courtesy of Mac Photo Booth)

Stay tuned for more Thanksgiving food pics + an awesome dessert recipe (hint: it involves pumpkin and chocolate!) when I have my camera cord. Until then, I’d love for you to tell me: what was your favorite Thanksgiving dish this year?

Pre-Thanksgiving Thanks

 “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” 
William Arthur Ward

Things I am thankful for:

1. My family. They are all really nice. Seriously…no one is mean at all, no one causes lots of drama, and no one drives me crazy. Maybe we are a little boring, but I couldn’t have asked for a more loving and supportive family.

sibs

parents

2. My health. I’m young, healthy, and full of energy. I have an awesome immune system, and I hardly ever get sick. My body isn’t perfect, but it’s strong and lets me run everyday .

3. Good food. Chocolate, avocados, tomatoes, almond butter, squash, spinach, cheese…and lots more. And wine. I am very thankful for wine, too.

4. Hulu. If you haven’t been to this website, GO! I don’t watch TV, but I have watched full seasons of shows on hulu. I finished Arrested Development a while ago, and I currently just finished the third season of Lost. What. An. Amazing. Show. Anyone else fans of Lost??

If I had to choose someone on the island to hook up with, it would definitely be Sayid.

Sawyer would be my 2nd choice.

I think both these guys would win a fight against Edward Cullen (sorry Twilight fans!!).

How did I start off talking about loving my family and end up talking about my fictional character crushes on Lost? Oh well…Let’s assume this list going in decreasing order (family > health > food > hott TV characters). 

What are you thankful for?

Or most importantly, who is your favorite character on Lost? 

Just kidding, but seriously, I want to know….who is your current fictional character crush?? (Please, please don’t name a Twilight character!!!)

Vegan for a day??

10 AM: I started off well. I made some oatmeal with 1/3 cup oats, 2/3 cups water, and one banana then topped it with a microwaved granny smith apple with dark brown sugar and cinnamon.

Didn’t miss the milk at all!

11AM: I went to work. The special at lunch today was fried zucchini topped with tomato sauce. They made some for all the servers to try. I immediately dug in without thinking….yummm…..swallow…..wait…..they probably used egg to batter those zucchinis. Oh well, it’s just one bite, right?

Questions to full-time vegans: Do you constantly have to ask people how things are prepared before you eat them? Are you concerned about every trace of animal products in foods, or do you not worry about very small amounts of egg or butter that might be in a food? Do you find it easier to just avoid eating things you don’t prepare yourself?

3 PM: Got home from work. Food I had at home: bag of spinach, tahini, canned salmon, chicken tortilla soup, flax seed, oats, milk, eggs, chocolate.  Time to go grocery shopping. After I watch an episode of Lost on hulu.

4PM: *Ring* Ring* (Or rather my current ringtone: “It was 100 degrees as we sat beneath a willow tree…” Anyone know the band??). 

Girl from work: “Hey, Tyler!! How’s it going?”

Me: “Pretty good…”

Girl: “Do you want to work for me tonight? I, uh, have a headache….”

Now, I don’t believe for a second that this girl was too sick to go into work. But I live in a college town and Thursday is the first official night of the weekend and a GREAT night for servers to be working. I have no idea why she wanted to give me her shift, but of course I took it! And made the $100 + that she didn’t. 

I think you can predict what happened next…no time to grocery shop, so I made a salad with canned salmon, spinach, and tahini…..then tried the dinner specials at work (shrimp diabalo and chicken with herbed goat cheese…. Oh. My. Gosh. I love eating.) and ate chocolate when I got home.

So my attempt at veganism was pretty pathetic. I would have done better if I had planned ahead, but I didn’t know that I was going work a double shift. I plan on trying again on a day when I have more free time sometime before Thanksgiving (hopefully!). I know that I can do it, and I want to prove to myself that I can… even if I don’t do it on the right day. 

The good news: now I can stalk everyone’s blogs that actually succeeded today and copy their vegan meals for my own vegan day!

So tell me, what is your favorite vegan meal to cook?

A little book review and other random thoughts and eats…

Quote of the day (as told to me on g-mail chat): “You are the Keanu Reeves of typing.” I’m a TERRIBLE speller and typer…put the two together and I’m almost incoherent on the internet. I hope I do a little better blogging than g-mail chatting….

Ok, now onto food blogging, finally! Its been a while. My days have been crazy, my eating has been sporadic, my camera has not been charged, but now I’m back!

I have been reading a very interesting book called Eat to Live. His main emphasis is the nutrient to calorie ratio in foods…so the more nutrients per calorie in a food, the more you should eat of it.

I’ve sort of been experimenting with trying to do a version of his specific dietary recommendations:

1. Eat unlimited raw veggies. He recommends aiming for a whole pound every day!!! Raw veggies have the most nutrients per calories.
2. Non-starchy cooked veggies are also unlimited.
3. Eat at least 4 servings of fresh fruit. (I like this one! I love fruit, but for some reason feel like I shouldn’t eat more than a couple servings. Permission to eat unlimited fruit = happy.) BUT no dried fruit and no fruit juice…too much sugar.
4. Eat one cup of beans or legumes per day. He especially recommends bean soup since he thinks you eat it slower b/c its hot….I don’t know if that’s true for me, but black bean or lentil soup every day?! Sure! Does hummus count, too? I’m gonna say YES
5. Eat up to one serving of whole grains or starchy veggies (ie oatmeal, sweet potatoes, winter squash, corn…). OK, don’t freak out yet, b/c this recommendation was actually just for the first 6 weeks if you really need to lose weight. Otherwise, you can eat more, but not unlimited. These foods aren’t bad, but they just don’t have as many nutrients per calorie as non-starchy veggies and fresh fruits. However, I don’t really crave much more than a serving after I stuff myself with fruits and veggies.
6. No refined grains. Obviously.
7. Only one ounce raw nuts and seeds per day. Also, only 2 oz. avocado. What?!!!
8. No salt. I’m not too concerned about this….I think if you don’t eat too many processed foods, then you don’t have to worry about sodium.
9. No animal products. Whoa, wait this is a vegan diet?! This is where I’ve been “cheating” the most. He does say that you can eat some non-fat dairy, egg whites, lean meats, and fish if you want, but he clearly favors a vegan diet. 

I’m not sure if it is fair for me to give a real review of the book yet since I haven’t finished it, but here is a pre-mature pros and cons list:

Why this diet sucks: Although I agree that there are many benefits to a plant based diet, I’m not convinced that animal products are that bad for you… especially locally farmed eggs, grass fed meat, wild caught fish, etc. The diet is also pretty low in fat….more avocado and almond butter, please!!!

Why this diet is awesome: I love huge salads and eating lots of fruit. Also, the author doesn’t seem to discriminate against more calorically dense fruits like some people… Therefore, the other day, I made some banana soft serve “ice cream” with four frozen bananas!! Amazing. It was like eating a whole pint of ice cream (which I might be known to do sometimes…), except it was healthy. Also, I’ve finally stopped gaining the post-grad pounds even though I cheat. Jeans are expensive…I need to fit in mine!

No, I have not been eating any B&J lately...but eating 4 blended frozen bananas is as exciting as eating this pint, and you feel better afterwards!

My take home message: Eat as many fruits and veggies as possible. The end. (I like simplifications…)

Here is what I ate the day I got closest to Eat to Live recommendations (this was Monday, sorry no pics…):

• 2 cups fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)
• 1 banana
• half a bag of baby carrots
• spinach salad with half a bag of spinach, 1/2 cup sauteed baby portabella mushrooms, handful of sauteed asparagus, and homemade balsamic vinaigrette (Just mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and honey mustard. You will never buy salad dressing again.)
• 2 cups roasted broccoli
• 1 cup lentil soup
• about 4 oz baked chicken breast (I really wanted more protein! My lentil soup only had 8 grams...)
• handful of Ghirardelli chocolate chips (Must. Have. Chocolate. Every. Day.)

Oh wait! I do have a couple pics:

Mmmm….vegetables!

In other news:

 

• I ran 10 miles on Sunday! It was my first long run (over 6, I consider “long”) since I don’t even remember. My legs still hate me today, but hopefully they will be better in time for the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon NEXT WEEK! Ah! This is the 6th time I’ve done this race, and the least I have trained.
• I went to yoga for the first time in months yesterday (b/c my legs refused to run…). We did side planks, and my abs feel nice and sore
• Today is my baby brother’s birthday!! He is 15. Holy crap!
  

  the oldest pic I could find digitally....Me (on left): age 16. Hunter (middle): age 9

  

  and a more recent pic. he is now taller than me, and can pick me up!! crazy b/c i used to throw him around all the time

• Have you all heard about the Blogger Vegan for a Day? Its tomorrow the 19th and I’m in! Even though I don’t have any interest in becoming vegan, I have lots of respect for those who are vegan, and I am willing to try it for a day! This could be interesting…

So sorry for disappearing and then randomly coming back and writing a super lengthy post. I’m a sketchy and unpredictable blogger. Thanks for reading (if you are still here)!

Also, back to the quote of the day, while writing this post I spent about a minute yelling “HOW DO YOU FREAKING SPELL VINAIGRETTE?!?!” at WordPress who told me I was misspelling it with the red underline, but had no suggestions. Finally I typed something like “vinagariette” into Google who knew what I meant. “Did you mean vinaigrette?” Yes, Google. Thanks.

 

 

Arrgggh and Yum!

Veggie Girl guessed right, we were pirates:

Pirates wore purple corsets, right?

There were sword fights with each other:

And anyone else who would play along:

plunger vs. sword

And then there was brunch at Macrina Bakery:

Baked eggs with mushrooms, tomato sauce, and lots of ROSEMARY! Served with roasted potatoes and a mixed green salad. There were also cappuccinos and an apple/cranberry/pecan pastry involved in the morning feast. The pastry was devoured by 3 hungry girls before cameras were thought of.

I think if I had to pick a favorite meal, it would be brunch. Its like breakfast except bigger! And its totally acceptable to have dessert after brunch (cheesecake anyone?) if you aren’t completely stuffed. Any other brunch fans??

Halloween Weekend in Seattle

Over the weekend I went to go visit my best friend Danielle who is now living in Seattle.

I. Love. Seattle. I decided I was going to live there when I went with my family at age 17. I was mesmerized by the gigantic trees, mountains, clean lakes, good coffee, fresh seafood, lack of humidity, etc. Seattle is awesome. Now my best friend lives there, so I guess that’s the next best thing to actually living there because I get to visit!!

The first morning I was there, we ran 5 miles around Lake Washington, which was gorgeous! Danielle is training for the Thanksgiving half marathon in Seattle, and I am training for the one in Atlanta.

After our run, we made breakfast:

Magic Bullet smoothie (pre-blended) with cottage cheese, spinach, flax, frozen strawberries and raspberries, milk, and agave. The mix of ingredient was 100% her idea as she has been reading food blogs and getting crazy ideas . I was skeptical about the cottage cheese in a smoothie at first, but it was awesome. Also, I really want a Magic Bullet!!

The finished smoothie in a bowl with cranberry pecan granola. Yum!

After breakfast, we went on a hike up Mount Si.

me at the top!!

Danielle is excited at the top, too

The trail was a little over 2 miles to the top of the mountain (we did the “little Mt. Si”). We celebrated at the top by sharing some homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies:

There will be a part 2 that includes more good food and some Halloween shenanigans. Any guesses on what my costume was?? Hint: I got in a few sword fights that night

Also, what is your favorite city?