Goodbye..

According to the Google Analytics.. no one reads this blog.  So I'm discontinuing it.  If you read it please let me know.. maybe something is wrong with the analytics?

Thanks!

A walk in the park

Today I decided to do something I had planned on doing 9 months ago when I moved into my current apartment near Columbia University on the Upper West Side --  walk home from work.

I work near Grand Central, so it's actually quite the hike.  Not very hilly, but pretty long - a little over 4.5 miles.  It took me about an hour and a half without stopping.  It was nice until it got to be dark out.  So I recommend to any who try this..leave work a little early so that when it's officially dark out, you still don't have 20 blocks to go.

It's definitely helpful though that the Central Park lampposts have the street numbers on them!

But one thing that bothered me.. where are all the water fountains?  If I had been running and was without a water bottle like so many people I saw, how do they stay hydrated?  I was thirsty by the end, and I was only walking!

After I got home I had worked up a bit of an appetite which was great since I hadn't been hungry at all when I left work.  I stopped at the grocery store on my way home and grabbed a spinach bunch and some of my favorite noodles: tofu shirataki!

I love this stuff!  It doesn't have a ton of nutritional value, but it's SUPER low in calories and carbs.  I stirfried it up with:

* torn spinach
* shrimp (frozen from the bag - gotta love trader joes!)
* smart balance
* 1 garlic clove
* SoyVay hoisin sauce

 

It was a little light on the sauce in the end, but definetely low in calories.

I wanted to finish off the meal with something sweet, so I sliced up a nectarine, drizzled it with a little bit of honey, and put it in a 375 degree oven for 10 minutes.

 

When it came out I drizzled it with some sugar free chocolate sauce.

  

I felt so good about the way the plate looked so I tried taking close up shots as well.. Didn't work. Oh well :o)

Happy Labor Day!

Holiday weekends are always good, especially when you have no obligations or strict plans in place.  I spent Saturday at the beach for most of the day, and hung out with some family members who were in town.  Then I spent most of Sunday lounging around my apartment, watching Sex and the City.  Today, Monday, I did some shopping in the morning and then did a picnic in the park with some friends.

The weather for the beach on Saturday was surprisingly good, barely hit 80 and the water was warm!

For our picnic today, I decided to make a new recipe from my other brand new cookbook, Williams Sonoma Food Made Fast: Baking.

I decided to make the lemon raspberry muffins, but with a few twists -- replace half of the flour with whole wheat, and make them mini so that overeating was less common.

I had never made muffins before, but they seem pretty similar to cake in their prep.

 

After mixing all of the ingredients together, I spooned the batter into my mini muffin tin and adjusted the baking time to be about 8 minutes instead of 15.  

 

They came out pretty well I do say myself!

 

 

Today I am also making a banana bread to use up some old, rotting bananas. It's a family recipe, so I can't share it, but it is delicious!!  (Especially when you add chocolate chips :) ).

Saturdays are happy days

I love love love Saturdays.  I usually lie in bed all morning watching tv, workout, then hang out with friends.  Nothing is on a schedule.

Today is Friday -- but since I didn't have work it totally felt like a Saturday.  So I treated it like one!  I layed in bed all morning watching Sex and the City.  Then when I would have usually worked I figured.. it's Friday!  I don't have to work out today :P  I will go tomorrow, as Saturday's always call for.  I worked out 3 times this week, which isn't a lot, but is enough to satisfy me for now.

I have plans to go out shopping tonight at 7pm, so when it came time to have lunch, I waited til a bit later and had a linner.  (Lunch + Dinner = Linner)

 

Delivery is an NYC tradition, so I ordered a lunch portion of vegetarian pad thai with steamed tofu and a side of steamed dumplings.  For $8 it was a bargain!

I put half of each dish on a plate and had a small but satisfying lunch.

 

The rest of the leftovers are going to be eaten right before I go out.

I love ready made food (especially when it doesn't come out of the freezer).

What's your favorite take out indulgence?

Light and smoky

Tonight I wasn't able to find what I wanted for dinner at the grocery store, so it was back home to scrounge something up.  I had some lox and goat cheese to use up (two of my favorite foods, emphasis on the goat cheese) so I decided to go with something simple and small.

I smothered a whole wheat English muffin with the goat cheese and topped it with the smoked salmon.  It was yummy, although I'm glad I ate the lox since a day longer and it probably wouldn't have been ok..

I ended the day with a nice sized bowl of Ben and Jerry's Half Baked Froyo.

Busy busy busy

I have been super, duper, crazy busy.  Between work having long hours this week and having plans almost every night after work, I haven't had much time to post.

Fear not!  I am back :)

And I've been pretty well behaved the past few days (although I forgot my camera for most of it..)

Tuesday night I made a salmon steak marinated in white wine, soy sauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice.  I served it with SoyVay hoisin marinade as a dipping sauce (which is by far one of my most favorite dipping/marinade/baste sauces ever).

I brought the leftovers of the salmon to work on Wednesday, along with the last of my barley salad.

I do have something to confess though... I didn't really have dinner last night.  I knew I would be out late, so on my way from work to the event, I grabbed a 4-piece McNuggets.. which certainly isn't good for you, nor is it a whole meal.  But I'm not going to lie to you about it!

Today for lunch I was MUCH better and had a wrap from Pump with baked tofu, tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, lettuce, cucumbers, cheddar cheese, and light honey mustard.

And now here we are at dinner time..it's just after 9:00pm, I'm fresh home from work and I'm feeling too tired to cook a damn thing.  I think I'm going to go to the grocery store and see if they have the Kashi Mayan Bake that I've heard so many rave reviews about :)

I will be better this weekend I promise; especially since I don't go back to work until Tuesday!

Happy weekend :)

Vegetarian for a day

It hasn't been intentional, but I've only eaten vegetarian the last day or so. 

I was running late this morning, so breakfast was packed up to be eaten at work.

 

-plain fat free yogurt

- blueberries

- kashi go lean crunch

- all bran buds

Simple, healthy and quick.

Last night I had some of the barley salad I made this weekend with some baked tofu; and that's what I have for lunch today as well.

It was super easy thing to pull together.  The barley salad lasts awhile and will be part of my dinner tonight as well.  It had red and green bell peppers and black olives, mixed with a dressing of rice wine vinegar, red wine, cilantro, mustard and rosemary.

For the tofu I simply sliced a package of firm tofu and pressed the slices with paper towels to remove some of the water.  I spread some hoison sauce on the top for flavor, and put the slices in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. 

Voila.

Today after work I plan on going to the gym and doing a similar treadmill/weight training workout like I did last weekend.