"I've been a lazy baby"

So this blog post title was from my husband. I was sitting here and said to him I need a title, and I guess he thinks I have no excuse for waiting this long to post something, because he said "I know, 'I've been a lazy baby' !!"

I have been a naughty blogger and for that I apologize. As I mentioned in one of my last posts, I am babysitting while I search for a job as an attorney and therefore have no use of a computer for a large chunk of my day. So I am going to highlight a few meals I have had over the last week.

First, I finally tried Tofu Shirataki, and I'm still not sure what I think about these. I just seem fake to me. But overall I did like the soup I made. I used a package of the Tofu Shirataki, a box of Imagine vegetable stock, a bag of frozen vegetables, and some fresh kale. This made about 4 good portions.

I am always having smoothies, but I had one over the weekend that was so think that it was like an ice cream dessert! For 2 servings (Steve and I both had a glass this size) I used 1 cup skim milk, one Chobani, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder and two cups of mixed frozen fruit. Such a great treat to enjoy on our deck in the hot sun.

I had showed you a salad from Chipotle already, so I thought I would show you a similar salad from Qdoba. I think I liked the one I had at Chipolte better. I had wanted mango salsa on this, but Qdoba said it wasn't in season.

We have really been enjoying the spring weather, and I hope you have too!!

Good night!

Shopping Locally

Happy Thursday. For the first time in a long time there is a gorgeous 5 day forecast in Pittsburgh. I just hope this good streak doesn't mess up the Pittsburgh Marathon (for me the half-marathon) on May 3.

Heather asked for the pancake recipe for the pancakes I had in my last post. I use the Bob's Red Mill Buckwheat Pancake Mix. I like to know that I'm only having one serving, so I used 1/3 cup of mix, 1 tsp of canola oil, 1 egg white, and 1/4 cup of water.

I wanted to post about this yesterday for Earth Day, but the day just got away from me!! My husband and I signed up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). While there are a few in the Pittsburgh area, we went with Penn's Corner CSA. We signed up for the 30-week CSA, and we are only on week 2. I am so excited to have local food well into the Fall. With each packet we receive a newsletter telling us which local farm supplied each of the items. The cost is about $21 per week.

This week we our box included homemade spinach rotini, crimini mushrooms, chevre cheese, chives, arugula, salad greens and spinach, and potted parsley.

Here is a close up of the cheese and pasta.

I'm so excited to share with you our weekly package. If you are interested, you can find out if there is a CSA near you.

Have a great day!!

Let her eat (angel food) cake (for dinner)!

No news on my job search. I haven't heard from one job that I applied to, even the legal temp agency hasn't had any work for me. I wish I could have more optimism.

On to today's eats.

For breakfast I had buckwheat pancakes with berries and cool whip.

I also had a latte from our espresso maker to help me start the day. This cup was from M&M World in Las Vegas.

Steve and I spent the morning running around doing some errands. Around 12:30 we stopped for lunch at Chipotle. I have never been there, but I got a vegetarian salad that was amazing. It had romaine lettuce, grilled veggies, black beans, rice, corn salsa, and tomato salsa. I asked for no dressing, because I think all of the salsa and toppings make any dressing unnecessary.

This salad filled me up so much and all of the onions in the salsa and in the grilled vegetables made me want a sweet dinner. So I had angel food cake with strawberries and some Edy's slow churned. Sorry no pictures of my strawberry shortcake dinner, but know that it was very good.

I just finished a game of Scrabble with my husband, and we were able to use every letter. A new episode of Desperate Housewives is on tonight, so I'm closing my laptop. Goodnight!

Beans

I bought a ton of pinto beans from Whole Foods' bulk bin. I prepared some last week and used some of them for bean burgers that I saw on Kath's blog. Last week I used Kath's mashing technique, but this time when I made these, I used a food processor. I used Annie's Vegan Worcestershire sauce, dried parsley and dried onions (which I rehydrated in some water before adding to the beans).


I had my burger on a Arnold's Wheat Thin with some Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce.

Instead of dressing, I topped my salad with this wonderful Pinto Bean Dip. On the side I had some Food Should Taste Good chips.

Meghann is hosting a giveaway of Honest Food Products!

Easter Bunny!

We ate lunch at my mom's house yesterday, and my mom asked me to bring dessert. I wanted to make something special so the Easter Bunny was born . . .

I did use a packaged cake mix (although I mixed with egg whites and a little less oil than called for). But the icing was homemade with powdered sugar, smart balance light, vanilla, almond extract and skim milk. The colored icing was store bought as well.

The idea came from the Pillsbury Baking Website. It tasted as good as it looks.

I hope you had a Happy Easter. Have a great Monday.

I love trying new foods

Instead of listing everything that I have ate the last three days, here are some snapshots of some new things I have tried and some old items that I continue to love.

Stove top oats with yummy berries -

After wanting to try these every time I pass them, I went and bought these after a 5 mile run the other day. I had been craving tortilla chips for weeks, and these really hit the spot. Yes Food Should Taste Good, and these surely did!

I can't get enough of Chobani with granola or cereal. While on the topic of greek yogurt, go here if you want a chance to win free coupons for Oikos.

My Honest Foods order came from Amazon. I had tried the Blueberry Granola Planks before but never any of their other products. I did sample half of one of the Farmer's Trail Mix Bars before my workout yesterday and loved it. These products are wonderful and another lawyer blogger is giving some away! If you aren't lucky enough to win some, Amazon is still offering the buy 2 get 1 free deal that I used to purchase these three items.

I found this at the store and had to buy it. It tasted like a peanut butter z-bar, but maybe a little better. I love finding new Clif products!! My dream job may just be working for this company.

Since I am trying to save money and not go to Starbucks anymore (although we are stockholders, so I should convince my husband that is a good enough reason for me to continue my habit), I have been enjoying homemade lattes. These are much better when my own Barista makes them (aka - my husband), but I am learning.

Meloncauliflower's, another blogger that is a healthy lawyer, is giving away some Barney Butter. While you are at her blog, read about the lengths she will go to for this amazing nut butter.

Have a great Easter weekend.

So that is what I'm doing with my law degree.

I have been running around a lot today, so I am just getting around to posting about yesterday's meals. My newest development in my job search is that I am babysitting for a few people during the day to make some extra money, until I can either find legal contract work or a full time legal position. I start babysitting for one family tomorrow. I guess it will be fun, but I am obviously a little upset that I have 7 years of post-high school education and the only job I can get is babysitting.

Anyways on to food ....

For breakfast on Tuesday I opened a Pro Bar (Cherry Pretzel) and used 1/4 of the bar in my stove top oats. I really loved this bar, I just wished it didn't have almost 400 calories in the whole thing!!

Besides the added Pro Bar, I had the same oats at yesterday (mixture of oats and oat bran with cherries, flax meal and coconut).


For lunch I had a flat out wrap with some leftover tofu stir fry from Monday night's dinner. With a few pretzel thins from Trader Joe's and some nuts.



My afternoon snack was this sweet thing ....


For dinner I made these spinach and mushroom impossible pies and some baked sweet potato cubes.


I once again ate at 5pm so that I could feed Steve before his MBA class, so I was needing a snack around 9pm. I had a Strawberry Chobani with some cereal and fresh strawberries.

Well I think I better take Sophie for a walk before Steve gets home! Have a great night.

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter??

I don't remember many weeks before Easter with snow on the ground in Pittsburgh, oh well :)

I actually took pictures of all my eats from yesterday. I want to get in the habit of this, because I am afraid of consuming too much while being at home all day and being stressed about not having a job.

I made stove top oats for the first time in months. I had 1/4 cup oat bran, 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 banana, 1/2 skim milk, 1/2 cup water, and pinch of salt. After the oats were done, I added cherries (which were frozen but warmed in the microwave), unsweetened coconut, flax meal, and a little chocolate protein powder.

For lunch, I had a Flat Out Wrap with my leftover Trader Joe's Indian Food and some soy cheese and lettuce. I also had 8 almonds while standing at the pantry, so no picture.

With lunch I had a Chocolate Coconut Kashi Bar. Love these!

My afternoon snack was a Skinny Carmel Latte with an extra shot of espresso and a Kashi Pumpkin Pie bar. I have given up Starbucks since I was laid off, but I found a Starbucks card in my wallet with $3.50 on it....score :)

For dinner I made a stir fry with baked tofu, cauliflower, broccoli, kale and mushrooms. I actually pre-made the baked tofu the night before. I steamed all the veggies for a few minutes and they drained the water and added the baked tofu, low sodium soy sauce, sesame seeds, and Newman's Own light ginger dressing.

I had a really early dinner (like 5pm) so at 9pm, I had a Vitamuffin with Trader Joe's Almond butter and some fat free whipped cream. Sorry about the picture, I started to eat it before I remembered to grab my camera.

I am going to make the most of my day.

Trader Joe's Indian

Happy Birthday VeggieGirl, the blogworld would not be the same without you!!

A friend gave me a jar of Trader Joe's Indian Curry Sauce that she said we had to try. Somehow, I missed this great product on Trader Joe's shelves. I didn't think to take a photo until I emptied the jar.

I included chick peas (which I made from dried beans), kale and cauliflower. I steamed the cauliflower and kale for a few minutes, then drained out the excess water. I then prepared the curry sauce as directed by pouring the sauce and about half a jar of water into the pan. I added the steamed kale and cauliflower and about a cup of chick peas. I simmered all the ingredients for about 20 minutes.

With the curry I heated up a piece of frozen Trader Joe's Naan.

I also had some brown rice under my curry. This was one amazing meal!

If you love Indian food, I highly recommend these products.

Amazing Day and Amazing Deals

I am so happy today!! The weather was so perfect, and I took my road bike out for the first time this year. I only get 10 miles in. The wind was a little tough to bike against, and I went right before lunch. So while I planned on trying to go 20 miles, I quit after 10 miles. I was so happy to be able to bike.

I also am happy because I had some great meals today. Including this great find that I picked up at the grocery store for the first time. This meal included plantains with roasted sweet potato, black beans and kale. Spicy ancho sauce with pumpkin seed garnish served over Kashi seven whole grain polenta, plus amaranth. It is even vegan.

AMAZING DEAL ON ZOE'S AND HONEST FOOD

Finally I am happy because I just bought a much of yummy treats from Amazon.com for a steal. I have wanted to try Honest Foods products for a long time, and today (I'm not sure how long this deal is going on) you can get Buy 2 get 1 free of eligible Honest Foods products from Amazon.com. So I bought the Blueberry Granola Planks (that I tried before and loved) and I bought the Apple Ginger Country Squares and the Farmer's Trail Mix Country Squares. I can't wait to review the Country Squares. The code for Buy 2 get 1 free is HONEST33. I saved $19 with this code.


I also bought 6 boxes of Zoe's Granola (which I love in greek yogurt) because eligible Zoe's products are 25% off if you enter ZOEF4444 at checkout. That means that the granola was about $2.50 per box with this discount. So amazing!! I love a great deal. I save $5 with this deal.


I can't wait to take pictures of my Amazon food purchases. While shopping on Amazon, I also bought two of the books for the Blogger's Book Club.

Blog Contests

Meghann is giving away Erin's Breakfast Cookies

Chocolate Covered Katie is giving away some of her favorite things.

Sarah is giving away some Bob's Red Mill Products.

You still have until midnight central time tonight to enter Keep It Simple Foods Quaker Giveaway.

Frustrated with the job search

Sorry that I didn't post since last weekend. I have been frustrated with life and not knowing what I am going to do. I have sent out a lot of resumes, but I haven't heard anything. I have even tried to get contract work, but no luck there either.

I have been eating the same breakfast for several days - a whole wheat tortilla with almond butter and a banana. I have a ton of bananas to use up, so it worked out perfectly. The picture is not too good, because I cut this one with a butter knife.

Today I tried a Gnu Chocolate Brownie Bar for a snack. I have never tried a Gnu bar before, and I really liked it. I thought it tasted a lot like a Clif Z-Bar.

Finally I have been enjoying the same drink since Sunday. I think I mentioned before that I buy 2 cases of San Pellegrino each time I go to Sam's Club, because a case of 12 is only $12. While I love to drink it plain, it is nice to change it up a bit. So I fill a glass half full with the sparkling water and ice and then I add some of the juice we have in the house. This week I have been using two great juices from Trader Joe's.

I am going to do a post later about running and the foam roller that helped me finish my half marathon without pain in my knee.

I hope the April showers stop soon so I can run outside, but I may just head to the gym today.