The Dallas Celiac

I woke up this morning at 2:19 AM and could not go back to sleep.  I lay in bed stressing about work for an hour and a half before I finally decided that I wasn’t going to go back to sleep and might as well get up and have the gym to myself.

Wrong.

Who would have thought that 4 AM is the busy hour at this gym?  It wasn’t bursting at the seams by any stretch of imagination, but there were definitely more people there in the 4 o’clock hour than around 5.  Crazy, right?

Also crazy is the fact that 5 of the 6 stair climbers were broken.  I spent the first 10 minutes getting on one machine, climbing for a minute or two and then having the machine spaz out on me.  I’m rather amused that it happened to be the last machine I tried that actually worked.  Even stranger is that after I finished lifting weights, I saw people on all of the machines and they weren’t having any problems.  Guess my brain wasn’t really working after 0.2 seconds of sleep!

Unsurprisingly, I’ve been rather exhausted all day and the stormy, super cold weather hasn’t helped my energy much.  I stumbled home after work like a sleep-starved zombie and have been vegging on the couch with Zeus and the Biggest Loser from last week (yeah, we’re that far behind).   I see an early bedtime in my future.

Leftovers, revisited.

Matt and I were just talking the other day about how great mexican leftovers are because they can be morphed into something different without much effort.

With that in mind, I’d been thinking about a leftovers salad for the vast majority of this afternoon (while my tummy rumbled because I failed to bring enough food).

Simple but fabulous.

• chopped romaine
• green chile-sour cream turkey casserole (heated)
• tomatillo salsa
• salsa
• chopped red pepper
• mexican cheese blend
• Frank’s

I also had some Nut Thins with guacamole.  I could live off of guacamole. 

—

It’s only 8:15 but I can tell I’m not going to last much longer.  

Nite!

I had a fabulous work-free weekend starting with my best friend coming to see me and ending with a Super Bowl party.  Can’t complain!

Saturday Breakfast

Erewhon Brown Rice cereal with a milk base of a soymilk spinach blend.  Not as good as it sounds, but it did the trick.

The cereal is really good – kind of like Rice Krispies but not at all sweet.  I’m not crazy about sweet cereals.

Plus a smoothie because cereal is really only good for munching – not good for keeping me full.

• soymilk
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• more spinach
• 1 cup frozen berries
• 2 T. flaxseed

And the rest of Saturday…

…flew by like all Saturdays do.

I have few pictures, but there was a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar while shopping at heaven on earth (aka Whole Foods) and a frozen Indian Amy’s while blow-drying my hair so we could go out. 

We went to a very cool wine bar – Mercy – in Addison and literally closed the bar down.  There is nothing like gabbing with your best friend when you haven’t seen her in almost 4 months! Not quite sure how we made it home, but I’m thankful our cabbie was an honest guy. 

Sunday Funday

I woke up with the world’s worst hangover, which is rather unsurprising given how many glasses of fabulous wine we put away.   Some Excedrin and water and a nap and I felt like I maybe could face the day without throwing up.

Matt was the world’s best husband and made us breakfast.

Scrambled eggs with green chiles and onions and topped with fresh salsa and mexican cheese blend.

Since carbs are a hangover healer, I also had a toasted Kinnikinnick english muffin with cream cheese.

I may not be able to have bagels anymore, but I need something to be a cream cheese delivery vehicle. 

We sat around the house chatting for hours today before she had to drive back to OKC.  I really wish we didn’t live so far apart – there’s nothing better than good times with good friends.

I had a PB Cookie Larabar while we were prepping Super Bowl party aka Mexican Thanksgiving food.

And then it was party time!

Dips:

Guac, chipotle black bean, tomato salsa, and tomatillo salsa. 

The main course was 2 types of turkey casseroles:  one with green chile sour cream sauce and the other with red enchilada sauce, both homemade.  We had 2 turkeys still in the freezer from T-day (we went a little turkey-buying crazy) and decided the best way to use one was to invite people over to help eat it.  If it had been June, we would have just done another traditional T-day dinner, but being February, few people want to eat stuffing and cranberry sauce again this soon.

So we did it Mexican style and made casseroles that could be stuffed into taco shells as filling or eaten on its own (which I did, being corn-free and all).

I had a little of everything:  guac, salsa, tomatillo salsa, red enchilada casserole and green chile casserole with Nut Thins.

And I just ate a fabulous Scharffen Berger almond chocolate bar for dessert while everyone else ate some (gluteny) chocolate cake.

Did anyone see the Leno-Oprah-Letterman commercial where they’re all sitting on the couch watching the game?  Wouldn’t it have been great if Conan walked in and said:  “Hey Leno, you’re in my spot?”

Since the game is almost over, did your team win?  How was your weekend?

4 types of gorgeous greens.

1. Chocolate spinach protein shake.  (Use your imagination for a pic) I thought the chocolate protein powder and unsweetened cocoa powder provided enough of a brown hue to cover up the spinach, but one of my employees walked up to my desk and squealed:  “It’s really green today!” 
2.   Guacamole + Nut Thins. 

Have I professed my undying love for these Pecan Thins?  They’re amazing – salty, crunchy, mild but perfect with any dip.  They hold up well to dips and don’t get soggy and have a slight buttery flavor.  And the best part?  Available at regular grocery stores, not just specialty health food stores.  (A big plus in my book)

The husband even loves them.  We have a hard time keeping them in the house.

3.  Collard chips

The main reason I don’t make kale chips very often is that no grocery store around here sells pre-cut, pre-washed kale.  Seems as if that wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but I’m big on things that take little to no time to prepare.

I didn’t know that it would work with collards.  Lets be honest – I didn’t have full faith it would work with kale, either.  But it did!

They don’t look like anything special, but I think I might –possibly- like them even more than kale chips.  They taste really similar but take about 1/5th of the time to make since I can buy 5 lb. bags of pre-washed, pre-chopped collards very easily. 

I sprayed them with olive oil, sprinkled with kosher salt and baked these guys at 350* for 10 minutes and 375* for 5. 

4.  B. Sprouts

Back to the time-saving thing.  I know a lot of people eat their brussels whole, so I decided to go that route tonight. 

They definitely weren’t as good.  Something about the nice level of char on the cut side and top make the usual style super delicious – creamy on the inside, crunchy and salty on the outside.  I didn’t really get that with these.  Sure, they were softer inside, but the perfect level of salty, crunchy goodness was missing.

Still, they’re roasted brussels – they can’t be bad.

—

Tomorrow, my best friend is coming into town for the weekend to make up for the weekend a  couple weeks ago when I had to skip out on her.   We have a semi low-key day/night planned, but a visit to the wine bar is definitely in order.  I love having someone to drink wine with!  My other wine buddy is pregnant.

What are your weekend plans?  We’re hanging out with Kara tomorrow and are hosting a SuperBowl party on Sunday.

So I haven’t addressed the fact that a couple months ago, I just randomly stopped posting everything I ate.  It was kind of gradual and just never got addressed. 

Basically, I’m not all that creative when it comes to weekday breakfast and lunches.  Not at all.  It’s far easier for me to keep individual containers of soup in the freezer and to make up 5 containers of yogurt + berries and 5 containers of protein shake mix on Sunday and just lug them into the office on Monday. 

So, it just seemed simpler to only record the different stuff.  And even that doesn’t always change much week to week but at least it isn’t quite as redundant as my poor breakfasts and lunches. 

There are several givens in my day:

• Misto
• protein shake:  spinach, chocolate protein powder, maca, acacia, unsweetened cocoa powder, and now, ground flaxseed
• yogurt + berries or yogurt + pumpkin
• And after dinner, red wine + chocolate chips

Maybe one day I’ll have a less stressful job and will want to take the time to put together more exciting work food, but for now, convenience beats variety.

Necessary Indian

I ran out of my favorite Indian meal – Amy’s Paneer Tikka – whenever the last time I ate it was, which meant I was very disappointed when I went digging in the freezer for it on Monday. 

Once I get the idea of eating something in my head, it’s pretty hard to stop wanting to eat it at every meal after for a while. 

Thankfully, I found a possible substitute in the pantry tonight.

Love the slogan.  This stuff actually was pleasantly spicy: Tasty Bite’s Jaipur Vegetables. 

Paired with rice and sauteed collards and it was pretty good.

While the rice cooked, I briefly boiled the collards (about 4 minutes), then sauteed with a little olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice.  Not Indian-inspired, but it surprisingly went well with the Jaipur Vegetables.

And of course rice is rice.  Goes with everything.

It wasn’t pretty and it sure wasn’t Paneer Tikka, but it was a nice change from the sandwiches I’ve eaten nearly every other day this week. 

So sore.

You know the phrase ‘Second Day Soreness’?  Not true for me.  In fact, my wobbly leg-inducing workout yesterday morning hit me approximately 13 hours after the workout:  last night.  Got up off the couch to grab a glass of water and –wham!- I felt like I’d run a marathon.  All from some souped-up deadlifts and lunges.  Funny how that works.

This morning, I managed to power through the pain and run sprints.  Clearly a bad idea for fixing soreness because I’ve been hobbling around all day. 

I’m scheduled for another round of torture with the weights at the gym tomorrow morning, but seriously, not sure that I have a muscle in my lower body that didn’t get whipped into shape with what must have been the world’s most effective deadlifts. 

Speaking of which, I must get to drinking the massive glass of wine that’s been waiting for me since dinner so I can fall asleep on the couch again during the last 15 minutes of whatever show we decide to watch.

Like last night.

Zeus and I:  crashed out on the couch at 9PM. 

Ever since I ate that broccoli-filled omelet on Sunday, my stomach has felt a little off.  Seriously, broccoli is just so good, just not good to me.  It took me a long time to really understand that I could have slight food intolerances to other foods – I used to just think my upset stomach was due to hidden gluten or cross contamination.  Broccoli isn’t a major deal for me – it’s more of an annoyance than a real problem when I eat it – but I try to stay away from it anyway.

Funny, actually, because I’d been wondering if it had been long enough since I last ate some that I might be able to eat it again without any problems.  Guess that’s not the case.  Not yet, at least.

I came home at a decent time today, which should have meant I was willing to spend more than 0.2 seconds making dinner. 

Not the case – we have the LOST season premier to watch!

Cold ‘sprouts for a snack.  I’m on the fence, but I think it is quite possible that I actually like them cold better than hot.  Blasphemy?  I think not.

They’re strangely filling but not quite a snack in itself, so…

I had a Pink Lady.  Imagine this guy all covered in PB with a dot of jelly.

And then, I had planned on having a Sunshine burger with guac and pepperjack with a side of butternut squash fries, but since my stomach is still a little touchy, I decided to skip the Sunshine burger since I’d never had that particular flavor.  And since I was so hungry I was about to gnaw off my arm, I had to cut out the squash fries because the thought of waiting an additional 30 minutes to eat was quite painful.

The veggiewich ended up being a great choice.

Fabulous.

Too big to fit in my mouth without a little smuuuuushing, but:

• Kinnikinnick sandwich bread (aka best ever packaged GF bread)
• thick layer of guacamole on each piece
• spinach
• zucchini planks
• red pepper pieces
• pepperjack

Why haven’t I done this before?  It was crunchy and soft, spicy and sweet.

On the side, I had a clean-out-the-still-fresh-veggies-in-the-fridge salad.

• romaine
• red pepper
• zucchini
• carrot
• raisins
• mozzarella cheese stick
• agave, salt, and….

A goodie from the Foodbuzz Festival that is inexplicably still hanging out in my fridge.  Why?  I don’t know – this stuff is pretty great.  I tend to eat variations on balsamic vinaigrette on all of my salads – sometimes it’s straight vinegar, sometimes it’s more olive oil and less vinegar, sometimes I add mustard or garlic, etc.  I haven’t found a bottled dressing I can (or would want to) eat, and as you know, it has to be quick to make or I won’t go to the effort. 

And for some reason, I’m still hungry.  Must be the wobbly leg-inducing weights I did this morning.  That’s a major downside to lifting in the morning – I feel spent and wobbly all day whereas if I workout at night, I go to bed and feel fine in the morning. 

Still, working out in the morning simply works better for me, so I guess I’ll go with it, wobbly legs and all.

I see a(nother) snack in my future and the usual glass of wine.

Tomorrow is Thursday! 

What is your go-to salad dressing?

Sometimes I wonder if I had to cook for someone other than myself on a day to day basis, I would put more thought into how well the foods go together in what I call a “meal”.

Like tonight.

I got home really late – 8 PM – and I knew I wanted brussels sprouts but wasn’t sure what to make to go with them.

We’re low on groceries (big surprise).  Normally, I would just heat up a frozen meal, but I’ve been doing that a lot lately despite my resolution to try to cook more.

So… I made an egg sandwich:  Kinnikinnick bread, an egg + 2 egg whites, a tsp of mayo, spinach, and a slice of cheddar.  Not exactly a typical brussels sprouts pairing, but not too shabby in the 4 minutes it took to throw together.

***

Matt sent me the picture below from his blackberry and it totally made my day.

That would be Zeus, just chillin’ in the turtle tub and the turtle just eating as if there wasn’t a 12 pound cat invading his home.

Oh!  But clearly it’s OK because they’re best buds.

(And now we know why there is often half chewed lettuce all over the floor)

It’s almost my bedtime and I haven’t even made it partially through Big Love.

Nite!

Someone needs to just take the cookies away from me.  I’ve had 4 today already!

***

Instead of drumming up dinner last night, we went to Freebird’s.

I had a Bird Salad:

• light rice
• lettuce
• pico de gallo
• chicken
• light cheddar
• jalepenos
• grilled peppers and onions
• lime juice
• cilantro
• guacamole

And it was delicious as usual.  If it wasn’t for the drive, we’d probably eat there a whole lot more often.

Predictably, dessert was more cookies and a much-too-small glass of wine.   When Shanda and Ryan were over on Saturday night, they were kind enough to bring a bottle of Cab from their wine club, which Ryan and I demolished (Shanda is pregnant and therefore cannot drink and Matt doesn’t drink wine).  I wish I remembered the name.  It was fabulous – slightly spicy, dry, with good body.

My wine last night was not all that special and there was way too little of it (finishing off an open bottle). 

I slept awfully last night – I couldn’t fall asleep and then when I finally did go to sleep, I woke up multiple times, worrying that my alarm hadn’t gone off.   And to top it off, I woke up too late to go to the gym, but early enough that I didn’t really need to be up at that time.  Great start to a Monday. 

I can’t complain too much, though, because today was a pretty bueno day at the office.  I glued my butt to my chair and powered through a whole bunch of things.  I keep telling myself that come March 15th, my life will be a little less crazy and a lot more balanced…. I just have to make it there.

A few days ago, I was drooling over Tina’s tuna melt and decided tonight was the night to make my own.

Kinnikinnick sandwich bread with:

• celery
• red pepper
• onion
• carrot
• cottage cheese
• mayo
• s+p
• lemon juice
• water-packed tuna

And a slice of cheddar.

Plus a serving or two of kettle-cooked potato chips (Lay’s)  and a salad with all of the tuna-veggie  goodness that wouldn’t fit on the bread.

I see another cookie and a big glass of wine in my future.  I also see those cookies going into the office tomorrow to ensure I do not eat the entire batch.

Because at the rate I’m going, that’s a definite possibility.

How was your Monday?

Up early again yesterday morning to blow through some work at breakneck speed at the office.  You know, I don’t jump for joy at getting up before 6 AM on a weekend, but something about knowing I don’t actually have to be at work makes it more enjoyable to actually go to work.  Way more enjoyable.

We’re having a cold spell here in Dallas and while we didn’t get any snow or “wintery mix” as the forecasters like to say, it was pretty freaking cold yesterday morning.   And since I can’t manage to figure out how to work the  thermometer in the office, I sat at my desk with my space heater warming my feet in my huge puffy winter parka and a blanket on my lap.  I was a sight for sore eyes, but at least I wasn’t half frozen.

I left the office a little before noon and Matt and I watched The Truman Show while I ate brunch.

The mix:

• punkin
• ch-ch-ch-chia seeds
• applesauce
• nutmeg, punkin pie spice, cinnamon, stevia
• plain yogurt (Dannon)

All together now:

I have been eating pumpkin yogurt since at least 2004.  Back in the day, I couldn’t eat dairy, so I made the pumpkin yogurt with plain soy yogurt, which tasted like sour sewage water, pumpkin, a scoop of rice protein powder (because soy yogurt has virtually no protein whatsoever) which tasted like vanilla-flavored dirt, plenty of cinnamon and splenda, and a chopped apple.

Now that I can have as much dairy as my heart (or stomach, more appropriately) desires, I enjoy the mix a whole hell of a lot more.  I’ve never gotten into pumpkin oatmeal, but I love me some pumpkin yogurt and the chia seeds make it even more lovable.

We did a bit of cleaning because our friends Shanda and Ryan were coming over to hang out. 

Have I mentioned how the cats love plastic grapes?  They bat them around and shove them under the furniture with their other cat toys.

We found hundreds of plastic grapes when we moved the couch and armchair.

After a good cleaning, I made myself an easy dinner.

(It always looks so much prettier before I take it out of the pan)

Easy:

• broccoli
• aspagargus
• snap peas
• carrots
• yellow squash
• red pepper

Mixed with:

• Walnut Acres organic zinfandel tomato sauce
• 1/4 c. cottage cheese
• Prudhomme’s Pizza & Pasta Magic

Then topped with part-skim mozzarella and baked for 30 min. at 350*.

Quick, easy, and pretty fabulous.

Then Shanda and Ryan came over and we chatted, played Apples to Apples, drank wine from their wine club (well Ryan and I did – Shanda can’t drink because she’s pregnant and Matt doesn’t drink wine) and ate smoked gouda, which complimented the wine brilliantly. 

I woke up in a big wine-induced fog this morning and had to drag myself out of bed with the promise of lots of Christmas blend Starbucks coffee.  That did the trick.

But it  didn’t help my rumbling tummy.

Thankfully, Benedict’s did.

Vegige omelet with broccoli, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, and chives with a side of fruit.

Oh.  And plenty of cheese.

And (more) coffee with cream.

I don’t usually eat broccoli – I love it, but it makes my stomach hurt.  This omelet was supposed to have ham instead of broccoli, but I didn’t feel like sending it back.  Actually, I’m just lucky they gave me cheese this time – last time they seemed to not understand that I could also eat dairy even though I couldn’t eat wheat. 

I had a hankering for something sweet when we got back and pulled out the KitchenAid.  Since I made Oatmeal Raisin Cookies last weekend, I’ve been thinking about what else I could do with oatmeal and sugar (what couldn’t you do with oatmeal and sugar??!?!?)

Ta-da – Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Chewy and crispy, sweet and gooey. 

And that’s my Sunday, folks.  Off to take a shower and settle in with a movie and maybe a late afternoon glass of wine because it’s Sunday and because next week is likely to suck just as much as this past one did.  But it’s all good when you have some fabulous cookies, a clean house, cuddly kitties, and a pretty fantastic husband to spend the rest of the short weekend with.

What exciting things did you all do this weekend?  What are you looking forward to (or dreading) this week?

Seeds I have consumed today:

1. Flax along with protein powder, maca, acacia, cocoa powder and stevia in my protein shake.
2. Chia with applesauce, pumpkin, plain yogurt, and stevia.
3. Pomegranate in the only way pomegranates should be eaten:  plain.

***

Yesterday, we had a neighborhood association meeting at a cute little Cajun joint around the corner.  Matt eats there quite often but since apparently the thing they do best is a fried shrimp poboy, I have yet to try anything there. 

Before we left, I had exactly what I had been thinking about all day long:

A Kinnikinnick English Muffin:  1/2 with PB&J and 1/2 with cream cheese (Horizon Organic is gluten-free, corn-free, and xanthan/guar-gum free).

At the restaurant, we spent quite a while talking to the owner, who is apparently a personal friend of Kinky Freidman.

I would love to meet Kinky one day.

Anyway, the owner seemed pretty competent, and while I didn’t ask many questions last night, I think I could go in at an off-time and ask about safe meal options.

The idea was to make a big salad when we got home, but that idea was based on the assumption we’d only be at the meeting for around an hour.  Since it was more than 2 hours before we got home, I abandoned the salad idea in favor of a glass of wine. 

Clearly I have my priorities straight.

When I got home tonight, I really wanted to pop some leftovers into the microwave and spend about 0.3 seconds on dinner.  I stood in front of the fridge… then in front of the freezer… then in front of the pantry for quite a while and wasted more time trying to figure out what would be the easiest thing to make than it would have taken to just make something in the first place.

But I still got off easy.

Scrambled egg whites with bell peppers, ancho chile powder, Prudhomme’s Fajita Magic, and shredded cheddar.

Plus protein pancakes with a shmear of butter and syrup.

And pom seeds that weren’t all that amazing.  Out of season, maybe?

I have a really exciting Friday night planned:  a TiVo’d episode of White Collar, some wine, some chocolate, and my PJs.  I have to work some tomorrow, so it’ll be early to bed tonight. 

Remember the days when Fridays were all about staying out late, closing down the bars?  Seems like eons ago.  I feel so old!

I was tempted to throw my new chia seeds, flax seeds AND maca powder into my protein shake this morning but I restrained myself and just added the flax seeds. 

I figured I’d just throw them in the blender at work (I have one of those single serving blender thingys at the office) with the protein powder and whirl away.

Uh, no.

I thought it worked.  I took my cup back to my desk, sat down, and started drinking the shake, marveling at how finely ground the flaxseeds were and how nice the nutty flavor complemented the chocolate shake…. until I got down to the bottom of the cup and was greeted with an inch thick layer of flax seed-protein powder sludge.

I managed to get most of it out with a spoon, but I wouldn’t say that was the highlight of the drink.  I guess I’ll have to grind them in a coffee grinder or something more high powered than the blender before adding them to the shake?  Clearly they got ground (which was why I tried it this way in the first place), they just never blended into the liquid.

Thanks for the neat ideas for the flax and chia seeds!  I’ll be trying them out.

We’re seriously loooooowwwww on groceries and a salad wasn’t appealing tonight.  I went digging in the deep freeze in hopes something would inspire me  to cook, but found some Amy’s frozen Indian instead and abandoned the search.

This

became this

Separate is good.  Mixed together is way better.

I started to cut up an apple to dip in PB&J for dessert and realized it was quite mushy.  I hate mushy apples.  But instead of wasting it, I decided to make an apple crisp minus the crisp type thing and have that instead.

I threw a chopped apple and 1/4 c. raisins in a bowl with a little water and nuked it for a couple minutes, then tossed with stevia, cinnamon and topped with some plain yogurt and more cinnamon.

Not too shabby for a mushy apple.

Dessert #2 was a cup of Pukka chai tea.  A friend of mine from the Netherlands sent it to me as part of my Christmas gift.  The ingredients check out and their website says all of their teas are GF.

I’m actually home decently early, so I’m going to spend the rest of the evening not thinking about work (if that’s possible) and hanging out on the couch.

Happy almost Thursday!