Sunshine, don’t go away

As far as weekends go, this was pretty damn near perfect. 

It started with a 10 am wake up call (sleep in much?), and then a bit of coffee loading. 

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Since it was a GORGEOUS 40+ degrees outside, Kyle and I wanted to get our faces in the sun asap

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So, after snacking on one (and a half) of my chia seed oat bars, we set out for a run in the park.  I can’t even tell you how long I have been waiting to feel the road beneath my feet.  The treadmill just hasn’t been working for me this winter, so it was delightful to get the cardio itch again.  I knew it would return.  It’s about time…

I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to hang since I haven’t run in soooo long, but I was happy that I made it through a 7 miler without stopping to walk in 55 minutes.  No too shabby.  I felt dead tired after, but in a wonderful way. 

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New product alert!  Since I know you can’t read that label, let me just show you the part I was most shocked by.

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Contains soy and milk.  Okay, so let’s just get this out in the open, it’s NOT vegan.  Although it has no lactose, it does have casein (which my stomach handles fine, but others’ may be sensitive to). 

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It melts!

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I toasted my bread then added a few slices of Soya Kaas Mozzarella cheese and popped it in the micro for a quick 30 seconds…and voila! 

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Oooey gooey stringy melty YUM!

This is the best melting non-lactose cheese I have tried and it tastes good too.  It’s not as tasty as VeganRella, but I have been hard pressed to come by that brand anymore.  I’ve heard you can freeze Soya Kaas too, so at least if I do fall in love with it and it goes out of stock (I have a tendency to become obsessed with things right before they get discontinued), I can buy it in bulk and just keep it in the freezer.

Anyways, lunch was perfect, but I had another apple after for dessert.  Kyle and I headed out to do errands and enjoy the sun, and along the way I grabbed a soy misto.

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For dinner, Kyle and I went to Sushi UO, a tiny spot on the Lower East Side.  It was a small place, with moderately priced sushi, kinda dark inside with simple decor, but I definitely couldn’t take photos without being super obnoxious.  Anyways, you will just have to imagine what wine, edamame, seaweed salad (compliments of the chef), veggie rolls with copious avocado, and plum wine (compliments of the chef) look like since my camera was tucked away for the sake of the other diners.  [Trust me, they were beautifully plated]

The menu wasn’t too inventive, but it was a good meal.  It was a bit hard to find given that there was no sign whatsoever outside and the entrance was more like an apartment building walkup than a foyer. 

After dinner we headed one block west to the Hotel on Rivington bar where we met up with friends for drinks. 

Yadda Yadda, we got home around midnight and crashed hard. 

I completely snoozed through my alarm, but Kyle got impatient and woke me up at 10 so we could head to WFs for our weekend shopping. 

A stop at Starbucks on the way was BEYOND necessary.  I was sore (from the previous days run) and dehydrated (from the previous night’s booze) so it was an interesting grocery run to say the least.

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Yep, more caffeine.  (It was a late night, ok?)

For lunch I had an apple and a remixed version of yesterday’s lunch (hold the second apple, sub in carrots).  This time I melted the Soya Kaas mozz on a WF sandwich thin

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There was also another newbie on the menu that I was SOOOO excited to find at Whole Foods! 

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Artichoke Spinach HummusCedar’s has been my hummus provider of choice lately, and each time I go to WFs I discover a new flavor.  This one is now my new fave.

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Obviously I had double quadruple the amount shown above…at first I just dipped the carrots in it, but soon the grilled cheese made it’s way into it, too! 😉

After lunch, Kyle and I went for a shorter run (still so sore from yesterday!) in Riverside Park.  As much as I didn’t think I should push myself with back to back runs, it was just too dang beautiful outside to NOT run.  Plus, I love love love running along the water.  Sometimes I pretend I’m not on the East Coast and it’s not the dirty Jerz on the other side.

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Post run snackage.

We had tons of errands to do in the afternoon so we quickly showered and hit the road…off to midtown!

We crossed some major things off our wedding to-do list today.  Men’s warehouse for tux stuff, Macy’s for mattress research and registry fun. 

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And somewhere along the way a stop for Kombucha :)  Trilogy is one of the safest ones to get while you are out because they seem to be the least likely to blow up in your face. 

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While I prepped dinner, I snacked on carrot rounds with my new favorite hummus. 

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Dinner was far from creative, but I was really in a seaweed mood after the previous night’s sushi dinner.

I topped spinach with a seaweed sesame seed salad and called it game, set, match.

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I had an open-faced PB sammie too.

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A little skimpy on the PB, but I only wanted a hint of nutty flavor…to be honest, I was craving the fluffy carb-a-lish bread more.

Strawberry ice cream!!

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This baby had frozen strawberries, ‘fu, ice, NuNaturals stevia, and xanthan gum.  No more, no less.

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For those who have asked (Courtney), the trick to getting the bullet to blend things really creamy & smooth is using super small ice cubes.  I freeze the trays barely 1/3 of the way full. 

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An ammmmmazing ending to an amazing weekend.  I will reluctantly return to the hospital tomorrow, but it’s nice to know that spring seems to be sneaking it’s way back into our lives. 

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Comments (31)

  1. ellie

    Hellz YEAH to spring! I can’t stand being indoors at all now that the sun has decided to reappear…can’t wait for summer!!!!!! Congrats on the 7-miler 😀 Is it just me or does being outside in winter weather = waaaay more energy?!

    Hummus = love. Spinach artichoke sounds insanely good. I replenished my supply with red pepper hummus this week (random- how many different spellings of ‘hummus’ are there?)

    Carbalicious = best word ever.

  2. mayapamela

    I hope sunshine listens. Because this weekend’s 50 degree weather was so glorious. Running in it was so much fun!

  3. Serena

    This is what ‘happened’ to Vegan Rella:
    http://allergyfoodie.com/2009/11/30/where-is-vegan-rella-cheese/

    btw those oaties look amazing 😀

  4. Courtney

    Are you kidding me with spinach artichoke hummus?! YUM. Sign me up! Artichokes are my true love… 🙂

    TWO back to back out-door runs?! Go you! That must have been SO nice!

    Hmmm…thanks for the ice tip on the Magic Bullet. I don’t think my ice cubes are that big, but I guess I will keep trying? Or I could just stick to the Vita Mix for cold icy things 🙂 But no, damn it, I am determined to master the Bullet!

    Courtney

  5. glidingcalm

    that ice cream looks so good! Erin always made me want to try tofu ice cream action when she made it LIKE errrday, BUT I never did. soon. Does xantham gum really help it do the damn thing?!

    seaweeeeeed! Is the one on top of ze spinach homemade?! It looks soo yummy!!!

    glad you had a wonderful run!! i am so excited for spring time! it is by far my favorite season!!

    hope you have a great week, Elise!!!

  6. rebecca lustig

    mmm, the oat bars look delicious!!!

    i’m definitely a fan of this sunshine, i hope it never ends!

    enjoyu the day 🙂
    bec

  7. Gabriela @ Une Vie Saine

    Yay for this gorgeous weather!! Glad you had a relaxing weekend! One of my big pet peeves is when “vegan” products contain dairy. I always make sure to read ingredients! Have a great Monday 🙂

  8. Holly

    ahhhhh yayyyyy for spring! my mood has improved 10x since the return of nice weather to run in. i had the same thing this weekend – so sore, but it was so nice out – i couldn’t NOT run!

    yay for good times, whole foods, cedar’s hummus (i have coupons for that brand!), running, wedding shopping and everythang. happy monday lady 🙂

  9. samantha

    SUN!!!

    i was outside all weekend… at one point after a long walk, i just fell asleep in the park alone. and it was awesome.

  10. Susan

    Hope the sunshine stays out for you – it’s such a mood booster!!!

    Question: for your ice cream, do you use powdered stevia or the liquid drops?

  11. Graze With Me

    Glad to know that I’m not the only one who becomes obsessed with a product right before my store stops carrying it or the company stops making it……

    I’m the opposite with my nut butter. I’d rather eat it plain but add some carbs to it just to make myself feel like less of a slob.

  12. schacalieu

    Isn’t this weather just beautiful!!! I don’t want it to go away, but I have a sneaking fear that it is going to get cold one more time. It was so nice to get out and about, there were SO many people out! It’s crazy how we all hibernate when it’s cold.

  13. danielle

    Hi! Where do you get your seaweed salad? Or do you make it? It looks delicious!

  14. ethel

    Impressive run E! I hope to increase my run time around Silverlake ones these orthotics puppies are broken in. I’m up to twice around, so almost 4.5miles now, but still formulating blisters after one time around…sigh…Good to hear you were able to get out for the weekend for some sunny sun sun.

    p.s. I like your outfit. =)

  15. Adam

    Casein is my “Vegan flaw” as i like to call it. I eat a soy cheese with casein in it all the time and it keeps me and my stomach pretty happy:) I have never tried to make a grilled cheese with it though… You have the best ideas. And here we go again with the Soya Kaas which i will NOT be able to find EVER. And i have to totally agree, discontinued products are my life story. Anything i end up liking, POOF…gone. I was so pissed when Nature’s Path discontinued Heritage O’s i wrote them a letter. I know, i am cool 🙂

  16. Cole

    Cedar’s hummus rocks. And that ice cream looks really delicious and super simple to make.

  17. Gabriela (froyolover)

    Holy YUM!
    Amazing eats, girl!
    I´m just hungry right now! Haha 😉
    Have an amazing Tuesday!
    Brazilian XOXO´s,
    Gabriela

  18. julie

    1. i miss you! how are you?! i thought of you when the weather got nice haha and i hoped you were enjoying it! so glad you did!!

    2. suuuuuuuush is the perfect part of a perfect weekend. m i love seaweed salad.

    3. i’m so glad that cheese melts.

    4. life would be ridiculous without xanthum gum.

    5. hang out soon. yes.

  19. Jenna

    Yay for a good weekend!

  20. ksgoodeats

    Lazy grilled cheese! I used to do that all the time – what can a microwave NOT make?! You should be a Kombucha model.

  21. elise

    yes! it totally does. hows the hip doing?

  22. elise

    dude, if i had a vita, i would NEVER cheat on it with a bullet, haha…that sounds dirrrrty 😉

  23. elise

    yes. xanthan gum is god’s gift to smoothies. dooooo it!!

  24. elise

    yeah…another shocker was a nutbutter that i bought that i found had egg whites in it!! i think it was naturally nutty, but i cant remember. i was like, wtf!?!?

  25. elise

    liquid stevia

  26. elise

    thats usually how i am….today though, i just wanted carbs carbs carbs.

  27. elise

    both. i answered you in more detail in a post after this, so i hope you saw it…

  28. elise

    i would totally write to the company! ha. i think what we are is “special”

  29. elise

    fun together next week? whats your sched?

  30. Laura

    hold. the. phone. WHAT is that cheese and (more importantly) does it taste like cheese. the fact that it melts is a plus…but to be honest i didnt read any further into your description because i came straight to comment. im thinking nachos!?! or…if its too mozzerella tasting, im willing to settle for home-made pizzas.

  31. elise

    it’s definitely not as good as veganrella (the best cheese alternative ive found so far that mysteriously vanished from the shelves as soon as i fell in love…), but it melts and tastes pretty good, and doesnt upset my stomach. win win win! pizzas were on the brain when i bought it, but i made a sh!t ton of grilled cheese sandos with it instead. soon enough, soon enough…

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