I made a Mexi-kale salad for lunch. Sure, I just coined the term, but I think it fits. On top of the kale was wakame seaweed, butternut squash, cherry tomatoes, black beans, and some salsa (added later so it wouldn’t sogg-ify). Yes, I realize the involvement of seaweed in a south-of-the-border themed salad may be a bit of a stretch, but can’t I just claim poetic license on this one?
To complete the (admittedly weak) Mexi theme, I also had a baggy of Brad’s Blues All Natural blue corn tortilla chips which added the perfect contrasting crunch to the salad.
Creepy baby picture aside, this brand is awesome. Brad’s Organic sells several products in addition to chips, and I’ve liked each one I’ve tried (peanut butter, tomato sauce, etc). The only down side was the “no salt” feature, which is definitely more healthy, but (sadly) not as tasty. However, since one of my goals for 2010 is to reduce the amount of sodium in my diet, I guess this was the right choice to get the year started off right. What are your goals for the New Year?
The rest of my packed lunch was more of the familiar posse: Apricot Clif bar, Chocolate Chip Z bar, and my last Bora Bora bar (get in stores Bora Bora!!), and a pair of apples.
After work I came home to a seriously pathetic fridge situation. While contemplating how to make something out of nothing, I snacked on crack Stacy’s pita chips.
I had about 5 times the amount shown. Why won’t this (one POUND) bag ever end!! Note to self, never again get Costco sized bags of such snack-a-licious foods. It’s a love/hate thang, nameen?
See that? Yeah. That’s the part that skeeves me out. I’m just going to pretend that’s not grease, please don’t try to tell me otherwise.
Anyways, I managed to transform the leftovers you see above…into the pretty decent looking dinner you see below.
Steamed sweet taters with BBQ and leftover vegan TVP/million bean chili with slices of avo and a dollop of plain greek yog.
If you’re thinking wha-tha-eff is she eating greek yogurt for?! Pause. Take a few deep breaths. And remember that my fridge is running on empty I’m not 100% vegan, mmmkay? That said, it has been quite a while since I last had greek yog, so I had almost less than a tsp. It was just enough to give it a bit of a zing on on top without setting off a five alarm reaction in my intestines.
On the side I had an oat bran roll with hummus.
The Gingerbread Spice flavor is not as good as Sugar Cookie Sleight Ride, but it still fills me with warmth holiday cheer, so I’m game.
So long, farewell, auf weidersehen good-bye! The cake is DONE-ZO. I was going to try to savor it for the few more days I’m still in NYC before heading home, but like the champ moderation-less girl that I am, I polished off the last two slices as a single serving.
I went to bed dreaming of raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…which turned into super crazy nightmares about my patients. AH! You know you need a vacay when you are having dreams about trying to save a person’s life with bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens…good thing we have code carts instead!
It is bad when the dreams start… : )
I haven’t heard of Bora Bora bars…sound yummy!
am I correct in guessing I wasn’t the only one watching the Sound of music last night??
also, all of your food looks amazing…especially that cake!!
What a gorgeous dinner! My kinda meal, Missy 🙂
“I’m not 100% vegan, mmmkay?”–Here, here my friend! I had an anon commenter write in to tell me last nite that the 2 Tbsp of Wishbone Italian salad dressing I used in a huge jass stir fry wasnt vegan so therefore the dish wasnt vegan and I better alert my readers. Oh, ok thanks. I’m on vacay, be glad Im even cooking AND who really cares?!! and if a reader really was that vested, woudl they be using Wishbone brand? I doubt it, but in Aruba, you just are happy they have anything, ya know!
I think I need to adopt this handy dandy disclaimer that you do b/c girllllllll if I have to read any more snarky (and always anon!) comments, I think Im gonna quit my blog!
That said, can I have a piece of that choc cake? It just makes me happy inside!
that cake looks sooo GOOD!! have u tried the cinn sugar staceys pita chips? they are AMAZING!
I saw those chips today and totally considered buying them, but I wasnt sure how they would taste. I’ll have to pick some up next time.
Looking at your food makes me hungry!
You seemed a little stressed, you okay? Your dinner was kind of like mine…just slop it all together. I’m with you on the quasi-vegan-hood. I just ate an Almondina cookie (YUM), then realized the fourth ingredient is egg whites. Shiznit.
Mmm everything in this post looks fan-freakin-tastic. Aren’t SPs and BBQ a wonderful combo?
that cake seriously looks amazing!! you are making me hungry 😀 that mexi kale salad looks awesome
xoxo
shelley
http://findinghappinessandhealth.wordpress.com
Yum!! My goals for the year are basically to eat more raw food- and get back in the running shoes- and also to blog more! I HATE when people are so crazy about labels.. vegan, vegetarian, raw, whatever.. seriously people need to chill out!
That cake looks so good! I found the Bora Bora bars in my little grocery store Kroger in a small town in Indiana. The whole store probably heard me screaming when I saw them.
Ha I’m hoarding my Bora Bora bars now… 😉
<3 <3
After this I’m about 99% sure that I’ll be having a sweet potato for dinner. not that you care haha..
I’m still on the hunt for those Bora Bora bars. I feel like if I find one and eat it somehow I will be zapped to a warmer climate.
I’m not sure of my goals? That’s bad haha.
Okay after yesterday’s day of eats, I was just thinking about how much sodium I eat. I LOVE NACL!!
For what it’s worth, I can find BoraBora bars in my Kroger so if you have an equivalent of that (I know they have a parent company that owns a whole bunch of different stores) they may have them there.
GREEK YOGURT?!?!!?!? NO WAY! I kid – you know I fully support the Chobs consumption 🙂
That cake looks amazing!
Your meals always look so fresh and delish, perfect fuel for 12 hour shifts.
Yeah, I keep wanting the gingerbread tea to be as good as sugar cookie sleigh ride, but it ain’t. And I don’t even know what makes the sugar cookie flavor so good–it doesn’t even sound good to me when I read the ingredients, but I took everyone’s word for it and tried, and well, yeah.
I’m feelin you on Stacy’s chips. I haven’t touched them since college. Those were dark days. 😉
Still drooling over that cake….
And I bet those napkins stains are just apple juice. Right?
LOVEEE!! I’m catching up on your posties so excuse my absence 🙂 Thank you sooooo sooooooo much for your email, I can’t even tell u how much it helped me. My best friend’s sis started as pre-med at UCLA toooo anddd let’s just say switched to comm by 2nd semester freshman year…haha yeeaaaaaa..
I’ve been looking into more programs though and thank u sooo soooo much for your advice!!! Beats getting lectured by my momz ;D XOO
PS so sorry u had to work xmas! (urgh makes me want to rethink the nurse gig LOL) BUT that cake is to dieeee AND the book kyle made u is sooooo amazing, I’m getting on that immediately!!!!!
Love ya girl!
I’m enjoying the sugar cookie tea, too. I haven’t tried any of the other holiday flavors. I guess I’ll be out of luck soon!
I really want to bake a sweet potato and cover it with barbecue sauce thanks to your blog. It sounds amazingly good.
Nicely done on the before and after dinner transformation. And you’ll get zero judgement from moi regarding eating dairy. I love me some Greek yog!
I want to be more diligent about yoga and reading this coming year. And more adventurous with my food!
mexikale has a nice ring to it! i like it! dude, those costco bags of stacy’s chips are actually satan himself disguised in a bag. um sorry about the nightmares~scary! xo
Meals look delish as always!
new reader 🙂
i love love love your blog/ your job / your locale but anyways …
i must say, the candy cane lane celestial seasonings tea is by far the best! if you haven’t tried it, it may blow sugar cookie sleigh ride outta the water 🙂
Heaps of Good information in your post, I favorited your blog so I can visit again in the future, Cheers
Glad you found me Shawna!