Quinoa Pasta with TJ’s “Meat”balls!

Okay, lest you think the worst (that I’ve left the bf for someone named ‘TJ’ and he makes amazing meatballs), TJ stands for Trader Joe’s… and the ‘meat’balls are actually TJ’s “meatless meatballs” of deliciousness!!!!

Seriously, one of the best reasons to move back to Phoenix (there are few) is the fact that there is a Trader Joe’s less than 10 miles from where I live. Heck, even if the nearest TJ’s was 25 miles away, it’d still be better than Denver! Colorado doesn’t have any Trader Joe’s in the whole freaking state. Yes, I know, seriously… what the heck?? Whatever, Colorado…

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So anyway, that said, yesterday I made some freaking delicious quinoa pasta – Ancient Harvest Quinoa pasta to be exact! Ever since Blake came back with the recommendation from his doctor that he cut back on refined carbs (including wheat bread, wheat pasta, brown rice… things we thought were healthy), I’ve been trying to find things that both satiate us the way carbs do, yet are still healthy for us.

The best part about quinoa?

• It’s a ‘complete protein’: “Quinoa contains all 9 essential amino acids that are required by the body as building blocks for muscles.” (source)
• It’s a good source of magnesium: “Since low dietary levels of magnesium are associated with increased rates of hypertension, ischemic heart disease and heart arrhythmias, this ancient grain can offer yet another way to provide cardiovascular health for those concerned about atherosclerosis.” (source)
• It’s also high in iron and calcium, so all of that combined makes it an “excellent food for vegetarians and vegans.” (source)

So basically, it goes without saying that quinoa is what’s up. However, how does it cut it as a substitute for whole wheat pasta? Well, pretty darn well!

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PLUS

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PLUS

(pasta sauce of your choosing)

EQUALS

Awww yeah! (Hey, a little math at night won’t kill you ) And these pictures are actually from today’s leftovers because I was too hungry to get pics when they first come out… yeah, they hold up pretty well

The meatless meatballs were sooo good too! Blake loved them and said they were the best ‘fake’ meatballs he’s tried, which is high praise… I guess… I also steamed some frozen veggies and threw them in the mix, to get some extra fiber and texture in there too.

All in all, I’m basically in love with Ancient Harvest’s quinoa pasta. They have all different kinds too: elbow pasta, spaghetti, bowtie… and maybe more, but that’s just what I saw at Sprouts. Definitely worth it!

Days 7 & 8: All-in-one meal & Get spicy!

Oh man, okay so it looks like yesterday was one of those 20% days where I fail at something… posting on this blog! Luckily I did not fail on the ’31 Changes in 31 Days’ thing. Only day 8? That would be tragic!

Yesterday was day 7, Try to Eat an All-in-One Meal. By the way, if you’re confused about what I’m doing, click here to read about my VegNews New Year’s challenge

My all-in-one meal yesterday was kind of a repeat of the past couple of days… more quinoa:

Plus a Tandoor vegetable samosa

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Okay, so maybe not the most clever thing (and certainly not the “massaged kale salad” that VegNews recommend– btw, wth is a massaged kale salad? Do I have to rub down my kale?), but it worked. Yesterday was super busy, and today will be busy as well!

Yesterday I also hit the gym, but it was all cardio yesterday (plus some crunches) because today was my first ever boot camp class!!! Hooray! And oh my gosh, did it kick my BUTT!! We started off freaking running the STAIRS– there were at least 10 sets of stairs!! I finished about 7 before I was absolutely dead… it wasn’t that my legs were hurting, they’re not hurting at all, but the cardio absolutely killed me! I really need to improve that More stair running for me!

Today we also did:

• 25 inchworms
• 50 back extensions (ow!)
• 50 scissor crunches
• 50 deadlifts
• 30 push ups
• 50 rows
• 50 crunches

And then I did a plank for 30 seconds… owwie! Cross your fingers I can amp it up when I go again on Thursday!

Today’s challenge from VegNews is: Get spicy. Luckily, I made more of Happy Herbivore’s Mexican Dip, and there’s a healthy dash of chili pepper plus a jalapeno, so it is plenty spicy for me! I plan on eating it on a burrito today for lunch, before class.

Due to the fact that the boiler in our apartment complex broke (and was broken for 4 days, DURING A SNOWSTORM), so there was NO heat when it was 15 degrees outside, I have a tiny cold (sore throat, runny nose.) Thanks a lot, living in a crappy apartment. Oh, to be a poor grad student! So I’m going to try to eat healthy and filling:

Breakfast: two slices toast with peanut butter and banana, orange juice

Lunch: Happy Herbivore’s Mexican Dip with lettuce and tomato, side of water or milk

Dinner: Finishing up the rest of the quinoa, making more sauteed broccoli with garlic

Snacks: Apple at class, strawberries and blueberries mixed with yogurt for dessert

Question for you all: Seriously, what is massaged kale?? Also, have you ever done a boot camp class, or had to run stairs? Any tips on how I can survive this cardio butt-kicking?

Day 6: Eat broccoli

One of the words I still find surprisingly hard to spell… broccoli! Today’s challenge from VegNews’ ’31 Changes in 31 Days’ is: Eat broccoli.

First, some health info on why broccoli is so amazing for you:

• Broccoli has nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid, calcium, and fiber (source)
• Vitamin C helps with iron absorption in the body
• Broccoli also can help prevent cataracts, and eases the symptoms of the common cold (source)
• According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, broccoli is also likely to prevent colon cancer
• Boiled broccoli has more vitamin C than an orange, and as much calcium as a glass of milk (source)

To be honest… I had no idea broccoli was so good for us! I always knew it was good to eat broccoli, for some reason, and whenever I would buy bags of frozen vegetables, I’d always make sure they came with some bits of broccoli… but wow! Now I’m actually excited to eat more broccoli

I just decided to saute fresh broccoli with garlic in olive oil and a little salt/pepper. I was intrigued by Isa Chandra from the Post Punk Kitchen version, which you can read about here, but then I was too lazy to do it… :-/

Today I decided not to go to the gym because something tragic happened last night: the boiler in our ghetto apartment complex broke! And, of course, it snowed last night. So not only did I go to bed absolutely freezing, I woke up absolutely freezing knowing that the sidewalks would be icy… so, I decided to stay in bed and keep warm.

However, I did go to brunch with friends this morning to a Latin Fusion restaurant, and I thought I was going to be totally screwed for food options… luckily, this was not the case! I was able to get fried plantains topped with cinnamon, and a “sweet potato mash” that came with grilled veggies. Yum! So today’s food choices were pretty good:

Breakfast: Fried plantains w/ cinnamon, sweet potato mash, 2 glasses mimosas (yum!!)

Lunch: A mock-tuna sandwich from Happy Herbivore, small glass of soymilk

Dinner: Roasted broccoli with garlic and quinoa (leftover quinoa)

Snacks: Gala apple, small bowl of Rice Bits with soymilk

Day 2: Eat Something Nourishing

Like the title of this blog post, today in Day 2 of VegNews magazine’s ’31 Changes in 31 Days’, is Eat Something Nourishing.

For today, VegNews recommends that I “fill up with something that treats [my] body right.” I first thought of soup, as it is pretty chilly tonight, but then something even better, even more nourishing (and warm!) came to mind: quinoa! Quinoa is a complete protein, which basically means you don’t have to pair it with anything to get the full goodness (or nourishment!) out of it. For more on quinoa, Whole Foods has a great blog entry on this super food.

Here was my quinoa, cooked, packed up, and ready to go:

To make it even healthier and more fulfilling, I add a chopped up green bell pepper that I cooked with the quinoa, as well as chopped fresh spinach and a whole tomato. I packed it up because today was pretty busy: I had work at 2 PM until 5, then class from 6-9 PM. Instead of going home and eating the quinoa (which probably would make me late for class), I decided to eat in the coffee lounge outside my work today.

By the time I got to it, it was cold (bummer!) but still really good… and it definitely filled me up and nourished me! I wasn’t starving through class like I normally am, and I feel I ate very healthy and, dare I say, environmentally friendly today.

The rest (and beginning) of my day was as follows:

Breakfast: One slice toast with Earth Balance “butter”, glass of milk (small breakfast today because I hate exercising on a full stomach)

Lunch: big green drank (same ingredients), peanut butter sandwich

Dinner: My quinoa medley! Around 2 cups.

Snacks: Pretzels, an apple, and a small latte (with soymilk!) because I was dying after work today and wasn’t sure if I would make it through class… Hopefully this doesn’t become an every Wednesday occurrence, but if it does, I won’t be too sad… I love my coffee!

As mentioned above, I did go exercise today! Hooray! Unfortunately, I’m spoiled by our gym in Phoenix… today, the school’s gym was packed! I probably shouldn’t have gone at 10 AM (too late), but I did and I will never wake up late again. While I was trying to work out my legs, I kept bumping in to people… too many people! Anyway, here’s what I managed to do:

• Warm up on the elliptical (20 min.)
• Stairstepper (10 min.)
• Side bends with 12.5 lbs weights (I didn’t make this common fitness mistake, no worries)
• 3 sets crunches (bicycle crunches, regular crunches, side planks and regular planks)
• 3 sets lunges (1 with weights (12.5 lbs), 2 without)
• 1 set side lunges with the ball (only 1 set because I kept bumping into people!)
• 2 sets squats with calf raises
• 3 sets of adductor and abductor machines (or what I like to call the ‘vag machines’)
• 2 sets leg press (90 lbs. and 110 lbs.)

As you can see, I definitely didn’t push myself as hard as I did while in Phoenix… I blame the crowd but I also didn’t want to go all out since I knew I’d be hustling around work today… and boy did I hustle! Work was soooo busy… hooray for the beginning of the quarter! /sarcasm

Tomorrow, the challenge is “Love yourself.” I don’t exactly know what I’m going to do about this tomorrow, considering I actually have pretty high self-esteem (not to brag, but it’s true), but I’ll think of something… any suggestions as to what you think this could mean? (Appropriate suggestions only… I can see how this could turn dirty haha)

Recipes and moving– oh my!

Today’s post starts out with an interesting email I received from my Mom, regarding beets. Here it is in its entirety:

“Baked Beets are truly delish but what happens afterward is a mind blower! I made a beet in the oven and ended up eating the whole thing on Tuesday for my lunch in a delish salad with goat cheese and roasted pecans with romaine lettuce! So 3 hours later, I went to the ladies room and thought I was peeing blood! This continued all night and all this morning so I googled it and this is what I found!

Beets change the color of your pee and your poop. The exciting part is when you eat beets, three hours later you forgot you had beets, and you pee purple and you go oh my gaaaaa but then you remember, then you forget again and by morning you’re pooping purple and freak out again. It is normal for beets to do that. In fact, eating beets has really great effects on your health, they are very very good for you. In addition to that, you can actually test how your system works: eat beets, and see how long it takes for the colour to appear in pee/poop. That way, you’ll know how long your body takes to digest things.

To summarize: you’re ok and there is nothing wrong. Just normal reaction to beets

So was I relieved! Have a great day!“