vegan food coma

First of all, some undocumented eats: while preparing tonight’s dinner (deets below) I had a spoonful of PB and when Jeff got home from the grocery store I had ~7 crackers with ~1 oz of gouda cheese. Phew, got that off my chest!

I try not to feel GUILTY about food, that is unhealthy. But sometimes I just eat out of pure boredom which is NOT good. This PB thing has got to go, I’ve been sneaking licks and tastes too much often. I don’t do it with any other nut butters, just the Smart Balance Rich Roasted PB. WHY ARE YOU SO GOOD? It certainly isn’t the worst food I could be over-doing, but I need to keep it in check.

But back to some documented eats! I searched the blog world for a great stew/soup that would be perfect for today’s gross, windy, dreary, rainy day. Also, I wanted to make something for Jeff and Mona so they didn’t have to worry about it. They always make dinner for me before I even get a chance to offer to make something for them, so I got a head start with the crock pot when I got home from work. Found this vegan recipe on this awesome new blog!

I swapped out the sweet potato for butternut squash since it needed using up and I didn’t have enough whole chick peas, so I used a can of pureed chick peas. This helped to give the stew a thicker texture, at least! And Jeff isn’t too keen on super spicy, so I used regular tomatoes and just added a little extra spice so it was just right.

Spicy African Peanut Stew

SO. GOOD. I also heated up some garlic naan on the side for optimal dippage.

Garlic naan (I had 1 big and 1 small piece)

This dinner was not only tasty and perfect for the weather, but SO FILLING. I am in a vegan food coma (though the added naan wasn’t vegan). It is almost 9pm and I am seriously in my PJs ready for bed. I am so tired from this week, and the weather and filling stew aren’t helping! I’m going to call it a night, though, and head off to sleep. No work tomorrow

Toodles! Try this recipe!

**Edited to add: OH MY GAHH Just found this great giveaway!!! Enter if you want!

slush

Last night it snowed! And this morning it turned to slush. I awoke to snow and 5 minutes later it was almost all gone and the roads had turned disgusting (though still drive-able).

Slept in a bit in preparation for an easy workout and had some Cheerios in the car on my drive to the gym.

1/3 cup Cheerios (plain)

When I got to the gym, I did an easy mile on the elliptical (11 minutes) and then I stretched a lot. I forgot to mention that my foot acted up in the last 1/2 mile of my 5 miles yesterday. This is obviously a vast improvement since it hasn’t hurt in 2 weeks and it took it to reach my longest distance yet before it started hurting. Regardless, I iced it at work yesterday and gave it a good stretch after the elliptical. And I’m going to ice it again today! So after stretching and massaging my foot, I hit the weights and did lots of arm and chest work. I need to look HOT in my bridesmaid dress in May and these arms are driving me crazy. I’ve lost over 70 lbs and they haven’t budged.

Got to work and had a boring, but satisfying, breakfast.

1 piece multi grain bread with 1 1/2 tbsp natural PB; 1 clementine; 2 slices dried kiwi

I had a boring morning spent hunched over 2 massive files searching for documents. It was tedious but time consuming. So next thing I knew it was time to take a break for lunch!

1 big salad! (fresh spinach, cashews, raisins, chick peas, avocado, salsa, mushrooms)

Salsa is my favorite salad dressing! As I’ve said before, I’m not keen on most dressings and have found only a handful I really enjoy. It bumps up flavor and veggie intake without adding many calories! I also threw in the avocado, chick peas, and a few cashews to give me some good healthy fat and protein to make a boring salad more filling.

And fill me it did until about 2 hours later when I was really frazzled and frustrated with a task left by the office manager (who is vacationing in India for 3 weeks). The paralegal, Laura, kept laughing as I would occasionally moan or grunt my frustration and we decided it was snack time. This packet of melba toast + Laughing Cow Original Light was the perfect pick-me-up and I ended up figuring things out.

1 packet whole wheat melba toast with 1 wedge Laughing Cow Original Light

I finished up my work and eventually made it home with the puppy and found a couple surprises in the mailbox! That was enough to cheer up a dreary, rainy day! First I got the invitation to my cousin’s baby shower (same day as my 10k, but I think I can actually make it since its in the afternoon). Second, I got my highly anticipated No Meat Athlete technical running shirt!!!

No Meat Athlete

Runs on Plants

Want to be cool like me? Order yours here! I love this blog, and I’m so glad Matt, the author, created these shirts. This might be making it’s race debut at my 10k!!

Now I’m sitting on the couch looking up a recipe to make Mona and Jeff for dinner and eating a super yummy snack.

1 apple with copious amounts of cinnamon; 1 piece Lindt 70% Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt

Have a great afternoon!