Edible Vengeance

This being my blog and I all, I have every intention on being 100% honest on here. And honestly - today was not a good day. I know exactly why, but that didn't change the fact that just getting out of bed was a challenge. Every negative thought possible was running through my head, about everything - my body, my abilities, my future - it was an endless stream of depressing negativity.

What I hate most about days like this is how LOUD the ED voice becomes. I should eat as little as possible, work out as long as possible, blah blah blah blah BS. There was a time where I could and would listen. But now, it just pisses. me. off. So, I fought back. How, you may ask?

Chocolate.

First in the form of yogurt:

I have had this for a while, but was saving for dessert...and then kept forgetting about. This morning was time.

It was good, quite good (although not amazing). At first it felt "wrong" eating something so chocolatey...but really, it's not all too far away from what I would put in oats.

I mean look at the ingredients:

It was a tad sweet for me, but all in all yummy. And it helped - made me feel just a little stronger.

Oh, and the chocolate did not stop there. Oh no.

Chocolate-covered cherry oat bran.

[Note: Next time, cut cherries smaller!]

Amazing Grass GreenSuperfood Chocolate

With almond milk, banana, cherries, and a splash of 'nilla. 

LOVED this. Very deep and chocolatey; I was impressed! I liked this as much as the Kidz Wildberry flavor - my only reservartion in buying a bigger container was that I don't necessarily want a chocolate-flavored smoothie every time I make a smoothie...maybe I will like the Original? Anyone else tried these before?

I continued my day of "edible vengeance" - after quite the breakdown in the kitchen with my mom - with probably the best sandwich this side of the Atlantic:

This is an Italian Sub from a little Italian Deli near my house that I grew up going to. The family who owns it is from Southern Italy and import most of their products, and make their [absolutely mouth-watering] bread. Walking in there is like walking into a mini-Mercato Centrale. It's wonderful. And they make the best Italian sub ever on their crunchy, golden, doughy baguette that rocks my carboholic socks.

Although, I will say this - there is nothing "Italian" about an Italian sub except for the individual ingredients. Yes, the bologna, salami, mortadella, mozzarella, and all that is Italian - but try to find this in Italy, and it's simply not there. In fact, when we explained what an Italian sub is to my Food & Culture professor, she looked at us like we had 3 heads! It is such a cool example of how food changes and adapts to a different culture. One of the many reasons why I love it so :)

Anyway, the vengeance went right on into dinner:

Artichoke-onion-garlic pizza on whole grain crust from Whole Foods. Aka, heaven.

This was so yummy. Their whole grain crust is to die for - you can see the flax seeds hangin out in it! YUM. And really not all that expensive, either!

I suppose today has been a long time comin. I can tell because I've had a serious itch to bake, bake, BAKE! And I have. Tonight it was Jenna's Whole Wheat Banana Bread that I made into muffins:

We had ripe bananas, I had the recipe pulled up...it was fate.

That little heart is from the end of my box of Kashi Heart to Heart cinnamon cereal (one of my favorites!). The two on the bottom have a drizzle of almond butter on top, and though you cant see it, the top 2 have a brown sugar sprinkle on top. I like getting creative with the presentation :)

And last night, I made Dreena's SuperCharge Me! cookies:

With craisins and vegan chocolate chips.

May I just say - WHOA. These are incredible. I just love sweets that are good & good-for-you. The flax meal gives them a wonderful nutty flavor and texture! I will be making these again. Butterscotch will be involved.

And speaking of chocolate [when I am not speaking of chocolate?], the Amazing Grass trial continued yesterday with:

I loooved the Wild Berry, so I had high hopes for the Chocolate!

1/2 nana + 8 cherries + 1/2 c. almond milk + ~1 c. spinach + 1 packet Kidz Chocolate SuperFood.

Meh. I didn't like this one much - too...grassy? I was really surprised when I liked the regular Chocolate so much! It was better after I added a hefty spoonful of cocoa powder, but still - I'll stick to the Wild Berry.

More new things were sampled yesterday, including:

Sideways-spoon test:

It passed - a little too well, though! It was a bit too reminiscent of eating glue. And it had a weird texture, like a little gritty? I'll keep on keepin on with Fage, the tried & true [love].

Took advantage of a 5 for 5 sale at WFs and got some new Odwalla bars - well, new to me.

I liked it, but it was not very pomegranate-y at all. It reminded me of a NutriGrain bar without the icky sugary filling. I might not buy it again, just because it wasn't exactly a stand-out, but it was worth the try.

In other news, I think my body is insisting on becoming a vegetarian. My mom and I went to the gym and then when we got back, she made a lentil-chicken soup using leftover chicken from dinner this past weekend. It smelled good, and I do love all-things lentil...but I couldn't stomach the idea of chicken. No idea why. But, if your body screams at you, it's a good idea to listen - so I made this tasty mess:

This was 2 egg whites + the remains of the tofu package I used for the cake frosting. It was Nasoya Lite Silken Tofu, because it was the only silken tofu the store had. It mixed with the egg whites more or less easily, and I cooked it in the pan with some broccoli slaw, garlic salt, pepper, oregano and rosemary. I drizzled it with *the best* olive oil, and when it needed still a little something more, I added a splash of golden balsamic vinegar - perfect. With a slice of whole grain bread from Costco. It was really tasty! I will definitely be making this again!

I wish I could say that's all that's been happening over here, but...this ain't the half of it. Emails, culinary school research, job search...oy vey. This is definitely a job for yoga.

~Namaste~