Pescatarian: Pesky or Pleasant?

Today was one of those efficient, get-things-done-days. I just love those.

I finished an application for a job I really, really want with my study abroad program. The experience is the pay, but I see that as invaluable right now, and I think I'd really enjoy and be good at it...fingers crossed!

Today was also a mix of new & old. The new:

Justin's Honey Almond Butter. The packs were on sale at WFs, so I figured, why not?

Trial #1:

1/2 Tbs on toasted sprouted bread with a bit of cinnamon + cinnamon apple jelly, and

Trial #2:

Pre-gym snack of 1 Tbs on a cracker.

The verdict? Well, I'd like to know where the honey was supposed to come in, I didn't taste it at all. I suspect it's one of those "you'd notice if it wasn't there" type of things. Still, it tasted like, um, almond butter. It had a bit of grit to it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I found it just lacking in flavor. Especially when compared to Barney Butter & Maranatha! Maybe it had to do with the packet - like it wasn't mixed enough? I got a Honey Peanut Butter packet too, so we shall see...

Newbie 2:

Nonfat Strawberry Chobani.

Sideways spoon test:

Fail. In more ways than one.

I really wasn't going to bother reviewing this - I figured, it's just another flavored Chobani, how different could it be? But it WAS! And not in a good way. The texture was not at all thick and almost a little gritty (?) - it was like eating regular yogurt. Maybe I got a bad cup or something, but I found it totally different from my Raspberry & Pomegranate experiences. The flavor was alright, but I was expecting something a little more worthy of its 1.50 price tag.

And the old:

Chips and dip, a la Gillianasana. For the chips, I used a very complex recipe: I took a cucumber out of the fridge and chopped it. I know...I'll go to great lengths for my chips. In all seriousness, cucumber & hummus is probably one of my top five go-to snacks. It's just a perfect combination - especially when it's garlic hummus!

My mom found this brand at WFs and since I've come home, I'm in looove:

This is probably the best garlic hummus I've ever had. It's so fresh and...well, garlicky!! And I don't think it's much more expensive than other brands, either. If you are a hummus lover and find this, definitely try it!!! It packs a serious flavor punch.

After a trip the gym with mia mama, we returned home to my dad - and a $25 gift card to Legal Seafoods. Legals is a major go-to restaurant in my family, because the quality of the food is unfailingly incredible. In fact, two years ago we started a new Christmas tradition: after opening presents, we go to an afternoon matinee movie and the an early dinner at Legal's. Recently a HUGE new mall was built in our town (where my beloved Whole Foods is - you have NO idea how excited I was) and with it came a biga$$ new Showcase Cinemas and a Legals. If and when I have to name a favorite restaurant (when we're talking the U.S. - otherwise I'd obviously name, um, all of Italy), I turn to Legal's. The seafood is always super fresh and they have these rolls that I little dream about. Golden and crunchy on the outside, doughy and sweet on the inside. And now, the one in my town serves them with this amazing herbed white bean dip that I absolutely must figure out how to duplicate. 

Anyway, the wait was a little long and I was stAHving, and after demolishing a roll, it hit me...I forgot LULU!! This is the 2nd time I have forgotten my camera going to a restaurant. SO annoying - and when my beautifully presented plate arrived, I almost cried. It may be silly, but 1) I know if i freak out about it enough, I will be much less likely to forget it next time, and 2) going to restaurants is one of my favorite things ever, and it's SO nice to share pictures of some professional, beautiful food every so often!

So, I will try to recreate it for you.

I ordered a medium-rare yellowfin tuna steak that looked much like this:

Photo Credit

 +

A chickpea ragout that looked an awful lot like this:

Photo Credit

It. was. AMAZING. Classic Legal, every bite was delicious. Seriously, this chickpea ragout blew me away. Whatever flavors the chickpeas were cooked in totally brought out their naturally buttery flavor and smooth texture and I was in legume heaven. It also was supposed to come with an arugula-pistachio salad in a blood-orange vinaigrette, but I saw a pitiful amount of arugula on my plate. The amazingness of the chickpeas and the tuna definitely made up for it, but the arugula was part of the reason I ordered it, so I was a little letdown. But as always, can't go wrong with Legals. Thank goodness my body is still ok with eating fish!

And on that note - I have mentioned it before, but I have noticed recently that the idea of eating animal meat is completely grossing me out. The mere thought of a piece of steak kills my appetite and chicken is making me gag. I am absolutely fascinated by it; I tend to eat mostly vegetarian anyway, just out of preference - I very rarely crave protein in general so the vegetarian options usually end up sounding more appealing - but I have never experienced this kind of innate disgust. Two years ago I gave up red meat for a year and found it incredibly simple and hardly noticed it, and confirmed what I already knew, that I just don't like red meat much anyway. But with my eating disorder in mind I'm careful about putting any foods "off limits", so I never felt the need to label myself. But BAM! Here I am. I'm toying with the idea of trying pescatarianism for a while, just to see what happens. Either way, I'm glad that I'm honoring my body by listening to it. Now I just need to work on listening when it's telling me to take the spoon out of the ice cream carton...

~Namaste~

Green & Real

Well, it's been a solid week and a half since I've been back...and reality is closing in. I miss Florence. I miss being able to step outside into streets once walked by Dante and Pellegrino Artusi. I miss the challenge of speaking another language. I miss the daily trips to the market, and my dried fruit guy.

BUT - I will say, it's good to be able to make these again:

Is that green????

Why yes, green it is. This is a pineapple-banana-blueberry-spinach smoothie made with almond milk.

I got into smoothie-making the summer after my freshman year in college, and never looked back. They're so fun and versatile and tasty! I have a pretty standard basic recipe that I play around with:

>1/2 cup milk - I usually use almond milk, and if I use more fruit, sometimes I'll up it to 6 oz (3/4 cup).

>half a frozen banana - this is pretty important. I've tried banana-less smoothies and they are simply not as good. Smoothies scream for the creamy sweetness bananas provide. Trust me.

>Spinach - usually around a cup. You can't taste it at all. Great way to get in some extra greens! Plus, it makes the smoothie a cool color. You can bet that my kids will love "Green Monsters" (as they have been dubbed by the food blog world).

After that, I play around with the fruit, but I often add at least a couple tablespoons of blueberries. I try to use frozen fruit - I slice bananas and then throw them in the freezer in a Ziploc. Sometimes I throw in some berries too - if you use more frozen fruit, you won't need to add ice cubes to get that thicker smoothie-like consistency (I always feel like ice cubes water down the flavor too much).

I did miss my blender in good ole Italia. I swear by these smoothies - refreshing, fruity, and nutrient-packed. I know the spinach thing sounds weird, but really, you cannot detect any spinachy-hint at all. Just yummy fruit!!

Speaking of tasty beverages - have you tried or heard of the mystical kombucha?

It's a living culture (basically like fermentation) of healthy microorganisms including lots of essential nutrients. Sounds crazy and a little gross, perhaps, but it's taken the healthy-living-blog world by storm so I had to try it. I've tried Synergy's Mystic Mango flavor (of course - mango!!!), and was...perplexed. The flavor is very interesting - acidic, like a weak vinegar almost. It's naturally "effervescent" (fancy schmancy term for slightly carbonated), which I like a lot. I didn't love the mango, but I wanted to try it again and I found this on sale at Whole Foods and thought "if not today, when?!" I really liked this! The apple was a perfect complement to the kombucha, and though I didn't taste much jasmine, I think it made the flavor a little more mellow. It was really good - if you've never tried it before, this would be a good one to start with, I think. Still very tart, but in an enjoyable way. Only 70 calories per bottle. I'm usually not a fan of "drinking my calories," (with the notable exceptions of espresso drinks and smoothies), but this I feel is worth it because it's tasty and so freakin good for you! They do tend to be pricey, but it's a nice once-in-a-while treat.

I know I mentioned a "theme of the week" - but after more brainstorming, I think I am going to do a special themed post. It will be several product reviews, related to each other. I'm totally open to opinions though, so if any one thinks a weekly theme versus one big fat post is better than the other, let me know!!!

Any Costco fans out there? My dad is a total Costco junkie and whenever I come home, I always find a new lifetime supply-sized box of something. This time, it was this:

My mom made a packet (which is huge and definitely holds more than one serving) and mixed it with white onion and canned diced tomatoes - and it rocked! It's not too hot-spicy, but well spiced with cumin, garam masala - the classic Indian flavors. I threw it on a bed of spinach and added a spoonful of cottage cheese and it was de-lish:

Not exactly as appetizing as it looks on the box, but it certainly tastes great! The ingredients are just water, chickpeas, onions, sunflower oil, garlic, ginger, coriander, salt, cumin, spices. I just love short, readable ingredient lists! Half a pack is 210 calories with 7 grams of fat (only 0.5g is saturated!), 10 grams of fiber and 9 grams of protein. Pretty sweet stats! Real food just tastes so much better. 

From the new...

to the old! I love these bars. They are a college kid's dream - healthy, tasty, and a good source of quick energy.

I love that you can not only see every ingredient, but taste them too - the almonds, honey, and flax combine beautifully, and the variety of textures from the different grains, whole almonds and flax seeds makes it seriously fun(oxymoron?) to eat. One of my favorite snacks!

Lately, it has occurred to me how much I really love blogging. I know my updates haven't been as constant since I returned - but that will change. I'm slowly settling back home and just need to find my rhythm again. But really, it's become so important to me. I love writing, and especially about food, and it makes me so happy to be able to have a place to share it with others. I literally find myself writing posts in my head - I have post-its everywhere reminding myself of things to mention or discuss. It's been such a great outlet, and even if all I ever have is 5 readers, it's still just as fun. I think a part of it is I spent so many years depriving myself of so much food-wise, now that I'm on the other side, I'm all the more passionate about food, and sharing it with others. It's truly one of those things so deeply set within a culture that the millions of meanings and symbols it has go unnoticed and it really just fascinates me. Talking and writing about it is just plain FUN!

Just my thoughts for the day:)

Lots more pictures and reviews to come!

~Namaste~