zucchini diet

I got a whole boat load of zucchini from my farm share this past week, so yesterday I spent all day in the kitchen determined to use it up. And I made a few other things.
-zucchini bread from the New Soul Vegetarian Cookbook, made with whole wheat flour and turbinado sugar (per the recipe) and I cut the oil in half and made up for it with apple sauce. It turned out really well.
-stuffed zucchini with corn and dill (both also from farm share) from Vegan Planet. It had a good flavor, but didn't hold up very well, especially since I dropped the tupperware holding it...
-black beans and brown rice mix with leftover stuffing from stuffed zucchini.
-brown rice pizza from Vive le Vegan where you smush sticky brown rice into a spring form pan and bake it for a bit, then treat it like a pizza crust and top it. I topped with a homemade kale and hoisin tomato sauce, roasted zukes and peppers, olive, and some veggie parm.
-tofu quiche from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen blog with zucchini, (farm share) onions and red peppers.
-olive and walnut tapenade recipe from Vive le Vegan. It's pretty good, but I think I'd like any tapenade because I love olives.
-vegan pâté from How It All Vegan. I was surprised by how delicious it is. I think it's the first recipe I've made from this book where I was really shocked by how good it was.

I was so motivated by all the healthy food I made, that I decided to be extra healthy and get up early this morning to do a 7am spinning class. I was sleeping during the class, but I'm feeling good now.

Food log:

Pre-spin class snack: two smallish zucchini bread muffins.

Breakfast: zucchini tofu quiches and a grapefruit.

Lunch: brown rice pizza and a lemon Larabar.

Late afternoon snack: stuffed zucchini, pâté maybe on a pilfered piece of bread from the work fridge (was going to buy crackers but left wallet at home) and a green apple.

Late dinner: I'm thinking beans and rice with some steamed broccoli and sautéed Soyboy smoked tofu (really yummy in small doses) and a low carb tortilla/wrap thing.

Thinking about food

So since I started reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" I've been trying to be more conscious of what I'm eating. I'm really trying to enjoy the complex tastes of all my foods and the time and care that goes into making them. This is good because this sort of automatically means that I'm cooking and eating healthier and eating less. I think when I'm done with it I'm going to do another go-over of the BDS book and remind myself of all the things I learned in it with the additional perspective of this new book.

Food log:

Breakfast yesterday: half of an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese, arugula, tomato, cuke and red onion and a banana.

Snack: four leftover falafel balls with cuke-dill-yogurt sauce, hummus and hot sauce.

Lunch: other half of bagel sandwich and a salad of raw baby zukes, cukes, radishes, red onion, adobo seasoning and fresh pepper.

Dinner: breaded and baked buffalo tofu, breaded and baked okra, twice baked potatoes with non-hydrog Tofutti sour cream and chives. This was a really comforting and really yummy dinner. I have a picture on my camera of it that I will upload soon.

Dessert: peanut butter cream cheese brownies from this blog: www.cozyinside.blogspot.com not the mostly healthy things ever, but maybe the most delicious things ever.

Breakfast today: half of everything bagel with tofu cream cheese, sundried tomatoes and red onion and half of a grapefruit.

Snack: other half of grapefruit.

Lunch: leftovers from dinner last night and some brownie with vanilla almond milk.

Snack: Larabar and a banana

Dinner: I'll be getting home later so I think I'm going to have a leftover twice baked potato and sautee up whatever veggies I have on hand for a quick and healthy dinner while making cupcakes for work tomorrow.

I've started reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver and its' getting be back into focusing on my food and really enjoy and appreciate what I'm eating. I think this will help me get back into a BDS state of mind. If I love my food more, I'll eat healthier and less of it, like the French and Italians.

Some recent food pics:

A pretty salad Nick made for me with mixed greens, blueberries and homemade spicy candied walnuts (plus a shot of the apple bran muffins he made in the top left corner).

Fajitas with (I think) grilled onions, zucchini and kohlrabi and avocado, salsa, Tofutti sour cream on a low carb wrap.
Bowl with brown rice mixed with salsa verde, refried beans mixed with hot tomato salsa, melted FYH jack, Tofutti sour cream and avocado. Yummy and simple. All leftovers.
Dinner last night was homemade (from a box) falafel with mixed greens and radish salad, yogurt dill cucumber sauce, tomatoes and red onions, chopped up cornichon, baba ghanoush and low carb wraps. Really yummy and complete one dish meal.

Food log:

Breakfast: leftover pasta with sundried toms, tempeh, Soy Garden and veggie parm and a grapefruit.

Late morning snack: odwalla bar.

Lunch: leftover falafel fixings minus the low carb tortilla. I'm just going to eat it as a salad.

Dinner: picnic while watching the NY Philharmonic as Prospect Park. I think I'll get some take-out burritos for me and Nick.

Back on track!

I need to get back on track! I've been getting really busy at work, so I haven't had as much time to blog during work, and I try to spend as much time out of work away from a computer. But because of the lack of blogging and diet tracking, I'm gaining some weight back. I need to make time to think more about my eating and read more of the BDS book, but it's hard when any spare time I might have I just want to sit on my couch with my kitties and watch a movie.

So shortly after I stopped blogging, about 2 weeks ago, I decided I wanted to train for a running/biking duathlon. I've never been a runner ever. So I started doing things like going to the gym before work and running two miles or sometimes running a mile after a spinning class. After a week and a half of this, it was made clear to me I was doing way too much too soon and my knees were mad at me for it. Bad knees run in the family and I need to take it especially slow if I want to be able to run. I took some time off from running, but was still doing spinning and other stuff. The knee ache was lessening, but not entirely gone. I thought I might be able to do some gentle jogs this week. Then last night during kickball I collided with another player and was thrown to the ground with the immediately noticable injuries of a scraped up back and a bumped up head. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I noticed my left knee was not feeling okay either. This is really frustrating. Deciding to do a short duathlon really gave me a focus with my exercise. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to do one, but if I can, probably not anytime soon. Maybe aim for next spring? I hope so.

Food log:

Breakfast: one flax waffle with Soy Garden and maple syrup, a kiwi and a cup of tea.

Lunch: sauteed swiss chard, bok choy and zucchini mixed up with some non-hydrog Tofutti sour cream and salsa on a low-carb (but yummy I swear) tortilla. Homemade baklava for dessert, too much sugar and Soy Garden, but made with whole wheat filo so it's ever so slightly healthier. And I only brought myself a small amount to work to control myself, which is difficult to do around large amount of baklava.

Snack: whole wheat pasta with some Soy Garden, veggie parm, sundried tomatoes, balsamic-soy tempeh and lots of fresh ground pepper.

Dinner: I have no idea yet. I want to use up more stuff from the fridge and freezer before I do a shopping next, so I think what I make will be determined by what calls to me when I open up the fridge and freezer and stare.

Dessert: probably more baklava, but hopefully not too much!

I forgot to bring my ipod to work today, so my post-work gym workout plans are dashed. I was going to do a treadmill for 15 minutes and an elliptical for 30. I really don't think I can manage that without music. I'm hoping that it won't rain and I can make it home, retain my motivation, and go for a jog at the track near my house. It won't be as long of a workout as it was going to be, but my goal for the night was to get better at my jogging so at least I'll still be working on that.

Food log:

Dinner last night: the hemp tortillas I bought were accidentally wheat free and totally gross. So I just threw the grilled veggies, pepper and onions, on top of a giant salad of farm lettuces and greens, red onions, raw zucchini, home-marinated mushrooms, avocado, green olives and probably other things I forget. It was an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink salad and really good. For dessert I had 1/6 of dark chocolate bar with almonds and cherries and one Back to Nature sandwich cookie.

This:

Turned into this:

Breakfast: whole wheat bagel from the firm-wide monthly breakfast, half with earth balance mixed with dried herbs and half with chunky peanut butter, and tons of fruit- blueberries, strawberries and cherries.

Lunch: sandwich with grain cold-cuts, Vegannaise, mustard, grilled onions and grilled Boston lettuce on a whole wheat hamburger bun and a salad of farm greens and fresh peas with Amy's Goddess Dressing.

Snack: apricot, banana, baby carrots and a small amount of quinoa and black beans with peppers, zucchini and jalapeño.

Dinner: I'm thinking personal pizzas with these crusts: http://www.rusticcrust.com/readymade.htm and roasted tomatoes in a can, swiss chard, whatever else I think will go with it. I've eaten a lot of starches today and this won't even be whole grain, but I need an easy dinner.

I set an ultimate goal for myself. I want to be at a steady and ideal weight by my high school reunion around Thanksgiving. This means I want to be at my goal by October 1st, then be able to maintain that for the next two months, and then from then on of course. That means I have three months to lose 4-5 pounds. I know it's a silly goal, but it's a solid goal and it's good for the motivation.

I haven't been reading the BDS every morning for a while now, but I am making an effort to really think about BDS strategies/tools more throughout the day and reading my advantages response card. I'm almost near the end of the book, then after that I'm going to go back and re-read the sections I dog-eared throughout the book with the intention of going back over them.

Food pics backlog:

Tofu scramble with Tofutti American slices, avocado, Tofuttia Sour Supreme and hot sauce on a whole wheat hamburger bun with homefries.
The full breakfast spread including water, early grey tea with Splenda and soy milk, carbonated pink grapefruit juice, yummy Polish ketchup, and a giant salad with local farm greens and lettuces and roasted eggplant.
Another day, another scramble, with half of a sprouted bagel with Earth Balance and a side salad.
Whole wheat angel hair with kale and a sauce made out of coconut milk, peanut butter, curry, rice wine vinegar and other things. Almost a bit too rich, but very yummy.
Nachos! My new favorite brand of tortilla chips (my new favorite brand of anything really) "Food Should Taste Good" in both their multi-grain style and their jalapeno style with a nutritional yeast cheese sauce, black beans, mango salsa, jalapenos, Toffuti Sour Supreme and guacamole. So good.
Cherrybrook Kitchen brownie mix in a box with Butterscotch pudding made with half the amount of soy milk put on top of batter prior to baking.
Apple fritters based on the corn fritters recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance, made with whole wheat flour and some cinnamon.

Bluberry muffins based on both the VwaV cherry almond recipe and this discussion on the PPK http://www.postpunkkitchen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=28632. They were good but could have been better with some whole wheat flour to give them more heartiness.

Food log:

I can't remember a lot of what I ate yesterday, which is weird because I'm usually good at remembering my foods. So I'm just going to start with today.

Breakfast: two flax multigrain waffles with Soy Garden buttery spread and maple syrup and leftover tofu scramble from the weekend.

Snack: raspberries.

Lunch: quinoa and black beans with salsa, jalapenos and a mixture of Sour Supreme, cilantro and fresh cracked pepper with a salad of farm lettuce, apples, cukes, shredded carrots and lemon-soy sauce-olive oil dressing, and a muffin for dessert.

Snack: some thick hearty multigrain crackers with black bean spread.

Dinner: a big salad and veggie fajitas on hemp tortillas. This is going to be a really healthy meal while watching the television premiere event of the season, Shaq's Big Challenge. For a healthy dessert I think I'll have a piece of a bar of dark chocolate with almonds and dried cherries.

I'm plateauing. This is partially a good thing, because it means that my body is close to the weight it wants to be. But this also means that from now on I'll be losing the extra tiny bit at an extremely low rate. I think I've lost a half of a pound in two weeks, and even that half could just be hormonal weight changes or something. I think I can lose a little more weight, but it means I need to be more strict with myself, keep up the exercise, and be patient. I could stand to stop having slip ups in the diet plan on the weekends. I want to see if my gym does a body fat analysis so I can try to determine how close I am to an ideal body weight.

I wonder about how strict I'll need to continue being once I get to my ideal weight. I know I want to eat very healthy for the rest of my life, but does that mean also eating smaller amounts and having no slip-ups for the rest of my life?

I took some good food pics last night but forgot to upload them to my computer before I headed to work this morning. Coming soon.

Food log:

Breakfast yesterday: half of a whole wheat bagel with Earth Balance marg and pizza seasoning herb and spice blend and soy yogurt with molasses and wheat germ.

Snack: a grapefruit.

Lunch: quinoa and beans with soy sour cream and a little salad of arugula and pea tendrils, and a low-fat whole wheat double chocolate chip muffin for dessert.

Snack: steamed broccoli with adobo and a drizzle of olive oil, other half of a bagel with Earth Balance and pizza seasoning, and half of a freezer bean and rice burrito.

Evening: split two beers with Nick, so maybe about one beer.

Late evening snack: while cooking I had some bites of pasta with a coconut-peanut-curry sauce and a little apple fritter Nick made.

Breakfast today: apple fritters and two tofu mini quiches.

Snack: green apple.

Lunch: whole wheat angel hair with kale and a coconut-peanut-curry sauce. It was a little too rich but I don't know how to make creamy sauces like this a bit lighter. Light coconut milk? A mix of low-fat soy milk and coconut milk? And some asparagus roasted with sesame seeds, shozu, balsamic vinegar and agave nectar.

Snack: canned corn with adobo and fresh ground pepper, grapefruit, and a double choco muffin.

Dinner: plans for nacho night with Nick. They will have some whole grain healthy-looking chips, refried beans, nutritional yeast cheesey sauce, jalapenos, guac, peach mango salsa, soy sour cream and cilantro. Flan would be a perfect dessert but I don't know if it could be thrown together in time since this all happens post-gallery opening Thursdays in Chelsea. But it'll be a great meal regardless.