My Apologies

Sorry for not posting much over the past few days. I just haven't been eating anything too exciting!

But this morning, I made this recipe from Recipezaar for Whole Wheat Cornmeal Molasses Banana Bread. That's a mouthful, hm?

It wasn't great. I was dissapointed because it barely rose at all, and I could barely taste the bananas. Not every recipe can be great, I guess. I also had a bowl of yogurt with strawberries and Kashi Honey Sunshine.

Then for lunch, I made a recipe from Greek Vegetarian Cookery called chickpea patties. They had potato in them too, and were really yummy!

I also made homemade hummus using my own recipe, which I'll post later if anyone is interested.
I really wished that I had some homemade pita to dip in the hummus to make it a totally Greek meal, but all I had was a sandwich thin. I also had plain yogurt, then an apple with PB.

Then we did a little shopping. We went to a Borders bookstore that's about to go out of business and they were having big sales to clear out the store. One of the few veg. cookbooks left was Vegan With a Vengeance, and I got it for half price. Heck yes!

We went to Target and I found these bars that I've never seen before. I think they're Canadian.

They were yummy, but tasted more like orange than apple to me. I could definitely taste the green tea though, and plus it has dark chocolate and good nutrition.

It's hard to believe that 2008 is nearly over, this year has gone by so fast! For New Years Eve tonight, I'm just staying home with my family. Our tradition is to order out for Chinese, then do a big jigsaw puzzle while we wait for the near year to come. What are you all doing for NYE?

I'm a bit nervous for Chinese, I hate fried foods. I'm trying to tell myself that just one night isn't going to make me fat, but ED is sort of strong now. I'd like to go into the New Year not worrying about food but I don't know if it will happen. I do hope that it happens for all of you girls though, each and every one of you deserves it!

Happy Spring time!

It was a freak 64 degrees outside yesterday! I love the Spring, but this is somewhat troublesome because it's December.

Anyway. Yesterday morning I was in the mood for baking! ED has created a rule for me that says that I have to have oatmeal every morning, and I'm not allowed to "indulge" in anything else. So I decided to challenge ED by baking chocolate banana scones.


Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup uncooked oats
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 medium banana, chopped

1. Stir together all ingredients from oats-milk.
2. Stir in dark chocolate chips and banana.
3. Form into 4 mounds on a greased baking sheet.
4. Bake 10-12 minutes, until golden on top.

I came up with this myself! Yay. The bananas caramelized and made the scones taste really sweet without a lot of sugar. And the oats made a different texture. They were very moist on the inside, I'm not sure if that's because I undercooked them or because they are just supposed to be like that, but I liked it.

I had it with some usual stuff and then some plain yogurt with frozen blueberries

In cute bowl #2.
The rest of the day was drab, food wise. I went to see the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was very good! Almost three hours though. Then I went to Whole Foods. I found agar flakes, ahahahaha! In the asian section.

Today I'm going to metro on up to DC to see the museum of Crime and Punishment! I've seen so many of the museums, I have to resort to bizarre, underground ones like this.

Iguana?

I'm really awful at coming up with clever post titles.

And grr! I somehow deleted all of my pictures from breakfast and lunch! They were quite photogenic, too. But yesterday at Target, I found the cutest bowls ever! I made a bowl of pumpkin yogurt (pic was mysteriously deleted too) and look what was waiting for me at the bottom of the bowl:

I have another cute bowl that I'll reveal tomorrow morning. I do love Target.

I also had some fruit and tried the peanut butter blisscrisp Jamfrakas. It was really nummy! I liked the crunchy rice puffs. There was a lot of honey flavor, but I didn't mind. I forgot about the pic until halfway through eating it, sorry!
For dinner, we supposed to have plain ole' spaghetti. The rest of my family was having meat sauce on theirs, but I wanted to be different. So I made a stir fry. I used Ronzoni smart taste pasta (I know that it's cheater whole wheat stuff, but it's the only thing my family will eat..), frozen snap peas and carrots, orange juice, and some garlic chili pepper sauce. I cooked the veggies in about a tbs. EVOO, then added the cooked pasta, hot sauce and OJ until it was moist. Very spicy, but really good!

I had a string cheese too for protein. Then this cutie:
Christmas lion, anyone? I really don't know why this cookie cutter always ends up with our Christmas cutter stash!

I'm going to go play Wii now, goodnight everyone.

Owie!

When I woke up this morning, my shoulder and back were very sore from playing so much Wii Sports! Part of the deal with "Santa" is that I can pick one other game for it. Which should I pick?.

And I don't know how I forgot to mention this yesterday, but I also got a new camera yesterday! Well, technically, it's for me and my sister to share, but my sister doesn't care for photography much so it's as good as mine!

Since I have more time for breakfast over my break, I decided to have something a little different. I made this recipe for jamaican cornmeal porridge from recipezaar. I used whole grain, stone ground cornmeal and it had a great texture! A nice change of pace. I didn't have sweetened condensed milk either, so I used some Holly Nog :]

Plus an apple, egg and grilled cheese!
Then for lunch, I decided I wanted to try the new cranberry apple butter I got from TJ's the other day. I am not a PB&J type of girl. But, I figured that if the butter improved my feelings towards the standard sandwich staple, then it had to be good! I grilled it, because grilling any sandwich makes it a million times better. It was actually very yummy! Nice balance between sweet and tart. I definitely tasted that cranberry more that the apple. I might have to make a few more of these PB and.. B's.
Sorry for blurryish pic. With a TJ's yogurt, TLC bar, and carrots. Then some random almonds.
Boring snacks, then leftovers for dinner! I stuck mostly to the yummy arabian squash casserole! I'm glad Christmas is over so I can go back to normal eating.

Christmas 2008!

I hope all of you had a marvelous holiday. Each one of you deserves to have one day where you can be completely free of ED and food thoughts.

My Christmas Eve dinner went pretty well last night. I didn't think of calories while we were actually eating, but the guilt started to kick in a bit later. I just sat with the feeling though, as always. Maybe some day, after I've tried to ignore the ED voice enough times, it will just go away. I didn't manage to get any pics, sorry!

My sister and I woke up around 6 this morning, but managed to contain our excitement until around 8 when we woke our parents up. My mom and dad picked out great presents for us this year, I love them so much! I'll highlight some of them.

Veganomicon! Even though I'm not vegan, but I still can't resist all the creations bloggers who have this book make.

Sweet and Sara Vegan marshmallows. Oh, marshmallows. It's been too, too long! They're a little denser than real marshmallows, but I prefer these.

A Wii! This was actually from "Santa". He totally surprised us this year, because neither me or my sister asked for one. We got sports with it!

And the coolest toe socks on the face of the earth!

Now onto today's food! For breakfast, we made pancakes using the whole wheat gingerbread mix from World Market. They were a perfect start to Christmas!

I topped these two with a bit of butter and maple syrup. Then I decided I wanted a third, just plain. Later I had an apple and string cheese.

We planned on eating around three, so at noon I had a sort of snunch (snack+lunch) involving another apple with cheese and a warmed zbar :]

For dinner, we had:
Smoky mashed potato bake

Sweet potato casserole (my favorite, without marshmallows)

Corn souffle that didn't puff up properly, to my disappointment

Arabian Stuffed Squash casserole, from Moosewood. We did the alternative listed and used cheddar cheese and dried cranberries!

And a pumpkin praline cake roll for dessert!

Yum. I was a bit hungry around 8 tonight, so I had some Christmas oats. They involved half a candy cane, dark chocolate chips, and a caramelized banana.
I managed to have a pretty much ED free day. I went a day without counting! Pretty much the first time in a year and a half! I caught myself adding some stuff up though, it's so second nature to me. I played a lot of Wii sports today so that cut down on a lot of the "you're so lazy" comments from ED. Again, now that I'm just sitting around I'm starting to feel guilty again. But this is Christmas, it's supposed to be a joyous holiday spent with family, so what does it matter if I'm over my calories today? I'll just keep saying it to myself.

Again, Merry Christmas to everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Or Happy Christmas! I'm just stopping in briefly this morning to say that I hope you all have a great holiday. Enjoy all the yummy food and don't let ED push you around! I'll probably do a big Christmas post later today.

It's Greek to Me

Well, my cold or whatever it is has gotten progressively worse. The symptoms I had this morning are ten times stronger now. And plus, when I yawn now, I feel like.. my brain disconnects and swirls around my head? Haha. It happens every time I get sick.

For lunch, I wanted something warm and comforting to make me feel better. I just recently discovered this book on our bookshelf:

My dad got in in 1984 when he lived in Greece. The description on the back says: "From appetizers to cakes and desserts, these recipes combine the freshest ingredients- whole grain flours, olive oil, lemons, yogurt and cheese, wild herbs, among others- in ways that will tantalize the palates of both vegetarians and lovers of Traditional Greek food.

I made Potato and Fruit soup. It was insanely good! It involved potatoes, dried figs, olive oil, and onions. It sounds really bland, but it was magical. I would post the recipe, but I'm not too sure about the copyright thing. Can I post a recipe from a book if I source it?

I had it with carrot sticks, a Rachel's yogurt, and vanilla roasted almonds.

After lunch, my dad and I went to Trader Joe's to get some stuff for tonight and tomorrow. I also got a few things for myself.
Carrot sticks, fruit yogurts, Jamfrakas (I've been looking everywhere!), Zbars, Mexican Hot Cocoa cookies (not sure if I'll try these..) and cranberry apple butter. I really wanted to find plain pumpkin or apple butter that everyone raves about, but this will have to do.

I've done a little fruit and yogurt snacking so far, and I'm sure I'll have a lot of snacks at my aunt and uncle's. My dad makes the best spinach artichoke dip in the world! But sorry, the recipe is top secret and I can't post it.

I'm really nervous. I've been fighting the urges to exercise all day long. I wish I could just have a normal Christmas eve dinner, eat everything I want and not hate myself for feeling full afterward. We'll see how it goes. I doubt I'll be able to get many pics, it would be kind of strange. I don't think I'll do a post when I get home, it's always like 11 and as everyone knows, the sooner you go to sleep the sooner Santa comes!

Christmas Eve!!!

I am so flipping excited! Christmas is my favorite holiday, there are so words to express how happy I am now. Not even for presents though.

Unfortunately, I think I am coming down with the flu or something. I have a runny nose, sneezing, headache, body ache and congestion. It would just be great if I was sick on Christmas, right?

Tonight I'm going to my aunt, uncle, and cousins' house for Christmas Eve dinner. I haven't seen them in a while so I'm super excited! I am rather nervous about the food. It's also cooked with cups and cups of butter and cream, and this one meal will probably be as many cals as I eat in a day. Ahh! Anyone want to join me in not counting cals today or tomorrow (Christmas!)? I will not restrict today to "make up" for the calorific meal I'll be having later. I will not.

Wonderful breakfast today. Along with an egg and an apple, I had two slices of buttered toast.

Then an amazing bowl of gingerbread oats! It seems that everyone else today made them too, but it wasn't planned, I swear! I thought I was being creative when I came up with it.
I used 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup water to make my oatmeal. Then I added in tons of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Then I added 1/2 tbs molasses, some chopped almonds (+3 for garnish) and a handful of frozen blueberries. It was soo good!
To continue my gingerbread theme, I had this cookie for my morning snack.
It was the last little treat from my advent calendar. My mom likes to improve our vocabulary, so sometimes she puts little clues in the drawers of the calendar as to where to find our treats instead of candy. She uses diffiuclt words so that we have to get out a dictionary! My clue today said: Look where we keep the portmanteaux (or portmanteaus, if you prefer the English plural). In other words, my cookie was hidden with the suitcases. I had in with some of this tea
This is the best tea I've ever had, hands down. I love chai, but the subtle flavor of coconut makes it even better!

I'll be back after lunch.

School's Out!

My day took a turn for the better around 11:30 today. There was a water main break in my county, and it affected about 15 schools' water and heat systems. So, we got to go home two and a half hours early! I really can't explain the logic of that, we had no problem at our school. I won't complain though! It was just another few hours of my twelve day break.

Food was pretty boring today. I didn't actually get any pictures until dinner. Meat eaters were eating gross meatiness, so I made a lurvely omelet.

I used one egg and one egg white, 2 cups of spinach, 1/2 cup mushrooms and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. I had it with some buttered toast and dried figgies, my favorites. I love breakfast for dinner! I also had this cookie
Poor little guy, he has a tumor!

I'm so excited that I'll be able to cook every single meal this break and not resort to sandwiches. And I'll actually be able to share all that I eat, rather than just one or two meals.

It's the last monday...

.. of my 2008 school year! This year has gone by so fast, it's scary! So much has changed in my life in the past 12 months. My ED was just starting to get serious at this time last year, but it seems like it was just yesterday that I was wasting away.

Most of my food was boring and typical today, so I won't both with pics. But for dinner, I made Refried Bean Cakes from Happy Herbivore. These rocked socks!! They reminded me of Mexican falafel, sort of. I used Amy's low sodium black beans, and forgot the cornmeal, and they were still fabulous.

I topped mine with some cheddar cheese! I know it defeats the purpose of a vegan recipe blog, but cheese makes the world go 'round. Or more accurately, it's cheese that makes the mice go round, and mice that make the cats go round, and cats that make the dogs go round, and dogs that make the boys go round, and boys that make the girls go round, and girls that make the world go round! That's what I learned from Girl Scout camp. I had it with a sliced banana. Then I decided that I needed toast with PB with it. Then I had a cute widdle bunny cookie!
That's it for tonight. I have to get my friends presents ready!

Sorry Sorry Sorry!!

Sorry for not posting yesterday! I was just busy with Christmas decoration and baking and such. I woke up half an hour earlier this morning, so I have some time to post what I ate yesterday before school.

For breakfast, among other things, I had dark chocolate banana oats. I put a big pile of chocolate at the bottom of my bowl so that every so often my spoon would touch the chocolate and my oatmeal would explode into a volcano of chocolately goodness.

Then my mom and I made some sugar cookie dough. I had a beater!

For lunch, we went to the mall to finish the LAST of the last of our Christmas shopping. For rizzle this time. I got a veggie delite from subway with provolone and olive oil. Then when I got home, I had a TLC bar an apple, and some almonds (no pics, sorry). But look what I got from the Godiva store free for making a $25 purchase!


Then I went off to my best friend's house to work on an English project. T'is a very lame assignment, we had to make a collage to show the theme of To Kill a Mockingbird (why is there no underline on blogger?). It's one of my favorite books, but all these projects are starting to ruin it for me. Anyhow, after a while, we took a "study break" to make some chocolate chip muffins. I was flipping out about white flour but I calmed down after my friends both had seconds. Again, no pics :[

When I got home, we rolled out the cookie dough that we made earlier and cut out Christmas shapes. Then I made dinner, which was corn and potato chowder. Mmmmm. Chowder.
Then I did some homework. Then we frosted the sugar cookies and made another batch of toffee. This is like half the amount we really made.
And last, I made Gingerbread Caramel Corn! It was sooooo so so so good!
ED stayed out of my head for most of the day. I ate all the baked stuff I wanted with no problem, pretty much. But then at night, ED started to slip in. She said "You're so weak! How could you put all that junk in your body? You don't need it anyway, you're fat." I did all my "workout moves" that I did every night at my worst, in a feeble attempt to burn some cals. And I skipped my last snack because ED told me that I had already had like triple that amount of cals from sweets already. Being able to eat what I want with no worry was nice while it lasted.

Now I have to get ready for school. This is the last Monday before break, I can do this.