Fit for Free

just stopping by to say…

Vani — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:17:04 +0000

…that life, travel, and a nasty cold have gotten in the way of posting, but I have a lot of posts to catch up on and will be back soon. Thank you for the little break, and hope you are all staying warm!

Nature’s Path Review Part 1 of 2

Vani — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:22:32 +0000

Nature’s Path was kind enough to send me a few things to review. I’ve been gradually shifting away from all things processed in the last six months or so, and it was a strange change to have multiple boxes of cereal (and a large box of energy bars) in the house, but I have to say, I enjoyed tasting each of these items

The first thing I cracked into was the GRANOLA!

I’m a huge fan of Nature’s Path Hemp Plus granola, but had never tried this variety! I had it atop a delicious mixture of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt, pumpkin, and cinnamon (a combination I haven’t had since last winter — it took me back!).

This stuff tasted so incredibly sweet to my naturalized taste buds. Dessert-like. It’s really hard to believe I used to eat it for breakfast every morning. No wonder my blood sugar always crashed mid-morning at work!!

That being said, it’s delightful, crunchy, and fruity. And will stay in my pantry on reserve for special breakfasts and desserts

Next up . . .

I topped another yogurt bowl with this yummy melange of cereal textures:

At first bite, this cereal tasted cardboardy to me. But I enjoyed the subtle sweet flavor, and staying power (this stuff is packed with protein and fiber and held me over for hours!) I ate it for dinner on a couple busy busy nights, and it did the job.

I even attempted to veggify it further:

: Cereal + green hemp milk

A big bowl of Optimum topped with hempseeds+spinach+filtered water+blender = GREEN HEMP MILK! I loved this! I could barely taste the green, but felt good knowing I was sneaking some green veggies into this sweet and crunchy bowl

My lunches and dinners of late have more closely resembled the following, which is, I’d guess, why the cereal was bit of a shock to my taste buds:

kale salad with tempeh, avocado, and sweet potatoes

the same, minus the sweet potatoes, + a prettier bowl

zucchini noodles + sweet potato cubes + homemade tahini dressing

The cold weather definitely hasn’t kept me from lovin’ on the fresh foods I’m finding them very comforting — especially sweet potatoes!!!

In the next post, I’ll reveal the other Nature’s Path products, which, happily, I’d recommend to anyone!

What have you been loving lately?

eat seconds if you need them!

Vani — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:32:19 +0000

I was seriously craving comfort food last night, and after a few days of a busy schedule + haphazard eating (read: bowl of cereal for dinner) I needed VEGETABLES! So I had some.

comfort food at its finest

I massaged 1 bunch of kale with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little lemon juice, and tossed it with sunflower seeds. On the side, sweet potato fries (microwaved for 5 minutes — I wanted them NOW!) with ketchup, and steamed yucca (which I love — it has such a unique mellow flavor).

The non-comforting part of the meal, however, surfaced when I finished the above plate and was still hungry.

I had no problem finishing off the sweet potato fries, but noticed myself avoiding eating the rest of the kale.

And it hit me: I have a fear of oil! It’s such a nutritious, harmless substance, does not cause your blood sugar to spike or encourage overeating, and helps satisfy hunger. But, perhaps as a holdover of my weight-watcher days, I am scared of it. Even when it’s incorporated into a meal that’s not calorie-dense at all, such as this one.

I’ve reached the point where I notice silly tendencies like this and can conquer them, but they still bother me! I hope someday I will reach the point where, if I’m hungry for more kale salad, I’ll just eat some more kale salad, rather than subconsciously telling myself I “shouldn’t” because it has an oil-based dressing. It will not make me gain weight. It will satisfy my hunger and prevent snacking after dinner. In the long run, eating more healthy food when I need it is good for me. (I will repeat this to myself until I’ve internalized it! ) In the end, I ate the rest of the head of kale, felt perfectly satisfied, and did not snack after dinner. Mission accomplished.

Do you ever have trouble taking seconds when you need them?

RAWSTAR, pour la deuxième fois

Vani — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:18:01 +0000

(But first: in an attempt to pick up my French where I left off in college, I found a language partner on CraigsList. I’m amazed at how much easier it is to learn new vocabulary when you learn it from an actual French person rather than a textbook. I would highly recommend the language partner approach!!)

* * *

Et maintenant, les legumes.

Thank you, Sarah and Diana, for giving me an excuse to enjoy Rawstar a second time! This place is awesome. Such a nice, relaxed vibe, and inventive, tasty food.

We started the evening by splitting an appetizer:

dehydrated eggplant wrapped around nut pate (it totally had a classier name, but I forget what it was!)

(so cute!)

Sarah informed me that you can dehydrate things in a gas oven simply by making sure the pilot light is on and leaving them in there on a baking sheet for around 14 hours. I am SO DEHYDRATING MY OWN EGGPLANT!!!! It is so delicious — I love the dry, tender texture and FLAVOR–pure eggplant, no bitterness

For my main dish, I ordered the nut loaf with kale/fennel/olive salad and sesame cressel:

nut loaf, AMAZING tomato sauce, kale salad with fennel and olives, and sesame cressel!

The nut loaf was super-savory and almost tasted pizza-esque — the flavor definitely grew on me during the course of the dinner! The small portion was perfect, too, since it was so dense and obviously nut/seed-based. The sauce was a little tangy for my taste, but paired well with the loaf!

One thing I love about this place is that for many of the entrees, you’re allowed to choose your own side and salad. Last time, I tried the kale/pear salad and plantains. I have to say that I liked these two much better

Cressel has an awesome unique flavor that paired perfectly with the sesame seeds.

And I LOVE thinly shaved fennel on salads!

mmmm...fennel

And of course, there was raw dessert . . .

banana coconut pie. Delicious, but I think I liked the cheesecake better! I don't like big chunks of banana in things . . . oatmeal, dessert, or otherwise!

Rawstar allegedly has an un-cooking class the first Monday of every month. I may be back

There IS one thing about this restaurant that makes me uncomfortable. It’s in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood, and sort of falls into the category of the Coffee Shops/Yoga Studios/Organic Markets that–to be blunt–are markers of “white takeover” of these neighborhoods. I sort of hate being the 20-something-from-the-suburbs-who-moved-to-Brooklyn-and-likes-raw-restaurants-and-yoga-classes. Ugh.

Do you ever feel like you fit an uncomfortable stereotype?

Kale Pesto (and a haircut!)

Vani — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:22:29 +0000

I had super long hair for most of my life, but donated 10 inches to Locks of Love one year ago and felt obligated to grow my hair out so I could do it again, for some reason! In the end, I guess my appreciation for the organization isn’t worth a year and a half of hair-growing at the expense of personal comfort. Now that I’ve experienced the ease (and shampoo $-savings!) of a short haircut, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to long.

On one of my lunch walks around midtown Manhattan a few weeks ago, I noticed that my new office is only one block away from Bumble & Bumble, a salon that gives free haircuts out to customers who agree to act as a guinea pig to one of the styling students. Yesterday, I went under the knife (for real — they cut hair with a razor rather than scissors!).

before (ahhh elevator light!!)

after - I may not be similing but I am happy!

Any New Yorkers who are looking for a cheap haircut: free beats cheap, and I’m VERY happy with my haircut!

Haircut-day fell on a rather rainy, dismal day, and I arrived home from work craving something super warm, vegetabley, and comforting. And QUICK–I went umbrella-less all day and was thus wet, cold, and cranky!

I had some of these whole-wheat spinach noodles left over from when Jen and I had our pre-10K pasta dinner. Pasta is not a normal dinner for me — I see it more as pre-exercise fuel than average-weekday fare, but I needed a quick vehicle for eating this, and nothing else sounded good:

kale pesto!!

The reason I love green smoothies is that I LOVE greens, but don’t always feel like chewing my way through a whole salad. Pesto (or pesto-like substances) is another great way to ingest a lot of veggies without a lot of chewing.

Into the blender went:

1/2 bunch kale, chopped and rinsed
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 cloves garlic
1/3 c. water, to aid in the blending process (I used hot water from the boiling pasta)
generous amount of fresh-ground pepper
salt to taste
olive oil, drizzled in at end (probably around 1 tbsp)

Haven't been so excited for a plate of pasta in quite awhile!!

On the side, I had some steamed brussels sprouts with the rest of the pesto.

Next time I make this, I’ll probably add some basil — I miss the *bite* of traditional basil-pesto. But this was definitely delicious, and I plan to try it with other greens (next on the list: baby spinach!!).

Throw in some dark chocolate chips for dessert and it was the perfect rainy-day dinner

What’s your rainy-day meal of choice?