Day 13: weekend=fun? not for me!

First I want to report that Melatonin worked for me last night, I took the pill around 9.30pm, went to bed to read for half hour and turned the light off at 10pm. I woke up at 5.30am this morning, still early, but I got a nice 7 hours and half of sleep. I'm not feeling 100% my best, but much better! More sleep will be needed to catch up~

This weekend is going to be really nice in term of weather, we're going to hit 80F, just like summer time! I wish I could go out and enjoy it, but I need to work. I'll meet Carmen tomorrow and have a presentation next Monday. I'm so boring and miserable!!! Well, actually not completely because I've booked a massage at HELA spa, one of the most fancy place in DC area. I really need to relax my body and there is no better place than that. People there are beautiful, the place is peaceful, it smells good and the massage is incredible. I'm really looking forward to 3pm.

Yesterday wasn't exciting at all, I had to drink double shot of coffee in order to be able to work. :( not fun! Anyway, lets move to eats which was good again.
Breakfast combo:

• 1/3 c. flax seed porridge (Krista, I am seriously in love with this)
• 1/3 c. almond milk
• 1/4 c. wheat berries
• 2 tbsp pumpkin
• 2 tbsp egg white
• vanilla/cinnamon
• topping: blackberries/blueberries/Cinnamon Swirl PB

It was soooo delicious, love the chewy texture of the flax seed and wheat berries.
AM snack: apple.Lunch Salad: another warm-cold one. I used leftover turkey sauce that I made the other day, add some mushrooms in a bed of greens and tomatoes.With 1 Vermont muffin (the other one was toasting)PM snack: kiwi + wheat berries + flax meal + cinnamon. It wasn't good because the kiwi wasn't sweet at all.So I had an oatmeal bagel after this. (almost forgot to take pic! )Worked until 7pm and did 60 min yoga. There is no other better way to end my long day of work with a sweaty yoga class. :)
Dinner: I made again the cheese-free pesto. Adding more veggies: 2 cups of broccoli puree, 1/3 red pepper and celery. Seasoned with more nutritional yeast, S+P, over a package of "angel hair". A sunny egg and oatmeal bagel.It was a delicious plate with good fat source (pine nuts), tons of veggies, protein (egg) and carbs (bagel). PERFECT, right?
Dessert: I had no more silken tofu to make my beloved chocolate pudding, but I couldn't end my day without dessert, so I made Sarah's pumpkin pie flax pudding. It was so easy to make and really yummy~~~ ^_^
Today's plan:
- work
- spa
- yoga and/or groceries
- work

Question: what was the last recipe you tried that was from blogs?

2 accidents & 2 course dinnahh~~~

Accident 1: I broke the glass cover of my favorite wok! Damn~~~~~ cleaning the disaster wasn't fun! It made me to miss my Star badly~ If he was there, I'd say: " don't worry dear! go to see TV that I'll clean it up." How lovely~ ^_^ Ops..... the only problem is he's thousands of miles away! Boo....
Accident 2: I broke my finger nail!!! it looks ugly~~~ I think I'll have a fake one until it grows.
Okay. the rest of my Friday went well. I woke up at 4am again! (twice a week isn't fun!). But anyway, it made to arrive at office at 7am and some progress with my research. First, did 20 min vinyasa flow #3 and #1... enjoyed both of them!
Breakkie time: I used the same technique of blending the berries before adding it. This time I used blueberries... It looks very BLUE! 1/2 c. oat bran, 1/2 c. almond milk, 1 cup of frozen blueberries, flax seed, eggwhite and GYG.Very filling bowl~ (but I prefer PINK bowl more)
AM snack: I didn't feel hungry but felt like having something (research stress?) so I had BBLunch: leftover cauliflower, stir-fry bamboo with shitake and tofu with dry shrimp. Rice of course.Dessert: 2 minis.Early PM snack: an apple + an orange (I had to eat them before they go bad)Pre-gym PM snack: Tj's pop seeds bread + smooth operator! It was just okay.... not sweet enough. I prefer the Dark chocolate one.
I went to the gym for an hour: 35 min treadmill and 25 min Elliptical for some readings.
Now, the 2 course dinnahh (as Michelle'd say)
Stir-fry chinese leek, eggplant and grilled tofu with black rice porridgeBoiled egg with BBQ sauce on more porridge and a huge plate of kabocha squash (almost 1 lb.)Two course dinnahh was great!!!! I was soo satisfied and soo bloated afterward! No dessert because I had no fage, no ricotta! Groceries must be fitted in this weekend.
Saturday's plan: Work work work! yes, I'm boring, I'm nerd! :D But more work now means less work in Argentina! Hope you guys enjoy your weekend more than me.

Question: Should we dress/make up to look beautiful to our bf/hus? Even if you've been together for years?

Blog news
Andrea is giving away BBQ sauce
Abbie is giving away a package of goodies

pumpkin & pumpkin

Sorry for my late mid-day post. After I finished my lunch I had to run to campus and then went to a good 45 min spinning class.
As it was announced this morning, I did pumpkin muffins! Here's the recipe:

• 1/2 c. oats
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 3/4 c. of pumpkin or butternut squash puree
  
• 3 tbsp egg white
• 1 whole egg
• 3/4 baking splenda
• 1/2 "beauty" drink (I'll explain it later)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
  
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 pumpkin spices
• 1/4 pumpkin seeds (where the name came from)

just put all the dry ingredient together and wet ingredient together, mix them and pour them in whichever form you want and bake in 350F for about 25-30 min. Voila! They're so soft, just sweet enough for my taste!

Well, now about the "beauty" drink. It's made with white fungus and chinese dates. When they're dry, they look like this:

I soaked them about 2 hours and then put them on the slow cooker with water and chinese dates for about 12 hours!!!! So, they get dissolved completely into a starchy liquid! this means all its collagen is released and as you might know, collagen is essential to keep our skin moisturized and elastic. That's why I always have it and every time I drink it I feel that I'm doing something good to my skin. Besides of that, it contains much iron, vitamin C, calcium and phosphorus.
when they're made, in almost liquid form


Back to food. For lunch I used one serving of rice salad and 1/2 canned salmon. Delicious! I love canned salmon, I'll do more recipes with it! As side dish, I had a small salad made with sprouts+sprouts and cherry tomatoes. Desserts was half cup of fage with cinnamon.



Before my spinning class, I had two pumpkin muffins. When I went to co-op to buy some ingredient for my new "special" lasagna, I saw these. I was not sure if they will taste good or not, but at least they're cute. So, I bought them, (after having two muffins) I still managed to have 2/3 of the cookie, they're so yummy!!!!


back home, I had my daily apple.

okay, that's all for now. Back later

"pumpkin queen" is back!

Good morning everyone. After sleeping another enjoyable 8 hours, I am a happy girl again. (sorry that I'm so excited about it. I used to have sleeping problems, so now that I can sleep regularly 8 hours makes me so happy!)

I really miss pumpkins. Since I only go to TJ's to buy groceries recently, I couldn't find canned pumpkin there and I'm too lazy to go to shoppers/giant just to get them. So, it's about two weeks that I don't have pumpkin oatmeal. Every time that I see post of others bloggers' recipes with pumpkin, specially Meg that does it so frequently, I feel bad not having it in my pantry.
So, desire should become into action to satisfy it! last night I made butternut squash puree (that's why I put quotes to pumpkin), it's pretty similar to pumpkin I think, even though the color is not so intense. I made it with the magic cookware called waterless cookware. It doesn't need water to cook ANYTHING, it used water contain in food to generate stem to cook the food. It's healthy and it preserve more vitamins than other cooking method.

Each pan has a stem control.

Finally this morning I could have pumpkin oatmeal!!! Today's combo:

• 1/3 c. oats
• 1/3 c. "pumpkin"
• 2 tbsp of black sesame powdered
  
• 2 tbsp egg white
• topped with pumpkin seeds

It makes a huge bowl, I had to use a larger bowl. (which has kitty's face on it)
Breakfast also includes a kiwi and cup of coffee!

Such a way to begin the morning!

As I have more "pumpkin" puree, I'll do something with it later today. So, wait for more pumpkin post.

pumpkin budding

Ingredients

• 2 cups of pumpkin puree
• 2 cups of silk tofu
• 1 cup of almond breeze original
• 2 tsp of gelatin powder/agar gar (for vegan version)
  
• 1/3 cup agave nectar or any kind of sweetener you have
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp pumpkin spice
  

Method
1. heat almond breeze and dissolve agave nectar in it
2. hydrate gelatin powder in 2 tbsp of water
3. combine 1 and 2.
4. blend pumpkin with tofu for 2-3 min until you get a smooth mixture.
5. add 3 and blend 1 min more
6. pour the mixture in 3 bowls and freeze for 4-5 hours
7. serve it with peanut/almond butter (optional)

easy pumpkin muffin

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. oats
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 3/4 c. of pumpkin or butternut squash puree
  
• 3 tbsp egg white
• 1 whole egg
• 3/4 baking splenda
• 1/2 "beauty" drink (I'll explain it later)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
  
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 pumpkin spices
• 1/4 pumpkin seeds (where the name came from)

just put all the dry ingredient together and wet ingredient together, mix them and pour them in whichever form you want and bake in 350F for about 25-30 min. Voila! They're so soft, just sweet enough for my taste!