I didn’t even realize how ridiculously orange my meals were, until I uploaded all the pictures…holy naranja!
I woke up fairly early for my day off, which allowed time for serious AM chowing. This mug vat of coffee had froth up the yin-yang (just the way I like it). I also toasted an English muffin and caked on the Smart Balance light. Puddles of butter normally skeeve me out, but for some reason I craved it today.
Throughout the morning I read blogs and snacked on lots of fruit. Gotta enjoy the (dwindling) sweet part of summer as long as I can…
Later on, I set out to do my fave thing (aside from watching trashy tv marathons in my PJs), grocery shopping at Whole Foods of course!!
Clearly I couldn’t escape without taking a little dip into the prepared foods section. I got a couple (of pounds) of seitan chimichurri skewers – made famous by the one and only Candle 79, which I happily tested out for lunch once I got back home.
In addition to the seitan skewers I whipped up some cheesy quinoa (meaning it was doused in nooch). Dee-lish.
Seeing as a few days had passed since my half marathon, I decided it was about time I headed back to the gym (I had work the days following the race, so I had those days off from the gym by default, not so much by choice). Nothing too advanced was planned, I just wanted to give my muscles a chance to warm up and loosen out. I did 60 minutes on the elliptical, and by the end of it, I felt like my old self again. Is it just me, or does it seem like the best remedy for sore muscles is giving them a workout. Stretching is great of course, but I really think light exercise is better than resting them. Time off seems to tighten me up even more. Well, anyways, I followed up my cardio with some ab work and stretching, and then headed home.
Post gym noshing: raw almonds, goji berries, and dried mangoes. Sadly, my brief love affair may be over with nuts, as I didn’t really enjoy these. I still like nuts so-so if they are mixed in with other things (i.e. bars), but plain nuts, not so much.
[Insert 15 minutes of showering and beautifying] High maintenance? Not I.
I also made it to the lower east side in record breaking time for my 3rd physical therapy session. Being soopah early worked out though, and I had extra time to chat it up with my momz about my upcoming trip home to try on WEDDING DRESSES (oh, and run another half marathon, too). 🙂
Best session EVAH! My PT manipulated my spine like cuh-raze. Fo reals, I was poppin’ and lockin’ all over the place enough to make Usher jealous. I think my range of motion improved by 45 degrees in each direction after he worked his magic…I also fell asleep somewhere in between the ultrasound and electric stim…but that’ll be our little secret. I can’t even tell you how much better I felt when I left. The icing on the cake?
I stopped into the BUX for a chai tea. I’m freaking OBSESSED with Tazo’s organic chai tea. OBSESSED, I tell ya.
My orange meals raged on with dinner, starting with steamed sweet potatoes. BTW, thanks to everyone who chimed in with info regarding my sweet potato vs. yam inquiry. As it turns out, the USDA got it wrong (again) which explains where all of our confusion stems from. Even though true yams (a starchy edible root) are basically non-existent in the US, the Dept. of Agriculture requires that the label "yam" always be accompanied by "sweet potato." Um, sure. I guess whatever the man says goes.
On my beta-Carotene loaded plate: sweet potato slices, carrots, chickpeas, and a Boca chik’n patty.
Oh, and don’t forget about the side of tofummus, which my orange food was swimming in by the time I got through with it (moderation not so much).
Dessert was the second half of cantaloupe and lots of tivo 😉
I am already freezing my beloved honeydew and cantaloupe. Darn you, cold weather!
Wow, that IS a lot of orange food! But seriously, can you ever really have enough sweet potato?? Your fruit looks divine! For the past week I’ve been eating…apples. Don’t ask me why, I don’t even really like them – I’d certainly rather have a peach or cantaloupe! OK, operation grocery shopping, Saturday morning: delicious fruit. Thanks for the inspiration! 🙂
-Eve
I’m loving that bowl of cheesy quinoa! Definitely gotta try that one out.
I’ve actually never steamed sweet potatoes. I like the concept! I’ve always just made them in the microwave or roasted in the oven…
Raw nuts come and go for me. They’re great for filling me up when I want a small snack to hold me over for a bit but I don’t CRAVE them like I do other foods. It’s a good snack for me to fall back on when all else fails….
Have a good weekend!
You really didn’t plan all that orange?! Crazy. I’ve been having a food affair with sweet potatoes this week – your post made me want to go eat another.
You’re going to turn orange, my dear, haha! 😀 Everything looks delish though – sorry about the nuts… maybe try nut butters exclusively?? Haha I don’t know.
SO exciting that you’ll be traveling home soon!
Dang girl, another half?
Enjoy dress shopping!
Holy orange eats! One time when my daughter was like 9 mos old and was eating a ridic amt of sweet pots and carrots, I took her to the pedi for a checkup (why even bother with “well baby” checkups, if they’re well, keep em outta the germyass dr’s office but you know this, you’re a nurse but I digress…)anyway so the pedi asked me if she’d been eating lots of orange foods? I said, why yes. She said, I can tell, she’s got an orange hue. Lovely. So just be careful there mama, you may turn orange 🙂 Just kidding. Anyway have fun trying on wedding dresses. I got married in a Hot Pink Betsey Johnson minidress in Las Vegas. The dress was $300. The entire wedding and limo package was $199. 9 yrs later, we’re stil goin’ strong 🙂
ANd I freakin’ pilfered you nooch and cauli and paprika last nite. And I am bout to do it again. Late dinner here in hot AZ. AHMAYZING cauli. Thank you for the hot tip!!!!!
And thanks for the nice comment on my bloggie, you’re a sweetheart 🙂
xoxox
You NEED to try Emerald Cocoa almonds….you will be in heaven!
loving all the orange! i always wondered about yams vs sweet taters!!
No shortage of beta carotene for you! I want some Gojis now.
I love all orange food too!…I even have the orange hands to prove it 🙂
I love the chai tea too!
I LOVE orange meals. So much so that I started to turn orange =/ Then I had to cut back. I just can’t give up kabocha though 😉 I wish there was some pill I could take to flush out the excess beta-carotene.
wedding dresses?! Are you getting married?! I thought you were just living together for now….
awesome orange-y food today 🙂
looks good , none the less!
its sad. I have tons of fruit freezin in my freezer now.. bye bye melons 🙁 poop
haha. nope, he put a ring on it… 😀
oh USDA….
lovely sweet potato rounds 🙂
ahh nothing beats some buttery goodness on an english muffin.
I agreeeee that working out feels good on sore muscles! Nothing too crazy but I always feel better after a little walk or something, plus post gym snackage!
SO SO exciting about the dresses, weeee!
that cheesy quinoa looks so awesome! I need to get my hands on some nooch…is the stuff in the whole foods bulk bin good?
I have to try cheesy quinoa, it looks delish!! I have no idea about the SP vs. yam thing either, I just buy either/or and call them sweet potatoes because, well, I think it sounds nicer….(sweet potato, sweet potato, I yam what I yam?)
I am glad to see the dried fruit making a return appearance on your blog…I was getting worried that my dried fruit buddy had moved on to other things 😉 Phew!
When are you going home? I am jealous! Have a fab time!
Courtney
I’m not much of a butter girl but I want that (not Aunt Millie’s) English muffin! Mmmmm, buttah.
Lindsay Lohan better watch out, you’re going to give her fake tan a run for it’s money. At least yours is natural?!
MMM!! Cheesey Quinoa?! Count me in! 😀
I def agree with exercise being the cure for sore muscles. If I don’t get a workout in after a few days I always get sore legs.
My brother wanted to turn orange once upon a time… he still does, supposedly, because he is clearly crazy, but his (meager) consumption of baby carrots isn’t cutting it. I should tell him to take a lesson from you! 😉
Speaking of yams / sweet potatoes — there actually IS a market near my house that does sell true yams. The really weird part about that is that the sign above them says “sweet potatoes”! (Of course, this could be due solely to the fact that the people running the place are morons.)
<3 <3
You must be rockin’ a pretty fab orange glow right now, miss Elise! 😉 My favorite line of this post : “holy naranja!”
And yess, I see some smart balance!! The first time I read your blog you were referred to by another blogger as the “smart balance queen”, so I headed over here, fell in love and the rest is history. Couldn’t get enough of my hummus-hungry hippie! But the smart balance has disappeared for a while, no?? Now izzzz back, b!tches!
ps-just randomly started talking about whole food’s with a sorority sister….now she’s convinced that we must take a shopping trip there later today, she’s craving organic annie’s mac n’ cheese and i’m craving 4238832947 other delicious thangs! 😉
How were the seitan skewers? I saw them at WF the other day and was veeeeery tempted, but I’ve never gotten their prepared food to-go before.
now THAT is a good idea! thx 🙂
go with what ya crave, right? right. i usually dont like citrus fruit, but sometimes randomly ill eat 10 oranges in a 4 hours span of time. fruit cravings…could be worse…
im similar with nuts. i want to like them bc they are so healthy and the ideally portable snack…
steamed sweet potatoes dont dry out as much as when you bake them i think…but either way, they are great!
for the dinner, i was definitely aware of the color theme, but the rest of the day was totally by accident. need to get a fake tan going for the indoor months 😉
im all about the nutbutters 🙂 i think i wanna try AB on sweet potatoes…it sounds good, no?
thx! and believe it or not, i signed up for the october one SOOO long ago, i had forgotten all about it when i signed up for the september one. oops! oh well, its a good excuse to take a trip home (to san fran) right?
i would LOVE to get married in a hot pink betsey. thats awesome!
ooooooo. yes, i MUST!
if you have any ideas on how to use the gojis (other than in trail mixes) lemme know!
i could use a good fall/winter glow…
whats wrong with a cheap faux tan? i aint hatin’
haha. now i will always think of that when im buying them! 🙂
never fear, dried fruit will never go out of style 🙂
going home in mid-october
ive never seen it in the WF bulk bins, but at my local health foods store they have it in the bins. i prefer it to the sjaker because it’s way cheaper in bulk, but oh well…
yeah, baby carrots just wont cut it…he needs to step it up if hes gonna do tha damn thang.
figures the sign would be jacked up…i swear anything goes in this city!
now THATS a beautiful story…i had no idea. i love it. glad to redeem my title 🙂
do your friends/roomies read food blogs? do they know about yours? read yours? id say a friend who craves a WF trip is a keeper!!!
im obsessed with the seitan skewers…i have gotten them almost 10 times now. seriously, they are my go-to when im wandering the aisles being indecisive. love em. some days they are more “saucy” than others, and it depends on when you go as to what kind of batch you get…basically, if you go past 8 pm, don’t bother bc they are dried up and nastayyyy. who goes to WF past 8? uhhhh, ME!
Maybe you should go for roasted nuts for a change. I think raw nuts don’t taste like much at all & roasting them makes all the difference in the world and brings out their….”nuttiness”…
good idea…i’ll give it a shot!
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