My body never ceases to amaze me with its persistant disregard for logic. I've been eating like crap lately. Cookies. Chocolate. Chips. French fries. Fruits and veggies went out the window and were replaced by cereal and baked goods. I don't know why, really. I just got so sick of counting every morsel, and apparently my natural reaction to that is to stuff my face with every edible item within 100 feet of me. Hey, that makes sense. I'm sick of counting calories, so as an act of rebellion I'm going to eat 120438720987510 of them! Yeah, okay.

It happens. Looking at food and seeing numbers gets really old after a while. I don't want to look at a banana and see 100 calories. I want to look at a banana and see a goddamn banana. I want to think, "Do I want a banana?" not "Can I afford to eat a banana?" I want to be able to just eat and not think about it every second of the day.

But this isn't really about my food issues. It's about how I stepped on the scale today in the worst possible conditions - in the afternoon, after eating breakfast, and wearing clothes (okay, underwear) - and did not see what I expected. With the way I've been eating I expected to be up at least a few pounds, if not back to where I was when I started this blog. But somehow the scale read 169, just 1 pound up from where I'd been hovering when I went off the wagon. I don't know how that happened. I went from reducing my calories and eating well to stuffing my face with junk and barely gained a pound. If I'd gotten on the scale first thing in the morning it may well have read 168, and then I'd be right where I left off.

It kind of kicked me in the ass, because I was pretty down about undoing the progress I've made so far. I was mad at myself, and I just wanted to eat even more because really, what was the point? I'd already fucked up. It's that lovely all-or-nothing way of thinking that I'm so guilty of. But the universe handed me of get out of jail free card on this one, and now I have no excuses.

I signed up for the Self Challenge. If anyone is interested in joining me, you can go to Self.com and sign up. You can have a buddy list and everything, so we could totally be Challenge buddies. In any case, I'll probably be blogging a little bit about this whole thing in between food talk.

Speaking of food talk, forgive the lack of it lately. I'm really bogged down at school, plus the recent junk food bonanza hasn't had me cooking much. I just loaned my camera to a friend for a few days as well, so I won't be able to post anything until Friday or Saturday.

Posted by Amanda at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments

After reading a review of La Dolce Vegan on The Veg Blog, I decided that it was time to break it in. I have all three of Sarah's books, but for some reason I hardly ever use them. But the Cinnamon-Spice Roasted Vegetables with Couscous mentioned in the review sounded too good to resist.

I didn't have all of the specified ingredients, most notably the shallots. I haven't seen them at the farmer's market recently and they're ridiculously expensive at the grocery store, so I just cut up a red onion and threw that in instead. I also used regular potatoes instead of butternut squash, because I really didn't feel like peeling that shit tonight. A chopped carrot and plum tomato wedges also went into the mix. I used 1 Tbsp of oil instead of 3, because I don't think I've used 3 Tbsp of oil in any dish ever, no matter how many people it served. And last but not least, mine needed about 20 minutes more oven time than the recipe called for.

Even with all of my wacky substitutions/additions, it came out very well. Nice and spicy and tasty and a little sweet, but not overly so. I'll make it again for sure.

Posted by Amanda at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments

When you have bananas that are teetering on the edge of being rotten, it's banana bread to the rescue! I had a few that were very nearly black, so I whipped up the PPK's banana bread recipe with a few alterations. I subbed 2 Tbsp of corn oil and 1/3 c. of applesauce for the margarine, reduced the sugar to a scant 3/4 c. mix of brown and granulated, and used a mix of whole wheat, whole wheat pastry, and white flours, with a strong emphasis on the whole wheat side of things.

It was my first time making banana bread, vegan or not, and I'd call it a mild success. It's good, fairly moist, and excellent lightly toasted with a bit of Earth Balance. My one complaint is that the banana flavor is very subtle. The Boy says it's about right, so maybe my banana perception is just skewed. I think I need about 5 or 6 bananas in my banana bread to be happy. So basically I should just eat mashed up bananas.

Posted by Amanda at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments

When I noticed The Boy eyeing one of those beef stroganoff box meals at the store the other day, I decided to make a vegan version to satisfy his craving. Now I've never had beef stroganoff in my life, so I had no idea what I was getting into. I originally planned to make the recipe from VwaV, but I was missing too many ingredients. I didn't have shallots, or wine, or dijon mustard, or either type of mushroom it called for... you get the idea. So I found a simpler recipe online here and went to town.

I had some leftover VwaV seitan in the freezer, so I defrosted that - and to those who were wondering, it freezes just fine. The recipe was pretty simple to put together, and we had it over fettuccine noodles that I broke in half before boiling. The Boy loved it, but I won't make it again unless he requests it. And then I'll make something different for myself. It wasn't bad, I just didn't really care for it. It was extremely rich, for one thing - I couldn't even finish half of what I dished out for myself.

Then there were the mushrooms. I don't like mushrooms unless they're covered in something extremely delicious, and even then they need to be chopped up so I don't really see them. There were a few in a mango curry I had at an Indian place one time, but the sauce was so good that I didn't even notice them. That wasn't the case here. I sliced them up, but the overall flavor just didn't do it for me.

I don't know. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it that much either. But I think it's just me, because The Boy gave it two thumbs up.

Posted by Amanda at 6:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

I basically ate the same thing today as I did yesterday, except we went to the Dispensing Co. for dinner. I got my usual black bean burger and curly fries, and it was tasty as ever. So I'm not sure how many calories I ate, but I don't think it was too terrible.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to attempt the Seitan Stroganoff from VwaV. I've never had stroganoff, so I don't know what it's even supposed to taste like... but The Boy has been craving it, so we may give it a go. If not then I'll likely try something else, so I'll have some new content regardless.

My iPod died today. It was very sad. I submitted a service request and should be getting my shipping materials soon, so hopefully it won't be too long before I have a shiny new iPod. I'm a little bitter, though. Since I'm past the 6-month mark on my warranty I had to pay $31.90 in fees, which is so ridiculous I can't even describe it. Argh.

Posted by Amanda at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast - 9 a.m.
Raisin Bran with soymilk. (250)
Most of a small banana. (80)

Lunch - 1 p.m.
2 apple-cinnamon rice cakes with 1 Tbsp peanut butter and raisins each. (360)
1 c grapes. (60)
Baby carrots. (35)

Snack - 6:45 p.m.
1 maple brown sugar multigrain cake. (50)

Dinner - 10:30 p.m.
Spicy peanut noodles with broccoli and peppers. (335)
1/4 block sauteed marinated tempeh. (120)


Snack - 11:15 p.m.
2 Tbsp chocolate chips. (140)

Total Calories: 1,430

Today was good. I have no complaints, except that I didn't eat dinner until way too late. I was studying for an art history exam that I have tomorrow, and it just turned into one of those "I'll eat when I finish just this one more thing..." things. When I did finally eat I think I inhaled it in under 5 minutes. I always eat too fast, though. It's something I need to be more aware of. I am not a Hoover. I am allowed to taste my food.

Someone questioned my rice cakes at lunch today. Her voice was incredulous. "Rice cakes?" Yes, rice cakes! I love 'em. They do bear an uncanny resemblance to styrofoam, though.

Posted by Amanda at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

No menu today, because I basically ate like shit and don't feel like writing it down and reliving the horror. You know, the sad thing is that after all those delicious cookies I just feel like throwing up. I really do feel so much better when I eat well. And yet I still shovel crap into my mouth at every opportunity. I need to get one of those awful electric fence/shock collar systems and set it up to zap the hell out of me whenever I go near junk food. Oooh, chocolate! *electrocuted!*

I have what I'm eating tomorrow all planned out in my head. I'm going to try to keep it light, mostly because right now my stomach is just... ugh. Just thinking about food makes me queasy. So actually I should probably stop thinking about what I'm going to eat tomorrow. Man, I'm so smart it hurts.

Anyway - I lieu of actual content, here's a picture of Miss Scarlet. Because cats are the best kind of filler. As opposed to the best kind of filling, which is almost certainly not cats. I hope.

Posted by Amanda at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast
A chocolate-orange muffin. (247)

Lunch
2 apple-cinnamon rice cakes topped with 1 Tbsp of chunky peanut butter and 1 Tbsp of golden raisins, plus green grapes and baby carrots on the side. (325)


Snack
Another chocolate-orange muffin. (247)
1 maple brown sugar multigrain cake. (50)
3 Tbsp chocolate chips. (210)

Dinner
Sauteed BBQ tempeh and roasted carrots, potatoes, and broccoli. (448)


Snack
2 caramel rice cakes. (100)
A mandarin orange fruit and gel cup. (60)

Total calories: 1,682

Not a horrible day, calorie-wise. I went a little nuts with the chocolate chips. Dinner was kind of thrown together on a whim, but it was very tasty... with the exception of the broccoli. I'm pretty sure you an roast broccoli, but obviously I don't know how because it was really dry and the florets were just this side of burnt. Not the best broccoli ever.

Also, holy crap do I love rice cakes! I have 3 kinds in the house right now, and I ate some of each today. I ate more calories in rice cakes than I did in chocolate. Craziness. But it was delicious craziness, especially the ones with peanut butter on top. Mmmm.

I'm kind of hungry right now, even though I shouldn't be. Probably because I pigged out yesterday, now my stomach is all, "Excuse me, where is my constant influx of foodstuffs? NEED MORE COOKIES!" I'm going to try to stick it out with water and distractions, because seriously, I don't need anymore food.

Posted by Amanda at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast
A chocolate orange muffin. (247)

Snack
1 apple-cinnamon rice cake topped with 1 Tbsp chunky peanut butter and 1 Tbsp raisins. (180)
Baby carrots. (35)
2 caramel rice cakes. (100)
Another chocolate orange muffin. (247)
A few potato chips. (75)

Dinner
Pizza! I bought a sourdough Rustic Crust the other day, and tonight we topped it with tomato sauce and Vegan Gourmet mozzarella, plus various herbs and spices and fresh basil. It was amazing. Yeah, I ate half. (750)



Snack
2 fudge-mint cookies. (170)
2 Tbsp chocolate chips. (170)
2-3 shots of vodka, a little rum, and I don't even know how much green Hawaiian Punch. (?)

Total calories: 1,974 + however many for the alcohol and punch.

Okay, so... today was not so good. It was going fine until the pizza. It wasn't even too bad after the pizza. But then it all just went downhill from there. It was St. Patrick's Day, so I went to party at a friend's house and had some drinks. I don't usually drink much/at all. There are a lot of reasons, but part of it is that alcohol is just insanely high in calories. But tonight I decided, you know, what the hell? Let's have some drinks. But the party was still awkward in spots and I still felt incredibly self-conscious, so all it really added to my day was unnecessary calories. Plus I'm not Irish anyway, so St. Patrick's Day is kind of irrelevant for me. Awesome.

Also, my period started today. Double awesome!

Man, what a shitty way to start the weekend.

Posted by Amanda at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast
A chocolate-orange muffin. (247)

Lunch
Baked falafel, lettuce, and tahini sauce in a whole wheat pita, with baby carrots on the side. (420)

Snack
Another chocolate-orange muffin. (247)

Dinner
Plain old spaghetti with tomato sauce. Perfect for when you're feeling lazy. (290)

Snack
1 c green grapes. (60)
3 Tbsp chocolate chips. (210)

Total calories: 1,474

I'm loving the muffins, in case you couldn't tell. But I did fine calorie-wise, so go me.

OMG, the cat is being so damn annoying. I can't wait until she gets old and fat and lazy.

Posted by Amanda at 1:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

I love muffins because they're really just cake that it's okay to eat for breakfast. These muffins are cakey enough, moist and a bit dense, studded with chocolate chips and laced with a subtle orange flavor... yum. Plus they're chock full of whole grain flours, so they're on the healthy side to boot.

Note: A few days later, these are a bit dry. Next time I'm going to throw in a bit more applesauce, or maybe just some soymilk to moisten things up a little more. I'll update the recipe when I try it.

Chocolate Orange Muffins

1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 c barley flour
2/3 c sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c chocolate chips
2/3 c soymilk
6 Tbsp margarine, melted
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp molasses
zest and juice of one orange

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Sift together the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.
In another bowl, mix soymilk, applesauce, margarine, vanilla, molasses, and orange juice and zest.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet stuff. Mix until just combined.
Spoon batter into 12 greased muffin cups.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until muffins are a light gold on top.
Let stand in the muffin tin for 5 to 10 minutes, then move to cooling racks.

Makes 12 muffins.

Nutritional Information: 247 calories, 10 g fat (3.75 g saturated fat), 3.8 g fiber, 3.3 g protein per muffin.

Posted by Amanda at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast
Raisin Bran with soymilk. Damn cereal for being so convenient! (270)

Snack
1 Tbsp chunky peanut butter. Because straight jar to mouth transfer is the most effective way to get your daily dose of peanut butter goodness. (95)

Lunch
Pizza fries! I made some oven fries, melted some soy mozzarella on top and finished them off with some tomato sauce. Yum. (370)


Snack
2 fudge-mint cookies. (170)
1 Tbsp chocolate chips. (70)
Baby carrots. (35)

Dinner
The last of the VwaV corn chowder. (230)

Snack
1 fudge-mint cookie. (85)
A chocolate-orange muffin. Double yum. (247)


Total Calories: 1,572

Too many cookies today. Evil. The muffins were heavily adapted from a non-vegan recipe I found online - I'll post the recipe tomorrow. I also made a bath of falafel, all of which went into the freezer. I'll be taking some for lunch tomorrow. I'm way too excited about it.

Posted by Amanda at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast
Raisin Bran with soymilk. (270)

Lunch
Peanut noodles and baby carrots. (365)

Snack
Potato chips. (150)

Dinner
A black bean burger and curly fries at Lancaster Dispensing Co. I have no idea how many calories this contains.

Snack
Baby carrots. (35)

Total calories: 820 + however many from dinner. So unless the burger and fries tops 800 calories then I declare today a success. And if it does top 800 calories then I may need to leave this cruel world, because in no universe should a black bean burger do more damage than cake.

No pictures again today - sorry. On days that I have school I usually just exist on leftovers and quick fixes, because I don't get home until around 6 and depending on his schedule The Boy may not get home until as late as 10:30. Today was particularly stressful - we arrived in class today only to be told that we would be putting our current assignment on hold and doing a "rush job." We were given the project specs (a square-format illustration, any medium except oils, that illustrated a short essay) and the deadline (the end of class!) and told to have at it. Yipes.

I liked my initial sketch but it just never got off the ground. I made three false starts and finally just had to finish and hand in the third one. It was really bad, though. Like to the point that I would have almost rather just missed the deadline than present it to my teacher. It was just one of those days where nothing works out, you know?.

So I was pretty frazzled and feeling very down on myself, but I'm pleased to report that I did not give into the temptation to stop into the gas station and grab some Peanut Chews. I also got a bit of extra walking as well, which is always nice. I walk to school and back anyway, but I had to come home to get supplies, and then we walked to the restaurant for dinner, and then back to school, and then home again. I'm sure it doesn't work out to all that much distance, because everything is just a few blocks from everything else, but a little is better than nothing at all.

I have big food plans for tomorrow, so there will definitely be some photo content. Until then I have a little something different. it's completely unrelated to food, but I talk about school here sometimes (like today!) so I thought I'd give you an example of what I do when I'm not posting here. This is the last project we did in Illustration Studio - a caricature of a celebrity and their perfect pet. I chose Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley, which is pretty much my favorite band) and a raccoon.


This is about half the actual size, and they are actually together like that in real life. I spent more time on Jenny, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. Plus I got an A, which is always nice.

Posted by Amanda at 1:29 AM | Permalink | Comments

No real post tonight, even though I said there would be. I'm a damn liar. We had to rush the cat to the emergency vet after she had a seizure, which is scary beyond belief. I kept flashing back to Giles, my cat who seizured and died as we were loading him into the carrier to go to the vet. Awesome. But $245 later Scarlet has been pronounced fine. We have some things to watch out for, and I need to call her regular vet to see if they want to do any follow-up tests because one of her liver counts was slightly elevated. But overall she seems fine. And she was much less of a hell-beast than last time I had her at the vet, so that was nice at least.

On the food front: I had waaaaay too much chocolate when I came home from school, but after that I only had dinner (peanut noodles) so I think I still made out okay calorie-wise. I don't have a total, though, because I didn't want to face the numbers where the chocolate was concerned. For shame.

Posted by Amanda at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments

I read somewhere that we only keep doing things if they benefit us in some way. This statement was made regarding being fat, or overeating, or something like that. At first I called foul - how on Earth does being fat benefit me? Why would I choose to stay this way? But then I thought about it some more, and realized that it's true.

Every bad habit is a safety net. My top two bad habits are overeating and procrastinating. I procrastinate like whoa. They should canonize me as Our Lady of Perpetual Procrastination and put my image on a medal. Seriously, it's ridiculous. It stresses me out and makes my life a rushrush hell, but I keep doing it. Why? Because when I wait until the night before it's due to start a painting then I can always say that it could've been better if I had more time. It's okay if I don't like it, because it was rush job and certainly isn't my best work. If I spend days or weeks on something and still don't like it then I have to face the fact that my best isn't good enough.

Overeating is sort of the same way. Obviously food is delicious. It makes my mouth happy to eat chocolate and cookies and an extra serving of those awesome peanut noodles. But it also serves me on other levels, the ones that make it harder to break away from. There's a level of comfort eating involved, sure. It also keeps me fat. Again, why would I keep doing something if it keeps me fat? I pretty much hate myself, and a large part of that is because I'm fat. I hate my body. I have the self-esteem of an unwashed hobo at a black-tie gala. It's not a good situation. But I keep myself in it by continuing to overeat. Why?

For much the same reason that I keep procrastinating, actually. I place the better part of the blame for my unhappiness on the fact that I'm fat. I have all these little daydreams about what it would be like to lose a lot of weight. How I'd look. How I'd feel. Usually I'm happy in them. But the truth is that losing weight probably wouldn't change how I feel about myself. I'd still look in the mirror and want to crawl under a rock - it would just be a smaller rock. I'd still be socially awkward. I'd still have all the same issues, and on top of that I'd have to deal with the fact that being fat wasn't the source of my unhappiness. And I don't think I could deal with that. With losing 60 pounds and still hating myself. As long as I'm fat I have something to blame. And something to look forward to. It's nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel. And in some ways I guess I'd rather see the light and know it's there, know that someplace brighter and better is waiting for me if I just go a little farther, than reach the light and find out that it's no better than the darkness.

So I stay in this tug-o-war with food, counting calories and watching portion sizes and then eating everything in sight one day because I'm feeling particularly down. As if chocolate can soothe my wounds. As if cake really makes anything better. Then I beat myself up and go back to counting every bite, because even though I always sabotage myself I can't stop trying. Because as much I would love to be one of those awesome fat girls who owns it, who loves herself and doesn't take shit from anyone, who doesn't let her pants size dictate her state of mind... I'm not. Sometimes I think I could be. Most of the time I'm pretty sure I couldn't. I love fat girls. I wish all my friends were fat girls. I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with being fat so long as you're happy and healthy. But I'm still secretly hateful and jealous when I notice a girl I know from school losing weight. She's working her ass off and she deserves to succeed. But I liked her better when she was fat, because the new thin version just makes me feel even shittier about myself.

Anyway. I could rant forever, but I'll spare you anymore. Mostly because I don't think I'm making sense anymore. We'll resume our regularly scheduled food blogging this evening.

Posted by Amanda at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast
Oat O's with a sliced banana and soymilk. Oat' O's are generic Cheerios. I kind of hate them, but there wasn't much else around.(260)

Lunch
VwaV Corn Chowder and potato chips. Yum. (380)

Snack
2 fudge-mint cookies. (170)

Dinner
Spaghetti with marinara sauce and sauteed leeks. Because I love me some leeks. (397)


Snack
2 Tbsp chocolate chips. (140)
Baby carrots. (30)

Total calories: 1,377

P.S. I uploaded the corn chowder picture. It's a smorgasboard of complementary colors.

Posted by Amanda at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast
Banana-date smoothie with flax. (290)
1 c strawberry halves with > 1 tsp sugar. (60)

Snack
2 fudge-mint cookies to fuel tedious homework. (170)

Lunch
Corn Chowder. (230)
2 oz pumpernickel bread. (140)
1 tsp Earth Balance. (30)


Snack
2 Tbsp chocolate chips. (140)
Potato chips. (210)

Dinner
A whole wheat pita with 1 Tbsp chunky peanut butter and a sliced banana. (340)
Baby carrots. (35)

Total calories: 1,645

A little high on the calorie front. I didn't expect to eat much after work, but... well, you know how it goes. The corn chowder is from VwaV, of course, but I used half-and-half sweet and white potatoes this time. It's interesting. I really like the color. I think I prefer it with all regular potatoes, though.

I have pictures, but it's late and I have to get up early for work. I'll edit this post tomorrow and add them.

Posted by Amanda at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast
Raisin Bran with soymilk. (250)

Snack
2 Tbsp of chocolate chips. (140)
1/2 oz of almonds. (80)

Lunch
1/2 c of baked beans. (130)
1 oz of pumpernickel bread with a smidge of Earth Balance. (85)
2 fudge-mint cookies. (170)
1 Tbsp of chocolate chips. (70)

Dinner
8 oz of sweet potato wedges tossed with 1/2 tsp of olive oil and baked until yummy. (205)

Snack
2 more Tbsp of chocolate chips. (140)
1 Tbsp of peanut butter. (100)

Total calories: 1,380

Yeah, so I basically subsisted on chocolate chips today. Awesome. I had plans to make something for dinner, possibly corn chowder, but then I was surprised by a call from work. Apparently whoever I talked to yesterday gave me my hours for next weekend instead of this weekend, so I thought I had off today when actually I was supposed to work at 5. So my plans for dinner went down the drain, and I went off to Michael's for another delightful night of retail slavery.

I'm watching Best Week Ever right now, and oh man, Tim Gunn AND Santino were both just on. I think I just a spontaneous Project Runway-gasm. Before this it was the 100 Greatest Toys or something, and the hoola hoop was deemed the Best Toy Ever. This skinny little blonde comedian was explaining her technique: "I get the hoop caught between these rolls of fat," she says, grabbing her nice, flat stomach. Uh huh. Whatever, bitch. God, there is absolutely nothing more annoying in this universe than skinny girls saying that they're fat. It makes me want to force-feed them donuts until they really are fat, and then sit back and laugh and laugh as they cry in the dressing room at Lane Bryant.

What? You know you've thought about it.

Incidentally, I was thinking this morning that I wish I shopped at Lane Bryant so I could write an entry titled "Fear and Loathing in Lane Bryant." Unfortunately I've never experienced the Bryant. Or maybe that's fortunate, I don't know. It always kind of seemed like a line of clothing designed for fat girls by skinny girls who have fat friends and think they know how to dress them.

To sum up: I hate my job, skinny girls who complain about being fat, and my insane dependence on sugar. I love all things Project Runway, VH1, and fantasizing about making annoying skinny girls cry. Also, am I the only person alive who doesn't find George Clooney attractive? I just really don't. I do, however, find David Boreanaz extremely attractive - even more so after seeing this ad he did for Peta. Aww, Angel. I love you even more because you love dogs.

Posted by Amanda at 1:18 AM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast
Raisin Bran with soymilk. (250)

Snack
5 strawberries. (20)
Baby carrots. (35)
2 fudge-mint cookies. (170)
Pretzels. (170)
1/2 oz of almonds. (80)
Honest Tea, white tea + pear flavor. (70)

Dinner
Leftover spicy peanut noodles. (350)

Snack
1/2 oz of almonds. (80)
2 Tbsp of chocolate chips. (140)
1 oz of pumpernickel bread. (70)
1 Tbsp of chunky peanut butter. (100)

Total calories: 1,535

And so begins the obsessive calorie-logging. Hopefully I'll only be doing this for a week or so, until I feel like things are back under control. I'm not going to lie, though - I totally keep a count even when I don't post it here. I'm a little neurotic that way. No pictures today, since I basically grazed until dinner. I had a little victory when I faced off with the vending machine at school; for a minute I was considering Fritos instead of pretzels. There are about 4 vegan options in our vending machine - pretzels, Fritos, Lorna Doone shortbread cookies, and peanuts. Sometimes there's Twizzlers, or Swedish Fish. Actually it's not such a bad vending machine, now that I'm thinking about it. But nothing is particularly healthy. My dream vending machine would have, say, some Baked Lays (not the BBQ kind, because ew, chicken fat), Luna bars, bags of baby carrots, unsalted nuts, dried fruit, etc. Things that resemble food, not just Snickers and Pop-Tarts.

Anyway, since I don't have any food photos to share today I thought I'd post two that I took last weekend. While we were in CT we took a day trip to Providence, RI. We ate at a restaurant called Kabob and Curry, which was yumtastic. The first picture is inside the restaurant; the second is from when we were walking around on Thayer St. I actually only took about 10 pictures while we were in CT/RI, and most were of more for my own future reference than anything else. Interesting architectural features and things. But I like these two well enough. Especially the second one. I might actually get that printed. (Hint: click to make 'em bigger!)

Posted by Amanda at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

Wow, so I've been neglecting this blog for the last few days. There have been circumstances - Connecticut, homework, subsisting on french fries and as such having nothing post. Unfortunately I'm not kidding about that last one. I pretty much threw caution to the wind for a while and didn't really feel like owning up to it. Also, I've been kind of generally down about things and haven't felt like doing much of anything at all. But those are all just excuses, really. Except for the homework. That shit's for real.

But I'm back, blog-wise and food-wise. I had a fling with chocolate bars and french fries and yeah, they were good, but I feel gross. Today was good, though, and yesterday wasn't too bad even though there were french fries involved. Goddamn french fries. Way to make a freaking vegetable really unhealthy.

I'm going to keep a more conscious eye on my calories for a little while, so even though I'm not posting what I ate I am pleased to inform you, dear readers, that I consumed just under 1,300 calories today. A little low, but my (mental) comfort range is from 1,300 to 1,600 so on that front it's satisfying.

I made peanut noodles with lots of veggies (peas, broccoli, yellow peppers, and leeks) for dinner, but I didn't take a picture. I did, however, take some of the strawberries I had while watching the finale of Project Runway.


They were amazing. I am in love with the thought of spring.

PS - Santino was robbed. And I don't even like Santino.

Posted by Amanda at 1:25 AM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast
Cinnamon Life with soymilk.

Lunch
I went to Romano's Macaroni Grill with my dad, so I ate a lot of bread and did the create your own pasta thing. Whole wheat penne, tomato basil sauce, roasted garlic, carmelized onions, and fresh spinach. Sounds good, right? It was, until I found a few bits of chicken in it. I sent it back and they made it fresh, and it appeared chicken-free but by that point I wasn't very hungry anyway. I ate a few bites and then packed it up and brought it home for The Boy.

Snack
A clementine.
3 Tbsp chocolate chips.
1 oz almonds
2 pumpkin-raisin muffins.

Yeah, tonight was a snack-fest. I never really got hungry, so I just kept grabbing a snack every few hour. The chocolate chips and the muffins were spread out throughout the evening, but it seemed stupid to list them separately.

The muffins were a variation on the Best Pumpkin Muffins from VwaV. We're driving to Connecticut tomorrow and I wanted something portable and yummy for the trip. These fit the bill. I made some changes, and also took some pictures, but the recipe and photos will have to wait. I'm having some serious color issues that I never had with my PC, so until I figure things out I probably won't be posting many photos. But the plus side is that when I do get everything worked out I'll have about 20 photos to post all at once. It'll be an embarrasment of food porn.

I'm taking the laptop with me to CT, but I don't know if I'll have internet access or not. If not then I'll see you on Sunday, hopefully with a newfound understanding of browser colorspace and a big-ass jug of maple syrup. Mmm, syrupy.

In completely unrelated news, I bought a sheet of very nice 300 lb watercolor paper this afternoon, brought it home, answered the phone, and when I came back into the living room to put it away what did I find? Scarlet chewing on the deckled edge that was sticking out of the bag, of course. Awesome! I love it when cats eat stuff that costs $10/sheet. I swear, she will try to eat anything she can fit in her mouth. And if she can't fit it into her mouth then she'll sit on it or knock it all over the place. I love her but she can be extremely annoying sometimes. Like a child, pretty much. Which is why I do not ever plan to have any.

Over and out.

Posted by Amanda at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments

Breakfast
Cinnamon Life with soymilk.

Snack
A clementine.
3 dried dates.
1/2 oz of almonds.

Lunch
Baked falafel, lettuce, and tahini in a wheat pita, with carrot sticks on the side. At this point you're probably asking yourself, "How much damn falafel can this girl eat?!?" A whole hell of a lot, that's how much. Usually I'm not keen on eating the same thing every day for a week, but falafel is an exception. Falafel is manna from heaven. It can do no wrong. It could very possibly facilitate world peace. I only have enough left for one sandwich, though. I might cry when I finish it.

Snack
A PBJ muffins. Because I'm a glutton for punishment and will eat things I don't like just so they don't go to waste. Plus I was having a wicked carb craving and there's not much else in the house that's carbtastic and doesn't require preparation. So. But it was still pretty gross. Time did these no favors.

Dinner
Black beans and rice, sweet potato fries, and half an ear of corn. The beans and rice was Zatarain's brand, which I love. I wish I could make beans and rice like that - thick and saucy and mmmmm. Anyone have a recipe? Maybe if I made it from scratch it wouldn't have that weird ham smell.


Snack
2 Tbsp of chocolate chips.

This is the first picture I've posted from the new computer, and I'm having some color issues. Does it look okay to you guys? Too dark, too light? Because I can't really tell. I need to go Google this phenomenon.

Posted by Amanda at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments

Snack
1/2 oz of almonds.

Lunch
Baked falafel with lettuce and tahini in a whole wheat pita, with a clementine and pear chunks on the side.

Snack
4 dried dates.
1/2 oz of almonds.

Dinner
Leftover Aloo Matar and a piece of onion naan.

Snack
2 Tbsp of chocolate chips.

Nothing new and exciting today. I woke up late-ish, and then didn't eat until after 12. I'm making something tomorrow, I just need to figure out what.

Posted by Amanda at 12:35 AM | Permalink | Comments