Who Says You Can't Go Home

Yesterday morning I got off to such a late rush I had just finished my oats when my dad arrived at my dorm and my roommate woke up(late sleepers, what’s with them?). I threw together laundry, packed a bag, and we headed off, first stopping at Eastside Market. Gardenburgers were still on sale this week for 1.99. Ridiculous. After grabbing those and some chips that were absolutely calling “Evaaannnn”, we hit the road and were home in 50 minutes–gotta love that. I was pretty stoked to walk in and find a pile I made for myself perfectly posed for a picture.

Packages

Exciting, no? Here was the loot:

24 Zevia, Zevia T-Shirt, Kashi Sampler, Passports

Wahoo! First off, a while back I won the Zevia contest at I’m An Eating Machine. My prize was a t-shirt and 4 of every flavor Zevia! I’ve had them all before and couldn’t choose a favorite if I had to so the super sampler was perfect. And I can’t wait to wear the t-shirt on campus and have people ask what sort of crazy drug Zevia is. I also got my old, expired passport and my brand new shiny one. Thank God because I’ve had no photo ID for the past month(try opening a bank account like this–not fun), And my free Kashi cereal box. I went with blueberry clusters since I haven’t tried that one before.

That excitement aside, I was actually pretty hungry for lunch and ready to take some photos of something edible and destined to be inside of me.

Mystery Fish Burger With Peach Salsa, Salt And Black Pepper Krinkle Cut Kettle Chips

I say mystery fish burger because it didn’t have a package, but there’s a 90% chance it was Whole Food’s salmon burger. Of course, I get home and the first thing I look for is salmon. That’s just how I roll. And the chips were the one that were “calling my name” It was 2.50 for a party size bag. Partyyy! Food Should Taste Good top the charts when it comes to nachos, but when it comes to potato chips, Kettle Chips top the chart. And they fried in safflower and canola oil, so they count as a “healthy fat” on the plate(that’s my story and I’m sticking to it). Another oddity: When I come home, things tend to disappear, like this pint from our freezer:

Laloo's Strawberry Darling Goat's Milk Ice Cream

Seriously, one of the best ice creams ever. Period. Ignore the cholesterol bomb that it is, and it actually has decent nutrition. Who wants to split the cost of a goat with me and get milking? Anyone? One of the reasons I came home was to get my haircut. That sounds a little weird, but after 7 years with the same person I couldn’t imagine having anyone else do it. Today she was teaching her daughter how to be a hairdresser, so I got to be the test dummy who they both worked on while the mother critiqued the daughter. Too fun. Luckily, no one can mess up “short trim”

Short Trim

With that done, I knew I wanted to go grocery shopping with my parents to get food I didn’t have to pay for spend quality time, but first I made some snackage:

English Muffin With Cream Cheese And Cookie Dough Peanut Butter

In case you were wondering, yes I traveled with a few jars of peanut butter, specifically Cookie Dough, Mighty Maple, and Smart Balance. I just like to know I’ll have an option wherever I go, and peanut butter is nice and portable. We hit up my two staples: Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. Again, loot:

Groceries

I was running low on oats and oat bran so I stocked up. Trader Joe’s toasted is the only oat bran I like, but for the oats I just go for the organic at the bulk bin. I got over 2 pounds. Oops! Thankfully they won’t go bad in this lifetime. Oikos and pumpkin pie yogurt joined the party since I wasn’t paying, and the same with some Z-bars(1 is mysteriously missing from the box since I ate it in the store. Where could it have gone?). And of course some coffee and frozen yogurt hopped in my cart, why wouldn’t they?

While my mom had the oven going for dinner, I threw in some of the Stevia plant I cut to bring home, baked for 3 minutes, and ground up the leaves, making my own Stevia powder.

Homemade Stevia Powder

Umm how cool is that? The yield from the leaves isn’t as much as you’d expect, but I still think it’s pretty sweet to make your own. I’m definitely not carrying this around Brown in a little plastic baggy. I don’t think people would think it’s Stevia, if you catch my drift

What can I say, other than my mom knows what I want when I come home:

Salmon, Acorn Squash, Broccoli, Black Cherry Zevia

I find it ironic that black cherry Zevia is the whitest of their sodas, but it’s delicious! My mom was so disappointed when I mentioned that the cafe had acorn squash one night. This one was definitely better, what with not being stuffed with stale rice. But this isn’t really a great veggie for anybody who doesn’t eat butter because it’s pretty bland. Maybe a little cinnamon and nutmeg would jazz it up.Also, you apparently aren’t suppose to eat the skin? Well why is it so edible if you aren’t supposed to eat it? Just saying…

Here’s a tip: After a meal with really fiberous food and Erythritol(Zevia), don’t look at the bowling ball that is your stomach unless you’re a very secure person. Even if you are, just don’t do it. It’s not pretty.

Let me count the ways that made this treat perfect:

Elan's Chocolate Frozen Yogurt

So far I’d tried the Vanilla and Decaf Cappuccino Elan’s before, so chocolate was the natural progression. Flavor-wise, A+. This was about as chocolaty as it gets without pouring chocolate syrup in your mouth(which we’ve all done, don’t lie). Nutrition-wise, also A+. Because it’s Elan, all the ingredients are natural and recognizable. It’s frozen yogurt, so it has probiotics. And this flavor has 2 grams of fiber per serving because of all the real cocoa powder they put in. That’s a lot of cocoa powder = a lot of chocolate flavor. Thankfully, chocolate helps quicken the digestion of carbs, so this also worked double duty on dissolving that bowling ball I mentioned in my stomach.

I had a craving for some oatmeal raisin cookies after watching Unwrapped, but didn’t have any But wait, oatmeal? C’mon, I’m the king of that grain, so I tried to recreate it in bowl form:

Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal With Coffee

For this, I cooked 40g oatmeal with 5g brown sugar and about 10g raisins, and sprinkled an additional 5g brown sugar over the top when it was done. It was OK, but it wasn’t cinnamon raisin, which is odd because I can’t think what else to add to make it so. It tasted just like a packet of oatmeal from the Quaker dude, except with more wholesome ingredients. I’ve found that I really don’t care for straight oatmeal anymore; I much prefer an oatmeal/oatbran blend for a thick consistency. And the whole Stevia thing was cool in theory, but not very sweet in practice The leaves look good floating in the coffee, though. More oatmeal and a cookie got me through the night:

Pumpkin Oats With Chocolate Chips And Smart Balance Peanut Butter, Morning Maple Cookie

I both recognize that smart balance has a bit of a funky taste and love it for that reason. And does anyone find Libby’s pumpkin the best for baking and pumpkin oats? I’ve noticed it’s thicker and darker than other brands, and also has slightly different nutritional information. Maybe Libby uses a different variety pumpkin, but I really prefer that brand when it comes to baking and oats.

Well this morning was C-O-L-D. It was supposed to hit freezing overnight. Crazy, right? It was so cold, I had to put on these:

Granny Sweats

Sexy, no? No. I started out thinking 6 times around the neighborhood would be enough. 1 lap down, 2 laps down, and I started thinking: I don’t put on the sweats for nothing, I’m hitting double digits again. I slowed down my pace a bit, cleared my mind, and just went with. I ended up doing 10.10 in 1:22:12. Obviously, I was ecstatic. That’s only the 3rd time I’ve run that far. And right now I’m working on my traditional 10-miler post-run snack.

Elan's Chocolate Frozen Yogurt

You run 10 miles, you get ice cream for breakfast. That’s the rule in my house. As I type and lick, I’m thinking about what I’ll make for a real breakfast. That’ll have to start off my next post.

Today I plan on staying home as long as I can, getting some more good meals, and hitting up Target to drop a pretty penny. Hope all your weekend’s are going swell!