RAINBOW REJECTION

I'm a little behind on food recaps. I recapped one day but then forgot about a couple of days last week...oops! Here I am getting caught up:

11th...Thursday
Breakfast was pretty awesome. I made a grape tomato egg scramble and ate that atop a bed of spring mix greens with a pear:Party in my mouth! I'm trying to stay away from carbs during first breakfast. I find myself too full for oatmeal during second breakfast but I know that I need to eat the oatmeal during my break at work, otherwise I won't last the four hours until my lunch break.
It really pays to have pre-prepared lunches. What I mean by that is that on Monday night, I had prepared lunches for the following three days. I know that seems excessive but I knew that I'd be spending the next two nights after work out, so I wouldn't have time to prepare lunch for the following morning at work. Doing all of my lunch prep on Monday work saved me a LOT of work and allowed me to enjoy full meals throughout the week without resorting to calling my dad and begging him to bring me something to eat (most likely pizza) to work.
Thursday was the last of the organic chicken drumstick with cucumber sticks and mini carrots. I also had strawberries, most of which I used for my second breakfast oatmeal:Along with that I had a giant salad of spring mix with goat cheese, sliced radishes and cucumbers: I topped it with a Blueberry St. John's Wart dressing from a Toronto company that I picked up at Whole Foods. I put my name on a Post-It note and stuck it to the dressing bottle in the work fridge in hopes that my co-workers don't throw out/steal my dressing like they did with my last bottle. Not cool.Snacks included a pear and Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut granola bar:As well as a couple dried mango slices and some Mary's Organic Crackers (Herb flavour):I kept the crackers for the ride home from work. Around 5:30, I get really noshy. Dinner was really unappetizing but I was not in the mood to cook for myself and since dad's dinner involved mushrooms, I decided to eat some:
Basmati rice with some kind of "stew." Spare ribs with weird tofu "balls" (I only had two since I'm technically supposed to avoid all soy since it's an IBS trigger) along with bok choy, some kind of leaf-like funghus I don't know the English name for and shitake mushrooms. It was okay. I didn't finish off my small bowl.

I ended off the night with a cup of peppermint tea and a Tim's-filled bowl of kettlecornbut times the above by two. I'm a kettlecorn addict.

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12th...Friday
Vegan Failure Day, which was so epic (because of my idiocy), it needed a post of its own.

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13th...Saturday
The day started off really early. Too early in fact, but at least I started the day off right:Almond Breeze with buckwheat cereal and Optimum Slim and from what you see below, it was pretty tasty:Also, say hello to my new cereal/everything bowl--though it really is a mug from Urban Outfitters. It's a giant mug, courtesy of Sean. Thanks Sean! I love that mug. He also got a blue one, which you'll see later.
Lunch was vermicelli soup with pork, green onions and iceberg lettuce. Weirdly, iceberg lettuce is really great when cooked. It has a really lovely sweet taste.Snacks for the afternoon included this Kind Bar, which I was finally able to find at Whole Foods. I only picked up two (just in case I didn't like them), this kind being Almond & Coconut. I ate this while in the mall shopping for work clothes and a new stove. Then on the way home I stopped by a nearby Indian grocery for some naan bread and FINALLY found the elusive kulfi that I always saw the kids eating in the shop. I settled on a pistachio one:Eaten on the car ride home:
I'm really glad I don't drive because I tend to eat a LOT of things in the car.

And like I mentioned earlier...dinner was naan bread with leftover Indian food: mattar paneer and my last Vita Coco (with pineapple):
I'm already craving more Vita Coco and have already tried seeking other coconut water at Asian grocery shops with no luck--although the one I did check was a little sketchy to begin with.

Later in the evening I was craving some fruit like mad but the options were limited: apples or oranges. I decided to go with an orange since my dad's apple-picking skills leave something to be desired:This orange was a little dried out though so it's best use was probably for juicing, which I haven't done in ages since it's nearing the end of winter. Wintertime just does not bring out the juicer in me although I really should have done that when we had a bunch of spinach around when it was on sale for a $1/lb.

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This morning the orange decide to take its revenge on me for calling it dry. Out of the six times I've eaten an orange in the past 6 weeks, five of those times, I've ended up befriending the Porcelain. I don't know what's going on with my bowels since oranges are not one of my IBS triggers but the oranges just don't like me!

At first it was any kind of tomato-involving substance last summer; no matter what kind of tomato sauce I ate or where it came from or who prepared it, I ended up with the worst amount of heartburn...the kind that no amount of Rolaids or Gas X could cure. It was painful, extremely painful. Even after enjoying what was a really incredible spaghetti putanesca back in NYC last July, I really regretted my decision the next day. I was in pain all the day long. I ended up in the hotel room taking a nap for part of the afternoon while Sean scoured town for a chicken snack--apparently one that was not to be missed--except for me, who was in pain and can't eat non-organic chicken anyway.

So yeah, it looks like my body is rejecting foods in order of the colours of the rainbow. I can't remember how long the tomato rejection lasted but I figure the orange rejection will last the same amount of time. It sucks because a) I love oranges and b) I depend on oranges as my greatest source of vitamin C.

Next up on the rainbow is yellow so that probably means bananas, which I'm okay with because I don't really like bananas anyway. They're good with PB or AB or possibly CB (coconut butter, which I have yet to try) and Crofter's spread but other than that, I could forgo bananas for the rest of my life. Oh, they're good in baking though. Darn.

Now I'm waiting on my parents to get back home so we can go finish the purchase on our new stove and purchase a fridge and washer/dryer. Woo! Shiny new stainless steel appliances just waiting to be used. I can't wait for the new stove and oven. Finally a new oven that hopefully is calibrated properly so I can make macarons properly!

HELLO WHOLE FOODS, GOODBYE $75.17

I can't believe I've spent almost $150 on groceries this week. That is insane--to the MAX! Fo' shizzle. I don't think I've ever spent that much money on groceries. Damn!

The Staples:Artisana Coconut Butter. Now I've never had this stuff before and at $15 a jar, I was really reluctant to purchase it. But as I looked at it longingly in the aisles and held it up to gaze at its coconut wonderfulness, Sean told me that if I was going to use it sparingly (like, not eat it as quickly as I do with popcorn), it probably would be a good food investment. So I took that as a sign to buy it. (Heck, I would have bought it without Sean's prompting since I almost ordered it online from Hamilton.) And then we have Madhava agave nectar (a great alternative to white sugar or other sweeteners--aspartame I'm looking at you!) and Nativas cacao nibs, which I typically add into my oatmeal. Oi, there goes $35.

The Boxes O' Goodness:Barbara's Bakery Puffins cereal (PB flavour). I first came across Barbara's Bakery cereal in the US. Yeah, that's right...I brought a box of cereal across the border. It was the cinnamon flavour and totally worth it. I poured that cereal into milk, ate it on top of yogurt, stirred it into oatmeal. That cereal and I had some really good times. Then I read all about other bloggers' experiences with PB Puffins. I had to get some.

It has been AGES since I've eaten cookies...ones that I haven't baked myself anyway. I typically peruse the cookie aisle in whatever grocery store I'm in, looking at what new sugary delights there are and if my mom is with me she'll say "are you getting anything?" but then I remind her that no, I'm not getting anything because all these cookies contain at least 2-3 ingredients I can no longer consume for whatever reason (usually a migraine is the trigger reason). But not at Whole Foods! At WF there are a whole bunch of cookies I can eat and so Sean and I settled on a box of Late July organic Vanilla Bean with green tea cookies, which are very similar to Oreos. The thing is that I'm not a fan of cookies in the first place (I prefer mine soft and chewy), so I had to ask Sean if he'd eat most of these before their October 2010 due date and he agreed. We had one each on the ride to the concert venue (Wrongbar, anyone?) and they were great! Not too sweet and just the right amount of vanilla bean and cocoa. There really is a huge difference between regular and organic eating. I'm all for the latter. You can consider that my Late July cookie review. Oh and of course, 365 Organic water crackers, which I'm obsessed with so I got two boxes just because.

The Indulgences:Vita Coco coconut water (the left with pineapple and the right, original). Two Kind bars and some dried mango from the bulk bin without all kinds of nasty stuff like sulphites--yay!

So that plus a carton of organic chocolate milk (which Sean consumed) and a bottle of organic blueberry St. John's Wort salad dressing is what you get for $75.17. Now, to defend the green space of goodness--despite my claims, I do love WF--I did buy a lot of stuff so that I could stock up. The coconut butter, agave nectar and cacao nibs were really pricey (each $15, $10 and $10) but each of those will last me a really long time and any subsequent trip to Whole Foods will not require the purchase the coconut butter, agave nectar or cacao nibs and so, $35 will be saved--or used for other things, hahaha.

MEGA-QUICK POST-A-RAMA

I have to get this post done quick, as in, like yesterday. I have to finish eating dinner, change my clothes, change the cat litters (all four!) and make a final grocery list for Whole Foods before Sean picks me up so we can head to--you guessed it--Whole Foods...but also to the Vivian Girls concert in Toronto. Yay, I'm excited! The Vivian Girls and Whole Foods in one evening!!!! I am currently catching up on my fave food blogs and the most recent episode of Gossip Girl while I eat dinner and blog. I know, I know, horrible habits for dining, but I have no choice tonight.

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Food from yesterday includes two soft-boiled eggs and two slices of whole wheat toast (one with natural, organic PB) for first breakfast.Second breakfast was the following minus one of the granola bars because I forgot my instant oatmeal at home. The game plan was to consume as much food as possible in 30 minutes so that I wouldn't want to eat my arm or eat a sample within the four hours before my lunch break. Mission was only 50% accomplished because while I didn't eat any samples, I really did want to eat my arm by the time lunch rolled around. I tried to eat the following as "properly" as I could.Organic chicken drumstick that I coated in dijon mustard and then coated with breadcrumbs that I seasoned with parmesan cheese, garlic powder and thyme. Delicious! Oh and cucumber sticks and mini carrots. And I also ate a salad:Spring mix with some spinach as well as cucumber slices, radish slices, strawberries and goat cheese. No dressing, which was a bit of a shame because there was not enough goat cheese or strawberries to hold everything together. I'm trying to cut down on my goat cheese intake simply because it causes too much lactose intolerance-related pain.

Dinner yesterday was probably downright sad because I just can't remember it! Oh wells.

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10th...Today! (Wednesday)
Happy Hump Day! I figure that I should probably say that on at least one Wednesday on my blog. Last night I had been lamenting to Sean about how much McDonalds I have consumed since the beginning of the year. It's not usually my thing to eat McDonalds. I'd much rather have a homemade burger from Famous Sam's but sometimes McDonalds French fries are the way to go--even though they can be hit or miss.

Aaaanyway, having been out late the night before and having to get up in the morning to shower, make the second part of my lunch for today, I wasn't really in the mood or did I have the time to make myself first breakfast so I asked my dad if we could stop by Tim Hortons to grab a breakfasts sandwich and also to partake in their free hashbrown promo. Unfortunately, by the time we booked it, it was a little too late to head in the direction of Tims and we had to stop by McD's instead. Oops! So I ended up having a bacon and egg McMuffin with a hashbrown. But for reals, I need to stop eating McDonalds!!

Here I am finishing off my breakfast while yes, reading In Defense of Food. Oh dear...irony! Please don't be mad Michael Pollan. I normally do eat food. Mostly plants. First breakfast was followed up by a mug of oatmeal, with the usual, chia seed and ground flax. Sadly no awesome additions like fruit, fresh or otherwise.

Lunch was awesome, due to some masterful in-advance cooking.
Does this chicken drumstick look familiar? No, it's not the same one as the day before...I just happened to cook three on Monday night for subsequent lunches. So yeah, there's one more photo to be seen. Along with the chicken and mini carrots, I had the following ricotta and spinach ravioli with 365 Everyday (Whole Foods brand) tomato sauce...10 of them to be exact. Pretty tasty. The sauce is good. It's not too salty or spicy. It was a good mix with what I think is usually bland ravioli. No time for veggie add-ins this time around. This pear was on the menu but I ran out of time to eat it.This is what I am currently eating for dinner--though I probably should not be. Half of tonight's dinner are IBS-triggers but I don't dare step out of the house without eating something because Sean and I would probably end up in the drive-thru at McDonald's.So instead I'm having basmati rice with brussel sprouts, beef and onions and cabbage. Oi. The greens are the IBS-triggers. I already know that tomorrow will not be pleasant.

Have a great night everyone--I know I will!