sucanant

Today Olive and I were on our own and the day ended up being all about Olive. She got to go on a walk in her new harness, ate lots of treats as I tried to train her to do the loose leash thing, and she got a spa treatment (aka a bath). It was fun.

So I realized that I haven’t posted my grocery store purchases before (at least not that I can remember) so I thought my last visit to Trader Joe’s would be good to highlight.

Some Highlights:

Designer Whey Protein: I really like the chocolate, it only has 100 calories per scoop and tastes pretty good. This was my first time buying the French Vanilla so I’ll be sure to let you all know how I like it.
Kashi Go Lean: One of my favorite cereals
Spring Mix and Broccoli Slaw: Two items I like to buy at Trader Joe’s- their bagged salad is the cheapest I’ve found!
Organic Pea Shoots: Something new that I decided to try this time.

This morning I woke up hungry for some pumpkin oatmeal. New ingredient alert- golden raisins!!! I also used a 1 tsp. the Sucanant again. I’m really missing the sweetness of my banana oats. I need to get to the store and buy some naners asap.

This breakfast held me over really well. I went to a Body Attack class, walked on the treadmill, and did some arm work. I came home around 1:45 and whipped up some lunch. HUGE salad:

All the usual ingredients, with hot banana peppers and the pea shoots (the shoots are leaves of the pea plant with a subtle sugary flavor that is delicious both raw and cooked.) I had some hairy edamame on the side.

And a few pieces of fresh pineapple. YUM!

Isaac and I had plannin on having dinner together, but he got held up coming home from the Frisbee Tournament so I decided to go with Isaac’s mom and sis to Ginger Thai Taste. Isaac’s mom and I shared the Green Papaya Salad as and appetizer and I ordered the Ginger Perfect- Sauteed green onions, mushrooms, ginger, and bell peppers in a house special sauce with shrimp. I also asked for broccoli.

Now I’m just watching Jon and Kate plus 8 and waiting for my love muffin to come home. Sunday is almost over.. boo hiss.

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The week is over and I am relaxing at home on a Saturday. I love the weekends!!!

Friday morning I used my can of Organic Pumpkin (the one I have been using for THE SHRED) to make some delicious oats. I now need to find another partner for my Manwich!

Pumpkin oat ingredients:

1/4 cup each oat bran and oatmeal
1/2 cup each water and USAM
Dash of cinnamon
1 egg white
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tbsp. ground flax
1 tbsp. better n PB

My oatmeal method: After cooking the first 3 ingredients (I also ususally add 1/2 of a banana, but I’m all out) on the stove top for about 3 minutes I add the egg white and stir it in, then I turn down the heat and stir in the pumpkin. I cook the oats for about 2 more minutes on the lower heat. Lastly, I turn off the heat and stir in the ground flax and serve in a bowl with Better n’ PB atop the pile o’ oats. YUM!

Work on Friday was crrazzy. I was just super busy and had a project that HAD to complete before the end of the day. For lunch I was suppose to meet up with my cousin who was babysitting nearby but ended up trekking it over to a Ellwood Thompson’s for a quick lunch. They’ve just renovated the place and it’s much roomier now to sit down and eat. Plus I’ve noticed that since the renovations things are actually cheaper. The produce is now the same price as other grocery stores, which is awesome because before they were WAY overpriced. I might even consider buying groceries there now, whereas before I wanted to support the local organic shop and the local farmers, but I simply couldn’t afford it.

I grabbed a container of fruit:

And half of the Goddess Tofu Wrap. I so want to be able to recreate this wrap at home. It’s simply delicious!

They were giving away free samples of Vegan banana bread with chocolate chips. I had 3 small pieces

Don’t mind my wrinkly hand. Or Isaac’s hairy arm below:

We went to Cafe Caturra to meet some friends for a glass of wine. The place was so cute. I loved the decor! Isaac got beer and I got a glass of white wine. The beer above was called the Lion Stout- it smelled of licorice and bittersweet chocolate and tasted like molasses, chocolate, licorice, coffee. I usually don’t go for dark beers, but I took a sip of Isaac’s and it was delicious.

I woke up this morning planning to go to spin, but I was extremely sore. I think it’s from doing ab leg lifts. They are killer. That being said I decided just to streach and take Olive for a walk. Once I was home I decided it was oat time and whipped up another bowl of pumpkin oats but this time I left out the egg white and substituted it with sugar. Probably not the smartest idea, but I wanted something sweet. And actually the sugar I used was actually dehydrated cane juice.

I put the cane juice crystals directly on top so I could have the extra sweetness in in each bite. I have only ever used the cane juice in recipes so I was surprised to realize it tasted more like molasses than normal brown sugar does. But it was still good. After searching online I found this info:

Sucanant
Sucanant is simply dehydrated, freshly squeezed sugar cane that is simmered into rich syrup and dried into granules. Sucanant retains its rich molasses flavor and contains iron, calcium, potassium, chromium and B-vitamins.
Usage: Use in place of refined brown sugar 1 to 1 in your favorite recipes. Sucanant is great for baking or on top of hot cereal. It’s also great in BBQ sauces, chocolate brownies and hot cocoa.

Brown sugar is processed white sugar with a bit of fancy molasses to give texture and color.

Today’s lunch was Tasty with a capital T. Last night I bought way too stuff much at Bj’s Wholesale (a store v. similar to Costco), but one of the products I was really excited to try. Joseph’s Middle East Bakery’s Flax, Oat bran & Whole Flour Lavash Roll Ups. The nutritional facts for this wrap caught my eye. 1 huge wrap has 100 calories, 4g of fat, 14 Carbs, 6g fiber, and 10g protein. So I decided to give old Joesph a try –> GREAT IDEA. The wrap is soft and chewy, just how I like it. The wrap is also hearty and doesn’t break apart when you try to fold it (don’t you hate it when that happens!) And the wraps are huge, you could definitely use half and save the other half for later. What more could a girl ask for?

Example A: I spread a laughing cow cheese wedge on my LAVASH wrap and filled it with sauteed onion and mushroom, 1/4 cup of kidney beans, spring mix, and hot banana peppers. What a great combo!

All wrapped up:

Whew that was a long post so I am going to wrap things up. Isaac’s out of town of tonight I’m hanging out with a friend and going to a little party.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

P.S. I think the combo of running and doing The Shred has made my knees sore so I am taking off a few days from Jill