In part, porque I don’t believe in diets. In part, porque the Nilla supply ran out.

In all seriousness, yesterday someone Googled “nilla wafer diet” and landed on my blog.

Hmm, a nilla wafer diet? I feel compelled to address this.

Dearest anonymous Nilla wafer enthusiast,

While I clearly love the Nilla as much as the next chica, I do not advise constructing your diet around its sweet, wafery glory. If, however, you are set on doing so, see this post for some Nilla foodspiration.

Sincerely,

An advocate of Nillas-in-moderation

I realize my last post boasted a whole lot of Nilla, but I (sort of regrettably) assure you, Nilla wafers and I do not see each other on a daily basis. We’re more a one night stand that recurs every few years. And this, I believe, is for the best.

Need evidencia? I present to you a full day of no-Nilla, normal foodie eats.

Nilla-free breakfast: Black and White Cookie Yoatgurt

El negro: 1/2 cup oats cooked in 1 cup water, scoop of almond butter, 1 tbsp. cocoa powder and Truvia. La blanca: 1 container plain Fage 2% con cinnamon.

You’ll have to take my word that there were no Nillas layering the bottom of the bowl.

This early Chinese New Year-inspired, yin and yang creation was the most delicious way I’ve started my día in quite some time.

The only problemo: It was almost too filling. Have any other yoatgurt lovers found this? Perhaps I’ll have to 86 the nut butter or use 1/3 cup oats instead of 1/2.

This is not to say I didn’t fully clean this mess up.

And enjoy every last creamy, chewy bite.

This was my first bowl of yoatgurt since Miss Janetha introduced it to blogland, but I’ve actually unknowingly been enjoying this so-called yoatgurt for years. For as long as I can remember, whenever I stay at hotels with continental breakfasts, I’ve combined a pack of instant oatmeal with a container of whatever yogurt they have on hand. I’m happy it now has a formal name because I’ve certainly gotten my fair share of “what are you eating?”s over the years. Now, I can smugly respond, “uh, yoatgurt” and witness non-food blogger confusion reach new heights. Bueno.

Despite feeling as though I’d never be hungry again, that was, shockingly, not so.

The star of lunch was my favorite veggie tuna mix, which, like pollo, I’d not had in over a month. No idea why. But I missed it.

In the mix: 4 oz. tuna, 2 dollops of Fage, 2 tbsp. honey mustard, lemon pepper seasoning, krazy salt, red peppers, onions and celery.

…which was clearly too much for my dos pieces of  honey whole wheat toast.

So an open-faced sandwich it became. Mi boca didn’t mind this, as I believe it thought it was getting dos sandwiches. My shirt was pretty feliz, too, as it didn’t leave the table decorated in tuna.

Served con a whole lot of asparagus. A few green cheetahs. No Nillas.

Just in the nick of snack time, I stumbled upon this mouth-watering recipe and made the executive decision to step away from the trail mix and bake up a double-punch, fruit-and-veggie treat.

Roasted Butternut Squash Con Manzana

Butternut stump, de-seeded and filled with one chopped honey crisp. Topped with 1 tbsp. water, 1 tbsp. maple syrup and cinnamon. Covered in tin foil and baked for one hour at 400°.

Por favor, make this now.

This is quite possibly the most delicious way I’ve ever eaten a butternut squash, and I’m mildly depressed that I discovered this just as winter squashes are going out of season. Triste.

My squash baby kept me full well into the dinner hour. But, come 10 p.m., I got hungry (and felt sort of gypped on the cena front). So I whipped up dinner in less than 5 minutos.

Despite looking moderately sophisticated, this was actually one of my go-to college meals.

1 bag Uncle Ben’s 90-second Brown & Wild Whole Grain Medley, topped with leftover roasted eggplant and a generous pour of Soy Vay!

This rice is the most flavorful, quickie brown rice I’ve found. And its ingredient list is pretty innocent, too. Bueno!

And the Soy Vay! You all know how I feel about Soy Vay. It has an uncanny ability to make anything taste better. Anything. But especially veggies.

And since an entire bag of brown rice clearly didn’t meet my carbzilla requirements, I had half of a freshly baked, super fluffly whole wheat pita with melty Jarlsberg. On my finest china.

Dessert was, oddly, not popcorn. Nor Nillas.

Rather, it was my new favorite super salty store brand mini pretzel rods and big scoop of creamy Barney Butter.

Oh, sweet and salty flavor combinations, you never cease to woo me. Be mine?

Before I go, in an attempt to avoid another unannounced hiatus, I wanted to give you a heads up that I’m not sure what my posting schedule will be like next week. I haven’t mentioned this, but post-kitchen renovation, we decided to continue on and renovate the living room. So, for a good part of next week, I am being forced to evacuate the premises to allow los chicos to do the nitty, gritty construction stuff. In other words, I’ll be couch surfing and may not have my computadora and/or internet. However, when I return, I have some very exciting news to share. It involves comida. And vida. And those were the most pitifully vague hints ever, so you’ll just have to wait it out .

Feliz fin de semana! Feliz Dia de los Enamorados! Feliz Chinese New Year! Any exciting plans? Anyone attempting to combine Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year festivities?

Amor,

Sarah

If not, I’ll leave you hanging ‘til my weekend recap. But I have a feeling most of you will get the whole “the one” part.

But, yea, yesterday I didn’t snack. At all. This is muy muy raro for me because I always graze between meals. I don’t always photograph my in between snackage because it’s usually a predictable pretzel, nuts or something-to-dip-in-hummus shebang. Pero, evidencia o no evidencia, you can be sure I wear my snackface on a daily basis.

Except yesterday. Yesterday I was in and out of the house all day, mostly just stopping in for meals. I think my brain/stomach/respect for my mood knows when snacking isn’t going to happen—and makes up for it with grande meals. At least this was the case ayer.

La mañana commenced with cafe.

No, I don’t live in a cool padded room. (Though, I suppose that wouldn’t actually be cool because padded rooms usually translate to psych wards…) My coffee just happens to be sitting pretty atop my new sticky yoga mat.

After laying on my yoga mat, chugging sipping several cups of coffee and Reader-ing (that’s a verb, right?), I broke for breakfast.

Sweet ‘n Salty Oat Bran

In the mix: 1/3 cup oat bran cooked in 1 cup water, 1/2 banana and vanilla extract; topped with 1/2 microwaved honeycrisp (cooked in cinnamon and almond milk and topped with maple syrup), superrrr salty nuts, raisins and a packet of Truvia.

Come closer.

And admire that heaping mound of sweet ‘n salty goodness.

Oooooooh my gah. This OB bowl was so ridiculously satisfying and FILLING. I did have the other 1/2 of the honeycrisp on the side—but this kept me perfectly full ‘til I had lunch at 2. Considering I did no snackage, this is sort of an anomaly for moi.

I have feeling the magic was in the nuts… .

Lunch wasn’t glamorous—but it was good and quick and microwave-friendly. All things muy importante to me right now.

A big bowl of minestrone soup.

Like biiiiiig. This bowl is massive, and my eats almost never surpass the half-full mark. This soup almost reached the top.

Mmmm, I love big bowls of soup. This felt never-ending—which I enjoyed because it was so delicioso.

On the side I had a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and melted vegan American cheese.

If you’ve never combined cream cheese and American, do it. I initially yucked una amiga’s yum when I saw her eat a bagel with these toppings; but upon trying the combo, I fell in love. You will too.

Dinner has more parts that unusual—likely due to the fact that I did less snacking than usual.

Part Uno: Ensalada Enorme

In the mix: mucho baby spinach, roasted red peppers, honey maple turkey, cucumbers, orange bell pepper, steamed broccoli, balsamic-marinated shrooms, FSTG lime tortilla chips.

Lo siento for that condensation but I decided to branch out from my balsamic dressing combos (you know, honey balsamic and spicy mustard balsamic) and try one of those creepy spritz spray dressings. No me gusta. I couldn’t even taste the dressing—despite using 2 servings worth of sprays. So, I ended up dousing la ensalada in balsamic to undo any dressing damage.

Did the trick. As always, this was GOOOOOD. As always, the FSTG lime chips made the salad. The honey maple turkey was pretty clutch, too.

Part Dos: 1/2 whole wheat pita with melted French Onion Laughing Cow.

In case you didn’t know what LC looks like?

Or needed to be updated on my current polish choice?

I let the microwave heat things up for 30 seconds while I busted out the roasted red pepper hummus.

The cheesy pita got real friendly with the Sabra, and before I knew it… Sabra was no more.

Part Tres: Orange Overload

I know I should’ve been done with dinner at this point, but such was not the case. I was still hungry, and I’d already planned on it being a cheetah night. My cheetah lovahs know that once you tell your taste buds they are getting some cheetah action, the craving doesn’t subside ‘til they get their fix.

So, you understand, these were necessary.

Cheeeeeeeeetahs. And, do you see another better n’ fries component in the back?

Carrot fries! There were like 15 because I burnt half the batch. My b.

So, pregunta, which do you prefer—carrot or sweet potato fries?

I’ve no answer to this query; they are both mind-blowingly good in my book.

So, that was my day of snacklessness. Clearly I deprived myself…

Oh, I forgot to mention.

I did have dessert. But that’s a different genre than the snack, sí?

Kashi 7 grain puffs with almond milk, Truvia, cinnamon and spoonful of almond butter.

Because clearly a three-part dinner wasn’t enough…

Ok, mis personas favoritas, I have to run (sorry if this post was rushed!) because la hermana is on her way home for a weekend visit. You know this means I’ll be back on Monday with some E.P.I.C. eats .

HAPPY NATIONAL OATMEAL DAY!

This, I am sure, is a legitimate holiday because it is currently a trending topic on Twitter. (Cough, follow me, cough.)

I had an epic bowl of oats esta mañana. But you’ll have to wait ‘til tomorrow to hear about those. Today, it’s all about my hump day happenings. (Side note: I secretly HATE the term “hump day.” I don’t know when I decided to initiate it into my official Wednesday vocabulary. I blame blogland.)

Hump-día (cue cringe slash giggle) kicked off with an affectionate cup of coffee. Are you trying to tell me something, cinnamon?

Hazelnut creme coffee with almond milk, Truvia and una corazón de cinnamon.

I know I’ve only mentioned this briefly, but I’ve been trying really hard to nix my Splenda addiction usage. Microwave Madness Month has made this pretty easy because, with my kitchen’s contents currently residing in my living room, I’m not exactly sure where the Splenda is. I’ve been drinking my coffee without sweetener—though sometimes with a little equally-artificial Coffee Mate creamer—and I’m getting pretty used to it.

That said, I wanted to try Truvia in my cafe to see how it compared both to Splenda and plain sugar. ‘Twas splendid. I’ve missed sweet coffee; I think I was just convincing myself that I liked plain old milk & coffee because my Truvia-enhanced cup was the most enjoyable java I’ve had in weeks.

I’ve gotten several e-mails and comments asking me about Truvia’s taste, but I want to get a bit more acclimated in my Truvia testing before reporting back. From this cup—along with my Truvia-sweetened oats—I’ve found that it has a milder sweetness than both Splenda and cane sugar. One packet of Truvia won’t deliver the same sweetness strength as a packet of Splenda; but it also possesses no semblance of Splenda’s artificial taste. So far, me gusta.

After throwing a few back, I got around to eating.

Breakfast began with this.

I heeded the lid’s advice, and decided to spread the great taste of almonds.

No, not by filling the entire, nearly empty jar with a “baked” honeycrisp apple.

Though, that appears to be the case.

I assure you this almond love-spreading had a bit more substance.

Which came in the form of oat bran in a jar!

1/2 cup oat bran microwaved with 1 1/4 cup water, 1/2 frozen banana, and cinnamon. Topped with 1/2 honeycrisp apple “baked” in cinnamon and maple syrup. And topped again with más cinnamon and maple syrup.

Much like last time, I allowed the steamy oats to melt down the almond buttah walls by returning the lid while the apple “baked” in the microwave. I followed this up with some vigorous jar shaking.

I think this method worked…

Later, as I was snacking on my newest addiction—which I must remind myself is a vitamin, not a snack…

…I received this text from la hermana.

It’s not as random as it seems. Luntz is a political strategist for whom I used to work, and Melissa—who is studying international environmental policy—likes to keep me up to date on companies/people who are or aren’t environmentally friendly. The POM part of the text reminded me that I received some POM Iced Coffee to try a few weeks back.

I went for the chocolate flavor.

This tasted like straight up chocolate milk. Someone who likes chocolate milk would adore this drink; I, however, am not someone who likes chocolate milk. I sipped my way through about half before giving up on it. Ah, what could have been…

The chocolate milk/coffee whet my appetite before I was ready to prep lunch, so I had a container of plain greek yogurt with Fiber One and cinnamon.

This was my first Oikos ever! I want to try it sans cereal before comparing it to my beloved Fage. But from what I can tell from my cereal-mixed-in version, I loved it just as much as Fage. I don’t think its texture is quite as thick, but as a base for a yogurt mess, it was perfecto.

Thanks to Kristina, for sending me an Oikos goodie bag with some coupons.

Eventually I threw some lunch together.

Between toasted Arnold whole wheat bread: roasted red pepper Sabra, honey maple turkey, avocado, spinach, roasted red peppers and dijonaisse.

I warned you there’d be lots of honey maple turkey in the near future; I don’t understand why I’m suddenly obsessed with it.

My sandwich went for the whole leaning tower of Pisa look.

On the side, I had the other half of my A.M. honeycrisp.

Con cinnamon.

And a bag of Popchips.

I’d only tried (and LOVED) the salt and vinegar flavor before receiving my samples from Corinne, so I decided to try something new. I was obsessed with sour cream and onion chips when I was a kid, like wouldn’t-eat-any-other-flavor obsessed, so I went for these.

Loved. Salt and vinegar are still my #1 so far, but these had that same amazing chip-meets-rice cake texture and lots of sour cream and onion flavor.

(P.S.—If you’ve never heard of Popchips, read their snacker’s credo. I feel like I could have written it. And I adore #7: “you’re allowed to eat the whole bag.”)

Dinner began with una ensalada mexicana ENORME.

In the mix: 3 cups baby spinach, shrooms marinated in balsamic & honey, baby peppers, roasted red peppers, avocado, celery, red onion, habanero lime salsa and shredded white cheddar; dressed in celery salt, honey balsamic dressing and FSTG lime tortilla chips.

All the stars gravitated toward the center: big mound of habanero lime salsa and avocado, surrounded by honey balsamic marinated mushrooms, crushed FSTG lime tortilla chips and white cheddar.

The FSTG lime chips MADE this salad. They have such an intense flavor that, even though I only crumbled a handful’s worth of chips, you could taste the lime in every bite.

Cena Part Dos: Cheeeeeeetahs.

1 medium sweet potato—shaken in a Ziploc of EVOO, cinnamon and brown sugar—baked at 450° from 30 minutes, flipping half way.

This one goes out to a certain snacker who deserves all the success she’s recently encountered.

My dinner beverage was orange-hued, as well: v8 carrot juice.

LIES. I hate veggie juice. (I think.) That’s orange Fanta; but it could pass for carrot juice, no?

Ok, I’m off to get my shop on. I still don’t know what I’m being for Halloween! I can’t think of anything creative, and it’s really bothering me. Last year’s costume was pretty prodigious; perhaps I’ll share some (really embarrassing) pics tomorrow. Any ideas are welcome!

-Sarah

In the event that you need a little ayuda translating this post’s título:

“y el ganador es…” means “and the winner is…”

¡Sí! The time has come to reveal the winner of my sopa giveaway! Well, not quite yet. I’m obviously going to make you endure my recap of yesterday’s eats before getting to the good stuff.

(“Make you” is quite a relative expression considering you have full capability to scroll to the bottom of this post. If you do this, por favor, make your way back up here for some good eats .)

Tuesday morning began with a cup of sugar cookie sleigh ride tea and…

Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Oat Bran!

I’ve been meaning to try cooking oats in flavored tea—and as soon as I tried this flavor, I knew it’d be the perfect tea constituent. It was!

To expose and enhance the sugar cookie flavor, I cooked 1/2 cup oat bran in 1 1/4 cup brewed tea. I stirred in a little vanilla extract, brown sugar, Truvia and cinnamon—and topped with a spoonful of raspberry preserves.

Come a bit closer.

Closer…

See the Truvia crystals? They made the bowl. This was actually my first experience with Truvia, or any stevia sweetener. I’ve been meaning to try stevia in my efforts to scale back on the Splenda front, so when Truvia offered to send me a sample—you know I obliged.

I’ve yet to try it in my coffee—but it worked its sweet magic in this bowl of oat bran. Because I was trying to capture the essence of  a sugar cookie, I thought both brown and “white” sugar were necessary. The preserves were just added because I thought the bowl was lacking aesthetic panache; but they, too, worked some serious sugary magic.

I will definitely be re-creating and further experimenting with sugar cookie oats; I’m thinking a raisin addition would work splendidly. Any suggestions?

Alongside my sugary oats, I has another sweet component.

HUGE Honeycrisp!

Since I haven’t been putting much effort into my manzana consumption, I opted for a photography-friendly change from my current chomp-to-the-core approach.

Massive manzana con PB. Delicioso, como siempre.

Lunch continued down the sweet route.

Honey-licious wrap.

In a whole wheat wrap: Garlic & Herb Laughing Cow, Honey Maple Turkey, 1/2 honeycrisp apple, spinach and honey mustard.

Boar’s Head honey maple turkey > any other brand. I think I’m experiencing a mild case of honey maple obsession—because it’s all I’ve been craving. Also, I’m sort of weird with meat, and I’ll only eat it within several days of its purchase. So, honey maple obsession + meat eating idiosyncrasy=expect a lot of turkey in the next few days. Lo siento, vegetarian and vegan amigas.

Con another bigger-than-the-wrap half-sour pickle.

This obsession is full-fledged, and always in effect. Me encantan pickles.

(Go on, say it…)

Soon after, Mr. Postman delivered this:

The sticky yoga mat I won from Erica! I’ve not been doing yoga, but perhaps this new goodie will motivate me. Any at-home recommendations?

I took it out and laid on it without any yoga intentions—simply because I’m a child and can’t not open a new toy. However, this faux yoga session reminded me that I had a Yogi tea to try out!

Mi amiga received this when she got a massage this weekend, and she thoughtfully offered it to moi because she knows I’m a tea fiend.

This was my first experience with Yogi tea, and I loved it!

I love flavored variations of green tea, and blub always works.

But the whole “suppresses appetite” thing?

Yea, I don’t know about that…

Food Should Taste Good lime tortilla chips, inconsiderately stuck right into the communal Sabra.

Love this FSTG flavor! Again, none of the flavors have been as good as the Multigrain or The Works, in my opinion; but I loved the hint of lime. (PS: I only have one more flavor to try ‘til I can give you a full FSTG review!)

The bag remained by my side during this blogging-from-bed Sabra session—so, needless to say, I did a bit more FSTG damage than what’s pictured here.

Dinner started with a simple ensalada.

3 cups baby spinach; shrooms, 1/2 honeycrisp, baby peppers, red onion, celery salt, honey balsamic dressing and habanero lime salsa.

Best flavor melding of the night goes to the sweet honeycrisp/spicy salsa combo.

I knew dinner’s main event was going to involve brown rice—because I had a ton left over from way too much Chinese take out this weekend.

In an attempt to not just re-heat the never-ending stash of sesame chicken, I made a Thai Peanut Rice Bowl.

1.5 cups brown rice; 2 cups broccoli; 1 cup pineapple. Douses in my homemade peanut sauce.

If you haven’t noticed, I really like the peanut + pineapple combo.

Since the sauce wasn’t really showing in the pictures, I added an extra spoonful.

For picture purposes only. I, of course, hated the peanut-y addition…

I dug into my Newman’s Own Champion Chip Cookies for dessert. I have to preface this opinion by reminding you that I’m not a big chocolate person; I wasn’t crazy about these. They were sort of hard, and very average.

So, I channeled one of my favorite cereals from my childhood to salvage them.

Cooooooookie Crisps! I simply dumped some Newman’s cookies in a bowl and doused them in almond milk; I let them marinate for a few minutes ‘til they were perfectly soggy. And devoured,

Problemo solved.

Ok, so who won my Campbell’s sopa giveaway? The random integer generator spewed out #64; that’d be…

Katie from A Joy in Class!

One of my favorite new bloggers! Felicidades, chica! E-mail me at thefoodiediaries@gmail.com with your address—and I’ll get your goodies on their way!

While we’re on the topic of giveaways and, more importantly, favorite bloggers, check out my taste bud gemela Katharina’s 101st post giveaway!

Hope your Wednesday night is absolutely GLEEFUL .

-Sarah

Speaking of nut butters, Monday morning welcomed a peanut butter first.

After a few cups of cinnamon swirly java, I tried a beloved blogland breakfast that, I’m sure, all of you have had many times by now.

Oats in a jar!

Proof that I am a behind-the-times blogger: I hadn’t tried overnight oats ‘til last week, and I hadn’t utilized an almost-empty jar as an oatmeal bowl ‘til yesterday! Ay, dios…

When I noticed my current jar of peanut butter nearing its end, I seized la oportunidad. Into the jar went 1/3 cup quick-cooking Irish oatmeal—cooked in almond milk, sweetened with maple syrup and topped with raspberry preserves.

Because there was a good amount of peanut butter coating the sides of the jar, I let the steamy oats melt the PB walls by returning the lid for 5 minutes and then violently passionately shaking the jar.

The result was PB & J oats in their most divine form. I think it was a combination of the glorious chewiness of Irish oatmeal and the mouth-watering meltiness of the peanut butter.

Hated it.

As I wrote up my Nutridel review (which you can read here, if you missed it), I had an almond Nutridel cookie topped with cream cheese and jelly.

Before:

After:

I can’t decide if I think the before or after shot is more mouth-watering. I suppose beauty’s in the eye of the beholder. What do you think? Does food look more appetizing when it’s well put-together or messy?

Lunch brings us to the tehehehini title of this post.

What ingredient made it into almost everything I ate for the rest of the day?

You guessed it.

I’ve always thought it was spelt tahini, but I’ve seen several brands spell it this way. Anyone know the explanation behind this spelling discrepancy? Merriam goes with tahini—but  maybe tehina is the authentic Mediterranean spelling? It’s really not normal that this is bothering me.

Anyway, lunch. I toasted a rye sandwich thin and topped half with tahini/tehina and crumbled feta before broiling for 2 minutes.

I topped the other half with one of my homemade rice & bean veggie burgers (which I’d frozen a couple of weeks ago) and roasted red peppers.

I heated it in the toaster for 10 minutes at 450°—and it tasted just as great. ¡Éxito! (That’s success en español.)

I had some pre-made frozen sweet potato fries with honey mustard on the side.

All together now.

Burger and fries? So not a me lunch—but it was delicious.

At some point in the day, I stumbled upon this New York Times article featuring—what do you know?—tahini. (By the way, I am going to spell it this way for the remainder of this post—because if Martha Rose Shulman says tahini, I’ll take her word.)

Shulman says she prefers tahini to nut butter as a toast topping—which I can’t say I agree with—but I took this feature as a sign from the holy food disciples that I should continue on with my tahini eats.

Plus, Shulman highlighted its health benefits: copper, manganese, calcium (mi favorito), iron, B1 and dietary fiber. Me gusta.

Dinner started with a big ensalada featuring a variation of last week’s hummus-baked chicken.

This time, I coated the chicken in tahini and then broiled the pieces for 7 minutes.

Again, SO GOOD.

In the mix: lots o’ mixed greens, string beans, red onion, 1/2 avocado, celery, roasted red peppers and tahini chicken—dressed in celery salt & honey balsamic.

The trifecta: tahini chicken, roasted red pepper and Haas avocado.

This avocado was extraordinarily creamy and flavorful. I know this is sort of blasphemous to admit in blogland, but I don’t love avocados.  I definitely don’t dislike them. And I do eat them frequently—but this is mostly for their nutritional benefits. In general, I find their flavor a little underwhelming. If you hate me for this, you should redirect your attention to another blogger who hates pumpkin…

Dinner’s other components were sort of random—but such is life sans a kitchen.

Flax toast with melted Jarlsberg (BEST CHEESE EVER), roasted red pepper and a tahini stripe.

Tahiiiiniiii. I think you’re the new hummus.

Ok, I take that back. But it’s a close second.

The only tahini-less dinner side was steamed green beans (by steamed, I obviously mean microwaved) topped with garlic powder and sriracha.

And because the sriracha spiciness necessitated a cold cooldown…

Vanilla fro-yo with Newman’s Own Organics mini pretzels and a Hermit.

Oooh my god. Hermits! How have I never discovered these before? They are like little bars of gingerbready, figgy goodness! I don’t care to show you the dent I’ve made in the box I only opened this weekend. I will say I’m addicted.

The fro-yo felt so good on my still sickish throat. And though I’ve still not fully recuperated from whatever stubborn flu-like illness has invaded mi vida, I’ve decided that (a) I am feeling much better and (b) I’m going to stop being a baby and just pretend I’m fully well in hopes that it’ll come true.

Before I go, una pregunta.

I may or may not be in the process of conjuring up a magnificent giveaway for next month. What would you love to win in a giveaway?

-Sarah

Construction song of the day: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”.

Again, this lulled any animosity I’d usually feel toward an unsolicited early morning alarm because (1) that song innately sends out feel-good vibes and (2) it now reminds me of the Glee version.

And, Glee. Oh, Glee. How I adore thee.

This incited 2 hours of Glee sing-a-long listening.

Which is fine because Fridays simply aren’t productivity friendly.

But let’s pick up where we left off yesterday.

After Thursday’s Miley wake-up call, I decided that—despite being sick—I couldn’t listen to a day’s worth of deafening demolition. I needed to get out of la casa.

And I knew exactly where I wanted to be.

All I wanted to do was curl up on a comfy cafe couch.

And sip a vanilla chai latte.

And blog amid the serene sounds of coffee machines and hippie chatter.

And get lost in this.

My favorite birthday present.

Or maybe this.

My favorite graduation present.

And possibly venture down the street for some of this.

(I still haven’t tried the pumpkin cupcake!)

However, I could not have my way

with this envisioned comfy cafe day.

Due to torrential downpour,

the 10-block walk lost its allure.

And my pleasant getaway seemed like more

of an illness-worsening chore.

And so I settled on a day of noisy house arrest.

And a lot of cafe con leche.

This gets to my title. I do know (or at least I’ve frequently heard) that you’re supposed to avoid dairy when you’re sick. However, I’m not a normal sick person. As I’ve explained, I don’t ever lose my appetite when I’m ill. And I convince myself that really hot and really cold foods make me feel better.

And I often crave dairy. Similar to my hot and cold theory, I hypothesize that smooth dairy products like yogurt and milk make me better. I’m pretty sure this all stems from the fact that I just really like how my throat feels when I consume these hot/cold/dairy items.

Oh well, I ran with it.

Mostly because I’d prepared my breakfast the night before—and it packed a whole lot of smooth dairy. Mmmmm.

Overnight Oats! This is one of those blogland breakfasts that always makes me drool but, for some reason, I’ve never tried.

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Overnight Oats

Soaked overnight: 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk and 1/2 cup greek yogurt. Added in la mañana: bottle of cinnamon, handful of raisins and drizzle of maple syrup.

(I also can’t hear the word drizzle anymore without thinking of the best baby name ever.)

SO HEAD OVER HEELS FOR THIS BREAKFAST.

It was so thick, creamy, chewy, vanilla-y and perfectly microwave-less!

Lunch was a series of snacks—the first of which continued to feed my sickly dairy craving.

And also helped make a dent in my never-ending VitaTops stash.

I let a BlueBran VitaTop thaw for 45 minutes.

And then I combined it with a big bowl of vanilla yogurt.

Made a delightful mess of it all.

And enjoyed with an almond butter spoon.

One thing I found I don’t enjoy when I’m sick is nut butter because it sort of stuck to my throat. No bueno.

This was remedied by stirring the AB into the mix because it just added some always-welcome flavor to the creamy medley.

The BlueBran Vita was good—again, not great. It was certainly less dry than the Corn Vita—but I think this may have been due to the fact that I didn’t microwave it.

Word on the blog streets is that the chocolate ones are ze best so, even though I’m not a chocolate gal, I’m excited to try those out.

The next segment of lunch was finally normal sick food.

Instant Miso Soup.

Again, another food discovery that is going to be my salvation from starvation during Microwave Madness Month.

You simply mix a couple packets of miso paste, seaweed and tofu (looks gross, I know) with hot water…

And voila! Miso soup!

I need to stock up.

The miso love got me out of dairy land and triggered a hot craving.

I put all the usual suspect into heavy rotation.

As in I have no idea how many cups of tea I consumed yesterday. I think one day I’ll take pictures of every cup of tea I drink just to get a ballpark figure. Should be comical.

Hot craving subsided, and carb craving arose.

As was the case on Tuesday, I was quarantined to my room. So again, chip hoarding commenced.

And concluded…

I need to find the little bags of FSTG chips that Kaytee reviewed because I know no self-control with these things.

My lack of self-control apparently applies to vitamins, too… Gummy vitamins, anyway. Yesterday’s bedroom snacking also involved finishing my stash of calcium gummies. I need to remind myself that these are not candy!!!

Guess I’m going to have super strong bones…

Before I present dinner, I have to apologize for being a dinner repeater! I know I promised I’d do my best not to bore you all with my kitchen-less meals—which I suppose entails switching things up—but all I wanted was that habanero lime salsa I discovered Wednesday night. So, I created my dinner around it!

The staple of my dinner does not look appetizing, but I assure you it was.

In the mix: 4 oz. diced chicken, 2 tbsp. plain Greek yogurt, 2 tbsp. roasted red pepper hummus, 2 tbsp. Wild Oats Habanero Lime salsa, finely chopped celery, finally chopped onion, sprinkle of taco seasoning and red pepper flakes.

Caliente! Pero delicioso!

Ensalada Mexicana 

In the bigger mix: lots of baby spinach and mixed greens; roasted red peppers; celery; red onion; corn; hard-boiled egg-whites (filled with más habanero lime salsa); topped with the spicy chicken salad.

Inspired by Meg’s tabasco pools. I loved this!

But not more than this!

  I enthusiastically urge you to try the yogurt-hummus-spicy salsa mix. I can’t even explain how incredible the flavor was. With a roasted red pepper cherry on top .

On the side I utilized another fridge item I’d prepared pre-kitchen demolition.

And successfully (unlike attempt numero uno) made carrot fries.

I’m anticipating an addiction.

Perhaps because they are so incredible. Perhaps because I like anything I can dip in honey mustard.

I won’t be carrot peeling without a kitchen—but I’m thinking I can chop up baby carrots for some baby carrot fries!

Since I was clearly trying to overdose on spicy salsa, I filled another green bell pepper with my newest spicy obsession (sorry, Sriracha).

This time sans hummus happy trail.

And—just because I think my unstoppable appetite is sort of hilarious—here is what was left of my salsa jar literally 24 hours after I opened it.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be so proud of this?

After dinner, I realized I hadn’t eaten any fruit so I had a nectarine.

Which was meh.

Then, once I felt I’d gotten my daily nutrients, I got to the good stuff.

Kettle corn—Sriracha added halfway through.

Because I also think spiciness helps remedy illness .

And now, the weekend begins!

But before I bid you adieu, I want to say feliz cumpleanos to my dear friend and #1 reader, Ms. Erica Finkelbutt!

We’ve hiked our way through Israel’s terrain

And then went on to dance our way through Spain

We’ve fallen in love with ParisAnd the magic of a French kiss

Let’s hope tonight doesn’t end like this…

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY<3

I’m off to continue DayQuil chugging in hopes of being all better for mi amiga’s birthday festivities. I hope you all have fun weekend plans!

-Sarah

In more recent cupcake news, remember when I told you about my favorite cupcake bakery, Little Cupcake?

Well, I just passed by and saw:

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES & PUMPKIN LATTES! I cannot wait to try both; the black & white cake and turtle cappuccinos aren’t sounding so bad, either. I would bet money that Little Cupcake’s pumpkin latte is better than Starbucks—simply because everything this place makes is To Die For. Yes, the capitalization was necessary.

Plus, it’s a local business—down the block from two franchise cafes, one being the green straw-laden monopoly—and I’m all about spreading the local love.

Ok, I’ll stop professing my love for Little Cupcake because it’s starting to sound like I have an endorsement deal. In light of the new FTC blogging disclosure guidelines, I guess I should assure you that I don’t. I’m just an extraordinarily excitable cupcake enthusiast.

What do you think of the new FTC guidelines? Perhaps it’s because I studied journalism, but I think they’re a move in the right direction. The principles of journalism are deeply tied to the goal of transparency. Now, as blogging moves more and more into the realm of journalism, I think it’s important that this community be held to a similar code of ethics. Moreover, I think it’s an honor that the FTC takes our voices and opinions seriously enough to hold us accountable.

I know that journalism spiel seems a little out of place from the girl who drops TWSS bombs wherever she can fit ‘em in, but I think these guidelines will have a significant impact on the role of blogging. In fact, they may be yet another testament to the print-to-web overhaul with which the publishing industry is grappling.

I’m really curious to hear what you all have to say about the guidelines—so, por favor, speak up!

Sidenote: Does anyone know what song the title of this post is from? Well, the original lyrics reference the FCC, not the FTC, but whatevs.

Onto Monday’s eats.

I know it’s only October, and I know last week I was chugging a lot of cold weather Haterade, but yesterday’s breakfast was Christmas-tacular. Not to skip over my beloved days of Hallow and Thanks, but Monday morning bore merriment. I’ve been known to bust out my N’SYNC holiday cd months in advance—so a wintery bowl of oats wasn’t really out of character.

Sugar Plum Fairy Oats

In the mix: 1/2 cup oats cooked in 1 cup water, cinnamon and 1 tbsp. maple syrup; topped with one massive plum, cinnamon & sugar.

Mmmmmmm-azing. Yesterday my fairy dust came in the form of pure cane sugar. I don’t think I’ve brought this up before, but I usually rely on Splenda for my sweetener. This is a habit I’ve been meaning to kick for a while—but the whole not sweetening my coffee thing never seems like a good idea at the time. Thus the “I’ll start tomorrow” cycle began.

I’m not sure what I think or believe about the health drawbacks of Splenda because I haven’t dug too deep research-wise; but I do believe that nothing artificial should be consumed in the excessive manner I abuse those yellow packets. I do want to learn more about the health benefits of different sugar alternatives, like Stevia, but I’ve often considered just switching to plain old sugar.

I want to write a more in-depth post on this topic once I do a bit more research, but, for now, I’d love to know where you stand on the sugar vs. stevia vs. splenda spectrum. Why do you stand by your sweetener of choice?

Alongside my Nutcracker oats, I had a honey crisp with a spoonful of almond butter.

Honey crisps + AB = made for each other.

I dug into my veggie burgers for lunch.

I didn’t purposely make that egocentric “S;” it just happened…

On an Arnold’s rye sandwich thin: homemade rice & bean veggie burger, fresh baby spinach, laughing cow and ketchup.

I’m liking these veggie burgers even more than when I first tried them! (1) The soy sauce + rice in burger form continues to blow my mind. (2) I like that homemade burgers are bigger than the frozen kinds; I like the size of Dr. Praeger’s, but I think Boca’s are pretty wimpy. (3) These are really savory and went so, so wonderfully with the light creaminess of the LC.

On ze side was a big bowl of BIG grapes.

Seriously, these grapes are very large and in charge. Is it weird that I like them better that way?

Moving along… While contemplating dinner options, I broke into my FSTG stash and tried the Yellow Corn flavor.

These are a much more standard tortilla chip than the Multigrain or The Works flavors—but very good. Think gourmet Tostito. Expect a full review once I get through all the goods.

I busted out the Sabra, some leftover black beans and green pepper Tabasco to create my perfect nacho.

Yes, I constructed each chip, one by one, to ensure accurate bean:hummus:hot sauce ratios. I am willing to put in work for flavor perfección.

I’ve been craving a Greek salad lately—which is weird because I’m not generally crazy about Greek salads. But I decided to make a Greek chicken salad to go on top of a standard Greek ensalada.

In the mix: 3 oz. cooked chicken, 3/4 cup chopped cucumber, 4 quartered cherry tomatoes, handful oil-cured black olives, 3 tbsp. plain greek yogurt, 3 tbsp. crumbled feta cheese, lemon pepper seasoning and krazy salt.

I dressed the salad with this little gem I found hiding in my pantry:

Greek chicken salad went atop 3 cups baby spinach, cucumber, onion and mas feta.

The dressing was good, but I’m not sure it was really necessary because the chicken salad had so much flavor.

After eating this, I’m pretty sure chicken salad was meant to be made with olives and feta. Just saying…

After—without exaggeration—eating popcorn every night for an entire week, I am declaring this week no popcorn week. This is probably a poor decision because popcorn is a pretty healthy dessert option amid the sea of baked goods and ice cream that linger around mi casa. However, I want to experiment with other dessert options—and make sure I’m not actually addicted to popcorn.

Last night’s non-popcorn dessert was actually an upgrade from popcorn, health-wise. I saw this on Em’s blog yesterday and immediately wanted to try it.

A big bowl of grapes doused in applesauce. (Can you tell how massive those grapes are??) This was SO GOOD! And surprisingly filling. I am liking no popcorn week so far .

Any non-popcorn dessert suggestions?

Hope everyone’s Tuesdays are treating them well!

-Sarah

While I’m still not ready to reinstitute coffee art, I turned to several cups of rudimentary, expressionless coffee for my replacement warmth fix.

I love holding hot mugs when I’m cold. I also have a weird habit of holding them against my face. I can’t remember who said this the other day, but thank you for making me feel like less of a freak for enjoying some warm ceramic to the cheek.

Criteria for breakfast: (a) delicioso, (b) efficient hypothermia alleviant and (c) apple-friendly (since I’m currently rolling in the galas).

Apple & Cinnamon Oat Bran

In the mix: 1/2 cup oat bran cooked with 1 cup water, thinly sliced banana & cinnamon; whole gala apple chopped and microwaved for 90 seconds in almond milk & cinnamon; topped with whipped cream.

I liked the addition of the banana to the oat bran, and I loved how apple-y my bran was with a whole apple! (I usually use half.) Oh, and the whipped cream was okay, too…

When I got snacky, I switched to my second favorite breed of manzana: el honey crisp.

After playing with red hues for a bit, I did slice and consume it with a spoonful of almond buttah.

I was really tempted to dive into one of my Barney Butter jars—but I still have about 3/4 left in my MaraNatha container. I’m weirdly anal about opening a new item when I’ve not yet finished my last (not that all ABs are created equal!). In the event that I break some boundaries, do nut butters go bad once opened? I’m not sure I’ve ever granted a nut butter a long enough lifespan to go bad… so I don’t think this should be a problem.

I think I drank 15 cups of tea yesterday. This is another thing I do when the weather takes it wintery plunge: OD on tea. During the summer, I probably consume—without exaggeration—20 cups of water a day. During the winter, this dwindles to ~2 cups; the other 18 get replaced with water’s warm and more flavorful offspring.

I love green tea, and this vanilla flavored one on the left is amazing. I switched it up with a cup or two of that raspberry jam on the right, but it wasn’t very good. I’m not big on fruity teas.

When lunchtime rolled around, I’d already decided on my star ingredient.

Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade.

I made this on Wednesday during my salad dinner prep, using this recipe.

It was really simple, and essentially just involved boiling the sun-dried tomatoes and throwing the ingredients into the blender.

The result was everything I’d imagined it to be: very sun-dried tomato-y and kalamata-y. Hate to repeat myself, but these are two of my absolute favorite things to eat. And they are very agreeable flavor companions.

As my stomach’s brain started devising a tapenade-driven plan of attack, I polished off the last of my FSTG The Works chips.

The perfect grainy compliment to my salty sun-dried tomato concoction.

There wasn’t much left in the bag, but that aluminum emptiness is always a sad sight.

During lunch brainstorming, a light bulb went off and I remembered the meal that first brought sun-dried tomato tapenade into my life.

It was one layer of the best sandwich I’ve ever tasted from Jettie’s in D.C. Jettie’s is a really cute and unfailingly delicious little sandwich shop in D.C..

I reasoned that I shouldn’t deprive myself of the best sandwich I’ve ever tasted just because I relocated to a Jettie-less city and decided lunch would be a D.I.Y. Hummock Pond sandwich.

Hm, I’ve pulled the D.I.Y. card two days, two lunches and two sandwiches in a row. What gives? My name is Sarah, and I am a sandwich plagiarist. I do love getting creative and making up my own flavorful concoctions—but sometimes I feel like the best things have already been created.

I sort of feel the same way about life musings. Hasn’t it all been said before? There are no Voltaires or Thoreaus “of today;” we simply do our best to regurgitate what’s already been said in a wittier, pithier, more modern tone. Maybe that’s just me. Maybe I’m just a sandwich plagiarist and a thought plagiarist traipsing around under the guise of an innocent 22-year-old New Yorker. [Insert evil laugh.]

Anyway, here’s my copycat D.I.Y Hummock Pond sandwich, which—in the name of being a proper plagiarist—I will rename:

Sarah’s 7-Layer Sandwich

Insert the following seven layers between two slices of toasted whole wheat bread.

Layer 1: Slice of Jarlsberg swiss cheese (best swiss EVER!)

Layer 2: Grilled, balsamic-marinated baby bella mushrooms

Layer 4: Roased red peppers, warmed in your grill pan

Layer 5: Black bean salsa

Jettie’s sandwich uses black bean & corn salsa—which I’d strongly suggest using. I only had regular salsa and cooked black beans on hand, so I mixed 2 tbsp. of each together for a little makeshift bean salsa.

Layer 6: Sun-dried tomato tapenade!!! Be generous; this layer makes the sandwich.

Layer 7: Another slice of jarlsberg, for a necessary abundance of melty cheese.

The result:

You didn’t think that was the money shot, did you?

Perfectly packed with seven delectable layers.

The lighting was weird so here’s  a picture with the flash.

OH MY GOD. Dear Jettie’s, I love you. Like, seriously, if I could marry the owner of Jettie’s, or Jim Halpert, I would be the happiest girl en el mundo!

If you have any semblance of love and respect for your tummies and taste buds, you will construct this beauty in the very near future…

Just as I was getting snacky, my Kashi sample finally came!

I’m not much of a cereal eater. But when I do enjoy a bowl, I rarely eat it with milk (with the exception of Golden Grahams, Rice Krispies and Corn Pops—because all of those taste magnificent soggy). I opted for a greek yogurt mess.

I loved Honey Sunshine! It sort of tasted like a honey-fied, healthified version of Cap’n Crunch!

When it came time for dinner, though it was World Vegetarian Day, I felt like I’d lagged in the protein department. So I made a big tuna salad mix to have on a bed of greens.

In the mix: 3 oz. tuna, two heaping dollops of plain greek yogurt, 1/3 gala chopped, dried cherries, slivered almonds, very quick honey drizzle and krazy salt.

I had a few spoonfuls before plopping it onto my salad because it was SO good. I sort of just wanted to eat it out of the bowl, but that would’ve made my salad entirely undesirable.

My salad base was 3 cups fresh spinach, English cucumber slices, sweet onion, celery and cherry tomatoes.

With the star in the center of it all.

I rarely use bottled dressing, but for some reason, my balsamic-honey combo didn’t sound good. I thought Cranberry Balsamic would go really well with the sweet tuna salad.

Correcto!

Perfect bite of the night goes to a cucumber slice harboring onion, cherry tomato and an all-inclusive dried cherry, apple and almond tuna dollop.

Mandatory dessert was a few bowls of popcorn, which I seasoned with garlic and chili powder. 

It was really good—especially the chili powder.

But, a few handfuls in, I needed my sriracha. I’m a creature of habit. And hot sauce.

Ok, so I wanted to pass along that bloggie award today, but, again, I’ve managed to write a book of post. Any advice on keeping posts shorter? I’m all about constructive criticism, so have at me .

I’m going to leave you with this EVIL picture that my cousin just texted me. He’s visiting my grandparents in Florida and being fed the best food by the world’s greatest cook, a.k.a. Nanny. When we visit, she puts out a wine & cheese, veggie & dip galore for lunch. I was considering going down with him this weekend—but decided to stay in NYC. Here’s to regret.

I’m missing out on: my adorable Nanny & Poppy, and what looks to be lots of fresh fruits, dippable veggies, hummus, guac, salsa, crab dip, FSTG, and Jarlsberg(!) among other cheeses. And that’s just what I spy from this iPhone pic.

I hope all of you are eating well like my Floridian familia and have fun weekend plans!

-Sarah

I don’t usually venture into colored fonts, but that blue was necessary to represent my current state of hypothermia. (I hope you’ve caught on to my tendency to exaggerate, and perhaps let it rub off on you…)

I am, however, cold enough that I’ve busted out my winter warm-me-ups. If I cared to commit social cyber suicide, I’d document and share my absurdly heinous—yet effectively toasty—outfit. Think the opposite of Ms. Snackie’s nuevo outfit segment, and more along the frumpy lines of camp sweatpants, a men’s North Face fleece and dead sexy wool socks. I know, I know, I’m such a catch.

I promise I do not don this get-up when I gallivant the streets of New York; its oversized, homeless-chic glory is reserved for immediate family, close friends and boys I’m certain won’t be scared off.

Anyway, I’ve been procrastinating writing this post for a solid two hours because looking at yesterday’s food pictures are worsening my hypothermic state . Alas, I kind of like you guys, so I’ll brave the cold and do this thing.

The chill-inducing photos to which I’m referring mostly concern my morning java. Wednesday’s weather was equally as arctic (read: 59 degrees) as today’s. But, when I woke up, it was pretty sunny out. And, sometimes, I foolishly assume beaming sun = warm weather. Not so, kiddies.

Going with my assumption that we were having one of those “taste of summer” fall days, I opted for the iced goods.

Decked with whipped cream and cinnamon because I was still young and naive  disillusioned and giddy over the make-believe warm weather.

As I pondered breakfast possibilities and sipped on my summery beverage, my dear father came home from his run and informed me that it was (Kev Thug’s words) “freaking nippy out.” Initially I giggled because I’m an immature 12-year-old boy and think the word nippy is hilarious. Soon enough I was overwhelmed by a dark Zoloft cloud of sadness as I made the connection that:

• nippy is not actually a provocative word—but rather a descriptor for cold weather
• cold translates to my comfortably crisp fall day being a façade
• nonexistent warm weather makes decadent icy drinks sort of uncalled for and instantly less enjoyable

Womp womp.

Optimist that I am, I got over it pretty quickly and allowed for my decadent morning to continue in warmer form.

Oat bran, mi amor.

In the mix: 1/3 oat bran cooked with 3/4 cup water, salt, half of a thinly sliced banana and vanilla extract; on top: other half of the banana, PB&Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams and cinnamon.

Dreamy. That was my last sample packet of Dark Chocolate Dreams—which I haven’t been able to find in stores. Bummer—but not sure I’m enough of a chocolate fiend to justify ordering a jar. Has anyone tried Better ‘N PB’s chocolate PB? I see it everywhere and am imagining that it tastes similar—si o no?

At its best when the bowl’s a mess. I know most of you are oat bran pros, but for those who’ve yet to hop on the OB bandwagon, I highly recommend cooking thinly sliced banana into your bran. I’m really not a fan of cooking my oats with milk—but the melted banana adds the perfect amount of sweet creaminess.

I was pretty busy yesterday but I broke for a mid-morning snack plate of almonds, raisins and dried cherries.

I think this is the only time in my life that I’ve portioned out nuts (as opposed to my standard hand-in-the-can approach) because the almonds hailed from a 100-calorie pack. Not sure where those came from because I never buy 100-calorie anything—but I may need to start taking the portioned-out approach with my nut-munching (I don’t know why I intentionally select word combos that provoke immature smirks & the insuppressible need to blurt out TWSS). I’m pretty sure I usually consume 4x what was in the 100-calorie pack on a non-indulgent snack session. Probably not advisable.

Throwing the gluttonous revelation on the backburner, I’d just like to proclaim my love for dried cherries. These ones are from a pre-packaged bag and very good—but the best ones I’ve tried to-date are from Publix’s organic section. I discovered them on vacation in Florida, and now I have yet another reason to resent the fact that there is no Publix in NY.

Onto lunch:

While deciding what I was in the mood for, I snacked on some creepy gray apples.

…which weren’t actually creepy gray apples. They just happened to land on a fun-to-photograph red plate .

This was a crispy gala with cinnamon. Shocker. Galas are my numero uno apple. I’ve got love for some others—specifically Honey Crisps, Pink Ladies and Braeburns—but I’m very picky about my apple’s texture. I need it to be really crispy, and I detest even slightly mushy manzanas. Through my many years of apple eatin’, I’ve found that galas are the most reliably crispy. With that, I conclude my apple thesis.

For lunch I decided to dig into my bagel stash and recreate a sandwich that sort of got me through college. As I’ve said, I’ve never been big on bagels. However, on my campus, the easiest and quickest fuel option was Einstein’s Bros Bagels. They offered one bagel option that grew to be my beloved regular because it was so packed in the innards department that the bagel itself wasn’t overwhelming for a ratio-driven freak like myself.

This life-changing bagel-wich was their Tasty Turkey—an asiago bagel with turkey, a load of fresh veggies and an onion & chive cream cheese.

I’m pretty sure my tendency to try smearing cream cheese on anything at least once roots from my love of le Tasty Turkey. I don’t think I’ve actually had one since my sophomore year, so I decided to have a D.I.Y. Tasty Turkey for lunch.

I opted for one of Kim’s onion bagels—toasted.

Sandwich assembly got a bit challenging. How was I to fit this…

…plus turkey and cream cheese

…on this?

Scaling back on my already-chopped abundance of veggies was out of the question. So I worked it out.

On one side: turkey, cucumbers, onions and half the tomatoes. On the other: a generous smear of cream cheese and the rest of the toms.

Piled high, but all the goodies fit!

Not that they didn’t completely crowd the hole (TWSS, just in case you needed a reminder to watch The Office tonight… I also want to take this opportunity to say Hola and I love you to my amazing grandparents, who are avid readers and probably a little confused and grossed out by some of my distasteful humor.)

I sometimes forget why I stop eating foods that I love so dearly. This sandwich was on point. If any of you love cream cheese as much as I do, I strongly urge you to get in the D.I.Y. zone and make this. (I do wish I’d had the onion & chive cream cheese, though.)

The onion bagel was really good. The wheat is still my favorite so far because I like its texture best—but this packed some always-welcome onion-y flavor.

En route to a meeting I had yesterday afternoon, I dug into this (lo siento for the crinkled wrapper but I dug it out of my bag after devouring the bar).

Clif Mojo Mixed Nuts! How have I never eaten this before!? The bar was essentially whole pieces of cashews, almonds and pecans—plus PRETZELS! I’m a little freaked out because I sort of feel like Clif tapped into my foodie fantasies and created a dream-come-true bar out of my most revered ingredients. I haven’t had any of the other Clif Mojos in a while but I think this might be my new favorite.

While preparing dinner, I ate my weight in figgies.

Figs are legitimately gorgeous. You know they’d win the best looking superlative in fruit high school.

I currently have a loco amount of zucchinis, so dinner part I was one zucchini, sliced and grilled to charry perfection with some ketchup for dipping.

This is my interpretation of cheetahs that have ODed on green monsters . They were INCREDIBLE. I reeeeeally love charred zucchini.

So much so that I added an entire second grilled zucchini to an amazing grilled salad.

In the mix: approx. 4 cups of fresh spinach (in hiding), one zucchini sliced and grilled, grilled onion, balsamic marinated roasted shrooms, grilled cherry tomatoes, hard-boiled egg white and black beans. Dressed in the standard celery salt and honey-balsamic uniform.

The salad had an entire layer of grilled zucchini—which made it easy to get some in every bite!

And this beauty?

One very thick slice of sweet onion—grilled on each side for 3 minutes (and clearly doused in balsamic).

Last night’s perfect bite: a little spinach (just because it was there), shroom, cherry tom, zucchini, beans and egg. In other words, almost every ingredient in the salad pushed onto a fork.

I don’t know how many times I can profess my love for grilled veggies in salads before you start tuning me out—but the combo is SO GOOD!!!

I was really full, but lately I need something post-dinner. I’ve never been a dessert person, and I’m not sure when this little habit came to fruition. But, somewhere along the line, I’ve developed a “what’s next?” attitude to dinner.

At least last night’s next was healthy—albeit summery and probably not the most effective remedy for my hypothermic condition…

Creepy gray watermelon.

Gotcha again.

Normal pink watermelon that wasn’t very vibrant or photogenic (probably because it wanted to remind me that ‘tis no longer the season for H2o-melon).

It was actually sweeter than any watermelon I had this summer, and muy delicioso—so there’s a little rebuttal to NYC’s decision to skip fall and dive head-first into winter weather.

Ok, this was the longest post ever. I’d intended to thank the lovely Whitney for an unexpected Kreativ blogger award—and pass it along to some of my favorite food blogistas. But, since I’m already on the verge of publishing a novel, I’ll save that for mañana.

Enjoy La Oficina tonight!

-Shivery Sarah

First, I present to you a little more Pleasantville photography, since it got such good feedback last time

If you can’t tell, I love the color red. So much so that, when I was 13, I begged my dad to let me paint my room red. My dad—wisely considering that (1) I was a pubescently moody and sassy teenager and (2) red is known to invoke anger—denied me this decorative freedom. So now, a decade later and still red room-deprived, I channel my crimson attraction toward my food photography. If the Pleasantville pics creep you out, father dearest is to blame.

Now that I’ve professed my love for a color, let’s move along.

Yesterday morning I woke up with no idea what I wanted for breakfast. I hate uninspired mornings because I hate settling on something I don’t really want to eat. That said, I slowly (and not prematurely) sipped a big cup of coffee and enjoyed a soon-to-be-out-of-season dinosaur plum while I waited for breakfast brilliance to strike.

Well, brilliance never showed—but presents did!

Muchos gracias to Kim Bensen, the creator and owner of Kim’s Light Bagels, for sending me such a generous sample package of her 110-calorie bagels to review! After losing over 200 pounds, Kim, a self-proclaimed bagel lover, couldn’t find a healthy, good-tasting bagel that fit into her maintenance plan. So, she created her own. I’ve been e-mailing with Kim to set up an interview so I can give you all some insight into the woman behind bagel

Once I try all of the six flavors, I’ll write up a full review. But, for now, I’ll let you know what I think on a flavor-to-flavor basis.

I decided to use one of Kim’s wheat bagels for the basis of my still unbeknownst breakfast.

But before I divulge how I dressed it up and what I thought of the bagel, let me address the title of this post.

Yesterday was a day of foodie hypocrisy—from start to finish.

As a New Yorker, I always feel sacrilegious when I tell people that I don’t really like bagels and pizza. Who doesn’t like bagels and pizza? Especially NEW YORK CITY bagels and pizza. I think it’s because I’m such a fan of the innards of my eats (innards sounds so gross) that I don’t like super bready-based foods that take away from the stars of the show. For example, on a bagel, I like to taste the cream cheese more than the bagel. The same goes for the cheese on my pizza. And don’t get me started on sandwiches. I do not like sandwiches on focaccia or any bulky breads because they mess up my innards:outtards(?)ratio of preference. God, I sound like a bread diva, but my stomach just has a keen perception of its likes and dislikes

That said, I ate bagels and pizza yesterday. And, understatedly, liked them both. First, the bagel.

I topped half of a toasted Kim’s whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and the other half with raspberry preserves. Atop both halves went an overripe banana, mashed to perfection.

Overripe naner=amazing spread.

Uncharacteristic of my PB-lovin’ self, I liked the mashed banana & preserves half better!

As for Kim’s Light Bagels, I think I may have met my bagel match. Because the bagel was light—and by nature a bit flatter and smaller than your average NY monstrosity—its doughiness wasn’t overwhelming and gave my toppings their due spotlight. I really liked the texture of the wheat bagel, and I think it’d be a great sandwich base. I can’t wait to try out the other flavors and figure out if yesterday’s bagel loving was a one time fling or the start of something special… (Why is it so easy to romanticize food? Maybe that’s just me…)

Lunch was Tuesday night’s Mediterranean potato salad—which was exponentially more flavorful after marinating overnight. It took everything in me (read: the fact that my contractor was over) not to lick the bowl.

Alongside I had half a whole wheat pita stuffed with hummus and roasted corn. I LOVE this combo.

‘Twas a perfect way to make a dent in my Sabra stash. (P.S. I got a bajillion comments and emails inquiring into exactly how I acquired so much Sabra. Well, the hummus hoarding was not my doing. As is the case with my attraction to red-hued photography, my father is to blame—or in this case, thank.)

When I got a little snacky, I busted out some rice cakes to satisfy my voracious popcorn craving.

Have you ever tried Mother’s rice cakes? I found these at WF a few months back, and it was love at first bite. I’m not usually a buttah-girl, but these are GOOD.

Onto foodie hypocrisy #2 of el dia. Pizza. I’ve seen these pita pizzas popping up on some of your blogs—and, in the spirit of trying to cleanse myself of my usual pizza and bagel-hating blasphemy—I decided to try ‘em out.

Hello, my name is Sarah, and I LOVE pizza. Well, pita pizzas, anyway.

Seriously, check out those toppings.

Veggie Packed Pita Pizza:

• Lightly brush one side of a whole wheat pita with EVOO and season with salt. Bake for 6 minutes at 375 degrees. Brush & season the other side, and bake for another 6 minutes.
• Remove from oven. Top with 3 tbsp. hummus.
• Top with veggies of your choice. (I topped with broccoli, grilled mushrooms, roasted cherry tomatoes, and sautéed onions & red bell peppers.
• Top with 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese.
• Return to oven and broil for an additional 3-5 minutes, depending on how crispy you want your pita “crust.”

I seasoned mine with my favorite salt-blend, Jane’s Krazy Mixed-Up Salt.

I like Jane because she can spell Krazy with a K, and she can like it. (I know at least some of you listened to Something Corporate’s ‘Konstantine’ in high school…)

Baked hummus, grilled veggies, and melty mozz, oh my!

I cut it into quarters to ease devouring consumption.

I was really, really full after dinner, but somehow mustered up the appetite for a baby bowl of chocolate raspberry cheesecake fro-yo and a not-so-baby dollop of whipped cream.

This was my attempt to ward off my popcorn addiction. But, I’m realizing, craving popcorn for dessert is probably the least of all junk food evils. Perhaps I shouldn’t be forcing a sweet tooth upon myself when I’m really a staunch salty girl? Not saying this wasn’t delish…

Happy Thursday, amigos. Almost everyone’s favorite day!

-Sarah