Alimental

May 13, 2012
by hannahsurges
1 Comment

Morning Glory Muffins

Happy Mother’s Day!

Unfortunately, this is a photo from last August when my mom came to visit, and I’m not actually with her today. However, I did take some time out of my busy weekend before finals to do some baking in her honor. I’ll also be eating the resulting baked goods in her honor, since I don’t think muffins will hold up in the mail very well. Sorry, Mom!

Maybe you can get Emily to make you a batch. :)

Morning Glory Muffins

Based on this recipe.

  • 1 1/2 c. whole grain spelt flour
  • 1/2 c. all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp. Vietnamese cinnamon
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 2/3 c. light brown sugar
  • 1/2 c. canola oil
  • 1/2 c. crushed pineapple, drained (save some juice)
  • 3 tbsp. pineapple juice
  • 1/2 c. unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 medium carrots, grated
  • 2/3 c. raisins
  • 1/2 c. walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a smaller bowl, combine the brown sugar, pineapple, pineapple juice, apple sauce, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Fold in grated carrots, raisins, and chopped walnuts. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Quite possible my favorite muffins ever.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I hope you’re having a beautiful day!

May 8, 2012
by hannahsurges
2 Comments

(Non-Stress) Eats

Hi everyone, how’s the week treating you so far?

Frankly, I can’t believe it’s only Tuesday, but I’m coping. :)

Here are some (non-stress) eats from yesterday. I ended up staying home from school because I was still feeling pretty bad. My appetite is intact though, as usual.

Greek yogurt, strawberries, and half a banana muffin for breakfast.

A fairly bizarre snack of veggie burger + ketchup, grapes, and grape tomatoes.

Best. Lunch. Ever.

Lettuce, grape tomatoes, black beans, onions, and 1/2 an avocado. Added some salsa verde, black pepper, and a sprinkle of feta as an afterthought.

Afternoon snack:

Apple, strawberries, and other half of banana muffin.

So far so good on the stress eating situation.

What helps:

  • Eating frequently.
  • Eating a large volume of low calorie foods.
  • Writing down a brief outline of what I plan to eat for the day. This helps me to remember what we have on hand and reminds me to eat more vegetables.
  • Water!

I’m off to read and study, then making some tomato fennel soup for dinner.

Have a lovely evening!

May 6, 2012
by hannahsurges
4 Comments

Ranchos Cocina + Goals

I still felt pretty bad today, but I tried to resume my normal activities.

A slow, hard run with lots of walking breaks. I ran 25 minutes and walked the rest. I felt really weak and beat up (a sign that I probably shouldn’t have been out running), but I still felt good about going out and giving it a go.

We hit up the farmers market, Ralph’s, and Trader Joe’s to restock the fridge.

After we put everything away and cleaned up the house, I baked another batch of banana muffins, since Greg liked the last batch so much and we had several very ripe bananas.

Then, we were off to lunch.

We went to a Mexican place in Ocean Beach called Ranchos Cocina. Pretty much everything is or can be made vegan, and they have an organic salad bar with all raw dressings.

I ordered a margarita to “share” with Greg, and it was really so-so. It was watery and I could hardly taste the tequila.

I ordered vegan tamales, and only remembered to take a picture after I totally messed up the plate. They were really good, and filled with (to me) a kind of weird combination of things: corn, spinach, tomatoes, peas, and green beans. What the heck?

Greg ordered a trio of vegan enchiladas, and the picture didn’t turn out.

Overall, we both liked the place. For me, the food lacked salt, but I don’t know if that’s just because I’m sick and congested. It was nice to be able to choose from anything on the menu instead of trying to find the one or two veg options. If I ever want a margarita though, I’ll go to Old Town.

Plans for tonight: study for finals, finish laundry, food prep, read new Sookie Stackhouse novel (I just finished the first Game of Thrones book and wanted to read this before I started the second.)

This week is the last week of classes before finals, and I have a project and two presentations on top of the usual and studying for finals. It’s going to be a stressful one, but I’m so excited that the semester is almost over.

Goals for the week:

  • Stick to 13.1 training schedule
  • Eat a salad every day
  • Strength train 3x
  • Foam roll at least once
  • Fight the urge to stress eat/cope with stress in non-food ways
  • Exercise for a minimum of 60 minutes a day

Are you reading anything good?

Do you stress eat? How do you cope with stress?

May 5, 2012
by hannahsurges
1 Comment

Laying Low.

Happy weekend!

How’d your week turn out? Greg was sick at the beginning of this week, so of course, I woke up with the start of what he had on Friday morning. Today has involved a lot of sleep and studying from the couch.

This week was a serious yogurt for breakfast week.

Banana + raspberries with plain Greek yogurt.

And, possibly my new favorite breakfast, though I’ll be the first to admit that it is kind of weird…

Whole grain waffles, plain Greek yogurt, diced apple, and cinnamon.

I loved it so much, I made another version this morning.

Mmm.

I wasn’t really convinced yesterday morning that I was actually getting sick, but I stopped at Whole Foods for some soup and a big chunk of bread to take to work with me, just for fun.

Vegetable soup + baguette.

Today, more soup.

I decided against running the 3.5 miles that I had planned for today, but I did get out for a 3 mile walk with Greg. It was good to get some sunshine and fresh air. I’ll just make today my cross training day and try to run tomorrow. No big.

We were planning to go out for Mexican food and margaritas today, but since I’m feeling pretty achy and tired, we decided we’d try to go tomorrow instead. We didn’t give up on Mexican food all together, though, and decided to make a giant bowl of guacamole for dinner.

Plans for the evening:

  • Writing about LSD
  • Reading Game of Thrones (almost done with book 1!)
  • Watching Super 8
  • Sleep

Have you seen the most recent issue of Vegetarian Times? I don’t think there’s been an issue this good in a while.

May 1, 2012
by hannahsurges
2 Comments

Cilantro Lime Rice and Beans

Hi everyone! How’s your week going so far?

Mine has been a little on the stressful side so far. The semester is just about over, so all of the last minute projects and assignments are being piled on. In addition, I’m trying to make some career related decisions, and there are some tough calls to be made. Let’s face it. I’m not getting any younger.

I kept breakfast on the light side this morning. I’ve been running before school, so I’m not that hungry in the morning.

(Lite Van’s waffle, 1/2 tbsp PB, banana, cinnamon)

Plus, I knew I was in for a long day of homework and studying, so I stopped for coffee on my way to school.

Medium 3 shot soy latte = just what I needed. Peets > Starbucks. By a mile.

I went to the coffee shop that I worked at when we first moved here, so it was nice to see friends first thing in the morning. Even better, one of the girls brought in a batch of banana cream pie cupcakes.

It was pure cupcake bliss. Homemade baked goods are always so worth it, and this was truly exceptional.

I’m always craving Chipotle these days, so I decided to make a Chipotle inspired dinner.

It was about a million times better than Chipotle. Go figure.

The sweet potatoes were really simple and delicious: thinly sliced, tossed with jalapeno olive oil, salt, and black pepper, and broiled (flipped halfway through).

The rice was really bright and fresh tasting, and perfectly easy for a weeknight meal. It will make you ask “Chipotle who?”

Cilantro Lime Rice and Beans

  • 2 cups cooked brown rice
  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
  • juice of one medium lime
  • salt to taste

It doesn’t get any easier than that!

Have a lovely evening!

What do you think: Peet’s or Starbucks?

April 29, 2012
by hannahsurges
4 Comments

Zoo Friends

Hi folks, did you have a good weekend?

Ours was pretty busy, and I’m ready to kick back with a book and some vino.

But first, the contents of a very large box from Milwaukee that I received earlier this week.

A bag of my mom’s seasoned pretzels in this beautiful bowl.

Wine from Chris (getting ready to open this any minute).

Some treats for Greg from my dad.

Jalapeno olive oil and white oregano vinegar that my mom bought for us while I was visiting.

And Sprecher goodies.

I also received another very special  package in the mail on Friday. My mailbox is on fire.

4 jars of hot/sweet green chiles from my darling grandparents! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Greg and I have only tasted them straight from the jar so far, so if you have any recipe suggestions, we’d love to hear them. :)

Yesterday, I started the morning with a 5k, running 2 minutes and walking 1 minute.

Slowly but surely. No setbacks yet.

Post run: 1/2 serving of shredded wheat, green apple, 1/2 tbsp peanut butter.

Delish sandwich for lunch: tofurky, avocado, tomato, mustard, black pepper, sandwich sprinkle, on ezekiel toast.

After lunch, we were off to CalArts for a concert that Greg was playing in. You can check out his most excellent performance here. Video recording courtesy of yours truly.

Traffic was bad going through LA, so we didn’t have much time to eat before the show. We hit up Subway, where I ordered the soup/sandwich combo with minestrone  and cheeseless veggie on wheat.

The soup was surprisingly not bad, except for the carrots, which were weird. Oh well, what do you want for $5?

I was up bright and early this morning, thanks to a certain fluffy white creature. I wanted to make Greg something for breakfast, and settled on banana muffins.

After grocery shopping, cleaning up the house, and a very little bit of studying, we decided to get a little exercise strolling around the zoo for a bit. It was really crowded, and hard to keep a decent walking pace. We managed about 2.4 miles and decided to call it a day.

We did see some new zoo friends though!

How was your weekend?

April 27, 2012
by hannahsurges
0 comments

Comet Brunch

Good morning! Happy Friday!

I found a few Milwaukee photo stragglers from my farewell brunch at Comet.

Fruit + French Toast.

Eggs, hash browns, and toast for Mom and E.

Count on E to order pie with breakfast. Raspberry peach. It was really, really good.

I always think of myself as looking like my mom’s family (mostly the nose), but my dad and I look like twins in this picture.

Any big plans this weekend?

Greg has a show in LA tomorrow, so we’re doing that, and then I think I’m just going to try to crank out some final projects and get ready for finals! So ready to be done!

April 22, 2012
by hannahsurges
1 Comment

4.22.12 Sunday Stuff

Pre-run strawberries and big drink of water.

Today, I ran for 2 minutes and walked for 1 minute for 30 minutes, and then walked another 5ish minutes to shake out my legs and make it an even 3 miles.

My plan right now is to take the next 7-8 weeks to get back into running consistently, and then start a 12 week half marathon training plan. I want to work up to it really slowly and carefully so I don’t hurt myself again. At this point, another injury could mean the half marathon gets postponed until next year.

Post-run breakfast, which was followed by grocery shopping, errand running, chore doing.

Lunch. Whole wheat pasta, marinara sauce, 1/2 a tofurky sausage.

After lunch and some chemistry, I helped Greg pack up his boards to be shipped.

I got to fill out the customs forms.

Afternoon snack. I guess I was having a major carb day… But I swear, I ate vegetables for dinner.

On the agenda this evening: finishing laundry and studying chemistry. Weekends go by much too quickly.

April 21, 2012
by hannahsurges
1 Comment

Saturday Stuff

First thing this morning, we bussed over to the mechanic to pick up our car.

After breakfast, of course.

Strawberries, green apple, ezekiel bread with peanut butter and cranberry apple butter.

So happy to have the car back. On the way home, we stopped at Target and an Asian grocery store. We stocked up on the usual: chili paste, sweet chili sauce, hoisin sauce, sriracha, bean sprouts, and noodles. We always have so much fun looking around at a new grocery store.

They had a bunch of really delish looking bakery, and I couldn’t resist these coconut cookies.

I do love a short ingredients list. Perhaps I might be able to recreate these?

Yum. So moist. So coconutty.

Later on, we visited Bangkok Spices for lunch.

We love the veggie tempura so much that we haven’t even tried their fresh spring rolls yet.

Greg’s spicy noodles.

My praram. I had to order this to try their peanut sauce, and it is  definitely the closest to Ee Sane that I’ve had anywhere.

We were both in a food coma when we came home, so we decided to take a short nap. A short nap turned into two hours, but I don’t even feel guilty. We needed that nap.

After I woke up a bit, I went for a short run.

I ran a mile, and then walked the mile back. It was my first time running a non-stop mile since hurting my knee, so I was delighted to be able to do so pain free. I’m trying to get back into running longer distances without walking breaks, but also trying really hard not to overdo it.

I’m still aiming for my first half marathon this year, and I still think I can do it. I actually bought the No Meat Athlete half marathon guide (by the way, the pdf is $2.99 on amazon this weekend, and usually goes for almost $30), and it seems like a really manageable plan.

Greg has a concert tonight, so I’m getting ready to hit the books (briefly), clean up the house, and read Game of Thrones until I can no longer keep my eyes open.

How is your Saturday going?

April 19, 2012
by hannahsurges
2 Comments

Car Woes.

Hi everyone, how are things?

It’s been another exciting week over here.

Rewind to last Thursday: I picked Greg up from school, and we stopped at the grocery store. I mentioned to him that the car sounded kind of weird a couple of times that day. I know absolutely nothing about cars, and I have no idea what’s bad and what’s no big deal. He tried to recreate what I said it had been doing. In short, the car was totally dead by the time we pulled into our parking lot (seriously, how lucky is that?). We had it towed to a mechanic on Saturday morning, and they told us that the transmission was dead and needed to be replaced. Not only is that pretty much the worst and most expensive thing that could happen, but he told us it’d take a week to fix.

I can’t lie. I was pretty bummed about the money aspect of the whole thing (there goes our vacation!), and it has been no fun at all not having a car this week. But I stopped pouting pretty fast, because money is not something to get upset about. Ever. Plus, I’ve survived without a car for almost my entire life, so I know the ropes. It’s really not that bad. Actually, life is pretty damn wonderful.

A few things I’ve been particularly happy about this week:

Warm sunny weather.

A big batch of cranberry relish.

Game of Thrones. Caught up with the show, just started the book. So ridiculously good. Actually, I don’t know how I’m going to do anything but read this weekend.

Starting to run again. Slowly but surely. Right now, I’m running half, walking half (usually alternating every 3-5 minutes).

On the agenda this evening:

-Lifting weights.

-Reading Game of Thrones.

-Watching Grey’s Anatomy maybe (but reading Game of Thrones sounds about a million times better.)

How is your week going? Anything exciting this weekend?