Food Diary: 26 June 2012

Graines bread with honey (240 Cal)

Food Diary: 27 June 2012

Graines (200 Cal) with honey (60 Cal), strawberries and cherries (140 Cal)

Food Diary: 28 June 2012

Banana (90 Cal)

Food Diary: 25 June 2012

The rest of my peach compote (100 Cal). I tried to eat this with Greek yogurt, but it's gone off and is a little gross (5 Cal).

Food Diary: 24 June 2012 and Pike Place Adventure!

I finally went to Pike Place Public Market! Woooo!

Food Diary: 23 June 2012

I went a little crazy with my healthier version of Raisin Bran and had not only one bowl (210 Cal)

Food Diary: 22 June 2012

 Half of a whole grain bagel (170 Cal) and half of a blueberry bagel (170 Cal). I believe that these are Panera bagels; I'm not sure, since I shamelessly stole them from outside of the meeting room next to my lab and scurried away before anyone could say anything. Hee hee.

Food Diary: 21 June 2012 and the Kind Diet

 This will be the last shot of this particular loaf of bread. Whole wheat bread and honey (220 Cal). I will also look over the fact that the bag said it had 1000 Cal, and I have only accounted for 800 (oops!)

Food Diary: 20 June 2012

I started working out again today (Kickbox Fastfix, level one), so I'm feeling pretty good. I can't believe I lost so much motivation and stamina in just a few days!

 Whole grain bread and honey (220 Cal)

Food Diary: 19 June 2012

Whole grain bread and honey (220 Cal)

Food Diary: 18 June 2012

Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut, frozen (200 Cal)

Today was my first day at a full-time job. It was remarkably similar to my work as an undergraduate (I'm in the same lab), but somehow less productive because I was less rushed. I can already tell I'll be able to get more done and learn more, though, since there aren't nearly as many time constraints. I like it. Also, I really enjoy making my own lunch.

Food Diary: 17 June 2012

Raspberries (45 Cal), strawberries (10 Cal), peaches (10 Cal)

This morning I took the train back to Seattle and spent the rest of the day setting up my new pad and watching the second season of Downton Abbey. Other than that, not much to note.

Food Diary: 16 June 2012

 French bread (60 Cal), a fried egg (80 Cal), a tomato (40 Cal)

Another uneventful day, I'm afraid.

Food Diary: 15 June 2012

Mixed baby greens with avocado and tomato (100 Calories)

Today I went to the doctor and had a procedure done which means that I can't do any strenuous physical activities for about a week, so I will be postponing the completion of my 30 Day Shred. This is much more disappointing than it should be. 

Food Diary: 14 June 2012

Unsweetened and iced black tea with a slice of lemon (2 Cal)

Another uneventful day. However, I am thoroughly pleased to have leftovers to eat for the first time in weeks. It's surprisingly exciting!

Food Diary: 13 June 2012

Oatmeal pancakes with maple syrup (280 Cal)

I may have failed to mention this, but I forgot my camera charger in Seattle. So, since my battery died this evening, I've started using my dSLR (Canon XSi) that I tend to avoid using because it's so bulky and I don't have a macro lens handy. The quality of the images is noticeably better (see oatmeal pancakes, for the recipe), but it'll take some getting used to: for example, I can't hold food and take pictures of it at the same time because this camera requires the attention of both of my arms. I might take it back up with me, though, if I can figure it out.

Also today, I went to the dentist twice (!), so I was very unwilling to move or eat for the first half of the day. To make up for it, though, I cooked! I boiled some black beans and pieced together lunch, and then for dinner I made the oatmeal pancakes I've been craving (even though I'd never tried them before), and they turned out pretty well (although I did need to put the top one, above, back on the stove for another minute as it was a bit undercooked). These are two things I've never made before, and I didn't bother using recipes for either! In fact, I even made my own oat flour in the food processor with steel-cut oats because I couldn't be bothered to go to the store to buy some. It turned out surprisingly well. They are also much more photogenic than my oatmeal that has been refrigerated and reconstituted, see below, although really oatmeal stores very well in the fridge.

Recipe: Oatmeal Pancakes

Oatmeal pancakes with maple syrup (soaked in)

All of the below measurements are estimates since I generally make things up as I go when I cook. Additionally, if you are missing an ingredient, do not bother going out to buy it if you can avoid it: things like wheat germ and buttermilk, especially, are not necessary.

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup dry oats or oat flour

1/2 cup white flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, ginger)

1 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1/8 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1. If you do not have oat flour, measure out one cup of old fashioned or steel-cut oats into a food processor and pulverize until a course flour. Small pieces of oats left over are okay. Flour should stick to the sides and collapse when the processor stops when it is done.
2. In a clean and dry bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
3. In another clean and dry bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (it should be mostly lump-free). It is important to use another bowl in order to make sure that the leavener (baking soda) doesn't react with the acid in the wet ingredients before you are ready.
4. Heat your pan until the oil "shimmers". I prefer olive or coconut oil on a seasoned cast-iron skillet, but it doesn't really matter. You can use more oil if you want a "fried" texture, or less if you want a "cakey" texture.
5. Quickly combine the wet ingredients into the dry (don't worry about lumps here), and commence pancake cooking! These cook quickly, and don't bubble very much like normal pancakes: flip when the underside looks brown, and if you aren't sure if they're done cut into them and see if any batter drips out.
6. Eat! These are excellent with maple syrup, or would also be good with fresh fruit (bananas or strawberries especially).

Tips:

• If you have baking powder instead of soda, you can use milk instead of yogurt/buttermilk. If you are using baking soda, though, it is very important to use yogurt or buttermilk in order to make fluffy pancakes
• If you have overripe bananas, mash these into the wet ingredients before combining them with the dry ingredients. You pancakes will be sweeter and more moist
• If you prefer gluten-free recipes, skip the white flour and wheat germ. They are added for texture but aren't essential.
• You can swap out the pumpkin pie spice for vanilla or any other spice mixture you prefer.
• Don't skip the salt
• This batter is pretty thick-- if you prefer thinner pancakes, add more water or milk; if you like them thick and cakey, cut the liquid and add as you see fit

Note: This recipe makes about six medium-sized pancakes, which have about 200 Calories each.

Food Diary: 12 June 2012

Today I went to my old high school's graduation to see my boyfriend's sister graduate. When a girl came on stage, crying, and spoke about how important high school was to her, I must admit that I scoffed. It is astonishing how stupid the things that are important to her seem to me, and I shudder to think of myself at her age. Needless to say, I hold very few things from my high school years close to my heart these days.


Onto the food:
 

 Steel-cut oatmeal with a splash of skim milk (240 Cal), with:

Food Diary: 11 June 2012

After weeks of cheap student living, it is so nice to be home. There is fresh food everywhere I turn, and my mother is always trying to feed me more vegetables, which I have actually missed a lot. Not to mention that because it's almost summer, there's tons of fresh fruit everywhere and it's finally ripe and in season.

 Kind Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew bar (180 Cal). This bar is so good, and I'm not even a big fan of cashews or dried cherries... or chocolate, really. I completely recommend them.

Food Diary: 10 June 2012

I think I ate a lot today. Did I? I'm not sure, but there are a ton a pictures! 

 A fried (in olive oil) egg with two small pieces of whole grain bread (90 Cal + 110 Cal)

Food Diary: 9 June 2012

To prepare ourselves for another day of moving and unpacking (and little did we know at the time, assembly of flat-box furniture), Mahir and I went to Portage Bay Cafe for breakfast. Since I've been there before, I knew to call at least an hour before and make a reservation, because if you don't you can easily wait 45 minutes or more for a table on a weekend.

Food Diary: 8 June 2012

The day of my university graduation was also the day I spent many hours moving out of my dorm room into a basement apartment elsewhere in the city, so I didn't have much time to think about things like food, and I didn't work out at all either.


After my departmental graduation ceremony (I didn't attend the main commencement), my boyfriend and I went to a steakhouse in South Lake Union called Daniel's Broiler, which is both extortionately expensive and very much worth the price. We've been there once before, and it truly is for special occasions only.


My single meal of the day consisted of:

A glass of Albrecht Cremant d'Alsace Brut Rosé (70 Cal). It's strange: I don't care for soda, and I don't care for wine, but I love sparkling wine.

Food Diary: 7 June 2012

My last final was today! Which means that I am officially... in the real world.

 Sugar snap peas (45 Cal)

Style: The Top Knot

Lauren, what are you wearing? 

Oh, you mean my lipstick? It's Revlon's lip butter in 'lollipop'. 

No, on your head. 

My headband? Oh, it's from Modcloth. They sent it to me as a free gift when I ordered my graduation dress!

No, your hair. What did you do to your hair?

Oh.

Food Diary: 6 June 2012

I didn't get a chance to eat until about seven today, so I ate a lot all at once. Not ideal, but the food was amazing.

Rotisserie chicken breast, skin removed (270 Cal), baked Lay's (120 Cal), sugar snap peas (40 Cal), and Safeway French bread (120 Cal). Easy to assemble, and so satisfying.  

Food Diary: 5 June 2012

Today I had Indian food and frozen yogurt. It was therefore a great day.

 Lean Cuisine Macaroni and Cheese with sriracha sauce and mustard (285 Cal). So good! I always try to improve on frozen foods by adding spices or sauces, in order to make them taste less like plastic.

Food Diary: 4 June 2012

Raisin Bran with skim milk (240 Calories) 

Update

My laptop is still acting up, along with my SD card reader, so I can't upload pictures at the moment. Hopefully I can get this fixed by the end of this week. Until then, I thought I'd write up a quick tally of my 30 Day Shred progress:

Starting on 21 May, I have done:

Level one: 6 times

Level two: 5 times

Level three: 5 times

I haven't decided which I'll do tonight, probably level three because I like that one the best (I don't really like level two, especially). I'm very tempted to do it in the morning after my last final, especially because my dorm room is full of boxes since I'm moving on Friday, but I really don't want to get behind again.

Also, today I tried the Dr. Jart+  BB cream that I got in my May Birchbox, and I actually really like it. I really didn't want to because I really don't need any more makeup, but I think when I run out of one of my powder foundations I'll have to pick it up. It doesn't look or feel like I'm wearing any makeup at all, but it has a nice amount of coverage and doesn't make me look orange even though I'm very fair.

Food Diary: 3 June 2012

Buttermilk pancakes with strawberry syrup (300 Cal).

Today was another day filled with studying, and tonight will be filled with me writing an essay (on Jean Genet's Le Balcon). I started off with workout three (abs) from Kickbox FastFix, which I think is my favorite of the three workouts. Other than that, nothing interesting except my ongoing stuggle with my laptop.


I also found this interesting article from the New York Times about photographic food journaling. I'd never looked into it before I started doing it, but once I started it just seemed so logical, and it looks like I'm not the only person to think so.

Review: May Birchbox

Last month (May) I received my first Birchbox. If you've followed any YouTube "beauty gurus" in the last year or two, you'll have heard of Birchbox or other similar subscription services (e.g. Glossybox, Beauty Army, She Says, Joliebox). The idea is that you pay some monthly fee to be sent a box filled with sample products ("deluxe" or full-sized samples) to try out, and usually some deal on shipping from the website for the full sized products that month. 


A Birchbox costs $10 a month (counting shipping), or $110 a year. You can stop your monthly subscription at any time, so if you only want one box you don't have to continue paying. I thought that $10 was a manageable amount to spend to pull me out of my cosmetics rut, so I ordered a single box. What follows is my unboxing (the above image is from the actual shipping box) and my thoughts on the box.

Food Diary: 2 June 2012

I think everyone is starting to feel the heat from finals week (this upcoming week), so I spent a good amount of today studying. After trying to fix my SD card reader for an hour or so this morning and fighting with my laptop, I gave in and did workout two (lower body) from Kickbox FastFix and then proceeded to study for most of the day.


Exciting news, though: I've finally caught up on the 30 Day Shred. I did both level one and two tonight, which means (gulp) that I'll be doing level three tomorrow. These workouts aren't easy: if they are, you aren't doing them right (honestly, if they're easy, add weights or do the exercise on one leg, there's always something you can do). It feels good to catch up, though. I think that means I just finished day 13, and I can feel the improvements I've made. I think that at day 15 I'll take some before shots of my abs and we can see if there's any improvement at day 30. My arms and legs are getting (scared) looks though. 


The food!

Greek Gods plain nonfat Greek yogurt (60 Cal) 

Food Diary: 1 June 2012

My SD card reader wasn't working (and still isn't; I had to use a friend's laptop to get these photos off of the card), so this post is a day or so late. It's a shame, since this was also my last day of class as an undergraduate and I'm sure I would have had something profound to say. Probably.

I started the day off with level one of the 30 Day Shred to make up for the night before and workout one from Kickbox FastFix. I finished the day with level three of the 30 Day Shred. Level three was excellent; lately I've been having trouble getting sore after my workouts and this did it-- jumping jacks with hand weights and jumping lunges killed me.

 Strawberries and blackberries (40 Cal). I don't really like blackberries, but they're finally in season and I thought I'd give them another try.

Food Diary: 31 May 2012

Boring post! I was rather busy yesterday and didn't get home until late, so I went straight to bed and didn't have time to post nor do my shred, so I'm catching up this morning!

 Broccoli, carrots, cucumber, cauliflower (40 Cal).