Newlywed, Newly Veg!

A nutritional punch, that is!

Hey guys! How has your Monday been so far?  Has it been a Monday fun day?  Or a leave me the eff alone, it’s effin’ Monday day?

Mine is somewhere in the middle. 

This morning, I woke up, made breakfast (Oh, millet toast, almond butter and banana…how I heart thee), and then got to work, for realsies.  I’m going home on Wednesday for my sister’s baby shower (YAY!!!), and I want to get as much work done as possible before then.  I got a round of papers from one of my online classes this morning, so I spent ALLLLL morning grading, which left my brain feeling like a puddle of mush.  BUT, I did finish grading all of them, so I’m one step closer to a relaxing trip home! Unfortunately, I get a round of papers from all three of my Penn State comp classes tomorrow (75 papers in all), so the fun is really just beginning.  Oh well…that’s what plane rides are for, right?

I would also like to note that when I did a Google image search for “tired brain,” this picture came up:

Huh? 

Moving on.

I pushed through the essays and wrapped up around 12:45, just in time for lunch.  I headed downstairs for some much needed brain food!

This lunch was easy and delicious…and it packs a major nutritional punch!

In a sautee pan, I heated 1/2 tsp. olive oil and cooked some kale for about 5 minutes, adding a spoonful of water to push along the cooking process.  I topped the kale with fresh orange slices, halved, crumbled walnuts, and a drizzle of fig balsamic vinegar.  Served alongside Mary’s Sticks and Twigs (sea salt flavor—it’s good, but I prefer the curry flavor). 

Simple, yummy…and nutritious!  Kale is rich in vitamins A, C, and K, not to mention calcium, iron, fiber, and magnesium.  Add to that the vitamins A and C from the orange and the omega 3’s from the walnuts, and I’d call this lunch brain food indeed!

Plus it was pretty:

Big bite on a tiny fork:

Not to be confused with fat guy in a little coat:

I was going to do an indoor workout on the treadmill, but I think I might wander outside for a nice long walk with the dogs.  I’ve been feeling a little down lately, and I think that spending so much time indoors is partly to blame.  I’m excited to head down South for a few days to see my mom and my sister and hopefully get a little dose of warm(er) weather.  I can’t believe my sister is due in only a month!!! Crazy, crazy!

Have a great afternoon.  I’ll see y’all for dinner!

Hello!  How has your Sunday been?

Mine has been pretty lame relaxing.  We took the dogs on a long walk around the neighborhood, and then around 5, Ryan built a fire in our fireplace and we did some reading and writing for about an hour.  It was so nice and cozy!

At 6:30, we got started on  a quick and easy dinner: stir fry! Sorry guys—I know we eat a lot of stir fries for dinner…but it’s just so simple and good!

For tonight’s stir fry, we combined some frozen veggies:

and Light Life ginger teriyaki tempeh cubes:

with fresh onions, broccoli, and carrots, along with Asian 5-spice powder and a few good shakes of tamari:

We had a variety of sauces to choose from:

But upon closer examination, I saw that the hoisin sauce had nearly 20 grams of sugar per 2 tablespoons! Holy sugar, batman!  The stir-fry sauce had a bunch of sugar as well.

We opted instead for the regular tamari, which had no sugar at all!

Dinner was served:

Delicious! This was my first experience with the Light Life tempeh cubes, and I really liked them!  I usually just buy plain tempeh and season it myself, but these pre-seasoned ones were a nice change!

Sugar Challenge, Day One (yes, I realize it’s not February until tomorrow, but what can I say—call me an overachiever…):

• oats:  1 gram
• soy milk:  4 grams
• edamame: 1 gram
• crackers: 1 gram
• tempeh: 9 grams
• vegetables: 2 grams
• cashew crunch: 3 grams
• Total added sugars intake: 21 grams (ha! like the movie!)

As I said in this post, I was really taken aback by the high amount of sugar in that hoisin sauce…plus, that was just for 2 tablespoons!  Think about how much you would get in a restaurant—not 2 tablespoons, that’s for sure.  I was also surprised by the added sugars in our frozen vegetables (2 grams), and I still don’t really know where they came from, as there was no sauce with the veggies, etc.  The tempeh was high, but I didn’t find that surprising, as they were marinated in a teriyaki sauce. 

All in all, this was a good start to the challenge! I’m sipping on some tea right now, hoping that it will be enough to quell the sugar cravings that usually start to rise up at this time, night after night.

I’m glad to hear that many of you will be joining me in this challenge—be sure to keep me updated on your progress!

We’re watching Say Anything, which I’ve never seen!  I’m excited to finally watch it, especially the infamous boom box scene. 

Have a great night!

***Edited to add:

EEK! How did this chocolate Kashi bar make it into my hot, sweaty hands? 

As Scooby Doo would say: “Ruh Roh.”  This sugar challenge is going to be harder than I thought.

Total Sugar Intake: 34 grams.

We got work to do, kids.