Oh MAN last weekend was a SCORCHER! Finally, faced with nothing to eat at work all week, I decided I had to make something that required no heat. Gazpacho!
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Ingredients
1 green bell pepper (because it was cheap)
1 long seedless cucumber
1/2 red onion
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
4 ribs celery
1 tbsp minced garlic.


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More ingredients
Handful of grape/cherry/plum tomatoes
Handful of basil leaves
2 cups unsalted vegetable stock

Seasonings
S+P
Vinegar
Lemon juice
Italian Seasoning
Lots of black pepper *LOTS*
Feel free to add hot sauce, garlic powder, whatever else you like.

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Instructions

Give all the hard veggies (celery, pepper, cucs, onion) a thin or fine chop.

Chop the tomatoes and basil roughly.

Toss everything including the roasted tomatoes (DO NOT DRAIN) into a big pot and blend away using an immersion blender (or a food processor).

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The finished product isn't too pretty. I suspect if I had used a food processor it would be prettier, but then I couldn't do it all in one batch! And would have more stuff to clean!

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Final verdict: So refreshing. Very tasty. No need for extra seasoning.

However, it wasn't very satisfying. I suppose there's nothing for it but to have a few Finn Crisps or some bread with it!

That's ok, this is definitely getting made again. I think it's not as good as the borscht though. =(

Finally, this rotation is ALMOST over. I will be working on Friday night and into Saturday afternoon but by 3pm I hope to be free and off to Staten Island for a fishing trip with Dad AND Boyfriend.

Boyfriend is ALSO almost done with his awful rotation and will be sitting for a monster exam in a couple of weeks so I will continue to barely see him. His exam is actually ON my birthday, so our celebration should be pretty good!

Teaser for the next post: Veggie Cous Cous (which turns out to be quite a good staple!)
 
I'm off to a slow start, but I can at least prepare a good blog post today, though only one thing is something I actually made! Stay tuned, I will have one up in only a few days. Teaser: Gazpacho!

Spent the weekend just coping with the 100+ degree heat we've been having in NYC. If you're reading this and you're not familiar with NYC living or temperatures, let me paint a picture. Imagine temperatures so hot and air so humid it is barely possible to breathe. Then imagine trying to survive that on concrete, no grass in sight. Now, add in some car exhaust, some smelly garbage and a complete lack of an air conditioned car to get around in. You have NYC.

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I'll start the post with something I actually made to beat the heat. This was my breakfast strawberry/blueberry/yogurt/chocolaty smoothie.
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
5 frozen strawberries
6oz yogurt (this was Dannon Light and Fit Coconut Pie)-80 cal
1/2 cup Almond Breeze Unsweetened Chocolate Milk-20 cal
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp vanilla

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Blended all together it gave this absolutely gorgeous purple color and a really nice consistency. I prefer to eat my smoothies with a spoon. They last longer that way =) PLUS, half of it doesn't wind up getting slurped through a straw and missing all my taste buds on the way down!

I topped it with two big handfuls of Go Lean! Kashi clusters.

I will call this whole bowl 300 cals. I also snacked a little before hand.

Unfortunately, today's plans involved some walking (3 miles) but very little other activity, so I will consider this a splurge day. I wont go nuts, but I'm sure I'll go a bit over the 1200 or so net calories I budget myself a day.

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Ok, on to the rest of the weekend.

Basically, it's been hot hot hot here and I spent Friday night watching a movie and eating the only dinner I could palate on such a hot day: salad. Nothing special there, though to be fair, I find NYC tossed salads so enjoyable they might as well be a feast for me (and for the prices, they ARE!).

This thing is huuuugggeeee! Took me almost 45 minutes to get through! I unwisely chose beets in my salad though. Apparently, as good as they are in soup form, give them to me as part of a salad and I consistently don't like them.

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Yesterday we went to Mesa, Boby Flay's restaurant. Better known as the Iron Chef, Boby Flay also owns (?) Mesa in NYC. This place USED to be all the rage but has now calmed down enough so that two nobodys can get a reservation on Saturday afternoon for Saturday night. Though we still had to wait!

Anyway, earlier that day (also 100+) I had run 8 miles (while watching Cupcake Wars and Chopped!) and THEN had to WALK 4 miles (in the crazy heat) to fetch my cell phone where I had left it the night before. So after walking 12 miles, it's no surprise that I didn't feel guilty about having a glass of wine with frozen strawberries before dinner then a perfectly decadent dinner.

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We are big restaurant sharers so we started with this: a shrimp and mushroom with cheese corn tamale....

Very nice, not TOO rich and a great appetizer size. I always have mixed feelings about tameles (which doesn't stop me from getting them) but this one definitely got a very enthusiastic thumbs up.

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We also shared this appetizer: a barbequed duck taco.

So simple, yet so perfect. It was REALLY salty, but that seemed to go well with the gaminess of the duck and the blue corn pancake.

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We finished our mains with this: a medium rare tuna steak on a bed of cous cous. Again, I'm NOT a fan of tuna steaks. I find the meat to be uninteresting and too difficult to get right. Well this was both delicious and cooked just right, so TWO very enthusiastic thumbs up for this.

Honestly, I felt this meal was pretty light (or maybe it was the 12 miles?) so I felt comfortable looking at the dessert menu.

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And they actually had my all-time-favorite dessert OBSESSION: banana cream pie. Honestly, I am usually capable of avoiding dessert when I go out. At least, I am certainly capable of just having a spoonful or two. This will never happen with banana cream pie. You'd better believe I'm getting my half of that!

This was a deep dish banana cream pie, so it was low on the pie and high on the banana pudding/slices. Right up my alley. I have a feeling I'm gonna have to make myself some sort of Banana Cream Pie a la Jules. It wont be as good as the real thing, but at least I'll be able to have it more than once every 6 months!

So I hope to make a better effort in taking pictures of what I eat, even if I didn't make it (and even if, like the pictures above, I didn't take them!) but that didn't happen this afternoon. After the smoothie, the camera (cell phone) went away for lunch. We walked around a lot and when we got hungry, I didn't want anything but a salad and none of the places we walked by would oblige. So we settled on sushi. It was stunning sushi at a really hole-in-the-wall kind of place.
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Another great meal this weekend. Here's the highlight of the meal.....

Something I've never seen in NYC before....No Tips! Please!

They charged us a 12% service fee. Seriously who tips less than 15-18% these days? This place is losing profits!

Well that's it for me for tonight. Later this week: Gazpacho.

 
Things I'm not doing during this rotation (only 1.5 weeks left!) have included 1) cooking 2) exercising 3) posting on the blog.

Since I don't really have any exciting kitchen endeavors to post, I'll just post a few pics of highlights from the week that I HAVE manged to capture. And, since it's a whole week, there's no need to be chronological about it, so I'm just gonna go from classy to sassy to trashy. =) Here goes.

Classy

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Lunchtime salad. For ~250 cals I got:
1/3 big seedless cucumber
1/2 red bell pepper
2 pieces turkey bacon
1.5oz fat free feta cheese (or 1/4 package)
1/2 serving black beans (1/8 cup)
A bed of arugula and mesculin
Topped with some lite honey mustard Annie's dressing.

I did this guy twice, once I topped it with 6 crumbled saltines for some crunch (takes it over 300 cals but that's ok, I ran that day!)

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Kale Chips, Round I've-Stopped-Counting.

Finally, I've gotten my kale chip mojo back. These turned out great with a spray of olive oil, salt, pepper and baked at 400 degrees/20 minutes.

The secret ingredient: nutritional  yeast! I see it on supermarket kale chips and decided to invest in it myself. Thus far, I haven't found anything else it works with, but MAN does it do wonders for the kale chips.  I actually had 2 bowls of these this night, one with a drizzle of honey mustard.

Sassy

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Crab night!

From the left: a plate of asparagus (olive oil sprayed, S+P, some lemon juice, a little white wine)
A big glass of white wine (see below!)
1.5 crab leg bunches (this came to $15/pp but it was a splurge night)
Ramekin of "I can't believe it's not butter" 0 calorie spray.

I can't stress this enough, this is the ONLY one that tastes like real butter. Even Boyfriend likes it!

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Sort of bland that night, but it definitely satisfied that veggie craving I had!

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Best wine tip ever for summer? I got this idea while in Ithaca wine country:

To seriously cool down your wine and add flavor to cheap-o white wines, instead of spending hours waiting for them to cool, drop in a few pieces of fresh frozen fruit. They act like ice cubes but don't dilute the wine AND they add a lovely sweetness to a dryer wine.

Score! Sassy wine!

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Well this isn't sassy, but I did go to the beach last weekend for some much needed R+R and got some very unneeded sun exposure leading to SEVERE sunburns all over my back =( =(

I did have some watermelon to cool down though. Giant cups of watermelon are my summer weakness. I can't possibly calculate calories but when it's a million degrees out, I barely care.

On a side note, the vast majority of beach snacks in Long Beach revolve around HOT, FRIED, HEAVY, SALTY food that I LOOOOVEEEE but would gag at in the heat of the afternoon. I felt more dehydrated just LOOKING at those food carts and the people walking around with giant sausages and lobster rolls!

I actually got myself a fish taco and ate mostly just the fish. It was lightly marinated and came on a bed of lettuce, tomatoes and a tiny bit of cheddar cheese. I skipped the sour cream, of course.

Moving on to what I'm sure everyone was waiting for.....

Trashy

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I not only admit to making pudding from a box, but I revel in the fact that it's sugar free.

Pistachio pudding happens to be something I remember fondly from my childhood. My mom made it for me a few times and I could just imagine the thought process that went into it. Picture us coming from Ukraine where things like this were just unheard of to seeing a box of green pudding?!?


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I used a high calorie skim milk (Skim Plus, who would have thought the Plus meant calories!) because the box SPECIFICALLY said do not use soy milk (and I assumed this applied to almond milk).

So this was actually 90 calories. A little high, but so, so so so so so good!

I suspect there will be a bowl of jello pudding (butterscotch is next!) in my refrigerator more often!

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And finally, maybe actually the most enjoyable part of the weekend, trashy by any standards.....the beer in a brown bag!

A friend from medical school and I went to see Bellflower, described as a post-apocalyptic love story, at an outdoor movie screening (called rooftop films, the screen and we were all on the ground...hmmm....) and I went to a bodega an invested in a lovely Corona Light, which I drank out of a paper bag. Everyone needs a few moments like this =)

Afterward, we went to a beer garden and I couldn't find a garbage can, so the beer-in-a-bag wound up crossing the trashy threshold when I had to sit it on the table in front of me. Fail.

Still, altogether enjoyable.

Anyone have any great summer indulgences? Classy, sassy or trashy are all good =)

Remember sunblock or you'll turn into a lobster like me!

 
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Yup, things have gotten pretty uncreative and simple in this kitchen. Lots of salad nights happening. That, and defrosting is the only thing keeping us fed when we get home after 8pm each night!

To be fair, my job isn't THAT bad, and I'm getting home at 8 because I am still hitting the gym every day (I wish I could stop snacking myself into the extra calories I have to burn off!!) but there's a lot of standing involved, and a lot of stress. So exercise is almost a must!
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What can I say about these salads? 1) They are a better meal than a beer and 2) They are super fast and can be easily made for 2.

I'll quickly describe one typical evening here in the Drs. C-N apartment: I come home after work, quickly throw 2 turkey sausages from the freezer into a bowl of warm water and hit the gym. Come home at around 8, either I or Boyfriend will chop up 1 pepper, 1 tomato, 1/2 long cucumber and split the piles in half (his and hers). **Yes, vegetables are one of the few things I actually share equally!**

Not pictured: As we chop, we sautee the turkey sausage, ~6 minutes whole on the pan (Pammed) then chop that up and sautee some more (~2-3 min).

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Into each of 2 bowls goes a bed of lettuce, 1/2 of the veg pile, about 1.5 servings of fat free feta (for her) or a bunch of goat cheese (for him) and a few chickpeas from a can (or black beans if we've got that open).



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On top goes about 1/2-2/3 of a turkey sausage (for her) or 1.3-1.5 turkey sausages (for him) and some Annie's light dressing. Boyfriend will also pair his salad with bread or croutons. I sometimes don't bother with the dressing and throw on some plain Balsamic vinegar.

Final tally: 100-115cal for the sausage, 50-55 cal for the cheese, 100-120 cal for remaining veg, 45 cal for dressing (the last two are high-balling it!). Total damage: ~250-340 cals (very filling salad bowl!), loads of protein from the turkey, garbanzos and cheese + lots of veg!

Things to stay away from when making your own salad at a salad bar or deli counter: "saucy meats" like buffalo/pesto chicken, full-fat cheeses, corn, sunflower seeds. These are high calorie and low nutrition (comparably).

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I've also been practically living off of the Brocoflower soup all week (though now it's gone).  This is a better picture, I put it in the previous post too!

Do you have the discipline to eat "leftovers" for so long?

It's ok, I've varied it with different add-ins =)

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And finally, never one to deny myself dessert (or even make it into a whole meal like this "dinner") sometimes I'll treat myself to a bowl of Tasti-D-Lite (something I generally keep in my freezer since I have one a few blocks away!) or sorbet with toppings. I usually choose (heated) frozen fruit and some favorite cereal.

This is a chocolate/caramel Tasti-D-Lite (6oz) with 1/2 frozen blueberries and two handfuls of FiberOne Honeyclusters. Damage? A mere ~200 cals and this is a BIG bowl!

What's your favorite high-volume/low-guilt dessert treat?

Anyway, it's almost midnight and I've stayed up solely to write this blog post! Hope it gets read!
Sweet Dreams
<3 Jules

 
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Great success!
Not JUST the soup but the fact that I FINALLY used my immersion blender. Everyone swears by theirs and I've been so afraid of mine. I always figured, surely if you stick a blender in a pot of hot liquid, you're bound to have a big hot mess on your hands. Well it wasn't the wonder-gadget that everyone claims, but certainly, I couldn't have blended that whole pot in my magic bullet so it did exactly what I needed!
Without further ado, I present to you: Broccoflower Soup!
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Ingredients
3 heads broccoli (about 500gm)
1 head cauliflower (about 700 gm)
3 cups chicken stock (no sodium)
2 cups water
2 bay leaves

Seasonings: S+P, garlic powder, celery salt, italian seasoning, lemon juice, light-colored vinegar (I used rice)
**The seasonings are really individualized. I would imagine a curry/cumin would work fine, so would some ginger. Just use whatever flavor profiles you normally find pleasant on your vegetables***

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Chop the broc and the cauli up into little florets

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Heat the liquids to a boil.


Toss in the veg.

Cover.

Boil for about 15-20 minutes or until the veg becomes easy to break apart

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Blend!
(This looks small but it gave me about 5 1.5-2 cup servings!

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Creamy without the cream!

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I served it with a tsp 0% Greek Yogurt.

Fave mixins: Anything crunchy. And today, I actually put a handful of raw oats into a snack-sized portion and it was really good!

The color is definitely not phenomenal, but it sure does taste yummy!

 
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Sadly, with things being as hectic as they are this month, I've accidentally wound up having beer for dinner...twice. In a row. Boy did I feel yucky after that!

It was just like being back in college, coming home after a night out and filling up on crackers, Wheat Thins and whatever you can find to slather on them (hummus, jam?). Plus a few handfuls of cereal. Right before bed.

I feel like I should be spending an afternoon out on the quad or something! I guess it could have been worse, I haven't been resorting to take-out pizza or Chinese food yet!

Lunches have become more elaborate instead. I don't time to prepare a real lunch, so this weekend I made a big batch of spaghetti squash, and some proteins (some white flaky fish filets and the shrimp) and have been bringing those, a wrap and a package of arugula to work and assembling a wrap every day. It's enjoyable but most importantly, everything is already in it's own tupperware container so I just grab-and-go. The black bean brownies have been most helpful.

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I did find time to have one Breakfast of Champions on a fairly low-key day. I have discovered that an absolutely delicious summertime concoction is simply Chocolate Almond Breeze Milk (Unsweetened) with about 3/4 cup frozen blueberries and a few handfuls of oatmeal. I also tossed in a little Sugar Free Coffee Creamer. The best part is that I can stir it for a while as the blueberries melt while I do other things, then YUM! I enjoy this with a tiny spoon =)

Finally, I totally forgot about the 2 mini pumpkin oatmeal pancakes I had left in the freezer. There's a lot of stuff in the freezer I've been forgetting about and rediscovering this month! This little guy is slathered with the cranberry sam that I made last week. =)

I finally had a little time today though, and made broccoli/cauliflower soup that is really quite tasty. More on that later!

What's your favorite super-fast, no effort required lunch meal? Frozen dinners don't count!
Enjoy your weekend!

 
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July 4 weekend did not work in my favor. In addition to being on call, a personal situation resulted in my missing all the beautiful weather and doing....nothing. Including cooking and blogging.

I made it out of the apartment for a few hours just long enough to 1) Stuff my face with chips, pizza and cherry pie....+ a few beers! and 2) To see the NYC Macy's Fireworks from this rooftop. Obviously I couldn't take pics of the fireworks with my phone but perhaps by the time the next post goes up, I"ll have gotten a few pics off of my camera.

What is your favorite July 4 splurge?

Anyway, it turned out OK and the personal situation has resolved! Still, as much as I'd like that to have heralded my return to the kitchen, I've begun another Hell Month at work and my 12 hour days have put the kibosh on my willingness to shop and my kitchen creativity.

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So, without further ado, I present to you the beginning of the Foray Into The Freezer.

I like to keep a few handy essentials in my freezer at all times, for situations just like this one. I keep a HUGE stash of frozen shrimp that takes up fully 1/5 of my freezer. These things are super-fast to defrost, cook in 6 minutes flat and can be put into anything. Plus, they are super-low-calorie/low-fat! (Not low cholesterol though, so not everyone can enjoy them quite as often!). Also in there are turkey sausages, bread products, vegetable medleys and frozen fruits/vegetables. In a pinch I can throw together dinner complete with protein, vegetable and carbs AND dessert just by sifting through my freezer. Finally, for emergencies, I keep a few frozen meals on hand. Specifically the under 300 cal Lean Cuisines. It helps also that my parents bring me wild blueberries, mushrooms and freshly caught fish to freeze!! =)

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Today was just such an emergency. I had nothing whatsoever to pack for the main component of my lunch, but I did have just one of these: a garden lites Cauliflower Souffle. These are great. For only 140 calories, they make a tasty lunch component and when warm they are moist and comforting.



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I like a little variety though. The other half of this guy went on a bed of lettuce (cafeteria purchase = rip off) with a little honey mustard drizzled on and some crumbled crackers on top. This half got another drizzle of HM and was eaten plan.

Note the bready texture: this is actually super moist!

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After a long 12 hour stress-ball day, I ran 6 miles (necessary after July 4) and was in no mood to cook! So back to the freezer we went and found this: an Asian Vegetable Medley and frozen shrimp!

I defrosted the shrimp in a glass bowl drizzled with Honey Mustard Marinade. As the shrimp thawed, the marinade got watered down and became almost a sauce!

By the time I got home from the gym, I just threw the contents of the glass bowl into a pan and cooked the vegetables according to the package.

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Then I rolled some spaghetti squash around in the shrimp "sauce/soup". The squash was the only thing I actually "cooked" this weekend.

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Finally, into a bowl it all went: veg and shrimp on a bed of honey mustardy spaghetti squash: ~250-275 calories for this bowl. So satisfying too!

Took a nice long time to eat and left me feeling pretty pretty full! Though I saved room for an apple for dessert =)



I realize this isn't a recipe, but it's a post that goes to show how important it is to keep a VARIETY of foods in your freezer. I suppose there's no real need to fill it up quite to this extent, but I love that I can make any meal from this freezer if I have to. I suppose it also goes to show you can freeze just about anything (I was surprised that bread could be frozen!)

What are your freezer staples?

Phew, it's midnight and I'm still awake and fading fast. Time to go!
 
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This isn't pretty
Black bean brownies. It was one of those things, a challenge that I accepted. There were a few different recipes online, some vegan, some not. I decided to combine some different recipes and come up with my own. In reality, they could have been worse, and even more importantly, they're not TERRIBLE in yogurt as an add-in. Haven't decided yet if I'll be making more.

Anyway, posts are a little blah right now due to extenuating circumstances and just too much going out, too little cooking. I may prepare some spaghetti squash tonight and perhaps put a piece of tilapia on top of it, but I'm not too hopeful there.

In any case, here's the honest-to-goodness brownie breakdown: 100 calories for a pretty good sized piece of "brownie" (bigger than a deck of cards), texture is something between a brownie and a mousse, taste is bland (though not offensive). Would a topping for an extra 25 cals save it? Maybe, I'll give it a shot. Also, I put cherries in these and I am wondering if maybe a little chipotle wont make them "pop" a bit.
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Ingredients
1 15oz can black beans (no sodium), drained
1/2 cup water (big mistake)
1.5 ripe bananas
1.5 eggs
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 tbsp sugar free maple syrup
1.5 tsp vanilla
1/4+1/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 cup flour (whole grain pastry)
1/3 cup bing cherries, chopped

Directions
1. Puree black beans (I did it with the cup of water, but I would recommend against it). Add in the bananas, cut into chunks. Puree again.
2. Add in remaining ingredients, feel free to taste-check.
3. Bake in a pan or casserole dish (sprayed with non-stick spray OR on a piece of parchment paper-my method of choice) at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Don't worry about the cracks, but make sure to cool it completely before cutting.

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I started this entry about a day ago and since, the brownies have "dried out". Basically, the 1/2 cup of water caused them to "sweat" water! They were just constantly wet. But this morning, the brownies dried and now they're quite palatable. Still not brownies though. Here's one hanging out on top of a bowl of strawberry yogurt. I suspect that if I were to stick one underneath some Tasti-D-Lite it would also be quite nice.
Maybe I was wrong to judge so hastily. Certainly, I'm going to try this again, minus the water, maybe with a little more flour, definitely a touch of chipotle, and I will even consider adding some chocolate chips! Stay tuned.

On a quick PS note: My July 4 is relatively tame, again due to extenuating circumstances, and while BBQ wont be happening, both sets of parentals (mine and Boyfriend's) have dropped by in very recent history and have delivered so much food to the apartment that we are likely to be living on the "fat of the land" so to speak and just grazing on our completely full fridge for a bit.

Today's lunch will be the second to last bit of borscht (yes! It is still around and it is by far one of my best kitchen successes!) with a beer while watching the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. =)

 
Regrettable kitchen vacay. The borscht is still with me but I haven't been cooking as much and eating out/having buffet lunches more. This is bad. I've ended the week feeling kind of lousy and I have a good feeling it has a lot to do with so much mystery food onslaught. I have a really strong stomach, but eating too much creamy, dense, bad carb food has made me sluggish and has left me with a poor self-image =( =( Since I haven't really done any cooking, I'll just post a few meal photos and a quickie Overnight Oats in a Jar process.
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Made Overnight Oats in a Jar for Boyfriend a few days ago. He liked it but doesn't feel the need to repeat the experience. Sad, I think it's great!

Bottom layer: 1/2 cup microwaved frozen blueberries (slightly squished)
Above that: 1/3 cup old fashioned oats
Above that: 1/2 cup Nonfat vanilla yogurt
Above that: 1/2 cup Chocolate Almond Milk (unsweetened)

Directions: Stir, refrigerate. =)
It fluffs up and fills up most of the jar in the end.

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1 can chunk light tuna (100cal)
1 heaping tsp 0% Greek Yogurt (30cal?)
1 tsp cumin
3 baby carrots (chopped)
1/2 small cuc (chopped)
All together on a wrap with some arugula (another 100 cals)
The cumin is really what makes it sooo yummy. If you're not into cumin, use mustard, especially the flavored kinds!
Total: 250 cal?
Very filling, lots of protein. This is gonna be repeated, often. Well, I don't want TOO much mercury! Maybe I'll switch to canned chicken now and then?

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The borscht is still going. Paired with approximately 1.5 oz multigrain bread, 1 tsp Greek Yogurt 0% stirred into the jar before leaving the house = pink soup!

A few carrot sticks and an apple make for a delicious and nutritious 300 calorie lunch. It definitely lacks in protein, but I make up my protein needs in breakfast and dinner anyway.


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Today's lunch was great. A half day at work led to lunch at home, on our papasan chair by the window =) =)
A nice bowl of Brussels sprouts (boiled for about 5 minutes) and 2 pieces of chopped turkey bacon (toaster oven for 6 minutes), drizzled in Trader Joes Low Fat Parmesan Ranch dressing on top of a bed of arugula. **TJ's LF Parm/Ranch dressing is the FIRST low fat ranch dressing that I think tastes decent in any way. Thanks Boyfriend's Mom for bringing this stuff into our lives! She also gifted us the bowl!**
On the side is an ear of corn (boiled in the same pot as the sprouts for 5 minutes!)
Check out other Brussels sprout pics here.

Not pictured is a small bowl of cereal with cranberry sam

Tonight we celebrate the end of residency for Boyfriend with his fam. We were planning on going out but he didn't feel well so we are ordering in instead. Hopefully the original idea of Thai will stay put and I can have a Green Papaya Salad! Still no big cooking plans on the horizon, though a spaghetti squash is taking up residence in the fridge. Maybe dinner sometime this weekend?

Have a nice July 4 everyone! My plans include a trip to Staten Island for a poolside BBQ with my parents. This weekend will not help anything, self image wise.
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    Author

    I'm a recent graduate from medical school and a pathology resident living in New York City. Like most girls living in the city, I've found that a lot of my social life revolves around the regular consumption of high-calorie food and alcoholic beverages. I've decided to start a blog about how I am trying to beat the bulge by eating and cooking defensively between social engagements and how even a busy girl can fit exercise into a busy life.

    Foodbuzz
    All recipes are on Petitchef

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