weekendddd

For Dale's birthday on Friday I made him a cake! Except...I didn't take any pictures. I got organic boxed white cake mix. Despite it being organic, it definitely isn't primal (flour, sugar) or particularly good for you. Last year he requested carrot cake, so I added four carrots to the cake, along with a lot of cinnamon. For the icing I used brown sugar, cinnamon and cream cheese. I didn't have a piece of the cake, but hopefully it was good.

Saturday I did an event for Honest Tea, we worked Taste of Friendship Heights. Since I'm absolutely horrible with my glasses, this happened the night before:

I'm back to rocking the one armed glasses. I am due for a new pair anyway, since these are actually a pair my friend gave to me. I am an idiot. So, on to Taste of Friendship Heights. There were tons of vendors, including Potomac Pizza, PF Chang's, Rosa Mexicano and several others. Started out with some PF Chang's lettuce wraps and gnocchi from a place I don't remember.

Guac from Rosa Mexicano! Unquestionably the healthiest thing I ate that day.

Chicken Tikka from Indique Heights, and some free steak sandwiches from Capital Grille.

Our spread.

It was a pretty long event, and I was completely drained by the end. I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before and just wanted to be home and in bed. I went home, showered and used the foot massager I got for Christmas while watching trash TV. It was awesome. Since I didn't feel like cooking, I drove to Yes! (it seriously takes me longer to drive, I was just so tired) for some easy food.

Amy's vegan and gluten free pizza because it's awesome. It's seriously my favorite frozen pizza. And some smoked baby clams, I needed vitamins so I figured shellfish would be good. They were delicious. I promptly passed out soon after.

On Sunday Scott got home! I met him and his roommate/heterosexual life partner, Friilock, at Tonic to watch the Lions and Redskins games. I got the eggs nova, which is basically eggs benedict with smoked salmon instead of ham.

I removed the English muffin to make this a grain free brunch. Both the Lions and the Redskins won, so I was stoked. We went back to Scott's where I fell asleep on him for a bit. I was still tired. Eventually we headed over to Georgetown, which turned out to be an unsuccessful shopping trip. But we walked around the water which was awesome and I prefer over shopping.

This picture really doesn't do it justice. At all. For dinner we went to Bangkok Joe's. I got the sea bass with veggies and jasmine rice.

It was SO good. The veggies were all fresh and still had some crunch, which I absolutely loved. My only complaint was that the piece of fish was really small, especially for the price.

Now I just have to attack this workweek. Hope everyone has a good day!

berfdayz

I'm tired! Only six hours of sleep and spent a significant portion of today on my feet already. This blog post will be in bullet form.

• Chipotle for dinner last night,
• At Scott's house, to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• I brought him gluten-free rice mac and broccoli that he added spaghetti sauce and stuff to
• No pictures because I'm retarded
• But since he's awesome, he got us these from Sticky Fingers, vanilla, coconut, gluten-free chocolate

• I'm not so fond of the GF chocolate, so I dominated the vanilla cupcake
• Scott insisted he get a picture of me biting into the cupcake

• Knew I shouldn't have had a cancer cupcake (I call it a cancer cupcake because I've looked at the ingredients: flour, soy, canola, sugar, death)
• But I did get in a really good primal breakfast

• Tonight is my buddy Dale's birthday party! Dale and I, as a gang

Happy almost birthday, Dale! Even though you totally don't read my blog and get really annoyed when I talk about nutrition.

failed mac and cheeze

So in preparation of the premiere today of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, last night I attempted to make some vegan mac and cheese. Vegan, obviously because I'll be watching it at Scott's house. Otherwise, I would never do anything as ridiculous as make vegan mac and cheese. I absolutely love my cheesy, gluten-free regular mac and cheese. But that's not the point. The point is I searched around on the internetz and found recipes that bloggers said were amazing, and so much like real mac and cheese. I won't name names. But I will tell you what not to use when making vegan mac and cheese:

-navy beans

-roasted butternut squash

-nutritional  yeast

It came out like this:

Which I thought looked pretty promising. I mean, it was the color of cheese at least. I dipped my finger in to taste and immediately wanted to vomit. It tasted terrible. I was determined to make it taste better so I sauteed some onions and a little bit of garlic. This barely helped. I decided there was no way I would feed this to anyone, and tossed it. Thank god I didn't immediately dump it on the rice noodles and broccoli. I figure we can just use spaghetti sauce tonight instead.

Last night I also cooked up more chicken along with some canned green beans. I know most people hate canned green beans, but I love 'em. The way some people prefer canned peas to fresh or frozen (though I am not one of those people). I cooked the chicken in coconut oil and salt and pepper. I took the chicken out added the green beans and some diced onion to the same pan, along with a ton of butter. Super easy. I had a little bit for dinner

I only had such a small amount because I also had a spicy California roll with brown rice from Yes! Organic Market. Though I did take most the rice off of the roll. Now I have the rest of the chicken and green beans for lunch today. So despite the disgusting mac and cheese fail, it was a pretty successful night of cooking.

hot dogs and probiotics

Dinner last night came together pretty quickly. Mainly because I didn't really make anything, but that's still okay. I bought these uncured, organic hot dogs. I'm unsure of the brand but they're definitely sold at Whole Foods, Trader J's, Yes!, MoM's, etc. I quickly warmed them in a pan on medium high heat with coconut oil. I served them with fermented sauerkraut I got from the farm. We should all make more of an effort to eat fermented anything. Fermented food provides so many beneficial probiotics. I can't stress the importance of probiotics enough. They prevent illness, everything from the common cold to cancer. They alleviate IBS. They improve your skin. Fight candida. Kill pathogenic and bad bacteria in your gut. Boosts your immune system. I like to eat my probiotics because it's more effective than probiotics in pill form (this also goes for vitamins). Anyway, so hot dogs and sauerkraut.

Served with the last little bit of my organic ketchup and some lima beans with butter I made over the weekend.

I realize a lot of people are sketched out by sauerkraut. I ate it when I was younger so I am not one of those people. But you can ferment pretty much anything. I've even fermented my own salsa. And I've been finding a lot of fermented foods at farmers markets, I think they're making a comeback. Anyway, eat more of them!! Gotta get back to work.

cookin'

Over the past couple of days I've actually spent some time in the kitchen, despite eating so many meals out. I got some grocery shopping done with Scott. He even brought his own lunch to work with him yesterday!

I was so proud! Anyway, I made a meatloaf:

Why are you sideways?!

But only seconds after I took this picture, I was portioning it off into tupperware so I could eat it throughout the week, and this happened:

It EXPLODED.

Everywhere. Such a bitch to clean up.

On the plus side, I did put my new food processor to work. I made my own mayo using:

-1 pastured egg

-3/4 cup olive oil

-1 large clove of garlic

-little bit of dijon mustard

Raw mayo is actually so nourishing, while majority of store bought mayo is disgusting, full of soybean oil and will give you a heart attack. The enzymes in the eggs and olive oil are intact and haven't been reduced or altered by heat. And the fat from the yolk is amazing for you, there's a reason the yolk is referred to as "brain food." I made tuna with the mayo

Lots of onions. Onions are a great prebiotic.

I also made some non offensive vegan food for Scott.

On nights I know he's coming over I make oats so he can eat them for breakfast the next morning. I combine 1 cup gluten free oats with 1 cup full-fat coconut milk. I always add raw honey for sweetness, along with whatever I feel like adding. I don't heat anything. Soaking overnight works just fine. He added the banana himself.

And I made this quinoa concoction that he ate for lunch...with fries.

-1 cup quinoa

-broccoli

-onions sauteed in coconut oil

-corn

-1 can black beans

-cumin

Gettin' there.

rando

I've been a serious slacker when it comes to updating my blog. I've been eating out a lot more though, so here are some rando pictures of restaurant food:

Not sure if I posted the above yet? Duccini's pizza! Seriously, da best.

Fried tortilla with guac at this Mexican place in Georgetown Scott took me to.

Shrimp fajitas at said Mexican joint.

Smoked salmon salad at Meridian Pint. Hit this place up for brunch on Saturday, I dug it.

Seafood Risotto at La Tomate in Dupont for dinner on Saturday. I really like the menu here.

Scott and I at the Spanish Steps after dinner.

Mung bean and veggie pancakes at Cafe Green for brunch on Sunday.

And again, the raw cinnamon bun. Next time I think I'ma hit up there raw banana pancakes. I LOVE raw food! I can't wait to go there for dinner and get the raw pizza.

Sunday night, Scott and I went to dinner at Marx Cafe. We got other food I forgot to photograph, but this was the bruschetta and hummus. I liked both, despite the high gluten content.

Hopefully I'll have some actual recipes and helpful food information up soon.

chincoteague!

I started off the weekend with Scott by going to Busboys on Friday night. I got the meatloaf

And Scott got this tempeh panini thing. Since tempeh is fermented soy and not so bad for you, I took a picture.

The weekend in Chincoteague Island, VA was amazing. Chincoteague is quiet, quaint and gorgeous. I loved the old Victorian style houses and the fact that it wasn't a party town (like Ocean City). There are several independently owned shops. Both Sunday and Monday we hit up a coffee shop (I got water) that sold really beautiful home decor. Scott bought me a gorgeous bowl that I'll fill with food and take pictures of, to make my food appear more attractive. We got there Saturday and laid on the beach for several hours. This is one of my favorite things to do.  We played in the water some but it was kind of cold, and windy. For dinner we went to Bill's Seafood. I can't really vouch for Scott food (spaghetti) but my soft shell crabs were amazing. I got them broiled and they were really just perfect. I wanted to abandon my cell phone for most of the weekend so I didn't get many pictures. 

The next day we went to Sea Star Cafe. It is a stand that sells soups, salads and sandwiches. We got a couple so we could eat on the beach later that day. We spent all day on the beach and in the water. I got a crucial sunburn but I don't even care. Totally worth it. For dinner we went to Don's seafood restaurant. It was pretty bad. Of course I got pictures of the bad food and not the good food.

Cream of crab soup.

Seafood platter.

Not so good at all. But the restaurant was pretty run down, and there was an obnoxious drunk lady making an ass out of herself. So I liked it. How can you not enjoy that kind of towny entertainment?

Sunday we went back to the coffee shop, and back to Sea Star Cafe.

Sandwich with dijon, brie, swiss, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, mushrooms, and banana peppers. So good. I wish bread wasn't so terrible, I really dig sandwiches.

I really can't do the weekend justice in this blog post. It was just so gorgeous and super relaxing. I'm so glad we went and I had an amazing time. Once we were home we hit up Hanami for dinner.

I got the tuna tartar.

And an avocado salad.

Definitely one of the best weekends ever.

da weekend

The other night I headed over to Mike, Nick and Dale's house to make some tomato bisque. Why? Because Mike is in possession of my beloved Vitamix. I don't know why I call it mine, when clearly it is his, because I bought it for him. Anyway I made a new tomato bisque using:

-1.5 onions

-5 cloves garlic

-ton of butter

-4 heirloom tomatoes

-lots of basil

-1/2 cup spaghetti sauce of choice

-1 can diced tomatoes

-red pepper flakes

-pecorino romano

-lots of raw cream

I sauteed the onions, garlic and tomatoes before added them to the Vita with everything else.

While I was there Mike was also cooking. A Yes! Organic Market just opened in our 'hood and he found some mung bean pasta. I bought mung bean pasta this past winter and we were really stoked to find out it has an amazing protein content. So he made a pasta sauce by simmering the following:

-2 red peppers

-4 tomatoes

-1/2 red onion

-6 cloves garlic

-1 habanero pepper

-1/4-1/2 cup organic soy sauce

-1/8-1/4 cup sriracha sauce

-1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

-1/4-1/2 cup white wine

He blended it all up in the Vitamix until smooth and then added crab to it. And served it over the mung bean noodles.

It was pretty bomb. I added lots of pecorino romano.

This weekend I'm going to Chincoteague with Scott! They have wild horsies! How tight is that?! I'm really excited to go and get some beach action. Tonight we might go to Busboys and Poets. I'm really hoping it's nice enough to sit outside. Have a safe and fun Labor Day weekend! I'm actually really sad that Labor Day sort of signifies the end of summer. But this weekend will be awesome and there are lots of good things to look forward to in Fall...Renn Fest!

so not primal today.

I wrote this several days ago and don't feel like changing tenses or putting anything in chronological order so just be aware of that when reading the following.

Last night I went grocery shopping at Trader J's. I got some vegan items to feed Scott, since he never cooks on his own and usually ends up buying some fake, processed soy meat. This concerns me greatly. One of the things I bought was oats (gluten free). Most of the popular blogs I read (excluding the primal/paleo blogs) are all about oats. I think they kind of suck, but whatever. I decided to experiment. I did the ever popular overnight oats in a jar. I combined the rest of the almond butter jar (about a table spoon) plus more almond butter, half cup oats, half cup raw milk and some raw honey. I let it sit overnight.

I'll give it this: it tasted good. I was wondering if it's as filling as everyone says it is. I normally have something like this for breakfast

Two eggs cooked in butter with smoked salmon. And I normally am good until lunch time, around 12. Yeahhh, I was hungry again by 9:20. Stupid oats. Not to mention that I had the oats and 1 deviled egg (I made some deviled eggs to eat at lunch) and was still hungry. And, I felt bloated. And if I took my shirt off, I'd probably look bloated. So, while I may make Scott some oats for breakfast or as a snack or something (I couldn't really think of many other vegan ingredients that didn't offend me, except beans) I will definitely not be consuming them.

As an aside, I dominated some Chipotle for dinner last night. God I love Chipotle. I wish I had a popular blog so they'd send me free things, though I really have no idea how they'd even do that. Mail me some burritos, Chipotle! Or gift cards, whatever.

Steak bowl with veggies. No beans or rice.

Tonight is taco night! I freaking love tacos. I am making black bean tacos. I was going to have mine with chicken, until I opened the chicken I had frozen and it totally looked and smelled weird, so I tossed that shit. I wanted to buy dried black beans and soak them overnight to reduce the phytic acid content. But Trader J's did not have dried beans. This blew me, and I ended up just buying canned beans. Now that I think about it, I am pretty sure I accidentally bought the inorganic beans. Dammit.

vegan taco night

Finally! I can upload pictures again. I'll start from the beginning of the week. Tuesday night was taco night. Vegan taco night. Since I've been dating a vegan, I've inevitably also been doing more the following: eating out more, eating sweets (he just lives so close to Sticky Fingers), eating grains, eating beans, eating carbs, gaining weight. When I strictly eat primally (with the addition of raw dairy) is when I look my best. While I'm not too concerned with gaining a bit of weight, it does not make me feel (or look, obviously) my best. It doesn't help that I've abandoned going to the gym. I talked to my girl Tasha, who also hasn't been feeling the gym lately and I'm hoping we can do more outdoor workouts together, like hiking. In the meantime, I'd really like to get back to eating more primally. Not just because I'd like to get rid of the excess weight I've gained, but also because with the added grain consumption, I've been experiencing mild anxiety. Nothing like the anxiety I used to have, before radically altering my diet. But enough to make me feel uncomfortable, and enough to recognize that my body is telling me to cut it out.

Anyway, on to taco night. Clearly I wasn't about to use some fake, processed soy meat to substitute the real meat in tacos. I made black bean tacos. For the black bean mixture I added the following to a pot:

-2 cans black beans

-3/4 cup corn

-diced onion

-1 small can diced green chiles

-olive oil (ran out of coconut oil)

-chili powder

-cumin

I also sauteed some peppers and onion in olive oil and garlic, and added cumin. I made my own pico de gallo, because I love that shit. Tomatoes, lemon juice, onions, garlic, cilantro.

Taco bar.

And I had leftovers for work the next day. I just added the black beans to the peppers and topped with the pico.

Not a healthy as a primal meal but you could definitely do worse.