food |

The Trail Mix that Makes the Day Worthwhile

Posted on February 27, 2015 by malanger14

I’m trying to eat three smaller meals now and then a couple snacks throughout the day, but what snacks do you eat? It’s obviously super easy to grab a bag o’chips but clearly that doesn’t fit in with my self-imposed “healthy lifestyle.” So I went a-searchin online to find some kind of healthy snack that’s easy to tote to work but also good and easy to eat at my desk. That’s where I came up with their trail mix recipe. I mixed together a few trail mix recipes that I saw online and made one that fits my style.

It only involves three different kinds of fruits and nuts, but obviously add and take away as you please. I used chickpeas, almonds and raisins. I started off by pre-heating the oven to 400 degrees and rinsing and drying a can of chickpeas. Then I tossed the chickpeas in olive oil, salt, and pepper and threw it in the oven for 35-40 min. About half way through I tossed the chickpeas on the cookie sheet so that they could get toasty and delish everywhere. Here’s what they look like post-toasting:

Then I moved onto the almonds. I turned down the oven to 375 and poured about a cup of almonds onto a baking sheet. I tossed them in olive oil and chili powder just to get in a little spicy flavor and threw those in the oven for about 10 minutes. Here’s what those DELICIOUS fools looked like:

After, I just let these delicious almonds and chickpeas cool to room temp and then poured them into an airtight container with some raisins. This lasts in the fridge for about four days, if you don’t eat all of it first!!!

Taking on Lent–in my own Jewish way

Posted on February 18, 2015 by malanger14

Today is Ash Wednesday, and as a Jewish girl who up until high school went to private Jewish school, the idea of putting a cross of ashes on my head always really intrigued me. Along with that, in Wisconsin, there is a large Catholic population so restaurants with a fish fry on Fridays is pretty much the Midwestern norm.

Going along with my healthy kick for 2015, I decided to use Lent to my advantage. Since I have a lot of Catholic friends who will be partaking in observance of this 40 day sacrifice, I’m going to show my support and join them.

Here’s what I’m trying to give up during Lent:

1. No more drinking during the week: While having a glass of wine here or there is totally okay, I’ve realized that my evening vino is just empty calories for me.

2. Less carbs, more protein: My trainer is REALLY pushing the protein with me but honestly I’d much rather have a hefty bowl of pasta than a grilled chicken breast. For Lent, I’m going to try and heed my trainer’s advice and lay off so many carbs and hit the protein harder. Since they say it takes 21 days to break a habit may I’ll actually be able to adjust my carb-loving ways.

3. More cheese, PLEASE?!?!?: Like carbs, cheese is my other nemesis. Liz Lemon’s “night cheese” is my spirit-animal as I could easily sit on my couch and eat a block of sharp cheddar like it’s my job. Like carbs, while dairy isn’t the WORST thing for you, it’s also not the best so I’m going to try to consume a little bit less of the dreaded dairy.

We’ll see if these goals are reasonable ones for me to accomplish, but hey, Jews have suffered for THOUSANDS of years so why can’t I just put down the cheese knife for the 40 days of Lent?!

Starting off my morning right

Posted on February 3, 2015 by malanger14

Okay, so a lot people aren’t like this, but I am a HUGE breakfast fan. Also, as a self-proclaimed J.A.P. (Jewish American Princess for those of you who don’t know the less-offensive acronym) I naturally enjoy a delicious brunch as well. To me there is nothing better than a lazy weekend morning where I start off at a diner or lunch counter for eggs, hashbrowns and toast and a weekend edition of The New York Times.

I wish I also had the luxury to enjoy meals like that on my weekday mornings as well, but between trying to wake up early enough to hit the gym, actually getting my ass to the gym, and then getting ready to go to work–#aintnobodygottimeforthat.

Since I’m consistently rushing in the morning to get ready for work (I will sleep until the last POSSIBLE minute), I typically bring my breakfast with me to work. While a greek yogurt is fine some days, it’s always nice to be able to have some variety.

One of the things I do I my weekends is cook and test out new recipes, especially for meals that are easy to transport to work. One of the recipes that I made this weekend was a sweet potato hash. I literally just look things that I had in my fridge and pantry to make this. Two sweet potatoes, a yellow pepper, onion, grape tomatoes, garlic, cayenne pepper, chili powder, paprika and salt and pepper and let it saute together until the sweet potatoes were cooked. I added the peppers and grapes closer to the end since they need to cook a little less. To pair with it I poached two eggs for my weekend breakfast but for during the week I actually cracked an egg and mixed it with some almond milk and literally poured it on top of the leftovers. Then, when i got into work I just microwaved it like I would typically do to reheat the hash and the eggs scrambled in the microwave. It was great and so filling, especially after the hard workout that I had this morning!

The other thing that I, I guess you could say “succumbed to,” is avocado toast. I feel like every breakfast place in the tri-state area is trying to do their own unique version of avocado toast and I’m like, “Bitches, it’s avocado on toast, what’s original about it?!” Anywho, the idea of bringing already cooked toast with a topping to work sounds unappealing, mostly because by time I get to eat it at my desk it would be soggy and cold. So what I did was bring the bread to work, uncooked, a hard boiled egg, and an avocado half and assembled the meal here. Just smashed up the avocado, toasted the bread at work and cut up the egg and it was good to go!