Grains on the Brain

Happy Tuesday to you!

This day has been a little more hectic than most, mainly because at 4:15 my third coworker called in sick and, therefore, left all the work for two of us. And let me tell you, we do a TON of work in the early hours of the morning….I was so busy that I didn’t get to eat breakfast until 8:30! Good thing I had a great early morning snack—

8 oz of Greek yogurt + a crumbled Weetabix biscuit with a drizzle of agave. Great combo of protein and carbs to fuel me for the next five hours!

I couldn’t wait to finally eat breakfast though because I brought something totally new this morning! Let’s play “guess that grain”!

If you guessed barley you were correct! Having been inspired by both Chocolate Covered Katie and Heather, I finally got around to making blended grains last night in the Vita Mix! Basically, I cooked 1 cup dry barley on the stove yesterday afternoon for 45 minutes. Then, I took 3/4 cup of the cooked barley, combined it with a splash of silk light vanilla and pureed it in the Vita Mix until smooth and creamy…adding a little extra water because it was dry. This morning at work, I stirred in a whopping spoonful of almond butter.

It was great! VERY filling….I ate this at 8:30 and was set until 1:00, no problem. This is definitely the best use for my Vita Mix so far! I can’t believe how totally CREAMY the grains get! Girls, you are geniuses! =) I will definitely do this again in the future. Like maybe tomorrow?! 😉

As for lunch, I had a special date!

(please excuse my gross white uniform and been-up-since-3 am hair)

Anne P and I have been planning on getting lunch now at Greenwise for almost a month and today was finally the day! Anne teaches English in the Czech Republic and is here for her spring break…how cool is that?! I had so many questions for her and am totally obsessed fascinated with her life. We both got mix-and-match lunches from the deli and salad bar and shared some very garlic-y hummus!

This is a big salad with organic greens, snow peas, bell peppers, corn, red onions, grape tomatoes and a sprinkle of feta topped with vegan quinoa salad (full delicious dried cranberries and sunflower seeds!) and a big ol’ scoop of hummus for dressing. I ate a ton of hummus because it was soooo good! Probably 1/2 cup in total?

My favorite Fuze to drink:

The CURE is you, Erica!!! =)

After lunch we chatted some more and she bought some of my oatmeal bread! Then, I drove her home like a good date should :). We are hopefully planning to get together one more time for a run before she goes back to Europe on Saturday.

When I got home I decided to do something different than the typical yoga, run or strength routine at the Y. The day was absolutely glorious so I decided to take a bike ride! Actually, should I say, an outdoor spinning class, because this was not your typical bike ride! I rode for 40 minutes and really challenged myself the whole way with a series of gear intervals and speeds. My heart rate was way up there the entire time and when I fell got off the bike, I stretched and stretched and hydrated with a cold glass of coconut water.

Not long after, I headed to the kitchen for some grub. On the menu tonight: baked tofu with veggie risotto and honey carrots

I bathed 1/3 block of tofu in:

• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• splash of rice wine vinegar
• splash of tamari
• drizzle of agave
• tons of red pepper flakes

Then I baked the thin slabs at 400 for about 15 minutes per side. The flavor was wonderful! The risotto was courtesy of my mom, who prepared it before work. She did tell me she used onion, bell pepper, parmesan cheese and veggie broth in it though and it was creamy and rich.

I also had a side of vitamins—

I am really trying to get better with taking these bad boys.

And for dessert, some organic super dark chocolate:

**Awesome news for my Meatless in March friends!!**

Amy’s Kitchen has so generously offered a recyclable and durable shopping bag full of Curried Dal Soup (my favorite!) along with a cute Amy’s soup mug to one lucky Meatless in March participate. So, on the last day of the month when I do the random drawing, the winner will not only receive a big batch of home cooked Super Charge Me cookies, but also a present from Amy’s!

Its 5:15 and time for tea, bath & book. Wind down mode starts now.

ps—Awesome giveaway coming tomorrow at lunch! Stay tuned!