The BEST Party (WIAW)

Hey ya’ll! Welcome to the best day of the week, WIAW. Hosted by the one of the sweetest hosts Jenn. Today is super special for some reason. It must be the WIAW magic going on, but I have been so happy. For one, I created a tumblr. Hahaha. Yes, I’m a dork, but I really like just having a thing of pictures. Check it out or follow me, Functional Foodie. In other news, I got on the Dean’s list at school for making a 4.0. Success. Also, I’m going to be assisting my functional foods professor in research with tomatoes and broccoli on prostate cancer. Even better is that she said I could focus on the inflammation part of the research since I have arthritis and that is what I’m interested in studying in. MORE news is that I am going to apply for a research grant to start up my own research about arthritis. Oh yessssssss. Oh and I am going to apply for some scholarships and hopefully I get them. Did I mention that I won 200$ to Lulu Lemon. God I’m fantastic. Enough about me, let us get back to the real reason you came to my blog, the food.

Mmmmm. A veggie omelet for breakfast. I have been loving the switch to eating vegetarian. It actually isn’t hard, so I don’t know why more people don’t do it. The benefits outweigh the juiciness of meat. This omelet has the best melty cheese in it. I was impressed with my omelet making skills at 6:30 am. Way to go Lindsay! The omelet had green peppers, onions, mushrooms, and low fat mexican cheese. Soooo goood. Definitely the best thing to eat before going to the gym and then heading to my Food Systems and Management class.

This was the best sandwich combination EVER. First layer was PB2 peanut butter. Then on top of that was a few slices of banana. Next were a couple of sliced strawberries. To finish it off there was an organic raspberry jam. Perfection. Not only is it tasty, but it was also really filling. I’m going to have to eat this now ALL THE TIME. Must invest in some more jam because that was the last of it. I’m going to bust out this sandwich in all kind of flavors. I wonder what will be the best combo?

For dinner, it was tofu. What could I just throw together really quickly? Hmm stir fry? Yes with spicy peanut sauce? OH YES. First I chopped up all my tofu into small cubes. Yeah it made a lot of tofu. Barely fit into the pan. I sprayed the pan with some cooking spray and cooked the tofu until it was brown on all sides. I like my tofu sort of crispy.

I then threw in some broccoli and chopped onions to the mix. Cooked those for a few minutes in the pan and then added the special sauce. My sauced contained PB2, soy sauce, spicy asian sauce, ketchup, and a small amount of brown sugar. It was epic. I cooked it for a couple of more minutes and I was ready to eat. I was hoping that it wasn’t too spicy because sometimes I have problems with the asian sauce and overloading too much in the pan.

Luckily it wasn’t too spicy. Sorry for the dark picture. I was in my room watching 30 rock and realized I needed to take a picture of my plate. It was really delicious though. I definitely am going to have to actually put some real effort into perfecting this recipe, so I can share it with ya’ll. Luckily I just bought two more packages of tofu!

Dessert! Seriously the best time of the day. Why are these vitatops soooo freaking expensive because they are so delicious. I want to try more flavors, but it is impossible to find more than just the chocolate one where I am. I’m probably going to go on the hunt for some this weekend. Oh yeah. I live a real exciting life. Anyways, I had the chocolate one and topped it with sliced strawberries and whipcream. I really know how to treat myself. Oh I’m fancy huh. So good.

Anyways, I’m going to go back to celebrating my awesomeness and watch more episodes of 30 Rock!

Anything good happen to you lately?
Do you watch 30 rock?

Going down the veggie path (WIAW)

Hey ya’ll! I have finally decided to come back from my period of rest and dealing with complicated things to bring you a wonderful What I Ate Wednesday post. After reading a variety of books like the China Study, I have decided that I’m going to eat vegetarian for 4 days of the week out of 7. Another reason is because my future roommate is a vegan and I can’t wait to enjoy some amazing meals with her. Eventually I may go full veggie, but lets be honest with ourselves I really do love me some good pieces of meat. Mainly healthier cuts of meat like lean turkey, chicken (not so much anymore after watching Food Inc a million times, but still like it), and I love fish. Maybe I’ll go the pescatarian route. We shall see, but in the mean time I want to give a big thanks to Jenn from Peas and Crayons for hosting this awesome day. Seriously it brought me out of my sad funk.

Get this party stared on a Thursday morning….yes I rewrite songs.

I have no idea what my images are being stupid right now, but for some reason my breakfast wants to be sideways. For my first day as a vegetarian, I had cinnamon burst cheerios, banana slices, blueberries, and almond milk. I actually was going to have oatmeal, but I woke up so late that I did not have time to prepare it to my high standards. I was going to be late to class, so I opened my cupboard and was like oh thank god I bought some cereal the other day. Good buy for once at the grocery store (unlike the bag of chocolate chips and marshmallows that I decided I needed).

Okay, so I guess all my photos will be crooked. Oh well. That is me. For lunch I decided that I wanted some brunch. Actually I was at my mom’s for an infusion treatment that I had to go to later in the day, so all she really had to eat was eggs. I made an egg white omelet with tons of veggies. It had mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Yummmy. Oh and obviously cheese because truth be told cheese is the best food in the entire world (besides candy). The omelet was tasty and very filling, so my stomach survived my 2 and a half hour infusion treatment. Success.

For dinner, I picked up my younger brother and a friend of mine and then we met another one of my friends at this amazing Thai restaurant in Austin called Titayas. Isn’t the name fab? I love making jokes about how I’m going to be getting some titties or how I want tits. They should really just change their name to Tits. Yes, I have the humor of a 13 year old boy. Anyways, after waiting for 30 minutes for a table, we sat down and ordered appetizers. My brother and I split an order of mushrooms. Best choice. They were lightly battered and topped with a sweety and spicy thai sauce. It was a great combination with the simple taste of mushrooms.

For my entree, I decided on yellow curry with tofu. I’m going to be honest here and tell you that I have been craving curry and tofu for weeks now, so I actually already knew what I was going to order before we even got there. It was a good choice because the curry was more sweet and not as spicy as expecting. I love spicy things, but curry can be way too spicy and make you sweat. My brother for example. He ordered a green curry and holy heck it was so spicy. My eyes watered when I sampled it and he was sweating to death in the restaurant. That was actually funny though. He makes me laugh. My two friends both ordered chicken pad thai without bean sprouts. It was cute because they are actually roommates and I was like no wonder they get along so well, they like the same things. It was a great meal with good company.

Cake balls are the best dessert to have after an amazing day. Really though. These especially. I had a cake ball at Starbucks over break that was peppermint brownie. So good. I decided that I could recreate this (especially with my new pan) and not have to shell out a ridic amount of money for one stupid cake ball. Another point for Lindsay. They turned out so good. I made a batch of brownies and let them undercook a little, so they were super gooey. I rolled them into balls and stuck lollipop sticks into them then placed them in the freezer for a little while. I then rolled them in melted white chocolate bark and then quickly sprinkled them with crushed peppermints. These were a big success. Everyone loves them. I’m going to have to start creating crazy cake balls.

I’m going to end the day with a laugh. I saw this shirt at Walmart in Missouri while I was there for my grandpa’s funeral service. In such a dark time, this shirt brought some joy to my life, so hopefully it will make ya’ll laugh. Surprise. I bought one. It is green with a huge cat’s face on it. I wear it around my apartment. It is pretty epic, not gonna lie.

Hope everyone has a great day!

What is your opinion about these crazy animal shirts, like the famous wolf one?
What is your favorite thai dish?

Eat Your Eggs

Hey ya’ll! Hope everyone had a good Friday night. I tried to go to bed early, but no someone wanted to ruin my good night of sleep by throwing a loud party next door, screaming bloody murder about things I could not even understand, and talking loud on the phone or computer (not really sure which one). Enough with complaining because that won’t do anything for the situation. It has been a productive morning though. I have gotten through most of my ten page anatomy and physiology review, so I’m in a good mood again. Plus UT women’s volleyball won last night in an extremely close match against Kentucky in their home stadium. Oh yeaaah. Tonight we play UCLA and I’m super nervous already because they sweeped Penn State (an enemy of UT).

Today I’m bring something new to my blog. I’m going to start focusing on more food, health, and nutrition related stuff because when I started this blog that was pretty much the purpose, but my funniness and goofiness sort of took over. Each week, usually on Fridays, but because I got that award I’m doing it on Saturday this week, I will do a post totally focused on some important nutrition fact. Today I’m focusing on breakfast. My favorite time of the day. Ya’ll know why. OATMEAL, but there is more to breakfast than just oats.

In my mind, breakfast is probably the most important meal of the day. Due to the gap between our last meal from the night before and the next morning, our brain and muscles need a source of energy to function. Without a real meal, you will still be able to get through the day, but having a hearty meal allows you to concentrate better, be more productive, and feel less lethargic. Besides providing general body function, eating breakfast has shown to actually help you lose weight instead of gain. Most people assume the opposite, but by not eating breakfast people tend to eat more later on in the day not realizing that calories add up quickly. Metabolism is key in this because by eating breakfast it allows your body to keep your metabolism running instead of slowing it down, which is key in weight loss.

“I don’t like breakfast foods”, “I don’t have time to eat breakfast”, or “I don’t get full from breakfast” are some of the common things we hear when it comes to morning meal discussion, but don’t worry I have some healthy choices for you to eat.

Blackberry Cheesecake Oats (Gluten Free)
1/3 c. Gluten Free Oats
1 1/3 c. water
1/2 c. low fat cottage cheese
3/4 c. blackberries
1 packet of truvia
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 tbsp of PB2

1. Make the oats either the day of or the night before by microwaving oats and water for 2:55, letting sit in microwave for 5 minutes, then placing in the fridge.
2. Place cottage cheese, truvia, and vanilla extract in oats and mix well.
3. Microwave half of the blackberries for about one minute or until warm and there is blackberry juice present.
4. Pour microwaved blackberries in oatmeal and mix well.
5. Top with remaining blackberries and 2 tbsp of PB2

Of course I’m going to say oatmeal is a good option for breakfast, but it is not just because I love it. Oatmeal is a good source of fiber, protein, and it is low fat. Due to its fiber and protein content, it allows you to stay full longer than a sugary cereal or granola bar would. Besides having just a good nutrient composition, oatmeal can also be considered a functional food because oats have shown to lower cholesterol, blood pressure, blood triglycerides, increases insulin sensitivity, and lowers the risk of coronary heart disease. Sign me up please. Besides the oats, adding fruit increases the fiber content even more and blackberries are also a functional food. The cottage cheese is a source of dairy, and the peanut butter is a healthy fat. Now that is a meal that packs a healthy punch, will keep you full for hours, is easy to make if you are in a hurry, and you can create a bowl of oatmeal to your liking.

Finally I make a perfect omelet and the picture comes out blurry. Just my luck. Anyways, eggs are always a good option for breakfast. Personally I use egg whites instead of whole eggs because the yolk in eggs contains high cholesterol and fat, and when you switch to egg whites you are still getting a ton of nutritional benefits. Most of an egg’s protein is actually from the egg white or albumin, so by consuming egg whites only you are not missing out on benefits. The protein will help keep you full until your mid day snack or next meal. Egg whites are low in calories, so you can increase your nutrient intake and add more food items to bulk it up with flavor and calories. I usually fill my omelet with a minimum of two vegetables (but usually more) and another source of protein. In this omelet, I have mushrooms, onions, green peppers, slices of ham, and low fat shredded cheese. The vegetables provide fiber, the ham increases the protein amount, and the cheese is a good source of healthy dairy. This is pretty easy to cook, the eggs coagulate pretty quickly, and yet again you can customize an omelet to your liking. I choose to make this breakfast before I go to the gym and head to class after I work out, and it tends to keep me full until after my class. Pretty successful, don’t you think?

While I’m not an advocate of quick breakfasts, sometimes you are in a real rush and you don’t have time to whip up an omelet or a bowl of oats, so frozen products can be a healthy alternative depending on what you are choosing. Obviously you shouldn’t be eating toaster pastries, but by choosing products that have flaxseed and more nutritional ingredients you are saving yourself from the harms of high fat foods. These are Vans Gluten Free Blueberry Waffles with sliced strawberries and sugar free syrup on top of them. In order to make a quick product more filling, add things such as fruit to increase the amount of filling fiber in a meal. Another alternative you can do with waffles is make a sandwich with an egg, a couple slices of meat, veggies, and cheese. This way you are eating a more filling meal that will help you get through the long hours in a day.

Some of my random breakfast advice:
1. Drink a glass of water while preparing your breakfast, and then another while you eat. This will help you make sure you get all of your daily water intake.
2. Do not eat bars for a meal. They will not fill you up, they do not provide an adequate amount of nutrients, and you will end up consuming more. If you do this at least make sure you pair it with some fruit and other small items like a greek yogurt.
3. Just don’t skip breakfast!

Hope everyone has a lovely Saturday! I will hopefully be attending the UT mens basketball game, but if not I’m going home to my mom’s for a couple of days to do some last minute things before Israel and to get some peaceful sleep before my two biggest finals.

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
What is your best advice to others in regards to breakfast?

Top Ten Tuesday

Hey ya’ll. Hope you are having an awesome Tuesday. Lets celebrate because the week is almost over. At least for me. HA HA HA. I love that I do not have classes on Fridays. BEST. MOVE. EVER. Anyways while I was laying in bed today watching episodes of Mad Men (I know I get A’s, but I really just sit around watching tv on my computer all day – just kidding mom), and I came up with the greatest idea ever for my tuesday posts. Top Ten Lists. Lindsay, have you gone crazy? Well no because I already am, but top ten lists are epic. Seriously. Get with the program. Top ten lists were huge with my Jewish youth group, BBYO. During regional meetings or chapter meetings, you could make top ten lists about ANYTHING you wanted to be read in between segments of the meeting. Some got hilarious: Top ten reasons why we love Sheriff Horny Muffin (long story – don’t ask) or they would be serious (those people were totally lame though, didn’t know how to have a good time) or they would be just plain boring like top ten chick flicks (ummm hello we are already sitting through a boring meeting please bring some ounce of entertainment to our lives). Hit it, don’t quit it (or don’t leave my webpage, even if you think I’m a nut):

Top Ten Things You Need to Know In Order to Survive Life:

10. How to not burn the house down. Never let water splash into the pan because it will make the oil hop into the flame. Explosion. True life experience: almost burnt my house in Boston down while making dumplings. Damn those dumplings for being so good, but maybe not worth the huge flame that appeared and touched the ceiling. Now I am the master of the pan or at least I decided to live in a place with electric stove top rather than gas. I think it was a safer choice for the entire world. Anyways now I can safely make breakfasts like this:

Omelet with mushrooms, onions, and ham. Breakfast of Champions. I'm a bad Jew, now I'll probably be looked down upon. Oh well totally worth it.

9. Make sure you look at the name you are texting before you actually send the text. You really don’t want to pull a Lindsay and text the guy your dating about how much you hate one of his friends that is a girl. I mean really, saying that you can’t wait to share a bed with him, that is so tacky, especially because you had a boyfriend. BUT still read your texts because you really do not want to spend an entire two weeks trying to apologize for something that you aren’t actually sorry for. Tough life. I know.

8. Actually look at food before sticking it in your mouth. This will save you tons of medical bills and free you from intestinal pain. One night I came home to my mom’s place, and was STARVING. I could not find anything in the house until I found some bread in a plastic bag in the fridge. Hmmm sort of weird that there are only two slices in a bag in the fridge? Whatever I’m hungry. I made a sandwich. Later that night. WHERE IS MY SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT? wtf. Oh awesome I just ate your project for mold growth. Epic life fail. Life lesson: use your eyeballs.

7. Use your assets. Sorry boys, not that any read the blog, but using what god gave you is the best advantage to being a girl. For instance, make friends with the fish monger. In the end, a few minutes of meaningless flirtation, will get you amazing deals on fish. I’m a cheap Jew, we know that, so I don’t like dropping cash for fresh fish. Thankfully, I used my brain, and decided to get my flirt on at whole foods leading to this beauty and then some for a cheaper price than listed:

Salmon with a mango-coconut spread. So delicious. Just what the doctor ordered.

6. Always wear underwear to the gym or leave yourself a note to remember to bring some. I mean who really wears underwear with spandex shorts? Umm no one I know. Or maybe I’m just creepy and weird. Probably that one. The other day I was in a total rush in the morning, so guess what I forgot? My underwear. I had to go commando all day – wow, yes I just scarred you for life with my disgusting life stories – but hey I’m trying to teach you a life lesson. Some people try to pull this off as sexy? Umm no. Especially with your wearing a dress. That was not a good day. At all.

5. Watch where you are driving. More like pay attention to everything. You would think this is an obvious one, but no obviously I’m usually focused on more important things while driving. Yeah, like about how quick I can get to 6th street so I can get drunk. Not one of my better moments. I ran into my mom’s garage door. Knocking it completely off. To make it even better, my mom was out of town. I called her bf, so he came over to help me and my friend put it back up. Then I thought it was a good idea to ask him if he thought it was a good idea to go out. Yeah definitely didn’t have my brain on that night.

4. Worship your microwave. No seriously. I would be lost without it. Cue in Robin Thicke. Yes I am going to serenade my microwave because I love him so much. Yes he is a him, and he is one of the few guys that is there for me. Can you believe that some people do not know how to use a microwave? Really. How embarrassing. I think those people took too many hits on the bong. Without him, I wouldn’t be able to eat these in the morning when I’m in a rush:

Pumpkin Pie oats with banana slices, PB, GF chocolate chips, and crumbled pumpkin bar. Yeah I eat pumpkin pie oats a lot. Get over it. I don't care.

3. Learn how to manipulate paint or photoshop. Seriously this will come in so much handy. Say you need to skip lab, so you can go to New York City with the guy your dating for Valentines Day weekend? Well think of a pretty creative excuse, then get on the computer. Apparently it was my cousin Craig’s Bar Mitzvah. It was such a lovely ceremony spent on 5th avenue shopping my heart out and attending broadway shows. Weekend well spent all because of Microsoft paint which you can get on Macs:

Look at me now. I'm gettin sneaky.

2. Never mix alcohol with medication. You probably won’t do this if you are smart and actually read the labels, but you never know. Some people – cough,cough- just take pills (even sometimes with alcohol) and consume some booze later in the evening. Life lesson learned. Don’t drink a bunch of alcohol while taking dayquil. Will lead to insane pictures and stealing chocolate milk from a convenience store, but then after having a sip deciding to put it back on the shelf. Yeah, these are things I just don’t recommend doing.

Apparently licking yourself while dancing is the new thing to do.

 And the Number 1 thing you need to know in order to survive life is…………

1. Wear a condom. #duh. It is shocking how many people don’t know about STDs and getting pregnant. Really now? Use google. Great invention. Trust me, you want to use a condom because otherwise you may give birth and not even remember it. Meet my son:

I sort of wish he was actually mine. I would definitely be one proud white momma.

Hope everyone had a great day! So excited for WIAW tmmrw! Oh wait AND MY BIRTHDAY!!!! On top of that I GOT PICKED TO GO TO ISRAEL. Seriously my life is just falling in place. It is about time.

What is your advice for surviving life?
Have you ever made top ten lists?

It’s survey time

Hey Ya’ll. I wish I could give you a super stellar post that is filled with my usual hilarious non-sense, but I’m so busy studying for my exams that I don’t have the time to give you my full effort. I definitely never want to post anything that isn’t up to my personal standards. I know I’m crazy. I hold myself to a certain standard. I LOVE surveys. I think they let you get to know someone pretty well in a fun way! Hit it.

Omelet for breakfast. Eggwhites. Onions. Peppers. Mushrooms.CHEESE!

 Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed? I’m about to sound like a crazy person. I sleep with my closet doors closed because one time it was really late at night (I was sort of delusional – blame it on the al-al-alcohol or maybe I’m just weird), but I thought I saw the scary chick from the ring in my closet. It gave me nightmares. Never again would I have my closet door open.

Do you ever dance even if theres no music playing? Who doesn’t?!? Wow, after two questions and I’m really starting to think that I’m just a straight up nut that escaped the loony bin. When I get excited about things, like a good grade or a new guy likes me, I’ll just bust out my best dance moves wherever I am.

This is my day. If reading about things that cause vomiting isn't exciting, then I don't know what is

Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some? Why would I tell you. I wouldn’t be a very good pirate if I gave you the secrets to my treasure chest.

What is your usual bedtime? Wow, I’m about to show my true colors. Underneath this young skin, I’m an old person. SURPRISE. I went through a really great surgical procedure to get younger skin placed all over me. I try to be in bed at 930-10 pm on weekdays. I have officially reached pathetic. I have 8 ams! I’m just gonna tell myself that to make me feel better.

Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? A mermaid. I’m still kind of banking on that field to have some openings once I graduate. I hear the water is lovely this time of year. Plus I’ve been working really hard to get into mermaid shape. Laying on a rock all day is the life.

I like salads, esp for lunch. Hate me for it, I'll still be eating them.

 Take a vitamin daily? Nope. According to my functional foods prof, vitamins and supplements just mean that you are paying to have expensive piss. I would rather spend my money on another box of rice puffins than vitamins. Plus I’m a good nutrition student, and get most of my vitamins naturally.

Ever won a contest? A year supply of tampons. I think this company was run by men though. They gave me three of the smallest boxes I have ever seen. I’m sorry, but girls go through more tampons than that boys. Think again. Total contest fail.

Yogurt, strawberries, GF choco chips = nom nom nom. I stole that chococat spoon from Yogurtland. I couldn't resist. Actually I lied. I "borrowed" a bunch more than just this one.

 Who was your HS crush? I should just let this out right now: I get a little boy crazy. Who didn’t I have a crush on in high school? My older brother’s entire basketball team, guys in my youth group…this list could get out of control, I’m just gonna stop now.

Who or what sleeps with you? Hippo. He is pink and pretty awesome. We have sweet conversations at night. I bring him everywhere because for some weird reason, besides being old, I’m also a five year old deep down and can’t sleep without Hippo.

Ever met anyone famous before? Crazy story, but my great uncle was Brutus in Popeye with Robin Williams. I love to give shout outs to Jews in the movies. There aren’t enough of us out there. It’s probably because the big noses. Just kidding!

My dinner tonight. Shrimp and spaghetti Squash. MMMM. Finally cooked a spaghetti squash without cutting my finger open. It's a weeee bit blurry. Ooops.

Single or Taken? Hey there good lookin. Oh yeah, I’m single. Sort of ready to mingle, but when do I even have time to look. There should be an online order form where you can pick out the type of guy you want. Anyways I’m gonna write a pretty epic post coming up in the next week about why I think I’m single.

What’s something you MUST do before you die? Run the Boston Marathon in a pink tutu. Yeah, I just said it. You know that you are now super excited for that day to come, so you can go up to Boston and cheer on my pathetic attempt at running (hopefully by then I will have conquered running). This is actually on my bucket list, which is yet another post that will be coming out sometime this week.

Hope ya’ll enjoyed the survey. Now it’s time to go back to doing work. Booo, the book burns my eyes.
Answer some of the survey questions yourself, its kind of fun, plus I would love to learn more about ya’ll!