A Plea For Bagels

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Dear New York Bagel Store Owners,
Please start a store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You are needed, and would do really really well. Thank you,
Beans
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I went to NY this summer, and man do I miss those caloric, carborific bagels!
This morning we grabbed a late breakfast from the only bagel place in Baton Rouge: New York Bagel Co. (If you get a bagel from a coffee shop or restaurant around here, chances are it's from NY Bagels.)
I got an everything bagel with lox, cream cheese, capers, and onions. It came with a pickle and a side of bagel chips.It's tasty, but nothing like the bagels I had on Long Island. Also, I only ate half. There was someone with me who was willing to take care of the rest.
After breakfast we headed straight to my parents. Even though I was not successful on my ultimate pumpkin beer quest, I still brought over a mixed 6 pack. Two each of the following: My dad and I promptly split a Sam Adams Oktoberfest.We ordered Chinese takeout, and had a few more samplings.
On my plate: spicy shrimp with pork fried rice, chicken on a stick, spring roll, and bean curd schezuan style.After lunch, we drank a little blueberry port. This bottle is all the way from Long Island.
Dinner was slightly ambitious, but fun. I decided to roast another chicken with a bunch of root vegetables. This time I used a russet potato, a sweet potato, several carrots, an onion, and lots of garlic. The smell was incredible.
Before that was done, I made juice. Boyfriend is feeling under the weather, and I figured the power of juice could heal him.
I used a grapefruit, 2 gala apples (I held onto the 2 smallest for snacks), a carrot, and 5 small oranges.
This is the wrong way to cut an orange, for sure, but aren't they pretty?
My favorite part about homemade juice is how creamy and frothy it is.
See you tomorrow!

A Leftover Kind of Day

The air felt GREAT today! It's currently 67!


Breakfast: Today I tried the Voskos plain Greek yogurt topped with my own honey. I tried a little without honey too (for fairness), and have to say their 0% is better than Oikos in my opinion. Not that I would turn away any Oikos. If you think that, you're mistaken.
I also had PB Puffins, and coffee. There was a grapefruit planned, but it looked old and gray so it went back into the fridge. Not quite a complete breakfast, but I scraped by.

Snack: Clif bar - last of the PB crunch. Not my favorite. In case anyone is wondering, I eat a snack about an hour before I work out. Anything helps with energy levels and performance. I used to be really anti-protein bars, but I've changed my opinion a little.

Lunch: Is anyone surprised that I'm still eating lentil soup? I have about 6 servings left. They're going in the freezer.And a sweet potato that I baked last night.I tried something that I remembered reading on the daily plate. I put honey on it. Just honey. It was good, but maybe too sweet? I like my sweet potatoes with pepper, or if I'm not caring about calories with butter and peppery seasonings.
My lunch always consists of a big gulp of water too. One in the morning, one after working out.Ah!

Snack: apricots, dates and(I ate the rest of the bag and then took a picture)

Dinner: This has turned out to be leftover week. There was some chicken leftover from my roasting project (5 days old is still good, right?), so we made an old favorite Pasta Pesto with Chicken.
I had an olive and sliced bell pepper on the side.
Links of Note:
Beautiful Farmers Market Soups
Probiotics in Yogurt
WIC Expands to Cover Fresh Produce

Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

Breakfast: This morning I had a grapefruit, and leftover szechwan shrimp. Some bigwigs were coming to the office so I had to make sure the place smelled garlicky and gingery at 8:00 in the morning!I usually drink coffee in the morning, either a quick cup at my house, or one at work, but today I had mint tea.
Around 10:00 AM I had a snack.
Lunch: At lunchtime, instead of going to the gym, I went to Whole Foods!Sometimes I have a hard time going there at lunch because there's so much to choose from. Do I want a salad? Panini? Sushi? How about a hot lunch? Argh! Today I was on a mission to just get a few things (although I forgot my list), and lunch was an afterthought.

Here's the goods: Steel cut oats PB Puffins
Bulk Bin- Nutty Granola and Vanilla Almond Granola (both on sale)
I can't wait to try these! There are so many granolas and cereals in the bulk bins, and I would like to try them all. Usually they rotate what's on sale, so that dictates what I choose to some extent. Also couldn't resist the Death Valley Chipotle Kettle Chips. It is my mission in life to try all of their flavors. Lame, I know. But who could resist flavors like Yogurt and Green Onion, Spicy Thai, Island Jerk, or Cheddar Beer?
Cold stuff:
I'm a huge fan of Fage yogurt, but it's a little pricey. (At my WF it's about 2.69 for a small). Today I picked up Voskos (8 oz, 2/$3.00) to try, and the little packages of Oikos($4.99 4pack the containers are 4 oz). I'll let you know how they are in comparison. Salmon burgers, and tuna burgers:After all that what did I eat for lunch? A simple frozen burrito. Ha! I was looking for inexpensive and fast. I don't usually eat a lot of frozen meals (although I did look at the Kashi), but when I walked past it spoke to me in hushed tones. "Eat me, please" it whispered. So I obliged. With Taco Bell Hot sauce that a co-worker lent me. (Thanks, Pam!)It was goooood.
Snack: Later on I made a rookie mistake. I had too much sugar - 3 dried apricots and a black licorice whip. And an unpictured coffee. In about 10 minutes I felt sick. I blame the licorice.
*Vegetarians beware*
Dinner: Dinner was an undertaking but delicious. I roasted my first chicken! This damn chicken has been defrosting in my fridge for THREE DAYS. Don't believe any article that says 24 hours to defrost. Don't believe anything anyone tells you about poultry. Not your mom, not me. This I believe.
What I did was stuff a few herbs under the skin, along with a few pats of butter. I liberally coated the skin and cavity with coarse sea salt and black pepper. Then into a large heavy pot: one roughly chopped carrot, half a large onion, a quartered sweet potato, and 5 cloves of garlic. The bird was placed on top. It was supposed to be done in an hour (if using high heat-which I did) it was not. It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. It looks like it's diving into the veggies in those pictures. I was flipping it at that point (flipping the bird?) and it's not quite done.
The vegetables became almost candied because of their high sugar. The chicken juices, plus the herbs and butter really made them the best vegetables I had eaten in awhile.The charred remains when deglazed with white wine made a lovely gravy of sorts ontop of leftover wild rice."Best carrots ever" said Boyfriend.
SUCCESS!