Island Fresh.

I haven't lived so close to a body of water until now. Apparently that has something to do with the humidity factor.

But this water business also results in lots of seafood restaurants. Who woulda thought? Not I. 

The very first real meal that I cooked in my new place was inspired by the plethora of seafood restaurants I saw on the boardwalk. 

Super easy, super healthy, and a super awesome way to trick your meat-eating friends into eating vegetarian! Win^3.

I like to call these Island Fresh Tacos (inspired by fish tacos). 

Here's the lowdown. 

Corn+wheat tortillas topped with:

• Pan fried tofu (cut into strips)
• Raw red cabbage
• Pico de gallo
• Greek yogurt
• Salsa verde
• Freshly squeezed lime juice

Served alongside some spanish brown rice.

Eating these made me feel like I was actually on an island. Is that weird?

I don't think so. In fact, it's weird if you don't try this.

Just kidding. Peer pressure anyone?

Told you these would be worth the wait! 

Foodie finds.

I worked out for the first time in over a week, and guess what I did? Zumba! No better way to get acclimated in a new city than to dance around with people. The coolest part was that it was on a boardwalk, which was pretty awesome (and humid). But luckily nobody was judging my insane frizzy hair because everyone there was too worried/self-conscious about their dance moves. It worked out well.

I've been doing lots of exploring lately to get my bearings straight. Yesterday, I found a conveniently located smoothie shop right by a gym.

I usually prefer making my own smoothies, but I've only begun to stock my fridge with essentials. Plus, this particular smoothie included lots of interesting ingredients, including rice milk, protein powder, and turbinado sugar! Fancy.

Today, I went to check out the local farmer's market. Unfortunately it was a lot smaller than I imagined it would be. Fortunately, it was located right next to a health food store. Obviously I couldn't leave without stopping in. Obviously.

I came out with a few awesome foodie finds, including this:

An entire bottle of kombucha filled with CHIA SEEDS! I've really been missing my chia seeds lately, as I seriously cannot seem to find them anywhere here. This bottle was awesome. If you aren't familiar with kombucha, it's fermented tea that has tons of health benefits. While I find it delicious/refreshing, I know that it is definitely an acquired taste for others. 

While I can't find the typical foodie items I'd normally get (chia seeds, puffed grains, tempeh, etc), I must say that I've found lots of other stuff that is pretty cool. Like, for example, the tortilla selection. I've never seen tortillas like what I've seen here! 

If you're even remotely a follower of my blog, you know that I have this slight obsession with corn tortillas. I can't help it, even though I want to like whole wheat tortillas more. So I'm sure you can imagine my excitement upon discovering these tortillas made of corn and wheat! They have the taste of corn, but the satiety factor of wheat. The best of both worlds! I found these alongside a packet of cinnamon tortillas which I also ended up picking up. I'm planning on rolling them up with some almond butter for a quick snack in the near future. 

As for what I made with the corn+wheat tortillas, you'll have to stay tuned until tomorrow. You won't want to miss this one! But really, for all you meat eaters, this might be your next go-to vegetarian recipe :).

Peaches 'n' cream.

I have not yet cooked a real meal at my new place and yet my fridge is almost at capacity. I don't understand. But I can tell you for sure that if I were to nominate the best on-the-go breakfast, it would be oatmeal. I'm not a huge fan of hot oatmeal, but it is quite convenient. Before I left, I put some oats, chia seeds, dried cranberries, and nuts into a ziploc bag and it was ready to go with some milk or water! Oh, and I also topped it with my crumbly sunflower seed butter which also travels quite well!

My first breakfast at my new place was another bowl of oatmeal. But this time, it included some fresh peaches.  Peaches 'n' cream oatmeal, if you will. Not related to the instant kind you get in a box. I say nay to those boxed oatmeals with too much sugar!

Quite good, I must say, despite the fact that oatmeal is not my preferred breakfast of choice. I think it was those peaches that made the difference! But enough about oatmeal.

Remember the time I posted this picture and didn't tell you what it was?

My recipe for this egg (white) drop soup is up on Greatist. Go check it out! It's a super healthy, low-calorie soup that can definitely be eaten chilled.

And now to go check out the overflowing fridge for some food. And maybe get in a workout. Perhaps. I haven't exercised since last week...yikes! But I've been moving stuff, and I like to think that totally counts as a workout. As I like to say, whatever gets you moving!!

Moist.

Hellooo from the Lone Star State! Where my hair is curlier and frizzier than ever. And stepping outside is like stepping into a sauna.

Just stopping in quickly to let you know that I'm here (and alive) so don't worry! I know you were. But the past few days have been so insanely busy that I haven't even thought about blogging. Actually, I did, and then I decided that watching TV seemed like a much better idea.

Here are some pics to keep you busy for the next day or two before I write a real post. Enjoy!

Desert

Real Indian food--on the go! 

More desert

The following were taken at a lunchtime BBQ...

Grilled watermelon + veggie burgers

Grilled corn

Some of the spread (minus the meat for obvious reasons!)

My plate: veggie burger + sauteed peppers & onions + cheese + red quinoa salad

I went to a buffet for lunch today and forgot to take pictures. Who am I? Apparently I forgot that I blog or something. I think the humidity is messing with me.

TFG On the Go.

This is going to be a post full of pictures! I am cleaning my camera up and updating my blog with everything before I MOVE tomorrow!

Expect the sporadic posting to commence...now. But, on the bright side, you'll get to see lots of on-the-go snacks!! And moving adventures (maybe)!

But for now, I'd like to show you some things I've made this week.

1. Oatmeal for breakfast. I should have posted this picture on my last post! This bowl was regular hot oatmeal cooked with frozen cherries and chia seeds, and topped with almond butter.

2. Spring rolls!!! This is another thing I've been wanting to make for so long. Once I made it, I was so sad that it had taken me so long to do so. All you have to do is buy some spring roll wrappers (super cheap and easy to find at any Asian store),

and fill them with ANYTHING. Seriously, anything your heart desires. I chose raw cabbage, carrots, and cilantro.

Okay. It's a little weird that the spring roll is on a towel. But I have an explanation.

To make the spring rolls, fill a plate up with water. Then, take out one spring roll wrapper and soak it in the water for literally two seconds. If the other side isn't wet, flip the wrapper around and make sure that both sides have been soaked in the water. Then, quickly & carefully transition the wet wrapper onto a damp towel or cloth. Quickly fill the wrapper with fillings of choice and wrap it up. (Quick is the keyword because the wrapper gets sticky really fast!)

I made a "peanut" sauce by mixing together some sunflower seed butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, water, and sriracha. This is an awesome snack idea because the rolls stay together with no problem whatsoever, and no cooking is involved. Unless you count putting water on a plate as cooking.

3. Speaking of sunflower seed butter, I attempted to make some with the food processor. I had lots and lots of sunflower seeds, so it was only the logical thing to do.

UH. Let's just say that almond butter is a lot easier to make. A lot times 1,000,000. Why? Because it involves processing...and processing...and processing...

Several tablespoons of oil, some brown rice syrup, and 20 minutes of processing later...

...it was still not my creamy dreamy sunflower seed butter. In fact, it was literally like cookie dough.

I shouldn't have ever called my pop'ums cookie dough balls, because they didn't really have the texture of cookie dough. But my sunflower seed butter, on the other hand, definitely has the texture of cookie dough. Unfortunately, it's hard to spread "cookie dough" on bread. I did scoop some onto my oatmeal today. Fortunately, it was still delicious. Like unbaked cookies in oatmeal. How can that ever go wrong?

Speaking of pop'ums...

4. I made some peanut butter pop'ums with the above sunflower seed butter! You know, since the food processor was out already. And I needed more snacks for the road!

I only made one change to this batch from the original recipe. Instead of puffed brown rice I used puffed millet. It gave it a chewier texture, really similar to a granola bar. But healthier! Oh, and I froze them. It was a nice little frozen granola treat. Highly recommend.

I'll stop tooting my own horn now.

But I will leave you with this, because it's not hot enough outside.

See ya from...well, you'll see (maybe)! Vague enough?

TFG recommends: Full-Body Weights Circuit

Stuff I Eat.

Lately I've had questions about what exactly I eat.

That probably sounds odd considering I bombard provide you with tons of recipes. I used to do a lot of "this is what I ate today" posts, but this summer has mostly been spent experimenting with new recipes. So for all of my new readers, this post is for you :).

I start off my day with a filling breakfast. Every. Single. Day. I never skip breakfast because it's my favorite meal! (And because I always wake up hungry). I haven't taken that many pictures of my breakfasts lately, but here are a few examples of what I like to eat in the morning:

Large smoothies (milk + 1/2 frozen banana + frozen blueberries or cherries + a couple of spoonful of uncooked oats + chia seeds + sometimes frozen spinach) topped with granola and/or some kind of nut butter.

Overnight oats (1/2 cup oats + milk + chia seeds + frozen berries mixed and set in the fridge overnight, usually top with nut butter in the morning). Bonus: in a nut butter jar! 

Whole grain toast topped with sunflower seed butter or almond butter + jelly/honey/cinnamon/whatever else I feel like.

I'm more of a carb-oriented person in the morning, although sometimes I do have a large enough appetite to stomach an egg in the form of an omelette!

In terms of my lunches/dinners, you've seen pretty much everything there is to see. But just to give you a few (very few!) examples:

Indian food. Whole wheat chapatti + chana (garbanzo beans) + potato curry + spicy mango pickle

Whole wheat pita stuffed with hummus (bonus: homemade!) and veggies of choice and maybe even a homemade veggie burger. I really like making a salad with lettuce or spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers and stuffing it in the pitas.

Stir-frys of all kinds. Usually served with brown rice or quinoa.

Homemade pizzas with whole wheat crust.

And as for snacks, I eat them all the time. Healthy snacks, of course.

Corn on the cob, so good!

Dates stuffed with sunflower seed butter (bonus: stuff them with some chocolate chips and microwave them for a few seconds!)

Banana soft serve: my go-to healthy dessert

Kale chips. Hmmm... this is a good reminder to make some for myself soon!

Hopefully this answers some of your questions and maybe even gives you some meal ideas for the near future. And also, keep those questions coming, I really like hearing from you!

We be skewin'.

There's this thing I've been wanting to make all summer long, and this weekend, I finally got around to it.

Roasted vegetable skewers!!

But not just any roasted vegetable skewers. Because that's no fun.

I need some spice in life.

Enter:

Tandoori paste. I found this in the Indian aisle at Lee Lee market, but I'm sure it's available at any Asian or Indian store.

I basically followed the directions on the bottle on how to make Tandoori Chicken. But of course I didn't use chicken. Instead, I used a variety of chopped veggies (red bell pepper/mushroom/zucchini) and some tofu that I lightly fried.

I marinated the veggies and tofu in the Tandoori paste (mixed with a bit of plain yogurt) overnight.

Then assembled them on skewers...

The engineer in me has to do everything symmetrically, especially when it comes to cooking. If you haven't noticed already.

Bake in the oven at 350F for 20-25 minutes. These would have been infinitely better had I been able to grill them! But they were still deeelicious.

So delicious. In fact, I couldn't stop eating these! Eating too many vegetables should not be considered a problem.

Pseudo-Indian food is the best! Speaking of Indian food, I learned how to cook dal today! Get excited.