7 posts tagged “garden fresh”

Sunday was a red letter day because the S.O. suggested going to Garden Fresh all on his own. Now, there's a reason for this. He saw that I was deeply ensconced on the living room couch, laptop on lap, working away, and he figured he didn't have much hope of getting me off that couch unless he proposed going somewhere I love.

Being home and all, in control of my own environment.

But it didn't.

Let's just start off my telling you that I got in my car (while talking on the phone) and drove the 40 minutes or so to work, parked in the parking lot and then realized I had left my laptop at home.

That was an awesome discovery.

So I drove all the way back (and stayed there, frankly.)

I then proceeded to eat Garden Fresh leftovers (yes, from the previous Monday, 4 days earlier) all day until at 10:30PM I realized I was starving. Luckily the S.O. was just leaving work, so I had him pick up a little food.

Breakfast:
Garden Fresh

Lunch:
Garden Fresh

Dinner:
2 Rice and Bean Bowls from Taco Bell

Like I said: You'd think after 3 days of meager offerings in DC, you'd think I'd revel in being in my own home with my own fridge and pantry. But I was so busy, I did not :(

Sometimes I just throw caution to the wind and pick up a little vegan food to go for dinner. Monday night was one of those nights. I was leaving the next morning for a business trip, had a ton of work left to do, and had a pretty scary-looking day of eating up until that point. It was time for a square meal.

Who ya gonna call? Garden Fresh. Even though they're a good 20 minutes from home, I figured I could do a little re-heat if I had to. It was a most satisfying decision.

Breakfast:
Vegan Cherry Pie (see what I mean about scary eating all day)
Organic Oatmeal
Cashews

Lunch:
Cashews
Apricot-Applesauce
Cashews
Vegan Cookie (More well-rounded culinary delights)

Dinner (Graden Fresh):
Drumsticks

Sweet and Sour Pork
Orange Vegetarian Beef
Pepper Chicken (A new one I tried...probably wouldn't order again. Too peppery, imagine that!)

Let's just say that the kind of sick described in this post title is not the kind of sick I usually get. I can usually eat like a horse no matter how poorly I'm feeling.

But this time it has indeed been the kind of sick I've been.

So, we can cover my meals pretty quickly the past three days:

Day 512:
-Didn't eat until I had some tea and some Vegetarian Fried Rice at Jing Jing (business lunch)
-Also pretty stupidly kept my evening plans to see David Gergen speak at Flint Center, and we met at Hobees beforehand. I got a pretty nice salad from the salad bar, but the plate of pasta i ordered didn't appeal to me at all. I left it all sitting there after just a bite or two. (Ever have that where you're sure your tasebuds are a little off? That's how I felt.)

That was it.

Day 513:
-I had a couple of organic Mandarin Oranges and some Edamame during the day, plus a slice of toast with Soy Margarine.
-That evening I did feel a bit hungry, so I cajoled the S.O. into heading out and picking up veggie Chinese food from my favorite place, Garden Fresh...which is about 20 minutes from our house. I made sure to order Carrot Juice, because I thought it sounded healthy, and Tofu/Corn Soup, because soup is good when you're sick. But by the time i filled myself up with those liquids, well, I had filled myself up with those liquids. I ate a couple of Drumsticks and a couple of pieces of Sweet and Sour "Pork", but left most of the food untasted.

And did I mention that even eating that amount of sood seemed to send my stomach into full-on rebellion mode. Let's just say I didn't get much continuous sleep.

Day 514:
-I had some Organic Oatmeal with Cashews.
-I nibbled at the Sweet & Sour Pork I had eschewed the night before.
-I ate half a bagel.

That, again, was it.

Now I have been drinking copious amounts of water, and today I've tried to eat more and more regularly, but I am still shocked at how little my body seems to be asking for food. And seems to not appreciate it when i do give it food.

Broken record time: this is not normal for me.

I think I've decided that if I'm not better tomorrow i'll be taking myself off to the doctor on Wednesday morning. I tend to be a ride-things-out, don't-take-antibiotics-unless-there's-an-actual-reason, they'll-just-tell-me-to-do-what-I've-been-doing kind of gal.

But I'm pretty bored with this odd little stomach-cough thing I have going on.

Yesterday was my birthday, and I celebrated by hitting my favorite vegan Chinese place for lunch with a friend. Good thing I did, since it didn't work out to do anything in the evening, and I ended up with a typical microwave-enabled dinner :)

Breakfast:
Organic Pomegranate Juice
Organic Corn Flakes
Organic Rice Milk
Organic Banana

Lunch (Garden Fresh):
Scallion Pancakes
Sweet & Sour "Pork"
Tofu/Corn Soup
Orange Vegetarian Steak

Snack:
Organic White Corn Chips

Dinner:
Russett Potato
Soy Margarine
Vegan Sour Cream
Vegan Cheddar
Organic Avocado

Yesterday we had a birthday gathering for my mom. It was at her home, so it was potluck with all the kids bringing food. I was of course assigned to bring something vegan, and somehow that included the cake. Frankly, i was shocked my siblings allowed the vegan to bring the cake, but they've had the Whole Foods dense chocolate cake from Black China Bakery before, so I guess they can conceive of a tasty vegan dessert.

No, the cakes lived up to expectations (although make no mistake: vegan "cream cheese" frosting on a carrot cake is not at all like the real thing) it was the deli foods I brought, to make sure I'd have some actual lunch, that were less than thrilling.

I tried a Brussels Sprouts side dish, made with shallots and pecans, and a Mexican Tempeh dish. The Brussels Sprouts were so hard that I really think they might be OK, if I pop 'em in the oven and bake them for 20 minutes. The Mexican Tempeh was ot all that spicy or flavorful.

Good thing one of my sisters brought a big huge tasty salad.

Breakfast:
Leftover Sweet and Sour "Pork" (Yes, for breakfast...who's counting?)

Lunch:
Ruffles Potato Chips
Mimosa (yes, I continue to experiment with alcohol...no hives or splotches, but I think it did bring on a sinus reaction.)
Brussels Sprouts
Mexican Tempeh
Salad w/Avocado, Tomatoes and a Oil, Vinegar, Garlic Dressing
Vegan chocolate Cake (this time not th dense one, but the fluffy cake they actually make at Whole Foods.)

Dinner (more leftover Garden Fresh):
Brown Rice
Scallion Pancakes
Orange vegetarian "Beef"
Braised "Duck"

On Day 162 I went to meet the tax man. My personal taxes? No biggie, he's done 'em before; I had all the info he needed, even if not in exactly the format he asked for. BlogHer's taxes? I wasn't prepared enough; I didn't have it together quite enough. I could have left all the info with him, and he could have made it work, but as pointed out: we'd be paying him a lot more per hour than we probably wanted to do stuff that I could probably do.

The whole time vs. money thing. When on earth am I going to have time to do the work, even if I understand what needs to be done?

Anyway, needless to say: I exited the office depressed. I thought I had pulled it all together, just under the wire, but discovered I had more to do.

The bright spot was that his office was literally across the street from a Trader Joe's. As you know, this is one of my favorite stores, so I decided to take an end-of-day sopping excursion as my compensation for the misery of working on taxes! Unfortunately when I emerged from Trader Joe's, with familiar favorites and new items to try, i didn't feel completely comforted. I decided I needed even more comfort. So, I decided to take the long way home, stop by my favorite vegan restaurant (that I don't go to that often anymore) Garden Fresh, and pick up some dinner. Ah, yes! That did the trick for a while :)

Um, yeah, I realize the whole food=comfort thing is not good in general, however, given that when we don't have food on hand it leads to scavenging through the cupboards, making meals out of condiments practically, I consider shopping and stocking up to be comforting in a positive way: like, I'm taking care of myself by making sure we have healthy food on hand.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Breakfast:
Organic Pomegranate Juice
Organic Corn Flakes and Organic Rice Milk

Lunch:
Leftover Pasta (Verdure and Capellini) from Pasta Pomodoro
Soy Ice Cream/Cookie Sandwich

Dinner (Garden Fresh):
Scallion Pancakes
Sweet and Sour "Pork"
Braised "Duck"
Orange Vegetarian "Beef"