Oh Hey, There’s Actually Food in My Fridge!

Yesterday I was the epitome of lazy. I got home from work around 2pm and I’m pretty sure I didn’t leave the couch until it was bedtime. Guess my body really needed a low key afternoon after a busy week! One thing I did accomplish was a makeover on my “about me” page. Be sure to check it out and let me know what you think!

This morning I woke up refreshed and ready to actually be productive today…

Workout

After a few weeks away I decided this morning was the perfect day to visit Exceed! I couldn’t pass up on the chance to get my butt royally kicked by my favorite instructor there, Marianna. The thing I love about Marianna is she knows when to push me… and she knows when I’m half assing my way through an exercise. Today’s exercise was an upper arm killer with lots of TRX work particularly on the tri’s and chest. Welp! It felt great to get in a morning work out before tackling the rest of my day.

food in my fridge!

Last week I ended up eating almost all my meals out since I was spending a lot of time with family and never ended up doing a full grocery store run. Don’t get me wrong, I love being lazy, and I loved pigging out on Chinese food with 20 members of my family… but I know it’s time to get back to some home cooked meals.

I stopped by Whole Foods on my way home from working out and did a hugeeee shopping run.

I adore Well & Good’s “Refrigerator Look Book” feature where they take photos of people in the fitness industry’s fridge so I thought it’d be fun to take a look inside my fridge post food shopping. I live alone so my fridge is never very full and I’ve learned that the most efficient way to food shop in NYC is to make a bunch of small trips.

My biggest staples are whole wheat english muffins and peanut butter because I start off every single day with a toasted english muffin. Even on days that I’m up at 4am for work I won’t leave the house ’til there is an english muffin in my belly. Growing up my mama was big on the importance of eating breakfast before heading off to school and it’s something that’s always stuck with me.

Snuck in there are a few premade salads with spinach, strawberries and edamame. All I have to do is add salad dressing and it’s ready to go.

It’s pretty rare that my veggie drawer is this full but I’m excited to bring back my favorite pear + asparagus salad and experiment with artichokes for the first time. Also bagged is some zucchini- they are my favorite to keep around because I love them in various rice dishes or breaded and baked. The baby carrots are just for snacking on (probably with some hummus).

I don’t eat red meat or pork for personal reasons so the only raw meat I generally buy is chicken. I’m not sure what I’m going to turn these cutlets into but I was thinking a few will become breaded tenders and maybe a few will just be baked plain to throw in a rice bowl. I’ve recently become a fan of tempeh and love that it has a long shelf life and packs a lot of protein. I’m always looking for few meat-free protein sources since I get sick of chicken.

Olive Oil is my BFF these days– I cook almost everything in it. I’ve swapped from soy sauce to liquid aminos and cannot recommend it enough, you won’t even notice the difference in taste. Sesame spray is great when I’m making asian dishes and want a hint of flavor.

My tiny pantry is full of the essentials for baking and lots of grain variations… oh and my addiction- Luna Bars! One of the biggest challenges in Manhattan is figuring out where to put everything when there’s not much space for excess food. It’s all about having a few staples and items that have a long shelf life while buying everything else fresh— there’s lots of room in my fridge compared to my pantry.

Recipe: Lazy Vegan Channa Masala

My food shopping trip got me all excited to try out some new but easy dishes this week. First up was “lazy vegan channa masala”

3  items (oh and olive oil), 2 of them cooked in the microwave. Any already cooked  rice will do and I found the pouch of channa masala in the Indian aisle at Whole Foods.

-in a medium skillet heat up olive oil. While heating dice 1 zucchini.

– once the oil is heated sauté the zucchini over med-high heat, frequently moving it around in the pan

– while the zucchini is cooking, microwave the pouch of channa masala followed by the rice.

– assemble and split into two servings, one for now, one for latter

Season with salt and pepper… and enjoy!

Gotta love a super easy recipe with 2 servings!

Now it’s time to run off to the Upper East Side to train my client… followed by the NYC premiere of “Broadway Idiot” a documentary about the making of American Idiot the musical. This American Idiot fan is super excited!