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Diary for Wenesday, February 18, 2009

Swim

I had a nice long one – 1500 meters in about 50 minutes. I can’t complain – it felt fabulous! (I wonder if my sudden love of the word “fabulous” has something to do with my recently watching Sex and the City Season 5 (Part 2).)

Breakfast

Bircher Muesli with Bananas and Yogurt

Lunch

Black Bean Taco with Sauteed Greens and Salady Stuff

Salady stuff included carrots, mixed leaves, julienned carrots, white onions and avocado. Some of this salad went into the taco, to which I also added some of Trader Joe’s Corn and Chile Salsa.

The greens are what the farmer’s market calls “spring greens” and I absolutely adore them sauteed with garlic and onion and just a dab of butter (Tim’s inspiration). Never heard of spring greens? The Guardian explains in tempting detail…

They are sweet, crunchy and if all you can be bothered to do is steam them, they still taste delicious. Of course, that would mean that you’d need enough restraint to actually cook them and not nibble them raw, which is very tempting.

Spring greens are also packed with vitamins C, E and K, iron, potassium, fibre and calcium. One quick tip: don’t discard the stems – just slice them more thinly than the green parts, they are actually sweeter than the leaf.

I can vouch for the stems – in fact, their usually my favorite part. They keep their bite and balance out the wilted leaves which can often lose their texture after cooking.

(Image courtesy of spoonergregory)

Dinner

Leftover sweet potato and black bean chile, spring greens, refried black beans, and cornbread.

One of the things I love most about freelancing is I do most of my work from home. So Wednesday was a bit unusual as I had two out-of-house commitments – first an afternoon meeting in the City, then teaching in the evening (I recently started teaching part time statistics at the Open University and Wednesday night was my first on-site discussion session). There wasn’t enough time to come home between the two so I packed some dinner.

I’ve already blogged about how much I love packed lunches, and today’s was a real treat. The only problem is I was ravenous by about 3:30 and had eaten everything before 5. I didn’t think it was going to hold me over through my two-hour class but the adrenaline took care of my lack of food. I was really nervous, but it went fantastically well and the time flew.

I didn’t come down from the high until about halfway through my journey on the bus home. At that point, my appetite kicked in so I had a smoothie when I got home. Blackberries, banana, whey protein powder, soy mlik. I haven’t been digging on the smoothies lately, trying to get my protein from whole food rather than supplements. But I wanted something quick and nutritious but not overly filling – it was already 10pm and my bedtime was fast approaching (alas, one of the joys of being an early rise is also being an early sleeper – I’m so cool).

Snack

Blackberry, banana and whey protein smoothie

Related posts:

1. 20-Minute Tofu with Spring Greens
2. Simple Soups: Spicy Greens and Beans
3. Burger Bun Fail, Black Bean Success
4. Broad Beans Galore
5. Red Beans and Rice: A Perfect Match

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