Killer Tofu

Anyone remember this song from that Nickelodeon show, Doug?  I may or may not have been hopping around the office to it a few minutes ago…

I’ve got to admit, I didn’t do very well with the self control again today until this evening.  NOT OK.  I don’t want to deprive myself, but for some reason if I’m stressed, tired, and cranky there’s just no holding me back from food I don’t need to eat.  It all started innocently enough with some bean soup (white beans, carrots, celery, onion, red bell pepper) and a handful of baby carrots and a Tbsp of almond butter:

But the afternoon started going slower and slower, and my boredom went up and up until I caved and had a 100-calorie popcorn with pepper:

There was a storm blowing in, and it was getting significantly colder.  I didn’t bring adequate clothing to take my walk in the weather, so I ended up going to Marshall’s (got a shower curtain rod – the curvy kind!) and hitting up Whole Foods for some dinner inspiration.  Now, here’s where the “killer tofu” part comes in:

I was a little hungry (stomach was growling), so I decided to try the Vegan Greek Pizza (artichokes, olives, mushrooms…) at the WF pizza counter.  I go, check out, and go sit in my car to people watch since the cafe tables were all full.  I sat there and ate my sliver of the pizza…and realized the “cheese” was not very melty and it was cold!!!  I kept eating anyway, not really enjoying it, til it dawned on me:  I got the VEGAN Greek pizza, which meant no real cheese!  I looked down and realized that I was in the middle of chewing a massive chunk of tofu, and that was the part I wasn’t enjoying!  That darn tofu snuck up on me and forced me to eat it!!!

OK, OK, so maybe the tofu wasn’t killer, but I used to watch Doug all the time and that made me think of it.  I think I might be scarred from this tofu experience and will likely not feel like trying it for a while.  Just a prediction.

So, prior to the tofu incident, I was just picking up stuff at WF that I know I can really only easily get there.  One thing was my FAVORITE chocolate bar from Chocolove!

Seriously, it is so good.  I mean, you usually can’t go wrong with chocolate, but this is the smoothest and most flavorful dark chocolate I’ve had in a long time.  Plus, it’s locally made, which is so cool!  I also picked up some oats because I’m almost out:

And some meatballs for dinner tonight:

Some Amazing Grass packets for breakfast cookies…I figure if I’m going to be eating these face-rocking cookies, I need to get some grass in them (not the illegal kind).

I also picked up a bunch of asparagus to go with some broccoli florets for dinner:

And some quinoa.  Now, I’ve “tried” quinoa before, but I didn’t really love it.  I am hoping it’s because I prepared it poorly and the second time around will be much better.  We’ll all have to keep our fingers crossed on this one!

And finally, some sweet potatoes!  I was inspired by Anna at Newly Wed, Newly Veg to make sweet potato oats sometime soon!

So, here we are at dinner.  What did I make?  Basically, spaghetti and meatballs with asparagus and broccoli sauteed in a teaspoon of olive oil (obvi), but I did make my own sauce:

• 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1-2 Tbsp each red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp honey
• 1-2 tsp each garlic powder, dried onion flakes, oregano, and basil
• salt + pepper to taste

I also added about 3 Tbsp of this toasted garlic we got in Lubbock…it’s soooooooo good!  And, the only ingredients are garlic and soybean oil.  Mix everything together and let it simmer until it’s reduced to the consistency you’re looking for – I like mine fairly thick.  Not too shabby 🙂

I decided that with my afternoon munchies attack, I should probably lay low on the pasta tonight.  I had a bowl with ~1/4 cup of pasta and about 1 cup of the veggies and 2 meatballs.  Pre-saucing:

And post-saucing:

This was pretty darn good!  I would rather have had spaghetti squash, but alas, I forgot to get some at WF this afternoon.  So it goes I suppose!  Dessert (because I always want to end on a sweet note) was a spoonful of this incredible ice cream:

So, I know you guys might be wondering what the big deal was with me eating vegan pizza this afternoon.  The thing is, I took all the toppings off and ate the crust, and then I stopped at Wendy’s and got a Jr. cheeseburger.  Why?  I have no idea…and this is what I’m talking about when I say there’s no stopping this kind of stuff.  That’s what I had been craving all afternoon, and I just let it get the best of me.  I really really wish I hadn’t eaten it, but I did.  Then I took that frustration in myself out on Nate, and I got even more annoyed with my actions.  Does anyone else ever have this experience?

Regardless, I’m in a better place now:  I apologized to Nate, I forgave myself, I had a healthful and veggie-filled dinner, and I will be doing a cardio workout later this evening when my dinner settles.  I’m ready to look to the food future with positivity (again) and continue to lose that weight 🙂

Tomorrow I’ll be working at the SIA Trade Show in Denver, and am super excited to see all the newest things coming out for the 2010 winter season!  Should be fun and interesting to say the least, and it’ll be oh-so-nice to be out of the office for a day 🙂

When you get in a stressed out/bored/worried situation and all you want to do is eat horrible-for-you food, do you have any tricks to instantly keep yourself from indulging?  I’d love all the help and encouragement I can get with this!

Hope you all have a wonderful evening, and I’ll be reading through all the awesome blog posts tomorrow evening!