Jay Robbination

Since the boyf is all into getting tons of daily protein what for securing his spot at the gun show, I shared some of my Jay Robb protein powder and bar samples with him so he could try them too. He was telling me today that he didn't really like the Tropical Dreamsicle and Strawberry powder flavors, all the while referring to the man as "Jay-Bob." I said, "Dear Boyf, it's Jay Robb. The 'Bob' is silent." Get it? Jay and Silent Bob?? Does anyone even remember them???

No?

Just as well. Here's my carrot cake breakfast cookie, take two.

I figured I'd take advantage of my copious Jay-Bob supply and flavor it with the Pina Colada flavored whey protein. I have good news and I have bad news. I also have ingredients.

• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp kamut puffs
• 2 tbsp rolled oats
• 1/2 packet (15g) Jay Robb Pina Colada whey protein powder
• 1 tbsp raisins
• 1/4 cup grated carrot
• cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger
• 1 tbsp TJ's raw crunchy AB
• 1/4 cup unsweetened organic applesauce
• 2 tbsp or so nonfat plain Stonyfield Farm yogurt for 'icing'

The good news: I added some oats back into the mixture, because I found the first carrot cookie lacking in grain substance, leaving me empty feeling an hour later. The Jay Robb protein is also way higher in protein than the YouShake I used the other day, which also probably helped in the satisfaction department.

The bad news: While the Pina Colada flavor was a fun change for a breakfast cookie, I shouldn't have used as much as half of the packet, because it was way too sweet when combined with the applesauce and raisins. Thanks be to Silent Bob for the plain yogurt, because it helped tone down the sweet factor a little.

The worse news: Jay Robb is sweetened with stevia, and while I have tried stevia many, many times, I think that I should probably be avoiding it. This is just me - I'm actually wondering if I might have a very mild allergy to stevia or something like that, because my throat feels all kinds of weird whenever I eat/drink anything containing it. I'm just bummed because I'm off Splenda/Aspartame/etc. and would love to have a natural alternative, but sadly stevia does not sit well with me so far.

Sigh...oh Jay-Bob, it is like a forbidden love affair we have, you and I.

The tight-ish/numb-ish feeling lingered in my throat all morning and through lunch, despite chugging gallons of water. I eventually gave up and figured the only thing for it was artificial sweetener's antithesis: real sugar, and refined sugar at that. So I popped downstairs to the deli to pick up one of my guilty pleasures: instant cappuccino from the hot chocolate machine.

Ohoho...so bad, and yet so good. I blame China for developing my bizarre taste for sweetened instant coffee drinks. Real, brewed coffee was nigh on impossible to get where I lived in the styx, so we subsisted on what we could get, which was Nescafe. Spend a year limited to only that and it starts to taste pretty good, trust me. I also snacked on a handful of blackberries, because I figured I ought to at least attempt some redeeming value.

Speaking of redeeming value (I swear I did not plan this segue), I got coupons in the mail today from Kristina at Stonyfield Farm! She had emailed me a while back, asking if I'd like to try their organic Oikos Greek Yogurt. Duh. Alas, the first envelope she sent seems to be lost, so I'm just now getting the replacement.

Good thing I hadn't yet picked up the mail when I stopped into Garden of Eden on my way home. I live nearby one of these markets, and I daresay it is even more dangerous than Whole Foods. ::GASP:: Had I been holding my coupon for Stonyfield froyo at the moment, I doubt I would have had the power to resist buying one of Garden of Eden's jacked-up-priced pints. ($7? Bite me.)

Garden of Eden is possibly the prettiest "grocery store" you will ever visit, and it is filled to the gills with tempting, gourmet products; some familiar, some so fancy and expensive you have to wonder who would spend all that money on food only to poop it out a couple days later. Sorry, I know this is New York City, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

ANYway, I don't let myself in there very often, except for instances when I can't find whatever-it-is anywhere else and I know Garden of Eden will have it. There are just too many healthy, high-priced treats for me to walk out with at least one or two impulse buys. I did pretty well today, though, having gone in there just for some veggies to roast for dinner.

While browsing the produce, I found a pound of Turkish figs on sale (G of E has sales?), and since I knew I had like, one fig left, I figured this was a good buy. I also found these multi-grain cracker-thingies called Kim's Magic Pop. I'd never heard of them, but there were samples out, and they're kind of a cross between rice cakes (in structure) and popcorn (in texture). As for taste, there's not much going on, but their selling point is that each disc is only 15 calories but probably 1.5x the size of an average rice cake. I picked up a stack, figuring it might make a guilt-free vehicle for some of my favorite things like nut butter and hummus. I'll keep you posted. (HA! I just realized that's a blog pun.)

As for the veggies for roasting, you might be looking at the picture above and thinking, "they already look roasted!" You would be right. I mentioned before that Garden of Eden is very expensive, so as I picked out about $6 worth of fresh veggies to cook, I was ogling the hot bar (much like the one at Whole Foods), trying not to let the drool run down the front of my shirt, and then it hit me. I could fill a container with a pound of veggies from the hot bar for $7, which is only a buck more than the raw stuff would have cost, and the extra buck would basically just be a labor charge. I'll take it! Of course I ended up with about $8.50 worth of roasties, but it was worth it because it meant I didn't have to cook and it was also a big treat because they use much more delicious olive oil on their prepared foods than I would've had the balls to use.

Roasties easily rank in my top 5 all-time favorite foods, and this was exactly what I wanted for dinner. I'd been thinking of it all day, and it was even better than I'd imagined because it was way more decadent coming from Garden of Eden than it would've been otherwise. "Roasties" is my doofy pet name for any roasted vegetables. I started using the term affectionately in my head some time ago, but since I'm writing a blog about my favorite foods every day, I might as well come out with it.

I also heated up one of my homemade black bean burgers from Tuesday and smooshed on some sorry-looking avocado, all of which I plopped in a huge bowl, along with a healthy dollop of Sabra Chipotle hummus. Brussels, two kinds of eggplant (!), squash, bell peppers, mushrooms and yams...my own personal version of heaven. All accompanied by Hotel Rwanda for dinnertime entertainment, which I soon realized was most people's personal version of hell. It's one of those movies that's been on my I-should-really-see-that lists for years, but I just now worked up the courage to watch it. I'm glad I did, but it goes without saying that it's a hard one to watch.

This called for some cookie therapy, at which point I dove into my Newman's Organics stash for a classic cookies-and-milk dessert. These are PB Newman-O's and Mint Chocolate Champion Chip Cookies.

Picture this times two and it would be more accurate. :(

No point in beating myself up for OD-ing on organic cookies - it happens to everyone, and I'm a believer in choosing my "battles." I know myself well enough to know that overdoses can and will happen at least weekly, and I'm habitually healthy enough on a daily basis that that's ok. But if I'm gonna OD, it had better be a dose of something really worth it.

Mr. Milk, Miss Cookie, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now give the bride a mustache.

Bon weekend!