Exploration in the Freezer Case

I've been eating a lot of high-end pizza lately due to my time in the restaurant. How amazing it would be to eat that kind of pizza in the convenience at home, without the expense and time of delivery. Obviously, I'm not the first person to think these things. Today at the market while finally restocking my kitchen, it occurred to me that I hadn't really bought any frozen convenience food in quite a while. It used to be a good 1/3 of everything I got -- frozen White Castle burgers, burritos, breaded fish and chicken, Asiany snackie things, the whole gamut. But the main contender was always the frozen pizza.

And they all kind of sucked. But even pretty crappy pizza isn't THAT bad. So in the name of having some comfort food around the house for B while I spend some late nights at work, I went through the frozen pizza aisle and selected a handful of brands, from the Wholefoods house brand up to a chi-chi Wolfgang Puck number. Over the next few weeks I'll give them a try and critique them here.

ADDENDA:
Used up the last of the pancake mix in the freezer, which I made pre-c-school. Tasted pretty good, I mixed it minimally, came out the lightest and fluffiest yet....but misses that certain pancakey flavor we achieved in class. Next time I make the mix, gonna riff on the school recipe.

AM SNACK: 7am, banana, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, pancakes and bacon, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 5:45pm, veggie burger and a little salad with fries, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, vegan apple crumble cheesecake, seltzer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 9:30pm, quart

Feh.

ADDENDA:
Got the new blood pressure cuff yesterday, will start using it soon. The stressful project at work is coming to a head today, but hopefully will be done before the week is out, if all goes well.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, decadent oatmeal, hunger 3/5

AM WATERING: 7:45am, 24 oz still water

LUNCH #1: 11:45pm, small Green Symphony brick, hunger 4/5
Very hungry this early, they didn't have the hot bar yet so I had some pumpkin noodles, sesame tofu, tomato avocado salad, lentils, some mushrooms. Meat is just not appealing to me right now.

LUNCH #2: 2:45pm, small falafel sandwich, hunger 4/5
From the local cart, tried the 'half' instead of the 'regular', still pretty sizable

PM SNACK: 5pm, bag od Robert's Smart Puffs, hunger 4/5
Gonna cook for B, don't want to be too hungry too soon.

DINNER: 8pm, medium green salad, sea scallops baked in wine and butter with fresh wholewheat breadcrumbs, baked potato and butter, 1 glass white wine, half a tub of mint chocolate chip gelato. hunger 4/5
Made this meal to B's taste, nice evening together. We both kinda went nuts on the gelato, but as B says, "But it was SO GOOD!!"

Dreams

ADDENDA:
Slept really well last night, 9 hours. Ate a whole container of cookies last night, about 9 cookies. Looking at it, I thought it was maybe 2 servings. Looking at the label....EACH cookie was one serving! WTF!

Crazy dreams, don't know how to put it. Rather than the dream being Noah-centric, I was like a disemobodied camera following around this female black office worker (kinda like how Woody Allen has people act in his stead) working in the pre-9/11 World Trade Center. Even though it hasn't happened yet, she 'remembers' the disaster and bolts for the stairwell. Most of the dream was just her running down flight after flight of stairs, pondering whether she should pause and question her sanity...

I suspect this is work related somehow....but could be food/weight related too....

BREAKFAST: 8am, decadent oatmeal, hunger 4/5
Half whole milk, half water, small pat of good butter, cinamon, vanilla, I forgot sweetner! And I could tell the difference - that half teaspoon of sugar doesn't make it sweet, but it makes the oatmeal just taste.....rounder, fuller.

AM SNACK: 9:30am, 24 oz still water

LUNCH #1: 12:30pm, potatoes a la noah, organic celery and carrot sticks, hummus, hunger 4/5
Potatoes better as cold leftovers. Brought 'em to work in the borg-box.

BP 1pm, 124/79

PM SNACK: 1:45pm, large M&M cookie, hunger 3/5
Had serious cravings for sugar, haven't had a craving like that in a while. Maybe related to lack of protein in lunch? Something to do with what potatoes do to me?

PM SNACK: 5pm, bag of Robert's Smart Puffs, hunger 4/5
Too late for lunch #2, as dinner is a few hours away, but don't want to be hungry for my appointment with Ilsa, or I might start fantasizing outloud to her about what I wanna eat....right....NOW! He he.

DINNER: 7:30pm, fried catfish poboy with a little slaw and rice, vesuvius cake, water, hunger 4/5
Was hoping to eat unhealthy after seeing Ilsa, only really succeeded in an extra sweet today. Me n' Yana went to Chat n' Chew on 16th Street, the fish sandwich was alright, but it came with fries, so I requested rice and beans....which was just yellow rice with a side of bland vegetable chili. Too salty. The cake, which was supposed to be 3 kinds of chocolate and cheese cake was kinda lame, most of the chocolate was a mousse and the cakey and cheesey bits tasted kinda fakey.

The Best Oatmeal Ever

BREAKFAST: 8am, water, dirtpill, hunger 1/5

BREAKFAST #2: 11am, Noah's Decadent Oatmeal, hunger 4/5
No eggs to make pancakes. Wanted something 1) delicious, 2) healthy and 3) wouldn't send my recovering state in the wrong direction. So I went all out and made the oatmeal of my dreams:

• 1/2 cup organic rolled oats
• 1/2 cup room temp water
• 1/2 cup whole unhomogenized organic milk
• 1/2 tablespoon organic grass fed butter
• 3 shakes of unrefined sea salt
• 1 pinch organic dehydrated organic cane juice
• 1 pinch freshly grated cinnamon

Dump all in a high-walled plastic bowl, nuke on high for 4 minutes or until desired thickness. Stir and eat.

Oh my. Much better than I expected. The whole milk, butter salt was what a freshly baked mac n' cheese from scratch and a fatty Alfredo sauce has in common - the good taste part that they have in common, minus all the cheese. The light hint of sweetness and cinnamon set off the rich dairy flavor at just the right angle. The fat in the milk gave the oats a tender firmness never found with just water. The butter gave a spectacular mouthfeel once swallowed.

The only thing I would of done differently is cut back to 1 or 2 salt shakes - it was pleasantly salty, but the salt would of had the same positive effect without being so notable.

And it doesn't hurt to have a Rufus sleeping on your head, a hot lady kvelling over you, your health slowly returning, and the weekend ahead of you.

LUNCH: 1:30, penne with homemade tomato sauce & grated Parmesan, hunger 4/5
Defrosted sauce, getting rid of the non-wholewheat pasta box by box.

PM SNACK: 3pm, 3 fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, hunger 2/5
Though it's the weekend, I think I'll aim for one dessert today. Only slept 3 hours last night, as I usually do the night after a drug-sleep night. Maybe sugar in the middle of the day instead of the end of the day will help tonight's sleep be all that more thick n' ropey.

DINNER: 7:30pm, 12 pieces sashimi, shrimp tempura appetizer, vegetarian nori rolls, small side of white rice, small amount of soy sauce, diet black cherry boylan, hunger 3/5
Downed the soda to squash sugar cravings.

PM SNACK: 9:30pm, small handful of unsalted pretzels, hunger 2/5