Veggie protein crumbles

Last weekend I was shopping at Raley’s and found myself in the health/vegan/hippy aisle.

Although I am not a vegetarian, I don’t eat a lot of meat. I don’t like the taste of a lot of red meat, it’s a lot of work to prepare, and the idea of eating dead animal flesh turns me off just a little bit. I prefer the vegetarian version of most recipes. I’ve been trying to cook more chicken lately to get protein. But still, handling the raw meat grosses me out.

I picked up a box of Smart Life veggie protein crumbles and was curious how it would taste. It’s a soy product, and seems to be a lot healthier than ground beef (what it claimed to imitate). A serving has 12 grams of protein but no fat. So I purchased the veggie protein crumbles with high hopes (it was about $4 for a 12 oz. container, I think).

On Wednesday, I remembered that I had to try out my imitation beef, so I made stuffed manicotti with this recipe. I would normally make a vegetarian version with cottage cheese and spinach.

When I opened the package, I began to fear eating the veggie protein crumbles. They looked gross. It was very crumbly, kind of the texture of feta cheese.

I made the manicotti anyway, and I’m happy to announce that it was delicious! It tasted like ground beef, but no grease and no disgusting pieces of fat. I think I still prefer vegetarian manicotti, but if I ever have a recipe that has to have ground beef, I may just turn to the veggie protein crumbles again.

I even fooled James by not mentioning anything before he tried the manicotti. After he ate, I interrogated him “Did you like the food? Did you like that it had meat in it? Did you think the meat tasted good?” He was confused, but said that he liked it.

March forth on March 4

On Thursday, March 5, the California Supreme Court will hear arguments on the validity of Proposition 8, which robbed thousands of Californians of the basic American right to marry.

Candlelight vigils will be held throughout the state on the night before the arguments.

Sacramento’s event will be at the west steps of the state capitol. There will be a rally from 5 – 6 p.m. and a march to the California Supreme Court from 6 – 6:30.

Events will also be held in Bakersfield, Fresno, LA, Modesto, Roseville, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Stockton and Visalia.

Click here for details.

The Biggest Loser, Week 8

I am up two pounds! I knew I wasn’t eating as well as I had been, and now I have ugly proof. Boo!

Until you diet, you don’t really think about every little snack you consume. Even if it’s just 100 calories, they add up to several hundred calories a day and it really makes a difference. I have to think about everything I eat and know when I’m just eating out of boredom. I did that this weekend – hence the two pounds.

I really like this weight loss thing overall. I like to step on the scale every week and see evidence that my hard work is paying off. It’s a good feeling to have accomplished a goal.

Goal #73: Go dancing with my sister

Last weekend, on Rose's 21st birthday, I went dancing with both of my sisters. See, Sam, that goal was about you!

I wanted to start putting photos in my blog... so here are a few.

left to right: Me, oldest sis Samantha, youngest sis Rose

See my list of 100 goals here.

Cool band alert

The Undulations: Post-Modern Swing. This band is so FUN! You can listen to their music here, but they’re so much better live.

I discovered The Undulations at the I Street Gallery (my favorite gallery… probably due to their combination of amazing art, delicious food, and this rockin’ band playing most of the time) a year or two ago on Second Saturday. They play there live often.

That summer I became sort of an Undulations groupie. They play at a lot of local restaurants and I went several times. I’m pretty sure they started to recognize me :)

I haven’t seen them in a long time though… it’s been at least since last summer. The only upcoming show on their calendar is Music in the Park in Davis, and you can bet I will be there. I highly recommend that anyone in the area check it out. It’s totally worth the drive.

The Biggest Loser, Week 7

I’m down about a pound. Pretty unexpected since I didn’t eat all that great this week or go to the gym because I was sick. I did get some exercise biking and dancing though. The Valentines Hershey's kisses from my mother in law have not been good for the diet. Total weight lost so far: 5.5 pounds :)

Goal #54: Watch the AMGEN Tour of California Bike Race

Okay, I admit, I put this goal on my list because I was hoping we'd be able to go this weekend. But thinking of 100 things is hard! And I think this was a good goal.

The AMGEN Tour of California race is a big deal. It's the other Tour de France. Lance Armstrong was there. Sacramento hosted the prologue today, which, as I understand it, is a short lap before the race actually starts. Kind of a ceremonial run, I guess?

James and I rode our bikes (in the spirit of the event, of course) to the race. It was at/around the state capitol, which is about 1.5 miles from our house. By the way, we absolutely LOVE living downtown! We walk and bike to all the cool events. I want to be an urbanite forever!

The racers didn't all go at the same time. They went about a minute apart and were timed. We could have sat there for a few hours to wait for all the riders to go through. But that would have been boring.

We watched for 3o minutes or so, then took a lovely bike ride through downtown and midtown, and also went to Macy's to get James some shirts for work.

Tonight is my sister's 21st birthday! Happy birthday Rose! We're going drinking and dancing tonight. The first of many nights out together.