Happy Thanksgiving! We’re on our way to Knott’s Berry Farm to be thankful for ROLLERCOASTERS! (I’m actually deathly afraid – this excitement is all a front.). Healthy breakfast to fuel walking around the park:
Bob’s Red Mill 10 grain cereal with brown sugar and a banana, and a vanilla cappuccino!
Knott’s Merry Farm, here we come!
After two weeks of being homeless, I finally have a kitchen!!!! It’s so good to be able to cook food and know exactly what’s in it. I’ve been able to keep off the weight creep by being very, very careful, but making my own food again will make it so much easier!
Multigrain waffles with almonds, banana, and maple syrup
AND I am in Trader Joes country once again!!! One thing I love about LA is that it is LOUSY with Trader Joes and Whole Foods. Alex was overwhelmed by how cheap things were (and also how easy it was to think you were picking up something healthy just because it was TJs…smart guy). Looking forward to more deliciousness for THE REST OF MY LIFE! #loveLA
A little info on maple syrup, courtesy of Runner’s World:
It has about 20 fewer calories than honey, plus a wider array of antioxidants that may help muscle recovery.
and:
The real thing – a good source of zinc and manganese – lists just one ingredient: 100 Percent Pure Maple Syrup.
It still has a ton of calories, though – 210 per 1/4 c – so let’s not go cray, okay?
What’s your fave breakfast?
I could actually make it now!
Everyone, please welcome the incomparable Alex, writing about our new thing of the day for Thursday! He kindly agreed to guest blog his kitchen experiments as he tries to eat lower on the food chain. Spoiler alert: This pizza was amazing!
Red meat and I have broken up. Every now and then we’ll get together and do stuff (like the Bacon and Onion pizza I just ate from the pizzeria across the parking lot from our apartment – which is a healthy eating killer, by the way, glad I had forgotten how good it was until a week before we leave), but most of my cooking experiments lately have been centered around me attempting to get not only the red meat out of my life, but also the meat.
Most of the time, I find myself eating unhealthy solely because it seems easier than going through the work of trying to make something healthy, discovering I don’t really like the new flavors, and then having to go find something else to eat anyway. Usually, I’ll just go find the something else to eat to begin with.
Yesterday though, I had told Patti that I was going to make dinner, and she had already offered to let me guest post about my kitchen experiments on her blog, so it seemed like the perfect time to experiment in a potential replacement recipe for one of my favorite “junk” foods: pizza. (I know, I know, we ate pizza two nights in a row so it may not have been a perfect replacement recipe, but seriously, the pizzeria is absolutely delicious. Especially when you pile bacon on their pizza.)
But here is the recipe for the vegetarian BBQ pizza I made last night:
Originally, I had intended to just buy a pizza kit at the store for my dough, but when I remembered how much I hate finding things at Shop-Rite, I just looked up a quick and easy pizza dough recipe. Use whatever dough recipe you like, if you have questions about the specific recipe that I used, feel free to ask in the comments or ask me on twitter (@asfreeman). The dough, I don’t think, really played into the final taste of the pizza, it just served primarily as a vessel.
Once you have your dough ready to go, it’s time to prep the toppings. This recipe made a medium cookie sheet sized pizza – do with that information what you will.
Vegetarian BBQ Pizza
1 pound vegetarian ground beef substitute (I used Go Lean, use your favorite brand)
½ bottle Jack Daniel’s Smokehouse Honey BBQ sauce
Diced Bell Peppers (I used two)
Diced Onions (Not actually in the pizza I made, but I wanted it to be) This would be because his incredibly attractive girlfriend used it in her lunch – sorry Alex!
2 Bags of Shredded Cheese
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Brown the ground beef substitute in a pan. Once browned, mix with the peppers, onions and BBQ sauce in a large mixing bowl. Ensure that the substitute is completely coated.
Spread the substitute mixture on your dough (spread evenly covering the pan). Cover the mixture with as much cheese as your heart desires (I used slightly more than 1 bag of cheese).
Bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese and crust are a nice golden brown. Let cool and enjoy!
Pretty simple recipe, but it tasted great. Hope you enjoy!
New thing of the day! NTOTD! That’s gonna be a catch-phrase! Or not! Fine!
Pumpkin bread! Gluten-free pumpkin bread! Would have been vegan if I thought I could find things like guar gum in my Shop-Rite! Does anyone know if you can get these kinds of things in crappy grocery stores in low-income neighborhoods?!
I’m really glad I can represent those of us who live more than 30 minutes from the nearest Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods in the blogosphere. Although I *am* moving to the very epicenter of weird health trends in mere weeks, so I can quit my b*tchin and SWIM IN A BATHTUB FULL OF NUTRITIONAL YEAST if I want to. Which I really, really don’t.
Also if you know of any simpler ways to veganize baked goods, I would totally appreciate that info as well.
Speaking of the land of crazy health trends, here is Maria Bamford not at all exaggerating about LA:
In other news:
I am probably moving to LA about a week earlier than I first thought I was so that I can make the October auditions for Second City’s Conservatory program, which I am really, really itching to do! Finally some real training in comedy, instead of me just kind of winging it for the past six years, which has worked out pretty well, but you know could be better!
I wimped out on ANOTHER open mic tonight. I am a giant whatever synonym for wimp you can come up with because you’re more creative than I am.
Alex made an awesome vegetarian barbeque pizza from scratch (crust and all) for dinner tonight, and is totally going to guest blog about it, so look for a post from him tomorrow! New things! Yay!
Seriously, how can I make awesome pumpkin bread with no eggs?
It’s so good to be back to What I Ate Wednesdays! It’s been a little rocky getting back into this whole blogging thing, so I didn’t take a ton of pictures and I sort of forgot I was doing this – SO – consider this a pure, unadulterated look into what I eat when I forget anyone’s looking!
Pre-Run
I loaded ‘er up with a slice of whole grain toast with honey and peanut butter and a smoothie (skim milk, chocolate protein powder, frozen cherries, frozen strawberries, and some more peanut butter – natch). With coffee with Splenda and skim milk!
Post-Run
Don’t even pretend you don’t make mini-pancakes for your dog.
My first new thing of the day! I made Multigrain Medallions recipe care of Runner’s World for the fam. (This is linked to Joanna‘s blog, because she was less lazy than I am and actually typed it out.) I didn’t have any cornmeal so I just used 1/4 c whole grain flour and 1/4 c oats (I also halved the recipe because a. I only had one egg and b. there’s only two (and a puppy) of us, jeez). They turned out kind of thin, but surprisingly hearty and SUPER delicious. Win!
Dinner
You heard me right. Fried. Spaghetti.
We had to head into the city kind of early for what we thought was an open mic sign up. (When we got there, we found out I was supposed to sign up online. If you’ve ever wondered if it’s easy to get onstage in front of a bunch of people and try to make them laugh, the answer is no…and I’m just talking logistics here!) My point being that dinner was at 5:30, which may be normal for those of you with jobs and kids but is SUPER EARLY for us theatre/gambling type folks. And I made New Thing Number 2: FRIED SPAGHETTI! Woman’s Day (which was my savior while cooking without the internet this summer) tries to be classy and call this “crispy spaghetti,” but let’s get real here: How do you get things crispy? You fry them. I’m okay with that. So this was really great and got some zucchini in us, which is rare. It came out a little oily, but I saw that as a bonus because it kind of dressed the salads I put it on (les herbes pour moi, spinach for Alex). BOOM!
We watched half of the pilot for Mob Doctor, which I think is going to end up in my stand-up. Here’s a taste: Why in hell would the mob write “KILL HIM” in three-inch high letters on a card for her? How on earth do you get to where you are as a criminal organization if that’s as subtle as you get? Think about it. Get back to me.
Oh, with Diet Coke, because I don’t drink before I do comedy. Well, sometimes I do, but I’m not intending to do that comedy…and that’s more of a sad clown act, and involves lots of de-tagging on Facebook in the morning.
Snack
I WANNA BE A KID AT HALLOWEEN AGAIN!
After the comedy fail Alex suggested we go to the movies instead. It was my turn to pick, and since I last picked The Master and it was sort of disappointing, I played it safe and picked Paranorman, which was amazing! It was just the right level of scary for me. (I’m a huge wimp – wait til October, when I force myself to watch scary movies every day. You’ll get a hoot out of my weird self-inflicted pain.) And it made me super nostalgic for the kids Halloween movies of my childhood, like Hocus Pocus. Anyway, this is a super long-winded way of saying that I ate a bunch of my absolute favorite never giving it up snack: movie popcorn. Oh yeah, with the fake butter. Love it.
More snacking
These guys…am I right?
When we got home, I showed Alex a ten minute set of Maria Bamford, who just blew me away with her ability to inhabit a character. He was like, “I know her” and proceeded to show me an entire MOVIE featuring her and three other comics. (It’s The Comedians of Comedy: The Movie, which I believe is a Netflix production, and therefore probably only available on Netflix, but I could be super wrong.) It made me feel better about a lot of things, including Brian Posehn’s story about having to do stand-up right next to a giant screen playing a football game, and everyone’s just annoyed that you’re next to it babbling about your relationships and your cat…I was like “I HAVE LIVED THIS!!!” It made me feel like a battle-hardened comic even though I’ve done like two gigs.
This is all a round-about way of telling you I had a glass of red wine and three pieces of delightful Ghiradelli’s 60% cocoa chocolate.
If you’re thinking “Boy, she consumes a lot of culture” you are right. And I would urge to keep in mind that I have been without it for four months and it is also my job. Okay, I’ll stop defending myself in three…two…one…
In Which I Am a Pit of the Bottomless Variety
See? I take in some science and philosophy, too! What am I, a cretin?
So I didn’t stop there. Jeez. I also made baked sweet potato fries. Which were delicious. And then I was still hungry, so I had nonfat Greek yogurt w/Ghiradelli chocolate chips. I’m considering marrying into the Ghiradelli family to save some cash.
I have been eating A TON lately, but this is fine with me, as I have been working out a lot and also losing weight kinda rapidly and also only eat when I am hungry. I could probably eat a tad better though. I’ll get right on that, captain.
See any good movies lately?
Cha, didn’t you read my post?!
Who’s your favorite comic?
That’s not a fair question, but I will say I have an immense girl crush on Paula Poundstone and squeal like a teenager at a Bieber concert whenever she’s on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!
I finally find my fashion twin – at the Tower of London of all places.
We all get into ruts, right? Having the same go-to outfit, eating the same thing for breakfast everyday, always going on the same date. This can be comforting, but is it really necessarily healthy?
Welll…I was reading Fitness magazine the other day and came across a little study that said that study participants who did something different every day for a month lost an average of a pound a week without making any dietary changes. Intriguing, huh? The study’s authors postulate that breaking your routine may keep you from falling into habits that keep you overweight.
Now, I am not overweight. And I’m not sure I even have four pounds to lose (I mean, I could, but should I is the real question). But, there sure are some unhealthy habits in my life that could use breaking, so I’m gonna give this a try: For the next month, I’m going to try something new everyday! And, because I firmly live by the title of my blog, we’re starting immediately.
I plan to focus on trying new foods and new workouts, but anything new’ll do. Today’s new move:
Cat Cow Balance Pose
This was part of an article in Runner’s World (the July issue) for improving balance and core stability for trail runs, which is mostly what I do. I used pillows, since I don’t have any fancy balance doodads. Once Alex and I make our move, we’re going to invest in some more at-home fitness tools. We’re going to try to avoid paying for gym memberships as long as we can!
I’m starting off simple, but adding balance did challenge my abs more in this familiar move, and that’s definitely a good thing.
And speaking of routine, take a gander at the same old same old trail I run on every. day:
Sometimes it’s best not to mess with perfection.
When’s the last time you tried something new?
I have a confession to make. Today, I let other people make me feel like crap. I had a rough night last night, but I didn’t realize how much it had affected me until I felt down down down and totally useless today. And, I’m embarrassed to say, I wallowed. Here’s what wallowing looks like over here:
2 miles of relatively angst-ridden trail running
4 episodes of Glee
30 minutes of piano playing/singing French art songs (seriously – how emo can I get?!)
29 pages of philosophy hilariously and lucidly written by my favorite physicist (ok, now that I’m hearing it, yeah, that’s really geeky)
13 pages of narrative history
and
1 more episode of Glee
Which was exactly what I needed to snap out of my funk. I felt like kind of a loser sitting around all day watching teen drama, especially while, though a performer, I will never be in a musical (never say never, except when you can’t sing a note). But it got me to the fifth episode, which included two very important lessons I needed to remember today.
Quinn sits Mercedes down after she faints from starving herself and tells her that her relationship to food has changed since she started eating for her baby. “What I realized is, if I’m so willing to eat right to take care of this baby, why am I not willing to do it for myself?” I have this thought all the time, especially since so many of my fellow bloggers are moms or moms-to-be. And that goes for attitude, too. I would NEVER want a daughter of mine to allow other people to tell her she wasn’t good enough, so there is NO WAY I should allow myself to do it!
Which inspired this performance by Mercedes, which I may have sung along to, and maybe continued singing while walking my dog. Maybe.
So check it out. You are beautiful. This is a fact. You are unique, talented, and have something wonderful to share with the world. And a bunch of beer-swilling frat guys making fun of you because you’re an unwelcome distraction to the Giants absolutely stomping on the Panthers can’t change that fact…or you know, whatever’s getting you down.
Go show the world what you can do, guys! I believe in you!
(Also, I know you were worried, but the Giants win did not mess with my fantasy football matchup. The Panthers mainly concentrated their defense on Victor Cruz (owned by my opponent for the week), so he only scored 4.2 fantasy points. Y’all can breathe easy. I’ma win this one.)
(Also also, I don’t know why I didn’t immediately go here when I was down. Should have been an obvious first step.)
(Also also also: I meant what I said. I believe in you. Whatever it is you do, kill it. I’ll be here waiting to hear all about it.)
Aaah! It’s been exactly four months since my last post, and I’m finally here, in civilization, ready to start blogging again! It’s been a crazy four months and so much has changed in my life!
Here’s a few pictures from the summer:
Breakfast with the boys during rehearsals! I think I told them to look sexy for y’all. Sorry if that didn’t go as planned…
A view of our tiny cabin from our giant bed. We turned the bunk bed mattresses sideways and just kinda lived around the frame all summer. Ah, the glamour of acting!
I played a white chick and a Shawnee women (and a couple of white men, too – why not?!), so I did my face half and half for the makeup tech during rehearsals. Creepster.
Our pond backstage! Looks pretty, is really pretty gross.
Horses! This particular one tried to bite me every night, because I had the effrontery to interrupt her druggie habits to saddle her. She looooves Alex, though.
Bling. Blau. Ran my first half-marathon this summer! 2:17:22, along the banks of the Little Miami, where the main characters in my show ran – not for fitness, but to relay messages and to travel to and from war parties. Cooool. Note the frontiersbeard in the background. I like to squish it.
Back to civilization – FINALLY got a real 21st century haircut! I went from 1940s to 1780s for months! I NEEDED BANGS ON MAH FACE. (Don’t worry – Alex shaved, too.)
Aaaand reunited with the puppy again! It’s til death do us part this time, puppers. Never you fear.
If I wrote all about this summer, it would take forever, so I’ll just share a few fun facts:
My cardio went way up but my strength way down during the summer – I’m a much faster runner but can only make it through one set of ZWOW! I think I relied on the internet a lot for strength training inspiration this spring. But boy did I run some HILLS.
I got a chance to play the two main women during understudy rehearsals! I was the general female understudy, so I had to know all the female parts (don’t worry – there are only four). It was one of the craziest acting experiences I’ve ever had. No one told me I was going in, so I was just sitting there about to watch my understudy kiss Alex (who was understudying the guy who plays my husband – confused yet?!), when an ASM came up to me and asked me if I could go in for Tecumapese, the main Shawnee woman, for the rest of the rehearsal. I was so excited – I never thought I’d get to play her! I ran and got my script and my friend Moe, who plays Tecumapese, and just powered through her scenes until…the ASM came up and asked if I could go in for Rebecca Galloway, the main frontierswoman, for the next scene, too. Uhh…yeah! So I ran to the other side of the stage and went on for her…then had to run back to the other side to go on for Tecumapese again! It was so weird and wonderful to switch like that from a middle-aged Shawnee woman to a teenaged white girl and back again. Other actors had no idea what was going on – they didn’t know I was going in for Tecumapese until they heard my voice onstage, and then they thought they heard me playing Becky, too… It was really funny trying to sort out what happened for sixty other actors afterwards!
My friend Carson accidentally let slip that she played the flute in middle school, so even though I got pretty far, I was off the hook for learning the flute. Phew.
We came into a LOT of funds from the sale of my childhood home (I had no ownership in it or anything, my mom just felt like she didn’t need the money and her kids did, so BLAMMO! monay. Crazy, huh?). So Alex and I decided never was there a better time than to move out to LA, which we had been planning to do after saving some money anyway. This gave me considerable anxiety, since I’ve been there before and it was as hard and almost as soul-crushing as you’d expect, until…
I did stand-up for the first time! Alex has been trying to get me to do it for years, so I decided to finally man up and try it. IT WAS AMAZING! Everyone loved it – they really flipped out. I was totally overwhelmed by the response. A lot of people whose opinions I really trust told me this is my “in” into acting in bigger projects, so here goes nothing! I’m going to my first open mic in Philly tonight! Scary!
Fun facts about those fun facts:
I kissed three guys who weren’t Alex this summer (onstage! – geez).
I’m about half a foot taller than my Rebecca overstudy, so when I tried to put my head on Tecumseh’s chest, I ended up sort of hitting him in the face with my head and poking him with the pencil that was stuck in my hair. This is why understudy rehearsals exist.
Carson and I had a real competition going for who could play the flute worse, let me tell you.
I got the voicemail from my Mom saying she was gifting us the money while I was out with Alex and our two closest friends, and I looked so shocked everyone thought someone had died. I waited til we got to the parking lot to tell Alex, and he started crying and hugging me. Then our friends REALLY thought someone had died. Then we bought them dinner, and they were less concerned.
Our assistant equestrian literally fell off of the bleachers laughing at one of my jokes during my stand up set. I would be in so much trouble if he’d hurt himself!
So there you have it! I’m so happy to be home for so many reasons (I don’t have to put on pants to go to the bathroom, everywhere I go is not a PDA zone, my kitchen is CLEAN, I could go on…), and I’ve gotten right back in the swing of working out and eating healthfully! I can’t wait to reconnect with you all again!
How was your summer?!
Today’s the big day! Just seven hours ago I was saying my goodbyes at the company party for Carter’s Play, and now I’m on my way to Ohio for Tecumseh! I was going to give myself a solid five and a half hours of sleep, but I woke up at six and decided to get on my way.
You’ve got those tired eyes all the time…
It’s my sincere hope that I’ll keep blogging once I get there, but internet is spotty where we live, and my priorities may change vastly when I arrive! I still have lots of lines to learn, a tour speech to memorize, and was asked last minute to see if I could maybe play the flute. Um, sure? Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? I’ll do my best to keep you updated, though. Until then, ne dahquelemah, nehkahnoh! (All my love, friends!)
Time for another addition of…
Featuring what I ate Tuesday! I have tried to make a commitment to eating more meals this week, as I had none in my last WIAW post and realized this might not be the best way to eat. I almost succeeded!
Aside: I’m so sorry all my pictures are blurry! I really need to invest in a camera!
Breakfast
Scambled eggs w/sauteed baby bella mushrooms and nonfat Greek yogurt w/strawberries. Accompanied, as always, by coffee w/stevia & skim milk.
This one was inspired by Cassey. I tried to buy shitake mushrooms, but they freaked me out a little. I couldn’t tell if they were moldy or not, and the ShopRite in my neighborhood is not the place to assume produce looks how it’s supposed to look. Fact.
Snack
Yam with roasted garlic hummus (and salt, natch)
Inspired, as most of the stuff I eat on my slow slide to veganism is, by Heather. I was nervous about this (Why am I so nervous about food? I always think I’m going to hate everything and I end up loving it! Except mango. I really, really do not like mango.), but it was AWESOME. I’ve never eaten a sweet potato not in fry form, and wasn’t sure how garlic would go with it. The answer is: “like buttah.”
Snack
Homemade (!) raw cauliflower tabbouleh
I’m pretty proud of this. I had meant to make a salad with it as a full-on lunch, but I had to batch process the cauliflower in my blender since I don’t have a food processor. It took so long that I barely had time to shower and shove some in a container before I had to leave to meet friends for dinner. This is also something inspired by Heather, something I was nervous about, and something that was severely awesome. Actually, just see above. : p
Dinner
So…my pictures from dinner didn’t turn out, which is a crime, because my dinner was so beautiful! I was supposed to take my friend Lauren to Uzbekistan (the restaurant, not the region!) last night, but our friend Vicky was visiting from DC, so we went out with her and her mom and her college roommate and her roommate’s husband instead. We ate at the White Dog Cafe, which is super-swanky and even more awesome than I knew! According to their website, they serve organic food from local farms that use sustainable practices, sustainable seafood, and fair trade coffee, tea, and chocolate.
I had a white beer from Maryland (I wish I could remember what it was!), a slice of whole grain bread with real butter and two sides instead of an entree: wild mushroom gnocchi and goat cheese polenta with pureed kalamata olives. It was amazing but so filling that I ended up giving most of the gnocchi to Lauren, who is a third of my size and has four times my appetite. She has been finishing my meals for fifteen years. : )
Snack
Skinny Cow chocolate ice cream cone
After dinner I was craving coffee and ice cream really badly. If I hadn’t been trying to get to sleep early lately, I would have had a cappuccino, which is my favorite way to end a meal at a nice restaurant. Instead, I picked up Skinny Cow cones at the grocery store on the way home. Classy. (I took the picture for my boyfriend, who I knew would be proud that I bought “junk food”…and a little upset that I bought it when he wasn’t there to eat it, too. : p)
Snack
Smoothie with skim milk, chocolate protein powder, coconut flakes, and banana
I can’t sleep if I’m hungry, so even though everyone ever says not to do it, I always eat an hour or two before bed. (And lately, drink a whole bottle of Propel and a whole bottle of water. You’re not supposed to do this, either, because you will wake up in the middle of the night having to pee. But if I don’t, I wake up in the middle of the night with a migraine, and have to eat and take medicine and feel miserable. A two minute bathroom break is way preferable.)
This is actually a picture of a different smoothie (that I ate today, made of skim milk, almond butter, oats, strawberries, and cinnamon), but they all look the same, right? What I wanted to show off was my new smoothie cup that I bought so I have no excuse not to take one with me as a snack! I am in love. (I really should have taken a picture of my groceries last night, which were this pink cup, a pink toothbrush [so I can use my old one to clean my apartment before I leave], a pink box of tampons, and a lavender Skinny Cow box. Girliest collection of items that has ever been within ten feet of me.
Other random facts from today:
Alex told me the costume designer is asking when I’m coming since they’re making a brand new bodice just for me! This is definitely one of the coolest things about being an actor: not many of my non-actor friends have had clothes custom-made for them. It’s a pretty nice feeling to know what you’re wearing was made just for you!
I got a great review in Stage Magazine! You don’t have to read it, but it does say this: “Patti Moore plays both parts quite well…[she] lends an under-stated charm and honesty to all of her roles, especially when rehearsing a very hilarious sex scene from the play…” Yeah, I rehearse a sex scene onstage. It’s funny. Isn’t that great, though? I wish everyone had strangers telling them they’re good at their jobs! (I actually do make a point to do this – I talk to supervisors for customer service people, waiters, cashiers, anyone who gives me good service. It can only help them!)
I am sincerely in love with this song:
Not like ironically in love with it, but actually in love with it. I also want that girl’s outfit and to go on that date, please. Alex does not love driving to random fields as much as I do, alas.
What’s something you thought you’d hate but ended up loving?
Um, sweet potatoes and cauliflower, surprisingly!!!
What’s the girliest thing you’ve ever bought?
My bright pink Kinvara 2s?! Alex will tell me if I’m wrong. He keeps track.
What’s the best date you’ve ever been on?
Alex and I went to the zoo, the water park, and Dave and Busters on our first date. I think we spent half a paycheck each. It was amazing, though.
*this*starts*tonight* 
