Struggling Through It

This has been a frustrating week since I’m still dealing with the last minor, but annoying cold symptoms of congestion, sinus headaches, energy sags, and sleeping issues. It’s going around everywhere here at work and in the family, but just when I think the symptoms are gone, a scratchy throat flares up again or a sinus headache and congestion ruin a long run. And it’s been making the busy work days and dealing with after-hours issues this week since I’m on call drag. I’ve been trying to stay calm and eat well, lots of salads and smoothies, but I think my hectic work schedule and stress are prolonging the symptoms. And maybe because I’m not taking any medication for the cold symptoms, the side effects usually bother me more than the actual cold symptoms.

I haven’t had much time to get creative in the kitchen this week and have been living on raw vegan smoothies for breakfast and salads and leftovers for lunch. But I did create an interesting eggplant stir fry a couple of nights ago that came out wonderfully.

I added chopped onions, tempeh, chopped apple, and chard.

For the sauce I used:

• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. hot sauce
• ground pepper to taste
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

Many stir fry sauce recipes call for sugar or some sort of sweetener to counter the spiciness, but I opted to add chopped apple to the stir fry instead to add a little sweetness. Why not? Fall is a great excuse to add apples to many dishes, sweet or savory. And our apple tree is going crazy this year. It worked out great, just the right amount of sweetness and the crunchy texture complimented the soft eggplant.

By lunch yesterday, I was ready for an easy, nutrient-dense lunch. So I splurged at the Whole Foods salad bar and it was worth it!

The weather was perfect for eating outside and the sesame ginger dressing at the salad bar was divine, I must recreate it.

The splurging didn’t stop at dinner, hubby and I were wiped after a dragging week and craving something spicy to loosen things up. So we headed to our favorite local Thai place. Maybe it’s not really a splurge because it’s never an expensive place to eat at even with a couple of Thai beers.

I just went with the tofu chow mein, always good and nicely spicy.

And this is gonna be a busy, but fun weekend. We have a huge family gathering tomorrow with family visiting from Florida that I need to prepare a couple a raw vegan desserts for. That means another trip to Whole Foods, always fun. And I need to cram in a long run and chores too, whew!