Zpizza: The Vegan and the Omnivore

It's not quite Beauty and the Beast - seriously, Boyfriend's way too good-looking for that - but you could qualify us for Beauty and the Beast-eater I suppose.

John eats very healthfully, and he's a champion of trying new and slightly questionable vegan dishes and products. A couple months ago I offered him some mashed potatoes and didn't tell him they were half mashed cauliflower. Sneaky vegetable-pushing girlfriend. Understandably, sometimes he just wants some predictable meat.

Enter Zpizza - which I have written about before, but had terrible pictures, so that warrants an update. The Berkeley Vegan is a pizza with Daiya cheese (I ask them to go light on it - I actually don't like Daiya much), burger crumbles, veggies and a nice crisp crust. Boyfriend and I get a large - half BBQ chicken, half vegan. We always get raised eyebrows with this order. 2 slices are about perfect for me, so I end up taking home another meal's worth.

So for all those times you want everyone to be happy (and don't have the energy to trick anyone into vegetables) I really like Zpizza.

Have you ever tricked someone into eating something good for them? Or something bad for them - actually those are even better stories. 

Grilled Vegan Pizza

I know I'm only averaging a couple posts a week, and I miss being able to write more often, but I'm just keeping very busy.

The hospital's good I guess.

2 weeks + a test week left of surgery rotation, and while I'm feeling very overwhelmed with the amount of material that will be on our end-of-rotation exams, overall I guess I'm all right. I was on call again on Friday night and we had a good time with some interesting consults.

Exercise has been a little slack lately and I think I'm suffering some endorphin withdrawal - I've been a bit sad lately, but I have a plan for that coming up in a later post.

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Post-call on Friday, John came to visit and for dinner? Grilled Pizza with roomies and friends.

Katie's a grill master:

To Make Grilled Pizza

1. Take your dough (we used Trader Joe's) and shape it. 

2. Grill a few minutes over high heat to get it a little crispy.

3. Add toppings.

   - Mine were olives, broccoli, bell pepper, tomato sauce, onions, and tomatoes. 

    (No cheese substitutes - I'm not such a fan of vegan cheese.)

4. Return to the grill and cover to cook both top and bottom. 

5. Eat and love those crispy grill marks. 

Pizza dough breadsticks - spread with oil/garlic/cheese if you want and bake in a 400 degree oven. 

Yes, I ate the whole thing.

Grilled? Pizza stone? Brick oven? Papa John's? What's your favorite way to make/get your pizza?

I Ran-Through-Redlands! Half-Marathon Recap 1

Or: How I fueled up for this race.

I won't bury the lead on this, I had a great time racing this morning, but that'll be the next post.

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In this one I'm taking us back in time to last night when we had a bunch of wonderful friends over, and I got my race fuel on.

Pre-Race Dinner: DIY Pizza Night!! 

Snacks: Pita Chips and "Margarita" Hummus. Katie made this with cilantro, lime and white beans.

For the dough: Trader Joe's Pizza Dough. So good, so easy.
For the sauce: Homemade pesto, Homemade tomato or BBQ sauce.
For the toppings: Artichokes, Cheese (Romano, Mozzerella, Goat), Onion, Bell Pepper, Pepperoni, BBQ Chicken, Cilantro, Carmelized Onion.

Everyone had their own chunk of dough, so they could be super-personalized.

Natalie and Maria

Boyfriend. That one he's rolling ended up looking like a car. Or a boot. Or a hat. We couldn't decide.

Katie and Becky.

Some pizzas on their way to the oven.

I love seeing these people, especially outside of school.

Here's mine: 1/2 pesto, 1/2 marinara. Loads of veggies on both sides.

Pre-oven.

Post-oven.

Enjoyed with a movie: Love and Other Drugs. I heard there was lots of nudity. It's true. Lots. It was also really funny and just sweet enough. 

The only thing wrong with this carbo-loaded dinner meal is that I ate way too many of those pita chips and woke up feeling far too salty this morning. You know, with an extra couple pounds of water just hanging around for the fun of it, but by race time I was feeling all right.

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Pre-Race Breakfast: Wheat Toast with Almond Butter and 1/2 Banana

Pre-running breakfasts are kind of a challenge for me because I usually don't eat anything before I run. Maybe this isn't great practice, but at 5 am I just can't force it. Still, for a race I know I need some fuel, and I've found that this meal sits pretty well and doesn't cause sloshing or cramping when I run. Also it's delicious.

I also drank some water. Next up, we race!

Ducks-in-a-Row Daily Schedule...and April Goals

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Today I'm getting my ducks in a row. I hope that by writing out these details, I'll be increasingly motivated to actually stick to it. 

Last night I had a dream that I had a beard. I was relieved to find when I woke up that I do not have hair growing from my chin, and I thought, "Well Subconscious, Happy April Fool's Day to you too."

So it's the first of April and 57 days until Boards. It was a great day to write a schedule and some goals. 

Ducks-in-a-Row Daily Schedule

Morning

5-6:30 (or earlier) Exercise/Get Ready/Devotion

6:30-7 Boards Study (DIT, Qbank or First Aid)

7-7:30 Breakfast, Pack lunch

Late Morning

7:30-12 Class or Class-related Studying

Afternoon

12-12:30 Lunch

12:30-1 Boards Study

1-6:45 Study (or go to required labs/lectures)

      (2-4 hrs) Class: Review lectures, Make Flashcards

      (2-3 hrs) Boards: First Aid, Qbank

Evening

7-8 Dinner and a break

8-9 Boards Study

9-9:30 Relaxing activities: Reading etc.

9:30-5 am Sleep

Total Study/Learning Hours:

   Class: 6-8 (including lecture)

   Boards: 4-5

   Overall: 10-13

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Boards Weekly Goals

Working 6 days a week

150 USMLEWorld Qbank Practice Questions with review (separate from practice test)

90 pages First Aid USMLE Step 1

30 Doctors in Training Review Q's

30 pages Pathology or Physiology Review

1 Practice Test with 150 Questions

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April Goals

1. Family: Talk to them every week (continue)

   I want to keep doing this like last month; I feel it was pretty beneficial.

2. Fitness

   a. Enjoy the half-marathon in just a little over a week. 

   b. Maintain some kind of exercise schedule after the half-marathon, but give my ankles/feet some time off to rest. I'd like to increase my strength training to 3x a week, because I'm kind of a slacker when it comes to strength training, but I really like the results. 

3. Boards

   (see above) I'm not setting goals in terms of scores for school or Boards, because the only thing I can control is how much time I put in, and that will hopefully reflect in my score, but I'm going to have to be proud of myself if I put in the time I want, whether it leaves me feeling completely prepared or not.

4. Expense Tracking

   This is a new one for the month - I want to track all my food expenses to see specifically what I'm spending to most on and whether I want to cut back or increase certain areas. I'm going to do it by category: groceries, eating out, coffee shops and we'll see how it turns out. 

Besides writing a schedule and studying, it was also a gorgeous day with some great food.

Lunch: Salad and an apple in my undergrad cafeteria. I was visiting a professor, but it was strange being back. It made me feel old. 

Some campus, beach and bluff-walking:

And for dinner, we went to California Pizza Kitchen. It was surprisingly vegan-friendly: the thin crust is vegan, all their soups are vegetarian, and the spaghettini is vegan. I got the Vegetarian with Japanese Eggplant (no cheese) on Thin Crust, and our server, who was also vegan, suggested I add the balsamic on top and it was a great touch. I ate 2/3 of it, so I'll have some for a snack tomorrow. Another vegan in our group got the Pear Gorgonzola with No Cheese, add Balsamic, on Thin Crust as well. 

On other cheeseless pizzas, I've felt the flavor's been lacking, but this was everything it should have been.