The Ultimate Mode of Procrastination

THE BROCCOLI HUT HAS MOVED!

Yep, I've decided to migrate to where all the cool kids are...Wordpress. Fiddling with Wordpress has been quite an effective procrastination tool:)

Check out the newly renovated Hut at this address: http://thebroccolihut.com.

**Please update your reader subscriptions accordingly!**

The Saga of the Cherry Rain Boots

If you step onto a college campus on even a moderately rainy day, you're likely to encounter hundreds of female undergraduates sporting rain boots--in every color of the rainbow, in any pattern you can imagine. I had refrained from partaking in this trend for a while, given my distaste for "being one of the crowd," but I finally surrendered to the rain gear trend when I realized the inclination of Duke's campus toward sludginess. Plus, we all know how much I like shopping for footwear:) After having my pair of cherry-printed rain boots for about a year, I have worn them maybe twice. After looking at the weather report for today (RAIN ALL DAY), I decided today would be a good opportunity to get some use out of them. Lo and behold, the weather gods decided to make a mockery of me today--it has barely drizzled a drop all day. As a result, I felt like a may-juh dork walking around campus in my rain boots, without a raindrop in sight. Sigh.

Maybe my "cool" eats will make up for my dorkiness...

Monday
I indulged myself at Whole Foods last week and bought some tempeh Lightlife Fakin' Bacon, my favorite variety of veggie bacon (I am NOT a fan of Lightlife's "SmartBacon."). I forgot to snap a picture of the package, but I'm sure you all can figure out what it looks like if you're interested in trying it for yourself. Anyway, I used it to make a BLT: tempeh bacon, lettuce, tomato, vegan mayo, and whole grain mustard on whole wheat. I also had some celery with PB and an orange.
Before heading out to my weekly dining meeting, I had some baked blue corn chips with guac and salsa.
For dinner, I whipped up a strange concoction inspired by this recipe. I didn't have any flax oil...so I used ground flax. It was actually a pretty tasty dressing. I also had a big salad, grapes, and crackers.
The shake of the evening featured strawberries, soymilk, chocolate rice protein, and more hot chocolate mix.
Tuesday
In contrast to my usual sweet breakfasts (aside from scrambled tofu, of course), I had a savory meal yesterday morning. I made a breakfast sandwich out of tempeh bacon, tomato, and guacamole. DELISH. I also had a sliced apple.
Continuing with my homemade hummus fixation, I made another batch yesterday; this time the flavor was tomato-basil. Quite delicious, and such a lovely hue of pink! I enjoyed it with some whole wheat mini pitas, celery, and cucumber, along with some grapes.
I tried another variety of Chobani yesterday, the vanilla flavor. I combined it with some wheat germ and roasted almonds--gotta love that crunch factor. (PS Yes, that article was painfully boring to read).
By the time I got around to making dinner, I was famished. I made a quick veggie panini with mushrooms, spinach, red onion, and mozzarella, along with some zucchini fries (seasoned with garlic salt and pepper). I also had some peaches with cashews and cinnamon.
My shake last night included an unprecedented combination for me: banana + raspberry. I also added chocolate rice protein and soymilk, along with coconut and Choco-Cherry granola on top. Sorry my shakes are so repetitive lately--I have only one form of protein powder these days. Chocolate is so much more limiting than vanilla or plain!
Wednesday
My breakfast innovation continued this morning with a "Banana Energy Sundae." The idea for this meal came from here. Obviously, I changed it up according to my tastes: TJ's High Fiber Cereal, cinnamon-spiked plain yogurt, banana, Sunbutter, wheat germ, and chopped dates. I *think* I might have found a new favorite breakfast...
Today's reminders:
-Katie from CCV is giving away...herself in a box. Enter to win some of Katie's favorite products by April 12th--there are LOTS of ways to enter, so check it out!
-Sarah from Tales of Expansion is giving away a Bob's Red Mill product. I feel like Bob is my good buddy, considering how many of his products I regularly purchase (oat bran, flaxseeds, TVP...), so I am pumped about this contest! Enter by April 5th at noon.
-The Girl in the Little Black Dress is giving away more of those fabulous Quaker goodies. Organic cotton robe? Yes, please! Enter by April 3rd.

TTFN, my friends.

Bitten by the Racing Bug

As you may know, I ran my first race a few weeks ago. I enjoyed my experience so much that I've signed on for another one...or three. My next race is this weekend (4/4); it's a 5K to support efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. I have two more planned before the end of the semester. They will give me something to look forward to in the midst of my nasty end-of-semester To Do lists. Exercise always makes for a good study break...as do cooking and magazine reading:) How do you keep yourself sane when life gets chaotic?

Due to my aforementioned vicious workload, I spent most of my weekend being lame and preparing for my presentation that I gave this morning. At least my eats kept me entertained...

Friday
Before my evening of relaxation with Alanna, I fueled up with a Taco Salad dinner: refried black beans with guacamole, salsa, and reduced-fat cheddar all atop a bed of greens. I scooped up the goodness with TJ's brand of baked blue corn chips. I might have to do a comparison post in the future of the Guiltless Gourmet variety and these guys. I also had some cantaloupe with strawberries.
My shake of the evening was fabulous: strawberries, banana, chocolate PB Spirutein, soymilk, plus Choco-Cherry granola and PB2. Lots of flavors going on but still delish.
Saturday
After unintentionally sleeping in, I settled in for quite the savory breakfast: Rachel's Sundried Tomato Pesto Cottage Cheese with olives and tomato atop a whole grain bagel. I also had some more luscious melon.
For lunch, I revamped my leftover refried black beans and made black bean hummus. I added lime juice, cumin, cayenne, and almond butter for southwest flavah. I shoveled it in with Ezekiel pita and snap peas. I also had some salad and an apple.
In continuation with Chobani Week, I sampled the peach variety for my snack. As recommended by K, I added lots of cinnamon...plus some cashews.
After far too many hours of staring at a computer screen, I pulled out dinner from the freezer: Gardenburger Chik'n Grill patties. I kept it simple and just sandwiched it between some whole grain bread with BBQ sauce. This concoction tasted eerily authentic. These might even rival Quorn for chicken-ness. On the side, I had some green beans with dill and greens with chopped pear, dates, and raspberry vinaigrette.
My smoothie was a berry-chocolate explosion. I combined raspberries, blueberries, soymilk, chocolate rice protein, and dark cocoa--LOTS of flavor here. I topped it off with coconut and Choco-Cherry granola.
Sunday
Announcing...Alphabet Oats! I started off with A yesterday: applesauce, apricots, and almond butter. I also cooked the oats in a bit of rice milk and cinnamon. An unconventional but tasty combination.
I didn't have much motivation to cook for lunch yesterday, so I just stuck with an old stand-by: sweet potato with hummus. I added a dash of cumin and cayenne to make it appear as if I put forth some effort in this meal. That's the end of the snap peas on the side, plus a salad with almonds and cantaloupe.
I am slipping into my snack rut again...I just had plain yogurt with pumpkin and Dark Chocolate Dreams PB.
After chapter, I came home pretty famished, so I made a quick wrap that I've enjoyed before: Peachy Nutty Tofurky Rollup. You can check out the recipe at Rudi's Bakery here. I used Laughing Cow instead of cream cheese, for the record. I also had a salad and some Brussels sprouts.
My shake was heavenly last night, due to the addition of an ingredient I rarely use: hot chocolate powder. I've had the canister sitting in my cupboard for months, but I decided to use it last night due to its calcium content. Since I am low on protein powder these days, I have been relying on my rice protein, which has no added vitamins or minerals. Thus, I turned to the hot chocolate for a calcium boost; it has 300 mg per serving. Anyway, I combined it with frozen strawberries, soymilk, rice protein, and dark cocoa. I topped it with shredded coconut.
Monday
I was a nervous wreck this morning prior to my presentation, so I just dumped a few items on my plate before heading out the door. I had toast with almond butter and Rachel's Pear Mangosteen Cottage Cheese with chopped pear. I am officially addicted to Rachel's cottage cheese.
One quick reminder before I bid you adieu:

You can still enter your favorite dessert recipe for Jenna's Dessert E-Cookbook. You have until April 1st at 5PM; send entries to HelpJennaRun@gmail.com. I know I'll be sending in my recipe ASAP!

Later, bloggies:)

The Vegetarian Kitchen

Hi everyone!
Khara from Cookware.com was kind enough to provide me with an article which discusses a topic quite pertinent to The Broccoli Hut: the well-equipped vegetarian kitchen. Enjoy!

A Vegetarian’s Guide to Cookware

Being a vegetarian is a choice that can pay a lot of dividends, between the money saved in groceries and the health benefits. But by forgoing meat and animal products, you are forgoing convenience, as your dietary choices become more restricted. The initial adjustment period is always difficult in this regard, and tough decisions and dilemmas are always played out whether in a restaurant, supermarket, or right at home. But there are ways to deal with this, and one of them is having the right cookware in place that will make your own vegetarian meals much easier to prepare. We’ll help out by showing some items that you might want to concentrate on when you’re out shopping for cookware sets.

Eating a vegetarian diet means putting more of an emphasis on fruits and vegetables, which in turn means you might find yourself doing more food prep. So you want to make sure that you have the right tools at hand, whether you are slicing, dicing, chopping, pitting, or peeling. A proper knife set might be a worthy investment in this case, as would specialized kitchen gadgets such as a fruit corer or a julienne peeler. Another thing you might want to look at is upgrading your food processor or blender so that you can whip up sauces, shakes, and other accompaniments in a jiffy!

Other than convenience, the other thing to consider is what cookware items can bring to the table in terms of nutrition. One of the difficult things about becoming a vegetarian is finding ways to bring into your diet nutrients that are primarily found in meat. Iron is a great example of this, which is why vegetarians might sometimes have iron deficiency issues. The best way to compensate for the iron you are losing in your diet is to take nutritional supplements, but another way to do so is to use cast iron cookware. Research has shown that food cooked in cast iron skillets or pots has higher iron levels than food cooked with other types of cookware materials. This can make a huge difference over years of usage!

These are just a couple of things to consider when you’re thinking of the types of cookware that will best accommodate your vegetarian lifestyle. Any way that you can streamline the cooking and food preparation process will help immensely in dealing with those first few weeks without meet and will get you on your way to eating healthy and animal-friendly at the same time.


Although I have quite a few of the items mentioned, I am still in the market for an all-purpose food processor. Cookware.com does sell VitaMix and BlendTec machines...a girl can dream:)

Be back soon with a weekend re-cap!

Celebrate National Peanut Month!

That's right--March is National Peanut Month. This fact may have been obscured this year due to a certain peanut fiasco, but fear not: there are still plenty of ways to celebrate this most glorious legume, without endangering your health. The geniuses over at Peanut Butter & Company, for example, have provided us all with no less than EIGHT different varieties of peanut butter (not to mention their equally delicious peanut butter pretzel nuggets...we'll save that for another review). Thanks to the peanut butter fairy (aka VeggieGirl), I have had the good fortune of sampling five of these tantalizing flavors. Read on for the deets:


Cinnamon Raisin Swirl
It's like a cinnamon-raisin bagel in peanut butter form. Does it get any better than that?! Come to think of it, yes--spread some of this lusciousness on a Rudi's cinnamon-raisin bagel for double the delight.

Here are some of my other ways to enjoy it. The Banana Quesadilla (no cheese--just PB goodness) and the waffle-wich are two are my favorites:)


Dark Chocolate Dreams
Another match made in heaven: chocolate and peanut butter. It's like a Reese's cup without the guilt.
Serving suggestions. Note that it pairs especially well with raspberry oats and pancakes!


White Chocolate Wonderful
I'll admit it--I didn't like white chocolate...until I discovered this heavenly spread. I have big plans for this stuff; imagine the white chocolate macadamia Clif...in oatmeal form. Wonderful, indeed.


Mighty Maple
So autumnal, so sweet, so perfect. Who needs the syrup when you can put this on your pancakes?
Other ways to gobble it up:

Smooth Operator
Last, but not least: the classic original. I am very much a creamy girl, so this deliciousness goes down easy.
Yes, I am now a PB & Co. devotee: their cookbook is on my Amazon Wish List, and that "Heat Is On" variety is just callin' my name. Try them all for yourself--order online here.

Now you get your PB party on.

Interview Time!

Laural from Body, Mind, Soul kindly selected me to be her interviewee. Thanks for choosing me! Here are my answers to her questions:

1. What is the best way to make broccoli at The Broccoli Hut?

Although this is a difficult question, since I enjoy the wonder-veggie in so many ways, I would say the best way to prepare it is in a tofu scramble, one of my all-time favorite dishes.

Here are some other delicious ways to enjoy this most glorious vegetable:

2. What it your all-time favorite recipe?

Another difficult decision! However, one recipe that never fails to make me and my stomach happy is Cashew-Ginger Tofu from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton. That also happens to be an all-time favorite cookbook of mine.

3. Are you strictly vegetarian and when did you make this choice?

I eliminated meat and fish from my diet five years ago, when I was 16. After becoming comfortable with that lifestyle, I toyed with the idea of veganism (In fact, you can read about my contemplations here). I cut out eggs and dairy from my diet for a period last summer but found that I lacked energy; I also worried about my calcium intake considering my history with anorexia. Thus, I compromised: I am now a lacto-vegetarian, meaning I do not eat meat, fish, or eggs, but I still consume some dairy (mostly cottage cheese and Greek yogurt!). I think my story elucidates the notion that there is no "one-size-fits-all" diet, vegetarian or not--it's best to experiment and find what works well for your lifestyle.

4. Pair of shoes you could not live without?

I am quite the shoe fanatic, so I simply CANNOT choose just one pair.

-I have been fortunate enough to discover my perfect running shoe, the Nike Air Pegasus. I could walk forever and a day in these.

-I must always have a pair of classic black pumps. Here is my latest pair.

-Fun shoes are also quite necessary.

5. Ethnic cuisine you most want to try (or country you'd most like to visit)?

I would love to try Korean fare. My aunt is Korean, and one of my best friends here at school is Korean, and they are always singing the praises of Kim Chee and Korean BBQ. I'd be interested in finding a locale that specializes in Korean cuisine...but I am not sure I'll find it in North Carolina OR Alabama. Oh well, maybe I'll just have to make a voyage to Korea one of these days!

Now it's your turn!

If you would like to be interviewed:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me." If a few people want interviews, I will randomly pick 2.
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Enjoy your Saturday!

Sweatin' Like a Man

Typically, I am not a sweaty girl. Rather, I merely get "dew-faced." I've never had to deal with pit-stains; it's not a big deal if I happen to forget to apply deodorant. Then today happened.

I went to the gym this morning in my yoga pants and T-shirt, as per usual, and remarked to myself, "Geez, it's a little hot out herr." Then I went on my merry way. After my workout, I looked down only to discover that I had oh-so-attractive sweat spots all over my body--the pits, the neck, the back. Eww. Fortunately, I had brought my Puma jacket so I was able to hide the evidence on my walk back to the apartment. Lesson learned: March means it is time to retire the winter gym-wear.

On another note, thanks for all your comments on Wednesday's posts. Rather than endeavor on a potentially restrictive "crap-free week," I am merely going to be more aware of my sugar and sodium intakes for a while--no counting, just focusing on more whole foods. Besides, you know I could never give up my daily Z bar!

Keep those alphabet oatmeal ideas coming! I foresee "I" and "U" being challenges as well...

Now, here's what I've been nibbling as of late:

Wednesday
I had another campus eatery to evaluate for the dining committee--Subway. Call me picky, but I think it's a little absurd not to have a whole grain option for sandwiches. Yes, they have "wheat" and "multigrain," but neither of which is truly whole grain. Thus, I had to make do with a Veggie Delight salad. I didn't even get any apple dippers--the guy in front of me snatched the last pouch. Hmph. Anyway, I returned to my apartment to add a little sustenance to the meal: guacamole and sliced Tofurky, along with a whole grain bagel and an apple.
Snack-time! I had to collect some data for my research methods class, so I brought along a Cherry Pomegranate Nectar bar. It was quite cherry-licious...add another Clif product to my favorites list:) Are you all enjoying the posting of my snacks? I have found that it's motivating me to be more creative with my afternoon noshing.
For dinner, I just made a big pasta salad with whole grain wagon wheel pasta (Hodgson Mill), chickpeas, cucumbers, carrots, celery, steamed broccoli, reduced-fat cheddar, and balsamic vinaigrette. I had a bowl of peaches on the side.
The shake of the evening is a bit of a mystery...I don't quite recall what I put in it. I know raspberries and dark chocolate were involved. That's my Choco-Cherry granola on top.
Thursday
The next installment for Chobani Week: Strawberry Walnut Parfait! Strawberry Chobani, FRESH strawberries, TJ's High Fiber Cereal, and walnuts. Fabulous.
I had to hurry to meet a professor, so I kept lunch fuss-free. I put the rest of my roasted red pepper hummus in a wrap along with some guacamole--it achieved quite a tie-dye effect. On the side, I had a spinach salad and fresh cantaloupe which I cut up all by myself--a first for me. Yes, I am a big girl now.
Snack-time featured some of those Cinnamon Graham Sticks with applesauce and almonds...and a side of Faulkner;)
For dinner, I made my all-time fave comfort meal: Cashew Ginger Tofu. I swear, I could drink that sauce straight...cashew ginger milkshake, anyone? I had some awesome veggies and whole grain couscous on the side.
The shake last night included chocolate rice protein, dark cocoa, soymilk, TWO bananas, and raspberries.
Friday
Breakfast was heavenly today: Tofu-Banana French Toast, another old fave of mine. The best part was the topping: I combined almond butter with that agave-maple syrup--fantastic!
Whole Foods haul:

Highlights: coconut water, Flax & Fig Waffles, tempeh bacon, and Rachel's cottage cheese. Oh, how I do love grocery shopping.
I had another wrapped-up lunch: Goddess Garbanzos in a veggie-wheat wrap, salad, and a chopped pear with wheat germ.
I just finished up today's snack, which featured Crispy Green fruit: freeze-dried bananas! I received these samples so that I would review them for VegFamily...they will get a positive review, methinks. I enjoyed them mixed into plain Greek yogurt with Dark Chocolate Dreams PB.
Reminders!
-Erin is generously sharing her Newman's Own bounty. Enter by March 28th!
-Jenna from Eat, Live, Run is putting together a blogger dessert cookbook! Contribute your recipe to HelpJennaRun@gmail.com by April 1st at 5PM.

Alright, Alanna (future roomie!) is coming over in a bit for some What Not to Wear and toenail-painting action. Later!