Wednesday, March 26, 2008

You Know It's Springtime When...

You know spring has sprung when you can't escape the distinctive sound of flip-flops. While I was walking to class today, I noticed that I was engaging in a symphony of sandals. What can you expect when it's sunny, with a high of 72*?


Along with a few breakfast photos, today I will share with you a typical inventory from a trip to Whole Foods. It might give you an idea of what I purchase from week-to-week--and how much I have to supplement my dining plan. Not that I mind trekking to the grocery store every week; Whole Foods is basically my "happiest place on Earth." Anyway, here is a glimpse of Caroline's ever-growing pantry stash:

From left to right: frozen chopped spinach (I haven't figured out what to do with this yet), organix corn tortillas, wheat germ, GoLean cereal, Almond Breeze almond milk, ricotta cheese (less expensive than cottage cheese), 3 Cascade Fresh yogurts, 3 Stonyfield plain yogurts, oranges, apples, roasted soy nuts, raw cashews, and a few bananas.

Can you believe that all of that fit into one bag?! Just think of how many plastic bags it would have taken to tote all these groceries across campus. Not only is bringing my own grocery bag an eco-friendly habit, but it's more convenient--I walk and take the bus to Whole Foods every week. Plus, you get 10 cents off your total purchase--sweet.

After unloading my groceries, I found that I had a package waiting for me at the post office...



The Easter Bunny came! Since I was unable to come home for the holiday, my mom sent me my Easter basket through the mail. Here you see a variety of candy (vegan jelly beans, sweet tarts, dark chocolate M&Ms, York Peppermint Patties, a "Coconut Nest," and a dark chocolate bunny) along with a DVD (Roman Holiday) and some random pencils. Not pictured are some new (Nike+) running shoes that I picked out over spring break--I left them at home since I shouldn't be adding to my ginormous stockpile of shoes at school. Thanks, Mom!

Monday
Now for breakfast photos! I have been stealing ideas from my fellow bloggers this week. On Monday I tried cooking mashed banana into my oatmeal like Kath does--it really does taste marshmallow-ey. Banana oatmeal will definitely be added into the regular rotation. Monday's bowl also feature lots of ground flax.

Tuesday
Tuesday I had a bowl of Weetabix heated with vanilla almond milk; I added sliced banana and cashews after cooking. Unlike most people, I love soggy cereal. When I was little, my dad and I used to crumble up a couple of graham crackers and let them soak up some skim milk--we called it Mush. Well Weetabix reminds me a lot of that, except way better for me!






Wednesday
And finally, today I took a simpler route and just tossed some trail mix onto my bowl of oats. The trail mix is a blend of raisins, sunflower seeds, soy nuts, almonds, and cashews. I also had a some Stonyfield yogurt with cinnamon stirred in. I buy at least 3 containers of Stonyfield's plain nonfat yogurt each week. What's your favorite kind of yogurt? Recommendations for regular or soy yogurt are welcome.

I will leave you with a picture of a strange strawberry that I encountered the other day...

7 comments:

Anon said...

oh my! that looks so funny haha. i bet it tasted delicious despite it's odd shape ;) i personally don't eat much yogurt because i haven't found a soy brand i love yet. thanks for posting the WF trip. happy hump day!

J said...

Haha! I noticed that, at least on campus, the days that are even the slightest bit warm, the girls are in flip flops and the boys are in shorts. :-)

I love seeing what people get at the store! That looks like some good grub. I've never tried almond milk before, what do you think of it compared to soy/rice/hemp/oat milk? I know I don't like soymilk, rice milk is alright, and I love, love, LOVE hemp milk. I've never had the oat kind either.

Those apples and oranges are calling my name. Oooooh, if you are needing ideas for what to do with spinach, check out some of my recipes on my blog, I use spinach all the time, it's Brett and I's favorite green.

How sweet of your mom to send you an Easter basket.

I'm a freak, I actually don't really like yogurt at all. I never really liked milk based yogurt (though that is probably because I am allergic to dairy and didn't know it for a LONG TIME), and I have only had one flavor of soy yogurt - plain, and it didn't send me either.

That IS a weird looking strawberry.

I am so sorry, my comments on your blog are always so long. I swear I'm not long winded like this on all the blogs I read, I guess I just have a lot to say in response to your yummy looking blog posts. :-)

Anonymous said...

That's so sweet of your mom to send you those gifts! Roman Holiday is one of my favorite movies. =)

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

while it's not 72°F here (rarely ever is), it was definitely warmer and sunny here as well!! hooray for spring FINALLY arriving!! :0)

Whole Foods = my second home.

I always find strawberries, cherries, and even baby carrots like your strawberry! too fun :0D

Simple and Divine said...

I loooove buying WF strawberries...Partly for that reason...Partly because they are incredible, but I just love the triplet strawberries :) And WF is my fave place too...When I'm in there I feel so relaxed, it's ridic. My brother (last night) was like, "Julz, it's not a SPA" haha...Oh, but he doesn't understand, it IS our spa ;)

Happy Humpday! Hooray for Thursday tomorrow! Night

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

I LOVE chickpeas too! It's on the menu 4x this week, so keep checking back for more garbanzo love! & that strawberry is nuts (and i love your easter bag! tooooo cute. cheep cheep!)

ChickPea said...

Andrea: you bet it still tasted good! I can't wait until May, when they're at their peak though!
Jennifer: Almond milk is probably my favorite non-dairy milk. Some people don't like it because it's too high in fat (~3g per cup), but that's where the lovely creaminess comes from! Plus, it's fat from almonds, so it can't be too bad for you. I have never tried hemp or oat milk, so I can't really compare to those but I think it's very similar to rice milk--same creaminess but slightly different aftertaste. I don't mind long comments at all! I am happy to have readers who care!
Romina: I have actually seen Roman Holiday only once, so I am looking forward to watching it soon...maybe once school calms down a bit!
VeggieGirl: I am sure spring will come soon enough for you. Even if it doesn't perhaps you can pretend by eating springtime foods (asparagus? strawberries? yes, please!)
Simple and Divine: Yes, many people make fun of me for my love of WF--but I don't care. There is nothing like wandering amidst nature's bounty (and perhaps the bakery section...)
HH: In that case, I will be stalking your blog even more than normal!