Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Merry Half Christmas!

Yep, we're exactly 6 months away from my absolute favorite holiday of the year. Aside from my yuletide obsession, my birthday also happens to be December 24, so I am officially 20.5 years old. Eeek! FYI, my annual Christmas/birthday countdown doesn't start until September.

I am posting earlier in the day today due to that persistent nuisance otherwise known as anatomy class. I have a 160-question midterm tomorrow at 1:00, so I will be spending much of my evening after class studying rather than blogging. Trust me, I'd rather be blogging.
Anyway, here are a few pics of my eats over the past few days.

Monday
For my evening snack, I opted for a big bowl of organic popcorn with a few dark chocolate chunks thrown in. For those of you who don't know I am taking a temporary hiatus from my nighttime smoothies and shakes. I'm just trying to switch things up a little. By the way, I love this popcorn! The only ingredients on the label were organic popcorn, organic vegetable oil, and salt. Short and and sweet, er, salty.
Tuesday
Squeezing in a run before a 10 AM class necessitate speedy breakfasts on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was feeling tropical yesterday-- I threw some oats in a bowl with pinenapple chunks and cashews.
Lunch consisted of a Tofurky-avocado-spinach wrap in a whole wheat tortilla. I used salsa as a dressing on that spinach salad, and I balanced it all out with an apple. No shortage of fiber in this lunch!
Snacktime! This is another typical snack for me: lemon soy yogurt and red bell pepper strips with hummus. It really bugs me how some soy yogurts aren't fortified with vitamin B12...So Delicious is the only company I've encountered who does this service for vegans/vegetarians. Oh, and let me know if you'd rather I not post snacks. I'm looking for some feedback because I know they're a tad boring.
Red beans and rice for dinner last night. Well sort of. I stole some brown rice from my parents' dinner and mixed it with no salt added canned tomatoes, garlic, cumin, chili powder, and leftover pinto beans. Not traditional by any means, but it was tasty nonetheless. I was still a little hungry afterward, so I whizzed some almond milk with cocoa powder and enjoyed it with some fresh blueberries. Amazing.
Owing to the surplus of bananas around here, I made some vegan banana pudding last night. I got the recipe from VegWeb. Can't wait to try it:)
For snack last night I ended up making another bowl of hot cereal. This time I used that Quaker multigrain cereal I've been enjoying so much lately. I mixed in some pumpkin flax granola and topped it off with a Medjool date.
Wednesday
This morning I tried a few new products. I made a smoothie using
Fruitein this morning (as opposed to Spirutein). One of these packets provides 600 mg calcium; I think these are vegan, if you're interested. I blended it with frozen blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries and slurped it out of my nifty new smoothie receptacle (for lack of a better word). Along with it, I tried a new Kashi cereal, Honey Sunshine. This was pretty good, but I think I like Puffins and Corn Bran better, mostly because the "pillows" of those cereals are much bigger. The squares in these were about the size of corn kernels.
Now I'm off to review muscles + bones for the thousandth time. Soon I'll be dreaming (or having nightmares) about condyles, processes, and the rectus femoris. Ugh.


17 comments:

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Aw, happy 1/2 birthday! You should celebrate by making 1/2 a cake, putting on 1/2 a birthday hat, and having a 1/2 birthday party! I've always wanted to do that, but I seem to forget about my 1/2 birthday every year until it's already passed me by :o/

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Haha, you're REALLY getting an early start on your countdown :0)

Good luck reviewing!!

Anonymous said...

Haha! Happy half b-day!

You mentioned that you think it's a better idea if you don't rely on the shakes. I was wondering why? I was about to ask you about buying spuriten (sp?) thinking it sounds like a great idea, but would be interested in your opinion. Buying protein powders is confusing at whole foods there are a million brands- how did you choose that brand?

Also, I enjoy seeing your snacks. Even if you think they are boring, they are not! Trust me, I live on larbars for snacks, so I am appreciative of any ideas-even repetitive ones!

Alicia said...

I do like to see your snacks! Mine are apples, rice cakes with dark chocolate, and tons of vegan cookies! ;-)

newcitygirl said...

Quick question...where do you get your soy yogurt? I've been looking for one i reeeeally like and just haven't hit the nail on the head yet. Thanks!

J said...

Happy half birthday, ooooh the big 2-1 this year, eh?

I would have never thought to add chocolate to popcorn. Good idea!

Mmmmm those bell peppers strips with hummus sound like the perfect afternoon snack right about now!

Man, your red beans and rice sound awesome, traditional or not. What a quick and yummy sounding meal! Pinto beans are so flippin' tasty.

Good luck on your anatomy midterm, it sounds like a bear!

(Oh, and I wanted to mention that I think you are so very classy in dealing with mean commenters such as the one in the last post. Rather than attack the person, you kept your cool and didn't let them get to you. I swear there are people out there that get their kicks off of hurting other people's feelings. I think people like that say enough about themselves by those kinds of actions. Don't listen to 'em! And I had to contain myself not to reply back to that person myself!)

Anonymous said...

happy 1/2 bday- and of course half x-mas, I LOVE the holidays!!

cool, Honey Sunshine, I've not yet seen this new one :) Have a good night of studying...if that's possible :)

Anonymous said...

happy half bday & half christmas, my coworker said that to me today about june 27... kinda crazy that christmas is half way there haha...

i LOOOOOOOVE your popcorn snack - what an awesome idea :)

Little Miss Sunshine said...

happy 1/2 birthday!!! Weee....

oh the banana pudding looks so yummy ... I've never tried any forms of pudding except for rice pudding myself so I guess this a perfect time to make one for myself!

In regards to snacks, keep blogging it! I enjoy reading everything you blog about ... lol I sounded like a stalker!

Erika said...

Hi Chickpea. Just thought I'd give a little suggestion since I know you're open for suggestions on bulking up your snacks and meals etc. One thing I've been doing lately when I make oatmeal for breakfast or snack is to add in around 1/4-1/3 cup of dried TVP granules before throwing it in the microwave or cooking it on the stovetop (make sure to add more water or soymilk though, as the TVP soaks up a lot of liquid). It adds a lot of protein to your breakfast but totally blends in with the oatmeal because it looks and tastes like a grain.

P.S. Happy 1/2 birthday. Woohoo!

ChickPea said...

CCV: Thanks for the birthday wishes...I'm all for the cake and hat, but I think I need I need a WHOLE party:)
VeggieGirl: I'm always ahead of schedule!
Amanda: I wanted to take a short hiatus from Spirutein because I found that I was eschewing other forms of protein during the day because I knew I would be having that shake at night. For optimum nutrition, it is best to have a variety of food sources and preferably from real foods; protein powders might be classified as supplements rather than food. So no, there is nothing inherently unhealthy or wrong with Spirutein, but I just wanted to mix it up this week. That being said, I just received a packet of S'mores flavor Spirutein today, so I think my little break may be over...
Alice: Rice cakes with chocolate?! Sign me up.
New City Girl: I get my soy yogurt at Whole Foods, but they also sell it at my local Publix supermarket. I'm not picky about brands though, so if you're looking for a specific brand, Whole Foods is your best bet.
Jennifer: It's so nice having you back in the commentary...your posts are always so thorough and thoughtful!
hk: I know, the holidays are the best! Oh, and my night of studying wasn't too painful.
love of oats: I have definitely turned into a sweet and salty person lately.
BTW, I've been thinking of you a lot lately because I have been eating oats once or twice a day...they are so addictive!
Cecilia: Pudding is wonderful! I like it straight, or I'll use it as a component in shakes sometimes as an alternative to ice cream or yogurt.
Life Love Peanutbutter: Thanks for the tip. I'm a bad vegetarian I guess, because I have never actually tried TVP. What does it taste like? How about the texture? I always figured it was salty and ground beef-ish. Also, where do you get it? Sorry for so many questions, but you've got me intrigued.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the reply. Your new flavor, s'mores, sounds amazing!

I am also curious as to how you choose that brand. When I went to whole foods I was overwhelmed by the choices of diff. brands.

ChickPea said...

Amanda: Well, I've experimented with protein powders for years, so my decision to use Spirutein came after a lot of trial and error. I've tried whey proteins before and 1) I don't really like the taste and 2)As a semi-vegan, I would like to stick to plant-based proteins if possible. You're right; there are a lot of choices at Whole Foods. I stick to the ones with nutrients I'm looking for--calcium, protein, vitamin B12. Last, but certainly not least, I look for tasty flavors! Spirutein makes so many that I know I'll never get bored, and even if I do, you know that I like to add my own twist to them. Hope that helps.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Ok, so I pulled a Caroline today (Have you ever seen the show "Friends"? If not, then I guess you will have no idea what I'm talking about!!! Oh well ;o)

Anyway, I was running and tripped over a tree branch and completely wiped out! Luckily I just got some scrapes; but I was totally thinking of you!

ChickPea said...

CCV: Yes, I do watch Friends, so I got the reference. Glad to hear that I'm not the only one who wipes out occasionally:)

Erin said...

Merry Unbirthday! But...chocolate? On popcorn? I'm sure it's good...but...

ChickPea said...

Erin: I know, the chocolate-popcorn thing sounds weird, but it IS good. I was in the mood for chocolate-covered pretzels but had none...so I turned to an equally salty snack food for the flavor combo.