Weekend of Relaxation

Hi all! I ended up going down to our lake house this weekend with my dad and Ryan (my brother-in-law whom you've seen in earlier posts). We loaded FOUR dogs into the car and headed out for a short stay by the water. It was a great time! Ryan demonstrated the proper wakeboarding technique, and I fiddled around in the kayak. Plus, I even got some studying done--I finished my nutrition project and got around to memorizing some of those muscle attachments. I couldn't have asked for a better study environment. Here are a few pics from the weekend.

Friday
The evening smoothie was comprised of raspberry Spirutein, mixed frozen berries, and plain soy milk. Tasty, but I think I'm getting burnt out on smoothies and shakes. I think I have come to rely on the Spirutein too much for my protein, which isn't really ideal. Got any other evening snack ideas? I would have a vegan cookie or something, but I prefer more voluminous snacks...maybe a big bowl of oatmeal?
Saturday
Another breakfast parfait--this one was truly exceptional though. I combined puffed rice and Grape Nut flakes with layers of fresh blueberries and soy vanilla yogurt. The puffed rice absorbed the vanilla flavor and got nice and soggy--just the way I like it:)
For lunch I relied on pantry staples at the lake house: two refried bean tacos, a spinach salad with mushrooms, and peanuts with dried cherries.
Dinner was kind of pathetic, to be honest. After much dithering, I just decided to make a peanut butter-banana pita and grilled it on the ol' George Foreman. I dug out some frozen veggies and made a salad with honey roasted soy nuts for crunch (and protein!).
As I mentioned above, I am smoothied-out at the moment, so I made some snack mix as my evening snack. This one had stale pretzels, old Fiber One, and some delicious dark chocolate pieces. I washed it down with soymilk.
Sunday
OK, so maybe I'm not completely tired of smoothies. I had a strawberry-soymilk smoothie for breakfast, and I nibbled on some GoLean throughout the morning as well.
Lunch was a tad weird again, owing to the limited ingredients in the house. I found some old Morningstar Farms Chik strips, and I made a stir-fry with them. Normally I don't use such processed meat analogs, but these were really tasty! A tad salty but tasty, nonetheless. I also had a salad, sliced peaches, and some almonds. Check out my cute bowl:)
Dinner was also somewhat Asian-themed. We ordered Chinese takeout, and I just got some steamed veggies to which I added edamame and cashews.
Last night's snack was a mixture of puffed rice, Life cereal (it's whole grain!), Craisins, and pumpkin granola, plus a tall glass of soymilk.

Monday
Quick brekkie this morning: vegan cheddar muffin top from the freezer and a banana with almond butter.
Just before class I threw together a taco salad: spinach, pinto beans, mashed avocado, roasted red peppers, salsa, and corn cut off the cob. I think that covers everything in that mound. I also had some perfect grapes.
A few of you have requested more snack ideas from yours truly. Here is today's: organic vanilla yogurt with dried papaya and a handful of peanut butter Puffins.
Dinner came out of the Imus Ranch cookbook. This dip included silken tofu, garlic, fresh cilantro, and a few other things, but salt was noticeably absent. I didn't really care for this dish...at all. The natural applesauce with walnuts made up for it though.
FYI, I added a list of my favorite cookbooks today...enjoy!