Long-Awaited Reprieve

Whew! My tests and quizzes are complete (for the time being), just in time for the holiday weekend. My nutrition test went smashingly, but the anatomy test...not so much. The professor posts grades on Friday evening, so we'll see. I probably won't check until Monday though, just so I can enjoy my weekend at the lake! I've been studying non-stop for the wast two weeks, so I am ready for a few days of down-time and maybe a smidgen of aquatic sports:)

I picked out a few recipes to try this week, and most have been a success thus far. Read on to find out the deets.

Monday
After my recent discovery of the wonder that is Annie's Goddess Dressing, I decided to try out Dreena's Goddess Garbanzos recipe. All I have to say is wow. I can't wait to try it again! I enjoyed mine atop a whole grain hot dog bun (Arnold brand), along with my usual salad, some steamed veggies, and a chocolate soy yogurt. I had never tried Stonyfield's soy yogurt before, and I noticed a few unique characteristics. The texture is more liquidy than that of other brands, and this variety (chocolate) was quite sweet. It was a nice treat, but I'm not sure it will go into regular rotation. The smoothie of the evening consisted of raspberry Spirutein, frozen berries, soy milk, and a bit of a broken up Honest Foods granola plank. De-lish. Tuesday
Return of the breakfast parfait! This particular combination was one of the best I have made in a while: vanilla soy yogurt, frozen cherries, and Fiber One cereal. The vanilla soy yogurt totally made this dish. Yum.
After class yesterday, I was so hungry that I just put together the fastest lunch I could think of...taking the test must have gobbled up all my energy. I made a pita sammie with cranberry and stuffing flavor Tofurky, Nayonaise, and spinach. A spinach salad (with dried cranberries!), a juicy peach, and some almonds finished it off.
For dinner, I picked out a recipe from Clean Eating Magazine (the premiere issue): Lentil Salad with Cranberries and Pecans. (I guess I just couldn't get enough cranberries yesterday...). I didn't have any pecans, so I subbed walnuts, and I used cranberries that I had in the freezer. That's a good tip actually: at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I stock up on bags of cranberries and freeze them so that I can enjoy their nutritious goodness all year round. Anyway, this recipe was bad. There was no flavor except for the extremely tart berries and acidic white wine vinegar; it needed a balancing ingredient of some kind. At least it looked pretty.
The smoothie of the evening consisted of tropical Spirutein, frozen pineapple (way cheaper than fresh!), almond milk, and broken up granola plank. In retrospect, this would have been perfect with coconut.
Wednesday
Today for breakfast I treated myself to a peach-soymilk smoothie and a banana-walnut Gnu bar. I went scavenging for cool cups and glasses, and I all I came up with was this hefty beer mug. I need to make a trip to Home Goods...
In the midst of my studying, I found the time to put together a quick (albeit random) lunch. I used up the rest of my tempeh by cooking it up in a Vidalia onion salad dressing I found in the fridge. Onto the greens it went, and along side it I had some crackers with almond butter and some blueberries.
Dinner tonight was phenomenal. I tried Dreena's recipe for Cashew Ginger Tofu. I could slurp this sauce with a straw--it was that good. Accompanying the superstar meal component were some vegetables, whole grain couscous, and a fresh pear.

I have a quick question for all of you: after a discussion with my nutrition professor, I think I might be borderline OD-ing on soy protein. Sooo, do you all have any recommendations for vegan protein powders not made from soy? As you all have seen, I just can't live without my evening protein shakes!

Well I am off to relax...at last!