Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Wacky Weather, Wacky Eats

Yesterday was an abnormal eating day for me. First, I went out to lunch with my sister, my mom, and a few friends after my nutrition class. We went to Brio, where their idea of vegetarian is pasta primavera...or pasta primavera. I'll fill you in on the deets below, but let's just say I ended up having two lunches. Then, around 5 PM, serious thunderstorms rolled into town. The power went out, I was left without internet, entertainment, and means of cooking. Even if I had wanted to be a good student and work on my nutrition project, I couldn't.

Translation: boring evening.

However, once my dad returned from teaching his class, we headed to Jason's Deli, which is home to a pretty impressive salad bar. To kill some time afterward, we visited a nearby Banana Republic, where I scored a pencil skirt on sale. Fits me like a glove! The power was back when we returned home, thank goodness--is it sad that I was worried about my Soy Delicious melting?

So, long story short, I didn't do a lot of cooking yesterday, but I still managed to do a lot of eating...as per usual.

Monday
Sorry to be so boring. I just can't get enough of the vanilla hemp-mango combination!

Tuesday
I opened up a fresh box of Clifford Crunch yesterday morning. I topped it off with some plain Silk, and I also sliced up an apple to dip in Sunbutter. This cereal reminds me Alpha Bits from my childhood, except moderately good for me.

As I mentioned above, I went to Brio for lunch. Along with the bread basket, they serve these awesome rosemary-flax crackers--yum! I also ordered the Zuppa di Gigiorno, minestrone. I was hoping for copious legumes but basically got vegetable soup + 2 chickpeas. Boo! More olives would have been nice. Yes, I know I am a fuss-budget. When I returned home, I made a quick wrap out of a whole wheat tortilla, guacamole, firm tofu. I also had a lovely plum. Then I was full.
Upon our return, I also noticed a box waiting for me. It was a box full of samples from Snacktrition. Yay! This company bakes their almonds with calcium to increase their modest existing calcium content. They also have some fiber-rich cashews and trail mix. I can't wait to try them!
Dinner at Jason's consisted of a ginormous salad and lots of their tasty little crackers. Do not be fooled by this picture--that plate is big. Here's what went into my scrumptious mountain: spinach, yellow bell peppers, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and...roasted red pepper hummus! I put some of the hummus on the crackers, which were slightly sweet--the combination was phenomenal! I stashed a few more crackers in my mom's purse before we left--yeah, I'm that classy.
I am trying to increase my kcalories a bit these days, so I made an extra large shake last night. Let me just say that the almond pistachio Soy Delicious was not affected in the least by the power outage. This must be what they eat in heaven.
Wednesday
Remember my chocolate PB? Well I found it lurking in the shadows of the cabinet this morning, so I made a breakfast panini with it. Sliced banana and said PB on whole wheat, plus a Chobani with cinnamon and the banana remnants.
A note on the lady bug cup: this one doesn't belong with the rest. All the other cups say "Baa" or "Woof," but a lady bug doesn't make a sound, so they put "Lady Bug." Couldn't they think of just one other animal that makes a sound?! OK sorry for the rant.
Random lunch today. I combined tahini with chickpeas, lemon juice, oregano, garlic, and roasted red pepper, then stuffed it in a pita. Pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. Broccoli slaw and mixed berries rounded it out. I swear organic berries taste better than conventional.
Dinner was pretty simple: Corn Edamame Salad from V-con, local tomatoes, and an apple with my new hazelnut butter.

Last day of class tomorrow! Wahoo! Happy Humpday!

13 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

"We went to Brio, where their idea of vegetarian is pasta primavera...or pasta primavera. " Haha!! Reminds me of my experience there, when I went for brunch - let's just say that their idea of a fruit platter is a small saucer with 2 pieces of pineapple (small chunks, mind you), 1 blueberry, and 3 strawberry halves. No joke. They charged $8.00 for that (thankfully I won the argument, and didn't have to pay for it, haha).

Oh man, your shakes and that panini sound ESPECIALLY fabulous - yum!!

I've heard of those Snacktrition almonds... can't wait for your review!!

Hooray for tomorrow being your last day of class!! Good luck!! :0)

Trying To Heal said...

hahaha...i always encounter those problems at restaurants...vegetarian option is...GARDEN SALAD. WTF? hahahaha...

your shakes always look so great! what kind of blender do you have? cause mine SUCKS!

and your panini sounds divine...so jealous!

best of luck w/ the end of your classes!

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of Brio - is that a new chain? It can be so frustrating to not have a vegetarian option at a restaurant. Grrr...

Anonymous said...

awww sorry about the disappointing restaurant!

clifford crunch is too cute - i have to find that cereal in my store!

Kimberly said...

Oh, gross, Brio. My sister thinks it's so great, but honestly, it's on par with the Olive Garden. My favorite thing about that "authentic Tuscan grille" is that it's headquartered in Columbus, Ohio *rolling eyes*

Your corn salad looks sooo good and summery!

Tara said...

I love the Living Harvest vanilla spice protein thanks to you! Your shakes do always look so yummy. Glad your ice cream survived the electricity outage. :)

The Snacktrition products look fabulous! I want free samples...how did you manage that?! heehee I hope they make it to my local Whole Foods soon.

www.mysocalledveganlife.com

Ruby Red said...

How did you like your hazelnut butter? I've always wanted to try it but I never feel like ordering food online.

Your breakfast panini looks delicious -- I hope to get an indoor grill one day so I can copy you and make that thang!

Ugh, poo on those frustraing restaurants! It's so annoying to have to pay regular price for rabbit food and then go home and eat something more substantial. Your pita and tofu wraps both sound really good!

Allison said...

Hi Chickpea

I just recently started my own food blog and was wondering, how did yours become so popular? Did you just keep posting things and eventually people commented etc?

I was also wondering what your favourite vegan protein powder is? I am looking for something to mix with a spinach, bananas, and berry smoothie in the morning and I'd prefer to avoid a soy protein powder. I see you use frutein, I have also heard of spirutein, and of curse hemp and rice protein powders. Just wondering which you think is best for lowest cal and highest nutri value and also easy to digest.

Thanks

Unknown said...

"Is it sad that I was worried about my Soy Delicious melting?"- Haha, I would've been the SAME way :0) I absolutely love the salad bar at Jason's Deli! I always sneak extra crackers too...I love the crunchy texture! I almost bought Clifford Crunch the other day...I might just have to pick it up, because I LOVED Alphabits when I was younger. Looks like you had another week full of good eats! Congrats on being finished with school!! :0)
Oh, and I was cheering for Aaron McCargo Jr. the WHOLE time, too!!

Anonymous said...

How did you find the chobani compared to other greek yogurts. I really want to like greek yogurt but i find it taste too much like sour cream! I have tried both oikos and fage.

Hope your last class went well!

ChickPea said...

VeggieGirl: I completely agree--I swear, restaurants think they can use vegetarians as a way to make more money by charging them ridiculous amounts for mediocre produce to which they have done nothing. Sheesh.
Just Me: I have a Magic Bullet, well actually I have two. It's great for saving space, but it's not as powerful as other blenders out there. A lot of people seem to like the Blendtec brand.
Nicki: Brio is a "Tuscan Grille" that goes by the name of Bravo in other parts of the country. It's not really worth visiting, in my opinion.
LoveofOats: Clifford Crunch is a fun snack cereal--plus, it provides a little variety from GoLean:)
Kimberly: I have to agree-the only difference between Brio and Olive Garden is inflated prices and slightly nicer decor. Big whoop. There are so many better Italian restaurants out there.
Tara: Yay! Another Living Harvest devotee! I love it. Snacktrition products should be popping up soon in grocery stores.
Ruby: The hazelnut butter is good, but it made me realize that I ahve never actually tried hazelnuts. Sure, I've had countless cups of hazelnut coffee, but I've never had the real deal.
I loved the breakfast panini! I just use a George Foreman grill that was all of 20 bucks, 4 years ago--much better deal than the fancy panini presses!
LemonyIsland: Yep, just keep on posting, and people will find you. For my first few posts, I was probably the only one who actually read them. You have a great blog, so please keep it up!
As for vegan protein powders, I am really enjoying the Living Harvest hemp, but it's pretty high fiber, so it may be more difficult for to digest. I was hooked on Spirutein for a while, but I cut back because of its soy content (I eat a lot of other soy foods, and I didn't want to OD on soy). Alive! brand also makes a rice and pea protein, which I found really enjoyable.
Allison: Jason's is wonderful--but none of my friends from school have it where they live, so when I rave about some random salad bar, they look at me like, "how good can it be?!"
Clifford Crunch is a great study snack--I frequently dump some in a Ziploc before I head to the library. It's yet another thing that is meant for kids, but I still seem to enjoy it...

ChickPea said...

Lauren: Sorry, we must have been typing at the same time. The Chobani was very similar to the other Greek yogurts--quite tart/tangy unless you add something sweet. The bananas were actually a good mix-in since they're quite sweet.

Anonymous said...

I love the new header, Caroline!

Those rosemary-flax crackers from Brio definitely look YUM! But sorry about the lack of choices! The wrap you made when you got home looks like it made up for it nicely, though :o)

I LOVE Dark Chocolate Dreams PB! And I've never heard of Snacktrition almonds, but that's awesome that they sent you a sample!