The Lazy Chef

As my friend Jenn might say, I have been quite the lazy chef lately. My culinary inspiration has been alarmingly absent these past few days; my mind has been occupied by homework, linguistics terms, and (most significantly) romantic interests. (Anyone have any tips on how to ask a guy to a semi-formal?) Anyway, as a result of my persistent distraction, my meals have been relatively simple, although I had a minor spark of creativity in the kitchen last night for dinner. You'll just have to read on to hear more about that.

Monday
In typical Monday-night form, I grabbed a quick salad from the salad bar after my dining committee meeting. This veggie delight featured: mixed greens, tomatoes, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, kidney beans, and sliced olives. I also snagged a small container of grapes. Crunchy. Tasty. Yum.
As I mentioned in my last post, I am suffering from a dearth of vanilla hemp protein at the moment, so alternative varieties have reigned supreme these past few days. This shake included cherries, strawberries, soymilk, chocolate rice protein, and chocolate chips.
Tuesday
In an effort to use up some overly-ripe pears, I decided on a Pear-Berry Parfait yesterday morning. Bran flakes, diced pear, blueberry yogurt, and chopped almonds made for quite the unique flavor explosion.
For lunch, I kept it simple with a Tofurky wrap, jazzed up with mustard, vegan mayo, and dried cranberries (my lame attempt at incorporating the Blogger Secret Ingredient). It tasted a tiny bit like Thanksgiving--if only I had some stuffing to go with it! On the side, I had a spinach salad and an apple with some Futter's cashew butter. PS That's a Flat Out spinach wrap--I recommend them!
I bought an eggplant for super cheap last week at Whole Foods (99 cents!), but I am a tad tired of my usual ratatouille route. Instead, I made an open faced baked eggplant sandwich! After baking the slices in the oven, I placed them atop toasted whole wheat bread, drizzled them with balsamic vinegar, and topped them off with a mixture of onions, bell peppers, and oregano. On the side I had "chickpea mash," inspired by Rachael Ray. My version included chickpeas, tahini, and a squirt of lemon juice. For a sweet ending, I had a fruit cup that I purchased on campus.
The shake last night was another berry-cocoa bonanza with blackberries, strawberries, chocolate rice protein, cocoa powder, soymilk, and chocolate chips. Delish.
Wednesday
Remember when I was asking for frozen waffle recommendations? Well I finally purchased a new vegan variety at Whole Foods on Friday, Nature's Path PomegranPlus (with oat bran). I toasted up two of those, drizzled them with agave, and served them along side peaches with almonds and a glass of rice milk. These waffles provided quite the pleasant contrast from my usual Kashi waffles...plus they're egg-free, which makes me happy. Expect a product review in the future!
In hopes of getting more studying done this afternoon and this evening, I looked to the freezer for inspiration for lunch today. Sunshine burgers just happened to be the first item that entered my field of vision. I heated up one of the patties, chopped it up, and tossed it into a salad with my agave-dill-mustard-vegan mayo dressing. A big sweet potato with cinnamon and brown sugar and an apple rounded it all out.
I am off to shower and settle into an evening of studying. Ciao!