Monday, March 16, 2009

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

**Thanks to everyone for your kind comments in response to my post entitled "Another First." I really enjoyed the experience, and I appreciate your support!**

Aside from being a super-awesome Nickelodeon television show from my childhood, today's post refers to how I felt this morning. I hopped out of bed at 7AM this morning, as per usual, to walk across campus to the gym. When I open up the door, however, it appears to be the middle of the night. Oh, yeah. Daylight Savings Time. While it's great to have the prolonged sunlight in the evening, I had forgotten that there is a trade-off--it's much darker in the AM. Central campus (where I reside) has a reputation as being more crime-ridden than one might prefer, so this unexpected darkness made me a little nervous. Yes, I admit it--I was afraid of the dark. Fortunately, the sun came along soon enough, so my trek over to the gym was minimally frightening. How about you? Are you afraid of the dark?

Anyway, since my last meal re-cap, I have returned to school for the final portion of the semester. Here's what I ate in my last few days of freedom.

Friday
I have another rare snack to share: Rachel's cottage cheese with pear and mangosteen. To be honest, I'm pretty sure I have never even seen a mangosteen, but I still thought this flavor sounded intriguing. I enjoyed mine with some raw cashews. I think the reason I like these flavored cottage cheese cups so much is that they remind me of Breakstone's Cottage Doubles. They have the same portability and tastiness--without all the icky ingredients.
For dinner, I decided on the Thai Chick-Un Pizza from ED&BV (quite possibly my very fave cookbook). I have made it before (see here and here), and it never disappoints. I wish I had had the pineapple that the recipe requires, but no such luck. Nonetheless, it was quite delicious. I also had a salad and some clementines.
My shake of the evening was of the choco-nana variety: unsweetened chocolate Spirutein, frozen banana, vanilla non-dairy ice cream, and soymilk. Sorry for the crap-tastic picture--at least you have a nice few of my current cookbook obsessions in the background.
Saturday
Following my race on Saturday, I knew exactly what I wanted for breakfast. I had mentioned it in my last post when I showed you my GoLean Muffin creations...yep, I made a muffin parfait. This one featured said muffins, Greek yogurt, blueberries, and Mighty Maple PB. I love how the muffins soak up all the flavors of the other layers. See yesterday's post for details.
I had a quick lunch so that I could devote my full attention to the ACC tournament on TV. (FYI: DUKE WON THE TOURNAMENT). Anyway, I made a ginormous wrap with chickpeas, steamed cauliflower, red bell pepper, mixed greens, and Woodstock dressing. This wrap ended up being quite messy and falling apart after my picture. Nonetheless, it was quite tasty. On the side, I had more greens and a big bowl of watermelon.

As a last hurrah before my departure, the whole fam came over for dinner. I needed to use up some leftover beans, so I made some hummus inspired by Caitlin's purple hummus...except mine was pink! With my hand blender, I combined red beans, liquid smoke, tahini, paprika, cumin, garlic, and S + P. The end result was quite smoky and garlicky, which doesn't make for the best breath, but it tastes good goin' down. I put a hefty amount in an oat bran pita with some spinach. I also had some salad, clementines, and grabbed the last few green beans from the serving bowl. You gotta be quick in my house if you want some green beans, apparently.
After a night out at a piano bar (which was another first for me), I came home to make a quick shake: S'mores Spirutein, dark cocoa, soymilk, banana, and non-dairy vanilla ice cream. Yum.
Sunday
I re-fueled before church with a simple breakfast: Toast with PB and fig jam, a clementine, and some good ol' Fage.
I packed my lunch for the airport, which I'm afraid featured more simple fare: leftover pink hummus, Ak-Maks, assorted veggies, and grapes. Garlic breath and small enclosed spaces (i.e. airplanes) are not a good combination. Oops.
I tried a new bar for my snack: a PURE bar in the Chocolate Chip Trail Mix flavor. Look for a review in the future...
Once home, unpacked, and re-stocked with some produce, I settled into dinner. I made a salad with chopped up soy nuggets, spinach, and a homemade agave-mustard dressing. On the side, I had some corn, broccoli, and applesauce with almonds. I promise my culinary creativity will return eventually...
For my smoothie, I amped up the raspberry: raspberries, raspberry Spirutein, soymilk, and Peak Protein granola. I found this in the cabinet from way back when the kind folks at Bear Naked sent me samples.
Monday
Back to the grind this morning. I just heated up some rice milk and poured it over Autumn Wheat cereal and served it with a sliced apple & Cinnamon Swirl PB.
Heads up on an upcoming giveaway:
Em of the Health Nut is giving away an Eat Right bag from the American Dietetic Association. Enter by March 20th at midnight, EST.

Well, it's my first day back, and I am already running late for class again. Sheesh. Enjoy your Monday!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your smoothies are killing me!! So yum!

A piano bar sounds freakin' awesome! I love music =)

Anna said...

I've lacked a fear of the dark pretty much my whole life... people thought I was a very brave kid! I really wasn't that brave, I just had a very rational few on it... there isn't anything out there that isn't present in the daytime, so what is there to be scared of?

Anonymous said...

Beautiful parfait :D I think I need to make it my mission this coming weekend to find parfait glasses.

And I'm not totally afraid of walking alone in the dark. I am definitely more aware of my surroundings though.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I USED TO BE OBSESSED WITH THAT NICKELODEON SHOW!!! Oh and I'm sort of afraid of the dark, since I'm claustrophobic (and pitch darkness makes me feel like I'm in a tight space).

PURE BAR!!! Hell yes :-D

Anonymous said...

That granola is my very favorite, I eat it almost everyday!
I used to hate having to walk around campus in the dark, it was the worst!

Anonymous said...

i used to both LOVE and be SCARED of that show at the same time haha

Unknown said...

Your smoothies look so thick and creamy. Yumm!!
I love all your meals, as usual :)
Happy Monday!

Anonymous said...

That used to be one of my FAVORITE shows when I was little! It scared the bejeezus out of me but I happened to catch a rerun last fall - so NOT scary! Haha!! I get a little nervous if I'm by myself at night and I have no idea why because I don't live in a bad part of town.

Pink hummus!! Just when I didn't think I could love hummus any more :) I LOVE going to piano bars!! Hope you had a blast!

curlytop said...

Hi Caroline! My name is Emily. I just started my first food blog @ http://curlytopbop.blogspot.com/and gave you a special shout out.

I'll be starting my first semester at Brown University in the fall and would love any tips on eating veg at school!

With Love,

Emily

Anonymous said...

Ok I must admit I do get afraid of the dark! Whenever I'm walking outside alone in the dark, I seriously get really nervous and call someone to talk on the phone with me until I get to my destination haha.

That pizza looks so good!!

PureBars are so tasty. I hope you liked that bar!!!

Great eats!

<3

Aimee said...

I bought that Pure Bar over the weekend, I hope it is yummy!! They felt sort of small in the package.

I always walked with my key sticking out between two fingers so I could poke someone if they attacked me in the dark! But I wasn't really afraid, just prepared just in case :)

Anonymous said...

Caroline all your food still looks so good, don't even say your creativity is lacking!!!

and I am totally afraid of the dark, I just hate not being able to see everything around me! eek!!! haha

Anonymous said...

Wow, the parfait looks AMAZING! I really need to get around to making some good muffins!

ChickPea said...

VG: I definitely thought of you when I was writing the post title--I somehow remembered your referring to the show before.
CurlyTop: Thanks for stopping by! I look forward to reading your posts!