The After-Christmas Gift Fairy

It's a running joke in my family that Christmas never really ends after December 25th. Allow me to explain:

My mother is an expert gift hider as a result of my sister's continued attempts over the years to find and peek at her Christmas gifts. In fact, my mother's hiding skills are so advanced, she often manages to hide them from even herself. Thus, in the days and weeks following Christmas Day, Mom bestows presents as she incidentally finds them throughout the house. Thus far, I have received a green sweater as well as a gray dress and a purple turtleneck.

In addition to my mother's after-Christmas gifts, I also received a few presents in the mail today from fellow food bloggers. My Secret Santa package arrived from Sarah. Judging by the plentiful Z bars, Spirutein packets, and Kashi products, Sarah has got my taste preferences pegged:) Thanks so much, Sarah!
I also found a package from Futter's Nut Butters on my doorstep this afternoon. Inside I found a lovely gift basket from VeggieGirl! I am super-psyched about trying these almond butters. Thank you, VeggieGirl!
I spent my weekend catching up with friends and relaxing, but I managed to create a few tasty dishes along the way:

Friday
I busted out my fave cookbook, ED&BV for dinner Friday. White Bean-Walnut Bruschetta was on the menu for the evening, but I didn't have any bread (!), so I improvised with an Ezekiel pita. I also had broccoli and a salad with pom seeds.
My love of cherries continues to plague my tastebuds with a vengeance. Yep. It's another cherry Spirutein smoothie. Delicious, as always.
Saturday
I went out to breakfast with "the girls" at Original Pancake House on Saturday morning. My mom, sisters, and I met up with some family friends for a morning of chit-chat and pancakes. Since cutting eggs out of my diet, the OPH has limited menu options for me, but I am always happy to order their phenomenal oatmeal. Somehow, oatmeal prepared in restaurants and hotels achieves a wonderful glue-y consistency I can never re-create at home. Anyway, since I have ordered this before, I didn't bring my camera along. Check out pics of other OPH visits here.

We spent the afternoon shopping the post-Christmas sales but returned home empty-handed...and hungry. I made a simple Tofurky-Peach-Walnut Roll Up with vegan mayo; I also had a salad with dried cherries and an assortment of crudites. Recipe for the roll-up is from Rudi's here.
I've had an acorn squash staring at me on my counter for the past few weeks, so I finally put it to good use by creating a squash-kale saute with navy beans and herbs de provence. I also had salad, broccoli, plus an apple with PB for dessert.
The shake of the evening was a chocolate-covered strawberry, in liquid form: strawberries, soymilk, unsweetened chocolate Spirutein, and chocolate syrup.
Sunday
Before heading to church, I gobbled down some overnight oats, topped with Brazil nuts and chopped dates. The travel section made for excellent reading:)
I reunited with an elementary/middle school friend at Starbucks for the afternoon. I am so glad we re-connected--we still are very compatible! Anyway, as a result of our lengthy chat, I didn't eat lunch until 3:30. I scarfed down a taco salad with chili beans, a snack pack of guac, salsa, and corn tortillas; thats a dish of clementines and pom seeds on the side.
In an attempt to use up more of that squash, I made a leftover vegetable casserole with squash, kale, navy beans, low-sodium V8, and a topping made up of bread crumbs and ground walnuts. Delish.
I had another chocolate-covered strawberry shake last night, this time using hemp protein instead of Spirutein. Yummers.
Monday
Following an intense and chilly run this morning, I fired up the griddle and made some vegan banana pancakes. I spread them with chocolate PB--just like chocolate chip pancakes! Check out my awesome winter spatula and my uber-girly polka-dot plates.
Due to a busy day of errands with my dad, I didn't get a chance to eat lunch until nearly 5! Needless to say, I was rather famished. Here's what I gobbled up: black bean burger (from frozen) on whole wheat with guacamole, squash fries with organic catsup, and a clementine with grapes.
I just hopped out of the shower before typing up this post. I used my favorite shower gel ever, Child. I reluctantly retired my Candy Cane body wash (by Philosophy) for the year:( What kind of shower gels do you use?

Ciao for now!

Where's My Tristan?

Sorry I didn't post last night--I got caught up in a girls' movie night. My friends and I watched Tristan + Isolde; I highly recommend it. Although it's categorized as tragedy, I was still left in a romantic state, pining away for my own Tristan. Ever since the movie ended, I have been lamenting my perpetual single-ness. Perhaps one day I'll find Prince Charming. Sigh.

In other news, I am successfully recovering from last week's cold. I no longer have a dependency on cough drops as I did at the beginning of last week, and my sniffles have significantly subsided. Woohoo! Keep your fingers crossed that I can stay healthy for the remainder of the semester--I'll keep emphasizing the fruits and veggies in my diet to ensure adequate intake of those vital phytochemicals.

Anyway, here's an update of the eats from Wednesday evening through Friday evening:

Wednesday
I am loving my Living Harvest! I made a peach-cinnamon-vanilla spice concoction the other night. Delish.
Thursday
Just a simple bowl of cereal for breakfast. This mound included Fiber One, Corn Bran, cashews, dried cranberries, and soy milk, with sliced banana on top.
The pre-run snack was comprised of the other half of that Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Clif bar and a big fat orange. Gotta love that vitamin C.
Lunch was moderately Greek-inspired: a big salad with mixed greens, mushrooms, red bell pepper, cucumber, olives, and artichoke hearts.You have no idea how excited I was when I saw those on the salad bar. Anyway, I also had an Ezekiel pita with a big blob of hummus.
After much homework, I settled down to an easy, but veggie-filled dinner. I heated up a can of Health Valley vegetarian chili and topped it with chopped avocado. I also had a salad, corn, and haricot verts.
The smoothie of the evening consisted of strawberries, soymilk, and vanilla spice hemp. Note the change of scenery. Those are my perfume bottles in the background.
Friday
After a workout at the gym, I came home to prepare something I have been craving for a while: banana pancakes. I used the Sweet Eats recipe as a template, but I got creative yesterday and added my own twist with the addition of special dark cocoa powder to the batter. I also topped them with cashew butter. YUM. As a result of this dish, I had Jack Johnson's "Banana Pancakes" stuck in my head all day, thanks to a comment Ruby made a while back.
After my weekly trip to WF, I returned to the apartment to make a quick lunch: taco salad! I topped spinach, orange bell pepper, and tomato with leftover chili, and I toasted up some whole wheat tortilla triangles in the oven. Those are kiwi slices and pistachios on the side. Yes, I eat the skin on kiwis--is that so odd? My roommate thinks it's so gross.
Kristen and I grabbed dinner at a campus eatery, where I got a black bean burger and a side salad. I switched out the lame white bun for the heels of my loaf of whole wheat bread. I also had a container of plain yogurt with raisins.
The smoothie last night was phenomenal. What do you expect when you combine the two flavors meant to be together, vanilla hemp and mango? This pairing is still my favorite, by far.
Well, I am off to check out the football game in a bit and then maybe get a little studying done for my stats test on Monday. Ick. Be back soon!