One Scatter-brained Sister

For some unexplained reason, I have been quite the scatter-brained sister lately. On Wednesday night, I failed to set my alarm for the next morning. I awoke approximately a half-hour late, to the considerate questioning of my dear roommate:
"Caroline, did your morning class get cancelled?"
"What? Aw, crap."
I was quite appreciative of her awakening me--I had to turn in a paper that day!
Then, today I was daydreaming in the shower until I discovered that I had shaved the same leg three times. Hmm. It seems I need a little assistance in maintaining focus these days.

On another note, I have been visited by the sample fairy several times these past few days. First my personalized granola from MixMyGranola:
There's still time to enter my giveaway...you have until 11:59 PM tonight to enter!

I also received a few goodies from McCann's:
Any tips on how to prepare Irish oatmeal?

Finally, I also received this book from the people over at POM Wonderful.
It provides an insider's perspective on starting a business and marketing it successfully. I can't wait to read it...however, it will likely have to wait until after school is over.

Despite my recent flightiness, I have not been so distracted that I have forgotten to eat. Here's what I've been chowing on lately:

Wednesday
My mom has this really awesome (and really easy!) recipe for pizza dip for which I have been having an intense craving. So, I called up my mom, got the recipe, and set to work. The recipe calls for cream cheese, but I had the "genius" idea of substituting homemade tofu cream cheese. I whipped up the tofu concoction (which was quite tasty), then spread it in the dish and added the other layers (tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and veggie toppings--I chose artichoke hearts). Twenty minutes later, I had a bubbling mess. Although it tasted alright, the tofu cream cheese had totally disintegrated in the baking process. Lesson learned: stick to the real stuff next time. Those are baked blue corn chips and a salad with balsamic vinaigrette on the side.
For dinner, I had sorority ceremonies to attend for several hours, so I brought my dinner along: a Tofurky-hummus sandwich, an apple, raw veggies, and almonds.
Once home, I whipped up a delicious shake: cappuccino Spirutein, frozen banana, non-dairy vanilla ice cream, and soymilk with a few chocolate chips for garnish. Who needs Starbucks?
Thursday
Yesterday morning was the day of the "absent alarm" incident. After scrambling to put on a T-shirt and yoga pants, I still managed to make breakfast. My roommate remarked, "Hey, you still managed to eat breakfast!" Of course. Breakfast before beauty. I made CCV's Banana Bread Blender again with GoLean, soymilk, frozen banana, almonds, cinnamon, and a little coconut. OK, so my version really doesn't much resemble the original recipe, but it was tasty, nonetheless.
For lunch, I drew inspiration from the most recent issue of Clean Eating magazine. There is a recipe for a Caribbean Tuna Salad, which sounded delicious, but I made significant substitutions to make it vegetarian- and time-friendly. I used chickpeas for the tuna and used prepared peanut sauce with lime juice and jerk seasoning to make the dressing. That's mango and bell pepper in the salad and pita on the side. I'll include the magazine pic too, just for fun.
More sorority ceremonies that night, so I brought by dinner again (in my eco-friendly sack): asparagus-avocado-tomato wrap, grapes, and soynuts with dried apricots. I also brought some little PB cracker sandwiches for snacking.
My shake last night was...weird. I combined strawberries, dark cocoa, chocolate rice protein, soymilk, and non-dairy ice cream then topped it off with a bit of PB2 and high-fiber cereal (I need that crunch!). Not my best effort.
Friday
After a blissful 8-hours' sleep, I prepared a filling breakfast favorite: scrambled tofu. I switched it up this time and put it in a wrap. The green you see is asparagus and scallions. I also had a perfectly ripe orange on the side.
Following my Whole Foods trip, I came home to prepare a simple lunch: hummus pizza. I used leftover Greek hummus (from Tuesday), tomatoes, and an Ezekiel pita. Due to the oregano, olives, and tomatoes, it really did smell like pizza in the apartment! I had some greens with raspberry vinaigrette and an apple on the side.
Another night of sorority ceremonies, another sack dinner: PB & apple butter on whole wheat with grapes, and raw veggies with this bean dip. For snacktime, I brought a Jamfrakas bar and almonds.
Whew! I am pooped. Sorry for the monstrous post...but before I go, a friendly reminder:

Time's a-tickin'...enter the MixMyGranola giveaway before it's too late!

Life as a List-Maker

Hello, my name is Caroline, and I am a chronic list-maker.

It's true; my roommate and I both share a love of making itemized lists (hence why I gave her this book for Christmas). Our apartment often looks as if a Post-It blizzard has struck--our laptops, the refrigerator door, and even the bedroom wall usually are host to a few brightly colored stickies with lists on them. Recently, however, I graduated from Post-Its to a more attractive way of recording my lists. Check out one of my latest purchases from Home Goods:
A Cook's Planner!
Are you a list-maker? What do you make lists for? Do you take one to the grocery store? I usually take a list so that I don't forget specialized items for recipes, but I rarely buy solely what is written on it...I inevitably have a few impulse buys.

I am aiming to be on time to class today, so let's move onto the food!

Monday
One of my fun projects over spring break was to go through my pile of Clean Eating magazines and select a few recipes to try in the coming months. One from the most recent issue caught my eye: the Avocado Egg Salad. I veganized it by using cubed silken tofu rather than boiled egg whites. There's also some dijon mustard and paprika in there for some kick. I served it atop a bed of greens alongside some Ak Maks and grapes. Quite a green meal!
I have yet another snack to share with you all. I don't normally post snacks since they're pretty repetitive. Accordingly, I have been getting bored with my usual yogurt+Sunbutter combos, so I decided to mix it up. Here you see Tofurky-provolone roll-ups with a few almonds. Although I authored a snack post a while back, now I am asking you: what are your favorite snacks?
I had a sorority event that night, so I put together a quick wrap for dinner: artichokes, bell peppers, and mozzarella in an Italian herb flatbread, plus asparagus with walnuts and garlic salt, and a perfectly ripe orange.
For my smoothie, I combined mango, raspberries, soymilk, and the very last bit of my drum of Nutribody protein. I really like the color raspberries add to my smoothies! I topped it with another kind of granola that I found lurking in the cupboard: Bear Naked Mango Agave Almond. Sounds like my kind of thing, no? Check out those hunks of mango!
Tuesday
My oat bran addiction continues. This time, I cooked it in rice milk and vanilla extract, then added pumpkin and banana. I used cashew butter as the perfect topper. This took fo-evah to eat! Totally worth being late to class for it:)
Another recent obsession: homemade hummus. I make Greek hummus yesterday, as inspired by this recipe from Rachael Ray. Olives, parsley, oregano, tahini, chickpeas=tastiness. I served it with some whole wheat mini pitas, cucumber sticks, and an apple. Lots of green goin' on here, too...
In honor of St. Paddy's Day, I made an even greener meal for dinner: whole grain pasta with peanut lime sauce, edamame, snap peas, and broccoli. I got the idea for this one from Ellie Krieger. I also had some greens on the side.
My smoothie of the evening featured unsweetened peach Spirutein, peaches, raspberries, and soymilk. I used more of that heavenly mango granola on top.

Wednesday
With the warmer temperatures these days, I have returned to my 2-a-day smoothie habit. Today's featured that tasty pumpkin-banana combo again, along with rice milk and flax. On the side, I had a mini bagel with a Laughing Cow wedge.
Take a look at what I found waiting for me at my door yesterday:
CHOBANI! I know so many of you bloggers out there love 'em, so tell me how you like to enjoy them the most. How do you Chobani? (Yes, I have made Chobani a verb).

Reminders:
-Eating Bender is giving away TWO amazing assortments of her favorite items. Enter by tonight at 8PM CST.
-Visit Say Yes to Salad for a chance to win some Oikos coupons. Those would come in handy on my recent mission to sample all Greek yogurts...Enter by today at 12PM PST.
-Enter my giveaway for a gift certificate to MixMyGranola by Friday, March 20 at 11:59 PM EST.

Alright, C Yode out!