Bunco Bash

Good evening, everyone! I write to you from a Chicago hotel room, freshly showered and eager to share some food pics. I realize that I am a bit behind on posting--my usual Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule was interrupted by a busy travel itinerary. A full report of the Chicago eats will be posted soon, but for now I will update you on the latter half of last week.

When I signed off last time, I asked for some nutritious party snack ideas. The overwhelming majority of you suggested fruits and vegetables, so I did indeed decide to center my food contributions around nature's bounty. The snacks were for an alleged Bunco party. I don't even know what Bunco is, nor did any of the guests participate in any kind of game...in other words, the group just needed an excuse to mingle. More on the party later...

Wednesday

Double mango smoothie! I used mango-raspberry Soy Delicious and frozen mango chunks. FYI: Foods with a faint green tinge can be delicious. I promise.

Thursday

I needed a quick breakfast before heading out for some errands with my mom, so I just toasted up some Van's waffles and stole an idea from fellow bloggers--I topped them with mashed banana and nut butter. I added my own twist though, by using Sunbutter instead of the traditional PB. I know, I'm such a rebel.

I was starving by the time lunch rolled around, so I needed something hearty. I turned to a simple dish, red beans and rice. I added chili powder, S + P, and a dash of cinnamon. It turned out to be delicious, plus it is a complete protein! A spinach salad and peaches with sliced almonds filled out the meal.

Immediately following lunch, I started on the dips for the party. After considering your valuable feedback, I decided to make fresh guacamole and the Creamy Cashew Dip from ED&BV. I served the guac with fresh veggies and baked Tostitos Scoops; I heartily recommend those chips by the way--they boast a short ingredients list, they're low in fat, and most importantly, they can shovel a lot of dip at once! With the cashew dip, I served fresh strawberries, plus some cinnamon Teddy Grahams. Hey, a little Teddy love never hurt anyone, did it? Oh, and my sister Katie (the hostess with the mostess) prepared some authentic pigs in a blanket. Maybe I could convince her to make vegan ones for the next party? When pigs fly...(Sorry, I couldn't resist).After the party, I returned home famished. The party food was good, but it was no replacement for dinner. After a few minutes of shoving random things into my mouth, I decided I would just make a special smoothie. Frozen cherries make anything special in my book.

That's all I'll post until my Chicago recap. Get excited for the next post--think tofu crab cakes, plus asparagus in multiple forms...Ciao.

Merry Half Christmas!

Yep, we're exactly 6 months away from my absolute favorite holiday of the year. Aside from my yuletide obsession, my birthday also happens to be December 24, so I am officially 20.5 years old. Eeek! FYI, my annual Christmas/birthday countdown doesn't start until September.

I am posting earlier in the day today due to that persistent nuisance otherwise known as anatomy class. I have a 160-question midterm tomorrow at 1:00, so I will be spending much of my evening after class studying rather than blogging. Trust me, I'd rather be blogging. Anyway, here are a few pics of my eats over the past few days.

Monday
For my evening snack, I opted for a big bowl of organic popcorn with a few dark chocolate chunks thrown in. For those of you who don't know I am taking a temporary hiatus from my nighttime smoothies and shakes. I'm just trying to switch things up a little. By the way, I love this popcorn! The only ingredients on the label were organic popcorn, organic vegetable oil, and salt. Short and and sweet, er, salty.
Tuesday
Squeezing in a run before a 10 AM class necessitate speedy breakfasts on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was feeling tropical yesterday-- I threw some oats in a bowl with pinenapple chunks and cashews.
Lunch consisted of a Tofurky-avocado-spinach wrap in a whole wheat tortilla. I used salsa as a dressing on that spinach salad, and I balanced it all out with an apple. No shortage of fiber in this lunch!
Snacktime! This is another typical snack for me: lemon soy yogurt and red bell pepper strips with hummus. It really bugs me how some soy yogurts aren't fortified with vitamin B12...So Delicious is the only company I've encountered who does this service for vegans/vegetarians. Oh, and let me know if you'd rather I not post snacks. I'm looking for some feedback because I know they're a tad boring.
Red beans and rice for dinner last night. Well sort of. I stole some brown rice from my parents' dinner and mixed it with no salt added canned tomatoes, garlic, cumin, chili powder, and leftover pinto beans. Not traditional by any means, but it was tasty nonetheless. I was still a little hungry afterward, so I whizzed some almond milk with cocoa powder and enjoyed it with some fresh blueberries. Amazing.
Owing to the surplus of bananas around here, I made some vegan banana pudding last night. I got the recipe from VegWeb. Can't wait to try it:)
For snack last night I ended up making another bowl of hot cereal. This time I used that Quaker multigrain cereal I've been enjoying so much lately. I mixed in some pumpkin flax granola and topped it off with a Medjool date.
Wednesday
This morning I tried a few new products. I made a smoothie using Fruitein this morning (as opposed to Spirutein). One of these packets provides 600 mg calcium; I think these are vegan, if you're interested. I blended it with frozen blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries and slurped it out of my nifty new smoothie receptacle (for lack of a better word). Along with it, I tried a new Kashi cereal, Honey Sunshine. This was pretty good, but I think I like Puffins and Corn Bran better, mostly because the "pillows" of those cereals are much bigger. The squares in these were about the size of corn kernels. Now I'm off to review muscles + bones for the thousandth time. Soon I'll be dreaming (or having nightmares) about condyles, processes, and the rectus femoris. Ugh.