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!

Berry Tripping

Hello, all! I apologize for the delay--my normal midday posting schedule was side-tracked due to a dining committee event. We're hosting a "berry tripping" event on Thursday night for which I was selling tickets. What is berry tripping, you ask? It all centers around the "miracle fruit," a berry grown in West Africa that alters your taste sensations. A glycoprotein present in the berry makes sour things taste sweet: just imagine sucking on a lemon that tastes like lemonade, or guzzling Guinness that tastes like a milkshake.

Check out this video from the NYT for an inside look at this food trend.

What do you think? Would you be brave enough to go on a berry trip?

Anyway, here's what I've been chomping on since my last post:

Monday
Inspired by my recent purchase of frozen artichoke hearts (from TJ's), I decided to whip up a vegan spinach artichoke dip. I based my version on the recipe from the Chicago Diner Cookbook, which includes vegan mayo, artichokes, garlic, and spinach. To make a completely dippable meal, I also served up some hummus with sliced olives on top. I used some more of those fab baked blue corn chips to shovel in the tastiness. Oh yeah, some salad a few grapes added a little more nutrition to the meal.
Following my dining committee meeting, I made another mock tuna melt, using my standard chickpea mixture as the "tuna" and melted provolone for the "melt." The end result was much better than last time--sliced cheese is much more melty than a chopped up cheddar stick. I also had a big salad from the salad bar with Annie's Balsamic Vinaigrette, plus a dish of melon.
For my smoothie that evening, I whipped up a frothy peach-banana combo with Nutribody. Sadly, I am nearing the end of my Nutribody AND my Cascadian Farm granola...looks like I'll need to go shopping for smoothie supplies soon:)
Tuesday
I've had this "People's Choice" yogurt by Stonyfield sitting in my fridge for a while--since it was so "special," I felt like I should use it creatively. In the end, it formed one of the components of my blueberry-pom parfait. I layered TJ's High Fiber cereal, said yogurt, blueberries, and almonds to make it. The yogurt tasted mostly like blueberry to me, but it was tasty, nonetheless. I really like this cereal though--it's like a gloriously aspartame-free Fiber One. I am also mildly obsessed with its cereal cousin, TJ's High Fiber Fruit and Nut Medley. Hmm...perhaps these will appear in future product reviews?
After my test, I came back to the apartment for a little comfort food...which has come to mean Goddess Garbanzos. I put the delicious mess in an Italian herb wrap with mixed greens and served it alongside a salad with 'shrooms and chopped apricots, plus grapes and steamed sugar snap peas.
I was stuck at home doing homework last night (rather than attending the basketball game against FSU), so I treated myself to an old fave while watching it on TV: scrambled tofu. I included zucchini in the mix for this one and served it with a whole wheat mini bagel, Brussels sprouts, greens, and an orange.
My nightly blog-reading was accompanied by a fab shake: strawberries, banana, soymilk, dark cocoa powder, and chocolate rice protein. A few more of those Annie's Bunnies decided to take a swim.
Wednesday
I am trying to whittle down my cereal selection (what? 8 boxes is too many?), so I opted for a hot bowl of Autumn Wheat today. I also had a banana with some Cinnamon Swirl PB.
Today's lunch was a double-salad: Waldorf salad, plus herb/greens mix with chickpeas. How can you go wrong with almonds, raisins, and apples? I also had a few crackers on the side.
There are a few giveaways in blogland that I wanted to let you all know about.

Olga from Healthing It is giving away a gift certificate for Me & Goji cereal. I've never tried it, but I love the idea of fully customizable cereal! Enter by March 9th!

Katie from Chocolate-Covered Katie is giving away Jocolat bars. I love me some Jocolat bars! I reviewed the chocolate mint variety here. Contest ends March 19th.

That concludes this installment of the Broccoli Hut adventures. Next post will be from DC!