Thanksgiving Is When?!

Somehow, in my clearly defunct mental calendar, I was under the impression that Thanksgiving was three weeks from yesterday, not two. I came to the realization yesterday when I turned a few pages ahead in my beloved red polka dot planner, only to discover the true proximity of Turkey Day. While I am excited to be able to go home (I leave a week from Monday!), my little discovery also means that I have a lot of work to do before then! Nobody likes a cranky dinner guest--which is exactly what I would be if I have work to do over the break. Wish me luck as I set forth on my quest for conscientiousness in the upcoming week!

Other updates in my life:
- I can run again! I was able to complete an easy 2.7 miles today without any pain! Hallelujah!
- My semi-formal is coming up next weekend, an event for which I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, I am really excited, as it will be my first time to actually bring a date to a sorority function (I know, pathetic). On the other hand, I am a little nervous--I don't know what to expect, and I *really* want it to go well. Remind me to show you pics of the dress, etc. in the upcoming week.
- One last thing is that I am done with tutoring sessions for the semester! While I enjoy helping students with their writing (and the $$), it requires a lot of time and patience! I will now have *a little* more time to spend on the activities I love--like eating!

Sorry for the long intro--I have been doing work all evening (lame!), so I am thoroughly enjoying my little study break. Here's the grub:

Wednesday
The smoothie of the evening featured Nutribody Protein again. I think I'll give my seal of approval to this stuff--it tasted great when combined with pineapple and soymilk. Love that ginger granola on top.
Thursday
I woke up yesterday knowing that I wanted something quick and hot...so multigrain hot cereal it was! Unfortunately, this ended up being a bummer of a breakfast. The cereal boiled over in the microwave, so I had to clean up sticky rice milk before I could attempt to eat breakfast. The cereal was kinda chewy and not very voluminous; I made do by adding almond butter and dried cranberries. I had an apple on the side.
Before heading out to a tutoring appointment, I took advantage of a little extra time to make a nice meal. I combined some chickpeas with yellow squash, red onion, and cumin and served it alongside couscous, salad with Woodstock dressing, and a pear.
Thursday nights are RUF night, so I relied on the freezer for inspiration again. I made a Bistro wrap by chopping up an Amy's Bistro Burger and combining with lettuce, sundried tomatoes, olives, basil vegan mayo (I added the basil), and wrapping it all up in an Italian herb flatbread. On the side I had a salad, snap peas, and peaches.
Rememeber by love affair with Spirutein last summer? Well, I have become re-enamored of it recently. I ordered a few packets on an impulse when I was restocking my stevia supply. Last night, I busted out the S'mores flavor; I combined it with two frozen bananas, soymilk, and a little cocoa powder on top. SO GOOD. It kinda makes me want to try stuffing a banana in a s'more one of these days...
Friday
After a refreshing run this morning, I returned to the apartment and made another strawberry-banana parfait! This one had strawberry yogurt, sliced banana, bran flakes, and chopped almonds. Yum.
Following a grueling, rainy trek to Whole Foods, I ate a lightning fast lunch before running out the door to tutoring. I dumped some leftover chickpeas on a salad and added a few soynuts for crunch, on the side I had an apple with PB and a handful of crackers.
I had grandiose plans of making a "meat"loaf of some kind this evening, but work kept me tethered to my desk until I realized my stomach was growling. The idea for sloppy joes suddenly came to me...so that's what I made. Boca crumbles with tomato sauce, mustard, garlic, and agave nectar made for a delicious combination. Plopped on some well-done toast, it was just what I needed! On the side, I had some squash with dill and peaches with chopped pecans and cinnamon.
Another monster post comes to a close. Good night.

The Comforts of Home

I arrived safely in Birmingham Thursday evening, and I have been soaking up the comforts of home ever since. Yes, it's nice to sleep in my own bed, spend time with my family, and catch up on sleep. However, I never thought I would be so happy to see a dishwasher in my life. Seriously. Suddenly having access to a dishwasher has made me realize just how much time I spend washing my dishes by hand while I am at school. I will for sure enjoy this simple luxury for the weekend:)

As a result of my traveling and off schedule, my meals are a little atypical for this round, but I think they're still moderately healthful. Enjoy!

Wednesday
Thanks my recent discovery that peaches may act as an acceptable mango stand-in for my vanilla hemp smoothies, I have been using the ingredient more often. After all, sliced peaches are a heck of a lot cheaper than frozen mango chunks. Anyway, this concoction included soymilk, sliced peaches, vanilla hemp, and pumpkin flax granola.

Thursday
Before heading off to a meeting, I fueled up for a busy day with yet another smoothie. This Bullet creation included pumpkin, frozen banana, rice milk, and cinnamon. Hello, liquid nirvana. I savored this beverage for several minutes, in contrast to my usual frenzied pace for the consumption of breakfast. On the side, I had another one of my never-ending whole wheat mini-bagels with freshly ground almond butter.

I had to leave for the airport at 12:30, so I packed a quick lunch to eat while during my layover. Remember that sweet mustard dill dressing I have been obsessed with lately? Well I had the genius idea to use it in my tofu salad. I packed a container of that deliciousness with an Ezekiel pita, sliced squash, grapes, and cashew-cranberry trail mix. Pardon the lame pictures--I haven't quite mastered the art of discreet food photography.
Upon returning to Birmingham, my sister picked me up and took me out to dinner with her husband. We decided that we were all in a Chipotle kind of mood (aka I was craving fresh guac!). I ordered the vegetarian taco salad with black beans, peppers and onions, fresh salsa, and a big ol' blob of guacamole. I never thought I would be so enamored of green goop. I also snagged a few of Ryan's tortilla chips. They were still warm!
After much digging around in the kitchen, I finally found one last hemp protein packet for my evening shake. Phew! This one was of the Nutiva chocolate variety, so I combined it with soymilk, cocoa powder, frozen strawberries, and a touch of chocolate syrup. Incredibly delicious.
Friday
I woke up this morning still full from an evening of good eats, so my mom and I headed to Publix so that I could load up on "my food." I'm pretty pumped about my selections (pears! tofu! pecans!). Anyway, I came home to make a big bowl of apple pie oats. I heated up oatmeal, unsweetened applesauce, water, and apple pie spice and let it thicken for several minutes. Once cooked, I added cinnamon and a big blob of almond butter. I also had a plain yogurt with apple pie spice mixed in.
I spent the day running errands; my hair is now freshly trimmed and I have loaded up on Target essentials (mini Clifs on sale!!). Lunch was extremely late but delicious nonetheless. I made a wrap out of sun dried tomato hummus, organic greens, and baby bella mushrooms. On the side, I had a salad and a banana with cashew butter.

I had a quick snack before heading out to the lake house: cottage cheese with walnuts and dried cherries. It made for an unusually tasty combination.

I just now arrived at the lake...only to realize that I forgot my camera. Fortunately, my sister is headed down later tonight after her shift at the hospital, so she agreed to bring my camera for me. Yes, I am officially an obsessive food blogger. Anyway, in the meantime, I prepared a simple sloppy Joe supper out of Heinz sloppy Joe sauce (which is surprisingly HFCS-free) and Boca crumbles. I also had a salad and some berries with lots of ground flax. This is a camera phone pic, in case you can't tell...
I will leave you with a few pictures from the weekend thus far. Happy Saturday!

Bring On the Rain

"Another day has almost come and gone
Can't imagine what else could wrong
Sometimes I'd like to hide away somewhere and lock the door
A single battle lost but not the war ('cause)

Tomorrow's another day
And I'm thirsty anyway
So bring on the rain..." ~Jo Dee Messina/Tim McGraw

Today did not begin well. I have been sick the past few days (a rare and unwelcome occurrence in itself), so I was sniffling through my classes, all while trying not to completely gross out those unfortunate enough to be sitting next to me. Then, once my classes had ended for the day, I get ready to trek across campus for the gym--and it starts to rain. I did not bring my umbrella to campus today of course, so I sucked it up (snot and all) and walked through the rain to the indoor track. I had been looking forward to my run today, so I was determined to make it there.

Once I changed into my gym clothes and finished stretching, I got into the groove. In my experience, running always provides a temporary hiatus from cold symptoms, and today was no exception. My sniffles ceased, and my head was clear. Then "Bring on the Rain" came on my iPod. My mood improved by about 1000% at that point. I probably looked like a big dork running, because I was grinning and mouthing the words as I went along. For the rest of the day, I have been in a fantastic mood. The music and lyrics of that song definitely crashed my pity party.

Despite my morning glumness, my food was fortunately excluded from my temporary funk.

Monday
After I left you in my last post, I scampered off to a busy evening of activities. Free BBQ was provided at the dining committee meeting; I sampled their vegan option (simply grilled veggies in a spinach wrap), but it did nothing for my grumbling tummy. Plus, I wanted to get some mega-vitamins to fight off my developing cold. I grabbed a salad in between meetings, and it contained: mixed greens, snap peas, chickpeas, steamed broccoli, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, mushrooms, plus some pineapple. I chomped this down in about 10 minutes. Yeah. I definitely sprained a jaw muscle.
Smoothie was a repeat: strawberries. I need my Living Harvest!!!
Tuesday
Quite frankly this breakfast was amazing. I made a mango-soymilk smoothie in the MB and topped with wheat germ and a bit of shredded coconut. Continuing with the tropical theme, I also had a whole wheat mini bagel with cashew butter.
My pre-run snack consisted of a banana and half of a Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Clif bar. Check out my clever halfsies packaging. Thank you, Scotch tape.
Lunch was a simple campus salad (Romaine, carrots, tomatoes, dried cranberries, and walnuts) that I topped with leftover white beans. White beans, walnuts, and cranberries are meant to be together.
For dinner, I made Sloppy Joes! I used Boca crumbles and the sauce recipe from PPK as a rough guide; I didn't have all the ingredients on hand so I improvised a bit. Nevertheless, it was quite tasty. I also had cantaloupe, haricot verts, and a few of those Snacktrition smoked almonds.
Another boring smoothie last night: cherries. FYI: Cherries are not a significant source of vitamin C. One cup provides a measly 2% of the 60mg we need each day. I was hoping for more so that I could alleviate some of my cold symptoms. I still wanted cherries though, so cherries I had.
Wednesday
GORP (Good Ol' Raisins and Peanuts) Overnight Oats today! I soaked oats and soymilk with cinnamon and stevia last night and added the GORP component this morning. I also had a sliced apple.
The pre-run fuel today was pretty awesome today. I had a banana and half of a waffle-wich: a toasted GoLean waffle with blackberry jam. My emotions might have had something to do with it, but I had quite the athletic performance on my run this afternoon.
When I came home, all I wanted was some soothing soup. I added spinach, white beans, and oregano to that Imagine tomato soup I bought last week. More smoked almonds on the side. This totally hit the spot, physiologically and emotionally.
More good news for this afternoon: my Living Harvest came! That's also a box of stevia packets for my tea.The folks at iHerb also threw in some complimentary vitamins and a packet of goji berry hand lotion. Cool.
I had a great snack today. Taking a cue from my fellow bloggers, I broke up a snack bar into plain yogurt. I opted for a chocolate brownie mini Clif, plus I added raw cashews. It tasted like a fabulous nutty brownie! On a side note, I never noticed how small these mini Clifs are. I find that they're just a little too small to support my running (when I go in the middle of the day--great for morning runs). It's almost the exact size of Nestor the Nano!
My dinner this evening was close to perfect. I whipped up a single serving batch of ED&BV's Peanut Passion Sauce and used some homemade baked tofu cubes for dipping. Couscous, haricot verts, and salad (with orange bell pepper and local tomatoes!) topped it off.
With that, I draw this epic post to a close. Happy Hump Day!