Wedding Day!

Hello all! I just had finished getting my hair done (I'll post pics next time), so I have some time to kill before heading to the church for pictures. I have had so much fun in the past few days! As soon as I got out of my (4-hour) anatomy lab on Thursday, I've been mingling with family and friends non-stop. I got a chance to talk to my grandmother (the dietitian), and we had a good conversation about the importance of nutrition in everyday health. I am such a health dork!

Here's what I've been chewing lately:

Wednesday
I made an excellent smoothie out of frozen cherries, cherry Spirutein, nonfat organic plain yogurt, and granola (of course). I found that increasing the amount of frozen fruit and decreasing the amount of yogurt makes my smoothies even tastier!
Thursday
After a quick run and a shower, I needed a lickety-split breakfast before heading to my 10 AM class. I settled on a simple bowl of Kashi GoLean with almond milk and some plain soy yogurt with fresh blueberries.
I packed my lunch to enjoy between classes. I ended up eating it outside on a bench while on campus. Great way to eat a meal! I packed an almond butter sandwich on whole wheat, roasted soy nuts, crudites, and a small apple. Don't you just love the lunch containers?! The bag that they go in is mocha/Carribbean blue.

For dinner we had a few relatives over for Stouffer's lasagna and salad. I decided to make a variation by combining tofu, broccoli, Classico pasta sauce, garlic, basil, and whole wheat rotini.
The shake for the evening consisted of banana, banana Spirutein, and peanut butter.
Friday
Before my run yesterday, I noticed a gorgeous bowl of cherries sitting on the counter--I just had to take a picture! Having a blog is makes me notice beautiful food now...Anyway, for breakfast I had some of those cherries along with some of that multigrain hot cereal and sliced almonds. I added a dash of cinnamon too.
We had a bridesmaid's luncheon yesterday at which they served chicken salad, fruit, quesadillas, and ice cream. Luckily, the chicken salad was served in an avocado half, so I ate most of that and the fruit. I was still hungry when I came home so I made a hummus sandwich with a slab of tofu too and a big spinach salad.
We had the rehearsal dinner last night, and I had a baked potato with various veggies. I had an emergency Clif Nectar bar that I ate halfway through the evening. The other offerings were steak and shrimp, if you're curious. Sorry no pics!

I will try to take some pictures of the copious amounts of food at the reception tonight. I'll leave you with a picture of my sisters and me with a few relatives at the luncheon yesterday.

Shake, Burger, and...Squash?

Aside from the whole veganism fiasco, I had a pretty lazy weekend. I have a test on Wednesday, but my first final isn't until next Monday, so I took it pretty easy these past few days. My friend and I caught up on some Iron Chef, and I got myself organized for the weeks ahead. Call me lame, but it was relaxing and enjoyable.

When reviewing the pictures of my Saturday meals, I realized that I had a shake for breakfast, a burger for lunch, but then I messed up the "fast food" theme for dinner...read on for details.

Saturday

For breakfast on Saturday, I used up my last packet of chocolate Soytein powder (which incidentally has 300mg of calcium!). I combined it with a frozen banana and almond milk, as per usual. I kept it simple, with just some Cheerios on the side.

Once I had gulped down my shake, I headed over to assemble some gift baskets for Faculty Appreciation Week; my sorority decided to put together some simple gifts to win some brownie points:) After a morning of rigorous cookie baking, I was hungry for a big honkin' sandwich. I was not in the mood for another tempeh sammie, so I dug out my last Boca burger from my teeny freezer. Lettuce, tomato, onion, agave ketchup, and a mustard smiley made for a scrumptious burger. I ordered a side salad and some fruit from a campus eatery; raw cashews completed the meal. (Sorry for the dim pictures...the roomie was napping again!)

Saturday night was an icky one; everyone was holed up in their rooms, hiding from the rain. I didn't really have ingredients to make something special, so I had to improvise. After much dithering, I got some steamed veggies and a side salad from that same campus eatery, in hopes of coming up with something tasty from my dorm pantry. I smothered the veggies in tomato sauce and served the mixture over whole wheat couscous. Soy nuts added some protein to the salad, and I had some of that allergen-free trail mix for dessert.

For nibbling that night, I put together another snack mix, this time with corn bran cereal, dark chocolate chips, and dried fruit.

Sunday

Shockingly I did not have my usual bowl of Cheerios before church yesterday. Considering I have about 5 boxes of Weetabix in my closet, I figured I better start using those up. (I ordered a box of 12 from Amazon at the beginning of the semester). I had two biscuits with almond milk and cinnamon; a perfectly ripe kiwi also joined the party.

Yesterday's dinner was mediocre, but I thought I would show you anyway, for kicks. I ordered that same crunchy broccoli salad that I did a few weeks ago, but this time I added tempeh instead of soy nuts. Fruit and my favorite flavor of yogurt--Creamsicle--rounded out the dinner.

Monday

This morning I had a stellar breakfast. I had pumpkin oatmeal with cashews and a peach smoothie. It might seem like an odd combination, hot and cold, but it kept me full for hours. I made it through my trek to the writing studio and Whole Foods without any complaints from the tummy.

I picked up lots of goodies at Whole Foods today, but I will wait 'til next time to show you the inventory, otherwise this might turn into another novel. As a sneak peek, here is my lunch that I concocted using my new loot: a spicy tofu wrap with salsa and chili powder in an Ezekiel wrap, a large salad, and a juicy organic pear.

I have a meeting with the dining committee tonight to which Flamer's will be providing food. Their menu shows that they have a veggie burger, so I hope they bring one for me. What is the best veggie burger you've ever had at a restaurant?

Just Another Manic Monday...

Sorry my Monday post is later than usual, everyone! I've had a full day. I went for a run, tutored on the other side of campus, made a Whole Foods run, had a conference call at 3, plus did some laundry...so I am pooped. And it doesn't end there. The dining committee is headed out for its end of the year celebratory dinner tonight at 7. Guess where we're going? Angus Barn. Doesn't sound like it's exactly vegetarian-friendly, does it? Our group has a fixed menu tonight, so I've already selected the vegetarian option, the vegetable plate, which can be viewed here: http://www.angusbarn.com/menu.html#vegetarian. Doesn't look too bad, except for the fact that it's a little low on protein.

My weekend was pretty standard; following the advice of my 8th grade algebra teacher, I "partied once, studied twice." My fancy dinner and formal went well; it won't surprise you that the dinner was probably my favorite part of the evening. What can I say? I am a hopeless foodie:) I ended up ordering the Spinach Strawberry Salad, the Spring Risotto, and a blackberry sorbet for dessert. The risotto was like eating snobby macaroni and cheese; I swear, the chef must have dumped the whole block of parmagiano reggiano (sp?) in my dish alone. Not a vegan/vegetarian restaurant by any stretch of the imagination. My favorite part was the dessert--I love blackberries, and the sorbet tasted exactly like the fruit. It came with an assortment of raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries.

Saturday

For lunch on Saturday, I reviewed another place on campus (read: free meal!). I ordered a Mediterranean veggie sandwich with some hot tea. The sandwich was pre-made, and its expiration date was April 6th; the combination of these two facts made for a soggy sandwich :( I ended up picking the veggies off the bread and eating them by themselves. I accompanied them with a baked sweet potato (remember the farmers' market??), a salad with seasoned tofu, and some Fage with ground flax. It ended up being quite an eye-catching meal. And, of course, I accidentally deleted the pictures when I was uploading my formal pictures to Facebook. I was really disappointed about it actually--the only one that survived my absent-minded clicking was the salad with tofu.

Sunday

Yesterday's lunch was an organic Boca burger on the two end pieces of my loaf of bread. I dipped the sammie in some of that agave ketchup I showed you a few weeks ago. On the side I had some mixed greens with sliced tomato and raw almonds, plus an orange. Sorry for the dim photo--my roomie was taking a nap.

I realized that I never show you all my snacks, which is pretty significant considering how much I snack throughout the day. Here is an example of my afternoon snack. Cascade Fresh is my favorite brand of flavored yogurt. It's juice sweetened with 8 active cultures, and it's rBGH-free. I reviewed it at Iateapie.net last summer, if you're interested. Yesterday afternoon I enjoyed the lemon variety with some Nature's Path granola and raw cashews.

Last night's dinner was not that enjoyable, but I thought I would show you anyway. I didn't feel like cooking anything (shocking, I know!), so I just grabbed a soup and salad from a place on campus. The soup of the day was minestrone, but it was majorly lacking in the bean department; thus, I added some soy nuts to my salad for protein. My beloved Ak-Maks made another appearance.

Monday

Breakfast today was Weetabix again (I told you that I'd be having it again!). This time I remembered to take a picture before I started eating. I added sliced banana today, but it was a little mealy-tasting. Not the best breakfast ever. Oh, and I also ate some more of those omnipresent cashews.

As I mentioned before, I went to Whole Foods today. Here is the inventory: roasted soy nuts, organic carrots, nonfat kefir, Italian herb tofu, plain and flavored yogurts, organic apples, oranges, bananas, whole wheat couscous, Ak-Maks, Ezekiel pitas, frozen sliced peaches, Bragg's Liquid Aminos, some more Bionaturae organic jam (in blackberry flavor this time), a free copy of Better Nutrition, and 2 packets of chocolate soy protein powder. Not as much fun food this trip, because I ran out of a few expensive staple items this week (Bragg's, organic jam).

Finally for today's lunch I hit up the salad bar for some veggies, along with--my favorite--chickpeas. I ended up stuffing the chickpeas in an Ezekiel pita with spinach and salsa. A huge apple accompanies the vegetable bounty.

Well, I should probably go prepare for my dinner at the steakhouse. If only we were headed to Panera or Moe's Southwest, I would be such a happy camper. What are your favorite restaurants to visit? At least it's another free meal! Enjoy your evening!