A Full Year as a Bloggerina

Hello, everyone! I have returned from a fabulous weekend in DC, just in time to celebrate my one-year blogiversary. It all started as a fun way to spend the afternoon during spring break of last year...little did I know that I would find a new hobby, a side career, and, most importantly, a warm community of health-minded foodies. I've learned a lot about myself in the past year, largely due to your thoughtful comments--thanks for reading, commenting, and providing much needed support.
Now, what should I do to celebrate this milestone?!

I have much to share from the second half of my weekend adventure. Check it out:

Saturday
We awoke to a beautiful morning on Saturday--as well as rumbling tummies. As a result of our beckoning appetites, we decided to dine in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I satisfied my never-ending craving for mango and ordered the Mango Oatmeal, which consisted of Irish-cut oats cooked with mango pieces and topped with fresh berries. Much to my surprise, this dining room offered soymilk as an accompaniment, so I enjoyed a glass of that on the side, along with a mug of Lemon Lift tea. I also got my dad to snag a few spoonfuls of sliced almonds from the breakfast buffet. Delish, but totally overpriced.
Then we headed to the National Gallery of Art for the morning. Points to anyone who can identify the artist of the painting with which I am posing:
For lunch, we headed to an eatery called Teaism. Given my infatuation with tea, I was quite excited to discover this place. I ordered the Veggie Bento with roasted vegetables, sweet potato, tofu, edamame, and brown rice. To drink, I opted for the Jasmine Pearl tea (just for you, Rosalie!). Everything was superbly delicious--I wanted to lick my plate!
We met my cousin and her husband as well as a family friend for dinner. The family friend (Judy) actually owns the restaurant at which we dined, Rock Creek, an establishment devoted to "mindful eating." (Check out the link for details!). Anyway, for my salad I ordered the Butterhead Lettuces with Exotic Mushrooms (sans cheese). Then the bread basket arrived, with a subtly sweet focaccia spread with a garlicky eggplant dip. For my entree, I ordered the only vegan entree on the menu, Hawaiian Hearts of Palm with Red Quinoa and Squash Puree. I've never had hearts of palm aside from those that come from the can, and this fresher preparation was clearly superior. The palm had a texture that was oddly similar to meat! Once again, I cleaned my plate entirely, gobbling up every last kernel of quinoa and smear of squash. The dessert menu arrived, and I found that I still had room for a little sweet something, so I ordered the pomegranate sorbet. A perfect ending to a perfect meal.
My bottomless pit of a stomach called to me again later that evening, so I satisfied it with a cherry pie Larabar...good, but not as tasty as my usual smoothie:)
Sunday
Before heading out to church services, my dad made a run to Cosi, after I had suggested that we try it--I've seen so many of my fellow food bloggers enjoy their relatively healthful offerings. He returned with a sack full of parfaits, egg croissants, and...oatmeal! Can you guess which one I chose? The oatmeal was slightly sweetened with maple syrup and topped with raisins and brown sugar. It was fabulous--it reminded me of the Cream of Wheat my mom used to make me when I was a child. I supplemented the superstar oats with fruit, tea...and a packet of airline peanuts. What? I was still hungry, and I knew fats would do just the trick.
For lunch, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory. Not exactly as unique and sustainably-minded as our other dining locales, but they always have something for everybody. After pigging out on their fluffy brown bread (is anyone else as obsessed with this stuff as I am?!), I ordered the Luau Salad, sans chicken and dressing on the side. The crispy wontons make the salad a bit of challenge to eat, but I really like the chopped macadamias and sweet citrus glaze with which they are covered. Plus, this salad also features more of my recently preferred fruit--mango!
After an afternoon of shopping in Georgetown, we headed to the airport, where I snacked on some carrots with almond butter, one of my all-time fave combos.
When we finally returned home to Birmingham, I looked to the freezer for dinner. I heated up a vegan chik patty and stuffed it in a pita with whole grain mustard and vegan mayo. On the side, I had a salad with Woodstock dressing, Brussels sprouts, and a dish of peaches.
I was blissfully reunited with my nightly smoothie last night: blueberries, chocolate soy protein (Whole Foods brand), soymilk, chocolate syrup, plus a few animal crackers for fun. One word: heavenly.
Monday
Following my refreshing run (in 70* weather!), I whipped up a quick breakfast of a smoothie and an English muffin. The smoothie included mango, cherries, and soymilk, and I spread the English muffin with White Chocolate Wonderful PB. I topped both with a dusting of coconut. I thoroughly enjoyed this while browsing the latest Crate & Barrel catalog--check out those cute plates!
I ran a few errands with my mom, then returned home to make homemade hummus for the very first time. I opted to use the Pumpkin Hummus recipe from Everyday Dish TV (my most recent podcast obsession). I got some strange looks from my mom as I was preparing this tasty mess with my hand blender, but I promise it's a delicious combination! I served it with whole grain flatbread, a spinach salad, and an apple. I can't wait to whip up another batch of homemade hummus...what are your favorite variations?
Afterward, I went to Whole Foods with my dad for a big shop--I didn't get a chance to photograph the haul due to the warm weather--it needed refrigeration ASAP! Anyway, some highlights include two new flavors of PURE bars, Graham Bumpers, Rachel's flavored cottage cheese, Earth Balance (I've never tried it), radicchio, and a baby watermelon. Keep an eye out for those in the coming week!

For dinner, I prepared Mock Maryland Crabcakes from Toni Fiore's Totally Vegetarian. I've never had a real crabcake, so I can't tell you whether these tasted "authentic," but I can say with certainty that they were delicious! I dipped them in some tsasiki sauce and served them alongside a salad, and Greek yogurt with cashews and dates.
Now, I am off to do a bit of reading--some for school, some for pleasure (hello, Clean Eating).

Be back soon!

All Wrapped Up

Today has been all about wrapping--my mom and dad have both been so busy this holiday season that they asked me to wrap a few gifts for them today. In addition, I gathered and packaged up my gift for the Food Blogger Secret Santa. After much cutting, taping, and bow-tying, I am pooped. I never thought a day of dressing up packages could be so tiring!

Things are also "all wrapped up" here because my sisters have both graduated! Congratulations to Lea on receiving her MBA and to Katie for her degree in nursing! My dad also walked in graduation due to his position as a professor at UAB. Here are a few pictures from our weekend of academic celebration:
Anyway, here's what fueled me through my first weekend at home:

Friday
My welcome-home smoothie was fantastic! I miss having frozen cherries around--they don't sell them at my Whole Foods in Durham. Anyway, this concoction included cherries, cherry Spirutein, soymilk, and wheat germ. Delish.
Saturday
As I've mentioned before, my go-to breakfast when I'm in a rush is always a smoothie and a bagel with nut butter. Amidst my mad search for my left shoe and frenzied makeup application, I didn't have much time for breakfast...so I had a strawberry-almond milk smoothie with wheat germ, plus a Rudi's sweet wheat bagel with almond butter. (PS You have no idea how excited I was when I finally discovered these bagels at my local health food store...I can't wait to try the cinnamon raisin variety!).
Once home from Katie's ceremony, we barely had enough time to grab lunch. I packed a simple meal to bring along in my purse: a Tofurky sammie with dijon mustard, cherry tomatoes, apple slices, and peanuts.
The whole family had a celebration dinner at a local Italian eatery, Leonardo's. Our party consisted of a whopping 13 people! Nonetheless, the wait staff handled our large party with ease. The rosemary rolls that arrived first were delicious--still warm from the oven and slightly sweet. Everyone was also served a standard garden salad. Among the entrees, there were very few vegetarian options, but I was moderately enticed by what I ordered: angel hair with olives, tomatoes, and basil. The menu stated that the dish would arrive with "a sprinkle" of asiago cheese. Ha! As the picture demonstrates, their idea of "a sprinkle" and mine are quite different. I apologize for the dark pictures--a flash would have ruined the ambiance, for sure!
As you might expect, I saved room for my evening smoothie. This time I combined more cherries, blackberries, berry hemp protein (Nutiva), soymilk, and peanut butter granola.
Sunday
Just before heading off to church, I made a quick breakfast out of Publix Oatmeal Flakes (my new favorite cereal!), TJ's blueberry flax, and rice milk, plus some clementines on the side. I enjoyed reading the Christmas-y Sunday paper as I ate.
I had a lunch that you've all seen before: a lentil veggie wrap. I spread the rest of my delicious lentil dip (which I first ate here) on a tortilla with mushrooms, tomatoes, and carrots. On the side, I had a salad with Woodstock dressing and an apple. Yum!
My culinary skills were markedly absent from dinner as well, as I just had a Sunshine burger on whole wheat with salsa, brussels sprouts, squash, and salad. I agree with VeggieGirl, Sunshine burgers are quite possibly the best veggie burgers on the market!
The smoothie of evening featured one of my favorite flavor combinations: vanilla and mango! I combined mango, vanilla soy protein, soymilk, and peanut butter granola. This was good, but not quite as heavenly as when I use my Living Harvest vanilla hemp.
Monday
One of the luxuries of home is that I can treat myself to Greek yogurt--Fage is often just too expensive for me to buy for myself! I took advantage of my little treat this morning by mixing 0% Fage with flax seed, cinnamon, and stevia. I put a dollop of this mixture and some fresh blackberries atop some Van's waffles.
For lunch, I derived inspiration from Kath's curried chicken salad. Obviously, I made a few substitutions, using tofu instead of chicken, walnuts instead of pecans, vegan mayo for the yogurt/regular mayo, etc. I placed the mixture atop a bed of greens and served it alongside some All Bran crackers, and a sliced apple. For all you vegans out there: the All Bran crackers are far from natural, but they are vegan, unlike Kashi's TLCs.
Tonight's dinner was a new recipe for me from ED&BV. Yes, I actually ventured outside my cashew-ginger tofu obsession. This evening's recipe was the Thai Chick-Un Pizza. Again, I had to make a few substitutions due to ingredient limitations, but the flavors were still delicious! I forgot to add the pineapple on the pizza, so I used it on top of my salad, along with leftover chickpeas and the last of the Thai pizza sauce. I love how unique (and tasty!) this recipe is--I will definitely be making this dish again. PS The Santa salt & pepper shakers wanted a chance to be seen on the blog--cute, no?
I am headed to the mall for some Christmas shopping tomorrow. I still need to buy something for each of my sisters and my dad. Have you finished your shopping yet? Which gift are you most excited about giving this year?

Wishing you all a pleasant Monday:)