Another Food-fest Complete

Hello again! I hope everyone had a tasty and restful Thanksgiving yesterday. (For those of you outside the US, I hope you enjoyed your Thursday as well!). I began the day as tradition would predict: I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with a mug of hot cider. After a bit of lounging, I got around to a bit of exercise and food preparation, of course. There's nothing like having a day to do exactly what you want to do--in my case, cook a fabulous meal and watch Jon & Kate Plus Eight. How did you all spend your Thursday?

Wednesday
Before turning in, I made a quick smoothie with another one of my favorite fruits: cherries! I combined them with soymilk, hemp protein, and PB granola.

Thursday
I kicked off the day with another round of Banana Blender Cereal. This time I used a new cereal for me, Publix's Toasted Oatmeal Flakes; I also used Brazil nuts for the nutty component. I was really bummed that this didn't turn out as well as I had hoped:(

After a morning of parade-watching, exercising, and cranberry-cooking, I made a quick stir-fry for lunch. I made a sauce out of agave nectar, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic and combined it with mango chunks, red bell pepper, mushrooms, tofu, and garlic noodles. Chopped almonds topped it all off, and I served it all alongside a salad with sweet Vidalia dressing that I found in the fridge.

Once mealtime came around, I prepared a last-minute appetizer plate for the crowd: sun-dried tomato hummus with fresh cut veggies and Triscuits with cheese cut-outs.
The big meal consisted of a Quorn Turk'y Roast with vegetarian gravy, salad, cranberry sauce, steamed broccoli, and stuffing. The salad was a random creation of mine, featuring field greens, currants, and walnuts. The cranberry sauce was another one of my contributions. Although I normally sweeten it with agave nectar, I opted for brown sugar last night to appease all the palates present; other components include vanilla and cinnamon stick.

The stuffing presented a challenge this year: my mom always prepares it from a specific mix, but I happened to notice that this particular mix contained trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. Not cool. Instead, I suggested the Whole Foods brand (see below). Mom was nice enough not only to acquiesce to my request but also to prepare it with vegetable broth (instead of chicken) so that I could enjoy some. Thanks, Mom!
A few hours later, my stomach had deflated enough to enjoy some vegan pumpkin pudding that I had prepared earlier in the day. I adapted it from CCV's Apple Pie Pudding. Yummy stuff but still second-best to Mom's (non-vegan) version!

I still made room for my smoothie last night. I combined peaches, cinnamon, soymilk, hemp protein, and PB granola.

Friday

I woke up this morning ready for some shopping. I needed plenty of fuel to help me navigate through the crowds, so I prepared a classic tofu scramble with tahini, soy sauce, ginger, turmeric, mushrooms, and red bell peppers. On the side, I had some toast and a sliced kiwi.

We returned home early enough so that I could watch the Duke-Duquesne game on TV. I enjoyed watching another Duke victory while munching on a Turk'y salad wrap, which was comprised of leftover Turk'y, celery, vegan mayo, walnuts, currants, curry powder, mustard, and agave nectar. SO GOOD. Along with it, I had a salad with Clementine segments…and another Clementine.
I don't often share snacks with you all, but I had an exceptionally tasty afternoon snack today: plain yogurt with stevia, cranberry sauce, and raw almonds. So nutritious and delicious! In the spirit of harvest-time coming to an end, I decided to roast an acorn squash for dinner. I seasoned it with herbes de provence and S+P, then stuffed it with leftover stuffing and topped it off with toasted cashews. To round it out, I had some garlic-spiked spinach and cinnamon-y cottage cheese. Doesn't the squash half look a little bit like a heart?
I am off to enjoy a holiday movie, likely Elf or Home Alone. What's your favorite holiday movie?

I will leave you with a few pictures of our oh-so-elegant table setting:

Be back soon!

Motor Mouth

Although I am generally a girl of relatively few (spoken) words, today I just could not keep my mouth shut. Of course, the approaching Halloween weekend and some exciting romantic (!) developments might have had something to do with it, but I was going a mile-a-minute when I talked to my mom on the phone today. I feel sorry for my poor roomie, who upon returning from a long day of exams and tests, was greeted by my motor mouth. Perhaps I should switch to decaffeinated tea?

Before I get started, I want to be sure that you are all aware of Arnold's Name That Sandwich Contest. Just think--you could be responsible for a sandwich revolution! Check out the rules here.

Rena from Arnold Bread was kind enough to notify me of this opportunity and send me some samples of their sandwich thins (which are not available in my area), plus a couple loaves of their new varieties of sliced bread. Hmm, sounds like good material for a future product review...Anyway, I am SO excited to try these items and get creative with my sandwich makin'.
Onto the eats!

Monday
Oh, how I have missed my Nutiva Hemp Shakes. Monday's superb concoction consisted of strawberries, mango, soymilk, and berry pomegranate hemp. Yum.
Tuesday
I fired up the MB for breakfast yesterday morning, despite the sub-40* weather. Nothing gets between me and my smoothies. This one had blackberries and soymilk, and I served it with a mini bagel topped with cashew butter and dried cranberries. Note the lovely Merlot color of the smoothie:)
For lunch, I was jonesin' for some breakfast pizza. My attempt was comprised of scrambled tofu with Boca crumbles mixed in, plus sliced mushrooms and oregano, all on an Italian flatbread. It was tasty, but it would have been even better with soy sausage and onions. On the side is a salad and grapes.
I just can't get enough of that butternut goodness, so I decided to use a recipe I've had bookmarked for a while from Imagine foods (although technically I used Pacific brand's soup). I combined zucchini, onions, and mushrooms with butternut squash and poured the mixture over whole wheat wagon wheel pasta. Along with it, I had a salad with olives, plain yogurt with agave and cinnamon, plus an orange to fend off this cold. Lots of food, lots of satisfaction.
The shake last night again featured the berry pomegranate hemp protein. I blended it with soymilk, peaches, strawberries, and coconut. PS I finally got a big enough cup so that I don't have to deal with overflow anymore--sweet.
Wednesday
It was another Banana Blender Cereal kind of day today. This time I actually used the walnuts that the recipe calls for, rather than substituting almonds or pecans as I have the past few weeks. It turned out delicious and creamy, as always. Next time I might consider adding coconut!
Today's lunch was inspired by a recipe from Rudi's bakery. The original recipe called for turkey, cream cheese, and walnuts, but I ended up using Tofurky, vegan mayo, and almonds (respectively). Yep, those are luscious sliced peaches in that tasty spinach wrap. On the side I had some brussels sprouts and a salad with dried cherries on top.
I was feeling festive this evening (and had an intense desire to procrastinate), so I decided on a Thanksgiving-ish meal. I had some beans 'n greens ( peas with spinach, garlic, and black eyedhot sauce), stuffing, and green beans with chopped pecans. While I ate dinner, I had a pot of cranberry sauce simmering on the stove, so I am just finishing up a dish of that as I type. I simply combined a 12 oz package of cranberries, 1 1/3 cups water, cinnamon, vanilla, and 1/4 cup agave nectar for a tart and delicious treat. This will be so good with pumpkin flax granola!
Before I conclude this rather lengthy post, I will leave you with a picture of my current Clif stash. I recently received a package from my mother with clothes, coats, and --what else--mini Clifs! As you can see, I am fully stocked! I've got a few of the full-size seasonal flavors, plus some Z bars too. I figured you all would be the only ones who would appreciate this:)
Happy Wednesday!