The Saga of the Cherry Rain Boots

If you step onto a college campus on even a moderately rainy day, you're likely to encounter hundreds of female undergraduates sporting rain boots--in every color of the rainbow, in any pattern you can imagine. I had refrained from partaking in this trend for a while, given my distaste for "being one of the crowd," but I finally surrendered to the rain gear trend when I realized the inclination of Duke's campus toward sludginess. Plus, we all know how much I like shopping for footwear:) After having my pair of cherry-printed rain boots for about a year, I have worn them maybe twice. After looking at the weather report for today (RAIN ALL DAY), I decided today would be a good opportunity to get some use out of them. Lo and behold, the weather gods decided to make a mockery of me today--it has barely drizzled a drop all day. As a result, I felt like a may-juh dork walking around campus in my rain boots, without a raindrop in sight. Sigh.

Maybe my "cool" eats will make up for my dorkiness...

Monday
I indulged myself at Whole Foods last week and bought some tempeh Lightlife Fakin' Bacon, my favorite variety of veggie bacon (I am NOT a fan of Lightlife's "SmartBacon."). I forgot to snap a picture of the package, but I'm sure you all can figure out what it looks like if you're interested in trying it for yourself. Anyway, I used it to make a BLT: tempeh bacon, lettuce, tomato, vegan mayo, and whole grain mustard on whole wheat. I also had some celery with PB and an orange.
Before heading out to my weekly dining meeting, I had some baked blue corn chips with guac and salsa.
For dinner, I whipped up a strange concoction inspired by this recipe. I didn't have any flax oil...so I used ground flax. It was actually a pretty tasty dressing. I also had a big salad, grapes, and crackers.
The shake of the evening featured strawberries, soymilk, chocolate rice protein, and more hot chocolate mix.
Tuesday
In contrast to my usual sweet breakfasts (aside from scrambled tofu, of course), I had a savory meal yesterday morning. I made a breakfast sandwich out of tempeh bacon, tomato, and guacamole. DELISH. I also had a sliced apple.
Continuing with my homemade hummus fixation, I made another batch yesterday; this time the flavor was tomato-basil. Quite delicious, and such a lovely hue of pink! I enjoyed it with some whole wheat mini pitas, celery, and cucumber, along with some grapes.
I tried another variety of Chobani yesterday, the vanilla flavor. I combined it with some wheat germ and roasted almonds--gotta love that crunch factor. (PS Yes, that article was painfully boring to read).
By the time I got around to making dinner, I was famished. I made a quick veggie panini with mushrooms, spinach, red onion, and mozzarella, along with some zucchini fries (seasoned with garlic salt and pepper). I also had some peaches with cashews and cinnamon.
My shake last night included an unprecedented combination for me: banana + raspberry. I also added chocolate rice protein and soymilk, along with coconut and Choco-Cherry granola on top. Sorry my shakes are so repetitive lately--I have only one form of protein powder these days. Chocolate is so much more limiting than vanilla or plain!
Wednesday
My breakfast innovation continued this morning with a "Banana Energy Sundae." The idea for this meal came from here. Obviously, I changed it up according to my tastes: TJ's High Fiber Cereal, cinnamon-spiked plain yogurt, banana, Sunbutter, wheat germ, and chopped dates. I *think* I might have found a new favorite breakfast...
Today's reminders:
-Katie from CCV is giving away...herself in a box. Enter to win some of Katie's favorite products by April 12th--there are LOTS of ways to enter, so check it out!
-Sarah from Tales of Expansion is giving away a Bob's Red Mill product. I feel like Bob is my good buddy, considering how many of his products I regularly purchase (oat bran, flaxseeds, TVP...), so I am pumped about this contest! Enter by April 5th at noon.
-The Girl in the Little Black Dress is giving away more of those fabulous Quaker goodies. Organic cotton robe? Yes, please! Enter by April 3rd.

TTFN, my friends.

Who's that Greasy Kid?

In my experience, it's an unspoken rule that once you sit in a certain spot in a classroom more than twice in a row, that seat is marked as "yours." My linguistics class generally follows this policy in that everyone in the classroom generally sits in the exact same spot for every class period. It's actually quite an interesting sociological phenomenon. Anyway, being the creature of habit that I am, I take part in these shenanigans week in and week out, so I always sit next to the same two people--one is my friend with whom I served on an editorial board, and the other is a male whom I have named "the greasy kid."

Every day he sits next to me for our 11:40 class, and he has always brings new form of fast food. Monday was a Panda Express sesame chicken concoction, while today was a Big Mac with fries. I don't mind if my neighbors bring food (after all, I have been known to munch on a Clif bar during class), but this stuff has an odor that permeates the entire classroom, much less the 5 foot radius around our two seats. I swear, on Monday I smelled a note of sesame orange in my button-down, hours after class was over.

Anyway, it's gotten to the point that I have considered--gasp!--changing seats, mid-semester. I'll probably just suck it up and learn to live with this mystery grease-fan, who I am sure is a perfectly nice guy. Have you ever dealt with an unpleasant habit of a classmate or coworker?

OK, sorry. Rant over.

Monday
I discovered another combination that comes close to the mango-vanilla hemp deliciousness: peach-coconut-vanilla hemp. This would be a good stand-in if you're running low on mango.
Tuesday
Another Tropical Tuesday! I made a pineapple smoothie with more coconut (yes, I am mildly addicted), plus a whole wheat mini bagel with Brazilnut butter and cinnamon. Good fuel before my gender and language quiz.
The pre-run snack was yet another PB Mini Clif. Once again, it was fantastic fuel, accompanied by tasty PB breath.
For lunch I tried a product that has been lurking in my cabinets for a while. I've seen so many bloggers use Annie's whole wheat shells with white cheddar, and it was available at the on campus grocery store (read: I can use food points rather than my own $$). I finally made a batch using rice milk, and I added edamame for protein (and color). The other items you see are a Romaine salad and unsweetened applesauce with flax. Hello, power fuel--this kept me full through a few hours of tutoring.
Kristen and Shen took over the kitchen table last night to study for biochem, so I ate my meal at my desk--I had lots of work to do anyway. I made a simple vegan chili using leftover pasta sauce, chopped onions, kidney beans, cumin, chili powder, and ground red pepper. On the side: corn, spinach salad, plain kefir with cashews. Nice and comforting:)
The shake of the evening was a bit of an experiment, as I used a new protein powder--the vegan chocolate rice protein. It was kind of a bummer. Not chocolatey at all. At least the frozen banana and chocolate chips (which sank to the bottom) made up for the lackluster protein component.
Wednesday
Overnight oats were on the menu this morning, using Jenn's method of soaking the oats in water overnight and adding the creamy ingredients in the morning. This morning I added nonfat kefir, coconut, cinnamon, cashews, and stevia. It was alright, but a little too soupy--I think it would have worked better if I had Greek yogurt on hand. With my budget, that won't be happening any time soon.
The exercise fuel was a baggie of pretzel sticks. Almost entirely carbs (and salt!). It got the job done though.
Lunch was ratatouille-inspired. I cooked up half an eggplant with a bit of jarred tomato sauce, onions, garlic, and kidney beans for protein. To soak up the goodness, I had an Ezekiel pita, plus a salad with peanuts, cranberries, and balsamic vinegar. Once again, perfect for a busy afternoon.
My evening meal was inspired by a recipe from Rudi's Bakery. Check out their website--they have lots of great recipes for herbivores and omnivores alike. Anyway, this is the vegan tempeh reuben, sans cheese and saurkraut because, well, I don't have any. I still made the vegan thousand island dressing though (after a trip to the campus store for sweet relish). I had a big honkin' serving of broccoli with leftover garlic from the tempeh's poaching liquid. That's a glass of rice milk on the side.
I have a random question for you all: I mentioned above that I made a full box of mac and cheese--can you freeze the leftovers? My intuition tells me no, since it would get mighty mushy. What do you think?

Now I am off to relax before another busy day tomorrow. Good night all!