Wintry Wonders

Check out what I found outside my window yesterday morning:
Yes, like any good Southern girl, I whipped out my camera as soon as I realized that the novelty of snow had arrived here in North Carolina. Once I got to campus, I continued my photo shoot at various destinations in the Gothic winter wonderland:
The pristine appearance of the snow has now degraded, however, as the campus is now covered in mounds of icy, gray sludge. OK, I'm ready for spring now.

With all this chilly weather, I've been eating nothing but warm eats (with the exception of my smoothies, of course). Enjoy:

Monday
After my dining meeting (at which we sampled salads from here) I was still hungry for a more substantial evening meal. I combined white beans, green beans, tomato sauce, garlic, and oregano for a tasty Italian skillet dish; that's couscous and applesauce with peanuts on the side.
For my shake, I made another strawberry dream: strawberries, non-dairy ice cream, soymilk, and Nutribody protein.
Tuesday
Although all I wanted to do was to go play in the snow, I first prepared myself a waffle tower breakfast: waffles topped with cinnamon-spiked plain yogurt, blueberries, and almonds.
For lunch, I made a simple tofu salad with my favorite sweet-dill-agave dressing with a few cranberries mixed in. I enjoyed it atop a Rudi's English muffin and served alongside a salad with pecans and a few grapes. After enjoying the day's Inauguration coverage, I settled in for an Indian-inspired meal. I made a curry out of kidney beans, onions, and assorted spices and served it alongside pita bread, green beans, salad with Woodstock dressing, and pineapple.
My smoothie last night was delicious: banana, peaches, soymilk, Nutribody protein, and the last of my ginger granola made for a delectable evening snack.
Wednesday
My morning class was cancelled this morning, so I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast this morning. I devoted this extra time to Banana-Tofu French toast...it never gets old. I topped this batch with cashews and spiced pumpkin. PS Is anyone else as fascinated by Michelle Obama as I am? I really liked this article.
Today's lunch included a Waldorf salad (apple, vegan mayo, almonds, and dried currants) along with a white bean dip and crackers.
I am off to (perhaps) get some work done. What are you up to this evening?

Ciao for now.

Return to Reality

Fall Break has officially ended, and I now write to you from my apartment in North Carolina. My trip home was relatively uneventful, aside from a late departure. Upon arriving at the apartment, I unloaded all my Target loot (e.g., socks, spatulas, and other such exciting items), but I just could not motivate myself to study. Try as I might to summon my inner conscientiousness, that linguistics textbook stayed closed for several hours. Waking up for my 8:30 stats class this morning wasn't much fun either. Do you ever have trouble getting back into the groove after a vacation?

On the plus side, the internet connection is approximately a bajillion times faster here on campus than at home, so uploading pics is a breeze...

Monday
For the second time ever, I had to throw out a smoothie on Monday evening. The first time I did was due to a lack-luster protein powder; this time, it was the choice of "milk." I didn't have any of my trusty plain soymilk handy, so I substituted unsweetened almond milk. Big mistake. The creaminess just wasn't there. Anyway, I had to throw away a cherry-almond milk concoction. The second go wasn't much better, but I decided to drink it anyway: blueberries, original Living Harvest hemp, and almond milk.
Tuesday
For a final hurrah in my kitchen at home, I prepared some scrambled tofu. This one had soy sauce, tahini, ginger, turmeric, and baby bella mushrooms. On the side, I had a juicy orange, and some plain yogurt with pumpkin and cinnamon. Despite the monochromatic nature of this meal, it was super-tasty. (PS The lighting was rather odd yesterday morning in the breakfast room--let's call it "artistic.")
My flight was in the early afternoon, so I packed a lunch to enjoy during my layover. I brought a Sunbutter and blueberry jam sandwich on whole wheat, bell pepper strips and carrots with hummus, and an apple. This lunch really hit the spot, but it was rather noisy. I felt a little awkward munch, munch, munching away next to my fellow passengers at the gate.
By the time I returned to the apartment and unpacked everything, I was hungry but not exactly in the mood to cook. Plus, when I looked in the fridge, *gasp* I had no produce other than some old lettuce and an onion. Annie's mac and cheese to the rescue! I enjoyed one of the white cheddar microwaveable pouches with some bell pepper strips stirred in (from a bag in the freezer). I rounded it out with a salad topped with the last of my cashews, green beans with dill and garlic, and a dark chocolate Kiss for dessert.
My smoothie last night was, again, not quite satisfactory. I combined strawberries, blueberries, soymilk, and vanilla hemp. I got a little creative with the camera last night, in case you can't tell:)
Wednesday
I was not much in the mood for thinking this morning, much less cooking an exciting breakfast. Cheerios it was. I topped them with wheat germ and rice milk, and I had a sliced apple with Sunbutter on the side.
As mentioned above, I was quite produce-poor until this afternoon. I decided to hit up the on-campus grocery store after my run today. Here's a look at the loot:
I felt a little guilty buying the asparagus (it is so not asparagus season), but I am super psyched about the kelp granules and the whole wheat wagon wheel pasta!

For lunch, I made a big salad from mixed greens, white beans, dried cranberries, carrots, tomatoes, and chopped almonds. On the side, I had some more of those Milton's crackers and an orange.
I was just itching to use those kelp granules, so I decided to make a "fishy" dinner. I made a mock tuna salad out of chickpeas, vegan mayo, mustard, sweet relish, and kelp granules. Spread between toasted bread, it made for quite the tasty sandwich. Along with it, I had broccoli, greens with Goddess dressing, and a sliced banana. Yum.
Recently I received an email from OpposingViews.com, alerting me to their discussion of vegetarianism. I'm not advocating one position over the other, but I just thought some of you might find the debate interesting. I had fun poking around the website this morning--lots of hot topics to explore!

Enjoy the rest of your evening!

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!