Stimulating Conversation

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We are mere hours away from Friday!  Thursdays I have my morning lab and (sometimes) an evening Nutrition class, which is why I was on-campus, and not blogging, all day.

Adam and I both tossed and turned all last night, making Starbucks at absolute necessity this morning.

I got a grande soy latte with cinnamon dolce syrup.

For lunch I brought my corn and black bean pizza leftovers,

and a temple orange.

I stayed on campus for my 4+hour break to get work done, but I definitely also chatted with a friend for a long time.  Since we talked about memoirs, bipolar disorder, and bezoars, among other things, I’m going to count that time as educational 🙂

Adam couldn’t pick me up until after 7:30 and then we had to go to Wegman’s to do something about our empty larder situation.  We ended up grabbing hot bar and having a cafe booth date.  Random assortment of (Asian style) green veggies and tofu,

with a brown rice veggie sushi roll.

The husband and I talked about micronutrient absorption on our “date,” so I’d say I’ve covered my intelligent conversation quotient for the week!

We got groceries (good), drove all the way home before we drove all the way back to get the almond milk we forgot (bad), came inside and chipped my tooth removing my retainers (worse), and made this dessert (great).

Stonyfield Vanilla Soy Yogurt topped with peanuts and marshmallow topping.  Marshmallow topping is vegan; I’m not sure how I’d classify that new fact.

On the agenda for tomorrow is a 2-week late trip to the gym, please keep your fingers crossed for me that we don’t get the 10inches they’re predicting?

What’s your town’s weekend weather prediction?

Mexican Melee

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I didn’t post yesterday in a last-ditch attempt at today’s three tests.  This was not a successful plan.  Too little, too late.  Let’s just say that I’ve studied more for quizzes than I studied in total for these three exams.  At least my extreme disappointment in myself will serve as motivation the rest of the semester.  In fact, I’m not even going to talk about my tests in today’s recap; let’s keep things positive.

I had Adam drop me off at school early today to study (God, I miss the gym!) and I packed this Ricera vegan yogurt for breakfast.

Bletch!  One bite (and a lot of gagging) later and this was in the trash.  I don’t think I’ve ever tasted something so chemically in my life!  And the texture was indescribably bad, slimy at best.

Thankfully I picked up a tea on my way into the library.

This Republic of Tea English Breakfast Black Tea actually wasn’t half bad.  I need to make tea part of my routine more often.

Lunch was random and quick.  A leftover serving of Asian cole-slaw,

and a baggie of dried kiwi and hibiscus.

Yum, the kiwi was a fresh bag from OhNuts! and it tasted extra fresh.

Halfway through my second nutrition class I realized I made a mistake not packing more food, especially carbs – I was starting to shake!  Some really messy notes and a major headache later we were finally out of class and I tried to remedy the situation in the campus bookstore.  Peanut Butter Cookie Lara Bar,

and a pack of (new!) Rainbow Mentos.

The dose of protein and sugar was just what I needed to get my through my night class/test.

When I finally got home it took mere minutes to whip up a tasty themed(ish) dinner –

Yum, yum, yum.

First, Mexican-style pizza topped with black beans and corn.

This combo was too awesome, the leftovers are going to be great tomorrow.

On side, steamed kale with Stubbs BBQ Sauce and raisins.

Try raisins in your next savory dish, I dare you.

Finally, Mexican hot chocolate.

Serves 2 –

  • 1 cup plain almond milk (we used Unsweetened Silk)
  • 2 unsweetened baker’s chocolate squares
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon extract
  • 4 Tbsp sugar
  • (optional) cinnamon and vegan marshmallows
  1. In a small, thick-bottomed put, heat milk to a low boil.
  2. Chop chocolate and add to milk.  Cover pot and continue to boil 1-2minutes.
  3. Whisk in sugar and cinnamon extract.
  4. Pour into two mugs and top with cinnamon and marshmallows if desired.

The cocoa was so thick and creamy it was more like pudding; I ate mine with a spoon!

We watched House while we ate (glorious!) and now I’ve got to get some beauty rest so I’m ready to conquer tomorrow!

Do you ever put raisins in savory dishes?

The Great Peanut Butter Expedition

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I didn’t have time to blog lunch.  I also didn’t have time to make a lunch that wasn’t two bags of popcorn, but that’s another story.  I didn’t have time, because instead of studying for my two looming tests I spent the day doing things like reading Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi from start to finish.

I shouldn’t really be blogging dinner, but I’m just too darn excited about this contest not to.

There’s a set of Peanut Butter and Co at stake and my Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles are a surefire win.

Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles, serves 2

  • 1 cup prepared whole wheat linguine
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • 2 cups chopped broccoli
  • 2 tsp evoo
  • 4 Tbsp chunky peanut butter
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 tsp sugar 
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  1. Warm 1 tsp of oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add veggies to the oil and cover.  Cook 3-5minutes until steamed, stirring occasionally.  If using fresh rather than frozen brocoli you may want to add a few Tbsps of water to help build steam.  Remove veggies from pan and set aside.
  2. Add remaining tsp of oil to the pan and increase heat to medium-high.  Add pasta and stir-fry until starting to brown and crisp, stirring occasionally.
  3. While the veggies and pasta are cooking, prepare your sauce.  Combine peanut butter through red pepper flakes in a small, microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave for 15-45 seconds to help loosen.  Whisk together with a fork.
  4. When noodles have reached doneness, return veggies to the pan.  Pour sauce over the pasta and veggies and continue to cook 2-3minutes.  Everything is done when the sauce starts to form a slight crust on the vegetables.

This dish is a little bit spicy, a little bit crunchy, and a whole lot peanut butter-y and delicious.  It’s also the ultimate leftovers meal; you can pretty much use any kind of pasta or veggie you’ve got lying around the house.  Keep your fingers crossed for me that it’s also a winner!

What’s your favorite way to eat peanut butter?  Mine is this dish, followed closely by pb stirred into Greek yogurt or right off the spoon!

Breakfast For The King

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This morning I had breakfast fit for a king.

Make that the King.

I topped a toasted Naturals Flax and Fiber Sandwich Thin with maple jelly, chunky peanut butter, and 4 slices of Lightlife Smart Bacon.

I had a Suspicious Mind, but in the end I Loved It Tender.  The Lightlife bacon wasn’t all that good – not much flavor and it was impossible to get into pieces! – but I’ve had great vegan bacon before so I blame the product, not the concept.  Even with the lackluster bacon though, this sandwich was a winner.  Sweet and salty is a dream team and peanut butter can pretty much go with anything.

On the side I had my first Cara Cara Orange of the season.

After clementines (which have no pith, no seeds, and are impossibly juicy) Cara Caras are my favorite kind of citrus.

And while my slacker side would like to sit here all day and tell you about my favorite stone fruit, and favorite vegetables that are actually fruit… my ration side knows that I’ve got to go study!

Have you ever tried vegan bacon?  Turkey bacon?  What’s your favorite variety?

Let There Be Light

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Okay, so I didn’t really do much work today either!  At least in the study sense, we did tackle some to-dos.  Really today was like my Friday, and the next two days are my weekend and my cram-like-crazy study days!

We had to tackle all sorts of not so fun stuff this morning, like filling our FAFSA and dropping stuff off at Goodwill.  My throat was feeling kind of funky so I never really got hungry for breakfast.  I did snag this grape leave from Adam’s leftovers.

And the husband and I split this Ring Pop.

There’s something wrong with my retainers (again, ugh!) so they’re out until Tuesday and it seemed like the perfect time to enjoy this leftover Valentine’s sweet.

Our next set of errands took us up to the Barnes and Nobel on Niagara Blvd, were we just happened to also pull over here –

There’s kind of a deficit of good Thai in Buffalo, so when we spotted Jasmine Thai we just couldn’t resist!

After a few quick modifications, Adam and I ordered our two favorite dishes to split.  Cashew Tofu,

and Pad See Eiw (with steamed tofu and without the egg).

Yuuuuuum.

True story?  I groaned every – single – time I took a bite of the broad rice noodles.  They are just so fricking delicious!  Chewy foods are my favorite and these are the ultimate doughy chew.

My only complaint about Jasmine Thai is that both of our meals were way too light on veggies.  Thankfully I took care of that by eating leftover sesame green beans in the car like a weirdo.

My throat still felt funny all afternoon so we postponed our dinner plans and I made myself a bowl of something creamy, cool, and sweet –

Banana Soft Serve.  Into the food processor went 1.5 frozen bananas, 2 Tbsp shredded coconut, 2 Tbsp honey roasted peanuts, and 1 Tbsp real maple syrup.

This dish is reason alone to own a food processor.  Buy one, try it, and then go tell Gena she’s a genius.

The rest of dinner is going to be a bag of this goodness –

Wondering about that strange picture?  Adam built me a light box!!!!

The inside (backdrop) won’t be done until later but I am so appreciative.  Between my lack of skill, my cheap camera, and our house’s awful lighting, there have just been too many factors working against my pictures.  Hopefully soon I can get a couple of nice shots 🙂

Blogging readers – do you have/use a light box?  What kind of camera do you currently use?

Day One of Four

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There are several reasons why I didn’t post yesterday, some good and some bad.

  1. We determined that I am injured badly enough from my fall that I should continue to take a few days away from the gym.  Aka, my ticket out of Grumpsville hasn’t arrived yet.
  2. The popcorn I had for lunch was not exciting, and I later found out that it wasn’t vegan either!  Sidenote – why does the ingredients list need to be split?  I didn’t realize “natural flavors” meant “milk proteins” until after I’d (finished) looked at the other side of the bag.
  3. My dinner was exciting, and vegan, but since it was part of a review I agreed to do for a new recipes app I couldn’t share the recipes with you guys.  Telling you in retrospect that I had home-made Asian-style slaw and sesame green beans with spring rolls is mean, but showing you the tasty pictures too would have been just cruel.

I technically have a four-day weekend (my school canceled classes on Monday and Tuesday) but since I have two tests and two quizzes next week, today was my last day to really relax.  I made the most of it.

We slept in and hung out all morning, then picked up a quick meal from the Co-op hot bar.

I got vegan mac and cheese, cilantro baked tofu, falafel, and a few pieces of Cajun sweet potato.

Everything was good, and I liked the pasta for what it was, but Adam and I both agreed that “mac and cheese” was a pretty generous label.

I also randomly included an orange cream soda with lunch.

My afternoon snacks included a serving of Newman’s Own Pretzel Rods.

Dipped in Cherry Coke Zero, of course.

And a Liz Lovely Lemon Coconut Cookie.

Adam (who has a normal weekend) was at the lab until late so we decided to cash in a Groupon and try out a new place for dinner.  Acropolis, a Greek place a few blocks from our apartment, had a 50% off Groupon going that I picked up a few months ago.  Tonight was the night.

Tonight was also the night for silly faces.

The lighting was terrible, assume that all the food was 20% better than it looks.  Actually, the lighting was great when we walked in but the minute we sat down they put on the awful “mood” lighting.  I hate dim restaurants.  Even before I had a food blog, who wants to eat in the dark?!

We ended up ordering a bunch of appetizers and sharing.

The only vegan things on the menu all happened to be the only things on the menu we were interested in, so I’m glad we picked this month to try it out.

I ate my fair share of grape leaves,

baba ganoush,

and lavash and pita bread.

The pita was the best I’ve ever had!  So nice to go on a date with the husband.

Now I’m supposed to be in bed, but the dog in the apartment below us is going crazy.  Instead I’m sipping on this Bolthouse Farms Vanilla Chia drink, and trying to think calm thoughts.

Good night (hopefully!).

Slipping into Grumpsville

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The good news?  Several $100 later, I’ve got my computer back!  The bad news?  I’ve got a major case of the grumps.  I’ll try to keep this quick.

I haven’t been to the gym in a week.  I’ve also been cranky for a week.  I think that is solid scientific evidence that I’m happier when I workout 🙂  In the interest of considering all the data, I should also mention that I haven’t been going because my knee hurts and it’s possible I’m also cranky because I’m pissed about my knee.  <– that is extra-strength ironic, you’ll see why in a minute.

First, a breakfast that didn’t make me cranky.

I didn’t want to use banana so instead I beefed up my normal stove-top oats (1/3 cup oats, 1/2 cup each water and So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk) with 1.5 Tbsp of chia seeds and 2 tsp dark brown sugar.

I topped my chewy-in-the-best-way-ever creation with Trader Joe’s Sun Butter.

Sooo good.

Then I walked to school for lab.  And I slipped on the ice.  And fell.  Into a puddle.

Yeah, I don’t even really know what else to say about that.  I was angry and soaking wet and I wrenched my already hurt knee and bashed my ‘good’ knee into the sidewalk.  And as the day went on I realized my back also is killing me.  Hence the trip to Grumpsville.

After lab I walked home, gingerly, and took advantage of the Subway $5 Footlong promotion along the way.

I ate half today, and have the other half leftover for tomorrow.

I got the veggie sub with lettuce, tomato, spinach, red onion, green peppers, cucumber, black olives, and pickles.  I added a little Stubbs BBQ Sauce when I got home.

Delish.  Also another sandwich that did not miss the cheese.

I also got a large diet coke with ice and dipped pretzels into it.

Heaven.

And then I ate this thing of cashews.

Unfortunately the sandwich and massive snack attack didn’t take care of my other complaint – I was hungry, all day long.  Pretty much all day when I wasn’t complaining about my back I was frantic with hunger; Adam thinks I’m a joy to be with.  I took unphotographed nibbles of pretty much every item in the fridge (chickpeas leftovers, potatoes, peanut butter…).

Happy Sidenote – I was recently sent some Arnold’s 100% Whole Wheat Flax and Fiber Sandwich Thins to sample.  [I like them a lot]  The husband is obsessed with them!  Look at his lunch –

When we got the last-minute call about my computer (yay) we headed out, scrapping our dinner plans and opting for Moe’s instead.

I housed this veggie burrito with rice, pinto beans, sautéed mushrooms and onions, guacamole, and black olives.

I actually still have an assignment to do tonight (and of course I still have to complain about it) so I’ve got to go.  You’ll miss my cheery disposition 🙂

Have you ever slipped on the ice?

Dinner for Breakfast Through Dinner

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Thanks for all the well wishes for my sick laptop, guys!  Adam’s been a sport about letting me use his and for now I’m viewing it as a glass half full situation because it keeps me from wasting so much time on the internet 😉

There was a situation this morning with the applesauce (you so don’t want to know) so my breakfast ended up being a little less breakfasty.

Apparently I like my morning meals spicy and veggie filled.

This vegan Enchilada from Amy’s was pretty great though.

I also had a cup of Eggnog’n tea with a splash of Silk Hazelnut Soy Creamer.

Lunch was random if nothing else.

A plain So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt with some Crofter’s Strawberry Jam,

and a Thai Peanut Primal Strip.

If you’re going to write in and ask “but, Emily, weren’t you hungry after that lunch?” don’t bother.  Yes!  I was satisfied for an hour or so and then I was starving.  I sat through a club meeting after school where everyone was eating pizza and it was pretty torturous.

I was pretty ecstatic that I had time to buy a sandwich before my night class.

I got a 6inch sub with green pepper, red onion, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pickles, black olives, and bbq sauce.

One of the things I’m loving about the vegan challenge is that I’m learning that it’s ok to skip the cheese sometimes.  Before I would have automatically ordered a slice of cheddar on this sandwich and it was totally fine without it.

It was a great night because we got out an hour early from my music class, and then it got even better when I walked in the door to dinner.

I set the husband up with the ingredients and recipe for Cooking Light’s Spicy Moroccan Chickpeas, and then he did the rest before I got home.

Go, husband!

The rest of the evening involved the pre-lab due tomorrow and the chocolate-covered strawberries the husband bought for Valentine’s.

Hasta!

Do you automatically put or skip cheese on your sandwiches?  What’s your favorite kind for sandwiches?