Three Courses Worth Waiting For

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Thursdays are when I have my earliest class, which means they are also my latest wake-up school days.  Makes no sense?  I’ve decided on MWF (class starts at 11) that I’ll have Adam drop me off at the gym on his way to school so I can work out/come home and shower/walk back to school for classes.  But Thursday class starts at 9:25 (and there’s no time for all that) so I can wake up on my own and walk straight to class. 

Except today all my plans went out the window because the snow was basically up to my waist.  Whoops!  I had to hurry-scurry to get in the car with Adam, which meant all of my breakfast and lunch bubbles were quickly burst.

The positive side is that I got to squeeze in my workout before my lab.  I did another quick (too quick) treadmill session – warm up + 1.5mile running (14:13) + cool down – 21minutes and 1.85miles.

The negative side is that breakfast ended up being of the not-of-champions variety.

I grabbed the Cliff Builder’s Bar because it was vegan, full of protein, and most importantly sold in the only kiosk without a line.

I gave up on eating the Cliff Builder’s Bar after two bites because it was tasteless and way to tough for my aching teeth.

Better luck next time?  I brought the rest of the bar home for Adam and I’m sure he’ll love it because he’s silly.

Unfortunately I had a club meeting on campus at 12:15, so I couldn’t get home to a proper meal until that was over.  Then I had to finish/e-mail an assignment before I could let myself eat.  I wasn’t about to add ‘shower off the gym grime’ to my wait-time, so you better believe I ate lunch like this –

Before anyone asks – Why yes, I did think the appropriate response to sweaty gym hair was a pair of pony tails.

They’re a pair of ponies, not pig tails.  Pig tails come out the sides, the end.

I made up for lost time by rocking my own world with a three-course lunch.

Course 1 – Salad.

I topped a bed of spring mix lettuce with chopped pear, green pepper, radish sprouts, and poppy-seed dressing.

Course 2 – Pasta.

Amy’s Rice Macaroni and Dairy-free Cheeze.

For some reason the gluten free version is the only vegan macaroni Amy’s makes (the soy cheese version has milk proteins in it).

This wasn’t ridiculous good like the dairy one, but it was still pretty darn good.

Course 3 – Dessert.

Banana soft serve (1.5 frozen bananas, food processed with a splash of Vanilla Silk Soy Milk until delicious) topped with crushed pretzels and these adorable vegan marshmallows.

Soooo good.  BSS is where it’s at!

It took forever to eat my epic lunch, so I should probably get down to work!

Do you or anyone you know eat a gluten free diet?

Delightful Dippables

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As I mentioned early, today was a snow day, and a glorious snow day it was!  Not a lot of work got done, but you know how it is.

I did make a very successful (vegan) lunch.

With a nice roll up (a play on a dish I love that my mom makes with cream cheese for parties).  Spread a tortilla with humus – Tribe Roasted Garlic, – chopped green peppers, and radish sprouts.

Tightly roll up and chop using a big scary knife.

Lay out like a fancy sushi roll.

Eat the unsightly ends.

I also ate half of a piece of vegan jerky I split with the husband.

I paired my roll up with some roasted kale.

And dipped everything in some Stubbs bbq sauce.

It was a tasty, tasty lunch.

Later in the afternoon I snacked on 1.5 servings of Newman’s Own Spelt Pretzels.

With a chocolate soy pudding and a diet pop.

Of course, I dipped the pretzels into both the pudding and the soda.  Sooo good.  Honey wheat pretzel sticks dipped into diet cherry coke is my favorite snack on Earth.

Dinner was a repeat plate.

Leftover baked beans,

leftover caramelized onion mashed potatoes with a dab of Smart Balance Light,

and some sugar-free applesauce topped with a few Maple Mini Wheats and red hots.

Again, delicious, delicious.

What do you like to dip pretzels in?  Before you hate – have you ever tried pretzels dipped in diet pop?

Snow Day

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In the most exciting turn of events ever, school was canceled today!

Adam says I shouldn’t be that excited about not having to go to a place that we pay money to allow me to go to (got all that?), but today was my extra long day (11-8:40), and it ended in my awful music class.  So “yippie” I say!

I’m also pretty jazzed about the bowl of Snow Day Oats I whipped up.

I started with a batch of stove top oats – 1/3 cup oats, 1 cup water, 1 small banana, and a pinch of salt.  Then I added some snow (coconut) and 3 Tbsp of fresh granola (more on that in a bit).

The oat base was good, but not as good as when I use half skim milk and half water.  I think I’m going to experiment a bit with soy/almond milk and if all else fails I’ll make my base a little lighter and my toppings a little heavier this month.

Now about that granola.  The other day I was intrigued when Brandi made stove top granola.  So today I did something wonderful.

Simply Sweet Granola

  • 2/3 cup raw oats
  • 4 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp water
  • 2 Tbsp vanilla soy milk
  1. Toast the oats in a skillet over medium heat.  2-4minutes, but use your nose and eyes to guide you.
  2. Remove oats to another container and lightly wipe any oat dust out of your pan.
  3. Add sugar and water to pan and allow to caramelize.  Do NOT stir, just lightly swirl the pan with the handle.  Cook just until a light brown color develops.
  4. Carefully pour soy milk into caramelized sugar.  Turn off the heat, and return toasted oats to pan.
  5. Using a wooden spatula, fold mixture together until well-combined.
  6. Spread onto a flat surface and allow to dry.

This granola was so quick and easy to make and the end results were soooo good!  Super crunchy and sweet but each 1/3 cup serving has only ~200calories (and as a topping you only need a few tablespoons or so).

We even made fancy coffee.

I usually hate the taste of creamers, but the nutritional stats on the Silk Hazelnut Soy Creamer we bought for Adam compelled me to try some.

Pretty darn good.

I’ve got a warm, full belly, cuddling weather, and somebody to cuddle with – life is good!

Have you gotten any snow days yet this season?

Eat, Live, Garnish

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Bleck.  I’ve been in a crummy mood all day.  My retainer fitting properly finally means it’s actually working, which means my mouth is hurting.  Additionally I’m irritated with myself for not starting Biochem work.  I know the longer I put it off the worse it’s going to be but I’m a week in and it’s feeling a little daunting.  Plus I was so excited about these filled Mini-Wheats, but when I ate a small bowl this afternoon they hurt my mouth. 

Bleck.

I know something guaranteed to put a smile on my face was a blogger-approved dinner.

Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes from Emily at The Daily Garnish,

and Mom’s Sweet and Spicy Barbeque Baked Beans from Jenna at Eat, Live, Run.

The guacamole gravy?  That was all me!

It ended up being a very tasty meal.

A time intensive(ish) one as well, the potatoes required a good hour of hands-on time while the beans were baking in the oven.  As I was removing the caramelized onions from the pan genius struck, and guacamole gravy was born.  I kept a few onions in the pan over medium heat and added a chopped avocado and a bit of evoo.  Once everything was warmed through I deglazed the pan with some mushroom broth.  A bit more broth and some mashing, and the best potato topped ever was born!

It was great to get back into the kitchen and make my husband a nice hearty (vegan!) meal.  Sidenote – that’s not to say the husband didn’t help cook this meal, mashing potatoes is hard!

What is your favorite kind of gravy?

Make Yourself a Dang Quesadilla

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Vegan month is off to an auspicious start with this winner of a lunch.

The only way this meal could have been more enjoyable is if there was a new “House” episode for me to watch!

I used to assume that quesadilla had to mean cheese, but recently I’ve figured out that peanut butter can be a mighty fine substitute.

I steamed some matchstick carrots and piled them onto a tortilla with 2Tbsp each chunky peanut butter and raisins, and a sprinkle of sweet curry.  Then I sandwiched and gave a quick spin in a hot skillet with a bit of evoo.

Not cheesy, but still melty and delicious and good!

Alongside I had two clementines.

Both of these guys were a bit dry, I’m terrified that the crate in our fridge is getting old.

I didn’t eat breakfast this morning – not because vegan food is hard, but – because I quickly got swept up in errands.  I had an 8:15 orthodontist visit where, thankfully, they agreed that my top retainer was sitting wrong and gave it a quick adjustment.  That thing was driving me crazy!

I also went to the grocery store.

Um, yeah.  I spent practically double our normal weekly bill!  Adam is planning on attempting the vegan challenge with me, for at least the first two weeks, and I wanted to make sure he had lots of options.

Of course, when I get our biggest load of groceries ever I have to forget our reusable bags.  Forget bad for the planet (and we reuse all the plastic ones anyway), our reusable ones fit over my shoulder and are 10x easier to carry.  I honestly don’t know how I managed to get those all up three flights of stairs by myself!

Do you use reusable bags for the grocery?  Otherwise, paper or plastic?

February Vegan Month Challenge

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Welcome to February, the month of slushy snow and Hallmark holidays!  Around these parts it’s also the month of a vegan challenge.

I’ve done the vegan challenge before, two weeks last February and a month with Allison last June.  While I never plan on going vegan long-term, the short stints were a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to the challenge.  Here’s some relevant background information about my beliefs –

~ I do not believe that a vegan diet is healthy for everyone HOWEVER I do believe that most modern Americans would be healthier if they adopted more vegan meals into their diet.

~ I do not have a moral issue with the consumption of animals (although I personally chose not to consume mammals) HOWEVER I have a major bone to pick, pardon the pun, with modern practices within the meat and dairy industries.  Since we can’t afford to buy a lot of ethically sourced dairy and meat we chose to lower our consumption.

The main impetus for this challenge this that fact that recently we’ve been relying a lot on take out and I’ve been spending less and less time preparing healthy food.  I love to cook, and I know I just need a push to get back into it.  While there are some fabulous vegan restaurants, they aren’t many in Buffalo; hopefully this challenge will get me back into the kitchen.

So the challenge is pretty simple, here’s what it entails –

  • 1 month
  • no meat (turkey, chicken, tuna, salmon…)
  • no dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream…)
  • no eggs
  • no honey
  • no processed items containing meat, dairy, eggs, or honey

How do you define your eating style?  If you are an omnivore, have you ever done a vegan challenge?

A Double Serving of Entendre

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I liked the cock.

Adam thought the cock was ok, but found it a little salty.

I’m speaking, of course, of this soup package we had for dinner this evening.

We spotted it at Wegman’s a few months ago and had to buy it, because we’re six.  Sorry, Mom and Nana, you know I can’t resist a good (dirty) pun!

We decided to finally use the package tonight, incorporating it into a nice Caribbean dinner.

Cock soup.

No, I have no idea why it’s called that, and yes, it was a little too salty.

Rice and beans.

Minute brown rice mixed with a can of reduced sodium black beans.

And fried plantains.

We bought some frozen from Goya, and revived them with a quick saute.

Adam and I also split a cheddar cheese bialey.

Sooooooooo doughy and chewy!  We picked up the bialey while we were at Wegman’s buying cookie dough.  Cookies are in the oven (Adam’s request) and all is right with the world.  You can assume I’ll eat two, but since we are moving from the blogging portion of the evening to the watching X-Files portion, no pictures are occurring.

Does it seem like we are eating down the fridge slash searching for all the dairy we can get our mouths on?  Well we are!  You’ll see why tomorrow 😀

How To: Order a Salad at the Cheesecake Factory

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The Cheesecake Factory is the husband’s and my favorite chain restaurant.  CF is the food of the Gods, but the portions are also God-like.  I know that no matter what I order there, including a salad, my meal will end up being at least two servings.

If you have the control not to devour the whole plate, two meals in one are great – instant lunch!  But what if you like to order salads, invariably soggy by the next day?  Here’s what I do –

  1. Order your salad with dressing on the side.
  2. Request a take-out box as soon as your meal comes.
  3. Portion half of your salad into the take-out box, set aside.
  4. Top remaining salad with desired amount of dressing and dig in.
  5. Enjoy a delicious, crisp salad at tomorrow’s lunch.

I added a little Newman’s Own Asian Sesame dressing from home for lunch today.

Extra-credit?

– No matter what salad I order at CF, the dressing I request on the side is always spicy peanut cilantro vinaigrette.  It is ridiculous good, I would lick it off the floor.

– My favorite salad is the Fresh Vegetable Salad (from the appetizer menu but still a solid two servings).  The toppings are all fun, but not in a bacon-ranch-crouton-I-just-gained-20pounds-from-a-salad kind of way.  Asparagus, Green Beans, Tomato, Cucumber, Roasted Beets, Apple, Edamame, Radicchio, Romaine and White Cheddar.