A Quick Hello

by

I know it’s late enough for a dinner post, but it’s at least 30minutes until my dinner is on the table so I figured I’d do a quick lunch update.

Apparently my jar o’ oats did have some magical powers because things finally started to fall into place with my application.  And I spent 1.5hours in a T.A. lounge at school getting help with my lab report.  I have more work to do tonight on both, but things are looking much better 🙂  Plus I got all sorts of fun mail: a card, my secret Valentine’s gift!! and a cute hat my grandma made.

Adam and I bought me some Cherry Coke Zero took a walk and I ended up having to rush to class.  For lunch I packed a new flavor of Prana Bars that Boomi sent to me.

I wasn’t really a fan, but I’ve decided I’m a HUGE fan of the layering look –

expect to see more.

There was a student with a gun in the library at UB (I know no details, the website hasn’t listed anything yet) and the campus was evacuated so my class was canceled 40minutes early.  It was scary, and I really hope everyone is ok, but it is nice to be home before 7 for a change.

I’ve got to get cracking – dinner, lab, application, blog; in that order.

Tuesday Morning Live

by

This weekend Adam finished off our jar of sun butter and I had to save it from the trash. 

You know what I had in mind for the remains –

Oats in a Jar!

Kath has talked about how OIAJ makes her think of JT’s “It’s my d*** in a box.”  But on the SNL front I think OIAJ fit better with another song.  I feel like they seem to give every blogger THIS reaction.  So of course I had to try them.

I cooked 1/3 cup oats with 1/3 cup water and a medium banana.  Then I topped my bowl jar off with a little bit of Crofter’s Superfruit Spread and Pb.

It was good, but not as **amazing** as some blogs have led me to believe.  To be fair, most bloggers save a serving or so of nut butter in the jar and I was using one Adam had scraped clean.  Plus I’m not in the best mood because I woke up still feeling sick and I’m a little annoyed.  I’d give the concept a solid A- though!

I’ve spent most of my morning working out issues with my application (still!) and I’m heading to campus for classes this afternoon.  Hopefully I’ll be feeling better as my OIAJ work their magic 🙂

Have you jumped on the OIAJ bandwagon yet? 

You Say Po-Tay-Toe, and I say Po-Tah-Toe

by

On the menu for dinner was another Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan recipe – Tempeh Hashbrown Casserole.

The husband was less than intrigued by the idea so I only made a half batch.

Once he saw how good it looked though he did concede to a bite….and loved it!

Here was my serving (that’s a side plate),

with a bowl of ketchup for fork-dipping.

Delicious!  I can’t wait to have the leftovers for dinner tomorrow!

I would have prefered to have paired this with a green side but my stomach is still feeling a little off.  Clearly chips were not a healthy lunch choice, but overall for the day I’ve been pretty happy with my produce consumption.  It’s 9:12 and I very very much hope that in the next 5minutes I hop up, take my shower, get into bed, and hopefully fall asleep!  I’ll let you know in the morning.

What’s your favorite way to eat potatoes?  Nothing can top Five Guys fries but I am a pretty big fan of hashbrowns.  I don’t have them often which seems to make them all the more special.

Mini Explosions

by

I did not have another mimosa last night, but did make a decidedly Northern dessert.

Mmmn.  However, today was NOT feeling as romantic.  It seemed like everything I touched today exploded!  I was cleaning up messes and putting out (metaphorical) fires all over the place.

For starters I was running late for volunteering so I made my breakfast smoothie a bit smaller than usual.

1cup frozen mixed berries + 1cup plain fat free soy milk + 1T fat free sugar free jello powder.

It was super tasty, but I spilled 1/3 of it all over the counter 😦

I managed to clean up the mess and get to the hospital on time though.  And they actually had a lot for me to do at volunteering which was nice.  Not nice, was 30minutes after my shift when I was still there and I started panicking about getting home in time to make my important phone calls.  No worries though, it’s President’s Day, no one was open.  Boo 😦

And I was supposed to submit my college application today but since there was no one to help me override the system I have to wait until tomorrow to imput my Caribbean high school into the online form.  I did some major damage on this bag of chips during the whole 2hours of failure.

At least they were vegan!  Next I tried to recreate last night’s dessert, only to have it explode all over my microwave.

On the plus side, now my microwave is sparkling, and I put it to good use on a late lunch.

Tandoor Chef Vegetarian Pad Thai is seriously my favorite frozen meal of all time and it’s super awesome that it’s vegan too.  If you see it at your grocery store, buy it!

I had hoped to go to the gym today finally but I’m feeling just under the weather enough still that it seemed like a bad idea.  I would kill for a diet soda so maybe I’ll at least get in another walk (I walk to/from volunteering).  Other than that the plan is dinner and bed.  See you then.

Anything explode on you today?  I’m all ears if you want to gripe about it?

A Tropical Getaway

by

I may be stuck in Buffalo until spring break but tonight’s meal felt like a tropical getaway!  And what better day to celebrate the sunny Caribbean than a day that’s all about romantic getaways?!

Every single aspect of tonight’s meal was tropical and tasty.  We started with a Uniq fruit as our appetizer.

We have tried Ugli fruits before, but this was our first Unique.  It was a little too bitter/sour for me.  We each ate 2-3slices from the mound and the rest got packed away.

Dinner was much more successful.

Lime Ponzu broccoli with walnuts,

and my Coco Loco Tofu.

Everything together was delicious.

Coco Loco Tofu is my favorite tofu recipe, it is the perfect blend of savory and sweet.  For the side dish I sautéed a big bag of frozen brocoli in clementine olive oil, then added a few walnuts and some Kikoman Lime Ponzu Sauce.

The sauce came from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program and was the perfect addition to our Caribbean night.

Even our drinks were tropical!  We made hibiscus mimosas.

I’ve carried this hibiscus juice from Brooklyn and I was almost sad to open it.

For the mimosas we used a little extra oj because the champagne (from our wedding!) wasn’t cooled, with a splash of hibiscus juice.

Wonderful!

I’ve got to work on my lab before we head to bed, but I’ll probably be pouring a 2nd mimosa!  Have a great night lovers!

How did you celebrate Valentine’s today?

Vegan Grocery Tips

by

My grocery trip this morning as a success.  Even with a lot of household items (toilet paper, shampoo, etc) on the list I managed to keep the bill reasonable.  Here are some my tips for successful vegan shopping

  • You don’t have to buy pricey fake meats.  I know those products can be a lot of fun, but it can be cheaper and healthier to stick to traditional non-meat protein sources such as tofu and beans.
  • Go in with a list, and stick to it!  Knowing what produce you need for the meals you’ll be preparing in the upcoming week can keep you from overbuying and throwing out items later.
  • It’s ok to rely on the freezer section.  In winter months it’s hard to find a lot of fresh produce variety.  As long as you stick to items that have no added salt or sugar frozen can be the way to go for fruits and veggies.
  • Pick one or two new items that look fun.  Especially if you are a new or part-time vegan who misses some animal products a new try to get excited about can be a good distraction.

When I got home I used some of that frozen fruit to make an amazing smoothie.

1cup frozen peach slices + 6 ice cubes + 1cup oj + 2T fat free sugar free Jello pudding mix.  I ended up with a little extra which I served to the husband.

This mix was so creamy and delicious.  I got the pudding mix idea from Mama Pea.  Her post was actually about how she has stopped using the artificial sugar stuff but I can’t find gums around here and damn it I want thick smoothies too!

As soon as our smoothies were finished (too soon, I was freezing!) we headed to The Spot to do some studying.  I am officially 80% done with my reading for this week!  I got a China Breakfast Tea to sip while I studied.

It was kind of gross, like dirty murky water, but I drank most of it just to keep warm.

I’m glad we did a date night yesterday, clearly our Valentine’s was sort of a bust.  I did throw on some purple mascara this morning to be festive!

Now I’ve got a fun dinner to make and a little bit of lab homework that I want the husband’s help with.  I’ve talked about earlier bedtimes all year but Adam’s been saying how tired he is lately and the thought of my Valentine feeling run-down will hopefully be enough to motivate my butt into bed!

What are some of your no-fail grocery tips?

2 Week Vegan Challenge

by

I mentioned last week that there was lots of fun coming this February.  One thing on the list was my 2 week vegan challenge.  I want to preface this challenge with the fact that I have no plans on going permanently vegan.  I love eggs and Greek yogurt too much and I’m still on the fence about whether or not everyone can survive healthfully on this lifestyle.

That being said –

  • eating more vegan meals each week can be beneficial to your health
  • veganism is kind to our planet and can be a good way to conserve energy
  • while I don’t have a moral issue with consuming dairy, I do have an issue with much of the United State’s commercial dairy

For all the reasons above, and to help mix up my dietary rut, I’ve decided to spend the next two weeks completely vegan.  No meat, dairy, or animal products of any sort (although I haven’t quite made up my mind about honey).  Expect to see me try some new products, try some new recipes, and finally make something other than chili from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan!

I’m off to the store (it seems like all we have in our fridge is yogurt!) but please stop by and offer me advice, recipes, criticisms, whathaveyou.

Eggland’s Best for Dinner

by

Dinner tonight was inspired by a coupon I received from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.

I always buy Eggland’s Best brand eggs, but usually I can’t afford to go organic so this was a nice treat.

My recipe was a tweeked version of my spinach ricotta pie.  Serves 3

  • 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed out
  • 1 C frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
  • 5 Eggland’s Best eggs, lightly beaten
  • salt and pepper, to season
  • 15 oz container fat free ricotta cheese
  • 6 t 2% sharp cheddar, shredded
  1. Preheat oven to 375*.  Grease the cups of a muffin pan.
  2. Place first five ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to combine.
  3. Carefully pour mixture into the muffin pan.  Top each “muffin” with 1/2 t cheese.
  4. Bake for 20minutes.

Each muffin has 72 calories.

With all my mall food I was pretty full but the husband still needed dinner so I went ahead with my plan.  I had a half serving for funsies and to add a few veggies to my day.

It was a tasty meal and according to the literature I received “Compared to regular eggs, Eggland’s Best eggs now contain –

  • 4 times as much Vitamin D
  • 75% more Vitamin B12
  • 10% more riboflavin
  • 50% more Vitamin A
  • 25% less saturated fat and 3 times the level of Omega 3s”

Thanks Eggland’s Best!

I hope all my readers have a happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow!