Liquid Libations

Hello, hello, hello!  Lots of excitement ’round these parts today; some ends and some beginnings.  And lots of liquid calories, apparently, as my eats for today have been exclusively in the fluid form of matter.

What a way to start the morning!

I introduce smoothie genius – 3cups of frozen watermelon blended with a Simply Lemonade.

It was just so fricking good.  The perfect way to start the day that is the end of Sociology.  By the way; I got a 48/50 on my oral presentation and a 44/50 on the final exam – with the curve, highest grade in the class by 10points, that’s an A.

Since July’s class is online, I had Adam drop me off at campus in the morning so I could do my final walk home.  To celebrate, I even stopped at Starbucks mid-walk.

Grande, soy, iced, cinnamon dolche latte.  A drink must have at least 4 adjectives to be exciting 🙂

I literally walked from my 2.5miles of incidental exercise to some real exercise.  I had to be quick because I’m running late but I managed a pretty good work out.  22minutes, level 6, random, on the elliptical followed by 10minutes of arms, abs, stretching.

After the gym I stuck a straw in the 2nd half of the coconut water.

As soon as the husband gets home we are hitting the road to Ohio.  My parents are visiting my grandparents and since my grandparents are pretty much the coolest people on the planet Adam and I decided to drive up too.  I’m not sure what the posting situation will be, but I’ll be sure to recap eventually.

P.S. Random Integer Generator says congrats to #6 for winning my Peeled Snacks giveaway –

Cori, e-mail me (emilyhwaxATgmail.com) so I can get you your prize.

The Daze: Part 2

Note 1 – I’ve gotten Adam obsessed with Dollhouse too and he told me to make this snappy so we could get back to watching!  Note 2 – It’s been a day!  My nap yesterday made sleeping last night off which in turn made today strange

Like just odd.  Yesterday’s daze had nothing on today’s.  And my appetite was totally out of whack.  Nothing sounded good to me for breakfast.  I tried to eat a spoon of peanut butter but it just made me sad.  I decided just to let my appetite play out as it wished.

But perhaps the lack of breakfast turned me into a basket case because even the simple things felt like an accomplishment.  Like I somehow gouged a chunk out of my knee pulling my pants on –

That’s my sad face 😦 Cute shirt though, right?

I ended up eating about a serving of Spree during class.

But when I got home for lunch I still wasn’t hungry.  At 5:30 the husband was home and I still hadn’t eaten.  I needed fuel though so I poured myself a class of coconut water.

Which got me through our run.  I didn’t wear a watch because it was raining, but we did 2.25miles in ~25minutes.

Usually running kills my hunger but thankfully today dinner sounded good.  Double take.

Its leftover status made this meal no less tasty, just quicker!  Veggie bowl (corn, okra, black beans, salsa),

and a huge hunka beer bread with Smart Balance Light.

I also did some serious mouse nibbles while I cut the bread, about a serving’s worth.

I was a bit hungry still after dinner, not starving but since I didn’t eat much today I welcomed another meal, so I got my roast on.

Yucca was not yuck-a!  This was my first cassava try and I quite enjoyed it.  My belly isn’t enjoying the fiber overdose though, I practically look pregnant!

Times up!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Peel Snacks giveaway!

When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip

I’ve been pretty productive since last posting… For example, while I ate my watermelon () I watched an episode of “The Dollhouse.”  I discovered it this weekend and I’m in love; why do I always discover shows after they’ve gone off the air?!?  Meanwhile, Adam and I split a serving of Salsa Kathy’s Krackers.

How gorgeous is that?

Also, I joined Adam for a trip to the gym.  Since I’m turning 25 in a month I don’t think my incidental exercise walks are going to cut it by themselves.  I did an easy season on the treadmill (remind me that I’m NOT to run for more than 15minutes until next week!), that was actually not that easy.  Can we say out of shape?

  • 5minutes walking warm up
  • (3minutes running + 2minutes walking) x 3 = 12minutes intervals
  • 6minutes running
  • 4minutes walking

I ended up covering 2.5miles in my 30minutes.  Then I finished up with some stretching and pt.

Post-shower I made a delightful, dippable dinner.  Boco Meatless Nuggets,

oven roasted yellow squash, zucchini, and potato.

All together, with honey mustard dipping sauce.

I was still feeling hungry after dinner, probably because my day was pretty light on proteins and fats, so I made myself a revolutionary snack.

Protein pudding sans icky fake protein powder – into the blender went

  • 1 large banana
  • 1 serving silken tofu
  • 1T maple syrup
  • 1T peanut butter

And finally, I worked on my oral presentation for Thursday.  I actually have a test tomorrow but I’ll work on that in the morning 😉

Now I’m going to go accomplish bedtime.

What is your favorite dipping sauce?  Mine is 1000island, with everything!

Full of Fruit

So far my meals today have been about the lower half of the food pyramid.  I tallied it up and realized that I’ve eaten six servings of fruit via breakfast and lunch!

Breakfast – eaten on the drive to school – was a tasty waffle sandwich.

1/2 a sliced banana, ~1T smear of sun butter, and a drizzle of maple syrup sandwiched between 2 Van’s Buckwheat and Berries waffles.

This was my first waffle sandwich and I think I’m a fan.  It could have used a bit of jelly though.

After class I got in my 2.5miles of incidental exercise walking.  I stopped at The Spot halfway to read and eat the first half of lunch there.  A bag of Apple-2-the-core Peeled Snacks,

and a bag of Carnival Mix Funky Monkey.

It was kind of an unorthodox snack, but the fruity mix of chewy and crunchy helped to keep my full while I worked.

Once I got home out of the steam I made a bowl of my new favorite.

A plain Whole Soy yogurt topped with watermelon chunks.

I want to give you guys an opportunity to od on fruits as well!

Peeled Snacks has graciously offered to send one of my readers an Organic Fruit Picks Variety Pack.  The giveaway runs from today until Friday (June 25th).  To enter to win –

  1. Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite type of fruit.
  2. For a 2nd/3rd entry – link back to this post from your blog and/or Twitter account and leave a comment telling me you’ve done so 

Hunger Monster

I have a test tomorrow morning (and you know I haven’t studied!) so I’ve got to keep this quick.  I didn’t eat anything that exciting today anyways.  Mostly I just at a LOT.  I was a hunger monster today.

For breakfast I made the husband and myself smoothies with silken tofu, frozen strawberries, honey, and So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk.

How awesome is that color?

During my 2.5mile incidental exercise walk home I snacked on a vegan chocolate chip cookie.

And when I got home I tried something new to me – Rutabaga Fries!

The husband peeled and sliced a big rutabega up for me yesterday and today I baked it for 30minutes at 400*.

I’ve seen this all over blogworld recently but I wasn’t sure I’d like it so I only used part of the rutebega.  Well one bite in I hopped up and put the rest of it into the oven!

It was amazing.  The flavor and texture are a lot like oven baked potato fries but they had this awesome nutty aftertaste.  I highly recommend that you go out and get a rutabega and try this for yourself.

I’d been wanting popcorn all day long so I finally caved and bought a bag.

I tossed the lame bag popcorn in some melted Smart Balance Light and 2T sugar to make some homemade vegan kettle corn.  Mmmmmmn!

I was still hungry so I made some homemade pizza dippers.

I sliced up a mini pizza crust and sprinkled it with garlic salt before baking.  Dipped in marinara.

And for the second half of “dinner” I ate a serving of Van’s Homestyle Pancakes with maple syrup.

Not my healthiest day by far, but a very very tasty one.

And I’m out.  See you after my test tomorrow.  Don’t forget to enter my yogurt maker giveway!

Funky Mood to Funky Monkey

I ate 75% of my meals yesterday out of the house, which made it particularly annoying that I forgot my camera at home.  Hence yesterday’s missing post.  To be completely honest my funky mood hasn’t fully cleared up either.  I’m betting it has something to do with my lack of exercise; not moving makes me cranky!  I know that I have so so so so so much to do this week that planning formal exercise isn’t realistic, so I’m trying to have the husband drive me as much as possible so I get the 2.5mile walk home.

Today was one of those days I walked.  Since I had 1.5hours to sit at school and read before class I get breakfast there.

Not to worry, I’m still vegan, that leftover yogurt container housed a sliced up mango and a nectarine.

I also brought a ONE Coconut Water with Passionfruit to drink.

I did not love the taste of the coconut water, although I did finish it.  I’ve loved ONE in the past so I’m inclined to think that I prefer the good old simplicity of plain.

After class I walked home, stopping halfway at The Spot to finish up a Sociology chapter.  While finishing my walk I munched on a pack of Funky Monkey Purple Funk.

Thank goodness I had a snack to hold me over for my late late lunch!

Said lunch was made as soon as I got home.

A veggie skillet of half an eggplant, 1/2cup of frozen peas, and chilli garlic sauce.

The husband just called to say he’d be home late (i.e. late dinner) so I guess my late lunch was a blessing in disguise.

P.S. It’d been a while since I had the chilli garlic sauce, insanity spicy!  I cooled my mouth down with a glass of So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk,

and some salt and vinegar chips.

Phew!

What are your thoughts on coconut water?  I pretty much adore coconut in any form.

Fake It ‘Till You Make It

This morning wasn’t a particularly good morning.  My alarm didn’t go off and I stubbed my toe.  But it felt like a good morning, because I said it had to be.  If you tell yourself you’re in a good mood and put a smile on your face, pretty soon you’ll actually feel like smiling.

I wanted to get my incidental exercise on today (2.5mile walk home) so I had the husband drop me off at school this morning.  When he gives me a ride it also means I’m at school 1.5hours early so I brought breakfast to eat on campus.  I think I redefined the word breakfast today though 🙂

Blueberries with a drizzle of honey and unsweetened shredded coconut.

A sliced red bell pepper with a serving of beet humus.

And some apricots from Peeled Snacks.

The apricots were supposed to be a snack for later but I was sooooo hungry.  I don’t know why my morning hunger has been so substantial recently.

Class went well today; fyi – I’ve scored a 90-100% on every one of the daily quizes thus far!  Not so exciting was the fact that our Monday test was moved up to tomorrow.  I only got a B+ on the last exam and I was looking forward to having the weekend to study.

I stopped at the Spot on Elmwood during the walk home and squeezed in some studying then.  I also managed to find some tasty vegan options for lunch.  Carrot and ginger soup,

and a (dry) sundried tomato bagel.

Lunch ended up being really, really good.  The soup was spicy and sweet and had huge tasty chunks of carrot.

Once I finished the walk home I got dinner in the crock-pot (we can’t eat until almost 8!) and now I’ve got to get started on some cleaning.  And find time to study for tomorrow.  But I’m doing it with a smile.

Does the ‘fake it ’till you make it’ philosophy work for you?

We’ll Call This a Whine-cap

It’s been a strange couple of days around these parts.  My hunger has been really weird and I was in a random bad mood all day yesterday.  I’m sorry for not posting yesterday.  One thing’s for sure, I did NOT spend all of last night finishing the final season of “Buffy” with the husband instead of studying for my sociology exam.  Definitely did not.

We went to see “Killers” (ugh, waste of $) Sunday afternoon so I ate lunch via movie snacks – a big baggie of baby carrots and 2servings of spice drops.

I also ate this Himalayan mint – raw honey, unsweetened chocolate, peppermint oil – en route to the theatre.

When we were home, watching not watching Buffy, the craving for popcorn finally hit so we hiked over to Walgreeens to get a bag.

We also split a sherbet melon.

I was really excited about this new fruit but I think we let it get too ripe because it ended up basically being a mushy cantelope.

Dinner was another frozen meal from the Tandoor Chef line, Channa Masala –

While not as delicious as the veggie pad thai it was still ridiculously tasty, and the nutritional stats were a bit better.

I ate the whole box, or 2 servings.

This morning my move did improve drastically when the husband cracked open a young Thai coconut for me.

I drank some straight from the source but the rest of the water and flesh I blended with ice cubes and cinnamon-sugar for a fabulous smoothie.

Did you know young Thai coconuts only have ~200calories?  I finally looked it up, but I’d been assuming that the number was much higher.

I also ate a Thai Peanut Primal Strip in the car.

It was ok, but I prefered the flavor of the bbq.

The husband dropped me off at school today and took the car to the lab.  The benefit of that is twofold; 1. I had more time to cram study for my sociology exam, and 2. I got the incidental exercise of the 2.5mile walk home.

I was all set up to study in the food court when my stomach starting growling howling.  My smoothie and Primal Strip added up to ~300calories which isn’t a huge breakfast but is definitely able to hold me over on many a day.  Well not this day.  I seriously got panicked when it looked like I wouldn’t find a snack and I almost ate my packed lunch!  Thankfully I spotted a humus/pretzel pack at the coffee shop.

After scarfing the snack pack (and drinking an entire Sigg’s worth of water) I finally felt full enough to tackle my book.

I ended up being really confident about the information but the test only went alright because the questions were worded really poorly.  I feel like as a teacher for two years I’m qualified to comment on that and seriously, the test sucked.  Still, I got the best grade in the class, by a lot.  For reals kids?  I could also school you in how Buffy ended!

I stopped midway during my 2.5mile walk home to sit at a coffee shop and study for a few hours.  Since I knew the vegan pickings would be slim I packed my own lunch, a Kona Moka Pro Bar.

The flavor (a little touch of sweet) and texture (a lot like a Lara/Kind bar hybrid) were definitely impressive and it was pretty filling.  At 360calories this was more of a meal replacement than snack bar.

When I got home (after finishing my walk) I snacked on 2servings of yellow tortilla chips with 4T of chunky salsa.

Now I’m doing some organizing and waiting for the husband to get home and help me chop dinner.

Wow.  That was an insanely whiney post!  Any Monday complaints you’d like to whine about?