the only successful meal i’ve had this weekend

yeah. cookies and ice cream. i know, right?

breakfast saturday i added some oats to my GM and it was, well, chalky.

for lunch saturday we went to flat rock grille (i shall not link you) after checking out their online menu and finding some scrumptious-sounding vegetarian options. we get there and they are a “private” flat rock grille, meaning they have a completely different menu. the only veg-friendly things were grilled cheese and potato soup. so we each got grilled cheese and potato soup.
well. the grilled cheese tasted like it was meant to have a beef patty on it and be served at wendy’s, and the potato soup was thin, milky, and the consistency of tartar sauce. GROSS.

dinner last night was supposed to be enchiladas, but i guess i used too much enchilada sauce and it was a soupy mess. a tasty mess, nonetheless, but still disappointing.

breakfast today, i made a green monster and while it had all my favorite fruits in it, the pineapple and cantaloupe were about a day too old and it just tasted nasty. my GM, which is the one food i have counted on all week, failed me TWICE. sadddd

lunch today was decent – spinach artichoke dip and mushroom pizza at brixx. brixx has the bestttt spin/art dip ever. love. but the pizza had SO MUCH arugula on it it may as well have been a salad on a pizza plate.

and dinner tonight? another epic cooking failure. it was meant to be thick, creamy, potato soup. it ended up, again, way too runny and tasting way too much like veggie broth and not enough like potatoes. :[

tomorrow will be better. a non-turned fruit GM for breakfast, a bowl full of lentils&rice (fool-proof: it’s leftovers, already proven to be delicious) for lunch. who knows about dinner…

new things & first day of classes

yesterday i said i’d been trying some new things lately. the most major of those new things happened because we got the blender off our registry for the wedding (wooo!). so, this week, i have been figuring out….green monsters!!

dark and scary

my first GM was the “standard” recipe: spinach, banana, almond milk, flax (flax is optional. i have it and use it in my oatmeal, so why not). i added some blueberries to it because i had them. well. i really hate bananas, so this smoothie tasted awful to me (and was dark and scary because of the blueberries). gross.

the second day i took katie’s advice and added in some orange juice, as well as a peach, to cover the banana. it made ALL the difference in the world. it was delicious.

later in the week i got braver (ahem: bought more fruit) and the smoothie i’ve been making, the smoothie i’m drinking right now to hopefully power me through my first day of senior year, is: flax, spinach, frozen banana, cantaloupe, canned pineapple chunks, orange juice, and almond milk.

flippin’ delicious.

when i run out of my current mix of fruit i might try watermelon, strawberries, frozen raspberries..who knows. yum!

p.s. this blender is awesome!

wedding/food.

hello! ten days ago i got married. tomorrow i start classes for my senior year. insane!

let’s rewind a bit. the morning of the wedding, i ate this for breakfast:

well. except that all i was really able to choke down was the half of the bagel with cream cheese on it and then about 1/4 of the other half of the bagel, with chocolate almond butter. and some green tea.

we went to charleston for the weekend as our honeymoon and took advantage of the free continental breakfast both days (only pics of one day, though…)

the fruit was actually a fruit salad. it had been sitting together for a while and it all just tasted the same. i gulped it down the first day like it was the best thing i’d ever had, though–i was super dehydrated. i was a bit disillusioned about it on monday morning. i took advantage of cream cheese and bagels–i usually don’t buy them, but it was either that or jelly/white bread toast. i took the tastier of two options :]

for our “special” dinner sunday night we went to magnolia’s in charleston. this was our first time somewhere fancy after going veg, so we were a bit worried, but guess what? the chef there is a vegetarian, so our veg plates were AWESOME. and they gave us free champagne with strawberries because we told them it was our honeymoon. win. :]

mmmmm veggies

so now i’m married, and we’re caught up on what happened pre-ten days ago. good. i’ve tried lots of new things since we got back and i’m excited to post about that. for now, though, i’m going to finish my wine (out of fancy new wineglasses, mm) and get to bed. big, long day tomorrow.

cinnamonohmygoshraisini’mgonnadiebread

i’m in the process of collecting all the pictures i want for a wedding-weekend wrap up post! (a lot of them are on alex’s phone, since the camera on mine just does not work in low lighting) but for now, here’s something delicious.
something from home.
something i love.
something i am nostalgic for.
i would probably say it’s my favorite food on earth.

i present you with….

weber’s bakery cinnamon raisin cylinder bread!

umf.

ohhh it’s so delicious and crusty and mmmmm

this bread was around all the time when i was little. the bakery is close to my old house (south side of chicago, you guys). it’s where we always always went for birthday cakes, cookies to share with the class, and of course this bread. my birthday cake was always always golden sponge cake, with fudge between the layers, and RAINBOW AIRBRUSHED(!) whipped cream. oh, i haven’t had this bread in years. one of my very good friends brought me a few loaves. definitely the best wedding present possible. i literally JUST finished having two pieces of it. not filling. going to need a more substantial snack (i could totally eat the whole loaf RIGHT NOW.)

the one thing i regret about my wedding (aside from the sprinklers coming on, MORE ON THAT LATER) is that i couldn’t have weber’s do my cake. boo.

breakfast for dinner

today i had my usual oatmeal for breakfast, and i ate lunch around 1. i had a little snack somewhere around 4 and then i…forgot to eat dinner.

so at 9pm, feeling super tired and a bit woozy from not eating, i decided to make…oatmeal. yeah. i figured…i love oatmeal and it’s pretty easy and it will totally fill me up. done.

this mix is: 1/2 c (ish) of old-fashioned oats, 1/2 c (?? no idea) almond milk, 1 tbsp (? i guess i’m not big on recipes) milled flax, 1/2 an apple, chopped. microwaved on high for 3 minutes, and then a spoonful of peanut butter and a (large) drizzle of honey.
with a side of tazo “calm” tea (and a couple advil. don’t judge. i’m hurting).
delish.

in which all three of my meals are home-made

…for possibly the first time in my life

breakfast: oatmeal, of course. this mix was almond milk, oats, cinnamon, pinch of salt, flax, drizzle of honey, and spoonful of peanut butter. note: publix’s fresh-made peanut butter is pretty decent, but the PACKAGING for it is so difficult to open..i’ll never buy it again. lunch was leftovers from last night — pasta “florentine.” mushroom agnolotti with spinach, diced tomatoes, and chickpeas. DELISH. and dinner is this:

i’m so proud of how long she held this pose

roasted potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, and corn. with chickpeas. lots of olive oil, s&p, and oregano going on on this plate… i also sprinkled everything with fresh-grated parm and lime juice. don’t look at me. i don’t actually know anything about cooking, but if i have it in my pantry or fridge, i’ll try it. it was good.

next cooking adventure: oven roasting the three ears of bi-colored corn we got at the saturday market. any recipes/tips…?

not-vegan overnight oats

nvoo?

i have to tell you, i was really, really skeptical about this. i have a big, HOT bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter, honey, cinnamon, almond milk, and dried cranberries pretty much every morning, so i felt like i should jump on the food-blogger bandwagon and try overnight oats/cold oats/vegan overnight oats (voo). except mine aren’t vegan. they’ve got honey.

basically what you do is pour your milk of choice (almond milk all the way for me!) over oats (and cinnamon if you know what’s good for you), cover, and put it in the fridge overnight. in the morning top it with whatever you like and it’s supposed to be delicious. well, it is tasty, but the texture is freaking me out. i also have a weird thing where cold food never feels as filling. i think i used way too much almond milk and not enough salt…i’m going to try again tonight/tomorrow with less milk. hopefully that will give me a thicker, creamier and less runny texture. i have not given up on you, cold oats. (oh, and that’s a cup of earl gray with almond milk, which i haven’t had in forever. mmm.)

because you totally want to know what i eat

after the previously mentioned delicious sandwich, i met up with alex downtown and HE TOOK ME TO BLUEBERRY FROG. he’s a keeper.
blueberry frog did not have blueberry yogurt that night (what?) so i settled for peach. with kiwi, strawberries, and mangoes.

mmmm colors
peach was good but it didn’t have the tarty-ness that blueberry has. i still want blueberry. bring it back!

then yesterday i had another veggie burger for lunch while sitting around waiting on our wedding invitations to get here.

it was good, but i didn’t eat the whole thing.

for dinner i had…you guessed it….a veggie burger! kids, these things are GOOD. i wouldn’t lie to you.

this time i decided to put it on a bed of spinach instead of toast, and i sauteed some corn with a little queso fresco (shut up, queso fresco is delicious), olive oil, salt and pepper. delish. the sauce on top of the burger is what happens when i want but don’t have salsa…i whisked some water and italian dressing into tomato paste. i was surprised to find that it wasn’t disgusting. but today, i bought salsa, so lunch will be…drumroll.. a veggie burger, on spinach, with salsa, and some steamed veggies. brilliant.

you guys.

YOU GUYS.

i am, as we speak, eating the best sandwich of my life. oh my gosh. it is inspired by this recent ohsheglows sandwich.

the sandwich contains:
toasted oatnut bread
tomato paste
spinach
avocado
aaand an amy’s california veggie burger. i wanted dr. praeger burgers but the one place i’ve found near my apartment that sells them was out last night, so i looked through publix’s freezer section and these were the only burgers made of veggies and not a bunch of soy protein and chemicals.

the tomato paste…i was a little worried about it. i’ve never used it as a condiment before so i tasted a little before i made the sandwich and it was SO acidy…but on the sandwich it really, really perks everything else up. i even went back and added more of it to the sandwich after a few bites!

this sandwich is so good i’m ignoring my favorite sweet potato fries. that’s all i’m saying.

for dessert i’m totally going to have some granola & almond milk, if i have room..

un-health

as you may or may not know, we are getting married august 14. yeah, in 26 days. so it’s been a pretty stressful week and i fell off the bandwagon, especially over the weekend.

we only went running once this past week (ugh, my legs are bored) and i’m REALLY hoping we get to go tonight because i’m itching for it and because i have four weeks til i’m wearing a wedding dress. and over the weekend i ate really, really poorly. on saturday i went to wafflehouse with my mom and grandma after my first fitting and i ate a large hashbrown, scattered, covered, and capped. that means covered in cheese, with sauteed mushrooms. and i topped it with a bunch of ketchup. unhealthy times a thousand. and THEN, yesterday, the in-laws met us at target as we were updating our registry and took us to brunch at cracker barrel. i almost, almost, almost got the healthy berries-and-yogurt breakfast, but then i didn’t. my meal involved more cheesy hashbrowns and eggs… way too much fat. so today i’m jumping back on the veggies wagon and for lunch i made roasted potatoes with steamed veggies (green beans, corn, broccoli). it feels good. i need to buy some more produce.

much better.

for a snack later in the day i’m planning on sliced apples and peanut butter. it’s almost dumb how excited i am about it.

in other news, we started a wedding blog! check it out.