Saturday, May 22, 2010

Highlights Part Two

Highlights Continued!
On Monday (May 10) I had a fresh papaya! This was my first time preparing one myself and best believe I youtubed the how to cut it up before I did anything. This was a baby papaya that was on sale and Vons. I had to! Kelsey and I tasted the seeds and they are strangely spicy.
I made home made guacamole and an intensely good pita sandwich for lunch this afternoon. Man, this picture is making me hungry! I stuffed the pita with one of Amy's Texas flavored veggie burgers, bell pepper, spinach, arugala, mushrooms, hummus, guac, yellow mustard, onions, and cilantro.
For dinner that night I made an awesome salad.
  • Spinach and arugula
  • dried orange flavor cranberries
  • red bell pepper
  • yellow onion
  • about 1/8 of a fresh orange cut into pieces
  • mushrooms
  • salt and pepper
  • walnut pieces
  • a small drizzle of Annie's Italian dressing
This salad just hit all the bases and was totally satisfying.

Tuesday (May 11) was Student Appreciation Day at work! I love Student Appreciation Day because all of my supervisors bring in the tastiest food; store bought or homemade, it's always a feast to save your appetite for. I started with veggies, crackers, and hummus and a scoop of fruit salad.
Someone brought a bag of Vegan Trail Mix cookies! I decided the dark chocolate covered pretzels were probably also vegan so I dug into those.
A shot of the spread.
And the desserts of course!
Later I had to taste what looked like an Apfelkuchen, German for apple torte. I knew the grust wasn't vegan so I tried to stick to just the apples...and a few more pretzels!
Later that night I came back for my shift loaded with vegan supplements to the student appreciation food. This is also the debut of my Laptop Lunches bento boxes! Aren't they cute?
I chopped up some spinach, arugula, and tomatoes for my salad. My sandwich was a sandwich thin with homemade guac, yellow mustard, and grilled onions and mushrooms. I also had a side of slasa from home with crackers and hummus from the spread.

Wednesday morning (May 12) I had PB&J oats which were fabulous as usual. I had also been drinking coffee fairly regularly (every morning!) this week and I thought it was of special mention.
I've been using Kelsey's french press and I love that little thing! I'm going to have to invest in one of my own when we all go our separate ways this summer :( Also, I bought this soy creamer when I made the green tea ice cream and have been having just a touch with my coffee. A little bit really goes a long way and it's definitely a creamy cream.
That afternoon after class Savannah and I were sitting out on the steps in the plaza not really paying any mind to the gathering happening right in front of us.
Soon we realized there was free middle eastern food to be had so we jumped right in line!
Pita bread and hummus, rice, spinach puff, sesame bread, falafel, middle eastern salad and a stuffed grape leaf. For Free!!! Everything was delicious, I couldn't believe we just stood in line and they gave it to us. There was music and dancing all in the theme of the middle east.
Later that night I don't know what got into me but I decided to make kettle corn. I know, crazy! I watched a video on youtube and just went for it. I used:
  • drizzle of olive oil, about 1/2 Tbsp.
  • 1/2 cup corn kernels
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • salt to taste
WARNING: This can be very dangerous if not done properly! I wore a heavy leather jacket, dish washing gloves, and sunglasses throughout the whole process to protect my skin and eyes.

I put the oil and the kernels into the pot on a fairly high heat and waited for it to start to boil. Just when it started, I added the sugar and attempted to stir continuously but it was difficult with the lid still down almost all the way to prevent kernels from shooting out at me. I tried shaking the pot while holding the handles with a towel but ideally I would've stirred the whole time.
Somehow it came out pretty darn good! I hit it with some salt while continuing to mix it all around.
I salvaged what I could but...obviously this wasn't a complete success....sugar burns!
For dinner that night I decided to make partially raw zucchini pasta. This was a trick Kelsey and I picked up during our Raw Week. The sauce I definitely cooked though so this was only a partially raw meal. I started by chopping up a white onion as quickly as I could because I was crying.
To my large sauce pan I added
  • drizzle of olive oil
  • large white onion
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
  • 1 package of mushrooms, chopped
Next I added two cans of stewed tomatoes
and one can of tomato paste.
Then I added about 1/2 cup of this red wine. The perfect touch!
I let that simmer for about 20 minutes while I prepared my 'noodles'. This is Kelsey's amazon find: the Cook Help haha. It came highly recommended.
It took a bit of troubleshooting on my part since the directions were not in English but this little baby turned my zucchini into noodles in a snap.
Voila!
Topped those 'noodles' with some of my homemade pasta sauce and some vegan parmesan.
I also toasted half a pita bread and mixed 1/2 Tbsp. vegan butter with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a little of the vegan parmesan for some garlic bread.
Super veggie packed dinner yesssss. Next time I should add some vegan italian sausage or vegan meat balls, shouldn't I?
Well that's the end of the highlights! Coming up next: Claire goes to Pepperdine for a weekend with choir! That was definitely an interesting experience and I can't wait to get it up. Luckily my paper is due tomorrow so it will all be done and over with soon. I miss you bloggies, I really want to be back on my daily post routine soon :(

Hope you're having a good night!

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