The Much Anticipated Eggplant Casserole Was a Success!

I can't believe I didn't blog at all today! Not even breakfast! Well here it is, the whole day.

Breakfast

I made myself a mocha this morning which is quite a treat. I was just in the mood I guess!

For the main course of the morning I made Cinnamon Apple Oats, and old staple. In the mix

• 1 sliced apple
• 1 cup water
• 1 handful raisins
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 tsp. chia seeds
• 1 tsp. milled flaxseeds
• cinnamon
• vanilla extract
• drizzle maple syrup
• splash soymilk

Can't go wrong with Cinnamon Apple oats, Mocha, and a Women's Once a Day!
After I turned in that crazy paper, Savannah and I walked our bikes instead of riding to soak up the sun. Today was HOT! It hasn't been warm like this in a while and we were really lovin it. We stopped and got Blenders! I got a baby blender tropical Guava minus the sherbet, added soy. Delish!

Lunch

For lunch I had a spinach salad with avocado, pre-made chickpeas, a little of Annie's lite Italian dressing, and carrots and hummus on the side.
For 'dessert' I enjoyed this Chocolate Chip Z Bar.
I love these!!

Snack

I've been having some weird stomach things going on lately where I can't tell if I'm hungry or if I'm having a stomach ache or what! I decided to try out this juice (which had a coupon woohoo!) called Good Belly. I measured out exactly 8 oz. which is supposed to have like... a bazillion live cultures in there to help my stomach!
I also gave these seaweed chips a try just out of curiosity and they were well priced.
They were surprisingly good and I gobbled them up!

Dinner

For dinner I decided to finally make a recipe of Susan's from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen that I have been drooling over for quite a while now: Creamy Creole Eggplant Casserole. I thought making a casserole would be good for this week because it would supply me with plenty of meals and only one night of cooking yessss!

Eggplants are alien plants! I cooked these for 40 minutes and 425 F.
Chopped up celery, green bell pepper, and white onion.
Chopped up garlic and mushrooms.
Alien guts! I mean, eggplant :)
Chickpeas and spiiiiices!
I cooked the onions, celery, and pepper till they were soft...
Then added the mushrooms and garlic. Then a little while later added the chickpeas, eggplant, and seasonings.
While this cooked I prepared in the blender a mixture of silken tofu, cashews, nutritional yeast, salt, garlic powder (it was supposed to be onion but we didn't have any!) and water. Then I added that to the veggies and it cream-ified everything!
I placed everything in this dish, covered the top with bread crumbs, and voila! This pretty baby filled up the whole house with the smell of something delicious! I was so ready to dig in.

It was sooo good. Even a little spicy which I wasn't expecting.
Seconds! I have a feeling this is one of those dishes that is going to be even better tomorrow.
For dessert I followed suit with my favorite gals Kath and Tina and made ice cream out of frozen bananas! All I used was

• 1/2 frozen banana
• less than 1/3 cup silken tofu
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. agave syrup
• chocolate chips
• pecans

It is so satisfying and creamy! I do think this shall become a new staple!
It's bed time for bonzo. I really want to get up and run tomorrow morning and get my day off to a good start. I also have a killer breakfast planned, a.k.a. motivation for getting out of bed!

G'night!!

All Running and No Key Makes Claire Crazy!

Dinner

Last night there was a performance that a bunch of my colleges were in called a "Liederabend" which is German for Evening of Song. I ended up going for a little run around the neighborhood despite my laziness. Once I was out and running about I got into it! After I showered I made this tasty grilled sandwich.

• frozen eggplant burger
• mushrooms
• bell pepper
• scallions
• cilantro
• avocado
• olive paste
• hempseed hummus
• chicken seasoning
• salt and pepper

I had the left over yams from the other night on the side and the last little bit of the avocado I was using.

I don't think I will ever get tired of these sandwiches. It's the mushrooms and scallions that do it I think. They make the whole sandwich taste more gourmet.

For dessert I had three pieces of crystallized ginger and few chocolate covered blueberries.
After the performance Kelsey was snacking on some apple chips that she just picked up from Costco and I was curious so I tried a few.
They were really good!
Last night I went to Savannah's boyfriend, Matt's, metal show which was really intense! While I was there I met some German speaking Swiss boys! I get so excited whenever I get to speak German again, it seriously made my whole night :) I ended up making it back home earlier than the night before but still not super early...I slept in till ten though so I think I made up for it!

Breakfast

I was so ready for some whipped banana oats this morning! I decided to try a technique I read about on KERF- Kath Eats Real Food where she sited another blog called Being Chelsea. She suggests cooking the banana a little first because it makes it a little sweeter. I can see how this would work since the heat would bring out the sugars in the fruit and as I was cooking them it reminded me of Bananas Foster.
I used my LAST Starbucks VIA today ohh noo!

I am really feeling this special "whipping" technique. It does take a little bit more time and more of my attention but when I have the time for it, it's totally worth it.
I added a little soy milk to loosen things up.

Lunch

So there is a whole story that goes along with lunch. Around 12 I decided that I would run to a class at the gym that started at 12:30. It wasn't a super long run and was a perfect cardio warm up. Plus it was a gorgeous day! The first class was Cardio Kickboxing and I was totally feeling it today. I was having a workout high! After that class I decided to stay for the Power Pump Abs class which was directly after. That was awesome too! So, afterwards I jogged lightly back to my apartment, fantasizing the whole way about the salad I was going to make and the shower I was going to take when I got back. But when I got back....I was locked out, no one was home, and I had no phone. I ended up doing a lot more running around than I bargained for, trying to find a friend who had my roommates phone number so I could get a hold of someone. Every attempt I made failed and by the sixth house I tried, I was locked out just long enough that I started to go a little crazy thinking I was going to be stuck for a really long time! Luckily, Kelsey came to my rescue just in time to keep me from completely falling apart. I hate getting locked out! From now on, I'm going to have to figure out creative ways to have a key on me whenever I go to work out.

Anyways, on the bright side, the whole flustering experience made this salad taste that much better. The fixins:

• red leaf lettuce
• cherry tomatoes
• a few sliced, mixed olives
• avocado
• scallions
• cucumber
• cilantro
• pinto beans
• salt and pepper
• balsamic vinegar

I hadn't thought of adding the balsamic until this shot here.
To balance out the salty with something sweet, I made a glass of fresh orange juice and treated myself to a Peanut Butter Pretzel Mojo bar.

Dinner

Kelsey and I made a grocery run and when we stopped at Whole foods we picked up some pre-made food for dinner. I got forbidden rice, sesame tofu, and kale salad.
The tofu had a spicy kick which was awesome and the rice was a little bland. The combo was great.
Kale is always delicious. And I love sesame so this was great.

Kelsey and I also decided to go in together on a dessert that should last us the week: Berry Pudding! It's a recipe that comes from a cookbook Kels recently bought called Gluten-Free Vegan. There was definitely spoon licking! The recipe:

• 12 oz. extra-firm silken tofu
• 2 cups frozen berries
• 6 Tbsp. agave syrup
• 2 tsp. vanilla

It was sort of a crazy process since I doubled the batch. All you have to do is put everything in a blender and puree it! So easy!!
I garnished with mint leaves. Aren't they pretty?


I ended up licking so much off the spoon and the left overs in the blender that I decided not to have one of my portions tonight but instead I just went with a few chocolate covered blueberries. Besides, the puddings are supposed to chill in the refrigerator so I can wait till tomorrow so it will be perfect!
I can't decide if I should go to cycling tomorrow... there are only two weeks of classes left but I feel like I have a lot of academic things going on right now that should be my main priority. The struggle! If it was an hour earlier right now rather than 30 to midnight I might say that I will just suck it up and go but I have a feeling that I'm going to need the sleep to recover from the late nights I had this weekend. I need to start tomorrow on the right foot since I'm feeling a little guilty about my lack of productivity this weekend. I needed to decompress but I really do have important things I should be spending my time on. Tomorrow is time to get to work. I think I need to set goals for myself so I don't get overwhelmed.

1. Practice Italian song/ words
2. Extra Credit for 20th Cent. Analysis
3. Look over paper assignment for 20th Cent. Analysis
4. Memorize choir song.

I think I can handle that for tomorrow. There's definitely more to be done but that's all I can handle on my plate right now.

Bedtime for Bonzo! Good night!