No sleep til Brooklyn

Sorry for the sporadic posting. I still have so much to do, but at least things will let up a little after tomorrow.

Had lunch at Patrick's with my grandparents, great-aunt, cousin and her daughter today. I started out with some berry darjeeling tea (after having about a pot of coffee). It tasted a lot like Wild Berry Zinger; I used to have this all the time when I was little and visited my uncle in Wisconsin over the summer.


Egg-white omelet with spinach, mushrooms "and a little cheese"... not so little! I ate the whole thing, the toast (with strawberry jelly), the berries and about half the home fries.



And took this cute little ketchup home. I kind of want to dress it in baby clothes and tuck it in bed... is that weird?


First JamFrakas bar! Product review tomorrow, I promise.


Katie and I studied at Starbucks, just so I could taste this Hazelnut Signature Hot Chocolate that my friend Caitlin has been raving about. Oh mama, this was delicious, and tasted just like "melted nutella" as she said. I forgot to ask for no-whip, but I got a Tall and it was made with skim milk, so I don't think I even need to look up the nutritional info. Yes, denial is the theme of the day.


We watched Ivan's Childhood in Russian Cinema today. The last few films we've seen have been so good! I think Burnt By The Sun is still my favorite, but it's a toss-up between Ivan and Repentance for second place.

I had a cup of Coconut Chai tea with skim milk and honey, a Reese's cup, and a Twizzler. Gotta have study fuel!



Leftover salad with a Morningstar Farms Grillers Prime and fat-free Kraft single (no, I don't actually like these, but it's not as bad when it's mixed with the burger taste) and some pickle chips.


With a new salad dressing! Newman's Own Light Sundried Tomato Dressing. It was good. And yes... next to it, that is what you think it is. There are times... many times... in a young student's life when she is struck with a particular feeling: desperation. And that itch can only be scratched by a particular unpleasant yet effective neon-mustard-yellow drink: Sugar Free Redbull. I am not proud of my choice, but there's only so much coffee a girl can drink in a day.



And a nice juicy grapefruit.


I'll probably be noshing all night... there will be no sleep for Veggie. Hope everyone had a nice weekend... hopefully the light will be a little closer to the end of the tunnel the next time I check in!

It's all happening...

... And the way we celebrated in a certain St. Paul apartment was with this fabulous DQ Obama cake and a little champagne. When the election was called, there was so much energy in the room. Toasts, mini speeches (well, more like squeals)... we heard cheers and firecrackers outside on the streets. It's certainly "an historic" night!


But to back it up...


Lunch was my favorite salad. This is usually what I make at home ("home" home, in New York) when I have all the ingredients.


-lots of leafy greens
-tofu
-chickpeas
-green pepper
-Vidalia onion
-dried cranberries
-walnuts
-feta cheese
-dressing: dijon mustard, honey, white wine vinegar, olive oil



I love Rachel's yogurt. It's a little pricey so I don't buy it so much, but the flavors are so creative. I think this was my favorite flavor so far.


I had a Lemon Ginger Kardea bar after class as a snack:



The Nutrition Facts for the Lemon Ginger bar are almost exactly the same as the Chai Spice, save for a couple milligrams less of sodium.

I wasn't so crazy about the taste of this bar. It was more lemony than ginger-y, and I guess I'm not such a lemon fan. It reminded me a lot of a lemon poppyseed muffin. The texture, however, was still great; I love biting into the almond chunks. I probably wouldn't buy this flavor again.




I finally braved the cafeteria tonight! It was nice to have dinner with friends again.

From left to right: minestrone soup which I added orange lentils, tofu and a couple noodles to, green bean salad with some kind of vinaigrette, sautéed carrots, pumpkin cornbread (!) with honey butter. And a nice, cold glass of skim milk.


Jalene let me have one of her curly fries (which turned into a few more), and that's a grapefruit on the right.


Gummy teeth:


Snack size 100 Grand (it was a stressful night in front of the TV!):


CELEBRATORY CAKE!


I'm pumped on adrenaline, relief and caffeine.... I'm going to try to get a little more work done tonight before hitting the hay. Sarah and I are off to Brewberry's in the AM. Goodnight! Think happy thoughts!

A few of my favorite things...

I stumbled across Rachel Ray's recipe for Penne with Pumpkin Cream Sauce, and I just had to try it. Her recipe involved a lot of butter and cream, however, so I tweaked it to make it a little more Lilveggiepatch-friendly. I ended up using both pumpkin and Greek yogurt... two of my favorite things!


Approximate measurements:

6 oz whole wheat penne

1/4 sweet Vidalia onion

cooking spray

2/3 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 cup yogurt (both plain nonfat and nonfat Greek)

pinch each of ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg

salt & pepper


Prepare pasta according to box instructions until al dente. Drain, set aside. In the same pot that the pasta was in, cook the onions in cooking spray until soft, about 4 minutes. Add salt and pepper, pumpkin, milk and yogurt. Simmer a minute or two, then return pasta to pot and cook until heated through. Divide and serve. Add grated parmesan, goat cheese or anything that strikes your fancy. I used a little parm first but then changed my mind and added goat cheese and pepper flakes. Serves 2-3.








I also just had some gummies while Jalene and I sat around with a pot of tea. The sweet tooth monster has arrived!