Visit from Family Friend

Hi guys. I just came back from showing our family friend around Chicago. He is an old family friend back from Nicaragua who is an oncologist and is in town for a conference. We showed him the sights around downtown in the car and then dropped him off at his hotel (which was this sweet Hilton owned hotel called The Palmer House).

Luckily, I had packed a snack of nuts (pistachios, cashews, and almonds) and some dried apricots. This held me over well til dinner.

For dinner, I just had what my mom cooked: Spanish brown rice, pinto beans, Salvadoran cole slaw, a tomato slice leftover from a sandwich my mom made, and some baby carrots and celery. Nothing too different from the norm, but delicious nonetheless.

A couple of hours later, I had a sweet tooth attack, so I ate another slice of Maple Banana Loaf that I baked on Tuesday. Yummy! Oh, the banana goodness…

Though today was raining like none other, it was still an enjoyable day. Hope your Friday was good, too. Have a good night!

Rain, Rain

I heart nuts… they are so delicious and so filling and very versatile. Today, instead of a smoothie I decided to keep it as a “soup” using some defrosted mixed berries and swirled in some cinnamon and 2 tbsp of dark chocolate peanut butter. Mmm! I was in a rush because we are going to pick someone up from the airport, so I took the Larabar to go. It’s the Cashew Cookie flavor.. my favorite!!

It’s crazy weather here in the Windy City.. lots of wind and lots of rain! But at least it’s Friday, so be happy!

Grey Morning

It was raining all night last night and I woke up to a very grey morning. I was only in the mood for cereal again today, so that’s what I had.

I decided to try out a new cereal I bought a while back – Barbara’s Bakery Cinnamon Puffins. These aren’t as great as the PB ones, but they are good, especially for cinnamon lovers. The squares are smaller than the PB puffins, but I like them. I mixed a cup serving with some Kashi Go Lean cereal. I added in some plain soymilk and had a banana on the side. It was delicious and totally hit the spot. Later I decided to sprinkle some flaxmeal on top, too.

Have a great Friday!

Return From Unwanted Hiatus

I’m sorry guys for just abruptly disappearing like that. My house has not had Internet service these past few days so I was unable to update the blog, but I’m back now and that’s what counts, right? On to a LONG post about food…

Tuesday, May 27:

Lunch

I had a mini bagel sandwich made with a toasted mini bagel spread with some Nayonaise and spicy brown mustard and the last Amy’s Breakfast Patty as the “meat”. I also had some beans on the side as well as a cut up mango.

Snack

I had the last Trader Joe’s Soy Creamy Orange Bar with some cut up kiwi. I need to buy more of these yummy bars!

Dinner

I had a huge dinner plate comprised of lightly steamed broccoli, tomatoes, sauteed zucchini, a corn on the cob, and a Chickpea Cutlet. It was my first time making this recipe, and I’m sad to report that I did not like the way it came out, but I did make a lot of substitutions, so that might be the real culprit for this disappointing cutlet.

Wednesday, May 28

Breakfast

I baked a banana bread on Tuesday night because there were two really ripe bananas in our kitchen that were begging to be baked into one. I used the recipe from The Everyday Vegan and decided to bake it into a square pan instead of a loaf pan. I had a slice of it for breakfast (mmm!) with a banana and a jug of plain soymilk.

Lunch

For lunch, I knew I wanted a nut butter sandwich, but I was so indecisive about which nut butter to use, so I didn’t. I toasted up two mini whole wheat bagels and each slice had a different nut butter (crunchy and creamy peanut butter, cashew butter, dark chocolate peanut butter) and each had strawberry or raspberry jelly. I also tried out a new soy yogurt: a Cinnamon Bun flavored one.. MMM! Soo good!! How did they manage to squeeze in a baked good in a yogurt? I topped the yogurt with flaxmeal and ate an orange as well.

Dinner

I didn’t need a snack today, my lunch held me quite well through dinnertime, where I had a typical Salvadoran meal of pupusa (filled with vegetarian refried beans) and curtido (a type of cole slaw.. read about the dish by clicking the name). My mom’s best friend is from El Salvador and she was so kind as to show my mom the way to make this delicious traditional meal. I found a good recipe for it here, so if you ever feel like straying away from the norm, give it a try!

This meal left me so stuffed! But it was so good!

Thursday, May 29

Breakfast

Today I decided to finish off my box of Nature’s Path Ginger Zing granola with some plain soymilk and flaxmeal. I also had a banana on the side. Delish!

Lunch

My mom and I drove over to Chicago Premium Outlets, an exquisite outlet mall, today shortly after breakfast and we were having the time of our lives there, just walking and looking around (and also made a few buys, too) that we totally lost track of time. We were so into the mall that we didn’t even get hungry until we came back from home. I didn’t get to eat lunch a whole 7 hours after having eaten breakfast! I decided to make something quick and easy and threw together my lunch. I poured half a packet of Sazon Goya on some chickpeas and heated this up in the microwave. I had that alongside some tomato slices, half of a yummy avocado, and 5 Whole Foods Mini Whole Wheat Pitas.

Dinner

Dinner was served in a glass tonight. It was a smoothie comprised of 1 cup of soymilk, 1 cup and a half of frozen mixed berries, some flaxmeal, and 2 tbsp of dark chocolate peanut butter. Quite the array of flavors, but refreshing nonetheless. It’s pictured in the glass I blended it in because I didn’t want to dirty more dishes. I also had a craving for a Homestyle Carob Chip, so I ate that as well along with a juicy orange. I know I could’ve eaten something way better, but this was what I wanted so I’ll do better next time.

Dessert

I wanted another cookie (the last one! Must bake another batch soon!), so I had one for dessert. Yummy!

Sorry for the unwanted break from posting, but glad to be back. You all have a good night!

I’m Here! Sorry!

Hey guys, I’m here, don’t worry. I did not abandon the blog.. my house has had no Internet connection for the past days. Sorry! We just got it back today and I will keep posting regularly as always.

Thanks for understanding and I’m sorry for this inconvenience.

Be back soon!

Chilly Morning

Good morning everybody. Today is Tuesday, though it really feels like Monday, doesn’t it? Last night it was super hot in my house and I was having trouble going to sleep because it was so uncomfortable. I had to open my window and finally I was able to go to sleep. But today I woke up freezing… it turned out to be a chilly day today.

Even though it was the perfect weather for a nice bowl of hot oats, I was craving some granola. For breakfast I spooned out a container of Silk Strawberry Banana Soy Yogurt and topped it with 1/2 cup of Nature’s Path Ginger Zing granola. Then I put some raisins and flaxmeal on top. I had an orange on the side. Totally hit the spot!

You all have a pleasant day!

Memorial Day

Hey y’all.. how was everyone’s holiday? Hopefully everyone had a great time today.

After eating breakfast, my family just hung out in the house for a while and then my sister had the urge to go shopping, so we all went out to a mall and walked around and shopped. My sister bought me a cute dress from Forever 21.. gosh, I love that store. I wish I could buy everything in there, but I can’t, hehe.

During our trip there, I decided to eat my planned snack of an Apple Pie Larabar and some dried apricots. There was a Starbucks in the mall so I decided to get a drink that I’ve seen in a couple of blogs: an iced vanilla soy latte. I’m not really that much of a coffee drinker. I LOVE the smell of coffee but I don’t really like the taste of it. But I guess the hot weather prompted me to get one of these. Ugh, I’m sorry to say that I did not enjoy this drink. I did end up drinking it all, but it took me a LONG time and I just couldn’t stand the taste of coffee in my mouth. I guess I’m just not the coffee lover (WHAT? This girl is crazy… she doesn’t like chocolate or coffee?? Lol). Sorry, I didn’t have my camera with me so there’s no picture of the drink.

After the mall, my family got hungry so we went over to our favorite Chinese restaurant called Chi-Tung in Evergreen Park, IL. I found that I was not really hungry at all, maybe because of all the coffee? Not sure, but I just wasn’t hungry and didn’t eat anything at the restaurant. We came back home after walking a bit out on Lake Michigan along Lake Shore Drive and that’s when my appetite came back! I heated up some of my mom’s pinto beans and had that alongside some leftover Vegetable Chow Mein from the restaurant. I also heated up an Amy’s Breakast Patty (funny how I don’t eat these things for breakfast) and 3 mini whole wheat pitas from Whole Foods. Quite the random mix of things, but I was hungry and wanted to eat anything that didn’t require too much prep and so i had this meal, which turned out to be pretty tasty actually!

I was really in the mood for dessert right after I finished dinner so I heated up the last slice of Sunny Pineapple Cake and topped it with some cinnamon. Mmm… warm and delicious!

My family decided to watch a movie and when we were done I got a craving for some juicy watermelon when I saw my sister eating some, so I had that as well.

A refreshing end to a great holiday. Good night everybody!

Sunday Wrap Up

Sunday was quite the eventful day, but it was very enjoyable as well.

For breakfast, I decided to try out a new product. Inspired in part by Paulina, I decided to have quinoa for breakfast. Using Quinoa Flakes I bought at my local health food store, I treated this like hot cereal and added my usual oatmeal mix-ins. I mashed up a large banana, mixed that in, along with a splash of hempmilk, some raisins, and chopped walnuts. This hot cereal was interesting… I’m not really sure if I really like it yet, but it could be one of those things that the more you eat, the more you like, so I’m sure I’ll give this another try.

After breakfast, we went to visit an old family friend at his church called Family Christian Center, located in Munster, IN. It was a really nice church and I really enjoyed the sermon… the pastor preached as “Indiana Jones” on a quest to find the lost ark. There was a set, he was dressed in character, and even rode in on a white horse! VERY interesting and let me tell you, I saw NOBODY falling asleep. It was really good and I hope to visit this church sometime again.

After church, the family went over to the friend’s house located in Merrillville, IN along with other friends and the carne asada commenced. I was not nervous, though, because I had brought in my own food to grill. I decided to bring in some tomatoes, zucchini, and “cebollitas” (little onions) and grilled these and had these alongside Spanish brown rice. I saw they were also grilling plantains, and you know I can’t deny plantains, so I had one of them as well. There was also homemade guacamole and I had some of that as well. Check out my smorgasbord of a plate:

At the cookout, I met a naturopathic doctor who was also a vegan! I’ve never met another vegan before, so it was ecstatic to find someone else that thought the same way I did.. I always feel like the black sheep everywhere I go. We definitely hit it off and we spent the whole time together talking about food, proper nutrition, natural healing and medicine, and so much more.. it was a great time! My family was having such a good time that we didn’t end up leaving until 11 o’clock at night! There was really no formal “dinner” because everyone just kept eating and eating.. lol! I couldn’t do that.. I usually have to stick to a schedule when it comes to eating, so a couple of hours after eating my lunch, I ate some walnuts and a cherry pie larabar. I was a bit apprehensive to try out this flavor, since a lot of bloggers didn’t seem to like it that much, but I found it to be ok – not great, but not awful, either.

People were ready for dessert a few hours later and I had brought in a vegan carrot cake (shh! Nobody knew beforehand that I made it and that it was vegan). The cake was made using Lindsay’s awesome recipe, but made in a cake pan instead of a muffin tin. I was still not really in the mood for dessert. For some reason, the snack really filled me up (maybe the addition of the walnuts?). Before I knew it, the cake was gone! I couldn’t even get a slice.. everyone loved it! It was then that I informed them I had baked it and that it was vegan. NOBODY believed me and they were SHOCKED that it tasted so good. Glad to show omnis that vegan food is just (if not, more) delicious as theirs. I was able to take a photo of the cake coming out of the oven, so here it is:

So I found I was not really that hungry for dinner, but around 9 oclock I started to feel a bit hungry and luckily they decided to grill some corn so I had some grilled corn seasoned with salt and pepper. MMMM.. so good! Perfect way to end the night.

Quite the eventful day, but like I said, it was a fun time and I even got to meet another vegan, in the most unlikely of places (a carne asada, how ironic)!

Since we had a late night last night, we were quite pooped and all of us slept in until 9:30. Ahh.. it’s always nice to sleep in! For breakfast, I just wanted a cold bowl of cereal, so I had 2 cups of Kashi Go Lean Cereal and a few tablespoons of Nature’s Path Ginger Zing granola and some flaxmeal sprinkled on top. Served alongside a huge banana and the last of my hempmilk, it was quite the delicious and refreshing meal.

Whoo.. sorry for the long post! I hope everybody’s having a great Memorial Day as we commemorate those who fight for our freedom.

What to Eat?

After some resting and digesting from my lunch, my sister wanted to go out and walk around stores for a bit and then we went to Panera Bread cause she wanted their Portabello and Mozzarella panini. But I really wasn’t in the mood for anything at Panera.

Then we came home and I still didn’t find anything appealing here as well. So, what was I going to eat for dinner? After contemplating everything I could make, I decided on an old favorite that never fails: a nut butter and jelly sandwich. I toasted up two slices of Rudi’s Organic Whole Wheat Bread and spread 2 tbsp of crunchy cashew butter on them and also put some strawberry jelly on top. On the side I had some leftover carrots my mom didn’t use for a dish and a fruit bowl of papaya and pineapple. Nothing too exciting, but it’s a staple I can always count on.

Tomorrow is church day, so I may or may not have time to post tomorrow morning. The family was also invited to a carne asada (a cookout where grilled beef is the main attraction) so I don’t think I will be able to post meals until tomorrow night. Thanks for understanding. Have a good night!

Mexican Eats

My sister came from work around noon and said she had a craving for Mexican food, so she invited all of us out for lunch to our local favorite Mexican restaurant.

Once there, I knew exactly what I wanted: a gordita stuffed with vegetarian refried beans and guacamole. The waitress also brought some more of the guacamole and I decided to make a taco out of it using one of their hand rolled tortillas, some green peppers, red onions, and cucumber left over from my sister’s dish (she doesn’t like raw veggies like that). Lunch was so good and so satisfying. I’m pretty stuffed now!

I’m off to rest and digest now… hope your Saturday is going swell!