Ready? Break!

My college is officially on spring break. So exciting!

But at the moment, I’m particularly thrilled, because I made dinner for the apartment tonight.

Not only did they love it…

it was vegan!

An eggplant bake, to be exact. I just told them I was making eggplant parmesean.

First-class kitchen organization, obviously!

I started off with this recipe, but ended up making some substitutions.

For one, we were out of marinara sauce. What to do?!

“What’s red, saucy, and in my kitchen already?”

Salsa!

See? Looks the same. And that’s all that counts, right? Hehe.

I also used boxed bread crumbs instead of almond flour, and lemon pepper spice instead of italian seasoning. Worked great!

However, the veggie course took a turn for the worse, due a misjudgment on my part of how oven-safe the pan was…

My bad.

They were salvaged, nonetheless.

I made up for it with another dish of roasted asparagus with goat cheese.

Ok, so the goat cheese detail wasn’t vegan. But the main dish was, and the roommates were shocked when I told them!

One of the guys even made a remark along the lines of, “If we let Erica cook every night, we’d be much healthier, cut down on our animal intake, save the environment….”

damn right you would!

I think it’s safe to say they enjoyed it.

And if I had actually used almonds instead of bread crumbs, it would have been gluten free!

Some good eatin’ was certainly called for, after some questionable food choices during these last days of class. Example?

Boxed mac n cheese at 3 AM.

But today, after sleeping until 11, handing in my final paper before noon, and sweating all my stress out in the gym…

Green monster in the sunshine. The way it should be.

Have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day! Any fun plans?

I don’t drink beer, but I want a festive grasshopper!

 

Hours in the Day

 

Hey y’all! How was everyone’s Thursday?

In case you’re wondering about the title, today there were not enough hours in the day.

Usually, I’m pretty accepting of the 24 hours that comprise the time in which the Earth makes a single rotation on its axis.

(Confession: I just looked that fact up. I couldn’t remember if days had to do with the sun? or…the moon?)

Last night, things were deceivingly deliciously normal. I went to bed (teehee) with a brownie drowned in coconut milk:

(Not the best I’ve ever had, but a good compliment to the newest episode of Greek!)

I’ve been so, so good about going to the gym every morning during the school week, but this morning, it was not happening. Too little sleep and too much desire to stay immobile. Last Thursday, I also took it easy…I hate school-run yoga (the instructors are so boring and never figure out how to work the music!) but I took it that week anyway. Maybe I should just do the same every Thursday?

I cleaned my dirty self up with a white shirt, blue jeans, & uggs. So classically American! Oh, except for the exquisitely bold Jordanian keffiyeh around my neck.

I actually had an impromptu meeting with one of the school’s Arabic professors today. What a lucky coincidence! Mumtaz! [Excellent]

I walked out the door with this monster…

spinach, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 banana, 1/2 scoop protein powder, coconut milk

Today, my professor asked me, “Are you eating parsley for breakfast?”

I was happy to explain what I was slurping down, and made the girl sitting next to me try it. She liked it, obvi 🙂

Note to self: Don’t leave your notebook on your apartment’s living room table. Philosophical ramblings and other remarks may appear:

Haha, thanks roomies!

After class began the epic quest to find an off-campus house/get a lease signed for next year. Oy vey!

In short…lots of frustration, lots of politics, lots of unfortunate girl drama. We’re still on the edge of our decision, but I think we’ll pull through all right. Details later!

I finally got home at 3 PM (I had breakfast at (9:30 AM…thank goodness it was filling!) to make a quick lunch:

What a change from the past few days, right?

Asparagus, grape tomatoes, tempeh, & chickpeas, sauteed in olive oil & balsamic vinegar and topped with nutritional yeast. I also added in some ginger, garlic powder, and tarragon leaves while cooking. Yum!

Then I had to rush out again for more lease questing, a meeting, and a study group. My dinner was an apple and an orange since I was on the go all evening. Bad, I know! But now I’m home, stressed, and not hungry. All I want to do is read some lovely blogs, watch Desperate Housewives, and get the sleep necessary to both exercise and ace my midterm tomorrow.

Wish me luck and have a fantastic Friday!!