A Week of Eats---May 27

The title of this post is a bit misleading, as the photos below include meals from over a week ago.  That's what happens when family is in town and there's a lot of eating out!

Top row, L to R:

• Sandwich crafted with leftover ingredients from my class trip to Mountain Lake.  I've been into sandwiches lately; they hit all of the food groups, and are easy to pack.
• Pizza! It's hard to tell, but it has pesto on one half, and red sauce on the other.
• My haul from Christina's pantry upstairs.  She left this week for a new adventure in Phoenix, but apparently didn't want to take any of her grains with her :-P

Bottom row, L to R:

• My first meal from the stash above.  Tostadas with black beans, mozarella and salsa verde.
• Meal two, inspired by my need to use up my grains to make room for the new ones.  A chef salad of sorts.
• Breakfast smoothie with banana, fresh strawberries, frozen pineapple, yogurt, almond milk and a scoop of vanilla protein powder. 

The smoothie above was the best of the week.  Coming home to a rather empty fridge on Monday meant Tuesday's was all frozen fruit (thick and cold!), Wednesday's bananas were too green, and I forgot the yogurt on Thursday which made for a really watery, unappetizing smoothie.  I have been thinking about doing a post on smoothies, but I need to up my game first with more exciting recipes and figure out how to make a glass of froth look exciting in a photograph.

A Week of Eats--May 6

I've fallen a bit behind on the blog as well as cooking in general with graduation and such.  I am excited to continue the celebration at my cousin's wedding this weekend, before getting back into a routine (of sorts) next week. 

Top row, L to R: 

• Trader Joe's Chile + Cheese tamales with green salad; 
• The first lettuce harvest from my garden--tender and delicious, but requires at least two washes to remove all of the grit;
• Carrot Cake Cupcakes, perhaps it's time to invest in some wire cooling racks...

Bottom row, L to R:

• Joy the Baker's Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies; best when eaten cold from the fridge in my opinion.
• Mini quesadillas made with corn tortillas and queso fresco with a salad, pretty much what I have been eating for dinner 4 out of 5 nights lately.
• Carrot Cake Cupcakes frosted.  I made these primarily as a vehicle for the cream cheese frosting. 

1 Box = 5 Meals

In my last post, I mentioned it was nearing the end of the semester.  Classes ended last week, and after plowing through some final assignments over the weekend, I only have a few loose ends to tie up before graduation!  Last night, I took a break from my computer and started re-reading The Great Gatsby.  It was unbelievably relaxing--the whole idea that graduate school is over and I have evenings to myself is rather surreal.

After my final presentation last Monday, I didn't feel like cooking and decided on a trip to Whole Foods as a reward for my hard work all semester.  I picked some essentials--produce, some cheese--passed on the overpriced ice cream, and headed for prepared food section.  I grabbed a little cardboard box and filled it all the way to the top with things from the hot and cold salad bars, and went to check out.

At the register, I beat my own personal record for "most expensive salad" with my selection ringing in at $23!  This wasn't a huge surprise for the following reasons:

1. I focused on heavy things like proteins that I didn't have at home. 
2. I was planning to use the contents for multiple meals.

So what does one do with $23 of prepared foods?  I am so glad you asked.  First thing when I got home, I separated everything out to preserve their individual flavors.

Then I made my first meal--a giant green salad with some of the grilled tofu, beets, roasted potatoes and curried cauliflower on top, and the mac-n-cheese on the side.

Meal 2 was soft tacos with the beef fajita mix, garlic chicken and the rest of the curried cauliflower.

Meal 3 ended up being a hamburger salad using the meatball and the remaining beets.

Meal 4 used leftover quinoa that I made for Meal 1 and the end of the garlic chicken.

I was intending to use the rest of the tofu in Meal 5, but I waited too long and the tofu smelled/tasted weird.  So Meal 5 didn't really contain any ingredients from my Whole Foods haul, but it could have.

This is certainly not a practice I can afford to adopt on a regular basis, but it was perfect for last week, giving me wide variety of meals with minimal effort.  However, for your sake and mine, I hope my interest in cooking returns soon!

A Week of Eats--April 22

This post does a pretty good job of hiding the kitchen malaise I've been feeling lately.  It's the end of the semester, what do you expect? 

a) Oatmeal with greek yogurt, strawberries and granola

I used to eat oatmeal for breakfast nearly everyday.

Now I am more into smoothies, but the texture from the granola 

goes a long way in making a bowl of warm mush more palatable.

b) Tortellini soup with kale, tomatoes and chick peas

Kale in soup is a great idea.

c) Green salad with tuna and avocado

A 5 oz. can of tuna is considered 2 servings?  Yeah, right.

d) Fritatta with tomatoes, broccoli and cheese

Good for breakfast, lunch or dinner.