Papaya and Playgreen

I apologize for being MIA all week. It seems like that's what I good at. My friends give me a hard time because of it. I can't help it if I'm busy and tired! I need time to recharge my batteries.
Speaking of which, every morning I start my day with an apple, which is usually followed by a ripe banana.
Today, however, I got bored with a plain old banana, so I put together my Fruit & Cereal bowl with applesauce, kamut puffs, berries, and banana. So good... I was actually trying to finish off the applesauce so it wouldn't go bad over the weekend.Then more fruit~ a red Hawaiian papaya! Amazing to the tastebuds...
Today there was the Playgreen Festival on campus, a fair with "green companies" including Clifbar, Whole Foods, and Ben & Jerry's. I went a little crazy with the free stuff, but hey, who doesn't love free stuff? Some of the loot:Mini Clifbar samples!Revolution Foods : Pop Alongs chips and Jammy Sammy oat & fruit bar:Expect reviews~ that is if midterms don't wipe me out.
Have a wonderful weekend all!

Rain, Raw, and Cake

Its been pouring and hailing, plus blasting winds all week long. I hate to complain, but I'm so sick of this poopy weather! There was no way I was going to face the outdoors to go grocery shopping, so this week's challenge is to live off the pantry!
Now for a bar review. I tried this Go Raw bar:
As you can see, it is raw vegan, the whole thing. Simple ingredients. It was not bad, kind of like fruit leather studded with seeds. You really have to rip this bar, can't really bite into it like a Larabar. I recommend it if you like fruit leather, but if you're looking for a Lara or Clif-like bar, this one isn't. I enjoyed it while I was eating it, but its not one of those," Omygosh! I must buy more of these!" kind of experience for me.
I worked today, so I just had a whole bunch of fruit for breakfast and finally a huge plate of steamed veggies afterwards, at home:That ugly black-looking thing is the eggplant skin! I used the cooked skin to make sort of a veggie wrap with. Its hard to eat neatly, but its a good way to eat the smoky charred skin.
Now for some eye candy!
This beautiful carrot cake from Whole Foods was my friend, Brian's.It was his birthday cake, but I took it home, the same night as the V-day cookies, to document it for you all! I took the cookies and the cake back to campus for friends to eat the day after, at our hang out in the Student Learning Center (big study hall sort of place... I know such nerds!).
He's a vegetarian so I guess his friend that bought it for him thought carrot cake was appropriate...

Fruitylicious Friday

More hail today and the falling ice balls were humongous! Yikes...
Breakfast today was wheat bran, berries, and banana in more of the rice shake. It kind of tasted like raw instant oatmeal. It made me feel super healthy.In the manner of Hobbits, second breakfast followed: The leftover fruit, prettied up~A soft ripe mango finished it off! Soo juicy...
I had some baked Korean sweet potatoes with fresh kale for dinner, but I was so starving after jazz class that stopping to take photos was out of the question!
But look what was delivered yesterday... The Kardea bars I requested!
These seem interesting and new in the world of food bars. Expect reviews in the near future!
My cute little sisters made trays and trays of pink goodies for Open Chapel last night! I swiped a few of the prettiest ones to snap a photo of at home, since I didn't have my camera then:
Four of them made six trays of these beauties from scratch!
I hope everyone has a happy Valentine's Day, attached or single like me!
I love you all ~<3!

Herbivore

It hailed today! I don't know why, but I was so horrified. Maybe because its been so long since I 've seen hail? I imagined everyone walking outside getting smattered with the ice balls.
Anyway, breakfast was Smart Bran and blueberries, but this time in a rice shake called Amazake Tiger Chai from Whole Foods:
You can't really see it, but the shake looks like a vanilla shake with flecks of vanilla beans and spices. It is naturally sweet from the rice and it was amazing with the cereal! Kind of like a thin yogurt or a thick milk! New Zealand cherries from Berkeley Bowl on the side:I took my ServSafe exam today! It was much easier than I expected, but I hope I don't jinx it. Let's hope I just pass so I don't have to take it again.
Lunch was the second half of the Kabocha squash with cabbage again:I didn't take a picture of my dinner, which was a sort of salad...
Lettuce, red pepper hummus, and steamed carrots and zucchini. All of this was piled on a big plate and wasn't very photogenic so I just ate it.
But here is a picture of my beloved Charbroiled Vegetable Green Salad from Herbivore:I had to do a restaurant review for my class so I went to Herbivore, an all vegan restaurant in downtown Berkeley. They serve some pretty interesting dishes here, but I haven't been very adventurous here yet. I even asked if I could keep the menu (on the left) because my assignment required it and my waiter said, "yes!"

Chilly Weather, Snack Attacks

This morning was so freezing cold! And it didn't help that the heater was off all night... I had to drink a cup of hot tea to warm myself up before breakfast, which was Blueberry rice yogurt (yup, bought more!) with Smart Bran, banana, and strawberry slices:
Jolly lip-smacking good!
Maybe because it was so cold, I got hungry again right away, and I can't function when I'm freezing and hungry, so I ate some slices of a butternut squash I roasted the day before:
Sweet and smoky~ Bambi had some, too!
I had a light dinner because that butternut kept me full all day. I had some HuuRaw chips and some mild salsa, both from Whole Foods ~<3:
HuuRaw Carrot Curry chips are made from carrots, germinated flax seeds, ground flaxseeds, lime juice, chia seeds, curry powder, and Himalayan salt. Not like real tortilla chips, but yummy! Afterwards, still hungry (I'm telling you its the cold weather), so I topped a Sunflower Seed Bread square with salsa:So good~ Lydia's Organic's makes all raw stuff, some products are good, some are iffy. This bread has like a veggie-cracker flavor, which I love. Its a little dry, but if you dip it in water for a few seconds it turns moist and delicious.
Oh, and look what I got at Whole Foods!:I feel so green now~ But in pink!

Like a Brownie

Featuring the bar of the day: Clif Nectar Cacao. This flavor is Dark Chocolate Walnut and comes in a pretty blue and chocolate colored package.
Upon opening the wrapper, I met a brownie!

Really, there is no way this could be just a fruit and nut bar. It looks and smells exactly like a brownie in bar form. As for the taste? Brownie!
So chocolate-y and rich. I usually don't like chocolate, but this was amazing. Now I have an instant go-to if ever I should crave a brownie!Last unbelievable bite!

Orange Food, Blue Food

Mangoes are one of my all time favorite fruits. Whenever I slice one up I must take my time to fully enjoy the creamy, juicy sweetness of the bright orange flesh. Eating a mango instantly puts me in a good mood, like this morning:Speaking of orange-fleshed foods, Kabocha squash is another favorite food of mine. I steamed 1/2 a squash and had it for lunch yesterday with the red cabbage shreds, again to balance the intense creamy sweetness:Now for the new foodie food of the day- Ricera Blueberry Rice Yogurt!After trying different brands of soy yogurt, I was pretty turned off to the idea of non-dairy yogurt, but Ricera changed me. The blueberry flavor is soo pronounced, which I loved since I adore blueberries, and it is perfectly sweet and feels like authentic yogurt in my mouth.
Ricera is made from brown rice, has no dairy, soy, or wheat, and has 180 kcal and only 1 gram of fat for the whole 6 oz. carton!
I sprinkled some Smart Bran and dried strawberries for some crunch- an impossibly delicious and nutritious combination.Must buy more... soon!

Larabar Goodies!

Look what was delivered today~ my Larabar goodie parcel!
This totally made my day and I couldn't help but do a little dance. To Humm Foods, thank you! This is dedicated to everyone who loves Larabars:I used the tote as my book bag today to my photography class and it was delightful!
Now I feel the need to share this Larabar love~

Also, check out this Almond Butter giveaway from Hangry Pants!

Sweet Fruit

Breakfast this morning was the usual fruit. I usually just cut and eat each fruit one at a time, but I prettied it up just for your viewing pleasure. Today's selection included a Red Delicious apple, banana, strawberries, blueberries, and cherries.Then I was still hungry so I poured a bowl of Smart Bran with almond milk and leftover blueberries.The cherries were from Berkeley Bowl, so sweet... and juicy...After breakfast I bussed over to Berkeley Bowl to pick up some mangoes, papayas, and Gnu Bars. I walked back home and had 30 minutes before class, so I had a Cinnamon Raisin Gnu Bar for lunch:It was very, very good! Like a healthier oatmeal cookie. These Gnu Bars have 12 grams of fiber, which is a lot. The label does in fact say 'Flavor & Fiber!' My only gripe is that it is made with flour, since I try to avoid processed grains as much as possible. But the taste is worth it!

Eat Your Veggies

I realized today that I enjoy reading other peoples' blogs and salivating over their photos of their food more than I enjoy writing my own blogs. Maybe I'm just lazy or I just don't take the time photograph all of my meals. I'm going to try to start being more diligent about photo recording my daily food for the sake of this blog.Anyway, enough food bar posts for now...

Last week I was starving after a late afternoon class and I felt like having sushi, but I had barely anything in my fridge except for mustard, carrots and some apples. So I decided to have carrot wrapped in nori with whole grain dijon mustard; sort of sushi-like in appearance, I guess. I was so hungry I was making these rolls in a mad rush, which is why they ain't so pretty.Pretty tasty though, although I may be biased because they were mostly carrots (and those who know me know I love carrots). Another food I just started loving is eggplant. I like to roast them and scrape out the soft flesh and make an eggplant spread with some hummus and serve it on top of a plate of salad or steamed carrots and zucchini. This is what they look like after roasting:They smell super good! Not very many people have seen my veggie stew that I used to live on during my uncreative culinary year last year, so here is what it looks like:Veggie Stew:

• Vegetable broth (I make my own)
• Onion
  
• Garlic
  
• Celery
  
• Carrots
  
• Broccoli
  
• Seaweed
• Green onions
• Tomatoes or tomato paste
  
• Cumin, coriander, curry powder

I basically chopped everything into bite-size pieces in that order and toss them into the boiling broth. Except for the garlic, which is minced and the seaweed needs to be rehydrated for a few minutes in water. This is my default dinner if I have all the ingredients because I don't really have to think to make this, good for when I'm starving and can't be creative. O_o