Lagunatic

I've been slacking on blogging this week so this is going to be a long post, but a good one w/ lots of yummy food!

Wednesday:

The usual breakfast- coffee & a Lemmon Zest Luna Bar

I had to drive up to LA to go to a doctors appointment, and afterwards I met up w/ Cami to go apartment hunting in Santa Monica. While there seem to be hundreds of apartments available almost all of them were 1 bedrooms : ( The search continues.... We stopped by my favorite vegan restaurant in Santa Monica for lunch, Real Food Daily. RFD is similar to Native Foods, but the food seems to be a bit healthier. I hadn't been in a couple of months, and I was happy to slurp down my favorite acai tea.

The waitress told us about a new appetizer that has yet to be put on the menu. I think it was called a sea patty, because it is supposed to be like a crab cake but made w/ arame and done in a pesto sauce. Cami and I both agreed that it was absolutely delicious. I loved the plating too.

For my main I stuck with my old favorite the club sandwich.

This sandwich is to die for. It was enormous and came with a caesar salad on the side w/ my favorite croutons. It has thick breaded seitan that is crisp on the outside and moist on the inside, crispy salty tempeh bacon, soft chewy bread, loads of creamy vegeneise, lettuce, tomato, and avocado. I'm salivating as I write this.

I was totally stuffed after lunch- when I came home I unwound w/ a glass of chardonnay. I think my kitty apple wanted some too.

My mom made a very delicious white bean, broccolini rigatoni dish, which reminded me of minnestroni soup. I rarely eat pasta because I usually pig out too when I have it, what can I say I'm a carbaholic.

I added meatless meatballs to mine and my mom made a separate batch w/ sausage for the rest of the family.

Here is the recipe- Sauté 1 chopped white onion and 3 cloves garlic in olive oil in a large skillet. Add heads of 2 bunches of broccoli rabbe, and sauté until mostly cooked. Then add 8 cups of vegetable broth and 2 ounces of tomato paste and cook on medium heat until mixture begins to boil. Add ½ box of enriched whole-wheat rigatoni and 1 can of white beans. Cook until al dente.

Thursday:

Looking back on my Thursday eats there seem to be a whole lot of brown drinks, first beginning w/ a cup of joe.

Then I made a smoothie w/ one of Trader Joes's new products, Almond Butter w/ Roasted Flax Seeds. I love flax seeds but I don't eat them enough. I think that this product will replace my normal almond butter from now on.

Smoothie w/ above almond butter, plus ice, half a banana, left over coffee, and half a cup of vanilla almond milk

Brown drink number 2

For lunch I was at the hospital again visiting by grandma, so I had the only thing that looked edible in the cafeteria- a big ole' salad. Mixed lettuce, garbanzo beans, peas, carrots, baby tomatoes, all dipped in a rasberry vinaigrette.

Of course I needed some carbs on the side.I had a whole wheat dinner roll.

As I was waiting to pick up the girls from the bus stop I went and grabbed my third brown drink of the day- blended vanilla ice coffee from Cafe Vienna. Icy deliciousness.

For dinner I hapazardly put something together and had even more peas & corn. I really don't know what I would do without frozen food. Everything from this meal down to the brown rice from Costco was frozen.

Brown rice w/ corn, peas, and meatless meatballs (I added mango chutney & BBQ sauce).

After quickly scarfing down this meal I headed out for a night on the town in Laguna w/ my chicas Dru & Raveena. I think we went to almost every bar in Laguna- first Gina's Pizza for pitchers of Stella (more brown drinks)...

then to Big Fish for mojitos...

then to the Saloon for this crazy yummy pineapple drink where I bumped into one too many people from high school...

then we walked to Blue Laguna, then Hush, and ended up at the Sand Piper where we danced the night away. Here is Dru getting her funk on

and me and her canoodling/dancing? Don't mind my insane roots, i've been refusing to cut/color my hair for the past few months.

It was a really great night, lots of fun- Dru & I did some serious snacking when we got home late night, but luckily I didn't take any photos so there is no evidence except for me feeling bloated this morning. This post is already long enough, so I will share my eats from today w/ you tomorrow.

Bringing Back Color for Summer

Thursday:

I haven't really been eating breakfast lately, but I have been having lots of coffee in the AM. Check out my cool zebra rug from Target in the background.

For an early lunch I had a big, mostly raw salad.

Hidden underneath is mixed lettuce covered by sugar snap peas, broccoli, tomatoes, a few meatless meatballs w/ a dollop of hummus & BBQ sauce

(post mixage)

After eating this I started in on quite a project- unloading all of my clothes from college & organizing them. Since I will only be home for a month I decided that I would hang up all of the clothes that I plan on wearing for the month on a rolling rack in my room, and keep everything else in boxes. This is what I ended up with...

I was inspired to keep all of my clothing colorful & cheery for the month of May by a couple of bright maxi dresses from the 70's that my grandma gave me. I allowed myself to hang up only 3 black items (this is a major feat for me considering I live in black) and decided to let bright colors & patterns dominate. Even my black purses have bright scarves tied on them. I am telling you I think this is the best idea ever- it takes me 2 seconds now to pick out what I want to wear and everything is easy to view & access.

Anyway... let's get back to the food.

Once I finished organizing my clothes I made myself a smoothie with the only fruit that we had in the house- frozen strawberries & dates. Interesting combo, I added almond milk & ice and blended away on my mom's amazing blender.

This smoothie tasted like something you would buy at a diner, it was sooo sweet. Not really my cup of tea but I drank it anyway.

Last minute my mom & I invited a couple of her girlfriends & a couple of my girlfriends over for appetizers and drinks. We had to run to Trader Joe's to stalk up on appetizer foods- TJ's is the best for entertaining they have hors d'oeuvres that are so easy to make, all you need is a microwave.

Mmm look at all of the yummy food. For drinks we had wine, margaritas, & corona light. We munched on different kinds of chips (tortilla, parmesan sticks, potato, & pita) and baby carrots w/ 3 different types of hummus and guacamole. I also made chicken taquitos w/ salsa, and there were lime and chili cashews.

Left to right- dark chocolate covered pomegranate pieces, baby tomatoes, mixed mediterranean olives.

Cucumber wontons (filled w/ cucumber & textured soy protein) w/ a dipping sauce I made of soy sauce, miso paste, and sesame dressing. They were delish.

After stuffing ourselves w/ lots of yummy food we headed to downtown Laguna to go to art walk. We got there so late that we actually ended up not seeing any art at all but we did visit almost every bar in town and I managed to get some vintage shopping in.

Trouble- tequila shots & cocktails ( I had the blood orange cocktail)

Dru & I

Friday:

After my big night out the next day all I wanted was a burrito, the cure once again. Sadly there is not a Lilly's Cafe in Laguna so I had to make due with a burrito from Papa's Tacos.

It was filled w/ pinto beans, guacamole, pic de gallo, and lettuce. While it was tasty & filling, it was not the same as a Lilly's burrito. Oh Lilly's how I miss you.

Crazily enough I did not make it to Starbucks until 6 pm to get a coffee. I had the usual- ice coffee w/ soy milk & sugar free hazelnut syrup.

When dinner rolled around I was really excited to use my mom's steamer for the first time. I really wish I had a steamer at my house. I steamed a bunch of veggies (sugar snap peas, carrots, broccoli).

While waiting for the veggies to steam I munched on a few of TJ's lime and chili cashews left over from the night before. These are my favorite, they are way too addicting though. Ever once in a while you will bite into a chili and burn your tongue off.

My steamed veggies turned out perfect. I dipped them in hummus & bbq sauce while my family devoured Z pizza (I managed to steal a couple pizza crusts from my sistas)

It was a nice and healthy way to end my day, veggies are the best.

Graduation Celebrations & Moving Out

Saturday:

A little sustenance before embarking on a mission to complete the last of my packing (note the boxes in background).

A little bit later I decided to repeat my smoothie from the other day.

1/2 banana, 1tbs crunchy peanut butter, 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk, 1 tbs hemp protein

I even reused my coffee cup!

After finishing up the last of my packing I went and met my roommate Erin and her family for a little post-graduation lunch at Tra Di Noi in the Malibu colony. This was the perfect place for lunch- they have great Italian food and we sat outside underneath the big umbrellas in the perfect beautiful weather.

I had the bruschetta which they accidentally served me w/ shrimp on top. I contributed it to the rest of table's meal.

I dug in before stopping to take a pic, that's why there is a missing piece. This was very garlicky. We also munched on lots of foccacia bread.

Pic of Erin and I in carb heaven.

Afterwards I met up w/ my mom and my sister Emma to go and partake in some more graduation festivities. My other roommate Diane and her family rented a beautiful house in Malibu over looking the ocean and they hosted a little party complete with lots of delicious Mexican food from La Salsa.

My meal- salad, guacamole, black beans, chips, rice, tortilla chips, salsa

I also ate a bunch more tortilla chips, how could I resist this assortment of salsa?

Diane's mom made some great sangria too. I just loved all of the bright fruit, by the end of the evening I was eating the fruit out of the pitcher w/ skewers.

Mom, emma, and me.

Lisa, Cami, Me, & Diane

That night grad night was held at M Cafe in Calamigos Ranch. Sadly, I didn't get any good photos of the venue, but this place is amazing. It is all outdoors next to a lake, chandeliers are hung in the trees, and they have big white canopies outside draped in white gauze next to fire pits and pool tables. It was a really great way to finish the school year- there were lots of drinks and dancing.

Great DJ

Sunday:

Had to wake up bright and early this AM to move out all of my stuff from my apartment. First though I needed a bit of the cure, sadly I had already packed my berraca : (

You know you have a coffee problem when the guy working at Starbucks already has your coffee prepared for you when you get to the counter.

Beautiful things sometimes come wrapped in foil.

Lilly's burrito- beans, rice, potatoes, avocado

This burrito gave me plenty of energy to move everything out of my apartment- Let's be real it was more like watching my stepdad direct the workers we hired than me lifting boxes. It was so nice having everything finally packed up and moved, such a relief. I was so happy to be heading back home with the family in Laguna Beach, on my way back down I made my last stop off in Malibu at the Vitamin Bar.

Almond shake- almond milk, almond butter, banana, and dates.

This was insanely rich and delicious, I love anything almond. It kept me full almost until dinner time. When I arrived in Laguna I snacked on a few meatless meatballs that had defrosted during the trip now but didn't get a pic (it wouldn't have been a pretty sight anyway).

After passing out in my mom's bed for a couple of hours I was woken up for dinner. Ahh it's so nice to have someone else plan your meals for you. The fam had chicken fried steak and french fries, and my mom made me a variation of a recipe for Thai coconut soup that was in this month's Coastal Living.

Thai Coconut Soup

4 cups vegetable broth (w/salt)

1 (15 oz) can coconut milk

1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger peeled and sliced

2 serrano chiles sliced

handful sugar snap peas

2 tbl fresh lime juice

1 tsp lime lime juice

1 (12-oz) package extra firm tofu cubed

2 tbl fresh cilantro leaves

Directions: Combine first 5 ingredients in a large sauepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduces heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in lime juice. Add tofu and simmer ten more minutes. Discard ginger. Stir in cilantro. Makes 7 cups.

This recipe was quite spicy, just as I like it. I also had rustic arbatta bread and a side salad too.

mmm tofu

I had lots more of this salad too.

It's nice to be home : )