My Foodie Staples

Aren’t there a few many things you can’t live without? I’m sure we all have them, I know I do! They tend to change every once in a while, but I definitely have some items I’d prefer to not go without. With that being said, here’s my current list of foodie staples!

Cereal: Right now, I’m loving on the PB Puffins (hope I never get sick of those!), Kashi Honey Sunshine, 365 Organic Honey Crunch & Oats and Cascadian Farm Cinnamon Crunch. I also really like Bear Naked Fit granola (especially triple berry crunch–what’s with all these cereals and having crunch in their name?) and Udi’s cranberry granola. I generally don’t have cereal at breakfast (I used to everyday, though) but it makes an amazing snack…or small dinner?

PB & Chocolate Puffins, Bear Naked Fit granola

Fruit: Gosh, no way could I ever live without this! I love almost all fruits I’ve tried, except for plums and pears. In my dorm, it’s hard to have some of my favorite fruits, like pineapple and berries, so I’m sticking with some tried-and-true varieties, like bananas, black grapes and apples. They’re all pretty versatile and easy to take with me to classes.

Red grapes, giant Honeycrisp apple, bunch 'o bananas

Veggies: I also love veggies, but I don’t really have a way to cook it, so raw it is. Luckily, I love raw cauliflower, and it’s pretty easy to eat. I also discovered butternut squash, which is amazing and simple to heat up in the micro. Plus it comes pre-cut (thanks, Whole Foods!) so it’s perfect for someone without a sharp knife handy. Baby carrots are also a good option.

Cubed b-nut squash, baby carrots, cauliflower

Dried fruit: Mmmmmm, yes! Dried fruit is the bomb.com and even less of a hassle to bring to classes. I love Medjool dates, raisins (golden and regular), dried pineapple, freeze-dried fruit…the list goes on and on. I just look for dried fruit without any added sugar or chemicals and I’m good to go!

Organic Medjool dates, raisins, organic dried pineapple

Mini frozen burritos: I have 2 small fridges with tiny freezer compartments, so I need all the space I can get. EVOL makes mini burritos, which are perfect as a snack or part of dinner/lunch. I love the veggie fajita kind, since it’s vegan and yummy. Score!

2 mini EVOL veggie fajita frozen burritos

Sweet potatoes: I’ve been missing these guys like crazy lately, but luckily, they’re back in my life again. They heat up quick in the micro and taste so so good topped with almost anything–nut butter, trail mix, honey, guacamole, chili powder…

Cinnamon and almond butter topped sweet potato

Spices: Speaking of chili powder, girl’s gotta have her spices. All I got right now is curry powder, ground cinnamon and hot Mexican chili pepper, but it’s good enough for me! Those are probably my 3 fave, and they can ‘spice’ up anything from coffee (the cinnamon, of course) to veggies.

Ground cinnamon and hot Mexican-style chili powder

Truvia: I like things sweet, but I don’t want to add real sugar to some things, ya know? That’s where Truvia packets come in. They’re easy to carry around in case I get an unsweetened iced tea on-the-go and I always add a packet to my oats to sweeten them up. I love that they’re a natural sub for fake sugar.

Big box o' Truvia packets

Almond/nut butter: Where would we be without nut butter? As I’ve said several times before, PB is not my fave (sorry!). But I absolutely adore almond, and lately, almond peanut cashew. Nut butters are soooooo good on sweet taters, as an oats topper, on wraps/sandwiches, with fruit (especially dates) or even off your finger 😉

Archer Farms almond peanut cashew butter

Morningstar spicy veggie sausages: I have one of these almost every morning, and have for probably the last year. Somehow, I’m not getting bored of them. I’m definitely not a savory person, especially at breakfast, but they’re a great source of vegetarian protein, they’re easy to make (except when your micro burns them…) and they taste so darn good. I like anything spicy, like I’ve said millions of times before.

Spicy veggie breakfast sausage, fudgie-topped millet bread

Organic jelly: It’s kinda upsetting how many jellies have high fructose corn syrup in them. I mean, come on, why can’t they just have simple, natural ingredients? When I found Smucker’s Organic line of jellies, I fell in love. Sure, there’s still sugar in them, but it’s real sugar, and it’s natural and organic. There aren’t any weird ingredients in it either. Is it weird that I like it with nut butter and crackers????? It’s also delish as an oats topper.

Smucker's Organic concord grape jelly

Starbucks VIA instant coffee: I can’t live without my ‘bucks fix every once in awhile. But when you’re a college student with no car, it’s kinda hard to get. Lucky for me, they came out with instant coffee packs that are almost as good as their brewed stuff. Not only do I love it in homemade skinny lattes, but it’s amazing mixed in with overnight oats. Talk about an energizing breakfast 😛

Date with almond butter, homemade Starbucks VIA latte, Greek yogurt with raw organic honey

Protein bars: I’m no athlete, but I still eat these like it’s my job. Kidding, but I do love ’em. I don’t get the huge ones, like regular Clifs (I usually cut them in half to have as a snack), I prefer the Mojo kind which are like trail mix bars, and Pure and Halo bars. They make a perfect on-the-go lunch alongside some fruit and they come in so many varieties. My faves at the moment are Mojo white chocolate macadamia and mountain mix, Pure chocolate brownie and Halo s’mores and nutty marshmallow. I try to get bars that have at least 6 grams of protein (the Halo ones don’t, but they’re good for a snack) and only natural sugar.

Clif Mojo Mountain Mix & White Chocolate Macadamia, Clif Z-Bar Chocolate Chip and Full Moon Brownie, Pure Cherry Cashew and Chocolate Brownie, Halo Nutty Marshmallow and Clif C Blueberry

Almond milk: I switched to soy last May, and I liked it for a while, but now I prefer almond. I still have soy milk every so often (the Silk seasonal kinds are SO good) but now I’m trying to buy almond more often. I really love the Pacific Naturals unsweetened vanilla, but the plain Whole Foods brand is also good. It lasts longer in the fridge than soy and has a nice, light nutty taste.

Pacific Naturals organic unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Rolled oats: Of course I have these! I probably have oats in some form every single day…well actually, I pretty much just eat them in overnight oats 😀 Unlike a lot of people, I prefer overnighters to cooked oats. But anyways, oats are incredibly versatile, easy to prepare and so healthy. I don’t even want to start to explain my overnight oats, so just check out my page devoted to them!

Carrot cake overnight oats

 Greek yogurt: Another “duh” if you read my bloggy regularly! Oikos is my one true Greek yo’ love, but sometimes I go off and have an affair with Fage mango guanabana or blueberry acai. Shhhhhh, don’t tell 😉

Oikos organic plain, Fage Total 0% blueberry acai, Oikos organic caramel

 Of course, there are many many more products I’ve (sadly) had to leave out ’cause I didn’t wanna bore y’all with it, but these are what I have most often and love the most!

What are your foodie staples?

WIAW: Coffee Burns & Giant Veggies

Happy Wednesday, ladiesssss 😀 I have been loving all your responses to part 2 of my story–they have truly been making my day(s).

So what have I been up to since last WIAW? Oh, nothing much, just slowly dying a painful death doing a crap ton of studying and homework that’s all due this week. I don’t really have midterms, per se, just two tests this week, a quiz on Friday and several other random assignments. So you could say this is my crazy midterm week. I just can’t wait til it’s over. But on the bright side, my semester is officially HALF over as of today! Wooooooohoooooo 😛 Just 5 1/2 more weeks til Thanksgiving break and only 8 more until Christmas. Wow time really does fly when you’re having fun super busy!

Enough blabbing, let’s get on with what I know you came here for–the food! This week, I’ve just got a random assortment of my eats of the past week or so, plus some random survey questions. Lessssss go!

Trail mix-topped oats, spicy veggie sausage, golden and regular raisins, AWESOME gummy vitamins. I know you want some...

 What is your favorite drink from Starbucks? Year-round, the skinny hazelnut/vanilla latte. Iced or hot, depending on the season. I always get tall because anything bigger makes me feel sick and get a huge headache–no fun 😦 My favorite seasonal drink is the peppermint mocha light Frappuccino. I never got a Frap before I realized you could get it made with skim milk and no whip. It’s still totally delish. But I haven’t been able to get my Starbs fix lately, so I’ve had to resort to making my own with VIA packets. I love em, even though I’ve already totally burned my tongue off. Ah, fall 😉

A random lunch I had last weekend back at home: sweet potato tots, veggie sausage, half a nanner, Sriracha. No worries, I didn't dip the banana in the Sriracha!

What did you do this weekend? Oh, it was SO much fun (not!). I did laundry, went out in the pouring rain/cold/wind to pick up some gum and applesauce (just the essentials 😉 ) from the dining hall express store, tons of studying and homework, organized my dresser, made my outfit list for next week and my packing list for the weekend and watched the new SNL. Fun stuff, no?

I was attacked by a giant cauliflower! No seriously, this was just one piece from a mix of broccoli and cauliflower, but it's almost as big as a whole head of cauli. Scary stuff!

 What is your favorite dessert? Gelato, no question. Guys, if you’ve never had it before, doooooo itttttt. Now. Seriously, even if you’re lactose-intolerant or vegan, ’cause the fruit flavors are dairy-free. It’s 100000 times better than ice cream and even froyo. I love this little place in my college town called Gelazzi, even though they’re expensive, because they have like 30 flavors at a time. My personal faves are soy chocolate and birthday cake. So. Good.

A breakfast way out of my norm, but still so good: date with almond peanut cashew butter, homemade mocha made with Starbucks instant coffee and unsweetened chocolate soymilk, plain Oikos mixed with raw wildflower honey.

Have you ever been run over? YES. Just last Wednesday, I was walking innocently across an intersection with tons of other college students when BAM, this chick on her bike ran into me. I ended up riding along on her front tire for a few feet and then I found myself on the street underneath her bike. WTH? Anyways, she apologized over and over, and I ended up with two nasty scrapes on my legs. I’m so tough 😛

Oats in a jar time! I finally finished the almond butter (it took forever, because I fell head-over-heels for almond peanut cashew butter...) and decided to make carrot cake over(hours) oats for dinner. Cinnamon, APCB, date and carrots (duh) mixed in, apple on the side.

 What is the best thing you’ve made/ate this week? Sweet potato protein frosting say whattttttt?! Yeah, so basically I wanted to use up some sweet potato puree I had on hand so I thought, why not make a dip/frosting out of it? It’s so simple, you just mix 1/2 a cup sweet potato puree (from a can) with a scoop of vanilla protein powder and a tablespoon of nut butter of your choice (I used almond peanut cashew butter, aka APCB, the new love of my life). Stir it up and you’ve got yourself a nice “frosting” for pita bread, apples or whatever. Plus it’s got like 4 grams of protein per spoonful!

Sweet potato protein frosting (see recipe above)! You can substitute pumpkin for the sweet potato, use whatever kind of vanilla protein powder you prefer and any nut butter. The combinations are (almost) endless.

 What are you most looking forward to in the next two months? Ummmmm Christmas and Thanksgiving fo sho. And New Year’s, I love the holiday season. There’s still like 5 1/2 weeks til Thanksgiving break, but I get 9 days off, including weekends! I’ll be cooking up a storm, definitely. And Christmas is a month-long break 😀 Gosh I love being in college.

My outfit on Saturday, aka randomly cold and extremely windy day. Brown zip-up hoodie (Hollister), orange babydoll tank (Hollister), brown striped leggings (American Eagle), brown Bearpaw boots. Yep, I totally did the whole leggings-boots college girl thing, but with my own twist.

 What is your favorite protein-type bar? Gosh, I absolutely love Clif Mojo bars, especially the mountain mix (I love all the random nuts, seeds, raisins, pretzel pieces and chocolate chips of course). I also really love Pure bars, the chocolate brownie has my heart, and in my opinion, SO much better than Lara bars. I’ve also started to love Halo bars, in s’mores and nutty marshmallow. True story, I used to be obsessed with mini Clifs but then they changed the formula and now they taste totally nast. So I pretty much only buy Clif C and Mojo bars, but when the seasonal ones come my way, you better believe I’m buying them all up!

Have YOU ever been run over? What is your favorite protein bar/Starbucks drink/thing you’ve made or ate this week?

WIAW: Pop Quiz

Hey everyone! Okay, I just realized how boring that sounds. I really need to come up with a cutesy name for y’all, a la Tori. Hmmmmm, let’s see, what’s something I like to eat that can be turned into a nickname…oh, how about Peanut Butter Puffins? Or just Puffins for short. Yeah, let’s go with that! So PB Puffins it is, unless someone else can come up with a better name!

Enough with the silliness–let’s get to WIAW! This week, in honor of my first week back in classes (as well as a lot of other bloggies, I think), I decided to throw a little “pop quiz” about me in there. I hate pop quzzes, to be honest, but this one’s fun. Trust me.

My morning started out bright and early (for me) at 7. But I got to enjoy a nice breakfast in bed, so no complaints. Sour gummy vites, gummy calcium pill (can you tell I like gummy things?), spicy veggie sausage and dark chocolate oats topped with Whole Foods chocolate apple crunch trail mix. Seriously, this trail mix changed my life, yo.

What is on your desktop wallpaper? This is slightly embarrassing, but a very attractive male Hollister model leaning against a fence. Too hot for words, so here’s a picture…

Perfect Christmas present, right hurrrr 😉

What is your favorite drink? Right now, it’s homemade iced tea with a little Truvia for sweetening. I also love making Starbucks VIA iced coffee with a splash of soy milk.

What was your favorite toy as a child? I had a lot of favorites, but I’ll go with Beanie Babies (remember those?) and American Girl dolls. I had way too many Beanies, and I owned 3 dolls: a blonde Bitty Baby, Felicity (the red-haired girl from colonial times) and a “look-alike” doll I named Hallie. I still have them, actually…

Today's actual lunch was...messy, boring and eaten on-the-go, therefore, no pictures. This, however, was my yummy snack from Monday: Bear Naked Peak Protein granola (6 grams in 1/4 cup!) and the ever-present dates/raisins. Never gets old.

What food do you eat too much of? Greek yogurt. Oats, specifically overnight oats. Almond butter (partial to the crunchy over here!). Dates/raisins/pretty much any dried fruit. And lately, spicy guacamole snack packs, organic maple syrup, Whole Foods trail mix (I love the chocolate apple crunch) and peanut butter Puffins. All amazing in my book.

What kind of hairstyle do you have? It honestly depends on the day. Sometimes I use my hair waver to create boho waves. Sometimes I straighten, sometimes I scrunch for beachy waves, sometimes I curl, sometimes I pull it up into a high side ponytail. It really depends on my mood and outfit.

What was your favorite activity in gym class? In good ol’ elementary school, I loved the gymnastics unit. In high school, I loved yoga and Zumba. Can you blame me–I’m a former dancer!

Will the real snack please stand up? This was today's snackie-snack of Kashi TLC crackers, spicy guac with a bit of plain Greek and thawed mango chunks. Salty, spicy and sweet.

What are the top 3 most played songs in your iTunes library? Without checking, I know Lady Gaga’s gotta be one of them! After checking: Hey, Soul Sister by Train; Beautiful, Dirty, Rich by Lady Gaga (called it!); and The Show by Hawk Nelson. I really did not expect any of those songs to be in the top 3–I listen to them a lot but not that much. Maybe I need to refresh the library so it’s more accurate…

What is the picture nearest you of? Me and my little sis on our trip to Estes Park last year. I brought it with me to college last year and this year and it really brightens my day. I love that girl to death.

What do you do on a Sunday night? Have dinner. Possibly shower. Have a snack. Maybe watch the news or a random movie on TV. Read some blogs. Sleep. You know, all that fun stuff.

First dinner in my new place! Curry powder-spiked Amy's Cali veggie burger, baby carrot pyramid, strawbs and pineapple and a tablespoon of almond butter. It was also my first full tablespoon of nut butter ever--scary, but so worth it.

 If you could only use one condiment on your food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Can I mix? ‘Cause I’m really into mixing condiments lately. Maple or agave and almond butter. Guacamole and plain Greek yogurt. I can’t just live with only one of those.

What color are your sheets? Bright pink, both here and at home. I love being a girly girl so…yeah 😀

I've decided when I get bored that I'm going to do model photoshoots with myself. This is one of my favorite Instagram'd photos ever. Make love, not...um, meat?

How big is your computer display? 17-inch laptop screen right hurrrrr! And I love it (not the screen, the laptop).

What pair of shoes do you wear most often? Generally speaking, leather flip-flops. Specifically, pink suede T-strap leather sandals from American Eagle. I’m surprised they’re not worn out yet!

Another self modeling shot.

What is your favorite game? The Game of Life or Uno! I also have both on my iPod, so I’m a bit obsessed. But I love that I can play them anywhere.

What time do you plan on waking up tomorrow? Between 7 and 8. Just a week ago, you couldn’t have paid me to wake up that early, but (sigh) now I have to because of classes. Oh well, it could be worse…

Okay, Puffins, it's mini-review time. I got the S'mores Halo bar (by Probar) at Whole Foods and I just had to try it. Verdict? Like the Quaker s'mores Chwey bars of my childhood, but healthier and more delicious. It had big chunks of chocolate, marshmallow and even a bit of graham cracker. Only complaint is that it's pretty tiny.

 Have you ever tried a Halo bar? What condiment would you use if it was the only one you could have?