Delightful Disappointment.

So… I was really bummed that I didn’t get to cook my much anticipated dinner tonight but my boss and her husband pretty much told me that they were going to take me out to dinner tonight as a graduation gift+thanks for the hard work I put in for them. It was such a nice gesture that I couldn’t refuse. They decided to go to Olive Garden. I scanned the menu and quickly realized that there wasn’t much on the menu that was vegan so I created my dinner going by what I could. Olive Garden has the usual salad & bread sticks so to veganize the salad, I simply asked for mine with no cheese or croûtons. I drizzled a bit of olive oil+vinegar on my salad and tada-a vegan appetizer.

My main course was pretty easy as well. I asked the waiter if any animal products were in the pizza dough-and he replied no. =D I got a vegetable pizza which included bell pepper, onion, tomato, and mushrooms. I of course got no cheese. I ate 1/2 of this pizza and was pleasantly stuffed.

My boss is so wonderful. She has been really lenient and kind to me for the 10 months I worked for her. I’m going to miss her so much!

On another note, I’m including a picture of my favorite teacher and me. Her name is Mrs. Fagan and she taught Honors Anatomy & Physiology. She is truly an amazing teacher and I love her to death. This was at the academic top 60’s banquet for MISD. She is one of the smartest women I know and I value her friendship and advice.

Dinner tomorrow will definitely be my cooking. Sorry to excite you guys for nothing! I hope your monday went by with no trouble.

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First Attempt.

Since I had a pretty low key morning, I decided to give vegan baking a try. I flipped through many cookbook pages and scoured the internet and came up with a combination of a few recipes to create Vegan Cranberry Oat Bran Muffins. For my first time at vegan baking, I think my muffins came out pretty tasty. My mom and dad enjoyed them and I must say they made quite a tasty morning snack. I would post the recipe, but I’m not sure if it would be plagiarism… I mean, I didn’t copy a recipe but I studied the combinations from various recipes and created this one based on others. I’d rather be safe than sorry though.

and here is one sloppily cut open for my morning snack I’m going to have to get better at cutting the muffins open to reveal a real treat. I promise these were good though!

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Lunch was a bit later than usual due to having that muffin as a snack. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I knew I needed something before heading into work. I decided on a whole wheat pita stuffed with baby spinach and mushrooms. On the side I had more of the INCREDIBLE blueberries, some baby carrots, and a pickle. I couldn’t forget the salsa to accompany my carrots either. I Washed it all down with the usual water. This lunch was quick, satisfying, and filling. Now I’m ready to finish my last workday.

I did make it to Whole Foods today for ingredients to create my dinner. I’ve been eying this recipe on another blog for quite some time and am really excited to try it out. My brother and I are going on another run tonight. I’m going to push myself to keep up again. I just adore running-it has to be one of my favorite things to do without a doubt. It’s just so relaxing. <3 See you all tonight!

Late Morning.

Oh how I loved rolling out of bed at a decent hour of 7:45 AM instead of my usual 4:45 AM. High School starts so early for me (7:15) that I usually have to hit the gym at 5 to be able to get ready for school in time. I’m incredibly thankful for school being over and my nice, long, relaxing mornings. Now I can go to the gym or take a nice long run in the evening with the rest of my family instead of going at it alone in the early AM.

Today is also my last day at work! =D I’ve worked the entire school year and it has taught me to budget my money, take responsibility, time management, and a work ethic. I plan on taking all of those to Baylor with me in the fall. I finished up my valedictorian speech last night and I hope its really good.

If any of my few readers have a spare moment, I would LOVE for you to review the speech and make any suggestions on how to improve it. Just let me know and I’ll gladly e-mail it to you.

Today is going to run smoothly. I have to check in to my 2nd period class (because of exemptions) and then I’m headed over to WHOLE FOODS to buy some ingredients for dinner. It’s quite tasty-and I definitely can’t wait to show you. It’s going to be a pleasant surprise. Other than that, I have no requirements of me today except work. This is going to be a nice, relaxing Monday.

This morning I lazily made my way into the kitchen to make my breakfast. I made my typical multigrain hot cereal except for this time I added a pinch of dried cranberries along with the blueberries. It was delightfully tart+sweet and the cranberries plumped up in the hot water to give a nice chew. I had my usual hot tea on the side as well with a splash of vanilla soy. I am a creature of habit-but this blog will hopefully encourage me to try a plethora of new recipes.

These blueberries are gorgeous! They are plump, juicy, and very sweet. I just LOVE berry season. My mom gets these big clamshells of them from CostCo for a fraction of the price at other places. Strawberries are delicious too and she buys big clamshells of those as well. How I’m going to miss CostCo when I’m on my college budget. Haha. Alrighty, I’m off to take in the day. I hope everyone has a great Monday!