Breakfast

I am not a breakfast eater, though I have started to eat it in the last few months due to the issue of my stomach growling loudly without it. Usually, I just have a bowl of cereal as I run out the door. However, cereal isn't very filling and after an hour or two I often find myself prancing down to the vending machine to fill the beastly void. To prevent this, I have turned to an old friend. Parfaits are extremely filling I find, and quite versatile to different taste preferences. I have detailed my creation below. I usually make my parfait in a tall drinking glass.

Yogurt Parfait

Vanilla yogurt
Granola
Frozen strawberries cut up
1/2 banana cut up

Scoop some vanilla yogurt into a glass, followed by a layer of granola. Put in some more yogurt, and add the cut up strawberries. Put in a thin layer of granola, and place bananas on top of this. Enjoy.

I recently discovered that in my new city, a smutty little blot on the map in Southerwestern Ontario, there is a grocery delivery service. This is top notch, as I hardly have time to shower, let alone trot over to the store. My first delivery (fruits, vegetables, whole grain pasta, tofu, cheese, whole grain pitas, canned beans) came tonight. Since it is Sunday, and I do not have to get up until noon to teach, I decided to dive headfirst into my first cooking experiment.

Lentil/Tofu Sloppy Joes

1/4 package firm tofu
1 can lentils
1 stalk of celery
1 green pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/2 red onion
1 can sloppy joe sauce (not as good for you, but it saved me time/money)
Hamburger buns (I keep these frozen and take out buns as necessary)
2 tbsp olive oil
*Add hot sauce/pepper flakes as desired. I did not desire any.

First, I cut up the tofu, and cooked it in a tablespoon of olive oil (for a guide to doing this easy but also easily botched task I direct you to here: http://hubpages.com/hub/How_to_Cook_Tofu_Like_the_Pros).

After the tofu had sufficiently browned, I opened the can of sloppy joe sauce (classy), and put the tofu in to marinade for 1/2 hour.

As it absorbed that sweet, sodium filled sauce, I turned my attention to the vegetables. I cut them all up, and in a tablespoon of olive oil lightly sauteed them. Some may like the vegetables to be cooked more, but I personally have a hatred of cooked vegetables lacking crunch.

As the vegetables crackled away, I opened the can of lentils. I rinsed these bad boys, and then threw them in with the vegetables.

After thirty minutes were up, I threw in the tofu and sauce and let it all simmer and boil until ready.

Finally, I heated up my hamburger bun in the microwave, and then toasted it once it had defrosted.

Result of first experiment: success. I served it with a garden salad (bagged), and iced green tea with a slice of orange in it. I know I could have made this much healthier by using non-canned lentils, non-bagged salad, and non-canned sauce, but this blog is about being realistic. Realistically, I spent several hours in the library today and have at least five hours of reading ahead of me before bed. It is not perfect, but for a lot of people under time/financial restraints, I think this is a relatively healthy, and definitely inexpensive meal.

**Pictures will come eventually.

I am in graduate school, I have very little money, and even less cooking ability. Still, I was horrified to recently find that after only 2 months in this rigorous self-inflicted hell, I had gained nearly 10 pounds, and at least one pair of my jeans refused to do up no matter how I twisted myself around*. There has been a lot of eating one's feelings around this apartment, and even more frozen pizza and microwave popcorn. Certainly, food isn't the whole problem. A lot of it is huge amounts of stress, the little amount of sleep (3-4 hours I'd say), and the constant urge to snack while reading, grading, and writing deep into the night. Still, my resolve is to eat healthier, and be aware of what I am eating. Thus, I am starting this little online experiment where I detail some food I (attempt to) make, and photograph the evidence.

*This isn't a blog about weight loss, and I will never mention my actual weight, except to say now that even with the recent gain, I am not overweight. It is a blog about learning to juggle grad school with having a life, being healthy, and learning to cook.