Buffalo Springs Lake, a Naked Rat, and a Delicious Dinner

Holla! What's up bloggies?
Life has been even busier than usual for me! I have started the processing of cleaning and packing my house, and it's so tedious! We decided to sell/give away all of our furniture and move with the bare minimum of belongings so that we don't have to rent a truck + trailer for our car which would end up costing upwards of $900. Instead, we're getting rid of stuff...and getting the smallest trailer UHaul makes to attach to our car!
As if this wasn't enough to worry about, my landlord is selling the house and I have to pack & keep the house clean at the same time so the Realtor (spell check wanted me to capitalize that) can show it.

I have been reading and commenting though- at the expense of regular posts. I would rather keep up on all of y'all's lives than rush through writing posts of my own!

Anyways, I have also been spending time with friends; this past Friday my boyfriend and I, Colleen and her boyfriend, and another friend drove out to Buffalo Springs Lake.

It was so nice out there! A great way to beat the heat- it definitely felt cooler the closer we got to the water. The boys set up the grill and I set out some yummy things I brought.

I packed cut strawberries, carrot sticks, grapes, and corn on the cob to share with everyone- along with Triscuits and cheese, and celery (which never made it out of the cooler...)
My first plate:

+ carrot sticks :)
I have been eating a little bit of cheese lately... I would say I'm still about 90% vegan though- if anyone was curious! After I (or my boyfriend) finishes the cheese in the fridge though, I probably won't buy any for a while.
Colleen brought marinated veggies and we skewered and grilled them:

and I roasted up some corn with a bit of Earth Balance,

then rubbed it with lime wedges.
Interesting Fact: Did you know that the niacin in corn is bound niacin which means that it is unavailable to us- unless we eat the corn with something alkaline- like lime! The lime turns the niacin in the corn into free niacin. Love. It.

So, limes were had...and we were thus saved from diseases such as pellagra. :)
We sat around the lake drinking a few beers and watching the sun set- the moon was almost full, and it was gorgeous!

It was a wonderful evening!

The following night, one of my co-workers invited Raine and I to a get together at her house. We played Apples to Apples (have you played?) and had a great time- especially with her pet rats!

They were hairless...

Here, one was sneaking queso off a plate of finished nachos... My co-worker had 3 rats! One of them was pregnant and we are considering taking one of the babies...
That was the only picture I took Saturday-ha!

Finally, I want to share a tasty new meal with you all.
This recipe is from the vegetarian cookbook (100% Vegetarian) I bought when I was in Dallas- I don't know how "legal" it is to post this recipe since I did not modify it...but the book was published 20 years ago and the author is Julianne Pickle. Here is the website for her publishing company here. The book is only 7.95 and I would definitely recommend it.
The recipe is for a Carrot-Rice Loaf and some the ingredients include brown rice, shredded carrots, quick oats, green onion...and a couple of other things!

There it is sliced and plated. 

It turned out really well, but it was missing...something. Peas? Sunflower seeds? I served it with another recipe from the book: peanut gravy. I actually just stopped blogging and e-mailed the author to see if I could share this recipe with y'all...let's see what she says!

I hate not being able to share something delicious and nutritious with y'all!

But until I hear back from her...check out the nutrition!

(I halved her recipe so that 1 loaf yielded 2 servings)

PS- it is vegan!

Today I also received a couple of organic summer squashes from a co-worker's garden!

I cut them up into fry shapes and roasted them to serve with my loaf.

Yum!

I went back for seconds and added some crushed red pepper...and a little dollop of ketchup in the background.

I have not prepared a full meal in such a long time it seems. Tomorrow I'm going to make a recipe I found on Alicia Silverstone's blog. Stay tuned!

On a side note, I got 2 e-mails regarding the "what I ate today" portion of my last blog post. They expressed concern that I may not be eating enough-and I was relieved that they did not sound malicious! I did end up having a large bowl of Special K Protein Plus cereal with soymilk after posting that night- and 2 more of Averie's Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls (the last of them- so sad). So y'all were right- what I posted was not enough for me that day. But, my day-to-day eats vary quite a bit and some days I will eat much less than other days. Don't worry though- I am not depriving myself of anything and I feel that I eat enough (though not always healthily...) I have been maintaining my weight within 5 lbs for over a year now so I know I'm not under- or over-eating. I thank you for your concern, though!

Here is what I ate today:
Breakfast: 1 banana, 1 gala apple, 1 carrot
Morning Snack: celery sticks
Embarrassing Lunch: Twizzlers, Diet Coke, Bean Salad, and Broccoli (from the cafeteria at work)
Snack: whole wheat crackers
Dinner: Carrot-Rice Loaf with Peanut Gravy, summer squash fries
Potential Dessert: Banana softserve with frozen strawberries and some cashews

and if I'm hungry- I'll eat more!

A comparison to what I ate yesterday...
Breakfast/Snack upon waking up: 2 cups of grapes
Brunch: Indian Food buffet at a restaurant- 2 pieces of naan, spinach curry, lentils, basmati rice, salad, sambar (Indian tomato soup), and a samosa
Afternoon snack: carrot and celery sticks
Dinner: Thomas Everything Bagel Thin, mango pickle, tomato slices, broccoli, Triscuits
Dessert: those new pretzel filled m&ms

And I am always having nibbles and snacks here and there also :) There is usually dark chocolate involved every day! Particularly, Lindt Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt...

Questions:
Chocolate or Vanilla? Neither? Both?? I'm definitely a chocolate girl- the darker the better! I went through a phase from ages 5-14 when I despised it though- and would only eat vanilla flavored things!
Favorite Board Game? Mine is definitely Apples to Apples. I also love Boggle, Scrabble, or any word game!