Grilled Eggplant Mozarella Sandwich

Oh what a joy to get a break from it all,  the semester is finally over and all I want to do is just sleep and eat. This being the hardest of all summers for me , i couldn’t wait for the semester to be over. With this 2 week break from school i planned to enjoy my  break to the fullest as much as possible.First up on the list was making a dish from this vegetarian book i recently bought. This was originally a breakfast recipe but i tweaked it a bit to be a lunch or dinner recipe. I recently bought a grill pan so it was a breeze grilling  the eggplant, but this can be  sauteed as well.The recipe is listed below:

• Eggplant sliced (grilled)
• Sliced tomatoes
• Sliced mozarella Cheese
• Pesto
• Sun dried Tomatoes (optional)
• Toasted Bread of any kind

Layer everything and pop in the oven till the cheese is melted, and you’re done!

Next thing on my list, a Netflix marathon of Dawson’s Creek lol.. Don’t judge me :-p

Half Day Cleanse -Blueberry Oats and Green Pineapple smoothie

The summer is made to have fun, unfortunately this summer my face has been stuck in the books. I’m realizing more and more each day that the life of a grad student is not so fun.  With the added stress of school along with work i really haven’t been eating the way I’ve like to. Fries, Pizzas, Cake, Lasagna  and anything fried has been on the menu for the past few weeks. So i decided i need to change things up and do a half day cleanse, where the first half of the day its smoothies and a light snack if need be with a  late lunch and dinner as usual. With plans in mind of doing this cleanse, i went to whole foods looking to find a new source of protein , and found hemp seeds. I usually buy hemp protein powder but i hate the chalky texture protein powder in general leaves so i was hoping that this would work.

So in replace of ordinary protein powder,I milled handfuls of  Raw Rolled Oats, Flax-seeds, chia seeds and hemp seeds in my Nutri-Bullet and use it as protein powder.  I used it in my Blueberries Oats smoothies and Green Pineapple smoothie that’s picture below. I also  tried a new addition to my smoothies for a sweeter taste this time: 2 medjool  dates and one dried fig in each batch. They didn’t blend thoroughly but i didn’t mind the the sweet bits that they brought. Down below are the recipe for both smoothies.

Blueberry Oats

• Blueberries (Frozen)
• Protein Mixture
• Coconut water
• Water
• 2 medjool dates
• 1 dried fig
• extra cup of oatmeal (for heartiness)

Green Pineapple

• Spinach(Frozen)
• Pineapple (Frozen)
• Protein mixture
• Coconut water
• water
• 2 medjool dates
• 1 dried fig

I made three for the day, underestimating the power of my protein mixture and only drank one and a half  that morning. If you’re looking to do a full day cleanse, you can do six jars a day with water in between each. I for one prefer smoothies than juicing cleanse for the mere fact that they are more filling  to me. But what’s great about these recipes is that they are so  tasty that they can be made for cleanses or anytime of the day.