Mexican Brain Food

Just a few more hours until this next midterm and I’ll be almost free for spring break!  This whole studying thing has been such a drag, seriously.  I feel so drained and my fingers might as well be bleeding for how much I’ve been typing in my study guide.  I ended up with 19, 1/2 inch margin pages of 11 point font notes.  Holy moly…

Just can’t wait to be done, cannot wait.  My studying was accompanied by some pretty awesome brain food though.  Food worthy of a What I Ate Wednesday for sure.

Breakfast was one of the best green monster smoothies ever in honor of WIAW Goes Green this month.  I mixed up chocolate protein powder, almond milk, 2 tsp chia seeds, stevia, and some decaf coffee granules the night before and then combined that mixture with frozen banana, handfuls of spinach, and a heaping dollop of peanut butter.

Vera mixed this baby up really well and Lord was it super smooth and creamy.  I really enjoyed every single sip.  I was proud of myself for using real peanut butter instead of peanut flour.  It’s hard sometimes, after realizing just how many calories are in that one scoop of delicious nut butter, but I think it’s worth it to try.

Lunch was after a long class talking about Alzheimer’s disease/Huntington’s disease/frontotemporal dementia which was rather depressing.  The kinds of decisions that caretakers of those patients have to make are incredibly hard.  I can’t imagine having to make them ever.  Anyways, lunch, right… I had a refried bean sandwich with swiss and mustard along with orange slices and sweet tomatoes.

I spent the whole rest of the afternoon studying/typing/complaining and snacking on an apple once I got hungry and actually had a moment to breathe.

I ended up staying late and walked home in the sunshine and light heavy breeze.  By the time I got home I was ravenous and I had a second food-related victory of the day, I didn’t eat the whole kitchen, I instead snacked on some blueberries and [massive] strawberries to hold me over while I did a session on the elliptical (again while studying).

When I got back to the apartment I showered real quick and downed some cheese to give my muscles protein and to get me to the restaurant without chewing my arm off.

Then came the good stuff: Mexican night with Supper Club!  We started off with chicken & mole tamales, corn smut quesadillas, along with homemade chips and fresh guacamole.

They also had awesome queso and a dreamy tomatillo/avocado/cilantro/spicy pureed sauce for the chips, and just about anything else we could get our hands on.

For entrees, we tried goat, baked quail, and pork carnitas.  There was also a consommé to make a stew with the goat.  All the dishes were served with refried beans and dirty rice.

All of them were good.  I think I liked the pork the best and honestly, the quail tasted like chicken.  If I hadn’t been told it was quail I probably wouldn’t have known at all.  Oh well, still tasty.  I used some of the homemade corn tortillas and made a few tacos along the way.  Seriously, it makes all the difference in the world to have handmade tortillas!

Told you I put the cheese and green sauce on everything.  Scrumptious I tell you!  As one of our last additions to the menu, we tried their homemade mole and boy was it nice and rich, all those chocolatey undertones and spice.

For dessert they scooped us cookies and cream ice cream (not very Mexican I know but tasty none-the-less) and I killed off several lime wedges.  Nomnom.

Most surprising thing of the night: the corn smut.  It was SO DELICIOUS.  I just wish they would name it something a little less provocative.  Anyways, now I think it’s time for me to head to bed.  A good night’s sleep will do me wonders.  Plus I should wake up early and continue to study.  Tomorrow’s midterm at 10am is going to be a doozy.

Questions: What is your favorite Mexican dish?
What is your go-to brain food?