Stove-less and Starving

Okay, maybe not starving. But stove-less I am!

My parents are getting the kitchen remodeled.

The renovators came at 9 AM and cheerfully hacked away at our old cabinets, countertops, and flooring. They also managed to lay down a good chunk of the tiles.

I know that everyone likes a good before-and-after shot, so here you go! (If you’re wondering about the star-studded refrigerator, why yes, I am a full time college student, part time 5-year-old. ;))

Before

Before

After

After

As you can see, they left the stove there (“for one more day”). How considerate of them, right? Because clearly we’re going step into that war zone to flip a burger. Can’t you see the evil fluff monsters coming to get us after all these years of deep dark repression, trapped behind layers and layers of wooden boards? It is not safe in there, I tell ya.

And thus, I am essentially without a stove for the next few days.

What does that mean?

Leftovers, microwave meals, and raw goodies!

Thankfully they didn’t disconnect the fridge. Otherwise I seriously would be starving. Wait, no, I could just live off my stash of LaraBars…

Breakfast was a bowl of overnight oats with blueberries, blackberries, crushed walnuts and pecans, almond butter, and cacao nibs.

Lunch was super easy–leftover stew that I had frantically made (over the stovetop) last night: red onion, kale, celery, carrots, lentils, prepared tomato basil pasta sauce, avocado, and… water. This is my Stew-You-Feel-Good-About because it’s low sodium but still retains creamy undertones from the avocado. It was great cold, with just a plain ol’ slice of multigrain bread and a plain whole wheat wrap (I just like to roll it up and chomp at it… mmm…). Lucky for me I made enough stew to feed a herd (read: myself) for probably three more meals.

Lots of snacking ensued, including a roll-up wrap smeared with hummus and avocado, frozen strawberries, dates, and a 2 Minute Cinnamon Peach Surprise.

It’s times like this when I see the true usefulness of microwaves…

and wonder why I ever fussed with ovens.

Random afternoon snackage led to a random, almost raw dinner.

* Raw zucchini spaghetti, lightly seasoned and then tossed with balsamic, agave, and EVOO.
* 1/2 block of uncooked tofu, cubed and coated with BBQ sauce
* Raw baby carrots
* Kabocha chunks, steamed

Tofu was good but could’ve been better if I had a presser to squeeze out all the water. (Speaking of which, Averie is having a TofuXpress giveaway!)

I ate an entire zucchini for dinner. Like I’ve said, my spiralizer never ceases to amaze me…

Right before hopping onto the dear blog, my fruit cravings kicked in again and I nibbled at some papaya that I had popped into the freezer earlier.

If you like frozen bananas, you’re gonna love frozen papaya! Oh, um, you might have to like papaya to begin with, too. That would help. 😀

Have you ever been without a stove or other important appliance, kitchen or not? What kind of sacrifices did you have to make?

Sure, no stir-frying, sautéing, or baking for a while. But I’ll be okay. I think this whole renovation thing’s gonna help me get more raw food into my meals.

And make me better at dodging wood chips and splinters that threaten to poke my naked feet.

Here’s to a great weekend, guys. 🙂