Stuffed on Stuffing

I hope everyone had a great holiday or day off, and it was relaxing and full of awesomeness. Although exhausting, mine was pretty spectacular. I haven't had a real holiday at home with my family in a couple of years, between being with a significant other or my family being out of town. This Christmas, however, there were no vacations or significant others, so I got to enjoy all of my family on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

On the 24th, my mom typically hosts a small family shindig, where everyone comes over, we play games, hang out and make hor d'oeuvres. Because my father (and now brother-in-law) are atkins people, the spread usually consists of mostly meat/cheese items with a couple of carb extras. Aside from crackers, there was not anything I could eat, so I whipped up my most awesome hummus and ate it with asparagus, carrots and crackers. Food didn't really matter though as I took advantage of having a weekend off after a very stressful work week and drank enough to quote from "Monster"* and learn the "Cleveland Shuffle" with my sister.

You can barely see it, but my hummus is behind the meatballs. In my inebriated state, I added bits of asparagus to "fancy it up"

Christmas morning my sisters and their families returned for breakfast, presents and dinner. I didn't realize the impact that a vegan lifestyle had taken on me until my mom started preparing the turkey for the oven and I started crying thinking about all that turkey went through before it died. Yeah, yeah, I know, shut it.

I didn't need turkey though because I prepared a most awesome vegan stuffing. I also had a pretty awesome Christmas dinner that consisted of corn, spinach, asparagus and cranberries in addition the stuffing, and ate more than I thought possible. Anyways, I made a similar stuffing for Thanksgiving but noticed that I was missing something in my flavor, so I tried again, severely tweaking what I had. I started with organic sourdough bread that I let sit out for a day and a half before breaking it up in tiny little bite sized pieces.

I then sauted my vegetables and soy meat, and rehydrated my craisins in chickn stock. I highly prefer this to vegetable stock for this dish. It's usually 1 bullion cube per 2 cups of water, but I used 2 bullion cubs in 2.5 cups of water. Overall, I thought it was pretty fantastic and much better the second day. Those that ate it (my mom and sister) really enjoyed it too.

The best part of it was while cooking my dad kept asking me in a surprised way if I was cooking sausage. I told him a couple of times that it was soy, but he either didn't hear me or wasn't paying attention. Right before assembling it, he asked to have a bite of the "meat," loaded up his fork, took a bite, then looked at my mom and said "...this isn't real." His face was pretty awesome. Who knows, maybe one day I'll convert him from his meat based diet. Probably not though.

Stuffing

1lb of day old bread (preferably sourdough)

1lb vegan sausage

1 large onion

2 celery stalks

2-3 garlic gloves

2.5 cups "chickn" broth

1/2 c craisins

sage, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste

Rip the stale bread into pieces and place in casserole dish. In a large saute pan, add olive oil and cook the onions, garlic and celery over med heat for 5 min. Add the meat and seasonings and cook until the meat browns, around 7 min. Add the mixture to the bread and mix. Then add the broth and rehydrated craisins and mix well. Cover and bake at 350 for 30 min, then remove the foil and cook for 10 min longer, careful to not overcook and dry out your stuffing.

I don't have a final picture of it, but it was pretty. I actually recommend cooking it the night before

so that the bread can soak up all the flavor.

*We're not a weird or crazy family. The events surrounding "Monster" are horrible and deplorable but for some reason the women in my family have developed a crazy attachment to this amazing film, and it just isn't a get together with the Rush women without this movie being mentioned or acted out.**

**Not the rape/murder/lesbian scenes, obvs.

Peanut Butter Cookies

My work decided to have a cookie exchange for our holiday party. Not nearly as cool as free wine, but it's cookies, so whatev. I felt a lot of pressure because I feel like whatever I make is going to be taken one of two ways: cautiously because it's vegan or ignored because, well, it's vegan. Because I had to work today, I said I wasn't going to make anything until my coworker made what is going to be a very amazing key lime goat cheese cheesecake. So if she could do that, I can make some cookies.

I didn't want to go to the store, so I decided on peanut butter cookies, partly because I had all the ingredients on hand and partly because this same coworker said that she loved vegan peanut butter cookies.

Overall they aren't bad. My biggest whine with cookie baking is after the first batch, I'm bored and don't want to continue baking so my cookies get bigger and bigger so less and less cookie sheets go in the oven. I also I think it's hard for me to give a solid answer because I'm just not a sweet person. My mom tried them and said she never would have guessed they were vegan. Then followed it up with "this isn't like when I said your brownies were good. There really are good." So if she gives the thumb up, I trust her baking critique enough that they much be pretty good. I added little peanuts on the top for decoration and because I was a little short on peanut butter, I added 1tbs of tahini. The one compliant that I had is that these did not take 5-7min like the recipe said it would. Maybe I made them too big, but they took at least 10 min.

Peanut Butter Cookies
(recipe taken from hellyeahitsvegan.com)

¾ c creamy peanut butter (like I said, I added tahini)
½ c shortening
1¼ c light brown sugar
3 tbsp almond milk
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tbsp ground flax seeds mixed into 3 tbsp warm water
1¾ c flour
¾ tsp salt
¾ tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, combine peanut butter, shortening, and brown sugar. Add almond milk, vanilla, and flax mixture and beat well. In a small bowl, sift together flour, salt, and soda. Add dry mixture to wet; mix well. Drop by heaping tablespoons, 2″ apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten lengthwise and crosswise with fork tines. Bake 10-12 minutes. Store in an air-tight container.

no real reason for this picture, but definitely happy that baking is over

Vegetable Casserole

While at work yesterday I had an intense craving for pineapple fried rice. I convinced myself however that I couldn't eat the rice because I already had rice that day, and two rice meals in a row would equal carb overload. I looked through some of my vegan blogs and found a recipe for carrot, sweet potato and coconut casserole from Musings from the Fishbowl. Her blog is super awesome, fyi.

So, she thought the picture looked unappealing, but I thought it looked great and decided that I wanted that. The problem is the cooktime was going to take an estimated hour, and after work on Wednesday I work out and don't often get home until 9pm. I decided to do it anyway because the impending snow would mean getting home on Thursday would suck, and it would be nice

to have a comfortable dinner waiting for me.

So after working out, I headed to the grocery store. The safeway in Waldorf has a surprisingly okay section of vegan/organic options. No Trader Joes or Whole Foods, but not bad. Plus, I found this:

Bamba! I first had this while hanging out with some friends and they always said you could only get it overseas. Super happy to find it. If you like peanut butter, you'll like Bamba, so go try it.

What I didn't find were parsnips needed for the recipe. I got fingerling potatoes, and just added a couple more to make up for the lack of parsnips, but it totally could have done better with them.

I didn't get home until 930pm, so dinner went in at 945pm. It cooked until 11:15 when the carrots just wouldn't get tender. Maybe I didn't have them small enough. My mom, the brilliant mother she is, said to finish it in the crock pot, so I did. It cooked on high for another hour or two, and she turned it off so I could go to bed. Good thing I had Bamba. That and mushrooms became and equally satisfying dinner and this casserole made an excellent lunch on a snowy day.

Carrot, Sweet Potato and Coconut Casserole

(posting the recipe from Shellyfish as she made it up, then in parenthesis are my edits. All credit goes to her.)

530 grams/18.5 ounces cooked garbanzo beans (I used 1 can, rinsed)

1 red onion, diced

2 to 4 cloves garlic, diced (3)

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 medium parsnip, chopped (extra fingerling potatoes)

1 medium yukon gold-type potato, chopped (4 fingerling potatoes)

1 medium sweet potato, chopped

a large handful of frozen peas, rinsed (used 2)

400 ml/1 1/2 cups light coconut milk

200 ml/3/4 cups soy milk* (used 1 cup unsweetened almond milk)

curry paste to taste (2 tsp)

1/2 tsp ground cumin

salt & pepper

Fresh chopped cilantro or parsley for garnish (cilantro)

(couple tablespoons of nutritional yeast to add B-12 and sop up some liquid)

Combine all the ingredients except the peas in a deep casserole dish. Cover and bake at 190°c/375°f for about 30 minutes, then take it out and give it a stir. Bake for another 15 minutes, then add the peas and stir again. Bake for another 10 minutes or so, then serve garnished with fresh chopped cilantro.

(Mine didn't cook through, so I finished it in a crock pot on high for 1-2 hrs. I imagine though that putting everything in the crockpot and cooking on low while at work all day, then adding peas when you get home because they only have to warm would be just as nice)

not baby food, promise. just a bad picture

Snow!

There was snow on the ground this morning and it made me super happy. I'd love to have crazy snow storms like last year, but from what I hear, that's not in the cards for Maryland this winter. I just wish this snow had hit yesterday so I could have enjoyed it more versus driving in it.

Somehow over the weekend I always gain. I guess during the week I'm controlled with my food that snacking over the weekend paired with a lower water intake, that come Monday I'm always up 2 or 3 lbs. I generally lose that and move forward by Tuesday, but it's always upsetting to see a gain on the scales. Especially when I know I don't eat enough to put on 3lbs in one day.

So per usual, Monday tends to be a really low cal/high water day. I won't show you a picture of what I'm eating today, but it's eggplant and chickpea curry stew and it's not too pretty. I made a huge batch about a month ago, froze half and this is the last of it. It doesn't taste bad but I'm just done. It was really good the first couple of times I ate it, but now...blah.

But at least there's snow! =)

Brownies

Brownies are one of my favorite desserts, which is weird because I'm not a chocolate person. Given any dessert, I'll take lemon or rainbow (funfetti, sherbert) flavored things. Given that, I was bored yesterday and decided to bake. While looking through one of my vegan cookbooks (this one given to me by Mandy for my birthday, thanks Mandy!) I decided on the dreary, grey day that it would be a brownie day.

Now maybe it's because I haven't had a dessert type item in a long time but I thought they were pretty great. I discovered nog by Silk that I am oh so happy with, so it was very cool to me to have a vegan brownie and a no-dairy, no egg nog. Others were not as thrilled as me. My mom seemed to like it, although I think she was just being nice. Julie took a bite, smiled and said "mmmm, I'll save the rest for later." The only one that seemed to love them was Cass, and I think that was because she found out it had coffee in it and she thought that was pretty cool. Given those comments, I still think they were good. Alicia Silverstone has a recipe in her Kind Diet book that I think I'd like to try next time instead of this one.

The recipe I used is from the book but tweaked it some, so I'm not sure if this violates copyright things. It's taken from The Complete Vegan Kitchen by Jannequin Bennett, and you should get it for the original recipe.

Hope that covers everything, ha.

Brownies

1/2 c brewed french vanilla coffee (blech, my mom's coffee)

1/3 c cocoa

1 heaping cup of sugar

1tsp vanilla

1/3 oil

1 1/4 flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

Whisk the coffee, cocoa and sugar together until well blended. Then mix the remaining ingrediants just until blended but don't over do it, apparently it can make the brownies tough. Pour the batter in a greased 8in pan for 30-32 min in a 350 degree oven.

Hummus

I used to buy hummus once a week, but was sick of spending $4 for a tub of good quality hummus. I decided to save money and make sure I knew where each ingredient came from, so I went on the search for the perfect hummus recipe. You know what I found? There are a bazillion recipes for hummus. I tried free styling it for a while and that failed miserably. So, two months in, I think I found my favorite hummus recipe. I was eating two batches a week until I realized that although hummus is good for you, too much of a good thing is...too much. So I make this on Sunday and it'll last me until Friday or Saturday, and still tastes just as fresh as when I first made it. I use roasted red peppers in it frequently because after reading an article Sarah posted, I discovered that red peppers mixed with chickpeas increases the level of iron that is absorbed.

Favorite Hummus

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

juice of one lemon (unless it's a big, super juicy lemon. just use half)

2 tbs tahini

a few big pieces of roasted red pepper (i use the one from the jar, but I imagine if I had some extra time and made my own, this would taste way better)

2 garlic cloves chopped

1tbs water

1-1.5 tbs olive oil

salt, pepper and paprika to taste

I don't have a food processor, so I put the chickpeas in a blender, mix for a few seconds, then add everything else but the olive oil. Then I get it going on a low setting and add the oil until it's as smooth as I like it, which typically hangs out around 1tbs, sometimes 1.5tbs.

Enjoy!

Quinoa: A Love Story

So I'm really bad at blogging. Like, really really bad at it. My mom blogs on a regular basis and her entries are always so entertaining. I feel like when I blog it starts to turn boring and a "here's another recipe" sort of thing.

Anyways, I'm still vegan, so my recipes will still be of that nature. I love it so much and it was so easy, I can't believe it took me this long to get here. I started at the end of August, really just to see if I could last a month, and I can't believe the transformation you go through. I now exercise 4-5 times a week because I have so much energy, I'm down 45lbs and 2.5 dress sizes, and I can't describe the way my body feels. I still have a ways to go, but goal weight doesn't feel like such an impossible task anymore. I feel like I know my body better, that I think more clearly, and I'm not this miserable blob. I don't drink soda but once in a blue moon because it doesn't make my body feel good, which is so weird to me. My diet has switched from mostly processed to mostly fresh and whole, plus cooking is a lot of fun. My mom has been so much fun to cook for because she's not only honest, she's open to trying anything I make, and some of the stuff really impresses her. My dad is even opening up about trying some of my dishes (as long as they aren't too loaded with carbs =P)

Okay, off my "vegan is amazing and everyone should do this!" platform and moving on...

When I cooked this recipe last night, I knew I had to blog about it. A blog I read, apricot-tea.com, is becoming one of my favorites and her husband is a combination of vegan and raw, so she in turn is at the very least vegetarian. When I came across this black bean and tomato quinoa recipe, I had to try it.

There's a small natural food store in Waldorf that sells different grains and whatnot, but their items and hours are very limited, so I usually do a Whole Foods trip on Tuesday when I'm at work since one is fairly close (and a pretty walk). I got my quinoa from the bulk bin and it looked nothing like it does when it's cooked. I also had no idea how to cook it. I read that I had to wash it well plus my coworker reminded me about the importance of washing it, so when I looked up why, I found out that a coating covers the quinoa and can make the dish bitter.

So last night I mustered up the courage, bathed my quinoa twice and made this dish. It. Was. Amazing. It reminded me of rice a little, but it wasn't heavy and it kept me satisfied for a while. Plus, 1 cup of uncooked quinoa swells to 4 cups cooked, so in my opinion it's a pretty awesome deal (and 1c cooked is 4 ww points, which is a very filling meal with vegetables to me). I also paired it with avocado and Tofutti sour cream that tastes so much like regular sour cream to me, that I probably shouldn't have purchased it. I tweaked her recipe a little to fit what I had on hand and I apologize for the grainy picture, my camera phone isn't the greatest. I will be making this again today because I have left over ingredients and this will make lovely meals throughout the week.

Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa

2 teaspoons grated lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (really it was the zest and juice of two small limes)
3 tbs Olive Oil
1 teaspoon sugar (used Truvia)
1 cup quinoa
1 (14- to 15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 medium tomatoes, diced
3-4 green onions, chopped (white and green parts)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Wash quinoa in 2 changes of cold water. If you don't have a sieve like me, wash your quinoa in a pot and empty out the water as much as you can without loosing the quinoa. Then line your strainer with paper towels and dump the quinoa in that. A little more work but it's easy still. Put quinoa in a pot with 2 cups of water; bring to boil. Then turn the fire down low to a simmer & cover to steam. Cook for 20 minutes (or until it’s reached its desired softness and no liquid is left).

Meanwhile, whisk together lime zest & juice, oil, & sugar in a large bowl.

Add dressing to quinoa & toss until dressing is absorbed. Stir in black beans, tomatoes, green onion, & cilantro. Mix well, salt and pepper. You can add avocado and sour cream and eat it as is, or serve it with tortilla chips.

Vegan sour cream?! So excited about this.

Tonight I think I'm going to make some pumpkin bread, which will at the very least warm up the house. So cold today!

Busy weekend ahead

This weekend is going to be a pretty quiet one cooking wise. Tonight I'm going to finish up the last of my pumpkin soup for dinner, maybe add a vegetable. For lunch I went to Pasara's with a coworker, and I had this awesome stir fry of oriental eggplant, peppers, onions and tofu in a spicy bean sauce, but I don't think that was waist friendly, so I'll just have to have a lighter dinner. I'd love to learn how to make it though. They have a couple of vegetarian/vegan friendly options on their menu, plus their happy hour is fantastic!

But this weekend I'll be busy helping a friend with wedding preparations, so I doubt I'll do much cooking. She did get me a vegan cookbook that arrived yesterday, so I'm super excited about cooking from that in the near future. Next week though, as long as it's cooler because right now it's much too hot outside, I plan on making this butternut squash and coconut curry soup recipe I found on loveandoliveoil.com. I'm super excited.

Have a good weekend, all!

Pumpkin Soup

I keep promising pictures and this time, I actually took them. The downside is they are home on my mom's laptop. So, when I get in, I'll add pictures to this posting.

Anyways, I had my "OMGINEEDPUMPKIN" craving on Friday. Friday night however, I went out with two coworkers for happy hour then saw "Going the Distance." It was a very cute, very sweet movie. Saturday my plan was to spend all afternoon/night catching up on True Blood with my sister AND making this wonderful soup, but I was sad and depressed and needed hugs, so after 3 episodes and no soup, I ventured home to snuggle with my Whitney. She apparently needed snuggling too because she did not leave my side when I got home.

So Sunday was the day and Sunday it happened! Now the pumpkin soup I wanted to make involves andouille sausage and heavy cream and although that sounds gross, it's actually really good. A bit more hearty and wonderful if you top it with some smoked gouda. I was just going to make a simple soup and replace the cream with coconut milk or soy milk, but decided since I had time and the ingredients available, that I would stretch the vegan resources.

The result? Actually pretty amazing. My mom liked it and I thought she'd turn it down when she learned of what was in it or because of the spice (she doesn't like spice). My dad enjoyed it and wanted to know the carb count so he could have it. It also had a ton less fat/oil than the previous version which I liked more. This in a bread bowl would be outstanding. It made a ton, so I froze half and have been eating soup for dinner every night this week. I'm not complaining.

Pumpkin Soup
2 cans puree pumpkin
7 cups organic vegetable stock (I used 7 cups of water and 4 -2 cup serving vegetable bullion cubes)
1 onion
4 tbs Earth Balance
8 oz soy milk
1 tsp red pepper flakes
14oz vegan ground "sausage"
pumpkin spice flavor seasoning to your heart's content, but about 2 tsp, maybe 1 tbs
1/2 c packed brown sugar
salt to taste

Saute in a heavy pot (I used my dutch oven) the ground sausage and red pepper flakes over low-medium heat in 2 tbs Earth Balance for 5 min. Then add the diced onion and the remaining Earth Balance until the onions are soft. Add the pumpkin puree (or 1 1/2lbs diced pumpkin), reduce heat to low and mix. Then add stock, sugar, spices and mix well. Cover and let it simmer for about 45min-1hr (if you are using fresh pumpkin, just make sure it's soft).

Yummy pumpkin-ness a'brewin

In batches, transfer your soup to the blender and blend well. Return it back to the pot, add the soy milk and heat, but do not let it boil. Add any remaining pumpkin spice/salt/pepper that you feel necessary.

PUMPKIN

I have an obsession with pumpkin. From now until after Thanksgiving, I will make pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie and drink pumpkin spice lattes (used to be gingerbread lattes until Starbucks messed with the recipe. Thanks guys). I. Love. Pumpkin.

My goal this weekend is to make a vegan pumpkin soup. My pumpkin soup before contained spicy sausage and heavy cream, so finding a nice alternative that matched that flavor might be a challenge. So I will keep you posted this weekend what I come up with =)

Mac and no cheese

The first week or so I was on this plan, I had an intense craving for mac and cheese. I love mac and cheese but I love to hate it. I would never order it out but man oh man, if calories (ha, or lactose) weren't an issue, I'd eat it once a week. Last time I made it though was back in November when I couldn't silence the craving.

Seeing as how I am choosing to not eat cheese, mac and cheese seemed like an impossibility until I started doing some research. Turns out you can mimic the taste and texture of cheese fairly easily. It won't taste just like cheese, but it takes the edge off and for the most part, is not that bad (how many times can I say "cheese" in this blog?).

So I found veganyumyum and this lady not only has beautiful pictures, her recipes seem fairly easy and not too fancy, and her mac and cheeze was under her favorites. I read some reviews and decided this would be the recipe I'd use. Problem was I had never heard of half the items in the ingredients. Nutritional yeast? Tamari? Luckily for me I have a cube mate who is from California and fairly familiar with vegan items. And she doesn't laugh at my ignorance too much. She informed me that I'd probably have to go to a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe's to get the items needed for this recipe. Awesome. I love Trader Joe's and have always wanted to visit a Whole Foods, so I googled mapped them near Waldorf and....nothing. Not within 40 miles anyway.

There's a Whole Foods about a mile from my office, so I made the walk there. I really wish I had someone with me because I was so lost in this store and felt so dumb. I knew the items I was there for but didn't know which section or what they looked like, so my first Whole Foods visit was a big overwhelming. I managed though except for the tamari and came back with my list (and the best pear I've had in a while. And no I didn't eat the whole thing, sticker included).

Next time I make this, I will premeasure and set aside my ingredients because it all moves so quickly. I was so worried about over cooking but it was okay. The recipe can be found on veganyumyum here but I made some adjustments based on what I had versus what I thought I had versus what I forgot at the store. Over all though, I really liked it. It wasn't mac and cheese but it was really good for what it was. I will definitely make it again and make sure to have everything on hand =)

Mac and Cheeze
Serves 3-4

About half a box of macaroni noodles

1/2 bag frozen broccoli

1/3 Cup Earth Balance Margarine
1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 1/2 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 Tbs Lemon Juice, fresh
1 Tbs White Miso
2 Tbs condensed tomato soup (reeeeally thought I had paste but nope)
1 1/4 Cup Almond Milk
1/3 Cup Nutritional Yeast
1 Pinch Salt
Black Pepper, to taste

Few Ritz crackers to crumble on the top

Begin by heating a sauce pan and adding the earth balance. Once melted, add flour and whisk vigorously until a smooth paste forms, called a roux. Be careful not to add flour to a pan that is very hot, or your roux will be lumpy and you’ll need to start over. If you mix in the flour as soon as the margarine is melted and you should avoid any problems.

To this paste, add lemon, miso, and tomato and whisk until well incorporated. The mixture should still be paste-like. Then slowly pour in the almond milk, whisking constantly, until it is completely incorporated. Add the yeast and mix well. Cook the mixture until it thickens, whisking often. This should take approximately 5 minutes, but it’s flexible. Add salt and pepper to taste.

When you boil the noodles, add the broccoli when you have 5 min left in cooking, just enough so the broccoli cooks but doesn't overcook. Mix the sauce and noodles together, crumble the crackers and bake at 400 for 15 min, just until the top browns a little.

Cake Time!

Eating vegan has been fun and trying. You don't realize how much food you make has some level of animal by-products. One that I thought was going to be the hardest obstacle to overcome but ended up being the easiest was baking. I was bored one night a few weeks ago and stumbled across this recipe and decided to give it a go. I made a couple of alterations to it because I lacked some of the ingredients but it came out so yummy. Very moist and I had no need for icing. My mom, who was a little skeptical at the idea of a vegan cake, really liked it.

This recipe also proves that vegan does not equal healthy all the time. I think next time I'd also cut back a little on the sugar, it was definitely a sugar overload.

Vegan Orange Cake

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease or line with parchment paper a standard round or 8 x 8 inch square pan.

In a large bowl whisk together:

• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt

In a medium mixing bowl (or I use a large measuring cup) mix together:

• 3/4 c orange juice
• 1/4 c pineapple juice
  
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Pour wet ingredients into dry and whisk until smooth. Pour into cake pan and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Long time no post!

So, I thought about resurrecting this thing again. I love posting about food and life, and for some reason, I really love this blog, so I figure I'll give it another go around. It's been 6 months since my last post, and I'm cooking new and different things, so it'll be fun to get back in it. Especially since I'm now eating a whole new diet, so having a record of recipes I love will help. Plus, my phone now takes and sends pictures! Not great pictures, but pictures nonetheless.

I guess the real reason why I brought this blog up was I was looking through old facebook stuff and saw a picture I took, and the caption was "first day being 26." And I remember taking the picture so vividly. I had walked out of Latin class (uuugh Latin, you were the bain of my existence!) and had about an hour to kill before I was meeting up with my mom in Alexandria. We were going to see Julie and Julia and have dinner beforehand. The night before Jill came over and we watched Kenny vs Spenny episodes and Andrew bought me a beautiful pair of diamond stud earrings (that to this day I've never taken out, I love them so much). It was a fantastic birthday, and not because of what I received, but I was with people that I love.

This birthday, one year later, is quite different. This past year has been a whirlwind and I can say that when I took that picture a year ago, I never thought I'd be where I am now. I graduated from Maryland in January. I thought I would have no problems finding a job, and was even off to a good start with some promising interviews, but interview after interview turned up nothing. I seemed to always be in second place. From about March onward, I feel back into probably the worst depression I'd had in a while. I knew I was depressed then, but now looking at myself then, I don't think I could have realized how bad it was. I neglected my health, put on too much weight, was irrational/emotion and strained relationships.

I finally did get a job in May but it was a crazy one. A good friend of mine asked me to work with her until I figured things out doing customer service for an electronic cigarette company in Baltimore. It was by far the most trying job I've had. The people I worked with though, were amazing. It's the only job I've had where my coworkers yelled at me all day, then at the end hugged me and asked me to have dinner with them. Different cultures =) I'm back in DC now though, working my same on and off again job, but it's something to tie me over until I either go permanent, go back to school or find a different job.

This birthday is also different than the past several, because someone that I've spent the last few birthdays with someone who will not be present in this one. In May, my world at that time came to a sudden stop as the person that was my best friend and my life broke up with me. Different reasons were given (and sometimes changed) for the cause of the break up, but in the end, and at least today, it seems like it really was for the best. I hope anyway. I can see now that we lost our own identity, and no couple survives unless they can be themselves. It's still hard to accept sometimes that it's really done and over. The recovery has been bumpy but the old saying of "time heals all wounds" really is true as each day gets better. I still care deeply for him and it's taken me a while to reach this point, but I sincerely hope he's doing exactly what is good for him and he's happy. I did realize through this process is that I really do have amazing friends. Friends that listen to me cry about the same things over and over, friends that hang out with me at the drop of a hat and friends that would literally do anything for me. I can confidently say that I'm not only lucky to have the people in my life that are there, but I really am lucky because these people do love me.

My 26 was an intense year to say the least. But its end brings a promising and hopeful start for 27. I do live at home with my parents, and although they agree that this is not a living situation that either of us want to last forever, they are very kind for allowing me to live there until I get back on my feet. I'm now vegan and have been for 3 weeks now, and have never felt better. I'm not even trying and I'm losing weight. And for the first time in weeks, I'm.....happy. Like, not just in a good mood, but people have commented that they can see that I'm happy. I feel hopeful. I'm painting more and focusing on myself and having fun. I can see how much I've grown up in my face from my last picture but it's okay. I've come a long way. So even though I've already cried today (I'M SO CLOSE TO 30 NOW!), I can honestly say that I look forward to what 27 brings. I think it's going to be a great year of new experiences, new friends and a new me. So, happy birthday to me!

Brownies, the low fat version

So, I had a hankering for brownies but don't want to blow my ww diet. I also had no eggs and started looking for substitutions. Pureed black beans? I had no beans. Bananas? I had no bananas. I searched and searched and remembered Julie talking about putting yogurt in cake mix in place of the oil and eggs so yogurt it was. I opened and dumped out the brownie mix, then looked through the fridge and only had strawberry yogurt. So I put that in there. Oil? No oil, but not wanting to throw it away I used applesauce.

I made the most craptastic, heavy, chewy brownies that had an after taste of strawberries.

Next time I'll just go to the store for eggs and oil and have regular brownies.

This is what happens when you don't want to get pantsed...

So this weekend I had Jill, Julie and Lizzie over. Lizzie left early but Julie and Jill stayed. About 1am Andrew decided to go to sleep. Julie then decided that potato cakes were an awesome idea, then this is what happened:

Let me explain. Earlier in the night Jill pantsed me. If you don't know what pantsing is, it's the act of pulling down one's pants exposing your hiney for all to see. She then did it to Julie when Lizzie gave her a piggy back ride (I dropped her earlier)
So then I was after Jill. She begged and pleaded for me not to pants her. "Please please please Susan, please don't do it! I don't want to show my butt!" So I didn't and you know what she did? She poured a cup of water on me. Since Julie and I had both been pantsed by her, we decided to gang up which really just resulted in me throwing a pitcher of water on her and Andrew. He was innocent and unaware this whole time. Cold and wet he went to bed when I started potato cakes. Then flour started being flung because water was thrown. Then potatoes were thrown because of flour. Jill aimed a bottle of mustard on me and I returned the favor with ketchup. It was disgusting and Julie cleaned my kitchen the next morning while I scrubbed the floor and carpet. Here are the photos that captured the event:

They look innocent and sweet but they aren't

Beautiful

Bulls-eye

She likes it

So the last couple of pictures are just too gross or not flattering. One I am covered in wet potatoes and ketchup that's clumped over my eye. Remember when Jack Black from Shallow Hal pretended to have pink eye to avoid seeing Rosemary so he gunked up vaseline over his eye? That's what it looked like.

Jill's Dinner

So I know I said I'd have pictures. I promised even. You know what though, I stink at taking pictures and I'm even worse when it comes to uploading them. When my phone could send pictures, I did it all this time but now I have this crappy phone that doesn't send or receive pics, so I don't often do it.

I will however share the wonderfullness that is Jill's Dinner. This dinner started off as a "i think this is what I used to put into the burrito casserole..." then I just sorta played with it from there. I also put different things in it all the time. Sometimes I use turkey meat. Sometimes it's two different peppers. Other times I make my own concoction of seasonings. Point is, I've never disappointed with this dinner. I cooked it once for my bff and she loved it so much, and requested it over and over that I named it after her. It really is that easy and yummy, so onto the recipe!

Filling:
1lb ground beef
1 onion chopped
3-4 garlic cloves (pending the size and love of garlic) minced
1 red or green pepper (which ever is on sale)
1 can refried beans
salt, pepper, sprinkling cayenne
1/2 packet taco seasoning

Sauce:
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can tomato soup
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 packet taco seasoning

Extras:
8 soft medium sized taco shells (i think they are fajita size-NOT soft taco or burrito size)
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar or mexican blend cheese

Saute the onion, pepper and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until soft. Add ground beef until brown, cooking it slowly (for some reason it tastes better this way). Add seasonings to taste, turn off heat and add the refried beans and blend well.

In a separate bowl, mix all the sauce ingredients until well mixed. Add more salsa or sour cream as you see fit. Basically, if it doesn't taste good or is too thick, add those two accordingly.

Heat the soft shells in the microwave until they are soft. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan with a little sauce to keep the burrito things from sticking. Fill each with the mean filling, fold like a burrito then place seam side down in the pan. You should be able to fit 6 vertically and 2 horizontally. Cover the burrito things with the sauce, cover with cheese, cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 min, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove, let sit for 5 min or so. Add optional chopped cilantro for color.

Serve with either salsa, sour cream, both or none.

And enjoy.

And be prepared to make best friends.

coming this weekend..

So I haven't seen Jill in FOREVER so this weekend I have invited her over. Julie too. I was pondering what to make for dinner and Andrew sheepishly asked me "isn't Jill coming over?" I said yes and he responded"...doesn't this mean we get Jill's Dinner?"

Yes!

He LOVES LOVES LOVES this dinner. It's practically the only casserole thing I can get him to eat. Jill loves loves loves LOVES this dinner, which is why it's named after her. I make it many times she comes over for dinner. It's a whole made-up thing I started cooking when I couldn't remember the recipe for a tex-mex dish. So, all of you out there keep an eye out, this weekend Jill's Dinner will grace the likes of this blog. With pictures. And you will want to recreate this dish.

I should trademark it.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Bread

So I was in the mood for bread making this evening and the only bread flour I had on hand was my King Arthur Whole Wheat flour, so I felt like my options were limited. I went through some blogs and found a recipe I wanted to try from fake ginger and went ahead with my wheat flour. I decided on cinnamon wheat bread, hoping for the best but honestly expecting the worst.

You know what though? It was pretty fantastic. Like, more than fantastic, it was down right great. Here are the pictures I took right after removing it from the pan:Isn't that a beautiful loaf? I thought so. I was so impressed with it. Notice my awesome salt dish that is actually a small Halloween candy dish. I wanted to be like the food network people with their salt cups instead of using a shaker.


This. This was great. The bread was super moist and the cinnamon and sugar was melty and oh so good. I should have waited a few more minutes to cut the loaf, but you get the idea. It was good. We have already eaten about half the loaf.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Bread
1 packet active rise yeast
2tbs warm water
1/2 c warm milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tbs soften butter
2tbs sugar
2.5 c whole wheat flour plus 1 or 2 tbs more

Filling
2 tbs melted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar (packed)
1tbs cinnamon

Prep your yeast in the warm water. Mix all wet ingredients, the butter, then add the yeast, then in half cup increments add the flour. After 2.5 cups is added, add the salt. Knead the bread for 5 min with your mixer adding just enough flour, if needed, so the dough separates from the bowl. I imagine this process is a little longer if kneading by hand.

Once your dough is kneaded, remove from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. It will be sticky until you sprinkle flour all over it. Roll it out until it's roughly the size of a piece of paper, then brush with the butter and cover with the brown sugar mixture. Roll it up tightly and pinch the ends slightly, then place seam side down in a greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise an hour or so in a warm place so it doubles in size. I turn my oven on so it's warm. Once it's risen, put in 350 degree oven for 25 min. If it's not yet golden on top, the recipe calls for you to cover with aluminum foil for an additional 5-10min. Remove and cool on rack.

Then enjoy!

I'm back!

So, now that I'm still unemployed (hopefully not too much longer) and have internet, I have been cooking more. I made this pretty wonderful lemon pasta dish that I want to share and is taken from pioneer woman. I tweaked it only mildly.

1lb of thin spaghetti
2-3 lemons (one lemon zested)
parsley
2c sour cream (can use light)
4tbs margarine or butter
2tbs olive oil
4 garlic cloves
parmesan cheese

Boil and drain the pasta until you reach desired consistency. Run cool water over it until it's cold. In a skillet over LOW!!! heat, melt butter and add olive oil. Crush and dice garlic cloves and add to oil. Cook 1-2 min, add lemon juice of one lemon, turn heat off then add sour cream and mix well. Add salt to taste and the lemon zest and stir.

From here you could have a cold pasta by mixing the pasta, sour cream sauce then adding more lemon juice and parsley and put it in the fridge. What's nice for when it's cold is mix the pasta and sour cream, add half the bag of parmesan, cover with foil and bake for 15-20 min. Take it out, add the rest of the cheese, the lemon juice and chopped parsley , mix and serve.

It's so good. I ate it for dinner, lunch the next day, then snacked on it in between meals too. I highly, highly recommend.

ALSO NEWSFLASH: I fell back in love with bread making. I made whole wheat bread and it was oh so good. Once I find my stupid camera cord, I'll post pictures again.