Dirt Cake

Every Wednesday, I teach an after school lit club to a group of 1st graders as part of one of my children's lit classes. It's been fun (well, last week not so much, post-halloween kids are a terror). I was trying to think of something special to do for the last week I had with them. I built a whole lesson plan around food and digestion, so the last day we read Megan McDonald's Beetle McGrady Eats Bugs then I had the kids write me a story about how they thought something that would be nastiest thing they ate wasn't really all that nasty.

Tuesday night I thought "oooooh, I'll make dirt cake." Looks gross but is totally awesome right? One of my friends suggested I make it vegan, so since I've had such issue making vegan baked stuff, I went for it.

Verdict? Pretty awesome. I'm not sure if this is traditional dirt cake but I loved it. My kids all said it was the best cake they ever had. The only thing I'd do different is maybe use ground flax seed/water instead of the egg substitute, but I was short on time and didn't know the correct measurements.

Cake

1 box no dairy cake mix (I used a Duncan Hines marble cake mix), prepare with egg substitute and then the oil and water on the box directions

6 oreos

Mix the cake ingredients, pour in pan and top with broken up oreos. Bake the cake according to box directions, set aside to cool.

Frosting

2 half sticks softened Earth Balance shortening

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2-3/4 c confectioners sugar (just taste it as you go)

4-5tbs peanut putter

Start with beating the shortening then add liquid ingredients. Add the sugar a tablespoon at a time, then mix in softened peanut butter. If it tastes to shorten-y, add more sugar as needed.

Dirt

One package crushed oreos

Gummy worms

Cover the cake with a thin layer of icing. You really don't need that much. I used probably half of what I listed above but it's pretty good and will keep for a long time. Cover the cake with the crushed oreos and top with gummy worms.

Pretty good!

Pumpkin hummus

Please excuse the ugly picture, I've already dug into this quite a few times. It's no secret my love for pumpkin. I think more posts in this blog are about pumpkin than any other food. Anyways, I like to roast pumpkins but there was sale at my store on organic pumpkin puree, so I stocked up on a few cans. I made pumpkin soup last week and want to make pumpkin curry soon, so I needed something else to make with my pumpkin. I was making my weekly batch of hummus and thought that's it, pumpkin hummus!

This recipe needs some tuning but it's pretty good. The pumpkin flavor is really just a hint that shines with cinnamon without being sweet. I've been putting it on my salads and it's not overpowering. Add an apple to the salad and it's the perfect fall meal. Let me know if you try it and put in anything different!

Pumpkin hummus

2 c chickpeas (I rehydrate a cup of dried beans by soaking them over night and boiling them the next morning for 30-45 min. Test 5 to make sure they are soft, boarderline mushy so they blend easier)

1-3 tbs leftover water from cooking chickpeas or from the can

1/2 can pumpkin puree

2 tbs tahini

1 tbs olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

salt to taste

cinnamon to taste

Puree all the ingredients in a blender or food processor except the water. I start with the chickpeas, then add the pumpkin, tahini, oil, lemon juice and salt. Add the starchy water until you get the consistency that you want. Transfer to a container, sprinkle with cinnamon and refrigerate. The flavors will really shine and come together if you let it sit for a half hour or so before serving. Enjoy!

Been a while

Heeeyo,

So it's been a while. Honestly, it's been a while for everything. I haven't cooked really anything above what I can squeeze in a microwave in some time. I work a full time and part time job, I go to school full time and I have a kitchen that is too small to really devote much time to cooking.

That all stopped when I got this little beauty that was marked down for being damaged:

I love this lunch box. It came with a larger tupperware container, a medium sized one and two small ones, as well as a 16oz water bottle. I usually don't use the water bottle because I have my own mammoth sized one, so I just replace that section with my breakfast of yogurt or a piece of fruit.

Since I'm usually on the run, I noticed that I was neglecting my health and in-taking too much processed stuff, so I decided to take advantage of this and make my own lunches. I get some produce from compost, some from my store and others that I eat a lot of, like carrots and spring lettuce mix, from cosco (don't judge) because I can get large quantities (and organic too) for pretty cheap. I spent $30 on produce last week and it lasted me the entire week. Then I do other things like buy dry beans and rehydrate them for hummus or soup. The process is a little more time consuming, but you can't beat the flavor or the price, and really, I make a batch every Sunday that lasts me a week and costs a fraction of what I would spend at the grocery store. Plus, I made pumpkin hummus last week because...why not? Recipe on that later when I can get a picture.

So with that lunch box, here is my typical lunch (and nutritional info just because)

My every day lunch

2 c Spring Mix

1 c chopped broccoli (sometimes I roast this in no oil with mushrooms)

6 grape tomatoes

2 tbs (pumpkin) hummus with 1 tbs dressing of choice (gives is a thinner consistency. This one is Drew's Organic Smoked Tomato dressing)

1/3 c chickpeas - i put 1 tbs of bbq sauce (SWEET BABY RAYS) because plain chickpeas can get boring (I only buy tempeh once a week, so if I have it on hand I use 1-2oz of that instead)

This lunch is super filling, comes in at around 240 cal, 8 grams of fat and 8 grams of protein. And all of this fit in that little lunch box. Although it may cost more than (a vegan version of) ramen, this meal still comes in well under $3, less if I can get a piece or two from compost.

See you can eat well on a budget!

Coming up next....my new obsession. Pumpkin hummus.

...lunch!

I eat pretty well when it's CSA time. I am off today, so I woke up and went to my work out class and now, although I should be a little productive, I'm being lazy. At least my lunch wasn't lazy. I took some leftover kale and yellow squash and broiled them with a little salt, cherry tomatoes from my garden and some paprika for 10 or so minutes, shaking every once in a while. I sprayed the pan with some cooking spray to keep it from sticking. Super delicious!

Drunken Beans

First, I'm sorry, but I don't have a picture for this recipe. I wish I did because holy moley it was awesome. I had off last Thursday which meant I wanted to stay up late Wednesday night. I had some left over dried beans in my cabinet that I wanted to slow cook somehow, so when I got in, I began to soak them, roughly 1 c black and 1.5 c of garbanzo. After a movie and a glass of wine or two, I started to look up recipes for slow cooking the beans. I knew the two didn't exactly go together and I was tired of my usual beans and rice curry, so I wandered to my kitchen and had my own my drunk kitchen experience, only less cute and funny, more cutting my finger with a knife while chopping an onion.

First, my beans had not quite soaked the full four hours but I thought (decided) they were done enough. I found a saucepan that was too small, rinsed the beans thoroughly and boiled them for a few minutes. Really that was all I could do because it was too full and my water kept overflowing onto the burner. I got a majority of my how to cook dried bean information here but it was 2am and I didn't feel like reading all that. I knew that boiling them is most important for dangerous kidney beans but to be on the safe side, I boiled them first on high then on low for about 5 minutes. While this happened, I took out the crock pot and in it added chopped green pepper, onion, garlic scapes (I lacked garlic), 1 28oz can of diced tomatoes, 1 can of tomato paste, and the beans (rinsed again once they finished boiling. Supposed to make you less gassy, fyi). I also added a little of the beer that I was drinking. Anyways, I covered the lid and cooked on low. You apparently aren't supposed to add salt to beans when you are first cooking them because it can make them absorb liquid less.

I woke up around 10 to a house that smelled like tomato and garlic. I went to check on my bean mess expecting the worse but they looked beautiful and I felt like I was a goodfella making the best tomato sauce, only less stirring and more looking for helicopters. It was still a little wet (I'm not blaming the beer) so I added a small can of organic tomato sauce (maybe it was puree?) and seasoned it with salt, pepper, cumin, a little red pepper flakes and just a few shakes of cayenne. I covered and let it cook on low until around 2 when I added basil, cilantro and just a touch of thyme from my garden, then turned it off but left the lid on so it could marry and cool slowly.

This was beyond amazing. My goodness. It was warm and happy and comforting like spaghetti without being heavy like pasta. The garlic scapes gave it a mild garlic flavor and I like them, mainly for how they look but I think next time I'll use regular garlic. I love garlic too much. But I can see how this can be varied. Definitely not a regular meal with it being so hot out but for this past week, and really for the whole crockpot (equaled for me 7 meals) coming in at under $7, I'm super happy with it. I think next time I'll add mushrooms though.

How does your garden grow

Answer? Pretty darn okay! I sometimes get over excited and pluck tomatoes too early, but here are some that ripened on my windowsill and tasted amazing.

I need to go get something for my cucumbers to climb on because they are currently reaching for anything they can, which often means choking my basil and cilantro. The thyme and rosemary are flourishing. My mine started off strong and has been suffering the past couple of days, so I trimmed back some of the branches and see if that'll help it. The other night the roommate and I made dinner that consisted of stirfry vegetables, vegan taco meat, and English chips she deep fried. I used some cilantro from my garden for the squash/zucchini/onion/pepper combo and it was pretty awesome.

Other than that, life is...life. I am working full time at the store. I just finished my first grad level class and although it just about killed me, I'm done for the summer. Up next, the praxis! For now though, I'm just focusing on having fun which I am. And getting back into running/being more active for summer. I'm 10lbs shy of a healthy bmi reading and losing 100lbs and I'd like to hit that by the end of August which I feel like I can do. We'll see. I totally won't get there eating deep fried chips/vegan taco meat, but splurging every now and again is okay.

Cooking on a budget!

I'll stop posting pictures of her when she stops being cute

I'm finally all unpacked and LOVING it here. New roommate is pretty awesome. The friends I'm making at work are pretty awesome. Being less than 15 min from school and less than 20 from work is the most awesome. Life is good.

What I am finding though is eating well on a budget is super tough. In April, I paid the security deposit for this place, rent to nasty people that I didn't live with, then moved home and paid for gas to commute from waldorf to baltimore every day. Needless to say, finances are a little tight but now that May is here and my commuting costs have cut drastically, I'm hoping it'll all balance out soon. In the meantime, I'm finding ways to eat cheaply

but not have it be packaged $1 soups (although don't get me wrong, I still eat those often).

I work for a grocery store, so I get a discount, but paying attention to our sale prices mean extra savings for me. And using coupons. And using/stretching everything in your fridge/pantry. I did that today with this awesome and filling lunch: roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli.

Bbq sauce goes with everything. EVERYTHING.

We had a sale on Japanese sweet potatoes which became my new favorite thing. I had a small one left that I cut up, sprinkled with salt and cumin and roasted with left over frozen broccoli cuts. Seriously, if you haven't tried Japanese sweet potatoes, go get them before they go out of season. They are amazing. Total cost of lunch: $1.25 for the sweet potato and $.75 for the broccoli. More than the prepackaged soups but definitely more nutritious and will hold me over longer.

New home

Just wanted to say that we are in the process of moving and getting everything settled but doing well! Extremely happy so far! This place has such happy positive energy. And by we, I of course mean Whitney and myself.

Doesn't she look comfortable?

Just wanted to say

Mandy is pretty awesome. That is all.

Big Pot O' Soup

So as I said yesterday, I had a day off which was a wonderful surprise. I was feeling a little under the weather, so I decided to put everything I had left over into a crockpot for a soup. The above pot has a japanese sweet potato, half a bunch of kale, carrots, some white beans, tomatoes, an onion, garlic, vegetable broth, cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne, and because I love it and saw a can while getting oil for my car at target, pumpkin. It was awesome. Savory, warm, comfortable and hearty. Plus the cumin added this Indian spin I wasn't expecting.

The other thing I want to mention is this: Japanese sweet potatoes. HOLYCRAP. They look like a giant red potato but are sweet and need nothing when you make them. I am not a sweet potato fan typically but these are outstanding. Bake and add a little salt and you are good to go. I am thinking about making a root vegetable mash with vegan butter next week and will probably use them with parsnips and turnips if I can find good parsnips.

Kale chips

I'm not feeling well today, I think because I've just burned myself out a bit. Between work, moving and the semester approaching an end, I haven't had a day off. Until today! I slept 14hrs last night and just taking it easy, giving my body a chance to recover and prepare for an insanely busy week/weekend ahead.

For the next two weeks I'm in Waldorf at my parents' house because my living situation turned sour. Or rather, a "friend" that people talked about being a bad person and I ignored because we seemed to have fun together turned out to be a horribly disgusting person, so I'm in Waldorf until my lease at a super cute new place in Brooklyn Park starts on May 1st. Seriously, the place is adorbs and I can't wait. Anyways, so I'm in Waldorf and right now it works out because my family is on vacation for the week, so I can watch the place while they're gone. I say all this because as they were leaving, I noticed my mom had a huge bunch of kale in the fridge that she never ate. Since she was leaving, I asked if I could have it because I have been DYING to try kale chips.

Holy.

Crap.

These things are amazing. And super easy. I was never a sweet tooth person, always preferred salty, and these did me in. I made a baking sheet full and that was only 1/3 of the bunch. The other 2/3 is for the next post.

But yeah, super easy and awesome as a lazy day off, staying in bed lunch. The pictures do not do it justice!

Kale Chips

Kale

salt

garlic powder

2tsp olive oil or cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375. Break off kale from stems to bite size pieces and place in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil, then add salt and garlic powder to taste. Bake for 10-15min, checking for the edges to be brown and the kale to be crisp. Enjoy!

Cooking fail

Seriously, when am I going to suck it up and cook more? Never. Yesterday I ate leftover vegetables from Tuesday night's awesome birthday dinner for lunch and for dinner it was seaweed snacks, a banana and a bowl of broccoli.

Today's lunch was this:

V8, vegan jerky and an organic apple clif bar. Pros? I got three servings of vegetables, a serving of fruit and some healthy nuts for about 250calories. Con? This all cost me $4.27! I could have eaten healthier and fresher for much cheaper. One of these days I'll stop complaining and actually cook.

Soup Time

Last week I hung out with some friends that reminded me the importance of cooking. Yes life is crazy busy and yes I feel like I have better things to do, but honestly, taking 2 hrs on a free afternoon to cook meals for the week saves time AND money. Plus my body thanks me for it later. Soo Friday before work I did another fridge cleanout and made soup. AWESOME soup, if I might say so.

I really need a new camera. Or a phone from this decade. Anyways, the soup has everything in it. I started with water, then mixed in vegetable bullion cubes and some left over baby carrots that I chopped. Then I got creative and added my baby bok choy, snap peas and some quinoa I had in the fridge and was avoiding (too. much. quinoa). I then finished it with some white miso paste and curry powder. So good, so cheap and so filling!

So lesson is that I need to cook more often. This past week my lunches have been a larabar and an apple, which is okay when I'm out and really need to eat lunch, but it's not okay as a regular thing when I can totally prepare ahead.

Pantry Cleanout

I bought some food on Monday and told myself that I would stretch the $20 worth of groceries until Friday. That means not eating out at all for the remainder of the week so I can stay true to my budget.

When I got home from class last night, I had a few left overs and an eggplant in my fridge. I decided to put them all together, which produced this hot mess:

It's not pretty, at all. I roasted one very small eggplant with two vine tomatoes in a little balsamic, then mixed it with my remaining 1/3 c spicy quinoa (which I mixed with my remaining 2 tbs of hummus), 1 black bean burger patty and a little over 1 cup of spinach. And a lot of Frank's Red Hot because I still put that sh*t on everything.

I ate it over 1/2 a whole wheat pita bread last night, then ate the remaining serving for lunch today. Not the greatest thing but it did fill me up and will keep me full for a while, which is awesome because I'm at work until 930 tonight. Plus it taught me how to stretch my grocery bill and not be wasteful of food. Seeing what's happened in Japan with that horrific earthquake followed by the tsunamis really puts things in perspective, so I'm cool with eating weird looking food because I'm grateful for it.

Have a happy Friday!

Food Issues

Okay so this post doesn't have anything to do with what I cooked or I'm eating but more about my attitudes toward food. Over the weekend I reached a goal of losing, over the course of 6 months, 68lbs. Even though I still have about 35 more to go to reach a healthy goal, you'd think my mindset about food and weight has changed because I've done it pretty slowly but I learned a harsh lesson about myself today.

I studied my butt off for an exam last week and did way worse than I expected. It blew mind. Granted, he said that this class had the lowest average he's had in years and he doesn't quite know what to make of the exams except he's going to curve it (I don't know how much but anything is better than nothing). He's a great educator, so I'm not sure what happened either. My class let out at 12:45 and my tea, banana and V8 were done for, so when I got to my next class, I ate a normal lunch for me, which was 1 cup organic tomato soup with 1/3 c quinoa. Then I started to digest what exactly happened with my test and I became ravenous. I was starving and all I could think about was how to cram as much food as I could into my piehole when the next class ended. Then it hit me; I will always be a fat kid.

It was a shocker to realize that all the hard work that I've put into my body can go out the window with some stressful situations if I'm not aware of it before it happens. I thought that maybe one day I would think like a skinny person but life doesn't work that way for me. I will always have to be careful that I do not get obsessed with food. As a first inclination, I will always want to first use food to destress. Always. It's not even about the food but the feeling. It's the reason that I don't have snack food in my house. If I really listen to my body I'm not hungry enough to snack inbetween meals, so there is no reason to have it. Plus, if I do want to snack, my body will thank me for using carrots or something raw instead of something processed that contains too much salt. Overall the food I eat now isn't exactly bad but there are plenty of vegan options that will make you fat. Too much of any food, healthy or not, will make you fat. It was a scary realization but one that I'm glad I can be more aware of now so that when the semester gets more intense I can be more mindful of my choices.

So when I got out of class at 215 and went to Starbucks for my usual venti bold with a splash of soy milk instead of a bag of (insert fried junk here) and laid out some study guidelines so I rock my next exam =) I just need to remember to breath and think before I eat.

The Kombucha Experience

The grocery store I work for is like a smaller, nicer Whole Foods. We have more variety of the "weirder" stuff and I love it. I was a little slow to start as I learned the ins and outs of the job, but I'm learning a ton about how to be more environmentally aware and the importance of eating really good, whole food. Plus I get a discount, so that helps with my food budget.

One of our most popular things we sell is a drink called "Kombucha." I realize that probably most everyone has at least heard of it before and I've seen it on the shelf in the past but never picked it up. On Sunday, I had to straighten the kombucha fridge so I took the opportunity to finally took a look at it and the drink looked disgusting.

There was mold like stuff at the bottom.

And it looked chunky.

Reenactment of my fear.

That's because it is chunky. It's black tea that is fermented with a bunch of yeast and bacteria. Does this sound appealing to anyone yet because it was turning me off.

Until today. My boss tried the multi-green one and looking at the label, the drink has outstanding health benefits. He also drinks a couple a day and swears by them. The guy that I trained with was also curious, bought one then was soon in my line with a return slip for the drink. He said it was disgusting, it exploded everywhere, smelled bad, and, I quote, "tastes like beer. You might like it though."

Sold.

So I bought the multi-green one. You have to be careful as you open it because it fizzes everywhere and as it fizzes, the stuff on the bottom mixes all together and creates this sort of green sludge. It smells horrible too, so I wasn't hopeful this was going to end well. I took a sip and.....it was pretty great. My coworker is right, it did taste a little like beer. And it makes you feel a little buzzed. Not drunk buzzed but a weird buzzed.

I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up. It's clean and refreshing and makes your body feel happy when you drink it. With all the probiotics in it, I'm interested in seeing if I can stop taking them in pill form and drink this tea. I'm usually so open at trying new things, so it surprised me to be hesitant towards it and it definitely taught me to not judge the food by the chunky yeast at the bottom.

dresstiiiiime

I bought my bridesmaid dress for my friend's wedding in May. I lucked out because the size/color requested was on the rack, so no need to order it but...

it's just a tad tight.

And by a tad I mean it's really tight.

The dress is three sizes smaller than what I tried on back in September, so I feel encouraged about it, but it definitely means I need to be on my game with my eating/exercising. I estimate that ten pounds and the dress will fit beautifully, and given that I have 11 weeks until the wedding, I think I can manage that. Either that, or I will have to resort to a week of lemonade and laxative diet cleanse.

Kidding.

Maybe.

Perhaps I'll just have a spanx waiting as a backup.

Cooking wise has been slow. Dinners and lunch tend to be whatever vegetables I have in the freezer/fridge all sauted together, and breakfast is a smoothie or oatmeal. For lunch today, because I was off and studying, I made some quinoa and paired it with the Mexican pumpkin stew I had in the freezer. I forgot how much I loved quinoa.

For now I must get back to studying. Two exams tomorrow and my mouse is taking the opportunity to funk out, so a Target trip in the very near future might be in the cards. I start work at a small organic market for reals on Friday, so hopefully I'll get some inspiration as I use my discount to shop for dinner. Or at the very least I'll have inspiration for more blog posts, please is awesome nuts, I'm excited =)

DOUBLE POST

So long time, no post! Life has been crazy busy between work and school, so I've not cooked much. Lunch and dinner has been either peanut butter and jelly or a hodge podge of spinach, green beans and mushrooms. Yesterday though, after 4 grueling hours of econ homework, I came home and decided to make two recipes that would feed me through the week. These last few pounds before goal weight number 1 have been slow and stubborn to come off, so I decided to cook asparagus and chickpea casserole and mexican pumpkin soup from fatfreevegan. I modified them a little but overall, pretty fantastic.

Asparagus and Chickpea Casserole
(from blog.fatfreevegan.com) Serves 4-6
1 onion chopped
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
1 lb asparagus chopped into bite size pieces
1 pkg mushrooms chopped
2 big handfuls of fresh spinach
1 can rinsed chickpeas
1 cup plus 2 tbs vegetable broth
2 tbs flour
1 1/2 tbs nutritional yeast
3/4 c almond milk
salt, pepper, basil to taste
2 c frozen hash browns

Saute the onions and garlic over med heat until soft. Add mushrooms until they also begin to soften, then reduce heat to low, add 2 tbs vegetable broth and the asparagus and spinach, then cover and let cook for 3-4 min. Meanwhile, whisk together the remaining broth, flour, nutritional yeast and milk. Pour this mixture over the vegetables and when it begins to bubble, add the chickpeas and seasonings. When the sauce begins to thicken, put it in a casserole dish, cover the top with the hashbrowns and bake at 400 until the tops begin to brown and crisp, roughly 30 min. I think I had to turn the broiler on for mine for an additional 5 min.

Turned out really well! I love the idea of having hasbrowns as a topping versus breadcrumbs or crackers, and much better for you than cheese!

The mexican pumpkin soup is a little like a chili. I loved it. While making it, my roommate said "wow, you really do love pumpkin." I can't get enough. I'm sad that it's starting to get warmer out because that means this is probably the last pot of soup I'll make. That's okay though, just means gazpacho and avocado time is right around the corner.

Mexican Pumpkin Soup
(also from blog.fatfreevegan.com) Makes 4-5 servings
1 onion chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
5 med red potatoes chopped into bite sized pieces
1 can pumpkin puree (ugh, not the same as pumpkin roasted, but can't find that now)
4 c vegetable broth
1 can kidney beans
3 big handfuls of spinach
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, dried herbs, all to taste

Saute your onion and garlic in a dutch oven on med heat. Reduce to low and add the remaining ingredients, then cover and let simmer for 30 min or until the potatoes are tender. I think she added 1/3 c soy or almond milk but honestly, I think it was awesome without and why add more calories?

Curry

One of my weaknesses is Indian food. I love it. What I love most now about Indian is so much of it is or can very easily be made vegan. Last weekend I went to visit some lovely ladies, so as a big thank you to my roommates for keeping an eye on my Whitney, I made dinner. I wanted to replicate the amazing pumpkin curry I ate in San Francisco, but I couldn't find any pumpkin, so I worked with what I had.

It was great. I super super loved it. I ended up making so much that I froze some, and it thawed nicely. The coolest part to me is that I just winged it as I went. It was really nice over some rice but just as good without. I don't have a picture but trust me, it was beautiful (but I'm biased) =P

In other news, I moved to Owings Mills and I started school at UMBC on Thursday! So exciting! I feel so happy where I am in life and I hope 2011 continues being awesome. Hopefully 2012 will bring a new career as a teacher and not the end of the world in December (although looking at my school debt that might be good for my financial state).

Butternut Squash Curry

1 onion chopped

3 or 4 garlic cloves chopped

2 parsnips cleaned and chopped into bite sized pieces

2 smallish red potatoes chopped

1lb chopped butternut squash (I found it in a container already cleaned and cut up)

1/2 package extra firm tofu pressed until the liquid is mostly gone and chopped

1 can coconut milk plus 1 can almond milk (more if you like your curry a little on the runny side)

2tbs red curry

1 tbs curry powder (if you have it)

1tbs cumin

red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions and garlic in a dutch oven over med heat for a few min. Add the rest of your vegetables and tofu, milks and seasonings (mix curry paste with some of the milk then pour into your pot). Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer away until the vegetables are soft, roughly 30-40 min. Serve with rice or naan.

Because you are adding potato, you might need to up your salt and spice, so really make it to taste. I know when I finished, I added hot sauce.

Quinoa Chili-esque

I. Love. Quinoa. Love it. The worst part about the whole thing is rinsing it, but other than that, it's wonderful. While on my trip I had two roasted sweet peppers stuffed with red quinoa, cranberry nuts and roasted garlic with a pepper puree on top. It was amazing. I will most definitely work on replicating that recipe once I get some red quinoa.

Yesterday was pretty lazy, so I decided to make a big pot of something so that lunches and dinners would be prepared for the next couple of days. Lo and behold, I had a large bag of quinoa that I purchased a few days before my trip. I started looking at some different quinoa recipes but found that I was missing two many ingredients from one or another, so I went with me own.

I have given birth to a super awesome quinoa chili-esque dish. It was fantastic. It's supposed to last me a few meals, but it'll be gone in like two days. The best part is it's pretty versatile. Really whatever vegetables you have on hand can be thrown in.

Quinoa Chili

2 cups uncooked quinoa

3 cups of water

1 small onion diced

3 cloves garlic minced

1 bag frozen vegetables (mine had red peppers, broccoli and mushrooms in them)

2 cans black beans

1 can kidney beans

2 cans diced tomatoes, 1 of them drained (mine were fire roasted with oregano and garlic)

2 handfuls of spinach

1tbs chili powder

bay leaf (if you have it)

dried oregano to taste

salt, pepper to taste

First soak your quinoa in water for 10 min. Then rinse it 2 or 3 times, carefully removing any small stones that might be left behind. Cook the quinoa, covered, in the 3 cups of water until the water is mostly evaporated, roughly 20min.

In a dutch oven, saute your onion, garlic and vegetables on med low heat for 10 min. Then add your tomatoes, bay leaf and beans, reduce heat to low. By this time your quinoa should be done, so add this to your pot, add the seasonings and cover and cook for 30 min, stirring occasionally. When it has thickened up to your desire, turn the heat off, add the spinach, check for any needed spices and serve. Some vegan sour cream would be nice with this!

Back to norms

So I'm back...unfortunately. I cannot express how much I loved being there. When I got off the plane, someone shoved me to move faster and all I could think was how he should slow down, but it's all cool. DC is just too wound up and tense, it was nice to be in an area that was laid back. I'm hoping the new attitude stays for a while because it's refreshing. Really can't wait to go back though.

The last night I was there, I may or may not have sang and danced to "It's Tricky" with the beautiful Lucky.

I am badly in need of a real camera or a phone that takes pictures that aren't so grainy.

Anyways, I'm off work for a couple of days, which has been awesome to catch up on sleep. I've also been applying to jobs which I hope isn't too painful. I'm asking my former boss if I can come back as a student for a bit, and if they let me, I can.....

move out this weekend!

(it's okay mom, you can clap)

But more on that later =)

Expect a recipe post later today because I found this at the grocery store last night:

I had an organic, prepackaged curry dinner with these in them and I honestly couldn't tell they were not real noodles. And that whole package has only 40 calories. I'm thinking of doing a pasta with tomatoes, olives, cucumbers and mushrooms, so when I get it together on this lazy, snowy Tuesday, then I'll post my results!

Last Day

My team was pretty amazing.

Drinking at SF City Hall

This picture does not do the place justice. Plus I got to see the mayor and he's pretty much Hotty McHotpants.

Ah the green fairy

Day 2

Badges badges badges

Hopefully a drink is in my near future.

I miss my Whitney already

Welcome to 2011! I rang in the new year with my most favorite person and one of my favorite sisters.

Cass likes me more, I can see it

We dined in luxery with a burrito bowl from Chipotle (super yum) and had an L Word season 3 marathon. They were both with me because I had to leave my house at 3 am to catch a plane for…

San Francisco!

My job’s Annual Meeting is taking place at the Hilton in downtown San Fran this year, and I was not only fortunate to go, but because we are short staffed, I get to work this meeting from the 1-9^th. The upside of being here this long is the first couple of days we’ll be done by 5 or 6 and we don’t start until 9am plus mad overtime,. The downside is the days get longer and more exhausting, so I should only expect to see parts of the city early on in my trip.

I am terrified of flying, so I was given something to help dull the anxiety and boy did it work. I didn’t sleep much but I didn’t care about turbulence or anything. I did get to watch “Social Network” and “Big Bang Theory” though.

First observation of the city is I love it. Gays and Asians everywhere! When I first landed, I got some juice from Starbucks, and the sweetest guy with a soft voice whipped the counter before taking my money and said with a wink “I hate working with it all sticky.” The city is gorgeous. I love the layout and the different color houses and the overall feel. The people in the hotel are another story. I’m assuming it’s because it is 11am New Years Day morning, but most have been snappy, short and overall rude. I’m very excited though about doing actual local stuff with a coworker who is from this area.

Second observation? Everyone is wearing Toms, cool boots or chucks. I’m wearing my chucks now but I forgot my Toms! Very bummed about this but I was limited on shoes and had to pick more work appropriate attire versus casual shoes. There goes me blending in, ha. I’d wear super cute boots but my calves are too big to fit into boots I like. The more I workout, the bigger they get. Also, everyone has a dog. This lobby is full of dogs. Makes my miss my Whitney that much more. I haven’t been away from her for this long since I went to Montana.

Speaking of Montana, we flew over mountains that were beautiful and snow covered. As much as I’m enjoying so far being on this coast, the mountains still hold my heart.

Anyways, here I am, watching Inception and waiting for my room to be ready. I didn’t think of the 3 hr time change, so I essentially wore my junkiest outfit on the plane, so unless I want to walk around the city unshowered and looking like a girl that came from a small town screaming “HEY COME ROB ME AS I CARRY ALL MY MONEY AND MY LAPTOP WITH ME,” I’m going to stay put in the lobby until I can change and lock things up. For now though I have this cozy breakfast and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to keep me company.

Newest obsession-bold roast with a little steamed soy milk. One of these days I'll drink it black.

Happy New Year!