Vegan Milkshake

I've found a bunch of wonderful new blogs that I read pretty much every single day. The best thing about food blogs is that I don't have to make the exact recipe the blogger did. I can take their ideas and use it as inspiration in my own kitchen.

One of my new favorites: Chocolate Covered Katie

Vegan desserts. Oh yes.

Tonight I had one of those nights when you're hungry for something so you wonder around taking bites of things and putting them back (sorry to my husband about leaving 1/2 a cracker in the box)

I must have been on a salty food kick lately because everything was pretzel-chip-cracker like and none of it was doing it for me. And then I realized... I want chocolate!

Unfortunately I didn't realize this when I was at a grocery store but in my small salty snack filled kitchen. All I could find in the chocolate category was some old-ish chocolate covered espresso beans that were buy one get one at whole foods.

I turned to Katie for inspiration: MILKSHAKE time!

1/2 package of chocolate covered espresso beans

1 large frozen banana

1/4 cup soy milk

1/3 cup opened then refrigerated coconut milk (it turns into cool whip!)

I put the beans in the food processor and blended. Added the banana and some of the cool whipped coconut milk. blended. Added soy milk. blended some more. I added about 2 tsp of sugar. Poured into a cup and viola!

Topped it with the rest of the coconut milk whip and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

I drank it ALL before I even thought, "Should I take a picture of this for the blog?"

Happy Eating!

In Current Days

I haven't blogged.

you might have noticed.

I've cooked. I mean, I gotta eat :) Those are some roasted tomatoes that turned into a sauce. It was really really good.

This is a really fun cherry pitter than I'm pretty sure would make a stellar stocking stuffer, got mine at Whole Foods.

I'm not promising anything, in the blogging front.

but...

I have been VERY inspired lately.

I'm also making some exciting changes to my diet.

and by exciting I mean, difficult.

Radishes on toasts? YES Please! I'm been obsessed with radishes.

Happy Eating!

Butternut Squash Soup and Goat Cheese Biscuits

Dinner tonight:

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup and

Joy the Baker's Goat Cheese Biscuits

Soup Ingredients:

1 Organic Butternut Squash

1 Organic Apple

16oz of Organic Vegetable Broth

1 Shallot

Pepper, Nutmeg, and Sriracha.

Butternut squash is seriously delicious, it is orange, savory, and sweet. It reminds me of fall. Fall reminds me of butternut squash. They are probably best friends. Apples could be the third wheel because they are bright, crisp, and red like fall.

Steps:

Cut your squash in half and scoop out the messy part in the middle. Put a little olive oil on the cut edges. Bake in the oven on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees for an hour.

When you have about 10 minutes left throw your sliced apple on the sheet.

Pull out of the oven and let cool.

Rough chop your apple and shallot.

Put in a soup pot with some stock (maybe half). Let simmer.

Rough chop the squash and add it too. Let simmer some more.

Using an immersion blender blend the soup until silky, add stock as needed.

Add some black pepper, nutmeg and Sriracha. If you don't have Sriracha, first you should get some, but second you could use red pepper flakes.

Taste and season until you like it. I don't recommend using salt because your stock is already salted, even if it says "Low Sodium" and you really don't want to overdo it.

Ladle the soup into bowls. You can garnish with the little more sriracha because the color is pretty, or no garnish at all.

Biscuit Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into squares

1 tablespoon unsalted butter for the pan

2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter, to top the biscuits

4 tablespoons (2 oz) goat cheese

1 cup buttermilk (I made mine: 1 tablespoon white vinegar and the rest whole organic milk)

Chris loves biscuits. I love goat cheese. This recipe seemed to fit us. I've been eating mostly vegan these days so all this butter was a little scary but say a prayer for your heart health and go for it because it turned out SO worth it. I don't even bake well and mine turned out.

Steps:

While my squash was roasting I put my cast iron skillet in the oven to pre-heat

My oven was still 425 degrees

If you're making your own buttermilk it needs to sit for about 5 minutes after mixing the vinegar and milk, so do that first.

Then you combine flour, baking powder and salt.

Using your fingers massage the cold butter and goat cheese into the flour mixture. Massage until the mixture looks pebbly and holds shape when you squeeze it.

Make a well in the center of the flour bowl and add the buttermilk.

Using a fork mix the flour into the milk until the dough has no dry flour in it anymore.

Pull out your cast iron and put 1 tbsp butter in it to grease the bottom and sides, swish it around. Melt your 2 tbsp butter in the microwave.

Spoon 1/4 cup amounts of dough into the pan, I got 9 biscuits.

Spread the melted butter on top of the dough.

Bake until the tops looks browned ( I didn't time mine, and I have no idea how long they were in there but...) Joy said hers took 14-16 minutes. I'd keep checking, the color is the thing to look it to know they are done. Let sit for 3-5 minutes and serve warm.

Happy (vegetarian) Eating!

Curry Cauliflower

Technically I'm on vacation at the moment, which is very very wonderful. I'm not cooking every day like normal but I do have a fun recipe to share from before we left town.

I love curry.

Chris does not love curry.

He said he doesn't like the smell.

I splurged and bought curry powder anyway (yay).

I didn't make a traditional curry because I didn't have any coconut milk and I didn't add potatoes. I used cauliflower, red pepper, and carrots mostly. Chris said this smelled good while cooking and he even ate some!

Ingredients:

Yellow Onion

a good bit of Cauliflower

Red Pepper

Carrots

Curry Powder

Skim Milk

I cooked some onion with milk and curry powder until it reduced a little and then blended until mostly smooth to make a sauce.

Then I sauteed the carrot and pepper with a little oil and maybe a little more onion. I added a splash of milk and a sprinkle more of the power.

Let it simmer!

I even added some tofu. This was my first time making tofu at home. I baked it. First you cut the extra firm tofu into pieces. Then lay on a foil covered baking sheet in one layer. Preheat the oven to 375. I created a sauce with some soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and agave nectar and poured the sauce over the tofu. If you wanted to let the tofu sit in the sauce as a marinade for a minute, that could be good.

Bake the tofu for about 45 minutes. Then gently remove the pieces from the foil, mine didn't stick too badly but you might try some non-stick spray before cooking to make it easier.

I threw the tofu in with the cauliflower and mixed it up with the curry sauce. I nibbled on this warm as I was making it, so good I almost ate all of it, but I took it chilled for lunch and it was just as yummy colder.

Happy Eating!

Life (and death)

Mortality is scary.

I've been thinking a lot about life and death lately.

I've been reminded of the percentage; 100% of us die.

The things we do, no matter good or bad, don't affect that fact. Eating whole foods. Exercising our muscles. Using our brains. Feeling emotions. Avoiding stress. Releasing tension. Loving others and ourselves.

When someone gets close to the end of their life people say:

It's about quality of life now.

When isn't it about quality of life?

That's what it is all about. Living life the best way you know how, experiencing the best life you can in the amount of time that you have, whether that is 5 years, 30 years, or 80 years. I know I'm going to die. I don't know when.

I choose to live the way I do not to extend my life, but to improve every second that I have. Sometimes that means eating kale salads so I feel energetic and satiated. Sometimes that means I eat doritos with guacamole while sitting on my couch to give my tastes pleasure.

If the way you eat doesn't improve your life, maybe think about changing the way you eat.

Happy Eating.

Veggie Pesto Bowl

I ate this dinner in approximately 41/2 minutes. I inhaled it. It was delicious.

I modified the original recipe for the pesto, which is here.

I didn't modify much of the original recipe for the vegetables, which is here.

Making pesto wasn't as hard you might think it would be, with it's fancy name and all. You just pulverize some garlic, some toasted pine nuts, some basil, more basil, and a splash of olive oil and water to top it off. Not hard. Don't buy the kind in the jar, make your own.

You could add walnuts instead of pine nuts. Add flavored oils instead of olive oil. You could have family pesto night where you make a bunch of kinds and everyone tastes them all and votes on their favorite! That would be so fun if you had kids or foodie friends over for a cocktail party. I pretty much just cook for Chris and I at the moment.

Pesto:

1 1/2 Cups of Basil Leaves, Packed

2 tbsp Minced Garlic

2 tbsp Toasted Pine Nuts

1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese (the real stuff!)

1 large pinch of Salt

1/4 cup of water

Blend the basil, garlic, and nuts in the food processor. It should be chunky. Then thin out the pesto with the oil and blend. Add the water little by little until you reach the desired texture. Blending in between additions of water.

Viola! Pesto. Delicious.

Veggie Bowl:

16 Purple Potatoes

2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

5 Scallions Sliced

3/4lb Shelled Peas (I used frozen)

1 large bunch of Asparagus cut into 1/2" pieces

1 can of Cannellini Beans

Salt and Pepper to taste

4 tbsp Pesto

I boiled the potatoes. I think they would be really good in this recipe if they were roasted, although, that would add some extra oil.

Saute the scallions in the olive oil. I liked the scallions instead of onions, I don't normally cook with scallions but they add a subtle flavor and the green color was great in the green bowl of vegetables.

Add the peas and asparagus. Add a little water. Cook the vegetables for a little while, not too long or else they get mushy.

Add the beans when the vegetables are half way cooked.

Stir together and add salt and pepper.

Serve the vegetables in a bowl with the potatoes cut into quarters. Top with 1 tbsp of pesto.

Happy Vegetarian Eating!

Eggplant

How many times have you successfully cooked eggplant?

My number is 2.

Don't ask how many times I've attempted it, it's embarrassing.

Something about it.... that purple skin maybe, I don't know but it never seems to taste as good as I hoped it would. We went out to dinner to K Restaurant the other night. I ordered the eggplant something with cheese and tomato sauce, and holy cow was it stinking delicious. I wish I could make eggplant taste like that eggplant tasted. I secretly blame my lack of fryer, I think a deep fryer may be the key to scrumptious eggplant.

We had way to much fresh mozzarella cheese at our house a few weeks back. I bought it on a coupon/sale matching thing and then remembered we are two people and couldn't possibly eat that much cheese, even if it is seriously amazing tasting.

I decided to buy an eggplant.

Look at the pretty salad I made! I grilled the eggplant with a hearty pour of some olive oil. I used one of those cool pans made for making paninis. Have you seen those? It's like a skillet with raised grill marks in the bottom and it comes with a heavy squisher to make the marks on your food/press your hot sandwich.

I made mine look like a caprese salad, layered all together.

I reduced some balsamic vinegar for the top. Reduced balsamic vinegar is so good, I might add it every single thing I ever cook from now on.

Happy Eating!

Lentil Loaf

I've read other blogs about lentil loaf.

a lot of other blogs about it actually. You can use basically anything you want, it's a vegetarian meatloaf. Add breadcrumbs or oats. Add mushrooms or zucchini. Add walnuts or not.

I think reading about it made me more nervous to try making it.

Lentil loaf, evidently, can be somewhat difficult to make because it has a tendency to get crumbly. Some people use flax eggs to help combat that. I didn't have any fancy flax eggs. I didn't want to use real eggs though, to help with the vegan aspect of the loaf. I like vegan things.

Recipes are a guideline, a starting point, they aren't necessarily the only way something can be made. I used what I had in my kitchen. You could probably use what you have.

Ingredients:

Lentils

Carrots

Sweet Yellow Onion

Jazz Apple

Mushrooms

Oats

Milk (you could use almond milk or soy milk for a vegan option, but I didn't have any of those)

Steps:

Start cooking your lentils.

Take a loaf pan and place aluminum foil or parchment paper through the pan so that it sticks out on either longer side. Spray with cooking spray.

Use a food processor and shred up about 3/4 of the apple. Put it in a bowl.

Peel and rough slice the carrots.

Dice the onion.

Put the onion and carrot in a pan with some olive oil and cook until the onions get translucent. Pull out the carrot and process them in the food processor.

Add both the onion and carrot to the bowl with the apple.

Clean and rough chop the mushrooms. Add to bowl.

Process some oats and add them to the bowl too. (I really don't like measuring) At this point the mush in the bowl will start sticking together. I wanted to add some nuts but upon opening my cabinet I had a total of 4 pecans left. I processed them with the oats. Can you count 4 pecans as an ingredient? Well, if you had a nut allergy you would!

Drain the lentils and process about 3/4 the amount you are going to use. Put the lentil paste in the bowl with 1/4 of un-processed lentils.

I added a splash of Guinness. Surprise! You could add the milk here too if it isn't sticking together enough.

Spread into loaf pan and smooth out the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour (I didn't even time it!) Just until it looks nice and baked with brown edges.

Let it cool! Maybe for another 30 minutes.

I made my lentil loaf the day before we were going to eat it so I put it in the fridge overnight.

Lift the foil and gently remove from pan and invert onto a plate. I used a serrated knife to cut slices. I served mine with mashed potatoes that were half potato & half cauliflower. I think it lightens up the potato a good bit, and I like the taste.

Mine didn't get crumbly, it was great. The key seems to be making sure your mixture is moist enough. It tasted so good. I wish I would have made a ketchup glaze for it though, so it would be a traditional meatloaf look-a-like.

Happy Eating!

Hello Food World

I haven't blogged in a long time.

an extended amount of time.

I can't even tell you why really.

I have some great recipes to share.

Bean Salads.

Rainbow Kale Salad.

Homemade Pizzas.

Lentil Loaf.

I don't even have any pictures or anything to show you. I'm going to tell you all about them though. Stay tuned!

Fighting

I can eat vegan raw for about 12 hours before I eat a chocolate chip cookie by accident.

I bought whole wheat chocolate chip cookies just in case that accident happened.

My wonderful puppy became a lady. A lovely lady, that is having her lady time and is moody and swollen and overall distraught at what is happening to her, and yes, I can tell.

I want to give her a chocolate chip cookie because I love them but, it would make her sick.

I get moody and distraught sometimes. If cookies don't help I normally pick a fight with Chris. (gasp!) It's true. Not about money or sex or religion or politics, but about what really matters... food. Our most stellar fights are about food. The last time we fought about food, I got roses. That's how you know it was a good fight.

Anyway, we found this very cool (could be vegan and raw) recipe that so far, we haven't fought about in the slightest.

SUSHI!

It's so easy people, that's the beauty of it, no fighting, no work... just YUM!

Ingredients:

Mild Miso ( I got mine from the refrigerated section in whole foods for maybe $5)

Raw or Toasted Seaweed Wrappers. I got toasted.

Carrots, Cucumbers, Avocado, Red Pepper. Basically, some veggies that you like.

Once we added some of that fake crab, it was okay.

Directions:

Get a rolling mat, it could be from the grocery store.

Lay a seaweed on top.

Smear a thin layer of miso on 2inches about 1/2 inch from one end.

Layer veggies on top of that. The hardest part is cutting them into a julienne. I used a vegetable peeler for the carrot to make it in long thin strips.

Avocado goes last.

Then quickly flip the mat and 1/2 inch of seaweed over the pile of goodies toward the long empty part of the seaweed.

Let the mat stay on top and Roll.

Wet the edge to seal.

Slice into bit size pieces.

Dunk in low sodium soy sauce and/or wasabi.

Then you enjoy being full of possibly vegan raw food and not fight with your spouse about what is for dinner!

happy eating!

Margaritas!

1 1/2 oz Tequila

1/2 oz Triple Sec

1/2 oz Agave

1/2 oz Lime Juice

Corse Salt for the rim of your glass

Cinco de Mayo is coming up and I thought I'd start celebrating a little early. Enjoy this delicious recipe! Party hats are not required.

I like it on the rocks or blended with ice.

Chris has a theory that we should go to an Irish bar on Cinco de Mayo and a Mexican bar on St. Patty's Day. I think it's a ho-hum theory and that Chris doesn't like crowds. What do you think? You could always just stay home and have your own party. So maybe as we get closer to the actual holiday I'll share my favorite guacamole recipe.

Happy Drinking!

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

My mom originally told me about these lasagna rolls she made. She raved about them. I looked them up online and tried to figure out how to make them. Frozen organic spinach is a pretty cost effective way to get organic greens plus I had a coupon.

Step 1: Make the filling.

It's 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella. I shred my own because preshredded cheese creeps me out. Some Salt, Pepper, and Basil. 1 cup part-skim Ricotta Cheese, one package of Cascadian Farms organic frozen spinach (thawed), and one egg white.

Mix it together.

Step 2: Boil the noodles according to the package. I used whole wheat noodles, Hodgons Mills and they worked very well. I made 12 noodles and the filling made enough for the 12.

Step 3: Spread the filling over the entire noodle. Don't put it on too thick, I used less than 1/4 cup per noodle.

Step 4: Roll the noodle up fairly tightly into a roll. I love how the ruffled edges look! It's not too difficult and I'm sure you could do it too!

Step 5: Arrange the rolls in a baking pan. I left the rolls a few centimeters apart. I also sprayed the bottom of the pan with some non-stick spray. Place the rolls in the pan seam side down.

Step 6: Pour some tomato sauce over the rolls. I used 2 cups of roasted garlic sauce and sprinkled 1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese on top.

Step 7: Bake at 375 degrees for maybe 20 minutes. Make sure the cheese is melted and the rolls are heated through.

It's a fun way to eat lasagna that's already portion controlled! My approximate calorie calculations are here.

Happy Eating!

Lentil Love Story

I'm going to tell you all a story...

Long long long ago a bag of green lentils sat on the shelf at the grocery story. It was a nice grocery store, very clean and well lit, and the bag of lentils liked it there. Although one of the re-stocking boys tended to pick his wedgies in the lentil isle. Other than that, life was good for the bag of lentils. Days past. No one took the lentils home. Until finally, one day, a girl with a long list and a giant envelope of coupons came wandering down the isle. She looked at the lentils and made an impulsive, non-list decision, to buy the lentils. It was true love and the lentils were so happy you could say they smiled. Once back in the girls apartment the lentils were put in a pretty bowl on the top shelf of the pantry, not to be thought of for a long while. The lentils watched brown rice leave the bowl, quinoa came and left, even arborio rice left with high hopes of mushroom risotto. The lentils were unused and the girl thought of them sometimes but her impulse purchase left her without recipe ideas.

UNTIL TODAY!

Lentils, come down onto the counter and be apart of my kitchen and my food blog.

I have no idea how people eat lentils, besides a lot of soups which I wasn't craving.

I kept it simple.

I started with onions, I'm confident with onions. Onions and I have a long term relationship going. I know how they cook, how they burn and how to avoid the latter.

Then I added carrots. Carrots, although annoying to dice due to their rounded shape, are fairly easy. Carrots are predictable but have a more diverse flavor palate than onions. I used more carrots than onions and I sauteed them over medium high heat for a long time. I threw in a cinnamon stick for the heck of it.

Lentils have to boil, like pasta. I boiled them according to the package directions and then added them into the onions and carrots and removed the cinnamon stick. I added some dark vegetable stock and let them all get to know each other for a while.

And the lentils lived deliciously ever after, forever changing the girl's opinion about lentils.

The End.

Happy Eating!

Raw Kale Salad

I've exhausted most of my food documentary options on netflix.

I went to the internet, and I found good things! My favorite so far has been Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Food Made Easy. It is actually fairly simple, unlike other raw food reciepes that include tons of healthy obscure ingredients I've never heard of before.

I have an obsession with how to videos. I mean, worse than documentaries. I could watch someone tell me how to uncork a wine bottle, get out a stain, massage your own hands, or perform acupuncture. Chris didn't want me to practice my newly learned acupuncture skills on him though.

Here is Jennifer telling you how to make the salad!

I changes a few little things. I didn't use red pepper, I used those smaller sweet peppers, so that I could have a variety of colors. Plus they must be in season at the moment because they're everywhere.

This is the organic kale before it's amazing olive oil and lemon juice massage. I rubbed and kneaded the oil into it's little leaves and look, what happened! It's shrank! Maybe that's why they say massage can remove cellulite...

Then I diced up the pretty pepper and threw them in too. Honestly, you could add anything you like, as with any salad but the lemon juice is acidic and you might want some savory or sweet flavors to balance it out. I used some "sprouted" almonds too (you just soak them in water for an hour or two and they get softer and delicious)

The Kale Salad was our lunch and I was nervous about how Mr. Wyoming would feel about it. I got his text message in the middle of the day, "Ok baby my lunch is freaking outstanding! i have no idea what is in it but it is amazing." Pretty rave reviews!

The kale is really filling and it requires a good bit of chewing (something I've been trying to be more aware of lately) but it's fun to eat lunch for your whole hour instead of scarfing it down in 10 minutes.

Let me know what you add to your salad and how it pared with the kale!

Happy Eating.

Easter Ham for Lunch

My mom made ham for easter.

She gave me a bunch of her leftovers.

and when I got home I thought, what in the heck do you do with ham?

I did what any other 20-something would do. I googled.

Unfortunately most of the options involving ham also involve lots of cheese, bread, pasta, and cream and not too many fresh vegetables or fruits. Example.

also unfortunately I ate all the bruschetta so I had none leftover for lunch.

I decided to make a ham salad. Not the kind my mom suggested I make using mayonnaise and a meat grinder. Shudder.

Salads are so great for lunch because you throw whatever you have over a bed of lettuce and call it a salad! I call this one, ham sandwich salad.

Ingredients:

Iceberg lettuce

Tomato

Pickle (McClures)

Ham Chunks

Deli Mustard

As quick as you can dice a tomato you have a lunch all ready to go in your plastic to-go container. The dressing being thick-er than others meant that nothing got soggy or runny or weird by lunchtimes. BONUS. I hate soggy salad. I also hate trying to put dressing in a separate container, does anyone know of a 3tbsp container for sale?

My calorie approximation came in around 220.

How did you eat your easter leftovers?

Happy Eating!

Italian

I've talked before about how Italian food can feel cliche and movie worthy. Paired with red wine and black leggings you're ready to jump on a scooter and whirr right through the middle of some italian piazza.

It's a shame I have such emotional damage about italian food because I really do love it.

For lunch yesterday we had sandwiches on ciabatta bread with fresh mozzarella and tomato slices. It was delicious. It was light. It was not cliche.

For dinner we made bruschetta. The pronunciation of this word is slightly controversial.

Is it or is it

My friend who went to culinary school says it's the first in Italy and the second at the Olive Garden. but He went to culinary school which can be a hoity-toity place so who knows.

I know I can put some bruschetta away!

There is a picture of a small sampling of the bruschetta I put away for dinner last night.

Ingredients:

The last baguette left in Whole Foods, garlic and parmesan blend.

1 ugly tomato, which has less gooey parts in the middle

1 regular tomato

Diced red onion

Sprinkle of organic basil

Corse salt

Balsamic Vinegar

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Steps:

Pre-heat to 400 degrees.

Dice your tomatoes.

Dice your onion, rinse the onion.

Add the salt and basil. taste it until you like it.

Reduce your vinegar in a tiny pan until it is thicker and sweeter than normal.

Slice the baguette, which might be smooshed on one end from being the last baguette left in the bin, congratulate yourself on making it to the store before there was no baguette left and you'd be eating tomato salad for dinner.

Use a pastry brush to put extra virgin olive oil on one side of the bread. DON'T go crazy thinking your in an italian movie, just use a little.

Bake the bread until slightly toasted. I have no idea how long I had mine in for because I did go italian movie crazy and opened a bottle of wine at this point and after a while said, "oooh, the bread."

Pile about 1tbsp of the tomato mixture on the bread

Sprinkle about 1/8tsp of the balsamic vinegar reduction on top of that

You should definitely taste a few before you leave the kitchen for quality testing and because once you leave the kitchen your friends will probably eat them all and none will be left for you.

Eat as many as you can before people begin to wonder.

Happy Eating!

Body Cleanse

Have you ever done a body cleanse?

I haven't

but I do watch a lot of food documentaries.

a lot

all of the ones on netflix

it's a hobby. or an addiction. either way.

all the food documentaries have me thinking about doing a cleanse but a quick google search of "food cleanse" gives me all kinds of crazy things.

I don't want a crazy thing. I don't want to live off avocados for 30 days or give myself enemas.

I want a simple, pretty easy, 30-40 day cleanse that can include juicing or raw foods and can also include supplements, the natural kind that you get from the health store, not the "loose 30 pounds in two minutes" kind you buy for 45 payments of $1.99.

Anyone know of anything?

I'm really hoping for some suggestions.

Happy eating, and cleansing!

High Fructose Corn Syrup

I told you in this blog that I was embarking on a journey into a medical study.

I was very excited and considerably anxious about it.

Well, the journey has ended. Let me tell you why...

The journey looked like this:

First, you answer questions over the phone to see if you're a candidate for the study.

Second, you sign up.

Third, You fast for 12hours and have blood taken.

Fourth, You write down everything you eat for three days and answer a bunch of questions about how much physical activity you do.

The goal of the study is for the corn syrup to make up a percentage of your caloric intake. Clearly, they would need to figure out your caloric intake first. That's step four.

Firth, the lady calculates your percentage and tells you how many 8oz cartons of corn-syrup laden milk you drink per day.

I was under the impression that this number was based mostly on which group you were in; 10%, 20% or 30% of daily calories from the syrup-milk and then slightly from your bodies caloric needs.

The lady told me I would need to drink 6 1/2 eight ounce cartons a day! Do you drink 52oz of anything, besides water, every day? I don't. and I don't think I could.

I was honest and I told her I wouldn't be able to consume that much of anything, much less sweetened milk, and although I could try it if she wanted me too, it would probably be a waste of time and money on their part since I would most likely quit.

So, I quit before I even tasted a drop of corn syrup and I don't feel sad about it at all. I'll find another way to make $300.

Artichoke!

Have you ever eaten an artichoke?

I have. It was covered in parmesan cheese, cream, and spinach on top of fried delicious chips.

I only ate the artichoke because it was on the chips.

I like chips more than artichokes I think.

I digress. I decided to make one! a real one. a real artichoke from the produce stand, not the frozen dip section of the grocery store.

First you snip all the little pointy ends of the leaves off. I used kitchen scissors. It doesn't take as long as you'd think.

Then you chop off the top with a very sharp knife. This was harder than I expected, the artichoke is tough and doesn't seem to want to be cooked. Slice off most of the stem too.

Then I filled a pot with an inch or two of water, a lemon slice and a bay leaf. I put my steamer basket on top.

You steam the chokes, as I've affectionally started calling them, for 20-30 minutes depending on how big they are.

Then, using some tongs and not your fingers, you pull them out of the pot and they're ready to go.

To eat them you pluck out a leaf, think "He loves me, He loves me not" and flip it upside down. You put the meaty part of the leaf that was close to the base of the choke and slide it though your teeth, taking the vegetable part into your mouth. It's a lot of work for a tiny little bit of vegetable but it's good. It's mild and earthy.

People often make dips for their chokes. I put about 2tsp lemon juice in a bowl with probably 1-2tbsp extra virgin olive oil and whisked it up with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. It was yummy on the chokes but I had a ton leftover that ended up down the drain. I read online that a lot of people make mayonnaise based dressings for artichokes but I really don't like mayonnaise. If anyone has a dressing that is yummy I could try something new though.

Happy Eating!

Dinner: Zucchini Rice

Zucchini is delicious lots of ways; grilled, baked, stuffed, sauteed, put in breads, even in cookies. Shredding zucchini is easy because it's tender and it's pretty wet in the inside.

I'm always looking for a fun new way to cook the same old food. Partly because I want to make my husband happy and partly because new more expensive foods aren't really an option. Plus dinner is more fun when you have cool new side dishes.

I cooked the brown rice in the rice cooker, I haven't mastered the rice cooker yet. Does yours get the brown crusty burn rice layer on the bottom? Mine does, EVERY time. I sprayed it with some cooking spray, still happened. I'll figure it out eventually but pointers would be awesome.

Then I shredded the zucchini raw and actually left it raw. I didn't want a mushy mess, which it kind of already is when it's raw. I mixed the cooked rice into the zucchini while it was still hot so the heat could party steam the zucchini. I added some salt, pepper, and lemon zest. That's it.

Delicious. I bet kids wouldn't even know there was a vegetable hidden in there. (I served mine with some chicken)

Happy Eating.

Citrus Meringue Sandwich Cookies

I'm a cookie phase. I like it. I'm going to start taking the cookies to work so I have less sugar running through my veins and then I will sleep at night again. These cookies are super sweet but also very tart. They are crunchy crumbly on the outside but then filled with creamy lemon curd.

Meringues Cookies.

2 large egg whites

pinch of salt

2/3 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon lime juice

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Place the egg whites (save the yolks for the curd) in the mixer bowl with the fancy whisk attachment.

Beat egg whites, on medium speed until quite foamy, not just slightly foamy. Think mostly foam. Add the pinch of salt and increase speed to medium-high.

Slowly begin to sprinkle in the sugar. Continue to beat eggs until they become thick, glossy and messy. The egg whites will be the consistency of melted marshmallow.

I tossed the lime juice and vanilla right into the mixer at the end.

The blog I received this recipe from said to “Spoon into a piping bag, fitted with a large star tip. Pipe about a teaspoons worth of meringue onto the baking sheet” THIS FAILED FOR ME. It might not fail for you. I made a big giant sticky mess trying to put the egg whites into the baggie and spatula the rest with my non-existent 3^rd hand. I got so mad about the whole thing that I squeezed the whole blob onto my baking sheet, and threw it into the oven. I considered going with that for about 15 minutes. Then I re-made the recipe with a few adjustments and got a new baking sheet.

When I did this the second time I used a spoon and made little dots of meringue on the sheet. Not pretty stars, but not a giant blob either so it worked for me. the dots can be close together on the tray.

Bake meringues for 2 hours, until firm and hardened.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet before filling and sandwiching.

Lemon Curd.

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

pinch of salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Place a fine mesh strainer over a medium bowl and set aside.

In a medium pot, whisk together lemon juice, granulated sugar, eggs, yolks, and pinch of salt.

Heat pot over a medium-low heat and add butter. Whisk the mixture, everything I read online said to keep a spatula nearby to help you get into the corners of the pan so it didn’t burn but I didn’t really use mine.

Cook the curd until the butter is melted, and the mixture is the thick and gooey. I whisked constantly, at first it smelled like butter, then eggs, then more like citrus, if you want the smell story.

Evidently Curd can get sort of chunky as you cook it because the egg can separate a little bit. This recipe doesn’t do it too much due to the whisking in the beginning and constant stirring. It can still happen a little though and if yours does it more I think it’s fine.

Remove the curd from the flame and immediately pour into the fine mesh strainer over the medium bowl. Press through the strainer, leaving any cooked egg bits in the strainer; I took a picture of what was left in my strainer so you could see what I mean.

Place curd in a container, with a piece of plastic wrap placed directly over (touching) the curd. Place in the fridge until completely cold.

Spread a dollop of curd on the meringue and top it with another meringue. This is a sandwich cookie, which is like eating two cookies, but it only counts as one, best trick ever!

These are most yummy when you eat them right after you sandwich them so don’t make a bunch and then think you’ll get around to eating them. They will be sticky and messy and not as good.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I made cookies!

Eliza helped me.

delicious, warm, gooey, chocolate, sort of salty, oatmeal hearty cookies!

baking is stressful but when it turns out... it's like a miracle!

I've recently been turned on to the blog Orangette. I was inspired by her cookie recipe.

I like the way she described them as plump hearty cookies, those kind are my favorite. I'm not a thin crispy cookie kind of gal.

Here is what I used:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (course)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 & 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

1 & 1/2 cups rolled oats whirled in the food processor for a few seconds

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside.

In my mixer bowl I, creamed together the melted butter and brown and granulated sugars until well blended.

Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk, mixing until light and creamy.

Mix in the sifted ingredients, working until just blended.

Stir in the chocolate chips and oats by hand, I used a spatula because I always use spatulas for everything.

Chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to one hour.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line them with parchment paper, I don’t really like parchment because it folds funny and it makes me feel silly but I dislike cleaning so I use it.

Use a table knife to scoop and press dough into a ¼-cup measuring scoop, and put the dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

You don’t want the cookies too close together.

Bake cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned.

Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cook completely.

I’d recommend eating with milk.

Happy Eating!