A Cup of Jo

3 month anniversary and some eggs to go along with it

2009-04-17T12:59:00.011-03:00

Hello my beautifuls!!! Today has been a shitty day already. I woke up an hour late for school and didn't get to shower. By the time I got to school, my shirt was soaked in sweat because it's really hot outside. My hair looked really gross (as if it could look worse already) and was so greasy haha But that brings me to one of the topics of today's post. My HAIR!!! It's been 3 months since I used shampoo. Right now, it looks and feels like horse hair. I'm not gonna let it get to me though.

As for other important shit, I thought I'd talk about some of my smoothies I drink every day. I've become a smoothie addict and have usually have one for breakfast and lunch. Lately, my favorite has been the Banana Smoothie!!! Uhh it is total sex in my mouth!! I love it

Here's the recipe:

Banana Smoothie
4-5 bananas
2 glasses full of water
2-3 dates

Blend it all up and enjoy with your eye closed... except if you're driving.

Speaking of food, how was everyone's Easter?? My BF Mitchel came over and we dyed eggs and drew pictures of each other. My cheeks were still really swollen from having my wisdom teeth removed and Mitchel took full advantage of making fun of me. It was quite enjoyable, but I was so doped up on meds that I hardly remember it. I wasn't even wearing a bra!! haha I couldn't remember how to dye eggs either, so mine didn't turn out very well. Landsy's eggs were beautiful though. I guess he's also a professional egg-dyer in his spare time. Here's some pictures of our scandalous night...

Oh and I just remembered something amazing. I saw Tubby (the squirrel) a few days ago in the Bally's parking lot!!! I haven't seen him all freakin winter and thought he had vanished forever. I walked past a van and practically pissed myself when I saw that giant furball.

Life is good!

Time to sleep....

2009-04-07T11:08:00.009-03:00

I'm getting my wisdom teeth out this morning, and I can already feel the effect of the 4 pills I've taken so far. My eyes are dizzy and my throat feels weird. I hate taken medication for anything but my mother forced me. This comic is much longer and gets really gross and bloody so I didn't put the rest on here haha I didn't wanna scare anyone away; however, here's the link: http://www.bitterfilms.com/anesthetics-teeth.html to look at the rest of it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was laughing my ass off. I know some of you have a twisted sense of humor like me. hehe. I plan on having another really relaxing day of sleeping. The past few days have been major sleep-in days where I watch Twilight a thousand times and other shows like What Not To Wear. And of course, tons of food. I'm really craving a honeydew smoothie so hopefully I have the strength to get off my ass and make one when I get home. My mother is taking me to the appointment because she doesn't trust me driving. hmm i wonder?? I just don't want to be bleeding everywhere. I have such a negative few of all doctors and rarely trust them. But anyway, on a much lighter note, my mom was dressing up my cat,Butter, with this ridiculous outfit she usually puts on her Geese. My mother has these big geese in front of our house that wear ridiculous outfits all through the year. The cat is wearing a pig-tailed wig and floral dress. She wants to kill everyone in the room at the moment, but I don't blame her. She looks hilarious!!

Okay guys. Here's an after photo of my lovely morning. I feel like total hell!! haha I can't drink anything because my mouth is so numb (my sucking ability doesn't work either). I also got an IV which was an unpleasant surprise haha At least I can watch trashy television all day!! Thanks for your support, my friends!! Your happy words make me do a creepy, numb, half-smile :)

You climb trees at 4 a.m.

2009-04-02T12:37:00.008-03:00

Hello my beautiful friends!! Hope your Thursday is going just as well as mine. I had a chemistry lab this morning and then went out to breakfast with Corey (pictured in last post). However, the two of us aren't together anymore. I broke up with him last week because he has never complimented me... ever. Wouldn't that annoy you??? I mean, I just need somebody to tell me I look nice once in a while. It sounds like a weird reason to end it but I don't want to ask him for compliments because I want him to say it because he wants to. I'm sure you guys understand. I just need an Edward... speaking of that sexy man haha Here's my Edward Cullen shirt that I ordered online. Isn't it smokin?? I wanted to order one of his face but I thought it would make me look like some creepy, obsessed stalker...

In other news, my hair looks much better now. This picture is after the Britney Spears concert and it looks nice and fluffy. I can FINALLY say that I don't want to shave my hair off anymore. I was close to it, but I refrained. I'm thinking about getting a haircut today but don't want to shell out the doe. I asked Corey to cut it but he refuses and I can't get my mother or sister to do the deed either. My sister is known for butchering hair anyways.

Next week is sprink break- THANK GOD!!!! I'm getting my wisdom teeth out next Tuesday so I should be a freakshow... at least I hope. I have this urge to drive to the dental surgeon while on sedatives. I think it would be hilarious, and I'd be so proud if I made it there without killing a few jay walkers in the process.

And of course, I'm sure you'll all wondering how Lands' End Dog is doing. Well, let's just say that he's been walking on the wild side. I dressed him in my pink bikini and he is loving it haha That's a total lie. He can't stand it!!! I had to stuff his bra with toilet paper because the top fit weirdly on his male body. I sleep with him every night and it makes me feel gay because he's been in a bikini. It took so much work putting the damn thing on him so there's no way it's comin off!!

Last but not least, is this the biggest raspberry you've ever seen?? I only buy organic and was surprised by this sucker because it's usually the genetically modified fruits that look like they're on steroids. I compared it to a normal raspberry just to prove my point haha I obviously have way too much time on my hands for taking pictures of useless things.

2 Month Anniversary!!!

2009-03-17T10:27:00.008-03:00

Yay!! I am so excited about today. It's been 2 months since I last used shampoo. Here's an update on my hair: It looks gross!! haha I really want to get it trimmed but don't want the hair stylist to say how nasty it looks. I don't really know when my hair-detoxing period will end. Hopefully soon. I've been curling it with spongecurlers so you can't really notice that it's greasy. I mean, nobody on the streets has come up to me about my hair, so when that happens, well... I knock them out haha

On another note, have any of you tried kelp noodles?? I ordered a pack of them and got them in the mail yesterday. They are SOOO delicious. I am shocked at how good they are. I was expecting to bite into a squishy, clear worm, but they are kind of crunchy (they still look like worms though). I'd recommend them if you haven't tried them- they are all RAW, too. The bag I ordered was really small (only 2.5 oz) and if I were you, I'd get a bigger one. I'm practically done with the one I got. I ate them with some swiss chard and hummus. YUMMY!

And of course, I just had to show you some pictures of Corey, Landsy, and me again.
We've been sleeping together because he gets lonely at night and I always succumb to what he wants. It's usually okay until he takes ALL the covers and pushes me off the bed.

Landsy got a little frisky, and I felt uncomfortable... haha just kidding. I loved it!!

We finally got to sleep around 3 after chatting for a few hours. He'll talk your ear off if you let him.

I made Corey wear my bathrobe just for fun and he LOVES it now. haha Okay, that's a total lie, but I don't care. He's wearing the damn thing!

Anyways, have a great St. Patrick's Day, guys. I'm not doing anything, but maybe you are. Oh and I almost forgot to ask if any of you Twilight fans are going to the Twilight Midnight Movie Release this Friday?!?!?!! You know I'll be there. I asked my sister to get there at 3 pm with me and she looked at me like I had just told her I was pregnant. She doesn't really have a choice though. I pick her ass up from school so I am skipping the detour home and going straight the mall!!!!!!!!

Twilight Fans (Psychos) Unite!!

Lots of Absurd, Random Craziness.

2009-03-07T13:42:00.022-04:00

Hi everyone. I'm sorry I haven't been on here at all. Life has just been so crazy lately. So much stuff has been goin on!!!!! A glass of wine would totally come in handy but my mom doesn't want to let me drink to escape my problems. I guess that's smart on her part though haha

I do have some spankin good news though... I got into the University of Pittsburgh!!! It was the only school that I applied to so I HAD to get in. I was accepted to the School of Education for Wellness.

Other than that, I figured I'd post some pictures of that last couple of weeks. I know how you guys can't get enough pictures. Enjoy!!

The POM people got in touch with me and sent me a case of their pomegranate juice. I love it!!! You know how I love juice though. It's nice, tart, and sassy.

Chugging it down in my favorite bathrobe.

Okay. I know I look so sad here, but it's because I was. haha I was REALLY sick a couple weeks ago and felt like total hell. I knew I'd eventually post a picture of how shitty I looked so there it is.

Here's Corey (My Edward-Boyfriend) and Landsy meeting for the first time. They get along great!! But we all know Landsy is irresistible...

Corey can't come over without getting completely inked with fake tattooes. These are his tramp stamps.

Obviously, his arms couldn't hide either.

My mom bought me a huge pack of glitter tattoos. I didn't like the fairies very much so they definitely weren't going on my body.

Before you say anything, let me explain. I stole a large amount of latex gloves from my dental surgeon's office because he made me wait too long. I've been placing them in random places lately and also blowing them up and drawing on them. I really suck at blowing them up though so Corey had the honor of doing it.

I think this looks just like him... and cow udders.

This is what Corey thinks I look like. I should slap him for this... haha I probably already did.

So sexy, I know.

You know I can't do a post without Mitchel in it. We decided that a cross was a good spot to leave the latex glove. Afterall, Easter is coming up...

Obviously, Landsy was having a great time food shopping. I hadn't seen him in a few months since Mitchel was holding him hostage, but now it's my turn to have a little fun with the guy!

They decided to cement their love for one another in the Giant Eagle checkout line. How classy.

We found this kickass cart in the parking lot so we had to take advantage of it!!!

Takin a walk on the wild side.

My friend, Matt, was February's Rotary Student so Landsy and me wanted to show him some provocative love.

Liebchen and Landsy were getting cozy.

Liebchen is such a fatass. She would NOT leave Mitchel's plate alone whatsoever.

And last but not least, here's my evil cat, Butter. In every picture I have of her, she is usually being possessed by the Devil.

Hope you liked them, guys!!! Have a great Saturday and live it up!!!!!

1 month anniversary!!

2009-02-17T10:47:00.006-04:00

Hi, dearies!!! I hope everything is well with all of you. I've been being a bad girl lately. I've been really lazy with school and stuff, but the sad part is that I don't care!! I've always been a perfect student-totally reliable and it's kind of fun not being like that once in a while. I mean, I'm not gonna let myself go, but I'm just having more fun. For example: I got a boyfriend this weekend, and we've been hanging out so much for the past week. He's the guy with the Edward Cullen eyes that I talked about in my last post, and obviously, he's my lab partner. I wanted an Edward Cullen romance so bad!!! But, can you blame me?? My point exactly.

On Valentine's Day, he came over my house after he was at a car show. We were determined not to go to sleep because we wanted to be those people who go out to breakfast in the morning without sleeping in between. We did a lot of random stuff-totally G-rated (haha, I promise!!) and by 5 am, I was starving. We went to Eat N Park and I got a gardenburger. It's not raw, but lately, I've just been eating what feels right. We decided (or I decided) to put some ink on us, so I covered Corey in about 8 tattoos and I had one right on my chest. It's totally classy don't you think?? Ignore the red mark next to mine. I think I had a bugbite or something. haha

After we got home around 6 am, he asked me out and I was like "where are we going?" But of course I said yes so that's the end of that romantic girl crap.

The post today is dedicated to my 1 month anniversary of not using shampoo!!! Ahh It is so obvious that I haven't used shampoo. My hair is SOOO oily. I've been wearing it in a ponytail all the time or just wet because wet hair doesn't look so bad on me, but I could be wrong haha I'm not gonna fall back on this though. I'm determined to get good, healthy hair. One mistake I made was putting jojoba oil in my hair for a conditioning treatment. What a bad idea!!! Of course, it was on V-day and the oil wouldn't wash out of my hair. I rinsed 3 times with baking soda and I still looked like a grease-monkey. Oh well, I guess my confidence and outgoing personality surpass my shitty hair... thank God!!!

Have a great week my friends!! I think about you every day :)

Salsa in your pj's

2009-02-07T11:54:00.009-04:00

Hello my dear friends!! Oh have I missed you so. Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. I had a few tests this past week so I've been studying for those puppies. They went pretty well. I got a 90% in Statistics and an 80% in Chemistry. I will happily take both of those!! Also, I've been daydreaming a lot about Robert Pattinson of course.... BUT!!!!!! (yes, there's a but) there is this one boy who is absolutely adorable. He has Edward Cullen eyes and they just make me melt. I could stare at them all day. I sound like such a whiney girl talking about him, but I can't help it, damnit!

Besides that, I got a special delivery from my friend, Scott. He makes his own salsas and relishes by fermentation. They are living and vegan, so it's the best of both worlds. He lives in Pennsylvania and obviously, Pennsylvanians are really smart and can make GREAT food.

My sister and I really enjoyed these!! She eats the majority of the salsa in my house so the salsa vanished pretty quickly. She loved posing for pictures haha NOT. I always manage to get her when she's in her pj's with no makeup on, so that always cracks me up.

Scott sent us Mild Salsa and Hot Salsa. It was so cool because it bubbled when we opened the jar!! It was like a salsa volcano. The mild isn't very spicy so that's the one I liked more. My sister likes the hot one though.

But I'm more of a relish person myself, so I've been eating relish with everything. He sent the Garlic Dill Relish and the Horseradish Dill Relish. These are really good. In my house, we always have the regular kind with that Pelican on the jar, but Scott's is REAL relish. It tastes so different and it doesn't have that gel-like consistency of the regular kind. I ate mine on top of salads and on raw burgers.

So if you like salsa or relish, you should definitely give this a try. They are sold at some Whole Foods stores, but you can get them online at his website, too. I forgot to say that the fermentation process also makes the salsa and relish a lot healthier. Scott explains the science of it so much better than I ever could haha:

"Right now, we have 2 salsas (Hot and Mild) and 2 relishes (Horseradish Dill and Garlic Dill), all of which are preserved only through the ancient and natural art of lacto-fermentation. It’s a simple and live-giving process, where beneficial bacteria like Lactobacillus Acidophilus convert the starches and sugars of the raw vegetables into lactic acid (hence the term “lacto-fermentation”) and preserve the entire food, with its full compliment of enzymes, vitamins and minerals. We use no sugars or sugar substitutes in our products, and we use only a small amount of raw apple cider vinegar in our relishes (none in the salsas)."

So there you go. Enjoy my friends and Happy SATURDAY!! Stay warm and misbehave ;)

Daring Bakers Numero Dos

2009-01-29T00:03:00.010-04:00

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

So let me start off by saying that I was really excited for this challenge!! We had to make Tuiles. These are crispy, thin cookies that you bend into really cool shapes while they’re still warm. These ladies managed to make beautiful butterfly cookies, but mine, didn’t work out that way. Not even close haha But they were VERY delicious and highly addictive… as most baked goodies are.

I made these before my RAW escapade so I definitely indulged on these ones. I used this recipe, but I replaced the butter with Earth Balance and eggs with flax meal.

Tuiles
65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly. Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….
Before they went in the oven, they looked beautiful!! I made tons of different shapes and let my imagine run wild. I tie-dyed some of them for a psychedelic feel and put sprinkles on them so they’d be sparkly.

When I opened the oven, I wanted to cry!! They spread out everywhere!! I think it might have been because my baking sheets weren’t cold and they recommended refrigerating them before baking. I couldn’t get mine to fit in the fridge, so I just skipped that step. Probably not the best idea since none of my cookies remained in their shape!!
I was still able to shape some of them while they were still warm, but I ate a lot because I was angry haha They were really good and I just couldn’t help myself!! You know how that is, I’m sure. I want to try this again someday with really cold baking sheets.

The next part of the challenge was pairing the cookies with a fruit puree. I made a berry soup out of raspberries, cranberries, blueberries, pure maple syrup (more like pure sex), and coconut water. It was really tasty with the cookies, but I was too lazy to put it in a fancy bowl. I don’t do that kind of stuff when I’m hungry haha

But hey, all in all, they tasted awesome so I’m not gonna complain. After all, which is more important: taste or presentation??

And last but not least, who watched Top Chef?!?! How good was it??? I about died when Stefan said he was in love with Andrea. I laughed even harder when she creamed his ass in the challenge and got all the points. He’s such a cocky hornball, but I still love him. I wouldn’t say he’s my favorite because I honestly love everyone this season! They are all so likeable although Stefan’s probably the least likeable. Haha He’s just really flirty/seductive/has a hot accent and you know how I love guys with accents ; ) I do really like Jeff, though, and I'm sad he went home. He reminds me of the sexy, British doctor on House. So I guess today is like an ode to the sexy Top Chef contestants!!

I didn't die, I promise

2009-01-24T21:07:00.006-04:00

Hi guys!!! How are you today??? I've been so out of it lately- well, out of the blogging world and social world, but in the Twilight world. I know you guys would rather stuff broccoli in your ears before hearing about that, so I'll shut up now haha

Well, no I lied, haha I've been "post-it" noting all of my favorite quotes in the series, and so far, this one just makes me weak in the freakin knees!!

"I'll be back so soon you won't have time to miss me. Look after my heart---- I've left it with you." - Edward Cullen, pg 95 of Eclipse

Okay, now that I've gotten my sappy girl crap out of the way, let's talk about RAW. How's my shampoo-less life been going, you ask?? Well, I think it's been about a week or so and my hair is pretty gross haha I'm not even gonna lie about that one. It's very itchy and nasty looking. It's definitely noticeable that shampoo and me have broken up- the umbilical cord has been cut (eww, sorry)- the cat has been let out of the bag. okay i don't know where I'm going with all of these creepy metaphors, but you get it. haha

I've been using a mixture of baking soda and water (on my roots) on some days and then I'll use apple cider vinegar (on the ends) on the other days. That works really well, but I've noticed that you can't abuse it. Once a week would probably be best for that wash because it's very strong. It works really well though- it gives my limp hair some oomph! I tried coconut oil and that was a mistake!! My hair was so sticky. I think for the next few days, I'm just gonna do straight water and see how that goes.

As for food, I did cheat on the RAW foods diet (hopefully not on the vegan diet as well!!), but I couldn't help myself. My sister was in New York this weekend, and I asked her to bring me back one thing- NUTS!!!! Nuts 4 Nuts are my favorite nuts in the world. I don't care who you are or where you're from, nobody makes better nuts than the street vendors of NYC- true dat!! I hope they aren't made with butter- I'd rather not know what their ingredients are because I love them too much!!!

And you know who else likes nuts???

TUBBY!!! I haven't seen him in so long. In case you aren't familiar with this sexy beast, he's my squirrel. He lives in the Bally's parking lot and is at least 15 pounds overweight. But that's why I love his little fat butt. Can't wait til he comes back to see me in the spring!!

I think I've lost it!!

2009-01-20T00:11:00.003-04:00

Okay. I need help. All I do is think about Robert Pattinson!!! I am so unhealthily obsessed with him. I feel bad for the guy. He has crazy girls throwing themselves at him all the time, and I really don't want to be the same... but it seems that I'm no different. He is the most perfect guy in the world. I realize that I am equating Edward Cullen's personality with Robert's, but in my mind, they are the same person haha But I do LOVE Robert's accent.

I met a girl today at Barnes and Noble while I was picking up New Moon and she said she's reading the Twilight Saga for the 3rd time in a row. Now, that's a little bit creepy, but who am I to judge? I replaced Bella Swan's head with my own. You have to admit that we do look pretty cute together. haha I tend to do that when I have a celebrity crush. My last insane crush was Matt Dillon. He's like 45 now, but I don't care. I was in love with him in 8th grade and cried when I'd see him at an Awards show with somebody.

I think I just need to meet a real guy to take my mind off of Edward. I just haven't found one yet, damnit. I'm not looking for a boyfriend because of school and stuff, but if I find one, I'd give a relationship a try. I'm usually not a relationship person, but I think that's what I need to stop thinking about Robert. I'm going to see my therapist tomorrow so hopefully she can talk some bloody sense into me. hehe

As for food, I've been eating salads like crazy and lots of bananas, which isn't anything weird. That's about it haha I practically live off of fruits, veggies, nuts, and juices. I'm still not giving up hummus though. I just can't. I'm doing 90% RAW mainly because of my love for it. I've also been making a lot of Ani Phyo's meals and I love them. Here's a few pictures of my daily eats-
Zucchini Pasta with Sun-dried Tomato Marinara Sauce- this is honestly the best "pasta" dish I've ever had. It tastes so much like real spaghetti.

Buckwheat Crispies with Vanilla Mylk and an orange and banana- ok, this is just so good. If you haven't tried buckwheat groats, go to Whole Foods and get some. They are like Rice Krispies after you've soaked and dehydrated them.

Sweet and Spicey Cashews- I adapted this recipe from Ani's recipe and mine came out REALLY spicey. I practically cried when I took my first bite, but I got used to having no feeling on my tongue.

Dehydrated Kiwi!!! These taste like candy. They are soo damn sweet and squishy. I didn't dry them all the way because I like my fruits kind of gummy.

Cucumbers with Ketchup. Becca from "Vegan with a Reason" told me to try these and they weren't bad. I think I like cucumbers better cooked though... or on my eyelids haha

My shampoo less life has been really well, too. My hair feels fine now and I don't even notice anything weird about it. I've been leaving it curly most of the time instead of straightening it. That's when you can kind of tell that it's not washed; however, I noticed that my hairbrush had some interesting specimens on it- White fuzzy hair. I'm thinking that it might be build-up from my usage of shampoos for the past 19 years. Obviously, I don't have white hair... I think. haha Nobody has pointed it to me though, so I could be wrong. What do you guys think???

I can't help myself!!!!!

2009-01-17T09:15:00.004-04:00

Hi guys!!! I feel like I haven't posted in months, but that's an overstatement (I can't believe I just said that- is overstatement a word???). I have a feeling it's not, but whatever. Anyway, I've been really busy with watching movies lately. I could say that I've been busy with school, but that would be a lie haha I've just been going to movies, renting them, and buying them like crazy. I saw Twilight again on Thursday and it was better (and hotter) than I remember. Can someone please tell me that Edward Cullen is a story-book character and that he will never go out with me?? I can't seem to realize this yet, so I remain hopeful. Every night, I stay up til about 2 in the morning reading Twilight!! I told myself that I wouldn't turn into one of those "Twilight-obsessed dorks who have no life" but it's too late. I'm way past that already haha

In other news, I've decided to adapt a RAW lifestyle. My parents and sister are COMPLETELY against it and say I'm disgusting. I decided to quit using shampoo and my hair kind of looks crappy and gross. My mom says that I am giving off the impression that I don't care about my hygiene, but it's really that I care more about my hygiene. I've been putting chemicals in it my whole life, and I finally want to stop. I understand that the withdrawal symptoms from no-pooing will last about a week-2 months. That's fine with me though. I don't care what people say about my gross hair. I agree though- it does look pretty raggedy. I already dress like a homeless person to begin with, so the hair is just an added bonus.

I also got an award from my friend, Reeni over at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice. She is one of my favorite people ever!! Reeni's always makin something delicious in the kitchen and her food always looks mouth-watering. She's just a really down-to-earth person and really good friend. If you like me, then you'll like her haha This award is called the Lemonade Award and I LOVE it!! This sounds so absurd, but I would always make poor man's lemonade when i would go to restaurants. I'd take 2 Splenda packets, 3 lemon halves, and water because I could get it for free!! I'm such a cheap bastard haha Anyway, thanks Reeni!!! You're a hoot!!

Is that all you got?!?!

2009-01-14T00:46:00.006-04:00

Hi, guys. How's your week so far??? Well, school went a lot better than I thought it would!! I wasn't shy at all and I met a few new people. It was fun. I mean, there's always those "oops" moments though. My car keys, coat, glasses, and books all got locked in the honors office so I had to get security to open it. The security guard is 95 yrs old, give-or-take. He had no clue what I was asking him and just stared at me for a while until i shouted- "Excuse me!! I need you to open the honors office, now!!"

Although my school day was fun and eventful, NOTHING beats last night. OMG wow. I decided to do a cycling class after months of not going. What was I thinking???!!! My friend, Ted, and I both signed up for bikes that were broken (we obviously didn't know this) so the instructor told us to take bikes 2 and 3. When we were all settled in, these two old hags walk in and completely bitch me and Ted out for stealing their bikes. First of all, they were late to class, and second of all, both of them will die lonely, old women! They forced us off the bikes and yanked them away. Don't get me wrong, though- I fought back. I don't care how old this lady is. You DON'T cross me and mess with my shit.

What ends up happening is the instructor gives me his bike and Ted steals somebody elses. haha oh Ted. I love that man. We always have push-up competitions and he usually kicks my ass. He's 70 yrs old and can do 55 push-ups!! I'd say that's pretty darn good. My average is usually 45-50 so I'm not too far behind.

But besides all my fights with the elderly, I've been going mad over Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. I LOVE this cookbook. It's amazing so you have to buy it. I made the vanilla mylk today and it was just cheerful. I was proud of myself for not eating all of the dates before making my milk. I only bought about 20 dates so I had enough left after devouring over half of them... THANK GOD. I had to use cashews instead of almonds because I was out of them, but I'm sure almonds would be dashing as well. Make sure you enlarge the picture so you can see the vanilla bean!!!! It makes me so happy!!

Here's the recipe:

Vanilla Mylk
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup pitted medjool dates
1 vanilla bean
pinch of sea salt
5 cups of water

Directions: Throw all that in the blender and mix until smooth. Keeps in the fridge for 4 days.

Little School Girl, Joanna

2009-01-11T23:24:00.005-04:00

Hello, guys!! Hope your weekend has been dashing and you've all been misbehavin (but that goes without saying). My first day of school is tomorrow, and I'm as nervous as a clam!!! I can't stop picking at my fingernails- uhhh that's my worst habit. I've always been kind of shy when I go into a room and don't know anyone, so I'm hoping to see a familiar face to take the edge off. I wish one of you (or all of you) went to my school. Can you imagine how much we'd get yelled at for being complete fools?? Oh well, at least we have our good looks...

To ease the nervousness of tomorrow, I watched Bret's Michael's show "Rock of Love Bus." Wow what a train-wreck or tranny-wreck (whichever you prefer). Watching this show always makes me happy... and thankful that I am going to college so I can get a real job. My mom loves this show, too. My sister, she, and I always watch it as a family. I guess you could say that we love trashy television. I'm pretty sure that it's polluting my mind, but when you come to think of it, at least it's keeping me off the streets... and off the show. haha I mean, can you picture me in this line up of ladies??? Okay, don't answer that.

Well, I think I'm gonna read a little Twilight and have some tea. Pray that I don't slip on ice tomorrow when I walk in the building!! I tend to do that. I'll be sure to wear my favorite church shoes ;)

I love prunes and bananas

2009-01-09T00:54:00.004-04:00

Hello all you crazy bloggers. What's going on? Thursday was my first day of eating food and it was a wild one!! haha I started my day off with apple juice and then had 6 ounces of soaked prunes. Now, when you think of 6 ounces, it doesn't seem like a lot, but it's an entire bag of prunes that you buy at the grocery store. I was really excited to eat them though- I mean, it was real, living food- that's ALL that mattered haha My sister had a disgusted look on her face as I ate them in the living room. Halfway through eating them, I felt my stomach gurgling, but I finished them off anyways. What a bad idea!!!

A few hours went by, I went to the gym, came home, and read a little bit of Cosmo magazine. I also weighed myself and surprisingly, I lost 4 pounds. I was shocked and kind of mad because I really didn't need to lose weight. That wasn't the purpose of my juice fast. I'm assuming that it was toxic waste so I guess it's not a bad thing to lose, but oh well. Later, I had to go to work, of course, and this was just a nightmare. I got to work at 6 and was scheduled in the women's department which is very far away from the bathroom. I pleaded with the cashier in the kid's department to switch with me and by the grace of God, she did. And thank God she did. I went to the bathroom 8 times in 3 1/2 hours. The prunes went right through me and it felt so good. The people in the bathroom stalls around me probably wanted to faint from the smell. I used to never go poop in the bathroom because I didn't want people to hear, but over the past few years, I could give a CRAP about what anyone thinks.

Hopefully, Friday night won't be as bad as Thursday. I have a feeling that it will be though haha But nobody will work for me. Sears employees aren't THAT nice. I want to go bowling for some reason so that's where I'll be if I'm not at Sears.

I also wanted to show you guys this AMAZING banana shirt that my mom bought me. In case you didn't know this, I usually eat 3 bananas every day. I am obsessed with them, so this shirt is now one of my favorite shirts!! Isn't it sassy?? I wore it to the gym and got a few stares, but I don't care... it's HOT!!!!

My juicing days are almost over!!

2009-01-07T00:45:00.004-04:00

Hello everyone!! Thanks for all of your support with my juicing fast!! It’s one of the hardest journeys I’ve ever embarked on. I sound like Christopher Columbus, but I just can’t help myself. I didn’t think it would be so difficult on me mentally, and it definitely is proving to be quite a challenge.

This cleanse has been really eye-opening for me. It has allowed me to get in touch with my body’s needs and really listen to what it’s telling me. I didn’t realize exactly how much waste was in my body, but I soon discovered it in the toilet haha I was really shocked, but relieved at the same time. I don’t weigh myself, but I honestly feel 10 pounds lighter and my belly doesn’t have a huge bloat in it anymore.

Wednesday is my last day of the fast, and it’s the 6th day. I wanted to do it until Friday but my body is done. I need food!!! My first meal on Thursday is going to be soaked prunes because I want to eat something that is a natural laxative. I’m just going to eat small meals for the next few days in order to see how my digestive system reacts.

If any of you are interested in doing a juice fast and haven’t done one before, I made some amazing juices that you would just love. My favorite juice of all time is apple juice so I knew that I had to make my own. There’s NOTHING like homemade apple juice. The juice makes foam on the top and it’s just so darn sweet- I LOVE it. It kind of looks like beer (because you all know that my main intention was to clone beer in fruit juice form). I used a 3 pound bag of apples and got about 3 cups of juice. It takes a ton of fruits and veggies to actually make juice- I was shocked.

And of course, I had to work at Sears every day during the fast so that was just a dandy time. I warned everyone there that I was fasting and would be frequenting the bathroom. I wasn’t embarrassed because everyone has to poop haha some more than others… Obviously, being the slob that I am, I got some of my celery juice on my shirt which kind of looks like baby throw-up. Surprisingly, my customers didn’t comment on it, but I’m positive they thought I was producing green milk for my alien child.

Movies and Pancakes- A Dynamic Duo

2009-01-04T10:09:00.007-04:00

Good day, my friends. How are you doing on this bright Sunday morning??? I'm somewhat of a 'hot mess' right now. I've been doing a juice fast since Friday and I'm breaking out like crazy on my arms and back. It's sickening!! I have a green-minty-smelling mask on myself right now to try and help it. I'm thinking that it might be my body's way of releasing some of the toxins out of my body. That's fine though. As long as my body is getting cleaned out. I just got discouraged by the Dr Natura Cleanse since I haven't noticed a difference. I'm still taking it, but I'm just doing it with the juice fast.

In other news, I'm gonna be your personal movie critic for today. I saw 'Valkyrie' on Thursday night and I was NOT a fan. It was boring, and Tom Cruise didn't have any underwear scenes. I feel like they should just be a standard in all of Tom's films. I mean, if you have a butt like that, why hide it??? After the disappointment with that movie, last night, I saw 'Marley and Me.' I read the book and of course, the book is better, but the movie still holds its own. I got a little teary-eyed in the end, so thankfully, I brought a wad of tissues.

As for food, I've been drinking a lot of juice... A LOT. But before the juice fast, I made up a recipe for pancakes in the dehydrator. It was pretty yummy. I ate them with Earth Balance and Pure Maple Syrup. I love PMS (that is too funny) because it smells amazing (again, that is just weird). Forget I mentioned pure maple syrup.

Here's the recipe:
Nutty Pancakes
1/2 cup raw walnuts
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 medium size carrot
3/4 cup fresh cranberries
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions: Throw everything in food processor and blend. Shape into balls and then flatten out and put on dehydrator sheet. I made 5 pancakes. Dehydrate for 2 and 1/2 hours on 105F. I wanted the pancakes to be soft and still have the texture of real ones, but you can dehydrate longer if you'd like.

Risky Cookies

2009-01-01T11:55:00.005-04:00

Hey guys!!! I'm surprised you're up so early after all that partying you did last night. I figured I wouldn't see you until at least 2 hehe I went to bed around 1:30. My friend, Desiree, came over and we watched Risky Business. I was completely shocked by this movie- you guys didn't warn me!! It was all centered around sex and prostitution. I'm glad I saw it though. I feel like it's a trashy classic that everyone has to see. The lady at Family Video even told me "There's a really sexy train scene, so look out for that." Ummm, look out for that??? How could anyone with the sense of sight miss that???

Okay. I can already tell that this post is going the wrong way and my mom will read it and gasp.

So let's talk dehydrators. I don't have a fancy one, but it does the job. I got it from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and I am obsessed with it!!! I use it every day and it's been going strong. It has 5 trays, but you can also buy more if you need them. I would definitely recommend getting one if you like dried fruits or want to make more RAW foods. It's so much cheaper to make your own rather than buying a bag of dried mangoes for 5 bux.

To demonstrate all that this dehydrator can do, here's a cookie recipe that I made up a few nights ago. I loved these!! I ate them drizzled (drenched) in agave nectar for dessert. I also ate them plain when I went to the movies yesterday with my dad. We saw an Egyptian movie about mummies at the Carnegie Science Center. Who doesn't love watching the mummification process on big screen?? haha

I've never described a cookie as "smokey" but this one was. They also kept me full because they are filled with nuts. I might add a few dates next time to make them sweeter, but I didn't have any. So as of now, they aren't a sweet cookie- more like an energy cookie.

Egyptian Energy Cookies

1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup raw shelled pistachios
1 Tbsp raw cacao powder
2 Tbsp coconut flour
1/2 medium-size banana
1/4 cup goji berries

Directions: Throw all of that in the food processor until it's well-blended. Shape into little balls, flatten them with your palm, and dehydrate for about 3 hours on 105F. These don't have any liquid, so they dehydrate pretty quickly. You can dehydrate for a few hours longer if you like your cookies crunchy. I prefer a soft cookie. They taste good fresh and warm straight from the dehydrator. I made 8 cookies.

Crackity Crack Crack

2008-12-30T10:28:00.003-04:00

Hello all you crazy people. Have the holidays been treating you well??? I sure hope so because I’ve been having a love affair. Yes, you heard me. It’s true. My dehydrator and I go at it every night in the kitchen. We’ve been making everything we can get our hands on- apples, watermelon, mangoes, pineapple, jackfruit. My cat is next to go. Haha Just kidding. I know you guys would send PETA after me.

Even on Christmas day, I had my dehydrator in the basement. He was making carrot crackers for me. They were the best crackers I’ve ever had in my life. I say that about most of the foods I eat, but would I ever lie to you??? The basement smelled soo damn good, but my stepdad said it smelled like pee. His sense of smell is obviously going with age. Tisk tisk. Hehe.

I found this recipe on GoneRaw (aka my savior) and it’s just too good for words. I’ve been eating these crackers with hummus, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives. You must try them if you have a dehydrator near you!!!! If you don’t have one, go steal one from Bed, Bath, and Beyond… or even SEARS!!! Haha I had a customer tonight who was buying a dehydrator and I didn’t even know we sold them. I guess Sears isn’t as bad as I thought… Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s on my good side for now.

Here's the Recipe:
Carrot Crackers
6 cloves garlic
4 tablespoon ground flax seed meal
1 cup almonds
salt and pepper to taste (I used about ½ tsp salt and a few pinches of pepper)
2 medium organic carrots
Directions: Ground almonds to make flour. Put in food processor with carrots, garlic, flax seed meal, salt and pepper. Mix well.
Make flat crackers and place on dehydrator sheets. dehydrate at 105 F for 10-12 hr. flip the crackers after 6 hr and continue dehydrating. I made about 12 medium-sized crackers.

Daring Bakers Challenge Numero Uno

2008-12-28T01:11:00.015-04:00

Hello everyone!!! I am so excited for this post today. It is officially my first post as a Daring Baker. I have to post the phrase below because it’s part of the rules, fool.

“This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.”

This yule log was the most delicious dessert I’ve ever had. I mean, EVER. My mouth was in heaven. I am not going to lie- this was the most difficult dish I have ever prepared in my short life. I worked all day at my crappy job, came home, and stayed up late trying to finish it. Obviously, I made the whole damn thing in my bathrobe- we keep it classy here in the Schupp household.

The French Yule Log is so much harder than a regular yule log because it has 6 elements to it. It was also tough because the whole recipe was NOT vegan or gluten-free, so I had to play around with practically every ingredient in order to veganize it. I thought about not making it vegan, but then I came to my senses. I put my happy face on and said “Let’s rock this bitch!”

The first element is the Dacquoise. This is basically a thin almond cake. Naturally, I didn't have parchment paper so foil had to do. The cake got REALLY stuck to the foil, but nobody noticed when it was all assembled.

The second element is the Milk Chocolate Mousse and it is also layered through the entire yule log- thank god. This stuff was so damn good.

The third element is Praline Feuillete, and this includes gavottes. Gavottes are basically crepes and I had to chop them up and pour chocolate over them. Poor little gavottes haha. Luckily, I had a good bit of this leftover so I ate a huge slab of it at the end of my baking adventure.

The fourth element is the Chocolate-Cinnamon Ganache. Dear God. That's all I need to say. How could this ever taste bad???

The fifth element is the Creme Brulee. Now, obviously, I had to cut out all the eggs. I used tofu and it worked like a charm. I forgot to take a picture because I was just shocked it worked.

The sixth element is the Dark Chocolate Icing. I had to use agar flakes, and I had no clue what I was doing. I didn't know about boiling them to make them all "gel-like" so I just softened them in water. Ummm... that didn't work. I just stirred them with the chocolate icing and then poured it on top of the frozen yule log. I put coconut on top to disguise those damn agar flakes.

All in all, I wish I could eat this every day of my life. Everyone at Christmas also agreed. My cousin told me she would pay $80 for this log. I wish I could mass produce it somehow because it just took so long to make!!! It was a fabulous cooking experience though and my mother was so darn proud!!!

Here's some pictures from Christmas!!!
I took a damn big piece of yule log so it's weighing down the plate. ha who cares!!?!?!?!
My sister, Pls, and me. We look so darn cute!!!
All of the cousins in our fam-damily.
My favorite Christmas present of all- my PedEgg!!!! Ahh I laughed hysterically when I opened this, but I just can't stop using it. I decided to demonstrate it for my family and friends. Everyone thought it was disgusting and told me to get out.
It's love.

Some RAW Goodness

2008-12-24T09:59:00.009-04:00

Good Morning, my friends. I hope most of you are on break for Christmas or another holiday you celebrate. I gotta get my butt to work today because I just could NOT find anybody to take my shift. People are so heartless these days haha I honestly offered to bake people food for a week, and they still said NO. Damn them. They don't know what they're missing!!!

I figured I'd post a few videos of Mitchel and me at work. He quit some time ago, so work hasn't been much fun since he left this hell hole. When we worked together, all we did was goof off. Here's what I mean:

I wish I could go back to those fun times at Sears, but they have been non-existent lately!! Oh well, thank God for Christmas tomorrow- the one day that the store is closed.

Oh I almost forgot to tell you guys how my cleanse is going. I think I'm on day 10 or so (I'm really not sure) and I haven't noticed a difference in bowel movements at all. I hope it starts working eventually because I just want to be cleaned out; however, the amount of water I am drinking has to be lethal haha I go pee about 15 times a day. I don't know what a normal amount is, but my trips to the bathroom have definitely increased.

As for food, I've been eating primarily RAW lately. I made raw ice cream that I saw on GoneRaw. The original recipe was for Chocolate Ice Cream, but I changed up some stuff and made Banana Split Ice Cream. It is outstanding and it's pretty darn healthy.

Here's the recipe:

Banana Split Ice Cream

2 frozen bananas
1/2 cup "milk" (nut milk, or soy milk- doesn't matter)
1 Tbsp raw cacao powder
2 Tbsp agave nectar
1/2 cup fresh strawberries
1 Tbsp cacao nibs

Directions: Throw the first 5 ingredients into the food processor and blend. Stir in the cacao nibs and then freeze or eat fresh!!

Another random part of today's post is my Marie Antoinette Award from Melody!! Thank you so much. If you haven't been on her blog, she always has cute pictures and fun family stories on it. She's such a good mom!! Her blog says "this award is for people who are deemed 'real' in who they are." That really makes me happy to get that because it's such a meaningful award. I'm supposed to pass this onto 7 people, but I like everyone on here so if you read my blog, you get this award!!!

Oh What A Night

2008-12-21T23:40:00.020-04:00

Hi everyone!!! I’ve missed you guys so much!!! I haven’t really been blogging the past few days because of work. I’ve worked 25 hours this weekend so I am just plain tired. I’m scheduled for Monday, but I’m NOT going in haha. I just don’t care. I got somebody else to take my shift so I could finally have a day free of insane lunatics.

So much hilarious stuff has been going on, but the funniest (and somewhat painful) was last night with Mitchel. My mom bought us Survivor buffs so we wore them everywhere. They are the coolest things I've ever seen. We went to this really ghetto mall, and then did some food shopping with Lands' End Dog. We stayed in the card aisle forever just reading how ridiculous all of them were. I ended up slicing my leg open on a card rack because I was laughing so hard haha I got blood all over the floor and on my sister's $70 jeans. But honestly, if you're gonna spend that much on jeans, then you just know they are gonna get ruined. After we got home, we played on my parent's light-up animals outside, tried to open a coconut, and ended up smashing it on my sidewalk because we were frustrated. Here's a ton of photos-

Mitchel with his Survivor buff- he's so proud.

Mitchel as a freezing Middle Eastern woman.

Our favorite dog in the world is right where we want him.

If you stare too much- you'll get lost in his eyes.

Causing madness in the organic aisle- it's what we do best.

We love apricot filling... and looking like bank robbers.

Mother-son moment. Landsy loves reading cards to me. He's such a doll.

I'm positive the other customers were just as scared and annoyed as this cat... thank god!!

The battle wound. I was surprised at how much it bleed. It left a nice little puddle on the floor.

This is so gross, but I couldn't help showing you guys. I was cracking up the ENTIRE time!! I'm sure if these were my pants, though, I'd be pissed!!! hehe

Licking the wound to make it better

I LOVE Twilight!!!!!!!! Well, that picture is kind of a lie. I haven't read the book, but I've seen the movie. I just think reading makes me look studious.

My Survivor buff/babushka will never leave my side!!

Trying to cut open the coconut- we are such idiots.

I do not trust myself with knives and you shouldn't either.

Getting some action with the moose. I'm sure the neighbors loved it.

Dating profile: Mitchel enjoys long walks at the grocery store, dancing to Britney Spears, and riding polar bears.

I didn't think slamming the coconut on the sidewalk would break it... but it did. haha it got everywhere!!! My mom was going crazy because she thought it would stain the concrete.

So romantic!!

I hope your weekend was just as crazy as mine was!!! Actually, I take that back. You'd probably be suicidal and weird if you worked at Sears, so stay away!!! Now you know what kind of employees Sears hires haha

Bahumbug

2008-12-18T23:19:00.005-04:00

Hello, guys. I've been kind of lazy lately. Ever since I finished my last final on Monday night, I've been beat!!! I did get my grades for the semester and am rather pleased. I got 4 A's and 1 B. The B is in Trig, but I am so grateful for it!!! That was a dang hard class. I started back to work this week at Sears, too. I have to get up at 5 am the next 3 days to be at work. Shoot me. Who the hell is going to be shopping at Sears (of all places) that early?!?!?! I definitely wouldn't if I were a normal human being- which I'm not haha but none of us bloggers really are. I'm just a little worried about my morning bowel movements due to my DrNatura cleanse. I'll be working in the men's department on the 2nd floor and it's the furthest from the 1st floor bathroom. Just lovely. I have to drink a hefty cup of pure fiber in the morning, so the Sears customers and employees better brace themselves haha

Today at work was just really stressful. The most annoying part was looking at my schedule and seeing that I work straight through next Friday, with the exception of Christmas. I just wanted to quit when I saw it haha The managers do this to me on purpose because I'm a college student. In case any of you haven't noticed, I am NOT a work horse. I'd prefer a job where I work about 2 or 3 days a week and come and go as I please. Obviously, if I have a bakery someday, I'll be there all the time, but at least I'll be doing what I love. With Sears, it's just a little pocket change to buy frivolous items with.

When I got home from work, I just wanted food. I was seriously doing some emotional eating, but I don't care. I was hungry though, but I did eat a lot. My main regret food was the strawberries dipped in chocolate. It's not that I regret eating it, it's what I found in the food. When I bit into a strawberry, I found a green worm in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How disgusting is that, people!?!?! That's never happened to me before. I just wanted to throw up.

But I guess you've heard enough of my whining. I do have to get to sleep. Have a good Friday everyone and don't behave ;)

Where the magic happens

2008-12-15T23:43:00.015-04:00

Hey guys. I just got home a little while ago from my trig final aka the death of me. I can honestly say that the SAT math portion was way easier than my final. I'm just glad that I am out of that class. Obviously, if I do bad, I'll probably have to take trig again, but at least I won't have it for a few months.

On the brighter side of things, I figured I'd post some pictures of my bedroom. I have no clue what prompted me to do this. I was just folding laundry, saw my camera, and figured the hell with it. My room rocks and you guys should see it. It's where all the magic happens. And when I say magic, I mean pole dancing to Britney Spears on my bedpost.

Here you go:

This is my bed. I don't enjoy making it, but I do it on occasion if I feel like it's been too long. I like sleeping with 3 blankets because my house is a freakin freezer. As for the hot pink sheets, I can't stand changing them, so I try to avoid it. I guess you could say that I sleep in my own filth haha

My life-size Hannah Montana poster- Don't ask.

My plethora of stuffed animals. These ones are my favorites, so they have their own couch. My ex bf gave me the wolf and giraffe; my mom gave me hello kitty; and I made the bear!! Hell yeah. I have mad sewing skills... not.

These are my old pom-poms and trophy. Cheerleading was a lot of fun for me, and I wish I could still do it. At the heart of this picture is something I despise- the Rubik's cube. I've tried my entire life to solve that damn thing. I've watched countless hours of youtube how-to's, and I just can't do it. I hate anybody who can. haha

That green worm was my first stuffed animal. Somebody gave it to me in the delivery room- of course, I remember this day perfectly.

My favorite purse- I know it's completely against veganism, but come on people, how cute is it??? My teacher told me I looked like I was going to a picnic when I brought it to her class. She's just jealous.

The best fake tattoo collection ever!! I usually wear one every day, so I like to have a wide range to choose from.

I have this crazy shoe addiction. I don't know when it started, but I'm okay with it.

More shoes- I just had to get my hooker boots in there. I only wear them on special occasions... like going to church.

I got this picture drawn at Giant Eagle one day when I was there with my bff, Mitchel. Obviously, it depicts me perfectly.

Figure I'd finish off with a cute best friends picture. This is Mitchel and I at our Sears photo shoot. haha We were bored one day, so we scheduled a photo session. We brought aprons, rolling pins, and whisks. I think the photographer thought we were drunk, but that's okay.

Hope you enjoyed it. If you didn't, then maybe you'll enjoy this. It's a really inhumane video from a Survivor episode. I crack up every time I watch it.

2008-12-14T10:13:00.004-04:00

Well, Saturday was definitely an eventful day. My mother and I tried to go Christmas shopping… which ended up being shear hell. I have never seen stores so damn crowded in my life. I ended up buying a food dehydrator because I needed one so badly. From what I’ve heard, they are the queen of RAW cooking. Obviously, Vitamix is the king.

Later in the night, my bff, Dez, came over and watched a movie. I was hesitant about renting a movie because I didn’t want to have to pay my parent’s late fees on videos. Lord knows it’s probably like $100. Haha I ended up opening my own account just to avoid that. We went to Family Video together, and we wanted to rent “My Best Friend’s Girl” but they didn’t have it yet. Damn. We then decided that we would watch the movie with Tom Cruise dancing in his underwear, but neither of us knew what it was called. We settled on “Sleepy Hollow” because we are just both really weird human beings. That movie was so damn scary though!!!! I was using my coat to shield my virgin eyes from all the killing.

The one thing about the movie that I didn’t understand was how Johnny Depp played Ichabod Crane (the bird-face, skinny, tall guy). Johnny Depp could NEVER look like that even if he was beat with an ugly stick as a child.

But let’s stop thinking about Johnny Depp (naked haha) and start thinking about food. I made RAW pancakes last night for dinner, and they were just divine. I found the recipe in Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen. I followed the recipe pretty closely, but added twice the amount of salt (oops), some raspberries, and cinnamon. These were really good and definitely “a-okay” for my cleanse diet…unlike those sneaky, little blue muffins. I don’t know how they got into my belly. Hehe.

Here’s the recipe:

Raw Pancakes
2 cups whole flax seeds or ground flax seeds (I used ground)
2 tbsp coconut oil
½ cup agave nectar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ cup water
1 cup freeze-dried raspberries

Directions: Combine the first 7 ingredients in a bowl using your fingers. If it seems dry, add some more water (2 tbsp), but not too much. Stir in the raspberries. On a pan lined with parchment paper, make 8 patties by forming into balls and flattening them. I froze mine to make them firmer and more pancake-like.

Are you feeling blue?

2008-12-12T11:29:00.011-04:00

Good Morning guys!!!! It's freezing today. It snowed a crap-load last night. I would've cracked up if we were snowed in, but unfortunately, we're not. I do have some fun news for you guys though. Today is the first day of my DrNatura Cleanse. Have you heard of this before? My therapist told me about it because I've had digestive problems ever since I was a baby. It was pretty expensive, but that really didn't matter haha I just had to get it!!! It's vegan, too, which is always a plus. It's supposed to rid your body of all the toxins that you take in on a daily basis. The first month is the Colonix program and the second month is the Toxinout program. I won't EVER post disgusting bathroom pictures on here, but if you want to see them, then you're just nasty haha

But I won't leave you hanging there. I have a splendid and funky muffin recipe for you today. I found my inspiration recipe on eat me, delicious. I just love all the muffins she makes. These ones are some of my favorites, but I guess I say that about practically every muffin I make- they are also gluten-free. I was just in the mood to make blue muffins. I know there's no such thing as a blue food, but I just had to do it. I made two recipe attempts. The first was a blueberry corn muffin which was good, but I knew I could do better. The next was a blue raspberry muffin and I just loved them. I would feed these to my kids if I had any because kids always love blue raspberry shit... at least I did haha and still do.

Here's the recipe:

Blue Raspberry Muffins
1/2 cup soy milk
1 cup quick or rolled oats
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup millet flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp flax seeds
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup turbinado raw sugar
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup freeze-dried, dried, or fresh raspberries
approx. 1/3 raspberry jelly (depending on how many muffins you make)

Directions: Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray or cupcake liners. Make the flax eggs by combined the flax seeds and water in a cup. Stir together and let stand until it thickens.

In a medium bowl, stir together milk, applesauce, vanilla, sugar, and flax eggs. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flours, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In the microwave, nuke 1/2 cup blueberries for 30 seconds. Using a stand mixture, hand mixer, or blender, puree the 1/2 cup warm blueberries. It can be messy so I'd use a blender. Add the puree to the milk/sugar mixture and stir through. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and fold together. Stir in the 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries and the raspberries. Fill the muffin cups half way with batter, add 2-3 tsp of jelly on top, and then fill the rest with the muffin batter. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Oh, you guys

2008-12-10T18:39:00.003-04:00

Hello guys!! Well, I had my American Literature final yesterday, and I think it went okay. I just had to write a bunch of essays about how nature and religion affect literature. I would've been better at writing about food affecting literature, but that would make finals easy... and why would teachers want to make ANYTHING easy on you? haha But instead of a recipe, I thought I'd post about a blog award I just received from my friend, Michelle. Her blog is called Chocolate and Marmalade, and she's always making the cutest things- crafts and food. She also loves cats, and I can't name one blogger on here that doesn't have a cat obsession... cough Bethany cough. haha

"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Okay, let me just say that I'm happy it translates what the award is. I took 8 years of Spanish in school so I had an idea of what it said, but a part of me thougt it was French, too. Oh geez. So now I have to pass this onto 8 bloggers who exemplify this award. I think every blogger I've talked to is friedly, charismatic, and down-right sexy hehe but honestly, if you're name isn't in my 8 picks, I still love you and stalk your blog ALL the time!! Here you go guys and thanks, Michelle- you rock!!

1. Agnes
2. Becca
3. Bethany
4. Jessy
5. Gina
6. Jenn
7. River
8. Juliet

At least I have 9 left haha

2008-12-09T01:05:00.006-04:00

Okay. I am in such a weird mood right now. Lord knows posting on my blog is the LAST thing I need to be doing, but I just can’t help it. The funniest thing just happened to me. I was taking my shoes off and my baby toenail fell off!!!!! Haha I had it coming though. About a month ago, I fell down the steps and slammed into the wall. My baby toe got all black and blue and fugly. I painted my nail red so I wouldn’t have to look at the black nail, but I guess I don’t have to look at any nail now hehe

This definitely isn’t the first time this has happened though. I lose toenails all the time. Well, I should say I break my toes a lot which causes the toenail to fall off. Either way, I just can’t stop laughing about it.

As for finals, I have one at 10:30 am, but would rather be updating this puppy instead of studying that crap. Wish me luck, guys!!! I’ll let you know how it goes (or doesn’t go) tomorrow.

But now, I have food for you. This is a raw cinnamon roll recipe I found on GoneRaw. It’s amazing and pretty time-consuming, but sometimes you’re just in the mood to treat yourself. It looks like a gigantic tootsie roll, but who doesn’t love that? I fooled around in the kitchen (not that kind haha) and made cashew coconut icing for them, but you can eat it with anything, I suppose. I followed the recipe for once in my short life and am so happy I did. Oh wait- I lied. Haha. I just remembered that I added about ¼ cup of water to the dry mixture because it was supposed to be a wet mixture and it wasn’t. That makes sense.

Here’s the recipe:

Cinnamon Rolls

1 1/4 cup almond meal
1 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 pinch sea salt
1 cup soft pitted dates
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp agave nectar
1/4 cup raisins, plus a little extra
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Preparation: Combine the almond meal, ground flaxseed, dash of cayenne pepper, 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon and pinch sea salt in a bowl and set aside. In a food processor, process dates, 1/4 cup water, and vanilla into a paste. Remove half of the date paste and add it to the dry ingredients, along with the olive oil and agave. Mix these ingredients with your hands until it forms a dough. You may need to add the extra 1/4 cup of water if the mixture is dry, but don’t let it get too wet.

Spread the dough out on a piece of parchment paper, and flatten/shape it into a 1/4-inch thick square. Add 1/4 cup raisins and 1 Tbsp. of cinnamon to the rest of the date paste left in your food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Then, spread a thin layer of the paste onto the dough square, making sure to cover the whole surface, and top with a sprinkle of extra raisins and the chopped walnuts.

Using the parchment paper to help hold everything together, carefully/tightly roll the square into a log. Chill in the refrigerator, and then slice into about 1-inch thick rounds. I got about 8 cinnamon rolls.

I also just found this great giveaway on Eating Bender!! Check it out!! If you enter, say you heard about it on my blog. Thanks guys!!

I'm Larry

2008-12-08T01:46:00.005-04:00

Dun Dun Dun… It’s finals week!!! I haven’t started studying yet, but I plan on it sometime today haha I am the worst student ever!!! I just have better things to do than studying… like cooking, workout out, watching tv, twiddling my thumbs, and cleaning, just to name a few. I’m a good crammer though, so I’m not too worried. On Tuesday, I have American Literature to the Civil War. We get to use our notes (Thank God!!) so that right there is already saving my butt. On Thursday, I have Religions of the World and Biology; therefore, my Tuesday night and Wednesday will be devoted to those. I already know that they are going to demolish me haha. I’m so good at being optimistic. I just feel like I’ve listened really well all year in each of my classes, so stressing out about a few little tests would just be a waste of time.

As for the food I’ve been making to feed my non-studying mind, I have a recipe that I just made up. I was really hungry and just threw a bunch of pantry items together. I love when a random meal turns out really good. I would call this a noodle bean stew. That name cracks me up for some reason haha I really liked it. The only problem is that it’s all gone now, so I’ll be living off of apples until I make something else.

Here’s the recipe:

Noodle Bean Stew
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup carrots, chopped
¾ cup onion, chopped
1 ¼ cup vegetable stock
1 cup corn, frozen or canned
½ tsp minced garlic
¼ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp paprika
1 cup water
1 15.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
½ tsp blackstrap molasses
1 ½ Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp soy sauce
1 cup shell pasta (I used brown rice)

Directions: Sautee carrots and onion in olive oil for 6-7 minutes on medium-high heat. Add ½ cup veg. stock and cook for 2 minutes. Add corn, garlic, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and rest of veg. stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Add cumin, paprika, water, beans, molasses, nutritional yeast, and soy sauce and bring to a boil. When it’s boiling, add pasta, reduce heat to medium-high, cover, and cook for 12-15 minutes. Stir occasionally while cooking. This will thicken up the mixture so it’s stew-like.

Muffin Mania

2008-12-07T13:17:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone. I have a question for you guys. Do you feel like you cook way too much? If you do, it’s okay because I do, too. It’s kind of ridiculous haha Maybe I’m home too much or something… I don’t know. I think it’s probably because I love it. And when you love something, you just can’t get enough of it!

There’s really no point I’m trying to make with that. I just felt like reasoning out my obsession with cooking. I wish I could just cook all my life in my kitchen and have no other job. Wouldn’t that be freakin awesome?!?! The only way I see that happening is if I win the lottery or marry a rich man. There’s probably more of a chance of me winning the lottery. I could never marry someone for just there money. I’ve thought about it, of course, but has the opportunity presented itself? No haha. It makes me think of the housewives of Orange County. I love that show!! My mom and I watch reruns of that. Some of the wives work, but the majority of them just go tanning all day… which isn’t such a bad life, I guess. So, I take back how I said there’s no point to this. I just thought of one haha Here it is: Do what you love!!!!!! Even if it means that you won’t make a lot of money. I mean, yeah, I like money, but when it comes down to it, it’s just paper… and it smells bad.

And speaking of love, I love muffins. So here’s another muffin recipe haha I’m so sorry. I’ll completely understand if you quit reading my blog due to the amount of muffins I bake. These are in my top 5 favorite muffins in the world. They were really moist and dense. I love that combination in a muffin. I found the recipe in Viva le Vegan. It was originally a bread recipe, but I changed up some stuff and made gluten-free muffins. Worked like a charm!

Apricot-Almond Muffins

½ cup oat flour
½ cup organic cane sugar
1/3 cup blanched almonds or almond slivers
1 ¼ cup millet flour
½ cup sorghum flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp sea salt
1 cup non-dairy milk
1 tbsp flax meal
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
½ cup dried apricots, chopped
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
2 ½ tbsp canola oil
Handful of blanched almonds for garnish

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine the first 9 (all dry) ingredients and stir together. In another bowl, combine the milk with the flax and stir through. Add the applesauce, apricots, extracts, and oil and mix well. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir through until well-combined. Scoop mixture into a prepared muffin tin and bake for 20-22 minutes. Makes approximately 8-10 normal size muffins. The baking time may vary because my muffins are always gigantic, so I’d check normal muffins at 16 or 18 minutes with a toothpick.

Shut up and Listen!!

2008-12-06T10:42:00.005-04:00

Hello, folks. Aren't you happy it's Saturday? I thought so. I went to bed pretty late last night. I went down to the South Side with my sister and her boyfriend. I thought I'd feel like a third wheel, but I didn't. I will admit, though, that the drive down there was HELL!!! haha Her boyfriend, Mario, does not shut up. AT ALL. You know that friend you have who just won't stop talking? Well, imagine that person talking 100x more often (Yeah, I know it's hard to imagine haha). He was telling me that every way I was taking would take longer and I just wanted to slap the boy. We got into it a little bit and my sister broke us up. I had to refrain myself because he was in the back seat, and I'd probably crash the car if I turned around and expressed how I felt haha

When we finally made it down there, we went to The Cheesecake Factory. The menu had no vegan items whatsoever, so I just got a salad. Don't you hate that? I can make salads at home, and the salad I ordered just wasn't good. I got the Vegetable Chopped Salad. I just try to avoid being the one who doesn't order anything in a restaurant because I used to do that all the time when I had some eating problems. Thankfully, a little shopping made up for the bad salad. We went to Forever 21, and I got the cutest bows for my hair!!!! I love wearing cute hair stuff, so when I found these, I was in love.

As for food, I have a curry for you. This was the first curry I made and the house smelled insane!! Insane meaning ummm.... weird. haha It tasted very good, but I just don't like the smell of curries. I found this recipe in Vive le Vegan because I am just so dependent on Dreena Burton for her good food haha Do you guys have that one cookbook author/authors that you just love?

Here's the recipe:

Sweet Curry Chickpea Casserole
2 1/2- 3 cups cooked chickpeas
1 13/5 oz can light coconut milk
3/4 cup onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups celery, chopped
1-1 1/2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1- 1 1/2 cups apple, chopped (you can peel it but it's not necessary)
2 small-medium cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1-1 1/2 tbsp mild curry paste
2 tsp mustard seeds (or 1/2 tsp ground mustard)
1 tsp cumin seeds (or 1/2 tsp ground cumin)
1/2 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp allspice

Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. In a large, deep casserole dish, combine all the ingredients and stir until well-combined. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Stir through, cover, and bake for another 30-40 minutes, until the veggies are tender. Makes 4-5 servings.

It's a hot one today!!!

2008-12-05T01:07:00.007-04:00

Hello everyone! Nice to see you again. Well, I’m a lot less stressed today than I have been for the past week… which doesn’t really make sense because all my finals are next week haha I think it’s just because it’s Friday!!! Woohooo Woohooo I wish you could see my Friday dance right now. I just came up with it, and it’s good.

But onto more important things- I saw Twilight last week and completely forgot to post about it. What an airhead I am!! I’ve never read the book, but I’d have to say the ONLY reason I liked that movie is because Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen) is the hottest thing since my muffin pan. I mean, come on people!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at him!!!! I saw the movie with my friends Dez and Brian (he’s gay), and we were all fixated on him. I think it was honestly love at first sight. I just wish I could see him shirtless. I googled “shirtless Edward cullen pictures” and all of the other variations of those words, and nothing’s comin up!!! If ANY of you know where I can find some, I’ll bake you muffins for a year!!

Glad I got that off my chest haha. Today’s recipe is another one of my RAW creations. I make homemade bars like crazy because I think it’s ludacris to pay $2 for an energy bar. And I know all you loyal Larabar lovers will never give them up, but it might be fun to give it a shot and make your own. And these ones are special because I named them after the “hottie of the day.” Haha These pistachio ones were more savory than sweet, but I loved them. I ate mine with agave nectar to get a sweet and salty effect.

Here’s the recipe:

Edward Cullen Pistachio Bars
½ cup shelled pistachios
½ cup raw cashews
¾ cup dried apricots
1 capful of pure vanilla extract (so maybe ¾ tsp?)
¼- ½ tsp sea salt (first add ¼, and then extra if you want)
2-3 tbsp water

Directions: Put the pistachios and cashews in the food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add apricots, vanilla, and sea salt and pulse again. Add 2 tbsp water, pulse again and add extra water if the mixture is too dry. It should be fairly moist. When mixture is ready, scoop into a muffin tin lined with cupcake liners or sprayed with cooking spray. Freeze for an hour and then place in the refrigerator. I’d definitely recommend using cupcake liners because they come out without a fuss!

The story of the girl and the muffin

2008-12-03T19:36:00.004-04:00

Hi guys. It’s been a pretty rough week so far. School is just taking its tool on me!! I feel so drained, mentally and physically. I hadn’t cooked anything since Thanksgiving, so a few nights ago, I made muffins. They are my “get happy” food. It was about 11:30 p.m. when I started, and my stepdad was noticeably annoyed by the clanking of bowls and spoons in the kitchen because he was trying to watch tv. I didn’t care though- I just needed some cooking time, so he was gonna have to deal. Cooking is just so therapeutic to me- I get in my own little world, wear my favorite bathrobe, and nothing matters anymore except for my muffins.

They turned out amazing!!! But that’s no surprise. You guys know I don’t bake crappy muffins haha They are Coconut Macadamia Muffins. I just love macadamia nuts. I don’t think you heard me. I LOVE macadamia nuts. Haha I’ve been eating them like a madwoman, but I’m okay with it. The original recipe called for almonds, but I didn’t have any. I found it on eat me, delicious. I had to change some ingredients to make it gluten free, and I substituted a few others just for my own enjoyment haha

Coconut Macadamia Muffins
1 cup oat flour
½ cup millet flour
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ cup organic cane sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp sea salt
¾ cup light coconut milk
2 tbsp ground flax seeds + 6 tbsp water (or egg replacer for 2 eggs)
¼ cup canola oil
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
1/3 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Directions: Preheat oven to 400F. In a small cup, combine flax seeds with water and let stand while assembling other ingredients. In a large bowl, combine flours, shredded coconut, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir together. Add in the coconut milk, egg replacer, oil, extracts, and nuts. Stir together until well-combined. Spoon into a greased muffin tin and bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 10 muffins.

*There was a superman candle sitting on a shelf, and he really wanted to be in the picture. Can you blame him? Look at those two fine ladies!

Lands' End Dog!!!!

2008-12-01T12:09:00.021-04:00

Hello everyone!! I hope you're all more awake than I am. Has anyone else been a complete blob ever since Thanks-giving? Yeah, I thought so, but don't worry, I've been one, too. I just haven't felt like cooking anything lately. I've basically just been finishing up leftovers of stuffing, mashed potatoes + gravy, and pumpkin pie. By Saturday night, I was just sick of stuffing. My friend Mitchel and I decided to go to the park and feed the ducks the rest of the stuffing. We brought along our big stuffed dog named Lands' End Dog. We bring this dog everywhere we go together. This is a family shot of us (Yes, I realize that we have both lost our minds). The ducks LOVED the stuffing, but I think they loved Lands' End Dog even more. After the park, we took Landsy grocery shopping. And since I haven't really made any food, this post is dedicated to Lands' End Dog. Enjoy the show!!! I'll save the commentary til the end- words can't really describe these pictures anyways haha

Okay. I'm done!!! haha I hope you think Lands' End Dog is as cute as I do!!

Yay for Popsicle Molds!!!!

2008-11-29T13:04:00.004-04:00

Good day everyone! I woke up so late today. I had a dream that I was eating barbecue chicken with my family. It was really weird. We were sitting at a picnic table and chowing down on drumsticks. When I woke up, I felt like it actually happened but was so thankful that it didn't!!!! Anyway, onto the important stuff. I got new popsicle molds in the mail yesterday!!! They are freakin beautiful. I ordered animal ones haha I got a bear, an elephant, a monkey, and a lion. The one in the picture is obviously the elephant. I used carrot-orange juice- Divine! The others are in the freezer and they are prune juice ones. Can't wait to try those. By the way, if you think I'm 5 years old, I am haha

As for food, I was really hungry on Thanksgiving afternoon and had no idea what to make. I didn't feel like looking at recipes, so I just made this up as I went along. It's just a simple tofu dish, but it was amazing. I am just OBSESSED with hoisin sauce. That shit is good. It makes everything taste good. I'm surprised I didn't have it with pumpkin pie.

Really Good Tofu

1 pkg of extra-firm tofu
2 T hoisin sauce
2 T soy sauce
1 T agave nectar
1 T worcheshire sauce
2 tsp sesame seeds

Directions: Drain the tofu, and cut into little cubes. Mix sauce ingredients in a large bowl and toss the tofu cubes in it. Make sure they are all covered. Put the tofu in a large skillet and saute on high for 10 minutes, or until crispy. I think my stove top just sucks so it might take you less time. Either way, it will taste good. I tried to burn mine a little because it just tastes so darn good that way.

Thanksgiving Time!!!

2008-11-28T13:25:00.015-04:00

Hello everyone!!! I hope your Thanksgiving was FABULOUS!! I went to my aunt's, but I hung out with my sister Pls, my cousin Ali, and her friend Tina most of the time. They are such hilarious people, like myself haha, so we had a lot of fun hanging out in the basement watching Jon and Kate Plus 8. Wow that show kills me. As for the food, I didn't eat anything at my aunt's house because my stomach hurt, but by the time I got home, I just needed some food!!! I ate pumpkin pie, stuffing, and mashed potatoes with gravy. Let me just say- WOW!! It was all delicious. So here's some pictures from yesterday!!

My Beautiful Pumpkin Pie

My fake tattoo for the day

The measuring spoon that was in the disposal when I ran it haha

The Best Stuffing Ever

These bangin' mashed potatoes!!

The lovely fruit bouquet

These crazy girls- Ali and Tina

My adorable grandma- Mungie

My little sister- Apples

I hope you all enjoyed these pictures!! Since I had the camera, I didn't take any pictures of myself. My aunt took some pictures, but they are on her camera. If I ever see those, I'll put them up.

And since I feel like it, I just wanted to let you guys know how happy I am that you read my blog!!! I get so excited to see what you say about my posts, and you're so sincere about it. I love your blogs, too, so I hope all of you keep blogging forever!!!

A little Neil Diamond for yah

2008-11-26T01:25:00.004-04:00

Hello, my friends, hello. It’s good to need you so. It’s good to love you like I do. And to feel this way… when I hear you say… Hello.

Okay. I have no idea why I just wrote that haha. I think I’m in just one of those moods. Anyway, I got my trigonometry test back on Monday night. PAHAHAHAHA yeah. That’s what I did when I looked at my test. All in all, it wasn’t too bad. I got a 72%. I’m not gonna cry about it though. Instead, I’m gonna dance. Tap dance to be specific haha That’s what I did when I got home from school Monday night. And last night, too. I’ve been in this crazy tap-dancing mode. Many of you don’t know that I tap-danced for a while, and I just miss it so much!! So for the hell of it, this is a picture of my best friend, Mitchel. He's wearing my beautiful tap shoes… kind of haha. I didn’t feel like looking for a pic of myself because this one is just better than any one I have of me wearing them. He will probably shit himself when he sees that I posted this, but oh well. As long as I get a kick out of it...

Ok. Enough of being a bad friend. Here’s some food to make up for it haha This was from my cooking video: The Blonde Experiment. I made a recipe for vegan blondies and I’d say they turned out pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good. Oh I love Larry David!!! But that’s besides the point. Haha I cannot stay focused today!!!

Here’s my recipe:

Maple Macadamia Nut Blondies
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup macadamia nut butter
1/4 cup organic cane sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp maple extract
1/4 tsp xanthan gum + ¼ cup water
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 cup + scant 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Spray an 8x8 in. pan with canola oil cooking spray.
Mix applesauce, nut butter, sugar, maple syrup, and rice syrup together in a stand mixer. Combine xanthan gum and water in a cup and allow it to set for a few minutes. Add the extracts to the sugar mixture. In a separate bowl, combine yeast, flour, and salt and stir together. Add the xanthan gum to the sugar mixture and blend. Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix. Fold in macadamia nuts, coconut, and chocolate chips. Pour batter into pan and bake for 22-24 minutes and allow time to cool before cutting.

Stupid Math and Delicious Chili

2008-11-24T11:01:00.007-04:00

Good morning, my friends!! I know most of you probably hate Mondays, but since I don't have class until 6:30 at night, Mondays aren't that bad... so suck it up!!! haha I have Trigonometry tonight, and we're getting our tests back. Have you ever taken a test and started laughing because you had NO idea how to do anything on it? Well, that happened when I took the test. I tried to look through all 4 pages of math problems, hoping to find an easy one, and but there weren't any. Great. haha I looked around the room at everybody else and they all had the same "oh shit" look on their face, so hopefully I wasn't the only one who decided to trace their hand on the back of the test because it seemed like the only logical thing to do at the time. haha I love this comic because it describes my night perfectly (just click it to make it bigger).

Alrighty. There's something I need to ask you guys. What deodorant/antiperspirant do you use? I'm testing the Secret Platinum in "Jasmine Orient" on my left armpit this morning and the Tom's long-lasting care in "Apricot" on my right armpit. I did the opposite of this yesterday morning because I want to see if my 2 armpits sweat differently. Tom's worked pretty well on my left armpit yesterday, but the Secret was useless after about 4 hours. Do you guys have any tips about when to apply deodorant/antiperspirant? And honestly, I have no clue what the difference is between deodorant and antiperspirant. I always thought they were the same thing, but my step-dad told me otherwise.

Ok. Hopefully you're still reading after all that nonsense. You'll be happy to know that the past 2 days I've been eating a normal dinner!!! I know, I'm just as surprised as you are. I found a Cornmeal Chili Bake from Dreena Burton's "The Everyday Vegan." I am addicted to it. It's the best chili I've ever had, and I'm not a big chili fan in the first place. I had to sub some ingredients because I didn't have them, but my most brilliant substitution was using pineapple in place of the onion. I didn't have an onion, and figured that pineapple was it's cousin anyways (veggie and fruit). haha It turned out insanely good!!!

Here's the recipe:
Cornmeal Chili Bake

Cornmeal Topping:
3 cups water
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup quick-cooking cornmeal or fine cornmeal
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp chili powder
a couple pinches of tumeric

Chili:
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
3/4 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped (save juice is there's any left)
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 medium-large garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp cumin
3/4 cup corn kernels(I used frozen)
1 15.5 oz can beans of choice (I used black)
1 29 oz can diced tomatoes, do not drain
1/4 cup tomato pasta
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp organic cane sugar
1/4 cup parspley
freshly ground black pepper

Directions: For the chili: in a saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat and add celery, carrots, and salt. Cook for a 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add pineapple, leftover pineapple juice, and mushrooms. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, chili powder, oregano, and cumin and cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add corn, beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, soy sauce, and sugar. Bring up to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and let simmer covered for 15 minutes. Remove lid, let cook for another 3-5 minutes, and then stir in the parsley.

While the chili is simmering, move onto cornmeal topping.
For cornmeal topping: In a medium pot, bring water and sea salt to a boil. Lower heat and slowly whisk in cornmeal until thickened, 1-2 minutes (this happens VERY fast). Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Turn off and let sit until chili is ready.

To assemble: Preheat oven to 375F. Spoon chili into an 8x12 baking dish. Spoon cornmeal mixture on top of chili, covering all the chili. Bake for 28-30 minutes, until cornmeal has started to brown. Serves 5-6.

Me and My Muffins

2008-11-23T10:19:00.005-04:00

Hello Folks!!! Are any of you having one of those weekends where you just stay home and do nothing? I'm having one right now, and I love it!!!! Besides the usual trip to the gym, I've been hangin out at home with my mom, the cat, and the dog. We've been watching A LOT of tv, doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning. It's been fun though. I'm not one of those people who goes out a lot in the first place though. What?!?!! you ask. You're so vivacious and charismatic on your blog!! I know, I know, but I'd rather stay home and bake than go out. I guess I'm just an old woman in that sense... but my body is all 19!!!! hahahahaha Couldn't help myself with that one.

As for food, well I've been making a million batches of muffins this week... which really isn't that weird. haha Today, I have Lemon-Raspberry Poppy Seed Muffins!!!!! Finally!!!! I made a batch a few weeks ago, and they weren't very good, so it's taken me a little while to recover. These were better, and I wasn't even planning on making them yesterday. I was just thumbing through Dreena's book "Vive le Vegan" and saw a recipe for Orange-Poppy Seed Muffins. I swapped out all the orange ingredients, replaced some the flour, threw in some raspberries, and Voila!!! However, I think poppyseeds are just an acquired taste, and I'm not sure if I have it. It's probably why they make a drug test positive after you've eaten a bunch. Poppyseeds are just plain weird. I mean, these were good, but I wouldn't make them all the time. My mom loved them though and the raspberries really made them pop. I ate mine with agave nectar.

Lemon-Raspberry Poppy Seed Muffins
1 1/4 cup oat flour or ground oats
2 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp organic cane sugar
2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice or 1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup millet flour (or barley flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp flax meal
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp canola oil

Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. In a large bowl, combine oats, poppy seeds, sugar, zest, sea salt, cinnamon, allspice, millet flour, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl, mix the lemon juice and flax meal and stir through. Add the applesauce, milk, maple syrup, vanilla, and oil. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until well combined. Spoon the mixture into a prepared muffin tin (sprayed with cooking spray or lined with cupcake liners). Bake for 22-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Makes 8-9 medium-large muffins or 10-12 small muffins.

Little Butter and Bethany... sittin in a tree

2008-11-22T09:09:00.011-04:00

Good morning everyone!!! I never get up this early, but I just couldn't stay asleep. Right now, I'm watching America's Next Top Model reruns on MTV. I usually hate this show but somehow, I can't look away... except at the monitor!!! But on the brighter side of things (since it is morning), this is a picture of our cat. Everyone in the Blogosphere has cat pictures and I was starting to feel left out. Her name is Butter, and she's completely huge. My mom only feeds her Party Mix Treats, so that's what the cat lives off of. She's usually pretty friendly to people, but she likes to attack the dog. Our dog is ancient and last night, the cat jumped on her back. The dog completely flipped out, snapped at her, and started barking. I didn't break them up because the only thing I could do was laugh hysterically.

But here's the deal with food. I baked a lot yesterday, so you probably know what that means already... MUFFINS!! I baked Carrot Pineapple Muffins from The Everyday Vegan. The recipe calls for canned crushed pineapple, but I just cut up chunks of fresh pineapple. These were really moist and flavorful... and tall (as they usually are). I ate two of these babies for dinner. I just loved them.

Here's the recipe:
Carrot Pineapple Muffins
2 cups oat flour
1/4 cup organic cane sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
a couple pinches of sea salt
3/4 cup carrots, finely grated
1/2 cup pineapple chunks, diced or 1 8oz can crushed pineapple, drained
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup + 2 tbsp almond milk or soy milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp canola oil

Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Mix well. Add the carrots, pineapple, and raisins and stir well. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, milk, and vanilla, and add to dry mixture. Stir through and add canola oil as it starts to come together. Mix until just combined. Spoon into a lightly greased muffin tin and bake for 19-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 10-12 muffins.

As for more fun and exciting stuff, I got a Butterfly Award from Bethany at Spotted Devil Cat and his Vegan Assistant (that name is just amazing). It's my first blog award, I really appreciate it, Bethany!!! In fact, this post is dedicated to Bethany because she's awesome and hands up one of the FUNNIEST people I've ever met.

meme rules & regs:

(1) post about the award,
(2) link back to the person that nominated you
(3) place the award on your sidebar
(4) choose 10 blogs that you think are really cool, link to them, contact each person and talk about why you think their blogs are cool.

Since some of my favorite blogs already have the award, these blogs are ones that I don't think have it yet. I always stalk these blogs religiously, so they deserve it!!! They keep me away from my homework for hours.

1. Agnes' World of Vegan Pleasures- Agness!!! You are the happiest person I know. I love talking to you all the time about life, food, school, guys, and all that other fun girl stuff. I know we'll meet someday even if you live in Poland. Stay happy and funky!!!

2. A Vegan with a Reason- Becca!!! We have so much in common and you are a blast to talk to. You have awesome taste in music, and I know we'd be great friends if you lived in the Pittsburgh. We both have a weird sense of humor, but that's why you're so funny.

3. Sugar Plum- Emiline!!! You are such a creative, and cool cook. I love reading your blog because I know I'll see something crazy and beautiful. You're really friendly, and I know you'll reach your dreams of going to culinary school.

4. Vegan Dance if you Want to- Jenn!!! You are such a cool and random girl and I love seeing all the stuff you make. That Vegan Scrapple still cracks me up. We both love the Vita-Mix and grocery shopping, so that pretty much tells me all I need to know haha

5. A Year of Crockpotting- Stephanie!! I read your blog everyday in amazement at how creative and hilarious you are. You are really honest, but in a funny way. The food you come up with is great, and I know you'll be using the crockpot forever!!!

6. Cookie Madness- Anna!! Where do I even begin? You are a master baker-cookie maker. You're soo nice and friendly and Fuzz is lucky to have you as a mom. You were the first blog I started reading, and you inspired me to start my own. Thanks for being so great!

7. Yummy, Low Calorie Diet Food- Juliet!!! You've got a knack for finding really good food. I always add something to my grocery list after I read your blog. You're a really positive person and you know a lot about nutrition, too. Your husband's a lucky man!!!

8. Chocolate Covered Vegan- Katie!!! You are such a nice girl. You're always smiling (in your blog pictures) and just being plain adorable. You are a master fondant handler and I envy your mad skills!! You'll always be the Cupcake Queen!

9. Veggie Girl- Liz!! You are the busiest person I virtually know. haha You're really good at getting everything done and keeping a positive attitude. You're also a great dancer and also a contributor to my Enrique Iglesis obsession. Thanks for that! haha

10. Flowers at Home- Flower! You are a very gentle human being and a beautiful writer. I don't think you would ever say something mean or hurt anyone's feelings. You're just a really good person. Your blog is very soothing and calming... like a warm, bubble bath... with candles.

Wow that took a long time, so all of you better appreciate this post!!! haha

Can I Check Under The Hood?

2008-11-20T01:30:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone!! Thanks for all your comments about the PedEgg!!! It’s pretty much a 50/50 as to whether or not I should buy one. As of now, I think my feet are okay, but maybe in the future (like in 50 years) I’ll need one. But my post today is really about the ridiculous incident that happened on my way home from the gym yesterday. I was waiting at a stoplight on a VERY busy road just listening to “Bleeding Love.” I know that song is totally overplayed, but I still can’t help singing along with it. All of a sudden, the light turns green, and my car turns off. I jiggle the key a bunch of times but it doesn’t work!!!! I start panicking, look in my purse for my phone, and realize I left it at home. Great. Just great. Haha. All of the cars around me were honking their horns and rolling down their windows just to yell profanities at me. Of course, I gave all of them the finger. Haha Just kidding- I should have though, but I knew I was in a bad situation already. I didn’t need to get beat up on top of it. Thankfully, this guy (maybe 40?) and his SMOKIN HOT son (my age-thank god) helped me out and after about 10 minutes of tinkering under the hood (the car’s hood-haha), they started my car. They also followed me home to make sure that my damn car didn’t stall on the way back. I love good Samaritans… especially when they look like that!!!!

Okay. Now after you know what a pervert I am, let’s get to the food shall we? I have a product review to talk of first. I am addicted to these PhillySwirls!!!! I eat about 4 of them a day and yeah, they have a bunch of sugar, but they are dairy free, fat free, gluten free, and nut free. Basically everything but sugar free haha. The cotton candy and blue-raspberry are my favorites, as you probably noticed from my shockingly blue tongue (that’s my sexy bathrobe btw haha).You must try these if you see them in the store. I buy the Popperz, Stix, and Italian Ice. As for real food that has some nutritional value, I got nothing. Haha just kidding. I have soup!! It’s the Chickpea-Noodle Soup from Veganomicon. I LOVE this stuff. I had to alter the recipe because I didn’t have a lot of the ingredients. I just wanted to make it because I had a can of chickpeas and the soup had chickpeas in it. Fair enough.

Here’s what I got:

Chickpea-Noodle Soup
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced
1 cup carrots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup red pepper, chopped
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsp water
6 cups vegetable stock
1 15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 ½ cup shell pasta (I used brown rice)
1/3 cup brown rice miso

Directions: Preheat soup pot over medium-high heat. Saute onions and carrots in oil for 10 minutes. Add garlic, celery, pepper, and herbs and sauté for 5 minutes. Deglaze the pot with water. Add 6 cups of vegetable stock and chickpeas. Cover and bring to a boil. Once broth is boiling, add pasta and lower the heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the miso and stir until it’s mixed in. Turn burner off and let stand for about 20 minutes. It stayed very hot for a while, so wait… unless you want your tongue to fall off haha

The Bigger The Better

2008-11-19T01:28:00.007-04:00

Hello my friends! Hope you’re all having a fabulous day so far. I’d like to start off by asking you guys a question. If you absolutely hate feet, then don’t read ahead!!! Haha But here’s my question: who the hell uses PedEggs?!?!?!!?! We sell them at Sears, and whenever I see one, I gag. It just looks really painful to scrape the excess skin off your foot. I’m sorry if I’m grossing you out, but I just don’t understand these things haha If you do use them, will you tell me if they hurt, or just agree with me that they are just a disgusting invention?

Aside from that, haha, I just had to show you guys this sweet potato I saw at Giant Eagle. I literally had to force my mom to take a picture because she gets embarrassed when I do things like this. But come on, wouldn’t you take a picture of this? It was a little over 4 pounds so that means it would’ve cost about $12.00. I wasn’t gonna pay that much for a sweet potato because that’s just bonkers!!! I am a little sad I didn’t get it though- who wouldn’t wanna be the owner of the world’s largest sweet potato???

As for food- yes- there is food!!!! There’s always food!!! It’s only one of my birdfood-disc-looking concoctions. These were soo darn good. The cinnamon and chocolate chips were my favorite parts of this one. These were much crunchier than my other RAW bars, and I like that about these. They were sturdy and just plain delicious!!!! They have a lot of ingredients, but they all work so well together. I just need to mass produce these babies!!

Here's the recipe:

Yummy Jos
1 cup oats
1/4 cup almond meal (I only had this but you could use actual almonds)
1/4 cup peanuts
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1/4 cup dried cherries and blueberries (I have a mixed bag)
1/4 cup dried apricots
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 1/2 tbsp agave nectar
2 tbsp water

Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or line with cupcake liners. In a food processor, pulse the oats, almond meal, peanuts, and hemp seeds until they are finely ground. Add dried fruit and cinnamon and pulse again. Add extract, maple syrup, and agave nectar. Pulse and only add the water if you feel that the mixture isn’t wet enough. I used 2 tbsp though. Scoop the mixture into the muffin tin and freeze for a few hours. After it’s frozen, thaw in the fridge and then you’re ready to eat!

That Damn Butter

2008-11-17T11:14:00.006-04:00

Top of the mornin’ to ya. Haha I have no clue where that came from. I guess I’m channeling my inner Irishman. Anyway, yesterday was an awesome day (hence my happy, spinning around my bedpost pose). To start off, I won all this wine stuff from Anna at Cookie Madness!!! I only drink wine when my mom lets me, but I’m still excited to get wine charms and all those other “21 and over” accessories. I’ll take a picture of them when I get them in the mail. After that joyous experience, it was time to film my cooking show. I did a cooking video for a project at school, and it’s called “The Blonde Experiment.” Haha I knew you would love that. I didn’t post it on here because it’s about 30 minutes long and you’d probably die of boredom or start to make fun of me haha In my video, I converted traditional blondies into vegan blondies and then had a judging panel at the end. Everybody voted that the traditional blondies were better than the vegan ones, but I wasn’t too surprised. I didn’t use any butter or oil in them- damn. There is a plus side though- I have a crapload of blondies in the house now. And you know what that means?!?!?!!? Yeah, I don’t either haha I just love the suspense.

And no, the recipe for today isn’t for the blondies. I’ll post that some other time when I’m fresh outta recipes. It is for….. dun dun dun… you guessed it!!! MUFFINS!!!! Oh the joys of muffin making. These babies were divine and somewhat like cupcakes- they were pretty crumbly. I made Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins from Sweet Tempered. I changed the recipe to make it gluten-free and also just a few other ingredients here and there. I think I interpreted the directions wrong because I put the jelly on top of the muffins rather than pushing it down in the middle. It didn’t really specify what to do, but I would recommend filling the muffin tin half way, putting the jelly in the middle, and then putting more batter on top. My muffins kind of, well, not kind of, rather COMPLETELY overflowed with jelly haha They tasted marvelous though- that counts, right? I melted more grape jelly and drizzled (ok, poured) it over the top of my masterpiece.

Here's the Recipe:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
1 cup oat flour
½ cup millet flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup crunch peanut butter
2 tbsp canola oil
½ cup agave nectar
½ cup almond milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup jelly (I used grape because I’m obsessed with grapes)

Directions: Preheat over to 350F. Spray the muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or line with cupcake liners. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a cup, whisk together vinegar and milk and set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the peanut butter, oil, and agave nectar until smooth. Add vinegar mixture to this and stir. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir until just combined. Scoop half the amount into a prepared muffin tin, place 1 tsp of jelly into on top of batter, and then fill the muffins with the rest of the batter. Bake for 18 minutes or until the muffins give a little to the touch.

I Hate Wedgies

2008-11-15T17:36:00.006-04:00

Hello everyone. Hope you're all enjoying yourselves on this fine Saturday. I decided to post in the afternoon because I had cycling this morning. Do any of you guys take it at the gym? Because if you do, I have one question for you. How many seconds/minutes after you start peddling does your wedgie appear? haha It's usually about 5 minutes for me, but today, I'd estimate it around 7.7 seconds!!! The whole class was an excruciating experience!!! I had a layer of spandex on under my sweats, so that might have been what caused it. I have no clue. I try to wear spandex all the time because there's a lot of perverts at the gym. One time, these guys told me they were getting a "free show" of my ass even though I was wearing spandex. What idiots! haha At least I saw Tubby after class. It was pouring outside, and I felt bad that my baby had to spend the day in the rain. Oh Tubs, what are we gonna do with you?

As for food, I have been eating random stuff lately, which isn't really different than my usual eating habits haha. Ezekial sprouted english muffins are my new obsession as well as Organic Concord grape juice. I can't get enough of those two. The next two recipes are hardly recipes at all, but they taste so good that I figured I'd post them just because I can. haha

Here's the "recipes"

Poor Woman's Garlic Bread

1 ezekial sprouted grain english muffin, cut in half
2 tsp earth balance buttery spread
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp nutritional yeast

Directions: Put english muffin in toaster. Wait til it's done. Spread butter on each side. Top with garlic powder and then nutritional yeast. I can't tell you how many times I've eaten this over the past week. I'm addicted!

Grape Slushy

1/2-3/4 cup concord grape juice
1 cup black seedless grapes

Directions: Pour grape juice into 8x8 pan. Add grapes into pan. Cover will foil and freeze for a few hours. When ready to eat, scrape the mixture with a fork to create a slushy type dessert. I had this as my pre-cycling breakfast. It did not sustain me at all, and I was starving through the class!!! haha But it does taste good.

Say Hello to Tubby!

2008-11-14T09:18:00.003-04:00

I just had to put this video on here because I was so happy I caught him in action. This is my squirrel Tubby, or Bally's Parking Lot Tubby. Either one works. He didn't even get too nervous when I whipped out my phone and started filming his cute, little (and by little, I mean enormous) squirrel butt. I was just a tad bit mad because he was finishing off a Red Delicious apple when I first saw him, but he dropped it before I could start filming. haha And yes, I realize he doesn't have the best taste in apples, but who could blame him? It was free and lying on the ground. I feel like a wildlife documentary host. Maybe that should be my profession... instead of one hot mama that is!! haha

Alrighty, so I promise I won't talk too much about Tubby anymore. It's just that I see him everyday and I get so excited about it. I mean, you have to admit that he is just a darling squirrel. He would never hurt a fly, maybe a pizza... but

Okay, I'll be serious. haha Just kidding- that's way too hard for me, but I will give you a recipe. It's for Dreena Burton's Lemon Garlic Pasta from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. If you haven't heard of Dreena or her cookbooks, buy them now!!!!! You could say I'm a little obsessed with her, and I'd completely agree with you. haha She is the woman who inspired me to become a vegan. Her recipes are always delicious and this pasta is no exception. It's kind of insane how quickly I ate this. The recipe calls for 3/4 lb of pasta which is 3 cups of uncooked pasta (at least I think it is because that's what I put in). I made it after school around 2:30pm on Tuesday and it was gone by the Wednesday morning. Don't ask how I did it- just be jealous. haha

Here's the recipe

Lemon Garlic Pasta
3/4 lb pasta (I used brown rice shells because they are adorable)
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 tsp agave nectar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
3 1/2-4 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

Directions: Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, agave nectar, mustard, and oil (start with 3 1/2 tbsp). Set aside. When pasta is almost done, remove one cup of pasta water and reserve. Drain pasta (don't rinse), return to pot and toss with lemon dressing, toasted pine nuts, and basil. If pasta seems too dry, add some pasta water, 1 tbsp at a time.

Yummy Yummy in My Tummy

2008-11-12T10:31:00.005-04:00

Good Morning Everyone. Hope you all had a restful sleep. I had this crazy dream about being on a cruise-ship with my friends and family and then it started sinking. My mom, sister, and I didn't get out in time, but we managed to be in a part of the ship that had an air bubble. Somehow, my mom and I climbed out of the ship, but my sister didn't want to come. We went to a secondhand clothes store to get me a new outfit because mine was all wet and dirty. The lady at the store ended up putting me in this crazy 1960's outfit, but I remember liking it haha We then left that store, and got jobs at this food/market-type place. They had me bagging the groceries on my first day and I was terrible at it, so I quit. After that, I woke up. So I've come to find the moral of the story: If you don't want to end up in 60's clothes, don't go on a cruise!!! haha

I don't think I ate anything on the cruise, I know it's hard to believe, but food wasn't in my dream. But before posting a recipe, I have to tell you about these DISGUSTING TOFU NOODLES I tried a week ago. Don't buy them! haha They tasted like rubber. And yeah, there's like 50 calories in the whole bag, but 50 GROSS calories, so stay away from them! haha All right, now that my product review is out of the way, my recipe for today is Celine's No-Bake Black Bean Brownies... or as I like to call them, SEX IN MY MOUTH!! I have never been so in love with a brownie. It was like a secret affair every time I took a bite. They were so good that I felt I had to hide them from the other food in my kitchen. And as usual, I ate them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until they were gone. haha I love my eating habits. The only changes I made were to add some applesauce because mine were pretty clumpy and to use walnuts + almonds in place of the chestnuts. Chestnuts are hard to come by around me, damnit, but we all have our crosses to bare. haha

Here's the recipe:
No-Bake Black Bean Brownies
1 medium, ripe banana
10 pitted dates (I used medjool, baby)
4 tbsp agave nectar
3/4 cup oat flour
2.5 oz bag of almonds + 1 oz of walnuts (I had no clue how to measure the 1 oz so I just guessed)
1/4 cup carob powder
1/2 cup shredded coconut
14 oz can black beans
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
optional: 1/4 cup unsweetended applesauce (slowly add this if your mix is too clumpy or dry)

Directions: Line an 8 x 8 in pan with parchment paper or plastic wrap. This is ESSENTIAL because they WILL stick to the pan if you don't. Add all the ingredients (except applesauce) to the food processor and blend. This takes a while because there's a heck of a lot of food in there. Just be patient because it will eventually all blend. Add applesauce if needed and blend again. Scoop the brownie batter into the pan and press down with your hands (it might be sticky, but you'll live). Freeze for a few hours and resist the urge to eat it before then.

I've Got You Now!!

2008-11-11T01:21:00.006-04:00

I saw the squirrel again and I got pictures!!!! Haha Since the picture from the last post was stolen from the web, I was determined to hunt this damn squirrel down and get a shot of its mug. He was eating when I saw him, which isn’t surprising, but he posed for two shots. There were a few cars slowly driving near me (probably wondering what the hell I was doing), but at that point, I didn’t even try to hide the fact that I was after this squirrel.

Tomorrow, I’m gonna try to capture it. I’ve attempted this with a skunk before and it didn’t work. My friend, Brian, and I tried to trap him with our tennis rackets (we put our tennis game on hold because this was obviously more important). In the end, the skunk sprayed the hell out of us and I haven’t attempted animal capturing since (well, there was this one time with a fox, but don’t even ask haha). Hopefully, this works out better. And just so you guys know, I don’t want to kill the animal or make a hat out of it (although the skunk would’ve made a dashing hat), I just want it as a pet or something haha

All this squirrel talk makes me hungry haha Luckily, I have a great recipe for today. It’s a tempeh dish from Veganomicon. It was originally called Hot Sauce-Glazed Tempeh, but I used Hoisin Sauce because it’s my new thang. It’s the first dish I’ve made from this cookbook, and I was addicted to it!! I made it at like 10 pm, ate half of it, and had the rest in the morning on a tortilla with all the fixins. It’s pretty spicy, but I put sour cream on it to cool it off. Sour cream tastes good on everything… including muffins… and squirrels? haha

Here’s the recipe:

Hoisin Sauce-Glazed Tofu

1 8oz package tempeh

½ cup wine (any kind)

¼ cup hoisin sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp dried oregano

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions: Bring a medium size pot of water to a boil. Whisk all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl large enough to fit the tempeh slices. Cut the tempeh in half, widthwise, then cut each of the squares diagonally, to form four large triangles. When water is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer, and cok the tempeh for 10 minutes. This steams the tempeh. Use to tongs immediately place the tempeh in the marinade bowl. Marinate for one hour, flipping the tempeh every now and then. After tempeh has marinated, preheat oven to broil. Place tempeh in an oven safe pan. Spoon some of marinade over tempeh and broil for 5 minutes. Flip over and broil it for another 5 minutes.

And I was tagged by Belle Eats for this fun, little weird fact spiller. haha

Rules:

Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links.
Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Facts:

I sleep with a heating pad every night. My room is absolutely freezing, so I love having it with me.
I make the biggest mess when I cook. Even if I’m making a sandwich, pots and pans will be used for some crazy reason. And if I use measuring cups or spoons, I never wash them between uses.
I love my butt haha but that’s no secret really. I look at it every day because it’s just so cute and perky all the time.
I hate getting gas by myself. Something bad always happens. Either I’ll get gas all over myself or all over the car.
It drives me nuts if someone flushes the toilet while the lid is up!!! Actually, nuts is an understatement. More like INSANE MADWOMAN PSYCHONESS. I just hate the pee and poop germs flying out of the toilet and onto the walls, my toothbrush, my towels, etc.
I eat muffins like it’s my job. I usually make 3 batches a week, and I’ll eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until they’re gone. I realize I’m not getting a mix of vitamins and nutrients and blah blah blah but I don’t care haha
I love dancing in the Sears parking lot. Actually, any parking lot will do but Sears is my favorite. I’ll go really late at night with a friend and we’ll just bust our moves for an hour or so until security comes and tells us to leave.

I tag...
For the Love of Guava
Agnes' World of Vegan Pleasures
The Pink Apron
I Am Not A Rabbit
A Vegan with A Reason
Flowers at Home
Vegan Dance if You Want to

I Love Squirrels

2008-11-10T11:22:00.011-04:00

Alrighty. Yesterday after I was at the gym, I walked out into the parking lot and practically fainted. There was a squirrel the size of a freakin housecat. I kid you not. It was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. I took a picture of it, but I forgot to save it!!! I was so upset. Unfortunately, the picture I posted isn't mine, but I found it online. That's really what he looked like though. I wanted to squirrelnap him and take him home with me, but my parents would've shot me... and him haha I'm sure you guys appreciate it. haha I just love squirrels. They've been my favorite animal for a while now (used to be wolves). Someday when I live alone, I'm gonna have my own damn squirrel farm. How fun would that be? (Yes, I realize I'm insane).

As far as food goes, I've been cooking so much lately. I can hardly eat everything I make haha That's a complete lie. Nothing ever goes to waste as long as I'm around. My recipe for today is from Food and Wine magazine. I usually hate that magazine because I could care less about wine. Yeah, I mean, it tastes good and all, but I'd rather read a magazine about building shelves. The recipe is called Lemony Quinoa Salad with Pine Nuts and Olives. I absolutely loved it. I made 2 servings and ate the whole thing. I just couldn't help it. It was really good and the olives just made it come to life. I had to change the recipe a little bit to accomodate myself, but other than that, Food and Wine magazine did a bangin job!!

Here's the recipe:

Lemony Quinoa Salad with Pine Nuts and Olives
1 cup water
1/2 cup red quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 Tbsp pine nuts
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp green olives, chopped

Directions: In a medium size pot, boil the water. Add quinoa, cover, and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, or until al dente. Turn heat off, and allow quinoa to sit with lid on for a few minutes. Transfer to a bowl. In a skillet, toast the pine nuts over medium heat until golden. Add them to the quinoa along with the basil, lemon juice, and olives.

Good Ole Sunday

2008-11-09T01:33:00.010-04:00

Geez. It's really cold outside. And when I say cold, I mean BURRRR!!!!! My little toes (including my ugly black and blue one) are like icicles. Thank God I have on these dashing argyle socks. And of course, I'm in my bathrobe that everybody hates. But it's been a good day so far. I'm taking a Zumba class today, so that should make it even better. I have no clue what I'm getting myself into but that's the whole point haha I don't mind if I'm cluelessly (that's NOT a word...or is it?) dancing around in the back of the room by myself. That's what happened when my friend, Brian, and I took hip-hop. Wow was that funny. I'd definitely consider myself a bangin dancer- honestly, I'm not even kidding haha- but this hip-hop class was tough!!! We were just such a mess that we ended up making up our own routines the majority of the time. The instructor would always glare at us, but we were just getting our jive on... and you don't ever wanna step on our jive! haha

So anyway, I should definitely figure out how to upload a video of myself dancing. That would be a riot... and I'm positive none of you would ever come back to read my blog!! haha So for now, here's what's cookin!! First off, we have Vegan Ginger Muffins. I found these on Cookie Madness, and they were sinfully good. They are all gone because muffins never last more than a day in my house... and it's all because of me haha The other recipe I have for you guys is a Raw Spiced Walnut Cream. I found it on Gone Raw, and it's texture is somewhat yogurt-like. And I'm aware that the picture of the cream is gross looking, but it is cream. haha I really liked it because I miss having Cool Whip all the time. I used to eat it out of the container, so this was a nice alternative.

Here's the recipes:
Gingerbread Muffins
1 1/2 cups oat flour, spooned and swept
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt + an extra pinch
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup silken tofu ( I used firm, but it doesn't matter)
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/4 cup canola oil

Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. Spray muffin with cooking spray or line with cupcake liners. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Stir until well-combined. Put the tofu, molasses, sugar, and oil in the food processor and blend until smooth. Add tofu mixture to flour mixture and stir until mixed. Scoop mixture into muffin tin and bake for 18 minutes. Makes 12 standard muffins.

Spiced Walnut Cream
2 cups walnuts, soaked a few hours, rinsed and drained
1 cup water
1/2 cup soaked dates
2 tbsp ground flax seeds
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger
pinch ground cloves

Directions: Whip all ingredients in blender until thick and fluffy. Chill for 1 hour.

I'm A Survivor!!

2008-11-07T09:42:00.009-04:00

Good Morning/Afternoon everyone. Did anyone watch Survivor last night? I was dying at the television with my mom. We are so happy Marcus was blindsided and went home!!!! Crystal is such a sneaky one; therefore, she's our favorite player!!! haha Anyway, if you don't watch it, I wish you did because you would love it. I'll inform all of you when I go on the show someday. I am determined to get on there!!! I would honestly pay them to let me play for a million dollars.

As for important stuff, my toe is feeling much better haha I went to cycling class last night and that took all the kinks out of it. And of course, I wore my favorite shirt in the world. It says "The Booty Don't Stop" on it. It's a song- ahh what am I saying?- it's not just a song. It's one of the best songs I've ever heard. I just love wearing that shirt because I feel like everyone reads it and then is obligated to look at my cute ass. haha I am RIDICULOUS!!!!

Alrighty, so if you're still listening to my nonsense, here's what I had for dinner a few nights ago. I found it on Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. The only reason I made it was because it had Hoisin sauce in it and I've been wanting to use Hoisin sauce for months. I didn't even know what it was,but now I'm addicted. It's called Chinese Barbecued Tofu and I absolutely loved it. And honestly, there's nothing like a nice tofu dish. They never get old in my stomach. And I changed the recipe a little bit because I didn't have some of the stuff.

Here's the recipe:
Chinese Barbecue Tofu
1 pkg extra firm tofu, pressed
3 cloves garlic
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup organic ketchup
2 Tbsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
1/4 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp molasses
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Directions: Mix the sauce ingredients together until well-combined. Slice the tofu in 1/2 inch thick slices. Spray a frying pan with nonstick spray and brown the tofu on each side for a few minutes. Add the sauce to the frying pan after the tofu has browned. The point is to cover the tofu and heat the sauce. Most of the tofu's cooking process is done when the sauce is in there. Let this simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened.

I'm going nuts!!!

2008-11-06T08:52:00.006-04:00

Well, I gotta go to school today. I have class 9:25-4:10 so it's definitely one of those long days. Last night before I went to bed, I was walking down the steps while brushing my teeth and carrying two mugs. Of course, I tripped and slammed my baby toe on the wall! haha Now I have this blood blister that's taken over my whole baby toenail. I tried to go to bed without noticing my toe, but I kept squirming around. That thing hurts even if it is just a little part of my body. My little sister brought me a gigantic bag of ice, so I just slept with that on my foot. I couldn't help laughing because of how much pain I was in. My sister was like "Jojo, are you laughing? You are so weird." Has that ever happened to you? Where something hurts so badly, but all you can to do is laugh?

Oh Well, I just take the pain out in cycling class tonight at the gym. What a good idea! haha As for some food, of course I have some recipes. I've been making a lot of RAW bars lately, so I have a Pistachio Bar (my favorite) and a Walnut Bar. I just made them up with stuff I had on hand, but they are very good- Perfect for taking somewhere when you're in a hurry. I do realize that they look like those birdfood discs, but I don't care!! haha I usually eat 2 at a time to fill me up. And you can change up the ingredients, but these are just some of the ones I love.

Here's the recipes:
Wacky Walnut Bars
1 cup raw walnuts
3/4 cup dried apricots
1 tbsp water

Directions: Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray or line with cupcake liners. I definitely recommend the cupcake liners because the bars will be easier to get out. Pulse the walnuts in a food processor until finely ground. Add apricots and pulse. Add water, pulse, and scoop into muffin tin. Freeze for 1 hour and then set at room temp to let them warm up. I got 6 out of these because I used a NORMAL muffin tin. haha

Pretty Pistachio Bars
3/4 cup raw pistachios
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts (if you can find raw, use those)
3/4 cup mixed of dried cherries and dried blueberries
1 tbsp water

Directions: Same as above: muffin tin, pulse the nuts, add the dried fruit, then water, and place into muffin tins. Freeze then eat :)

I Voted!!!

2008-11-04T14:59:00.007-04:00

Yay!!! I just got back from voting! This is so exciting haha It was my first time, and I took my little sister along with me. She went in her pajamas because she just woke up when I got home... which isn't really surprising. I just didn't want to go alone because I'm weird. Well, I really just wanted somebody to take a picture of me voting, but it turns out that there was no flash photography allowed. DAMNIT! However, she did take a picture of me outside the voting room.

It was truly a magical experience. I walked up to the table and the first words out of the lady's mouth were "Aren't you a little young to be voting?" I was like "Umm.... NO!!!" haha The question at the end (after picking the candidates) was so confusing. I honestly didn't understand it at all so I just said 'no.' I mean, I didn't wanna agree to something when it could be terrible. Oh well, I feel so much better now.

And today's recipe is a good one. On Halloween night, I stayed home because I had the house to myself. That NEVER happens. I finally took out my bread machine and put it to use. I made pumpkin yeast bread from have cake, will travel. I made a few adaptations, and I loved it. It wasn't sweet at all, so you can eat it on any kind of sandwich. I had it with some honey and cinnamon. Everyone who tried a piece wanted more, so I'll probably be making another loaf.

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Yeast Bread
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
2/3 cup room temp water or soy milk
1 Tbsp applesauce
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour
1/4 cup turbinado raw sugar
4 tsp vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 3/4 tsp active yeast or bread machine yeast

Directions: Place all ingredients in your machine following manufacturer's instructions. Flours must be spooned into dry ingredients using measuring cup and leveled with a knife. Use "BASIC" cycle. Once cycle is over, remove from pan and let cool on a rack.

It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2008-11-02T09:25:00.007-04:00

It is a glorious day today. The sun is beaming through the windows and blinding my eyes. I love days like this. I'm just sitting here sipping some Chocolate Tea- soo good. And some of you may be wondering what the heck this weird yellow food is. Well, it's a roasted spaghetti squash (at least what was left of it) sprinkled with sea salt and loaded with Tofutti sour cream. I got the recipe from Katie's blog and it was just phenomenal! I had never had a squash so delicious in my life. The inside caramelized somehow, and I was just in heaven when I ate it. You have to try this cooking method if you have a random squash sitting on your kitchen table. You won't regret it!

And today's recipe is a delicious one. As most of you already know, I eat muffins for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, midday snack, etc. Well, this muffin is no exception. I ate 2 for breakfast and 2 for lunch. Sooo delicious and they aren't too sweet either. It's a pumpkin pecan raisin muffin and I found it on eat me, delicious. I love how these muffins looked. They had a crazy, tornado-like top to them. And of course, they smelled amazing as well. The only adaptations I made to the recipe was to use oat flour in place of whole wheat and to cut the recipe in half. The oat flour makes the muffins pretty dense, so if you have whole wheat pastry flour or spelt flour, use 3/4 cup of that and 1 cup of oat flour.

Here's the recipe:
Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins
1 3/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup pureed pumpkin (I used canned)
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tbsp molasses
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup raisins

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray or line with cupcake liners. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, almond milk, applesauce, and molasses. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and mix together. Scoop the batter into the muffin tin and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Makes 12 standard muffins, 6 jumbo muffins or in my case, 8 freakishly tall muffins. haha

Goodbye Vegan MOFO

2008-10-31T09:51:00.006-03:00

This is so sad!! I can't believe Vegan MOFO is over!!!! I guess if you are vegan, it shouldn't really matter anyway... I mean, posting vegan stuff is natural haha I just loved the October spirit of vegan food. It was so fun and I had a great time making all these bangin' dishes. Oh yea. I forgot to wish everyone a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! Is everyone going trick or treating? Yea, me either. I wish I was, but I don't have a costume... and I'm 19 (but my age should't stop me).

I am pretty set on cooking/baking all day long. I have to send a package to Iraq tomorrow for the soldiers, so I need to bake some stuff that travels well. If anyone has some great bar/cookie recipes, could you post them in a comment or email? I've been baking for the soldiers for a while now, so I could use some spooky new ones (Halloween ones would be great, too). I also have to send a package to the Marines training camp in North Carolina. My ex boyfriend is a Marine there, and he's been dying to get cookies with candy bars in them. That's all he's been asking for haha I guess you could say that I still miss him and like him, so that's why I'm sending him stuff... I just hate admitting that though! It drives me nuts.

Anyways, here's some recipes for today. There are 2 and they are both RAW. I'm sorry if you guys are annoyed by the RAW recipes, but I make so much raw stuff that's really good. The first one is a Larabar. I've never eaten one before, but everyone talks about how amazing they are. I made one and it was soo good. I didn't go by a recipe, but I'm sure there's a cashew date one running around somewhere. It's so much cheaper to make your own. Even at Trader Joe's, they cost $1.39. I made 6 of them and I don't know the cost, but it wasn't that much. The other recipe is for Sesame Date Truffles. I found the basis of the recipe on Gone Raw, but pretty much did as I pleased with it. I really liked them a lot more after they were frozen, so wait about an 1 before you eat one. They have a strong nutty flavor, but it's addictive.

Here's the recipes: Cashew Date Larabar
1 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup dried dates
1 Tbsp water

Directions: Prepare muffin tin with cupcake liners or cooking spray. Process cashews in food processor until they look like crumbs. Add dates and process. Add water if needed. Scoop into muffin molds and freeze for 30-1 hour. Then, take them out of the freezer and let them sit at room temperature for 1 hour.When you take them out, use a knife to cut around the sides to scoop them up. Makes 6.

Sesame Date Truffles
1/2 cup cup sesame seeds
2 tsp carob powder
1/4 cup dried dates
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp sea salt
2 tsp agave nectar
2 tsp tangerine juice
2 tsp water
extra carob for rolling
Directions: Process sesame seeds in food processor until very fine. Add carob powder, dates, cinnamon and salt and mix. Add agave, juice, and water (if needed). Shape into balls (I made 7) and roll into carob powder. Freeze for a few hours and then gobble up!

Do you know the muffin man?

2008-10-29T11:14:00.006-03:00

Good morning, everyone!! I've been so busy with school lately- it's driving my bonkers! I can't wait til December 15th when I'll have some time to do whatever the hell I want. I do feel like I manage my time wisely... most of the time. haha Well last night was an exception. At 10 pm, I baked a huge batch of chocolate chip coconut cookies because my teacher has been asking me to make them for her. I wish I could bake for A's. That would definitely help my Biology grade! It's my toughest class right now. I mean, my major is Wellness and that's a combination of fitness and nutrition, and I'm more interested in the nutrition aspect of it. All my Biology class has been is hydrocarbons, microtubules, and other words that I don't understand. Oh well... at least I have my youth haha

As for a delicious recipe today... I found it on Barbara Bakes. She found the recipe in Shape magazine, so I veganized it and changed a bunch of other stuff as well. It's a Tangerine Berry Muffin recipe and it's the best muffin I've ever had. I feel like I say that for all my muffiins, but these really are. I ate them all in one day (I made 4) and had to stop myself in order to take the damn picture. If you need a muffin recipe or just don't know what to make one day, these are so good for you and taste amazing. They are super moist and the dried berries plump up as they bake. Words can hardly describe it!! And I realize the ingredient list is massive, but I had all this stuff on hand. I always have sour cream because I'm addicted!

Here's the recipe:

Tang Berry Muffins

1/4 cup quick oats
1/4 cup Toffuti sour cream
3/4 cup oat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp quick rising yeast
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup tangerine juice
2 tbsp turbinado raw sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
1/8 tsp xanthan gum + 2 tbsp water
1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup dried mixed berries (strawberries, cherries, and blueberries)

Directions: Preheat oven to 400F. Coat a muffin pan with cooking spray.

Mix the xanthan gum and water together in a cup and let it stand for 5 minutes. In a small bowl, stir together the oats and sour cream until well-mixed (it will be lumpy). Combine the flour, baking powder, yeast, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl and mix together. In another bowl, mix the tangerine juice, sugar, oil, and xanthan gum mixture. Add the sour cream mixture to the wet mixture and stir until well-combined. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir together. Fold in the blueberries and dried berries.

Spoon batter into muffin tins and bake for 12-16 minutes (depending on size of muffin tin). I have a taller muffin tin, so mine took 16 minutes.

Muffins make everything better

2008-10-26T11:08:00.004-03:00

Yesterday was a nice day. I went to yoga which always makes me feel amazing. Then, I hung out at home and baked muffins. It was so relaxing just being in my pink plaid bathrobe. Everyone in my house hates my bathrobe because they say I look like an old woman in it; however, I don't care. haha It's just so warm and cozy. I can usually be seen in it when picking my sister up from school. She loves that, I'm sure. Anyway, after I got out of my bathrobe, I needed to clear my head and "get back to nature" as Emerson so eloquently puts it. I went running in South Park and watched how beautiful it was outside. I just felt so happy to be alive. The cold air going into my lungs just invigorated me and made me fun faster... okay that's stretching haha I haven't ran since August, so my speed was pretty crappy, but I still felt good. I stumbled upon a playground while running and swung on the swing-set as well. I know parents thought I was a pedifile because they were taking their kids away from the swings as soon as I got on!!! It was so funny, but I just kept swinging anyways. All in all, it was a darn good day.

Well, I've been making muffins like a madwoman these past few days. These ones were originally mini loaves, but I made them into muffins (mostly because I don't have mini loaf pans). I found them on eat me, delicious. I changed the recipe quite a bit because no one follows recipes anymore these days haha It's a thing from the past. They came out so delicious,sweet, and moist-even in muffin form. I just loved them. My main motivation for making them was to get rid of this pear that was sitting on the kitchen table. My grandma gave it to me last week because she orders pears from Harry and David. If you haven't ordered pears from there, do it now. H and D pears are sweet and huge and are great for baking. This recipe make 4 big muffins or 6 standard muffins.

Here's the recipe:
"I Want to Use Up This Pear" Muffins

3/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup almond meal
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp yeast (quick rise)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp turbinado raw sugar
1/3 cup + 1 1/2 tsp almond milk
2 1/2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce (generous)
1 large pear, cored, peeled and cut in half (mash one-half of the pear and cube the other half)
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp maple extract
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray or line with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, yeast, and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together sugar, almond milk, applesauce, mashed pear, cubed pear, and pumpkin seeds. Add the extracts to the wet mixture and stir. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and mix together. Spoon batter into muffin tin and bake for 20-22 minutes. Since mine were bigger muffins, I baked mine for 24 minutes. Use a toothpick to check the center of muffins and let them cool for 15 minutes before popping them out.

R.I.P Brian

2008-10-24T13:47:00.010-03:00

I've had a hilarious day so far. Well, I take that back. The last 15 minutes were funny. I was picking out a Get Well card for my sister because she is just miserable. She's really sick with what I had and I just love giving people cards for the hell of it. I was sitting in the card aisle of Giant Eagle for 20 minutes cracking up. These card companies know how to make me laugh more than any person I know haha

The part of my day that wasn't hilarious was when I found out one of my friends from Virginia died. His name is Brian and he was only 17. I met him on vacation a few years ago in West Virginia. He was in a car accident on Wednesday night and the kid he was driving with also died. It's just crazy how life can be taken from you so fast. It makes me want to live up every day and take more chances than I do. When I say chances, I mean say things and be more assertive I guess- not being afraid of getting hurt or what somebody might say. So hopefully, all of you will do the same thing and make sure you always buckle your seatbelt!

As for my recipes, I haven't been able to eat a lot of interesting food lately because my stomach has been acting up. I drink smoothies like it's nobody's business so I'm posting 2 of my favorites.

Here's the recipes:
Gothic Smoothie
1 frozen banana
1 generous handful of fresh spinach
juice from one medium orange/mineola
1/3 cup frozen blueberries

Blend all this stuff together and drink it down. You will get a dark purple mustache : )

Best Vanilla Milkshake Ever
1 frozen banana
1 scoop vanilla soy protein powder
1 container vanilla soy yogurt
1/2 cup pumpkin milk or non-dairy milk

Blend together and savior every gulp. It tastes just like a McDonald's vanilla milkshake. I always loved those when I ate whatever the hell i wanted haha

Bugs and Muffins

2008-10-22T10:21:00.006-03:00

I'm watching Regis and Kelly and the guy who called in for the "Fall Frenzy" is absolutely hilarious. I hope some of you watched it because he's cracking me up. I actually got up at a decent time today so I could see the show. Thank Heavens. I did wake up with a big bugbite right on my ankle. It's itching me like crazy. Bugs are just everywhere in our house. My cat is constantly attacking centipedes on the wall, and I'm killing stinkbugs like a madwoman. A few days ago while I was in the shower, I saw a stinkbug and had to kill it with shampoo. I was terrified!!! And to change the subject really quick, ZAC EFFRON is on Regis and Kelly right now!!! haha I don't even like Zac Effron but my friend, Mitchel, is obsessed with the poor guy. He's probably jumping up and down in his dormroom right now. He'll be hitting himself if he misses this.

And to answer the question a few of you had about the pumpkin seed milk, I just used organic raw pumpkin seeds. I'd recommend soaking them overnight if you do make it. I think the pumpkin flavor would've been stronger. I'm gonna try pistachio milk next, so we'll see how that goes. As for today's recipe, it's the chocolate tahini muffins from have cake, will travel. It was originally called "Chocolate Tahini Bread" but I made the muffins instead with a few adaptations as well. I loved these muffins. I just have a strange addiction to anything in a muffin-like form. I don't know where this love of them came from, but I've embraced it. I ate 2 of these muffins for dinner with some Tofutti cream cheese.

Here's the recipe:
Chocolate Tahini Muffins

6 Tbsp carob powder
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup tahini
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
4 oz unsweetened applesauce (1 individual container = 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract
1/4 cup pumpkin seed milk or other non-dairy milk
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray non-stick cooking spray in muffin tin. In a large bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients (first 6 ingredients). In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (last 6 ingredients). Combine wet and dry ingredients together- don't overmix. Scoop the batter into the muffin tin. I got 4 muffins. Bake for 18 minutes and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin.

And just for the fun of it, I did this survey from For the Love of Guava. Her answers were absolutely hilarious and mine don't measure up at all. You have to read hers. haha

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure in the way of food?
There’s so many. I would have to say peanut butter, date rolls, and ALL vegan ice cream.

Have you ever done anything nasty to anyone’s food and then served it to them?
OMG too many times to count. I can’t even think of a situation.

Have you ever lied to an omni, telling them you were serving them something meaty but instead serving them veg-food?

Yes, I do it to my family. Mainly my sister… or random Sears employees.

Have you ever been arrested? If so, what for?
No, and that’s really sad.

What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever done in the sack?
Wear foot pads to detox my body.

Who’s the weirdest person you’ve ever done (or thought about while) in the sack? These questions are so funny and I wasn’t aware that this survey was a sex survey before I started it haha

If, for the rest of your life, you could only have sexual relations with folks in one manner/style/position, what would it be?
Downward Dog haha what?

Do you have any weird fetishes? (i.e. Turned on by orange oily feces)
Umm I hope so. I honestly don’t know. I think I’m just weird.

What’s your worst drunken experience?
I’ve never been drunk, so I haven’t had one yet. When I do, I’ll write about it on my blog.

If you could eat any vegan food off another person’s body, what would it be?
I LOVE Peanut Butter. End of story.

Have you ever done anything naughty with a vegetable?
Peanut Butter? Yes. Vegetable? No. Oh wait. You didn’t ask about peanut butter ;)

Do you think your mom would sleep with me if I asked nicely?
Haha Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she did. She’s a hoot.

Do you have any tatts or piercings?

Just my ears. I wear fake tattoos ALL the time though. I have an enormous rose on my stomach right now.

Any strange names for you and your partner’s privates (and/or your sex toys)?
Oh Jesus. I don’t have a boyfriend, so no. As for mine, they are sold during Easter time and everyone gets them in their Easter backets.

Are you into PDA?
Yeah sure. A little PDA never hurt anyone.

Have you ever cheated on a significant other?
No. If you’re gonna cheat, you might as well just break up with the person.

Did you ever walk in on your parents doing it when you were younger?
Eww I hate this question. Gross memories are fogging my train of thought.

What’s one of the craziest things you’ve ever done?
Anything involving Lands' End dog and Mitchel. Lands' End dog is this gigantic fake golden retriever and we take it everywhere we go together.

If you could get it on with any vegetarian you know–famous or not–who would it be?
I have no idea!! I don’t know any vegetarians. I wish Frank Lloyd Wright was a vegetarian.

Wake me up when... the pumpkin milk is ready?

2008-10-20T13:09:00.008-03:00

Well, today I woke up really late. I try not to sleep in past 9 but I got up at 10:14. I was just so comfortable. I slept with a heating pad last night because my room was freezing. It's in the back corner of the house and no heat ever gets to it. I also had a really weird dream, but I won't get into that haha They always involve some random person (guy) I haven't seen in a while. But anyway, I have to take care of my sister today. She's sick with what I had last week. I feel so bad for her- I was practically on my death bed haha I made her some soup and Oreo cream cheese cupcakes. She loved the cupcakes, but how could you resist Oreos and cream cheese? She downstairs watching Mrs. Doubtfire and I'm wondering why I'm not watching it with her. haha That's a great movie!!

As for the recipe today, I have two because they were both just really good. First off, there's the pumpkin seed milk I found on GoneRaw. I really liked it and it didn't taste overly pumpkin-like at all. It just tasted really clean and pure if that makes any sense. haha I don't really know how to describe milk. The other recipe is for red wine rice. I was watching 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray and figured I'd make it. I really like wine, even though I'm 19 and shouldn't drink it. My mom lets me have a glass once in a while if I'm in the mood. This was honestly the best rice I've ever had. The wine made is really buttery somehow. I just loved it. I ate it for breakfast the next day. Yummy.

Here's the recipes:
Pumpkin Seed Milk
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, soaked
1 tbsp agave nectar
3 1/2 cup water
1 tsp pure vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean

Directions: Soak the pumpkin seeds for at least 2 hours before making the milk. Blend the pumpkin seeds with 1/2 the water until very smooth. Add the agave, vanilla, and rest of the water and blend again. Strain and enjoy!

Red Wine Rice with Grapes
1 cup red wine or burgandy wine
1/2 cup brown rice
3/4 cup red and black grapes seedless grapes, halved

Directions: Heat wine over medium until it starts to boil. Add rice, cover, and simmer for 10-12 minutes. Add grapes after 12 minutes, turn burned off, and let sit for 5 minutes. The grapes get soft and delicious. I served mine over a bed of fresh spinach.

I'll take it RAW

2008-10-17T09:33:00.007-03:00

Alrighty. So yesterday, I saw my best friend, Mitchel!!! He came home from college this week, and I've missed him like crazy. We watched Survivor, CSI, and Eleventh Hour because we are both TV addicts. Survivor is hands up our favorite one. He also brought my birthday presents and i about fainted when i looked in the bag. He got me a life-size poster of Hannah Montana. Many of you don't know that I have a weird obsession with Miley Cyrus, so I couldn't have been happier. The poster is taller than me haha The other stuff he gave me was food... of course. He baked me brownies and got me two character cookies. Character cookies are the most delicious treat in the world and they always make me smile. They are basically two giant chocolate chip cookies covered in icing. These ones are decorated with a spider and a witch.

As for today's recipe, it's a RAW one. I made some raw brownies, and I loved them. Now don't get me wrong, nothing compares to a real, moist, cooked brownie, but these were damn good. They tasted kind of like the Clif Nectar Bar Chocolate version. I like mine better though haha I just threw a bunch of nuts and dried fruit together until it got a doughy consistency. I also used carob because I really like the taste of it. As of now, there are none left. I ate the rest for dinner last night with some warm cherries and Tofutti cream cheese.

Here's the recipe:

Raw Brownies

1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
9 pitted dates (this is all i had and they were wimpy dates)
2/3 cup dried cherries
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup carob powder
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp water

Directions: Process nuts and seeds in food processor until they are ground. Add dried cherries and blend together. Add vanilla extract and carob powder and process. Add water and blend until mixture is sticky. Add more water if your mixture needs more moisture. Pour the mixture into an 8 x 8 pan and press down. Chill for 2 hours in the fridge, or 1 hour in the freezer. Enjoy!!

Gimme some MISO!

2008-10-15T10:44:00.005-03:00

Well, I had to go to the hospital yesterday for a test. I've always been unlucky with my whole digestive system, so I needed to get a flexible sigmoid something or another. Don't even ask what it is because it's not pretty!!! haha My doctor found that I have proctitis in my colon and that causes bleeding. So I'm on some pretty interesting medicine to fix it. It's just hard to know what I can eat anymore. I have to be really careful about what I put in this body of mine.

Last night, I made some miso soup because Kati from The Veggie Voice said it's always good when your sick. I made some last week when I had the flu, and I loved it. So I decided it would be okay in my stomach. It was splendid! The heat of the soup made my stomach feel really good. I just had no idea how good this soup is. I've had a jar of miso in the fridge for months and have never put it to use!! I'm so happy I did because it's just a really amazing soup that I will be making all the time. I pretty much just threw in a bunch of vegetables from our garden. It's still goin really strong even though it's October. It's like the garden that never dies haha

Here's the recipe:
Perfect Miso Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
1/2 of large zucchini
3 little red peppers
1 small eggplant
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 generous tbsp brown rice miso
1 tbsp cashew butter

Directions: Heat olive oil over medium in a nice big soup pot. Add vegetables and cook for a 3-5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup vegetable stock and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Add the rest of the stock, cover pot, and simmer on LOW heat for 5-7 minutes. Stir in brown rice miso and cashew butter and cover. Cook for 3 more minutes or until vegetables are tender.

It's A Sunshiney Day

2008-10-13T11:07:00.005-03:00

Well, all weekend I had a leadership seminar so that's why I haven't been able to post. It's basically a class that develops your leadership skills and examines what is necessary to be a good leader. I was surprised at how much fun I had. Most of the people were strangers to me, but they were some of the nicest people I've ever met. We watched a lot of movies and one of my favorites was "Iron Jawed Angels." It's a really powerful movie, and it made me realize how much women had to suffer to be treated equally. I definitely recommend seeing it if you are into the Women's Rights Movement... even if you aren't, you'd like it. haha I am just so drained now!!! But school never ends, as most of you know, so I guess I'll just keep using cooking to keep me sane.

And of course, there is recipe! I've been obsessed with making raw food lately. I tried my hand at zucchini hummus and I loved it. I found it on My Raw Food Experiment. I always thought hummus had to be made with chickpeas, but I was wrong. It doesn't really taste too much like regular chickpea hummus, but sometimes, a little change is fine. It's just so fresh tasting because I used a zucchini from my garden. Our garden was practically peeing zucchini this year. We got well over 50 of them. It was nuts. The most annoying part of this recipe was draining the zucchini. There was so much water in mine, and it probably took at least 20 minutes to remove the moisture.

Here's the recipe:
Zucchini Hummus

2 zucchini, peeled and grated
4 tbsp tahini
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:
Rolled the zucchini in paper towels and press hard to remove excess moisture. Take all the ,except the zucchini, and toss them into the food processor (I used my food processor to grate the zucchini, so I had to take it out and drain it). Blend these together than add the zucchini and process until desired consistency.

I had my hummus on a baked potato with a single piece of broccoli. haha I loved it. It reminded me of guacamole.

Sweet Deliciousness

2008-10-10T11:57:00.006-03:00

Alrighty. I have practically no voice today. I tried to do pilates at the gym this morning (what was I thinking) and ended up leaving half way through the class because I was burnin up. This fever just won't go away. I thought sweating it out would help, but it just made it worse. I'm just one of those people who hates sitting. Even when I'm sick, I try to clean and work out, but it doesn't do me any good haha And studying, for that matter, is useless when I'm sick. I've noticed that I can't retain any information for tests... such as huge midterms. haha That was a mess yesterday. I did well on Religions of the World, but the Bio test and Lab Exam were just a blur. I had to take my shirt off in Bio (I had a tank top on) because I felt like it was 200 degrees in there. And after the tests, we had a lab of course. The class is from 12:15-4:10- just lovely. We had to extract DNA from split peas and I ended up dropping the DNA extraction. Thankfully, my lab partners are REALLY nice and understood that I wasn't mentally "there." haha

Anyway, last night, I ended up cooking up a storm. I just couldn't sit still anymore. I ended up making Halva. I had seen it on Gone Raw and I don't think my version is raw, but I don't care. I changed the recipe so much that I don't know if it's still considered Halva haha I hope it is. It tastes like nothing I've ever had before so it's hard to relate it to anything else. It has the consistency of a crumble (kind of) and tastes like sweet tahini. Does that make any sense at all? It's a popular dessert in India and I had it for breakfast this morning. I halved the recipe and that was a mistake because I'm gonna have to make more... it's all gone. haha It's really THAT addicting!!

Here's the recipe:
Halva
3 cups almond meal
1/2 cup roasted white sesame seeds
2 tbsp agave nectar
2 tbsp honey (you can use brown rice syrup, too)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 vanilla bean, scrape out the vanilla
1/2 cup dried fruit
3 cups of water

Directions: Place the sesame seeds in a blender with 3 cups of water. Blend for about 15-20 seconds. Using a very fine strainer or cheese cloth, separate the sesame seed pulp from the water. Put the sesame seed pulp in a food processor. Add the almond meal, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla bean seeds/remains (not sure what to call them). Pulse those ingredients together and then add the agave nectar and honey. Add the dried fruit and pulse for a few seconds. That's it.

Note: The Trader Joe's Blend of Dried Cherries, Dried Blueberries, and Dried Strawberries is to die for. It tastes so well with the Halva so you just have to go out and get it. I ended up enjoying my halva with some frozen cherries and frozen mangoes that I warmed up in the microwave. It created a sauce that was just amazing. I was just so content while eating it. Our house could've been on fire, but me and my halva would have been in complete harmony. haha

Hangin in there

2008-10-09T06:21:00.004-03:00

It was another sleepless night. Well, not completely... I woke up at 3:27 so I got a few hours in. I just can't stand this cold/flu thing anymore. I went to the doctor's yesterday, but she wouldn't give me an antibiotic. She said it was viral and should last about a week. A week?!?!? I have 3 midterms today (just my luck, right?), and I can barely concentrate on sleeping haha If that's any indicator of how I'm going to do, it's not pretty. I mean, yesterday, I tried to wash my mouth out with contact lense solution instead of mouthwash. How you ask? I have absolutely no idea haha It's mostly been my head, nose, and eyes, but throughout tonight, my stomach has been killin me. I'm just waiting to throw up so that queezy feeling will be gone.

Anyway, I made this smoothie yesterday morning because I've been smoothie obsessed lately. A few fellow bloggers told me to freeze the banana before I put it in the blender, and my gosh, what a difference. It's like an ice cream smoothie now... only with no ice cream in it. haha This has been my favorite smoothie so far. It's a green smoothie, but doesn't taste like spinach at all. The fruit really masks that flavor to make one deliciously, healthy smoothie. It makes a very big smoothie, but I drank the whole thing since it was my breakfast... and I feel like I can eat whatever I want when I'm sick. For some reason, I'm just always hungry when I'm sick. This managed to keep me full for around 3 hours surprisingly.

Here's the recipe:
Sweet Green Smoothie

1 frozen banana
1 1/3 cup fresh spinach
1/3 cup frozen mango
1/2 cup tangerine juice
1/2 cup water (optional)
handful of blanched almonds of almond slivers

Directions:
Throw everything in the blender and drink up!

Note: I added the water because my blender is terrible and doesn't break up the fruit. It'll just be thicker and more ice cream-like if you don't add it... which is never a bad thing.

A little hummus to weather the cold

2008-10-07T08:13:00.005-03:00

I woke up countless times during the night. I'm pretty sure I have a cold. damnit. At 5:23, I decided it was just time to stay up, so I've been drinking tons of tea and watching Super Sweet Sixteen. When my mom woke up and went in my room, she freaked out. I was downstairs in the kitchen, but I had made my bed already. I hear her goin' "Jo!! Joanna!!!" and she comes downstairs all scared sayin' "I thought you had been kidnapped because I couldn't find you!" Oh mother.

Anywho, I did manage to make some hummus last night for dinner. I'm obsessed with the Sabra hummus, so I tried to clone it. It turned out really, really good, and I've eaten it with sundried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, olives, and spinach. Uhh just heaven. I didn't have the actual container to use when I made this because I finished it all and forgot to save it. haha. So I honestly don't know what 's in it... I just tasted mine as I went along. And just a warning, it doesn't look like this hummus, but I don't care about looks haha. It makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Here's my recipe:

Sabra Hummus Clone

1/2 cup kidney beans
3/4 cup chickpeas
2 cloves fresh garlic
1 Tbsp Tahini
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
4 Tbsp vegetable stock

Directions: Place all ingredients in food processor and blend!! Add more vegetable stock if you want to thin it out a little. I like mine thick because that's how the Sabra hummus is.

Ok... A Red Sweet Potato?

2008-10-06T10:35:00.008-03:00

I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and it was a lot of fun. Getting there was the hard part. There were so many construction signs, blocked off roads, and detours. My mom and I were just so confused. We ended up driving on a bus way and then realizing "Oh. This is a bus way. That's why everyone on the sidewalk is telling us to move... and by telling, I mean yelling." When we finally found a way there, we were so thankful to just be off the road in a parking spot. My favorite part about Trader Joe's is the prices. Their stuff is so cheap and I got ridiculous amounts of nuts and dried fruit... and when I say ridiculous, I mean like 20 different bags haha I was just going "shop happy" because it was my first time in there... you know how that is. We ended up finishing off our shopping at Whole Foods because, let's face it, Whole Foods is god of all grocery stores.

I did go crazy in Whole Foods, though. And for one reason only... I saw a RED sweet potato. Are you kidding me? I thought I had finally understood the difference between yams and sweet potatoes and now they start selling red sweet potatoes.

Red Sweet Potato

The darker-skinned variety (which is most often called "yam" in error) has a thicker, dark orange to reddish skin with a vivid orange, sweet flesh and a moist texture.

Alrighty. I'll quit obsessing over the damn sweet potatoes. haha My recipe for today is for brownies. It's not vegan because I still like to bake things that aren't. I send baked goods to Iraq every month and I put these brownies in the package. My stepdad said they were AMAZING and they were honestly the biggest brownies I have ever seen. I think their hugeness is from the 8x8 pan instead of 9 inch. I was shocked and really wanted one, but I refrained. I also added some Oreos and frozen blondies I had, so they were beyond decadent. And hey, Oreos are vegan haha. I found the recipe on Cookie Madness because Anna is one of the queens of baking.

Here's the recipe:
Fudge Brownies with Golden Syrup

1 cup all purpose or white whole wheat flour (128 grams)
2 tablespoons European Style cocoa powder (30 ml)
1/8 teaspoon salt (pinch)
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, cut up (114 grams) — best
4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature (1 sticks) – 230 grams
1 cup granulated sugar (198 grams)
1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar, lightly packed (100 grams)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5 ml)
1/3 cup golden syrup or corn syrup (80 ml)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 inch square metal pan with foil and spray foil with cooking spray.Sift together flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.Melt chocolate in top of a double boiler or melt in a metal bowl set over (but not touching) a saucepan of barely simmering water.Beat butter and both sugars in a large mixing bowl using high speed of an electric mixer. Beat in vanilla and golden syrup. When creamy, beat in eggs, beating thoroughly after each egg.Beat in the melted chocolate, scraping sides of bowl.Add flour mixture and chocolate chips, stirring until flour is blended in (do not beat).

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake on center rack of oven for 35 minute or until brownies appear set. Cool on a rack for 1 hour or until brownies are cool enough to transfer to the refrigerator. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for 1 or 2 hours.

Lift brownies from pan by grasping foil. Place on a cookie sheet and cut into squares.

Makes 16 small or 9 large

Since the brownie took the cat's place on her window sill, she sat on the box where the brownie was supposed to go. And I take back the word "sat." She is WAY TOO BIG to sit in a standard flat rate box. haha

Yam or Sweet Potato?

2008-10-05T11:10:00.010-03:00

Alrighty. So today my mom and I are going to Trader Joe's for the first time. I always see fellow bloggers going there, and I've been dying to experience it. It's far away so that's why we've never gone, but we figure the absurd amount of gas we'll be using is worth it.

As for the recipe, well... there isn't one. It's more like an experiment. For years and years and years, I've always said that sweet potatoes are my favorite food. Well, after going to Trax Farms, I saw two piles of sweet potatoes and yams. The ones I thought were sweet potatoes were actually labeled yams. I was distraught. I bought one of each and decided to have a taste test to see which one I preferred. I did a little research and the orange one is the yam... the yellow one is the sweet potato. I was surprised and upset because I hate the name yam, but i guess that's what I like better. It's so much sweeter than a sweet potato and a lot less starchy. The S.P. reminded me of a regular baked potato. So if you ever get confused about these two, here's some helpful information. And if you don't care which one you are eating, then ignore this. haha I pretty much had a photo shoot with them. My cat was pissed because I had to move her off the table, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Yam

A tropical American vine (Ipomoea batatas) having rose-violet or pale pink, funnel-shaped flowers, and cultivated for its fleshy tuberous orange root.

Sweet Potato

The pale sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin and a pale yellow flesh. Its flavor is not sweet and after being cooked, the pale sweet potato is dry and crumbly, much like a white baking potato.

The Joy of Cooking

2008-10-04T10:33:00.012-03:00

I haven't posted in a few days because, truthfully, everything I've made in the past two days has tasted horrible! I don't like posting stuff that tastes bad because I plan on redoing the recipe and making it edible. I tried my hand at a parsnip puree because I saw it on Top Chef a few months ago. That didn't turn out amazing- I still ate some of it, but couldn't stomach looking at it anymore so I threw it away this morning. Then, yesterday afternoon I tried making muffins from have cake, will travel. Celine's recipes always turn out perfect in my kitchen, but I had some problems with this one. The ratio of dry ingredients to wet ingredients was really weird, and the mixture had hardly any moisture. I stirred and stirred and it was still like lumpy sand. I added a few other wet igredients, but the end result wasn't pretty. And I really mean that haha They looked like lumps of coal!!! I'm gonna try and adjust the recipe though because mocha muffins just sound amazing.

As for my good recipe today, it's a smoothie. I just drank it and I liked it. You honestly can't go wrong with a smoothie. At least my body can digest them easier.

Here's the recipe:
Yummy Smoothie
1 banana
1/2 cup quick oats
1 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
2/3 cup tangerine juice

Blend! I stuck mine in the freezer for 10 minutes because I like eating it like frozen yogurt.

These other pictures are from the city last night. There was a Gallery Crawl where artists, chefs, musicians, jewel makers, and so on display their work and entertain. My favorite place was the culinary institute and I got some great pictures of the cakes!

Wanna Date?

2008-10-01T10:53:00.021-03:00

All right. So I don't have school today, thank God. I have an eye doctor's appointment because my eyes are getting worse. I need to get a new prescription and some new contacts. Maybe I'll even walk out with some new glasses. I have no idea haha I love my glasses already- they are leopard print. But anyway, I'll prob hit up the gym today and do some yoga. Yoga is my new favorite activity. I feel so "in touch" with my body and its movements. The corpse pose is my absolute favorite! We just lay there for 5 minutes at the end of class while the weight machines are banging on the floor above. I completely zone out everything and everyone from my mind and just concentrate on my breathing. Geez, I feel like I'm in a yoga class right now just talking about it haha

Aside from yoga, I still cook and bake a lot... but that goes without saying. My recipe for today is Pumpkin Date Scones. I got the base of the recipe from the "eat me, delicious" blog and changed it up a bit. They really are amazing scones, and I've never been a fan of scones. They don't really look like the triangular scones you see in bakeries, but that's because they are homemade! haha and because I don't care what my food looks like, just as long as it's yummy. These are very moist and the dates taste great with the pumpkin. It smells like pumpkin pie is baking in the house. Mine were done in 20 minutes and that might be because I halved the recipe to get 6. This is the full recipe for 12 scones.

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Date Scones

8 oz dates, chopped
1 tbsp spelt flour (or whole wheat)
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 tbsp ground flaxseeds
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
2 cups ground oat flour
1/4 cup spelt flour (you could use all oat flour, whole wheat flour, or a mixture)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmet
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F and prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper or sprayed with canola oil.

Combine dates and 1 tbsp spelt flour. Toss the dates to coat with the flour and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the flaxseeds and milk together. Whisk in the pumpkin, canola oil, and brown rice syrup. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir into the pumpkin mixture until the ingredients are just moistened. The dough will be thick and sticky. Fold in the chopped dates and walnuts.

Use a 1/2 cup measureing cup to scoop out dough onto a baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches of space between each scone. Gently pat down the tops of scones. Bake for 18-22, or until firm. Transfer from baking sheets to cooling rack to complete the cooling process.

So Blonde

2008-09-29T11:45:00.008-03:00

My birthday party ended up being so much fun!!! I had all my family there and my cousin, a missionary in Nicaragua, came, too. Everyone was in a wild mood and I don't even think people were drinking that much. I mean, there was the Sangria and wine (I had both and they were so nasty). As for the presents, my grandma gave me a pair of her pearl earrings that my grandma bought her. They are so stunning, and it was really unexpected. Then, my great aunt gave me her pearl necklace so I would have a set. If I ever get married someday, that's what I'm wearing! And of course, there was the food. Oh, the food. Let's just say I was not a vegan or vegetarian yesterday. But hey, you only live once, so eat what you want to eat!!!!!! I just hate putting a label on myself for the kind of food that I eat. So as of now, this is what I am: I am a person who lives on a diet free of meat, dairy, and eggs throughout the week. I eat honey because I like it, but that doesn't mean I hate bees. And if I want a piece of chicken once in a while, I'm gonna have myself a piece of chicken!

Whoo that feels good to get that off my chest. But now for the recipe. I'm doing an experiment for biology where I have to transform traditional blondies into vegan blondies. I made up this recipe using my knowledge of fats, proteins, and all of that other stuff. haha I really, really, really like these and so did everyone at the party. They kind of taste like marzipan (that almond sugar candy) and have the consistency of fudge. They do have a weird glossiness to them, but hey, it was my first experiment. I don't even know if I can consider them blondies, but that's what I'm callin them!

Here's the recipe:

Marzipan Chocolate Chip Blondies

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

¼ cup canola oil

¼ cup organic cane sugar

¼ cup pure maple syrup

¼ cup brown rice syrup

½ tsp almond extract

1 tbsp Ener-G egg replacer + 3 tbsp water

¼ tsp baking powder

1 cup whole wheat flour

¼ tsp sea salt

¼ cup pecans, chopped

¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

¼ cup vegan chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8x8 in pan with Canola Oil cooking spray.

Mix applesauce, canola oil, cane sugar, maple syrup, and brown rice syrup in a stand mixer. Beat until smooth. Combine Ener-G egg replacer in a cup with 3 tbsp water. Stir and let sit for 2 minutes. Add Ener-G egg replacer and almond extract to the other mixed ingredients. Blend. Add in baking powder, flour, and sea salt. Stir, not beat, until well-combined. Add pecans, shredded coconut, and chocolate chips and stir.

Pour batter into pan and bake for 25-27 minutes and allow time to cool before cutting.

The LAST day

2008-09-27T11:41:00.004-03:00

All right. So today is the last day of my detox. It's been really beneficial, and I feel so much better. I wake up and my stomach isn't bloated anymore! thank heavens. I almost feel like I want to continue with the fast, but then again, it is my birthday party tomorrow... and I want real food!! I think the absence of wheat in my diet this week made a huge difference. The only grain I could have this week was brown rice, and I've come to really like it. I mean, it is kind of bland with no seasonings, but it's really nutty and filling. I don't have Celiac disease, but it somehow made my digestive system a lot better. And thankfully, my mom said she was going to try the detox diet this coming Monday!

So anyway, my recipe for today is another thing that I've been eating on my detox. I bought this huge plantain from Whole Foods last week and had to wait for it to ripen. I like mine to have black spots on it before I peel it... cuz peeling it is a pain in the ass! I've never learned the right way to do it. But this was really simple to make, and I was dyin' to use this plantain. And it's obviously really healthy because it's basically all raw, and I couldn't have any oil this week.

Here's the recipe:

Insane Plantain

1 plantain
1/3-1/2 cup water
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp peanut butter
handful of raisins

Directions: Peel and slice plantain into 1 inch thick slices. Heat 1/3 cup water over medium and add plantain slices. Add honey and let simmer for a few minutes. When first side is golden, flip over. Add more water if needed. Cook for a total of 5 or 6 minutes, or until desired color is reached. Pour into a bowl, and add peanut butter and raisins.

Note: This is really, really good. I usually use a banana, but we were all out of them. The plantain was a perfect substitute!

Thank God It's Friday

2008-09-26T13:17:00.008-03:00

I just got back from Pilates. Wow was it hard today. My stomach and legs were practically crying, but I guess that's what I pay for haha. Tomorrow is my last day of the fast. I must say though, it hasn't been that bad. I'm getting used to the foods I've been eating and don't really mind them. The main thing I missed while fasting was seasonings!! I couldn't have salt, cinnamon, oregano, or any other spice/herb you can think of. My food has been pretty bland, so I'm excited to put some kick back into my food. I have missed baking though... A LOT... and cooking for that matter. Until last night, I hadn't made any cooked food in a week.

The recipe for today isn't for what I made last night... I made a carrot cake for my neighbor. She tried it the last time I made it and said she LOVED it. It is really good. The recipe is under my cake section already, but I made it in a different pan. It turned out so lovely because I used a rose bundt cake pan. Today's recipe is actually for my breakfast I had this morning. I just made it up because it was so damn easy. It was rather good, a little bland, but you could definitely add some cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. I really enjoyed it and it reminded me of pumpkin pie hot outta the oven! This recipe is what I would eat if I could have it.

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

1 cup water or 1/2 cup non-dairy milk + 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds

Directions:
Heat water, oats, and pumpkin over medium. Stir and simmer for a few minutes. Add cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla extract. Stir until well-combined. This cooks very quickly. Cook for a total of 4 minutes, or until the mixture is nice and thick. Pour into a bowl and add pumpkin seeds. Eat up!

Day 4

2008-09-24T17:43:00.009-03:00

Well, my birthday was just divine. Since I am fasting this week, my mom got me an Edible Arrangements Fruit Bouquet as my cake! It was so thoughtful and adorable of her. She just went crazy with presents- a bread machine, waffle maker, 2 new perfumes, brownie pan, set of strainers, earphones, 2 cookbooks, and tons of LUSH soap. It was pretty much everything on my list. I'm so damn spoiled haha I'm not a spoiled brat though. I really appreciate everything she got me. She just always goes overboard, but at least bread making won't be such a pain in the ass now. haha

As for the recipe, I've been drinking smoothies like crazy. I used a bunch of the fruit from my fruit bouquet for today's drink. It's was good, but I liked yesterday's better. I think I was just being too creative with the fruit, so there wasn't really a distinct fruity flavor. Anyway, I'll probably make it again tomorrow morning just because it wasn't all that bad. haha

Here's the recipe:

Tropical Smoothie

1 cup tropical fruit (pineapple, kiwi, cantalope, strawberries)
1/3 cup quick oats
1/3 cup tangerine juice
1 Tbsp tahini

Blend and drink. It's that easy.

Day 3 and... MY BIRTHDAY!!!

2008-09-23T08:45:00.007-03:00

So today I'm 19. I feel like I did yesterday, only more tired. haha. I woke up 3 times last night because I was itchy and then this morning, I tried to use my Dandelion Root Tea as contact lense solution. I'm just beat. I have class all day today and I'm not doing anything tonight. I have way too much homework to even think about leaving the house : ( Oh well, this coming Sunday is our big family party for the September birthdays so I'll be able to have fun there. My fast also ends this Saturday so Sunday I'm going nuts and having something good to eat!

Here's a taste of what I've been drinking this week. I just threw this smoothie together with what we had in the house, and it's really good. It doesn't make a lot but it's so thick that it took me about a 1/2 hour to drink . haha or maybe I'm just a slow drinker. The thing I like most about it was that it filled me up. I always feel hungry after I eat but this kept my belly pleased for about 3 hours. Also, just know that it is a chunky smoothie, but to me, the chunkier the better! It feels more like a meal that way.

Here's the recipe:
Tahini Oat Smoothie

1/2 cup frozen mango
1/2 cup tangerine juice
1 Tbsp tahini
1/3 cup quick oats

Put everything in a blender and press start! Enjoy!

Day 2

2008-09-22T11:06:00.006-03:00

So the first day of the fast went really well. I'm not on an all water/juice fast. I'm pretty much just eating all raw foods, tofu, natural live soy yogurt, nuts, a ton of water, and tea. It's amazing, though. My stomach is usually bloated ALL the time and this morning when I woke up, it was completely flat. I'm not gonna lie, my system got really cleaned out yesterday. This Dandelion Root Tea I've been drinking doesn't taste that good, but it does help you go to the bathroom. I pretty much just loaded up with all the fruits and vegetables I could think of and Whole Foods is always good for that. My mom and I didn't go too buckwild yesterday, but we did buy a good amount of stuff.

And today's recipe isn't part of my diet this week, but I made it last week and LOVED it. It's a tofu scramble, and I've been seeing them on blogs for months now. I was so excited to make it and used Bryanna's recipe from the "Vegan Feast Kitchen" blog. I added some other spices because I just couldn't stop! It's a combination of spices and nutritional yeast that you add to the tofu scramble. It makes a ton of scrambler mix, so I quartered the version. Most of the spices are staples in my kitchen, so it was an easy mix to make. This mix will be enough for one block of tofu.

Here's the recipe:

Tofu Scrambler Mix

1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 Tbsp onion powder
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Directions:
Just mix these together in a bowl, and you're done. As for the tofu scramble, I added half of this mix to half a block of of mashed tofu. I don't know how many ounces that is, but I ate the whole thing. Mix it around until the spice is over all of the tofu and scramble it in a non-stick pan sprayed with a little olive oil. It will get very yellow!