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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Typage overload

Its been about 2 weeks since I last posted and, to be honest, I don't really feel bad about it. It's not that I didn't have anything interesting to write about...I certainly do have many updates...really it was just because I didn't want to.

So, I apologize for that. But now I'm game to write, write, write and overload you all on my life over the past 2 weeks.


Yippeeee annnnd begin:


The weekend after July 4th, I came home on Friday and met up with mah girl, Gretchen, and we successfully completed a road trip to Ocean City, MD. I say successfully because I have unsuccessfully completed road trips to OC, MD. That doesn't totally make sense, I know. The summer before my freshman year of school I drove down with my friend, Kelly, to stay at her house for a few days. We met Coastal Highway at the same time as a torrential downpour, monsoon style, rolled into town. The flash flooding that it created on the incredibly flat highway caused some belt in my engine to hydroplane, resulting in the loss of power steering and anything else "powered". Imagine this: two 18 year old girls, torrential downpour, can't see where they're going, in a car where the steering wheel requires mass amounts of strength to turn. It was terrifying.

BUT I digress. So 2 weekends ago, Gretch and I made our way down to visit our friends who are living at the beach this summer. We had lots of fun, (I suffered all day Saturday from said "fun") and for some reason decided to be spontaneous and get our ears pierced. Well, she decided to get her ear pierced and then peer-pressured me into getting mine done as well. I'm totally glad she did though because I ended up getting my tragus done. I've been wanting it since sophomore year of high school but was always told it hurt the worst, so I was scared. Making decisions in a mere 5 minutes does not leave one time to worry about pain.

So yea, I came home from OC with one more hole in my body...does that sound gross? Yeah, it probably does. I don't care.

I came home and everything was fine and dandy. My roommate was working late one night so I decided to put off my workout until later in the day. I went to the track with good intentions, worked hard and got the workout done. I could hear thunder in the distance but did not really pay it any attention. Why? I have no idea. It would prove to be a grave mistake. I ended up running a cool-down mile, but on my third lap the end of the world as I knew it began. I was on the straight-away opposite the bleachers and all of a sudden I heard the sound of water pounding metal. And then it hit me. No, a thought or brilliant idea did not hit me as the cliche phrase would suggest; the rain literally hit my body. This was a downpour to rival the previously mentioned storm that saw me and Kelly experience a perilous journey to the beach. In the end, my phone ended up being seriously water damaged as I only had a bike to transport me back home. Verizon laughed in my face and said they would not give me a new phone (they didn't really laugh, the guy was actually really nice).

This was a very big dilemma as I was supposed to drive to OC, NJ that night after work and all my roommates were already there. We don't have a landline. I was very much stranded in my apartment with so way of communicating besides Facebook and email.

So I turned to eBay to solve my problems. Faced a bunch of issues there but, finally, I have a replacement phone. No more Crackberry. I am now a member of the Droid generation.

I'm undecided.

I ended up not going to the beach. Saddd face. But I will see mah frands soon enough.

There is no improvement by way of the camera. I attempt to take pictures with it but they don't show up in the memory. Help?

But, what you all care about most, is I made some stuff. Most importantly a modification of the International Quinoa Salad that I made for the 4th.


Quinoa Junk Salad
2 ears of fresh corn
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (+ 1 cup water to cook it in)
1/2 red pepper
1/2 large tomato
1/4 (roughly) of a medium red onion
1/2 zuchinni
1 can (roughly) chickpeas
1 avocado
1 lemon, freshly squeezed
2 tbsp vegetable broth
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
( I didn't think about this when I was making it, but I would add some garlic to taste as well)

Cook the quinoa according to package directions.

Slice the corn of the cobs and chop all the vegetables. Rinse and drain chickpeas and throw all together in a bowl. Combine to the cooked quinoa.

Squeeze the lemon and add the veg broth and vinegar in a separate, small, bowl. (here is where I would add pressed or minced garlic). Whisk together and pour over salad.

Munch.

That's all for now.


an addendum to this: I forgot to say that I got hit in the face in field hockey. It really is nothing special, no cut or stitches or anything, just a lumpy cheek and a weird looking bruise. Yummy. I <3 summer league. Not.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Flat start.

I decided to give going for a ride another try. My dad fixed up my bike all nice and pretty yesterday and I woke up early to hit the road with him before I head back to school. We made it less than 5 miles and *pssssssss* my tire popped. Daddio did a quick tire change while I watched, frustrated, and we wheeled our bikes out into the road. *PSSSSSS* the tire hissed mockingly at me and popped again. My dad and I just looked at each other and laughed. We tried to change the tube again and it popped in the midst of inflating the tire.

I don't think the Bike Gods want me to ride. Maybe they want me to make a sacrifice of my new running shoes.

Please don't make me, I love them too much.

But on another less fit, more fattening note, I made cookies again. I think I have a problem. A serious baking problem. Please, will someone fund my future so I can own a bakery? I'll be happy forever...no? I have to make it on my own? Alright, but these cookies will certainly help my case.




Chewy, Amaze-balls Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
adapted from my Momma's County Fair Prize Winning Cookies

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
3 c old fashioned oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2  tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 c vegan margarine (softened, I used Earth Balance)
1 c DARK brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar (to ensure that this is truly vegan, use vegan organic white sugar)
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flax + 4 tbsp water)
1 T vanilla
1 tsp brown rice syrup
1 T apple sauce
2 c raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, cover 2 baking sheets in parchment paper. Combine the water and flax seed and let sit for 10 minutes

In a medium sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients (oats, flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon)

Combine the margarine and sugar and cream until light and fluffy. Add the flax eggs, vanilla, brown rice syrup, and apple sauce.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients to the wet until well combined. Add in the raisins. (I'm estimating the 2 cups, I did 2 very full handfuls).

Use a medium sized melon scoop and place cookies on a baking sheet about 2 inches away from each other. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 8 minutes. When removed, let sit and cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.



Now go bake them, eat them, and you can thank me later.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Amuurica

Happy 4th everyone!

I'm home for the weekend and that means a few things:
  1. I'm not at work. Yessss.
  2. I get to sleep in. Double yesss.
  3. I get to cook and bake without having to buy any of the ingredients. Awww yeaaa.
  4. My dad's Nikon is at my disposal to do with it as I please.
  5. I finished the second season of True Blood.
Yesterday, I basically spent the day hanging with the madre. Everytime I come home, the first day always seems to be devoted to grocery shopping and produce-stand-hopping. Not that I'm complaining--usually the shopping is centered around the things I intend to create in the kitchen.

Speaking of buying the ingredients for the things I want to make, I did not even have to think about what I needed to buy for one of my planned creations. I opened the baking cabinet in my mom's kitchen and the container of chocolate chips was COMPLETELY full. It is usually about a quarter to halfway full...I took this as a direct hint from my dad (who last did the grocery shopping) to make chocolate chip cookies. I used my usual recipe but tweaked it a bit. I'll include the changes on my old post about the cookies. 

For dinner last night, I decided to go all out, pre July 4th barbeque style. I pulled together an international quinoa salad and black bean burgers. I added some broccoli sprouts to the burgers to hold them together. The quinoa salad ended up being sans chickpeas because my mom and I didn't realize that we were out until the salad was halfway done. And we were certainly not about to go back to the store. No ma'am.


Here, I would like to bring attention to my thumb muscles. My mom and brother made fun of me, but I have really big thumb muscles. Any other field hockey players can vouch that after a day or two of playing hockey your thumbs hurt like no other. I swear I have amped thumbs from hockey. Try and fight me, I'll destroy you with my them.


I'm mildly obsessed with perfectly ripe avocados. The color is evidence of nature's inherent perfection.


These were just some of the players. You can see all by clicking on the recipe link. I STRONGLY recommend this salad. I can attest that I am not a big mint person. I've never really enjoyed the taste of toothpaste in my food...don't like Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, no peppermint patties, and only sometimes am I a fan of Thin Mints. But this salad is delicious. It tricks you--you think its light and refreshing because of the taste and aroma of the fresh mint and parsley, but then the fullness hits you because of the quinoa and corn. I had too heaping servings in addition to the snacking while I made it.

Maddie grilled up the burgers for us.


But then she got distracted so I finished them up.



My mom and I feasted. We had some sides of avocado, sliced tomato, and basil pesto as condiments and steamed corn on the cob as well. We sliced up some whole wheat wraps and used them instead of buns.



I still have not mastered using a camera, so I apologize for the blurriness and strange focus. The food is what counts anyway, am I right? Nom nom nom.

I would like to add that I much prefer the flavor and texture of grilled black bean burgers vs those fried/cooked on the skillet in some oil.

This morning I woke up and planned to go for a bike ride with my mom but fate said, "Nope, uh, no you're not going for a ride." I couldn't seem to get my tires to properly inflate so I ditched the bike shorts and cleats and pulled on mah brand spankin' new sneakers and did an interval run on the track.



I had been running with my mom's old walking shoes. I have a problem with spending money. Needless to say I was SERIOUSLY overdue for some new shoes. So my momma bought me some. Thanks momma.

I also got my new turf shoes in the mail. Hello Beautiful.


My feet and ankles will love me this summer/hockey season. Although my sensitive skin will not--hopefully I can break these suckers in before preseason or else my feet will puff up in blisters.

I made breakfast this morning for my mom and dad. Banana French Toast adapted from the Engine-2 diet and tempeh Fakin-Bakin.

French Toast (tripled recipe)
via Engine-2 Diet

3 very ripe bananas
1 1/2 c almond milk (or non-dairy milk of your choice)
3 tsp cinammon
3 tsp vanilla
slices of bread...about a loaf

Mash the bananas in a bowl, then mix in the rest of the ingredients. Cook on a skillet set between high and medium high for about 2 minutes each side. The key is to basically sear the outside of the battered bread so that they are not all gooey when you eat them.


I drizzled maple syrup from Vermont on top of the toast and added a big bowl of blueberries on the side.

Basically I'm having a vacation at home. How pathetic is that...my vacation is to go home for two days. Regardless, I'm enjoying myself, relaxing, cooking, and baking.