Month: February 2010

TGIF

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Thank God It’s Friday.

Memo and Decision trees are turned in!  Woo!

I have to turn to class then the gym but before that… I came home and had a delicious lunch!

Black beans (made a big pot yesterday) with oikos mixed in instead of sour cream.  Along with a corn tortilla and cheese. They don’t call us beaners for nothing…

For the road… A green monster!  You all know what that looks like…

On todays agenda: I have dinner plans with friends!  Also, the graduate student union here has an event every Friday called TGIF (Tell Grads It’s Friday).  $1 beer and $2 wine.  Might have to hit it up!

Hope you’re having a great day and are all revved up for the weekend!!

Consumed

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This time my life is not consumed by food and other food related distractions (aka baking/cooking).

Today it’s been all about this:

Tomorrow is Friday.  Thank goodness!  This (along with another one of these and a memo) will be turned in at 10am and all will be well in the world!

Back to cooking and other exciting food things tomorrow!  Have a good night!

Taste the Rainbow

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Happy Tuesday!!

Did you all hear about Michelle Obama’s Campaign Against Childhood Obesity?

What do you think of this new Let’s Move campaign?

I had some colorful eats today and luckily they DID NOT include any of this:

For lunch, I had a DELICIOUS, COLORFUL and HUGE salad!

Isn’t it bright?! Lettuce, Cucumbers, Tomato, Carrot Ribbons and a sliced up string cheese with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar as dressing.  Along with a Morningstar Sausage Patty taco, which you’ve seen so here’s part of the tortilla process:

I would die without a gas stove!

After my scrumptious lunch, I went to class then I worked on Econ and Methods problem sets with people.  Ugh I need to learn to be more patient!

Then the highlight of the evening.. Dinner was pretty much the epitome of a fake and delicious makeover!

You know chicken parmesan? Served as such…

Forget that!  Mine was a million times better!

Boca Spicy Chik’n Patty topped with marinara sauce and cottage cheese (soo good!  If you’ve never mixed marinara and cottage cheese… go try it now! Creamy and delicious!), served with a side of spaghetti squash and broccoli, then sprinkled with some grated pecorino romano for good measure.

A dinner entree of Chicken Parmigiana at Macaroni Grill will set you back 1650 calories, 98g of fat and 2500mg of sodium!  Isn’t that nuts!

My version had a grand total of 405 calories and 12g of fat!  Much better and just as tasty and voluminous! Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of pasta (maybe because I didn’t grow up eating it?) but I understand that a lot of people do like it.  A serving of pasta still would make this a million times healthier than a restaurant version!

What’s your favorite at home dish makeover?

Ahhh Lost is on in a little over half an hour!  I have to read now so I can then glue myself to the TV!

Have a fabulous night!!

Pumpkin Pancakes for the Soul

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Dinner tonight was perfect.

Pumpkin Pancakes using Trader Joe’s pumpkin pancake mix that my roommate had from a previous trip to NYC. Breakfast for dinner.  What could be better?

I’m not sure if this is seasonal, but next time you see it floating around TJ’s, snatch it up!  It’s delicious!

What’s that on my pancakes???  Greek yogurt and….

Wait for it…

BARNEY BUTTER!

Last week, I broke down and bought it online.  It arrived today, all 3 creamy delicious jars!  (Don’t worry, only two are for me.  One is for Rhoda.)

Not gonna lie, I’ve gone and dipped my finger in the jar multiple times today!  I need to cool it!  The expensive factor should be good enough motivation to make it last!

I’ve sort of over done it this week and today so I’m going to cut back on sugar this week.  I feel like when I eat sweets, I crave them more.  If I don’t eat them, I don’t really want them as much.  Anyone else feel the same?

Now back to homework, reading and randomly distracting myself on the internet!  Have a fantastic night!

P.S. You know you’re a food blogger when your boyfriend across the country e-mails you saying: “Costco has Almond Butter!” with this photo attached.

Gotta love him.

Warming Up Tropical Style

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Hi all!  I hope you enjoyed your weekend!

Remember when I was deciding whether or not to bake for my class… I chose Yes! Mostly because I love to bake but also because my other class was canceled this morning so I could legitimately justify baking while I looked at Decision Trees 🙂

To beat the dreariness that is Ithaca for today, I decided to make something tropical sounding!  However, I didn’t have time to go to the store so I made due with what I had.  Behold Tropical Oatmeal Cookies!

All the fruitness of the tropics with the warmth and comfort of a cold winter day!

Tropical Oatmeal Cookies

inspired by Smitten Kitchen’s Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup mixed dried fruit (I used dried mango, papaya, cranberries and raisins)

In one bowl combine dry ingredients except the oats and dried fruit.  In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Add vanilla and egg, blend with a hand mixer until smooth.  Add dry ingredients, mix until combined.  Fold in oats and dried fruit.

Isn’t it colorful!?

Chill for about an hour.  Then bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden on the bottom.

This made 35 small cookies for me, but I’m guessing maybe 20 average sized cookies.

Pretty tasty! I tried one 🙂

While these baked, I made myself a healthy tropical lunch!

Thai Egg Drop Soup

2 servings of dry lentils
2 cups Thai Culinary Stock
1 tsp cornstarch
handful of Kale, washed and chopped
frozen veggies
1 egg, lightly beaten

Bring the lentils and stock to a boil, simmer for about 15 minutes.  Add cornstarch to thicken slightly (first mix with a bit of water in a separate cup).  Add veggies and bring to a boil.  Turn heat down and drizzle in the egg while stirring.

I have a tendency to eat the same thing everyday, but I’m trying to switch it up.  Any good lunch suggestions other than a wrap or sandwich??

Now I’m off to Wegman’s for the first time this week.  I’m literally out of vegetables!  That can’t happen in my household!

I feel like I should do a post dedicated just to Wegman’s since apparently I’m obsessed.

Have a wonderful afternoon!!!

P.S. Giveaways at Salt and Humor and The Actor’s Diet!

No SB for Me

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While the majority of Americans watched the Super Bowl, ate wings and drank beer today, I did pretty much the opposite.  I spent the day baking and reading. I think I prefer college football…  Did you watch the Super Bowl?

You’re probably tired of seeing these, but here is my latest granola bar creation!  I can’t thank Kim enough for this recipe and Karin for introducing it to me!  So my latest version:

Tropical Granola Bars

2 cups of oats
20g chia seeds
1/3 cup mixed dried fruit (mango, papaya, cranberries and raisins)
6 tbsp wheat germ
1/4 cup agave
1 oz of whole almonds
2 containers of Mott’s Blueberry Delight Applesauce

All baked for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees!  Delish!  Now they’re all wrapped up and ready for my  enjoyment(and that of others)!

The blueberry applesauce gave it a great new flavor!  I really liked it!  I had a blueberry applesauce on its own too!  Pretty tasty!  They also have peach and strawberry flavors I want to try!  But enough about that…

Baking Adventure #2 of the day was Bagels.  I’ve made bagels a few times (as seen on my former personal blog), but I found whole wheat bread flour at the local grocery co-op so I decided to give them a try again.

I followed this recipe.  But used the whole wheat bread flour instead of regular bread flour and agave nectar instead of sugar.  I halved the recipe and got 8 bagels.  As I mentioned, I’ve made bagels before and today I had the same issue as the very first time I made them!  That time I didn’t knead the dough long enough, this time I think it was the whole wheat flour.  Even if it’s bread flour, it just never seems to work well in bagels.  I should have used half whole wheat bread flour and half regular bread flour.

They turned out a little too flat, but tasted good! Have you successfully made whole wheat bagels?  Or any kind for that matter? Any Tips?

For dinner, I had the remainder of my egg wash (1 egg + a bit of water) with two more egg whites added on a corn tortilla with tapatio! (and 2 bagels… oops!)

Someone asked me what Tapatio is:

Delicious!  But not as good as Cholula but I can’t seem to find that here!

I’m still trying to decide if I want to bake something for my class tomorrow, but I’m still not sure!  I’ll let you know if I do.  Don’t worry I haven’t been baking and eating all day!  I did manage to go to Target, the public library and to the gym for a sweaty 5 miles!

That being said… I should probably go watch Mad Men since I’ve had the last available disc for about a week 😦

Have a great night!!!

No Impact Man

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In this blog, I probably come across as a person who is pretty concerned with the environment and climate change (see posts on environment by clicking “environment” tag on the side bar), but the reality is that relative to a lot of people I know (especially in my Master’s program), I’m not.

Yes, I care about the environment and climate change.  I turn off the lights.  I don’t eat meat.  I recycle.  I use reusable grocery bags, but the environment isn’t necessarily on the top of my agenda.  I try to do my part, but I wouldn’t call my myself an environmentalist.  I care about people, and people and the environment are undoubtedly connected.

This morning I woke up and opened a Netflix that had been sitting on the table for about a week, as I’ve been too busy to even open them to see what was in it.  It was the documentary No Impact Man.

In case you haven’t heard of it, No Impact Man is a documentary that follows a NYC family in their quest to live 1 year with no net environmental impact.  This means giving up all motorized transportation (including elevators), no electricity, no television, eating only locally, buying nothing, creating essentially no waste.

When I first heard of this documentary, I thought it sounded slightly ridiculous so I was interested in seeing it.  I often accuse extreme environmentalists of making the problem worse by alienating the masses and scaring people into thinking that the only way to reduce carbon emissions is by cutting everything out of your life… much like the family in this film did.

However, after watching it, this documentary and the family is much different than I expected.  They aren’t preachy; they don’t expect the world to live they way they did for an entire year, nor do they plan on doing so for more than a year.  I guess what I liked most was Colin Beavan’s point that it’s not about depriving yourself but rather finding ways to get what you need without harming the Earth.

Obviously, the family’s experiment was a bit extreme, but I enjoyed watching their lifestyle change.

I won’t bore you any more with my take on the film but I recommend it for a few reasons:

  • It was entertaining.
  • It makes you think about a lot of aspects of your life that you don’t always think about (i.e. toilet paper).
  • It sheds light upon the fact that cities can be sustainable and environmentally friendly. (I won’t get into this but since I’m in City Planning, you can probably imagine I have a ton to say about this.)
  • A large aspect of the lifestyle change revolved around food consumption, production and acquisition, which may be of interest to you all.

Have you seen or heard of No Impact Man?  Would you consider yourself an environmentalist?

I’m sort of at a loss for what to do the rest of the day.  I’m thinking I might go to a spinning class in about an hour but other than that, they day is free!  Kind of weird!

Happy Saturday!  Enjoy your day!

Take Two!

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Today was all about repeats.

Take Two #1: Dinner at Moosewood! On Thursday nights, students get 15% off!

Remember when I went with the lovely fella a while ago?? This time I went with some friends.

Sadly, I forgot my fancy camera!  It was packed up and ready to go but in my rush out the door I left it behind.  I did however have my crappy point and shoot (I really need a new one!).

Started with a delicious salad exactly like last time.

As an entree, I had a delicious Caribbean Pineapple-Peanut Stew: “Sweet potatoes, cabbage, tomato, bell peppers, and fresh pineapple simmered with ginger, lime, chiles, cilantro and peanut butter; served on rice, with jerk tempeh.”  Spicy and tangy!

Ohh goodness!  Sooooo delicious!

I also had a bite of Rhoda’s Alsatian Cheese Tart (Flaky pie crust baked with a filling of caramelized onions, Fontina, Gruyere and smoked cheddar
cheeses and egg custard; served with apple-celeriac remoulade).

Holy deliciousness!  This was amazing!  Although I still thought my stew was better 🙂

Take Two #2: Granola Bars!


Here’s my upDATED version:

2 cups oats
20g chia seeds
2 tsp cinnamon
1/5 cup of whole wheat flour
4 Tbsp Toasted Wheat Germ
1 oz dried coconut
5 dates, chopped
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 cup applesauce

Combine all ingredients, bake at 350F for 25 minutes.

They turned out great!!!  So excited!!! Here’s the nutrition info for these babies:

Delish! Make these!!

Anyway, I’m pooped and I still have a ton to do!

Thanks for all your tea suggestions!  I’ll be looking around for them in stores 🙂

Have a great night!!

Addiction

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Hello, my name is Karla, and I’m a soup-aholic.

I love soup!  I could probably eat it for just about every meal.  However, I’m trying to keep it under control.  Today (and yesterday for lunch too) I had a delicious soup I got at the Wegster.

I can’t even explain how delicious this soup is!  Perfect amount of tang and not too salty, as boxed/canned soups often tend to be.While it looks and says it’s creamy, it doesn’t actually have cream in it!  No lactaid pill needed!

The best part was it’s pretty healthy!  Very natural ingredients and low cal also helps 🙂

Scrumptious soup was accompanied by my other addiction: Hummus/Cheese/Veggie wraps with lots of Tapatio!

I this wrap: hummus, pepper jack, romaine, raw kale, tomatoes, tapatio.  Mmmm!

I need your help!  I’ve been ending each meal with a cup of tea, which means I’m flying through tea!  I need tea suggestions!

What’s your favorite tea?? Herbal infusions count too!

In other news… I’m soooo excited about dinner tonight!  I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks!  I can’t wait to share with you all!

Have a great afternoon!

Soup It Up!

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Hi all!  Hope you’ve had a great day!

Thank goodness my presentation is done!  Honestly, it was pretty terrible!  Basically, me and another guy had to lead the class discussion for a 3hr seminar! Ugh!  First, I couldn’t connect my computer to the projector because I have a newer Mac that doesn’t have the right port.  Thanks Apple and Cornell, but it was okay I could go without.  Sadly those hours I spent on the power point were all for nothing!

Then, the professor kept interrupting me asking me to talk about specific things. He didn’t want to discuss what I had prepared until the end of the class!  So basically I had to search in the book for things he was asking for.  Even though I had read it and it was basically the most basic thing even (push/pull factors of rural-urban migration… really we need to talk about this for an hour??) I got flustered and it was terrible.  I should have talked to him beforehand to make sure I covered everything he wanted since I was the first to present all semester.  Oh well, It’s done.

I was nervous before class so I had a light lunch (soup + cottage cheese + cucumbers).  By the time I got home, I was starving!

I made a quick veggie lentil soup using a Thai Veggie Stock I found on sale at Wegman’s this week!

Delish!  In my soup: 2 cups Thai veggie stock, ~1/2 cup dried lentils, 1/2 broccoli crown, some kale, and bok choy.  First I cooked the lentils in the stock for about 10-15 minutes then added the veggies for a few minutes and voila! (Next time, I’d thicken it up with a little corn starch or throw in an egg!)  For a little extra protein and just plain deliciousness I had 2 Morningstar Sausage Patties.

One in a tortilla because that’s how brown people roll.

Corn Tortillas > Flour Tortillas.  What do you think??

Then the wonder that is Karin, inspired me again (I should really just start a fan club).

I made some homemade granola bars using a tweeked version of this recipe.

Sadly I messed these up for a few reasons…
1. Forgot to add the flour
2. Forgot to add vanilla
3.  Needed more apple sauce but didn’t have any more.

Regardless, they taste delicious!!!

In my granola bars I used:

2 cups of oats
20g chia seeds
1-2 tsp cinnamon
some dried cranberries (only had 16g)
1 oz dried coconut
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup agave nectar (use more if you want sweeter)
1/2 cup of apple sauce (use more next time)

I mixed all these ingredients together and baked them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  I could probably get 12 bars out of this.  Here is the nutrition info for the ones I made:

Delicious, easy, inexpensive and healthy!

I think they turned out okay without the flour, but I think they would have been more bar-like had I used more apple sauce.  Oh well!  Next time!  I can’t wait to make variations of these!!  (PB in the future???)  I need to run to the store to get more applesauce!!

Have you ever made your own granola bars? Any tricks of the trade I should know about?

Well, now I’m off to read a huge pile of things about climate change!  Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading 🙂  Have a great night!!

P.S.  Get a free sample of Kashi bar or cereal!! Click Here!