yay mizzou.... boo acid reflux

Remember that Berenstein Bears book 'too much birthday fun'? Brother bear ate too much candy and was all partied out. Last night was too much NCAA fun. Or too much dive bar fun (i know what you're thinking.... lauren there IS no such thing as too much dive bar fun). A beer at the bar around the corner for the game turned into several pitchers turned into today my stomach turning itself inside out. The good news is that no junk food was involved (i know, high five). Probably because before we left I whipped up some snobby joes. snobby joes: (this site credits Veganomicon with the recipe, my Nickie's all time fave cookbook)

• lentils
• onion
• tomato paste
• tomato sauce
• oregano
• S&P
• red peppers
• zucchini
• garlic
• chili powder
• maple syrup
• mustard
  

I've been craving sloppy joes forever, which is ironic because sloppy joes are actually really gross and not something I'm too interested in eating (cafeteria sludge comes to mind). So I've been settling for singing the Adam Sandler song instead. I made the leap with these. They were good. I might enjoyed a BBQ sauce version instead (the oregano and tomato sauce kind of made it feel like spaghetti sauce)... I think soy crumbles might be in order next time. That chewey textures is part of the appeal.. right? Either way I thought it was good. I made it with sweet potato fries (that i tried to make chips.... eh... i'm sticking to wedges from here on I think) and Multigrain bread with some melty sharp cheddar cheese on top.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday. Almost weekend time. HOLLA.

How do I look?

Remember that show that used to be on E! called how do I look? Well that had Anna Devane (Robin Scorpio's mother from General Hospital and superspy from All My Children who stayed at Wildwind and married that nut job David Hayward?) good times.... anyway the actress from all of that is also the host of this E! makeover show. At the very end of the show during the big reveal said formerly frump-tastic guinney pig would walk out on the stage with new highlights and usually a wrap dress and look into the camera and awkwardly force the words... 'How Do I look?'

So..... new blog format..... how do I look? To thank for this transformation we have the oh-so-talented and generous melissa who was kind enough to put together a fancier look. Thank you!! :) sidebar though: apparently the links may not work so well so if for any reason you want to link to the ACTUAL recipe that I've chronicled my time attempting to recreate then let me know and I can scrounge it up. Yes scrounge. A distant cousin to scurry.

Anyway, on to the eats! There were actually some truley fantastic things I had planned to make this week. They would've made me go overboard on superlatives, fireworks would've gone off and a choir of angels would've been singing in all their glory. Except..... it's really pretty cold outside and when i'm not in class, running errands in the snow and single digits makes a can of annie's organic spaghettios seem all the more appealing. I know, I know... that's not exciting. Well with my lack of grocery trips happening this week, below are the simpleton eats I hadn't tried before.


For lunch today I made a turkey sandwich that had Avocado (oh that's right), a swiss lite laughing cow wedge, spinach, sprouts, cucumbers and pretzels. I'm loving the pretzels on there.. except that since I threw this together on my way out the door this morning (as opposed to immediately before eating) the pretzels got a little soggy in the cheese. Note to self, add those later. Otherwise this comes highly recommended. I had it with a side of NF yogurt and bare granola. Perfecto.

This morning I opted for something a bit more fancy. There is a food blog that is so inspiring, except for the fact that it's not exactly healthy. However, Aunt Anne... you would love this guy from closet cooking. The recipe calls for scrambled eggs (i used 1 egg and 2 egg whites), sundried tomatoes, and freshly grated parm over bread with mayo (i used WW and Vegan mayo). It's like regular eggs and toast got a fancy facelift.

Last night because I didn't go to the store and couldn't spend the entire night on the sofa in PJs eating cheeze-its and dark chocolate M&Ms (don't worry, that did NOT happen the entire time the news was on. at all. okay a little) I was running out of options. Because Avocado always sounds delicious and there was one ready to go, I took any and all fresh-ish vegetables and threw them in tacos. What you're looking at off the coast of South America there (my new $1 placemat to round out my collection with American Presidents) is Fish tacos! Shrimp, spinach, black beans, corn, salsa, diced tomato and red onions. LOVELY.

And now my lovelies, I am off to work, sneak in some homework and in general waste away the minutes until I am home from work and class and am engrossed in all things Sawyer. Adios amigos!

O-mazing!

I wish every day was Inauguration day! I had the live feed streaming in on my laptop all day and was overcome with pride, excitement, history, HOPE,.... and a little regret and envy that one of my closest friends and brother were down there in the midst of all that (crush of humanity) and that I turned down a ticket in the name of responsibility to my job/school/budget. It turns out that those two had kind of a crazy time and, like thousands of other people, they got turned away even though they had tickets (poor security planning for the ticketed area, overflow of people, etc.) but I'm sure it was CRAZY exciting being down there. It was all I could do not to answer my work phone: HAPPY OBAMA DAY! but it sort of didn't seem professional. Instead I only half paid attention to any conversation, meeting, etc..... and half hummed the national anthem and prayed that obama would stop walking outside his vehicle (WHY do they let him do that??)

Also I was sad I didn't have red, white, and blue fruit to put in my oatmeal. Actually I was pretty sad I didn't have a giant 4th of July jello cake with blueberries/strawberries on it, and an uncle sam costume.. THAT's how patriotic I was feeling yesterday. I did, however, use one of my absolute favorite food combos ever. When my brother and I were little we concocted a 'banana parfait' with bananas, PB, and chocolate...give or take marshmallows and honey. (he'll tell you it was all his idea, don't listen to him). Parfait sounded fancy so we used it, never mind that it's really only supposed to be applied to things with whipped creams and yogurts. whatev. Anyway I used all of those ingredients in my oatmeal and it was heaven. The chocolate melted right in and made it soooooo good.

The other day for lunch I had a turkey sandwich on wheat with Brie and apples. SO RICH. and really really good.

Today for lunch I had three of these veggie rolls.. YUM. I took sprouts, carrots, red peppers, zucchini and tossed it in Italian dressing. I put 2 Tbsp hummus on a wheat wrap and topped with spinach and the veggie mix. It hit the spot after last night's indulgent sushi outing with John where we consumed anything and everything deep fried and with cream cheese (so good and made me feel SO gross).

Tonight is class and then LOST season premier!!!!!!!!!! Get excited... Sawyer, I've missed you soo!

Cake = heaven

This weekend was filled with tons of glorious sloth-like behavior. My least exciting weekend in recent memory and to me it felt like I had checked out of life to sleep and read and do or not do whatever I wanted (the not-do was heavy in the homework area). This is the time of year where weekends start filling up fast and having a minute to breathe and enjoy some solitary confinement felt pretty indulgent. Also because I wasn't out traveling/eating/dressing up/boozing/shopping/reflecting on how I had a friend in college that was a pimp.... I made a few homemade things which were then glamorously photographed. After work on Friday I was in the mood to use some of the coconut milk I had used for my Thai shrimp earlier in the week. I melted some dark chocolate and made a coconut milkshake! It tasted exactly like a Mounds/Almond Joy candy bar. Amazing!

Feeling fabulously rested the next morning I decided to make some whole wheat pancakes.. EXCEPT that I didn't have any milk (or even soy milk) and no real butter. Luckily I found a recipe that didn't include any of those ingredients. I ended up making from scratch Vanilla/Banana Whole Wheat pancakes:

• whole wheat flour
• sugar
• baking powder
• baking soda
• salt
• egg
• yogurt
• water
• oil
• vanilla extract
• mashed banana
  

The flavor was pretty banana/vanilla-ey (yum) so I don't know how it would be plain. A little later I went to Yoga and even finally bought a class pass to get me through the month. I haven't been to a chiropractor in forever and intermittently doing yoga has been the reason. Lately however, as I hadn't been to a class in months... plural. shameful. Increasingly all kinds of cracks and creaks and aches have been happening in my shoulder/neck/back/chest area. I'm thinking spending money for a month of yoga is better spent than my copay to the chiro. Yes?

I also hit up the library, where I checked out the above selection of DVDs. I love old movies and musicals, so I thought Follow the Fleet seemed right up my alley (plus who doesn't love Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers?). It was okay, I sort of kept picturing my grandma going to see it as a little girl and thinking how much movies had changed. Also Fred Astaire was a little, scheming, funny sailor. Sort of a combination of my brother (in his Navy days) and Zach Morris. How likable is that? It sort of made me gag though how women viewed men back then. This movie was released in the late 30's or so and reflects the complete lack of independence females had and/or wanted. This girl meets a guy for four hours and then takes out her life savings to restore some boat he might like. Not to mention he was kind of a jerk to her in the first place. Where was the He's Just not That into You book then? Finally when his other options have run out they end up happily together forever. And you expect me to be satisfied with this ending? It just made me want to burn a bra. Seriously.

I also rented Annie Hall because I feel like there are tons of cultural references to this movie, so I was ready to see what all the fuss was about. I think my problem is that as long as I have been old enough to know who Woody Allen is (sometime around 11 years old I saw his ex wife on Oprah talking about their story) I knew he married his step daughter. EW. I mean I whine, I talk about my problems, I'm paranoid and have moments of unabashed insecurity. However I found him extremely resistible. Why was this movie such a big deal? (sidebar, loved Diane keaton, and her nerdy/trendy 70s wardrobe).

However did I mention how much I love the library? It's just 4 blocks or so from my apartment and it's a beautiful big building with all kinds of interesting programs and things to do. I worked in the campus library in college and the local library was pretty much our weekly source of movies and books growing up. I forgot how peaceful and nice it is just to be there.. definitely something I plan to use more in the coming year.

So after a long day of movies, cleaning, and more nothingness, I made another creation from Ellie Krieger's cookbook. the Portabella/Gorgonzola/Sun dried tomato Paninis. I think I O.D.'d a bit on that cheese with my pizza earlier in the week, and it was soo rich!

I decided I was hungry and hour later and made a Whole Wheat half sandwich with apricot jam and blueberries. YUM.

Sunday morning I woke up early, did some Yoga, watched Meet the Press, This Week and in general felt like a contributing member of society (sometimes i just hate sleeping the day away!) I made a semi turkey sandwich thing which I very much considered brunch. Egg on a turkey deli slice with tomato, spinach, and grilled cheese and wheat toast. Nice.

I even went to mass (once again, no excuses, the cathedral is 4 blocks from my apartment), and then walked to the new downtown grocery store. Laying on the couch with John I proclaimed my undying need for cake. The following resulted in this:

Is it just me or is cake totally heaven sometimes? I can go days eating vegetables and be perfectly content and then all of a sudden I need a fix of sugar from a baked good. That was yesterday for me.

We also had Pineapple stir-fry. I used a frozen onion/pepper mix and added in a can of pineapples with the cubed chicken. It was over Jasmine rice and we used soy sauce because the sauce that was recommended on the bag of stir fry turned out pretty nasty (bbq sauce plus fruit juice plus soy sauce... it was gross, it was tossed).

So I am back at work this morning and am sad that my company doesn't recognize Dr. King. Note to self: next job work for the government/financial institutions/or education so I can start getting some of these days off! I hope everyone is having a fabulous Monday and is getting geared up for this, a most exciting and historical week!! :)

Snow Snow, Go Away

Yeah, Yeah, It's beautiful. Last weekend was the one year anniversary of totalling my car in an ice storm, so I begrudgingly and cautiously admire how picturesque it makes the parking lot. Snow is beautiful, but deadly.... which sounds like a cheesy action movie starring jackie chan. However this is real life not a TBS weekend marathon we're talking about here and the weather bug is claiming to be 10 degrees right now.. YIKES! Before it became so arctic in the Midwest, it was mild and fabulous in time for the hilarious and wonderful weekend that is now living in infamy in the hearts and cameras of myself and my counterparts. I purchased new shoes (merry Christmas to ME!), I got to see my parents, went to five parties on Friday (saw TONS of old friends, met new neighbors), then another party plus running home for a wardrobe change and out again the next night. All Shoes and Booze, no food... hey... 2 out of 3 ain't bad.. right???? This was our late night excursion Saturday. Let's break this down: here i am with my two lady friends, and the random in the background is my soon-to-be or current ex-boyfriend-on-again-boyfriend. photogenic, no?

This was the tacky sweater I borrowed from Jaclyn and it was out of this world. A barnyard theme. I had a Christmas bow and a bedazzled Christmas bag. Definitely a winner at the party (although there were some seriously impressive 90s attire)

And finally... when all of the pizza, take out china, and other grease-tastic food from the weekend was gone... the healthy detox began. I made John and I my new FAVORITE sandwich ever which i have been eating non-stop the past week.. I thought I'd share.

The grilled cheese to end all grilled cheese:

• WW bread (local bakery.. heaven)
• cherry tomatoes, sliced
• avocado
• laughing cow light Swiss cheese wedge
• all natural turkey slices
• spinach leaves

When grilled its all warm and gooey. Amazing. I had it with some tomato soup. I love tomato soup and it has been a wintery staple for me since the dawn of time. I hadn't had it since I made the conversion to healthier foods last spring. (i.e. i always had it with milk, creme, etc.) I tried the V8 carton that everyone seems to love, and truthfully, it wasn't my everything. I thought the seasoning was extremely strong and the soup itself was really thin. The sandwich on the other hand..... that i could day dream about until lunch.

I hope everyone had a FABULOUS weekend and is out playing in the snow if applicable (appropriately bundled up of course). And someone who is home today tell me what happened on All My Children... since that's what snow days are for, right? soaps? :)

It's the Freakin' Weekend

I don't really like R. Kelly (what with him peeing on underage girls and all), but this song is very appropriately stuck in my head on this Friday morning. The last couple of nights I have stayed at home with no long to-do list (or more appropriately, not worrying about an existing long to-do list) No, instead I have been basking in the glow of nothingness as I am now DONE with school for the next month. That's right, finals are over, whoop whoop!! My blissfull school-is-out feeling coupled with the the crazy holiday upcoming holiday schedule.... means my immediate future resembles cleaning, cooking, christmas shopping, and/or spending so much time on my couch that i have to remind myself to quarter-turn every few hours to avoid bedsores. yessssssssssssss. I felt a little creative with my eats for the week. I made a fire roasted corn burger the other day. Not too shabby. For the life of me I can't find the actual recipe link anymore, but I found it on this super creative site. It uses the potato as a binder and has lime, cornmeal, kidney beans, fire roasted corn, and some spices. Grilling would've been ideal, but baking was delicous also. I had it with a WW bun, romaine, tomato..and.. be still my beating heart........... avocado. It was good, better than it looks at least (i realize the color is a bit unappetizing).

Also I've recently discovered that I'm obsessed with dates. On my last grocery trip I was looking for raisins for the recipe below, when I stumbled across a bag of dates from Dole. Because I love apricots, prunes, and apparently being an old person, I am no stranger to the dried fruit aisle in the grocery store. However seeing dates there made my heart skip a beat. The entire package is now gone and the next grocery shopping excursion cannot come fast enough! Anyway I made a salad based on the recipe on the back. It had pears, balsalmic vinagrette dressing, walnuts and romaine. There it is, in all it's date-like glory in front of my christmas tree. Also, fun fact, dates are from palm trees and are of middle east origin. Question: do I love food or wikipedia more? answer: looking up food on wikipedia.

Also I made a tuna salad recipe from whole foods online cookbook. It had raisins, carrots, almonds and cottage cheese. Here and I thought I could never love anything without mayo. It was a christmas miracle.

Have a fabulous weekend peeps.

BA - da -bap- ba- da...... Lovin' it.

Today has been nuts... lots to do at work, but mostly deeply, seriously, agonizingly dreading my mid-term this evening. I am grossly unprepared, this must be how Sarah Palin feels... ZING.

Anyway, I decided to make a bit more of a breakfast than I usually do (i offered this Delicious sandwich to my weekend guests but they were skeptical.... fools)

Wheat bagel; morningstar breakfast patty; egg; organic NF cheddar. yummmmm... it actually sort of needed a tomato or maybe even some salsa, but even so it was yummy. I also had the last piece of fruit from my refrigerator.. how sad is that?

I also ate a lot this weekend, naturally. And had planned to get back on the bandwagon for my sushi dinner last night, but my douchey date didn't want me to embarrass him because at the table next to us was the Royals player DeJesus. ugh. but anyway this weekend was WONDERFUL! So many of my favorite people that haven't all been together in the same room ever or for 4 years were there. My throat hurts today and I'm pretty sure its because I laughed the whole weekend. Obviously the obligatory shoes pic.... there were some seriously fabulous ones there (check the purple beauties on my college roomie, my other college roomie had the light snake-skin ones next to her.... love it!)

But on to less pleasant things (than shoes and recapping a wonderful weekend)..... Class.. Barf. I may just dent my otherwise relatively scholarly GPA this evening. Woe is I. Because of that I will be MIA in the near future (i will not be having exciting meals or be trying new things..... they will be frozen kashi things as I run out the door, much less exciting)... that is until class is over for the week and I can reconnect with some vegetables.

p.s. this is what my refrigerator looks like now... an empty truck stop. When I open the door tumble weeds roll out and I get dust in my eyes. Time to visit the store, no?