Potpourri

A friend of mine is pregnant and her baby shower next weekend. I can’t make it to the shower. BUT I put together a lovely package and mailed it to the shower hostess. So, my friend will have a nice gift from me to open at her shower. Which basically mean that I get, like, partial shower credit. BAM.

Maybe you’re already aware of this as an option but I only recognized it as a thing when it happened at my bridal shower. I had a friend who was unsure if she could make it to the shower, so she sent a gift to the hostess. She ended up not being able to make it, but I opened her gift at the shower and it gave me an “aww, how thoughtful” feeling toward my friend. It’s the kind of thing that has the EFFECT of seeming “above and beyond” in terms of effort, when it in fact is way EASIER.

[I swear I WOULD go to my friend’s baby shower if I could, but it is too far away and I have a prior commitment. This is not a suggestion that in any way should imply that I am a person who avoids baby/bridal showers on a regular basis, disclaimer disclaimer disclaimer.]

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I seem to have reached the point in my pregnancy at which putting on work clothes is a difficult task. Usually my work uniform consists of a dress, leggings, and boots.

I had to start wearing compression socks to work because my legs were getting swollen and a little painful. Putting them on is a bit of a pain but I think I’ve got a system now. I sit on the bed sideways in my underclothes and put one foot on the bed at a time and wrassle the socks onto my feet. Then, I’m usually tired and a little sweaty, so I don’t want to put on leggings. So I put on a pair of pants.

“You should buy the size you were before getting pregnant” said the lady at Motherhood Maternity. Bullshit. These pants are XL and are starting to feel a little tight. These pants are the pants I will be wearing for the next two months at work.

I also bought some new shoes. They are slip-ons and very comfortable and very boring.

They’re even more boring than the ones from this link because the ones I bought don’t even have the hot pink insoles, just plain black. But WHATEVER, I’m wearing clothes at work, gold star for me.

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I’ve been going to a different gym than usual. The one closest by my house is like a big warehouse. One huge room with a high ceiling containing all the equipment (plus a couple of adjacent rooms for individual classes and whatnot). The locker rooms are spacious and usually fairly well kept. I’ve been going to a slightly farther away gym because this one has a pool and a hot tub. Sitting in the hot tub after working out is very nice and relaxing.

However, this new gym is unfortunately more gross than the old one. The locker rooms are teensy with weird small hallways between apparently added-on spaces. The whole thing is just more stinky, possibly because of the smaller more enclosed spaces. And the people there seem to be more prone to be gross in this gross place. There are clumps of hair in the shower drains. There’s always some woman using the (ONLY) hand dryer to dry her whole body or someone else exfoliating her feet or deeply Q-tipping her ears on one of the locker room benches. And more than once I’ve run into this lady in the hot tub who drinks this POTION that makes my stomach turn. It looks like maybe iced tea with, like, whole baby carrots and garlic cloves in it? I honestly have no idea what’s in it. There are little orange oblong bits and round white bits and some of them sink to the bottom of her water bottle and some of them float. She sits in the hot tub and takes big gulps of it and drinks/CHEWS it noisily and I just cannot even.

And the design is weird. To enter the gym, you walk up a flight of stairs. You sign in at the front desk. Then you walk DOWN a flight of stairs to go to the locker rooms. Then it’s back up the damn stairs again if you’d like to use any of the workout equipment.

Despite its grossness, I’ve been going to this gym really solely because of the hot tub. I try not to think about the (high) possibility that people are also gross IN the hot tub when they’re gross everywhere else.

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I passed my glucose tolerance test. I had heard a lot about it being HORRIBLE, but it wasn't so bad. I downed the syrupy beverage and really the only issue was some icky burps during the hour I had to wait before the blood test. So that test was fine.

But, unfortunately, I’m mildly anemic so my doctor said I should start an iron supplement. I’m going to start with changing my diet first, though, and see if that makes a difference. I have definitely not been eating iron rich foods.

There was the week when I could only eat Spaghetti-Os. Then there was the week when I could only eat Cheerios. Buttered noodles have also been a staple in my diet. Since I’m not feeling as sick anymore, I’ve definitely been able to eat more different types of things but iron-rich foods haven’t so much been on my radar. I basically eat unintentionally vegetarian during the week and then splash out a bit on the weekends.

Anyhow, I’ve been snacking on crackers with goat cheese and spinach leaves at work. And over the weekend Niall made tacos so I have leftover taco meat that I’ll be eating all week.

And I have a cast iron skillet that I’m going to cook in more, once I figure out how to “season” it properly so food doesn’t just stick to it.

And I also bought this Lucky Iron Fish. I’m planning to make the iron-citrus water and, y’know, drink it.

Tortilla Soup & Crispy Bits

I called my sister recently to ask for her recipe for these little crispy bits she makes out of tortillas. Well, I guess you would just call them tortilla chips. But they're extra delicious and crispy and that doesn't seem to capture it entirely. Anyhow the conversation went something like this:
Me: Hey how do you make those tortilla crispy strip thingies?
Her: What?
Me: You know, those crispy tortilla strip things you make with tortilla soup?
Her: Yeah.
Me: How do you make them?
Her: You just... fry them in oil.
Me: But what kind of oil? And for how long? How do I know when--
Her: You just fry them in vegetable oil or canola oil and take them out when they're done. It's really easy.
Me: Okay. Thanks....
Her: Are you making tortilla soup?
Me: No.
Her: WHAT? You have to! It's easy! Do it!
And then she texted me the recipe. And I bought some unfamiliar spices and have since entered a new era of my life full of deliciousness.

So! If you are looking for a yummy, relatively easy, very healthy recipe then... look somewhere else. But if you are looking for a yummy, relatively easy recipe then by all means continue!

Tortilla Soup & Crispy Bits
Ingredients:
onion
cilantro
package of corn tortillas (I usually get a 30-pack)
petite diced tomatoes
chili powder
cumin
cayenne pepper
salt
chicken broth
optional- chicken, rice, spicier things
garnishes- tortilla strips, cheese, sour cream, avocado

Start by putting some rice on to cook, however much you'd like to make. I'm not here to micromanage you. I like to cook 1 and a half cups of rice along with a half cup of quinoa. Also, if you want chicken in your soup now it the time to start that as well-- cook and then shred or dice it.

Chop up an onion and then brown it in your soup pot.

Cut or tear up four corn tortillas and add them along with 1/2 cup of diced cilantro. Cook that for 4 minutes. I don't know why it is 4 minutes; I don't make the rules.

I usually tear or cut up the tortillas smaller than I did in this batch. This one turned out fine, though.

Add 28 oz petite diced tomatoes and bring to a boil.

Yah, sorry, some of these are crappy cell phone photos and some are from my camera. Because these photos are actually from two different times I made this recipe. I figured it was better to be thorough than fancy?

Add some spices:
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt

I find it easier to measure these into a separate bowl first before I toss them in the pot with the rest of the soup-- less opportunity for the lid to fall off the cayenne pepper bottle and ruin my day.

And 2 things of chicken broth (or 8 cups). If you are using chicken add it now, too. I usually don't.

Simmer for 10 minutes. Done.

You can make your crispy tortilla bits and soup at the same time or separately. Either way, here's whatcha do. Cut up the rest of the corn tortillas from your package (you won't be sorry you used them all, trust me). Fill up a pan with canola oil (or some kind of oil). Heat up the oil. Put the tortilla strips in.

Take them out when they are crispy. Let them drain onto paper or cloth and sprinkle generously with salt.

It's really less of a "sprinkle" of salt and more of a "handful."

I throw a clump of rice in a bowl, then cover it with soup and garnishes. KC does the same, but he usually chops up a spicy pepper and adds that to his.
Really, this soup is more of a vehicle for garnishes, so here's where you want to get out your avocado, sour cream, cheese, and of course your crispy tortilla bits.

That is the photo I took and sent to my sister the first time I made the recipe. Really, my setup looks more like this:

Soup, garnishes, and beverages. I like to dip the tortilla strips into the sour cream and then float them in the soup. Annnnnd now you know why I don't call it healthy.

Holidays

I know it's a bit late to talk about them but it is easier for me to remember my holiday traditions once they've freshly occurred. So! As my sister says, you get what you get and you don't make a fuss.


Thanksgiving

• Turkey with all the trimmings. Our stuffing always has pieces of sausage in it. I thought everybody's did but I guess that's not the case?
• A pre-dinner walk on the beach.
• This year was the first time I actually did any Black Friday shopping-- my sis and I hit up Target a 4am and then Toys R Us at 6am (I had my eye on a temporal thermometer because I am super awesome). It was actually really fun to do that once. Plus if you spent $100, which I OFTEN do at Target, they gave you a $10 gift card. You could theoretically buy something, get the gift card, and then return the stuff you bought. I didn't do that but I'm just saying-- you COULD.
• I like to make Thanksgiving leftover sandwiches: sourdough toast with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a smidge of cranberry on it.
• KOIT starts playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving. So that's the day my radio station gets tuned to  96.5 until they stop.

Christmas

• My mom and I pick up crab for dinner and eat lunch at the Fish Market on Christmas Eve.
• Christmas stockings always have an orange in the toe.
• We have Christmas dinner and open presents on whatever day everybody can be together. This year was the 26th.
• Champagne.
• We open one present on Christmas Eve. Maybe two. Okay, maybe three but that's IT.
• My mom's gingerbread cookies. She starts making them every year around October. They're heavenly. This year I helped frost and decorate (with M&Ms only) the last of them. These were the cookies that had been at the very bottom of the foot-tall cookie tin. My mom kept pulling out handfuls of broken gingerbread bits and saying "well we should just throw these away." But I talked her into frosting and decorating ALL of them since they're so delicious. So this year we had a lot of gingerbread amputees and miscellaneous gingerbread appendages.
• Christmas Eve children's mass with the kids and Christmas Day mass with my parents.
• Christmas Day breakfast of eggs, sausage, OJ, and homemade brioche. OMG so delicious.
• Watching the Muppet Christmas Carol.
  
• My newest tradition that I definitely plan to continue is buying lots of toys for the tots.
• I give my parents and my sisters photo calendars that I make every year. I used to just give them to my parents but then everybody liked them so now everybody gets one.
• My mom made a family cookbook that she adds to each year. It's actually just a binder and she gives us 3-hole-punched pages for it with favorite family recipes like fat-free scalloped potatoes (they're seriously num), stuffing, gravy, ratatouille, brioche, cinnamon buns in the shape of a lamb for Easter, butter in the shape of a lamb for Easter, and of course her gingerbread cookies.
• I give gifties my parents, sisters, all my nieces and nephews, whichever friends I currently see the most, plus my two neighbors I see every year at Christmas. My family used to try and do some type of 'pull a name out of a hat' thing but it somehow ended up being more complicated and less fun so we just went back to getting everybody gifts. I don't get gifts for my bros in law-- I usually get my sisters the calendar plus some other thing and I figure the calendar is a 'family' present.
• Martinelli's sparkling apple cider.
• My parents always have a big, tall Christmas tree decorated with strings of beads, white lights, ornaments we made as kids, ornaments the current kids have made, store-bought ornaments, silver bells (one for each year our neighbors have lived nextdoor to us), and a ballerina on top. This was the first year I got a tree of my own and I LOVED having it. It certainly put me in the Christmas spirit all month long.
• One of my family's favorite Christmas songs is Joy to the World. We sing it in church every Christmas but sometimes they don't have everybody sing all the verses. If that happens we tend to say "We didn't get to repeat the sounding joy," which is an expression that can also be applied to other instances. Like if I'm frosting the gingerbread cookies and someone trying to interrupt me I might say "just give me a minute, I'm repeating the sounding joy over here."

New Year's

• Chinese food. I don't know why but that's what we always have.
• A New Year's Dip. It counts if you either jump in the ocean or a pool and you can wear a wetsuit.

This Just In: I DO NOT LIKE CAPERS

If you have ever been a child or spent time with children you probably know that they can be finicky eaters. It's amazing-- without ever having tried something, somehow young children just know they don't like it! "I don't LIKE that stuff" my niece will say, pointing at the offending freshly grated parmesan cheese atop her pasta shells.

But I really have no high horse when it comes to this subject. I was the child who went through the "only white foods" phase wherein I refused to eat anything but white bread, cottage cheese, marshmallows, and rice. And I spent a long time (I'm talking years) not liking certain foods just because I hadn't really tried them. Olives. Pickles. Shrimp. Cashews. Lentils. Broccoli. Swiss cheese. Oysters. Mushrooms. Jalapeno Poppers. Onions. Custard. Sushi. I decided I didn't like these foods and so I didn't eat them.

Over the years I managed to take off my crazy hat and realized that I, in fact, DID like these foods. That pickles are saltily delicious and Sushi is bite-sized and nummy and Jalapeno Poppers WERE SENT STRAIGHT FROM THE HEAVENS.

Anyhow.

On Sunday my mom took me to Gayle's Bakery which you should totally visit if you are ever in the neighborhood. Becauase uh mah guh, you guys. The pastries! The breads! The cookies! The sandwiches and cakes! The num!

I decided on a ham and brie sandwich on french bread and started eating it with great enthusiasm. It was delicious! Or was it? Something was... off. I stopped to examine the sandwich before I took another bite.
And I saw them.
Capers.

CAPERS ON MY SANDWICH.

GAAAAAAH.

I had always unconsciously classified Capers into that category of "foods I just ignore." Sure they might be on some chicken dish I ordered at a restaurant but I could just scoot them out of the way and forget about them. I didn't think I cared too much either way about capers but I preferred not to eat them.

But then they were right there smooshed in my sandwich! All green and glisteny with hairy-looking stuff squishing out. GAAAAH.

So. Capers. Capers have now been reclassified into the category of FOODS I DO NOT LIKE. Or perhaps FOODS THAT ARE TRYING TO STEAL MY SOUL. I don't know what precisely it is about them but on Sunday I discovered that capers reduce me to involuntary twitches and shudders and I have to put my hands on the back of my neck and rock back and forth and squeeze my eyes shut and hold my breath and I can't even look at my sandwich anymore because, seriously CAPERS ARE EVIL.

Better with Butter

Remember when I said I was giving up butter?

Yeah. That was... some kind of temporary insanity.

I've given up belts instead.

Saturday Night

My Saturday night

pretty much rocks.

How about yours?

Breakfast of Champions!

Does anybody care what I had for breakfast? Let's find out!

Here it is:
1 slice of apple
1 peep
1 mini paper cup of vegetarian lentil soup
1 raviolo
1 tortellino
1 mini paper cup of berry yogurt
1 mini paper cup of fruit punch

(I went to Costco! There were samples! I was disappointed that I didn't get to sample the pulled pork, egg rolls, or the pizza but maybe that's for the best.)

Applicable to many situations:

Having already tried something once makes it a lot easier to do it again.

And again and again and again....

Am I right?

Custard Pies Rule

Really, the whole point of adding #5 on my life list was to satisfy my craving for custard pie. I had a teeny tiny bite of one about a year and a half ago and since then I've had an unwavering ravenous desire for them. So I pledged to find the perfect one. I'm not sure what I've decided fits under the definition of "perfect" yet (best taste? best taste + best price? in the city? the state? THE WORLD?), but I'm figuring that I'll know it when I taste it.

It's really been a nice excuse exercise. Sunday morning, ho hum whatever shall I do? Well I am still looking for the perfect custard pie, perhaps I best head over to a dim sum bakery and try my luck!

Yum.

Fudge: Attempt 2

This post has been sitting in my drafts file for ages. I kept meaning to post it-- like when it could have started with "yesterday" or "last week" but now it has to start with "Uh. Sometime in the last couple months...."

Uh. Sometime in the last couple months I had a lovely mellow day. I ran some errands, did some homework, hung out at home, nothing special. And then at around 9 pm I realized GAH! GAHHHH! I am supposed to bring a food item to school tomorrow for my nutrition class potluck! And it has to be something that has cultural significance or was a family favorite. GAH! Why oh why didn't I remember this until 9 pm?

I toyed with the idea of zipping over to Safeway and picking up some pre-made potato salad which would have actually been appropriate because I'm, ya know, "American" (see also: Lazy).
BUT one of my life list goals is to recreate my grandmother's fudge recipe and I decided that it would be a good time to work on that. Also, fudge is pretty quick and easy to make and I read very carefully on the Nutrition syllabus and it did NOT say that our potluck items had to be healthful.

So I took a late night trip to the grocery store for the ingredients.

And then I got started. With lots and lots of sugar.

This time I used the recipe on the back of the Marshmallow fluff which goes like this:
3 cups sugar
3/4 cups (1.5 sticks) butter
1 small can (5 oz) evaporated milk
1.5 pkg (12 squares) baking chocolate
1 jar (7 oz) Marshmallow creme
1 tsp vanilla

But the grocery store only had 12 oz cans of evaporated milk and what the hell else am I going to do with evaporated milk? So I ended up just doubling the recipe and starting with SIX CUPS OF SUGAR. I added the milk and butter and brought it to a boil. Apparently I was also supposed to have a candy thermometer to make sure that it reached 234 degrees?

After it boiled, I added the baking chocolate squares and the marshmallow goo.

And when it was all mixed up, I poured it into a pan. And then another. And then another because holy moly doubling the recipe made a LOT of fudge!

And I brought it to school for Nutrition Potluck Day and everybody seemed to like it. Plus, I had a nice mushy story to tell about my grandmother and how I think the fudge recipe is an important piece of my family legacy, etc etc.

Outcome:
Delicious. Not QUITE her recipe but getting closer. I remember the chocolate being less chocolatey even though I seem to remember her using chocolate chips. And I don't think it was mushy at all-- like it was hard when you bit into it but then all melty in your mouth.

Next time:
Maybe I'll try a recipe that uses some brown sugar.

1. drink a dirty martini

I went to a cooking party on Saturday! The concept started as kind of a joke between Papasan5 and me about my nonexistent super awesome cooking skills. But then he totally called my bluff and invited me and Miss Grace, Ewokmama, and Uncola over to his house and promised that Momily would make bacon wrapped apricots (YES I SAID BACON WRAPPED APRICOTS). Miss Grace came down with the plague or something so she was unable to attend but the rest of us planned to bring ingredients and make something nummy to share.

Well, okay, most of us did that. I was supposed to bring some kind of appetizer which I procrastinated deciding upon until the last minute at which point I panicked and ended up bringing veggies, chips, and dip. Because that was the point of a cooking party, right? To eat store bought dip?

Anyhow, Papasan had also promised to make me a dirty martini so I could fulfill item 1 on my Life List. When I stepped into the kitchen, I knew these were my kind of people.

From Papasan I learned that when you are making a martini, first you break a glass (but not the one you are planning to use). Nothing makes guests feel welcome like squatting on the floor picking up shards of glass.

Then he QUIZZED ME. "So, what do you know about martinis?"
"Uh they come in a fancy glass and that they are pretty much only alcohol. And they have olives. And uh... they uh..."
"Have you ever had a martini?"
"No."
"Okay. Wow."

He also had a little helper.

And lo!

I gave it the old college try.

Hmmm.

"What do you think?"
"I think it's sweet and salty and VERY ALCOHOLIC."
"Yes."

Hats off to the bartender.

30 minutes later.... 

Something was very, very funny.

I can't remember what it was, maybe it was on the table.

"You have to eat the olive, or else it doesn't count."
"Kay!"

Conculsion: dinner parties are fun and dirty martinis are sweet and salty and very alcoholic. And probably dangerous.

the search continues

I'm still trying to find the perfect custard pie, which is #5 on my life list. Ordered this one at a restaurant last weekend and OMG isn't it CUTE?

It gets extra points for weeness.

And it was yummy. Yummier, I think, than the last one. But I'm still looking for one that has a more creamy texture and isn't quite as flan-like. To be continued....

Lunar New Year Dim Summary

This post showcases something that BARELY didn't make it on my Life List: eat dim sum in Chinatown. It only didn't make it onto the list because I did it on Saturday and therefore before the list came into existence. And I wasn't about to put it on the list just so I could cross it off. No faux Life List accomplishments for me, thank you!

Actually, one of the reasons I finally got off my tush and actually wrote the list is that I have recently been doing all kinds of awesome San Franciscoey things that should! have! been! on! my! list! Bike riding across the Golden Gate Bridge. Going to Alcatraz. Standing atop Twin Peaks. And so on.

Anywho, Saturday involved me eating dim sum for the first time in my life (How did I make it to 27 without knowing about the dumplings? HOW?) and wandering around Chinatown.

 

It was absolutely mobbed with people because of Lunar New Year (Did you know it's not just Chinese New Year-- the Koreans, Mongolians, etc celebrate it too? And did you know that there is a Cambodian New Year as well? (Yeah. I used to plan activities at a multicultural adult day health care center, so you best believe I was celebrating every damn holiday that existed (and even some that didn't (Pajama Party Day!)))). There was definitely a festive feeling in the air-- people hurried past one another buying orchids, eating treats, watching the kids on stage, getting into the huge line for the spin to win, haggling, chattering, laughing, and blowing bubbles.

And me? Well I managed to get my hands on mini custard pie so I worked on #5 (before it was #5).

 

Happy New Year! I was born in the year of the dog, what about you?

Any Leafy Green

So I get this box of Farm Fresh Fruits and Veggies delivered to my door every other week. And I LOVE IT. It's like... a fun surprise, a grocery shopping trip, and a pat on the back for being healthful all wrapped up in one little package at my door.

Apparently now is the season for leafy greens. I keep getting them. Remember when I asked you what the heck this was, and how to cook it? Even though not everyone agreed on what exactly it could be, most of you said "saute that thang, sucka." You seem to be presuming I know how to saute (sautee?).

No matter, I'll just take a shot in the dark here. I now present to you, dear people of the world, my recipe for cooking Any Leafy Green, even if you aren't sure what it is. Prepare yourselves for sauteed (sauted?) awesomeness.

Okay, here's whatcha do. First, ready your leafy green. Looks like I've got Bok Choy today (right?).

Then, put your skillet on the stove and pour in some olive oil.

Now toss in your Leafy Greens. And, like, stir them around or whatever. Next, add some real lemon juice.

It's real lemon juice, see? Says so on the bottle.

Put down your camera and close the bottle top and now put the lemon juice back in the fridge. Don't accidentally put your camera in the fridge-- you will feel like a breathtaking idiot. Ahem.

Moving on.

Stir your Leafy Greens around. And maybe put the lid on that pan and let the heat do the damn thang.

 

Mmmm, sweaty.

After a little while taste your Leafy Green to make sure it is done, then turn off the heat and, you know, nom it up!

butter me up

There is no butter in my fridge. And I have recently been to the market. What started off as a moment of forgetfullness has blossomed into a calculated maneuver. I'm going butterless.

If you are thinking that this is some sort of high and mighty oh-look-at-me-and-my-fancy-health-consciousness then let me introduce you to the package of Oreos in my kitchen cabinet. I may or may not have eaten six two just now.

No, this is an experiment. I want to see what life is like when butter isn't a choice. Because truth be told sauteeing vegetables in olive oil is fine but man oh man there is nothing like slathering a fat hunk of butter onto a piece of white toast. Or white rice. Or plain noodles. Apparently "putting butter on stuff" is actually my code for "eating processed food." And while I'm not making a pledge here to cut out all things processed (Oreos!), I am taking a small, cautious step away from them. Hold me.

Fruitful

Last week I went to the grocery store and it seemed like every aisle I went down was capped off by these 5 pound boxes of mini oranges. There I was, minding my own business but at every corner I turned, there they were again. "Mini oranges! Five lbs for only $6!" The store even went so far as to list it as a "gift box" which, really? I know there are allowances to be made around the holidays because every retailer is stretching to include their product as a great! gift! idea! but I think it's a pretty big leap to start calling bulk food items "gift boxes." Anybody want an economy size gift package of toilet paper for Christmas? No? A 20 pound gift bag of dog food?

Anyhow. So I ended up getting suckered into buying one of the boxes, worn down by their sheer overabundant presence in the store.

And that was nice, I do like oranges. But then the very next evening I returned home from school and found my box of farm fresh fruits and veggies had been delivered. I had completely forgotten about it.
Here's what I found in the box, after removing several heads of lettuce and what I think must be kale.

Why yes! Those ARE mini oranges. And then it became a race against a clock.

And here we are. After almost a week of eating several mini oranges a day and handing off three or four or seven to whoever crosses my path, I've made quite a dent.

What's that you say? You're not impressed? Why, no, neither am I. Because that is essentially NO DENT AT ALL. Those mothereffers are cloning themselves in that bowl, I swear it.

Soup

Is anyone out there wondering why I sometimes post recipes when I CLEARLY have no idea what I am doing in the kitchen? In a way, you've answered your own question, my friend.

I like to cook for myself because (a) it's cheaper than always getting takeout, (b) I've heard food is probably better for you when you make it yourself out of ingredients than if you get all prepackaged/premade/fast food, and (c) I feel more like a grownup. However, I also seem to have a problem with recipes. More specifically, I have a problem with quantities. I'm much more comfortable with the idea of ingredient names than ingredient numbers. If a recipe calls for a big ol' list of a 1/2 cup of rinsed this and 2 1/3 cups of diced that then I generally feel like abandoning it in favor of a nap before I'm halfway through. (I don't feel this way when it comes to baking, however. I get that cookie recipes need to be followed specifically to the letter). So, while I have great respect for people who create and/or follow recipes with exact quantities, I'm going to go ahead and continue with my attempts to use recipes without them.

Okay, so are we on board with my no-quantities style? I mean, I could try and fake it for you....

So. Soup. I love soup. Love it. And I tried to make a few weeks ago. I looked up a couple of recipes for cream of chicken with rice soup and then I gave it a whirl, in my quantity-ignoring way. Here is how it came out:


Yeah. So. Fail. But on the bright side, I renamed it "risotto" and ate it for 3 days.

And then someone gave me a tip-- add the rice or pasta or whatever at the end. Don't fill up the pot with uncooked rice because you are probably overestimating the amount you are going to need and then you'll end up with sloppy rice goo instead of soup. Not that I would know anything about that.

So I made minestrone last week.


And then yesterday I made this lentil-barley-squash soup. Which is yummy but I think next time I won't add kidney beans to it because yeesh it's almost TOO nutritious.


So, without further ado. Here it is. My super easy soup recipe.

Ingredients
Broth (Chicken, beef, or vegetable. I buy these at the store. I don't have room in my life to do anything that involves boiling a chicken carcass for hours like apparently you're supposed to)
Vegetables (fresh, frozen, sauteed, whateva you like)
Beans (so far I have used canned kidney beans and dry lentils)
Some nummy carb-- rice, barley, little pasta shapes...
Water
Salt, Pepper, Spices

Pour the broth into a pot. Add your vegetables and beans. Turn on the stove to high and let it boil. Then turn it down low and let it simmer until everything seems cooked enough. Toss in some spices if you've got them. Not enough broth? Add some water and salt and pepper. Oh yeah, you can also add meat if that's something that interests you and you've got leftovers from dinner yesterday.

At the same time, separately, cook the pasta or rice or barley the normal way you do. When it's done, scoop it into the pot with the rest of the soup. Or else you can keep the two separate and combine them in individual servings. The point is, now it's done and you can eat.

Mmmm soup.

Pasta Salad

So apparently my mental ratio of pasta to sauce was way off last night because I now have a ton of leftover pasta and only a little sauce.

That is actually the pasta that is still leftover AFTER I made the following recipe. Note to self: pasta looks smaller before it is cooked.

Today I made this, the easiest pasta salad ever.

Ingredients
Cooked, refrigerated pasta
Something Else (chicken? other meats? veggies? fancy cheese?)
Olive oil
Lemon juice

Put the pasta in a bowl. Add olive oil and lemon juice to taste. Stir. Add your Something Else. I had some chicken with garlicky mushrooms in the fridge so I cut the chicken up into little pieces and added that. Stir some more. Now you're done!


If you happen to have a jar of olives in your fridge and you are thinking "maybe I'll add some olives, that would probably taste good," don't bother. You won't be able to get the jar lid off.

Cream Cheese Pasta

If, at some point, you decide to make yourself some salmon for dinner and you go to scoop some rice out of its container into the rice cooker for your side dish only to realize that there is no rice left and you haven't been to the store in weeks so you really don't know what ELSE you might have, then this recipe may be for you.

Ingredients
Orzo pasta
Frozen veggies (I used the last little bit of a bag of broccoli and the last little bit of a bag of mixed veggies)
Olive oil
Cream cheese
Lemon juice (I keep a bottle in my fridge. You could use a real lemon if you want)
Salt & pepper
Spices

Boil water in a pot, toss in some orzo pasta (I had about a half a box of this; I'm sure other pasta varieties would work just as well), reduce heat to medium blah blah or whatever just cook the pasta till it is done. Drain it and return it to the pot. Pour in a teeny bit of olive oil, just to make stirring easier. Pour in your frozen veggies (no need to pre-cook!) and stir them all around.

Now grab your cream cheese (I used regular whipped cream cheese) and scoop some into the mixture. I used about half an 8 oz container (in other words, 4 oz) and it was probably a bit much. Squirt in some lemon juice. Shake on some salt and pepper and other spices if you have them. I had oregano, basil, thyme, and garlic powder. I used probably one hefty shake of garlic powder and less of the other 3 spices.

Keep stirring until the veggies are completely cooked and add a pinch of this or that until the taste is to your liking.


Lemon juice and cream cheese-- my secret ingredients. I know this combo probably sounds weird, but it turned out quite yummy. You can play around with proportions of ingredients (I didn't measure anything, I just kept adding stuff until I thought it tasted good) or leave the cream cheese out altogether if you want to be all heart healthy about it.

Fried Rice

If you wildly overestimated the amount for rice you were going to eat in one sitting and have a whole bunch leftover but are kind of tired of eating it plain, might I suggest making fried rice? It's easy!

Ingredients
Rice- cooked & refrigerated (mine was from the day before)
Frozen mixed veggies
Oil

Pour some oil (I used extra virgin olive oil) into a large skillet. The amount of oil depends on how much rice you are using. I suppose I could give you quantities to work with, but the amount of rice I used was "one plastic tupperware container-full" and the oil was "two glugs" so I'm not sure that would help. Anyhow, use enough oil to lightly coat the whole pan.

Dump the rice in the pan and turn on the burner to medium. Add the frozen veggies (no need to pre-cook!) and stir it all around. If you want to stand there and stir to make sure the veggies are cooking and the mixture is mixing, then you go right ahead. Or you can cover the pan, reduce the heat a bit and go do something else.

When the rice looks done (another relative term, but I think it should be slightly browner than it was and also not sticking togther. You can also measure by eating one of the veggies. Still frozen? Maybe leave it all cooking for a bit longer), turn off the burner and remove the pan. Add soy sauce to taste.


I also ate some (store-bought, frozen) boiled potstickers with the rice. I tried pan frying the potstickers once but now I think I would rather deal with the "less yummy taste" problem than the "potsticker skins stuck to my pan that need a week to soak off" problem.