• Ringing in the new year at the Filipino Party, Don Pablo’s, & Molly’s house in my gold sequin dress & spirit hood & with this Cranberry Sangria.
  
• Thesis: wrote 3 new pages; edited heavily
• Read: Canterbury Tales: Prologue & Knight’s Tale; Half of The House of Mirth. 
• Hung out with Amanda for the premiere of The Biggest Loser
• Family stresses.
• Dinner at Bunker Pub & helping Thomas move back into the Pike house in my new, nude high heels. 
• Library Studying 2x, Coffee shop studying once
• New music: Sugarland’s The Incredible Machine, Blake Shelton’s Red River Blue, and Luke Bryan’s Tailgates & Tanlines
• Culinary Adventures: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Butternut Squash & Black Bean Quesadillas, and Butternut Squash & Almond Soup.

Weekend Wishlist:

• Reading, reading, reading
• Thrifting
• Girlfriends
• Troy Pizza

First, confession: after three days of successfully eating a vegetarian diet, I fell off the wagon at the holiday party on Thursday. Mrs. T makes this wonderful Buffalo dip that contains chicken and I fall for it every time. As of Friday I am back on the wagon, but I predict I’ll probably buckle again during the Filipino Christmas party tomorrow. This is difficult. 

Second, I made a version of this soup back in August, the recipe for which I found in The Clear Skin Diet. This time around I had to wing it because I returned that book to the library, and, well, I didn’t bother to run an internet search. 

Dinner 12/23/11

Ingredients:

• 1 Sweet Potato (large)
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2 stalks of celery
• handful of cranberries
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

I cut my sweet potato and set it to boil in about 1.5 inches of water. Meanwhile, I sliced up the cauliflower and laid that on a cookie sheet, brushed them with olive oil. I “roasted” for 10 minutes (did not flip them) at 350 degrees. When the potatoes were boiling I added the celery and cranberries to the pot. I mashed the potatoes up coarsely (celery and cranberry tend to rise to the top so they don’t get mashed), then added the cauliflower to the pot. Finally, I put about half of the mixture in the food processor and liquified until smooth. I re-introduced that half into the chunky half. Salt and pepper until it tastes the way you want it. 

Served with a bagel pizza and Leinenkugel’s Fireside Nut Brown Beer. 

In my efforts to practice being vegetarian in the safe environs of home (rather than the precarious environs of the college dining hall), I have made another wonderful dish, local food movements be damned!

12/21/11 Lunch

Ingredients:

• 2 avocados
• 1 jalapeño
• 1/2 onion
• 1 tomato
• handful cranberries
• juice of one lime
• sugar and salt to taste

With my French Chef knife I cut up the jalepeño, onion, and tomato to medium size chunks. Pan fry the jalapeño and onions until the onions are translucent.  In the food processor I chopped these vegetables with my handful of cranberries. Emptied those into a bowl and squeezed the lime juice all over them. Then I mashed my avocados into this mixture with a fork (I prefer my guacamole chucky rather than smoothe). Since the cranberries are tart, add some sugar (about 3 tsp) and salt until you like the taste. Served with Stacy’s Simply Naked Sea Salt Pita Chips. 

Inspired by this.

12/20/2011 Dinner

I’ve recently decided that I don’t like beef very much, save perhaps for actual hamburgers, and so when I went to make spaghetti yesterday, I was pleased to know that we did not have any ground beef in the house. I grabbed all the vegetables I had recently purchased and made a vegetable spaghetti. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 Onion
• 1 Green Pepper
• 1 carrot
• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• 1 package fresh mushrooms
• handful of grape tomatoes
• 2 boxes whole wheat pasta
• 2 jars Ragu Sauteed Onion and Garlic pasta sauce

Cut up all of your vegetables to your liking and sauté them with a combo of olive and garlic oils. Salt and pepper to taste. They are done when your onions are translucent. Bring the water to boil and cook your pasta while you are cutting and cooking the vegetables. When the vegetables are done transfer them to the pot you’ll use for the sauce. Simmer the sauce with vegetables in it for 10-15 minutes. Serve over noodles and garnish with parsley if you like! Yum, yum!

• Found Cupcake Vineyards Chiffon Vodka in the liquor store. Yummyumyum.
• Great haircut
• Back To School Shopping and Thrifting
• Cauliflower-Sweet Potato Soup with White Zinfandel
• Pretty dresses
• Pizza & Singapore Slings with Thomas at Jojo’s Pizza
• Shark Bite Sangria to end Shark Week and Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• Five-year old child in Grandma’s neighborhood said “Hi! You’re pretty!” to me as I walked up from my car :)
• Dark chocolate cake with peaches, amaretto and an almond topping, mmmm.
• Handling best friend crises
• Dinner and Drinks with Best Friends
• Cupcake Date at Cake in a Cup
• Move-in day at Kenyon and CA Training…CPR certification, too!
• Porch-sitting and Taco bell on a 55 degree summer night :)

Weekend Wishlist:

• Sleeping and reading
• Decorating my residence hall

That is all. 

• Polish festival with Ruthanne: pierogies, kielbasa, nesting dolls coffee mug
• Received postcard from A.M. visiting San Francisco. 
• Filipino food
• dinner, wine, dessert + live band at Manhattan’s with Thomas — barely noticed the two+ hours passing, until band started packing up; wore that little black dress from Mom’s closet, with long pearl chain & white peep-toe heels (no pictures, fail); stargazing from inside the jeep with the top off
• Culinary Aventures: Homemade guacamole, Avocado carbonara, Tiramisu Cupcakes, Chicken Burrito Bowls 
• Yoga 3 times
• Bring your own coffee at the park
• GRE - lots of practice, not much progress.
• A.M. arrives in Toledo for visit!

Quote of the Week:
“Is Reba married? Reba could be my cougar, if she’s not.” -Thomas, lately obsessed with country music.

Weekend Wishlist:

• stargazing on the water
• successfully pull off surprise birthday party for mom
• Woodchuck Cider Summer Brew
• find a spot downtown to watch the Mud Hens’ fireworks show

This week in my life:

• Marina & dad’s yacht with Mom and E.M. + the strongest margarita I have ever had at Cinco de Mayo restaurant. 
• Toledo Mud Hens game: extra innings + fireworks
• 4th of July celebrations: Maumee fireworks, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, vodkamelon, Monopoly Deal, Waffle House, The Shining, Taco Bell line, 4 am bedtime.
• coffee date + Panera’s Cinnamon Crunch Bagel, mmm!
• yoga three times
• The Silence of the Lambs - so much good gender stuff
• Library time
• Guinness Black and Tan cupcake at Cake in a Cup, as seen on TV.
• sunbathing three times
• Wore LeBron James Cleveland Cavaliers jersey around town. Based on comments and questions from total strangers (and friend’s brother) some people still aren’t over it. Listen people, “LeBron is LeGone” and basketball is not real life! My jersey (purchased for a mere $11 the day after LeBron’s departure) is simply a fashion piece. 
• Treasure hunting in my own house.
• lots of reading!
• GRE progress
• Homemade hummus and sweet potato fries, mmm!
• Small detox: esp. from alcohol, cheese, and coffee for the week. 

Weekend Wishlist:

• Lagrange Street Polish Festival with R.S….pierogies, please!
• E.M’s 18th Birthday Party…lots of Filipino food!
• stargazing (as usual) and wine, please
• Dancing to jazz music
• Yoga and BYOC at the park?
• More culinary adventuring
• Sleeping in

My lunch on June 6:

• 2 whole wheat tortillas
• hummus (pine nut)
• cheese (extra sharp cheddar)
• black beans
• corn
• salsa
• plain yogurt

I mashed up the black beans and corn, spreading them on one tortilla; I put that tortilla in the fry pan first, so that the black beans could warm up (they’d been in the refrigerator). Spread the cheese over that. Spread the hummus on the other tortilla and put that on top. Cook on low heat until each side is golden and the cheese is melty. Top with the salsa and plain yogurt (which is as tasteless as sour cream, much better for you, and serves the purpose of balancing out the spicy salsa). 

This tastes great with an iced green tea, too!

Strawberry Shortcake is one of my all-time favorite desserts. I understand that it’s common in Northern states like Ohio to serve this on Angel Food Cake, which is okay, but I prefer my shortcake on a biscuit, as was typical of the time I lived in Georgia. Which is why I altered this recipe I found that used amaretto and lady fingers, replacing them with biscuits. And I hate whipped cream, for no reason really, other than it’s tons of calories and sugar with no taste to justify it! It turned out to be one of the most phenomenal desserts I’ve ever made!

Nico’s Strawberry Shortcake: The slightly healthier version…unless alcohol cancels that out…

• 2 or 3 biscuits
• strawberries, sliced thin
• vanilla yogurt (non-fat, low-fat, greek — whatever you like)
• amaretto

I baked my Pillsbury biscuits and let them cool. Then I tore apart two of them, spreading out the small bits on the bottom of a 9x9 baking pan. Then, I covered this layer with amaretto; be as generous as you like! Next, put a layer of yogurt over them, again, as much as you like. Next, layer on your strawberries, the more the better! Add another layer of yogurt, this one thinner than the first. Finally, spread pieces of half a biscuit on the top and drizzle with a little bit more amaretto. Chill in the fridge for an hour or so before serving. (& this has to stay refrigerated because it’s yogurt, so be mindful of that if you take it to a party/cookout, etc.)

This would be the most clever thing I could manage to say when my father said, “so there’s no taco meat. these [potatoes] don’t taste like tacos…do you not eat meat anymore?” This about the 400th time this question has come up in some form or another since I went to college, three years ago. At the center of this kitchen debate was the dish I decided to cook tonight: Potato Tacos. My father ate them and said they were good, but it’s hardly a triumph. One step at a time, though. 

So, I was inspired by my friend A.M. who ordered a potato taco at t-bell late one night last week. I have never tried t-bell’s potato taco, but I was intrigued by the idea. I’m not a vegetarian, as we’ve established before in this blog, but I am not a huge fan of meat, especially taco meat. On taco tuesday at the school dining hall I fill my taco shells with beans, rice, cheese, lettuce, and tomato usually. And the boca meat they provide on the vegetarian station has the texture of gummy bears rolled in seasoning salt. 

My improvisation in the kitchen resulted in a delicious meal, if I do say so myself:

Nico’s Potato Tacos—

• 5 potatoes, peeled and diced small
• 1 can black beans, rinsed of all the can-juice
• 1/2 onion, diced
• taco seasoning
• all your favorite taco toppings and tortillas

Put your potatoes in a saucepan and bring them to a boil to soften them up; drain out the water and stir fry the potatoes (to make them crispy on the outside) along with the onion and black beans. Add two teaspoons of the taco seasoning. When the potatoes and onions have browned a bit, it should be done. Assemble tacos as you normally would! MMM :)

since I watched a replayed episode of America’s Next Great Restaurant. My favorite is Eric Powell’s MELTWORKS, a concept of grown-up grilled cheese sandwiches. I’m in love. And inspired by that, and the Cuban Pressed Sandwiches they make in Kenyon’s dining hall, today I made a great grilled cheese sandwich:

• 2 slices of 12-grain bread, brushed with olive oil
• 2 slices of pepperjack cheese on one side
• avocado spread on the other side
• grill to golden brown.

At kenyon they use provolone and turkey with avocado on one side and chipotle mayo on the other, and they use white bread. This was way better! The pepperjack had the spice so the chipotle mayo was unnecessary, and this was better without the turkey, which always prevents the two pieces of bread from sticking together! 

Goodness I hope this Meltworks comes to be whether Eric wins this competition or not!

Vivian and I made the best salsa and the best omelet ever!

We made an apple salsa using:

• 2 tomatoes
• 2 apples
• 1/2 an onion
• 1 jalepeno pepper
• 4 tbs lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• throw together for a chunky salsa, or puree for a less chunky salsa
• we made bagel chips to eat this with by filleting a few bagels into thin slices, brushing with olive oil and baking for 15 min at 325F.

The omelet:

• baby spinach, tomato, and onion
• eggs
• an avocado
• cheese
• fry your spinach, tomato and onion for a few minutes in vegetable oil; add your eggs. after the eggs are mostly cooked, spread mashed avocado over the egg, top with cheese and fold in half. 

Bonus: top your finished omelet with the salsa!

*sorry that we failed to take pictures.