YUM - Almond Milk

Yesterday morning was the BEST morning of ALL mornings EVER and it will forever go down in infamy SO LONG AS I AM ALIVE!!!!!  I made almond milk, it was amazing and I highly recommend you do the same.

If you choose to do so, you will need:

-1.5 cups of raw almonds
- small handful of dates (7ish)
- 6.5 cups of water
- 1 tsp of vanilla
- dash of cinnamon

First step: soak your almonds overnight...or 8 hours for you people that only sleep 4.

Next, it's time for you to take their little jackets off until they're left in their skivvies. Once they are, it's WASH (bath?) time!

Grab your dates (that you've already pitted by now) and throw them under the water as well.

Now, throw ALL ingredients into your blender and BLEND like you've never blended before!!!

Once you feel that you've pureed the crap out of this concoction, it is time to open the lid and scoop out the foam.  This stuff is perfect for your morning espresso or coffee.

 Next, it's time to grab your super fine (not meaning attractive) strainer and strain.  The bigger your strainer, the better.  Mine was patience-is-a-virtue sized.

After that, taste a bit and you're all set!!!  Your friends and/or puppy will be green with envy...

as you taste the perfect coffee and granola companion.

What winter?

The in-laws are in town from Washington!  Here are some pics of us crossing the BK bridge yesterday.  It was positively gorgeous...and pretty much unheard of for January.

The Thompson Trio

Just a girl, her dog, and her in-laws.

Back over to the other side!

Remy is really working the camera.

I have a lot of wine corks...

A LOT.


So, I think it's time I either make 90 coasters, OR a bathmat.

Hmmm...

http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/11/diy-thread-spool-wine-corks.html

When you drink wine, the possibilities are ENDLESS!

NYC - TONIGHT

If my in-laws weren't descending upon the house in which I live, I would totally be HERE tonight...

http://vegansaurus.com/post/16519264204

Thursday, January 26, 2012. 7pm-10pm.
benefits The Civil Liberties Defense Center
21+. At Angels & Kings.
500 East 11th St (btw A & B) [map]
$1 off draft beers and well drinks

So, please...be cooler than me and go.  Let me know how the vegan drinks are and PLEASE have one or ten for yours truly.

Things that Make me Laugh...

Why does Remy have to do something SO cute involving how messy my pajama drawer is?  I talked to him about this!!!  Nonetheless, this cannot go unseen.  Upon hearing the rattling of my jewelry tree from my office, I scurried into my bedroom to find Remy going above and beyond in his mission to attain the MOST comfortable sunny spot.  Hard wood floors a little too hard, ey?

 Cleaning party later!

Listening to...

It's a dreary day so I can't help but need a little of Seattle's finest...

Nirvana- Man Who Sold the World

YUM - Football Cornbread

I'm not a huge sports fan (unless I'm in the stands), but I'm not a scrooge either so while the Giants played San Fran, Jeff and I decided to eat cornbread, drink beer and be merry!  Why not?!

So, after peeling ourselves from the couch, we grabbed the new organic cornbread mix that we'd just purchased from Whole Foods and mentally prepared ourselves to get in the zone.  We were ready.  This cornbread was about to be ours.  Until we realized that our kitchen did not possess half of the ingredients.  I mean, WHO DOESN'T HAVE SUGAR?!  Us, apparently.   We wasted a good 4 to 5 minutes laughing over this newsflash until we decided to forge ahead.  We should not give up on our great quest for cornbread. Here's how it went down...

Instead of the 1/4 cup of sugar that the recipe called for, we scraped together 2 packets of sugar from some Deli along with a squeeze of honey.  Genius!

We also did not have any of the buttermilk OR the stick of butter.  (It is clear that we are only just becoming domesticated because I don't believe these are very exotic ingredients.)

But, just as the Giants were determined to defeat the 49ers, we were determined to make it work (like Tim Gunn on Project Runway).  In place of the buttermilk we used 2% milk and rather than using 6 Tbsp of stick butter, we opted for spooning 6 small scoops of unsalted whipped butter and melting it before mixing into the batter.


Aaaaand WHAT.do.YOU.know?  Our improvised cornbread tasted juuuuuust fine.  Not exactly a recipe I'd write home about (unless you consider this writing home) but a tasty football treat nonetheless.

Lesson of the Day:  Experimenting with recipes is FUN.

Boom.

YUM - Snowy Pancakes

It's SNOWING in Maplewood!!!!

So while Jeff did this...

and Remy did this...

I did this...

 Whole wheat pancake mix from Whole Foods, woooooooo!

Yuuuuum.

 This one has a turkey on it.

AND this is either a ghost, Texas, or a chicken cutlet (Jeff's guess).

I highly recommend the mix we used (365 Buttermilk Pancake and Waffle Mix).  One serving serves about 5 (completely misshapen) pancakes and it's even good using water to replace the 2/3 cup of milk.

HAPPY SNOW DAY!

Things that make me laugh...

My nephew!!!!

Now, I would never normally exploit a tot in such a way, but this video cracks me up!  He was about to go down for some sleep and kept swapping out his pacifier for a stuffed mushroom he nabbed from his kitchen set.  The two really do look similar, right?  I think he's onto something here...

 YUM, stuffed mushrooms!

 "I love you, Aunt Laura!"  (he was thinking it)

Skiing

Last weekend, the hubs and I finally went skiing/snowboarding for the first time together.  I hadn't been in almost 7 years and can't believe how easy it was to get back on the mountain!  Unfortunately, this winter has been thoroughly mild and snow hasn't exactly been plentiful, but we found a mountain with some trails open and had a blast!

The quality isn't great (taken with Jeff's iPhone) and the sound in the background is the snow machine working overtime.  Also, don't be fooled...I did not go down the expert slope behind me. 

Ski lodges rule!!!!

Go skiing, all.  I highly reccommend it.  But, if you go to Mountain Creek...do NOT rent your equipment from them.  Their system is absolutely bonkers and takes at least an hour if the mountains busy.

YUM - Creamy Tomato Orzo Soup

Tonight's' attempt at cooking a fresh and yummy concoction went awesomely...AGAIN.  I'm in love! 

The recipe - Creamy Tomato soup with Meatballs and Orzo - was taken from the below blog post, so anybody wanting to make samesies, follow along:

http://themoserfive.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/creamy-tomato-soup-with-meatballs-orzo/

A few alterations I did were:

- whole wheat, organic orzo

- a small forkful of whipped butter instead of a stick

- no Parmesan cheese topping

- instead of 2 cans of diced tomatoes, I did 1 box of Pomi chopped tomatoes (the serving size was smaller, but it worked out)

- AND instead of meatballs...I used Quorn meat-less balls (yes!)

Although I am trying to eliminate cans from my food-life (Eek, BPA!), I did have to use one for this recipe (thanks, Whole Foods).  But if you can find a box/jar of tomato sauce instead of a can, I'm jealous and wish I could have done the same.  Nonetheless,  tonight's cooking experience ended up being wonderful and I highly recommend this to any soup lovers out there.  It's filling, healthy, and AMAZING!

Here's what you need:

Tomato Basil soup
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic minced
Basil
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup (raw) orzo  cooked according to package directions
1 cup half and half (I use fat-free half & half)
1 stick unsalted butter (you can get away with much less)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

 First up: chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, fresh garlic and chicken stock.

Next up: fat free half and half, organic basil, whole wheat orzo and MEATLESS QUORN BALLS!!!!

And after some quality time (15 minutes and then taste) on the stove it was finito!

TO DO:

Over med. heat put tomato products, stock, and garlic in a large stock pot. 
Let this come to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. 
Add basil, butter and half and half and whisk until well blended.
Add meat balls (cook according to Quorn instructions on the bag) and orzo before serving with Parmesan cheese (or not).

Total time: 45 minutes.
xoxo
L

Listening to...

Motley Crue! Hot Tub Time Machine! Motley Lou!

Home Sweet Home - Motley Crue

It's Home Sweet Home, if you didn't guess :)

YUM - Tortilla Lasagna

One word comes to mind when I think about cooking something vegan and dairy-free...GROSSFEST!  Just kidding...kind of.

However, in my quest to live forever I have decided to change the way I eat.  I was raised vegetarian but fell of the wagon 11 years ago, around my junior year of high school when I got a car and promptly drove it to the nearest Burger King.  CHICKEN NUGGETS! WOOOOO!  (This was before the existence of those day-ruining calorie charts, too) 12 PIECE!  Diving into the world of fast food was easy peasy.  Nothing like getting healthy, which seems to involve months of memory erasing and intense taste bud training.

Even with my love for the occasional Oreo, my eating habits have progressively gotten better through the years.  I have my moments (holiday binging, what what) but in all everything was going along swimmingly until this weekend when I had the pleasure of stumbling upon the American Cancer Society's website.  This website was saying the craziest things. Things that most people never talks about.  What do you mean, cold cuts aren't healthy?!  Cooked meat can develop toxins on their surface?!  How is it that certain meats can lead to neurological disorders such as my biggest fear: Alzheimers?!  Clearly, I needed to change.

I had to wonder.  Am I as healthy as I could be?

There were some unwavering hard facts I had to face right from the start.

1. I will not give up wine on airplanes.

2. I will not give up certain Italian foods (manicotti, penne vodka or a super good homemade baked ziti).

AND

3. I don't know how to cook.

Two out of the three could not be cured, but the last one SO could. I mean, how hard can cooking be?

FIRST ATTEMPT...Tortilla Lasagna - torn out of Vegetarian Times magazine.

Needed:
daiya pepperjack
2 garlic cloves
1 small onion
6 tortillas (ours were big, so we cut them in half)
2 small zucchini's
Frozen corn
1 can of black beans
Pomi strained tomatos
Chili powder


First, toast your tortillas on two cookie sheets at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.

Next, grab a mixing bowl and add 2 cups Pomi strained tomatoes to your 2 cups of black beans, 2 cups of corn, and 2 diced zucchinis. Mix.

Meanwhile put some olive oil and your diced onion on the burner for 5 minutes.  Once the onions are soft, add the garlic and 2 tbs chile powder for 30 seconds. 

After 30 seconds is up, add the tomato concoction to the pan with onions & garlic, cover and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Now it's time to CASSEROLE!
Oil casserole dish
Add a thin layer of Pomi first
Place your first tortilla on top.
Scoop 1/4 cup tomato mixture
Cover with thin layer of cheese
= repeat 4 times
Finish with a layer of Pomi strained tomatoes and cheese.  

Cook for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Times up! Looks good enough to eat!!!!

...so that's what we did.  There's not much else to say...except...

I CAN COOK!!!!!!


xoxo
L

HOME-GROWN: Fancy fancy Chandelier 3

 Jeff and I had the brilliant idea to change out all of our downstairs light fixtures this year.  Our house is almost a hundred years old and the lighting was probably last updated in the early 80's.  Making a change of this kind does wonders for an old home, but of course there is a downside...

 You never know what you're going to find.

Like...WHAT is THAT?!

Nonetheless...we trucked on, in a most improvisational kind of way.

Tested our electric...

Laughed in the face of our old, brassy fixture...

And made it to the finish line!

Ta da!  It's always worth the pain, isn't it?

Things that make me go hmmm...

Staying positive on this whole book-writing journey has been tough to say the least.  Writing Diary Girl was the easy part compared to what comes after.  Researching agents, drafting query letters, receiving rejection notices...the list of annoyances goes on and on.  So that's why I love a good uplifting article to give me the boost I need to forge ahead and write, write, write.

Here are two of my faves:

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/08/144804084/a-self-published-authors-2-million-cinderella-story

(this one is my favorite...)

http://www.more.com/kathryn-stockett-help-best-seller

can't.give.up.
will.not.give.up.
no.matter.what.

Listening to...

Buffalo Tom - Late at Night

...1993, what what!

Things that make me go hmmm...

Being a diary-keeping-kinda girl, it may come as no surprise that I gravitate towards true stories - old and new. Articles, books, short stories or photographs - I love it all.  I love to learn from other people's journey's, no matter where they've been or what they've experienced.  Some part of me wants grow from it, or at the very least, lend an ear.

So while story-listening is somewhat of an obsession of mine, I can't help but have favorites.  And it isn't glamorous.  I'm not in love with stories about puppies (even though I do) or courageous acts selflessness (also cool).  Nope.  Those are not my fave. I love... <drumroll please>....LOVE learning from people who have experienced any sort of mental disorder.  I guess I just want to know what's out there.  What our minds are capable of.

So...without further ado, here is an article on something I have never heard of before:

Orthorexia -  It's an obsession with only allowing the healthiest of foods to enter your system.  Like most disorders, it only gets bad when taken to the extreme.

Have a read:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/05/health/eating-healthy-obsessive/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Things that make me gag...

Kim K only pays 1% more in taxes than someone making just under 50k.  THAT, my nonexistent blog followers...is weird.  And super lame.  Yes, her family is entertaining- but I don't care.  Millions grow easier than hundreds...so even if she paid a tad more, she'd still be SUPER freaking loaded.

Taxes are a necessary evil...so if you want to be sky-high rich, pay more taxes so hard working, less-loaded folk don't want to cut you. One less ride on a private plane won't kill you.

http://news.yahoo.com/kardashian-pay-more-calif-tax-proponents-080824463.html