Eats and Sweets

I have two things to share with you tonight!

I hope you're hungry, because they're both about food.

Item #1: I tried the recipe I said I would try!

You know when you're eating dinner, and nobody says a word?

It can mean one of three things:

1. They love the food so much that they can't bear the thought of wasting time talking when they could keep eating.

2. They think the food is disgusting, but they don't want to be rude, so all their energy is consumed by the internal struggle of eating something they don't like.

3. They aren't thinking about the food at all. They're running through a mental to-do list, thinking about how tired they are, or having silent, imaginary conversations with someone in their head.

When I served my family this, I think it was a case of #3.

Which...isn't a bad thing, necessarily...

 ...but I don't think it's a good thing, either.

So, go ahead and try the recipe if you like.

It sure smelled yummy.

And, with a little bit more salt, it tasted yummy, too.

So go ahead and try it! What have you got to lose? (Besides an hour of your time, 2 pounds of ground beef, an onion...hehe, sorry)

It was especially yummy when combined with some SUPER easy lemon-pepper rice.
All I did was shake some lemon-pepper seasoning on the rice before setting it to cook in the rice cooker and - voila! Lemon-pepper rice!

[If you can't tell, I just really wanted to photograph myself cooking something and post it up here for you guys. The fact that this meal was not THE best has no weight on the matter.]

Item #2: This is a tried-and-true recipe you're going to LOVE!

It's called....

[racks brain]

...

I'm not sure what it's called.

But it's a dessert. [A pie, in fact.]

And it's yummy.

I don't want to get into copyrighting trouble, so I'll show you where you can find the recipe.

It's in this book:

Oh, and wait! I just found it on line for you: Click here.
And click here for an easy graham cracker crumb crust recipe.

And I found out what it's called:

Summer Berry Pie.

The photo isn't glorious, but - I assure you - the pie IS!

Yumm! I would have another piece right now if I hadn't already had two.

So go pick you some berries [it doesn't matter what kind], buy you some Jell-O, and make you this pie!

Your family will thank you for it.

Have a glorious weekend and savory meals!

Vegetables in Disguise.

If you're like me, you don't care all that much for the all-important food group: vegetables.

Carrots are okay...if you can dip them in creamy ranch dip!

Broccoli...not really.

Cauliflower - bleck.

Asparagus -- eww! Don't even go there.

But potatoes - potatoes! - now those are good! And they're vegetables!...right? French fries, mashed potatoes, hash browns, tater tots, baked potato, twice-baked potato --- yummmm!

BUT, I've heard it claimed that potatoes are the #1 culprit for obesity in America. [Really? Blame the people, not the potatoes!]

But, who knows? Maybe you're not like me. Maybe you L.O.V.E. looooooovvvvveeeee luvluvluvluvluv vegetables.

It doesn't matter.

Either way, I have come upon something as astonishing as black-bean brownies [but way more appealing - sorry, Bek], something that might trick you into thinking that you're eating potatoes, when really you are eating VEGETABLES:

Mashed Cauliflower

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It's creamy. It's salty. It's yummy. It's healthy (er). Best of all, it's easy.

Believe it.

I first heard about mashed cauliflower from a coworker, in the staff lounge. Here I am, slurping up a Cup-O-Noodles, and she's telling me about how she makes mashed cauliflower and fakes her kids out every time. They never know it's not potatoes.

So, I decided to try it the other day. I looked up some recipes, and used mostly this one for ideas.

But, really, a recipe is not necessary. Know how to make mashed potatoes? Boom. You know how to make mashed cauliflower.

But, if you like, I'll break it down into steps for you.

1. Cook the cauliflower in water until it's really tender (just like potatoes.)

2. Drain the water. Then, mash or blend the cauliflower (just like potatoes.)

3. Add stuff to give it texture and flavor (just like potatoes), like:

Cream cheese

Parmesan cheese

Minced garlic

Chicken base

Black pepper

Butter

Chives/green onion

(I got these ideas from the recipe I already linked to

The recipe said to blend most of these ingredients with the cauliflower.

My blender is not good enough for that,

so I just cooked the cauliflower until it was suuuper tender,

and just mashed it with one of those cool mashing spoon things:)

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4. Serve!

So, if you've never tried mashed cauliflower before, I challenge you to do so. Today. You'll love it. And you would never know you were actually eating healthy vegetables.

Today, I will try to cook this.

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Summer and My Twenties

One of my favorite things to do on a free day is cook lunch for my parents. I like to think that it blesses them as much as it's beneficial practice for me.

[This was actually breakfast one day - French Toast w/ strawberries]

However, I have had what seems like much too many of these free days since school got out June 13th.

While it was fun cooking up mac and cheese, tomato-and-green-bean soup, crispy baked chicken, sweet cornbread, and all that, I started going stir-crazy! So I created a summer schedule for myself:

• Monday - Work at school
• Tuesday - Thursday - Domestic duties in the AM, appointments and errands in the PM
• Friday - Work at school
• Saturday & Sunday - Weekend!

I thought it looked like a great schedule, and I was very proud of myself for thinking of it.

Unfortunately, I haven't done a good job this week of following the schedule. We'll keep working on that.

In other news (I noticed I say that a lot), I feel, along with my friend Samara, (specifically in this post) that a time for change, for action, for happening, is here.

David Crowder's words come to mind:

I think I'm on the brink of something large

Maybe like the breaking of the dawn

I've thought before - what other time in your life is like your twenties?

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All I need to do is revisit my old journals and diaries (I've journaled religiously since the fourth grade) to see that, while life until 18 was pretty predictable, the 20's have brought some major life events for me, like:

• Career choice
• College graduation
• Beginning a career

...and, eventually,

• Moving out
• Getting married
• Having my first child

Granted, this might not all happen while I'm still in my 20's, but, even if most of it does, those are some HUGE firsts in one decade. A lot of growing up, growing into, and becoming, you could say. 

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For today, that's a wrap.