Lazzyyy Thursday

So I've been kind of lame with my posts this week. Sorry. I've just been busy (actually I haven't). I think lazy is a better word for it. My only obligations have been my 4 hour a day camp job and a few pet sitting stints here and there (for a devil cat may I add who attacked my leg and lunged at my neck). So really not that much on my plate at the moment. No pun intended.

So today, to continue my recent laziness, I made a smoothie. I cut up peaches, strawberries, and threw in raspberries and blueberries with a little yogurt and some ice. It was alright and I could definitely see myself having it for bfast.

And after my smoothie, I went for Annie's mac and cheese...

It was kind of a lol of a day meal wise. I think I ate carbs the entire day and nothing else. But we all gotta have those days, right!? It doesn't help that there are massive amounts of cookies, bread, and muffins sitting on the counter in my house. Oh well. Sorry to dissapoint tonight. Tomorrow will have to be good. I'll try to please my fans since God Bless America Week seems to have really died out. Eek! What does this say about my patrioticness!? Don't worry, folks, I <3 America :), my laziness is just a lot more apparent. xoxoxo

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

I know you're jealous. Yum yum yum yum yum. xoxox

Banana Pudding and Baked Sweet Potato Fries!

Both of these dishes are classic American. My mom basically forced me to make the pudding by buying all the ingredients and not so subtly suggesting that I make it. And I thought the fries would be a nice healthy version of the classic, greasy fries we get served alongside a cheeseburger.  I know it's kind of a random mix of foods, but what can ya do?

I made the banana pudding first because it needed to chill before eating. This pudding really gave me a headache. I couldn't find a recipe that I liked, so I ended up using two (one from a food blog and one from the nilla wafer box) and kind of adding my own touches here and there (bad idea).  I had never made a custard/pudding before so I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

My mom and I tried it after dinner. It was very bad. My mom said she liked it, but it was nasty. The pudding that I made was the consistency of grits and had a very strong eggy taste. Vom.com if you ask me. Yuck. Good thing we have a massive bowl of it sitting in the fridge. Enjoy, Mom! The only thing it did successfully do was cause my over-consumption of the leftover nilla wafers. Man, those things are good!

Next was yet another failure. My baked sweet potato fries (found here) were as soggy as they come. I made the mistake of using aluminum foil to line the baking sheet so they never got crispy. My mom and I did proceed to eat a good portion of them though. I'm currently suffering from a sweet potato induced food coma. Yikes. I guess I'll be running tomorrow.....

So yea, tonight was full of failure. But you live and you learn. Am I right or am I right? xoxox

Tabbouleh Salad

You're probably looking at this title and wondering what the heck is tabbouleh?! Well, my friend, Charlotte, introduced me to it about a year ago, but if she hadn't, I would be in the same boat. Tabbouleh is a Middle Eastern salad full of herbs and topped with a lemon vinaigrette. Your second question might be, Why are you making that for God Bless America Week?! Well, it's really easy to make and bring to all the barbeques I know you all are invited to. The invites keep on coming over here, there's barely any room on the fridge. Actually, I have no plans. Please invite me to something?

This salad was really easy to make, but kind of annoying with all the waiting time. I found the recipe in my new Cooking Light magazine- July 2011 p. 89 (thanks Mom!) You can also access it online here. It has some really great recipes that I'm really excited to try.

This was really good and tasted super healthy. It's a nice thing to bring if you want to avoid eating all those mayonnaise-covered potato salads. My only complaint was how much parsley was in the dish. I would put 1 cup in (instead of 2). Other than that, I really enjoyed this nice light, but hearty meal!

Get excited for tomorrow's blog! You won't want to miss it! xoxox

God Bless America Week!

In the spirit of the 4th, I thought this American-themed week would be appropriate. You'll be seeing lots of easy salads and classic American favorites! Maybe a little red, white, and blue, too.

Enjoy! xoxo

Grilled Eggplant Paninis

FM (farmer's market)

Mom and her new basil friend

cheeeeeeeessyyyy

Artsy! Thanks, Margot!

These were really really good. I found the recipe here. After 3 different grocery stores, my mom and I finally got all the ingredients. We stopped first at the Farmer's Market (that's where we got the really good bread yum yum!), then Trader Joe's, and finally, Stop & Shop. These paninis were really good and tasted really fresh! A perfect sammy for the summertime. Thanks for coming over, Margot! slash I forced you to by picking you up at the train. And now you're watching me type this. Bad hostess alert!

I'm taking Sundays off! Have a good rest of the weekend y'all! xoxoxo

Carrot and Pecan Cupcakes

Recipe from Paula Deen's Family Cookbook (and surprisingly there wasn't that much butter in the recipe!) These were really good and made for a nice birthday treat for my mom. The only thing I might change is the amount of oil in the batter.

Happy Birthday, Mom! You rock!

Grilled Portobellinis!

Ok folks. So I was supposed to make this recipe, but turns out I didn't have tortillas. I didn't check because we always have them! Oh well. So I just ended up grilling up the mushrooms and eating them plain with balsamic vinegar. This meal would be someone who doesn't like mushrooms' worst nightmare.  So stay away if you don't like eating fungi. lol.

definitely burned oops.

'shroom selfie!

So yeah. This was really easy if you're in the mood for a nice fresh dinner. Only 3 more nights of grill week left! (and tomorrow I have to make cupcakes for my mom's bday, so I won't be grillin'!) Ok, see ya fans! xoxo

Honey Mustard Turkey Burgers

Until today, I was anti-turkey burger. But, seeing as I'm trying to be healthy, I thought I'd give it a whirl. And it turns out, turkey burgers really don't taste that different than normal burgers. This recipe was really easy and pretty quick. The only drawback was the rain (can we say dedication?) I also really do not like touching raw meat, but it's something I need to get over pretty quick if I'm going to keep this blog going.

I found the recipe here. The honey mustard in the turkey kept the burgers from getting dry. Not as good as last night, but I'll keep this recipe on my list for quick, easy, and tasty dinners.

Midflip action shot

I had a hankering for something sweet after my meal, so I made cupcakes (my sweet tooth is out of control). And after eating 6 mini cupcakes, I proceeded to eat a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Needless to say, I will be hitting the gym tomorrow. xoxo

Sweet and Spicy Salmon Kabobs

Oh my goodness. If you're a fan of salmon, you have to make these. They were so good and healthy, too (which is always a plus, especially if ice cream is about 1/2 your diet).

My mom has recently become very obsessed with my blog. She loves to talk about things I can do with it, and how I should print out all my posts so I never lose them. She also comes up with ideas of things I can blog about. For example, she thought it would be a good experience for me to go to Fairway, that huge market in Stamford. So, I dragged Margot with me (sorry) by telling her there would be lots of free samples (there weren't). We ended up getting some really awesome stuff though. It took a lot out of me and I pretty much was a zombie the entire ride home. Cars really put me to sleep. I'm such a babay.

We got all of the ingredients I need for tonight's recipe and bought some of the best cheese in the world. I was in cheese heaven at this store. So many imported cheeses! Yumyumyum!

Anyway, the recipe for tonight's dish is here and honestly it was so so so good. The perfect amount of sweet and spicy. (the only drawback is my hands will not stop smelling like fish. I tried the lemon juice trick and it failed). I'm just going to show you some pictures from tonight's dish. Thankfully, Margot didn't ditch tonight. And I punished her for ditching last night by making her do all of the dishes.

In case you were wondering, fish is really slimy

the 'bobs

super excited for our meal!!

This was so good. And if you're going to try it, go ahead and splurge for the expensive salmon. It really does make all the difference (and for future reference, smiling gets you nowhere with the fish market people) xoxoxo

Grilled Chicken Tenders with Cilantro Pesto.

I was super excited to start grill week. My mom and I cleaned the grill this afternoon in anticipation for this big night!! (ok, my mom did all the work) So, after my staff meeting for work this summer, I headed home! I called my former partner-in-crime, Margot, to tell her to get ready to GRILL. However, she graciously declined my invitation. Apparently she has more important things to do than waste her summer nights grilling with me. Oh well. Maybe she'll regain her partner-in-crime title soon, but as of now she has lost it.

I also had another unexpected surprise going into tonight. My mom had a friend over and seemed to think it was ok to have me serve them both my creation. This made me very nervous. I am no cook. I have never grilled before. AND this was my first day on the job! I was not happy to say the least, but being the good daughter that I am, I did end up making dinner for them. (and they seemed to like it, or they were lying through their teeth).

I decided to do grilled chicken with a cilantro pesto-type sauce with a side of quinoa and broccoli.

Ingredients!

Let me start off by saying that cooking a meal is hard work. There are so many things you have to do at the same time if you want to serve it all hot! (it would have been easier with an extra pair of hands...margot). I was running back and forth from the grill to the kitchen, checking on the quinoa, and toasting sesame seeds. It was a struggle to say the least.

Very discouraged selfy with a little editing via iphoto

And to make things worse I did not like the meal! It was an asian based recipe, and I don't know if that's really what I was in the mood for. The grilling process what actually surprisingly easy though. I think the trickiest part is how long you should leave your meat/veggies on.

my chicken on the grill

 Here's the finished plate! I didn't like the cilantro pesto on top of the chicken. I don't know. This dish just didn't do it for me, but all the more reason to try harder tomorrow! Right? Maybe I'll have a cooking companion by then.

But yea! Day 1 is complete! Only the rest of the summer to go! Yikes. Wish me luck xoxoxo

GRILLWEEK

It's GRILL WEEK!!! Get ready for some exciting and fun recipes that I will be whipping up this week with Margot and some other guests. I've done my research and I have my recipes all lined up for the week! New post to come later tonight after my first creation of the summer is completed! I can hardly contain my excitement! xoxox

homeagainhomeagain

Yes! I am home! please try to contain your excitement. You all know what this means....time to cook!!

I have to make a schedule still but I think I want to kick it off with a grilling week. Could be fun if I can measure up to Bobby Flay in my grilling skills. You never know!

Because it's father's day, I'm going to use his idea as the premise for my post today. Normally, I wouldn't blog about something like this...but since it's father's day, I guess I'll use his suggestion so I won't hurt his feelings.

Lookin' good, Dad!

So, he seems to think that I should write my blog today about tap water versus bottled water. You know in the city when they ask you tap or bottled? I didn't think there was anything to this. Being frugal, I always get the tap (lol). But is there something wrong with the free water I'm drinking? Should I be spending the extra $2.50 to get some high quality water?

Apparently not! According to nyc.org, New York City has the best tap water out there. New York is actually 1 out of 5 cities that has an extremely minimal filtration process because of the purity of the water source (which is in the Catskills- we've passed that reservoir mags!)

I took this photo on the way up to the mountains with mah girl

People are even bottling NYC tap water and selling it on the street! Who'd of thunk it!? Tap water is also way better for the environment. Nearly 2.5 billion bottles of water a year are sold in New York alone—stacked up end to end, they'd reach the moon.

So cut back on bottle usage folks! Save the world one step at a time and drink TAP. xoxo

three pounds later

Chipotle is my hero. I can't get over how good their burritos are and I'm not one bit ashamed. Seeing that the one friend I had at summer school left today, I ventured out on my own for dinner. We usually have a friday night dinner date, but that was not an option. So, I sat down at a table at Chipotle all by my lonesome, and proceeded to eat my three pound burrito. Ain't no thang.

Yes, that's my hand!

I will be honest, I was a little self conscious sitting alone and eating this massive burrito. I felt like people were thinking, "Shouldn't you be eating something a little less manly?" Sorry bout it! I <3 my chipotle burritos. Sometimes eating really good food is worth looking a little ridiculous. And if you're wondering, yes, I did finish the entire thing. Let's just say, it's a good thing I didn't spring for the chips and guac. I'm feeling a little like Violet Beauregarde in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (obviously I'm referring to when she swells up like a blueberry).


On my way home, I snapped this shot:

Robert E. Lee Monument

I just thought it was a cool pic and would cheer my fans up. Don't you love the rays in the background! Can you say breathtaking!?

Ok, well that's it for now. I have an essay to write UGH BYE oxoxox

just feelin naus as per usual

So I thought I would surprise you all with a midnight snack, if you will. (the snack is me) lol. I've been working on my project for my geography class and obviously I started craving froyo as I was sitting in my stuffy room. So I went to the grocery store and got my faveeee combo. vanilla fro with heath bar.

And guess what. I'm nauseous now. Typical me. So I decided to look up "how to get rid of nausea" on google because those of you that know me know that this is a constant problem. Practically any food I eat makes me somewhat nauseous. I have diagnosed myself with acid reflux.

this is what came up when i typed in nausea. sorry if it doesn't apply but it's too cute to turn away.

So I have decided to cure this once and for all.

Step 1: get fresh air, crack a window, get the fan blowinn
Step 2: eat bananas (they prevent AND help with nausea)
Step 3: STOP OVERFEEDING YOURSELF (I made this one up myself)
Step 4: Get some rest and relaxation (well that sure sounds heavenly)

From these steps (with the exclusion of step 3), it seems that the cure for nausea is going to the beach and eating a banana split. Right? Fresh air, banana, and some good old r&r! (the overeating step will just have to wait its turn). too bad i don't have any of those steps at hand, except for the fresh air. but I'm too lazy/nauseous to move.

Well sorry about this post. It's late. And I don't really think anyone wanted to hear about my nausea. I think I used the word nausea too many times. It's a weird word. Right? ok well goodnight. xoxo

finals

due to finals, i will not be able to blog today and perhaps tomorrow. sorrrrrrryy

fishfood4thought

Every summer, my family goes to Oak Island, a very small island off the coast of North Carolina. We used to rent a house that had its own dock looking onto the sound side of the ocean. My siblings and I used to float and swim and kayak at high tide, so our feet wouldn't touch the bottom. This was before my sharkphobia (galeophobia- I had no idea that was what it was called!) had kicked in. You won't find me in water above my hips these days because I read sharks can swim in depths as shallow as 3 feet, which is also I lie. Last summer, on TWO separate occasions, I put my feet in the water and looked down to find FINS popping up right next to my ankle. Yes. They were babies. But it didn't help when the man next to me said, "You know that means the mama's not far behind." Thanks for letting me know! That ended my swimming adventures for the summer. Good thing it was our last day there.

I was going to insert an image of a shark here but typing it into google images literally just gave me a panic attack. Let's do a clown fish instead.

When we weren't swimming, we were fishing (a tradition that has also stopped because of my sister's new stand on animal cruelty). We would catch eels off the dock sometimes (ew) and we would call over the "eel womping" master: my mother. Now, you might be wondering what "eel womping" is. It really is exactly what it sounds like. You reel the eel in, keep about 3 feet of fishing line, and start throwing/womping the eel against the dock until it goes unconscious. From there, you can remove your hook and go back to a good, calm day of fishing. It was always pretty entertaining when my mom would start the process of womping. This is the definition of animal cruelty, but thanks for always keepin us on our toes, Mom!

this is embarrassing

We caught all sorts of things on that dock. However, I developed a dislike for eating fish at a very young age (I think I over did it on the tuesday night fishsticks). But I have come to realize after a little research that fish are a necessary part of all of our diets. I know its hard to think of eating the cute little things swimming in the water, but fish really is brain food and we need it! The American Heart Association recommends at least two servings of fish per week to help prevent heart disease, lower blood pressure, and reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

 I found a list of the top 7 healthiest (and environmentally friendly!) fish to eat:
1. Albacore Tuna (Canada, U.S.)
2. Arctic Char (farmed)
3. Atlantic Mackerel
4. Rainbow Trout (farmed)
5. Sablefish/Black Cod (Alaska, Canada)
6. Sardines (U.S.)
7. Wild Salmon (Alaska)

Let's all make a goal to eat more fish this summer. Let's ignore the scales, the bones, and try not to order it with its head still attached so that we can enjoy this healthy option!

just so you know my heart is still pounding from seeing those shark pictures. the things i do for my fans. i better be appreciated. xoxox