Me, My Friends, and Food

All my friends and I do when we get together is EAT. Maybe it is just that we love food so much or possibly when we get together our inner-fatties unleash themselves and devour everything. Regardless, if we all get together...there will probably be some mass consumption going on.

This past Saturday, I made a glorious vegetarian dinner for us all (: and my friends brought some dessert.

This is the Pillsbury version, my friends and I ate too fast
to get a picture of what I created....ops!

I made a vegetarian spin-off of Grand's UnSloppy Joes from Pillsbury! When I say "spin-off" I mean I got the idea while wasting in front of the TV watching commercials and seeing an ad about unsloppy joes and thinking...I MUST TRY A VEGETARIAN VERSION OF THIS. SO basically, if you follow the recipe, you won't get the same thing I made, regardless of the meat-free-ness.


I took The Mom's sloppy joe recipe and substituted the meat for MorningStar's crumbles.
(Which has 75% less FAT than ground meat and is cholesterol free but tastes just as good as meat)

The Mom's Recipe:

Ingredients:

"The Holy Trinity"

AKA

1/2 onion

1 green pepper

1-2 stalks celery 

( I didn't have celery :( )

1 can condensed tomato soup

Salsa to taste

Meat-less crumbles

HOW TO:

1. Saute the "Holy Trinity" (The Mom always put these three ingredients in practically everything and Emeril Lagasse called in the Holy Trinity once during a show...it stuck with her.)

2. Add the Meatless crumbles.

3. Fold in the tomato soup

4. add the Salsa

5. Voila! You have  your vegetarian sloppy joe insides.

THE "UNSLOPPY" JOES:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees!

2. Put parchment paper on cookie sheet (This is essential, otherwise the joes will stick to the sheet..its a mess. I forgot to do this for the first batch. Tragic mistake.)

3. Press Grand's roles into 6 inch discs. 

4. Put about 2-3 spoonfuls of sloppy joe into the middle of the disc. 

5. OPTIONAL STEP: Put some cheese all up in there. Its good. I would recommend it.

6. Fold the Grand's disc into a half circle and pinch it closed. (I used a fork to make the edges pretty!)

7. I would suggest flipping the disc over and putting the side you had on the bottom while folding on the top on the cookie sheet. Because the sloppy joe insides are still warm, it thins out the dough a bit and it might tear when you try to take it off the cookie sheet if you don't flip it over.

8. Cook for 10 minutes. The recipe says 9-14 minutes. 10 worked for me. 

9. EAT IT! The "unsloppy" part doesn't always remain unsloppy....I suggest bringing a fork with you.

The difference between these and regular sloppy joes is definitely the Grand's discs. Even spread out, they are flaky and buttery. I want to make more and eat them all up myself. I'm not greedy, you wouldn't want to share these either!!

ALSO! My friend Kim (Shout out! Woot Woot!) also made really delicious red velvet oreo brownie truffle bars. They are just as delicious as they sound and perfect for Valentines Day!!

This picture is also from the website, but they looked fairly similar. If we wouldn't have sucked up every last one I would've taken a picture. 

You get the idea...they're as good as they look!

"Diabetes" Bars

WARNING: If you are looking for a healthy treat, you won't find it in this entry.

Once you look at this recipe, you will understand the title of this blog entry. But do not fear, these bars are worth every sugary bite. They are so delicious that you cannot help but say, YOLO! and eat ten more bars. I explained exactly what this creation included to my coworker (and friend) and he said, "Oh my gosh. Those are little chunks of diabetes."

I followed the recipe almost exactly, but I did use parchment paper instead of wax paper for the bottom of the pan. What makes these bars so great is the extra butter in the cookie part. It makes more of a chewy-brownie-like cookie experience. That way it's a chewy treat instead of a brick, no one wants that... Another tip: the brownies take longer than you think to bake all the way through. Take them out when they are still a little bit gooey. Also! Wait until they are completely cooled to cut them. They cut A LOT easier than I thought they would! There is nothing else you need to know. Just make these. Maybe even warm them and make a sundae out of it. DO IT. YOU WILL NOT REGRET THIS! YUM!

Never Enough Chai!!

I MADE CHAI BUTTER COOKIES. Because I am a slight chai addict, at least I admit it. I just love the flavor of chai. It is spicy and tea-licoius. If you have never had chai, do it. Drink the kool-aid. You won't regret it. I promise!

I decided to make chai butter cookies because I have some chai mix that Goombah's mom made me and I found this recipe on Pinterest (Yes, I am addicted to Pinterest too. follow my boards if you so desire). And my friend Nicole wanted to bake and I thought, "what a perfect idea! I have this great recipe!"

At first, the dough was WAY to dry. When we dried to push down the balls of dough with a fork they broke into dough crumbles. Not exactly appetizing. I thought my cookies were a lost cause. Another baking disaster. ALAS, I added two more tablespoons of butter and voila! Crisis averted.

They were very delicious! They were like shortbread cookies but better because there was chai, duh! They'd be great to eat with coffee, or...dare I say...some hot chai?

Fa...Fa...Fa-REEZING!

Spring semester has began and so has a true Minnesotan winter. Today I put leggings under my jeans and a long sleeve under my sweater. I snuggled my feet into two pairs of thick socks and shoved them into boots. I put on my warmest hat and wrapped a scarf tightly around my neck, lifting it to cover my nose (sure prevent that Rudolf red nose experience). I put on my new, long, puffy and blue jacket (Thanks to The Dad) and lifted the hood over my head. My teeny little hands slid into monstrous gloves. And then, I walked to class. It was a great feat. But, today, I beat the cold.

But seriously, it is really freaking cold out. I walked to class in -10 degree weather. WHY DID I EVER CHOSE TO GO TO SCHOOL IN MINNESOTA? (just kidding, I really do love it here). It is just so cold! Thankfully, its forecast-ed to get warmer at the end of the week. It could even snow. I am not the biggest fan of snow, but I'll take it over these freezing temperatures any day. 

ALSO. I have started a new workout routine. I (hopefully) am having a less intensely busy semester, so I decided to put a work out schedule into affect. I figured if I made it a part of my schedule it would keep me from getting bored and wasting my time on..lets say...Pinterest. If all stays simple (HAHA), I plan on sticking to it (at least roughly. I am OK with skipping some workouts, I just want to not skip a week of workouts. That's the idea anyway). Already feeling a bit sore today. Woo! Getting fit!

Homemade Pretzels!

more like blobs of pretzel, but close enough for me!

Today I took on a great challenge. I decided I wanted to make homemade pretzels. It was ALMOST a success! Almost.... I used this recipe (but only did a half version). I have never made anything with yeast before, so I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't have a fancy mixing machine or a dough hook. I just used an old-fashioned wooden spoon and spatula to mix the dough. Not really sure if that made a difference. I also didn't have plastic rap, so the dough never really doubled in size like its suppose to. ALSO, I added a little bit of flare to some of the pretzels by sprinkling chai mix or hot chocolate mix on the top. They were all really good! If I were to make pretzels again, I would make the chai mix and hot chocolate mix ones and make an icing dip on the side. I am salivating now just thinking about how delicious that would be! Yum! I also think I didn't leave the pretzels in the oven long enough because they weren't crispy enough for me, but that is an easily solvable problem. Congrats to me for trying something new. What will be next? I have no idea!

Mac N' Cheese & Tomato Soup Bake

Finally! I pinterest idea that didn't fail! 

Mac n' Cheese & Tomato Soup Bake

Ingredients:

(I used leftovers that I had)

Mac n' Cheese 

Tomato Soup

 (Prepared with 1/2 can milk and 1/2 can water)

1 cup Cheez-its

A sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese

HOW TO:

Its SO SIMPLE! Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Put Mac n' Cheese in a pan. Spread evenly (I don't have a pan, so I used a small pot, it worked relatively well, but a pan would've been better.)

2. Pour tomato soup over the top of the mac n' cheese. 

3. Crumble Cheez-its over the top of it all.

4. Sprinkle the cheese over the top of that

5. Put in oven for 15-20 minutes (if you use a regular pan it might end up being a bit less. Just make sure you keep it in long enough that the cheese melts but the Cheez-its don't burn.)

6. Scoop it into a bowl. (Depending on your Mac to Soup ratio it could be more soupy or more mac-n-cheesy. Mine was more soupy, because I just used the leftovers I had. I think if you used a full box of mac and a full can of soup you would probably have a mac-n-cheesier meal. But I am a college kid and I didn't want my leftovers to go to waste!) 

7. EAT IT. NUMNUMNUM. 

Too Early for Banana Pancakes

Today I learned a few very important lessons:

1) I need to stop looking at Pinterest late at night. I get these great "ideas" for new recipes and they never are as good as I imagine when I am half asleep.

 Last night, while mourning the Packer loss ( :( Still so fresh. Next year Pack! Next year!) and wasting away time on pinterest, I ran into a recipe for "easy" banana pancakes. All I needed was one overripe banana (which I had in my freezer) and two eggs. PERFECT, I had the ingredients and I thought to myself, "Yum, I will make these for breakfast tomorrow." I didn't take into account that my not-yet-coffee-fueled brain would not be able to handle actually cooking a breakfast meal.

2) I should not try to cook anything before I drink my morning coffee.

I burnt the first two "pancakes." Not just crispy black edges, the entire bottom of the pancakes were BLACK. 

3) I should stop trying to make things with bananas. I don't like them, but I keep trying to find ways to incorporate the potassium rich, healthy fruit into my diet. Remember Banana Chips? Yep. I need to stop.

The "banana pancakes" tasted like banana flavored eggs. I don't know what you think about that, but let me tell you, I was not pleased. I could not even take a second bite. Blehk. I still cannot get the taste out of my mind. I guess if you really enjoy eggs and really enjoy bananas, you might think that sounds like a perfect match. I am not fond of either, so I really have no idea what I was thinking. It was awful. 

 Hopefully I will remember these lessons and you will not have to read about my banana fails anymore. No promises.

Truly A Cheese-head Chili

It has been WAY TOO LONG since I have blogged, for that, I apologize! My fall semester was INSANELY crazy, and I was just as busy as I thought I would be, leaving me little time to do anything advegturous, and how many blogs could I have written about the dining hall food? I am starting off 2013 with the promise to myself and my readers that I will blog this semester and go on adventures in Minneapolis and my kitchen.

Yes. That is a Packer Pillow Pet. 

 AND NOW, the newest advegture occurred because my ALL TIME FAVORITE TEAM, the Green Bay Packers are playing the San Francisco 49ers in their second playoff game of the season tonight! Of course, a cheese-head at heart, I decided to prepare Amy's vegan black bean chili and Annie's organic shells and real aged cheddar. Because you cannot be from Wisconsin and not enjoy chili and mac n' cheese on game day. I wasn't sure what to expect since I have never experienced chili from a can. FACT: I actually used my can opened for the first time and I even opened the can on my first try. Go me!


While awaiting the game to start, which was like waiting for water to boil, I literally waited for water to boil so that I could make the delicious mac n' cheese. I like Annie's because it doesn't have that artificial flavor or color that other boxed mac n' cheese often has. Plus, the real aged cheddar was the perfect cheese-head chili partner. If you are from Wisconsin, you probably love cheese. Its practically in your blood, probably why they call us cheese-heads, which I am perfectly proud of!

The chili was GREAT! I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was full of flavor, but not overly spicy and the beans were a great meat substitute. I did not feel like I was missing out on meat at all. YUM! I will be making this again for the next game, maybe even....THE SUPERBOWL!? (Fact: I couldn't be more excited for the Superbowl. I am a HUGE Beyonce fan! If the Packers make it, I would be SO FREAKING HAPPY.)

Now that my belly is full, I will watch the game! FINALLY!  GO PACK GO!!! 

Parent's Weekend!

The Parentals visited me last weekend! Beyond taking my mother to her first college football game (where the Gophers lost, par usual...) and exploring the Mall of America (where I got some new swag) we ate A TON of food. By the time my parents left, I was filled TO THE RIM! Here are just a few of the places we went!
The Imperial Room 
Where: 417 1st Ave. N in the one and only Downtown Minneapolis.

What: An after-work type of bar. Would be a great place to go during happy hour after work...if I had a job and I was actually over 21. They had a 1/2 off app and drinks deal during happy hour on Thursdays & Fridays, and a gaggle of work people were there to munch. It seemed like a great place to relax after work, or to go after you travel 6 hours to visit your amazing daughter at college.
FOOD: Of the many things that were eaten at this meal, there were a few that were reasons to go back. The first, one of our appetizers-Breaded Mushrooms. Besides the fact that the breaded mushrooms alone were delicious and perfectly breaded, the home-made horseradish sauce was GREAT! The Mom ate it by itself once the breaded mushrooms were gone. For my main meal, I had a veggie filled flat bread pizza. It was cheesy and every bite was full of vegetables. Lastly, I had apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. My dad saw the large plate and told me to just eat the ice cream and take the rest home, because he didn't think I could finish it. I took that as a personal challenge and ate the entire dessert. YUM. Showed him!

Bryant Lake Bowl
Where: 810 West Lake Street. Uptown Minneapolis(My favorite part of Minneapolis!)
What: The Parentals saw this place on the food network's tv show, Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives and HAD to   check it out. It is a bowling alley, theater, and restaurant. The Parentals went there while I was in class on Friday, and loved it show much that we went again after the gopher game. It almost defines what a "hole-in-the-wall" type restaurant is. It has tiny tables and a great, small-time feel. The menu is some-what small, but the deliciousness is BIG! The meat is grass-fed and the vegetables are such are all local. It was definitely a "hipster hangout" and I LIKED IT.
FOOD: The Dad, my Roomie, and I all had vegetarian chilli. It was the most perfect after game meal. It was full of beans and was perfectly spicy. It was served with a heaping pile of cheese on top and was so delicious  that I would take a bus just to get the chilli to go and leave. I had my chilli with a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich. I want it right now. It was such a fantastic meal. YUM!

Boo! Cake

Happy Halloween! Goombah and I made a cake to celebrate the fabulous season. Originally , the plan was to make a dark-chocolate chip and pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting....which I will make someday because that sounds delicious. BUT we  had no ride to the grocery store, and didn't feel like taking a trip to Downtown Minneapolis to Target to get cooking supplies. We settled for CVS and came up with an on-the-spot recipe to celebrate the spooky holiday.

BOO! Cake. 

So easy, a child could do it.

....or two college students.

WHAT WE FOUND AT CVS!

(aka ingredients)

1 box chocolate cake mix.

1 bag pumpkin-spice Hershey's Kisses

3 Eggs (Or whatever it says on the box)

1 cup applesauce

(because we were too cheap to purchase vegetable oil and I had some in my cabinet.

PLUS its healthier than vegetable oil. Its a Win-Win situation)

Vanilla Frosting 

Candy Corn 

TO MAKE IT:

Preheat oven to what it says on the box (350 degrees probably)

1. Make the box cake mix. Follow the directions on the box. Substitute a cup of applesauce for vegetable oil. Put the made-up cake mix into a greased 9x11 cake pan.

2. If you want to be FANCY, like Goombah and I, you can double-boiler melt the kisses. (I think that is what it is called, its pictured over there-->) But you could probably just break the kisses into pieces and mix it in the cake mix. FUN FACT: In case you didn't already figure it out, you are going to have to unwrap all the kisses. Unless you really like the taste of the wrapping...no judgement.

3. If you fancy double-boiled the chocolate, marble it into the cake mix. As in plop it on top of the mix, and then swirl it around with a knife. Its pretty simple, I think.

4. BAKE IT. According to the box. It should be around 35 minutes I believe.

<---it should look awesome like this after you bake it. SO PRETTY!

6. Frost it. Decorate with candy corn.

7. EAT IT UP! Share the holiday spirit with your friends.

8. Have the happiest of  Halloweens :)

Six Months!

Last week Thursday I celebrated my half-way point in my year of veggie-hood. So far, I am still undecided on whether or not my veggie ways will conclude at the end of the year or not. Part of me really likes being a vegetarian, because I feel like it forces me to make healthier choices, like eating more veggies and fruit. The other part of me, really hates the restrictiveness of a vegetarian diet. I LOVE trying new things and too many times I have been disappointed by repeating another meal at a restaurant or have had to make myself a veggie sandwich at the dining center in my res. hall. I really do not crave meat anymore, but I find myself craving meals that have had meat in them. For example, I miss chicken noodle soup. It is completely possible for me to make myself a vegetarian knock-off of chicken noodle soup, and I am sure if I looked hard enough, I could probably find one as well. But why should eating healthy be this hard?
ANYWAYS! to celebrate my 6 months of veggies, I made a scrumptious veggie-casserole, a knock-off of one my mom had made for me growing up at home!

VEGETARIAN CASSEROLE 

Serves 8. (or four with leftovers for the weekend!)

Ingredients:

1/2 box of whole wheat rotini noodles

1/2 bag frozen peas

1 can of your fav. pasta sauce

 (or just condensed tomato soup)

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped onions 

(which I didn't have but would have liked)

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

[as far as the chopped veggies go, I really just eye-balled it]

3/4 small bag of Parmesan or Mozzarella Shredded Cheese

(I used a mixture of the two)

2 slices of bread, crumbed.

(I used the butts[ends] of the bread, because they make lousy toast.)

the sneaky vegetarian ingredient:

1 bag Morning Star "ground beef"

HOW TO MAKE YOUR STOMACH SMILE:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit

1. Cook the noodles. I hope you know how. Drain them, put them in a large mixing bowl.

2. Saute celery, peppers, and onions (what my mom refers to as the holy trio) in a large frying pan.

3. Add the "ground beef" to the sauteing veggies. Mix until the "beef" is no longer frozen. This is mainly just to mix the flavors of the sauteing veggies with the "beef".

4. Add the sauteed mixture into the mixing bowl with the noodles. 

5. Add the can of sauce to the mixing bowl, fold into the delightful mixture until everything is covered in sauce.

6. Add most of the 3/4 bag of cheese to the mixture, but not all! Leave some for the crusty top!

7. Grease a casserole dish (or in my case, a 9"-11" cake pan.)

8. Pour the casserole mixture into the pan. Spread Evenly.

9. Mix the bread crumbs with the leftover cheese, sprinkle on top of the casserole. 

10. Put tinfoil on top of the pan, making sure the casserole doesn't touch the tin foil. This will make sure your crusty topping doesn't get burnt while your casserole insides are baking.

10. Cook for approx. 35 minutes. Take the tin foil off and cook for another 10 minutes.

11. Try your best to let the casserole cool a bit, or get a burnt tongue. 

12. EAT IT ALL UP! It also makes yummy leftovers.

I enjoyed this meal with my lovely roomie, Goombah, and Jay. Goombah and Jay brought instant mash-potatoes and pudding. We had quite a lovely home-made(ish) meal and enjoyed an episode of Glee. It was a spectacular conclusion to my first 6 months of veggieness. Six more to go until the year is up. My continuance of these veggie ways after this year is still in question! 

So Busy! AH!

I realized I haven't blogged in a few days, or maybe even in the last month. And I realized it was about time for a veggie-update. I haven't done any amazing awesome baking/cooking lately. A few weeks ago I repeated the banana bread recipe but with chocolate cake mix in place of vanilla. It was delish! The frozen bananas worked out fine, the only thing that was a little disturbing was how dark the peel of the banana was. It was a very dark brown and I was a bit nervous the bananas would be gross as well. Thankfully the bananas were kept perfectly over-ripe in the freezer.
Also, I went on an advegture to the Mill City Farmers Market  this past Saturday with Goombah and one of our fab. friends, G.R. It was a GREAT DAY. First off, on our walk to the market, we merged with the Big Gay Race. The race was part of the Minnesotans United for All Familes and the VOTE NO campaign for Minnesota gov. ban on same-sex marriages. We joined in the fun and cheered on the runners, giving high-five's to those who passed by (side note: No one actually physically high-fived me because they kept missing my hand. True story. So sad). When we made out way out of the 6,000 people crowd, we headed to the farmers market. Goombah and friend got breakfast, which I tasted, except for G.R.'s because it was a meaty breakfast sandwhich. I got some absolutely divine sunflower seed multi-grain bread, a bag of honeycrisp apples, and a few green peppers. Honestly one of the best day's I have had in a long, long while. It was scrumptious, I am devouring the bread, and apples. And will be using the peppers in my 6-months-of-veggieness feast this Thursday. Don't worry, I will make a solid effort to blog about my meal, because I plan on it being a veggielicious event.
ON a vegetarian related note, I am really digging being a vegetarian, and I am thinking about sticking with it beyond this year. ALSO, my goals for October include being optimistic about life and not eating cookies. (I may or may not have had at least 30 cookies last week. I wish that was an over-exaggeration, but it's not. I have a problem. It will be solved this month. NO COOKIES FOR ME.) Hopefully I accomplish these goals. I have faith in myself! WOOT!
ALSO! My main reason for not blogging has been that for one of my classes I am doing a blog about the news, so blogging has become homework, so finding the time to do this blog has been a struggle. I will find time readers, I will find time! If you are interested in looking at my other blog, look HERE. I am not 100% sure you can see it if you aren't a UMN student. But, I hope you can! :) SHINE ON!

BoyTalk & Banana Muffs

The first week of full classes has come to a close and  I have started my weekend off with a successful girls night in. It all began with a bushel of over-ripe Bananas & the world's easiest banana chocolate chip muffin recipe...

The Goods:

4 overripe bananas

(if you have over-ripe bananas, 

and no time to bake you can

freeze them and bake later!)

2 eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

1 box yellow cake mix

Oven @ 350 degrees.

IT'S THIS EASY:

1. Mix everything together. Mushing the bananas as you mix 

2. Grease muffin tin or use paper cupcake linings.

(We put butter on a paper towel and spread it around because we are college students and that's how we make it work.)

3. Bake for 15-18 minutes.

4. EAT EM'. NUMNUMNUM!

(Caution: You should probably wait until they are cooled a bit, as to not burn your tongue.)

THINGS WORTH MENTIONING:

I made these delicious muffins with Goombah and her roommate, J. We too a stroll to the nearby CVS to get all the supplies needed. Here's where our silliness becomes overwhelming. While at the front desk of the res. hall checking out the muffin tin, my friends begin casually engaging in a flirtatious conversation with the front desk attendant. We make our way back to my apartment, and decided to begin the muff making process. To our own avail, we realized we had no large mixing bowl. Back to the front desk it was and as we wondered away from the front desk I called out, "Hopefully we won't be back." To which he replied, "Unless its with a muffin." (Side Note: We never brought him a muffin, Ops.)

We then started on our muffin making advegture. When it was time to add the chocolate chips, J ceremoniously lifted the entire bag of chocolate chips and dumped it into the bowl. Goombah and I immediately took action, grabbing the non-battered chips and setting them aside. J just laughed and said, "It is suppose to be a girls night! We need our chocolate!" (Another Side Note: We had Ben&Jerry's ice cream during the night as well, I enjoyed the Fro-Yo version of Half-Baked. My favorite.) Once we completed our muffin creation we ate and talked about boys. A typical, hilariously delicious girls night!

BAAA-nana Chips

Saw a recipe for Banana Chips on Pinterest....

My Attempt:

Ingredients:

2 Bananas.

Lemon Juice.

TO DO:

Slice the Banana.

Dip In lemon Juice.

Bake @ 200 degrees for 2 hours, then flip.

 Bake for 2 more hours.

It seems easy, LIES.

Here's what happened:

It all seemed easy, too easy. I should have known that wouldn't be the case. First of all, dipping each banana slice in lemon juice was tedious and took at least a 1/2 hour. Next, flipping the slices took forever. I couldn't keep track of which slices I had flipped, and which still needed to be turned over. At first flip, I knew I had cut the chips too small, they were potato chip thin. I was so disappointed. When the entire four hours had concluded, I spent another hour cleaning the leftovers of banana slices off of the cookie sheet. And the chips aren't event that good. They are still slightly soggy, and not very chip like. They taste like little pieces of banana fruit leather to me. Its not a bad taste or texture. I will, of course, still devour them. Its just not what I was hoping for when I began making the chips. Next time I will just buy banana chips!

It Has Begun

The near restless nights, no time to run, junk food, dining hall buffets, and the crazy life of a res. hall CA have all begun. I am running off coffee and free food. That's right, free, one word college students cannot wait to hear. But none-the-less I am still exhausted. Last night was my first night on Duty. Only one phone call, announcing to meet the other CA on duty in the lobby, woke me up from my slumber but, unfortunately, it was enough to make me toss and turn all night long. This  morning the normally somewhat peaceful sound of my alarm clock made me rush for the duty phone. I thought for sure another incident had occurred. To my avail, it had not, and my morning has thus begun. Today we feed the first-year-students lunch in the Great Hall. That means another day of half-asleep smiles and enthusiasm. I can preserver on, I will power through. But in the back of my mind I will be awaiting the sweet reunion between my bed and I. For now, my drama-filled writing and I are OUT.

Vegducation!

This week was full of CA duties. I had to make a few bulletin boards, and door decs, and I had to learn all about my CA position. And I am glad this week is over! 

One exciting moment I had this week was making a board that dealt with Health & Wellness. Of course I used my new found veggie-ways to inspire my board! Along the way, I also learned a lot about veggie-dom. Did you know that choosing a vegetarian diet can lengthen your life by 13 years. You are also less likely to suffer from diseases like heart diseases, some cancers, and food-borne illness like salmonella or mad cow. Being a vegetarian also prevents the pollution of various streams and rivers due to animal waste runoff. AND its good for your wallet too! An average American spends 10% of their food cost on meat, so cutting meat from your diet can increase your bank account by 4000$ a year! (all this info is from HERE)That's about sixth of my tuition! I learned a lot, and realized that I have changed since my change into veggie world. I feel that I have a more sustained energy throughout the day, and I am having an easier time maintaining a good weight. Plus, in general, I feel amazing. How can you not when you end up eating the recommend amount of veggies for a day? It feels fantastic. I would suggest everyone give it a try, at least for a week. Who knows, you could love it as much as I do, and it would benefit you in so many ways!

ALSO. I have started a love affair with Einstein Bro's Bagel Sandwiches. They are freaking fantastic. On one day  this week (due to my crazy days I have no idea what day it was) I had a whole grain bagel thin egg-white sandwich with spinach, Swiss cheese, and the one and only asparagus. If I haven't said so already, I enjoy asparagus. I could devour it daily. Its just the best flavor and crunch and its so good for you. I want some now. Yum. On Friday, I had a Veg Out sandwich on a bagel thin (which is like the love child of a whole grain bread and a bagel, and its less calories than either and as delicious as both). My Veg Out sandwich was so refreshing and filling at the same time. It had some kind of spicy hummus, and alfalfa sprouts (which I haven't had in a while due to the California Sprout Recall) It also had the veggies you would assume to be on a veg sandwich, tomato, cucumber, lettuce. There may have been others but I was so famished, and the sandwich was such a hunger-crusher that I didn't take the time to look at it, I just ate it. Bite, after bite, after bite. Can't wait until my next date with Einstein's!

Freaky Fast Veggies

In the last week, CA training has begun to stuff me with more food than I have been used to eating. In the past week. I've had fast food twice. That never happens! I don't even remember the last time last had fast food before this week! My first fast food experience was at Qdoba the day before training. If you've ever had a Qdoba burrito, you know its the size of a new born baby. My one grilled veggie burrito lasted me three days. [RANT ALERT:] I don't know why all places have such large portions. We have such a problem with obesity in this country, you think someone would realize that its portion control. One burrito at Qdoba is at least 600 calories, and some can get over 1000. That is half the calories you need for the day. Its not only Qdoba. SO many places have out of control portion sizes. You do not need a heaping pile of french fries with every meal. You do not need a serving size plate of pasta. COME ON. [conclusion of rant] Besides the fact that my burrito was enough food for a trio, it was really delicious. I found out that Qdoba has whole wheat tortillas. YUM! I would recommend asking for it, its healthy and delicious. Also, the service at Qdoba was excellent. The man making my burrito was extremely attentive and friendly. If I wasn't a broke student with nothing but a Qdoba gift card, I would've given him a tip!

The other fast food experience I have had here at the University, was Jimmy Johns today. I got the vegetarian #6 on wheat bread. (I like wheat, if you haven't noticed) I got my sub without mayo or avocado. I really just don't like those two things, for whatever reason avocado makes my stomach feel funny, and mayo is just kind of gross. My sandwich was scrumptious, but I only ate half of the sandwich and I was feeling very full. I think it was just the wheat bread. It fills you up so fast, which is a good thing! Some my fellow CAs got lettuce wraps, which would have been a lighter, refreshing meal. I might try that next time I order JJs! I didn't even get a chance to begin to eat the Jimmy John's Chips. But that's OK, I added them to my cupboard for a later day. You never know when you are going to need a snack.

The First Sushi Advegture

One of the pieces of art available at the
Floating World's Website!

Ok, so I have been meaning to blog about this experience for the past few days since I moved in, but with unpacking and CA training, I've been a tad bit busier than I anticipated. But, without further a due, my first advegture with sushi....

My first meal in Minnesota (YAY!) was the most advegturous meal I've had in quite a while. The Dad and I went to Floating World Cafe on Lake Street in Minneapolis. It was a sushi place first and for most, and I have to admit, I was a bit nervous to try vegetarian sushi. I wasn't really sure what it would entail. Am I going to be eating weird sea plants? I was concerned. As we entered, my eyes immediately flew to the walls, which where covered in unique paintings. On further inspection, I read that the pictures were all created with in the walls of the restaurant, as it served as a sushi restaurant/art studio. Needless to say, it was a peaceful ambiance to begin my first veggie-sushi experience. Once I peeled my eyes from the paintings on the walls, I captured my first look at the menu and my inner veggie-worries was immediately silenced. There were multiple veggie friendly options, such as veggie tempura, shiitake broth, and a few vegetarian sushi options, none of which included weird sea plants that I'd never heard of before. I settled on the vegetable sushi lunch which came with a bowl of the shiitake broth, and the chefs pic of vegetables.

This is a pinyin
(picture from Wikipedia)

The first thing brought to the table was the shiitake broth. I have to admit, its been a while since I've had a eat-in Asian cuisine experience. When I saw the soup spoon, followed by the spoon rest, I got a bit confused. For those of you who are now as confused as I was then, a Chinese soup spoon (or what I believe is called a pinyin) is a flat bottomed spoon that is most commonly made from ceramic or porcelain. One the chunks of meat (or in my case shiitake pieces) are eaten from the soup, the soup rest serves as a place for your spoon while you begin to drink the soup directly from the bowl. I didn't use my spoon for long, after my first spoonful, I went straight to slurping it from the bowl. It was delicious. It was just this simple delicate Chinese flavor that is almost impossible to really describe in enough detail so that you could understand the wonderfulness happening on your palate. I would just suggest that if you see it on the menu, you eat it, you will not regret it. I want some now. I wonder if its sold in cans?.....

Anyways! The next thing to make it's way to the table was the Vegetable Sushi. I really wish I would have a picture, because the sushi chef made my plate beautiful. It was a perfect arrangement of colors and was honestly a plate of art. To be frank, at first bite I was a bit underwhelmed. After the broth and the presentation of the sushi, I was expecting a much more advegturous taste.  It was mainly different vegetables seaweed wrapped onto a roll of sticky rice. I was expecting  more spices and flavors, but it was fairly bland. I tried to add a kick to my meal with some wasabi. This was a tragic mistake. I put a pencil-eraser sized chunk of wasabi paste on my chopsticks, which was much more than suffice. My esophagus was crying in agony, my tongue was a raging flame inside my mouth. On a positive note, my sinus cleared up nicely, I didn't sniffle once in the next few days.
Aside from the wasabi incident, The meal was relatively enjoyable. I deem my first vegetable sushi experience a success, and I wouldn't stray away from going to another sushi place further along in my veggie-filled year, though I plan on staying far, far away from wasabi for a while.

Last Taste of Summer

As I prepare to leave my hometown, Waukesha, and my home state of Wisconsin, I have had a few last minute wonderful summer adventures. They began this past Friday.
To preface the first adventure, I'll have to explain one of my duties as a CA in a residential hall at UMN. I have to make door decs. If you have recently spent any time in a residential hall, you would see the names of the residents decoratively placed upon their room doors. One of my duties is to create the decorative door flourishes for the residents I will be looking after in the next year-a total of 75 people. I also have to make another 19 door decorations for my fellow staff members. If you do the math-or if your math handicapped like me and used a calculator-that is a grand total of 84 door decs. Thinking of a way to display the names of the 84 co-ed residents was fairly challenging. I was searching for ideas on what to do when the lovely Goombah said, "Why don't you just write their names on paint samples?"
 At first I was a bit against this idea, but the more she suggested it, the more I liked the idea. I finally decided the enhanced paint samples would be the perfect door dec for my floor. Wonderful. "But wait," I said to Goombah, "I leave for school in four days. What are we going to do, go to Home Depot and casually grab 84 door decs." And this, my friends, is where the adventure begins.
We began at a Home Depot on one side of town. As we entered we found it difficult to look like we actually belonged there. Lets be honest, what the heck can two college students actually afford at Home Depot? A bunch of free paint samples, maybe a pack of gum. That is just about it. I could tell the Home Depot employees were on to us.
 "Goombah, maybe we should, I don't know, look around a bit?" We started walking casually through the power tools isle. Great idea, right? Of all isles to walk down, this is the one where we look the least bit suspicious.
We slowly meandered back to the paint supplies area, and found ourselves in front of a wall of samples. "If we both grab about ten or eleven, then if we go to four different places we will have enough!" Goombah suggested.
We divided the wall in half, as to not grab the same colors, and began our paint sample snatching. Once we had collected our goal amount, we nodded in approval of our paint sample seizing abilities. As we turned I saw them. Two ten-year-old(ish) girls with their mother. "There on to us." I whispered to Goombah. The Mother laughed as she realized we knew that she knew, and Goombah and I ducked out of the paint area and out the Home Depot doors.
The same routine continued until we got to Menards, our fourth and final paint sample destination. Menards paint samples were not as out in the open as the previous places. As we began grabbing samples I refrained from counting how many I had grabbed, suddenly I had a large handful of paint samples. A whopping 43. I had exceeded the goal amount. "Uhm, in case I make a mistake?" Goombah and I laughed and headed out Menards' doors.
On a less adventurous, but more advegturous note, The Fam and I went out to dinner on Saturday night for The Rents 27th wedding anniversary. (Congrats to The Mom&Dad!) We went down the street from The Dads work, a grand little place called The Packing House. The Dad had looked up the menu in advance and saw that there were two vegetarian options, not a grand selection, but a selection none-the-less. We started with an appetizer. A sampling of fried eggplant, mozzarella sticks, fried onion strings, and bacon wrapped water chestnuts (which I obviously did not eat.) But the fried eggplant was surprisingly the best part of the meal! It was splendid. It was so good that I would honestly recommend going there just to get them. I then got a plate of vegetable alfredo. Although it was delicious, I found myself disappointed because the waitress had stated that asparagus would be part of the dish, but my plate was asparagus-less. And it would've been just that much greater with a few spears of asparagus. What a shame! Overall though, it was a great dinner and a fantastic final Wisconsin restaurant meal!

Kohlrabi...What?

I just realized today that I should have celebrated my 3 months of veggiedom last five days ago! How  exciting. It has gone by so crazy fast. I feel like I blinked and it was over! I will be heading back to Minneapolis next week Tuesday! I am currently in the midst of packing, and getting everything ready to go. Including myself. Two days ago I got my hair cut, nothing anyone would notice, just a nice trim. I love the way it feels to have just cut healthy hair! Today, as in about twenty minutes ago, I dyed my hair medium golden blonde. I am still awaiting my hair to dry to see the results, but it wasn't too crazy of a change, so I am sure it will look good. I love being blonde. I love to show up the stereotype and be a blonde girl with a good head on my shoulders. Dumb Blonde? Not this girl!
With more veggie news, Today I attempted to create a healthy mid day snack. I cut kohlrabi, (its called the German Turnip. Its a type of cabbage. It tastes kind of like the stem part broccoli, but has a crunch similar to cucumbers. The Grandparents grow them in their garden. The Grandma usually cooks them up in soups.) I cut it like a potato chip and sprinkled seasoning salt on top of make-shift, healthy chips. It sounded really delicious, but I took a bite and couldn't take another. I added WAY to much seasoning salt, it tasted disgusting. Ops! I decided to eat cool ranch Doritos and Tazo Green Tea instead, less healthy, more yummy. Oh well!