Chipotle Chili

When I was grocery shopping this week I knew I was in the mood to make chili, but I hadn't found a go-to vegetarian recipe that was incredibly inspiring. So, I tossed 2 cans of kidney beans, 1 can of black beans, and 1 can of diced tomatoes in my shopping cart, knowing that they were sure to be included in whichever recipe I settled on. After some serious googling back at home I found a Whole Foods recipe that I adapted into something awesome-- seriously, this is the only vegetarian chili I will be making from now on. It's spicy and smoky, and includes a secret ingredient (which I discovered all by myself!) that is so perfect it almost feels like cheating.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 carrot
2 stalks celery
1 yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
1.5 tsp. salt
1-2 tbsp. Tobasco chipotle pepper sauce
1 can diced tomatoes (28 oz)
1 can chopped green chiles (4.5 oz)
4 cups water
2 cans kidney beans
1 can black beans

Heat olive oil and add all the vegetables. Saute for 10 minutes and then add spices, including Tobasco sauce. Stir together and cook for a minute longer, then add tomatoes, chiles, and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for approximately 30 minutes, and then add beans. Cook for 20 minutes longer. Blend about 2/3 of the soup just slightly to break down the vegetables and beans, then add to the rest of the pot. Continue to simmer together until serving with brown rice or quinoa.

Ah, the joys of blending soups! It's always worth the extra clean up... even if that includes scrubbing your entire (albeit tiny) kitchen due to a hot soup-blender explosion. Blend carefully, folks, blend carefully.

Weekend

At the risk of sounding like a Jane Austen novel, this past weekend was lovely. The weather was beautiful, and on Saturday Schuyler and I walked to the local coffee shop and I studied for the GRE and drank an americano in the sunshine.

 

Later we went to Jordan and Jamie's house for dinner and Schuy got acquainted with Henry Moynihan. They played/wrestled a little at first but Schuy got annoyed and tired of it pretty quickly. It's sad to think that he's really not a puppy anymore; he was so calm and relaxed compared to feisty Henry!

I ate delicious meals, including tri-color pasta with shredded carrot, cheddar, and peas and a blueberry almond salad with balsamic vinaigrette:

AND I cleaned my apartment, which is almost ready to be unveiled...

More to come soon!

Pizza is (still) my Favorite Food

Recently I discovered Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough, which doesn't really help develop my dairy-free diet but definitely adds delicious simplicity to my dinners! One package of dough is $1.29. Yes, $1.29. When I got back from grocery shopping a couple weeks ago I divided the dough (enough for 8, regular-sized slices) into 3 portions and froze them in balls in saran-wrap. When I was ready to use it, the dough thawed perfectly in the fridge while I was at work, and once I rolled it out and added my toppings in the evening it only took 8 minutes or so to bake in a 450 degree oven. I've made two pizzas so far: goat cheese, chicken, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, and tomato (see the terrible photo below) and cheddar (lactose free!), tomato, and black beans. Such an easy, satisfying meal!

Taking the Plunge

Aside from the fact that I left my camera at my friend Amy's apartment last weekend, I was also too busy making major life decisions this week to post anything. I met with the director of the Masters in Language and Communication program, Anna, and decided to apply for Fall 2012. It sounds far away, but all my application materials need to be submitted by January 1st, and I need to have a pretty bangin' application. Anna and I talked about my official statement of purpose, which needs to outline what I want to research and show that I know what I'm talking about. Ah! I haven't taken a linguistics class since 2008! But, before I dive into that, first you should know a little bit about the program.

The MLC is designed to train Discourse Analysts, who can be employed by various organizations or corporations to do consulting work in a specific field, generally health care or government. Because the whole "finding a job" concept is one of the main reasons I didn't consider going into a PhD or MA program in linguistics right after college, this program is pretty much perfect for me-- it's designed to get linguists out of academia and into the real workforce. It's also relatively short; it will take me around two and a half years to complete the program (part-time), including my Masters thesis. And, of course, it's completely free because I'm a full-time employee at Georgetown!

Okay, back to my statement of purpose and  one of the main reasons I'm interested in the program. What I'd like to do is be involved in health care consulting, particularly with facilities or hospitals that deal with eating disorders. I'd like to examine how the way we talk about food, or "frame" it (sorry, had to throw in some linguistic jargon), impacts weight loss and weight gain, as well as our concept of body image. I'm actually not sure how possible it is for me to find a job where I would only work in this facet of health care, but either way, this is what my Master's thesis will focus on (I think!)

Enough about the MLC... Here's what I ate this week:

-stuffed acorn squash with tex-mex white beans and rice (jalepeno, tomato, garlic, cayenne)
-baked salmon topped with mushrooms sauteed in red wine and soy sauce
-roasted brussels sprouts with olive oil, salt and pepper
-baked chicken breasts with fresh tomato, kalamata olives, and mushrooms, served with roasted red potatoes
-zucchini pancakes with scallions and lemon zest, served with lemon-caper-dill yogurt sauce.

And, because next week I'll be at home with my dog and I CAN'T WAIT: