5.31.2012

Breakfast/Dessert

I'm pretty sure breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. That might be because I eat it when I get to my office, nearly 3 hours after I wake up, so I'm absolutely ravenous (what's new?). Or it could be that I'm just unnaturally obsessed with oatmeal in all its forms, and my various concoctions are always imitations of my favorite desserts including peach melba pie (no words for how good this is, I'm actually eating it as I write this), chocolate raisin spice cake, and of course, carrot cake. I might write a cookbook called "Let's add stuff to oatmeal until it's no longer good for you." Here's what I used for my carrot cake oats:


1/2 cup oat bran and 1 and 3/4 cup water
dash of salt
1 tbsp. chia seeds 
1 heaping tbsp. dark brown sugar
one small carrot, finely grated
vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice to taste
ginger pecan granola (sprinkled on top)
dried cranberries 
golden raisins

This is what the end result looked like (sort of; this is a picture of an earlier version that wasn't quite perfect):


Healthy? I think so. Let's not think about the calories. Delicious? YES. Make this, become a believer.



5.23.2012

The big L

Because I'm too excited for this weekend to think about anything else.... 


Katie and I thought we were hot back in the day. 

We were. 

I miss those sweatpants, and that sister!


Circa... 1994? 

Haaa Meghan. 

Just dancing to live music at the Stand.  

Standard. 

Mapes girls at the center of the family, as they should be. 

Annual kids pic on the steps!

My running buddy. 

What we think of Rachel's ex boyfriend. 

Perfect. 

5.11.2012

Behind the scenes

Most days I like to pretend that all I eat are the yummy meals I put together for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) it's all a lie. Take a look at what I snacked on before last night's dinner:


Granted, these rice cakes are very low calorie and healthy.

Until you load them up with this:


Whatever, healthy fats, right? (Warning: This stuff is like crack cocaine. If you buy it, you will not stop eating it on absolutely everything until the jar is gone.)

Then, dinner consisted of baked salmon, an obnoxiously huge serving of roasted potatoes, and a plateful of Indian cabbage smothered in cucumber raita sauce-- a normal person would not still be hungry after this meal, trust me. I, however, promptly poured myself a large bowl of cereal and almond milk:


Times two. Damnit!

Then I had the bright idea of chopping up a mango and freezing the pieces to snack on later in the week. Too bad I ate the entire thing straight off the cutting board. Juuust another day!


5.04.2012

Spicy Red Lentil Chili

I realize I've put everything about Ithaca on a pedestal, which I suppose is natural because it's my home, and I miss it. On the day I made this recipe it was 6o degrees in DC and beautiful while upstate New York was overcast and covered in a layer of snow, but I still found myself wishing I was home to wade through the slushy parking lot of Wegmans and go grocery shopping. I mean seriously, what?! That doesn't even make sense.

My perpetual homesickness luckily led me to search Wegmans recipes online, and I was able to download one of my absolute favorites: spicy red lentil chili. I'll confess, had I known I could make this soup myself I would have stopped buying it years ago because pre-made soup is ridiculously expensive compared to the cost of the actual ingredients, but now I can have it whenever I want-- you should, too. Disclaimer: my version is slightly different, and maybe tastier? I left out the Tobasco, chili powder, and green pepper.

Ingredients (makes about 7 cups):

1 cup red lentils
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup celery, diced
2 tbsp. garlic cloves, chopped (this measurement was a little unclear to me, but I think I ended up using 6 large cloves)
1 medium tomato, diced
2 cups vegetable stock, plus 2 cups water 
1/8 tsp. tumeric
1/8 tsp. cumin
1/8 tsp. cayenne (note: I used 1/4 tsp. and it was verryyy spicy... I think in the future I would use somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. corn starch

Bring lentils and 2 cups water to a boil; promptly remove from heat and put half of the lentils and liquid into a blender. Let it cool for several minutes, and then blend for approximately 1 minute. Set lentils aside.

Melt butter; add onion and saute for about 2 minutes, until soft. Add celery and garlic- cook for 5 minutes, and then add tomato. Cook for 5 more minutes and add stock, water, and spices. Bring to a simmer, and add lentils. Cook for 15 minutes until lentils are tender. Stir cornstarch with 2 tbsp. water and add to pot. Remove from heat and serve.

I ate mine with warm pita that I brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt... the combination was delicious! But when has warm pita ever been bad?