Signs I'm Growing Up

I thought it would be a great idea to bake bite-sized brownie bites for a ladies night on Wednesday. When that ended in broken Pyrex all over the kitchen floor, did I cry? Nope, I didn't. That's for the Old Jessie. Did I swear? Nope, that's for other people. I just said a bunch of loud nonsense non-swear words, locked Billy in the bedroom, and swept up the mess.

This is why my wonderful husband cooks, and I don't. I wonder if he'll bake me a new dessert to take to Ladies Night?

I Just Made The Best Smoothie Ever

In a Magic Bullet (Or similar sized personal blender) combine the following in order:

1 T ground flax seed

1/2 cup fat free plain yogurt

1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced

1/2 cup ripe frozen bananas

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

1/2 cup almond milk (to top of container)

Blend a little longer than you normally would. Drink, and enjoy!

Tangerines =/ Clementines

Yet another Sam's Club produce aisle mishap. When will I learn? This time, I was standing between a crate of Cutie Clementines and Super Sweet Tangerines, the Tangerines being $2 cheaper, for a lot more. Being the economical shopper that I am, I went for the tangerines, seeing no difference. Oh, how wrong I was. It turns out that tangerines have seeds. Seeds, I tell you! And not just one little seed here and there. at least two per section. And the sections are small! To add insult to injury, the fruit is not even as easy to peel as my little Cuties, making even more work for me. So now I'm left with a fruit that takes longer to peel than it should, that I have to mangle with a knife before I can eat, or mangle in my mouth in a way that is not very conducive to social eating, in order to spit the seeds into a napkin.

At least I got the Kashi and the string cheese again.

Why America is The Most Indulgent Nation

4 Bottles of Pinot Grigio, full course dinner with Fillet Mignon's all around, and Bananas Foster to top it all off. Mike and I were treated to a VERY nice dinner tonight, and I've never eaten a better steak in my life, or enjoyed a better bottle of wine. It's easy to feel like a princess in that kind of environment, and hard to get over the guilt, when I stop to realize that I could have fed a small homestead in Swaziland on what I consumed tonight. A whole village could have eaten if you took the whole table into account.

But I'll justify it by reminding myself that this won't happen again for at least another year. So I'll enjoy the very happy belly feeling now, and digest.

Please Feed the Jessie

Lately, ever since starting to run more, I've noticed some weird trends in my eating.

1. I eat like a boy. Seriously. The more, the better. Give me a buffet, I'll match you plate for plate. Then I'll get up an hour later and go again.

2. When left to my own devices, without needing to pack a lunch for work, or meet someone for dinner, I really hate to cook. I'll just find something else to do, or eat crackers. This strikes me as odd, because I really enjoy cooking. I just don't see a point in wasting time cooking a nice meal just to eat it in front of the tv.

3. When I do bring myself to put a pot to boil on the stove, I find that I come up with some great recipes, without the benefit of any actual cookbooks. Such as Kickin' Mac N' Cheese, or Zesty Italian Tortelini (created just this week).

Cooking is an adventure. When I can bring myself to do it, it's one I can enjoy - a lot.

New Facination: Kottke.org

All kinds of useful news in my Google Reader. And they even linked to McSweeneys today!

The Carrots are in the Trash

Last Sunday I got the immense pleasure of doing my grocery shopping at Sam's Club Mega Store.
I'm pleased with the following purchases:

• 10 pack of athletic socks. Very cushy, like running on air.
  
• 3 pack of sport bras.
  
• 43 oz box of Kashi Go Lean Crunch. Give me another week and a half.
  
• 3 pack of Soy milk.
• 45 pieces individually wrapped string cheese.
• 450 count multi vitamins.

Among the disappointments:

• 5 pound bag of carrots that turned out to be slimy and gross. All attempts to dry them out failed miserably. They're still slimy and gross, and utterly inedible.
  
• 2 pound bag of bananas, ripened very quickly, ended up being bruised on the bottom.
  

My lesson: Buy non perishables from Sam's. They're great. Save the produce for Pick N Save.

Thai Food Is Really Hot

Ee-Sane is a cute little Thai restaurant on Milwaukee's East Side, right next to Collector's Edge comic book store. It's the type of place that you would probably pass by, unless you were actually in the mood for some serious Thai food. Quite honestly, I can't say that I've ever been in the mood for Thai food at all, much less the serious stuff.

But a group of us decided last night to forgo Jimmy John's and try out this little place, on the recommendation of some people at GE. There was some doubt as to whether we would make it before the kitchen closed, and whether it would live up to expectations (there were none).

We were not disappointed. Everyone ordered something different, with differing degrees of spiciness (they use a scale of 1-10, but even a 5 drew an "oh no" from our waiter), and we had a plethora of food. The flavors were all unique, the noodles left everyone satisfied, and the heat kept you warm on the the inside when it was chilly on the outside.

A very fun time had by all, from sit down to fortune cookies. I don't know if my mouth can handle the leftovers, though.

Katie Boyle, I Was Wrong About Hummus

Remember back in college when I told you that I was pretty sure hummus was the nastiest food item in the world, and you loved it? Well, upon further inspection, it turns out that the stuff is actually edible, and perhaps even good.

I tried it on a pita. I hear that people use it for carrots in place of dip. That's my next plan.

Do I Miss Living At Home?

I wonder how long I can go on without actually going to the grocery store to buy groceries. It's been a good month and a half since I've done any major shopping, and I just keep putting it off by buying milk and eggs, that sort of thing.

Tonight I discovered that I had a pound of ground beef in the freezer, and decided to throw together a meatloaf. I think I kind of mangled my recipe by substituting ingredients, but I won't be too disappointed if it doesn't turn out because hey, it's mine!

Family Recipe Chili

My step dad and I have actually adapted this recipe together. It's been over a year since I've made it, so I worried that I was out of practice. But this stuff is great. it's a deep red color, and you can smell it when you walk in the house. When you take a bite, first you burn your mouth because it's so hot. At that point, you want to add more chili powder because you don't think the fire is quite enough. But when the pain from the temperature hot goes away, you're left with this all encompassing heat that spreads down your throat into every crevice and the only thing that will ease it is a big piece of chewy French bread, covered with real butter.

The change this year is the Penzes Hot chili powder. It really makes the difference. I won't go back to any other.


Serve over noodles, top with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and oyster crackers. Enjoy.

Sunday Breakfast

There are many types of great dining experiences. Not quite as many dining experiences that make great leftovers, however. Within that subset, there are only three specific types of leftovers that make excellent breakfast foods. They are, in no particular order: sesame chicken from Emporers Kitchen (served hot); deep dish pizza from Edwardos (served cold); and the second chimichanga from La Fuente (served hot). Mmm, I'm always glad I didn't stuff myself the night before...

The Best Feeling Ever

There's nothing better than going into the kitchen, wondering what in the world you're going to eat for dinner because you're too lazy to make anything real, and all the convenience food is gone from your fridge, then realizing that the last time you went to the grocery store, you bought a CASE OF RAMEN! Oh, this Saturday night alone couldn't get any better. Except maybe if my roomie was home. I miss her. I even cleaned the whole house for lack of anything else to do.

How are you enjoying YOUR Saturday night?