Master of Her Romaine

Inspiration!

2011-08-07T15:01:00.000-05:00

Hello out there! I know it's been a hot minute since I've posted.

Work, school, et cetera have been keeping me very busy lately! The usual suspects, right?

In case you were worried that I haven't been cooking up a storm lately- don't fret, I have!

I've made flourless peanut butter cookies:

There are so many recipes for flourless cookies online. I looked at a few, and made my own recipe using crunchy Skippy PB, stevia baking blend, brown sugar, and an egg.

More sweet tooth goodies- tie-dyed cupcakes!

To round it out with some savory meals...

I recently made burritos with beans, pico de gallo, Raine's homemade super spicy salsa, cheese, lettuce, and a secret ingredient- French Fries!

Several years ago I went to El Paso with friends for a Texas Tech v. UTEP football game. We ate at a local burrito place and they put french fries in their burritos and it was delicious! This hit the spot.

I also recently made some summery gazpacho, using an Alton Brown recipe from Food Network.

Served with some crusty bread, it was perfect for the hot weather. The only change I made to Alton's recipe was to cut the olive oil in half, as the commenters suggested, and to omit the Worcestershire.

I've also been working on transferring my blog to WordPress and self-hosting! It is kind of a mess right now, but I'm hoping a new site will be up within a few weeks.

Until then, I have a (self-imposed) thesis deadline to meet- so I may be absent for a little while longer before I'm back full force.

I made an inspiration board to get me going!

What inspires you to work towards your goals and make positive changes in your life?

18 Miles to Carbicide

2011-07-23T10:18:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, Raine and I both had a full day of no errands to run, nowhere to be, and not much to do. This happens so rarely that we decided to take advantage of every minute of our day...Starting with a 5:30am wake-up time!
We got our bikes together along with a backpack prepared with water bottles and 2 peanut butter sandwiches that we ended up not needing.
Then we hit the Lincoln Prairie Grass Trail.

A conservation group converted an unused railroad line into a biking/running/equestrian trail that goes from Charleston, where we live, to Mattoon, which is the "sister city."

We found a gazebo.

This would be perfect for picnicking! We didn't get hungry though...

We later found ourselves parallel to the movie theater we usually go to. It's the large building in the center...yes, our theater is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by soybean farms.

Hi Raine!

We rode up to I-57, which is the road that goes to Champaign, our shopping and Indian food mecca.

Then we turned back!

We'd ridden 9 miles into the trail and by the time we got home, we had made it 18 miles.

I'm no biking fanatic and every other bike ride I've done recently has probably been under 3 miles. I was so worried that I'd be super sore after the ride, but it turned out to be fine!

I smelled a lot of interesting scents on the ride:

-Mint

-Eucalyptus?! (Vicks?)

-Grass

-Manure/Farm smell

-Horses

-Sweet flowers

-Dust

-Cars

When we got home, we decided that we could have gone even further had it not starting getting so hot outside.

After an ice-cold shower, I was ravenous!

I had 2 peanut butter sandwiches, 2 apples, and a pile of raw broccoli that needed to be eaten.

Several episodes of the Kardashians later, we took a power nap and woke up feeling refreshed (and hungry again!)

I needed more carbs. They came in the form of biscuits, Morningstar "fakon", gravy, and light beer...

I absolutely love biscuits and gravy!

After this meal that felt like a snack we decided to go swimming (after waiting the requisite 30 minutes after eating, of course).

Wrapped up in my favorite towel, feeling hungry again!

We were having such a fabulous day that we didn't want it to end. So, we got dressed and headed to our favorite Charleston restaurant, El Rancherito.

They have the most authentic Tex-Mex that you could find in rural Illinois...

We got drinks...one tequila,

Two Tequila....

Three Tequila,

CHIPS!

I think we devoured 2 baskets of chips and salsa that was so delicious I could have drank it.

I also got a cheesy enchilada,

and a pile of soft, fluffy, muy delicioso rice:

all devoured!

By the time we headed it home it was almost 9:30 and we were tuckered out.

What a perfect day! I am still smiling thinking about it (:

When was the last time you spent the day doing fun stuff with someone you love?

and, Do you like biscuits and gravy?!

Pizza Pops!

2011-07-19T13:07:00.000-05:00

Hello all! Tragedy has struck my apartment. No internet for almost a week!
As much as I hate to admit this, I am too technologically challenged to install my camera software on the Mac I use at work. Thus posting has been delayed which is a shame because I have so many wonderful new recipes to share with you.
Luckily, I managed to get some pics taken on Raine's iPhone of my latest creation.
May I present to you:

Pizza Pops!

These would be so perfect for any potluck or get together where a simple mess-free appetizer is needed.

I based my recipe off this one: Pizza Skewers

Mine were not nearly as photogenic, but they sure were delicious!

I didn't even make my own crust so they were super easy to prepare.

I used:

1 package of pre-made pizza dough (the kind that is near the biscuits and cinnamon rolls in the refrigerator section of the store)

Mushroom marinara sauce

Parmesan/Romano blend of shredded cheese

To make these, I simply rolled out the dough to about 18 X 12 inches. Then, I spread the entire surface with a thin layer of sauce, and sprinkled with cheese.

I would use more cheese than that...

Very carefully roll up the dough like a jelly-roll. Roll it from the long side so the finished roll will be 18 inches long.

There may be some sauce spillage out of the sides. Don't worry about it. Carefully make slices that are about an inch thick.

Then, set them cut side down on a greased baking pan.

Top with a bit more cheese, and sauce if they look dry.

Bake as directed, stopping about 5 minutes before the recommending baking time to check on them. I ended up using the full time + 2 minutes.

This is what they look like in real life.

Stick a skewer in them!

Display them prettily on your balcony. Do not let them fall.

Devour.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some Google Reader to catch up on.

Do you like to eat food on a stick?

Monday Food and Fashion

2011-07-11T21:32:00.000-05:00

Hi friends! Thanks for the coffee suggestions- I am surprised that there are so many non-coffee drinkers out there...where do you get your energy?! I think I will try the Starbucks VIA suggestion as well as start looking for a French press. I have tried Folgers, Maxwell, and a few off-brands in the past and did not like them.
Every week I love reading WIAW, but I never have time to post during the middle of the week! So I decided to give you a glimpse of what I ate today...
I woke up craving broccoli.

I had about 4 cups of steamed broccoli with some leftover garlic mashed potatoes. Yes, for breakfast. This is probably why I don't blog my meals every day!

I went to my practicum afterwards and enjoyed a few pieces of chocolate and some coffee while there. I came home for lunch and whipped up some Peanut Butter Pumpkin curry!

This was a spur of the moment meal, and it came together really well!

I sauteed a quarter cup of minced white onion in one tablespoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of curry powder. Once the onion was translucent, I added 1 cup vegetable broth, 1 cup pureed pumpkin, and one quarter cup crunchy peanut butter. Then I brought it to a boil and added 2 cups mixed vegetables. Add cumin, red chili powder, salt, and pepper to taste, and dig in!

The veggies I used were a frozen broccoli stir-fry mix that included broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, water chestnuts, corn, and bell pepper.

It was delicious. Alongside a not-so-photogenic Morningstar Chik Patty...

Dinner consisted of oakleaf salad, with kohlrabi, carrots, and broccoli.

Tossed together in Newman's Own light honey mustard!

With a side of roasted plantains + black beans, and corn...smothered in verde salsa.

A satisfying day of food!

This is what I wore to my Practicum today:

Top and headband: F21
Skinny jeans: Banana Republic
Heels: Nine West
Watch: Nordstrom kid's department!
I loved the sleeves on this top.

Finally, check out these macaroons!

I made them for the first time for a potluck I attended recently, and they were a hit!
Do you like coconut? I adore it- but I find it's a very polarizing food- people love it or hate it!

Caffeine Conundrum

2011-07-06T19:55:00.000-05:00

^^Doesn't that title sound like it could be an episode of The Big Bang Theory?

A terrible thing happened in my apartment recently...I ran out of my favorite instant coffee. It is called Bru and is made of instant coffee + roasted chicory. The taste is like no other coffee and apparently it's a rare find?! The one I had was purchased in Texas and it doesn't seem to be available where I live. They don't even have a website!

(attempted sad face)

I'm such a Bru fiend that I poured boiling water into the empty jar to get the last of the powdery coffee that was stuck to the inside walls of the glass. It's available for purchase online but it's way expensive with shipping & handling.

So I need your help- what is your favorite instant coffee brand (if you have one)?! I cannot handle making coffee in my coffee maker because if I do, I will drink the entire pot of coffee and my right eye will start twitching. True story.

Luckily, the coffee at the student union is drinkable so I've been limping by on that for a few days. I had a cup this morning with what is turning into my weekly Wednesday croissant.

Of course, I got it at the farmer's market!

I also got some (more!) kohlrabi, and a new-to-me lettuce called oakleaf. Speaking of the kohlrabi I got last week, I tried eating it 2 ways.

First, I had it raw in a salad. It is the thin white strips you see below:

Also I used corn nuts as creative croutons- yum!

I also sliced the kohlrabi into thin rounds and made veggie chips with it and a sweet potato!

Some were a little "well done."

It was delicious both ways, and I think I will eat the ones I got today raw in salad again. It tasted like a very mild turnip.

Side Note: have you seen these new Sally Hansen nail effects? I love them- so easy to use and such fun prints. Right now I have Kaleidoscope on my nails...

Help! I am desperate for instant coffee recommendations... Please let me know of any brands you prefer- Thank you!

Red White and Blue

2011-07-04T19:26:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th of July!
My friends and I planned a BBQ at the park :)
I made a fruit salad:

and I also tried a new recipe from Healthy is Happy: Sugar free Coconut Truffles

I used Truvia as the directions called for erithrytol, but I had a really tough time working with it! As soon as I added it to the other ingredients, it crystallized and formed huge chunks of sugar.

They were super pretty, but tasted extremely chemical-y for some reason...I think I will try them out with regular sugar next time. They definitely have potential! So, I didn't end up bringing these to the party.
I dressed up in red, white, and blue for today's holiday :)

Pardon the mess in the background- I was working on a paper for my Career Counseling class before the BBQ!

How did you celebrate America's Birthday?

Farmer's Market Wednesday & Vegan Lasagna

2011-06-29T16:56:00.000-05:00

This morning started with another glorious trip to the farmer's market.
I feel so GREEN an environmentally friendly when I buy locally grown organic goods. Coupled with the fact that Raine and I have been biking around a lot more recently, and driving less than 10 miles a day-and less on weekends- I think we're doing a good job to reduce our carbon footprint.
This is what I got today:

A white onion, 2 bell peppers, a plum, and kohlrabi - all for $3! I've never had kohlrabi before- the girl at the stand said she likes it raw but that most people use it in stir-fry.
I also got a mammoth zucchini...

Have you ever seen one so huge (TWSS)? It was organic and it was only $1! I can't wait to eat it up (TWSS?).
In the meantime, I'll use it for tricep exercises...

It was heavy!
I had to go to work right after we went to the farmer's market, but we found time to enjoy a croissant from the market and some coffee from a local shop before I left.

I had an iced Americano and Raine had an iced latte. I've said it before and I'll say it again- nothing compares to my beloved Starbucks! Yes, I'm one of those people...any other Starbucks lovers out there? Also this Americano was weak and cost almost twice as much as my Starbucks Americano. Humph.
That didn't stop me from gulping it down though ;)

I also wanted to share a new recipe with you:
Vegan Farmer's Market Lasagna

This was so simple!

All I used was:

3/4 jar of Prego Mushroom Heart Smart Sauce

A ton of veggies: garlic, broccoli, zucchini, carrots, spinach

6 No-Boil Creamette lasagna noodles

Tofu Ricotta (recipe follows)

Nutritional Yeast

I sauteed all of the veggies (excluding the carrot) and set them aside first.

Then I made the Tofu Ricotta:

1 block of firm tofu, drained and mashed by hand

2-3 TBSP nutritional yeast

herbs de provence (to taste)

garlic powder (to taste)

salt (to taste)

juice of half of a juicy farmer's market lemon

lemon zest

I added some sauce to cover the bottom of the pan, then added noodles, more sauce, tofu ricotta, and veggies. Then repeat! (I only ended up using about 4/5 of the tofu ricotta)

I topped the last noodle layer with more sauce and a generous dusting of nutritional yeast, then baked it according to the package directions.

Got too excited to photograph it before I cut a slice!

This was amazing! So satisfying and it tasted super fresh too. The veggies from the farmer's market totally taste better than grocery store veggies and I love it.

In the morning I used the leftover tofu ricotta to make scrambled tofu.

I enjoyed it with a whole thinly sliced bell pepper and a Boca chik'n patty. Then covered it with hot sauce!

Dare I say this was a balanced meal?

How funny...I don't usually track every single thing I eat, but I happened to track this breakfast and thought the breakdown was great!

Have you ever tried kohlrabi? What is the most exotic vegetable (or fruit) that you've eaten?

and,

Starbucks: Yay or Nay?

Creative Croutons

2011-06-27T22:47:00.002-05:00

Hi y'all! I can't believe I have so many Harry Potter fans for readers- I love it!

Who's going to draw a scar on their forehead and wait for hours to see the first showing of the last movie? Me! Me!

Lately I've been eating a lot of salads. When there is hot summer weather, I'm not a big fan of using the stove or oven because it just heats up my apartment... but regular veggie salads have been boring so I've been jazzing them up with some Creative Croutons!

Example 1:

This salad had corn chex as croutons! They didn't get soggy and added a great crrrunch to my meal.

Example 2:

Soft Pretzel croutons! These were obviously not crispy and crunchy- but they added a great texture to this salad. Also in this salad were carrots, red onion, and bell pepper (both sliced in the mandolin) and juicy farmer's market tomato. Tossed in honey mustard, it was a great salad!

Do you get Creative with your Croutons? I'm starting a section on my blog for this- if you have a creative crouton idea, take a picture and send it to me! I'll feature it on my blog along with a link to your page if you have one.

Also, I'm updating some other parts of my blog. If you're not on my blogroll and want to be, leave me a comment and I'll add you! Just leave me the URL you'd like me to link to as well as the exact name of your blog. It would be nice if you added me in return, too :)

Good night!

Busy Bee

2011-06-24T13:50:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! I know...it's been a while since you heard anything from me...
Since I've been gone, Raine and I finally got a new (used) car!

We named her Hermione- both Harry Potter fans over here! Unfortunately she has already been having a few problems, but we fixed her up and hopefully she'll be fine for a while!

I have also been massively busy lately.

Proof:

Thank goodness for Google calendar! I would be lost without it.
I have been working 15 hours a week at my graduate assistanceship (which provides me with a tuition waiver for school- holla!), and 20 hours a week at my Practicum site, which is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility. Add 2 classes and thesis work to the mix and you end up with a jam-packed summer!

I have been thinking about all of you and keeping up with your blogs though! I just couldn't bring myself to post something without putting my full effort into it, which I have not been able to do until now. I feel like I can always tell a half-effort post from a full one!

Aside from school and work, I was lucky enough to have some free time to go to the farmer's market Wednesday morning.

It was pretty small, but I ended up getting some robust tomatoes, juicy green peppers, fragrant lemons, organic carrots, and a delightful croissant.

I ate this at work after the market and it was filled with savory mushrooms and swiss cheese. YUM.
I've also been harvesting my own heirloom cherry tomatoes from my balcony garden.

I end up with a handful of these sweet babies every week! They are perfect in salads and on their own.

So what have you all been up to lately? Is it hot where you are?

I've been keeping cool by making my own popsicles (and sitting in front of our giant box fan)! This one is fruit punch with fresh blueberries inside. I've also been loving one full of fresh pineapple juice and shredded carrot- I know that sounds weird, but it's super good!

How have you been keeping cool this summer?

ATX

2011-06-05T11:42:00.000-05:00

Hi guys!
I'm living it up in Austin...

I've been going ~~swimming~~ floating every morning.
And working out a little...

Also Raine's dad was super sweet to stock up on my fave foods! I've been enjoying sweet berries, ripe apricots, and Greek yogurt with raw nuts. Those pecans are from Raine's grandparent's tree in Lubbock!

I also made French toast yesterday!

There has been fun beer test-tasting as well.

Plenty of shenanigans ensued!

We also checked out a little slice of Chaos in Tejas last night...Here's Ringo Deathstarr!

More updates soon!

XOXO,

Sonia

Celebration Peanut Butter Curry

2011-05-31T19:05:00.000-05:00

Hi hi hi! I hope everyone enjoyed the 3 day weekend (if you got one!). Aside from doing some homework and a lot of reading for class, I definitely relaxed a little.

Raine and I had a fun celebration night this weekend too...

And what were we celebrating that required a gourmet 4-pack?

Several months ago, I submitted a research poster to ABCT (Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies) for their 45th annual convention. Last week, I found out that my poster was accepted!

I am officially going to Toronto, Canada for the conference in November!!

The topic of my poster is: "Nonsuicidal Self-Injury and Suicidal Behaviors as Predictors of Disordered Eating in College Students"

Heavy stuff, right? I honestly didn't think I would get accepted- my results were a little unexpected, but I decided to go with it anyways. I'm so excited!

Any Toronto-area readers out there?

Anyways, back to this beer. I randomly gravitated towards this new-to-me beer in the store: Ayinger Brau-Weisse. I definitely made the right choice.

This was the best beer I have ever had- seriously. It was like cool silk going down my throat <--that is actually what I said after the first sip! The taste was creamy with a hint of citrus, and the aroma was delicious as well. I give it a solid A-. Which reminds me- I have a "beer post" in the works...coming soon!

Along with beer, Raine and I played Wii Golf, jammed out to some great music, and cooked an amazing dinner that incorporated one of my favorite foods: peanut butter.

Celebration Peanut Butter Curry

Serves 2-4, depending on if you serve side dishes with the meal

The veggies:

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 jalapeño, minced (remove membranes if you're not into spice!)

1/4 cup onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped (I julienned mine)

1 stalk of celery, diced

2 cups chopped broccoli (I used frozen so I thawed it first)

The protein:

Morningstar Chik'n Strips (you could use anything...tofu, beans, meat substitute...)

The sauce:

1 cup vegetable broth, warmed

2-3 TBSP peanut butter (I used super chunky and the nutty bits were fabulous)

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 TBSP cornstarch mixed with 1/3 cup cold water

Heat some olive oil or coconut oil in a large skillet over medium and saute the garlic, jalapeño, and onion until the garlic browns and the onions are translucent. Add the carrots and celery and cook for about 5-8 minutes. Then, add the broccoli and heat through. While the veggies are cooking, prepare your protein separately. I sauteed the chik'n strips in another skillet and kept them to the side.

Whisk together all of your sauce ingredients except for the cornstarch mixture.

Once the veggies are ready, pour in the sauce and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and pour in the cornstarch-water mixture. The curry will thicken as you continue to heat it.

Test for salt and pepper. Turn off the heat once you have your desired consistency and add your protein.

Garnish with peanuts and serve with hot fluffy rice, or anything else you want! I also added some juicy pineapple chunks to my serving- Raine is not a fan of sweet stuff in his curry.

The peanut butter MADE this dish! Totally worth turning up the heat in the kitchen to make this. Our apartment was probably about 80 degrees and we still enjoyed this...

As if this post wasn't already long enough...here is a life update: (because I know you're all so interested)

After being car-less for almost three weeks, Raine and I are flying down to Austin, TX (where his dad and brother live) to shop for a new (used) car. Raine's dad is super knowledgeable about cars so hopefully he can help us find a good deal on our limited budget. We're leaving Thursday and I'm excited- I love Austin- I would not mind living there someday. I also can't wait to have a car again! 2-mile walks to the grocery store in the summer heat are getting a little old... Wish us luck!

Also, it randomly hailed this weekend!

Those white dots are all hail. Thankfully they were small! Our little tomato plant survived :)

Have you had any wacky weather lately? and Do you like curry?

Chickpea Lover

2011-05-27T14:17:00.000-05:00

Hello out there in TV Blog-Land! Today's post is brought to you by my favorite bean: Chickpea!

Chickpea goes by many names: Garbanzo, Chana, and Indian pea...

Chickpea makes a lot of my favorite foods come true! Hummus, falafel, Chana Masala, and recently--pizza and blondies!

A few days ago I saw a recipe for Booyah BBQ Socca Pizza and I was drooling over the pictures! So I gave it a whirl...

The only change I made to the recipe was to add a pinch of baking soda to the batter, and to reduce the oil. I also did not have barbecue sauce or the ingredients to make my own.

Instead, I topped the crust with a thin layer of A1 sauce, then with a larger amount of tomato sauce.

I added mushrooms, red onion, and broccoli to the sauce before broiling, then added nutritional yeast before eating!

Behold the wonders of chickpea flour!

My next socca pizza had the same sauce I used before, and red onion, broccoli, and leftover nutty sweet potatoes (recipe soon!) as the topping.

YUMyumYUMyumYUM

I think this crust would be great with a Hawaiin twist too- pineapple and roasted peanuts, anyone?!

I also tried out Katie's recipe for Chocolate Chip Blondies (They're good for you) made with...what else? Chickpeas!

I didn't have ground flaxseed, so I subbed in chia seeds. They were a bit "seedy" because of the chia, but once I got past it, they were delicious! I may try them again with oat flour in place of the flax or chia.

Perfect straight out of the oven with a glass of coooool soymilk.

Some of my other favorite beans are: Cannellini Beans and Mung Beans.
Do you have a favorite bean?
and
What are your favorite pizza toppings?

High Raw Detox: Final Thoughts and Sunny Chia Burgers!

2011-05-24T19:00:00.000-05:00

Hello lovelies! Yesterday was the final day of my high raw detox. If you're just joining me now, for one week I ate about 85% raw foods and 15% cooked. I enjoyed all sorts of delicious, natural food and I felt great!

In addition to the other foods I blogged about, I enjoyed many snack plates! Several of them included my Garlicky Lemon Cannellini Bean Dip.

Served alongside a little army of celery, and pears with cinnamon,

And with carrots, celery, broccoli, and grapes! I think the dip is awesome with grapes...then again, I also love hummus + grapes so proceed with caution.

One of the best things I ate was these...

Sunny Chia Burgers

makes 6 appetizer sized patties

Ingredients:

1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

2 TBSP cilantro

Chunk of red onion, roughly chopped (about 3 TBSP worth)

1 small carrot, roughly chopped

1/2 stalk of celery, roughly chopped

sea salt to taste

water, as needed

1 TBSP chia seeds

In a food processor, chop up the sunflower seeds so that they are beginning to become powdery, but still have some bigger chunks. Transfer them to a bowl.

Add remaining ingredients except salt, water, and chia seeds to the food processor. Process until very finely diced. Add water as needed to make a thick puree, adding the sunflower seeds back into the mixture. Once you have a thick goopy (though still malleable) mixture, add salt to taste. Transfer to a bowl and add the chia seeds.
Let sit for 10 minutes.

Form into 6 small patties (or any amount you want!) and bake or dehydrate until you like the texture. I baked mine on an olive oiled sheet for 30 minutes at 300*F. 20 minutes on one side, then 10 on the other side.

This is what they looked like after flipping.

And after baking:

They tasted extremely similar to Sunshine Burgers Garden and Herb, if you've tried them. So good!

I served mine up with lots of veggies on the outside, and mustard.

Yummy!

After going high-raw for a week...I noticed that I was sleeping well and waking up without an alarm clock, and that my nails and hair seemed healthier. I also feel much more focused and attentive- especially when it comes to homework! Finally, my clothes were fitting better than usual and I did not feel overly full or bloated at any time. I was consuming about 1600-1800 calories per day and enjoying a lot of healthy fats from nuts and coconut oil, as well as protein from nuts, seeds, beans, and sprouts (and nutritional yeast!).

I did have many cravings though! For now, I think I am going to aim to eat high-raw for the majority of the week, and enjoy cooked meals once a day or less.

And, since I don't want to give up bread (!!!!), I think I am going to save bread/crackers/baked goods for special occasions and for when I eat out, or at the very least, buy them less. When I have bread or baked goods in the house, I have no will power!

Something else I noticed was how great I felt without added preservatives and synthetic ingredients. A year ago, I was relying on protein powders and taking in waaaay too many artificial sweeteners. They always left me feeling bloated and "puffy" and even though I was getting a lot of protein, I didn't feel as good as I did this past week. So, another goal of mine is to focus on eating whole foods that haven't been refined or processed too much. Of course, I will still have allow myself to indulge in things I enjoy- hopefully I will not go overboard on them!

All in all, it was a great week and I feel wonderful! I have been coming up with some great recipes for y'all too and I can't wait to share them!

High-Raw Detox: What I've Been Eating

2011-05-20T17:09:00.000-05:00

Hi all!

I had no idea so many of you have gone raw before! I would love to hear more about it :)

I've been doing pretty well for the past few days on the detox- but cravings have started! They are for the oddest things, too... chocolate frosting, lemon bars with powdered sugar (?!!) --I haven't had those in years! I've also been craving warm pillowy doughy Italian bread with olive oil... But, I must persist!

I've been enjoying many other delicious things...

More chocolate-covered strawberries from my previous recipe.

Glorious kale chips- the best I've ever had!

I de-stemmed a large amount of kale and drizzled over 1 TBSP of coconut oil. I massaged it all in with my hands, then spritzed with Braggs liquid aminos (one of my favorite condiments!). I baked them at 350* for about 11 minutes, turning halfway. The Braggs added an amazing flavor, and I am going to sprinkle these with nutritional yeast the next time I make them. They also made the apartment smell delicious!

Sprouted mung bean salad with chopped tomatoes, garam masala, and sea salt. Super refreshing.

Zucchini "sandwiches" with pureed beans.

Marinated mushrooms- the only thing I have not enjoyed! I don't know if it's raw mushrooms or the too-sour marinade, but I was unable to eat these and had to get rid of them. I detest wasting food but I couldn't stomach these so out they went :(

This was what I ate after work today- raw broccoli, raw sauce, and veggie sushi!

How cute are they? I grated carrots in the food processor and gave them the "sushi rice treatment." I sprinkled the grated carrots with rice vinegar and drizzled with a bit of agave nectar (rather than sugar), then combined. Then, I filled my nori wrappers with the carrots, celery strips, and alfalfa sprouts. So fabulous- especially when spritzed with Braggs! I usually like to make my raw "rice" with cauliflower, but this definitely worked well too.

In addition to these things, I've been eating a lot of fruit (bananas, grapes, pineapple (times a zillion), apples), nuts (raw cashews and almonds, roasted peanuts), and more mung sprouts and other beans.

It's probably too soon to say, but I feel like I've noticed a difference in several areas.

Especially my nails...(awkward pic)

The tips are super white and as hard as diamonds- like Ponyta's hooves!

Okay, maybe they're not as hard as diamonds- but they feel indestructable!

I have also noticed that my hair feels softer (probably all of the healthy fats from the ntus!), and I haven't felt puffy or bloated after eating. My clothes are already fitting better, too!

The best thing so far is that the ever-present circles under my eyes are fading... I don't know what it is about those circles, but I always seem to have them even when I am well-rested.

The only bad part so far is the cravings, and also that I've been getting slight headaches every day--which could be allergies, but I'm not sure.

Three more days! I think now that I've made it over the half-way point, I can do it no problem!

What is your favorite thing to eat raw? and... Where you ever into Pokemon? I never really understood it, but my little cousin mailed me a few cards when I was in high school and I thought they were super cute- especially Ponyta!

High-Raw Detox: Day 1

2011-05-17T22:18:00.000-05:00

Good evening everyone!

Today I started my High-Raw Detox!

There are so many various "detox" plans out there that I just decided to create my own based on what I've been in the mood for lately- lots of fresh fruit and veggies! I have been indulging in too many delicious things lately and paying a price for it! I've been breaking out a little and haven't had a ton of energy.

So, I decided to go high-raw for a week...

My self-imposed "rules" include eating as much of the following foods as I want every day:

Raw fruits

Raw veggies (may also end up steaming a few)

Sprouts

Nuts (some are roasted, because that's what I have!)

Seeds

Beans

Herbs and Spices

"Extras" like nutritional yeast, olive oil, coconut oil, agave nectar, chia seeds, apple cider vinegar, etc

This morning I woke up at 9am and made a big smoothie:

this had a 1/2 pound of strawberries and a banana- thick and yummy!

3 hours later I had some veggies and peanuts at work:

This was: 2 carrots, 1 celery stalk, and 1/4 cup peanuts

Around 2:30 I made a bowl of raw pasta:

This was one spiralized zucchini topped with a raw tomato sauce and nutritional yeast.

For the raw sauce, I blended 1/2 a huge tomato, 1 stalk of celery, some olive oil, apple cider vinegar, a squirt of agave nectar, and some chili powder and salt to taste. Super good!

I was in the mood for something sweet later and made chocolate covered strawberries!

I used Averie's recipe for Raw Vegan Coconut Oil Chocolate (modified to skip the vanilla and use equal proportions of all of the other ingredients) and dunked my strawberries into it, then refrigerated!
Around 7:30pm I had 2 bowls of vegetarian baked beans:

Today was a success! I didn't feel hungry or like I was "missing" anything at any point. Hope that trend continues. I have some yummy raw recipes for you tomorrow as well.

Have you ever gone raw (or semi-raw) for any period of time? Do you think you could?

My Summer Vacation

2011-05-16T21:37:00.000-05:00

Hi all! Have you given up on me yet?! I hope not :)
I got back from my mini-vacation last night after being gone for an entire week! I went to Plano, Texas to visit my family, who I only get to see about twice a year because I'm always so busy with school and work.
I arrived just in time for Mother's Day!

I love you, Mom!
For brunch on Mother's Day, we had some delicious food at home:

Idli with spicy sambar and coconut chutney! And, lots of berries for dessert. There is nothing better than a mom's cooking!

After that, we headed to Richardson because my sister was participating in a Mother's Day play put on by her Bal Vikas (Hindu Sunday School).

My sister was in a really cool dance! She's on the far right.

The play was great and afterwards, we headed to Patrizio in Plano for a Mother's Day dinner.

This part of my post should really be titled The Best Thing I Ever Ate, à la the Food Network show.

We started off with some delicious Foccacia and Bellinis!

Sorry about the dim lighting- we were out on the patio basking in the beautiful evening weather.

This was the best Bellini I've ever had! Now, the second best one I've had is from Carino's.

I also had the open faced ravioli for dinner:

From the menu, this was: Sauteed Artichokes, Mushrooms, Roasted Peppers, Asparagus, and Basil.

Tossed with a Light Cream Sauce and Fresh Roasted Garlic Folded

Inside a Fresh Pasta Sheet. Topped with Tomatoes and Fresh Basil.

Soooo gooood!

See that entire roasted garlic clove up there?

I had half and took the rest home for lunch the next day.

It was great to spend Mother's Day with my family and enjoy a delicious meal together!

We were too full for dessert but here is a picture of a delicious tiramusu from La Madeline that we enjoyed later in the week:

Unfortunately, I didn't take a ton of pictures during the week.

However, I did take pictures the following Saturday. My grandma came from India and is staying in Texas for three months! So, we did a Mother's Day Part II luncheon two days ago at my parent's house.

My grandma, mom, me, and aunt (mom's sister)

My sister and cousin were busy playing a game called Penguin Club in the next room...
We held our luncheon potluck style and I made my Garlickly Lemon Cannelini Bean Dip (with a little less garlic than usual!) and crostini, and my mom and I made minestrone and fruit salad as well. My mom's sister brought garlic bread, dessert parfaits, and salad (with greens, tomatoes, red onion, apples, pears, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, and I can't remember what else but it was amazing!) and my other aunt brought bowtie pasta with vegetable marinara sauce (and almonds!).
In addition to parfaits, we also had a Mother's Day tiramisu cake from Whole Foods for dessert. Can you tell that my favorite dessert is tiramisu?

All in all, we had a fabulous time and it was good to see other family that I don't see very often as well. After the luncheon...my mom took me shopping! I got a lot of cute summery clothes as well as dressier clothes I'll need for my upcoming Practicum and Internship- can't wait to do some fashion posts for you all.

I left Dallas Sunday morning and was met at the airport by my friend Sanja and Raine.

Unfortunately, on the way to the airport last week, our car started having some big problems with overheating. And this was just after we'd spent over a thousand dollars on some other necessary repairs! Needless to say, we're not getting any more repairs done on the car and are shopping around for a new (used) one...

Sanja was super sweet to offer to pick me up from the airport and we made a day of it in St. Louis!

This included a tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewery...

I'm putting together a fun beer post...so you'll have to wait on that :)

I am also planning a week of high-raw eating that I will tell you all about tomorrow.

What is the Best Thing You Ever Ate? and... does the title of that show bother you?! Shouldn't it be: The Best Thing I Have Ever Eaten?

The Good, The Bad, and the Yummy- Part II

2011-05-06T20:16:00.000-05:00

Hi guys! I'm back with another edition of The Good, the Bad, and the Yummy- part dos!
The Good: Finishing finals and celebrating with Jell-o shots!

The Bad: How I felt the next day...especially when I had to be at work at 9am!

The Good: A rare Taco Bell treat...

A baja chalupa with beans instead of beef, washed down with a 7 layer burrito

The Bad: Allergies! According to this site I do not have a cold like I thought. Instead, I'm pretty sure I have allergies. Raine is in the same boat as me too...since this is our first spring in southern Illinois, we had no idea this would happen!

The Good: The upside of spring:

adorable baby geese with their parents! Shortly after this picture was taken, the goose on the far left hissed at me.

The Bad: We took our car in for an oil change and a road trip check yesterday and ended up with a $1,200 bill! There were some brake problems and other things that needed attention. So glad we caught it before we had a break-down...though our savings account took a hit :(

The Extra Good:

I'm going home for Mother's Day!

I'm flying home to the Dallas area tomorrow and staying for a week. And, my grandmother will be in the US from India!

And last but not least, the Yummy!

This afternoon I saw a recipe for Dahiwale Aloo (potatoes in yogurt sauce) on Priyanka's blog. I just knew I had to make it for dinner and it was delicious! Two thumbs up :)

What are your Mother's Day plans?

Souper Soup

2011-05-03T23:34:00.000-05:00

Hi friends!
Thank you for your well wishes on my finals :) I just have one left to turn in tomorrow and then I'm D-O-N-E for the semester! Well, almost- I started my new job on campus today and will be training until Friday.
As if I wasn't busy enough already, I seem to have either a horrible head cold or my first case of allergies!
It's my first spring in south-central Illinois and there seem to be more dandelions than blades of grass here...
Whether it's a cold or allergies, my eyes are sore, my nose is stuffed, and my ears feel like they need to pop.
It's also been a bit chilly here for the past few days, so I decided to make a hearty soup to warm me up.

This was inspired by Christin's yummy looking recipe for Vegan Baked Potato Soup.
Unfortunately, I didn't have coconut milk or a crock pot, so I improvised with what I had!
Here's my recipe for Creamy Potato Soup
Ingredients:
4 red potatoes, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 cup chopped white onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP nutritional yeast
1 TBSP Earth Balance (or other vegan margarine)
2 cups vegetable broth (I use Maggi brand)
1/2 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup soy milk

Melt margarine over medium heat and add onions and garlic. Saute until translucent, then add potatoes, carrot, nutritional yeast, and broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat, then simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Let soup cool enough to blend. Transfer soup to a blender in small batches, and add soy milk at this stage. Blend as much or as little as you want!
I blended about 2/3 of my soup and left the rest chunky.
Add chili powder and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with fat stacks of toasty sunflower bread!

I'll be back on Friday with some fun news!

Do you have any cold remedies or tricks for getting your ears to pop?!

The Good, The Bad, and the Yummy

2011-04-29T20:40:00.003-05:00

So much has happened in the past few days...
The Good: Attending my last class of the semester! And celebrating with an in-home happy hour.

Leftover queso, broccoli, grape tomatoes, and chips + margarita x 2

The Bad: Still having take-home finals to work on...

(zoomed out...)

The Good: Getting an A on my first final!
The Bad: Alphabet soup that was full of the letter F

Is this a bad omen for the rest of my finals?!
PS why is soup so ugly?
The Good: Devising an awesome tofu press.

From the bottom: large container, tofu, smaller container, tub of nutritional yeast, extra heavy book, 3 slim books

The Bad: Our roof has several leaks... in the bedroom and hallway. We've been sleeping in the living room- hope our landlord can get it fixed soon!

And just so I don't end on a bad,
The Yummy!

Tonight I made Vegan Mattar Paneer but instead of paneer (cheese), I used tofu! Hence the ghetto tofu press...
I seriously got a good cupful of water out of that tofu!
The dish was amazing...you'd be surprised at the difference using high-quality peas makes!

I feel like the Barefoot Contessa saying, "add your good peas."

Vegan Mattar Paneer - Peas and Tofu

Ingredients:

1 cup grape tomatoes (or equivalent with regular tomato)

1 shallot minced (made about 1/4 cup)

1 TBSP ginger garlic paste

1 container firm or extra firm tofu, drained and pressed

2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1/2 - 1 tsp red chili powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp dhania powder (mix of coriander and cumin)

hing (optional)

sea salt to taste

1 can peas (or equivalent frozen, fresh, etc)

1/4 cup water

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cut tofu into 1/2 inch cubes and brown on all sides. This will take about 10 minutes. While the tofu is browning, combine tomatoes, shallot, and ginger garlic paste in a food processor and grind to a puree or fine dice. Remove tofu and set on paper towels.*

With the remaining oil in the skillet, add all spices but salt. Add the tomato mixture and cook for about 5 minutes. Add sea salt to taste. Add the peas and water to the skillet and bring to a boil.** Turn the heat to low and add the browned tofu cubes. Heat through, and serve! You may want to add more salt too!

*You could bake your tofu too, but I didn't want to wait 30 minutes to do that!

**If you find your mixture too watery, add a cornstarch slurry of 1 TBSP cornstarch that has been mixed with 1/4 cup cold water

I ate mine with a pita bread.

This is also delicious with rice or roti or naan...any way you like it!

What are some of your good, bad, and yummies from this week?

Weekend Recap and Garlic Breath

2011-04-26T21:29:00.000-05:00

Hi guys! I'm so glad you liked the sound of my queso! I just made it again tonight and added some chili powder to the recipe. Hot Stuff!
It's about to be finals week here in the land of the Romaine so I've been doing a lot of school work lately. Fortunately, I had a fabulous weekend with some of my favorite girls!
My 'fit:

Heels- Nine West, Jeans- Vigoss Studio, Top- TJ Maxx!

Apparently I need to clean my mirror.

The girls:

Waiting in line to see Far East Movement and Mike Posner.

There were high school students all around us...and middle schoolers...we felt old!

Luckily we made it inside just before it started raining.

The opening DJ was great and we danced a ton.

That was the best I could do...

Far East Movement was really good too! It was sooo crowded though, and we were surrounded by drunk underage kids. I think I'm too old for this kind of stuff!

So, we left before Mike Posner took the stage and hit a bar!

Played some pool...

And then headed to my apartment for some more fun (and snacks!)

It was great to relax before a tough week!

Finals week is usually the time that everyone starts getting sick. Especially with the rainy cold-then-hot weather we've been having lately, a lot of people around me have been coughing and sniffing.

Luckily, I've got an immune system-boosting recipe for you!

Garlic has been found to have antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. I'll take it!

Garlicky Lemon Cannellini Bean Dip adapted from Giada

1 Can Cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and washed

2 garlic cloves, minced

juice of half a lemon (about 2 TBSP)

2 TBSP olive oil (or as needed)

1/2 TBSP dried parsley (fresh would be better, if you have it!)

sea salt to taste

Combine everything but the olive oil in a food processor and pulse. Drizzle olive oil in until you achieve a smooth consistency.

Enjoy!

Warning: Be prepared to have super intense garlic breath after eating this! If you're worried about this, you could cut the garlic to one clove. But, I love garlic so I didn't mind!

I don't think my classmates agreed though...I brought this to school in my lunch today and my professor said she could smell the dip all the way down the hallway. Oops.

I will be eating this at home from now on :)

What was the last concert you went to?

Are you a garlic lover? Garlic lovers unite!

Vegan Skillet Queso and a Versatile Blogger Award

2011-04-23T17:55:00.000-05:00

Happy Saturday, everyone! I hope you're all enjoying your weekends.
I am definitely having a good weekend, though I've been procrastinating on homework... Raine and I had a stay-at-home date night last night and I whipped up some vegan queso for dinner.

We also watched Risky Business, which I'd never seen before. It was good- it's one of those movies that gets parodied over and over so I finally got to see the original!
We ate our queso with chips and I also made pita pockets to go with them!

The pitas were stuffed with vegetarian refried beans, romaine, tomatoes, onion, and a drizzle of my queso.

I modified the queso from a VegWeb recipe (PS I love that site!)

My recipe is vegan, gluten free, and 100% yummy!

Ingredients (serves 2 queso monsters):

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

dash of sea salt

dash of garlic powder

1 cup of water (or less if you are going to use a less chunky salsa)

2 TBSP cornstarch + 2 TBSP cold water (mixed up and reserved in a separate bowl)

1/2 can rotel or salsa

Combine the nutritional yeast, spices, and water in a skillet over medium heat. Bring to a boil and add the cornstarch-water mixture. Stir until the queso thickens to your desired consistency. Turn off the heat and add half a can of rotel or equivalent amount of salsa. I used rotel and didn't use any of the liquid from the can.

Check for salt or add any other seasonings (I'm sure that cumin would be good!) and devour.

This stuff is addictive and totally guilt free... half of this skillet has about 150 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, and 14 grams of protein!

I've really been enjoying experimenting with nutritional yeast lately, and making delicious vegan recipes! Thanks for sharing your ideas of what you'd like me to veganize in my last post. I am super excited to share my vegan French Toast recipe with you soon!

I'm also excited about the Versatile Blogger Award that both Eva and Jamie awarded me this past week! They are totally awesome...thank you both!

The rules of accepting the award are:

1) Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them. Done and done!

2) Tell 7 random facts about yourself

3) Pass the award on to 15 other versatile bloggers

4) Let the giver of the award know if you've accepted the award or not.

Here I go!

1. I am a reformed Diet Coke addict. I used to drink at least one 20oz Diet Coke every day...this went on for months and I'd quit, then relapse! I'm much better now and limit my sugar-free caffeine habit to once a week or less.

2. My thumbs are double jointed. I'll spare you a visual.

3. I have a love-hate relationship with avocados.

4. I'm re-learning how to drive after a long hiatus...I wrecked my first car in high school and it all went downhill from there. My uncle took me out driving in Dallas the last time I was home and helped me to be more confident behind the wheel. Luckily I have an extremely patient boyfriend who chauffeured me for years and is now helping me to be a better driver!

5. I wanted to be a veterinarian and an author when I was little.

6. I love Starbucks. I know people despise their corporate evil-ness, but really I think they make the perfect Americano.

7. I'm ready to move out of Illinois. 16 months to go!

And 15 bloggers I'd like to pass this award on to (in no particular order) are:

1. Faith @ Lovely as Charged

2. Mansee @ Anywho

3. Kristen @ Swanky Dietician

4. Caronae @ Run Write Therapy Life

5. Rach @ This Italian Family

6. Meri @ Meri-Goes-Round

7. Shawnee @ Ex-Perfectionist

8. Jessica @ Dairy Free Betty

9. Jenn @ Jenn's Menu and Lifestyle Blog

10. Lauren @ Diary of a Vegan Girl

11. Heather @ All Sizzle No Steak

12. Faith @ An Edible Mosaic

13. Erika @ The Teenage Taste

14. Lauren @ Goodbye Texas Hello PA

15. Jackie @ i live with a cat

I hope you click through and check out these lovely blogs!

I'm going to a concert tonight with some of my friends- Far East Movement and Mike Posner! It's not the kind of music I usually listen to...but I do enjoy the "like a G6" song :) I'm going to go paint my nails now...

Tell me something about yourself... Are you double-jointed? What did you want to "grow up to be" as a child?

Cookie Winner & Vegan GF Potato Salad

2011-04-20T17:49:00.000-05:00

Hi friends!

Thanks so much for your sweet comments about my 4K :) It was a great first race and I'm looking forward to signing up for my next one! Perhaps a 5K this time...

Without further ado, I have an OMG Cookie Winner!

Commenter 15,

Kristen the Swanky Dietitian, you are the winner! Please email me at smshah at eiu dot edu with your mailing info!

I also have a delicious new recipe to share with y'all today.

Vegan Gluten Free Potato Salad!

This was super simple and quite tasty :)

Ingredients (Serves 3):

3 red potatoes, boiled and cubed (I didn't peel mine)

1/4 cup white onion, diced

Olive oil as needed

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 TBSP agave nectar

1 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

sea salt to taste

1/2 tsp cornstarch + 2 TBSP water

Prepare the potatoes and set aside. In a skillet, saute the onions in a bit of olive oil (I probably used half a tsp). Combine nutritional yeast, agave nectar, apple cider vinegar, water, and salt in a bowl and mix until everything is dissolved. Add that mixture to the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Combine cornstarch and 2 TBSP water and dissolve, then add to the skillet. Stir until the sauce becomes thick. I stopped when mine reached the consistency of queso.

Check for salt, then pour over the potatoes and mix well. This was delicious and tasted best when served chilled.

I garnished mine with a bit more sea salt and some dried chives.

Perfection!

Are you tired of seeing food on my balcony ledge?

A lot of vegan potato salad recipes are full of Veganaise, so I thought this was a nice alternative. It's great for all of those mayo-haters out there too :)

I have really been enjoying veganizing recipes lately.

What would you like to see a vegan version of?

First 4K & Fun Weekend

2011-04-19T14:12:00.000-05:00

Hello lovelies!

It's so good to be back with you all :) The past few days have been super eventful...especially because I ran my very First 4K on Sunday!

Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of me running, but I was in the background of a few.

Teeny tiny all the way to the right...

I am in the far background in this one...

I think next time I'll run with my camera so I can ask someone to snap a quick picture of me! There were so many people taking photos throughout the race, I'm surprised this is all I got! Just my luck...

Do those of you who post awesome pics of yourself running have a friend take them for you or do you rely on whatever other people take?

Despite the lack of pictures, the race went really well! My only goal was to run continuously and not take a single walking break. I accomplished that goal! I finished the run in 22:18, which means I averaged about 9 minutes per mile. Raine ran the race with me and we finished together, which was another goal we had.

I cannot wait to run another race!

Also this weekend I went bowling with my friends.

It was a great way to relax after a grueling week at school.

Then there was a fair at school on Saturday...

Too bad it was gray and rainy the whole time!

We looked at some cool artwork

can you believe the painting on the left was $400?!

And we got some sweet potato fries!

Mmm...

The weekend was not all fun and games though...I had tons of homework to do in between the fun stuff. I thought I would get a break for a while after today, but it turned out that 2 of our professors decided to give us our take-home final exams a week early (how sweet...not!) so now I feel pressured to work on them because I have the extra time!

Tomorrow I'll post the winner of my OMG Cookie Giveaway (you still have til midnight to enter!) and a new recipe for...

Vegan GF Potato Salad! Full of yummy ingredients and no funny stuff!

Have you ever been in a race? What was it like??

Carrot Fries and Free Cookies

2011-04-14T21:48:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone! Have I got a treat for you...

Savory Carrot Fries

These were So. Delicious. What a fun way to enjoy my carrots!

And so simple, too...

4 carrots, cut into fry shapes

spices of choice (I used sea salt and fennel seeds)

Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 425* F. In a bowl, toss carrot strips with a drizzle of olive oil (I used a very small amount- probably about 1-2 tsp) and spices. Arrange on a foiled baking sheet so that none of the strips are touching. Bake for 10 minutes, flip fries, and bake for 10 more minutes.

Enjoy with some delicious mild mustard...

But before you eat them...have a photo shoot with your fries outside!

So pretty! I am starting to really enjoy taking pictures of food on my balcony. The natural light makes the food look so much better...and it's especially fun to do during this nice spring weather we have been having!

Not that I've been enjoying it much...I have 2 huge papers due tomorrow and have been glued to my books for the last several days.

My Google Reader has been neglected...

666! The number of the beast - Any other Iron Maiden fans out there?! Iron Maiden rules!

So...to apologize for being sooo behind, and to thank you for waiting sooo patiently for my next post, I'd like to give you some cookies!

OMG Cookies, to be exact!

If you want a batch of muy delicioso OMG cookies, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me:

What is your favorite type of fry? Potato..Yucca...Sweet Potato...or anything else!

for a bonus entry,

Be a fan of my Facebook Page and leave another comment telling me you did<< shameless plug

The giveaway ends at midnight on April 19th, and I'll announce the winner on the morning of the 20th.

What are you waiting for?!

ROY-G Parfait and a Grilled Cheezy Sandwich

2011-04-10T13:09:00.000-05:00

Hello again! 2 posts in 3 days...who am I?! Obviously I am someone trying to avoid homework...
I just had to post again to tell you about two nomulous meals I have had over the past 2 days.
First, is a ROY-G Parfait

Why ROY-G? Did you ever learn the colors of the rainbow by learning ROY G BIV? Red-Orange-Yellow-Green-Blue-Indigo-Violet... I don't think I will ever forget that!

This delicious layered lunchtime parfait didn't include any blue, indigo, or violet...but it did include ROY G!

R- Red Roma Tomatoes

O- Orange roasted carrots

Y- Yellow fluffy millet

G- Green edamame

All of these components were layered into one delicious parfait.

I cooked half a cup of millet in vegetable broth to make it extra tasty, and also used 1/2 a cup of edamame, 1 roma tomato, and 2 carrots, chopped into coins and roasted in the oven.

Check out these nutritional stats!

Pretty awesome, right?

Today for lunch I also made something brilliant, from an idea I got from Lauren for this Grilled Cheezy Sandwich. I modified the recipe, of course.

This delicious sandwich is: Vegan, Soy-Free, and can be Gluten Free if you use GF bread!

For my cheeze, I used:

2 TBSP (KAL brand) nutritional yeast

1 TBSP garbanzo bean flour

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar (I used this to balance out the slight bitter taste of garbanzo bean flour)

pinch of sea salt

grind of black pepper

Then, add 1-2 TBSP of water and mix well. Heat in a skillet until it becomes a little thicker.

On 2 slices of bread, I spread a very thin layer of mustard. I added the cheeze, and topped with some sliced tomatoes...

Then, cook as you would any regular grilled cheese sandwich. I used olive oil instead of margarine.

The stats on this sandwich were great, too!

and without the bread, the filling looks like this:

Great stuff!

If you've been noticing that I have been posting more recipes lately...It is because I have been creating more lately! Raine and I decided that for the entire month of April, we were not going to eat out at all! We want to save a little money, and be a little healthier- because I definitely do not pick the healthiest items when we eat out.

So far it's been going great- I only had one hard day when I went to a Mexican restaurant with my friends after class. I was good though, and stuck with free chips & salsa and my margarita! Someone also may or may not have shared a piece of quesadilla with me...

Have you ever done a month of eating in? How did it go for you?

I also got a few good questions in the comments of my last post.

1) i've yet to make banana soft serve. is guar gum necessary?

Guar gum is definitely not necessary for soft serve! I just find that it makes it a little thicker but either way, it is delicious. Both guar gum and xanthan are commonly used as "stabilizers" in processed food- as in, they keep ingredients from separating. They also help with making blended foods thicker. I find that skipping the guar gum makes a creamier soft serve, and using it yields an icier one.

2) What's arugula? How did you make it (my previous salad)??

Arugula (also known as rocket lettuce) is native to the Mediterranean region. It has a peppery taste that some people find too strong, but I love it! Baby arugula has a milder taste and is also quite tasty. It is my favorite pizza topping, as you can see in this post.

As for my salad...I really don't follow recipes for salad! In that particular one, I am estimating that I used about 4 cups of lettuce mix, 7 sliced strawberries, and a few tablespoons each of crushed walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, and dried fruit (blueberries, cranberries, cherries). I drizzled it with balsamic and a bit of olive oil and chowed down!

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

Do you like to see the nutritional information for food?

Do you count calories?

Savory Salads and Sweet Soft-Serve

2011-04-08T18:48:00.000-05:00

Hello! Happy Friday, everyone!

I am so happy today after reading that Katie raised $3,247 for Japan from her Vegan Bake Sale. I cannot believe that this online event was dreamed up, organized, and finished within 1 week! Katie rules!

My OMG Cookies raised $45...

I've been practicing making them to make sure they come out perfectly! I don't know who the highest bidder was, but I hope that whoever it is loves them :)

My Indian gift basket also raised $30, for a total of $75 raised. I could not have done anything like this myself... Now I am just waiting for the go-ahead to bake my goodies and mail them out!

Something else that has been making me happy is actual Spring Weather. I've been craving a lot of hydrating salads...

Arugula, petite oak, petite gem, and petite tango (from pre-grouped mix), strawberries, chopped walnuts, dried berries, and gorgonzola cheese

Yesss

After I ran out of strawberries, I switched to fluffy gnocchi...

And after I ran out of gnocchi and my fancy lettuce mix, I switched to crisp gala apples and romaine:

And then I had dessert!

I've been getting creative with my banana-soft serve lately...First up is Tropical Margarita Soft-Serve

This was tangy and lime-y and did not taste like banana at all!

1 - 1.5 frozen chopped bananas

3 TBSP liquid margarita mix (I used Jose Cuervo's low-calorie mix)

Sprinkles to garnish

-Add bananas to a food processor and process, adding margarita mix 1 TBSP at a time until you reach desired consistency. Top with sprinkles and enjoy!

Next, I replicated a Wendy's Frosty...

Served with some oven baked curly fries, this was:

1 frozen chopped banana

splash of dark chocolate almond milk

1-2 tsp Hershey's extra dark cocoa powder

pinch of guar gum

Yum- perfect for dipping, if you're into that kind of thing...

Finally, I have been making a Peanut Butter Banana Soft-Serve...

In this was:

1 frozen banana, chopped

1 heaping TBSP peanut butter

1 tsp sugar/agave/stevia

pinch of guar gum

Topped with cool-whip, sprinkles, and sliced almonds, this was a real treat!

Hooray for spring weather!

Bring out the tank tops and sandals!

Do you make banana soft-serve? What are your favorite mix-ins or toppings?

Baby Shower and a Dairy Farm

2011-04-05T16:46:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Thank you so so so much for your super sweet comments on my internship news! I also loved hearing about your dream jobs...it sounds like I have a lot of creative readers :) And a lot of mustard fans-holla!
For those of you that are catching up... Last week was very eventful for me! I was offered my top choice internship at my university's counseling center. I will begin my internship in August, but starting in May I will start my practicum, which is 100 hours of observation and supervision at a local counseling center for drug & alcohol abuse and dependence.
Definitely a lot of exciting things coming up! I finally feel like everything is falling into place :) The only thing I am waiting on now is to find out where I'll be working for the next year...gotta make that $$$ somehow!
I also had a very exciting weekend...On Saturday, I went to my friend Kayla's baby shower.

Girls from the Clinical Psychology program!

Kayla is the coolest almost-mom ever. Not only is she sweet and awesome to be around...she is pregnant, married, in grad school, and has a job...and she never once complains about anything! I wish I could have that attitude...

There were delicious treats at the shower including these adorable cupcakes:

Lions and monkeys and elephants, Oh My!

After the shower, we followed Kayla and her husband to a dairy farm! Her husband's family owns the farm and were our gracious guides for the day.

The cows were beautiful.

I think cows have such expressive eyes, and their long eyelashes are darling :)

^^She was my favorite.

We met some cute calves...

trying to pet two at once...

And we made them bottles so they could have some lunch...

They were thirsty!

I took one for a walk...

And even got to milk a cow!

This is the face you make when you somehow make milk come out of the cow on your first try...

It was such a fun day, and the weather was glorious! There were also several adorable cats on the farm, waiting for milking time so they could partake in some fresh milk.

Aww...

After seeing all of the work that goes into running a farm- even for just a few hours- I was exhausted. I really admire people who work so hard; I know I couldn't do it!

Are you a city ~~mouse~~ girl or a country ~~mouse~~ girl? (I am pretty sure I have no male readers!)

PS- Don't forget to check out Katie's Bake Sale for Japan! I have donated a batch of my OMG Cookies as well as a gift basket of Indian goodies. The bake sale ends tomorrow at 1pm EST so don't delay!

Groceries and Good News

2011-04-01T14:49:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! For the past 2 days, I have been walking on sunshine. I interviewed for my dream internship on Tuesday morning and found out Wednesday evening that I was accepted to the position! I was dancing around my apartment all evening in celebration... I had been so nervous about getting the call that I had a stomach ache all day Wednesday and was checking my phone obsessively during class and on my walk home. After 5:30, I figured that they would just call me Thursday morning and I put it out of my mind.
Of course, as soon as I was home and went to the bathroom...they called me! I really hope that accepting an internship while sitting on the toilet doesn't jinx things!

So, starting in August, I will be an intern at my university's counseling center! I'm so excited to start practicing therapy and to have my own clients :) And, I'm a little nervous too...but right now the excitement outweighs it!

Despite cloudy gray weather today, I was all smiles as I did groceries...
And I'll share them with you since you liked seeing my produce-run last week. As I said before, I absolutely love seeing other people's groceries and looking inside of people's refrigerators. Am I am a food-voyeur!?

I got so much stuff today, from two stores:

dried mixed berries

peanut puffs (as you can see, they were opened on the drive home!)

TWO mustards: ground mustard and mustard with herbs

sunflower rye bread

crumbled gorgonzola cheese

diced tomatoes and jalapenos

garlic and chive pita crackers

santa fe trail mix

artisan lettuce mix

bunch of kale

3 apples

1 pear

4 tomatoes

1 box strawberries

bunch of bananas

3 oriental ramen

three bottles of wine

(unpictureed) frozen mixed veggies, frozen edamame

Total = 42.46

You may be thinking, that sounds about average for this amount of food...but it includes the WINE! And I promise I'm not a total wino...this will probably last me through the next two months!

3 new to me wines from Aldi- these cost $11.50 all together!

These peanut puffs are fabulous as well...

The bag smelled exactly like a jar of peanut butter...and the "puffs" had the texture of cheetohs but tasted like straight peanut butter- amazing.
I'm also super excited about these...

Mustard is my favorite condiment (our fridge is already stocked with 3 types)...but I couldn't resist picking these up. I think they will go perfectly with my sunflower rye bread (which was just 1.49!)

As you can see, I love a good deal on groceries! Well, I love a good deal on anything! One thing I want to start doing is using coupons more often.

Do you have any couponing tips?!

Finally, I'd like to update you all on the Bake Sale for Japan. I have been thinking that my little blog is not the best place to host a fundraiser...It took me a while to admit this to myself. Alas, all hope is not lost!

I am donating my goods to Katie's Bake Sale for Japan. Katie is a truly amazing and selfless person- and her blog is fantastic. She grew up in Japan and now lives in my hometown in Texas! She's hosting a vegan bake sale to raise money for Japan and I encourage you all to donate something.

Check out her list of donations- I'm donating a batch of my OMG Cookies and a gift basket of Indian goodies:

Roasted chickpeas, Maggi noodles, Dosa mix (rice flour crepes), Upma mix (spiced cream of wheat), Puliogre powder (to make spicy tamarind rice), biscuits, and jasmine incense.

Phew! This was a lot to pack into one post...if you are still reading...hi!

What is your dream job?

Recipes Galore!

2011-03-28T18:20:00.000-05:00

Hello my beautiful readers :) I apologize for my absence- life has been busybusybusy lately and I haven't had time for anything besides school. All school and internship interviews makes Sonia a dull girl.
But- I should be going to my last interview tomorrow and from then, it's just the waiting game...

Until I can regain my sanity, I have some fabulous recipes to share with you!
First...

Cheezy Noodle Casserole inspired by Christin's recipe for Cheezy Sweet Potato Casserole

1.5 cups wide egg noodles, cooked

1 carrot, grated

1 cup steamed chopped broccoli

1 cup vegetable broth

1 cup steamed cauliflower**
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400*F

cook the noodles layer with broccoli and carrot in a casserole dish:

In a food processor, add the broth, nooch, and cauliflower, and blend til liquefied.

**I only had half a cup of cauliflower so I transfered the liquid to a saucepan with 1tsp cornstarch and a splash of cool water, then simmered until it thickened up a bit.

Combine with pasta and veggies...

Add breadcrumbs to the top...

bake for 20 minutes, and serve!

This was awesome. Raine and I devoured the entire dish! Make this ASAP if you know what's good for you :)

Something that has been helping me to keep sane is a bottle of cucumber vodka that I picked up last week!

This simple cocktail is so.good.

1 shot cucumber vodka

juice of half a lemon

2 ice cubes

garnish with crushed mint, cucumber slices, and lemon slices!

I enjoyed this with a savory snack...

These were crispy and munchy and went perfectly with my drink! And so easy to make...

1.5 cups oyster crackers

coconut oil

2 TBSP nutritional yeast

Italian seasoning

sea salt

Preheat oven to 200*F and toss oyster crackers with enough olive oil to lightly coat them. Mix with nutritional yeast and as much Italian seasoning and sea salt as you desire. Spread out on a foiled baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, tossing them a bit half way through the cooking time. Enjoy! There was something about the combination of nooch and coconut oil that just worked for me. I hope it works for you too!

They also make excellent croutons...

Finally, I've been making oreo balls with my friends!

Experimenting with sprinkles is fabulous.

I can't wait to catch up with you all soon :)

Produce For a Week

2011-03-21T21:59:00.000-05:00

Hola amigas! What's shakin'?

I had a long day today- heading back to school after a week of spring break that felt like a day was no fun. After 2 classes, I headed to the grocery store with a friend and picked up a bunch of produce (and a few extra things) for the week:

2 lbs carrots, a huge bunch of kale, 4 gala apples, 1 granny smith apple, 1 large onion, 3 heads of romaine, garlic, 1 avocado, 4 roma tomatoes, a lemon, 6 bananas, and 2 unpictured sweet potatoes! Also...agave nectar, some mousse for my hair, and 2 oriental ramens (guilty pleasure)

I go through produce like whoa.

I love seeing other people post their groceries so I thought y'all might enjoy seeing mine too. I also love looking in people's fridges! I will show you mine later this week, and maybe my cabinets too. That will be good motivation to organize them...

I was so thrown off by going back to school that I definitely didn't consider packing a snack. I was famished when I got home from the store and put my 2 sweet potatoes in the oven right away, which is why they weren't pictured. I did some dishes while they were baking, and then got to work on dinner!

Sweet Potatoes and Kale inspired by Gina's Vegan Colcannon
2 sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
2 TBSP nutritional yeast
1 TBSP vegan margarine
splash of almond milk
5-6 cups of kale, washed and chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 TBSP olive oil
salt & pepper

Mash the sweet potatoes and add nutritional yeast, margarine, and almond milk. Stir until well-incorporated. Set aside. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the garlic and saute til brown. Add the kale and lower heat to medium-low. Cook kale as long as you want- I cooked mine for about 2 minutes so it was still crispy. Generously salt and pepper since we didn't add salt to the mashed potatoes.
Add kale to sweet potatoes and mix well. Enjoy!

This was really filling and quite tasty :)

In other news...For all of you fashionistas out there- the lovely Tina answered a question I had about shopping on a budget. Check it out! I love Tina's blog- she has amazing style and also bakes delicious things...win-win!

Do you eat a lot of produce? I think produce makes up a good 80% of my groceries! The rest is bread, soy/almond milk, canned foods, and novelty items.
What is your best tip for fashion on a budget? For me, I very rarely buy anything that's not on sale! I take time to scout out good deals and I am usually able to find one. Buying most of my things on sale makes me feel like I'm justified in splurging on something once in a while :)

PS: If you're interested in donating a baked good to the Virtual Bakesale to raise money for Japan, please email me at smshah@eiu.edu. You have until Wednesday to let me know!

Hair Cuts and Irish Food

2011-03-19T13:43:00.001-05:00

Spring is in the air! I have the windows open and sunlight streaming in...birds are chirping...It almost makes me not mind that I have to back to school on Monday. Almost.
Thank you all for your sweet comments about my suit- y'all know how to make a girl feel good!
And...it doesn't seem like many of you were going out for green beers. We didn't either. I did wear green...

my hair!

We went out for a few non-green beers and played a few games of pool. Then, we were back home before 1am. Party animals.

As promised, here are the before and after pics of my hair:
Before:

Longer and full of split ends...

The back:

Hadn't been cut since August!

And here is the after... cut and colored

^^not styled...in my pajamas!

I'm loving the darker color and can't wait until I get a good summer tan to go with it.

Also on St. Patrick's Day I made a few modified Irish foods...

First, I made Gina's Vegan Colcannon:

It was so good! I'm definitely going to make this again- and soon. I scaled down the recipe for one and used more kale and less potatoes, because that's what I had.

I also saw an awesome looking recipe on Kristin's site for Irish Soda Bread.

I veganized the recipe...

(I also halved it- it was huge!)

Here's my version:

2.5 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 TBSP baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup Earth Balance

1/2 cup golden raisins (would have used more but it's all I had!)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (not in the original recipe, but used it to make up for lack of raisins)

1 TBSP fennel seeds

1 cup and scant 1/4 cup almond milk + 1.5 TBSP apple cider vinegar

chia egg (2 tsp chia seed mixed with scant 1/4 cup water)

I followed the directions for baking on Kristin's site, and had just the right amount of dough to bake in a pie pan.

Stickier than regular bread dough.

But it rose beautifully in the oven, and sliced well...

Yum!

I've never had authentic Irish Soda bread, but this was delicious. It was a little reminiscent of a scone- which was not a bad thing! I saw some recipes that called for soaking the raisins in whiskey before using them and I definitely want to try it again like that. A+ recipe!

Have you taken a chance on a recipe recently? I'm usually the type to make well reviewed recipes for baked stuff...if there are no reviews, I don't usually make it. For other stuff however, I definitely take chances and I'm not afraid to modify things!

PS: If you're interested in donating a baked good to the Virtual Bakesale to raise money for Japan, pleas email me at smshah@eiu.edu. You have until Wednesday to let me know!

PPS: To all of my Indian readers, Happy Holi!!

Flashback!

2011-03-17T13:09:00.000-05:00

Hi friends! I'm so excited about the blogger bake sale! All proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders to aid the situation in Japan. If you're interested in donating a baked good (or anything else that can be auctioned) please let me know in a comment or by e-mail at smshah@eiu.edu . I will wait until Wednesday the 23rd for you to contact me and then the sale will begin! I was so excited to hear that so many of you are fans of this fantastic organization :)
**Note: Always make sure to research the organization you are donating to. It's really sad that there are people posing as legitimate organizations to solicit money for Japan. Some sites are even posing as the Red Cross to get money, and I have read about a few Facebook "Cause" applications that are not the real deal.

Okay, that's my public service announcement for today :)
One year ago today I celebrated my first St. Patrick's Day! I tried my first green beer and had a blast with friends...

My best friend Colleen!

Colleen, me, and Suzi

I miss these girls so much! Life is not the same without the shenanigans we used to get into...

Raine and I!

Oh...memories...

Today I started my day with a St. Patrick's inspired green smoothie:

In this mix:

1.5 frozen bananas

2 cups raw spinach

1 cup and a splash of almond milk

a few drops of peppermint extract

handful of chocolate chips

Blend it up and enjoy!

I don't know what is in store for this St. Patrick's Day besides a take-home exam and a research paper...but I'm sure that Raine and I will find something to do!

Oh- and my interview on Tuesday went really well :) This is what I wore:

Slanted. I promise I was standing up straighter during the interview ;)

I got this suit at The Limited. Did you know that if you have a school ID you get 15% off there?!

My mom gave me this pretty necklace- it went perfectly with my look.

Did you notice my hair cut and color? I'll post before and after pics soon!

Are you going to be drinking green beer tonight?

Blogger Auction and Cheezy Kale Chips

2011-03-14T19:53:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for your great feedback on my last post! There is one more organization I wanted to mention- Doctors Without Borders! From their website,

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières provides assistance to populations in distress, to victims of natural or man-made disasters and to victims of armed conflict. They do so irrespective of race, religion, creed or political convictions. MSF also assists people who face discrimination or neglect from their local health systems or when populations are otherwise excluded from health care.

This was actually the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning! I have been a supporter of Doctors Without Borders after learning about them through a fundraiser I participated in during my time as an undergrad at Texas Tech. They are an absolutely incredible organization and their mission and what they stand for is amazing. Their website even has an online fundraising website builder- you can fundraise for Doctors Without Borders for a personal cause, in memory of someone, or even by hosting an athletic event like a race or a triathalon!

If any of you want to join forces and set up a fundraising page...I'm thinking a blogger bake sale/auction...please let me know if you would be interested in doing that! I know all of my readers are talented in the kitchen and we can use those skills to raise money for the situation in Japan.

Here's how it would work: Bloggers or readers (hi!) who are interested in participating would donate a baked good to a virtual bake sale. I will post a list of the baked goods that have been donated and we will accept bids for each baked good. There will be a deadline to bid, and once the bids have been finalized, the person who donated the baked good will mail the food to the winner, and 100% of the proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders. We can organize the the payments through PayPal or through the DWB website.

But I know I can't do this alone, so who's with me? Or, if you have a better idea please do let me know! If you want to email me, you can do so at: smshah at eiu dot edu

Thanks for reading that :)

So, for the past almost 2 weeks (!!) I have felt like I'm on the brink of getting sick. I've been extremely fatigued, had a mild sore throat, and been warmer than usual. I assumed that the moment Spring Break started, I'd get totally sick, because my body seems to know when I'm in school and holds off on most major illnesses until I'm on vacation. But, nothing happened. The weekend has come and gone and I'm still feeling the same.

Today was spent in this position:

I'm incapable of not smiling for the camera

I've been sleeping on and off all day and hopefully that is helping! I don't feel like going anywhere or doing anything but resting. Thankfully I am able to do that!

I also whipped up a huge batch of Cheezy Kale Chips today because I just received the motherload of nooch in the mail today!

I combined 2 of Averie's recipes: Kale Chips and Spicy Doritos Cheezy Dip.

Massaged into my kale...

And spread out on a baking sheet to bake according to Averie's directions:

I actually had too many kale pieces for one baking sheet so 10 minutes into the baking process I had to separate them onto 2 sheets- did not harm the chips though :)

After baking...

I can't believe it has taken me so long to make these- they were fantastic!

Mandatory cheezy nooch-ey goodness, as Averie says!

Hopefully these healthy chips will get me back on my feet.

Good night my friends! I'm hitting the hay early tonight because I have a big interview tomorrow morning. Do you have any interview tips or do's/don'ts you would like to share?

Natural Disasters and Giving Back

2011-03-12T17:30:00.000-06:00

I really wanted to dedicate an entire post to this subject rather than tucking it in to my post from yesterday.

My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by the earthquake in Japan as well as the tsunamis that followed. It is so hard to hear about all of the damage, deaths, and aftermath that has occurred and not be able to do anything about it. I am truly grateful for everything I have and today I took Mama Pea's lead and decided to go out into the beautiful day and spend time with Raine. You never know when things can change. Suddenly my haircut, my stresses of the past week, and other trivial details of my life seemed so unimportant.

I loved Meri's last post where she says, "I believe the world is good despite how awful things can seem." I totally agree with her and I also think that we should all take time every day to treasure the things we have that we sometimes take for granted, whether it be a roof over our heads, electricity and running water, our education, or our loved ones.

It's hard to even look at the pictures of what is going on across the world. During the summer of 2005, I was in India with my family when the Maharashtra floods occurred.

I had gone to the market in Mumbai with my grandmother and aunt, and it started raining...and raining...and raining some more. The raining led to flooding, which shut down a majority of the western coast of India and ultimately led to almost 5,000 deaths.

Looking at images of the people of Japan and seeing videos of people and cars being swept away takes me right back to where I was on July 26th, 2005. Here is an excerpt from the online journal I kept at the time:

On July 26^th, it rained over 94 centimeters in the city within a twenty-four hour period. My grandmother, aunt, and I were on a bridge in a taxi when the rain started getting bad, around 4pm. When the water started creeping toward the windows, we waded to a bus with other car-goers on the road and spent the night there. Everyone’s clothing was damp, and the bus wasn’t air-conditioned.
When it became light out again, we started walking. In the first direction we went, other people warned us that if we continued, the water would become neck-high. Some people were swimming in that direction. We turned around instead and started heading for the train station. Upon arriving there, we found that it had been flooded. There were no ambulances, or police to be seen in the streets, or in their cars. Instead, Bombay citizens were in the streets handing out bottled water, sandwiches, biscuits, and hot tea. Taxis and busses were stalled in the streets, and many cars had floated away in the water. Landslides had buried many homes, and people had suffocated in their cars when the water level became too high.
We waded and hitchhiked our way back to my aunt’s house, and reached there around 10 pm the next night. We were lucky to make it back so soon- many were stranded for three or four days without food, clean water, and electricity. By the time we made it out of Bombay, the death toll was approaching 1,000.
Our flight had been scheduled to leave the 31^st of July, but the airport was flooded. We booked another flight, but the day it was scheduled to leave, a plane skidded on the runway, damaging the majority of the landing strip. All flights were cancelled. The third flight we booked seemed as if it would finally take us back to the States. Unfortunately, the travel agent had made a mistake and booked the first half of the flight from Bombay to Zurich for the 2^nd of August, and the remainder of the flight for the 4^th of August. We finally left on the 4^th itself, and made it back to Dallas with no more problems.

Reading back over this, I feel like it was just yesterday that I was in Bombay, wading through waist-high water to get home to my aunt's house. The response from the Bombay community was incredible, and without the help of everyone involved, it would have been even worse.

I hope we can do everything we can for the people of Japan. Here are some ways we can help:

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to the Japan earthquake victims via The Red Cross
or, Text QUAKE or JAPAN to 80888 to donate $10 via The Salvation Army

Also, this is good English-language coverage of the situation in Japan, as I've heard that American websites aren't covering everything: Yokoso News.

What are you thankful for today?

Exciting Announcement!

2011-03-11T15:09:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! I'm glad you liked my ABCs- sounds like there are a lot of Pacey Witter fans out there :) Remember when he got his tips frosted?!

I thought that was the coolest thing ever...
Speaking of hair- (and this is not my exciting announcement, though it is quite exciting hehe)-
I'm getting my hair cut and colored tomorrow!
I've been waiting to do this for a long time, and I actually haven't gotten a haircut since last August- yikes! I played around with Marie Claire's virtual makeover for an embarrassingly long time a few days ago. Who doesn't like putting their face in celebrity hair?!
I think I'm going to go for some Selena Gomez-style bangs:

please excuse the giant dent in the left side of my face

I'm also going to dye my hair a darker shade of black.

Okay, thank you for humoring my Disney starlet obsession (I often channel my inner 10-year old through watching Wizards of Waverly Place on Netflix...).

Now on to my Real Exciting Announcement!

I signed up for a 4K! It is the 8th Annual Shannon McNamara 4K Run / Walk. As I was leaving the Student Rec Center last week, a booth set up for the 4K caught my eye. I have been wanting to sign up for a 5K for a while now, and this was perfect timing! This will be my first "official" running event since I was in high school where I used to run track (I wasn't very good).

The run is in April so I have a lot of time to get ready for it. I don't have any time-goals in mind, but what I really want to do is run the entire time without walking.

Step 1: Getting new running shoes! I have been using the same pair of workout shoes for over 2 years (the horror!) and now that I have been running more, my feet are desperate for an upgrade.

I have already started carb-loading...

Kidding... Holla to bars that serve veggie burgers!

Does anyone have any beginner tips for running with a crowd? It's been a while...

And, Who is on Spring Break? I am! I am!

ABCs of Me!

2011-03-09T22:45:00.017-06:00

Hi friends!
Thank you all so much for your comments on my last post about the great balancing act that is school-work-social-life. I really appreciate it- y'all are fabulous! It's so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of life, but you guys had some great advice and it made me feel a lot better :) I also feel better because Spring Break is almost here. Holla!

I have a fun post for today: My ABCs! I've been loving reading these lately and decided to do my own- better late than never, right?

A- Age: 25 -quarter century yeaaah!

B- Bed size: Queen. Though I used to have a luxurious King:

C- Chore you hate: taking out trash, moving laundry from the washer to the dryer...

D- Dogs!! Yes, I love doggies :)

This was my childhood dog, Pacey--yes he was named after the Dawson's Creek character.

I miss him! I can't wait until I can have a dog again.

E- Essential start to your day: It involves a bathroom... TMI?! Okay, fine...coffee and a big green smoothie.

F- Favorite Color: Pink, then green.

G- Gold or Silver: Silver.

H- Height: 5'1 (barely!)

I- Instruments you can play: unfortunately, none. I am not a very musical person...

J- Job Title: Grad Student!

K- Kids: no thanks...though I do love fur-babies

L- Live: Charleston, IL

M- Mom's Name: Neena- hi mom!

N- Nickname: Soni Poni, Bab

O- Overnight hospital stays: hmm...maybe when I was born?!

P- Pet Peeves: shoes on furniture, people who act ditzy on purpose

Q- Quote from a movie: "Boo, you whore." Love Mean Girls!

R- Righty or lefty: Right.

S- Sibling: one younger sister- hi Devi!

T- Time you wake up: This is weird, but it depends on the season. During the colder months I'm usually up (naturally) by 8:00am. During warmer months, I'm up by 6 or 7:00am. Of course, school throws a wrench in my normal circadian rhythms!

U- Underwear: yes please

V- Vegetable you dislike: I actually like every veggie I've ever had! I used to not like mushrooms (though technically they're a fungus), but I'm on board with them now.

W- What makes you run late: I am usually never late, I'm usually actually about 5-10 minutes early to everything. It's a hassle really, because I have to act like I'm busy while I'm waiting. Thank goodness for my Blackberry!

X- X-Rays: I had a few done 2 summers ago when I was having some stomach problems- but that's a story for another post!

Y- Yummy food you make: Indian food...

Z- Zoo favorite animal: Baby goats! Or, any kind of goats really.

Well, there you have it! Did you do an ABC post? I love reading stuff like this about the people I know :)

I'd love to know more about you- what is your F, P, and T?

Stay tuned for an exciting announcement!

3 Miles to Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies

2011-03-05T15:50:00.000-06:00

Hello lovelies! How are your weekends going?

Mine has been busy as usual! We're in the middle of midterms and have a take home statistics test to work on. It's not as bad as our last test but it's still very time consuming! I worked with a classmate on the test for about 5 hours yesterday and we got halfway through...

Are any of you good at stats?! Anyone?? I'm being semi-serious here...

Since my brain has been on overdrive for the past week, I have really been enjoying my time at the gym. It's so great to zone out to good music on the treadmill and I have been improving in terms of distance lately. On Wednesday, I ran 3 miles for the first time in a very long time. It felt great! It took me about 32 minutes, and I felt fabulous afterwards.

I really want to get in the habit of running outdoors now that spring is right around the corner. But- I have a confession: I baby myself when I do cardio. I don't push myself to go faster or farther, and if I'm the slightest bit tired, I quit. When I go to the gym, I feel like people are watching me and that's what pushes me a little to stay on the treadmill. I know that if I were to go outside and run I'd probably just start walking after a few minutes.

Any tips for a beginning outside runner? What gives you a push to go farther and faster?

I have been balancing my workouts with yummy food as usual.

These are chocolate chip pretzel cookies!

How fantastic does that dough look?!

Pretty Fantastic

I used an Original Nestle Tollhouse Cookies recipe, halved it, and replaced the nuts with pretzels.

These cookies were The Bomb Dot Com!

I baked them for a Girls' Night my classmates and I are having this evening. I've been looking forward to this girls' night for over a month now- I am so glad that my classmates and I are such good friends and can hang out together and have a blast doing anything.

I'm wearing a new top I got at H&M in Dallas over Christmas break:

I love the ruffles!

And I'm currently debating on a nail polish color...

I went to the store this morning and "sampled" a few colors... Do you do that?! I ended up buying a gold polish, a pastel pink, a metallic teal, and some glitter polish.

To the bloggers that have school, work, and a social life...how do you balance everything?

And, don't forget to Ask Me Anything!

Coming up soon: My ABCs!

Unplugged

2011-02-26T14:54:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! I know it's been a little quiet around here lately...I've had a lot going on and just needed to unplug for a couple of days.
A break from the Internet + this awesome treadmill interval workout = me back on track!

After this run, I did a short weight circuit then some free-weights. It felt good to get back into the gym- this past week I haven't been going as often as I'd like to.

I walked home and cut through the library on the way...

I ended up checking out 3 books: Sophie Kinsella's Mini Shopaholic (one of my favorite authors, and I love the Shopaholic series!), Vandana Shiva's Staying Alive, and Madhur Jaffrey's At Home with Madhur Jaffrey, which is an amazing cookbook. I've already flipped through it and the recipes look amazing. Her photography is out of this world, too!

What's on your bookshelf right now?

In other news, I have been applying for Internships and Graduate Assistant positions for the past few weeks-hence recent busy-ness! I had my first interview yesterday, too...can't wait to hear back from them!
I've also been trying to put together a few professional looks with what I have in my wardrobe. This is what I wore to a recent mock therapy session at school:

I think it would be suitable for the workplace too.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the pants are actually yoga pants! They are awesome because they can be dressed up or down depending on the top and shoes.

I also love the short sleeved blazer- it's Rampage and it goes with just about any black pants or skirt. Looks like I need to clean my mirror...

What do you think of this look?

Finally, so I don't leave you without a foodie pic:

Homemade guacamole! This was just a mashed avocado mixed with diced white onion, diced tomato, and seasoned with sea salt. I also squeezed half a lime over the top to prevent oxidization. Yum!

Right now I'm going to go relax with some of my new books... What do you do when you need to unplug?

Vegan Dal Makhani and Q&A

2011-02-22T20:30:00.000-06:00

Helloooo!

What's up bloggies?! The same stuff as usual has been going on here- busy with school and not much else!

Please tell me you have more interesting things going on than me :)

Yesterday inspiration struck me...in the form of an empty box that was destined for the trash...

Raine had eaten this last week and it looked and smelled delicious. I looked at the ingredients and thought, I could totally do this!

Of course...I did my usual Sonia-esque modifications.

I pretty much just veganized it- and, I'm not sure how much black gram varies from lentils, but I used lentils.

Vegan Dal Makhani

cooked lentils (however much 3/4 cup dry lentils makes!)

1/2 can kidney beans, rinsed well and drained

1 cup coconut milk (I used Silk brand- it's new!)

water (if needed)

1/4 cup tomato paste

1/3 cup tomato puree

1/4 cup minced onion

2 tsp garam masala

2 tsp ginger-garlic paste

1/4 tsp Indian chili powder (omit if you don't want too much spice)

1/4 tsp turmeric

salt as needed

2 tsp oil

Combine lentils, kidney beans, coconut milk, and both tomato ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil then drop it to a simmer. If it seems too thick, add a bit of water.

In a separate skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Add the ginger-garlic paste, chili powder, and turmeric and mix well. Add this spice mixture to the simmering dal. Add salt to taste.

This was pretty much spot-on to a restaurant version, just a little less creamy. I'm so glad Silk makes coconut milk now. It's a lot lower in fat than the canned milks, which I like, but it has the same taste.

I enjoyed a bowl right away with some pita chips.

Later, I enjoyed it again...

I heated it up with some spinach and it was even better. On the side I made some Bajri flatbread, also known in India as Bhakri. Bajri flour (pictured in the background) is pearl millet, which is a type of millet that comes from Africa and India. The flour is light grey and has a really great flavor. I made 2 little round skillet-breads with:
1/4 cup bajri flour
pinch of salt
hot water (as hot as the tap gets) as needed
Put the flour and salt in a bowl and make a little well in it. Add hot water by the tablespoon (or less) mixing as you go. You should get a soft dough than you can shape into a ball. Divide this ball into two and flatten each one between your palms. This is a very crude method of making these...but since the flour has no gluten, it's really hard to use a rolling pin or anything else. The dough should be a slight bit thicker than a flour tortilla when you're done flattening it.
Heat a skillet over medium heat and spray with oil (optional). Cook the dough on the skillet for about 30 seconds to a minute on each side. The dough will become darker and some brown spots will form.
This was great to scoop up my dal makhani with, and goes really well with most Indian food. It's a great naan or rice alternative, too!
Okay, enough about food for the time being... (I'll bet you can't believe I just said that!)
Something I have been thinking about for a while is that I'd like to open up about myself a little more to you all. So, I want to do a Questions & Answers segment on my blog!
Please feel free to ask me anything...within reason of course! You can ask questions in the comments section, by e-mail at (smshah at eiu dot edu) or on Formspring <--if you want to be all anonymous and sneaky :)
After about a week, or when I have enough questions, I'll start posting them with my answers.

Ask away! I can't wait to find out what you want to know about me...

In the meantime...tell me something I don't know about you!

The Little Chopper that Could

2011-02-20T20:51:00.000-06:00

Hola Chicas!

Thank you so much for your well wishes on my guest lecture- I'm so excited! I spent hours yesterday working on my PowerPoint slides, and planning activities for the class to do. The lecture is on Wednesday at 11:00am- but I wish it was tomorrow :)

I was cooking with a friend yesterday and I started getting irritated by my lack of counter space and abundance of small kitchen appliances. I thought about putting some away in boxes but I realized that I use all of my appliances (blender, food processor, spiralizer, steamer, rice cooker...) on an almost daily basis.

They are all important in my kitchen and today I want to share some stuff that's been coming out of my little food processor!

I got this small Cuisinart processor courtesy of CSN Stores earlier this month and use it so much!

I have made Veggie Good Falafel:

Angela's Creamy Avocado Dressing:

I skipped the olive oil in her recipe and instead of pasta, served my sauce on a big bed of cabbage, zucchini, tomato, carrots, black beans, and lettuce! The sauce was amazing- it's a must make dish!

I've also made oreo balls twice...

and one of the latest things I've been making is...

Tropical Berry Balls

These were inspired by Allison's recipe.

In mine, I used:

1/3 cup dried berries (cranberries, blueberries, strawberries)

1/2 spear dried papaya, diced

2 TBSP cashews

1 TBSP agave nectar

1/4 cup oats

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

I pulsed all of these things in the food processor until they came together into a big mass. I rolled them into 6 balls and even rolled a few in unsweetened coconut.

Delish! Thank you for the recipe, Allison!

This is a super quick 5-minute dessert, and they make great pre-workout snacks. And- they're way cheaper than LaraBars or any other raw bar, and just as (if not more) tasty!

What is your favorite kitchen appliance?

OMG Cookies & More Stripes

2011-02-18T18:54:00.000-06:00

Hi, friends! What's new?

I'm doing great :) Thanks for asking...hehe. I've been getting busy with schoolwork lately and haven't had as much time to blog. Not to worry though, there are still some magnificent things occurring in my kitchen!

Last night, I was craving cookies. Specifically, cookies with chocolate.

After some careful assessment of my pantry, OMG Cookies were born. Why OMG? Because the entire time Raine and I were eating them, we kept repeating "OMG these are so good," over and over again.

This is one of the first times I have created a cookie from scratch, and I can't believe they turned out so well the first time!

OMG Cookies (makes 24-26 cookies)

1 heaping cup flour (I used unbleached white)

1/4 + 1/8 cup Sugar in the Raw

1/4 + 1/8 cup brown sugar

1 stick vegan butter (mine is olive oil based- any stick butter will do)

1 TBSP chia seeds + 3 TBSP water (chia egg)

1 tsp vanilla

scant half cup dried mixed berries

scant half cup chopped Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt/dark chocolate chip mixture (you could use chocolate chips here- this is just what I had in my chocolate stash!)

Preheat oven to 375*

Combine the chia seeds and water in a small bowl and set aside.

Cream the sugar, butter, and vanilla together with a hand mixer until very well incorporated. When the chia seeds have absorbed all water (all of it!), stir them into the butter-sugar mix. Add flour and mix well. Add the chocolate and berries and mix until they're well disbursed throughout the dough.

Spoon heaping tablespoons of the dough onto a greased baking sheet, making sure cookies are spaced at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool before removing from the baking sheet.

Devour.

Don't do as I did and eat 6 cookies all at once...

Do leave a few bigger chunks of chocolate for a special melty treat...

The chia seeds got all toasty in the oven and added a fantastic crunch to these! The cookies were crispy on the bottom and soft inside and OMG...just...OMG.

Let me know if you try making these! I'm pretty sure you could use anything inside...berries, chocolate, nuts, seeds, coconut, you name it!

And, I'm so glad you liked my stripes! I love stripes too- I own a lot of clothes that are striped. This is something I wore recently- when the temperature rose to 50*

I have a hard time taking an up-and-down picture of myself. I need help.

I also brought out my cowgirl boots!

For some reason I kept calling them cowboy-girl boots. It was great to walk around in shoes other than snowboots!

Topped my outfit with a red bow on a headband and I was good to go :)

On an unrelated note- I've been having some Internet problems lately and have been having a hard time leaving comments! I think it has resolved itself though... but if you haven't heard from me lately, know that I am still reading :)

PS: I am giving a guest lecture on Wednesday on body image. Do you have any ideas for activities I could do with the class? The lecture + activities should take up about 50 minutes, and there are 30 undergraduate students in the class! So far, I'm going to tie in Operation Beautiful to my lecture and have them fill out their own sticky note to put somewhere on campus.

What do you think?

Lost in Translation

2011-02-16T00:03:00.001-06:00

Hello friends :) Happy Wednesday- we are almost to the weekend.

I finally decided to break out the miso that my friend helped me pick out at the Asian grocery store and make some soup.

She told me that white miso is sweet, red miso is very salty, and yellow is in-between. I followed the instructions on the lid of the miso and also used the ground seaweed stock that I also got at the store. The entire package was in Japanese though! Luckily, there was a website printed in teeny tiny font on the package.

Of course, it was also in Japanese. Thank goodness for Google Translator!

I was able to find the ratio of powder to water that I was supposed to use on their site. Then, I got very excited when I found a "Recipes" section.

Unfortunately, this is what I got:

umm yeah. Thanks a lot, Google!

I am not sure what "bee tie" is, but I know I am not eating it. And I am definitely not smoking this soup.

I am however, slurping this soup:

Yummy miso! I put broccoli, tofu, and a small amount of carrot and bell pepper in mine. It was wonderful and I think I want to put some mushrooms in it next time! I told my Japanese friend what I had done with my miso and she said she always laughs at what people here put in their miso. It may not be traditional, but it was tasty!

I ate two bowls of soup and put the rest away for later. Do not do this. This soup did not keep well in the fridge and had a strange odor and taste when I tried to eat it again...

Something else I've been experimenting with is the Sencha tea that I also got in Champaign. This was the first time I've had Sencha and I really like it! It took me a few sips to get used to it though- it has a really strong seaweedy smell at first, but it doesn't taste fishy at all.
I found this awesome interactive site that has a lot of information about Sencha, too.
Of course, I have to do more with my tea than just drink it!
Yesterday after I got home from school, I whipped up this Sencha Infused Tofu:

I made a marinade loosely based off of one of Averie's recipes for Green Tea & Honey Ginger Tofu.
I used:
1/2 cup brewed Sencha tea
2 TBSP agave nectar (or honey)
1 TBSP ginger-garlic paste
2 TBSP apple-cider vinegar
1 TBSP sesame oil

I marinated to tofu for a very short time (I was so hungry!) and baked it for 25 minutes at 425* turning it at the 20-minute point. Then, I broiled it for a minute. I didn't press my tofu very well beforehand, but if you did you probably won't need to broil it.
This was great! The Sencha and the agave nectar were really good together and I will definitely make this again.

Well, I've gotta go- I really need to make some Radish Sesame or Unjustified...

Kidding.

Do you ever use your ingredients in non-traditional ways? What do you make with them? I definitely test the boundaries of many ingredients...from Channa Masala Pizza to Faux-Co Crispies, you can tell I like to mix it up in the kitchen!

Vegan PB&J French Toast with a Side of Fashion

2011-02-15T00:03:00.003-06:00

The other night I was in the mood for breakfast for dinner, and I had a serious sweet tooth going on.

Thus was born: Vegan PB&J French Toast with Bananas

That's a mouthful, and so is this dish...

First, I made a "batter" from 1/3 ripe banana, 1/2-1 TBSP flaxseed (would have been better ground), a generous splash soymilk, and equal splash of pomegranate-plum juice (any juice- orange, apple, etc would work), and about 2 TBSP oats. Sorry I didn't measure everything out- I was hungry!

I blended all of those ingredients in the food processor and poured it into a bowl for dippage:

Dip slices of bread in the batter on each side and make sure you get some flax/oat solids stuck onto the bread along with soaking it well.
Cook in a skillet as you would with any French Toast, with olive oil spray (what I used), margarine, butter, whatever you want.

This is what it looked liked after cooking. I actually put the finished slices under the broiler for a minute to make it extra-toasty.

I made 2 slices using whole wheat bread, then slathered one side with strawberry preserves and one side with crunchy PB. Then, I sliced the rest of the banana over the top, sprinkled on some coconut, and to put it even more over the top--drizzled on some sugar-free maple syrup.

Holy Yum! This was really, really good y'all. I got the batter idea from various vegan French Toast recipes I've seen floating around, but didn't use any specific one. I bet you could even add some cinnamon or vanilla to the mix for an extra delicious taste!

Olivia also made some equally delish PB&J Stuffed French Toast recently-check it out!

Breakfast foods are probably my favorite types of food, and Brunch is definitely my favorite meal of the day. It's just fun to say, and I associate "Brunch" with cooking breakfast with my boyfriend or meeting friends for a mid-morning meal.

I went to brunch with a friend recently, and this is what I wore:

Sweater: Forever 21, Jeans: BDG at Urban Outfitters, Slippers (did not wear those out!): Victoria's Secret

This is one of my favorite sweaters- I love the detail on the right side:

I also had on a shiny sparkly ring, and my new nailpolish that I got in Champaign.

While I love a good cute sweater...I'm ready to pack them all them away and bring out tank tops and flip flops! What do you most want to wear once the weather is warmer?

Bye-Bye!

Valentine's Day and a Happy Anniversary

2011-02-14T01:00:00.015-06:00

Hello friends! Do you celebrate Valentine's Day?
I love hearts, all things pink, and chocolate--but I like them all year, not just on this one day!
Valentine's Day is the day my mom and step-dad got married, so it's their anniversary :)

Love them!

Happy Anniversary!!

Growing up, I always associated Valentine's Day with going out to dinner with my parents and sister to celebrate their anniversary- and I liked it that way!

I feel like this day causes so many people a lot of stress though...people worry about being able to get a reservation at the perfect restaurant, if their significant other will like the gift they bought, and even how much money to spend on each other! People also get so worked up over not having someone special to celebrate Valentine's Day with. I even remember girls in my dorm having "Anti-Valentine's Day" parties and Single-Appreciation Day.

I love Mansee's approach to V-Day :)

And here's an awesome post from Consumerist about celebrating Valentine's Day stress-free and without spending big bucks.

Raine and I definitely celebrate our love for each other every day, and use this day as an excuse to spend even more time together. We do go all out for each other on birthdays though, and on our anniversary!

What could be better?

Last night we did cook dinner together- Vegan Tacos!
I bought a huge bag of Textured Soy Protein on a whim at the store last week and we decided to try it out.
From dry:

To hydrated:

To chopped in the food processor:

Raine prepared these like any other taco filling, with a seasoning packet.

We served it up with shredded cabbage, refried beans, homemade salsa (Raine's recipe!), and some crunchy chips.

And what's that box in the back? You'll have to read on to find out...

I had 2 tacos and the soy filling was really good!

I can't wait to experiment more with this stuff.
Then, we opened the box...

and found inside...

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cupcake

We got this from my friend Corey who has just opened up his own bakery- called Imagination Cakes. It was awesome! If you live in southeast Illinois..definitely check out his cakes!
Raine and I mmm'd and ahh'd as we devoured this :)

What are you doing for Valentine's Day?

Shopping & Sushi Extravaganza!

2011-02-12T10:50:00.001-06:00

On Thursday some of the girls in my program and I took a trip to Champaign for sushi and shopping. What could be better?
We started at the mall and spent a good 3 hours there...I tried not to buy too much, but the siren call of Forever21 will always lure me in...

I got some fun socks (love the mushroom pattern on the black ones!) and sunglasses from F21 along with some tops and a dress. I also got a lip gloss at Victoria's Secret, and a funky green nailpolish from Sephora. I'm loving mint-green things these days. The clothes didn't photograph that well...so you'll see them when I wear them! I also got a free (unpictured) full-size body wash from Sephora as a belated birthday gift when I signed up for a rewards card :)
After the mall, we met up with a friend for dinner at Sushi Rock on East Green Street.
I ordered the vegetable gyoza:

These were pretty good- maybe a bit over done though, as the tops of the dumplings were a bit dry. The sauce that came with these was so spicy it made me cough, too!

The star of my evening was this:

Yam tempura rolls- these had cucumber, carrot, avocado, and tempura fried yam inside, and were topped with sesame seeds and a savory sauce. This was the best vegetarian sushi I've ever had! This picture is making me want it again right now...

It was my friend Ashlee's first time trying sushi and her first time using chopsticks!

She was an instant pro:

Ashlee is a vegetarian too, and got the veggie rolls. She liked them!

After dinner we headed to Cold Stone. I debated in my head whether I should get any ice cream or not, as it doesn't always agree with me...but after a sample of the coffee ice cream (my favorite flavor), I ended up getting the smallest size...which wasn't very small at all.

I was basically shivering as I ate this--it was about 10 degrees outside, but it was very tasty!

Unfortunately, all of the sugar kept me awake until well past 4am the next day.

After dessert we headed to an Asian grocery store to stock up on some items we can't get in Charleston.

This is what I got:

From the top left: 10 lbs Basmati rice, Japanese Sencha tea, roasted chickpeas, coconut oil, tamarind paste, 3 Indian boxed dinners (for Raine). Second row: Nori for sushi, sesame candy, dashi kombu (seaweed powder for making soup), millet, and dried fruit (mango, ginger, kiwi). At the bottom are a tea strainer and a soup spoon for this Miso:

I love miso soup! My dad used to buy miso paste and make soup for me when I was a child, but I have only eaten it restaurants since then. I'm glad I can start making it for myself now- with whatever I want to put in it!

Something I did not get was this:

eek! I know some people probably love this stuff, but it's not something I'm interested in trying! To each their own...
All in all, the trip was a success, and I can't wait to go back to Sushi Rock and back to Champaign.

PS: I've made a Master of Her Romaine page on Facebook- please feel free to "Like" me!

About Me

2011-02-10T23:51:00.000-06:00

A lot has changed since I published my first post and I thought that now would be a great time to update you on where I am in life today.

I graduated from Texas Tech University in May of 2010 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Environmental Studies.

Can you spot me?

During my last 3 years in Lubbock, I also worked full-time in a research lab studying Alzheimer's Disease and Diabetes. It was the best job I've ever had and I learned a lot there!

Self-portrait of me in the lab

In July of 2010, my boyfriend and I packed up and moved 1,000 miles north to Charleston, Illinois, where I am currently attending a Master's program in Clinical Psychology. I'm very interested in studying nutrition, and researching and providing treatment for individuals with eating disorders.
Charleston is a rural town in southeastern Illinois and there is not much going on here. I miss city-life in the Dallas area where my parents live, and I miss my family a lot

Mom, me, sister, step-dad

Sister, me, Mom

I also really miss my Texas friends

BFF Colleen

Luckily, I have my boyfriend here with me! We started dating in October of 2006. He is the most caring, patient, and supportive person I could have asked for and he also makes me laugh all the time. I love to laugh!

Me and Raine

If you know me, you'll know that I also love to eat. I live on a plant-based, vegetarian (mostly vegan) diet. But, I don't think those labels are important. What's important to me is that I'm doing something that makes me and my tummy feel healthy and fulfilled. For me, that means eating mainly fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, and grains. Something you won't find here is a food journal--I'm pretty sure none of you are interested in seeing me eat an enormous salad for breakfast!

I do love to cook though, and you will find a lot of recipes on my blog. Good Indian food holds a very special place in my heart and you'll also see a lot of that here. I also love simple, healthy recipes that don't involve too much preparation time. I love to get recipe inspiration from all over the blogworld and from Food Network, and trying new things is one of my hobbies.

Some of my other passions include:
Travel

Goa, India

Las Vegas, NV

Hong Kong

Singapore

New Mexico

I really love visiting new places, sight-seeing, doing touristy things, and most of all-trying new food!

Being Outdoors

Something else I enjoy is spending time with nature. I love to hike, go camping, and be outdoors in general- especially in the summertime!

I especially enjoy laying out in the sun with a good book to read, which brings me to my love for...

Books

Reading in front of my parent's fireplace
I absolutely love to read. I am pretty sure I was born with a book in my hand! I'm usually in the middle of 2-3 books at once... The Bell Jar is my all-time favorite book and some of my favorite authors include: Roddy Doyle, John Updike, Marian Keyes, Douglas Adams, L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, J.K. Rowling, Chelsea Handler, and Beverly Cleary. I could go on and on though! I also enjoy most chic lit- especially if it's set in the UK. Nothing pulls me out of a bad mood like getting involved in a fabulous book!

Animals
I have a soft spot for every living creature and believe we should all treat living things with kindness, compassion, and humanity.

Me & Bosco

That's enough about me for now! I want to hear from you. I love to know who is reading my blog and really look forward to your comments. Please don't hesitate to leave me a message here or e-mail me at
Sonia116 at gmail dot com

Oreo Balls and Veggie Good Falafel

2011-02-08T17:27:00.000-06:00

Hello all!

Last week I received my CSN Stores product to review...a food processor!

Don't you love it when boxes are 6X the size of the product they're delivering?
I got a cute little Cuisinart processor that has a reversible blade- one for chopping or pureeing foods, and one for making nut butters. I have already used it several times...
First, I made Oreo balls:

I used Averie's recipe for Chocolate Covered Oreo Balls and the only change I made was to use slightly less cream cheese- I didn't need the full amount. I also processed the cookies in my new food processor rather than smashing them up by hand.

I dipped half of the batch in melted chocolate, and half in vanilla flavored almond bark, then drizzled the opposite-colored dips over each ball using a toothpick.

I made these for our Super Bowl party and they were a hit! Two days later, my classmates are still talking about them... I am definitely going to make these again! I had actually never had an Oreo ball before I saw Averie's recipe, but I'm glad I made them- they were delicious :)

I also made some Veggie Good Falafel (hehehe) using the food processor. This recipe is so simple and doesn't even use tahini, which I never seem to have, or on the rare occasion that I do, it has gone stale. However, I'm sure you could add a TBSP or two and make it even better! This recipe is so simple and can be adapted to use whatever veggies you want.

Ingredients:

1 heaping cup mixed diced veggies (I used carrot, onion, and broccoli--but I'm sure zucchini, bell pepper, cauliflower, etc. would be great)

1 clove garlic

1 can chickpeas

1/2 - 1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp chili powder

salt to taste

See? Such simple ingredients...

Put the veggies and garlic in the food processor and chop until super-fine:

Then, add the chickpeas and spices to the food processor and mix well. I stopped just short of totally mashing the beans and left a few chunks. Add this to the veggie mix:

Preheat the oven to 425* and use a spoon, your hands, or a tablespoon measure (which is what I used) to portion out the falafel onto a well oiled sheet.

Spray the falafel with olive oil (or whatever oil spray you have) and bake for 25-30 minutes, turning halfway through. If you want them extra-crispy, I'm sure you could broil them for a minute at the end, but I didn't find it necessary.

Serve!

These falafel were light and fresh tasting, unlike the deep-fried ones most restaurants serve. I think they would make a great appetizer or salad/wrap ingredient.

I didn't use all of the mix to make falafel either- I reserved about 1/3 cup of it...

to eat on a salad! I simply heated half a teaspoon of olive oil in a skillet and added the falafel mixture. I lightly toasted it and let it become a little crumbly, then added it to a salad of romaine lettuce, carrots, and tomato. It was delicious! I think this mixture is quite versatile and could even be made into chickpea "burgers" or as a filling for stuffed bell peppers or tomatoes.

Some other things I have been making with the processor are:

Banana soft-serve and

Angela's avocado sauce <--amazing!

Something I've been wearing lately..

Representing my alma mater! I did my undergrad at Texas Tech University.

Where did you/do you go to school?

Accent Vlog

2011-02-07T10:10:00.001-06:00

Have y'all seen the accent vlogs that have been floating around the blog-world lately? I've really been enjoying putting a voice to some of my favorite bloggers, so I decided to do my own!

Here is the list of words I said if you want to follow along:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry
groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

And if you're wondering where I'm from, I was born near Chicago, IL and lived there until I was 12. I moved to Texas and lived there until last summer. I moved back to IL this past August (I was 24 years old then) and now live in southeast Illinois in Charleston.

This was my first vlog...so it's a little awkward but I hope to do more in the future! Let me know if you do one, too!

Green & Yellow, Green & Yellow

2011-02-05T23:43:00.000-06:00

Hola amigas!

Some of you who know me well may know that I am not into football. No matter how many times the game is explained to me, I do not understand and my eyes will glaze over the moment you start talking about it.

That said, I am a big fan of the social aspect of football, and most sports in general. I love getting together with friends, eating yummy food, and having a fun time!

I would still rather be watching the Puppy Bowl though...

Alas, my boyfriend Raine is a huge football watcher so we are watching the game tomorrow- and have invited all of our friends to join us! I have no real team allegiance to either the Steelers or Packers, but I decided to go with the Packers since I live in Illinois and am geographically closer. I am a very diplomatic person ;)

Also, when I went to Madison, WI last year, we took this picture:

The proof is in the cheesehead.

I'm also a Lil Wayne fan and he recently came up with a fantastic Packers anthem. I really don't know what all of the lyrics mean, but that's okay with me.

I also like this:

I only learned who BJ Raji was last week, but I like his dance and I want to see it again.

Finally, a few of my eats this week have been Green & Yellow...

This would be pesto-hummus pasta salad! It was luscious and creamy and here is the recipe:

1 serving pasta (I used whole wheat angel hair)

1/2 cup chopped broccoli

1/2 chopped roma tomato

1 carrot, sliced into coins

2-3 TBSP hummus

1/2 - 1 tsp pesto powder

Cook the pasta according to the directions and drain well. Return the pasta to the saucepan along with the hummus and pesto powder and combine until well incorporated. Add the veggies and put the lid on the pan for a few minutes so the veggies warm up a bit- they won't cook though.

Enjoy!

If you're not into pasta, I have another version that I ate the next day:

Raw zucchini pesto-hummus pasta! For this I just spiralized a zucchini, added chopped tomato and carrot, and plopped on some hummus and pesto powder, then mixed it well.

This was even better than the cooked version!

Another yellow food I've been eating are Muthia, which are steamed chickpea flour dumplings.

Recipe modified from Manjula's Kitchen

2 cups shredded coleslaw mix (I used one with cabbage and carrots)

1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour

2 TBSP chopped cilantro

1 jalapeño, finely diced (I used half a jalapeño because I wanted a milder dumpling)

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 tsp turmeric

(water as needed- I used about 2 TBSP)

Mix all ingredients except the garbanzo bean flour and water. I used my hands and really squished it all up together so that the cabbage was crushed. Slowly add the flour and continue to mix very well. If it's not forming a big clumpy ball, add some water so that everything sticks together well.

Next, boil about an inch of water in a large pot and place an olive-oil sprayed vegetable steamer over the water. Roll the veggie-flour mix into 10-12 balls of equal size and place them on the steamer. Cover and steam for 16-18 minutes.

This is what I had at the end:

They were fabulous and did not need anything extra that the original recipe called for. Protein packed an nutritious, these would make a great meal or even an appetizer!

Yum! GO PACK!

What are you doing for the Super Bowl?

Caramel Vanilla Coconut Banana Muffin Madness

2011-02-03T17:15:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! Hope you are all staying warm and cozy today. I was not warm or cozy this morning...our power and Internet went out--just as I was stepping out of the shower! It was a bad start to the morning. Other things that happened:

1. I swallowed water the wrong way and had a coughing fit!

2. Had a fashion dilemma involving knitted legwarmers (see below)

3. Was unable to blow-dry or straighten my hair- I never leave the house without doing my hair or without full makeup. I wore extra bronzer to make up for the lack of smooth hair.

4. Had to put the groceries I had in my fridge and freezer out in the snow on the balcony.

I rushed off to class and the power was still off when I got home. Since we couldn't cook anything and were pretty low on meal items, Raine and I went out for a quick lunch before I had to be back at school for a meeting. And, the power was back when we returned! Phew. I do not think we would have survived negative temperatures at night without our heater.

The bright side of my day were these muffins:

See those shiny bits sticking out? Those would be luscious tidbits of sweet caramel...

I found this amazing muffin recipe on Snacking Squirrel's site and I knew I had to make them.

Unfortunately, I was missing chocolate and they were Banana Chocolate Chunk muffins... I improvised, as usual:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup plain nonfat yogurt

2 large mashed bananas (if they are not large enough, add an extra TBSP of yogurt like I did)

2 TBSP water

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup caramel bits (I had leftover caramel apple wrappers and cut them up with scissors to make these)

2 tsp vanilla

I subbed out the chocolate for coconut and caramel, and doubled the vanilla from her recipe.

I used the same method for baking as her recipe. And they were amazing and bready and coconutty and vanilla-y. I know Averie loves vanilla. Do you? And the caramel...ohh the caramel was great. And now I'm going to stop starting sentences with "and."

On to a different subject...

Legwarmers. Yea or Nay?

I have never worn legwarmers (before today) and was nervous about taking the plunge.

What do you think?

If those offended you...please look to this image to cleanse your eyes:

Pesto-Hummus Veggie Noodle Salad.
Details soon!

Ice Day

2011-02-01T13:30:00.001-06:00

Brrr! It's cold out here... Yesterday around 4pm it started raining ice. Not hail, not really sleet...but teeny tiny frozen raindrops! They froze on the tree branches and made mini icicles all over everything!

The icy rain also created a sheet of ice for me to slide home on...

But it was so windy that I couldn't get a very clear shot of any cool icicles- the tree branches were blowing too much!

It looked really cool at night...

but of course, in true Sonia-fashion...as soon as I had taken 3 pictures outside in the snow- my camera battery died!

My old camera used to charge on my computer, and I forgot that this one does not.

Either way, it was fun to slide around outside for a few minutes!

Something yummy I've been eating lately is socca, which is like a chickpea flour pancake/crepe/bread, depending on how you make it:

I made mine in the skillet, like Gina did in her post on socca.

It has a slight bitter (but not bad) flavor, so I topped mine with some agave nectar and sea salt- and it was divine! For my batter, I used a half cup of each water and chickpea flour with a pinch of salt. I cooked it by the tablespoon-full on a hot olive-oiled skillet to make itty bitty cakes!

They are packed with protein and very delicious.

And...the blurry image on my ring is...

Ron from Harry Potter! Mansee guessed it!

Here is your hug:

What do you visualize when you think of the word hug?

Casual Sunday

2011-01-30T18:06:00.000-06:00

Hi Friends!
How was your weekend? Did anything exciting happen?!
I ~~hibernated~~ hung out at home for most of the weekend. Today, the sun came out and the temperature rose up to 37* so I ventured out with Raine to have lunch with some friends.
This is what I wore:

Top: Forever 21, Jeans: Vigoss Studio from Norstrom, Shoes: Sperry
aaaand, check out my sweet ring:

It's blurry..so I'll let you guess- who is on my ring?!

Winner gets a virtual hug lol

Happy Sunday!

Tropical Thursday + Vintage Workouts

2011-01-27T20:30:00.000-06:00

It seems like you all enjoyed my fashion post-thank you! I will definitely keep posting my outfits on here.
Lately, I have gotten so tired of this cold rural east Illinois winter. I'm just over it. I am tired of sweaters and jeans. And coats. And gloves and hats. And wearing two (sometimes 3) pairs of socks at once. I need shorts, sandals, and sundresses. And I miss Mr. Sun.
But--Since I am a poor grad student and cannot fly south for any kind of tropical beach vacation...I brought the tropical here!
In the form of coconut!
My grandmother told me this recipe over the phone (she lives in India)...
Coconut Mushroom Curry

1 TBSP olive oil/butter
1 TBSP ginger-garlic paste
slightly less than 1 TBSP garam masala
1/4 tsp chili powder (or more if you prefer more spice)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 white onion, finely minced
6 oz buttom mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 smallish russet potato, boiled, peeled, and diced
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup water
1/2 can coconut milk (I used Thai Kitchen brand)

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the onions until they begin to turn golden brown. Add the ginger-garlic paste and spices (except salt and pepper). It may seem too dry, but don't worry! Add the mushrooms and they will produce some moisture. Cook the mushrooms until they expel all of their moisture and begin to reabsorb it--about 5-7 minutes. Add the cooked, diced potato and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Add the water and bring to a boil. Add the coconut milk and peas, and return to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 3, or two with leftovers!

FABulous. This dish was so creamy and had an amazing flavor. The flavor of the mushrooms really popped, too! It is totally worth it to get whole mushrooms and cut them before you use them.

Next up, I made Coconut Lime Crepes

I pretty much googled a bunch of recipes for crepes and made my own:
1/3 cup white flour (all I had, but I bet other types would work, too!)
2/3 cup soy milk
1 Eggland's Best egg
1/2 TBSP Earth Balance
large pinch sugar
tiny pinch salt

Blend all of the ingredients in a blender or with an electric whisk. Heat a skillet to medium heat and lightly spray with olive oil (or any oil, I'm sure). Pour batter into the skillet and turn gently so it spreads. I used about 2 TBSP worth of batter for each crepe.
They flipped really easily and tasted fantastic.
I layered each level of crepes with:
Shredded Coconut
Powdered Sugar
Lime Juice

Serves 2 or 1 greedy girl

There is something about the combination of lime juice and powdered sugar that sings to my soul.

Of course, all of this fantastic food calls for an equally fantastic workout. May I present to you:

I found these hilarious images today after reading an article about Franz Kafka (one of my favorite Existential writers!) and his workout routine.

It comes from a manual written in 1904:

BONUS: you can download the entire thing in PDF!

I definitely did :)

I am going to try some of those leg rotations now. I will report back to you...

Fashion Wednesday

2011-01-26T20:25:00.000-06:00

Thanks for the birthday wishes, y'all!
Something new I've been wanting to add to my blog are some fashion related posts. I'm no fashionista, nor am I the most fashionable girl out there...but I do love to dress up and wear cute outfits!
This is what I wore to school today:

Cropped sweater: Silence and Noise at Urban Outfitters, Undershirt and Leggings: Forever 21, Coach Boots: Nordstrom

This was a comfy outfit to wear to class today, and kept me warm under my coat. What do you think? Would you like to see more fashion posts on my blog? Or, do you have any other topics you'd like to see me include?

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Me!

2011-01-25T21:35:00.000-06:00

Hello all! Once again I'm teaming up with the lovely folks at CSN Stores. They're the people that have all sorts of things from modern bar stools, fancy schmancy kitchen appliances (my personal favorite section), and even caskets...

Purple suede backless bar stool? Don't mind if I do...

I got an e-mail to review a product for CSN Stores and jumped at the chance--it's almost as though they knew it was my birthday last week!

Cards from my family; in case you can't tell, I am quite fond of cats.

I turned the big 25 (a quarter century!) and spent the relaxing day at home with Raine. He cooked me breakfast for dinner- biscuits and gravy!! <--I just love Southern food but try not to eat it too often. We also watched one of my favorite movies, Who's Harry Crumb? You've gotta love John Candy.

I also had some friends over this weekend to watch the playoff games and made some amazing cupcakes using Angela's recipe for Pumpkin Gingerbread with Spiced Buttercream. The only change I made was omitting the walnuts.

plus

equals:

These were out of this world! My friends loved them too and couldn't believe they were vegan. Definitely making them again...

Stay tuned to see what I pick from CSN. Happy Birthday to me!

PS: My family got me a sweet new camera for my birthday- I love it, and now I can share more pictures with all of you!