sweettater

Upcoming: Nicaragua Bake Sale

In Events, Nicaragua on February 27, 2011 at 8:47 am

Coming soon...

In two weeks I am scheduled to be boarding a plane for Nicaragua where I’ll be participating in volunteer service learning projects in two small rural towns. The purpose of the trip is three-fold:

Participate in an archaeological dig for ancient artifacts which will then be used to create a small local museum that will drive traffic to the area and build up their economy
Provide nutritional counseling and medical supplies to the local people. This will involve: planting a community garden, presenting cooking demos using local produce and participating in dietary recalls and evaluations at a free clinic that we’ll be running with doctors from a nearby city. (Our medical supplies have been donated by a doctor in the US.)
Acquire an understanding of and compassion for a highly impoverished, malnourished population and contribute to a group effort to improve their way of life without imposing our own American practices, foods or ideals

Unfortunately, due to unexpected personal financial obligations and to a higher program cost than anticipated, my eligibility for this trip is in jeopardy and there is a very real possibility that I will not go. I have wrestled with the idea of raising money on my blog because the money will be used to finance my program cost (airfare) and will not be donated to a charity. But due to the culturally sensitive approach of the program, we have been informed by program coordinators that gifts (monetary or otherwise) would not be appropriate anyway. Our donation to this effort is of our time, our energy and our knowledge in our respective fields of study (both history and dietetics students are going). Essentially, if I’m not able to go, I’m not able to give, and that (plus feedback from several supportive blog friends and the fact that I don’t monetize my blog in any other way) is why I am now comfortable running a fundraiser on my blog.

What: Online Bake Sale Fundraiser
When: Starts Thursday 3/3 at 10am EST, Ends 3/3 at 10pm EST
Where: www.sweettaterblog.com
Why: To cover cost of airfare for my service trip to Nicaragua

I feel it is important to clarify that this is not a vacation by any stretch of the imagination. We will be living in hammocks for a week without electricity, plumbing or any real connection to the world outside these small communities. We will participate in hard labor in extreme temperatures and then bathe in a river at the end of the day. I am giving up my Spring Break and am missing two important wedding weekends, and I say this only to emphasize my desire to participate in the program.
If you are interested in donating a baked good to be auctioned off, please send the following to sweettaterblog@gmail.com:

Name of Baked Good:
Specialty Diet Specifications (vegan, gluten-free, etc.):
Shipping Limitations (US only, EU only, etc.):
Photo of baked good (if available)
Blog URL (if available):
If you are interested in bidding on the baked goods donated:

Come back by on Thursday 3/3 from 10am EST to 10pm EST to see what goodies are available. I’ll notify the highest bidders for each product Thursday night, they will send me their payment and mailing info and I’ll pass the mailing info along to the baker of your winning goods and then will get them to you within two weeks.

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Green (Coffee) Smoothie

In Smoothies on February 27, 2011 at 8:31 am

Green coffee smoothie fixins

When I go to an early yoga class, I usually eat something small and simple (like sunflower butter toast) before and then something else small but perhaps less simple after when I’m not in such a rush.

Yesterday, since I had risen at 3 freaking o’clock in the morning, by the time I got home from yoga around 9:30am, it was time for some coffee. Unfortunately, after an hour and a half in a hundred-degree room, I want nothing to do with coffee (even though coffee is not a diuretic and does not dehydrate you).

My solution, then, was to add it to my green smoothie. I make them with cocoa powder anyway so the addition of coffee seemed logical. Chocolate + coffee = yes.

Green smoothie with a kick

It was good and kept me going strong until about 3:30pm at which point I face planted for about an hour and a half. Thankfully, I woke up at 7 today like a sane human being.

Wild Friday Night

In Restaurants on February 26, 2011 at 12:35 pm

Biscuit!

Last night I ventured out of my little antisocial cave (“I do not want to do anything this weekend,” I declared) to help Stew use up an almost-expired Groupon for Nothing But Noodles. Unfortunately, Nothing But Noodles was nothing but SLAMMED with children under the age of five so we quietly backed out the door and made a beeline for Flying Biscuit instead.

There’s really no way to make any of the food look all that appetizing so you just have to trust me when I say it’s really really good.

Black bean cakes

I realize it’s hard to imagine that plate of glop tasted like anything more than a plate of glop, but it was perfect, I tell you. Perfect.

Stew had a vegan BBQ wrap with rosemary potatoes:

Vegan BBQ wrap

It was good but nothing beats my meal. Nothing.

Last time we were here, Stew predicted that I would never order anything other than the thing I ordered that time because I loved it so much. What that thing was exactly was hotly debated. Stew said I got a tofu scramble. I know I got the tofu and tater salad. It is rare that I’m actually right in instances such as this, even when debating facts about my own life. I have so much to keep up with these days, most stuff doesn’t stay in my head longer than about 5 minutes, if at all. So I almost believed him when he pulled up a fake picture of a tofu scramble and said it was from my old blog post about the meal. Nice try. I may not be able to remember what day it is, but I know my food.

So his prediction came true (and I was RIGHT) and I got the tofu and tater salad for a second time.

Tofu and Tater salad

It still looks like a plate of cat food and it’s still amazing. I will order this every single time.

We rounded out the night with a Trader Joe’s run to pick up some much needed mochi and two buck Chuck. And, oh… what’s that? A Powerball ticket? Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Wild night, y'all. Wild night.

I’ve decided that my next pet will be named Mochi. If my next pet happens to be my first child, I will reconsider. I not-so-secretly sincerely hope that my next pet is a guinea pig.

Mochiiii

Don’t even steal my idea.

Caturday 2/26/11

In Cats on February 26, 2011 at 11:21 am

Weaznugget

Happy Caturday to all and to all a good morning. I started my day ~~bright~~ dark and early at 3 freaking AM. I was awakened by the sound of one cat (who shall not remain nameless WEAZ) yacking up a hairball next to my bed. Thank you for that, Weaz. My sleep pattern tends to be: once I’m up, I’m up. So… I was up.

I busied myself with Internet things and before I knew it it was time for superflow. How very convenient. Since Ralph and Weaz like to be alllll up in my shit every second, they supervised my teeth brushing.

Very good. Small circular motions.

Molars. Brush the molars.

The cats have been going about their normal cat lives while poor Waldo is jumping through hoops to impress them:

I can do this?

So can a bookshelf.

Keep your distance, dragon beast!

Don’t worry about Waldo, though. He gets puh-lenty of attention from Stew.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Ridiculous.

ALSO ridiculous… Weasel. Just in general. Behold:

Why?

Why??

WHYYY

I’m off to go see what crevices Weaz is stuck in today. And then, God willing, I will take a nap.

I Love You, Lunch

In Uncategorized on February 25, 2011 at 2:16 pm

Well, aren't you pretty?

I love lunch. It’s one of my favorite meals all day (but so are breakfast and dinner so…). I think I really learned to appreciate lunch in all its glory while I was studying in Spain. Over there, breakfast is little more than coffee and a small biscuit or piece of toast and dinner doesn’t come around until 10pm or so. This makes lunch a big deal, and for good reason. How else would you subsist on a piece of toast from 7am until 10pm? You wouldn’t. Exactly.

Lunch is later there than it is here–around 2 or 3pm–and people actually leave work and school to return home and eat. I love that. My lunches were lovingly prepared by my host madre Sofia, who willingly (though with much trepidation) explored the world of vegetarian cuisine just for me. These meals always consisted of three courses: soup, entree, dessert. Dessert was almost always fresh fruit, but sometimes we lucked out with a cookie. We always had bread, purchased daily from the bakery across the street, and we Americans would chug water while our Spanish hostess barely touched her tiny little glass. (They told us drinking while eating messes up your digestion.)

Pretty

All this to say, I love eating a nice big, home-cooked meal in the middle of the day. Do not offend me with your burgers and sandwiches consumed en route to somewhere else. Give me a fork and a knife and a sunny front porch and I’m a very happy girl.

My lunch today includes:

Roasted dill cauliflower
Roasted tempeh
Red quinoa
Spinach
Carrot
Sweet potato

Happy Friday to you. I’m taking care of business (am I seriously leaving for Nicaragua in two weeks??) and completing a phone interview. Cross your fingers. Unless you’re busy eating a leisurely lunch. In which case, eat on.

Fitness

Rain Shmain.

In Workout on February 25, 2011 at 2:04 pm

At least my umbrella is cute.

This morning I woke up with my new no-more-whining, seize-the-day attitude and was greeted by my arch nemesis: rain.

I hate rain so much. It ruins my entire day. But not this day. Oh, no. I would embrace my 24 brand new hours to live, precipitation or not. I had planned to go for a nice long walk (when I’m in Nicaragua–in two weeks (!!)–we’ll be walking from one town to the next and are expected to be able to do so without complaining). Since there was no chance I’d be walking in the rain, I headed to school early to hit up the treadmills. The wind almost knocked me over, but at least the view from inside my cute little umbrella was lovely. [I bought it when I was in Spain in 2007 from Agatha Ruiz de la Prada--so whimsical, so not me, so why I like it. I think Gracie would be into this designer.]

I hopped on a ~~spaceship~~ treadmill and watched Saved by the Bell the College Years. Obviously.

Oh Zach, what are you scheming now?

I didn’t have sound because I didn’t have headphones, but I’ve seen it all before. This was the episode where Zach, in all his mischievousness, plans a rave off campus. Haaahaha.

After some light weight lifting and a 30-minute walk, I was ready to start my day. By then, the clouds had parted.

PS – Anybody seen these new Eco Mills? I saw it on my way out and hopped on for a second. It’s a self-powered treadmill. Interesting.

Eco Mill

Good Once, Better Twice

In Dinner on February 24, 2011 at 11:00 pm

It's baaaa-aaaack.

I came home earlier this week to find Stew knee-deep in a repeat performance of Valentine’s Day dinner. “I wanted tabbouleh,” he said. “Then I wanted socca… Then I wanted hummus. So here we are.”

There we were, indeed. I don’t know what took us so long to start making tabbouleh. It’s so perfect. The first time I ever had tabbouleh was at a friend’s house whose mom was into awesome hippie foods. It was the first time I ever heard “bulgur wheat” spoken.

Everyone should eat tabbouleh.

OK.

OK? Ok.

Love Grown Granola

In Products on February 24, 2011 at 10:54 pm

Love Grown granola

Love Grown sent me a lovely collection of their oat cluster flavors–cocoa goodness, sweet cranberry pecan and raisin almond crunch.

This morning I topped my first ever smoothie in a bowl–uh, perfect, by the way–with cocoa goodness and it.is.awesome. It’s definitely one of the best granola’s I’ve ever had, right up there with Udi’s.

One thing I love is Love Grown’s whole philosophy and the fact that it’s run by a young couple that hatched the idea in college. Love it.

Love.

I’ve only tried cocoa so far because I’m hoarding the rest. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the granola is at once rich but light. Hard to explain. I didn’t think I’d like anything chocolate in the morning, but it totally works. Plus, it’s full of chocolate chips. Win.

Breathe! You Are Alive

In Breakfast on February 24, 2011 at 9:19 am

My first smoothie in a bowl, a la KERF

I have this nasty little habit of fearing the future so much that I miss the present completely. Yesterday I felt like my life was completely spiraling out of control again–too much school, too much work, too little money, etc. The problems never change, but my attitude could. So last night I dreamt that I was on a sinking cruise ship. This is not the first time this year that I’ve dreamt of drowning. It’s a very literal visual manifestation of my internal feelings of struggling to keep my head above water.

I am hard on myself. Very. I don’t ever think I’m doing all that I am capable of. One of my favorite things about this blog and my journey with food over the past 2.5 years is that I’ve really come to love my body and to not beat myself up over appearance. I used to say cruel, terrible things to myself that I would never say to another human being. That’s been over for a while now. Sadly, it’s almost as if my negative self talk has shifted from outward appearance to inner self. I find myself constantly critiquing the decisions I’ve made, the direction I’m moving in, everything. I spend so much time analyzing the past or trying to predict the future, that the present moment is completely lost on me.

At times like this, I find it easy to pull myself back to reality but difficult to do so indefinitely. My life is so incredibly easy compared to the lives of many others. This I know all too well at a very personal level. I also find it helpful to read books that inspire me to pay attention right now–not yesterday, not tomorrow… now. Last year I was supposed to complete my yoga teacher training, but my decision to move away to return to school put an end to that before it started. I had already purchased all of my books for the training though, so I’ve been reading them anyway.

One is Thich Nhat Hanh’s Peace is Every Step. I wanted to share some things he says on the very first page:

Every morning when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand new hours to live. What a precious gift!

We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive. Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.

Breathe! You are alive!

All this to say, I’m facing my day with a different attitude today. I am busy, but I can handle it. I am overwhelmed, but this is what I wanted. I have no idea what I’m doing tomorrow or next week or next year, but right now is pretty great.

This morning I started my day acknowledging it as 24 brand new hours to live and also by smiling (although forced) as Nhat Hanh suggests doing at the start of each day. I ate my very first smoothie in a bowl (a la Kath), and I sampled a new granola sent to me by the wonderful Love Grown Foods.

Love Grown granola

But their review will come at another time when I’m feeling far less dramatic.

Happy Thursday, blog world. Go get your 24 brand new hours to live…

5210

In Health on February 23, 2011 at 9:47 pm

How do you rate?

Tonight I learned about a new-to-me initiative: 5210 is an easy way for kids (and parents) to track their progress towards a healthier lifestyle. The numbers help remind you to aim for the following each day:

5 servings of fruits and vegetables
2 hours or less of screen time (computer + TV)
1 hour of physical activity
0 sugar-sweetened beverages

I’m good on fruits and veggies, for sure, and I don’t drink any sugar-sweetened beverages, but my screen time is out of control–at least 8 hours a day on the computer and another two hours of TV time at night, easily. I also don’t move for a full hour every single day.

For adults, a certain amount of screen time is inevitable due to most desk jobs revolving around that damn thing for 8 hours a day. But this just means we need to make wiser choices during our free time. I’ve made a concerted effort to curb my computer time after work hours and have found more time for things I enjoy–like yoga and walking–and some things I don’t enjoy–like homework.

Do you meet the 5210 guidelines? What could you change?

McDonald’s Delivery

In News on February 23, 2011 at 9:31 am

McDonald's delivery in China

Sipping on coffee and gnawing on a little carrot toast, I flipped the page of my ADA Times and was smacked in the face by two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles on a sesame seed bun… on a scooter.

Perhaps I’m just living under a ~~rock~~ plate of vegetables, but I hadn’t a clue that McDonald’s offers delivery service in 18 countries. According to the ADA (which cites an article in Japan Times), Ronald and friends have begun piloting their delivery service in Tokyo and will expand the service if the test is successful.

Because what the world needs now is a steady stream of processed fried foods straight into the ever pudgier faces of its residents. This puts us one step closer to human feedbags…

No, this is not real. Yes, it's from The Onion.

Marga…jito?

In Holidays on February 22, 2011 at 11:01 pm

Margajito

In honor of National Margarita Day, Stew and I had… tequila with some other things.

After all, isn’t that the most important part of a margarita? Of course it is. So it doesn’t matter that we didn’t actually have limes and couldn’t actually make a margarita… actually. Instead, we combined:

1 lemon
1 orange
mottled mint and sugar
seltzer water
TEQUILA

And ended up with what I suppose is some kind of margarita/mojito hybrid. I found it most delightful and drunk-inducing and then proceeded to eat this plate of food without chewing:

Chewing would have been good.

Followed by a chocolate mochi. Followed by (drunk) homework.

Who would like to discuss the intricacies of medical nutrition therapy for glomerulonephritis? I sure wouldn’t. I hate clinical so much it makes me want to claw.my.eyes.out.

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Carrot Toast. Really Though.

In Breakfast on February 22, 2011 at 8:00 pm

That toast has carrot on it, yes.

I like toast. It’s delightfully humble and, along with a cup of coffee and some elaborate toppings, makes a perfectly simple breakfast. This morning I updated my trio of toast by trading out the roasted cinnamon apples for grated carrot.

I mean, why not? I eat carrots and peanut butter all the time. Who says I can’t put it on toast?

I can and I did and I ate it.

And it was good, sucka.

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Eat Your Colors

In Dinner on February 22, 2011 at 7:59 am

Rainbow of vegetables

The American Dietetic Association’s National Nutrition Month kicks off in one week, and this year’s theme is: Eat right with color. (ADA’s motto is “Eat Right” so the focus this year is doing so with a variety of bright, colorful fruits and vegetables.)

Last night after a long day of yoga (splendid), work (busy; gearing up for three career fairs this week) and class (never-ending), I was in serious need of some fuel.

Yep.

[You can follow me at So Damn Good to see my favorite food-related photos and quotes.]

I went with:

Red tomatoes and quinoa
Orange carrots
(Yellow nooch… not a vegetable)
Green broccoli

And baked tofuuu. It.was.so.good.

ROY G.

Not so excited about eating your colors? The ADA has a great collection of resources to help you find more ways to work vegetables onto your plate.

Mango Mochi

In Dessert on February 22, 2011 at 6:28 am

Trader Joe's mango mochi

Here’s an impulse buy if I’ve ever seen one. Following a rather fantastic yoga class, I headed straight to Trader Joe’s, unshowered and in that long-enough-since-lunch-but-too-far-from-dinner zone when grocery shopping is most dangerous.

Aside from buying not one but two bags of olive oil popcorn (Stew bought a third bag today, too) and another bag of frozen spinach to add to my arsenal (I should really make a list), I’d say I was doing pretty well.

Looks like a Twinkie nubbin

But then it happened. I spotted the mochi. Who even buys mochi? If you’re unaware, mochi is a sweet, sticky glutinous rice product that is often served wrapped around delightful little ice cream nuggets. I’ve probably only had it once in a my life. We were at a sushi place and something had gone awry so the owner bought out a plate of mochi to appease us. I’m sure it worked just like it did today when it lured me to the frozen aisle and then jumped in my cart.

My mochi came in three flavors: chocolate, coconut and mango. And what bountiful riches await inside the sweet, chewy outer layer? Why, non-dairy coconut ice cream, of course. These babies are a.ma.zing. $10 says Stew eats them all. I went there!

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Old Mecklenburg Brewery

In Beer on February 21, 2011 at 7:53 am

Beeeeeer

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you might, at times, find yourself thinking: What magic did Katie work to land a guy like Stew? Also, does he have a brother and/or friend who mimics his every action? The answers are: I don’t know and… maybe?

One such recent occasion when these thoughts may have crossed your mind might have been Valentine’s Day when he recreated my favorite meal from my favorite restaurant. I know, that’s awesome. So maybe you’re thinking: What did she do in return other than eat the hell out of everything in sight?

A logical question, indeed. The answer: I did BEER.

Yeah.

The weekend before Valentine’s Day (I know, I forgot to post about it), I took Stew to Old Mecklenburg Brewery for a tour and beer galore. Did you know that, up until 2009 when OMB was founded, Charlotte was the country’s largest metro without a brewery? This is a problem and it has been addressed in the form of German-inspired beer by the keg-full.

German-style beer hall

The brewery is located a little off the beaten path (though not far from a lightrail stop, which would be good for tourists) in a rather unassuming, industrialized area. You’ll drive right by it if you’re not paying attention. Inside, it’s like you’ve stepped into a tradition German beer hall (that recently received a fresh coat of paint and a flat-screen TV). Much like this one I visited in Munich in 2006:

Hofbräuhaus, Munich

Exactly.

OMB is a cool place. Relaxed, cheap… my style. Plus, they have giant pretzels with mustard. Sold.

We hopped in line for the free tours (held at 2, 3 and 4pm on Saturdays) for the full experience.

Josh the Beerman

Our tour guide was great–knowledgeable, animated, engaging. Beer talk–much like wine talk or car talk or anything involving health insurance–is over my head, but even I got the gist of what goes on back there.

One of the coolest things about the tour was seeing their massive tracking list of all the bars in Charlotte that sell OMB:

Not a computer. I like.

It’s a small operation, which means the people there are serious about what they do. They say they’re not out to conquer the world of beer. They don’t want to be Budweiser or Miller. They just want to be Charlotte’s beer. I can get behind that. So the next time you’re in town, ask for an OMB. If they don’t carry it, tell them they should.

I sent Stew home with a goody bag in the form of a giant growler full of Dunkel:

Dunkellll

So that was the full story of Valentine’s Day. I’m not so bad, right?

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Muffin Toast

In Breakfast on February 21, 2011 at 6:16 am

Love muffin + sunflower butter sauce

I had a delightful breakfast to accompany my most productive Sunday of 2011. (I just accidentally typed 2001 and then realized how damn far away that year actually is. Yikes.) I woke up promptly at 7am sans alarm clock because my body just hates me like that. Programmed by morning after morning of early weekday rising, I can’t help but continue the pattern on my days off. I actually prefer things this way. Sleeping in makes me anxious. Type A much?

Anyway, I worked diligently away on freelance projects, school work, applications for summer jobs and a really, really good breakfast.

Mmmmhmmm

I cut two love muffins in half and heated them on a skillet to get them nice and toasty warm. While those were toasting away, I mixed together sunflower butter, rice milk, cinnamon and vanilla for a glorious, nutty sauce to accompany my toast muffins.

This was then topped with bananas and promptly devoured.

Hooray

Crispy Baked Taco Shells

In What's for Lunch? on February 20, 2011 at 2:15 pm

Baked tacos

Want a crispy, crunchy taco shell but you only have soft on hand? Or want the crunch but don’t want it as a result of deep frying? No problem.

You can turn soft taco shells into crispy taco shells with a few quick minutes in the oven.

Soft --> Crispy

Hang the soft shells over your oven rack like so and bake for a few minutes until they start to get brown and crispy.

Tah dah

Fill with baba ghanoush, celery, carrots, spinach and cheese. Or, if you are a normal person, fill with normal taco ingredients.

We Planted a Garden

In Garden on February 20, 2011 at 2:13 am

Student Dietetic Association's garden plot

Today was a gloriously active day for me. I find sitting at a desk all day to be a truly miserable existence, but that happens to be my existence right now so a day like today is a welcome retreat from the ordinary.

I started with a butt-whoopin’ at Tanner’s superflow class, arguably the most challenging yoga class in Charlotte. I love it. After a quick shower and a snack, I was off to plant a community garden with the Student Dietetic Association. We predicted it might take the 12 of us about 30 minutes to sow the seeds. Four hours later, we were exhausted but accomplished. Consider it our first-time gardener hazing.

Rock Hill Educational Community Garden

The community garden is in its pilot phase, and we were lucky enough to land one of the very first plots. Rolf, the master gardener overseeing the plot, grew up in Germany where he and his family survived after WWII living off of a tiny garden plot on 1/8 of an acre. He knows everything there is to know about making plants make food, and we’re lucky to be working with him.

Rolf schooling us on vegetables

In addition to Rolf and his expertise, a master gardener is assigned as a mentor for each group plot.

The plots

You may think the plots above look good to go, right? So did we when we arrived. But we were promptly informed that if we want to do this garden and do it right, we’d have to pull out all of the cinder blocks, dig a deeper well for them, remove all the dirt, sift it and discard of the weeds/roots/rocks. It took a team of 12 four hours to make it happen.

Dirt!

I have a newfound appreciation for produce.

Going into this, I really knew nothing about gardening. My mom always had a garden when we were kids, but the extent of my involvement was picking strawberries or beans or lettuce and devouring it soon thereafter. Her parents are horticulture extraordinaires, and their yard is like a palace garden. My paternal grandparents also maintain a gorgeous and bountiful garden each year. I did not inherit any of these gardening genes.

But I’m eager to learn and anxious to see what our 20′x3.5′ plot produces. We planted:

Broccoli
Carrots
Potatoes
Onions
Spinach

We’re allowed to keep our harvest or donate it to a local shelter. We’ve opted to donate but haven’t identified a charity just yet. We’ll have to wait and see how the garden grows before we try pushing our goods off on other people.

Winthrop University SDA

I was really proud of our effort today (and of our cute little plants).

Here's hoping they thrive

Cabo (No) Fish Taco

In Restaurants on February 19, 2011 at 9:13 pm

Veggie tacos at Cabo Fish Taco

Cabo Fish Taco might not sound like desirable dinner spot for two vegetarians, but I assure you I can find meat-free food anywhere. Stew has eaten and Cabo and loves it, AND Guy Fieri is also a fan, so why wouldn’t I go?

Apparently we weren’t the only people with this idea on Friday night, and we were welcomed with an hour-and-a-half wait. (This meant a 10pm seating time, by the way.) No matter. The weather was gorgeous so we walked next door to Dolce Vita for a glass of wine and appetizers.

Mediterranean plate at Dolce Vita

I had a glass of Skull Camp wine just because it’s from North Carolina. I loved it.

We actually lucked out and got a table much sooner than expected (thank you, awesome hostess).

Cabo Fish Taco, Charlotte NC

First up:

House salsa and chips

I got the fish tacos without fish. In a word: excellent. I don’t know what they’re doing to those tortillas back there, but it’s right. They were topped with guacamole, fresh tomatoes, sauteed veggies and cilantro cream sauce.

Stew's burrito and MASHED POTATOES

Stew got a veggie burrito and FREAKING MASHED POTATOES. Yes. Those potatoes were insane.

Outside Time

In What's for Lunch? on February 19, 2011 at 8:54 pm

Foooooood.

The weather in South Carolina has been beautiful… lovely… perfect. We’ve had the windows open (glorious), and I even slipped away to eat lunch outside earlier this week.

Quinoa, broccoli, green beans, kidney beans

Overly dramatic vegetable shot

Broccoliiiii

Does anyone else get severely depressed during the winter? ~~Lord~~ Stew knows I do. I’m unbearable from about November to now. The temperature has hovered just under 80 degrees the past few days and I could not be happier. I got sunburned today. In February. Sunburned in February and not on vacation somewhere tropical. Yes. I’ll take it. [Sunburns are bad, but good weather is... good.]

Caturday 2/19/11

In Cats on February 19, 2011 at 11:17 am

It's window season

The cats are too busy sitting in open windows to have their pictures taken, so this week’s Caturday is brought to you by Waldo:

Waldooo

He's embarrassed by all the attention

Embarrassed who?

This is how he spends 90% of his days.

Just kidding. Like I’d post a Caturday without cat pictures. I know what you’re here for:

Weeeeaz

Ralphito

I refer to all of the animals by their “term of endearment” Spanish names: Waldito, Weazita, Ralphito. I realize Ralph’s should be an A because she is, in fact, a girl. But I like the way Ralphito sounds better. Also, in my cat voice it sounds more like Roofito. It’s fine.

Ain’t Nothin Wrong

In Dinner on February 18, 2011 at 9:13 am

... with a little pizza.

That’s a message Stew sent me yesterday. “Ain’t nothin wrong with a little pizza.” And that’s when I knew he must be polishing off the last of THIS BEAST from Sunday:

Beeeeast

I don’t know why pizza is so stigmatized by the “healthy” population. What’s so different between pizza and, say, a grilled cheese? Bread + cheese = same. Nevertheless, people seem to find pizza offensive. I do not. I like pizza. Ain’t nothin wrong with that.

And don’t forget your vegetables. Even better.

PB&J Bars

In Baked Goods on February 17, 2011 at 9:40 pm

Gluten-free PB&J bar

I have this delusion that baking is as easy as cooking, that you can just throw a bunch of un-measured food products together and come out with something awesome. This is not really the case with baked goods, but sometimes I squeak by with something at least tolerable using this method. I could try just following recipes and actually measuring, but what fun would that be?

Last week I made what I’m calling a peanut butter and jelly loaf, which is then sliced into PB&J bars. They’re vegan, gluten-free and incredibly filling. I almost always get hungry mid-morning and then must eat promptly at noon, but these keep me going well past that time without a snack. If ever I am able to recreate the hodgepodge I threw together, I’ll have to run the nutritionals on it to see how it fares. My guess is that a high protein, high carb, high fat trio is what’s making it stick with me so long. I approve.

Filling.

I truly can’t remember what I did now, but I can say the flour is brown rice, sweetener is a mashed banana and the rest is, uh, to be continued…

Vintage Food Prints

In Cool Kitchen Stuff on February 17, 2011 at 9:19 am

From Winter Berry Cottage on Etsy

I don’t know about you all, but I do not have a designer’s eye. I know what I’d like my living quarters to look and feel like, but I struggle to make it happen. I also don’t spend more than a year in any one place, so by the time I get motivated to do anything, I feel like it’s a lost cause. Nevertheless, Kath’s Home Neat Home posts have lit a spark under my inner interior designer’s ass, and I’m trying to make some things happen.

Carrot and coffee

Starting in the kitchen, I took down the wretched curtains I had originally hung up back in July “just to get them out of the way.” They never came back down, and believe me, they needed to. In their place: four vintage food prints from Winter Berry Cottage. I’ve had these things for months and months, but I’m the kind of person who buys home decor and leaves it on the floor or in the closet and calls it a day.

I need help.

I wish I could send out a Batman-esque KERF signal and have Kath on my doorstep ready to neat-itize my home. I’ll pay you in… cats, Kath. Maybe?

Seed to Table

In Cookbooks on February 16, 2011 at 9:44 am

Seasonal recipes inspired by Abalimi Bezekhaya

A friend of mine from Furman recently contacted me to let me know about a cookbook she worked on while in South Africa. Seed to Table is a collection of recipes from Abalimi Bezekhaya, an urban agriculture and environmental action association in Cape Town. She asked if I’d like a copy, and, of course, I did.

It’s an adorable little book with simple, straightforward recipes but a far more complex overarching mission: “to initiate and maintain permanent organic food growing and nature conservation projects as the basis for sustainable lifestyles, self-help job creation, poverty alleviation and environmental renewal.” No small feat.

Redefine the tradition of harvest

I literally want to make every single recipe in the book (only a handful include meat and could be adjusted). It’s not available for purchase just yet, but once they’re good to go on that we’ll hopefully be coordinating a giveaway here. (Maggie, this makes me think of you.)

Keep an eye out for it...

So.Damn.Good.

In Crazypants on February 16, 2011 at 5:57 am

Sweet Tater on Tumblr

My mom is going to have a coronary, but Sweet Tater now comes equipped with a tumblr and that tumblr comes equipped with one built-in swear word. I’ve had this name floating around in my head for months now, so it was either start another blog or just attach it to a Sweet Tater-affiliated tumblr. I went with the tumblr idea.

So Damn Good is where you’ll find my favorite food EVERYTHINGS–food photos, food quotes, food blogs, food gadgets, etc.

If you’re wondering, “What on EARTH is Katie doing with another social media thing she hates so much? Is she going to bitch about constant connectedness and how terrible social media is while using MORE social media???” The answer would be: I have no idea, and yes, definitely. I don’t really even know what tumblr is. But I didn’t know what twitter was either and we all know how that ended. The story behind tumblr is that Stew keeps saying I should get one. And then Stew’s friends said I should get one. So here we are. I do hate social media but I’m also addicted and you can’t beat an addiction unless you want to beat an addiction. And I’m too far gone for that.

SO to recap… You’ll find Sweet Tater (me, that’s me, Katie) on:

Twitter – @sweettaterblog
YouTube – Sweet Tater Talks
Tumblr – So Damn Good

Kidney Beans: A Love Story

In Dinner on February 15, 2011 at 9:59 pm

Little joy nuggets

I love me some beans. But I have a special place in my heart for kidney beans. Small but mighty, the kidney bean packs one hell of a walloping whack of nutrient density. They also taste like perfection.

BOW DOWN, BLACK BEAN. FOR I AM A KIDNEY BEAN.

Black beans are cool and all, but dark red kidney beans are just… inherently better. Call it racism, but I’m right. According to World’s Healthiest Foods, kidney beans (along with black, pinto, etc.) derive from a common bean ancestor originating in Peru. This makes kidney beans the greatest thing to ever come out of Peru, second only to this alpaca:

Shmeeee

In my quest to eat as many kidney beans as possible, I decided I should also learn at least a little bit about them, too. Here’s what I found… Kidney beans:

Pack in 178% your DRV for molybdenum. (What the hell is molybdenum, you ask? Why, this shiny rock, of course.) I don’t know why we need molybdenum (nope), but I can now rest easily knowing I have more than I need to survive.
Replenish iron stores, which, I’m happy to report, can be achieved without consuming blood. (Went there!)
Provide half your DRV for folate, which is hugely important if you’re pregnant or want to be

Kidney beans are also loaded with fiber (soluble and insoluble), which will aid in such delights as preventing constipation, bulking up stool (this is good) and preventing irritable bowl syndrome.

Now that's a happy bean.

People ask me all the time, so I’m going to go ahead and go there… Beans do not make me farty. Whenever I tell people how I eat or hint at my obsession with beans, I get that sideways glance like, “Ooooh girrrl, did you just fart?” I didn’t. I don’t. I mean I do, but I don’t think I’m any fartier than any other human. I don’t know why beans got the fart reputation, but I consider it unfair, not to mention based on a lie. Does the rhyme not go: “Beans, beans, the wonderful fruit. The more you eat the more you toot”? Fruit?? Come on now. Who’s falling for this garbage?

Not me. Gimme some beans. Yes, yes y’all.

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You Went to Pita House??

In Holidays on February 15, 2011 at 9:27 am

Pita House, by Stew

Perhaps you are familiar with my obsession with a small, family-owned and operated restaurant in Greenville, SC by the name of Pita House. Last night I came home at 8pm to find the feast above (styrofoam plate and all) and squealed: “YOU WENT TO PITA HOUSE??”

Stew had told me he was making dinner as my Valentine’s Day gift, so I figured he must have used that as a cover and instead took his day to drive two hours to and from Greenville to pick up the meal. Then I noticed all the dishes. And the falafel frying on the stove. And realized…. Stew made Pita House.

I love him.

Celebrate

We toasted his success and my pure joy with a delightful moscato we picked up at a wine tasting over the weekend.

Class shmassy styrofoam plates

Oh happy day

The meal included: tabbouleh, baba ghanoush, hummus, falafel and socca. Just like Pita House.

We rounded the meal out with espresso and brownies…

Espresso & Brownies could be a Prince song.

And a rousing episode of The Bachelor. Who’s happy Michelle is out of the picture? Lunatic. Chantel (not Shawntel) all the way.

Thanks for the BEST dinner, Stew. I love you. Sorry ladies, he’s taken.

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Best.Vegan.Brownies.

In Baked Goods on February 14, 2011 at 6:43 am

VegNews vegan brownies

Brownies are good, but brownies smothered in chocolate, cashews and coconut are better. I thought you might agree.

I get a whole lot of e-newsletters, and (pay attention, marketers) I delete a lot of e-newsletters. Unless you have something to offer me (like a flawless brownie recipe–thanks, VegNews!), then into the virtual garbage you go. There are three newsletters I actually enjoy, but only one of them comes bearing brownie goodness:

American Dietetic Association Daily News [no brownies here]
VegNews
Bethenny

I like the ADA because it’s full of pertinent food nerdy things, Bethenny because she’s the greatest and VegNews because it comes with brownies (some assembly required).

Adornment

I made three–count ‘em, THREE–batches of these bad boys today. Three.

One for us, some for my brother, some for my office and, assuming any are left by tomorrow evening, some for my night class. Keep your fingers crossed, Foodservice 471.

I can’t seem to find a link to this anywhere else, so I’m going to share the recipe. I skipped the banana chips and used cashews instead of pecans because that’s what Stew loves so that’s what I had.

Surely they don’t mind me ripping this out of the newsletter. Again, this isn’t mine. Thank VegNews…

Banana Chip Brownies

Click to enlarge

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Bistro La Bon

In Breakfast on February 14, 2011 at 6:19 am

Brunch.

There are few things I love more than an unassuming diamond of a restaurant tucked away in the “rough” of a strip mall. Perhaps it’s the thrill of the hunt or perhaps it’s feeling like I know something others don’t, but I just can’t get enough.

We ate brunch at one such place yesterday.

Indeed

Kelly and Brad invited us to join their friends (among them Brittney!) for brunch this morning at Bistro la Bon.

Brittney!

Stew! (Stolen from Brittney)

It may not look like much from the outside, but this place is no joke. Apparently the pastry operation is under French supervision, but I don’t actually know that to be true. I don’t really care who it is, but whoever is making those scones… and macaroons… and muffins… is doing their job RIGHT.

The Sunday brunch is served buffet-style with a selection of pastries, salads, vegetable sides and meats available.

Smorgasbord

House-made mozzarella stuffed with pesto

Stars of the savory show included a house-made mozzarella pesto roll and the best olive I’ve ever eaten. And let’s not forget the sweet potato hash and roasted vegetables. Or the champagne vinaigrette that was working those greens…

The show doesn’t end there, though. Oh no. Once you’ve had your fill of the buffet, an endless stream of chocolate waffles, French toast, eggs and bacon are delivered to your table family style.

French toast

Chocolate waffle

I was ready to raise the white flag and call it quits when I noticed a lonely scone lingering on my plate.

Cranberry scone

I saved it because I got distracted and figured I wouldn’t want it anymore. It ended up being the best thing I ate.

You think I’m done? No. Then Stew hit the dessert bar and shared this:

Pumpkin muffin, coconut macaroon

It should go without saying that I wasn’t hungry until 8pm.

Love Muffins

In Baked Goods on February 14, 2011 at 2:17 am

Whole wheat love muffins with superfruit jam

Nothing says Valentine’s Day like a light, fluffy, adorable, jam-stuffed muffin. Actually, nothing says Valentine’s Day like an endless stream of alcohol straight into your sad, unloveable, lonely face. Or maybe that was just me four years ago after the end of a 3-year relationship that took another year just to die a slow and miserable death.

Circa 2007, post 3-year breakup

Hooray.

Hahaha

I’ve come a long way since college, have I not?

Since this is now my third Valentine’s Day in a row in love rather than inebriated, I have found other ways to celebrate. These ways involve baked goods and (vegan) butter. I’m fine with this.

My love muffins (sounds dirtier than it is) are from a delightful little cookbook, Moog’s Musical Eatery. Robert Moog is the inventor of the Moog synthesizer and Stew is a big fan. I like food, so that makes me a big fan of his wife’s cookbook.

Moog muffin

Simple. Perfect.

I added two mashed bananas to this basic recipe, subbed in a flax egg for the real egg, used almond milk and dropped a teaspoon of superfruit spread into each one.

Pair these love muffins with a cup of coffee for a pleasant early-morning way to welcome this heart-warming celebration of love. Or, if perhaps you’re not so into this holiday, just have one like this:

Very good.

Quotationary

In Smoothies on February 13, 2011 at 7:33 am

Stacked.

I have this problem in my life where I refuse to buy new things that look nice or make sense or go together if I have one rickety, mismatched, hand-me-down item that will suffice in its place. For this reason, I have two tables of unequal height on either side of the large window in our dining room. Each table has a matching lamp on top, which signals to the eye that these sides should be symmetrical. They are not. My solution was to stack a bunch of books under one of the lamps until it was the same height as the lamp on top of the taller table. Works for me.

One of my favorite books in the stack is the Quotationary I picked up in a bargain bin many many years ago for about $10. It’s organized into subject categories like Flowers, Fog or Food and then a collection of quotations about said subjects. I love it.

Some winners under Food:

“To safeguard one’s health at the cost of too strict a diet is a tiresome illness indeed.” – La Rochefoucauld, Maxims

“You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.” – Anonymous, The Bible

“My mother made me eat broccoli. I hate broccoli. I am the President of the Unite States. I will not eat any more broccoli.” – George H. Bush

Under Vegetarianism:

“It is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came into contact with the more civilized.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden

“You have just dined, however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life

And in honor of the upcoming holiday, Love:

“That love is all there is, is all we know of love.” – Emily Dickinson

“When you love you should not say ‘God is in my heart,’ but rather, ‘I am in the hear of God.’ And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.” – Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

“Fame, wealth and honor! What are you to love?” – Alexander Pope

“To be in love is to surpass oneself.” – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

"Smoothies are good for breakfast."

Carrot Cake Oatmeal

In Oatmeal on February 13, 2011 at 7:30 am

Cutie pie... cake... oatmeal?

This is only worth sharing because I think it’s the cutest picture I’ve ever taken of food. The oatmeal itself was unimpressive. But isn’t it beautiful?

This is:

1/3 c oats
1/2 c water
cinnamon
2 shredded carrots
maple syrup

And the “cream cheese frosting” is:

Greek yogurt
Nooch
Maple syrup

The problem I had with it was that the Greek yogurt melted and gave off waaaay too much of a milky dairy nasty taste/smell for me. I put it in the fridge and sample it cold a few hours later. Much better.

All the oatmeal’s wrongs are forgiven for the photo, though.

Big View Diner

In Restaurants on February 12, 2011 at 2:13 pm

Big View Diner

Last night Stew and I decided it was time to pass on Cantina and Big Daddy’s and try something new. After reading through dozens of menus online (PS – Restaurants, if you don’t have your menu online, I’m not coming), we agreed on Big View Diner… mostly for its veggie burger description: brown rice, oats, black beans, beets, jalapenos. Sign me up.

Another criterion on our restaurant hunt rubric was proximity. We’re really trying to spend less time driving up and down 77 to Charlotte, but it’s hard to find much of anything in our neck of the woods so we settled on south Charlotte. Good enough.

Green tea gimlet

I started with a green tea gimlet–Hendricks gin, lemon and green tea syrup–and Stew had an OMB. We went with zucchini fries for an appetizer.

Zucchini fries

They were good but I definitely would have gone with a marinara sauce over ranch. But I’d go with anything over ranch. How very un-American of me.

Stew's portabello sandwich

My veggie burger salad. Obviously.

If I am in a restaurant that serves both salads and veggie burgers, there is absolutely no doubt that that is what I’m going to order. This was a no brainer.

I was like a giddy child in this restaurant. I was:

Excited to be out
Excited to not be too far from home
Excited about veggie burgers
In love with the decor

Big View feels like an upscale 50s diner with an unfortunate air of nationwide franchise, but I was assured it’s a single-location Charlotte original. I like. For affordable food, a (more) refined but family-friendly atmosphere, excellent service and ample vegetarian options, I give Big View a thumbs up.

We rounded out the night at the Tilted Kilt for Stew’s friend’s birthday. If you haven’t ever been to Tilted Kilt, just picture lots of scantily clad girls running around with beers a la Hooters but wearing kilts and plaid bustiers instead of bright orange booty shorts. Classy shmassy.

Make Your Own: Brown Sugar

In Tips on February 12, 2011 at 9:05 am

Sugar + molasses = brown sugar

I can’t tell you how many times I go to bake something only to find that I don’t have any brown sugar. Therefore, I also can’t tell you how many times I’ve used this little trick of mine…

Brown sugar is little more than white sugar tinted brown in the presence of molasses. I don’t use white white sugar, but just because sucanat and turbinado sugar are a light brown color doesn’t mean they can replace real brown sugar.

So when this happens and I come up short in the ingredient department, I make my own brown sugar and move on with my life… and my baked goods.

Tah dah

I’m not sure if this is actually an acceptable equivalent (so all you uppity bakers please stay off my back about it), but all I do is mix in 1 Tbsp of molasses per 1 cup of sugar.

It’ll look and feel like it’s not combining but just keep mixing and mixing until it looks like the bowl at the top of the page. I promise it works every time.

Caturday 2/12/11

In Cats on February 12, 2011 at 8:55 am

With love, Weaz

Happy Almost-Valentine’s-Day Caturday! Valentine’s Day is actually one of my favorite holidays despite a rather dramatic display of immaturity on twitter last week:

Not true

I was just grumpy. Forgive me, Valentine’s Day, for you are among my most favorite days all year. I don’t know why I like it so much, but since childhood it’s been right up there with Halloween. Probably because my mom is really good at holidays and also because I like the mandatory universal kindness instated in elementary school classrooms where every single child gets the same number of valentines in their doily- and heart-adorned shoeboxes-turned-mailboxes. Was decorating your Valentine shoebox not the greatest class period of the year? (Second only to the Halloween party, obviously, which I’m told they no longer do in public schools.)

All this to say, I do like this holiday. And I can tell the cats do, too, because they’re behaving strangely.

Making progress

Ralph got this close to Waldo earlier in the week. Progress! Last night someone asked me if I like having a dog and I said yes BUT it stresses me out that I’m stressing the cats out. Can’t we all just get along?

Nope.

Weaz isn’t so good at Valentine’s day. She’s greedy and wants all the cards for herself…

Be MINE.

She does keep asking me to be her Valentine, though…

How 'bout now?

And tried to deliver herself as a gift.

I'm yours?

Sorry, Weaz. I’m taken. Maybe Waldo will be your Valentine?

Hey, behbeh.

Love meeeee

Oh sorry, it would appear Waldo is taken, too.

Not staged.

My mom has this awesome tradition of giving us clothes on Valentine’s Day. It’s just far enough away from Christmas to warrant some new things and close enough to spring to make those things cute and un-wintery.

H&M tanktop and skirt

H&M dress, Kohl's belt

Ralph, Weaz, Katie, Stew and Waldo

Triple Decker PB&J

In Breakfast on February 11, 2011 at 9:32 am

Three times the bread is three times the fun.

I apologize if I’m giving the carb counters a coronary, but yesterday I did definitely eat a triple decker peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast. PB&J toast is my go-to morning meal when I’m running late and need to eat in the car (not ideal, believe you me).

This carby creation was, believe it or not, calorically motivated. I sometimes pride myself on not counting calories, as if this somehow makes me better than those who do. It doesn’t. Emily wrote an excellent post a while back about Calorie Counting and the Blurry Line that touched on her experience with calorie counting and explained how beneficial it can be.

In the true sense of calorie counting–reading labels, tallying up, keeping track–I really do not do it. After years and years of restrictive eating and obsessing calorie tracking plus entering a new field of study where food recalls and calorie counting are a huge part of my soon-to-be career, I would wager that I can estimate the calorie content of most foods within about a 25 calorie margin of error without looking at labels. (Hooray for meeeee, right?) If I were a super hero, my power would be spouting off nutrition facts for unlabeled foods.

I'd look something like this.

My point in saying this is that although I don’t meticulously track every calorie I consume, I am fully aware of what and how much I eat. And I use this to my nutritional advantage. Mostly I use it to make sure I’m eating enough and not to limit anything. Say, for example, when I’m throwing together breakfast and I realize that the two pieces of bread I’m using only total 120 calories. Add some nut butter and jelly and my weakass breakfast would hover just below 300 calories. I’d be hungry by 10am. My general rule of thumb is that my body needs about 100 cal/hr to get through stretches without food. So if I’m going from 7am to 12pm without food, my breakfast better be about 500 calories or I’ll be whining for a snack before my first class is even over.

So I use my knowledge of calorie content to bulk up my meals so they’ll do what they’re supposed to: sustain my body throughout the day. That’s the whole point of food, isn’t it? To keep us healthy and strong. To fuel us. When did food become the enemy? Working with food rather than against will help you work with your body rather than against it. I love that about food.

Consuming enough calories will help your body do that. Knowing how to estimate (or count) calories will help you make smart choices.

My smart choice yesterday morning was to add a third slice of bread to my sandwich. It was awesome and kept me full.

Three Sisters Stew

In School on February 10, 2011 at 8:23 am

Three sisters stew and corn muffin

Last night my community nutrition class was held at the Catawba Indian Nation where my professor works during the day as a registered dietitian. We learned about life on a reservation (specifically healthcare on a reservation, which, by the way, is 100% free), how to get a pretty killer job as a dietitian for the military (with very killer benefits and retirement) without ever having to be deployed, discussed the chronic diseases plaguing the Native American population and ate traditional food.

Catawba Reservation

Three sisters stew is so named for the three main ingredients that go into it: beans, squash and corn. It was amazing, vegan and I now have a recipe that I’ll be replicating/sharing soon. I had two bowls and two corn muffins. It’s fine.

At the end of class we did a little heart attack assessment (we filled it out pretending to be someone else since none of us are at risk) and peanuts were involved.

Peanuts and heart attacks?

My professor did this to show us how she screens older and/or illiterate patients who can’t read the form themselves. She’ll read it aloud to them and then pass them a peanut (or some other maker) for each risk factor they identify and then tally them up at the end to determine heart attack risk. According to this assessment, if you have over 4 you’re at an elevated risk for a heart attack. Simply being over the age of 54 gets you FOUR points. So, uh, dad? That’s you.

Carrots & Cake & COOKIES

In Baked Goods on February 10, 2011 at 8:08 am

Tina's butterscotch chocolate chip bars

If you’re reading food/health blogs (which you appear to be right this very second), then I trust you read Tina’s. Who doesn’t really?

Based on my limited snapshot-sized view of Tina’s life through her blog, I can deduce that she likes cookies. Therefore, I like Tina. I like Tina even more since she sent me some of her cookies last week.

Butterscotch chocolate chip bar

We just polished the last one off yesterday so I went on a hunt to find the recipe on her blog. It wasn’t there so I went in a panic to Twitter to alert her of the situation. She sent me here to her oatmeal raisin bars recipe and instructed me to omit the raisins and add chocolate and butterscotch chips.

I will probably do that this weekend. You should, too.

Falafel Burger Salad

In What's for Lunch? on February 9, 2011 at 2:11 pm

Sunshine falafel burger salad

I’m a big fan of a big salad. I just can’t think of anything better than the combination of cool, crunchy raw vegetables and something warm like a bean burger. It’s the best.

Throw in some dark red kidney beans (be still, my heart), mountains of shredded carrots and homemade honey mustard, and you’ve got yourself a damn meal.

Today’s salad was unexpectedly enjoyed in the comfort of my own home. I trotted off to school this morning ready for a class, a test, a 1/2 day of work and another class, but my boss instructed me to use my afternoon to study for tomorrow’s test (it never ends). Happy day! [In my defense, I'm not skirting work. I had gone in to work extra to gear up for an event we have in two weeks. He shooed me away.]

So the afternoon has taken a delightful turn for the awesome, and I’m about to hunker down and study clinical nutrition before breaking for a class field trip to the Catwaba Indian Reservation. My community nutrition professor is the reservation’s full-time RD during the day so she’s taking us out to see what she does. I love field trips…

And she said we’ll get to eat traditional food–three sisters stew and cornbread. She had me at cornbread. And stew.

PB&J Bowl Fail

In Breakfast on February 9, 2011 at 9:13 am

Failbowl

I had an almost-empty jar of peanut butter so I decided I should eat a glob of oaty mess out of that this morning rather than fix the smoothie I actually wanted.

FAIL.

Rookie mistake. I know better than to not eat what I actually want when I want it. Now I am forced to throw this mess away because it.is.terrible.

NOPE

I thought it cute and clever to add a little jelly drizzle to this monster to play off the peanut butter. It was neither cute nor clever nor palatable. To the trash can!

Fitness

Favorite Fitness DVDs

In Workout on February 9, 2011 at 7:34 am

Top 3

I write fitness DVD reviews for DVD Talk, and out of the 19+ I’ve done in the last year (19 through DVD Talk, others I’ve purchased myself), three have come out on top:

Body by Bethenny
Physique 57
Jillian Michaels 6-Week Six Pack

Favorites

Stew got me the Bethenny DVD because I love her. DVD Talk sent along the Jillian video. And Physique 57 sent me their entire set (3 DVDs and a workout ball) for review. So this covers all the ways I get my hands on these things…

For the most part, I’m not a big fan of workout DVDs. Of the 19 I’ve gotten for free, probably 15 of them have been given away. But I’m also on a bit of a yoga timeout and in a rather ridiculous life phase right now that doesn’t allow me a whole lot of time to do much else. So when I want to do more than just walk (my other form of physical activity outside yoga), I pop in one of these.

Body by Bethenny is my go-to video when I’m just dying for a little yoga and can’t get to the studio. Make no mistake, a yoga DVD is not a suitable replacement for a studio session, but this is my favorite series of all the videos I’ve done.

Jillian Michaels 6-Week Six Pack is a great collection of unique core exercises when you want to go beyond crunches. I have a love-hate relationship with Jillian; I think her character on Biggest Loser is out of control and I don’t support her endorsement of diet pills. Still, she’s a phenomenal trainer. My plan was to do this video for the full six weeks, take pictures and provide a recap. Alas, I only made it 4 weeks and bailed. I definitely noticed a change in my body and my overall strength, which carried over to my yoga practice.

Physique 57 is hands down absolutely without a doubt the very best, most unique, most effective at-home workout I have ever, ever done. Unfortunately, it’s also the most expensive. Had I not received this for free, I never would have purchased it. It’s worth every penny, but we don’t all have $100 to drop on workout videos. My advice? Just get the 30-minute arm and ab booster video for around $25. It’s the best of the series and will give you an idea of whether or not you want to buy the rest. They just released Volume 2, and I’m dying to try that…

So there you have it, my top three favorite fitness videos.

What are yours?

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Dislike Extremely

In Crazypants on February 8, 2011 at 8:22 pm

Cayenne ginger kombucha

I’m all fired up like the damn cayenne ginger kombucha I drank while studying this afternoon. Today has been one of those, you know, days. Except that it’s really been more of one of those, you know… years.

It’s been over a year since I set out on this little adventure and I’d be a dirty liar if I didn’t admit that, on a scale of LIKE EXTREMELY to DISLIKE EXTREMELY, I:

Dislike extremely much of the experience.

Make no mistake, this is the right field (I think). But is it the right time? Is it the right place? Am I the right person? Hell if I know.

All I know is that I’m out of money, out of time, out of patience and juggling a surplus of crazy. So that’s how my year’s been. How’s yours?

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No More TJ’s Soup

In Dinner on February 7, 2011 at 10:45 am

Cheesy broccoli toast, LAME soup, pickle

Alright, Trader Joe’s, I gave you a fair shot at impressing me with your canned soups. You lose. Enough. Worst ever. I’m not entirely sure why I even picked up canned soups a couple months ago–probably just on new grocery store/new product overload–but they are not good.

Don’t get me wrong, I love pretty much everything else about Trader Joe’s, but I’ve now had two completely unpalatable soups. This tomato bisque was by far the worst. Couldn’t even eat it. It tasted like tomato sugar goop. Bleh. Why?

German bread found at TJ Maxx

A far more successful TJ purchase was the German bread above that I found at TJ Maxx. I used it to make cheesy broccoli toast, which, along with a pickle, was the saving grace of my failed soup meal. I used a second piece of it to make PB mashed banana toast to make up for the lameass soup.

Then I pretended to watch some of the Super Bowl but was promptly reminded how much I hate the Black Eyed Peas, how little I care for football and how lame the commercials were this year. Am I wrong about the commercials? My theory is that no one wanted to waste money it because advertising is going the way of the internet and social media…

End of Girls Weekend

In Travel on February 7, 2011 at 10:37 am

Pizzaaaa

Girls Weekend can’t come fast enough and then always ends too soon.

In keeping with tradition, we made pizza one our last night. Amber and I shared a crust, and I put broccoli, spinach, tomatoes and basil on my side.

Doesn't Amber look proud?

So.good.

Giant salad

For dessert, Sandwich made us her famous Andes mint brownies…

Andes mint brownie

That photo of my brownie is such a joke. I had a second one immediately after that and then just kept a fork by my side so I could dive in at will as we chatted the rest of the night. Just like college. We almost polished off the whole pan.

Now I’m back to reality and I am not pleased at all.

Girls Weekend 2011

I’ll Have the Grand Slam

In Travel on February 6, 2011 at 10:21 am

That's right.

Saturday night was one for the record books. It started ~~innocently enough~~ with a trip to Howl at the Moon around 8pm, led to a $160 bar tab (picked up by some poor fool at the bar) and ended with me shoveling a Denny’s Grand Slam into my face at 3am. God, I love Girls Weekend.

Grits. Duh.

Fruit. For good measure.

I didn’t get a standard Grand Slam, obviously, as it’s full of eggs, bacon and sausage. Not even $50 worth of liquor can get me to eat meat. No, I maintained my wits despite my condition and ordered a Build-Your-Own Grand Slam: wheat pancakes, grits, hashbrowns and fruit… for good measure. It was awesome.

To give you some idea of how the night progressed, here is a photo recap:

Composed like a respectable adult

No good can come of this...

Maybe we can keep it together

But wait, what's this?

BRING ME AT LEAST 10 MORE

Then this happened.

And this...

And this.

Things got ridiculous. We ended up surrounded by a group of Brazilian businessmen who passed us this note earlier in the night:

SPYDER FIGHT NIGHT!! TAKE CARE!!

They were bizarre and all named Ricardo. Really though.

And then some poor unfortunate foolish FOOL who I didn’t even talk to picked up our entire nearly-$200 tab and bought us Denny’s. Good work ladies. We were on our A-game. See you next year…

Girls Weekend 2011

In Travel on February 5, 2011 at 1:42 pm

Dandelion Communitea Cafe

This is the greatest weekend. I got to eat at Dandelion Communitea Cafe, which I’ve heard about a lot on the Orlando blogs. (Perhaps you’ve heard of it.) But first, the day was full of…

A yogurt bowl

A nugget horse

A loooooong talky walk

A peach

A hummus sandwich

A pedicure (or four)

Dandelion Cafe!

I got the Abundant Harvest salad with green goddess dressing. So good.

Sweet potato soup

Coconut water

Amber and Sandwich

Roomiiiies

Everything was so so so good. Lindsay got the Giddy Up with vegan queso. I hate queso and I hate vegan cheese, but I loved that. It was amazing.

After lunch, we went in search of something sweet and found it at a cute little chocolate shop in Winter Park.

Amber got chocolate covered bacon

I got this banana

Yeah boyeeee

I’m having so much fun.

So so so fun

I love them

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Caturday 2/5/11

In Cats on February 5, 2011 at 11:10 am

Weaz is giving me the stink eye

Oh woe is me. I got drunk as a skunk last night and I don’t even get to wake up to a cat at my feet.

You did WHAT

I was surprised too, Ralph. I can safely say that I haven’t been that drunk in… years. Years. It’s also the only time some poor fool has picked up our $160 tab. Aaaahaha.

Disapproving Ralph.

I used to have respect for you.

This weekend was an excellent idea, but it is definitely lacking some animals. (Although we did see a FRIGGING BEAR last night.) Good thing I had a photo shoot with our zoo before leaving.

Ralph looks amazing like this

Weaz can't touch my lint-rolled coat

Waldooooo

Speaking of Waldo, he’s our dog now. Stew’s dog, I guess. Our dog, yes.

Old man Waldo

I hesitate to call him mine because two things that are mine don’t quite approve…

Plotting

So I have to choose my words wisely. Because Ralph and Weaz read this. Obviously. And how could I betray this little face?

Awwww

We’re off to do nothiiiiiing. I’m not even hungover! Best.night.ever.

(Mousse Cups) Made It

In Restaurants, Travel on February 4, 2011 at 9:01 am

The Great Mousse-venture

After inhaling my Whole Foods meal, I decided I needed to pick up a treat for me my friends. Obviously the smartest thing to do in this situation is not to pick up some packaged chocolates or something. No. The smartest thing to do is buy four delicate, perishable mousse cups and cart them around all day.

I thought the mousse cups would only have about an hour adventure to Florida (short flight), but instead the flight was delayed three hours. Instead of eating all the treats for my friends, I ate this:

Nicole's Nutty Goodness

(I sampled her raw vegan bars last year at the Charleston Farmers Market.)

And dutifully worked away on homework:

Worky work

I succeeded in not eating any mousse cups, and before I knew it, I was downing two of these:

Ladies Night $4 margaritaaaas

We ate at Cantina Laredo, a snazzy high end Mexican restaurant, and by good fortune (and scheduling) alone, it was Ladies Night: half off margaritas. Yes, please.

I threw those down and dipped into a bathtub-sized molcajete full of guacamole prepared table side.

Stew is jealous

I got a chicken salad without chicken, but it was kind of shmeh.

Chickenless salad

Our waiter was super cool and added all kinds of stuff to my salad to replace the chicken, but I think I was just coveting Sandwich’s avocado artichoke enchiladas. Mmmm.

Sandwich and Riiiiindsay May

Amber and I don't have awesome nicknames

When it was all said and done, those damn mousse cups weren’t remotely good. I still ate one.

As did Oscar

Commence Vacation

In Travel on February 3, 2011 at 1:08 pm

YES

I’m Florida bound for my annual Girls Weekend. (See last year’s trip here, here, here, here aaaaand here.) I’m missing a class, a lab aaaaand a day of work. But I’m also gaining not one but TWO trips to the Whole Foods hot bar. I can’t decide if I’m more excited to see my friends or to eat this. (Yes I can, but I won’t say it.)

YESSS

What goods await inside?

Kale salad
Black-eyed peas
Sesame tofu
Roasted cauliflower
Stewed okra and tomatoes
Some kind of rice blend
CHICKEN-FRIED TOFU

CHICKEN-FRIED TOFU

It’s just so good. You know Meg had chicken-fried tofu at her wedding? And I missed it? And Stew brought home leftovers? And ate them all before I got any? It’s true.

My turn

Revenge is ~~sweet~~ fried.

See you in Floridaaa…

There’s Yogurt in Here

In Smoothies on February 3, 2011 at 9:10 am

Green smoothie that's actually green

I’m not sure why my smoothie turned so green today. It’s usually poopy green-brown from the cocoa powder. At any rate, there she is in all her glory.

No one really wants to see another smoothie, but the thing about my smoothies over the past two weeks, though, is there’s yogurt in them.

I’ve eaten about a 90% vegan diet over the past year (the other 10% was vegetarian, no meat ever). Up until recently, I hadn’t really purchased dairy or eggs for my home, but I would eat it in restaurants (this is a backwards ideology, by the way, because I have no idea how restaurant food is sourced, but it’s how I did it). I didn’t feel the need to announce it or apply a label because it kind of just happened over time.

I am a big supporter of vegan diets and will continue to eat that way most of the time. However, I’ve noticed over this past year that my hair lost its curl and fell limp, my skin was dry and miserable, my gums were bleeding (all the time, not just when brushing) and most recently, I was endlessly hungry. Last month, no matter how much I ate, I couldn’t get full.

I’ve started adding a small amount of Greek yogurt into my smoothies and oat bowls the last two weeks. My hunger has subsided. My hair is big again. My gums are fine. And as a bonus, my nails are growing out of control.

I have no plans to change anything else about my diet. I will still eat primarily vegan meals because that’s the kind of food I like, but I will not deny my body’s request for this little bit of yogurt in the morning. I just won’t.

However, let’s make one thing perfectly, perfectly clear: Humans can thrive on a vegan diet. I know happy, healthy vegans and I strongly support veganism. If anything, I feel a little bit like a vegan failure because I really do admire the lifestyle. But this is what’s working for me, and I’m fine with it.

Tofu Champion

In What's for Lunch? on February 2, 2011 at 10:20 pm

Dining hall salad

Nerd Alert: Today I represented the Student Dietetic Association at the monthly Dining Services Meeting to address such pressing issues as: lack of healthy dining options, lack of options for specialty diets, lack of labeling of healthy and specialty items and the on-campus Starbucks upcharging me $0.60 for a damn splash of soy milk. Important things.

The catch with attending one of these meetings is that you get a free meal in the dining hall. I’m game for free food, and this was my first time in a Winthrop dining hall since I bring my food every day. I confess I haven’t heard good things, but I wanted to see it for myself. I was pretty excited to see this:

TOFU CHAMPIONNN

Tofu isn’t exactly a cafeteria staple. Getting my hands on it felt a bit like a drug deal, but the point is: it was there, and I got it.

I managed to wrangle a suitable salad with: kidney beans, baby corn, squash, carrots, artichoke hearts, sunflower seeds, olive oil and vinegar. I topped it with a roll and some brown rice. It’s all healthy, yes, but it wasn’t that great. Only I would eat it is what I’m saying. That’s because I like clean, simple food. I don’t see many other students hopping on a meal like that. Plus, I was huuuungry a couple hours later.

Good thing I won $10 in campus cash a raffle at the meeting so I grabbed some lame snacks for my night class:

Shmeh

I missed my own food somethin’ FIERCE today. So I ate this glob of peanut butter later:

Mmmm

JK JK JK… That’s rubber.

The dining services people were really a pleasure to talk to. They are super responsive to student feedback and have been taking strides to offer healthier options. I’m looking forward to working with them.

Now I’m off to watch Oprah go vegan. I know the whole world has already seen it. Twitter told me…

Fitness

Remember the Gazelle?

In Workout on February 2, 2011 at 8:25 am

Gazelle on steroids

So I have been wired for about a week. I mean wired. Like can’t sleep. Waking up at 4:45. Going to the gym? I assure you I am taking nothing. I don’t even drink caffeinated coffee… Although I have the past two days because I keep waking up so damn early.

At any rate, it’s freed up enough time for me to pick up a forgotten hobby: going to the gym. I’m actually just on a yoga pause right now because I don’t have time to drive to Charlotte, so I need some kind of physical activity in my life.

Last night I tried out the beastly machine above. Remember the Gazelle?

Oh yes, THIS Gazelle

Tony Little is a maniac. MANIAC. And he didn’t get those biceps prancing around on that flimsy little clothes hanger (trust me, my mom had one and its sole purpose was to hang clothes).

Perhaps if Tony sold the ridiculous thing I was on last night, I’d take him seriously. You know how most machines have a resistance option of, like, 0-10, or maybe 20? This monster goes 0-100. What? Who does that?

Anyway, my past two days at the gym have been funny. I used to spend hours (hours) in the gym in college. I’d hop from one machine to the next wearing out my 30-minute maximum until someone shot me a death glare and made me get off. You see, at Furman you had to fight for workout equipment. Those kids are competitive as hell–academically and physically–and the gym was constantly packed. Not so at Winthrop. It’s pretty much empty all day.

These days, I’m not so hardcore. I’m in and out in less than 45 minutes, I don’t sweat and I can feel those eyes on me wondering, “Why does she even bother?” That’s how I used to look at people who had quick workouts. What a waste of your time, I thought.

I’m a lot saner these days. I’m not watching the calories tick away or setting outrageous time goals. I just want to move a little bit, use my muscles without having to go out in the cold or drive an hour to yoga. So the gym will have to do for now.

It’s not so bad. They have TVs on every single piece of cardio equipment. I watched the Barefoot Contessa make those fleur de sel caramels, prosciutto-wrapped figs and white chocolate bark again. Is that the only episode of that show?? That and the one where she teaches her friend how to throw a cocktail party by folding his table clothes like a real caterer. Am I wrong? Those are the only two I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen each at least six times.

Oh? So what’d I do?

10 minutes on that beast machine

20 minutes walking on the treadmill

10 minutes stretching and abs

Eggplant Burgers

In Dinner on February 1, 2011 at 9:11 pm

Eggplant burger

Last week Stew and I caught a minute of Best Thing I Ever Ate: Burgers on a channel surfing flyby while watching something else. I joked, “I wonder if anyone will pick a veggie burger.” And seconds later my ~~boyfriend~~ favorite cake maker, Duff Goldman, went to bat for the vegetarians by declaring a meatless burger to be the best burger he’s ever eaten. I swoon.

The burger in question is from The Farm Cafe in Portland (everything good is in Portland), and I needed it in my mouth immediately. So we set out on a mission to replicate it. I’m proud to report the mission was accomplished. I was actually so pleased with us that I wasn’t going to share the recipe because my new life goal is to open a veggie burger food truck. Those dreams were crushed not 15 seconds ago–post copycat recipe development, taste test and dish clean up–that I learned they actually offer a detailed How to Make the Farmhouse Veggie Burger tutorial on their website. Damn. There’s still hope for my falafel cart…

Saute eggplant

Green onion, parsley, cheddar cheese

Mix eggplant, beans, stuff above and bread crumbs

Form patties

Saute

Inhale

We both declared this the best thing we’ve ever made. So thanks, Duff, for declaring it the best thing you’ve ever eaten. Otherwise, we never would have known.

The difference between our burgers and Farm Cafe’s is that we added a can of pinto beans because the eggplant cooked down more than we expected. So we shall call our recipe “inspired by.” Don’t call it recipe stealing when you see me hocking these out the back of a food truck one day. It’ll happen.

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Ugly Salad

In What's for Lunch? on February 1, 2011 at 9:27 am

Eek

I made the ugliest salad in all the land yesterday. It had romaine, broccoli slaw, celery, chickpeas, crumbled tempeh, nooch, peanuts and some pickles. Lots of protein. Satisfying. Hideous.

Were this for a food-related class, I would have failed on color. When composing plates, you have to keep in mind color and texture (in addition to flavor, obviously). Nobody but me wants to eat this. I’m ok with that.

The rest of the bento looked like this:

Extras

Evening snacks

Yesterday was a little on the ridiculous side. I woke up at 4:45am for no reason whatsoever and bounded out of bed like, “CARPE DIEM BITCHES.”

I didn’t really know what to do with myself. So I went to the gym. That was weird. I read two chapters in my food science book on the elliptical. What is this? College?

Then I came home and painted my nails.

Wait for it...

There we go

And it was still only 9:30am. So I made a call to the west coast for one of my freelance pieces. And then I realized it was not 12:30pm his time like he’d requested. It was 6:30am. And that’s why he didn’t answer. His cell. Which I called. Instead of the office. Yeesh.

So today I woke up at 7. That seems far more reasonable.