The Daily Smooth: Packin’ it In

It’s a back to basics kind of Wednesday when it comes to my smoothie. Mostly, I blend spinach and berries.

Perhaps more important than what goes into a smoothie is how much of each thing you put in. I, for one, always start with the spinach. I like to pack it down there. I like to make sure I am getting a lot of the best stuff.

Of course, everything in my smoothies is good eats. Hmm.

Yep, I always start by aggressively packing down the spinach so it makes up about half of the total amount of stuff in the un-blended form.

Today's Blend
In order of the most amount of stuff to the least!

• Spinach
• Banana (1)
• Blackberries.
• Blueberries.
• Raspberries.
• Whole flaxseed
• Sunflower butter (tablespoon).

Check out more fun stuff at the Things I Eat page!

Things I Eat: Pizza

Pizza for dinner?

Yeah. Pizza. I really came up with this idea when I found brown rice tortillas that are 100% eatable in my world! What better crust for pizza, right? I mean, they don't really roll like for a wrap or something. They are good as bread substitute, though. Bonus, I can eat it like a squirrel.

I assume I can get on some high-horse by saying this is healthy for you and all that – but, we both know this isn’t normal person pizza. This is my pizza. Maybe it won’t replace your favorite pizza spot but it might find its way into your heart and tummy.

I have two major issues with pizza. Ok, like, 500. Dairy and yeast. And wheat. Yeah, those are the majors. So, I invented my own. Checking this out on the Interwebz after I ate a bunch of these proves, however, I did not invent it. Really.

I have mentioned I occasionally get the American Flatbread: Vegan Harvest - but it has yeast, wheat and canola in it. I need something better for my poor tummy.

What You Need

• Brown rice tortillas: I got these at Whole Foods in the frozen food section. They are also available at Trader Joes
• Tomato paste: @#$% that sauce. I want thick, rich, potent tomato stuff. 
• Seasonings: I did oregano, garlic and paprika which sings pizza to me. I also used some basil oil.
• Toppings: I did red, yellow and green peppers with onion.

What You Do
First, I sauted up my onions and peppers in some basil oil and olive oil. I never pass a chance to add a little more favor. And I also preheated my toaster oven.

You could actually make this in a cast iron skillet or if you have a Dutch oven, you could cook up your pizza there. I did mine in the toaster over for less mess.

Next, I got out my tortilla and painted on that hearty tomato paste. If you are not into rich flavors and joy, you could use whatever pizza sauce you like. Then I layered on the garlic, oregano and paprika.

Once my veggies were tender, I loaded them on and popped this into the toaster (after I little more sprinkling of seasonings, let's be honest). I found I got the most delightful crust at about 400 degrees for about 7-10 minutes. You can play around with timing to get the consistence of crust you want.

Likewise, in a cast iron pot, you would probably slather the bottom with olive oil and cook it up until it was a crunchy or tender as you would like. If you choose to do this in a cast iron, you can make a deep dish – make sure the sides of the tortilla cure up against the sides of the pan or pot and fill, fill fill!

Either way, I cut everything up into little triangles (points for not shoving it all into my mouth).

Sure, if you can have dairy, you can add whatever cheese you want. Previously, when I made this, I made one for my husband and put some Swiss cheese on it, he liked it.

My husband was out of town this night, so, I had all this great food to myself. I paired it with some lemon-mango-ade-Bourbon. Nice!

I think I get a lot of happiness from the tomato paste and seasoning. The veggies have always been a favorite of mine. I could get some vegan cheese, but, then I would be consuming some things I shouldn't like canola and soy.

This is actually pretty cheap to make, I might add. And because the tortillas are small, you can make a couple varieties. I'm all about that.

Texts With Melissa: Dealing With Boredom

Boredom at work - HOW CAN YOU BE BORED, SO MUCH WORK! - simple, sometimes you get everything done and sometimes you are burnt out. Sometimes, you just are not mentally stimulated enough. Come on, it happens to everyone, let's not lie about it.

Let's break it down!

Just as a side-note, I do not huff. I'm being funny.

If someone you know has a problem - contact the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition (NIPC) for information and help so jokes like these remain funny and bizarre because we all know huffing does kill and thusly the stupidest thing to do.

Banana Ice Cream

Out of all the things I can't eat, the one I find people gawking at is dairy.

And why not? The dairy industry has done a bang up job convincing everyone they need to drink more milk even if there is no real scientific evidence that says we need it. The information constantly flying around is to drink more milk, eat more cheese and consume more yogurt – it will make you sexy, thin, young, give you six-pack abs and find you love. Which is why we cry into vats of it when our problems become overwhelming.

In fact, most people have some level of allergy or intolerance to dairy because we don't actually need it in adulthood to survive so our bodies never really worried about processing it, but, we keep at it in some blind belief that we need it because celebrities wear white mustache.

Most of these products are laced with sugars. About 13 grams per cup. That's in 8 ounces.

Let’s not even get started on the cows, sheeps and goats that are required to produce the amount of dairy out there and what they have to go through. Not all animals are treated this way, but, to feed the ever growing demand for milk fueled by the advertising industry, it is not uncommon. I suggest finding a local dairy with cows that milk themselves and are named and you can meet in person - like Milky Way Creamery if you want a lot of dairy in your life. They use something known as Lely Astronaut Robotic Milking System.

Not that eliminating dairy makes you perfect. I do miss cheese. And ice cream. These are tasty treats – and I am a believer in the way of the omnivore.

I don’t miss how it makes me feel though. I don’t miss how it made me feel emotionally when my desire for cheese (like La Tur – so good)  outweighed the potential abuse I was supporting of an animal and my own digestive tract.

I'm not perfect. I do miss cheese. And ice cream. These are tasty treats. 

I don’t miss how it makes me feel though. 

Ok, ok. I am not as conflicted as you might think. I think what I miss about ice cream is its smooth, creamy sweetness. It’s a dull background flavor of milk and then a little sonnet of sweet. It’s cooling, it’s rich in texture but light in the belly. That’s what I want in my life. 

Anyhow, a vegan stable is banana ice cream. It's pretty basic to make and basically delicious - you can find tons of recipes online from mine - super simple - to someone like The Kitchn who really dressed it up. 

It's also really healthy because it's banana - they are packed with healthy stuff, and two have about 150 life-and-joy giving calories. Don’t listen to those people telling you the banana isn't healthy. They had unhappy childhoods.

Look at this little Banana! (Yes, this kitten's name is Banana)

Totally done with pictures

When I was making it, I was thinking of one of my favorite ice creams, Ben and Jerry’s Cinnamon Buns. I use to eat one of these in a sitting a week - which is how I believe you are suppose to do it. It is described as: 

Our cool salute to cinnamon buns is so cinnamon-streuseled & dough-loaded, there's no telling where the cinnamon buns end or the ice cream begins. That's because it's one fun flavor all the way through. Enjoy!

I’d like also to add that my husband had the stomach fIu so I figured was going to get the stomach flu, bananas taste the same coming down and going up. I like to plan. 

What You Need

• Bananas.
• Non-dairy milk or water.

Optional

• A husband with the stomach flu? (Optional and not recommended).
• Blueberries.
• Bourbon.
• Chocolate chips.
• Chocolate sauce.
• Cinnamon.
• Cocoa powder.
• Cookies.
• Coriander.
• Flavored sugar.
• Ginger.
• Granola.
• Ketchup (It does work, people)
• Maple syrup.
• Nutella.
• Nuts.
• Peanut butter.
• Tyme.
• Vanilla extract.

What You Do

Freeze the 'naners! I break up them up into little chunks because I like destruction and then they fit better into my little food processor later. 

If you ever studied famous dictators throughout time, you’ll know "divide and rule" or "divide and conquer" or the sexy "Salami tactics" is key to victory. It’s a classic way to gain and maintain power by breaking up larger concentrations of resistance into pieces that individually have less power than you.. 

Breaking up existing power structures and preventing smaller power groups from linking up applies to bananas. A whole frozen banana is much harder to blend into submission. You also want to make sure the chunks you have have room between them. Else they will freeze together and claim victory. 

@#$%ing bananas!

So, right. You just cut or break them into small pieces and put them into a plastic container to freeze. I used about three or four for my delicious bowl. However, I have a GIANT plastic container with about 500 bananas in there waiting to be sieged. 

If your banana are brown and spotty, all the better. That makes them much sweeter - but I know a lot of people think brown bananas are bad? 

Who are you people? 

The browner a banana the sweeter it is. That why you make banana bread when the bananas are totally brown. Just saying. So, if you have some older banans, use ‘em. Maybe try a combo? 

Whatever banana type you have, it's all good. Mine were yellow ‘cause that’s how I like ‘em. And I wasn't going to wait.

Freeze them for about 4-5 hours or overnight. Just don't forget about them. Some recipes online have you blend first and then freeze. I did this once and it was the consistency of cement - you'd have to wait 5-10 minus for it to soften back up. I prefer the freeze-blend method because I will eat it all in one sitting.

Easy.

When the ‘naner is frozen, pop them into your blender. I added a tiny bit of hot water to help melt stuff a little – if you ever studied early thermal weapons, you would know this classic form of anti-personnel weaponry is quite effective against people AND frozen bananas. 

I also used cold rice milk I used about 1/4 cup (I love me some rice) as my non-dairy milk. It's nice, I like the flavor of rice and banana – if you can’t taste the difference in non-dairy milks than it ain’t no thang.

It's an eyeball thing. You can add a little and add more later. The consistence is in YOUR control. I actually don’t even mind a couple little chunks of banana. They taste like eliminating the resistance with my teeth – which is delicious.

I added in a healthy shake of cinnamon, espressos sugar, sesame seeds ('cause I wild) and then blended all that together. I dumped it into a bowl and topped with maple syrup. I mean, it's really good even if it's not the Ben and Jerry's flavor I was thinking about. Actually, I totally forgot about it because of the super-awesomeness of my dinner – that’s right, banana ice cream for DINNER.

Fan-nana-tastic.

So I made another bowl. . .

Do this for yourself. It's creamy, sweet, cold and really hits the nail on the head. If you aren't a HUGE fan of banana, remember, it's a mild flavor that can be overpowered by something you might find MORE yummy. Like bourbon. Seriously – add a touch of bourbon and be more charming than before! 

Yummy!

New Years Eve

If you do the fuss and muss over the click hitting midnight tonight. .

If you are like me. . .

Things I Eat: Wonder Pot

I went to this little training at work as while back called "Strive for Five: How to Creatively Consume your Fruits and Veggies" - well, I’m going to stick to the normal way, through my mouth. I did go to this little session and found they also stick to you putting food in your mouth.

Creative, my foot!

I find what always happens during these things is the presenter takes something healthy (beans) and then turns them into something else (Black Bean Brownies) and claims it's like God's gift to a six-pack of abs and eternal beauty.

Now, I’m not knocking the practice of using healthy stuff in generally "unhealthy" stuff  - but let's make delicious nutritional dense foods rather than catering to the media-death engine that stays if there is a cup of beans in something it’s awesome for you.

How about a wonder-pot! Everyone should have one. Why? Easy, healthy, delicious and original. And fast. And one pot. Who has time for dishes? I mean, I spend a lot of time staring at the wall so I probably do. . .but. . .America is about choice.

The super-awesome thing about it is you can use almost whatever you have laying around and really make it your way. You can pack it with veggies and even fruit and it's a power-house for your tummy!

What’s a Wonder-Pot? 
Wonder-Pots are one pot dishes normally like a stew or soup. You can throw in almost anything and have a dinner done in no time. To me, it’s a take on a gypsy stew but less complicated – but that’s ‘cause I make a super-mean gypsy stew.

I totally stole the name from one of my fav food blogs, Budget Bytes - in fact, she does an Italian version which is a little more stocked with stuff than mine.

You can check out my ramblings on stews and my gypsy strew here – Cook For Others – it’s got a couple more steps than a wonder-pot.

I do like to jack my stews up with all sorts of good stuff!

What You Need
Anything? Veggies? Lots of great veggies! Ok – whatever you have around. Here is what I put together on night.

• Red peppers
• Orange peppers
• Yellow peppers
• Green beans
• Tomatoes (I had fresh – but canned works!)
• Onion
• Garlic
• Rice noodles (fettuccini style, cause I like flat things) 

My spice palette is Italian based, so, I used:

• Basil 
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Paprika

Cooking Pot
I am in unnatural love with my French oven – or Dutch Oven – from Le Creuset. I use it all the time. Nothing sticks to it and you can cook things super fast. Even when frying something, I use it because of the high sides that really cut down or prevent splatter.

It lives on my stove 100% of the time and tells me things. I might even use it in a weight lifting routine – you don’t know me.

This is the best thing ever for a wonder-pot or gypsy stew or life.

You don't need to have this type of pot. They can be expensive but if you get a weird color (mine is yellow) it is a ton cheaper. You can use any large stewing pot you have.

What You Do
Anyhow, in my pot-of-pots, and as with all great Magyar recipes, I started with some onion strips and olive oil. Because I’m sticking to an Italian spice palette of tomato and basil, I used olive oil.

You could totally use coconut or avocado oil if you wanted to do a South Pacific or South American spice palette. I’d really been doing a lot of ginger lately and decided to change it up. How do you pick what you want? Snort some spices. Open your heart to love. Whatever – live life! Think about the actual flavors of food you like. Sometimes this can be hard because we are use to consuming food rather than tasting food.

As the onions got a little transparent, I threw in the yellow, red and orange peppers to get them nice and sauteed. Peppers are so delicious.

My peppers were actually leftover from something else I made at some point. Sometimes you find things in your fridge and you’re like “SCORE!” Peppers are sort of expensive so I use every little bit of them – and yellow and orange peppers are nice and sweet. About 20% of my peppers go directly into my mouth so finding some is always dance-worthy. I like them a little crunchy – al dente as the professionals say.

So, all of that is getting happy and saute-e. Then for the kicker – green beans (mine were actually frozen). What? Yes, green beans and tomato are fantastic together.

I love green beans in pasta and my stews. Shove that in your black bean brownie hole! Green beans are crunchy, sweet and I sometime pretend I’m a saber-toothed tiger with green bean teeth and chase my cat around. Is that not normal?

Then I added about 2 cups water with a bouillon cube. You could use a veggie broth or even a chicken broth, depending on how you roll. I like my cubes because I . I also threw in my noodles – a couple handfuls, not even a whole pack. Why? Because I like to squirrel away food. Besides, the green beans make up a lot of the “noodle” content.

Anyhow, listen people, I was raised where noodles were boiled in plain water then rinsed and only added at the end to any type of sauce. I can officially say this is wrong. I was raised wrong. I lived this lie for many years. Don't live this lie!

When you cook noodles in a wonder-pot, you keep them with their friends - the noodles infuse with the flavors and you don't lose the starch on the noodles which will help thicken up your pot and give those delicious flavors something to hold on to. And. .who has time for another pot? Not me. There’s a wall to stare at.

I added in basil, garlic, thyme and paprika, too. You can use fresh or dried - I used fresh basil that I chopped up and then dried everything else. You know, go crazy! I mean, I don't know why spices have those sprinkle things on them. Seriously, they prevent me from living life fully. I totally dump seasoning into my food like a mad scientist. If you love basil, use a lot of basil. If you love garlic - go freakin' nuts.

Then you just cover that pot up. While it was all bubbling and cooking away - I chopped up the last of my spinach and a couple tomatoes from my lover’s garden. . . and a couple stray scallions I found. I don’t like to overcook spinach and tomatoes and adding them last gives an extra layer of texture and excitement. I also don’t like to waste food. I have a lot of demands.

When I was done staring at the wall (legit) and/or the noodles were soft, I threw in the stuff I chopped and stirred that pot up a bit to warm up everything, seasoned a little more to taste – it thickened up a little more. . . and. . .boom. Dinner is served.

How @#$%ing beautiful is that? I just wish I had some parsley. . .

Your Pot
Ok, the secret to a wonder-pot is basically looking at what you have in your kitchen and making it. You could have used rice or even a couple types of beans instead of noodles. You could add a meat of your choice – even something leftover from another dinner. Maybe you add some taco type seasoning – cumin, coriander and garlic. Add some ginger, garlic and coconut oil for a different flare. Touch of truffle oil or sesame oil? Holla! Throw in some broccoli at the end for crunch. What about sundried tomatoes? Some grated carrot? Sweet potato. . pumpkin?!

And, let's be honest. You could even add some almonds for a worldly crunch or flaxseed and buckwheat groats. Ooo - asparagus or some Brussels sprouts would rock, too. Just add the sprouts at the end. Asparagus will stand up to some boiling.

Be a hero.

Also. . .
I like to put stuff into this Recipe Calculator to see, in general, how good it is for you. The black bean brownies from my work session earned a nutritional value of C-. It basically has no good points.

My Wonder-Pot is a grade A – Grade A for AWESOME. Your cells will sing hallelujah!

One pot meals, people. One pot meals so deliciously packed with flavor and all this stuff your body craves. Boom. Done. How long did it take me? As long as it takes to chop some veggies and boil some water.

Come on! Make it a meatless Monday and make yourself a pot of wonder.

Live. Large!

Taking Pictures & Being Mysterious

I’m not particularly mysterious. But with a couple tricks on my phone, I have figured out how to be mysterious online. And to totally give people the impression I am super-attractive (in the eye of the beholder) fashionable and maybe even have my life together!

Let’s start!

This is li'l' ol' me! 

Nothing to fancy here. Just me with a ton of hair in my face, simple spaghetti strap top and no makeup or anything. Typical weekend, as far as I am concerned.

Here is my mug shot!I mean, basically, right? This was from a post I wrote called No Makeup!

So, I put on some makeup and I went with a very bold lip because - that's really easy. I made sure the light is hitting my face. You always want to keep the light in front of you to highlight.

I didn't actually wash my hair this day - I need to wash it every day or else it looks like I haven't showered in months. I'm oily! I don't have the best skin, although I keep it under pretty good control. Improvement starts with identification! But, seriously, I was too lazy to shower but I was ok with putting on makeup to hide that.

So, this is the picture I took. I find not looking at the camera makes your mysterious. And, you know, looking like you shower also makes you. .mm. . .well, you should shower. A couple things I know about my self and I work with include - well, I have slight Bell's Palsy so I have to think when I smile that I am properly engaging all the muscles I have. In this way, I use a sideways smile as my "normal" smile.

Also, because I am lazy, I have no idea what that thing in front of me is - probably my hand - but imperfections are sexy and give this more of a "voyeuristic" look. It gives this picture the look as if someone caught me.

As far as composition, I keep some extra space to the one side of me. Because in proper photo composition, like the "Rule of Thirds" the best! I took a class on this in college. I failed the class, I think. I'm not, you know, a photographer. 

Anyhow, as any teenager knows, using filters that come with any smartphone these days makes for a mysterious picture.  decided to go with a “vintage” filter to add warmth and some over-saturation of color. All in all, I don't look that bad for someone who doesn't shower, has facial deformities but can slather on some makeup and follow some rules of compilation and can use a filter.

Another More-Mysterious Photos

What? Crop out your face in a headshot? Sure. It’s more mysterious. It’s a fact, the less you show, the most mysterious you are. This works in most areas of life. Not all. Be careful with that. 

Here, I get a nice contrast with my black and green straps and my red lip really pops. But, still seems a little creepy. I can fix this!

I, again, used the "vintage" filter for the warmth. It also adds some depth to my collarbone because bones showing are mysterious. It sounds like an oxymoron but it is not. The more innards you see, the better! That’s artistic. The background, however, is not.

I cropped the hell of the picture. Why? Well, the background wasn't really working for me. No one wants to see a blanket, window and a/c unit. This way, the background is less which makes the itty part of my face MORE. 

Speaking of more, I pumped up the highlights and brightness and cut off more of my body. Not having the straps makes this more mysterious! Am I naked? Who knows. 

Maybe I’m a naked, hot lady with big, hot, red lips naked. . .somewhere. Pouting. 

Smiles aren't mysterious. 

So, if you want to make yourself mysterious in pictures, this is a pretty good way to go it. Key points:

• Keep the light where you want things highlighted.
• Spruce up the best features with paint (makeup).
• Crop the hell out of stuff to make people invent their own reality about you.
• Add warmth.
• Don't make eye contact. 
• Use poplar phone filters to make people think you are artistic. 

Things I Eat: Salad Remix

This thing is seriously one of my staples. You might remember my post Things I Eat: That’s a Salad where I did a different version of this dish.

What You Need
A lot of this can be what you have around your place. I'm a fan of the sweet potato because it really sucks up whatever flavor I put on it which means I don't have to drowned everything in sauce. For this dinner – I used a lot more spinach and used carrot instead of broccoli.

• 1 package spinach (9 oz or so bag)
• 4 ounces fettuccine rice noodles - I use Tinkyada (Measure by placing a bunch of spaghetti between your thumb and forefinger. 2 ounces of pasta is about the diameter of a United States quarter. From How to Measure Dry Pasta)
• 3 whole large carrots peeled in long lines
• 2 cups sweet potato peeled in long lines
• Sun-dried tomatoes - A lot. I use the kinds packed in olive oil, you could use the dry kind
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Dried basil flakes
• Basil oil to taste
• Oregano
• Toasted sesame seeds (I had a little left)

What I Did

First, I boiled up my noodles. One day, I will have leftover noodles. Not today. Make them however you like them – al dente, smooshie. You can use whatever type of noodle, I happen to be a fan of the flat ones. I also enjoy a good spiral. 

While the noodles where cooking, I shaved my carrots and sweet potato. It’s really a feeling thing how much you want. I had a huge sweet potato and I seemed as if I hardly made a dent in it. I used about three large carrots. Feel free to shred the carrots or do whatever you want. I don’t like raw carrots sliced like coins – so, I stick with long strips or shredded so I can get them into my mouth better.

In my salad mix, I added a drizzle of basil oil, olive oil and then some dried basil and dried oregano to taste. I had a couple shakes of toasted sesame seeds left, so, I dumped that in. Putting the oils and seasoning on the sweet potato and carrot allow it to absorb the flavor more. Flavor doesn’t tend to stick to spinach right off the bat. Then add in your spinach and mix that up all nice and good.

Once the noodles are done, drain the water (don’t rinse the pasta) and put the pot and pasta back on the stove. Turn off the heat but use the heat you have! I added in the rest of the salad and carefully mix everything together. You can add the sun-dried tomatoes now – if you really like them, you can add a lot! I like to add them when I plate because they always end up on the bottom of my salads.

Plate up your salad and garish if you are into that sort of thing. Or just eat!

As you can see, this one turned out a little different that the last one I made and the different flavors made it taste entirely different.

The Daily Smooth: Virgin Post & Dates

I send out an email called the Daily Smooth at. . .work. .which is an email that lists the type of smoothie I am drinking. I started it with some friends who were getting into using smoothies and sharing some ideas to keep them interested and somewhat healthy.

(Meanwhile, a friend of mine is trying to convince me to enter into her pyramid scheme and sell Shakology. OMG, Amanda, it has 70 super-nutritious ingredients. @#$% you and your dried, over processed propriety superfood. Seriously, your life is wack)

So, I thought I would add some of these things to my blog here and link them in the Things I Eat page. Sweet business!

Today’s Blend

• Banana.
• Berry blend.
• Cinnamon.
• Dates.
• Orange.
• Spinach.
• Whole flaxseed.

It’s beginning to look a lot like. . .whatever holiday you are thinking about! 

You know how blenders and whatnot have a max fill line? You might be able to taut it for a while, eventually, it will projectile-smoothie all over your kitchen. And then probably not blend too well.  Whatever. It’s still good stuff.

Some Facts

What do you mean you don’t eat dates? Date are fan-date-tastic. 

Let’s just review – dates are not prunes or figs or whatever. They are their own creature – normally found in their dried state, they can be eaten fresh and there are many varieties. 

They come from the date palm which is a plant that is while they are dioecious – that means it has a male plant and a female plant. So. .of course they produce dates. The date palm is on the coat of arms for Saudi Arabia – No word on if it is a male or female palm. 

(That paragraph was hilarious, you probably want to read it again)

These little powerhouses are the sweetest fruits in the world (this hasn't been confirmed or proven by anyone but myself). I happen to enjoy the medjool date (which I pronounce manjula, which is wrong but fun).

 Anyhow, if you are feeling a little. . .mm. . .tied up on the inside in a non-emotional way. . .eat some dates, you’ll be feeling good and fancy-free! They are considered a laxative food because they have a high amount of soluble fiber (drink water with them, just saying). Listen, we all could use a little more fiber. Dates also contain organic sulfur – what? Yep. Sulfur. Why is this important? It’s not common to find in foods and it actually can help reduce seasonal allergies. I got 99 problems, but seasonal allergies ain’t one.

Drink up my finely fueled friends!

Image Credit:

Saudi Arabia phone thing Amazon.com

Things I Eat: Chicken Teriyaki

My man-tiger loves the Chinese buffet but it's a no go for me. Saddly. I love a good buffet.

Anyhow, since I'm going to have to make him happy, I figured I better make a teriyaki sauce. And one that I can eat, too...because...whoa.

And something simple because he's going to learn how to make it so I can have a delicious dinner made for me. Yays marriage.

Making teriyaki this is far easier than people think. It's just the flavors of soy and sugar - basically. Maybe some rice vinegar. I like to use ginger - and nothing fermented because I can't have yeast. You don't need to go out or buy strange bottles of stuff, you CAN make it yourself!

I also found these sprinkle-able onions, and while they contain wheat and possibly soy - ONIONS!!

And yes, I would eat an onion raw.

My face is bad

Seriously - sorry about the face. I was using some modeling tips - this is how to be sexy around onions. Oh, and I forget how I look to polite society sometimes.

What You Need

• Onions: ONIONS
• Soy sauce: I use Braggs Liquid Aminos, it's free of wheat, yeast, mm. . .yeah. It's a little saltier than normal soy sauce,  but still good. It is made from soybeans, but, I can deal. I cannot deal with yeast.
• Brown sugar: Sugar, sugar. Heeeeey, sugar, sugar.
• Ginger: I use the only Gourmet Gardens produce I can, the ginger which is dairy-free.
• Garlic: I got some minced garlic in a jar. It's my eye of newt! 
• Coconut oil: Oil of the Gods!
• Cornstarch: For thickening. It's a texture thing.
• Chicken: Vegan? Don't use this. I don't know how you live. Maybe some tofu? I don't eat tofu.
• Broccoli: The frozen is fine. You can roast it, if you are a go-getter. Or just nuke it in the 'wave.
• Rice: I made it in my rice cooker with a healthy swig of sesame oil for flavor. 

What You Do
To make the sauce, chop up about a cup of onions. Or less. Saute that for a bit so they start getting a little transparent. They will cook longer, so, don't get all bent out of shape about it. The picture below is of onions and red peppers because I didn't actually take a picture. Or. . .you know. .any pictures.You could totally put red peppers in it. I didn't. I just feel like pictures make it seem like I know what I'm doing.

Add 1/4 cup of your soy sauce, brown sugar and water. Yep - 1/4 of each. Simmer this for a while. Let it get all melty and simmery together. Maybe while your chicken is cooking? 

I used chicken breasts so I roasted them for 20-30 minutes. Cook up your chicken and broc and rice during this time. Normally, the rice takes the longest and the broc the shortest.

At the end, I added in an inch squeeze of ginger to my sauce and a sprinkle of cornstarch to thicken it up. The secret with cornstarch is to take a little bowl of super hot sauce and dissolve it in there first before adding it. That will help you avoid lumps.

Add your topping of crunchy onions or combine as you see fit - all together, on the side, layered.  

Live!!!!

NOM

A Cut Above (The Ponytail)

As you read about last week in my Time To Say Goodbye post the mop has been chopped, the locks have been leveled, the mane has been tamed, the hair has been. . mm. . .cut.

I was probably going to do this one way or another but my Movember team also raised $1,000 so I had to do it. Although, I cut it before we got the last donation in. Whatever. All for charity.

I thought I was all special when I sat down until my hairdresser told me I was her second lop of the day. Whatever, generous people. Harshing my mellow.

First, my hair was sort of long.

I had my husband take some pictures to document this donation. My Mom always called my hair "tendrils" or "tentacles" because of the twist in it. She also hates when I have long hair. Unless you ask her, then she says something like, "I love all my children equally." We all know what that means. . .

Here is the main - I did straighten it, by the way. And it was also snowing a lot. These things matter when you have long hair.

Gotta measure that stuff – I ended up getting about 10.5 inches for donation. Look at that super-professionalism from Kiersten - she has been doing pretty things to my hair for like 9 years!

I think a total of 12 inches were removed because you need to leave a little hair for the style cutting part. At this point, I believe my guy was getting a little worried as to what I would look like.

And. ..vola. Hair.

And what I now look like -

Sassy and now I use less shampoo! Although - I assure you my hair is styled nicely by a professional in this photo. It is currently out of control.

I donated my hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths - the charity collects hair and gives out wigs for free. I normally donate to Locks of Love but in reading some of their financials and whatnot and learning they charge for wigs on a sliding scale - I thought I would branch out. Beautiful Lengths does not charge anyone for wigs - it also requires less hair.

If you would like to donate hair, check around, there are many programs they accept hair. Or you can donate money. Or food. Or time. You'd be surprise what a difference you can make with who and what you are right now.