Friday, May 30, 2008

7.9 hours until exam

its exam season. this means late nights of panic attacks, rereading entire books and calling friends to have mutual freak outs. for me, all this freaking out makes me hungry and exhausted. and i don't have the time to whip up a wonderful snack during any of my strenuous flashcard sessions. these are some of the best late night study sesh snacks. from personal experience, these keep me awake and happy.
1. raisin bran. i find it delish and its just a nice munchy.
2. celery dipped in PB. sometimes i stir in raisins and honey too. the loud crunching wakes me up and brings the blood flow to my head.
3. green tea. this is the ultimate calmer if you cannot figure out how you will learn everything in time. and the caffeine will awaken you a bit without preventing sleep for days.
4. cliff bar. cliff bars= energy. they are also delish
5. granola and yogurt. just think of the yogurt as ice cream and the granola as sprinkles. a much healthier option than the Ben and Jerry's pint in the freezer.
6. a water bottle. chug down some water. if that doesn't keep you up, having to pee all night will.
good luck everyone!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Guac


so i used to hate guacamole. now i can not get enough. today i googled a recipe, but realised i only had a few of the ingredients, so i whipped up my own version. you need:
-1 avocado. slice a thin bit off the side, and use a spoon to scoop out the green goodness into a bowl.
- a handful of grape tomatoes, sliced up really small
- 1/3 of a onion, chopped up really small.
- a palmful of arugula, finely chopped. (or cilantro if you have it)
- a few dashes of Tabasco
- yellow bell pepper, sliced into strips. (i like to use the bell pepper strips instead of chips to enjoy the guac, but if you are a chip person ignore the bell pepper.)

mix and mush everything together in a giant bowl. use the yellow bell peppers to scoop up and enjoy each wonderful bite of the guac.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Salsa Soup


i made this when i was sick. the spice really cleaned out my sinuses. it is like the essence of a burrito in soup form. you need:
1 small container of the whole foods tomato salsa. ( if your whole foods does not have this, chop up really small, 2 parts tomatoes, one part onions and a few cilantro leaves, enough to fill one of those small pint containers.)
2/3 cup vegetable broth. (i always have a box of this on hand)
1/2 of a red bell pepper, cut into little squares
1/2 of an avocado, thinly sliced into small chunks
a dash of lemon pepper ( or regular pepper, however i used the lemon crazy Jane's pepper) and a dash of paprika.
some mozzarella to sprinkle on top when done. (as much as you prefer)

pour the broth into a smallish soup pot with the chopped red bell pepper on medium high heat for 5 mins. add the spices with the bell pepper.
reduce the heat to medium low, add the salsa. cover until peppers are cooked.
stir in the avocado and mozzarella,
pour and enjoy!
(this recipe serves one, to serve 2 just double everything)

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Cookie Crunchhhhh

so recently i had one of those huge tubs of cookies in my house. ya know one of those with 48 cookies in the big plastic things. the cookies themselves weren't that good, so i thought of delish things to do with them.
1. microwave them. 3o seconds to a minute makes em warm and gooey. like you just pulled them out of the oven.
2. grill them. place on a small skillet on low heat, flip a few times until brown on both sides. takes about a minute on each side.
3. make a cookie sandwich! spread peanut butter between 2 cookies, or try a scoop of ice cream!
DELISHH

Saturday, May 10, 2008

BIRTHDAYYYY


TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! w00t! so to celebrate i wanted to bake a cake of some sort, but we have no cake mix, and i dont feel like starting from scratch. but i found brownie mix, and mini muffin pans. my fave brownie mix is the Ghiradelli kind, much better than betty crocker. so i made the brownie mix according to the box, tossed in some nuts and a little cinnamon to the mix. then i poured the mix into a greased mini muffin pan and baked until a toothpick came out clean when i stabbed it into the little brownie. (this will take longer than you think.) pop em out of the little tray, and you have mini brownie cupcakes for everyone! yay! or u can eat them all (they are decadently delicious when they are warm, and look very tempting). to really add some flare, spread with frosting. this is the recipe for my fave cream cheese frosting:
melt together in a small sauce pan over medium heat 8 ounces (2 packages) cream cheese, 1/2 cup softened butter and one teaspoon vanilla extract. stir in slowly 2 cups of confectioners sugar.
spread this on your brownie bites and you will have a delicious excuse for not buying a cake! (so u could share these with everyone instead!)

Friday, May 2, 2008

my little garden


so mama drew and i went to home depo the other day, and i was swooped away by all the things i could plant. i ended up buying grape tomatoes and sweet basil. they have yet to reach an edible form, but they look wonderful sitting in plastic pots on my windowsill. so to get excited for these pending matoes and basil, i made some eggs. first, whisk together an egg and an egg white. throw in some sliced grape 'matoes and whisk em around too. heat a small skillet on medium low heat after spraying it with nonstick spray and sprinkling a little peeper on the pan as well. toss the eggs on the skillet and resist the urge to push it around with a spatula. these aren't scrambled eggs, so dont touch them. when the eggs look almost cooked in the middle, sprinkle a little parm cheese on them. then rip up some fresh basil leaves and sprinkle them on the eggs too. fold it over like an omelet. plate it and enjoy!