Study Schmuddy

Y'all...I am so done with school. Stretched deadlines, stressed profs, my brain straight up going "NOPE" every Saturday morning in response to my waking up in a panic and shortly realizing "hey, it's Saturday! I don't need to wear pants or go to into the clinic...but I can study?"

Here is a stunningly metaphorical NOPE in picture form. 

my clinic biddy Emily fetching me lemon tea from Starbucks to soothe my cough.

Matt's mom makes these crispy, savory pancakes with walnuts.  they are sumptous without any toppings, just hot off the pan.

I had a weak moment and bought coke from a vending machine. I showed my classmates. they snapped photos.

breakfasts with this guy (NOTE THE GEM ON THE LEFT)

my classmates communicate in pictures. 

THOSE HERBS I GREW THEM

Matt asked me to buy lime basil but barely uses it. I chopped some and froze in olive oil

Culver's, a midwestern delicacy 

fried cheese balls? with ranch dipping sauce?

gluten free, but made the mistake of not reading what the pasta was made of: LENTIL FLOUR. Poops--I mean--oops. 

homemade cashew milk getting turned into a homemade frappucino!

Surprise dinner of steak and onions

A grocery store opened up about 5 blocks from the clinic and has a pretty decent salad bar 

found at Miami airport: guava and sweet cheese pie. SO FRAGRANT. 

Grandma with my welcome home meal--that lady, I tell you.

Mom and I at the oyster bar at JTM. Pricey to sit and eat, and the oysters were just ok.

But...I may try it just one more time... 

picking vine leaves for stuffing!

At a family-favorite Italian restaurant, Tre Marie 

crème brulée bread pudding, at a restaurant nearby. Just say no to that fusion shit.

broccoli "breadcrumbs" in meatballs. yes, thank you, I'm a genius.

Family birthdays

Both my mom and step-father have their birthdays in September, a few days apart form each other. So for the sake of simplicity, we have one supper to celebrate all three events, hosted by me. The weather and leaves being so beautiful, I decided to carry the autumn theme inside as well, and my sister and I worked together to create an autumnal feast for our parents.

 

My sister worked hard on the decorations while I took care of the food. I printed out a menu and she basically did the rest, down to making little individual place cards. It was quite charming and I just loved working in tandem with her, usually were so busy in our respective lives our interactions seem to be like a gust in the wind, strong but unexpected and quickly over. It was really nice to be able to work with her towards a common goal as simple as making supper for our folks.

 

For the menu, this is what I made: Roasted butternut squash/apple/sweet potato soup, roast beef with garlic/peppercorn crust, mashed potatoes/carrots, and steamed vegetables. For desert I made a carrot/apple/raisin cake with a caramel rhum sauce topped with slivered almonds and thin apple slices. Im going to share the soup recipe, it is the easiest thing to do ever, gluten/dairy free, and paleo approved.

 

I roasted a medium butternut squash, three medium sweet potato and two onions at 350 for 1.5 hours. To do so simply cut the squash and taters in half and lay face down on a pan that has a couple of teaspoons of e.v.o.o. criss crossed on it. I added the onions 45 mns before done time. The squash and potatoes are done when you can stick a fork easily in them without any force. Let cool, then scrape into a blender with a cup of vegetable broth. Blend until smooth.

 

I added the puree into veggie stock, maybe 1.5-2ltrs of it, as well as 1 cup of applesauce I made. It was too liquidy so I cooked it down until it was the desired thickness. Added some cinnamon and powdered ginger (Im sorry I didn't measure).

 

Then right before serving, I grated some nutmeg on the top. It was very fragrant and delicious, and perfectly autumnal.

Lunch time all the time

So I'm trying something new, which is to make all my lunches for the work week at once, something that would save me tons of time prepping (and save me from forgetting the night before and rushing madly the morning of) but I've largely refrained from doing so because Im really scared of the monotony that would create. Eating the same thing over and over 5 days in a row doesn't sound very appealing, but what the heck, I cant judge something without trying it.

So this is what I made, a sort of chili I guess you would call it.

 For the meat base, I used a meatloaf I never got around to cooking, mixture of ground turkey and ground beef with minced broccoli and cauliflower and spices, I'm not sure which I put in there. Sliced an onion, a red pepper, a zucchini (thanks Amy!!), added green and yellow string beans, some carrots, cubed sweet potato and added some chopped fresh tomatoes as well as the last of last year's canned tomato sauce I made, and finally a mix of beans (red, white kidney beans, some chickpeas and I think some split peas as well). Added oregano, paprika, dried chili, chili powder, and jalapeno hot sauce. Shoved all that in the crockpot for a few hours on high. The result is exactly like chili, or maybe a tomato stew. So now I have lunch for the whole week (and a couple bowls that we ate for supper as well). Although I'm loving the result, I know that by Wednesday I'm going to start dreading lunch time haha so I think what I will do is make two recipes every week, freeze the individual portions and mix and match.

Do you have large scale crockpot recipes that are easily freezable and microwavable you would suggest?

dairy-free peach & vanilla ice cream

JUST DO IT!

In a blender mix one bar coconut cream, five peaches, 2/3 c brown sugar, 1 tbsp vanilla extract, and enough water to bring it up to 1.5L (standard capacity). Blend on liquify for 3-5 minutes (it will seem excessive but it helps get the coconut meat in the bar as smooth as possible).

Churn in an ice cream maker.

Pour right into popsicle moulds (spoon it in, it's too thick for a funnel) and little serving jars (I used 125mL and 250mL). Freeze. Let the very hard ice cream clinging to the walls of the drum sit and soften for a little while - this will be your snack in an hour or so.

Enjoy.