The Packing Chronicles, Part 2

Read: Packing Chronicles, Part 1

Packing Chronicles, Part 2

This past Friday, I gave myself three things I wanted to accomplish over the weekend:

1. Dye my hair
2. Cook/bake all the food in my apartment
3. Apply for jobs

 Things from that list that I actually accomplished this weekend:

1. Dyed my hair
2. Attempted to cook/bake all the food in my apartment

Operation Dye My Hair

So I successfully dyed my hair. I've had the hair dye since before graduation because I had wanted to dye my hair for graduation. Clearly that happened. It's a medium auburn brown. So really it's just my hair color (maybe a tad darker) with a hint of red.

Just a hint of red. Easier to see in sunlight.

Operation Cook Everything

I decided I would cook/bake all the food in my apartment so that I could start packing my kitchenware. This way all my food could be in the freezer and all I would have to do is microwave it. Then I could pack up my pots and pans, most of my dishes, most kitchen utensils, and other kitchen stuff that I wouldn't need. Well, Operation Cook Everything was a bit more of an undertaking than I thought it would be. Plus, I actually have a life (surprising, I know) and didn't want to spend every minute of the weekend getting adventurous in the kitchen. What I accomplished to cook/bake:

• Lots of macaroni and cheese
• Lots of fried rice
• Vegan chocolate cupcakes with almond "buttercream" frosting
• Coconut cupcakes
• Couscous
• Quinoa with black beans and corn

Vegan chocolate cupcakes.

Coconut cupcakes and vegan chocolate cupcakes

Coconut cupcakes with coconut pecan frosting and topped with shredded coconut.

Operation Get A Job

Well, I looked at job postings. That's as far as that went. A little lacking in motivation at the moment for that. None of the jobs really appealed to me, and I guess I shouldn't be picky, but whatever. Something will happen. Speaking of jobs, I had a dream last night that University of Hawaii offered me a job and I couldn't decide if I wanted to accept it or not. I woke up feeling completely stressed out - not a great way to wake up. Also, not really sure what that dream means other than I have no idea what I want to happen.

The Packing Continues...

So I'm hopefully going to go full force with packing this week. I have clothes, kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, and not much else to pack. Oh yeah, and a fish tank. I started preparing today to move my fish tank over to the Housing office, who are inheriting my fish tank because I really can't move with it since I don't even know where I'm moving to. When I say I've started preparing to move the tank, that includes buying a new fish... because that's logical. Oh well.

Meet Cyrus. My new fish, that will soon become Housing's.

My packing/moving advice continued:
3. If you don't want to be distracted while trying to pack, just break up with your computer. By which I mean the battery is dying and needs to be replaced. Not a big deal, it just needs to be plugged in all the time. So, charger stops working. Told my computer that I think it's right about us needing a break. Unlike TSwift, we are getting back together as I gave in and ordered a new charger. I'm lucky enough that I can borrow a work laptop in the meantime.

The Packing Chronicles, Part 1

Packing Chronicles, Part 1

So I'm moving! In case you didn't already know that. Where to, you ask? I'll let you know when I know. That's right, I've been packing up my apartment (read: my life) and am getting ready to move to a place to be determined. As you know it is potentially Alaska or Hawaii (still awaiting their calls). If that doesn't work out, then I'm likely staying in the Pensacola area, living with friends, and working at Panera Bread. Sounds like a not so ideal plan, but some days it's the plan I'm most excited about. Everyone keeps asking me which job I'd prefer. Some days it is Hawaii, some it's Alaska, and others it's neither. It's complicated and my emotions are a roller coaster basically (Army Wives isn't helping!)

I hate packing. I like the actual idea of moving, but hate the actual process of moving (except for the awesome road trips involved sometimes). Knowing this about myself, I start packing nearly a month ago, meaning I started gathering packing supplies, getting rid of stuff I don't need, and "organizing" (read: destroying) my apartment. The real packing has been occuring in the past week or so. Really I only have two and a half boxes packed. Not much I know. I am however proud at the amount of stuff I'm getting rid of, but still amazed at how much stuff I have. I'm making progress, but it's slow. I gave myself a move out date... June 18. We'll see if I stick to that, and we'll see where I'm going.

2 full boxes. Not a  lot accomplished.

The start to my list of packing/moving advice:

1. If planning (or potentially planning in my case) to ship boxes to your destination keep an inventory of what you put in each box, and instead of labeling the box with what's in it label it with a number that corresponds to the inventory list. This makes your boxes less vulnerable to theft.
2. Don't get really distracted by something. In my case, it's Army Wives. I watched the first three episodes last Wednesday night and am now about halfway through season 6. Yeah. Packing gets a little distracting from watching Army Wives. haha
3. To be continued... (Apparently I'm not full of advice right now.)

So with all this packing, I'm trying to get rid of all the food in my fridge, freezer, and cabinets. So the next couple of weeks will consist of whatever concoctions I come up with. A couple nights ago I made brownies from scratch. I tossed in some walnuts and some sprinkles. I got a little bit distracted and cooked them a bit too long (see #2 above). So they tasted good, but they were dry. So what could I do with them? Realized I had some whipped cream and cherries that would go well with them. Then I realized I also had chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, and more sprinkles. So really all I needed was some ice cream. Bought ice cream and brought it all over to a friend's where a group of us had an impromptu sundae party. Worked out well.

Tonight's dinner was an interesting concoction. Made a tuna and green bean casserole. I used ziti, tuna, green beans, cream of mushroom soup, cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses, paprika (of course), and panko bread crumbs. Probably not the combination of ingredients you'd immediately think of, but it turned out to be delicious. So this one is a success. Hopefully I'll have other successes as well.

Doesn't look or sound like much, but it tasted great!

Pan-Seared Tilapia w/ Herb Cream Sauce

A few nights ago I made some delicious tilapia for dinner. As I've said I am doing weight watchers and trying to eat healthy and exercise. I wanted something simple but delicious. I am also a vegetarian, but I do eat seafood (so yes, I'm technically a pescetarian). And since I'm very environmentally-minded I make sure to eat sustainable seafood (I am an aquaculturist after all). It's hard to keep track with all the fishing practices, so I look to the Seafood Watch by the Monterey Bay Aquarium to see what's good to eat. They have a guide online, a printed pocket guide, and a smartphone app. So for tilapia, U.S., Ecuador, and Canada farmed tilapia is good. So that's what I got.

Ingredients:

Tilapia (I used a 6oz piece, which is 2oz more than a typical serving size)

Garlic salt

Old Bay seasoning

1/4 cup fat-free sour cream

1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped

2 tsp spinach, chopped (I used frozen that was already chopped, and just thawed it)

1 tsp reduced fat parm cheese

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions:

Pan-Seared Tilapia (PointsPlus: 5)

Spray a non-stick frying pan with a small amount of cooking spray (a very small amount is all you need). Heat the pan over medium-high heat. Season the fish to taste on both sides using the garlic salt and old bay seasoning. I used a little less than a teaspoon of garlic salt on one side and about a teaspoon of Old Bay on each side. Once the pan is heated place the fish in the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes then flip and cook for 2 minutes on the other side.

Herb Cream Sauce (PointsPlus: 1)

Mix together the sour cream, parsley, spinach, parmesan cheese, and lemon juice. Serve on top of tilapia. This made more than I wanted on my fish so I didn't use it all.

I served the whole meal with some steamed broccoli and corn on the cob. Delicious, low-point dinner! Enjoy!

My Vegan Vacation

Note: For those of you who have said that you haven't been able to comment, I think I fixed that issue.

My Vegan Vacation: 4 Days in Melbourne, Florida

So I chose October as my month to go vegan because it didn't involve major food holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's...) so I shouldn't run into many speed bumps. Well, I hadn't thought about the fact that I was taking a long weekend to go down to Melbourne to visit my undergrad for my sorority's alumni weekend. I had a fantastic weekend and was so happy to see so many of my Alpha Phi sisters. Love them.

Sunrise over I-10.

Food was complicated over the weekend. Thursday I drove down and brought food with me for the road trip (7.5 hour drive) so that was fine. Left super early in the morning, but I love driving before the sun is up.


Thursday night I went out for Mexican with a friend and easily found a vegan option, and the waiter assured me it was dairy-free. Friday breakfast consisted of a bagel and some coffee with a friend at Panera, of course. Breakfast was a little late so I didn't eat lunch. Dinner was the challenge. Alpha Phi was hosting the 3rd Annual Red Dress Gala, a formal dinner fundraiser to raise money for the Alpha Phi Foudation in support of heart health. My sister, Norah, who is wonderful and was in charge of the event worked so hard to get a meal I could eat. The hotel that the event was being held at clearly did not understand what it means to be vegan. My salad consisted of watered down lettuce with two slices of tomato. I say watered down because I thought at first that they had drizzled it with oil for dressing, but no they just soaked the lettuce in water. No dressing. I squeezed lemon juice onto it to add some flavor and ate the tomatoes last so that I got the most flavor at the end. I was a little worried about what would come next. The entree they served was a plate of vegetables. Just vegetables. They were delicious, and I was grateful to have them but there was nothing else. No rice. No beans. Nothing but veggies. I'm clearly a rabbit. My friend next to me has a bunch of allergies so she also got a special meal. They served her after me and she got a plate of veggies and rice. I looked at her plate and said "Why can't I get rice?"

Norah and I. She's awesome.

My plate of veggies. Delicious. Not fulfilling.

 Saturday was a lot better for food. Lunch consisted of a BBQ at the APhi house. BBQ doesn't typically scream vegan, but my Little was awesome and made me a vegan dish. She made this pan-asian noodle dish which was delicious. There was also fruit, and a salsa dip that I could eat. That worked out well. For dinner I had a fantastic veggie wrap at bar and restaurant we were at for dinner. Thanks to the website barnivore.com I can easily look up alcohols that are vegan friendly so that is always helpful. Sunday was the drive back and I didn't really eat much other than chips.

I didn't have a chance to go food shopping since I got back until tonight. So Sunday night and yesterday consisted of leftovers. Tonight though I made a vegan version of Rocco Dispirito's Sweet and Spicy Linguine alla Vodka (which has no vodka in it...). The recipe calls for yogurt and I didn't have soy yogurt, nor was I able to go downtown to Ever'man's to get some, so I experimented and mixed a little bit of vegan cream cheese with some soy milk. It seemed to make the right consistency so I gave it a try. It was delicious. And I tweeted about it and Rocco retweeted it which kind of made my night because I'm in love with him. Maybe tomorrow I'll post my modified version of the recipe. It really was good and it's pretty low in calories. Rocco has really great low-cal recipes with his Now Eat This Diet.

 

 

The sauce came out great with my yogurt substitution experiment.

Finished product.

Put it in some tuperware and brought it to my office for dinner.

That's all for now. I had a fantastic trip and made the best of it as a vegan. I didn't starve so I'd say it's a success. Look for some more posts soon.

Me and some wonderful ladies at Red Dress Gala.

Loved this in the Florida Tech alumni magazine.

My Life Month as a Vegan Day 11

Looked great. Tasted afwul.

Okay so tonight I had the biggest vegan fail ever. Seriously, I made three different meals for dinner because the first two went almost directly into the trash. So I started off with some apple cider tofu. I found the recipe from VeganDad and it looked so delicious that I thought I'd give it a try. Fail. I used less apple cider vinegar than the recipe called for and all you could taste was vinegar. So after a bite of that I threw it out (there was no salvaging any of it) and moved on to the next try. I had some tofu noodles and I made a "cream" sauce. Cooked up the noodles, poured some sauce over them, and topped it with some vegan-friendly meatless meatballs. I learned that tofu noodles are rather disgusting. The sauce and the meatballs were great, but they were ruined by the noodles. So after that I was tired of cooking. Heated up some leftover chickpea cakes and a few more meatballs and that was my dinner.



Last night I had a successful dinner attempt with only one try. I made some stir fry with bean sprouts, baby corn, mushrooms, water chestnuts, tempeh, and served it over rice. It was rather delicious, something that was super easy to make, and another one of those foods that you can just use whatever veggies you have.

Delicious tempeh stir fry which I served over rice (and have several servings of leftovers).

So one day last week I had the realization that since it is now October it is Mallomars season. If you're not aware, Mallomars are a delicious treat from Nabisco that is basically a smores cookie. It's a graham cracker-like cookie topped with marshmallow and covered in a chocolate coating. They are delicious. Over 70% of them are sold in the NY Metropolitan area though, so they are hard to come across down south. They are also only made from October to May since they melt so easily in the summer months. I got a packed from Mama Ceal this week and of course it had a box of Mallomars in it because she always sends me some when it's Mallomars season. Well, at least they don't go bad so they will be an amazing treat after my Vegan Pledge is over.

Sad that I can't eat Mallomars. They will make for a great post-vegan celebration.

Last night (or this morning rather) I had the sudden urge to bake cupcakes. It was 2am. I almost did, but then my rational thoughts took over and I knew that as soon as I would put them in the oven I would have the sudden urge to sleep. So I passed on that, but I plan on making some more chocolate cupcakes this weekend and possibly some cocount cupcakes as well.

Haven't had any other exciting vegan cooking extravaganzas. I'm hoping for some deliciously successful cooking adventures this weekend. And maybe a meal out at Sluggo's.


Here's the trailer to Food, Inc. It's a great documentary that has encouraged me to be a conscious consumer. I'm not trying to turn everyone (or anyone) vegetarian or vegan, but you should know where your food comes from and how it gets to you. I think I may see a documentary day coming up soon. This weekend perhaps?

My Life Month as a Vegan Day 8

Hey look at this... two days in a row for blog posts! Go me!

So yesterday I had my first vegan baking experience. It went really well. Yesterday morning I went shopping at Ever'Man's in downtown Pensacola, which is a natural foods store. I was so happy there. They just have so many options for vegans and I loved it. Can't wait to go back.

Just out of the oven. Baked a minute or two too long.

I first made some chocolate cupcakes from a recipe I found from Oh She Glows. I baked them a couple mintues too long so they were a little overcooked on the outside but still so delicious. The almond "buttercream" frosting was delicious, but a little too almond-y for me. So I think next time I might do half almond extract and half vanilla extract.

Frosted. I even got some vegan sprinkles which were the ugliest colors ever, but still good.

I also gave chocolate chip cookie dough truffles that I found a recipe for from Chef Chloe. They were delicious. I brought them to my staff meeting this morning and people loved them. They were super easy to make too.

The best part about vegan cookie dough is that you don't have to worry about eating raw eggs.

Cookie dough in the freezer.

Halfway there. Look delicious.

Seriously so good. They were a hit.

I hadn't thought about dinner last night until I was hungry so I needed to put something together pretty quickly. I made a portabello mushroom burger which was delicious.

My delicious portabello burger. Threw on some vegan cheese, sliced tomato, and veganaise and mustard. Yum

Today for lunch I made myself a tofurkey sandwich. I had some Italian deli style tofurkey, along with some tomatoes that I sliced up, some vegan cheese, and veganaise and had it on wheat toast. I was a little worried about veganaise at first because it just sounds gross, but it's just an oil based spread and it tastes just like mayonaise. The sandwich was really delicious. It was a nice change for lunch.

Tonight for dinner I really wanted to make some soup. Today felt like fall so it was definitely a night for soup. I even wore jeans and a pair of boots today. I'm so happy the fall weather is here (I just wish I was up north to really experience fall). I made a simple vegetable soup. The thing I love about making soup is that you can just throw in whatever you have. So I used vegetable stock and water and added potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, celery, Great Northern Beans, mushrooms, and seasoned it up. It was delicious and I made plenty so I could freeze some of the leftovers to have another time.

I love to freeze it in individual serving size containers so that I have ready to go meals whenever I need them.

Hope you've enjoyed! More posts to come soon!

My Life Month as a Vegan

So for the month of October I have decided to go Vegan, and I think I'll blog about it! Yay blogging! because I'm one of the worst bloggers in the history of blogging. So this past week has been a bit busy which made my first week as a Vegan a bit challenging, but I'm hoping to put up a new post every 2-3 days (we'll see how that goes...).

The first couple of days of Veganism was rough because I hadn't gotten the chance to go grocery shopping for vegan-specific items, and my supply of food in my apartment wasn't very Vegan Friendly. Once I got a chance to shop it became so much easier.

For breakfast I haven't been doing too much since I don't generally eat breakfast anyway (most important meal of the day, I know). I have been trying to eat some oatmeal most mornings though and I add a touch of brown sugar and cinnamon to give some flavor (cut up some apples for it too if I happen to have any).

My favorite oatmeal. No surprise that it is Irish. :)


Lunch has mostly been salad. I've been eating most of my lunches at the campus dining hall and my option is limited to a terribly bland salad. I'm hoping to do something else for lunch this week.

The dinners is where it's been at this week for me. The first night after shopping I needed a quick, easy meal so I made vegan sloppy joes from a mix I had gotten. It was real easy to make and I served it on some vegan wheat bread. It was very delicious and the leftovers made for a wonderful midnight snack the following night.

The sloppy joe mix on the stove. So easy to make.

Sloppy joes served on vegan-friendly wheat bread. Delicious.

The second night I also needed a quick meal since it was a class night for me. I bought some Amy's vegan stir fry frozen meal. It was rather delicious and perfect for when I was in a rush in between finishing my paper and going to class (yes, I was procrastinating...).

Friday night was the Homecoming Tailgate before the men's soccer game (we won!!), but a tailgate doesn't sound like a vegan's dream dinner. It wasn't. I did find the chips I could eat, and we did have vegan burgers. Too bad the buns weren't vegan, but luckily I brought my own vegan bread. :) That worked out for me.

Yesterday I went to my supervisor's house for his housewarming party. We had pre-established that I needed to bring my own food so I brought some Creamed Kale and Cajun Chickpea Cakes (both recipes courtesy of VeganDad). I brought plenty to share and everyone who tried them seemed to love them so I call it a success. I thought it was pretty delicious.

Creamed kale. Yum.

Cajun chickpea cakes. So delicious!

Okay so that's all for now. More to come in the next couple of days (including some vegan baking attempts!!)

Modernist Cuisine

Alrighty. It's yet another day of my 30-day challenge. Day 8 as a matter of fact.This is going to be a little bit of a short post. I'm not feeling so well today and don't feel up to writing a whole lot. And it's also gorgeous outside so I'm hoping that if I get outside for a while this afternoon I might feel better.

Today's talk is by Nathan Myrhvold who is a chef and cookbook author. He's also a nerd. In this talk he discusses the various parts of his cookbook 'Modernist Cuisine', which looks at the science behind cooking. I'm very intrigued by this because I love to cook and I am a science nerd. He shows some fascinating pictures and high speed videos of some of the science behind cooking. I'd be interested in seeing the 'cookbook'. Be warned that when I say cookbook, it's really quite a bit more than that. Over 2,000 pages long, it's broken up into 6 volumes. To buy the whole set it's somewhere around $500. So it's more of a series of textbooks rather than a cookbook. Volume 6 is the kitchen manual and is really the cookbook part of it (and has waterproof pages apparently). So I won't be buying it anytime soon.

I hope you enjoy. I find it fascinating to look at the science behind cooking.