Here’s a very rough guide to making the traditional Hakanese snack: Muoji.

You just need the following ingredients:

• Sticky rice (if you don’t have it, regular rice will apparently suffice).
• Pumpkin or sweet potato.
• Peanut powder.
• Sugar.
• Cooking oil.

Tools of the trade

Bashing muoji

Pour the peanut powder and sugar onto a plate. Pull or squeeze off bite-size pieces, throw them into the plate, and roll them about in the peanut powder/sugar mixture.

Dust it up

It’s all ready to eat!

You can keep the leftover muoji for three or four days in a cool dry place out of direct sunlight (don’t stick it in the fridge or it will go hard). Enjoy!

If you want a good laugh at another’s embarrassing story, by all means read on. After sleeping in, not running, and blogging yesterday morning, I got around to breakfast. I wasn’t super hungry from pre-sleep turkey but oats are always appealing.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Smart Balance Peanut Butter And Banana Pineapple Frosting

See? Always appealing. At first I think I oversweetened the greek yogurt for the frosting(who knew this was possible?) so I added a little more plain to dilute it and it was muy perfecto.

Even though I had declared my rest day and the wind was 20 mph, I decided to gear up for a 6-7 mile slow paced run. And then the morning got a little weird(feel free to skip to lunch if you don’t want to hear tmi). After a pre-run trip to the bathroom, something I was fearing happened again–my “stool” had red color running through from it in the toilet water. This had actually happened several times in the past 2 weeks between that and urine, but I, being a stubborn Pollack, would rather ignore anything that looks negative from a medical perspective. Having happened two days in a row, though, I brought it up to others and suggested we go to the hospital. I think just about everything went through my mind as I showered and went from running clothes to day clothes; all of this thinking about diseases really had me anxious and pushed my limits. And then when I came down ready(though not quite mentally) to face my medical fears, Dr. Dad had an explination: beets.

Beets, as described by wikipedia, are a member of the amaranth family. The are a root vegetable with a bright red pigment, and over the past 2 weeks when I’ve been home my mother has been preparing them at a much more common rate than usual since she discovered how easy they are to prepare. And one of the side effects is having red coloration in the toilet. Well, very perplexed, I consulted the blog and looked at all the days I remembered being worried by this and when we ate beets. And it seemed that, always a day or two before an “episode”, I ate beets. Really? I was thrown into all this anxiety, embarrassment, and anger because of beets? Ugh. We nixed the trip to the doctors and now I’ve ressolved not to eat beets for two weeks to make sure they’re the culprit(and then never again because I’m not going to go through this BS). That pretty much wasted my morning and the run, so I moved on to homework and then lunch.

Stuffing Stuffed Pepper

2 Eggs Scrambled With Celery And Shredded Turkey

I made two of the leftover dishes I’ve been wanting to since Thursday. I heated up a pepper in my pan and some stuffing in the microwaved for a delicious stuffed pepper. If it were a little bit more runny of a stuffing, it would have been perfect, but it was still good. I loved the slightly runny eggs with the turkey; it sort of made its own sauce, and was a perfect protein with a little salt. I’m going to miss making proper eggs when I get back to the dorm today. After lunch we decided to pick up our tree. While my dad drove, I walked(it’s not even a mile down the road). They even let me cut it down. Now whose bright idea was it to hand me a saw?

Cutting Down The Tree

It wasn’t a perfect job, but no fingers chopped off. After I walked home and the tree was dropped off, we took a trip to Whole Foods. Don’t you hate missing a sales period or weekender? Well, they didn’t look too too good this week, but I was glad to get a bunch of deals between coupons and sales and then the stuff we needed. We also stopped at Trader Joe’s and Stop & Shop. Has anybody noticed that Trader Joe’s doesn’t sell chocolate covered peanuts, milk or dark? They sell chocolate covered everything. I can sooner get chocolate soy beans than I can peanuts. Ummm, what? Though they do now have chocolate oranges with all natural flavorings which I hope to have one of this season. Oh well, that was pretty much the only thing on the list we couldn’t find.

Groceries

I got a total of $4 off two Green & Black products between coupons and sales–score. Can you tell I like my organic chocolate? The star of the trip was the Tofurkey! It’s for my dad and I for lunch today, and was 3 dollars off at Whole Foods I figured since it’s a frozen product that’s good for 2 more years, it wouldn’t go on sale any more than that so I seized the day. I can’t wait to see what it’s like. I also couldn’t wait on another Whole Foods find:

Pumpkin Oatmeal With Pumpkin Cream Cheese, Peanut Greek Yogurt

A Whole Foods exlusive pumpkin cream cheese was on sale for 4 dollars a tub. It had in it pumpkin, honey, ginger, walnuts, and spices. It probably wasn’t something I couldn’t have made, but it was convenient and sounded good. And it tasted awesome! The spices and walnuts really worked with the creaminess and it was very sweet. And though the oatmeal and yogurt were in two containers, rest assured they were eaten as one Before dinner I caught up on Slapsgiving 2–legen, wait for it… I also tried watching an SNL but it crashed everything and that was the end of that. For dinner I forwent leftovers *gasp*.

Lentils In Trader Joe Curry Simmer Sauce, Broccoli, Roasted Zucchinni, Full Fat Voskos Greek Yogurt

One of the non-sale items we picked up was Trader Joe’s Curry Simmer Sauce; I was looking at getting a prepared Indian meal but the sauce was a better bargain. I cooked some lentils and let them simmer. The flavor was good, but it probably could have used a little more curry. The yogurt I felt was very Indian and a nice touch This meal reminded me, though, why I hardly ever have lentils or beans even though I love ‘em(i.e. buddha belly and discomfort). I suppose it was that or sleepiness from turkey, right?

There was an entire Charlie Brown Movie on ABC Family. I love my specials, but after 90 minutes I was tuckered out and couldn’t finish it. Instead I moved on to fun for the whole family: Knocked Up. What else is better to watch with the fam? I also had a vitalicious snack.

Coffee And A Vitabrownie

On a paper plate because, at 9pm, I’m not aiming to impress anyone I still think these taste best in circular form with evident chocolate chips(i.e. the vitatops), but they didn’t have them where these were on sale for 3.99 so I compromised for a bargain. The rest of the night was filled with about 4 cups of decaf coffee, and then this two-faced inspired snack.

Vegan Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raising Roll With Smart Balance Peanut Butter And Pumpkin Cream Cheese

Um, perfection. Since coming home I have not stopped craving smart balance agave sweetened peanut butter. Have you noticed? That’s why I picked some up at Stop & Shop to take back to my dorm. I don’t know why the flavor is better than molasses sweetened, but it is. This pumpkin cream cheese is also to die for; I loooove that it has crunchy walnuts for texture. And the vegan rolls are just always euphoric I went o bed nice and happy with this in my stomach, until I woke up at 4:45 and couldn’t sleep. I decided maybe I was hungry and that this snack would knock it out:

Cinnamon Raisin Gnu Bar With Pumpkin Cream Cheese

I tried this new gnu bar, heating it up in the microwave and then topping it with the cream cheese. Wow, this was all good. The bar was just like a good slice of cinnamon raisin bread with a nice earthiness, and the cream cheese made it perfect. It definitely filled me up, but that must not have been the problem because I was still awake for quite some time.

I woke up at 8:30 this morning–a tad bit of an improvement from 9, right It’s definitely time for me to get a move on it and make breakfast. And, who knows, a run might even happen today(could you imagine that?). I’m going to need to make plenty of room for my Tofurkey for lunch! Haha.

Sodastream Giveaway! I could make some very bubbly seltzer with this bad boy

Det var alltså Harrys vs Byttan, Kappahl-skynken vs Sturestek och vi valde båda. Lagom var långt borta på alla sätt och vi gjorde vårt bästa för att passa in. Något säger mig att vi inte passade in någonstans, men det gjorde nog inte så mycket. Vi var ju fyllda med lax och nöjda ändå. Sen skrattade vi skitmycket när vi köpte korv. Korven är nästan alltid det bästa har jag noterat.

Är för övrigt hemskt lycklig över att Hardcore Superstar, Markus Krunegård och NOFX är släppta till Peace & Love. Detta kan mycket väl vara old, rentav very old news, men jag visste det inte förrns idag och det är det som räknas.

An image of the arugula pesto, with a great shot Sully’s Pub in the background.

This is a robust alternative to traditional basil pesto. It works great as a sandwich spread, mixed in with pasta, or dressed up with chicken or grilled fish. I like making it in lieu of traditional basil pesto when basil is unavailable or particularly expensive. This is super easy and great to keep around for a snack. My Argentine/Italian roommate and I often eat it with baguette or sourdough bread for a mid-afternoon pick me (it passes the Italian test! He loves this version.)

Ingredients

5 cups firmly packed arugula (this is like spinach but spicier. It comes in a bag like spinach.)

1/2 cup firmly packed parsley

1/2 cup slivered almonds (can substitute pine nuts or other finely chopped nuts)

Juice of 1 lemon

9 garlic cloves, crushed or minced (use less for less punch)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine the arugula, parsley, almonds, lemon juice and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse several times until a paste forms, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

2. Slowly add the olive oil, with the motor running. Or you can add the olive oil in parts, the pulse the mixture in between.

3. Add the parmesan, salt, pepper (lay off this for less punch) and pulse several times until well mixed. Refrigerate in an air tight container until ready to use.

To preserve the color of this pesto and keep fresher for a week or more, add a Vitamin C tablet to step one.

Just got back from a lovely family dinner up at Rosie’s. Rosie and my mum put on a gorgeous spread of seafood and an amazing dessert!

To recap, for lunch today I had my last Eatwell veggies pattie with mozarella and the rest of my chick pea curry with cottage cheese on top for protien.

Then we ran some errands and went to Woolies to pick up some last minute stuff. I noticed a new brand of PB so had to grab it! It’ll still be good in the fridge in a month’s time when we are home. I smothered some for a taste test on a toasted muesli bread!

Such a great snack.

Plus I shared a pink lady apple with Adam.

At the famer’s market this morning I picked up this treat for Rosie as a thankyou for having us. 

They look great! I sampled a few things from the stall (mostly breads) and they were all tasty.

Once we got to Rosie’s we had a nice selection of nibbles, of which I ate quite a bit . I definitely overate again tonight… but this time the food was worth it! Still tomorrow I need a really clean and light day before the holiday begins.

On the table we had carrots, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, stuffed capsicums, various cheeses, fig paste, spinach and feta dip, hummos, crackers and olives.

Then mum presented the scallops – all the meals were from this new Donna Hay cookbook

that Rosie received as a birthday present. I’m not sure of the exact names of the recipes but they were all delicious!

I know these scallops had thyme, butter, lime and salt on them. I went back for another couple after this . Scallops are my favourite seafood after all…

These jumbo prawns were lightly floured then tempura style shallow fried and sprinkled with a ground topping of cracked pepper, salt and chilli flakes. SO.GOOD!

My serve.

Foil baked pink snapper (the best fish ever).

My plate.

Mum made an amazing dressing for the fish with peanut oil, spring onion and ginger amongst other things. It was so fresh and tasty.

And finally Rosie made a syrupy orange cake. The oranges were incredible, they became totally candied and were just like toffee. So delicious. 

Served with Bannister Downs double cream.     

Stuffed to the brim! Time to get some shut eye before my race tomorrow morning and then its on to packing and cleaning all day.

Night!

Yesterday was the epitome of a rainy day in New England. It did get off to a rockin’ start, however, when I got this in the mail right as I was posting yesterday’s blog entry:

Me And Goji Granola

I got the opportunity to custom build my own cereal from [me] & goji. Let me tell you, this was a ton of fun! I’ll go into the process more in my review of them on another day, but they have TONS of options for you to pick out and make your very own cereal. I ended up making a mix called “Chocolate And Berries” with vanilla granola, gojis, raspberries, blueberries, chocolate covered gojis, and chocolate covered peanuts–yum! Of course I was ready to dive in for breakfast.

Banana Oats With Chocolate Butter Toffee Peanut Butter, Chocolate Raspberry Yogurt With Chocolate And Berries Me And Goji Granola

Loved it! Thanks [me] & goji! There’s definitely not skimping on the mix-ins with them; this was like chocolate and berry overload(except that’s of course not possible). I think my favorite was the organic chocolate covered peanuts. The oats were so simple and yet hit the spot; a touch of sea salt on top really had the flavors placed. My morning was pretty lame, but that made it excellent. I was stuck home alone in the rain, and the highlight was showering and getting straight back in to pajamas Montana was clearly in the spirit, too, since he got out of his crate, went to the bathroom, and fell asleep under a blanket. I made lunch in time for Days.

Stuffing, Spicy Chicken Sausage, Broccoli, Grand Marnier Sweet Potatoes

Have I mentioned that I love leftovers? I never have them when I cook for myself, but I think it’s fun to play with them when they come around. Everything here was leftover except the broccoli, which I made because I wanted some green. I think I’ve taken in more alcohol from those sweet potatoes than I have since being at college(OK, that’s not saying much with me). I will never tire of Whole Foods’ stuffing; thank God we have 24oz left. After some soap opera and homeworking, I decided to transition to the kitchen.

Seasonal Music Channel

Oh yes, there’s a channel that only plays Christmas music, all day Sometimes you have to wonder what barrel they scraped the bottom of to get the renditions of carols by the people they do, but other times they’re quite festive. Anyway, I decided to make up a new recipe and hope and pray it came out good(and chocolatey!).

Double Chocolate Pillows

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Wet And Dry

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cookie trays with wax paper. In a large bowl, sift together the first five ingredients. Mix in the chocolate chips evenly distributing. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the oil and extract. Add in the pumpkin and sugar and mix until all is dissolved. Pour the wet into the dry and fold together until fully incorporated(batter will be very thick). Scoop into 24 mounds, flatten, and bake for 10-12 minutes, until puffed and firm to the touch.

Thick Batter

The batter was incredibly thick; I was thinking of maybe adding some liquid, but I’m glad I didn’t. They ended up taking 14 minutes in my oven, but smelt so good when they were done.

Double Chocolate Pillows

Hello, chocolate. These were so soft and light but with a heavy, rich cocoa smell. Of course, in order to truly appreciate one, I had to try it first over oats.

Pumpkin Oats With A Double Chocolate Cookie And Butter Toffee Peanut Butter

Much better. The cookie was delicious, with a very dark taste of chocolate. It wasn’t quite bitter, but also not sweet. Bittersweet maybe? I’ll definitely make these again, but I might swap the 1/4 cup oil for 1/4 cup cream or full fat yogurt to give it more of a milky flavor. I’m sure you could go the otherway and veganize this recipe fairly easily, too, but I was not feeling that creative. When my parents finally got home from the funeral, I took the chance to get out of the house.

Target

Thankfully, Target had died down 12 hours after it opened. And surprisingly the store wasn’t entirely picked over. Then again, there wasn’t much left. I found a good deal on a camera, which a, let’s just say aloof, salesgirl led me to believe they had but when the manager came and I tried buying it pointed out it wasn’t the right one. Well they supposedly had some at another Target, so we picked up some things and moved on. After that we hit up a natural grocery store and Stop & Shop and, lastly, the other Target. When we got there, however, those 11 cameras they supposedly had were no longer. Wtf? They assured us they’d get some overnight if we really cared to come back. I’m not sure I’m that invested in the purchase, so I’ll have to give it with more thought. In the end my shopping was a lot more modest.

Shopping Loot

I either got really screwed on some stuff or really good deals on the other, because the peanut butter chips were the most expensive item by $2+ dollars. It was also well past dinner by the time we got home from Target hopping.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts In Balsamic Vinegar, Catfish, Roasted And Mashed Butternut Squash

Who buys two types of fish the day after Thanksgiving when there’s well over a few pounds of turkey in the fridge? My mother, apparently. And yet I’m the one who gets the name for being a wasteful shopper. That pretty much rubbed me the wrong way for the night, but rather than try to pick a fight I just took a plate of food and removed myself from the situation. I hardly feel comfortable having meat once a day, and I don’t feel comfortable at all wasting it, so all of this is meat overload for me and has just made me feel tense thinking about it. To take my mind away, I had a delectable snack.

Soy Yogurt With Peanut Milk Chocolate

This candy bar definitely had me with “caramelized peanuts with a touch of sea salt”–could somebody please adapt that and put it on my gravestone? All Stop & Shop had was flavored soy yogurt, but it was also on sale for a dollar, so good enough. I think there’s a bit of irony topping soy yogurt in milk chocolate that I never appreciated until now… I also watched this week’s Modern Family, which was more than fantastic. Can Fizzbo please come to my party? It’s OK if the comb sheaths aren’t there, though.

Green & Black Organic Peanut Milk Chocolate

I didn’t like this chocolate bar at all. That must be why it followed me upstairs and into my room After a while I had trouble sleeping. Hmmm, maybe sugar isn’t a better night time snack than oatmeal? Fascinating. I had a pretty genious thought, though.

Free-Range Turkey With Salt And Rosemary

Tryptophan! I’ve heard it’s also in legumes(and thus peanut butter) but I’m sure in greater amounts in turkey. I salted and seasoned 3oz of leftovers. While that was good, it didn’t do the job, so I did another 2oz. After that I good have fell into a food coma, and was asleep soon enough.

This morning I slept in until; I think vacation is making me lazy, haha. Isn’t that the point of Thanksgiving? It’s not looking like running weather and I could always use rest(I just never take it) so today will probably be a sans running day as well. Maybe I’ll work up a sweat at Target or a Whole Foods–we’ll have to see.

I have been living it up here in my mother’s kitchen.  Nothing beats having an amazing kitchen to cook in with every ingredient at your disposal.  I acquired my love for baking and cooking from my mother.  When I was a wee one I would sit on the counter and watch my Mom create delicious meals, which inspired a passion in me when I grew up.

I remember at a very early age making my own scrambled eggs, grilled cheese and french toast.  My grandfather always used to say that, whenever he looked after me, I would always ask him if  I could make him french toast.  I don’t really have any recollection of this, but  I guess I thought I was really good at making it and wanted everybody to have some

There is nothing more satisfying then creating good food, especially when you are making it for other people to enjoy. Through the years I have watched my mother and the joy and love she instills in her cooking, and I am so thankful that she has passed this onto me.

Today’s creations in the kitchen consisted of Black Bean Chicken Chili, Whole Wheat Cornbread and Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins.

Chili’s are by far my favorite fall/winter dish.  You can pack them with so many nutritious ingredients  and they are just so comforting on a cold day.  And in my mind, the perfect match to a yummy chili is cornbread.

My chili pot consisted of black beans, red and orange peppers, sweet potatoes, carrots, pulled chicken, a can of diced tomatoes, onion, and garlic.  My seasonings were chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper.  Combined together, this was one big pot of deliciousness!

The cornbread was fabuloso, but I am such a dufus and forget where I got the recipe from.  I will keep searching and post it when I find it.

The blueberry muffins were definitely the star of the day.  They were so moist and super yum. The recipe is so easy and it includes scrumptious things such as blueberries, dried cranberries oatmeal, orange juice and bran.

Blueberry Oat Muffins:

1/2 cup oats

1/4 bran

1/2 cup orange juice

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 sugar

1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 cup blueberries

1/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat over to 400 degrees

In a small bowl, mix the oats and the orange juice. Set aside

In a medium bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt.  Mix in the egg and oil.  Stir in the oat mixture and fold in the blueberries.  Spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 18-20 mins.  Test with a toothpick to ensure doneness. Enjoy

Have a super Saturday!

I am off to find a dress for my sister’s wedding, wish me luck!

Lady Gaga är PK. Mika är PK.
Därför känner jag att det är värt att notera att “Alejandro”, en av låtarna på Gagas nya platta, låter påtagligt mycket som vilken random Ace of Base-låt som helst från typ 95. Mikas nya singel låter dessutom ungefär som Bosson, det skulle kunna vara Bosson faktiskt, utan några som helst problem. Och Bosson är ju ungefär allt annat än PK. (Han har säkert lagt ner, för övrigt.) Min poäng är att jag likväl kan gå och lyssna på Dj Bobo nu för det finns inget mer intelligent i Gaga eller Mika än i den gamla goda skitmusiken.
Vill också tillägga att jag gillar Gaga en del, även Ace of Base har ju haft sina glansdagar, verkligen. Däremot Bosson och Mika, det är inte riktigt min kopp te.

PS. I samma sekund som jag publicerar hör jag på radion att Mika gjort en cover på “Poker face”. Där ser man.

Hello wonderful readers. I’m going to apologize now if this post falls into the lacklustre category – I think I may be coming down with something, and I’m a little at odds with life right now. Although I’m enjoying going back to school, and excited for the ultimate outcome & career change, I’m really missing “being an adult”. Just all those little things – having my own space, my own kitchen, control over the tv…stuff like that (although, I do enjoy having my laundry done for me – thanks mom!). I even sort of miss living far away from my family, which I never thought would happen. It’s just the idea of the current situation for the next 3 1/2 years is bothering me. I know it makes no sense to move out on my own, get student loans, and spend all of that money on rent/food/bills when I don’t NEED to, but sometimes my sanity thinks I do. What can I say, I’ve always been the independent one, and right now I feel like anything but.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s get down to Friday’s happenings. AKA – Marianne’s complete waste of a day.

I was up and at them before 6 am, chowing down on a nice bowl of cereal.

• Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise
• puffed kamut
• puffed brown rice
• shredded coconut
• pomegranate arils
• unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Plus a glass of cranberry pomegranate juice.

I made the epic journey out to school for my one, 50 min biochemistry lecture, and then back home. I had to sprint to get the bus home, to avoid waiting 30 min for the next one. The driver had just closed the doors as I made it there, and was nice enough to open them back up for me. Then I fell asleep on the bus, only to wake up just as we were going past my house. Damnit! I managed pull the cord so they stopped at the next stop, but I had to hike back up my hill. At least I didn’t wake up at the bottom of the hill.

After all the unexpected exercise this morning, I found myself back in my pajamas and back in bed for a nap. I planned on a couple hours, so I could get up, make lunch, go flog from resumes, and get a few other things done. Too bad I slept from 10:30 am – 3:30 pm. No joke. And the first sign that perhaps my body is fighting off some sort of illness, because I never nap like that.

Before my crazy nap, I snacked on one of the Super Charge Me Cookies I made last night.

And after my nap, I had the last cornbread muffin (those didn’t last long).

I was hungrier than that, but knowing dinner would be just around the corner, I figured I’d just hold out. I set up camp on the Lazy Boy massage/heated recliner and watched TV until Take Out Friday was served.

Since pizza was last week….

…Chinese food was on the menu this week.

We had all the usual suspects – chow mein, fried rice, beef chop suey, almond chicken, sweet & sour pork, spring rolls.

It’s time like this that I wish I was back on my own – I like to order different things every time  I get Chinese, generally with more veg, but my family is so set in their ways, you just can’t deviate from the standards.

The fortune cookie after the meal.

Sign #2 I might be getting sick? This did NOT sit well in my tummy. I was chugging water like it was going out of style (it seemed overly salty this time), and had a general feeling of crappiness that I don’t normally get. Bah. I went back to the lounger for awhile, then made my way to the gym in hopes of sweating out the icky-ness. It worked relatively well. At least I didn’t feel like a sack of crap when I got back home.

So what did I go and do then? Made popcorn. What? I had a craving.

Just some plain popcorn with a little butter drizzle. Simple enough, tasted good, still gave me angry belly. Bah. I don’t have time for sickness!

There was more TV watching and general laziness. Of course, now I’m completely awake since I slept half the day away, so I’m not in the mood to go to bed yet. But I want to get things done tomorrow, so I’m going to try and force myself to sleep. I shall leave you with a picture of Sienna, trying to help my mom pick out a dessert recipe for the dinner party they are going to tomorrow.

Night!

These days everyone is being health-conscious. Everything served at the table must have fewer calories and still taste good. Combining raw fruits and vegetables gives the natural sweetness and taste that is not only filling but also satisfying. Pear canapés is a recipe for your next cocktail party that will be received well but also be ready in a jiffy.

Pear Canapes

Ingredients

1 pack ready-made canapés

Pear Stuffing

Garnish of your choice

Canapés

If you are not able to get your hands on ready-made canapés, you can always cut bread into shapes of your choice and shallow fry them for base. You do not need to deep fry the canapés. Simply place them on a hot pan for 1 min and they will be as crisp as ever.

Pear Stuffing

1 cup finely chopped pear

¼ cup finely shredded carrots

¼ cup finely chopped onions

2 tbsp finely chopped ginger

1 tbsp fennel

¼ cup bread crumbs

2 tbsp chopped parsley

Salt and pepper for seasoning

1 lemon

1 tbsp butter

Squeeze lime juice over chopped pear to prevent it from browning. Also, let the pear marinate in the juice for 10-15 mins to take the flavor.

Heat the butter in a skillet. Add onions, ginger and fennel. Cook onions till translucent. You will notice that fennel will start giving a beautiful aroma.

Take off the flame. Mix with carrots, parsley, pear and bread crumbs. Add salt and pepper.

The stuffing should have the subtle taste of ginger and fennel along with the sweetness of pear with a hint of lime.

Putting it together

Place 1 tbsp of pear stuffing in a canapé boat. Sprinkle grated cheese and bake till cheese turns golden. Alternatively, for a healthier option, decorate with a fresh cherry.

Preworkout

Preworkout snack was had at an early 7am! Woke up early so i could fit my workout in before Akak Jean comes..

Coffee has become a NECESSITY for me when waking up to workout, when waking up. sigh.. also half a KAshi Chewy TLC Trail mix. yum..

Workout was the usual of run, lunges, situps weights..

And i can’t believe i’ve to do them tomorrow, a Sunday cos i’ve no time to workout on Monday.

Postworkout Snack Breakfast

Postworkout.. was breakfast.

Chatted with Akak about movies and stuff while brekkie. she’s depressed about Full Moon. I’ve yet to watch, so i don’t know.

Cranberry-boysenberry overnight oats.

1/4 cup oats, 1/4 soy milk, 1/4  cup boysenberry yoghurt, a dollop of cranberry jelly from the tin (S&W)

This morning, some honey stars, flax, and a kuih bahulu Akak Jean brought. coffee flavoured.. all eaten with coated spoon(s) of Melrose ABC spread.

Watched TV abit, chatted, read papers.. den chores time..

Managed to mop the floor and clean my toilet.. plus wash a bag!

Postchore snack

I had the other half of my orange from yesterdat, and some nuts i JUST baked!

And maybe 5/6 wheat thins?

Dear worked last night, is working tonight, and is OT-ing tomorrow night. This SUCKS!

Sigh..

I’m off to lunch.. Soon..

Loves,

Jace

Hi guys!

Wow, yesterday was a huge eating day! I literally felt stuffed and sick last night when I went to bed . But today is another day and I’m back on the bandwagon!

I started the morning early with a tiny bowl of Digestive 1st cereal, only a tiny bowl because I wanted to pick up this baby for morning tea! For the last 6 months that I have been working at my job I have walked past a Croissant Express and they have the best baguettes ever – they call them Frozwiches. I have no idea why, but they sure do taste great. Anyway I have been dreaming about a PB Froz for months and yesterday I satisfied the craving. The baguette was delicious and I ate the whole thing when I really probably was full after 1/2 but oh well. The PB on the other hand was spread a little thing for my liking. Probably a good thing in retrospect! Ha ha.

There was also a morning tea at work that I had forgotten about, a couple of hours late so I went along to that and there were homemade Florentines which looked amazing so I had a small Florentine too. No pics sorry.

For lunch I met up with some old colleagues and we went to Country Road Cafe. I ordered the frittata which came with salad. The frittata was tasty but super creamy and cheesy. Again, oh well. What can you do!

Anyway so I was completely stuffed from all that obviously so didn’t eat again till way later, like 9pm later, which is never a good thing with my belly because it usually means I don’t sleep very well. Some wine and beers later a bunch of us decided Mexican was a good idea…

Paella

Fiesta plate

Nachos

Chilli con carne

I had some cheese and jalapeno quesadilla, a tamale, chips and gauc, and heaps of paella and another beer. I totally overdid it and felt a bit sick afterwards . Of course, I slept badly too and woke up with a headache wishing I had eaten steamed vegetables. Gosh it is amazing the way crappy greasy food makes you feel as opposed to fresh, nutritious veggies and wholefoods.

Just went to the hairdressers and I’m blonde again! Couldn’t eat till about 10.30am and really all I felt like was a veggie juice. I popped into the Subiaco Farmers Market and ordered a Green Smoothie with a wheatgrass booster!

It hit the spot and I really do feel a lot better. I’m even contemplating some lunch now…

Lots and lots to do today, packing, cleaning, washing, errands, hanging with my guy!

Then tonight we are having dinner at Rosie’s place. Tomorrow I have my 15k race at Deepwater Point, then a Hen’s Day lunch and then I’m off on our month away .

It’s all happening here!!!

I feel like my school break is sliding out from beneath me.  I can’t believe it’s already Friday night!!!  I’ve been so busy with other tasks that I’ve barely made a dent on my schoolwork.  Looks like I’ll be spending the next two days immersed in Calculus, Chemistry, and Spanish. 

Even so, I’ve really enjoyed the first days of my vacation.  I’ve been doing yoga, shopping, catching up on my stack of magazines, etc.  It feels nice just to take a step back from my usual hectic days and have a breather! 

Backing up a bit…

Yesterday I enjoyed a lovely snack in the afternoon following a yoga session from Yoga Download.  I whipped up some Banana Soft Serve and had it with a persimmon, whole wheat honey graham crackers, and a sparkling iced green tea.

For dinner, I tried out a new Amy’s meal – Roasted Vegetable Lasagna.

With some organic POM.

Wow, this dish was AMAZING!  Honestly, Amy has some MAJOR skills.  The lasagna was creamy and flavorful without overdoing the cheese.  It had the perfect amount of sauce and veggies added in.  Definitely a meal to check out yourself!
  

This morning, I decided to get up a bit early and make April’s Cranberry Bread.  With a few alterations, I decided to turn the “bread” into muffins!

These babies smelled AMAZING!!!  Of course, I HAD to try one out for breakfast.  I had one muffin along with an organic banana, MaraNatha raw almond butter (dipping for the muffin and banana), and a glass of unsweetened almond milk.

These muffins were delicious!!!  I was a bit surprised by the strong tartness of the flavor and how strong the spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger) stood out.  But I quickly grew accustomed to the intensity and LOVED them!!!  Awesome recipe April!
  

So, BLACK FRIDAY…

Being that I’ll be moving into my own apartment next year, there are TONS of items I’ll be needing.  That said, my parents decided that today was the perfect opportunity to get a couple “bigger items” at an inexpensive price. 

No pictures since my mom is hiding the goods until Christmas, but her and my dad went to Walmart at 4am and got me AND my older brother 32 inch TVs for our apartments!  Plus, they also got an HP All-in-one printer for me!!!

Gotta love sales!
  

On the agenda for tonight – Chemistry!
   

Happy Black Friday Everyone!

Heather

In our family, Disney truly is heaven on Earth – we live for all things Disney. We especially love Walt Disney World’s Main Street U.S.A. soft pretzels (which are pretty scarce in the park nowadays). It’s a special memory that we all share – and they’re just delicious.

I found the Walt Disney World soft pretzel recipe here on this message board – the pretzels really tasted like Disney pretzels! I would make sure, though, that you add the toppings with melted butter to really get this recipe on the dot.

This was our first real experience with bread/yeast recipes….We think we did pretty well, all things considered!

This is definitely a recipe to try ASAP!

Happy baking!!!!! Mmmm…..

It’s true, the baking bug hit me again this evening. But you’ll just have to read through this post to see my latest kitchen creation. I`m such a tease

I started off my morning intent on featuring something I cooked up last night – Pumpkin Butter!

I used this recipe, only switching out the water for some unsweetened applesauce, and adding a glug of maple syrup, since I was a little short on the brown sugar needed. I cooked it on the stove top on medium-low heat, and it took FOREVER to cook to a nice, spreadable consistency.

What better way to feature this delight than on a bowl of piping hot oatmeal!

I whipped up a pretty basic oatmeal combination that I knew would compliment the pumpkin butter nicely.

• 1/2 cup oats, milk, water
• 1 banana, thinly sliced
• splash of vanilla
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• peanut butter drizzle
• blob of homemade pumpkin butter
• end of a bag of chocolate chips

Gratuitous close-ups!

With a glass of refreshingly tart cranberry pomegranate juice.

Although it lacks the exact consistency of Trader Joe’s famous Pumpkin Butter, it was still delicious. I’m hoping it will keep, otherwise I’ll be eating it by the spoonful so it doesn’t go bad!

I had a little extra time to enjoy my morning, since I didn’t need to pack a lunch. I was participating in a focus group on the new common study area in our faculty building, to see what students like about it, and what could be improved. To bribe us poor students into giving up an hour of our time, we were fed lunch. Yay!

Of course, I usually eat lunch after my first class, around 11:30 am, so I knew I’d be eat my arm off hungry by the time the focus group rolled around at 1:00 pm. I was a thinker, and packed a snack.

One of my Apple Carrot Raisin Oatmeal Muffins, and a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar (just in case the lunch was totally unacceptable – gotta be prepared). And somehow that bottle of caffeine gold made it into my bag. I have no idea how that could have happened.

Fortunately, I didn’t need the Larabar, as they served up some really nice pizza – it was on thin, whole wheat crust, and had some fun toppings, like the chipotle chicken with corn, peppers and onions (love! must put corn on pizza now), a vegetarian one, and a steak, pepper, onion one. I definitely had no fear of starving.

I met up with one of my group members during our normal class time, and we hammered out an outline for our group paper, and assigned sections to the rest of the group (who were out at their schools). Here’s hoping it all goes smooth – we have all been given extensions into the first week of exams, since so many groups were having troubles contacting their schools to do their surveys. No excuse now to not get it done, and done well.

I was able to make my way home early, which was excellent (who doesn’t like getting home early). I had the pleasure of listening to these two flamboyantly gay guys behind me on the bus, one of which I think either wanted to model, was a model, or was obsessed with models. They talked the entire time about how they didn’t want to get fat, and how one guy only ate salad, maybe with a piece of bread, but didn’t like to have too much protien, etc, etc, and then went on to talk about how they needed plastic surgery to have better cheekbones, yadda, yadda. I kid you not. It took all my willpower to not turn around and just go WTF? Seriously….I just…I had no words. And it made me sad – even these guys are completely obsessed with weight and thinness and appearance. Sigh.

I came home to the smells of homemade soup. Yum! It was split pea with ham.

Mom also baked up some cornbread muffins – they were buttery and slight sweet. Delicious.

I filled out my plate with a few carrot sticks and hummus.

I did some work on our group project (fun with Google Maps!), and then the baking bug bit again. This time, I knew exactly what I needed to make.

I made the ever popular…

It’s true, I finally got around to trying out these blog favourites. I don’t know what kept me from doing so for so long – it’s not like there is anything on the ingredient list I wouldn’t normally have in the house.

The results:

I must have made slightly smaller cookies than the recipe called for, since I got 18, and the recipe said 11 – 12 cookies. Bite sized are more fun! I probably could have gotten 19, but, ya know…I may have done some dough tasting. Tee hee.

Is there any doubt I needed to try one out for an evening snack?

I had one Super Charge Me Cookie, and another fantastic cornbread muffin, that I “iced” with some pumpkin butter.

These cookies are little bites of joy. I’m a big fan of the peanut butter/maple syrup flavour combination. Plus they have chocolate and coconut – two of my favourite things! I think if I made them again, I’ll have to double the recipe. With 4 people living in this house, they will be gone in no time.

Alrighty boys and girls – this blogger needs to get some shuteye. Night!

My wife, Tina, our son, Gabby and I are just like most Pinoys who love eating and eating in between meals.   Whenever at home, particularly during weekends, we usually have morning light meal few hours after breakfast or more likely before lunch. Same thing goes in the afternoon; a snack is always perfect as a prelude to dinner.   But unlike others, we oftenly skip midnight snacks for the fear of taxing our pancreas too much that might lead to its rupture during sleep; now that’s another topic.

Merienda or midday meal is one of Spain’s legacies to Pinoys that I am thankful for, aren’t you also?

Here are some of the yummies we enjoy during merienda. 

Are you a popcorn-person?  Have you tried Chef Tony’s?  What flavor/s do you like?

I don’t know about you, but Gabby and I just love it when Tina fries fish balls and serves it hot off the pan with vinegar+soy sauce+onions!    We prefer only fish balls cooked at home rather than those sold in streets.  And you?

Other than chips ahoy, oreo, or the locally made m.y.san buttercookies, lady fingers or broas (I love broas!), prima and marie (which reminds me of my childhood), I and my family also enjoy munching these cookies…

Try it, make sure it’s Double Fudge Sugar-Free! They’re heavenly delicious in each bite!

Sometimes, we have fruits during snack time and nothing compares to sweet and plump bunch of lanzones which happens to be in season until now.  Do you like lanzones too?

I usually grab two large orders of  Khaleb Shawarma for Tina and me as our merienda before we go grocery shopping.

We also like dimsum! Among our favorites are shrimp cheong fan and shrimp dumpling a.k.a. hakao!

And who would say no to pizza for merienda ?

or to either venti of frappucino, iced macchiato or any hot blends from Starbucks Coffee and pastries or a slice of cake perhaps…

Our latest to-go purchase was done just yesterday afternoon, soon after Tina and Gabby tagged along with me as I went to my dentist in Marikina, we spotted a carinderia that sells freshly cooked rice cakes…

Nevermind if it’s cheaply priced at PhP 25 per bibingka and at PhP 20 per order of puto-bumbong;  regardless whether these two are far from Ferino’s or Via Mare’s or even from Kamayan’s, what was important yesterday was the fact that we enjoyed our first bites at these Holiday season favorites.  If only we have muscovado, everything could have been almost perfect with Anchor butter and those coconut shavings.  

Tastes, smells and feels like Christmas already!   Aren’t you excited ?

Well, we are!  Both for Christmas and enjoying another satisfying snack!

What’s your usual merienda?

Hörde precis Spotifys mest puckade reklam någonsin. Ni har säkert också tvingats genomlida detta vrålblåsta inslag, men det måste bara påpekas.

Såhär säger bruden: “Har du glömt vilket låt du lyssnade på för en timme sedan, eller MISSADE DU VIKTIG INFORMATION I SENASTE REKLAMEN? NU FINNS EN MÖJLIGHET ATT TA REDA PÅ VAD SOM SADES…”

Oh. My. God. Vad ÄR detta? Ursäkta caps lock-orgien ovan men jag var bara tvungen. Man kan väl säga såhär, att om det finns någon som känner ett behov av att veta vad som sades i förra reklamen i Spotify kan denne höra av sig i kommentarsfältet nedan. Jag vet ju nämligen att alla ungdomar idag (ja, jag är ungdom) kan samtliga inslag utantill och dessutom helst vill mörda dem med yxa.

Jag är fortfarande tacksam över Spotify (även om det blir sämre och sämre rent stream-mässigt), men det där var bland det dummaste jag hört på länge.

We lunched with Heather yesterday at Giovanni’s, which turned out to be a total carb-fest. Giovanni’s is buffet style, and I loaded up on salad with a light dressing, two pieces of pizza, garlic toast with sauce AND a small slice of dessert pizza and dollop of pudding. Ironically, I didn’t feel like I over-did it; I wasn’t stuffed when we left. Not the healthiest meal, but probably ok to load up on carbs the day before my run!

I wrapped things up at work and hit the road around 4 p.m. The drive went smoothly and I snacked on some mixed nuts and dried fruit around 5:30, since dinner would be late.

After getting into town and out of work clothes, my brothers and I grabbed dinner (at my fav) Granite City.  It was nice to relax and feel happy about the long, holiday weekend! I talked myself into a glass of Malbec, and ordered my favorite salad, the chicken bruschetta salad.

Sorry soooooo dark

I ended up eating half of the delicious break and about 2/3 of the salad. YUM! I really had a big appetite yesterday!

After din din, I picked Miss Teresa up and we met up with Emily at a pub downtown. It was soooo good to see her, but sad we only got to spend a couple hours with her. I didn’t drink anything at the bar and was in bed by midnight. Downtown was really busy, lots of pre-holiday energy! Wooo Thanksgiving!

Hiya

How was your Thursday? Mine was great! Headache faded away once I had a coffee, the day flew, I went out for lunch , I got in some exercise and made a yummy dinner!

I’m afraid I’m a little photo-less tonight, sorry guys! I didn’t take my camera to lunch as my co-workers don’t know about the blog and I just didn’t want to bring it up.

Snackies were another morning banana with a skinny cap around 9.30am and then 3 corn thins around 11am. Since I’ve been eating brekkie earlier I’ve been getting hungrier for my snacks earlier. Not surprising I suppose. Plus my 35 minute walk to work, works up an appetite.

For lunch we went to The Generous Squire a new pub/bar in Shafto Lane. It was great – the food was fast and tasty. I went with the Salmon Nicoise which I’ll describe in detail since I have no photo! It was tiny baked potatoes, just steamed green beans, kalamata olives, red onion, big capers, 1/2 a just boiled egg and a small fillet of crispy baked salmon. It was really delicious and came with a lemon wedge. Just enough to fill me up and I didn’t crave an afternoon snack at all.

Once home I was thrilled because some angel came and ripped out the stupid bougainvillea plant that has been possessing our house (thankyou thankyou thankyou whoever you are), and I was pretty hungry having gone without a snack, so I chomped down some cottage cheese and a pack of sultanas and apples. Then I chopped up the last of my veggies in the fridge – a small sweet potato, a carrot and the rest of that enormous zucchini. I put them on a baking tray with foil, tossed them in Cajun spice mix, sprayed a tiny spray of canola cooking spray and baked them at 250 degrees in my oven for 30 minutes. Then I turned the oven off but left the veggies in, and went to the gym.

Tonight’s workout consisted of:

• 15 minutes Elliptical – calorie burn setting level 15
• 10 minutes hill walking on treadmill – 5.5kph at incline 15% (SO HARD!!!)
• 10 minutes seated bike – calorie burn setting level 5
• 50 squats with 8 kg medicine ball
• 20 lunges each leg with 5kg hand weights each hand
• various crunches and abs
• stretching

The veggies were amazing when I got home and had filled the house with a gorgeous smell!

I ate the whole lot.

Then I had some nuked raspberries for dessert.  

I’m picking Adam up from the airport later – he didn’t have to catch the later flight after all, yip yip!

Just snacked on a handful of Digestive 1st cereal too. Oops.

Last day of work tomorrow, casual day, lunch at Country Road Cafe, drinks with friends after work, sounds like a great start to the holidays!!!