Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Afoot & light-hearted I take to the open road...

So I decided to skip Thanksgiving this year and escape my life for a spell.

Why?
-My traveling has been practically nonexistent since I got sick
-I have a week off work
-I 'm able to go 7-10 days in between doctor's visits, right now
-Southwest was having $30 flights
-I don't have a place to stay in The Bay anyway & everyone has family visiting
-If I have to sit through a holiday where everyone is gorging on mashed potatoes, alcohol and PIE I WILL go Firestarter for sure

Last year, my roommate, a friend and I went camping in Big Sur. We cooked turkey and pie beforehand and made the rest on the fire. It was the greatest Thanksgiving of all time.






This year I decided to up my game and go a bit further away...

Happy Thanksgiving from Paradise, Montana!





And yes, I'm being extra careful about my nose...



"Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose."
-Walt Whitman

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Spaghetti squash, round two



Spaghetti squash
Green pepper
Red pepper
Red onion
4 large tomatoes
Vegetable broth
Glass dish
Large skillet/pan
2 avocados
Lemon juice
Garlic

From top left, across:
-Cook & prepare spaghetti squash
-Chop a green pepper, a red pepper and a red onion
-Bake peppers and onion with chicken breasts doused in vegetable broth for 30 minutes on 350
-Chop tomatoes and saute in large pan
-Remove chicken from other dish, chop and add to tomatoes, cook for a few minutes while stirring
-Yes, we used that many knives...
-Combine peppers, onion and a few cloves of chopped garlic to pan then dole out ontop of squash
-Leftovers were used the following night for some lettuce wraps at a party. Zucchini was steamed, chopped and added. Guacamole was made with 2 mashed avocados, some chopped garlic and a squirt of lemon juice
-I needed another pic to round out the grid, so here's me in my party dress

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

You butternut cry, butternut pout, I'm telling you why...

I found my camera...in a bucket of my friend's Halloween candy. Don't ask, I have no idea.

Butternut Squash conquered!

Cut it in half (I had a Hell of a time doing this. I suggest a Machete)



Put it face down in a pan with half an inch of water



Bake for 40 minutes at 375. I know it's looks scary, but after you remove the skin(No, you can't eat it. My friend tried) it's really good.



Voila!



It's pretty filling and tastes great. I think this is my fav squash so far.

Monday, November 8, 2010

On second thought

After posting, the other day about not missing things I thought I would and missing things I knew I would, I soon realized there were a couple things I forgot to note...the things I didn't realize I'd miss and do. It actually didn't even occur to me until I was feeding these items to the kids.

Yogurt. It's not even that I like it that much, or crave it, but I'm supposed to eat Greek yogurt for the Probiotics and I find it disgusting. I'd rather have no yogurt at all, than force myself to choke down that thick, sour yogurt-imposter. Thus, it makes me appreciate and miss palatable yogurt, like Yoplait's Key Lime Pie. Oh great, now I've got myself thinking about pie...

Mashed potatoes. I used to eat potatoes by the pound. That can be attributed to my Polish/Irish heritage, I suppose. I didn't even care if they were boxed flakes, frozen, whatev; I needed them all day, every day. Funny that I hadn't missed them until now. I tried giving some to the kiddos the other day and they refused to eat them. I was heartbroken, lamenting to them: "You don't know what you're missing! You should gorge on them while you still have the chance!" That just made them laugh. Brats.

To add insult to injury, I feel as if my entire digestive tract is about to erupt from my exit hatch in a razored display of everything I've ever known, been, loved or revered.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

I ain't missing you at all

PIE.



I. Miss. PIE.

And BBQ. I'd stalk & butcher a cow tomorrow, single handedly, if my doctor told me I could.



And donuts. 3 dozen. That's how many I'd sit down and eat. I doubt I'd come up for air, even. With sprinkles. So. Many. Sprinkles.



I also really miss Smirnoff Ice, particularly the Mandarin Orange and Green Apple varieties. (I recently got wind there is now a pineapple flavor! FML)

I miss being able to drive through any place I wanted, order whatever hit my fancy and spend less than 5 bucks.

And pre-packaged foods and microwave dinners. Oh to be able to shop once a month and be able to prepare a meal in 3-5 minutes with nothing to clean afterwards. Those were the days!

And ice cream. I would KILL for an Its-It. No seriously, I've yet to see someone eating one, but when that day comes, my cane WILL be re-purposed to bludgeon.



But none of that comes as a surprise. From the start I knew it would be tragic letting those things go. What I was not prepared for, however, were the things I thought I'd miss, and don't.

Got milk? Well I don't and I'm surprised by my utter lack of heart-pangs for my loss. I was a gallon to 2 gallon a week-er and yet, rice milk is doing me just fine. Sure, throwing back a box of rice isn't the same as chugging from the gallon, but other than that, I've made a painless transition and never looked back.

Cheese. Aside from ketchup and bbq sauce, I once covered everything in cheese. I don't really like many spices, can't stand salt and pepper, and don't trust any white sauces(alfredo, white gravy, horseradish, tarter, mayonnaise, hollandaise, sour cream etc.), so cheese was always my go-to. But, I guess when you aren't eating burgers, pizza, noodles or bread, what's the point anyway?

Bread. Really carbs in general. Meh. I have some oats here and there and some rice crackers or millet and it's all good. (Hmm, it just occurred to me that I may retract this on Thanksgiving when I'm missing stuffing, but aside from that...)

Speaking of Thanksgiving, this year I'm going to have to come up with some worthy alternatives so I don't go crazy watching everyone eat and then murder them while they're enjoying their Tryptophan-induced fat-puppy comas.

I ain't missing you at all since you've been gone away
I ain't missing you, no matter what my friends say




*Also, I baked my first butternut squash this evening. I took pictures of it and promptly hid my camera from myself unwittingly. I swear, sometimes I believe all the weight I'm losing is coming from my brain...cuz it's sure not coming from my rear-quarters.