This weekend, Jose and I had veggies and dip for lunch. Here are the recipes.
2 large baking potatoes, scrubbed
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp dried rosemary
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 cucumber, seeded and cut into sticks
5 celery stalks, cut into sticks
Onion Dip:
8 oz vegan sour cream
1/2 – 1 pk onion dip or soup mix
1. To make the Onion Dip, mix vegan sour cream and onion dip mix until creamy. Pour into small serving dish and chill until ready to serve.
2. Cut the potatoes into wedges and place on a greased cookie sheet.
3. Mix olive oil and rosemary in small bowl and brush potato wedges with the mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Cook potato wedges in preheated oven, 400 degrees, turning frequently, for 40 minutes, until browned and cooked through.
5. Serve potato wedges with the vegetables and Onion Dip.
Feel free to add more vegetables to this platter (pepper slices, carrot sticks, etc) for even more options.
i ran for the first time since… i don’t even remember. it was a great run, exactly how i imagined my comeback. my right foot still hurt a bit, but the doctor had said that would happen. i guess i just have to keep at it until my foot (and muscles) get used to running again. on the plus side, my lungs didn’t feel like they were going to explode the way they did the last two times i ran. my breathing was even and effortless.
i ran without my gps, heart rate monitor or watch. i don’t know how far, fast or long i ran for and it felt good. it felt like the old days when it wasn’t about training and running was just plain fun. it was something i did because i wanted to, not because some training guide decided wednesdays were made for speed-work runs. training is mostly mental. the problem is when you wake up on a wednesday and your legs decide they don’t want to run fast. but i will worry about that when i start training again. for now, it’ll just be me and the road. the gadgets can stay home.
This was supposed to be a recipe for Key Lime Pie, but it turned out more like Key Lime Cheesecake.
1 9-in unbaked vegan pie crust
2 8 oz. containers vegan cream cheese
2 tbsp soy milk
1 cup sugar or substitute
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp grated lime peel
4 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp cornstarch
sliced strawberries
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Blend cream cheese, soy milk, sweetener, vanilla extract, grated lime peel, lime juice and cornstarch until smooth.
3. Pour mixture into unbaked vegan pie crust and bake for 40 minutes.
4. Allow to cool to room temperature and refrigerate. Serve with sliced strawberries.
I looked at the comments for this recipe and noticed that most people agreed it was more like Cheesecake than Key Lime Pie. You can call it whatever you want. It is delicious !!
my cat, Kissy Fit, finally met her fate at the groomer’s this weekend. Jose drove her over while i went for a short bike ride in the morning. i was nervous about how she would feel afterwards, but wasn’t sure if i wanted to be the one to pick her up. after all, i’ve seen women throw tantrums after a bad haircut. can you imagine having your entire body shaved ? demoralizing…
i decided to drive over with Jose anyway because Kissy Fit is still not 100% comfortable with him and at this point, she probably thought that he had kidnapped and taken her to some alternate universe where dogs rule and cats are shaved and put in cages. i wanted her to see me and feel a little bit of familiarity amidst the strangeness of such an alien (to her) place.
we arrived and chatted with a woman behind the counter for a bit until she brought Kissy Fit to me. i was afraid that she would look like a rat so i didn’t look inside her carrier right away. the woman finally pulled her out of the carrier and i held her in my arms for a little while. i was relieved. she looked like herself (well, half of herself). the other half (her fur) was gone ! i told her she looked beautiful, kissed her and put her back in her carrier.
Kissy Fit acted strangely all day. she walked around, carefully smelling everything in the apt. i’m sure she was traumatized about the experience. she is doing much better now and Jose is not sneezing ! yay !!
Penne Bolognese is one of my favorite dishes. It is very easy to make.
8 oz whole wheat penne pasta
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tsp basil
1 cup textured soy protein (*)
1 jar pasta sauce
pine nuts
vegan Parmesan cheese
crushed red pepper (optional)
1. Cook the pasta in a large pan of rapidly boiling salted water.
2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in medium pan over low-medium heat. Saute the garlic and onion for 5 minutes. Mix in basil.
3. Add textured soy protein. Slowly stir in pasta sauce and cook until pasta is tender.
4. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to Bolognese Sauce.
5. Drain pasta and stir in remaining 1 tbsp olive oil.
6. Serve pasta with bolognese sauce. Top with pine nuts. Add vegan Parmesan cheese and red crushed pepper, to taste, if desired.
You can serve this with garlic toast. Just add olive oil, garlic and vegan Parmesan cheese to pita bread and heat in the oven for a few minutes ! It makes for a very filling meal.
my friend had gastric bypass surgery yesterday. he’s one of the nicest people i know in this world. i was really nervous about the procedure so i called his number early in the morning and spoke to his sister. she said everything was going well so far and that she might call back later with more info. she didn’t call and i was getting worried. then Jose gave me the news: there had been some complications with his procedure and he was now in ICU on an artificial respirator. i freaked.
i still drove to the hospital after work to see him as he had requested prior to the operation. Jose was waiting for me when i got there and i was very thankful. i despise hospitals, but it is easier for me if someone is there to hold my hand, literally. we found his room and chatted with his mom for a while. my friend looked pale and it was disturbing to see him lying there helplessly. i was glad he wasn’t aware of what was going on.
i don’t pray, but my friend was in my thoughts last night. it had been a stressful day and i quickly pass out. i tried not to think negative thoughts throughout the day, but when 4pm arrived and i still hadn’t heard any news, i decided to contact one of his best friends. i was relieved when he told me my friend had called him 20 minutes earlier and that he sounded great. he also sent me a picture which my friend’s sister had taken. it moved me to see the picture. although i was tiny and very low quality, i could tell he looked better already. then my phone rang and i was ecstatic to see my friend’s name in the caller ID window. he sounded great. like his normal chipper self. i feel blessed.
i went into my co-worker’s office today and noticed three cute little left feet on his desk. they are stress foam feet props from a heel balm manufacturer (makes sense). i thought they were really cute so he told me to have one since 3 left feet is more than anyone should have.
i’m going to take it home and paint its nails and draw a tatoo around its ankle. i think that will be fun ! then i can put it on my desk next along with all my other silly things.
anyone who knows me, knows that i DO NOT like clutter. you might not think this if you looked at my desk… or maybe you would (hmm). i tend to collect weird things from time to time (mostly gifts). i’ve been meaning to take a picture of my desk since Eva’s message, so today i did just that. i couldn’t get the whole desk in one shot, so i got a bit creative.
left:
- an empty bottle of water: i drink a lot of those
- an empty bottle of diet coke: i need to stop drinking those
- too many diet coke tops: all worth one liter of coke. has anyone even seen a litter of coke ?
- calendar: xmas gift from my best friend
- a snail shell: i noticed it on the sidewalk one morning. i told my boss about it and he later picked it up for me and left it on my desk.
- a starbucks cup: from my trip to Paris last winter
- iron kitty: my best friend brought it from bulgaria
- picture: halloween 2003. me, dressed as trinity (from the matrix) and two army boys dressed as… army boys. how original !
- new year’s card: from my boss
- birthday card: from my boss
center:
- kitty postcard: from my best friend. she had this card since she was 13 years old and gave it to me 4 years ago while we were having coffee at a dunkin donuts near where i lived at the time.
- gyroscope: Jose got this for me during one of his trips to DC
- buenos aires mug: a gift from an Argentinean ex-co-worker
- stevia: my all natural sugar substitute. it rocks !
- uncle sam trophy: yes, this is a trophy i won at a 5k last year.
right:
- trophies: from several 5k and 10k races
- note cube: parting gift from an ex-co-worker
- airline tickets: from my trip to San Diego in June
- cow mug: from Holland. there’s a porcelain cow inside, attached to the bottom. it was disturbing to pour steaming coffee or tea on the poor cow, so i use it to hold my pens and chopsticks now.
those are just some of the things that live on my desk. they often bring back good memories, sometimes make me smile but mostly, they’re just nice to look at.
my cat desperately needs grooming. Jose’s had it with all the hair in my apt. so he called petco (a new pet store in town) this morning. he told the clerk that our cat needed to be trimmed.
the clerk said: “our groomer is definitely very allergic to cats. please try either our store in tamarac or boca.”
Breakfast was a huge disaster so I decided not to blog it. I felt the need to redeem myself, but I was still too sensitive around lunch time so Jose took me out. For dinner, I made a Tofu Stirfry.
4 oz soba noodles
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup cabbage, chopped
1 cup carrots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1. Cook the soba noodles in a large pan of rapidly boiling water until tender. Drain and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the broth, dry sherry, cornstarch, soy sauce, agave nectar, ginger and, if desired, crushed red pepper. Set aside.
3. Heat olive oil in wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir fry carrots, cabbage and garlic for 5-7 minutes.
4. Stir sauce and add to center of wok. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.
5. Add tofu and cook for 2 more minutes.
6. To serve, spoon vegetable mixture over soba noodles.
