Month: March 2012

Sloppy Sams: A Lentil Adventure

/ foodsweatandbeers / 14 Comments

Here’s a few thoughts:

  1. Lentils are dirty.  If you’re going to use them, rinse the heck outta them.  And then, if you’re me, after you cook them, rinse them again.  Gross.
  2. Despite wolfing down many during camp lunches, I don’t really remember what Sloppy Joe’s taste like.
  3. I know that Sloppy Sams taste great.

Unlike the whole Soy Chorizo situation, I didn’t seek out this recipe to replace some sort of meat that was missing in my life. I just saw a recipe online, and figured “I have good memories of Sloppy Joes, right? Lots of camp memories, lots of laughter at the old lady in Billy Madison, let’s do this thing.”

Alas, I didn’t don a sexy lunchlady outfit for y’all.  But I found a great recipe!  Then I changed it to fit my needs.

Sloppy Sams from Marian at All Recipes!

Ingredients

  • 3 cups water
  • 1 cup lentils, rinsed (THEN RINSE THEM AGAIN!!)
  • salt to taste (optional)
  • 1 cup chopped red onion
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 cups chopped tomato One can fire roasted tomatoes, and a handful of fresh tomato
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup ketchup a liberal squirting of ketchup, but I didn’t measure it out
  • 1 teaspoon mustard powder RATS I didn’t have any, I wish I did
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder (then more because I’m a spice monger)
  • 3 tablespoons molasses Tomatoes are already sweet, why add more sweetness?
  • 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • 4 hamburger buns, split Whatever bread you have!
  • Cheese and jalapenos for topping!
Makes about six servings!

Directions

  1. Combine water and lentils in a saucepan; season to taste with salt if desired. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  2. Meanwhile, cook onions with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the onions have softened and turned translucent, about 4 minutes. Add tomatoes (and can of tomatoes) and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, ketchup, mustard powder, chili powder, molasses and Worcestershire sauce; simmer 5 to10 minutes until thickened.
  3. Drain lentils and reserve cooking liquid. Stir lentils into sauce mixture, adding cooking liquid or water as needed to obtain the desired “sloppy joe” consistency. Serve on buns toasted wheat breadwith a sprinkle of cheese and some jalapenos!

I enjoyed the HECK out of this!

De-LIGHTFUL!

I also sprinkled a bit of cheese on top and, next time I’ve got em, I’ll add some jalapenos (pickled or fresh) on top for a little heat.

I will say, though, this recipe makes enough for about 6 servings.  Now I have a Simba-sized tub of leftovers.

How about THIS?!

Consider me Rafiki!

That ought to tide me over (had to check on that phrase, I never know if it’s Tie or Tide) for a while.

Dessert was what I like to call The Friend Killer.

DESTROYER OF LIVES!

It may look like just a banana with some peanut butter to YOU but, to me, this is basically a weapon.  In college, two of my the people I was closest with (and one that I continue to be close with, since he’s my boyfriend and all) were deathly allergic to these two ingredients (one to bananas, one to nuts).  If I’d eaten this around them, they’d basically both go into anaphylactic shock and die.

Well, when the friends are away, the Jordan will play…. with her food. I may or may not have “Pew Pewed” holding this banana like a gun a few times, before eating it.  Normal.

(No friends [or enemies] were hurt during the writing of this blog).

Back to work!

Are you allergic to anything? Especially food?

When I was younger, I was allergic to eggs…. but clearly that’s faded. Nothing else, other than that. I guess I’ll just have to keep eating random foods until I find something.

Meatless Monday: Soy-WHATNOW?

/ foodsweatandbeers / 16 Comments

We’re all lucky that my keyboard allows my wrists to rest on it because, after today’s workout, my arms weren’t feeling up to much action.  In fact, I think my brain was also a little wonky post-workout… Hence my ridiculous tweet upon my return to the house.

I promise, that made sense in my head. Translation: Sore arms are about to become jelly. Then, I’ll just have to be a jellyfish.

Right?

I don’t know.

The point is, it was a SOLID day at the gym!  I was having major workout ADD, and couldn’t decide what I wanted to do.  Solution? DO IT ALL!

A Hodge Podge of working it!

I hit up the group fitness room at the gym for a 5pm CX Worx class. CX Worx is a “revolutionary core workout” by Les Mills that is choreographed to some cool jams and lasts about 25-30 minutes.  I’ll do a more serious post about this one day, but, to sum it up, it tears your core a new one.

At 5:30, the always-crowded Body Combat class was scheduled.  I fended off the dozens of newcomers in the room to secure myself a spot and, as always, after only a few minutes, I was drenched in sweat. It’s such a killer cardio workout but, I’ll be honest, sometimes I get a little bored just punching and kicking for a full hour.  Time to switch it up!

CIRCUIT TRAINING! The last 30 minutes of my 1.5 hour workout were spent with a new trainer, Jessica, doing circuit training with medicine balls, steps, mats, and ViPR tubes!

ViPR Tubes, racks on racks! (click image for source)

These hollow tubes of various weights and sizes do some SERIOUS damages on your shoulders as you’re flinging them around, lifting them, throwing them, rolling them, or jumping around them. Though I’ve only just tried ViPR training for the first time, I know that this is definitely a hardcore workout and, if there are any other free classes offering them (they’re normally $15 a session), I’ll definitely sign up.

With all the punching, planking, ViPR-ing, and pushups, my body was furious with me.  I decided to suck up to it with a special meatless treat.

Taco Pizza with Soy Chorizo!

(Hilarious bonus: Russ realized that the name of the product, Soy Chorizo, translates to “I am sausage.” His response?

No, you’re beans, not delectably ground up little piggies.

Bahaha.)

All the good stuff

With a base of (what else?) Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza crust, I layered on lots of salsa as the “sauce” and decided it was time to try this Soy-rizo out.  After reading the directions (which explicitly state to REMOVE the casing before cooking it) I removed the heck out of that casing.  The faux-meat bits crumbled out of the plastic(?) casing and into my frying pan. It smelled so good as it was cooking and I knew I was in for a treat (despite my initial fears that soy-whatever would be lame and nasty).

I also fried up some red onion, sauteed some spinach, and added some avocado bits (which should be a topping on anything/everything) and a lowfat mexican cheese blend.  Pre-heated?

Don't worry cheese, I'll melt you soon.

And then, about 14-18 minutes later (I just kept checking for a golden, crisp crust), I pulled out a molten pie of cheese and fake meat.

You're so money, and you don't even know it.

This “meat” MADE the pizza! It had a great amount of spice, the texture wasn’t off-putting at all, and while I didn’t bite into it and think MEAT I did bite into it and think “Man, I wanna take another bite.”

Soy chorizo, I wanna put you inside of all my dishes. Salad, maybe an omelet, enchiladas? Why not? And, for $1.99 a tube, that’s a bargain if I’ve ever seen one (and I have. They’re all I seek out.)

Have you ever tried a vegetarian/vegan replacement for something and found yourself pleasantly surprised?

I love this and I’m a huge fan of the Morningstar Hot & Spicy breakfast “sausage”. Mmm.

Best Friends Since Birth: Ode to My Mommy

/ foodsweatandbeers / 11 Comments

I have to say that I believe in love at first sight, mostly because I am CERTAIN I’ve experienced it.  I just get the feeling that, the moment I was born, and my “being born” junk was wiped from my eyes, I saw the love of my life.  She was only about 3 feet taller than I was (and I was just born, moments before), but her platinum blonde hair acted as a halo for the angel that is my mother.  And though it’s been almost 25 years since we met, I still know that my love for her will never fade. In fact, it just gets stronger, every day.

I’m “that girl” with my mom. I text her every morning and I feel lost if I don’t talk to her on the phone at least once a day.  I ask ridiculous questions like “What are you doing? Who are you with? What are you thinking about who you’re with, and where are you all going for dinner?” If I could live with my mother for the rest of my life, I think I’d be happy as a clam, and I’d force her to eat salads and come to Zumba with me and get into all sorts of hijinx.  It would basically be like Gilmore Girls, only without the inn and lots more social work.  Oh, and it’d be a lot tougher to share clothes, considering our 8-9 inch height difference.

Tiny, baby mommy.

My mother has shaped me maybe more than any other single human being on the planet. She’s been a teacher, a friend, a caregiver, a healer, a snuggle-buddy, a kindred spirit, and my number one role model.  I remember growing up feeling shy and, more often than not, uncomfortable in my own skin. I was a gangly bookworm, the tiniest Amazon nerd in Montessori School, and I tended to slouch. Mom taught me to stand up straight (though, for her, that really only meant standing about 5’4″ tall) and she taught me to walk into every room like I owned the place.  Probably because every time she walked into a room, a store, a bar, or down the street, all eyes were on her. She demands attention just by her existence. I dreamt of being just like her.

Poppin' Champangne, like she won the championship game

Mother of five, wife to one, and friend to all, she’s more generous than I could even attempt to be. Having recently received her MSW after deciding a few years ago to return to school, she’s gone out of her way to speak for those without a voice, to maintain her ethics in an oft-corrupt system, and to provide aid and assistance whenever possible with a focus on geriatrics. In the face of hopelessness, my mother is like a beacon of joy. I’d list all that she’s done for her clients, but I couldn’t even get the tip of the iceberg before a hand cramp.

She’s hilarious. One of the middle children in a family of 8 kids, she always manages to make everyone in the enormous resulting family laugh and smile, maybe me most of all.

Don't kill me for posting this, dancing queen

Being the littlest one in my family (though 5 of the 6 are her children), she often gets the brunt of the teasing. But she puts up with our jokes, rolling her eyes.  Since we love her, we pile on top of her any chance we have, so she doesn’t forget for a moment that she’s our best girl.

The tiniest face of the bunch? That's mommy.

She’s so proud of us, but I think she doesn’t realize just how proud we are of her!

Giving a speech at her graduation party

When she went back to school, she worked harder than I’ve ever seen a student work (that includes friends who are in PhD programs and med school). Every assignment was life or death, and I don’t think she ever got below an A.  Her laser-like focus on something as seemingly trivial as a reference list led to many long nights, but the payoff was sweet when she obtained her degree and the opportunity to follow her dream.

I still want to be just like her. She’s kind of my idol and if I can lead a life half as successful as hers, it will be a life well-lived.

Here’s to my best friend, my favorite beach girl…

Shore girls!

My partner in crime, even if the crime’s just making some penis-shaped cookies for Caitlin’s bachelorette party.

Though I don't think she really approved

And, no matter what happens and where life takes me, she’s the woman I wanna be like when I grow up.

More alike every day.

Happy birthday, Mommy! Can’t wait until we’re together again to celebrate!

Six Pack Sunday: Tar Heel Nation

/ foodsweatandbeers / 8 Comments

Sundays always taste much better after order has been restored.  I’m speaking, of course, about the infamous UNC-Duke rivalry and the amazing game I was lucky enough to watch last night. Order in my apartment… still working on that (it doesn’t NOT look like a clothing explosion in my living room).  Whatever, I’ve got more important things to focus on.  Namely: Six Pack Sunday!

1. Shameless Around Freebies

On Saturday, thanks to the reminder from Goob over at Hey It’s Free (my go-to source for freebies in the world), I strolled over to Auntie Anne’s to join about 35 of my closest friends total strangers in a line for a free Auntie Anne’s pretzel. I have ZERO problems waiting in lines for things like this… Sure, they’re normally less than $3 and definitely something I’d buy for myself if I wanted. But you know what tastes better than a $3 pretzel?

I agree with this wrapping.

A $0 pretzel. I simultaneously wish that free pretzel day was every day, and thank my lucky stars that it is but once a year (I think.)

You better believe a delicious, warm cinnamon pretzel was my carbtastic lunch. Mmmm hm.

2. Seafood Risotto Should NOT Be Cooked in a Bag

You gave it the ol' college try...

While I was at Whole Foods last week, I picked up a package of Seafood Risotto with BARRAMUNDI (the sustainable seabass). From the folks at Australis: The Better Fish, it was a classic case of desperation for a tasty, simple meal I could whip up at home in no time.

It was…. disappointing. The smell as it was cooking was pretty solid, but the texture was mushy and lumpy, and this whole pack was a little low on actual seafood inside of it.  Thumbs down from Jojo, won’t make that mistake again.

Anyone wanna make some risotto with me?

3. Fan Fashion!

You know what’s great about dressing up for watching a sporting event?

This photo won me a covershoot for Italian Vogue and an exclusive contract with ING Modeling

When you’re a lady, all this really translates to is “Don oversized jersey. Yank up leggings. WORK IT!”

I was obviously channeling #35 Reggie Bullock whilst cheering my face off at the game. I think it was important, and I hope he felt my dominating presence in Durham all the way from Carrboro.

4. Splenda =/= Sugar

Post-win, I avoided the standard “Rush Franklin Street” that I normally enjoy in order to end the night sober and un-singed (UNC fans are fond of the traditional “leaping over bonfires” after a big win. It can get dangerous). I headed over to Melissa’s house as it was early, still, and figured I’d help her whip up some chocolate meringue cookies she learned about in Runner’s World.  Only I’m pretty sure replacing the sugar with Splenda was a bad decision, because these don’t look like ANY meringue cookies I’ve ever seen…

Rats.

Not sure how thick those are?  Here’s a better shot.

Oops

Yeah. Paper thin, brown disks doth not a cookie make. Back to the drawing board…

5. When I say Tar, you say HEELS!

Killer Crowd!

I’d love to say that I met up with a bunch of buddies to watch the game but, honestly, I just showed up at a bar and knew that I’d meet a zillion UNC fans, and it’d be a guaranteed blast, no matter what. I was right.

I hit up The Station, a hipster haunt in Carrboro that I spent my undergraduate career avoiding in favor of dancing to 90s music. But, on gameday, with a giant projector and men rocking Luchadora masks and jumping on tables to shout cheers, I couldn’t have chosen a better location. And even though I only knew one of the zillions that made up the crowd, by the end, I felt like everyone was bonded together by our uniform of Carolina Blue and our love of those Tar Heel boys.  It was magical. Made even more magical by halftime gummy bears…

Gummy Fuel!

Oh, you don’t know about gummy bear halftime?  It’s only the most magical of all edible halftime shows.

6. Swimmer’s Eyebrow

Today, after a little over a mile run(!!) I knew I had to get in the pool for a little while to ease those aching bones. Though my years of swimming as a youth taught me a LOT about swimmer’s ear (one of the WORST infections to plague any swimmers… if you’ve experienced it, you know it’s hell), I experienced something today that I don’t think I ever realized also plagued swimmers.

TRAPPED!

Yes, swimmer’s eyebrow. It happens when one or both of your eyebrows becomes trapped in your swim cap, despite having donned it countless times before….  I eventually managed to release the brows from their pink prison, but I know they’ll never fully recover.

Pray for them, friends.

Who are you cheering for this March Madness?

Ever have any hilarious recipe fails?

Like a Virgin: There’s a First Time for Everything

/ foodsweatandbeers / 16 Comments

February 29th, to me, doesn’t really seem all that exciting. Yes, it’s an “extra” day, but I don’t get off work. There were a few sales but, realistically, there wasn’t too much going on in the world outside of the usual.  So I decided to make it a special one.

I did something I’ve never done before (well, maybe never. I think once I tried in high school, but it wasn’t for me.)

Whoah, get your mind out of the gutter, I’m talking about a treadmill run!

My new frenemy?

My silly towel is blocking out the one most crucial number on this treadmill: I ran that mile (just barely) under 10 minutes!  I think the last time I ran a mile was sometime in 2005 (MAYBE 2006, but even that could be a stretch.)  I was out of practice, I wasn’t sure what to do with my arms, and I made sure that I didn’t stop the whole time!

You can see in my GarminConnect summary that my HR peaked during my run (the first 10 minutes of my workout):

Yeah, buddy!

The rest of the workout was a smattering of cardio, exercises featuring use of my body weight (lunges, jump squats, jackknife situps, etc), and a final bout on the treadmill (just to try out the other machine) followed by the last 5 minutes on the stairmaster!  It was kind of nice to mix up the workout, the BodyPump class just looked too packed to deal with and, honestly, after that venture on the treadmill, I just wanted to keep moving, not lifting.

HUGE thanks to my running cheerleader, Sierra, who may have run to NC from South Africa… Either way, she ran into the gym to cheer me on JUST when I was hitting a little wall around 7 minutes.  As I gestured shooting myself in the head when she walked in, she grinned her happy lunchbox grin and I refused to stop, knowing I had a bit of an audience (albeit an audience of one).

Though we normally live across the globe from each other, Sierra’s actually one of my oldest friends from UNC, and my new running guru (one of a few who’s offered to guide me in ‘the ways of the runners’) as she has already steered me in the right direction of the “good treadmill” at the gym.

My first year at UNC was obvious the classiest of all.

I still have a few questions for all you runners out there…

What kind of bottoms do you wear? I think that shorts were not the wisest idea…

What do you do with your arms?

I considered this pose:

MK is NOT my fitspiration! (click if you think mocking Mary Kate Olsen is quality online humor)

But my elbows got too sweaty.

My last question:

HOW do you folks do this every day?!

I’m tempted to take an ice bath…. Luckily, I never turn the heat on in my apartment, so…. problem solved.