Purple platanos!!

Purple!

Platanos!

Nope, I did not cook purple platanos (plantains). But I did paint with the color purple, on canvas. It is really cute and whimsical and makes me happy looking at it. Just what I needed after a long day. For dinner dinner, I baked ripe plantains in the oven and sprinkled some mozzarella cheese. They were very delicious. I also made a rice bowl (I love rice!), with some tomato sauce, tuna, and green beans. It was also delicious. Sorry, no recipe, because you just bake the plantains and sprinkle cheese, and for the rice just cook rice and add anything to it!

Rice+veggies+protein=rice bowl!!! The possibilities are endless and amazing.

I needed a good dinner to get me through a workshop that I thought would be boring, but it was actually pretty awesome. It was a discussion about the words: woman, man, feminist, b*tch, homemaker, and breadwinner. We were in groups and each group discussed what they thought of a certain word. Thes thoughts were based on societies conceptions as well as our own. It was cool to think about and discuss, especially with several males in the room. Some of the more surprising points were huge misconceptions about the word feminist and the negative connotations that came with the feminine words (woman, homemaker, etc). It made me think a lot about how I learned certain roles in my life, such as nurturing, and how sometimes these roles make me feel oppressed. It was cool to talk about and to see everyone in the room react to certain comments.

Alright, time to take off...good night.

Yay for concerts and theater!

I am a member of theater organization on my campus that brings professional shows to perform. Last night, we had The Ahn Trio and The Kin. I am PR manager, so now I get to run the merchandise table and be right next to the performers while they sign autographs. In case you haven't heard of The Kin, they are two Australian brothers. Yes, they have accents. Yes, one of them is particularly attractive! And yes, they decided to give me and two other girls working the table free signed CD's!! Yay! The 13-year old inside of me was jumping for joy. It was a very fun night, and now the morning after, I am listening to The Kin's CD. The picture shows my new and improved name tag. It looks so official with the word manager on it. The signed CD is ther (I know, the album art is pretty interesting. There is also the red carnation that we wear with our all black attire for the performance.

So here is to fun nights, concerts, and acting like a 13-year old girl!

Watermelon BLT! Yup.

This morning, Malcom and I went for our walk and just missed the downpour of rain. Then I had an interview, so I decided I needed something different for lunch. There is a watermelon in our kitchen and there is bacon. So I made a watermelon BLT. So I guess it is a BLW. Wheat bread, bacon, lettuce, watermelon and sour cream. It was absolutely delicious and was gobbled up quickly. Wow, it was good, and pretty good for you, too. Especially with carrot sticks! (Sorry I LOVE carrots).
I can't believe I have lived so long without trying this sandwich!

Yay for leftovers!

Before the oven!
After the oven!

Today for lunch I decided to use the extra burger bun from last night and make nachos!! I took a small flour tortilla and cut it into 8 wedges. Then I lightly coated the wedges in olive oil and some pepper. Then they went into a 400 F oven for somewhere between 5-8 minutes. I then added the chopped up burger bun, some chopped tomato, and some cheddar cheese. I put it under the broiler for a minute or two, and I had a yummy lunch! Of course, I added some carrot sticks on the side (because I love carrots). It was a very non boring lunch.

Now I need to go clean the kitchen and go back to school to do some work! At least I have M&M cookies waiting for me at the end of the day!

Fall...how I miss you!

Right now, I wish I could go up to New England and see the change of seasons. I miss the colors so much, so I decided to paint a tribute to fall to make myself feel less homesick. In Texas it is starting to get cooler. Well, let's put it this way: it rained and was cool last week and this week is probably going to be hot again. Typical Texas weather...completely unpredictable and horrible for someone with a head of curly hair. Sometimes I straighten my hair, and five minutes after stepping outside it is curly again! But that is Texas, and at least it doesn't get super cold (but I do like the cold).
Happy start of the week...tomorrow is Monday...

Chicken burgers!

Today I made burgers with ground chicken.

I took 1 pound of ground chicken and mixed with a handful of parsley, chives, one diced garlic clove, and half of a finely chopped carrot. It made a gorgeous and colorful patty. I formed the mixture into three patties and cooked them on a skillet with a little bit of olive oil.

I melted a slice of provolone cheese on each patty and placed on a wheat bun that was toasted. I also put some homemade marinara on top, and ta-dah, that was my burger! Very delicious and healthy too!
The fries are large oven fries that were roasted in the oven. These came out very good, too.

I will say this now: I LOVE BURGERS! I love any type of burger (turkey, beef, pork, chicken, veggie, black bean, tuna, salmon). So these will appear nearly weekly, because there is nothing more comforting and hearty than a good burger.

Enjoy!

Sunday is a baking day! Huge M&M cookies!

Today I made delicious M&M cookies. I made them pretty large and with melted butter and an added egg yold to make them softer and more chewy. Here is how I made them:

Take:

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

some cinnamon

Mix these ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.

Take:

1-1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3/4 white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

Beat together until well combined

Add:

2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 egg yolk

Beat until well mixed

Then take the flour mixture and add into the wet ingredients all at once. Beat until well mixed. Then add 1-1/2 cups of mini m&m's and stir.

I refigerated the cookie dough for a few hours, but you can go ahead and regfrigerate while the oven in preheating.

Preheat oven to 325 F, and prepare baking sheets by lightly greasing or placing parchment paper on them.

When ready, form large balls that are almost 2 tbsp in size. Leave plenty of space between them. Bake for 15-19 minutes, or until the edges are a nice golden brown. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets (this helps them stay chewy).

Eat!!!

They are large, but my boyfriend just went for a second. They are delicious!

Happy Pancake Day!

It is Saturday, and it also happens to be National Pancake Day! I decided to celebrate by painting some colorful pieces that are very whimsical and hopeful. I had a phone interview this morning and am trying to use my nervous energy is a positive way, and I want to be hopeful for the opportunity. But let's face it, I am not comfortable with the unknown. I like seeing paint on canvas or food on a plate that is complete, finished. You know it will look good or taste delicious. You know it will satisfy. But then you need to create that experience again in a few hours. The satisfaction only lasts as long as it takes for my head to start spinning or for my tummy to start grumbling. But satisifaction is achieved, and even if it is only for a little amount of time, it should be savored.
Now for something very savory (and sweet)--PANCAKES!

I made buttermilk pancakes with chopped nuts, green apple, and bacon (yes, bacon in a pancake). I served the pancakes with chopped apples, nuts, bacon, and butter. So basically pancakes with the same pancakes deconstructed on the side. It was insanely delicious. So happy pancake day to me!

Chocolate Banana Kahlua Cupcakes with Dark chocolate frosting

I ran out of Mexican Wedding Cakes today, so I decided to make a new dessert. I made chocolate banana kahlua cupcakes with a dark chocolate frosting. Don’t they look yummy?

Mix together: 1 cup sugar, a little less than one cup of flour, a little less than one half cup cocoa powder, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, a pinch of salt. In another bowl, whisk one egg, 1 mashed rip banana, ½ cup warm water, ¼ cup milk, ¼ cup canola or veggie oil, and 1 tbsp kahlua.
Stir the two mixtures together and pour into muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes, cool completely and frost as desired. I made a chocolate frosting, straight from the back of my hershey’s special dark cocoa powder container.

They were super yummy, and the recipe made 9 cupcakes, which is just perfect.

Sorry that my measurements are as precise as other recipes, I really like to improvise and I do not like following recipes exactly. I see them as inspiration, not as a definite procedure.

Tortilla pie and plantains!

Today, I decided to surprise my boyfriend by cooking some of his favorite foods: a tortilla pie with ripe plantains on the side. It is pretty easy to make, and you can make different variations on it!

For the tortilla pie, go ahead and preheat your oven to 360 F. Then get out a pie plate, or small skillet (anything that will fit a tortilla in it), four tortillas, butter (to butter the dish), cheese (any you like, I used cheddar), and toppings of your choosing (I used chives, tomatoes, and cooked ground beef). On the buttered dish, place one tortilla and sprinkle cheese on it. Then layer the topings. Next place the second tortilla on top, spread cheese, toppings. Do this one more time. Then top it all off with the fourth tortilla and spread lots of butter on top. Cover this with tin foil and place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take the foil off, turn the oven up to 400 F and cook for 15-20 more minutes. After it is out of the oven let it rest for 10 minutes without cutting into fourths.

For the plaintains, I had two large yellow plantains. I cut them up, like you see in the picture, and then I dropped them in hot oil until they turned a nice brown color. Really easy, and absolutely delicious. Trust me!

This was my final product. Two slices of the tortilla pie (I used small quesadillas), some plantains, shredded lettuce, salsa, and sour cream. It was delicious.

Try it sometime, you will have a very happy tummy.

French toast sandwich! Kinda

Today is Friday! Which is awesome, because all I have is a Mineralogy meeting and one class. Today we got a whole shipment of minerals! 50 boxes of minerals that we had to unpack and put into the proper boxes for our students. It was actually very exciting (if you like minerals, which I do). Then class was boring, but it was a quick 50 minutes, so then it was home to make myself a delicious lunch.

If you want an extra yummy sandwich, place fillings of your choice between two slices of bread (also of you choice), then dip in an egg beaten with a splash of milk, then cook on a skillet with some butter. It is absolutely delicious and more exciting than a regular sandwich.

Enjoy Friday!

One of those days

Do you ever have those days when you are tired...of a lot of things? I am having one of those days and I am trying to to find things to make me feel energetic and excited...anything! I wanted to post these two pastels, because they make me smile looking at them. I know, I know, one has a tear. But tears are not necessarily sad. There are happy tears. And the other one, I am not sure who that is, but she looks so content and calm...at peace. I am definately not feeling that way today, so maybe putting that piece up will transfer some of the calm into my mind.

Wraps!

Today I was feeling bored, so I decided to make myself a fun lunch. I just took a tortilla, spread peanut butter and put apples, cranberries, and nuts on it. Then I wrapped it all up, cut up some carrot sticks, and ta-dah! Lunch for me. Definately another kid-friendly meal, and let's face it, I am still a big kid.

Fun with rice

I love rice. I have always been a big rice eater, ever since I was a little girl. So for lunch today I made myself a bowl of rice with lots of goodies in it! I just cooked up 1/4 cup of long grain white rice in half a cup of water to get a nice one person serving and I chopped up parsley, green onions, tomato, carrot, some nuts, and cranberries. Then I mixed all this up in the rice and added a little bit of salt, pepper and garlic powder. It smelled delicious and tasted even better! Oh and it looks pretty because of all the colors.

Advice: if you are bored with making your own food, add colors. Use different veggies and fruits and just make it appealing to your eyes.
I am now satisfied with a very happy tummy. Have a great afternoon!

How about some color on a gloomy day?

Maybe it is because I am stressed with research and trying to find job, but painting has been very soothing and necessary lately. There are times when I try to paint something specific, but lately it has been about feeling the smoothness of the paint as it leaves the brush. And it's about seing the colors blend together and play with each other to create this awesome image. In this piece the colors come together to create what looks like flames or a river. There is definately movement and flow in this piece, and maybe it is a sign of good things to come. Maybe I am somehow moving forward. Whatever it may be, it was fun to create.

Oven fries and salmon burgers. yum!

On today's menu, oven fries and salmon burgers. For the oven fries, all I did was cut up two russett potatoes, coat them in some olive oil, salt, and sugar and then put them in an oven which was preheated to 450 F. Make sure you put them on a baking cheat that is either greased or with parchment paper (the potatoes like to stick to aluminum foil, so don't use it!). They only take 30 minutes to cook up.
While the potatoes cooked, I mixed an egg, some canned salmon, a shredded piece of bread, some parsley, some onion, and some lemon juice together to form patties. I then cooked these up in a skillet and put them between a toasted english muffin with some tomato and a spread made with lemon juice, parsley, and mayo.
Serve the salmon burgers with the fries and some veggies, and ta-dah! Dinner is served!

Raindrops are falling on my...

Today is a rainy day and I think I am finally getting sick. I have had a sore throat for a few days and now I have an itchy scratchy cough. Rain makes me think of two things: the light at the end of the rain and the wildlife that rejoices for having their habitat watered. So here are two pastels that I made a while ago. One of a lighthouse and one of a frog.

Rainy days are great for reading, listening to music, and taking it easy. Sounds nice to me. I am listening to a great musical that a friend introduced me to. It is called Next to Normal, and hactually recently won 2 Tony Awards. It is about a mother who has bipolar disorder and the struggles she and her family endure. It doesn't sound very happy. Well, it isn't! But the songs are so cool. One of my favorites in Superboy and the Invisible Girl. Find it. Listen to it. It will make you think.

Have a good day. Hope the rain doesn't get you down.

How to eat lunch.

How to eat lunch, a step by step plan.

Step one: Get home, take dog out to pee.

Step two: plug in panini press and turn on

Step three: cook an egg over easy and one slice of bacon

Step four: Get out a whole wheat english muffin.

Step five: Cut some tomato slices and get some cheddar cheese

Put the egg, bacon, tomato slices, and cheddar cheese in between the two english muffin halves. Put in panini press until cheese in melted. Serve with apple slices.

Eat! (Oh, and I added a mexican wedding cake for dessert!)

My animals AKA: my children!

I am sitting at the table eating my oatmeal, and relaxing after my morning walk with Malcom, my dog. I will take this time to introduce you to my animals. Here is Fred the chinchilla, Ginger the cat, and Malcom the dog. I grew up without any pets, and now I have three that I love so much. They definately make life interesting, dramatic, dusty, smelly, and just all around awesome. Looking at them and giving them some love is definately a great start to the morning and the week.

Happy Monday!

The City

I felt like painting this afternoon. So I laid down on the floor set out my paints, and this is what happened. It looks a lot like a city, and I absolutely love it. It is getting framed and put on my wall!!

Sunday is a baking day! Mexican Wedding Cakes!

For me, Sunday = new dessert day! I usually make a new dessert that we can share for the entire week. This week, I made mexican wedding cakes. If you are looking for something yummy and delicate and very yummy (yes, I said that again), these are perfect. Share them with your favorite person, or just enjoy them yourselves!

These are inspired from the recipe of the joy of baking website. If you have not been here yet, please go! All of their recipes are fantastic!

Preheat oven to 350 F

Take almost half a cup of nuts (I used mixed nuts) and toast them in the oven on a baking sheet for about 8 minutes. Grind the nuts in a food processor with 1 tbsp of flour. (you don't want it to make a paste)

Set this mixture aside

Take 1 stick of butter, and almost 1/4 cup of powered sugar and cream them together with a hand mixer or electric mixer. Add 1 tsp vanilla and 1 cup of flour and mix well. I also added some cinnamon.

Now, combine the two mixtures together. Cover in plastic wrap and refridgerate for about an hour. I only did 40 minutes and they were fine.

Roll into one inch balls and place on baking sheets.
Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes, and then roll each in confectioner's sugar.

Now, eat!!

These are absolutely nutty and delicious.

Enjoy!

Sunday...

It is Sunday. The end of the weekend. On this particular sunday I am twenty-five years and one week old. I can't help but wonder where I am going to be when I am 30! It is difficult to think of having a real job, and not simply being a student for the rest of my life. I am good at being a student, and living in the bubble of academia.
Lately when I have been painting, I start off painting one thing and then it ends up completely covered. This piece was a face, you can still make out the lips somewhere in there. But I wasn't liking the way the face looked. It looked strangely like a muppet (probably due to the fact that I have been listening to the Avenue Q soundtrack non-stop for two days now). Now the piece looks like some type of spiderweb, and you can see tons of different layers and designs unerneath it. I can't help but get lost in it for a few minutes.
This is where I find myself at twenty-five. I have no idea what is coming up next for me. But maybe that's the way it should be!

The last song in Avenue Q addresses the fact that you may not have a true purpose in life, and that you need to accept life as it comes and enjoy it. Because everything in life, except for death and paying taxes, is only for now. Here is a verse!

"Everyone's a little bit unsatisfied.
Everyone goes round a little empty inside.
Take a breath, look around, swallow your pride...for now. For now!
Nothing lasts, life goes on, full of surprises
You'll be faced with probems of all shapes and sizes
You're going to have to make a few compromises...for now! For now!"


Happy Sunday.

Ramekins!!

Today I bought myself a set of ramekins, so I decided to make a dessert. Let's make this clear, I love dessert, and strongly believe that you should have dessert every day. Anything with chocolate is a go-to for me, but sometimes I crave something a little lighter. This is one of those days.

After looking around for an idea that didn't involve anything I would have to buy, I decided to make a lemon souffle! It came out pretty well, and my boyfriend and I enjoyed our awesome dessert!

It was an easy recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

First, mix together:

1/2 tbsp butter melted
scant 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk

3 egg yolks

In a separate bowl, beat:

3 egg whites (beat until stiff peaks form)

Gently combine the two mixtures by folding.

Butter and coat with a small amount of sugar, 2 small ramekins and pour the mixture into the ramekins.

In a baking dish or other oven proof dish, put about 1/2 inch of hot water and set the ramekins in the water bath. Transfer to the oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until the souffle has risen and is nice and golden brown on top.

Make sure you don't burn your hands on the ramekins, and enjoy!

Breakfast time

I love breakfast! I will share one of my favorite things to make for breakfast. It involves cooking half a cup of rolled oats in one cup of water, and then mixing whatever you want into it. This morning, I mixed half of a banana, some peanut butter, and a little bit of hershey's special dark cocoa powder into the oatmeal with a splash of milk. It was delicious!! Other versions include apples, nuts, and cinnamon; dried fruit and nuts; and anything you want to put into your oatmeal.It makes for a healthy, satisfying, comfortable morning meal. And plus, who doesn't enjoy a meal in a bowl?

Enjoy!

Paintings showing growth - trees!

I read a quote today: The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. This is so true. Anything in life that is worthwhile is not easy, and takes a lot of time and work. Take trees, for instance. Trees don't just pop out of the ground and say, "ta-dah" look at me, I am twenty feet tall and gorgeous! Nope, it takes a long time for a tree to grow to full size, and different elements such as strong winds and rain can affect a tree's growth. A tree does not have a steady, consistent life.

I can't help but think that this applies to life as well. It is not about making it through one huge obstacle and then living happily ever after (like you see in every fairy tale). It is about gaining strength through each obstacle so that you can face the next one. Let's face it, even happy times can be difficult, because the emotions are so raw and strong.

In honor of these thoughts, I am posting some of my trees. They all look like they are dancing and celebrating, which makes me smile. They have no leaves, but apparently they are not bothered by this. I invite you to take stock of the things that are good in your life. You may not have everything you want, and maybe you feel incomplete (due to a loss of hair or your body changing), but life is still good. Go ahead and make a list of what makes you smile every day, and then celebrate like the trees here.

Remember, the things that will mean the most to you will be those that took the most work!

Two of my favorite things: Flowers and butterflies

Two of my favorite things are flowers and butterflies. I love to draw flowers, daisies especially, and I love to draw butterflies. Sometimes I combine the two and see what happens. Sometimes there is a butterfly on a flower, sometimes there is a half butterfly half flower.