Kristie @ Use Your Noodle: January 2011

Monday, January 31

GINGER BROCCOLI!!

Seriously awesome.

Okay: This journey began as a ginger broccoli thing. I decided to also make mushrooms (we had some to use up, Marc loves them but I'm not REALLY a fan (peppers woulda been way better!).. tempeh and brown rice. and Sesame Seeds!!! (they were a little pricy but I had to have them. I could only find them in with the "fancy" spices but I'm sure you could find them cheaper somewhere else)

Anyways, olive oil in a pan with a sprinkle of garlic (fresh if you have it though!) and I put about a teaspoon of ginger powder in the pan and let it warm up. Then I threw in the broccoli and mushrooms til they fried a little and softened. I used fresh broccoli and mushrooms. Next, threw in some tempeh (the big block kind that you cut yourself..the only other flavor they had today was something weird like bacon, I wasn't putting that in here. I let that cook, added another dash of olive oil and teaspoon of ginger for the tempeh to try to soak up. Then I added a bit of cornstarch mixed w/ cold water (maybe a tablespoon) so the sauce would thicken a bit. Cooked up the brown rice, topped with sesame seeds! Voila!

There is this asian tofu bowl at USF that I can't eat now that I'm vegan and it really disappointed me (they use egg in the ingredients) but this tastes JUST as good!!! And I can make it myself for much cheaper. Really excited for this. It's a keeper.

Monday, January 24

Food and Whatnot.

The other day I made extra meaty meatless chili. Chew on that!!

Also, here's a picture of the peanutbutter ball ingredients from a few posts back:

Note the microwave face! I really don't know what I did with all those stickers :-/

Besides my Toms boots, I have these:

and this week in the mail I received an envelope from Toms with a cute little note and a Toms bracelet to wear!

This shirt always raises a few questions:

Tofu Never Screams!

I think this was me driving to school for the first time this semester

I got that tanktop at Target and I love it, I love stripes!! and I had once bought that sweater for work but now I realize it's actually kind of cute with some outfits! I just stuck a few pins on there (shout out to the flaming tsunamis) and I was ready to go!

This is me eating on next to no money haha

Shout out to the Hello Kitty Toaster!!

Marc had bought the chicken for a pizza he made a while back so we still had some leftover! Then rice=cheap, that was the rest of the brocolli I had from the week before, I had the orange (free) from school and a big thing of baby tomatoes only cost me $1 this weekend.

We went to Homossassa flea market, a flea market in Hernando, Crystal River State Park, the Manatee festival in Crystal River, and the Crystal River Mall. I thought it was going to be REALLY nice to be outside since the weather had been gorgeous for a couple of days but I guess it rained and therefore, Saturday was PRETTY CHILLY to say the least. Since I went through the trouble of packing a lunch, we picnicked at the state park anyways:

I'm sure there's something I should be doing before work.. looking forward to having Wednesday off if my homework doesn't get in the way. Soooo much reading!

80) Kristie

Friday, January 21

moneymoneymoneymoney

Well, I really don't know about this next week's menu.. See, one of my resolutions for this year is to cut my student loan amount in half (I know, that's probably impossible with my parttime hours) but it was a dream. I have a full tuition scholarship except that the lovely state of Florida has decided it will pay a flat credit hour amount..now, I go to like the CHEAPEST of the big Universities in Florida and yet I still came out $800 short with tuition!! Thankfully USF covered $500 of that but it still put me back another $300 :( So, technically, I have like $80 left for the next two weeks which means $40 to gas and $40 to food.. $40 for two weeks of food!? I guess it could make an interest post.. Living on less than $3 a day but it would probably be pretty bland. I'm actually gonna try to plan some kind of crazy menu instead of dipping back into my loan but I'm not sure if I will be able to do it... it CAN be done but WILL I do it is the question (ha). We do have soooome food lying around the house so we'll see. I should start replanning menus from pay week to payweek so that I can separate out the money.

I could do this!

I know this wasn't an interesting post. Simply a thinking post. Hmmmmm

Wednesday, January 19

Waffle Pancakes

I tried to make waffles. I am terrible at making breakfast food. Maybe because I really HATE breakfast food, but Marc loves it. I just don't like pancakes or syrup at all. Maybe it was the waffle maker, or the fact that I am careless when it comes to measuring, or a bit of both but they just didn't cook in the waffle maker! So I made pancakes instead...but they still weren't pretty. They are lemon corn w/ blueberry sauce.

Now I'm going to mix up some chili and stick it in the crockpot. It is one of the best meals ever because 1) You can't really mess it up and 2) It practically cooks itself!

I work 3:30-9:30...have some reading to do but I really just don't feel like doing anything. The kitchen is about 10x messier than before (after trying to make those waffles with the 10 million ingredients) so I should go put the chili in the pot and get to washing :-/

8o) Kristie

Tuesday, January 18

Vegan Food @ USF

mini photodump time...

Today was one of those driving to Tampa for school days:

Not only have they adopted an awesome Meatless Mondays program:

But today they did another vegan food emphasis thang in one of the dining halls. I had:

Vegan pizza!

Mushroom Florentine Panini!

3-Bean Soup!

Chicken and Dumplings!

and, I forgot to mention how much I looove my BRIGHT RED Toms Boots, really. This late night picture does not do them justice.

Hope all is well, I have to get back to reading this for class:

Unbowed, A Memoir by Wangari Maathai (The First African Woman-and the First Environmentalist-to Win the Nobel Peace Prize)

8o) Kristie

I really want to set aside more time for creative/adventurous cooking and blogging but I always seem to be so busy!! As soon as one semester ends, another begins and I have my nose in a book, researching, my ear on the phone with an angry customer at work, trying to have SOME kind of social life/time to spend with my boyfriend, or hugging my blanket in a collapsed mess of exhaustion. but I'm trying!!!!

Mandarin Chicken!

Last night I finally made the mandarin chicken with rice, along with cheezy broccolli.

It was Camie's first day back (yay) but work was kinda boring-I like that. I mean, I don't really benefit off it being super busy. For lunch I got a free italian ice and read for class (the most boring textbook ever).. when I got home I started reading for my other class today but I never finished! woops! Sleep overcame, perhaps I should try to read this morning but I've got to get ready soon since I need to be at school by 10:30.

I really wanna go see the new Harry Potter movie again. I heard one alleged dvd release date of March 31st..we'll see.

8o) Kristie

Monday, January 17

this past weekend

I still never made the mandarin chicken with rice!! I'm totally going to do that tonight.

Saw Against Me! Saturday night in Gainesville followed by a 'secret' Off With Their Heads show. Went to Boca Fiesta and I think Marc almost peed his pants over the fact that Warren Oakes (previously of against me) served us our food. I got veggie stirfry w/ vegan queso burrito and Marc got a tempeh taco and a fried okra taco...mine came with two sides, jalapeno corn bread and these mashed sweet potatoes (mixed in with reg. potatoes) it was all delicious!! plus bottomless nachos and salsa. My phone was dead all night so I didn't get pictures :( but I have a picture from Karma Cream!!

half cookie dough/half lemon cream icecream and marc got this agave almond cupcake and later (yeah we went back at like 3am right when they were closing) he got a vanilla chai cupcake! oh, and they had those vegan candybars..

Since Marc was driving home til 5/6 am he slept in while I went to work Sunday. Then at night .. in the dark .. for some reason .. some people played a very shortlived game of football. *shrugs and Frances and I talked about roller derbying!! I would totally love to but I don't think I want to be susceptible to that much pain, or have time to possibly put anything extra on my plate..but roller derbiers* are hawt!

I spent over an hour cleaning the bathroom this morning and another hour + cleaning our room. *phew, now to just keep it this way!!! Oh well, back to cleaning (and watching Harry Potter, of course.)

8O) Kristie

I also typed an entire menu and somehow deleted all but this of it:
saturday
I have the day off so I figure we'll be out and about and find something to eat.

sunday
I open but.. leftovers!?
I would also love to try to make these raspberry chocolate chip blondie bars.

monday
Closing, of course.. 2-9:30.
breakfast: might try the pancake in a mug recipe!
lunch: pizza--I still have some cheese left from our huge trip to Whole Foods
dinner: may try my hand at grilled tofu again if it came out well! (I really haven't done a lot with my own tofu and really need to start!) withh, a spinach salad and maybe some roasted potatoes/carrots

UGH! redo:

so.. tuesday was: dining services is doing a cooking demo so i'm skipping breakfast and driving up there early to eat lunch.
dinner: mushroom and sundried tomato rissoto w/ grilled tofu

wednesday
Work 3:30-9:30
breakfast: waffles
lunch: chili
dinner: beef stroganoff w/ roasted potatoes and vegetables

thursday
class 12:30-4:45 w/ meeting at 6 so home around 8
breakfast: probably toast w/ cinnamon and sugar or pb/banana/agave
lunch: leftover chili
dinner:

friday:
work 2:30-9:30
breakfast: blueberry scones
lunch: stuffed shells
dinner: the rest of the stuffed shells w/ garlic bread!

Saturday, January 15

Hair Time.

Well, IDK but I woke up today just knowing I was going to lose half my hair, from either side of my head. So long to growing my hair out (basically)...

Mohawk again..I'm just drawn to it over and over but boy oh boy do I need to redye my hair! I had it all these different shades of orange/red/faded black/blonde/yellow/etc. and now that I shaved the sides, one's mostly blonde and one's 1/3 black 1/3 red 1/3 blonde. It looks pretty funny. I rarely ever spike it when I have it, just wear it down. I forgot HOW GOOD it feels not to have all that hair, even if my hair still wasn't extra long. Fresh air on the sides of your head feels so nice (I'll probably regret this when it's in the 30s tonight). Anyways, I'll try to get a good picture (maybe after I redye it haha).

And I would looove to have a dread on either side of my head where I did these little braids..

This picture is such a weird angle! Looks like I have no chin and I have gauged ears but it's right on so my ear just kinda looks weird. ha

Also made chocolate covered peanutbutter balls! Yum!

The recipe *off the top of my head* really simple, 2 cups pb, 4 cups powdered sugar, 1 cup butter, then I crush up graham crackers (you can use rice puffs, trail mix, whatever) until it's an okay consistency, clump them together, cover in chocolate and then stick in teh freezer on some wax paper for a bit. Pretty simple although a bit messy and I always have issues with clumping them together super easily.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

:0) Kristie

Thursday, January 13

Chick-Un Alfredo!

Yum! I got a box mix for the alfredo noodles and used morningstar meal starter chicken and made some broccoli. Sooo good!

I got to school today and my 12:30 class was cancelled, my 2:00 class was already cancelled, so I sat around until my 3:30 class. geesh.

Mac Photo Editing

I need a free/easy photo editing program for mac! I think that's why I haven't really been posting, IDK how to do anything haha, no paint.. I am new to Mac and absolutely love it but this is one of the things I need to learn. hhhmmmmm...

There's probably something already on my computer I'm not noticing.

Tuesday, January 11

So last week, I think rice and beans lasted about three meals (seriously!!) and Marc made tofurkey sandwiches for lunch a few times sooo...readding some stuff to the menu from last week, haha. Besides the fancy restaurants from the weekend, I didn't spend any other money on food though, which is good. It's a start!

Yesterday I finally made the sloppy joes for dinner. I got Moe's with Alexis for dinner at school. So...

Wednesday
breakfast: pb & banana
lunch: rice, beans, corn
dinner: fried eggplant, cheezy brocolli, vegetables

Thursday
breakfast:smoothie
lunch: rice, beans, corn
dinner: mandarin chicken, rice, veggies

Friday
breakfast: pb and banana
lunch: tofurkey sandwich and chips
dinner: alfredo w/ beeftips, mixed veggies

Saturday
breakfast: biscuits and gravy
lunch and dinner: boca fiesta!!! in gainesville

Sunday
breakfast: waffles with the waffle maker!
lunch: grilled cheeze and soup
dinner: leftovers, whatever

Monday
breakfast: waffles
lunch: stuffed shells
dinner: leftover shells

Tuesday
breakfast: smoothie
lunch: yogurt w/ granola and a sandwich (at school)....marc?
dinner:fried plantains, beans/rice, chicken scallapini things

Also, today was the first day of school! eeeeep, lots of reading but I think I can do it!

Monday, January 10

BACK TO SCHOOL!

Two days off just isn't enough. What's the deal with this work thing anyways?

Saturday we went to St. Pete for the Saturday Morning Market. They have tons of fruits and vegetables and local crafts, etc. We got a bonsai.. it's supposed to bring luck (monetary luck?) That'd be nice. Then we went around to a few thrift stores. I got a glass jar with little limes and stuff all over it (sort of vintagey) to put my juice in when I make it as well as one of those "soup cups" the big, short ones. It's a Campbell's soup soup cup. Marc spent all of his money on vinyls. Then we found this really nice raw vegan restaurant (how had I never known about this?) right on Central Avenue called Leafy Greens.

pizza!

icecream!

cobbler!

Sunday we slept in, did some stuff around the house, and then went to Tampa to meet up with PETA. They will be on campus the next three days promoting Meatless Mondays-more vegan options on campus menus Mondays which will hopefully lead to better menu options overall (not just veggie patties). Then me, Marc, Kristi, and David went to MELLOW MUSHROOM, the raddest pizza place.

Then I came home and started in on my planner for the semester. No more slacking!! I have a serious schedule planned out of when to do all the reading for my classes so I don't get burnt out. The bulk of the work really is reading.

SNOOZE ALERT!!! School-related stuff just to get it all set in my head..

Political Theory: Yet to post syllabus but there are FIVE-HUGE-BOOKS. Luckily I have a friend who took it before and said it isn't too awful, but she's way better at reading (for school) than I am. I think it's one paper, quizzes, and two exams?
Cultural Anthropology: Reading w/ online quiz each week. There are three exams (non-cumulative) as well as two assignments. The assignments are actually pretty cool. The first one deals with cultural conditioning of what foods people think it's okay to eat (cow tongue, insects, other 'oddities' to America) but all-in-all I think it will make for a really good project (considering my veganism) and I already have someone to interview!! A coworker from Columbia who picked up my 'list of 20 food items to pick from' and has eaten quite a few of them in various dishes. So I need to find one more person to interview. Then the 2nd project is comparing two novels we have to read for the class.
International Organizations: I'm taking this with Alexis (the friend from earlier, not coworker but who took Pol Theory) and I am soooo excited!!!! This class consists of reading (it's two days a week and Tuesday is a lecture with discussions on Thursdays so reading is a MUST). Then there are two exams (the last of which is cumulative *gulp*) in essay format.. as well as one paper.
Female Experience in America (post-colonial era): Reading with an online quiz each week, two short response papers, and an art project.
Women, Gender, and Environment: Think ecofeminism!! Right up my alley! Weekly reading, discussion posts, and a short "book blog" about the five different books we are reading. Then there are two reflection papers and another art project!!

I really am excited to do the two different art projects. Creativity for a grade!!
So there we have it and the next four months will be devoted to school, SPEAK (my animal rights group), some random working, and hopefully some weekend time off.

Mondays I will read for International Organizations,
Tuesdays I have class from 12:30-4:45 and will also do the work for the two Women's Studies classes (they're online),
Wednesdays I will read for Political Theory,
Thursdays I have class from 12:30-4:45, SPEAK meetings at 6-7PM and will do all of my anthropology homework.
Then Friday, Saturday, Sunday I will hopefully have at least ONE of those days off from work to just 'chill.' ha.
I'm trying to have a very rigorous Monday-Thursdays so that I can relax on the weekends, a bit. We'll see how that works out, though.

Oh!!! and I haven't bit my nails!!

Have a great week!
-Kristie

Friday, January 7

smoothies and sundresses, i miss summer.

I totally made a thirsty thursday drink yesterday-I just didn't get online to post it but it proves why blenders rock. You can just throw anything and everything in there and it will be delicious! I had frozen fruit (peaches, grapes, pineapple, and strawberry) as well as a fresh banana, some vanilla almond milk and a bit of agave nectar!!

Since I'm currently in pajamas ready to do some laundry and then going off to work, I figured for my fashion friday post I would post some fashions I've been dying to have!

I've wanted this belt from Mod Cloth for AGES! I just never made the splurge (even though I bought plenty of more expensive things last year).. I think I would wait to see what ELSE I wanted from them and by the time I had my online cart filled to the brim I'd decide against it, ha.

I've probably worn heels three times in my life. One Halloween costume. One wedding. and one birthday dinner out... but I think these are pretty cool.

this monster dress!!!

and this bathing suit i've been trying to find for a year!! urgh.

well, thrifting saturday so we'll see what we can do :)

Wednesday, January 5

Well,

Nothing extra exciting to report but I'll leave you with this:

aaaand i REALLY can't wait to go thrifiting/get out of spring hill this weekend!!!!

Tuesday, January 4

viva el mexicano! (or something)

Quesadillas and nacho dip!!

I use Daiya cheese and Tofutti Sour Cream. mmmmmm :D

I just got home from work so it was a pretty uneventful day besides menu making..work 9:30-5:30 tomorrow..caaaaan't wait until this weekend!

-Kristie

This Week's Menu

I am proud to announce that I've finished this week's menu!! I figured I will make a new menu every Tuesday morning since I have time to do groceries before class and since "Tasty Tuesday" is my food blogging day. I will post pictures later but here is my menu:

Tuesday
Lunch: leftover pizza (I know copout but it's gotta be finished!)
Dinner: chicken quesadillas w/ nachos and dip + dessert

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Cinnamon Sugar Toast w/ OJ (I'm not a big breakfast eater)
I'll be sure to get Marc bananas so he can make pb/banana/agave sandwich
Lunch: Rice and Beans and Corn plus garlic bread (IDK but it's delicious!!)
Dinner: Meatball Subs w/ roasted carrots and potatoes

Thursday:
Breakfast: Smoothie w/ toast
Lunch: Cheeze Sandwich w/ Chips and Corn on the Cob
Dinner: Fried Eggplant, Mashed potatoes, and Cheezy Brocolli

Friday:
Breakfast: Biscuits and Gravy
Lunch: Sloppy Joes and mashed potatoes
Dinner: Mandarin chicken w/ rice and veggies

Saturday:
I have the weekend off so we will be going to the Saturday Morning Market in the morning and the Pier for Sunset. I heard they sell some great smoothies and veggie burgers at the market! Remind me to bring a cooler to put the food in since we're stopping at the beach before coming home.

Sunday:
Can I say that today we'll have leftovers for breakfast or whatever's around? I just don't think we'll finish off EVERYTHING being that I'm making something new for every meal.. probably a smoothie or some snacks to bring with us cause we are probably going to help out at the USF Botanical Gardens and then doing a demonstration against the Ringling Circus and then meeting with PETA about Meatless Mondays @ USF afterwards..probably get Taco Bus for lunch and stop at the Loving Hut for dinner or VietTrang or something. talk about a weekend out!

Monday:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: alfredo w/ beef tips and mixed veggies
Dinner: Zippy Beef(less)--I'll definitely have to post this recipe, it's fabulous.

and there we have it!! pictures soon! It's a fairly simple recipe week but I'm working everyday until the weekend so that's a good thing!!

Monday, January 3

Happy New Year!

I'm supposed to be blogging more often (well, everday so I said)...but I can recount the past two days in this post and take it from there. How about my other resolutions? Well, I need to pick a song to learn on guitar this week. I haven't bit my nails in daaays!! (yes, I have to keep them painted though, for now.) The only thing I've bought is Taco Bell but this morning I'm going to need gas.
My house is still clean, have to make a menu today, and work on SPEAK stuff tomorrow. hoorah!

New Year's Eve/Day (they played at midnight) we saw the Dead Kennedys!! It was a really awesome show. Although, they only played for an hour (Marc said last time they played for two!)

Then our first meal of the year, as well as fifth:

soooo good, I am addicted to Taco Bell!

So, New Year's Day AND yesterday I worked :-/ Last night we went and watched this movie with a few friends:

I had seen it before..it's okay but I'm still kinda partial to Inside Man (I think) in regards to the whole robbery type of movie-I mean, they just seemed to be kinda reaching for the whole "reason" John Travolta did what he did..it was okay but kinda weird.

I guess I've accomplished Movie Monday, even though it wasn't in-depth. Here, I'll mention another movie I recently watched:

Ira & Abbey, I thought it was really cute and it used a scene from Harvey (an older movie I really like)..the quote is something like "In this world you can either be smart or pleasant..I used to be smart, now I choose to be pleasant." Take it on the surface, not to mean be a complete idiot but when watching the movie it really makes sense for the characters. It's a pretty cute romcom but pretty real also. I mean, well, I won't give it away :-P

Tomorrow is "Tasty Tuesday" on my blog. Can't wait!!! These are just themes to get me started and to make sure I'm blogging and mixing it up, may drop them, change things around in the future.

Hope your first Monday of 2011 isn't as dreadful as some Mondays like to be!

-Kristie