kitchen update: caesar salads are easy to make

so i made a caesar salad this past weekend

and it was pretty darn tasty.

as you know, i'm

teaching myself how to cook

as i finally came to the realization that i didn't actually know how.

turns out,

it's not so hard,

and maybe i'm actually pretty okay at it.

(aaron had a big surprised face on when he bit into a week-old piece of quiche

and then said, man! it's actually pretty tasty!)

he's a picky eater. :D

ANyway, in the conquering of my quest for nutrition and good health,

i've been making lots of vegetarian dishes.

and by "lots," i mean

i made a quiche one night

and then ate lots of yummy veggies that i had never known i loved.

and this weekend,

after aaron mentioned craving one,

and i remembered how much i loved them, as well,

i decided to make a fresh caesar salad.

so i went to the source of all delicious, wholesome, healthy things,

and copied the vegetarian caesar salad recipe directly from smitten kitchen.

i almost had a meltdown in the grocery store trying to locate worcestire sauce

(THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY CONDIMENTS IN THE CONDIMENT AISLE,)

but it was a meltdown kind of day,

and i figured it out eventually, so no big deal.

i accidentally ran into a display of croutons

but, of course, was immediately repulsed by the idea of croutons from a bag

so i bought an over-baked loaf of bread and chopped it up at home and put parmesan on it and baked up some crouton deliciousness.

probably if i had ANY seasonings, i would have used some there, too.

i had the MOST FUN shopping for lettuce

seeing as my family grew up on iceberg lettuce heads

and there is A LOT to be said for a big, plentiful chunk of romaine lettuce.

i washed it so lovingly

ripped it up in big chunks

and tossed them all together.

i picked up some yummy parmesan,

whisked up SK recipe

and man! it worked!

so we almost had an entirely delicious and healthy, nutritious meal

ALMOST

because

i was able to accurately identify that i was craving ice cream....

so

.........

yeah.

aaron walked

across the street

and bought some

and it was delicious

and i was a very happy woman.

yay! 

sweat once a day!

i very soon will live down the street from lululemon.

this is their manifesto.

and a pretty darn good way to begin a new year.

i mean,

it's alright

it's lululemon

but it's definitely not bad.

i'm picking and choosing, especially since i'm tired of the "do one thing a day that scares you, thought."

it's good.

it's just used up.

and, also, sometimes, i just want to curl up and eat peppermint.

that's not scary, and that's the point.

but.

this is good.

embrace some good, this year.

the lululemon manifesto

• Drink FRESH water and as much water as you can. Water flushes unwanted toxins from your body and keeps your brain sharp.
• A daily hit of athletic-induced endorphins gives you the power to make better decisions, helps you be at peace with yourself, and offsets stress.
• Do one thing a day that scares you.
• Listen, listen, listen, and then ask strategic questions.
• Write down your short and long-term GOALS four times a year. Two personal, two business and two health goals for the next 1, 5 and 10 years. Goal setting triggers your subconscious computer.
• Life is full of setbacks. Success is determined by how you handle setbacks.
• Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself.
• That which matters the most should never give way to that which matters the least.
• Stress is related to 99% of all illness.
• Jealousy works the opposite way you want it to.
• The world is changing at such a rapid rate that waiting to implement changes will leave you 2 steps behind. DO IT NOW, DO IT NOW, DO IT NOW!
• Friends are more important than money.
• Breathe deeply and appreciate the moment. Living in the moment could be the meaning of life.
• Take various vitamins. You never know what small mineral can eliminate the bottleneck to everlasting health.
• Don't trust that an old age pension will be sufficient.
• Visualize your eventual demise. It can have an amazing effect on how you live for the moment.
• The conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time. Choose a positive thought.
• Live near the ocean and inhale the pure salt air that flows over the water, Vancouver will do nicely.
• Observe a plant before and after watering and relate these benefits to your body and brain.
• Practice yoga so you can remain active in physical sports as you age.
• Dance, sing, floss and travel.
• Children are the orgasm of life. Just like you did not know what an orgasm was before you had one, nature does not let you know how great children are until you have them.
• Successful people replace the words 'wish', 'should' and 'try', with 'I will'.
• Creativity is maximized when you're living in the moment.
• Nature wants us to be mediocre because we have a greater chance to survive and reproduce. Mediocre is as close to the bottom as it is to the top, and will give you a lousy life.
• lululemon athletica creates components for people to live longer, healthier and more fun lives. If we can produce products to keep people active and stress-free, we believe the world will become a much better place.
• Do not use cleaning chemicals on your kitchen counters. Someone will inevitably make a sandwich on your counter.
• SWEAT once a day to regenerate your skin.
• Communication is COMPLICATED. We are all raised in a different family with slightly different definitions of every word. An agreement is an agreement only if each party knows the conditions for satisfaction and a time is set for satisfaction to occur.
• What we do to the earth we do to ourselves.
• The pursuit of happiness is the source of all unhappiness.

cooking in the kitchen

i have not ever been a good cook.

growing up in a family of eight

our food was about quantity and time

zapping anything as fast as possible to get it on the table and into the mouths of ye hungry babes

i'm missing a link between

cooking and taste

sure, i can follow directions.

i can make up a recipe

and make something chewable happen

but i'm just as likely to

undercook

overcook

or just basically miss being able to tell when something is not right and what would make that something taste better.

but i'm here to change that.

i'm a big believer in New Years.'

Yes, there does not have to be a set day or time to turn over a new leaf

and if you were going to do it,

then doing it NOW as opposed to waiting a whole year for a specific day

is probably the best way of going about it.

but if the opportunity presents itself

as it does every January 31st

and if he opportunity presents itself

in the form of a giant, beautiful holiday

that one likes to get dressed up on and celebrate

then why not carpe the hell out of this diem

and go for it?

right?

so i've been thinking about my New Years' Resolutions

which is turning into more of a New Years' To-Do List

(which i love. the more tangible my resolutions, the better.)

and one of them is to learn to make all my favorite foods.

this will keep me in the kitchen.

aaron wants to help me with this

which basically means that he eats everything that i cook :)

and i'm okay with that.

because i do not like wasting food

and i like being a capable, young adult teaching myself how to do the things i've always wanted to be a person who does.

so we began our foray into New Years' Resolutions

last Sunday

when i wanted to make mac n cheese

and aaron had a "best mac n cheese EVAR" recipe magnet-ed to his refrigidaire. :)

it went something like this:

cook some noodles.

boil some milk, flour, and butter together.

let it thicken enough to coat a spoon

add cheddar cheese, gruyere cheese

salt, pepper, nutmeg

and then noodles.

stir it up.

stop here, if you're happy with normal mac n cheese gone awesome

or

if you'd like to continue

toss it in a baking pan

and then cover it with a coating of

breadcrums

bacon

parmesan

and 2tbs butter

and bake it up!

yum yum yum

yumyumyumyumyum

we ended up also making green beans

which i completely love

and wanted to use so that i could get in the habit of making well-balanced meals

and then took the entire shindig over to aaron's neighbors

where they made filet mignon and biscuits

and it was all very delicious.

ON ANOTHER NOTE

i recently ended my vegetarianism

and had about a month and half's worth of meat in my diet

and that too, again, is coming to an end.

i like being vegetarian

and i'm going back to it.

woohoo!

ON A SECOND NOTE

aaron and i end up being very good cooks in the kitchen

for the time being

because i know nothing about cooking

and he knows more stuff than i do about cooking

so we both read the recipe

and end up tag-teaming it till it gets in the oven.

also, i'm a stickler for dishes

so i wash the heck out of those

and we wind up

completing our task

with a pan of mac in the oven

and a strainer full

of happy, clean dishes.

huzzah!