brown-bag challenge!

i have come to the realization that it is going to be impossible for me to continue my frivolous lunchtime spending habits.  i have a honeymoon jar to fill, after all!

so this week, i am going to challenge myself to five days straight of brown-bagging.  it shouldn't be hard, since i recently acquired this cheery lunchbox for myself, so i can tote my snacks to school in style:

so, what have i packed in my lunchbox for today?


-green sandwich, featuring three-grain bread from big sky, hummus, cucumbers, avocado, and roasted red peppers (although i lament the lack of sprouts, which are usually a staple for this sandwich)

-honeycrisp apple slices

*UPDATE*

the quality of this sandwich increases gajillionfold simply by toasting the bread.  heaven.

i love packing lunches on mondays, since our fridge is freshly stocked with the bounty from our trip to the sunday morning farmer's market.  if there is any avocado left by the end of the week, i might have to repeat this sandwich a few more times before resorting to the traditional pbj.

any other suggestions for creative veggie sandwich delights?

bye-bye, buzz

it has been well over a month since i had my last sip of coffee.  it is something i decided to give up kind of on a whim.  one summer morning at a music festival, i was groggy and sleep-deprived.  wanting to get a little jump before dancing and listening to music all day, i had a cup of coffee someone made for us at our campsite.  but instead of getting the caffeine high that i was hoping for, i felt jittery, queasy, and edgy.

thinking it was perhaps just a product of being sleep deprived and over-stimulated, i tried to give it another chance a few days later, after i had a chance to fully recover from raucous festival-induced debauchery.  slowly sipping an afternoon cup of coffee, the same effects took hold of me: cue heart-racing and cirque-de-soleil trampoline performance in my stomach.  knowing how terrible and unlike-myself i felt after drinking it, i knew it would not be difficult for me quit coffee cold-turkey.

since i have cut coffee out of my diet, i really do feel so many benefits!  i am much more in tune with my body's sleep cycle, i have a lot of energy in the morning, plus i've got a few extra dollars in my pocket since i am not spending 3 bucks a day for my extra tall cafe au lait!

i have to give myself props, however...the week after that festival, i started my second (and final, and most stressful) year of grad school, but i haven't needed to drink a cup yet!  my morning now starts with a cup of green tea, which has a host of benefits all its own.  plus, i have been trying to cut out as much dairy as possible, so drinking super-milky coffee every day isn't exactly conducive to this goal.

it was a little bit hard the first few mornings, i must admit, but after the "withdrawal" symptoms went away (which mostly consisted of me feeling groggy), i have been feeling better than any cup of coffee has ever made me feel!

so, y'all...what do you think?  is anyone else up for the coffee-elimination challenge?

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any advice, vegan friends?

it's officially over.

after a relationship that lasted years, through good times and hard times, dairy and i are no longer on good terms.

sad cheese

for the past few months, i have been trying to ignore my body's signals that dairy just isn't making me feel well, but it is so damn hard!!  i will shout it from the top of a mountain that ice cream, no matter what flavor, is my favorite food.  but it just doesn't make me feel well anymore.

i have been making a concerted effort to limit these things from my diet as much as i can (not necessarily from a moral stand, but for my health's sake), but sometimes i just slip and give in to my strong dairy cravings.  for example, last night, after dinner we went to the self-serve frozen yogurt joint, where i am always very judicious with my serving size.  i got the smallest dollop i could manage from the machine, yet in the middle of the night i woke up feeling horribly ill.  was it worth it?  that's the question i am asking myself now.

so, dairy free-friends, do you have any advice for a girl about to give up lactose cold-turkey? 

and, more importantly, is there life after cheese?

first soup of the fall: shiitake mushroom soup with quinoa, garlic, and kale

last weekend, jordan and i visited the kennett square mushroom festival, whose volunteers and mushroom experts reminded us of this (but just substitute "shrimp" with "mushroom").  we left with an armload of different varieties of mushrooms: shiitakes, crimini (or baby bellas...i had no idea they were the same thing!), portobello caps, even porcini mushroom pasta.

so with the cold weather that came upon us this week, we thought we would try our hand at using the mushrooms for a soup.  i have been trying to avoid dairy lately, so the standard, cream-based mushroom soup was not an option.  instead, we adapted a recipe we found from vegetarian times.  find the original recipe here.

we substituted quinoa for the wheat berries (as i am trying to avoid wheat as well, and we didn't have wheat berries in the pantry, just quinoa).  also, next time we make it i would add scallions to bring a little more green to the soup.

ingredients:

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thin
1 cup quinoa
10 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thin
1 medium bunch kale, washed, stems removed, and sliced on the bias
1/4 cup rice vinegar
4 cups low-sodium, MSG free vegetable broth (we use this to make our own broth; much more economical and eco-friendly than buying the cardboard quarts that end up going to waste!)


method:

cook quinoa according to package directions.  set aside.

heat olive oil in a saucepan.  saute the mushrooms for 10 minutes.  add the garlic and continue to saute an additional 2 minutes.  carefully add vinegar (the pan will be hot, so don't get splashed!) and continue to stir gently, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.

add broth to the saucepan, bring to a boil and then allow to simmer for 20 minutes.  stir in kale and allow to wilt.

to serve, ladle the soup into bowls and add the desired amount of quinoa to each bowl (this prevents the quinoa from getting soggy in the broth).

so simple!  enjoy!

mark bittman, i love you.

if you think this looks as delightful as i do, read on.

BIG NEWS, YOU GUYS.

want a hint?

it is purple and shiny and i used to be scared to eat it.  and it rhymes with 'schmeggflant'.

i accidentally ate some baba ghanouj the other day with no ill effects or anaphylactic shock.  so last night during a 4th of july cookout, with a newfound sense of bravery, i had a slice of grilled eggplant with some basil, mozz and tomato.  i KNOW, right?!

i think i have officially become an eggplant enthusiast.  and we have some in the garden now that are almost ready to be picked.  what should we make with it?

garden update!

we have been able to make so many meals now that our garden is starting to explode!  and it really does look like a beautiful, green delicious explosion has taken over our backyard.  can you believe that just a little over a month ago our garden looked like this:

before

and now it looks like this!!

after!

the only sacrifice is that every time we go out to harvest, we get annihilated by mosquitoes, which is a small price to pay for the bounty of the garden gods.

just a few of the things we have made so far with our backyard harvests:

-pesto (obviously...we can't get enough of the stuff!)

it looks like someone else has been
enjoying the basil as much as we have!
who is this mystery nibbler?

-three bean salad with green beans from the garden, garbanzos and cannellini beans, garnished with slivers of basil leaves
-red new potato salad with parboiled green beans from the garden, red potatoes that have been boiled and cooled, thinly sliced red onion, rosemary from the garden, lemon juice, olive oil, and s + p.

things we are looking forward to by the end of july:
-ceviche with loads of cilantro from the backyard (i am also excited about growing our own parsley and cilantro so it won't go to waste when we have to buy a slimy bunch from the grocery store that goes bad in, like, three hours)

-grilled veggie kebabs (on our new grill..thanks, bruce and helene!  xo) with yellow squash and eggplant (on jordan's side)
-fried green tomatoes before the tomatoes start to all turn red

-swimming in a sea of tomatoes...caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes and backyard basil...roasted tomatoes with rosemary...maybe even taking a stab at making our own pasta sauce and canning it!

is your mouth watering yet?  because mine definitely is!!