Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
What I Ate Wednesday: School schedule
Well, we haven't done one of these in a while! I think I'll start bringing these posts back, although it may or may not be a weekly thing. We'll see (mainly we'll see if I can actually remember to take pics of all my food in a day ever again). Anywho, these are my eats from yesterday:
Pre-breakfast: mug of Trader Joe's Harvest Blend herbal tea
Recently I've been really trying to make sure I get in at least 64 oz of liquid daily. Starting my days off with some tea or milk with breakfast helps me pace my drinking throughout the day so I don't end up packing all my intake into the evenings. I especially like this tea because it's sweet enough to drink without adding any sugar or honey. Also note my clever use of a grocery store receipt as a coaster since I was too lazy to go grab an actual one :-P.
Breakfast: Oatmeal made with milk and topped with leftover roasted grapes and mascarpone (plus a second cup of tea)
On days that I TA anatomy lab I know that I won't be able to eat again until around noon (breakfast happens at about 7), so I try to eat a breakfast that will stick around with me for a while. Oatmeal usually does the trick, although sometimes I'll have toast and yogurt, or even grilled cheese and a glass of milk instead.
Lunch: Moroccan Mash and steamed broccoli with dried cranberries and walnuts
Dinner leftovers. The Moroccan Mash recipe is something I came across on Stir it Up! while doing Whole 30 last year. We liked it a lot, so we still have it sometimes even though we're no longer doing the Paleo thing. The broccoli was just the frozen steam-in-the-bag kind that I jazzed up with some butter, dried cranberries, and walnuts (an idea I snagged from The Clothes Make the Girl).
"Snack": Coffee with half and half
Highlander Grogg flavor (I think that's supposed to be like a mapley-rum deal, but I'm not sure). I don't really feel like coffee is a replacement for food so I am hesitant to call this my snack, but I ended up skipping my normal after-school snack time since my stomach was full of coffee.
Dinner: Leftover nacho soup with cheese and tortilla chips (and some stats homework)
This is definitely one of my favorite soups. It tastes fantastic, it's really quick and easy to put together, and it's full of veggies and beans so I feel really good about my life when I eat it! It's especially great when topped with shredded cheese and eaten with tortilla chips -- I like to use the scoop-shaped kind. Find the recipe at Minimalist Baker!
Dessert: Our last 2 Oatmeal Cranberry Dunkers from Trader Joe's (and some Buffy)
AKA my favorite cookie ever. The great sadness of my life is that there's no Trader Joe's in Columbia; the nearest branch is about 2 hours away. Whenever we happen to be out that way we make a point of stopping by TJ's to stock up on some of our favorites, but I'm also thinking about finding a copycat recipe for these cookies to try and make my own. Also I know that Buffy ended many years ago, but I'm just now watching it through for the first time. Can I just say that I am legit sad about Willow and Oz? Like, for real.
So, that was my day. I hope everyone else had some good eats too. Happy Wednesday!
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Roasted Grapes and the World's Best Food Item
So, I bought some grapes.
You know, like you do. I love grapes, but for whatever reason I hadn't had any in a few months. At the grocery store one day I saw they were on sale, so I snagged some. Once I got home, I stuck them on the lowest shelf of the fridge, and there they sat.
And sat. And sat and sat and sat. For like a month. Maybe more. Every now and then I thought about eating them, but I just never did. Finally, a few days ago, I figured they must have grown moldy already and that it was probably time to cut my losses and chuck them. But, to my surprise, they weren't moldy at all.
They weren't bad, they were just...not good.
I very much dislike mushy grapes. They are not good eats, in my opinion. But, I didn't want to throw them out either, since they weren't technically bad. I needed a third option.
Believe it or not, Googling 'what to do with old grapes' doesn't yield too many results. I found a recipe for a grape smoothie, which sounded a little weird, and a few suggestions about making them into wine, and that was about it. I was at a bit of a loss until I came across this recipe for Roasted Grapes on The Kitchn.
It was the perfect solution! Roasting the grapes would take advantage of their mushy condition and transform them into something I was once again interested in eating. Best of all, the recipe only called for ingredients I already had, so I could get started right away!
You can head to The Kitchn for the full recipe since I didn't deviate from it at all, but it's really simple.
I didn't really measure any of the ingredients, I just did the eyeball thing and guestimated. Preheat your oven to 425F, then pluck the grapes from the stem and put them on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper...
...drizzle with some olive oil, and pop them in the oven for about 30 minutes. When they're done, they'll be all soft and juicy and awesome-smelling.
Roasting the grapes really concentrated their sweetness, giving them a deeper flavor that was almost like grape jam, but not quite. The main difference being that grape jam is terrible and these guys were great. I'm really into sweet and salty flavors, and I though the salt and pepper and olive oil worked perfectly with the flavor of the grapes. You'll also be left with some oil in the pan, mixed with the juices released by the grapes. I saved it; I haven't tried yet but I think it might work well mixed up into a vinaigrette.
The original recipe suggests serving these grapes over some ricotta or goat cheese, but I had a slightly different variation in mind. Which brings us to the World's Best Food Item.
AKA mascarpone cheese.
You may or may not know this, but I love mascarpone cheese with unrivaled intensity. Mascarpone cheese is THE BEST. I've spent hours Googling recipes for cupcakes with mascarpone frosting/filling that might be good to serve at my wedding (side note: I kind of want to DIY my wedding cupcakes, but I also kind of think this might be insane. We'll see.). The only problem is it's kind of expensive. But if I could afford it I'd eat mascarpone at every meal forever. It's great in tiramisu, and on toast, and in pastries, and it's great slathered on some take-and-bake multigrain bread, topped with still-warm roasted grapes, and eaten for snack.
And again for dinner.
And again on top of my oatmeal the following morning.
Probably I will continue to eat this combination until I have run out of mascarpone and/or roasted grapes. And then I'll be sad and long for them until I happen to have another bag of past-their-prime grapes on my hands.
So there you have it! Now you know what to do with old grapes and you'll never again feel burdened by them. Tell your friends!
You know, like you do. I love grapes, but for whatever reason I hadn't had any in a few months. At the grocery store one day I saw they were on sale, so I snagged some. Once I got home, I stuck them on the lowest shelf of the fridge, and there they sat.
And sat. And sat and sat and sat. For like a month. Maybe more. Every now and then I thought about eating them, but I just never did. Finally, a few days ago, I figured they must have grown moldy already and that it was probably time to cut my losses and chuck them. But, to my surprise, they weren't moldy at all.
They weren't bad, they were just...not good.
I very much dislike mushy grapes. They are not good eats, in my opinion. But, I didn't want to throw them out either, since they weren't technically bad. I needed a third option.
Believe it or not, Googling 'what to do with old grapes' doesn't yield too many results. I found a recipe for a grape smoothie, which sounded a little weird, and a few suggestions about making them into wine, and that was about it. I was at a bit of a loss until I came across this recipe for Roasted Grapes on The Kitchn.
It was the perfect solution! Roasting the grapes would take advantage of their mushy condition and transform them into something I was once again interested in eating. Best of all, the recipe only called for ingredients I already had, so I could get started right away!
You can head to The Kitchn for the full recipe since I didn't deviate from it at all, but it's really simple.
I didn't really measure any of the ingredients, I just did the eyeball thing and guestimated. Preheat your oven to 425F, then pluck the grapes from the stem and put them on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper...
 |
| BTW, all the action is taking place on my dining room table because I'm tired of the terrible lighting conditions in my kitchen. In case anyone was wondering. |
...drizzle with some olive oil, and pop them in the oven for about 30 minutes. When they're done, they'll be all soft and juicy and awesome-smelling.
Roasting the grapes really concentrated their sweetness, giving them a deeper flavor that was almost like grape jam, but not quite. The main difference being that grape jam is terrible and these guys were great. I'm really into sweet and salty flavors, and I though the salt and pepper and olive oil worked perfectly with the flavor of the grapes. You'll also be left with some oil in the pan, mixed with the juices released by the grapes. I saved it; I haven't tried yet but I think it might work well mixed up into a vinaigrette.
The original recipe suggests serving these grapes over some ricotta or goat cheese, but I had a slightly different variation in mind. Which brings us to the World's Best Food Item.
AKA mascarpone cheese.
You may or may not know this, but I love mascarpone cheese with unrivaled intensity. Mascarpone cheese is THE BEST. I've spent hours Googling recipes for cupcakes with mascarpone frosting/filling that might be good to serve at my wedding (side note: I kind of want to DIY my wedding cupcakes, but I also kind of think this might be insane. We'll see.). The only problem is it's kind of expensive. But if I could afford it I'd eat mascarpone at every meal forever. It's great in tiramisu, and on toast, and in pastries, and it's great slathered on some take-and-bake multigrain bread, topped with still-warm roasted grapes, and eaten for snack.
And again for dinner.
And again on top of my oatmeal the following morning.
Probably I will continue to eat this combination until I have run out of mascarpone and/or roasted grapes. And then I'll be sad and long for them until I happen to have another bag of past-their-prime grapes on my hands.
So there you have it! Now you know what to do with old grapes and you'll never again feel burdened by them. Tell your friends!
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
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