food - best sandwich ever

ok so maybe not ever, but it's pretty high up on my personal sandwich experiences.

the tijuana torta!

doesn't it look delicious! i've been eating it all week for lunch and i can't say enough nice things about it. a) it's super healthy. b) it's super easy to make. i didn't add anything to the avocado (mostly out of laziness) and it was still delicious! c) the ingredients are easy to find, and cheap. d) it's just filling enough. none of this over-stuffing yourself at lunch.

so to make it lunchbox friendly, i used half an avocado a day and only mashed it right before i was going to eat the sandwich. also i bought two 12" rolls so that the bread wouldn't go stale before i got to it. don't want any chemical preservatives in my bread! my version of this sandwich was pretty freaking good, so can only imagine how delicious this is when you follow strictly to the recipe.

tijuana torta
ingredients

• 1 15-ounce can black beans, or pinto beans, rinsed (for at least 15 min)
• 3 tablespoons prepared salsa
• 1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapeno (i was going to use non-pickled. i'm sure either is fine.)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 ripe avocados, pitted
• 2 tablespoons minced onion
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 16- to 20-inch-long baguette, preferably whole-grain
• 1 1/3 cups shredded green cabbage
• 4 slices monterrey jack cheese

preparation

1. mash beans, salsa, jalapeño and cumin in a small bowl.
2. mash avocado, onion and lime juice in another small bowl.
3. cut baguette into 4 equal lengths. split each piece in half horizontally. pull out most of the soft bread from the center so you’re left with mostly crust.*
4. divide the bean paste, avocado mixture, cheese, and cabbage evenly among the sandwiches.
5. cut each in half and serve.

*make sure to do this step as it increases the chances of your filling staying in between the bread.

recipe from 'eating well'

food - pasta salad

i believe i have written about this before, but oh well...

for this week's meals i made pasta salad. it's good cold and on the go. perfect for days that i am working in multiple libraries. like yesterday.

somewhere i found this great idea that if you get artichoke hearts jarred in oil and spices then you should use that as the dressing. boil some pasta (about 1 cup for 3-4 servings of salad) and make sure to cook it al dente. then rinse it with cold water. drain then add to any collection of chopped vegetables. this one has chopped artichoke hearts, sliced black olives, sliced carrots, pasta, cannellini beans, diced zucchini, and quartered grape tomatoes. you can use whatever you like and/or whatever you have on hand. i don't normally add carrots (i don't really like them raw) but i had some leftover from the lasagna so in they went.

recipe:
basic pasta salad (3-4 servings)

1 cup dried pasta (any shape, add more if using a larger shape)
1        zucchini, small, diced
1        carrot, small, peeled and diced
1 can olives, your choice, sliced
1 jar  artichoke hearts, packed in oil, quartered
         any additional ingredients, add 1/2 to 1 cup ea.

boil a pot of water for the pasta. when water is at a roiling boil, add pasta and cook according to package instructions for al dente. while pasta is cooking, chop and drain all ingredients, except the artichoke oil if using as dressing. as ingredients are prepped, add to a bowl or storage container. if using canned beans like i did this time, make sure to rinse them thoroughly, especially if they were packed in a salt solution. when the pasta is done, drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water. for dressing, you can use any vinigrette that you prefer or as mentioned above, you can use the oil/spice mix that the artichoke hearts were packed in. mix and enjoy. i like to let the salad sit for 12-24 hours before eating to let the pasta and veggies soak up the dressing.

food - dinner plans

so part of my (and my boyfriend's) new year's resolutions involves food. mainly for me, making and taking my lunches to work almost every day. and together we want to make dinner more often. really make dinner. less of "we're tired let's eat out". less "i don't know what to make, let's have a huge chuck of meat." less "we don't have time to make anything, let's grab this quick bottle of sauce and add chucks of meat." see a trend? we do too. so it's on to planning ahead, actually grocery shopping on the weekend, and prep prep prep.

as all resolutions start on an upswing, ours does as well. with lasagna!



monday night was a vegetable lasagna. with (practically) pureed broccoli mixed in with the ricotta cheese and layered with carrot and zucchini slices. now i went the semi-legitimate route with dried no-bake lasagna noodles; i also added way more veggies then originally stated in the recipe. it was originally just a broccoli and cheese lasagna, but think how much more nutritious it is now!!!

also part of my resolution is eating less. not that i need to be on a diet, but i should eat less than my 6'2" high-metabolism boyfriend. especially since i'm 5'4". i've found that in the past couple months when i bring dinner to the table, i can't remember or tell which plate i prepared for him and which one for me. to counteract this, i plan on (in the previously described circumstances) returning some of the food to the pan. another measure will be to cut different sized portions, like with the lasagna. i cut half further into half and the other became thirds. so my boyfriend will get two meals out of the lasagna, and i will get three. i think that's reasonable.

inspiration - reading

so i didn't realize this before, but i've created a library of inspiration. i now have a whole host of books that make me better my life. visiting with a friend last week, we ended up talking about all these topics that worry us day-to-day - namely health and wealth. i needed to spread the knowledge. unfortunately i wasn't able to just buy them all (again) and give them to her. but i was able to compile a list and forward it along so she can take advantage of them at her leisure.

i sent her the list below.

freelance
she is working as an assistant at a real estate company and is paid as a consultant. so basically she's freelance just like me. i found this book especially helpful about taxes and pay rates and setting up an office. little tidbits that you wouldn't think to make decisions about until it might be too late.

finances
exactly like me my friend has an unthinkable amount of student loan debt. her income is unpredictable and saving is hard. this book is great for getting organized and for answering those random questions. what is an IRA? why would i want one? i set up a complete filing system, a high-interest savings account, and seriously think about what i should pay off when every couple of months. reevaluating my financial status every couple of months is the best, because it reminds me where i need to be putting my money. saving for a rainy day is great, except the interest i get on my high-interest savings account is still ridiculously small compared to the interest on my student loans or credit card debt.

food
really weird, but a vegetarian friend (different friend) recommended this book to me. her exact comment was "it won't make you want to be a vegetarian. it just makes you think about food." which i found to be totally true. i knew a lot of what was already in the book. how they raise chickens, turkeys, pigs, cattle, and even vegetables. it just puts it in a way that makes you think. do i want to pay extra for organic, cage-free, or even local? what do they mean by organic? is it worthwhile for a majority of america's farmland to grow soy, corn, and wheat? why not zucchini, apples, or beets? stuff like that. and since my friend has recently returned to vegetarianism (original friend) and has brought her boyfriend along for the ride, i thought she or he would like to read this book. because like my other friend said "it doesn't make want to become vegetarian, it makes you think about food."

happy new year

so i’ve been gone over the holidays, if you noticed. i went to arizona for christmas week to see all of my family.

and everyone was there. now i don’t like parts of my family, at all, so this was quite a trip. i made sure to keep my smile, listen to what was being said without reacting, and internally rolling my eyes. i now have an additional arsenal of reasons to not visit az for the holidays. it really is too bad that i have this sort of relationship with part of my family, but it is out of my control. one thing i definitely know for a fact is that you can’t change people.

otherwise my holidays were great! i got to meet my baby second cousin. riley is her name, and she is super cute. and she actually was content with sitting in my lap for a decent period of time (babies normally hate me). i got to see my aunt for a longer than normal visit, which was nice. i also got to see a good friend from pratt before she moves to portland and becomes less convenient to see.
there was a lot to do over the trip, so it really wasn’t a vacation. but i got a lot done (i saw everyone i wanted to see.)

now onto the new year. new year’s eve was incredibly uneventful. watched the bond movie i gave the boyfriend for christmas and made pork tenderloin for dinner. new year’s day we walked all around brooklyn and ended up at the new carousel pavilion. it was “two bucks to pony up” so we went for a ride. that night exhausted we just picked up some groceries, made dinner, and chilled out. sans tv. (part of a new year’s resolution as a couple.)

other resolutions include: making and taking lunch more often to work (me), more sex (him, what a bad joke), making dinner and making it healthier (us), focusing more on future endeavors (him), being more structured with our time (us), and being more productive with free time (me). we’ll see how we do.