Life is so Craaazy

Seriously ya’ll, where have I been? I need to stop deserting you. I was sort of pouting in my little Lindsay cave because of something that happened. Remember when I said I was super excited because I was running for social chair for my organization? Well guess what? For the first time in my entire life, I didn’t win. I guess that should humble me, but in this case I feel like I actually deserved this. Unlike the two chairs that were elected, I actually came to events and know how to be a position on board. UGH. So angry, but what can I say since girls are cliquey. Oh how the world is so messed up. Anyways, I’m done with my funk. Lets see what I’ve been doing since I last posted.

Friday afternoon I had to go work at the HEB distribution center in San Marcos, Tx. I’m currently enrolled in a class called Food Systems and Management where we have to actually go work in food service locations for two hours at a time, WITHOUT pay, and then report on it. For my first lab experience, my partner and I went here to learn more about procurement and inventory. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures inside, but this was what the outside looked like. Super intense security because apparently everyone wants to steal groceries? It was actually pretty interesting though. We got to see how different grocery products are stored, where they are sent to, how they handle them when they arrive, and more business stuff. The class is important because for most of us nutrition students we want DIETETICS DIETETICS, but there are other options out there like food service, which is actually one of the most high paying jobs out there!

I FINALLY got to hang out with my friends from my Birthright trip. You don’t understand. We went from spending every freaking second of the day together then we go back to the real world where we rarely get to see each other and that is quite depressing. I miss these people like no other. I mean helloooo one of the girl’s has an epic fur coat. What is there not to love? Haha it is fake, so don’t worry. Apparently it was an 80′s theme party we were at, but none of us got the memo. Typical.

Yes, I have been nomming on some epic Lindsay oatmeal. Right here we have some blueberry cheesecake oats with a sprinkle of chocolate chips. Mmm. So freaking good. In Israel I wasn’t as happy in the mornings because I never got to eat oatmeal. I tried some “oatmeal” one morning at the breakfast, but it was so disgusting and was pretty much pure soup that I stayed away from it for the rest of the trip. My days are so much better when I have Lindsay oatmeal. Everyone should get on that train.

I recently checked out a lot of books from the Austin Public library. Mainly cookbooks and health related books. I copied down some recipes, so hopefully I will have some successful posts coming soon on recipes I used. Unfortunately, I did make a recipe from a hungry girl book involving tofu shirataki and let me tell you I HAVE NO IDEA HOW PEOPLE EAT THAT STUFF. It makes me want to vomit. Power to you people that have the skills to digest that gummy nasty stuff because you would have to pay me a lot to eat it and I mean A LOT.

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. After my boring technical writing class, I get to go to a private sewing lesson. I’m going to be making an apron out of this super cute fabric. Hopefully it turns out like what I picture in my head, but I am just a beginning designer, so ya’ll shall see in my post tomorrow. Also after my lesson, I get to go work at a elderly home. Weeeee. Sort of, but not really. It is for that Food Systems class, and this time we are learning about meal planning and actually get to assist in meal planning there, which will be pretty fun because that is what I like most about nutrition. Fooooood and recipes. Eventually I have to study, but that is for nerds (hahah I know I am a nerd and we all know I’ll have my face buried in a book when I get home from that).

BTW has anyone ever listened to White Panda? They do really cool mash-ups, that I’m sort of addicted to right now. They are great to have on your workout playlist to get you pumped up! Have a fab Monday!

Have you ever had to work, for free, somewhere?
What is your favorite cookbook?

Nutrition Fact Friday

Hey ya’ll! I’ve been so lazy about blogging. Bad me. I should set an alarm for myself during the day to remind me that I need to take a break from my crazy life and relax for an hour to write a blog post. After all, I really do love blogging about food. I’ve been in school for two weeks now and it has completely taken over my life. I’m currently in Biochemistry, Food Systems and Management, Nutritional Assessment, and Technical Writing. It is a handful, but I’m surviving so far. Anyways, it is Friday and you know what that means. Nutrition Fact Friday. Today’s subject is pretty special to my heart. I wonder if ya’ll can guess? Probably because I’m pretty predictable, but it is….

OATMEAL.

All you talk about is oatmeal? Well yes when I’m sober I can be pretty boring. Oatmeal is a great food because not only is it a source of whole grains, but it has many functional benefits too. I know this because I had to sit through this girl’s boring presentation on oatmeal for my functional foods class last semester. YOU HAD OATMEAL. Come on. Snazz it up. Bust out some jazz hands or at least some sprinkles for godsake. However, I did end up learning a lot about oatmeal, mainly because I was going to be tested on it for my final, but oh well.

Blueberry Cheesecake Oatmeal

 One of the first things you learn as a nutrition major OVER and OVER again (yeah, they like to teach you the same thing a lot, so it sticks in your mind for the RD exam) is that fiber is important. Insoluble and soluble fiber are both needed in a healthy diet. Well, that is why oatmeal is such a great tool to have in your kitchen cupboard. Not only does it taste good, but it also contains both kinds of fiber. Why is fiber important you say? Insoluble fiber aids in bowel function, and more specifically helps speed up your stools. While the soluble fiber ends up forming a viscous gel within your stomach that allows a feeling of fullness to last for a long time, which can eventually aid in weight loss.

Most people do not know that soluble fiber contains a special bioactive compound that has a variety of positive affects on the body when consumed. The compound is called beta-glucans. In general, the beta-glucans of soluble fiber helps lower cholesterol, which is such an important thing for most people. When you go in deeper, you see that it traps the bad cholesterol, LDL, but there has been no connection to raising HDL levels, which is the good cholesterol. Instead, it just does not affect it, so that it can provide its benefits. Another positive affect of a beta-glucan is in regards to diabetes. Its beneficial effect is shown by slowing down the absorption of glucose following consumption of food.

Oats are seriously going to takeover the world. I know a lot of people that probably are like how are these healthy bloggers obsessed with oats, but really they are good for you and if you spruce them up enough then they are pretty mind-blowing. Wow, I get off track a lot. The ADD that I pretend to have, but really I just like to joke about it. So, where was I? Umm OATS. Yes, one last highlight of oats is that they contain a large amount of phytochemicals. If there is one thing that I took out of functional foods it is that phytochemicals are a killer thing to include in your diet. Why? Well, for the instance of oatmeal, the phytochemicals have an anti-cancer effect on the body. Heck, I’ll eat any food item that has yielded large positive results in research on cancer.

In general, oats are good for your overall health and longevity of life. So go out and buy the largest tub of oats you can find. Well don’t really do that unless you actually like the taste. I have a huge tub of oats in my pantry though. Oats can be confusing with the variety of types, but I tend to stick with the old fashioned rolled oats, but if you are in a hurry buy some quick oats OR if you want to be a super health nut get some steel cut oats, but they contain a larger amount of calories than the other two options.

Since this post was about oatmeal, I obviously wouldn’t leave ya’ll without a great recipe for oats.
Gingerbread Oatmeal

1/2 c. of oats (I used Quaker Old Fashioned)
1 1/3 c. of water
1 banana
1 tbsp molasses
cinnamon
a dash of nutmeg
1 packet of truvia
1 tsp of vanilla extract
a pinch of chocolate chips
1 gingerbread man
2 tbsp chocolate PB2

1. Place oats and water in a microwavable safe container, and heat for about 2:55. Let sit in microwave for about 2 minutes
2. Slice up banana, place on top of oatmeal, and microwave for about 2 minutes or until banana is mushy.
3. Stir up so that banana “melts” into the oatmeal.
4. Add all other ingredients except PB2, chocolate chips, and gingerbread man.
5. Stir all added ingredients until mixed thoroughly.
6. Top with chocolate chips, then PB2, and put your little gingerbread man in for a nice swim or crumble him up. Either way it will be delicious.

I hope you enjoyed a little health lesson about oatmeal. My blog may be going in a more serious place. BUM BUM BUM. Yeah right. I won’t be getting serious because lets be honest I’m a total goof, but I want to focus on more health related stuff like the food service industry, government regulations, nutrition in the news, and life as a nutrition student. OBVIOUSLY there will still be tons of food because I’m a pig. Really though. I wish I had one of those cute little tails, but I like to eat HEALTHY nutritious foods unlike the majority of the US population. Sad, but true.

I’m out for the night. It is Friday afterall. You know what that means. SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS….of biochemistry homework because I’m going out raging tomorrow night. I’m going to leave you with some of my favorite oatmeal recipes that I have seen out in the blog world.

Ya’ll should really check out Angela’s post about this delicious oatmeal recipe called Cherry Chocolate Bomb Vegan Overnight Oats. Drool worthy. Oh how I wish I had a nice camera to turn out such delicious photos like this one. She had me at chocolate and cherries. I’m obsessed with cherries, so throwing this classic combo in an oatmeal form. Oh god. Yes please.

One of my favorite blogs to check out for oatmeal recipes is Heather’s amazing blog, Kiss My Broccoli. She has crazy, creative recipes that include favorites such as Sante Fe Oats that have an egg, salsa, and avocado topping them. Ummm delicious. Can I hire you to make this for me please? Fine I’ll stop being lazy and do it myself, but if you want some delicious ideas check out this blog because the girl sure knows her stuff about cooking!

Do you get enough fiber in your diet?
How much do you know about phytochemicals, beta-glucans, and fiber?

Partying Hard (WIAW)

Hey ya’ll! It is that time of the week again. Another What I Ate Wednesday Post. I should learn how to document my food more, so I actually have more delicious food to post and less of my jibber jabber. Although I do think I’m rather funny, so I subject ya’ll to that more often than I should. Sorry, but not sorry. Anyways, all of us bloggers that participate in this lovely holiday must give it up to the wonderful Jenn for hosting and creating such a great day in the week. Without this day, I probably would not have discovered some great food items out there or met some amazing people. Plus it doesn’t hurt having people stalk your blog more. Enough with the chit chat, lets get to why ya’ll really came to my page, the food:

Baked Apple Pie Oats (Gluten Free)
1 Braeburn Apple
cinnamon
Brown Sugar
crushed walnuts
raisins
1/3 c. Gluten Free Oats
1 1/3 c. Water
1 tbsp of PB2
truvia packet
1 tsp vanilla

1. Prepare oats like the normal method of microwaving, letting sit, and refrigerating the night before.
2. The next day slice up apple into really small chunks, sprinkle with cinnamon and a pinch of brown sugar, put in a microwave safe dish, cover in plastic wrap, then microwave for 5 minutes.
3. While apples are cooling, reheat oats from the night before, then mix in a packet of sugar and a tsp of vanilla.
4. Mix in hot apple mixture, but leave some apples on the top.
5. Top with sprinkle of raisins, walnuts, a little cinnamon, PB2 and a pinch of brown sugar.

Hands down the best oatmeal combination I have come up with yet. Besides tasting good, your apartment will smell of sweet cinnamony apples. For once, I actually liked going out of my room since it smelled lovely. I definitely recommend everyone make these as soon as possible because they are life changing. If you don’t want the oats, I still suggest that you make the cooked apples because it is a super low-cal, healthy, filling, and did I mention delicious snack?

Today I went to the library to study for my Food Science final that is tomorrow. Ah. Yeah, I feel like I’m ready for it, but I just never know. I really just need to get a B on it, so I can keep my A. Enough with that. You can’t go to the library without amazing study snacks. So I brought along for the journey a bag of baby carrots, a bag of berries (strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries), and a bag of special trail mix (almonds, gluten free pretzels, and raisins). I also had two babybell light cheeses, a sugar free vanilla snackpack, and a gluten free marshmallow bar, but I crammed those in my mouth really quickly and didn’t get any pictures. Who wants to see that anyways?

My friend that went to the library with me was getting hungry for lunch, so we decided to take a break and walk all the way to Subway. I have all these giftcards there, so I am always down to get a salad with all the toppings on it. Today I got a turkey and ham salad with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, banana peppers, pickles, and regular mustard. I love subway, and I just discovered that the one we went to is open 24 hours. Hello late night munchies at like 3 am. Haha. No, I actually won’t be going to a Subway that late at night because I would rather eat something sweet or salty. After our lunch, I decided to trek all the way back to my car and go to my apartment because I had wasted 2 hours at the library chatting away and playing words with friends and hanging with friends. Damn you evil IPhone games.

I had pork chops and apple sauce for dinner. What a winning combination. I should always trust traditional southern food, but I actually have never had it before this. All I did to make my pork chops was sprinkle them with tenderizer and let them sit for about 20 minutes before tossing them into a hot pan with some oil. Let me tell you that tenderizer does some amazing tricks. I learned about this secret in my Food Science lab when we did the section on meats. It makes the meat really juicy and tender. I paired it with my famous green beans…from a can. What a perfect meal. Atleast in my mind. Totally unkosher, but thankfully I’m not religious.

Mango is on sale at the grocery store right now, so what did the Jew in me say? BUY BUY BUY. Good choice though. Not just for the pricetag, but mango is a really delicious snack to have at night. The citrus flavor definitely woke me up to study some more for my exam. The only thing is that the darn fruit is really hard to cut, which is no wonder so many people buy it already sliced and peeled in packages.

Who has had one of these before? Gluten Free, organic, super tasty. No complaints over here. One of my favorite gluten free products is this peanut butter with chocolate drizzle rice bar. Satisfies that sweettooth craving, especially when you are wanting something like a brownie or chocolate cake, but you can’t have it. I tend to go through these really quickly because they are so good. They come in 4 different flavors – wow I sound like an advertisement.

It is time for me to get off the internet, so I can get back to some last minute studying. Hope everyone had a wonderful Wednesday and good luck to all of those taking finals right now!

What are your favorite study snacks?
When are your exams, if you have any?

Top Ten Tuesday

Hey ya’ll! Hope everyone is having an amazing Tuesday because I sure know that I am. I haven’t done a top ten list in FOREVER. What is wrong with me? Usually I black out. Probably hitting the booze too hard. Just kidding. I usually fall asleep early then forget about doing a post on tuesday night. However, this tuesday I’m going to rock your world. Yes, rock. I’m in a super hyper mode because the men’s basketball team just won in a super close and important game, and I won a prize! I seriously never win anything, so I’m super happy. What will today’s topic be? Hmmm. After thinking long and hard. Haha. For ten seconds. I’m going to write about the top then things that I’m excited for. Hopefully this will bring a sunshine to everyone’s rainy cloud of finals over his or her head (yeah mostly hers because I know chicks dig my blog). Lets do this thing.

Top Ten Things That I’m Super Excited For (in no particular order because seriously that would be unfair to judge):

10. I’m going to start a food organization on campus with one of my super good friends. It’s gonna be so legit. The focus will be on special diets/healthy eating since I eat Gluten Free and she is a Vegan. With our combined power of awesomeness, we will take over campus and be THE group to join. I have a lot of creative ideas brewing in my head that involve delicious dinners, trips to the farmers market, and volunteering at a local produce or organic farm. Who wouldn’t want to join a group like that? Talking about food and eating are pretty much my life hobbies.

9. SEWING. I’m not sure if I told you or not, but I took a three week sewing class for beginners. We learned how to make a pillow, a bag, and a skirt. It was epic. Now I’m going to be on Project Runway and win. Lets not get ahead of ourselves because I still need to do some more practice on garment sewing, but that is what I plan to do over break once I get back from my super sweet trip. I also plan on buying fabulous fabric while in NYC because I want only the best for the best (me…duh).
Yes, my pillow is super cute. Plus it is food related. It seems that I can’t get away from food in my life. I guess that is a good thing since I’m a nutrition major. Also cherries are one of my favorite fruits. Especially because studies have shown that they help reduce inflammation and aid with arthritis. That is an awesome side effect of eating a delicious fruit if I do say so myself!

8. Hannukah. I’m celebrating the beloved holiday in the Holy Land, Israel. I hope people go nuts because I will. I’ll wear a tacky Hannukah sweater…I don’t think they make those, so I’ll have to make my own. Then I’ll go to all the bars in Jerusalem or wherever we are at the time, bust a move, and convince all the sexy Israeli men that I am the one for them. Hopefully there won’t be too many fights over me. A couple are okay, but damn boys you need to slow your roll.

7. New Pans! My mom got my an early present by buying me some much needed pans. My old ones were apparently super cheap and were turning black. They also burned everything, and when I cooked anything, even on low temp, I would hit the smoke point and in 5 seconds my apartment would be entirely filled with a smokey haze. It was disgusting. Now I have these nice kitchenaid pans. Great for anything. Love sauteing veggies in them.

6. Money, money, money. MONEY. Really? Are ya’ll even surprised? The Jew in me. Happens everytime. First off, my friend that I helped out with a paper or two decided to repay me through the lovely surprise of giftcards and wine. Heck I’ll just take the wine, I need it, but if you want to give me money too I’m not going to complain. One giftcard was to bath and bodyworks. THANK YOU. The other was to Specs, which is an alcoholics heaven. A warehouse of alcohol. Not that I drink or anything. They also have a deli and food products too. I haven’t used that one, but bath and body works. Oh yes. I bought me some wall plugs, so now while I’m writing this post in my room I’m surrounded by the sweet smell of oatmeal raisin cookies. I love life. Oh and I won a $25 giftcard to HEB. I’m seriously winning in life right now. Too bad I literally just got groceries.

5. My future roomie. She is probably one of the best people I have met since moving back to Texas. I would not survive without her. We are actually pretty much the same person, I’m just ridiciously vulgar and inappropriate and she puts up with it. She is the one I’m doing the food group with. Just so you know how awesome we are, our theme song is All I do is Win by DJ Khaled. Anyways, she is so amazing that I don’t even live with her yet and she already cooks for me. Hello and welcome to Top Chef apartment, the healthy version.
It is a wee bit blurry. Blame it on the Iphone. I didn’t have my camera on me, but she made me tofu in this peanut sauce mixed with broccoli and rice. It was seriously bangin. Spicy and sweet. My favorite combination. She even loves me so much that when I busted out my phone to take a picture she didn’t say a word. Yes for roomie understanding. I seriously can’t wait for next year. It is going to be epic.

4. Texas fight! One of my true loves in life is Texas Volleyball and right now we are ranked number 1 in the NCAA Volleyball Championship tournament. I got to go to the first two games, and we owned. I’m so excited, yet nervous, for this weekend because I want them to win, win, win. Sometimes they have rough days, plus one of their best players is out, so each game is like a new day, but I have faith in them. Just worried about the Penn state game because we have history.

3. Winter. Finally cold weather has hit Texas. Seriously, where have you been for the past month while I’ve been sweating to death? Most people think I’m crazy. Mainly because people in Texas can’t handle the cold since they didn’t live in crazy blizzard land Boston. I would much rather be cold than hot for many reasons. Sweating is just not sexy. Seriously. Plus it makes you smell bad, especially for those that aren’t wearing deodorant (you would be surprised, I know). In the cold, you can have a snuggle buddy and not want to push them off the bed for making too much body heat. Yummy beverages. Really we can stop there because those two reasons are good enough.

2. New York. I am jumping for joy. I can’t wait to explore the gluten free bakeries like babycakes, and even enjoy some non-gluten foods like dim sum (even if I will have nasty side effects – I’m in New York, so who really cares). Shopping. I have been saving up all my money to hit up the wonderful stores there. Forever21 in Times Square. Yes, I am talking to you. I will destroy you, I’m just hoping other people haven’t destroyed it because that is my one complaint about Forever21′s they are so gross. Plus I will be wearing this amazing coat while there, so nothing can ruin my trip.
It is sort of hard to see since I just realized two of my lightbulbs have burned out, but it is a BCBG grey peacoat with black accents and black bows. Super cute.

And the number 1 thing that I’m excited about is….

1. My trip to Israel. Um duh. Like you didn’t see that one coming. We just got the itenrary like a day ago, and it made me pee my pants with excitement (okay not really, but you get the picture). We are going camel riding, floating in the Dead Sea, hiking up Masada, exploring the largest open air food market in Israel, visit a winery, and umm going out at night. Let me be honest with you. I’m mainly excited to search for my Jewish husband. Maybe I’ll find one, but if not I always have my eyes open. The most interesting part of the trip will probably be sleeping in a tent in the desert. Yes, desert. Where will we go pee? I don’t know, but I’m looking forward to those adventures.

Hope everyone is having a great week (hard for most people since everyone is probably studying for finals and what not), but heck join the happy party and celebrate something.

What are you excited for?
Are you going on any fun trips for winterbreak?

Perks of a Nutrition Major

Hey ya’ll! A while back I did a guest post for Kalie about the good and the bad of being a nutrition major. Well today was definitely some of the good. Food Science Lab. The main reason why you should be a nutrition major. Each week you go in to lab, focus on a certain food like eggs or meat, and then get to cooking. Lately my professor has been implementing her own recipes into the lab while still making us do the silly activities out of the manual. Oh I do not mind at all. These recipes are AMAZING. One of my favorite parts of the lab is..complaining. Not really, but sort of. I seriously got the best kitchen group (the other two members are in my functional foods class, so we always complain about how awful class is), but we get along great which means good food. Usually we get screwed with recipes because we are in the middle of all the kitchens, but today OH MY today we got blessed. Today the lesson was on eggs. Hmm…what can you do with eggs. Scrambled. Sunny Side Up. Fried. Oh no no no. That is just waaaaaay too simple for a nutrition class. We got to make things like Huevos Rancheros (get on this asap), deviled eggs, angel food cake, pavlova, and creme brulee. Can I just say that last one again? Creme FREAKING brulee. Unfortunately my mouth got the best of me (story of my life), but I did manage to record two of the foods cooked. None were by me, but that was because my lab had Huevos Rancheros, which we gobbled up in like 5 minutes after making it. Sorry I’m not sorry. I love spicy Mexican food. Get in my belly.

Meet Mr. Creme Brulee. Our lab was running late, so the people making it did not have time to torch it. Hell, it still turned out AMAZING. I literally had to glue my butt to my seat because I would have eaten about three of these. In lab, the kitchen making this had to do two different variations. I am providing the recipe of the creme brulee, which is shown above. If you do not have a torch, you can place granulated sugar and brown sugar on top of the pudding after cooked then place in oven on broil at highest heat possible until top has browned.

Ingredients

• 3 whole egg
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 cups light cream (half and half
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons white sugar
• (foil)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line the bottom of a large baking pan with a damp kitchen cloth.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
3. While water is boiling, combine light cream, ¼ cup sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally 4-5 minutes until steam rises.
4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat whole eggs and vanilla until smooth.
5. Pour hot cream into eggs, a little at a time, stirring constantly, until all cream is incorporated.
6. Pour mixture into 4 ramekins. (If some curdling occurred, strain mixture and then add to ramekins.)
7. Place ramekins on towel in baking dish and place dish on oven rack.
8. Pour boiling water into dish halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover whole pan loosely with foil.
9. Bake 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven until custard is just set. Check this by gently jiggling the pan; if the inner part of the custard moves slightly but the outside does not, it is set.
10. Chill ramekins.
11. Before serving, sprinkle 1 Tbsp of sugar on each and use a torch to heat (see lab instructor for this).

Meet my next friend. Oh Pavlova, you are such a beautiful woman. The dessert was actually named after a Russian ballerina. What a lucky girl. If only I could have a dessert named after me then my life would be complete. Lindsay Cakes, THE Lindsay…well we will just have to work on that.
Yes…the picture is a weee bit blurry. The excitement of eating all the good egg related food has gotten to me by the time I remembered to take a picture of this beauty. All I can say is that the Russians sure know how to make some good desserts because the light and fluffy taste of this dessert was making me think that I was eating air and not consuming any calories at all. Those sneaky Russians. They stay skinny while making everyone else fat with good food. I caught you.

For crust:

• 4 egg whites
• ¼ tsp cream of tartar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Cooking spray (to coat pan)
• 1 Tbsp flour (to coat pan)

For whipped cream:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 Tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

For topping:

• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 cup strawberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
2. Coat springform pan with cooking spray and flour.
3. Whip egg whites, salt, cream of tartar until stiff peaks form
4. Add sugar, a little at a time. Beat until glossy.
5. Add white wine vinegar and beat in.
6. Add cornstarch and beat in.
7. Add vanilla and beat in.
8. Add mixture to sprinform pan and cook at 275 degrees for 60-75 minutes.
9. While baking make whipped cream: whip cream until stiff, beat in powdered sugar and vanilla. Do not overbeat.
10. Remove crust from oven, top with whipped cream and raspberries and strawberries (washed and cut into quarters)

 Thanks professor for letting me steal your recipes. If ya’ll want any of the other recipes from the egg section (listed above) I will gladly send them to you. Trust me. They are good. I would not lie to ya’ll. I love you, I love you, I love you…these words are my own. Okay I’m lying. Those are definitely not my own. I wish. Love me some Natasha Bedingfield. I discovered her in Europe back before she became popular in the US. Watching European MTV while in Berlin. Good times.

Sorry for all random stream of consciousness. I’m still exhausted from all of my Missouri trip. Hope everyone has been having a fabulous Monday like I have.

What is the best thing that you have ever made with eggs?
Do you have a favorite class where you can just be goofy in?

Mom Knows Best

Hey ya’ll! I am finally able to blog. I went home for the weekend because there were a couple of things just annoying me, and I needed the wise wisdom of my mother. The only problem with my mom’s place is that the internet connection and macbooks are the worst combination EVER. Seriously I have never heard of a wireless just not being compatible with a computer. So weird. My mom probably did that so I can’t get up into trouble on the internet. Too late. I’ve corrupted the blog world. More like they have corrupted me. Lets talk about my favorite subject. Me. Oh and what I’ve been up to this past weekend.

Friday was amazing. Okay, lets not get ahead of ourselves because I did have to go to a makeup lab from 5-8 pm on Friday. It was really boring. Usually lab sucks, but no this lab was awful. All of the kids in the lab just stayed to themselves, and HELLO I’m the kind of person that needs to talk. So what did I do? I just started having conversations with the TA about random tv shows. Although I feel like I may have been sort of mean to him because when he was teaching the sheep brain to the class, I just kind of sat in my seat filling out my hw. I can’t help it that I’m confident I’m going to get an A. I started out the morning with chocolate covered strawberry gluten free pancakes. Nom nom nom:
For these pancakes, I just followed CCK’s recipe for brownie batter pancakes, but instead of the Hershey’s dark cocoa I used an entire packet of sugar free hot cocoa. Also, I added sliced strawberries and GF chocolate chips. I omitted the Stevia. They were freaking delicious. I just wish the supply was never ending. A girl can dream.

Friday was initiation for one of the organizations I am in. It was epic. I will go more into detail about it later when I have the pictures because they are hilarious. Pretty much you will just look at them and be like who is this weird chick? Yeah I do odd things in my spare time. Like ya’ll didn’t know it anyways. My group is kind of like a sorority, but a cool one. We got assigned bigs. I think that is really cute. Plus who doesn’t love gifts. My big is awesome though. Although technically I’m older than her, but eh whatever it doesn’t bother me.

PRESENTS. I like presents.

 Saturday I just woke up, not feeling the best because of lack of sleep mixed with sangria (I have a problem with the bottle haha jk), so I decided to drive to my moms. It was a nice day. It finally poured down rain probably because god was so upset by the embarrassing loss of the Texas Longhorns, but we get the satisfying notion that we don’t live in OK in the end. My mom and I spent the day running errands, and doing what girls know best: SHOPPING. I have seriously been on the hunt for white jeans forever. It was like all the jeans got together and decided to hide from me, but luckily I’m a master of hide and seek because I found some.

Found you. Then again I found a couple of other things too. Kind of bad picture, but I got leopard print denim shorts, white skinny jeans, and indigo skinny jeans.

My mom gives the best advice. I mean come on whose mom doesn’t give the best advice. A couple of things have been bothering me lately, and I would write about them, but then again I don’t want to seem like a passive aggressive B. The old me totally would have blasted the person that it involves, but I’m trying this whole thing where I’m mature and it is pretty hard. To cheer me up even more she took me to the best place in the world. YOGURT PLANET. Right now they have this pumpkin froyo and it is the most amazing thing that has ever entered my mouth and my life. Seriously. I will drive there every day if I could.

pumpkin froyo with chocolate chips, banana, strawberries, and chocolate sauce. YUM.

 Later that day, I went to my bubbe’s. Apparently it is some Jewish holiday called Yom Kippur. I’m such a bad Jew. I knew it was the holiday, but I wanted to drink and have fun instead of go to services. Trust me. You do not know bad until you attend a Jewish service. I do not know anyone else that has that long of a service. Plus standing up for long periods of time. WTF. Do you really want us to faint and cause some crazy religious seen? Probably because then Jews will finally get some representation in the world. Can I hear an AMEN? She was having a break the fast (yes, you have to fast for 24 hrs, no water, no nothing, we go hard in the shul) at her house, and I went because she wanted me to help her set up my birthday present. She thought I was coming in on Sunday, so I surprised them. It was cute how excited they were to see me. We signed up for my sewing classes. So excited. Seriously. I’m already Project Runway material and I don’t know how to sew. I have that whole “big” personality thing that is needed for TV. Or maybe I just like to think that?

Sunday is funday. Usually it is more like OMFG I forgot to do my hw, so I’m running around my apartment like a chicken with its head cut off. Instead I relaxed, had the best veg session on the couch watching tv, and I went to a cooking class at Central Market with my mom. I kind of cut myself off from the world by not bringing my camera anywhere, so unfortunately there are no pictures, but if you live in Texas I do recommend that you go to CM asap and take a class. They are amazing. Mine was Fish 101. We learned about stuffing shrimp with crab and brie, how to get crispy skin on striped bass, and we learned to poach salmon. I really just liked eating everything. They serve wine too. Lets just say my mom got a little tipsy and it was pretty funny. There were even some cute guys in the class. AND they were straight. Win. Yeah, I’m always on the lookout for potential guy material.

Right now I’m doing a little bit of this:

I GOT AN A ON MY RESEARCH PAPER. Yeaaaaaaa boiii (although I make a much more attractive person that flava flav). Eat that green tea. I am your master. Yes when I found out I literally told that green tea off like it was an actual person out to get me. It was though. It made my arthritis flare up, and I wanted to strangle it. I survived. Thank god. Word.

What froyo flavor would you like to have?
What would you like to see on my blog? – yeah give me some suggestions because this post is not on my level, except for that last picture, pretty good.

Five Things this Friday

Good morning ya’ll! I’ve been awake since 6 am. I know shocking right. A college student in her 20s up before it is light outside. Proof that I’m turning into an old person. I like to make the most of my days, plus it is the only time in Texas when being outside is bearable. Let’s get this friday party started.

1. This morning I planned on waking up at 530 am, so I could go running in the cooler weather. Lets be honest. I really did not want anyone to see my weak and embarrassing attempt to run, which is why I picked to run in the dark. I am not a runner, but I want to become one or at least try. Any good advice? Anyways I was so exhausted from waking up yesterday at 530 am to study for my anatomy and physiology exam that I hit the snooze and went back to bed for thirty minutes. Should I go to the gym? Lindsay you will feel so good afterwards, but don’t you want to sleep more (yes I have conversations with myself). Then I thought about all the attractive guys at the gym waiting for me. Seriously, I am like one of three girls that go to the gym early and there are like 35 guys.

           I like to think that the boys are checking me out. I mean there are slim pickings at the gym, so I have a 1 out of 3 chance.  Who knows, they probably could be staring at me because I have cameltoe or a huge zit on my face. I guess I should be happy though because at least they are looking at me for a long enough time to notice. It was worth the effort to go crunch some cardio and weights. I feel so fresh and so clean clean (what happened to outkast, it is like they fell of earth).

2. I have a HUGE anatomy practical next week. Of course the evil exam gods decided that I should also have a food science exam the same day, so I get to try to cram two classes worth of information in my brain for one day. I have the worst lab time too: 8-11 pm. Who was making the schedule and thought damn, a late night lab would be such a good idea. Probably someone that gets off on torturing science majors. Anyways, my lab TA is awesome and was holding a study session this morning from 9-2. Pretty much all the things we have done in lab (bones, rat dissection, slides, etc) were all out on tables, so we could look at them and ask questions. If you are squeemish I would probably scroll down the page.

 These are who I spent my morning with. A rat, a skull (and all his bones), the long bone of a cow, mitosis slides, and 20 tissue cell slides. A lively crowd, I know. The only thing I’m really worried about is spelling. We are only allowed to spell it wrong by two letters, and let me tell you there are some weird words: acetabulum, olecranon fossa. Hell I can’t even pronounce the words. My lab TA was getting a kick out of my attempts to say all these words. I’ll be geeking out this entire weekend. Three exams, one research paper, and a bunch of random quizzes. It wouldn’t be college though without cramming everything in the same week.

3. I have re-discovered the amazingness of oats. I recently have decided to go gluten-free (I’ve done two weeks so far), and I was trying to figure out what I would be able to eat in the mornings that would fill me up. Oats are not gluten free, BUT Bob’s Red Mill (greatest company ever) sells gluten free oats. Seriously, way to have a game changer right there. Some people look at the price tag of $6 and are like OMG that much for a lousy bag of oats, but trust me it’s WORTH it. The bag is so large that it has lasted me for two weeks, granted I don’t eat oatmeal everyday, but still most things I eat are gone within like a day or two. This morning I had pumpkin pie oats. Om nom nom. (I’m still getting the whole picture taking thing down, so bear with me)

Recipe:
1/3 c. Gluten-Free Oats (Bob Red Mills)
1 and 1/2 c. water
1/2 c. of pumpkin (Libbys)
1 and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used mexican vanilla)
1 tsp gluten free chocolate chips
2 tbsp PB2

All I did was place the oats and water into a microwavable pyrex measuring cup (don’t be cheap, buy a glass one, plastics are harmful) for about 2 and a half minutes. Then let stand in microwave for about 5 minutes. Then place in the fridge. The next morning, take out the cup and place in microwave for a minute or until hot. Then mix in all the goods.

4. I’m really ready for it to be Saturday already. In the morning I’m going to the local farmers market. I’m so excited because I haven’t been to one since I moved from Boston. Fresh and local produce is the way to go. After watching Food Inc, I’m sort of scared to eat anything that isn’t local. You have no idea what companies are doing to your food. Everyone should go out and watch the movie, it is semi-life changing. I almost considered going vegetarian, but heck I’m a Texan and I love me some meat. After the market and I study some more, my friend is coming in town and we are going shopping!!! Not that I have any money, but I do have an unhealthy obsession with clothing. Sometimes I have to give myself a talking to in stores otherwise I will walk out of there with like 5 items that I don’t need.

5. Turkey burgers. Nuff said. It is hard trying to figure out the perfect recipe for a turkey burger, but I think I have mastered this. At least in my mind and my taste buds seem to enjoy.

1 package of ground turkey meat (I use Jennie O-s extra lean)
1 tbsp Ketchup
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp gluten free soy sauce (you can use normal soy if not gluten free)
1/ 3 c. shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (or any white shredded cheese will do)
a pinch of salt and pepper

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and stir well. Form into 4 burgers (sometimes I have enough turkey to make 5).
2. Spray a pan with non-stick cooking spray and heat to medium-high. Cook the burgers about 6-8 minutes on each side.
3. Extras: Here is where you can get creative. Usually I place a slice of turkey bacon on top of mine with some onions and mushrooms, but you can create all sorts of combinations: avocado, barbeque sauce, etc etc…

One is missing because I’m eating it right now for lunch. Since I am gluten free, usually I will eat mine without a bun, crumble it on top of a big salad, or get a large piece of lettuce and make it into a wrap. You can do whatever though. Get creative. That is the best part about food (besides it tasting good of course!)

It’s time for me to start getting down and nerdy. Oh yeah. It is going to be an exciting day. Have a great weekend ya’ll! What are ya’lls plans for the weekend? Hopefully, I will get a couple of fun breaks in between my massive workload. Has anyone every seen Food Inc? and if so what did ya’ll think?