Thursday, May 30, 2013

Paleo & The Bachelorette(recipes included)

The want ad basically writes itself. Who doesn't love Paleo and the Bachelorette?

I’ve ventured into the land of dino’s and decided to try the Paleo diet. I’ve been curious about it; my normal eating habits are not particularly different from it, but now I’m actually doing it. The only reason I tell you is I wanted to leave two new recipes I tried this week, one I made and one I modified (gluten free, dairy free & processed sugar free). I am a huge believer in modifying. So for some delicious healthy recipes, skim right to the bottom and there you have it, photos included.

Over a year ago when my Nana called me and left me a voice mail telling me she had concluded I should submit my name for the Bachelor, I was like “you’re crazy, no way.” An actual year ago when I blogged about Bachelor Woe’s and why I would be the worst contestant to ever exist on the face of the planet, I was like “I would have to be crazy.” Today, I’m like “A nice car, nice house overlooking the ocean, house full of eligible bachelors, a personal trainer and free trips across the world...” Maybe not so crazy.  Maybe my Nana had it right from the start.

Watching the Bachelorette this season has gotten this Madonna classic stuck in my head- Material Girl.  I wouldn't consider myself a material girl, there are the perks of some material objects, but for the most part I’m content with what I have and in need of nothing. I mean, I willingly shop at Goodwill, not because I need to but because I want to. I like the challenge of finding an ordinary object and making it something extraordinary.  I think the same can be said of people, we don’t always see the extraordinary within people or ourselves.
I kind of feel like this is what this season of the Bachelorette will be like with Desiree Hartsock. The Cinderella of Bachelorettes.

 Yes, a full post dedicated to food and the Bachelorette, throw in a glass of wine and some emotional women and it’s a full-fledged girls night.  Which as a side note, I told a good friend this past weekend that I've been way more emotional than I have ever been in my whole life these past few months (which has made me feel a bit crazy) and she looks at me and goes “ah, you’re finally a woman.” Ha, I guess so. It just took 27 years.

It’s interesting to me, not just because of the magical filming of a hoard of men fighting over one seemingly ordinary girl, but more because I bet she wasn't walking around her hometown last year having men fight to their reality tv deaths over her. There has been a value placed on her head, so now there is a value worth fighting for. That is what amazes me. We as a society are told a value, a beauty, a price that must be paid; and we pay it. The price might be our self-respect, an abhorrent amount of money, food, etc. but depending on the value we place or society places on the prize we will do it or not. Desiree has the value of what America’s Bachelorette this year comes with- beauty, material items, competition, romance, fame, excitement, etc. But if she wasn't the Bachelorette, she’d just be another of the thousands of cute & sweet girls working hard and living life. What a difference giving someone a value can make.

I think we, myself included, easily forget to see the value in the broken.  The beaten. The weary. Shopping the Goodwill aisles, sometimes all I see is something that looks broken, has obviously been used and might even have a weird smell to it; but then I see the value it could have. I see the ordinary in front of me and the extraordinary it’s destined to become.  I think we deserve to apply the same logic to ourselves and those around us.


Thankgoodness we serve a God who not only already see’s the extraordinary in us, but created us to be extraordinary.  A value has been placed on our heads, a price was paid in blood, so that we could be extraordinary. 

Spaghetti Squash Goulash: Modified from The PaleoMama
For my Spaghetti Squash, I preheat the oven to about 400, cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy bitter pieces and place directly on the oven rack (open side up) for approximately 20-30 minutes. Once out of the oven, allow to cool, then take a fork and run it over the “meat” of the squash, scraping out everything within the shell.
Goulash: This part you can make while you squash is baking away. I used ground turkey as a slightly healthier option, plus I just enjoy the taste better. As often when I’m cooking, I run to the store with my well organized list, get home and start cooking and realize I really don’t have most of the things I need and have no idea what I bought or why I bought it, so I just follow my gut and put random things in hoping to create something edible. So here you have it:

1 small can tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes (roasted would be good too)
Diced basil leaves (I threw in about 4 stalks worth of fresh leaves)
3 spoonfuls of diced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste, and any other seasoning to up the ante (spicy, sweet)
Garlic powder
2 TBS soy sauce
Caramelized diced onions would be great as well (caramelized with water and the natural milky sugar of the onion)

Paleo Chicken Salad (with a controversial paleo addition of kefir):
1 whole roasted chicken, deboned and diced
2 strips bacon diced..because really, bacon makes everything better.
½ onion finely diced

“mayo”:
1 whole avocado
Plain, nondairy kefir
Garlic powder, Mustard powder, Salt and pepper to taste

 Blend all “mayo” items in the blender until a smooth, yet not runny, consistency and mix in with your diced salad. Voila! Chicken Paleo Salad with the questionable kefir.

Below: the Shirt my mom got me for my birthday. Chicken paleo salad. Goulash.                

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Big changes, Big Girls.


My birthday is very quickly approaching. It always makes me excited for what a new year will hold, sad to say good bye to another year gone by, and anxious about getting older. I always felt that at this point in my life I would be in a much different place, it seems to me that more and more people can relate to this feeling than I would have imagined. Whether it’s due to lack of creativity as teenagers with unrealistic future expectations or not being aware of the full potential of our lives; many of us find ourselves sitting in a seat we never thought we’d be in.

This awkward in-between, the grey foggy time frame wedged between the indecisive imagination of childhood and the absolutes of adulthood, really boggles my brain. It’s an itch I can’t reach. A problem I can’t solve. A Facebook user I can’t thoroughly...investigate (which is a less creepy way to say stalk; I like to know who I’m workin’ with, that probably means you by the way). For whatever reason, I feel like this in-between is a deep pool not many of us ever learned to swim in. We thrash around, hastily trying to reclaim the ability to postpone responsibilities, or we sit stagnant and drown just waiting for “destiny” to miraculously appear before us. I am totally guilty of this.  There have been a multitude of times I've sat down on my incredibly and surprisingly stubborn bum and just waited. Waiting for what I wasn't quite sure.  For whatever reason I at times have believed that life would change, I would change, without ever actually doing something to make change.

It seems pretty silly, right.

As I grapple with the fact that I’m going to be 27, I’m unmarried, I have no children that I’m aware of and I’m pretty set on a Master’s program in Health Administration which means my life is drastically going to be changing in the very near future; I’m ready for the change. I’m ready to be the change, and not just to be it, but be the one steering it. I still have my days where I think “seriously, God brought those two together, they are waaaaay weirder than me…” (I’m not proud of that, but it’s the truth), but I am not abandoned, I am simply being shown to move. Basically, I’m being told to get off my lazy A and do something.

In my pursuit to “chase love” I can only hope that it changes me from the inside out. I know that my fragmented but beating heart has grown exponentially in the last few years and I can only hope that as I change, my ability to show God’s love changes for the better.  As I have journeyed this path of trying to love and accept everyone I come across, I think God has had a little laugh at my expense by throwing some real tough ones in there and has tested my patience with people who don’t want to accept being cared about, or being loved. That and I've come across some real asses. I can call someone an ass and still show them love right? I might have a lot left to learn….

So for the list dedicated to this next year of my life, I present: 

     1.  I think this is probably something I will strive for, for the rest of my life, but lately I have been so aware of the utter ignorance and lack of understanding of God’s plan that I have. So putting pride and stupidity aside, I would like to serve my God this year, knowing that He is in control, He is omnipotent, and He has not abandoned me.

2.    I would like to reach Gold Star status with Starbucks.

3.    Hot air balloon ride is still on here. Come on gentlemen, I’m hand feeding you a perfect, albeit, expensive date idea. J

4. Figure out why I smell like vanilla. Seriously people, I finally asked my co-worker today if she uses vanilla because when I move I get a whiff of vanilla. I do NOT use anything vanilla.
  And….I can go ahead and cross this one off as I just discovered what it is. My lip gloss.  I can also cross off “detective” from any future job searches.

5.  Set aside as much money as possible for the Master’s program I want to start next school year.  $3000 a term is not cheap.  And/or find a sugar daddy who wants a well-educated arm candy….just kidding... But seriously, call me.

    6. Rent a cabin with friends and play outside and in the water like kids.

  7.    Learn more than just the Boot Scootin’ Boogie line dance, to at least have two in my repertoire.

      8. Go to a state I’ve never been to before…and the list is dwindling. Anyone feel like Hawaii, Alaska, Maine or Colorado?

    9. I watch what I put into my body, but sometimes I forget to watch what I put into my head. I want to be acutely aware of what I’m watching, listening to and reading.

 10.   I want to stretch, grow, change and be the type of woman that would attract the type of man I want.

  11.  I don’t publicly discuss this…well, ever- but I will commit to saying yes to more guys that ask me out. My first reaction is always no….I’m working on that and attempting to not be so shy.

 12.   Did I mention this before, I think, but here it is again- I want to get back into photography. I realized how much I miss it and how much I love love love capturing a moment or an object.

   13. I kind of want to be an extra again, but we’ll see. My work might not like that one so much, but it was so fun! May 14th people, my Grimm episode supposedly airs. Look for the nurse with umpteen layers on.

   14. Spend a little more time on others, and less time on myself.

   15. Come up with my very own cupcake recipe from scratch. I wonder if I could somehow use basil. Mm…

16.  Learn to accept a compliment without feeling grossly overestimated. 
   
    17. Learn how to actually use blogger so I can have numbers that match....
    
    18. Try a type of food I've never tried before.

  19. Try a sport I've never tried before, or have been fearful of.

  20. To remember to be content in where I am in life and where I'm headed. To live in the moment, and to be the change. 

But also, look how long my hair has gotten! This should have been on my last years list because nothing is better than crossing something off a list. I will make lists just to cross things off of them. 

 My hair is so long! The angle makes it look even longer though. 

Those who know me know dark water is my BIGGEST fear, and I paddle boarded in the ocean! And publicly displayed myself in a swimsuit, that's a big deal too. 
Me as a nurse on Grimm!

 I love you all.