Random Recipe of the Week: Pinto Bean Salad

I just threw this together one night when I needed a quick side to round out a meal. I was pretty shocked how delicious it turned out...

Ingredients:
1 can pinto beans, rinsed
1 tomato, roughly chopped
1 handful of fresh dill, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
splash of apple cider vinegar (pretty key ingredient...the appleness gives the salad another
dimension of flavor that it wouldn't have otherwise.)
salt to taste

1. Combine all ingredients
2. Chill for at least 30 minutes
3. EAT


P.S. The fruit stand guy gave this to me the other day....does anyone know what it is?!?!?

Kat: Some Things Never Change

I have to give my mom credit for this recipe. It was one of the things she taught me before I went off to college: how to win friends and make a kick-ass lasagna all at once.

I really didn't know how great this recipe was until I noticed my friends asking me to make it if it had been too long since the last one disappeared. So here it is, ladies and gents, my infamous:

Vegetable Lasagna!

ingredients:
1/2 package lasagna noodles
2 leeks, chopped
1/2 medium eggplant, sliced in rounds
1/2 large yellow squash, sliced in rounds
1/2 zucchini, sliced in rounds
2-3 cups of spinach, de-stemmed
28 oz. can marinara sauce
handful of fresh thyme, de-stemmed and chopped
1 small tub cottage or ricotta cheese (I recommend ricotta, but TJ's only had cottage when I
needed it!!)
1 bag shredded mozzarella
1 egg

1. Cook lasagna noodles
2. Once they are cooked, lay out noodles on sheets of parchment/wax paper to dry (so they don't stick together and rip apart)


3. Preheat oven to 350*
4. Mix the egg and thyme (and any other additional spices you wish to use) in with the cottage/ricotta cheese
5. Grease your baking pan
6. Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan
7. Start your assembly line:


noodles, sauce, & cottage cheese mixture

(don't judge me by my crappy throwaway foil pan)

eggplant & leeks


squash & zucchini


spinach & shredded cheese


8. Repeat step 7 until you get to the top of the pan
9. Place one more layer of noodles and pour the remainder of your sauce and shredded cheese to form the very top of the lasagna.
10. Bake in oven for about 45 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly

(oh my god, I am so embarrassed by my bakeware. I hope the Le Creuset fairy visits me soon)

11. Take out and let cool for around 15 minutes (so that the layers will not fall apart when you cut into it.
12. Serve and DEVOUR!

Jenna: Some Things Never Change

To all the ladies out there who think that being in a crappy relationship is better than being in no relationship at all:

A person who is lousy to you will probably always be lousy to you. You should never have to work hard for someone's love or attention. It's hard to remember this and easy to excuse going to great lengths in order to get someone to respond to you, but if things start out that way, it's never going to get any better. And without a mutual effort on both ends, the chase becomes very, very tiresome. Take it from a woman who's been there and done that.

I have a friend who I call my other single friend, because we always keep each other sane and entertained in the midst of our singledom. She's gorgeous, intelligent, and talented, as well, so I know it's not just me. :) Over a few glasses of wine the other night, we were discussing the pros and cons of being part of a couple, with her sister providing the perspective of the "others".

Don't get me wrong. It's nice to have someone to share experiences with. Someone who calls you first to tell you about the weird/funny/sad/amazing thing that just happened to them. A person who's voice you love the sound of, to watch movies with when it's shitty outside, a person that makes you want to go out of your way to do something nice. And sometimes you go a really long time without feeling that way about another person, and it drives you to look for this potential in others. To really search for those qualities about someone that you might be able to love. Because everyone deserves to love a little. It's hard to recognize somebody's bad qualities, the red flags, an imbalance in the way you care for one another when things are passable, a relationship is okay on it's good days, and the desire to not be alone overtakes your reason.

But here's the flip side. When you spend a lot of time with yourself, when you learn to be your own ally, cheerleader, best pal, and captain of your personal team awesome...you're investing in something. You're making an investment in the improvement and evolution of yourself and working on making yourself a sincerely fabulous person to be around. You build something for yourself. You learn that you don't need someone else to validate you, that you can be independent, and that youre completely worthwhile on your own. You learn how to talk to strangers, how to be in new social situations, and grow a confidence that you're entirely responsible. For those of us that have made it that far, I present a question. In what universe is it worthwhile to compromise all of that for a lukewarm relationship? You owe it to yourself to find someone who's worth it. Someone who doesn't require you to compromise any of it, but who was attracted to all of that in the first place. Someone who celebrates it and makes you want to be a better person around them.

And if that's not there from the get go, no amount of work is going to make that happen. Don't work for it. You're wonderful. And way, way better than all that.

And here's an interesting link to an article in the NYTimes sent to me by my friend Andy. Who sends the best articles and has always celebrated my inner goddess.

This one's a winner...

If I could only be so lucky as to find a stud like this on the internet...



And even better...this is what things were like BEFORE the internet. Seriously. Please watch this.


Relationship Survival Guide: Pick Up Lines - Watch more Funny Videos

Random Recipe of the Week: Summer Squash Succotash

I went to a nice restaurant the other day and had a delicious side dish that trumped my main course....this is my attempt at recreating it. Make it quick....before summer gets away from us!!

Summer Squash Succotash

Ingredients:
1 leek, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 yellow squash, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
handful of fresh green beans, stemmed and chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, de-stemmed and chopped
splash of vegetable broth (probably not necessary to use, you can substitute with water)
salt & pepper to taste

1. Sauté leeks in olive oil over medium heat until they become tender (about 7-10 minutes)
2. Add garlic, zucchini, squash, beans cook for a couple more minutes
3. Add broth, salt & pepper, and rosemary. Cover and cook until all veggies are tender (about 10 minutes)

Kat: Empty Fridge

This is a great recipe for one of those nights after a long day of work when you need a quick meal and barely have anything left in your fridge. I always have an extra package of tofu, some parsley, garlic and pasta laying around, so if you're anything like me, you could make this at any given moment.

(Pssst....I can not remember for the life of me where the base of this recipe came from (I should really write these things down before I go to jail for copyright infringement). I do remember that I changed the herb to parsley...sorry ahead of time to whoever I stole this from!!!)

Ingredients:

1 package firm tofu, drained
1 cup fat free soy milk
a fist-full of parsley
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp onion flakes
black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp nutmeg
small pinch red chili pepper flakes
1/2 cup shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender
2. Blend until smooth
3. Heat in a saucepan over low until warmed

4. Smother your pasta with it

...for this specific meal I sauteed a few veggies and layered them in between the pasta and sauce. It added a bit of a crunch for a completely satisfying meal!

Jenna: Empty Fridge

I hate that feeling of staring into an empty fridge, starving, lazy, and just wishing that exactly what you wanted to eat was sitting in there waiting for you. Forget exactly what you want to eat, you kind of wish that there was anything at all in there for you to snack on. But life gets busy, career situations, social calendars, trips and personal obligations...so time goes by and you keep on picking on whatever is in there until finally, it's undeniable. You have absolutely nothing to eat. There's a gnawing hunger in your belly, but you've got very little time for food shopping, so you're just gonna have to deal with it for now.

One can liken this experience to having a complete lack of romantic prospects, based on one thing or another. This is totally boring and lame. It's not like I want to be dating all the time, or make it the main crux of my daily life, however it's nice to have a crush on someone, at least. I never value a crush so much (even one that'll never go anywhere) as much as when I'm staring out into the barren wasteland of no one interesting to think on. It's nice to get have someone to grin about occasionally, to make too much of small, insignificant interactions, and to add a bit of pep to your step when you see 'em. A person that makes me take the extra 5 minutes to put on makeup on the subway before I might potentially run into them. The point isn't the crush actually going anywhere, it's just nice to work those charming muscles we flex when we flirt. Heaven forbid we let them atrophy waiting around for the next best thing.

But sometimes, there isn't anyone on the agenda and one must simply keep an open mind. It's hard to have patience though...especially as it's starting to get colder. It's part of our natural instincts to want to stock up on the necessities for the winter time.

How does one distract themselves from the empty fridge syndrome? Go shopping? Try to stock up for the winter time and get some options in there to turn to when the weather gets too bad to do much adventuring? Or just grin and bear it. Things will get better, my time and attitude will shift, situations will change like the leaves on the trees and there is much to be discovered. Clearly, patience is the answer. And none of these analogies are working. Besides, I hate being one of those people who's preoccupied with finding someone to cuddle with, even though cuddling is nice.

Maybe I'll just go food shopping at Trader Joe's and wink at cute boys in the produce aisle. Yeah. That sounds good.