Mission Statement

Culinary Adventures in a College Kitchen

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Woman VS Food



So just when I thought I couldn't get more full, my mother made one of my favorite dishes. Penne pasta with tomatoes, spinach, garlic and Italian sausage. And to add insult to injury, fresh watermelon. My stomach is going to be very angry with me. And my intestines. And every part of my body I put into agony courtesy of today's workout.

So onto the food.Next time I'm downsizing.

Hello dessert!!!

As for tonight, I have a busy schedule. And my busy I mean filled with listening to music, watching countless shows on the ABC family because I need to catch up on Pretty Little Liars and Make it Or Break it. For some reason those shows are addicting. I suppose they are my replacement until Bones comes back on. Until then, or the god of TV strikes me down I will amuse myself with those shows.

-Jen

Indian-Palooza


First off- Lynn's skating workout: pain. in. my. booty. That is both literal and figurative. My abs also are screaming at me. And my arms are joining forces and I'm pretty sure will strangle me during the night or something.

Lunch was pretty good (read: amazing). We went to Taj Mahal for some Indian food. It was all kinds of wonderful. Nice and tasty. So spicy that I downed about four glasses of water in an attempt to regain feeling in my tongue.



We started with some naan. It was fluffy and delicious goodness. Only had one piece- the ultimate in willpower.


That is my uber-organized plate. I had the spinach, eggplant, and lentil dishes and mashed them all together with some basmati rice. The owner of the restaurant was definitely cringing at my clear Americanizing of the dishes. Oh well-it tasted good!


Lunch ended with some masala tea and rice pudding. I would have posted a picture of the dessert but I pretty much inhaled it before my camera had a chance. Clearly, I had no choice ;-)

Dinner is at the grandparent's tonight. And my grandma may or may not be the Itzhak Perlman of cooking. More on that later :-D


So of course, if Liz posted, it's my turn. Currently I am sitting in my sun room, enjoying a lovely cup of ice water with a lemon in it and watching the same bird hit the window several times in the attempt to magically go through the glass.

It's a completely gorgeous day out and I am thoroughly enjoying soaking up the sun after a good workout and meal.

For breakfast I found myself eating a Sandwich Thin with Kiwi-Strawberry-Cherry preservative from Costco and some eggs.The eggs were composed of two egg whites and one yolk. I think I am going to have to invest in some of the egg whites in a carton because I feel bad for all those yolks I waste. Sorry yolks, I due apologize for not using you to the fullest. :(

After breakfast Liz and I hit the gym to meet up with our friend Lynn who is super hardcore. It was like having our own personal trainer but for free :)

We first started off with 15 minutes on an elliptical followed by Lynn's workout sheet which were mainly for the arms and some abs. My abs are still sore from the hip-ups we had to do. And yet, when all of that was said and done Liz and I hopped on the treadmill to do 15 more of cardio. I was so determined to do at least a mile and a half because I hadn't the previous day. It's a complex I swear.

And of course after I killed my body from working out I decided to reward myself by going out for Indian food with Lynn and Liz. It was delicious and I'm sure Liz will fill you in.

I swear we don't eat every meal together.

Craptastic Coffee Machine



Good Morning!

It's Liz and it is a BEAUTIFUL morning here in Chicago. We have been getting some serious monsoons lately so it's nice to see some sunlight. I'm sure my hair appreciates it. The wet dog look does not really work for me.

This morning I woke up around the usual time and settled in for some lovely yogurt with almond butter and granola.


The goods.




The end result. I think I liked it :-)



That would be a picture of my craptastic coffee machine. It looks kinda nasty but I swear the coffee is good ;-)

I'm off to go to the gym with Jen and our friend Lynn. Lynn is an ice skater and we're all doing the workout sent from the ice rink. Should be interesting. And possibly painful.

See ya at lunch!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Muesli, Muesli, Muesli

So Jen here. And because I had work I am forced to post at ten o'clock at night, what I ate five hours previously. However, I wouldn't dare bore you with work stuff because frankly Kirkland's isn't all that interesting (unless you think complaining customers and cashiering is the greatest thing since sliced bread).

Before work I did find myself watching Gilmore Girls like Liz though. We are clearly friends through our bonding of Gilmore Girls and our love for the sexy boys of Stars Hollows. We have even found our own Luke's in our home town. It has by far the most delicious omelets I have ever had. Granted they are the equivalent to probably half of a day's calories but they are so worth it!

Speaking of food since I had work smack dab during when I would usually have dinner, I had to eat early.

Lately I have been navigating toward lighter meals for dinner so tonight was no different. My mom recently purchased some Aldi Deutsche Kuche Muesli Mixed Fruit and Nuts. I had a big bowl of it with some vanilla soy milk. It was absolutely fabulous and although it doesn't sound like a big meal it was the perfect amount to fill me up.

Now that I am back home I am going to watch the show Jersey Couture on Oxygen. It's such a hysterical show and I can't get enough of the blunt humor that show has. Maybe that is why I enjoy it so much.

I Want To Be A Gilmore



Hello, Liz here!

I did not take pictures of dinner. What I DID do was watch several episodes of Gilmore Gilrs. Clearly, you can see where my priorities lie.


Why is this show so good?? Seriously, I could sit through countless episodes. Which is exactly what I did this afternoon. And by countless episodes I mean three but I could
have watched SO many more.

Enough about my GG obsession. On to dinner! My eats were oddly similar to lunch except I got some meat in there. I dined on a burger with American cheese, mustard, and ketchup.


My burger was not animated. Although that would have been awesome.

With my burger I had some baby carrots, grilled asparagus, and caramelized onions. Those onions were AMAZING. When sauteeing onion, my friends, you have to add brown sugar. Ina Garten says so and she is never, ever wrong. Trust me, it makes ALL the difference.

Well, I am off to do some work. And by do some work I mean watch more Gilmore Girls. Yes, it will be the fourth episode for today. Can't say I'm not just a tad proud.

Pilates and Car Dodging

We are doing Fitnessista's Summer Shape up and started off with some Gaiam Pilates. We worked our legs. We swore during the series of five. Cursed Ana Cabon and her freaky flexibility during side leg series. So...essentially, good work out!

After we went for a forty minute walk and tempted fate walking along a road. We're hardcore like that. After dodging a few cars and running at one point to avoid a particularly cheeky jeep, we returned home for some mango-banana smoothies. And proceeded to nearly break the blender. Clearly, we are on the beginning of any culinary journey.

Lunch is boca burgers with ketchup, mustard and spinach. We were going to do hummus but the combo didn't sound as attractive when we found out the bocas actually tasted like real burgers. We're workin' our vegetarian for a day. Not a bad thing after a certain someone's bacon adventure last night (cough..Liz..cough). The burgers are just on some toasted Arnold Sandwich Thins. Deliciousness ensues.


Add some green grapes and yum :)


Off to go wash this baby.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

About Us


Hi we're Liz and Jen and this page will just be a little insight to the two lovely women who write this blog. FAQ

1) How old are you?
2)Why did you decide that you wanted to blog?

3)What are you studying in college?

4)What is your favorite food?
5)What is your favorite splurge for food?

6)What is your favorite way to exercise?

7)Are you an active person besides for exercise?
8)Who is your favorite person to watch cook on TV?
9)What are your long term and short term health goals?

10)Where is your favorite place to get groceries from?

11) Are you a very healthy person?

12)State any random
fact about yourself.

About: Jen




1)I'm 21 years old.
2)Liz and I had decided on doing so when we figured out that when we were off at school we wanted to keep the motivation that we had gained during the summer.
3) What are you studying in college? I am studying to be an interior designer with a minor in Art History
4) I love spinach!!! Creamed, raw, you name it!
5) I love anything Chinese but I try to only eat it ocassionaly.
6) I have played soccer for 13 years of my life and I continue to play recreation in college but I also have developed a love for running.
7) I'd like to think of myself as fairly active. I try to get in at least take the stairs and walk to all of my classes. It's eco-friendly too :)
8) I am a huge fan of Bethanny Frankel especially Skinny Girl Margaritas.
9) Short term I'd like to tone up a bit more and gain some lean muscle. Long term at the moment, I want to work my way to a half marathon as long as maintain a healthy lifestyle.
10) Two of my favorite places are Aldi and Meijer. Mostly because they are close to my apartment and they have a good selection. But I wouldn't say no to the occasional run to 'Common Grounds' a wonderful-slightly expensive health foods store.
11) I'd like to think I'm quite healthy but I know I need to work on snacking and finding other alternatives to the usual go-to aka cereal and granola with yogurt.
12) I'm severely lactose intolerant but I can surprisingly enough eat minimal amounts of Greek yogurt and some Parmesan
without feeling sick to my stomach. I have also adopted a mostly vegetarian lifestyle and I try to eat 50% raw during the day. I find I am a lot happier and I haven't had to drink coffee AT ALL because of it :)

-----

About: Liz


1) I am 20 years old.
2) I wanted to start this because while Jen and I are motivated now during the summer I know that my motivation lags once I go back to school. Therefore, I thought that this blog would be a good way for Jen and I to check up on each other. And it's fun, of course. I, personally, have always wanted to start a food blog and had actually created one dedicated to recipes but I found that I didn't actually cook enough to fill a daily blog with recipes. This feels like a better fit for me. And it's fun!
3) I am an advertising major.
4) Oh my, favorite food? This is difficult. I really don't have a favorite food but something AMAZING that I recently had was this dish at a tapas restaurant. It was a date wrapped in bacon and drizzled with this rich red pepper sauce. It was delicious and I ate many of them.
5) My favorite splurge food is definitely anything sweet. So, like cupcakes or cupcakes without the cup part. Oh-and the vegan lemon poppyseed muffins at Argo Tea. Those are serious splurges and serious decadence. Love it.
6) I love pilates and do not do it nearly enough.
7) I feel I am fairly active. I usually go for daily walks with my father regardless of other gym-oriented work. I am known to work-out while my family rests on vacations. So, yes, I would say that I am fairly active.
8) Giada DeLaurentiis. She makes the Italian in me smile :-)
9) Short term I guess would be to slim out. But I don't necessarily know if I really need to slim out but let's face it, who doesn't want that? Long term is just to be healthy. I want to be able to age with grace which I think can be accredited to having a healthy lifestyle.
10) I love Trader Joes and Potash Brothers. Potash is by my college and is ridiculously overpriced but I love the fact that I can walk in and find what I am looking for immediately.
11) Yeah, I'm pretty healthy. I watch what I eat and I try to have some physical activity every day. And I let myself splurge now and then which I think is very important. I mean, what's life if you can't have a cookie here and there?
12) Something random? I am having an illicit affair with coffee. And occasionally I cheat with assorted teas.