Kitchen Sink Crustless Quichezza

(pronounced keesh-za)

My food was starting to go, I had one more day to make it through until grocery shopping again, and I was out of meat and out of salad. This was also after successfully making Zucchini Noodles for the first time, and I had the inside part of the squashes left over. It was only after the squash and spinach was in the pan and I was cracking the eggs that I realized this was my first "Hey, I can actually cook!" moment. It's not so much a recipe though as a meal idea - lots of eggs, lots of veggies, some extra protein, and cheese. The end goal was something slightly quiche-y with veggies and shrimp scatter throughout, and slightly pizza-like with the cheese on top.

Ingredients:

• Remnants of 2 yellow squash, cut
• Spinach
• Shrimp, pre cooked
• Any other veggie or meat you want or need to use (it's called the Kitchen Sink for a reason)
• 4 eggs
• butter
• salt
• pepper
• cheese (optional)

Heat the butter in a frying pan on low-medium heat. Cook the veggies. Add the meat and cook it.

Crack the eggs in a bowl and mix them. Add salt and pepper. Pour the eggs into the pan. Cover and cook on low heat.

When mostly cooked, sprinkle cheese on top of the eggs. Allow to finish cooking.

Serve immediately or let cool and refrigerate for lunch.

The center ended up essentially being veggies covered in cheese with the eggs more toward the outside and shrimp everywhere. It wasn't quiche-y at all, or pizza-like, because I didn't spread out my veggies when I poured the eggs into the pan. I do like how the shrimp are all at different places in the eggs though. Next time I'd probably add some bacon or ham and maybe some onion. Maybe I'd make it more pizza like by putting tomato sauce on top, too.

The part I liked best? It fit in my lunch container, microwaved well at work, and kept me full for a loooong time.

Paleo Lessons: Week 2

This week was quirky and made me very glad to be using the 80/20 Principle. Just as I was getting ready to take my chicken out of the oven and flip it, the fire alarm in my building went off. What followed was four and a half hours of waiting to be allowed back in to the building. I gave in around 8:45 and ran to a nearby convenience store for a protein bar. When, around 11:30 pm, we were told it would be another 45 minutes to 2 hours before we could go back, my friend/past-future roomie and I went to take advantage of the accommodations provided for those displaced for the evening. In the end we got back in to our building, but I lost the chicken (which was my previous dinner, lunch, and next dinner).

With that, lesson number one this week is be flexible. Whether it's a fire in your building or a meal that didn't turn out the way you wanted, shrug, eat what's edible (aka, not half cooked chicken that sat out for 11 hours), and improvise until your next food shopping adventure.

A great alternative to cereal is a bowl of nuts, berries and other fruit, and coconut milk. I'm not sure how much coconut milk I'd drink on a regular basis, but I got it specifically for a recipe this week and "waste not, want not"! You could also sub in Greek yogurt for the coconut milk, or almond milk, or if you kept dairy like me, regular milk. It makes a good post-workout snack or part of a breakfast.

Frozen shrimp. Defrost it ahead of time so it retains its flavor and doesn't taste watery from being rinsed in the sink. Also, if you have plans to cook it, make sure it's not already cooked. They do make pretty good quick snacks though.

Zucchini Noodles!

All the recipes for zucchini noodles that I'd found said basically 2 things - use a julienne peeler and cooking is optional. None of them said anything about how to actually make zucchini noodles, and I don't have a julienne peeler.

I do have a regular peeler, though, and it did the job quite nicely.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium/large green or yellow squash
• little bit of butter or your choice of oil

Wash the squash well. Using a peeler, peel strips of squash. The best method I've found is to keep the ends of the squash on, hold one end, and peel from the top down. Rotate the squash and repeat until the seeds are visible. Now you have raw squash noodles!

To cook: heat the butter in the frying pan over low-medium heat. Drop in the noodles and cook until soft (3-5 minutes). Salt and pepper the noodles when partway cooked. Add toppings or mixins such as cooked shrimp or chicken, or toss it in a sauce. 

Serve immediately. I layered mine with cheese, but that's obviously up to you.

The leftover part of the squash is good for sautéing and use in other recipes, like a Kitchen Sink Crustless Quichezza.

Paleo Meatless Monday

I tried this last week, which was a very bad idea. It was my first day of eating Paleo and ultimately led to me being grouchy and hungry all day. This week, I have a little bit of a better sense of what I can eat that is Paleo while still doing my best to have a Meatless Monday.

Monday, I was PescaPaleian. 

I figure it's currently a good compromise. I've been participating in Meatless Mondays since February in support of my vegetarian friends and in protest against the campus dining hall (it's not exactly easy to get a good amount of veggies outside of the salad bar).

Breakfast, 3 eggs and an orange. Lunch, big salad with fruit and an egg (forgot to hardboil, so I scrambled it and cut it up to put on top), plus carrots, almonds, and some dry fruit.

Dinner: lemon shrimp with zucchini "noodles" and spinach. The original plan was to cook the noodles in the pan with the shrimp, but two very important things interfered. For one thing, the shrimp was already cooked and it was recommended to not cook them further. For another thing, the noodles turned out not so much noodles as a mass of zucchini tendrils. I cooked them with the spinach, threw in the shrimp, and dumped the entire thing in a bowl. Immediately water began accumulating at the bottom (and this is after I squeezed out the zucchini before cooking). What saved this meal was probably a little bit of lemon juice, some salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and liberal quantities of cheese (see my disclaimer). I think if I did it again, I'd have just thrown in some eggs (essentially zucchini pancakes) and served it with Greek yogurt.

My new challenge: figure out a good way to make zucchini noodles without a julienne peeler.

Check out the results - Zucchini Noodles!

Easy Peasy Fruity Salad

Last week I realized I needed to get better at making salads, considering the ones I made weren't that yummy and didn't keep me full at all.

Here's what I came up with this week:

Pardon the quality of the picture, and the fact that it's over half eaten. You can see all the ingredients though, which I like. I also found that the variety of flavors kept me from becoming bored with it after a few days. The only thing that would make this better would be a bigger bowl so I could pack more of it!

Ingredients:

• romaine lettuce
• spinach
• strawberries
• blueberries
• mango
• pineapple
• 1 egg

Start with you base and build up. Make your romaine bite sized and throw the spinach on top of it. Top with the cut fruit and berries (cut up the strawberries). If your egg is hardboiled, peel it, cut it up, and add that. If you ran out of time like me, scramble an egg and cut it into pieces. Easy to transport, and probably a hit with kids for the flavors and colors. Bonus: getting a variety of fruit allows you to mix it up a little each day and keep it interesting.

Still haven't mastered a good salad dressing yet unfortunately, but it's been a little too hectic this week to try very hard. I'd love to be able to make a good Caesar salad dressing sometime soon, we'll have to see what happens!

Super Easy Paleo Pancakes

I had these this morning for breakfast (all of them) with some berry compote. Normally when I'm at work, I start getting hungry around 10:30, 11, and I try not to eat lunch until noon. Today I got to 12:15, looked at the clock, and realized I still wasn't that hungry yet. Neat!

These are the quickest, easiest, and possibly most flavorful pancakes I've had, possibly ever (including pre-Paleo). There was a race this past weekend that Super A did and I volunteered at, and I made these the night before so we could grab something quick at 4 am. I believe his reaction was raised eyebrows, wide eyes, and a grin - "These are the best pancakes I've ever had. Seriously." He was so disappointed after the race to find we had eaten them all.

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas
• 3 eggs
• cinnamon (optional)
• butter (for the pan)

Mash the bananas in a bowl. If you're like me and don't have a food processor, break them in half and squish them with your hands, then stir with a fork. Add the eggs and mix. Add the cinnamon for flavor and mix more. The "batter" should look pretty uniform in color, although you might see banana chunks here and there. Not a problem.

Put a pan or a griddle on the stove with low-medium heat. Melt the butter and pour some batter. The smaller you make the pancakes, the easier they'll be to handle and the better they'll turn out. When the bottom starts browning (the banana is caramelized), carefully flip using a spatula. When the other side is cooked (brown or not, doesn't matter), your pancake is done.

In total, this makes about 6-8 pancakes, depending on the size. Didn't time myself, but it's very easy to make them the night before while doing other things.

I also suspect that they might behave better in the pan if you mash the banana using a food processor, but I have yet to test this theory.

Enjoy!

Things To Know Before Arriving on Campus

Here's my "top 10" list of things you as a college student going out into the world should know before you arrive on campus.

1. Grocery Stores - Sometimes dining hall food just doesn't cut it, or you want to make a romantic dinner for your significant other, know where you can get the supplies. Better yet, know a few in the area.
2. Hospitals - Seriously. Whether it's for something as serious as your roommate's concussion (which he/she should receive treatment for!!) or alcohol posioning (also seek treatment immediately for this one!), or something relatively minor like a broken bone, you will want to know where the nearest one is. Note: Ambulance rides are not free. 
3. Public Transportation in the area
4. Places of Worship - if only so you can take your parents there when they visit you.
5. Free Parking - Sometimes parking is free on certain streets, but other times you might have to pay. Find the free streets and figure out the times you can park there without a permit and won't have to pay.
6. Gym - Either the on campus one or one off campus with a cheap membership. Exercise will help you stay focused.
7. Movie Theater - Pretty self explanatory. You don't want to be wandering around trying to find it using your phone's GPS 10 minutes before the movie's supposed to start. Be prepared.
8. Park/City - If your school is in a city, you should know at least one place nearby that you can escape to when you just need some green growing things around you to make you feel good. If your school is surrounded by green, you should know the nearest city/town/shopping center for "duh" reasons.
9. Kmart/Walmart/Target - These places can possibly double as a generic grocery store, but they're also great for decorating your room, getting inexpensive clothes, art supplies, movies, etc...
10. Public Library - During finals week/midterms week, the library on campus will get very crowded. Knowing where the public library is can give you access to more study space plus their collection of books, movies, and CDs. 

This is my list, feel free to add your own "places to know" in the comments.

Paleo Lessons: Week 1

This week was my first week of trying to train myself to eat Paleo. It definitely had its ups and downs, and here's what I've figured out so far.

I so need to learn how to make a better salad. My mom has this amazing poppyseed salad dressing recipe and Super A has offered to help me make balsamic vinegar/olive oil dressing, but I need to get a good base first. I'm also not a huge fan of dressing in the first place. Sure, throwing romaine and spinach in a takeout container every day works, and the ground beef I cooked up Sunday night was pretty good as a topping the first day, but by Wednesday my tastebuds were protesting.

I want to make salad like this:

It had blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, mandarin oranges, and chicken. I am not a person who takes pictures of meals at restaurants, but this was so good I had to (mostly so I could try to replicate it).

Almonds are delicious. 'nuf said. Almost good enough to stop the peanut butter sandwich craving and the inexplicable desire for large quantities of bacon. Carrots are pretty good too.

At some point, I will need to get a food processor. Lots of Paleo recipes require the use of a food processor to blend together ingredients you wouldn't normally use (because you'd use flour instead) or to make some sort of nut flour/nut butter. Until then, my super yummy snack choices will be somewhat limited.

Personal Paleo Disclaimer

I am not claiming to be an expert on Paleo eating. Here's some claims that I've heard since I started considering changing the way I eat and the best responses I've found for them.

The species our ancestors consumed in the Paleolithic era don't exist.
Seeing as most of the species of animals and plants that existed then are not present in today's world, or at least they aren't present in the same way, this is a valid point. I also don't think people are claiming to eat exactly the way our ancestors did. The idea is to trend toward how they ate - as a hunter-gatherer society, that means more meat and veggies and less grains. Grains happened after we settled down and turned to agriculture. Artificial sweeteners came from a lab. The big picture of Paleo eating means trying to eat more natural, less processed foods as much as possible while avoiding foods that mess with the natural biochemistry of the human body (such as grains and refined sweeteners).

There's no proof that eating Paleo is better for you.
Actually, a good amount of research has been done about the best foods for the human body to process. When I find a link to a good article, I'll do my best to add it here.

Paleo eaters don't eat dairy.  
I will be eating dairy. I do not plan on giving up milk, cheese, and yogurt, but I handle lactose well and that's my personal choice. Besides, when I do a Meatless Monday where else am I going to get my protein? Eggs are well and good and all and I love them, but eating them for three meals a day would get very old very fast. Greek yogurt and milk are full of good yummy protein.

Probable retort to my explanation above: well then you aren't Paleo.

First of all, we can't know for sure what our Paleolithic era ancestor ate because we weren't there and there's not as much evidence as we'd like. Second of all, think about vegetarians (hold the typical Paleo-vegetarian comments). There's different degrees. Some vegetarians don't eat red meat or poultry, but are fine eating seafood and fish. Some vegetarians take it further and don't eat seafood and fish in addition to red meat and poultry. And then you have the extreme vegetarians, vegans, who don't consume dairy products either.

So yeah, I might not be hardcore Paleo in the strictest sense of the eating habits. I think I'm okay with that. I'll also be eating plenty of fruit and nuts, and maybe some sweet potatoes every now and then. I will have meals that aren't Paleo in the slightest, and that's okay too. This is the degree to which I'll be eating healthier. I'm aiming for the 80/20 Principle.

Adapting baked goods recipes to fit a loose definition of Paleo defeats the purpose of eating Paleo.
I have a confession. I like bread. I like pasta. I like cookies and pastries and cakes and pies. I grew up making homemade pizza dough on Friday afternoons, so you'd better believe I like pizza. BUT I think eating Paleo is healthy. I will be posting neat recipes I find that are consistent with the idea of getting most of one's calories from meat, fish, eggs, poultry, veggies, and fruit. Yes, some of them will probably be desserty. If I make popsicles from avocado and dark chocolate, does it matter if I eat them in their original forms or in a modified one? If I find a recipe for sweet potato brownies, yeah I'll try it. The point of eating Paleo is to eat healthier and more naturally. If making snacks and desserts that are similar to foods I would normally eat helps me keep eating healthy, I have nothing against it.

Here's some people who know way more about eating Paleo than I do:
Warning: they probably have a stricter definition than I do of what's acceptable and what's not, so consider yourself forewarned. They also have more information though, and more recipes. Some of them have books, which I have probably not heard of at the time of this posting, and I am only posting them because I have used/will use their websites/blogs as references as I move forward in this eating adventure.
Mark's Daily Apple
J. Stanton's Gnolls
Juli Bauer's PaleOMG
Michelle's NomNomPaleo
Paleo Parents
Primal Palate

Moving

Got hit by a moving day this past Friday weekend. I had to move out of the building where I'd been living and into the building next door, and once I was done and moved in, my roommate needed help with her moving.

Moving as a college student is always an adventure. If you're lucky, you're not the only one moving that day and it's amazing how helpful other people can be. There weren't many people moving Friday evening, so it was just me and Super A. (I have to put out there that he carried my overly large mini-fridge that's probably not dorm-legal by himself from the one building to the other, including up the steps and without putting it down more than twice. He's a champ). In addition to just moving and packing, my roommate and I had to go through the things that two of our other roommates had left behind.

Needless to say, I was very grateful to Super A and got us milkshakes and burritos at the end of the night (and then we spent two hours the next morning finishing up).

In nine hours, we two people had managed to move essentially all my belongings. And they all fit into the half a room and quarter of the kitchen in the apartment I moved into.

I am impressed.

The next day, I got a frantic phone call from my roommate. She couldn't finish moving out of the dorm because she had a cart full of stuff to empty in her new room, but they wouldn't give her the key to the new room until she moved out of the old one.

People, come on. How on earth does that make sense?

Anyway, Super A and I went and helped. I think she might have had more stuff than I did, but we got it out of the building and up to her new room eventually. While we were waiting for her to get her key, we held open doors and helped people lift carts up the steps to the building (there was no ramp for some reason). It was a nice adventure, and a long weekend.

Dear fellow college students: helping people move on move-in/move-out/term-switch day is a very nice thing to do, and you might make a few friends in the process.

Damn Fine Chicken and Sautéd Garlic Asparagus

I have a confession to make. You know Paleo, the eating style where you don't eat grains? I'm giving it a try. I'm not going as extreme as giving up dairy, too, because I grew up drinking milk with every meal and am not lactose intolerant in the least. But the whole not eating grain thing is hard. That means no cereal or toast in the morning, no pb sandwich for lunch (which I also grew up on), no pasta or rice for dinner, no granola bar snacks, etc.

The principal is that humans have been around for the last 150,000 years. Agriculture has been around for the last 10,000 years. Our ancestors were hunter-gatherers. They ate meat and veggies. They weren't farmers. Our bodies are still better suited for eating meat and veggies than for highly processed foods. For a better/more detailed explanation of paleo, check out Steve Kamb's website NerdFitness.*

I explained the gist of Paleo to one of my friends and she insisted she could never give up pasta and rice. She doesn't cook much, and what I have seen her cook is mostly grain based and made in the microwave or steamer. This summer, I'll be attempting to teach her how to cook. I know she likes balsamic vinegar, and what gets easier than marinading chicken and sautéing vegetables? (For those of you with limited cooking experience, don't worry, it's not as scary as it sounds.)

Here's the original website for the Damn Fine Chicken recipe, and here's my modified version:

Ingredients:

• 2 lb of chicken breasts (making for several nights for myself)
• 3 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• Handful of chopped onions
• Salt, pepper to season

Mix the vinegar, olive oil, fish sauce, soy sauce, onions, and seasonings in a bowl. Plop in the chicken. Using your hands (it's raw meat, wash before and after), mix the chicken in the marinade until it's well covered. Let sit for several hours. Pour the whole thing into a flat baking sheet or casserole dish and bake on 375 F (for non convection dish, 400 for convection dish) for 40-45 minutes. You'll have to turn the chicken over in the middle. Sprinkle any extra seasonings on top and enjoy!

If you're a person relatively short on time like myself, I made the marinade the night before and stuck the whole thing, chicken and all, in the fridge. In the morning before work, I stirred it up and made sure the chicken was thoroughly covered in marinade (kinda tricky because I used a bowl, would use a baggie in the future), and let it sit for the day.

Here's what else I made to go with the chicken:

Ingredients: 

• asparagus
• spinach
• butter
• garlic

I'd recommend waiting until after you flip the chicken before starting this. The asparagus got cut up into more bit sized pieces than the huge stalks. I minced some garlic, too (meaning cut it up into tiny pieces in one direction, then cut up into tiny pieces the other direction, then chopped finely until all the pieces were really small. I put the butter and the garlic in first, followed by the asparagus. Spinach thins down when you cook it, so you can start with something like 2 handfuls and end up with about the quantity that would fit in a Snack-Pak pudding cup (only slight exaggeration). The asparagus takes about 10 minutes alone to cook, more if you like it well done and not as crunchy. Spinach doesn't need as long. Cover the pan and stir occasionally until the veggies are done the way you like them. Serve with the chicken.

*Please read my disclaimer.

How to Survive an All-Nighter

I've done one before and am looking at another really late night (hopefully not all-nighter but I'm prepared to deal with that too) tonight, so I thought I'd share my tips for surviving an all-nighter and making it through the next day, too.

The All-Nighter

Rule #1: Don't panic. If it seems as though there's no way around it, you will be up to at least the wee hours of the morning, step back for a second. Take a deep breath, calm down. Yes, it stinks, and yes, you will survive.

Rule #2: This is work time. Focus on your project or essay or assignment for large chunks of time, and take short breaks occasionally. Don't multitask (Facebook, chats/texting, email) because you'll just be up later then. Save your work frequently.

Rule #3: Hydrate. Stay away from the energy drinks. If you need caffeine, I opt for tea (consumed at least 3 cups of black tea, don't remember how many more). You might prefer coffee or soda, that's ok. If you finish early and can go to bed for a few hours, you will probably be tired enough that you can fall asleep quickly. Water is always a good alternative too, just to stay hydrated.

Rule #4: Eat something. Don't eat junk food. Go for something nutritious, like nuts and fruit or whole grain toast. This will help prevent you from getting sick the next day. If you're drinking something high in caffeine, like coffee, it's really important for you.

Rule #5: Don't do it on your bed. This is almost a guarantee that you will fall asleep. I stayed in a study room, a not very comfortable couch, a barstool, and at one point I recall standing at the counter to keep myself from falling asleep.

Rule #6: At some point, take a quick break to wash your face and brush your teeth, or even hop in the shower. Put on your pjs if you want, or other comfy clothes (but stay away from the bed and stay upright). You'll come back feeling really refreshed.

The Next Day

Rule #1: Make sure you get up for whatever it is you have to be up for. For me, that's class and work. If you think you might be asleep at that time, tell a friend the night before and ask them to call you and make sure you're up. It might take a couple of tries, but you'll be glad they did.

Rule #2: Please don't drive. You haven't gotten nearly enough sleep, if any, so you're more or less as impaired as a drunk driver. Stay out of the driver's seat.

Rule #3: If you drank caffeinated drinks through the night, keep drinking them. Stopping will cause a sleepy-crash.

Rule #4: A quick nap can be your friend. Know that you might actually fall asleep though, so set an alarm. A 30 minute nap is good for light sleep. If you crash for longer than that, better make sure you wake up on an even 90 minutes or so. In between those times is a recipe for feeling more groggy than when you laid down.

Rule #5: Get really good sleep the next night. You need to make up for your sleep loss. You might actually sleep deeper and longer than you normally would, so keep that in mind.

The Day After

There's no rules for this day, just keep in mind that you're on Day 2 of recovery so you'll still probably feel a little slow. By Day 3, you should be back to normal. Keep getting good sleep for a few days to make up for the missed sleep.

Beware the sleepy hahas.

Microwave Chocolate Banana Cake

Sounds delicious, right? SnackGirl's done it again, mixing the sweet treat with the not so bad for you. This recipe uses a banana, an egg, 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, and 2 teaspoons of sugar. It takes about 5 minutes to throw together and it makes two cakes. The nutrition facts are pretty phenomenal for  cake, too!

Here's the recipe: SnackGirl Microwave Cake

If I make any changes to the recipe, I'll post them below!