Ode to the Thermos
I got a lot of good things for Christmas. All of which I couldn’t imagine living without, although I apparently did live without them until a few months ago. The point is, my life is monumentally improved by the addition of things like a food processor, a spoonula, a heavy winter jacket and… my thermos.
Imagine, if you will, a university student center at 12 o’clock PM. It’s busy. Open tables are a rarity and there’s a long line to use the one and only microwave. Now imagine every person in line uses that microwave for 3-4 minutes. Fast forward to half and hour later and you’re finally sitting down to eat lunch. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating with the half an hour, but when I’m hungry 15 minutes can feel like an eternity.
Enter the thermos. You heat up your soup in the morning and come lunch, all you have to do is open it up and eat. It’s just as hot as it was when it came off the stove (or out of the microwave and who am I kidding, it’s always coming out of the microwave). Of course I’m an overheater. No, not an overeater, although I’m sometimes that too. I like my food hot so my thermos pretty much ensures that I burn my tongue on a daily basis but that’s neither here nor there.
This morning I re-heated my “Holiday Soup for the Soul” and stuck it in my thermos.
And enjoyed it in all its warm deliciousness at lunch time.
I swear that’s a zucchini, not a pickle, but come to think of it, I think I’d love pickle soup.
And I swear those are apples not seitan.
I always forget how good baked apples in nut butter are and by baked I mean microwaved.
Simply cut up your apple and throw in a bowl with 1T nut butter (I used chocolate hazelnut) and some almond milk then microwave for 30 seconds, stir and microwave another 30 seconds and stir.
Then enjoy over cold pancakes with hot maple syrup. Sometimes I think cold pancakes are better than hot…
I tossed some cranberries on top for some color but they turned out to be a tasty addition to my breakfast.
I believe it got up to the 40’s today in Boulder, which felt like summer after Tuesday and Wednesday’s highs of -2 and 9 degrees, respectively. I’m hoping it stays “warm” because I’m running the Superbowl 5K on Sunday morning!
By the way, what do you think of my new header? Joey and I stayed up way too late working on it. It may need some more tweaking but we’ll see.
Have a super weekend:)
Mod Market: The Tale of the Purple Potato
Nature makes some pretty odd colored foods. Beets, rainbow chard, white asparagus, purple potatoes.
Yes, you heard me, purple potaotes. I didn’t know such a thing existed until I found myself at Mod Market for lunch today.
Reasons I love Mod Market:
- They serve real food, aka simple whole ingredients
- Everything is raw, grilled or cooked in a stone hearth oven
- No preservatives or artificial sweeteners
- Short ingredient lists and hey, I can even pronounce all the things on those lists
- Menu changes with the seasons
- Food is either high quality, local or organic
Basically, it’s everything food should be.
And they even ask you if you want your salad dressing light, medium or on the side.
Wintergreen Salad: mixed greens, goat cheese, apple, walnuts, potatoes and honey herb vinaigrette.
Curry Split Pea Soup: vegan and gluten free.
Their nutrtion information is posted on the menu AND the nutrition information of your order is printed out on your receipt — how cool is that? In other words, I couldn’t speak more highly of this restaurant.
It was about this time that I noticed a purple substance in my salad…
And it turned out to be a potato!
Needless to say, I was quite amused and although they didn’t taste any diffferent than a normal potato, they were much more fun to eat. Did I mention both my soup and my salad were delicious? I cleared my plate and my bowl.
Let’s see, I also cleared this bowl today.
You know, sometimes I worry that my healthy lifestyle endeavours and the blogging that accompanies it is all in vain but then I get texts from friends telling me about what kind of oatmeal they had for breakfast and my worries disappear 🙂
I also photographed a meal I planned on eating until my sister invited me to lunch. Don’t worry, I didn’t put any effort into this meal before leaving for class at 9 AM. It was leftovers from dinner on Wednesday night. Not that I put any effort into making in on Wednesday either. Thanks, Joey.
I give you vegan alfredo. Recipe found here.
Say what you want about vegan cooking, I think it’s delicious and I feel about 100x better eating vegan alfredo than real alfredo. I have a feeling none of you would actually dis vegan cooking, anyways. We’re all on the same page here, right?
I don’t know who Joey is anymore. He loves vegan alfredo and peas and hasn’t had caffeine in 34 days. This is exciting.
But not as exciting as the arrival of my package.
Yes, that would be 1 pound of chia seeds. I’ve been out for MONTHS and I couldn’t be more excited to have chia back in my life.
P.S. I also ran 4 miles after school and did some quick lifting.
I’m off to watch Charlie St. Cloud. Don’t judge, I could care less if the movie got bad reviews because Zac Efron is BEAUTIFUL.
Happy F-F-F-Friiiday!!
Not-so-English Muffin
I’m not English. I’ve never been to England. But I do love a good English muffin and unfortunately the store-bought brands don’t exactly constitute as good.
Please, Oroweat, tell me what diglycerides and dough conditioner are and I’ll be more apt to buy your products.
Solution: Make your own!
Easy English Muffins:
Original recipe from Cooking Bread.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cup lukewarm water
- 3 1/4 cups bread flour
- 1 packet instant yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 small egg whites
- fine cornmeal (if you want to get fancy)
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, add water, yeast, baking soda and 2 cups of flour. Mix.
2. Let mixture sit 5 minutes and in the meantime, whisk egg whites with a handmixer (or your fancy immersion blender that comes with a whisk attachment) until soft peaks form.
3. Use a spatula to fold the eggs into the flour mixture.
4. Add in the rest of the flour 1/4 cup at a time. Add salt after the first 1/4 cup.
5. When you can no longer mix the dough, pour onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until smooth.
6. Spray a bowl with cooking spray the add the dough, flipping to fully coat the dough in the cooking spray. Cover and let sit one hour.
7. Pour dough onto a floured surface, roll out to 1/2″ thick and let rest 3 minutes then cut out muffins with a 3″ cookie cutter or a 3″ glass.
Looking pretty thin…
8. Sprinkle both sides with cornmeal, cover and let rise 45 minutes.
Getting better…
9. Heat a griddle or pan over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray once griddle/pan is hot.
10. Fry muffins on one side for 4 minutes, then flip and fry on the other side for 4 minutes then repeat the process. Grilling will take a total of 16 minutes.
Then you’re done and you have perfectly golden English muffins.
Oh yes, these smelled delicious.
Time to enjoy!
Lauren Loves Good Food 
