October in October: A Quick List of To-Do's for Tomorrow

I still have two more things I want to talk about for my September recap, but since I have NATS tomorrow morning (it's a singing competition...but I didn't want to use those words because it sounds a lot more exciting than it actually is) and I have to wake up early, I figured I would take a quick break from last month and focus on what's going on this month. More specifically tomorrow.

1.) NATS. I need to wake up early to eat breakfast and attempt to look like a real person before heading over at 9:40 to register. Then I have to come back to my apartment to actually compose myself and BE a real person. Warm up, sing, wait, maybe sing again OR maybe not. My fingers are a little bit crossed that I wont make it to the finals, because as much as I would love for my ego to be stroked just once in one of these competitions, I do have a lot of other stuff I need to get done.

2.) Run some errands. Mainly I need to pick up a card to give my roommate JT for his senior recital, since I'm a polite human being. Also I might need some big ol' rubber gloves, because my shower drain is clogged and I am super grossed out by the idea of having to fix it. I think the rubber gloves might help me not vomit, because thinking about touching the shower stopper and potentially removing hair wrapped around it or plunging out a clog makes my gag reflex go OUTTA CONTROL. Maybe I can convince my landlord to do it?

3.) Sing in JT's recital! And also attend it.

4.) Laundry laundry laundry laundry. In the meantime, also clean the kitchen. And maybe the fridge. Another task I would prefer not to do without gloves. It's gonna be a WILD SATURDAY NIGHT WOOO.


And of course you can expect a blog post tomorrow night, which I will probably write as a way to avoid cleaning the kitchen!

September in October: A Stop in Kennett Square

So this technically happened in October, but I'm recapping the whole hiatus so I'm gonna say this counts!!

Anyways, I recently completed my high school choral practicum, which is when I went into a high school once a week and taught chorus (...that may not have needed an explanation). My placement for this practicum was at Unionville High School in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania and something that I did not realize until driving up to this practicum was that Kennett Square is a beautiful town!

We (my practicum partner Heather and I) drove right past the main road on our way to practicum, and we caught a glimpse of some of the stores and eateries. The very first time we saw it, we knew we would have to have a "ditch day" (stay in school, kids) and stop into town for lunch and window shopping. Kennett Square is a lot like Haddonfield, in the way that it looks like it has some history, a lot of local business, and tons of character.

The perfect opportunity to explore Kennett Square came a couple of weeks ago. I had just had a really rough time in practicum, and was feeling really down about myself and about my teaching. Heather suggested that since the weather was so perfect that we push our ditch day a week earlier than planned to blow off some steam, since my spirits were still down by the time we left the school. It turns out that this was a fortuitous decision, since the next week it rained on our originally planned day!

We walked up and down the main road to see where we wanted to stop for lunch, and wound up walking into Byrsa Bistro, which had a pretty impressive lunch menu. I have a feeling that if we had shown up a little later in the day we would have cringed at the prices, but the lunch menu price was just right!

We browsed the menu, and weighed our options...

Already the duck flatbread had caught my eye, and Heather was feeling pretty adventurous so we both wound up getting the same meal.

We were both really excited about it, as you can see. And I think that our excitement was pretty justified...

Oh. My. God.

This flatbread was literally to DIE FOR. I WOULD DIE FOR THIS FLATBREAD. Duck? FAVE. Gorgonzola?? FAVE. Balsamic vinegar???? !!!!!! AND FIGS AHHHHH.

It was an emotional roller coaster to say the least.

Also I ate every last bite of that salad and the rosemary potatoes. Ahmazing.

When I bit into that flatbread, it was almost as though my entire day had been erased and I had a clean state to begin again. THIS FLATBREAD WAS A SPIRITUAL REBIRTH.

....sorry, that was intense.

We spent the rest of our time window shopping, which I didn't manage to get a picture of, save one thing:

Man, people really love their roosters.

We stopped into a store that sold home furnishings and I almost splurged on $30 glass tupperware. I'm a little tempted to go back one day and get it...but I resisted this time around! I did buy ten dollars worth of fancy tea bags from the tea shop, though. So delicious!

Plus, I let my good friend Miss Delaware, otherwise known among friends as Becca, know that we were in her hometown and thinking of her! She told us to stop into Talula's for dessert, which we promptly obeyed. Another great suggestion, as I wound up buying two different desserts at once.

The minute I saw that they had macarons I snatched them up. The lady asked me what flavor I wanted and I looked at her and said "Both." like..."duh". I mean business when it comes to my macarons. These are lemon basil and lemon meringue. I also bought a pear and almond tart, which was delicious for breakfast two days in a row! 

The tart was flaky and sweet, and the pear added a nice light touch while the almond gave it an awesome nutty flavor. I'm surprised that I managed to split it into two pieces and pace myself over the course of two days...because honestly, I was tempted to eat it whole. But I don't think those macarons made it through the night...I am seriously obsessed.

It was such a lovely day to take a spontaneous trip! I mean...I don't endorse skipping class to get lunch or anything (STAY IN SCHOOL, KIDS), but this was a decision that I did not regret. Sometimes you just need to decide to have a little fun! Especially when you feel that you've been emotionally attacked by disengaged high school boys that don't understand that I CAN SEE YOU ROLLING YOUR EYES IN THE SECOND ROW but THAT'S ANOTHER POST FOR ANOTHER DAY.

Deep breaths. Duck breaths. Duck bread. Duck flatbread. Yes. Duck flatbread. That is the solution to every problem.

September in October: Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Last month I wrote some posts about my health and fitness goals and my struggles with losing weight, and it has been about a month and a half since I've checked in with those. I've had a really good month and a half on the bandwagon, and I've been working really hard to stay on it!

I've lost 12 pounds in the past 7 weeks, which I'm really proud of! I haven't had any weeks where I've gained a pound or two yet, and I think that I might have set a record for myself. In the past, I would take two steps forward and one step backward and the progress would be made, but at snails pace. And if I'm being honest with myself, it's because I wasn't really committing to the idea of being healthy. I mean, I wouldn't say that I'm like Miss Health and Fitness right now or anything, but I'm starting to feel like I'm less of a lump than I was in the past. I actually pay attention to the amount of food that I'm putting in my body, and I'm making a conscious effort to be more active in everyday life. For me, the choices I was making were the things that needed the most repair.

So what makes this time any different from all those other times I've tried and failed? Why do I feel so strongly that I will finally get it right this time?? I think that this time around I'm actually being honest. Not just with my nutritionist, but with myself. I started this journey out under my mom's control. She was the one tracking all of my calories, and restricting my diet, and telling me what I could or could not eat. So I would sneak extra snacks and meals, and I would justify it by saying that I was sick of my mom controlling me. When college came around, I had to be the one responsible for tracking and meal planning, but I hadn't given up the old mindset. So essentially, I was cheating on my diet and lying to myself.

This time around, I'm being honest. I'm tracking everything even when I have a bad day, and I'm using that tool as an opportunity for reflection. The "all or nothing" mindset that came with stuffing my face before my mom came home is slowly going away, and I'm starting to pace myself and plan ahead so that I get to have everything I want without going overboard. And I think it's starting to show! I'm not really worried about losing weight rapidly, or meeting a certain deadline. Right now I'm just focusing on what I can do week to week, how I can reach my goals realistically, and how I can maintain this for life. Because like my nutritionist said, this isn't a diet. This is my health, and the way that I am going to sustain my lifestyle in the long term. There will be good days and bad days, and sometimes the scale won't give me numbers that I want. But ultimately I'm learning how to live with food without going crazy, and that's one of the most valuable things I've gained in the past month and a half and will continue to foster.

September in October: Getting Creative with Healthy Eating

So in the past month I've gotten a lot more serious about eating healthier and losing weight and all that good stuff, and I will be writing an update about that soon. But one of the things that I've really been focusing on in order to keep myself excited is trying out new recipes. I've been doing a lot of experimenting with pins, and also improvising out of my own fridge. I figured I'd share some of the things I've made in the past month (...these are all taken from instagram).

Standard tomato soup and grilled cheese, but I added some fresh basil and parmesan to the soup to get some more flavor. Not too impressive, and it's not something I would have considered to be "healthy"...but if you get a little crafty, it's really not bad for you at all (310 calories if we're talking specifics). Plus the meal itself is super filling! And I enjoyed the HECK out of it. HECK.

You may remember this recipe that I posted when it was actually September. Well..this counts. So I'm putting it in! You can find out what I did in this post. SO GOOD.

One of my improvised recipes: Buffalo chicken pizza! Omg I literally died over this pizza. I used a whole wheat Boboli brand pizza crust, shredded up some chicken breast with buffalo sauce and laid that on top of the crust, and then covered that with low fat blue cheese crumbles and part skim mozzarella. I cooked it according to the pizza crust package instructions, which worked out pretty well. I also drizzled on some low-fat ranch to cool down some of the spice. It was a big hit among my friends, and I'm pretty excited to try it again!

Yet another improvised recipe: Dumpling squash soup and baked cornflake chicken tenders. I bought this cute little dumpling squash on sale when I went apple picking with my friends, and I decided to make it into soup. It was very simple. I halved the squash and oven roasted it until tender, then scooped out the meat into a blender with some skim milk and pureed it until it was a smooth and creamy soup. Then I put it back into a pot and added some salt, pepper, and nutmeg. It was a little bit stuck between savory and sweet, so I might try to go more towards an extreme the next time I make it, but it was super delicious!

To make the chicken tenders, I mixed together a tablespoon of dijon mustard and a tablespoon of honey, then dipped the raw chicken breast pieces in it (instead of dredging in egg and flour) before dipping it into some crushed up corn flakes. I baked them in the oven for about 20 minutes (at 350? I don't even remember) and I flipped them halfway through. So crunchy!!

I had leftover ricotta from making baked ziti for a potluck, so I used it to make these ricotta and spinach stuffed portobello mushrooms from a recipe I found on Pinterest. These made my entire apartment smell amazing, and they tasted DE LI CIOUS. Plus, they were so low-cal that I didn't feel guilty about eating a side of pasta.

This one was actually 1.) not healthy and 2.) a failure, but I figured I would put it here anyways. I made this supposedly fool-proof bread recipe, and wound up with sad, flat, beige bread that only tasted good on the first day. I've been desperately trying to get good at making bread, but this recipe was just a no-go for me. In fact, I was so disappointed that I'm not even going to POST the recipe. SORRY THAT I AM NOT SORRY. Anyways, I tweaked the bread recipe by adding some rosemary to the dough, because I was making it to go with my roommate Nicole's delicious beef stew that has a ton of rosemary in it.

I don't think I ever talk about how much I love beef stew. I'm obsessed. The ratio of times when I am craving beef stew versus the number of times that it is socially appropriate to eat beef stew is seriously skewed. I want to try every beef stew recipe that exists. Nicole's is great because it uses squash (or sweet potatoes!) and vegetable broth, so it's a lighter spin. Plus I'm obsessed with all the rosemary and thyme and parsley that goes into it. HAVE I MENTIONED THAT I LOVE BEEF STEW??

...sorry. Anyways, I made this bread to go with the stew and it wound up being delicious straight out of the oven, but way too dense after it cooled down. It was a no-knead bread, but I think it probably could have used more kneading. And proofing. And...time. Basically, it was just a dud recipe. Also, I tried to make another recipe that following weekend (I WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON MY DREAMS OF BREAD) which rose more, but was BLAND AS HELL. Seriously. I didn't know that bread and hot water could have the same flavor, but they did. It was HORRIBLE. Just HORRIBLE. I've decided to stop trying no-knead recipes and just put off all bread baking until I am back in a place that has a stand mixer with a dough hook, because no-knead means NO GOOD. #breadrage

The last recipe I want to talk about (...mainly to redeem myself for the horrible bread rant) is my current breakfast obsession, the breakfast burrito. I found these 80 calorie tortillas, and I've just been going nuts with them. I scramble up one egg with a chopped up colby cheese stick (Sargento makes low fat ones!) and then plop it onto the burrito with some salsa and plain greek yogurt (because my stomach can no longer handle sour cream in the morning..sad times). It's one of my favorite ways to start the day.

Part of my struggle with weight loss has always been that I'm basically obsessed with food. It's really easy to associate healthy eating with like...misery. But it definitely doesn't have to be that way. Getting creative with healthy recipes makes me really excited, and it gives me an outlet to express my love of food. I've got lots of recipes pinned, and tons more ideas to come so look out for those in the future!

September in October: THE MAGIC OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RENAISSANCE FAIRE

Back in September I went to Lancaster with my sister and her husband and some of our friends, and we all went to my favorite fall activity...

THE PENNSYLVANIA RENAISSANCE FAIRE!!

I did a lil' vlog about it, so y'all enjoy:



We went during the Celtic Fling weekend, so there were lots of men in kilts and tons of plaid, and we also watched some very underwhelming highland games. I didn't manage to get that on camera, but I'm sure you can use your imagination...

SELFIES FOR DAYS

Overall I would give this outing 4.5 turkey legs. It would have received the full 5 if not for the rain.

Preview: One Month in Seven Days

*rubs sleep out of eyes*
*stretches*
*yawns*
*falls asleep again*
*wakes up in panic realizing that I forgot something*

OH MY GOD IT'S BEEN ALMOST A MONTH SINCE MY LAST BLOG POST.

I'm so ashamed. I don't even know how this happened.

Except I do know. I forgot to do one of my Thursday posts and somehow that gave me permission to miss my Sunday post and suddenly my blog no longer existed.

WELL IT ALL ENDS HERE. THE HIATUS IS OVER.

I will be posting over the next seven days (starting tomorrow, as in Monday October 14th) recapping all of the things I meant to post about in the past month but never did.

GET READY TOOO PAAARRRRTYYYYY

Startingggg TOMORROW.

Zucchini Lasagna

This summer, one of my mom's coworkers gave her a giant zucchini from her garden, and my mom had no idea what to do with it. We had SO MUCH zucchini, and my mom tried out so many zucchini recipes. One of my favorites that she made was this zucchini lasagna, which used zucchini slices in place of the pasta, and I was so in love with it that I called my mom up and asked her for the recipe.

This recipe is a modification of what she gave me, but most of it is pretty similar. It was surprisingly simple! I've never made lasagna, but I'm definitely less afraid of it now!

Here is (some of) the cast of characters:

In this picture I've got 1 zucchini (although I really should have had 2...), onions, celery, garlic, tomato sauce, tomato paste, fat free ricotta, part skim mozzarella, and 93% lean ground turkey. Not pictured: fresh baby spinach, dried oregano, fresh basil, salt, pepper, olive oil, and parmesan cheese.

The thing I love about this recipe is that it's so filling, and the heaviest components are the turkey and the cheese--which aren't so terrible for you. 

The first thing I did, even before leaving for the grocery, was peel and slice my zucchini into as think pieces as possible. My knife skills are a little sub-par, so these slices aren't really even. But they get the job done! Like I said, I definitely should have used more than one zucchini to have more of a pasta-like layer, but I worked with what I had.

After I sliced them, I sprinkled salt on each side of every zucchini slice and let them sit to pull out some of the extra moisture. Nobody likes watery lasagna. Just sayin'.

The first thing I did was heat up my "saucepan" (it's just a pot) and drop in some olive oil, minced garlic, and diced onions. I already had the garlic and onions prepared and chillin in my fridge, since I use both of those things frequently enough to just always keep them around. I'd say this was about 1/3 cup of diced onions and 1 clove of garlic. I would probably be a little more generous next time around.

Not pictured: I dropped in some celery last minute because I thought it would be nice.

I drizzled in just a tiny bit more olive oil (like a teaspoon?) and threw the turkey into the pot to brown it up with the onions and garlic on medium high heat. I forgot to season the meat though, so DON'T DO THAT. Salt and pepper goes a long way. After the turkey was all cooked through, I drained some of the excess water.

I dropped the temperature down to medium low and poured in two 8 oz cans of tomato sauce (not jarred sauce! There is a difference!) and about 1 tablespoon of tomato paste. If I were to use jarred sauce (which my mom did), I would just brown the turkey and pour the sauce over it. But I didn't have jarred sauce and these cans of tomato sauce have been sitting on the shelf for like six months. So I got it done.

At this point I went to taste the sauce and realized that I didn't season the turkey, so I just attacked the whole thing with salt and pepper. After that was all sorted out, I threw in about a tablespoon's worth of dried oregano.

I've declared my love for fresh basil on this blog before, and I still stand firm on that statement. I love basil. I chopped some up and threw it in the sauce, and took the sauce off the heat.

I also added some parmesan cheese because my mom told me to. This was about 1/4 cup. I mixed it all together and you know what? I probably could have stopped here and just poured it over some pasta. BUT THIS IS LASAGNA. So I carried on.

I sautéed a bunch of spinach with some garlic, and I used a little bit of olive oil to get the job done. I only made enough spinach for one layer, though, because I forgot about how much spinach cooks down and I actually needed to leave some fresh spinach for like...the rest of the meals I'm eating this week. Go figure. THEN I STARTED TO ASSEMBLE THE LASAGNA!!!

I only had one zucchini, so I used a smaller square pan. I think this is 9x9? Whatever. First step is to put some sauce down on the bottom!

The next step is to lay down some zucchini slices, or in my case, desperately stretch the amount of zucchini you have to cover one layer. 

Of course, I patted the slices dry with paper towels because they were very wet at this point. Salt, man. It does the trick.

I've never actually made lasagna before, but my mom told me to put the ricotta down before the spinach?? I just did what she told me. I was skeptical about using fat free ricotta, but the final product actually wound up being pretty similar to regular ricotta so 100% would use again.

I laid down my one single layer of spinach down on top of the ricotta, and despite using almost an entire container's worth of spinach, I only had this dinky little sprinkling of spinach to show for it. Pathetic.

And then I started the whole thing all over again! Sauce, zucchini, ricotta, NO spinach because I ran out, and then one last layer of sauce. Mmm. Lasagna's are just like ogres. They have layers.

I used about 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese to top off the lasagna, but you could definitely afford to use more. I was just trying to be portion-conscious, since I originally intended for this to be four servings. It wound up being six.

I popped the lasagna in a 350 degree oven for forty five minutes, and O M G when I pulled it out of the oven, this is was the beauty I beheld:

Cheesy, tomato-y, and SO SO SO delicious. It did wind up being a little watery, but a little water never hurt anybody! There's so much going on in this lasagna, that you don't really miss the pasta. The zucchini has such a lovely and neutral flavor and texture, so it acts to bulk up the dish and let the sauce and cheese be the stars. And boy were they stars. SHOW STOPPERS.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Here's the recipe:

Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients:

-Zucchini (probably 2)

-1 lb of ground turkey

-1/2 onion, diced

-2 cloves of garlic, diced

-2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce

-1 tbsp of tomato paste

-2 cups of part skim mozzarella cheese

-1 15 oz container of fat free ricotta cheese

-About 3 cup of fresh spinach

-Salt & Pepper

-1 tbsp of dried oregano

-1 tbsp of fresh basil

-3 tbsp of olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1.) Peel and slice the zucchini into thin strips, and place those strips on a tray in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and flip to sprinkle the other side with salt. Let sit while you prepare the other layers.

2.) In a saucepan (or pot) on medium heat, sauté the onions and half of the garlic in about 1 tbsp of olive oil until the onions begin to look translucent.

3.) Add about 1 tsp of olive oil to the pan, and brown the turkey with the onions and garlic on medium high heat. Season the turkey with salt and pepper.

4.) Once the turkey is cooked through, add the cans of tomato sauce and the tomato paste and reduce heat to medium low. Stir occasionally until the sauce begins to thicken.

5.) Off the heat, add the oregano, basil, and parmesan cheese. Set aside for layering.

6.) Sauté the spinach with the remaining garlic and olive oil until the spinach has cooked down. Set aside, and begin layering.

7.) Layer the lasagna: Start with a layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 9 inch pan. Cover with a layer of zucchini slices. Spread half of the ricotta cheese on top of the zucchini slices. Evenly layer the spinach on top of the ricotta. Repeat the process with another layer of sauce, zucchini slices, and ricotta. The final layer should be sauce covered with the mozzarella cheese.

8.) Place the lasagna in a 350 degree oven and cook for 45 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to look brown around the edges.

9.) Enjoy! Serves 6.

My Weekend in Photos

I had a really busy weekend, but it was super fun and I am exhausted! I think if I get lucky, I might manage to go to bed before midnight tonight. I'll just let these pictures speak for themselves.