Recipe of the Day, August 14th

Asparagus Frittata

Now, this is a DELISH and good recipe. Good for you, too. But it’s asparagus. This is more of a Monday - Wednesday meal. The date nites…not so much. If you get my drift, boys…

Okay:

• 1 8oz can chopped asparagus (the most organic/whole you can fin) Rainbow has both


• 1 tbsp finely sliced scallions


• 1 tbsp chopped green pepper


• 4 egg whites


• 2 tablespoons uncreamed cottage cheese (soy will do, or drain and press dairy cottage cheese in a cheesecloth for the most reduction in water and calories, etc.)


• 1.5 tsp skim milk


• 1 tsp chopped parsley


• 1/8 tsp ground pepper

Drain the asparagus, pouring several tablespoons of it’s liquid into a non stick skillet. Chop the asparagus pieces into even smaller bits and add to the skillet; add the scallions and the green pepper. Cook over low heat until the veggies are tender. Beat the egg whites with a fork unitl they aer frothy; stir them into the cheese with the skim milk, parsley, and pepper. Mix until smooth.

Pour the mixture over the vegetables in the skillet and stir the veggies quickly into the mixture. Cook low over heat until the bottom is browned. Loosen up the edges and flip over to brown the other side.

Place in a 300 degree oven for 15 minutes and then ENJOY!

Serves 2.

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Daily Proverb 4:26

Proverbs 26: 6, 7
6Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence, and do not claim a place among great men; 7it is better for him to say to you, "Come up here," than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman.

I really do love reading Proverbs. Even if a person isn’t religious…it just has some good, solid common sense advice. This is one for today: Don’t brag or invite yourself to a higher position. You’ll probably just get called out and embarrassed. Wait for someone to give you a shout out. That way…you won’t look like a total self-promoting douche.

Daily Proverb - We Are Family...

Proverbs 27:10

“¹⁰Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.

¹⁰ Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father, and do not go to your brother's house when disaster strikes you— better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.”

Sometimes, we make our family. We have to. For whatever reason, we create our immediate living circle of support. That may be with a few close friends. Or you may be lucky enough to have blood relatives that fit into that category. Whatever the case, we make the people, circle, family that we can run to in times of trouble and calamity.

It may be that when family is far off, either physically or emotionally, we can still run to our chosen and urban family for support and help.

So, quick moral of the day: It’s always good to cultivate those relationships and friendships that mean so much to you. Don’t discount the friends and relations that would do anything for you. Sometimes, they are right beside you or in front of you and serve you better than distant “family”.

New Year - New You..er, New Me!

G'mornin...technically, I suppose mid-morning or noon. But whatev.

Tons o' folks tracked my crazy progress and boot camp from back in the summer. I tweeted. I FB'd. I even updated MySpace(aww, don't despair little buddy...people still go to you periodically for music or to spam and hawk their latest wares.) If I was even more of an attention whore...I probably would have even sent stuff to Friendster(yes, I still have an account.) I got lots of emails and questions about why. About how. About what. It was an inspirational story of triumph and redemption. Okay, maybe not THAT much of a Jaclyn-Smith-Lifetime-Movie tear jerker. But it was good.

And it's that time again.

I've been detoxing and prepping for the New Year and New HealthBootCamp that I am embarking on. The challenge: Only organic food. As healthy as possible. As do-able and "real world" as possible. Total health/life makeover. Exercise, working out, and general fitness included! Smoking has to go. Drinking-nope. Bad food, chemicals, and other nasties...out! The smoking one I'll get more into at a later date...but it's WAY harder than I anticipated and I may(doubtful, but may) have to apologize to all of the cry babies that went before me on that path.

And I am gonna be honest. I am nervous as hell. Monday, January 18th begins the harder-core part that I am super excited over, but at the same time...dreading. I'll do my best not to commit any vicious crimes against persons(real or imaginary) during the first week. Luckily..I've got a day and half left to cheat a little before the real hard-core stuff kicks in.

So, I am sitting here in my home office...drinking my decaf coffee(hey..it's a placebo, but it makes me happy, k?), sweetened with agave and creamed with soy milk...wondering what I am gonna wear today. (It's to go to work at Rainbow, so the Tom Ford is out, right?) and contemplating a quick run(meh, it's sprinkling, so that's not so likely) before I have to go talk about bioflavinoids and if there is an herbal version of Extenz for 6 hours. Oh, and if we still don't have water, God help the soul that takes down that "CAUTION" tape in front of the bathroom(no cig today...*hiss*).

On second thought, who am I kidding...it'll probably be Tom Ford.

So okay…I am catching up on tons of stuff. Spending time with loved ones, missing my family A LOT this Christmas (both blood and family of choice), and feeling the need to write. It’s been a good week and there has been tons happening. Got my Proverbs and Buffy Blog insights done. Duh…you see them. I mean, I guess you see them. If you read this…anyone out there reading this?? I am excited-ish about Christmas. I was thinking today while everyone was rushing around that I will be separated from family this holiday season. And Mo is in Ohio (great for her, sucks for her loved ones here…sniff). On a bitchier note, I am glad that it is almost over. Yes, the Christmas music. I heard “Blue Christmas” with cats meowing. Yes, you read that correctly. Cats. Meowing.

On a more sweet note, I loved…LOVED…Christmas when I was little. My mom and dad used to make it very magical. I remember how we would travel to my grandparents’ houses. And we would spend Christmas eve with my maternal grandparents and Christmas Day with my paternal grandparents. One that I definitely remember was when I was so small…I went to bed and my mom woke me up to let me know Santa had come, open a present and then go back to bed. Awesomeness. Good times. Who knows, maybe I’ll get a Christmas wish and get to see some family this Christmas, too!

I have been cooking a lot lately…and I was super excited to try this recipe. Well, I liked the recipe on paper. And, let me say…the recipe was good…and it was delicious. De-lic-ious. But it’s…uh…sweeter than I wanted. So, I am working on revising it. It requires tweaking. Here is the one I did.

Stuffed Acorn Squash
-2 acorn squash
-2 scraped carrots, grated (just regular organic carrots and grate them on a normal cheese grater. You can dice them too….but texture-wise, I prefer the grated.)
-8oz crushed pinapple (if canned, use water packed OR preferably in UNsweetened pineapple juice. Now, I am not a total foodie-snob, but I think it’s cool too if you have access to a pineapple and can cut up 1 cup and crush it in a mortar and pestle. It’s fresh. Amazing.)
-2 tablespoons dried white raisins (if you can’t find them-because they are hard to find-use raisins.)
-¼ teaspoon ground ginger (fresh, ground or crushed in a M&P, or you can “zest” them. I like the zest because it gives a more solid ginger flavor)

Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and place the squash halves in a baking pan.
Combine the grated carrots, pineapple, raisins, and ginger. Mix and fold together and spoon the mixture into the squash cavities.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until squash are tender.

I want a heartier mix for my next try with this…or maybe a diff squash. I am thinking a starch like a rice or quinoa and some protein with like a rice/beans/meat filling to offset the squash. We’ll see. More on that later…

Yawn…why am I getting so sleepy??? Anyway, I had a good day at work. It was funny in some parts, and they DID change the router connection while I was trying to count down and close; but that is a mistake I don’t think will be made again. Duh…router and connectivity change, it WILL make my connection to the server database go down. D. U. H. Now, I was gonna cover the Thursday shift at DnJ for Holly, but I got X-mas blindsided and am spending some xmas cheer time with loved ones! Good times.

I am also getting pretty excited/nervous about the new year! Boot camp is looming…gonna be SICK! Totally organic, but also the workouts…the food and the detox/supplements are gonna be super good. For people that followed me getting healthy and working out on the first one…this is gonna make that look like child’s play. Back to no caffiene, sugar, salt, alcohol, cigs...Ugh…Excited...but I am getting nervous about it!

Buffy-ism of the Day: Merry Christmas

BTVS 3.10, Amends:

Xander: "Yeah, I like to look at the stars, you know? Feel the whole nature vibe."
Cordelia: "I thought you slept outside to avoid your family's drunken Christmas fights."
Xander: "Yes, and that was a confidence I was hoping you would share with everyone."
Cordelia: "Well, I'll be in Aspen. Skiing. With actual snow."
Buffy: "I hear that helps."

Hahaha...It makes me laugh. Because it's so true. Hope everyone's Christmas is good. And that you don't have to sleep outside due to drunken family fights.

Peace ya'll.