Spicy Tortellini Chicken Soup and 27 by 27
Posted: April 27, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: Barilla, basil, bell pepper, black pepper, broth, carrot, cayenne pepper, cheese, chicken, cooking, cumin, foodblog, garlic, italian, olive oil, onion, oregano, paprika, parsley, pasta, recipe, red pepper, salt, tomato, tortellini 37 Comments »
Today, my friends, I am 25 ½.
Yes, it’s my half birthday. And yes, I know I’m well past the appropriate age to celebrate a half birthday.
But I’ve been inspired to write a list of goals. (I do love my lists.) And since it’s not the New Year or my Birthday, and I’m certainly not patient enough to wait another six months, I figure my half birthday will have to do.
So here it is. My list of 27 goals to complete by my 27th birthday. These are not big, life changing goals, mind you. They are everyday goals that could easily fall through the cracks if I don’t track them. I’ve added a tab up top that I will keep up to date, and I’ll be sure to keep you abreast in my posts. (Because I know you are just so interested.)
Without further ado, my 27 by 27 List:
Food
1. Take two cooking classes
2. Use five new to me ingredients
3. Go to a new restaurant in each of the 5 boroughs of NYC
4. Enter five food/recipe contests
5. Cook at least one recipe from each cookbook I own
6. Bake French macaroons
7. Go completely meatless for a week
Health and Fitness
8. Go to 25 yoga classes
9. Run in a 5K
10. Take a spin class
11. Take a kickboxing class
12. Drink at least 64 oz of water every day
Blog
13. Reach 300 followers on the Food for Thought facebook page
14. Reach 700 followers on my twitter account
15. Feature a guest post on this site (any takers?)
16. Write a guest post for someone else’s site
17. Meet 3 other food bloggers in person
Travel
18. Visit 2 new U.S. Cities
19. Travel to another country, preferably in Europe
Community
20. Participate in an event for a cause
21. Volunteer for a day
Miscellaneous
22. Plant an herb garden on my fire escape
23. Learn how to really use my camera
24. Do one touristy NY thing
25. Surprise Jake with breakfast in bed
26. Watch 3 movies from the AFI 100 years… 100 movies list
27. Read 5 books that have nothing to do with school
Because I am oh-so-organized and ever prepared, not only am I posting this list today, but I am also posting a recipe which will help me complete one of the listed goals! If you scroll back to item #4, you will see that I plan to enter at least 5 food and recipe contests over the course of the next year and a half.
Well, here is entry number one of five: a delicious Spicy Tortellini Chicken Soup!
BSI Announcement
Posted: April 25, 2011 Filed under: BSI, Food | Tags: broth, BSI, cooking, foodblog 27 Comments »I was so excited about those Cake Batter Crispy Treats that I forgot to announce this week’s BSI!
(Really, can you blame me? Just look at all those sprinkles! Mmmmm sprinkles.)
Anyway, back to business. This week’s Blogger Secret Ingredient is broth!
If you’re not familiar with the event, BSI is a weekly even where a host (me) chooses one ingredient, and the participants (you) submit your best recipes including that ingredient. Check out the full details at My Bizzy Kitchen.
Of course, I’m hoping you will make me some sort of soup (We all know how much I love soup. It’s right up there with sprinkles.) But, of course, feel free to submit anything you want that contains some sort of broth or stock!
I’ll be posting the round-up of all the submissions on Sunday, and choosing the winner at that time.
Cake Batter Crispy Treats
Posted: April 25, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: cake mix, cereal, cooking, dessert, easy, foodblog, marshmallow, recipe, rice krispies, snack, sprinkles 25 Comments »
During my trip with the girls to Vegas last summer, Jake decided to take advantage of having the apartment all to himself and have a bunch of his friends stay over for a “Guy’s Night” after a night out. At some point in the evening, they decided to look for a snack. They raided the fridge, freezer, and cabinets, and found… nothing.
They were shocked. How could we have no snack foods in the apartment? How could there possibly be nothing??
They tried to rationalize. Maybe we were actually FBI assassins. The apartment was a just cover. No one really lived there. Maybe it was all a façade.
In actuality, the reason we didn’t have anything in the apartment is much less exciting than FBI agents, cover stories, and secret assassins. The real reason there was no food in the apartment is because I can’t be trusted.
Whenever there is anything in the apartment that could possibly be a snack, I eat it. All. Immediately. I literally have no control over these things.
As a result, when I grocery shop, I buy only exactly what we need. I plan our meals for the week over the weekend, and Sunday afternoon I buy the ingredients for whatever I’m going to make. By Friday, everything is used up and there’s nothing left in the fridge. At all.
Turkey Keema
Posted: April 21, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: beef, cinnamon, cooking, coriander, cumin, ethnic, foodblog, garlic, ginger, Indian, keema, lemon juice, milk, naan, olive oil, onion, peas, pita, potato, recipe, tumeric, turkey, yogurt 20 Comments »
I always find it amusing to look back and think about what I knew to be true when I was younger. To think back to high school, and look back on those absolutely unquestionable facts of life. The things that if someone tried to convince me otherwise, I would have written that person off.
One of those things, which I 100% unequivocally knew to be true, was that I was going to be a teacher when I grew up. A music teacher, to be precise.
It’s the reason why I spent every moment not in class in a choir. It’s the reason that I only applied to one college (because if I was going to be a music teacher, I was going to go to the Crane School of Music). It’s the reason that I declared my major immediately upon acceptance.
And then, after taking three semesters of music education classes, I changed my mind. Ok, so I didn’t want to be a teacher. But I still knew that I would always work in the music industry. So I switched my major. And I graduated with a degree in the Business of Music.
And then, after working in two different non-profit performing arts administration jobs, I changed my mind. Again. The non-profit world was just not for me.
Today, I’m the Executive Assistant to the CEO of an air conditioning and refrigeration distribution company. It’s probably the farthest thing from a music educator that you can imagine.
If you asked me in high school, college, or even after I graduated, if I ever thought this is what I would be doing, I would have thought you were a weirdo.
And if you told me I would love it? I would have thought you were crazy. Or on drugs. Or both.
I realize, however, that it’s really no surprise that I wanted to be a music teacher; I had some pretty amazing role models. The music teachers in my school were inspiring. They were talented, caring, great teachers, and all around wonderful people. Who wouldn’t want to be just like them?
So when I saw on Facebook that one of my former music teachers was having a tasty Indian dish called Keema for dinner, I knew I had to try it out for myself. I may not be a music teacher, but that doesn’t mean I can’t eat like one. ;)
Matzoh Bagels
Posted: April 19, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: cooking, eggs, foodblog, holiday, jewish, kosher, matzah, matzo, matzoh, passover, recipe, sugar, vegetable oil 14 Comments »
You may have gathered from this blog that I have some pretty strong opinions. I try to avoid anything too controversial on here, like politics or religion, (although I did stir up some people with my S’mores Bars post), but, as I’m sure you can imagine, I have some strong beliefs on those matters as well.
So I’m sure it’s not hard to guess how I react when someone tells me I can’t have those beliefs or opinions. I’ll give you a hint: not well.
This is precisely what happened fall semester sophomore year of college, right before break, when discussing my plans for the holidays. I mentioned that I would be flying to Florida to celebrate Christmas with my family, when one of my groupmates ever so delicately exclaimed: How can you celebrate Christmas when you’re Jewish?!
I went on to explain that I am only half Jewish, and that I do, in fact, celebrate both the Jewish and Christian holidays.
His response? You can’t.
My response? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Of course I can. I can and I do.
His response? Well, you can’t.
My response? That’s idiotic. I do.
The conversation went around in circles like this until the class ended. And it’s a good thing it did, because I was about ready to explode.
Looking back, I think what my classmate couldn’t grasp was that, to me, holidays are more about tradition than the actual religion aspect. They’re about family. About honoring those who came before us and celebrating how they’ve shaped the holidays for us.
Celebrating my family, my heritage, and my traditions is the reason why in the same week, I will happily eat Greek Bread decorated with red dyed eggs on Easter, and Matzoh Bagels on Passover.
Matzoh Bagels are not considered a traditional Passover food, but to my family, any Sedar table would be incomplete without them. My grandmother made them. My mother and aunt make them. And now, I make them too. Because, to me, Matzoh Bagels mean family.
Caramel Matzo Crunch
Posted: April 18, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: brown sugar, butter, candy, caramel, chocolate, cooking, crunch, foodblog, holiday, jewish, kosher, matzah, matzo, matzoh, passover, recipe 14 Comments »
I don’t like chain emails. I find them to be annoying. Obtrusive. Not funny when they’re meant to be. Or not sincere if they’re not.
For these reasons I never pass them on. I know by not doing so I’m risking 7 years of bad luck. Or my three dearest wishes not coming true. Or giving up my first born. But these are the risks I’m willing to take.
So last year, when I received an email from my mom titled “Fw: FWD: Fwd: You know you are Jewish If…” I almost hit delete without even reading it. But something stopped me. My mom doesn’t usually send me chain mail, so I figured she must have thought it was something that would interest me.
I opened it up, skimmed the first few lines… and was hysterical! It was honestly one of the funniest chain emails I’ve ever gotten. It was pretty long, so I won’t post the whole thing, but here are the highlights:
As a general principle, Jewish holidays are divided between days on which you must starve and days on which you must overeat. Though there are many feasts and fasts, there are no holidays requiring light snacking.
Many Jews observe no fewer than 16 fasts throughout the Jewish year, based on the time-honored principle that even if you are sure that you are ritually purified, you definitely aren’t.
Note: Unlike Christians, who simply attend church on special days (e.g. Ash Wednesday), on Jewish holidays most Jews take the whole day off. This is because Jews, for historical and personal reasons, are more stressed out.
The Diet Guide to the Jewish Holidays:
Rosh Hashanah ——- Feast
Tzom Gedalia ———– Fast
Yom Kippur ————– More fasting
Sukkot ——————– Feast for a week +
Hashanah Rabbah —- More feasting
Simchat Torah ——— Keep right on feasting
Month of Heshvan —– No feasts or fasts for a whole month. Get a grip on yourself….
Hanukkah —————- Eat potato pancakes
Tenth of Tevet ——— Do not eat potato pancakes
Tu B’Shevat ———— Feast
Fast of Esther ——— Fast
Purim ——————— Eat pastry
Passover —————- Do not eat pastry for a week
Shavuot —————— Dairy feast (cheesecake, blintzes, etc.)
17th of Tammuz ——– Fast (definitely no cheesecake or blintzes)
Tish B’Av —————– Serious fast (don’t even think about cheesecake or blintzes)
Month of Elul ———— End of cycle.
**Enroll in Center For Eating Disorders before High Holidays arrive again.**
Anyway, as I’m sure you’ve guessed based on the timing and my sharing that ridiculous email, today’s recipe is for Passover. Tonight’s the first night, and, of course, we feast!… with restrictions.
So whether you’re hosting a sedar, attending someone else’s, or even if you have no idea what a sedar is, try this recipe out today!
Cauliflower Cheese Soup
Posted: April 13, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: cauliflower, cheddar, cheese, chicken broth, cooking, foodblog, lemon, milk, mozzarella, olive oil, recipe, soup, vegiterian 17 Comments »
I need to start off this post by apologizing.
I’m sorry.
You see, I made this soup the very same day that Biz posted the recipe. I remember because I happened to have everything on hand except the cauliflower. So on my way home from work, I stopped at the store and picked up a head of the stuff.
I wasted no time in trying it out for myself. Because Biz said it was good. Because it looked easy. And because I’m impatient.
And I was happy I did. Because it was good. And it was easy. And I’ve long accepted that I’m impatient.
Anyway, that was back in January (that I made the soup, not that I accepted that I’m impatient.) And now, here we are, half way through April, and I still haven’t shared it with you.
Shame on me for keeping this recipe all to myself. Especially when I know that as soon as I post it, you’re going to run out and make it. Because I said it was good. Because it looks easy. And because you’re impatient.
We have so much in common.
Turkey Potpie with Baby Vegetables
Posted: April 7, 2011 Filed under: Food | Tags: artichoke hearts, basil, carrot, chicken broth, cooking, cornmeal, dill, edamame, foodblog, garlic, honey, mushroom, mustard, olive oil, onion, peas, pepper, potpie, recipe, salt, sour cream, soy milk, tomato, turkey, vegetables 31 Comments »
For my 100th blog post, I knew that I wanted to feature something great. The topic for this post had to be something really special, because Food for Thought is so special.
It’s certainly special to me, because I love cooking/photographing/writing and sharing with all of you. And it must be something special to you, too, because there’s no reason that I can think of why you’d keep coming back to read my ridiculous musings otherwise.
So, when Jake called me on my way home from a work dinner on Monday night, and said “That potpie stuff that you left for me was literally the best thing you have ever made, hands down, and that includes the Smores Cookies! It. is. so. good.” I knew I had found “the one”. I mean, we all know how Jake feels about those cookies.
I couldn’t help but smile at how easy it had been to choose my honorary 100th post recipe.
But when I got home I realized there was a problem. Not with the recipe. Not with the pictures. And certainly not with the food.
No, the problem was with the fact that I had already posted my 100th post…. that morning.
Oops.
So, ladies and gentlemen, this Turkey Potpie with Baby Vegetables recipe marks my 101st post. But don’t let the fact that it is posted on such an unceremoniously ordinary day fool you… it is something truly special.
Stuffed Baked Potato
Posted: April 4, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: baked, baked potato, broccoli, cheese, cooking, dinner, foodblog, lunch, potato, recipe, spinach, vegetarian 21 Comments »
This morning I woke up early. 6:00 AM, to be precise…
Ok, ok. Maybe I hit the snooze once or twice. But still!
For those of you that have been keeping up with my posts (or for those of you that know me in real life and have ever tried to talk to me before 9:00), you already know that I am NOT a morning person. At all. I refuse to get out of bed before the very last second that I need to. Ever.
But this morning Hell did not freeze over. Nor did pigs fly. The reason for this early rise was to work out.
Unbelievable, I know.
I’ve decided that I am going to start doing the Insanity program by Beachbody again. And since I have school several days per week after work, or tend to make excuses about being tired, bored, or just not feeling like it after work, I have designated the morning as my new workout time.
Last summer, I did the program, and I was literally in the best shape of my life. I did the workouts every single day, without fail. I had been determined to get in shape for one of my girlfriends’ bachelorette party in Las Vegas, and it worked. I felt great, and I looked great (if I do say so myself.)
But when I got back from Vegas, I started getting lazy. I started skipping workouts, adding extra snacks, and eventually, was no longer as toned.
Now, with the summer approaching and two more friends’ bacheloette parties coming up in Cabo and Vegas, I am determined to get back into great shape. And now that you know about it, you can help hold me accountable!
Today’s recipe is a tasty and filling lunch designed to give me the energy I need to keep up with the workouts and stick to my healthy eating plan. It’s actually adapted from a recipe in the P90X nutrition guide, not the Insanity one, but since they are both from the same company, I figure it works.
