Tenaciously Yours,

Today, I decided to action some baking.  Because The Holidays are long behind us and baking is Hardcore Soothing.

I know, I know.  How we came from the place where baking was anxiety-inducing to here and now, I will never understand.

I actioned the Chewy Chocolate-Raspberry Cookies from Veganomicon.  I was into the recipe for the following reasons:

• I LOVE the chocolate-raspberry combination.
• I’ve never attempted Vegan Baking.
• I’ve never baked a chocolate cookie.
• This recipe didn’t include any Faux-substitutes in the place of eggs/butter/milk.  Labeling something as Vegan doesn’t make it okay to bake with un-butter.

Most important order of business, does anyone else have a baking sheet that they would describe as being Seasoned?

Because obviously I do.  I think it can officially be classified as one of my Stalwarts.

I shouldn’t have been surprised about the fact that the Baking Cocoa that has been hanging out in my pantry for the last year still had the original seal on it.  But it did, so I got to deal with that.

It was just time, right?

The actual mixing and what-have-you was a relatively quick process.  I got to use the better part of a jar of Raspberry All-Fruit Spread that had been languishing in my fridge.  Which, retrospectively, I am beginning to suspect that this recipe would do just as well with Orange Marmalade.  You know, in the way that would evoke the Chocolate Oranges of Christmastime.

Let’s all remember that, no?

In addition I was directed to layer-in some vanilla and almond extracts as well.  Almond Extract: Also on the list of things in my pantry that still had the seal on it until this afternoon.

We were just breaking down barriers left and right in the kitchen today.

The finished product.  Look.

After eating one, I can completely see how having these with some ice cream would be completely delightful.  They’re very chewy and the combination of raspberry-vanilla-almond works together in a way that suggests all three of them and none of them at the same time.

Marcus?  Pronounced them very good for a Vegan cookie.

Amen.

Have you ever tried Vegan baking?

What’s hiding untouched in your pantry?

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Posted in Baking

It has been a busy week party-kittens.  So I pulled out two large containers of Chicken Tortilla Soup  from the freezer that we could eat for a few lunches and got thawing.  Because I think we can all agree that it’s more fun to eat something warm and cozy, rather than a container of greek yogurt with a LARA or KIND Bar.

There were a few nights where I did a kind of solo act and chowed down on monster salads with sweet potato oven fries.  But we all know how that goes, really.

Sunday – Molly’s Artichoke Dip 

When you’re trying to have a zen day and your husband is hoping that you’ll action something for him to bring to the Superbowl party, this is your dish.  Because yes, making Buffalo Chicken Dip would be too much effort.  There are like seven ingredients in that stuff.  Unacceptable.

So do yourself a favor.  Open two cans, do some light chopping, toss in some cheese and mayonnaise.  Into the oven and YOU ARE DONE.  Anything else is too much work.

Plus, no one sees the green chiles coming.  No one else has ever brought it that way before.  So suddenly your artichoke dip goes from being bland and uninteresting to the most coveted dip on the table.

Tuesday – Korean Keema from Nigella Kitchen

Nigella is back.

What we love about this dish: It’s a cheap meal.  Ground turkey, frozen peas, scallions, cilantro.  It’s a total flavor-bomb: Marinated with rice wine, honey, soy sauce and Sriracha.  Over rice.  Amen.

The rice is the most time-consuming, the actual preparing of the meat mixture is the most time intensive.

We doubled the recipe since the original only requested 8 oz of meat.  And as y’all know, leftovers are a non-negotiable in this house.

It smelled so good reheated that my cubicle-neighbors informed me that it can be my contribution to our lunch club.   Considering how much easier it is to make even than say, enchiladas, I’ll take it.

What are your feasting fall-backs during busy weeks?

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Posted in Cooking

Naturally, I totally neglected to answer my own question.  I’m a Vanilla girl when it comes to The Soft-Serve Machine.  I like to think it does a better job of showcasing the sprinkles.  Unless I’m ordering a Blizzard with some sort of cookie pieces involved.  In which case, I may or may not Embrace Gluttony and order a Double Oreo Blizzard made with Chocolate.

It’s never a straight answer.

Kittens, it’s February.

Like, when did that happen?

I mean, yes, I wholeheartedly embrace the natural movement of time and get that it should be February.  I just don’t understand how we went from waking up on New Year’s Day to finding ourselves in this place.

That it’s February leaves me cringing at the fact that all of the house projects I wanted to accomplish after the wedding?  Have been at a standstill in every sense of the word.

We’ve been living without nightstands for four months.  The second bedroom (AKA Marcus’ Closet That Should Be An Office) is still wholly unorganized in a way that things shouldn’t be when Adults Are Present.

I mean, we’ve had the better part of two years to get things fixed up.  There is the small fact that with our old bed, we didn’t need nightstands, but that’s missing the point.

So this week, I put those things on my To Do list.  The nightstands and the second bedroom.

Because it would be nice to have somewhere to rest my cell phone as it charges at night.  To have a place to plant some extra lights in the room.  Not just to brighten things up, but to add some sort of aesthetic touch.  Hell, we even have the lamps and shades.

Because the Too Big For The Room desk in our office has never been used for its intended purpose.  It just stands there as a holding pen for clutter that we don’t need in our lives.  And as a result, half of the room goes unused.  Which is comical when you only have two bedrooms to begin with.

Because it’s officially That Boring Part of winter where it’s Not Spring Yet, but we’re still along for the ride.   By the time that the leaves are on the trees, we will have nightstands and we will have reclaimed our second bedroom.

What projects do you need to cross off of your long-term To Do List?

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Posted in nesting

I got tagged by two of my favorite runners, Kate and Amanda  for 11 Things.  Yes, I realize that we Workshopped yesterday.  But The Universe had other plans for us.

SO.  In order to participate, you’re meant to share 11 things about yourself, and then answer the 11 questions that the blogger wants to know about YOU!

Since I’m answering 22 separate questions, I think we’re going to forego the whole 11 Things About Myself and just cut to the chase and answer the questions.  33 things seems a little bit excessive, no?

And just in-case 22 facts isn’t personal enough, a post-run snap of me (I brush my hair out when it’s sweaty so that it stays straight!) that showcases my little vanity-area in the bathroom.

This is where I live my 6 AM.  How revealing, right?

Now we begin.

1. What is your favorite book?  Oh God, that’s like the most terrible question to ask someone who reads everything, constantly.  I’d have to go with The Red Tent.
2. If you could meet one historical figure, who would it be?  Elizabeth I
   
3. What is (or was) your favorite subject in school? Band.  With History being a close second.
4. Have you ever thought about what you want your future kids’ names to be if you have children?  One of them appeared to me in a dream when I started dating Marcus and I still remember it.  I rarely dream and I told myself that if it stuck with me, then it could be in the running.  So one name is (maybe) chosen.
5. If you could live in one city for the rest of your life, what city would you pick?  Minneapolis.  That’s why we’re still here.
   
6. If you had the ability and time to learn one language, what would it be?  Latin.
7. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Yes.
8. What’s your favorite genre of music and why?  Dance/Pop.  It’s good for dancing to, it’s good for singing to and it’s great for running to.
   
9. Would you rather be able to fly or freeze time?  Fly.  There’s a reason that the Time Turner was like a heavily regulated substance in Harry Potter.
10. What’s something weird about you that no one would ever know just by looking at you?  That I can do a mean Dolphin Vocalization-impression.
11. What’s your favorite season?  Even though I despise winter, I really do love all of them.  That’s the point of living in a state that actually expresses all four seasons.
12. What was the first concert you ever went to?  N’SYNC
13. If you were on Death Row, what would you choose for your last meal?  Crusty bread and good wine.
14. What was the your favorite Halloween Costume of all-time?  Probably the Dorothy costume that my grandmother stitched by-hand for me in like…4th grade.  It is absolutely the most elaborate costume I have ever worn.
15. Which actress would you like to star as you if you had a movie made about your life?  Whitney Cummings.  I already feel like her show moonlights as my biopic.
    
16. If you could open any type of business, what would it be?  A food shelf.
17. You have a free plane ticket to go anywhere in the world, but you can only stay there for 24 hours.  Where are you going?  The Wadi Hitan desert in Egypt to see the whale fossils.
18. What is your favorite TV series, past or present?  The first season of The O.C. was pretty spectacular.  Hell, the second wasn’t too shabby either.
    
19. When did you first feel like a runner? When my more athletic cousins started asking me questions about the races I was training for.  I felt like I really made it when I crossed the finish line of the Monster Dash Half a month after the Twin Cities Marathon with a sub-2:00 PR.  I think of that as Coronation Day.
    
20. What is the last thing that you splurged on?  Lilly Pulitzer clobber.  Resort wear is Our Anthem.
21. Night owl or early bird?  Early bird.  It’s not even a competition.
22. What is one thing that you wished you would have learned to do?  Play the piano.  I like to think that it’s something I’ll learn once we have kids that are also playing the piano.

And now…The questions I would like to have answered…

1. Are you a shoe person or a purse person?
2. What’s your favorite scent?
3. Cloth napkins or paper towels?
4. Your house is burning down.  What three non-living things do you grab and why?
5. Would you ever admit to having road rage?
6. Have you ever purchased something off of Etsy?  If so, what?  And was it fabulous?  Or was it a Regretsy?
7. If you could take one news station off of the air, what would it be?
8. How would you rate yourself on a scale of one to crafty?  We assume that rickrack is somewhere in the middle.
9. What’s your standard drink order at a restaurant?
10. Share your definition of the perfect home-cooked meal.  Bonus points if you share recipes too.
11. Plaid: Do you wear it ironically, because it’s comfortable or never?

Last but not least, the 11 people I am tagging!

Foodalyst

Twelve in Twelve

Lauren Chelcie

Sunny Side Up

I Read It In A Book Somewhere

Comfortably Domestic

These Are a Few of my Favorite Things

Climbing Grier Mountain

Minne-Makeover

The Skinny Chronicles

In Need of a Compass

And finally, the most important question of all: Chocolate, Vanilla or Twist?

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Posted in The Hard Questions

I just feel like tonight is the kind of night that lends itself well to workshopping.

So we begin.

1. I am CRAVING sweet potatoes and citrus fruit.  First it was blood oranges and now it’s grapefruits.  Despite my fear of biting into something overly-tart, I’ve found that they’re actually sweet enough without any sugar sprinkled on top.  Which either means that I need more Vitamin C and Fiber or the light is changing.  I’m choosing to believe that it has to