Hand-held burritos

Every family has a go-to meal that everyone likes and doesn’t take long to prepare.  Burritos are that meal for us.  This meal has a lot of components but it is well worth it, and you can leave some parts out and still have a delicious dinner.  We like having some hot, cooked components (veggies, beans) and some cold, raw components (corn salsa, avocado).  It actually doesn’t take too long to make these, especially if you prepare the corn salsa ahead of time.  They are so satisfying and have all the fiber and protein that you need to fill up and all the healthy fats from the avocado and olive oil to feel wonderfully satiated.

Avocados

What a glorious fruit!  Avocado is a necessity for vegans.  It will make you not miss cheese, and that is spoken by a former cheese-aholic who didn’t recognize my addiction until I once opened the fridge and found 18 different kinds of cheeses.  No, we weren’t prepping for a cheese party and we didn’t have a family of 18.  That cheese was for just the two of us.  We needed help!  Now I am happily cheese-free, but I still want some soft, creamy, fatty goodness every once in a while.  Avocado is the healthiest, tastiest and most versatile way to satisfy that craving.

Roasted poblano-chipotle hummus

I love a good hummus.  Before going vegan, Harlan and I gorged ourselves on cheese and crackers everyday when we got home from work.  After giving up dairy, I was in need of a different go-to snack to help hold off the hunger in between meals.  Like all good snacks, it needed to be something quick, easy to have around, and delicious.  Chia seeds, fresh fruit and almonds are all nice choices, but hummus and dips are definitely my favorite.  I try to make a few every weekend and have them in the fridge throughout the week for easy snacking.  They can be eaten with crackers, pita chips, pretzels, apples, baby carrots, cucumber or any other raw veggie, or they are great to spread on sandwiches or wraps.  This recipe is one that came about when Harlan and I were going through a chipotle phase and were adding it to just about everything.  Hey, at least it was less offensive to our olfactory glands than when we went through our garlic phase.

2013: Transcending imperfections and starting anew. Part 2.

Continuation of: 2013: Transcending imperfections and starting anew. Part 1.

So there I was.  A 30-something girl wishing she had her dad.  We had come a long way since my teenage days, and we currently live the closest to each other that we ever have since he left my childhood home. So I decided why not- there was no better time to move forward.  Might as well spend our first holiday together in over 15 years.  And with that, Harlan and I drove a 22 hour round trip to spend Christmas with my dad and his wife.

I was just hoping for ok.  No misunderstandings, no unintentionally hurtful remarks, no awkward silences.  But what I got was much more than ok.  I got a warm, fun, enjoyable holiday with a man I’m not sure if I’ve ever really known.  For the first time I wondered if my memories and past judgments of him were ever real or justified.  Was I holding him to an unreasonable standard?  Has he changed since we lost touch? Or, in the past, did I just refuse to see this jovial side with all our similarities because it was easier to blame him if I only acknowledged the imperfections?

2013: Transcending imperfections and starting anew. Part 1.

Relationships are not perfect.  How could they be, when they are products of inherently flawed beings?  Friends, coworkers, siblings, spouses, parent-child.  There will always be disagreements and opposing points of view.  There will be differences in priorities and unintentionally (or even purposefully) inflicted pain.  There may by competition, jealousy, and selfishness, or expectations that are out of reach.  There could be any number of shortcomings in a relationship, and it is up to us as individuals to decide whether we are capable and willing to transcend these imperfections, whether we can learn from them and become a wiser and better person, and whether we can do so while maintaining the relationship or only after we have let it go.

Where was the warning: “Potentially hazardous to your health”?

“F*#k it, let’s just go.”  Those were the words that came out of Harlan’s mouth as we sat in a hotel room trying to decide where to go for our PhDs.  We had just finished a full day of touring campus, meeting with potential advisers, department chairs and grad school directors, and checking out the town.  We were weighing the pros and cons, and to be honest, there were a lot more cons.  We didn’t want to be so far from family and we weren’t crazy about the location or town, but this was pretty much the only place that offered the type of research that we both wanted.  It sounds silly when you are in a country this large with so many school options, but when you are in a specialized field of engineering, finding a right fit for two people is unexpectedly difficult.  Harlan was pretty happy with the research he would be doing, and I was super pumped about my potential adviser.  I was never going to like the research anywhere, so I figured it was best to really like my adviser.  We didn’t have any other ideas, so I guess this was it.  It wasn’t going to be forever, it was just going to be 4 years.  Anyone can get through 4 years anywhere, right?  “F*#k it, let’s just go.”

Blue cornbread blueberry pancakes

This recipe evolved from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Cornbread Waffle recipe in her cookbook “Vegan Brunch”.  That woman is a genius.  I have not yet found a cookbook or recipe of hers that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy, so definitely check her out.  Her Cornbread Waffle recipe looked good but our waffle iron leaves a lot to be desired, so we decided to turn her recipe into pancakes.  Then Harlan decided that breakfast would be a lot more fun if it was blue, and the rest is history.  This is a breakfast staple when we have guests visiting.

Chia seeds

It seems like chia seeds are one of the new “it” foods.  They are gaining attention from nutritionists, doctors and athletes, and they are showing up all over in grocery stores.  They are often now called a “superfood”, and it is easy to see why.  We all know the name from their 80’s ch-ch-ch-chia fame as sheep’s wool and a strange looking man’s afro, but chia seeds serve a much better use than spreading them on terra cotta for kitschy décor.

Birth of the fish car and death of a teenage dream

I never wanted to go to college.  At least not right away.  I didn’t know much when I was 18, but I knew that I was in no position to be choosing a career path.  I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, so clearly the best course of action would be to travel around the country until I figured out what I was passionate about.

By the time senior year of high school started, my friends were all talking about college.  Kids were looking into degree programs, writing essays for scholarships, and sending in applications for early admission.  And I was painting fish on the side of my car.  I had just bought a 1987 Dodge Colt from my neighbor.  My first car, paid for with babysitting and barista earnings.  It was a tiny, ugly car that needed something extra to bring it to life, and I decided that something extra was a hand painted underwater scene.  I enlisted a couple friends and before I knew it, the fish car was born.  That car was going to take me around the country, from town to town and state to state, while I worked odd jobs and met people who would help me figure out what I was supposed to do with my life.  Or so I thought.

Cranberries

Cranberries are an amazing fruit.  Anything that tart and dark in color has got to be good for you.  Half a cup of whole berries has only 23 calories but has 2g of fiber (10%RDV) and over 10%RDV of calcium.  Even greater than that are all the benefits of its phytonutrients, such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, and proanthocyanidins (PACs).  The structure of their PACs helps prevent bacteria from attaching to the urinary tract and stomach lining, which helps prevent UTIs and stomach ulcers.  Cranberries also have high concentrations of anthocyanins (which give them their deep red color), which are strong antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties.  They also have been shown to help prevent cancers such as breast, colon, lung and prostate, due to a synergy of nutrients that help inhibit and stimulate specific enzymes, ultimately triggering tumor cell death.  Not bad for a tasty, pretty little fruit!

You can find cranberries in the following recipes:

Cranberry apple crisp with orange and coconut