(Not So Many) Happenings!

Not much has been going on lately.  I am heavily into my fall routine of early morning workouts, work all day, class all night then coming home to crash.  This past weekend I went to Montoursville, Pennsylvania (near Williamsport) and met up with my mother at my grandparent's house; it was a nice and relaxing weekend!

I have begun experimenting with more vegan meals and products (although I seriously fell off the wagon this weekend - but hey, it was vacation).  First up is vegan 'cheese'!  I found this at the Fresh Market in Latham and while it is not very good by itself it was not half bad when used in combination with other ingredients; I made a quasadilla!

 

Next up!  I made my first dinner with tofu!  I chopped up a bunch of vegetables and sauteed them and the tofu in a Trader Joe's General Tso's sauce, toward the end I added veggie pasta! 

Lastly, my grandmother made soup this weekend and it was absolutely delicious, I had to try and make it myself!  While not vegan by any means it is vegetarian.  

Broccoli Cheese Soup (with Noodles)

3/4 lb velveeta type cheese (cubed or shredded)
1 onion (chopped)
6 cups chicken broth
10 oz frozen chopped broccoli or fresh cut
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 lb sharp cheese - shredded
10 oz fine noodles
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp garlic powder or salt

Heat broth, add broccoli, noodles, onions, garlic.  When noodles are cooked add cheese, milk and butter.

This coming weekend we are sponsoring an 'Energy Smart in the Park' Day to promote energy efficiency in low income areas of Schenectady, we are even giving away a refrigerator!  I am pretty excited, but it has turned into a two man show for preparing the event, cleaning up the park and making sure everything happens, hopefully it'll go off without a hitch.

And to celebrate Monday... the top of my cube!

Cardboard bus disaster and plants Peter Parker and Kris Kringle!

My first completely vegan meal!!

I had been eying a recipe in 'The Kind Diet' for sometime; rustic pasta and I decided that tonight was the night!  I have been going strong with my (nearly strictly) vegetarian diet for about two weeks now and I am seeing some pretty crazy changes!  So back to the rustic pasta; since I went to the farmer's market (this time in Schenectady) I had a few extra veggies so I decided to throw them in even though the recipe did not call for it.

Sautee in a little EVOO:
Onions
Garlic
Celery
Cabbage
Peppers (red and green)
Garlic powder
Crushed red pepper

Once all the veggies are good and hot add:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup marinara sauce

(In the meantime cook about 1/2 lb of pasta.  I chose garden vegetable fettuccine)

When the pasta is finished and the veggie/sauce mixture has cooked, mix it all together and voila!  It turned out to be pretty good! 

This weekend I also made some pretty delicious peanut butter cookies.  I froze the majority of the cookie dough and have been only making a few at a time.

So aside from making a delicious vegan dinner I have been quite productive today!  I ran my first 5K since the beginning of June in record time, went to the farmer's market, made two vegetable lasagnas (to be frozen and eaten later), cooked a pot of beans to eat over salad and throughout the week and I am currently working on writing my first paper of the semester!

Soup Sunday!

What better way to spend a lazy Sunday than to make soup out of fresh vegetables!!  I really didn't have a recipe and wasn't exactly sure what the end result would be, but the soup turned out amazing and I now definitely have some healthy meals for the upcoming week!

* * Side note - I have still been going strong with my desire to adapt a more plant based diet.  I have been eating (nearly) strictly vegetarian lately and have been discovering new recipes along the way!! * *

I started with a bunch of veggies from the Farmer's Market - carrots, celery, onions, parsley, peppers and sweet corn on the cob!  I copped up a bunch of the vegetables to make the broth and sauteed them with some olive oil for about five minutes.

Once they are good and hot I added water and brought the mixture to a boil.  Once at a boil I lowered the heat and allowed the mixture to simmer for about two hours.

 

Once the broth is ready I drained the cooked vegetables and placed the broth back in the pan.  (More often than not the broth may still be a little 'watery' so you may need to add some vegetable bouillon cubes to boost the flavor).  I then chopped the vegetables for the soup, I included - red and green peppers, fresh sweet corn on the cob, onions, carrots, celery and broccoli.  I also added a can of dark red kidney beans!  I brought the soup to a boil and allowed it to cook for about an hour, just enough to soften and cook the vegetables but still retain all the favor.

During this time I also cooked (separately) some mini spiral noodles.  Once the soup is ready I divided it into various tupperware contains, some to freeze for later the rest of eat during the week. 

 

And voila!  The final result!  Perfectly vegetarian (and vegan)! 

Yum!

Tomorrow I plan on making some challah bread to go with the soup and cook up some more black and kidney beans which will mix perfectly with some freshly cooked rice later on in the week.

No work tomorrow because of Labor Day so I am staying up late and sleeping in tomorrow!  I feel like such a rebel!

Taking It Back

So I have a lot to take back... mainly two big things that I mentioned in previous posts.  

1.  The cable is still on and my attempts to convert to a cable free household failed.  After purchasing the digital converter boxes and antennas and installing them on the TVs, I discovered that the signals were so weak that I could get one channel clearly, 3 very fuzzy channels and NBC was no where to be found!  One of my few requirements when getting rid of cable was that I still be able to watch the local and nightly news, of which I prefer NBC.  I realized that the cause of this was more than likely that I live on the bottom floor (with the apartments opposite of me being 'underground') of a 4 story building.  So the cable is staying on!  However, I was able to negotiate my way to a lower monthly bill through my initial threat to Time Warner that I was planning on canceling.  

2.  In my last post I talked about how the hurricane was not really that bad and seemed to be a whole lot of hype for nothing and in some ways I was right, but in other ways I was very very wrong.  Thursday my boss (Dave) had planned to take the Career Development staff to the Saratoga Race Track for a 'staff bonding' day and more or less just eat, drink and blow off some steam from a stressful summer.  The night before Dave decided to go down to the Stockade area of Schenectady to help our company's COO who's house had apparently flooded when the Mohawk River crested the day after the storm.  I don't think anyone truly realized how bad the storm and subsequent flood was, but needless to say that instead of going to the race track we spent the day performing disaster relief in the Stockade!  We helped out a man named Todd who's 1st floor of his home was completely destroyed, everything was lost.

1st Floor Bathroom

Living room with an antique 'Singer' sewing machine.

The entire first floor was covered with about an inch of mud.

Front of Todd's house - everything on the first floor had to be thrown away.

In the immediate aftermath everyone seemed to focus on North Carolina and New York City and while both areas suffered damage, little had been reported and I don't know that anyone really understood how bad Vermont and upstate NY were hit until well after the fact.  There is so much need and it felt great to be able to help.

Hurricane Sunday!!

So there's a hurricane.  And it seems like everyone in Albany is freaking out!  I went to the store Friday afternoon to do some grocery shopping and I will admit, look for a flashlight and get a bottle of water (just in case armageddon did strike) and the store was absolutely crazy!  Between hurricane prep and UAlbany moving back to down the day before the store was insane!  Granted it has been raining pretty hard most of the day and night and one pretty big tree fell about 20 feet from my building, but overall the storm has not been that bad, definitely not as bad as everyone was saying.  

So my hurricane Sunday has been extremely productive - couponing, coffee, cleaned my entire apartment, laundry, cooked a (vegan friendly) dinner, baked challah and continued getting a jump start on my school work.  

Light red kidney beans, 4 different types/colors of peppers, onion and various seasonings - to be served over rice!

This weekend I have also been reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone and it is VERY interesting!  I recommend it to anyone!  I am not considering becoming a vegan but it is interesting to think about what you are putting in your body and the effects it may be having on your life, the environment and the planet!

School begins tomorrow night - Transportation History and Policy, should be interesting!

To Cable or Not to Cable

I am disconnecting my cable!

I had been mulling over the idea of disconnecting my cable for a couple of weeks now and I finally decided that is was the best decision.

• Reason #1 - In May my cable/internet bill went up by $30 and is now well over $100 a month.
• Reason #2 - My final year or graduate school begins Monday and I need to eliminate as many distractions as possible.
• Reason #3 - I have been asking myself 'is cable really worth it'?  I will admit, I do love BRAVO and watch my fair share of MSNBC and NCIS reruns on the USA Network, but I feel that I can definitely live without them.  Furthermore, I stream Netflix through my Ruko and I am considering signing up for Hulu Plus so that I will be able to catch up on any shows that I deem 'essential viewing' 
• Reason #4 - My only two requirements when eliminating cable is that I still be able to watch the local and national (nightly) news and be able to watch football in the fall, and with digitial converter cable boxes I am able to do both!

Growing up we never had cable in our household and it was not until I went to college that I experienced cable on a consistent basis.  And I must admit the idea of saving $70 a month and $840 a year quite appealing!  So after consulting my anti-cable friend Jessica (who also let me borrow her digital converter cable box for a week to try out - thank you!) I went ahead and purchased two converter boxes and two antennas.  The total cost of the four products was $116 which will easily pay for itself in a little over one month of not having cable.  Dare I say I am somewhat excited for this new exploration!  I believe that not having cable will allow me to focus more on my school work (especially given the 20+ books on feminism and transportation history and policy that I am required to read this semester) and it will allow me to be more productive in other areas and spend less time in front of the TV.    

Challah!

This is one of my favorite home baked breads!  Traditionally made for Jewish holidays, I discovered this recipe after six months ago after making a different version of the bread for some time.  It's light yet filling and slightly sweet - that and the fact that it is braided makes it all the better!

Challah

5 cups flour

3 packages dry yeast

1 cup warm water

3 eggs

1 egg yoke

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Take the 3 packages of yeast and the one cup of warm water - mix together.

Combine 5 cups of flour and 1 tsp. salt.

In a separate bowl combine 3 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 oil.

Mix the yeast mixture and the sugar, egg and oil mixture with the flour until a saggy dough is formed.

Coat bowl with oil (vegetable or olive) and place dough inside.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and cover with a towel.

Place in a warm place and allow dough to rise.

Once dough has risen cut into three pieces and form 'ropes'.

Braid the three ropes.

Place dough on a baking pan.

Beat 1 egg yolk with a tablespoon of water.

Coat the dough with egg yoke/water mixture.

Bake at 325 degree for 20 to 25 minutes.

Enjoy!!