No Blogging

Posted on July 10, 2011 by wb 2 Comments

I am very much so enjoying where my life is taking me.  The only difficulty I feel like I’m facing right now is trading my view from this:

to this…

I’ve been purposefully mindful of not blogging the past few months.  I’ve been unintentionally forgetting to blog for the past few months.  A sweet balance, actually.

I should also note the second photo is taken in “the sticks” which is close to my parents house further away from where I’d actually be moving.  However, if I do move out there, I do believe I will spend 95% percent of my free time biking and the remaining 5% drinking.  And I think that’s okay, too…

 

Soon!

 

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Cooking Sunday: Vegetable Pulp Stuffed Peppers

Posted on March 27, 2011 by wb 1 Comment

In an attempt to maintain a regular blogging schedule, I have decided to keep focus on certain days of the week that I think I can blog and certain topics.  I hope this works.  Randomly talking about items of exteme important nothing has not worked, so I figured I’ll give this a try.

Sunday is my favorite day of the week.  I love to relax a little in the morning, hang around home all day, and make a nice meal in the evening.  Some weeks, like last week, I work rather late so cooking on weeknights is not always an option.

Last week while I was at Costco, I bought a bag of mini sweet peppers.  I was expecting to use them in salads and omelets, but while I was contemplating dinner the idea of a stuffed pepper hit me.  I had the vegetable pulp from the juicer in the freezer and some turkey sausage links, and decided to improvise.

I’m really good at improvising.

You will need:

-2 links uncooked turkey sausage (such as this)
-1 cup panko bread crumbs
-3/4 cup vegetable pulp (optional)
-1 egg
-1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
-2 generous tablespoons italian blend seasoning
-salt & pepper
-8-10 mini sweet peppers

Make em!
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lop off the tops of the peppers. I tried to pick ones that were round as sometimes the mini peppers are either too small or the insides touch. If you can’t find good round ones, cut them in half and place the meat mixture on the halves.
3. Combine the breadcrumbs, cheese, seasoning. Then add the egg and vegetable pulp.
4. Remove casings from the sausage links and combine with stuffing mixture.
5. Stuff the peppers. I had extra meat left over after I had stuffed all mine so I rolled into meatballs for a future meal
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

I was really pleased with this recipe.  I was never a huge fan of stuffed peppers.  I don’t like how greasy they are along with the fact that a whole green pepper is a pretty solid commitment.  Green pepper takes over a lot of flavor and sometimes is just too much.  The peppers were sweet against the slightly spicy sausage.  I did not really “taste” the vegetable pulp mixture.  I mean, I knew it was there, but it was subtle.  All worked well.  I added a side of microwaved veggies.  Not because I felt like I needed more vegetables, but because my plate seemed kind of lonely despite the fact that I had managed to wrap a complete meal into these little peppers.

 

I plan to use more vegetable pulp in my cooking, somehow.  I guess I could add it to soups.  I am really looking forward to this “new to me” experiment.  Veggie burgers anyone?!

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Recent Costco Finds

Posted on March 26, 2011 by wb 2 Comments

Hello Out there!

Welcome to the 412 View.  I am a blogger, trust me.  I have been slightly overwhelmed these last few weeks and blogging has fell to the side. I am certainly feeling a little bit of guilt with lack of updating so I hope you all will bare with me!

Last weekend, I took some time to go to Costco and stock-up.  I also had to go to Costco as my contact lenses had reached a point of no-return (typical of me) and needed to order.  Oh.  I also got my ghetto laptop wireless working these last few weeks!  Whoohoo!

While I was there, I browsed around a bit.  I knew I needed a few things, so I figured why not walk the aisles a bit?

I picked up a three pack of these aladdin water bottles for about $9.  I thought it was a good deal since most of these reuseable bottles are $10 for one.  I talked about how I wanted one of these bottles at the office and the bottle I featured from Fred Flare was $10 for one!  The bonus of course being now I have one to clutter use in my car, and an extra for home.  Actually, I am terrible at losing these types of bottles, so I will keep one as a spare.

Then, I decided to treat myself.

You see, I have been wanting a juicer for quite some time.  I really do enjoy fresh vegetable juice that is not V-8, and not concentrated in a bottle (think, Odwalla Juices).  I decided some time ago that my “treat” to myself after starting my job would be another kitchen appliance.  Sure, I could use a decent set of pots and pans, and I probably will indulge in the future, but I wanted something I wouldn’t normally buy myself.  So I did.  You can click on the image to go to the website.  I think I got a deal on the juicer because thankfully the price in Pittsburgh is less than it is online.  I ended up paying $89 for it and left rather pleased.  I enjoyed my first glass of carrot, celery, apple, lemon juice when I got home and yes fresh juice is a natural energy drink.  I look forward to playing with my new kitchen toy.

The second best part of the juicer?  The pulp.  What I have been doing is saving the pulp, storing it in the freezer, and using it as a “filler” for recipes.  In fact, I made stuffed peppers the other night with pulp and I thought I had gone to heaven.

While I was at Costco, I stocked on on bread, eggs, spinach, but no (other) veggies so I will need to go back this weekend and get more.  I am pleased because the juicer came with a huge (and legit) “cookbook” of which I have bookmarked a few juice combinations I look forward to playing with.  So far my favorite juice is carrot, romaine, tangerine.  Luckily (?), I haven’t been eating a ton of salad lately so I had an abundance of romaine left to juice.  I’ve found cutting the “green” juices with a citrus fruit really “helps”.

Updates on the Job Front

Things are going well.  Though, Friday night I may have fallen asleep at 8:30 (how that happened, I do not know).  If I work late (latest night so far was 10:00 this week), they don’t pressure me to come back in for 8:00 AM.  Unlike my old job, who required me to be in at 7:00 AM despite working until 1:00 AM.  It’s nice that they (semi-collectively) tell me to focus on my health.

My secretaries right now are like angels.  They are smart and know their job (unlike my old position).  They vet issues that come to me (unlike my old job).  They don’t send salesmen/sales calls back to me (unlike my old job).  And, truth be told, they don’t seem to be mad that I am young and their boss (this is speculation at this point, honestly).  All this positivity is not to say I am not already facing challenges, I am, but I am in an environment so far that is lending to success.  I’m not speculating there.  I can relax and enjoy my path.

 

The Blog

I want to hone-in on my focus here.  I do not think I can commit to daily posting.  I do think, however, I can comit to a “blogging schedule”.  I will be spending tomorrow setting up that schedule and keeping my entries to a focus.  Maybe cooking on Sunday.  Exercise re-caps on Friday.  Hot & Not on a Tuesday.  Random Saturday.  I still want to blog.  I still want to focus on my life as I see it, so I hope you stick around while I adjust myself.

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