Things I Love Thursday: Food.

(credit)

This is the food edition because, hey why not? And food is great.

Pizza – especially mushroom and buffalo chicken (but not together). Or just plain cheese with red pepper flakes. And garlic salt. Brick over style, bar style, personal size, extra large, on english muffins…

Cupcakes – mainly because they look so cute. Also because they’re pretty tasty (especially when purchased from a cupcake bakery).

Indian food – Vegetable Samosas are my favourite but I also love vegetable pakoras, any flavour of naan that doesn’t have lamb or something yucky in it,  palak paneer, malai koftka, panner (or chicken) tikka masala. Let’s not forget papadums and mango lassi.

Pad thai.

Tofu fritters – I’ve only ever seen them sold at the Chattabox in Bridgewater but we are in love.

Baked Lays – I’m always craving them lately.

Avocado – I can’t eat them. My mouth gets itchy and my chest hurts and I’m afraid of anaphylactic shock but oh my god I’m regularly sad about the fact that I can’t eat them anymore. Because I love them. On toast. In turkey sandwiches. In my guacamole. Alone.

Clam chowder – read about my favourite here.

Lobster – in butter. As a “salad”, grilled, boiled, plain. In my mouth, yes please.

Pumpkin soup with garam masala. My mom makes this in huge batches and I eat until it’s gone every time.

Berries – raspberries and strawberries, especially. Frozen. Fresh. In smoothies. On top of ice cream, heated in oatmeal, mixed into yogurt…

Mushrooms – stuffed, diced, grilled on pizza, in tomato sauce, alone with olive oil and garlic. I’ll try mushrooms in any form (uh probably except the ‘shroom form). Substitute a portabella for a burger or throw some in pasta. Lately my favourite is grilled with mozzarella cheese and basil, maybe some grilled onions, too. Panini-style. yum. yum.

What foods are you loving today?

The Day I Made Veggie Samosas

It was a long time coming. I read the recipes over and over, I talked about it for a while but in the long run I usually ended up either going out for Indian or settling for the frozen version (which is surprisingly hard to find anyway). But I finally made some of these a few times and they’re absolutely amazing.

I started off with this recipe, but I left out the cilantro. I used puff pastry instead of Phyllo dough (I tried it with the Phyllo but I could barely even wrap the things!).

First, boil potatoes

I also added garam masala and more cayenne pepper.

SPICES!

mix the spices in a cup

brown the onions then add in the spices and PEAS

Not sure why I got so excited about them 🙂

 

Cut or mash potatoes to your liking.

Add potatoes

One time I ate them just like this! But if you don’t want to do that, wrap them in defrosted puff pastry dough as you please and cook them in the over for about twenty minutes (on 400 degrees).

ENJOY!

 

Saturday Seven

One thing I love for each day of this week.

* A date for Indian lunch today. So good. I’m obsessed with Indian food and I have cravings all of the time. I had Paneer Tikka, veggie samosas and rosemary naan.

* Making plans for this blog. It basically involves me posting more. Shocking. It also involves an attempt to be consistent. More pictures, books, love in general.

* Finding Drive Time Italian on my external hard drive. I can’t wait to put that to use.

* What’s Eating You? On E!. I’m fascinated by eating disorders and every component that is involved with them. I also like knowing that these people are getting help. Or trying to.

* Having a Saturday night off without asking for it. My plan is to watch movies and do yoga. (Unless, of course, my brother is home. Then I’ll probably nix the yoga.)

* Hanging out with this little dude. Even if it involves chasing him all over Walmart and spinning him in circles.

* 20 Something Bloggers. Community is key. I need to get involved.

Also, bonus: I’m in the process of creating a writer’s group. Our first meeting was on Tuesday. (I’ll admit I wasn’t the one who started it all, but I’m going to do my best to get more writer’s involved). So hopefully I’ll be writing even more.

Did You Eat Your Vegetables Today?

(*Or since it’s early in the AM, yesterday?)

My mom’s a huge fan of making a big deal when she doesn’t see me eating enough vegetables during my dinner. Last night I had microwave vegetable Samosas (which are, like they say, filled with vegetables… or if you want to be technical, peas and potatoes) for dinner out of laziness and the pure desire to fill my mouth with an easy Indian inspired appetizer.

After asking what was inside the Samosas, my mom tried to emphasize there were no vegetables (um what are peas? I had to show her one, I don’t think she heard me the first time…) and jokingly ask if they were 5 servings of vegetables inside. Um, no, clearly there aren’t.

“Do you eat five serves of vegetables a day?”

I know that eating fruits and vegetables is ideal. I know they’ve bumped up the serving suggestions from 3-5 servings to 5-9. I know that. Every day I struggle to remember (and pretend to want to eat) vegetables and fruit instead of a bag of Baked Lays that seems like it’ll satiate my hunger (and salt cravings) better than a handful of baby carrots. Even in spite of all of this, when asked a direct question that challenges my eating habits (especially when this comes from my mother) my natural response is,

“I don’t know ANYONE, except you, who eats that many in a day.”

So why is she challenging me to be the exception? Why isn’t she giving my brother a hard time? She claims she “can’t be responsible” for him, as if she can be more responsible for  for me? My dad doesn’t eat five servings, and she is the one who usually feeds him. Why pick on me?

The truth is, I don’t want to eat all of those fruits and vegetables because I am told that I need to. (If I’m going to eat them, it’s because I want to, not because anyone else wants me to).  I don’t want to be told that I need to do anything. Maybe it’s because I never had some stupid rebel stage in high school, but it never fails to aggravate me when anyone attempts to remind me what I *need* to do.

Do you eat 5-9 servings of  fruits and vegetables a day? What about THREE servings? Some days I can do that like cake. Other days, well hey, they just seem to slip by.

<3.Melanie.Terrill

Seven Things!

Pizza in Lucca, Italy

So, Kate from I Dream Loudly tagged me to do a Seven Things post. Being one who absolutely loves lists, how could I object to that? Even though I just ate lunch and I’m full and sticky from my own sundae invention (Peaceful Meadows apple crisp yogurt, toast coconut, “cinnimon crunchies” etc Cinnimon Toast Crunch and butterscotch YUM) — don’t ask how I managed to spill it all over myself — I am going to list foods that I absolutely love.

Food and I have a love/hate relationship. But regardless, my tastebuds love it. And when I fall for a dish, I fall hardcore. So here’s a list of the top seven foods that I absolutely love and would eat well, whenever.

Listed in alphabetical order because I don’t have the heart to pick favourites ABOVE the list that I’ve made.

Clam Chowder – You already know about my love of Clam Chowder from this post, so it automatically has to make the list.

Ice Cream – I’ve worked on and off in an ice cream shop since I was sixteen. Right now, it’s how I spent my Saturday nights. I could also eat ice cream every day. It’s so cold and sweet and creamy and delicious.

Peanut butter and banana sandwiches – Especially grilled, these beat out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches any day. I love the flavours together, and it what’s even better is that it’s an Elvis Sandwich. Who wouldn’t love a meal preferred by The King?

Pizza – Okay, so I couldn’t really pick favourites but I must admit that pizza trumps everything else, ever. I could eat pizza every day. In fact, I often do. Of course the best pizza I’ve ever eaten was in Italy, but I’m not about to turn my nose up at an amazing slice right here. Some of my favourites are mushroom, white/ Greek, and extra cheese.

Smoothies – I love smoothies because they’re so versitle. They can be the perfect breakfast, dinner or snack. I’m not talking about the smoothies that McDonald’s now offers, either. I’m talking about the home made kind. The kinds where you throw in whatever seems to pop out at you. I tend to use brozen berries with milk and either a Weight Watchers shake packet or cocoa powder or any other powder especially if it has protein. I’ll add in peanut butter or flax seeds too. Lately I’ve been adding baby spinach to my smoothies. You can’t taste it, but it makes the smoothie turn green. How fun is that? Not to mention the added benefits of getting spinach daily (okay, so I haven’t been making them daily, but I should be!).

Tofu Fritters – I’ve only been able to find these at one Thai restaurant I’ve been to. This makes me wonder if they aren’t actual a Thai appetizer, but one of the other cuisines they offer (Malasyan and Japanese specifically come to mind). This is how they’re described on the website for The Chattabox. (Mind you, they’re also called TUFU Fritters on the site, though the menu says otherwise…) Smashed tofu with shredded vegetables in tempura flour, deep fried until golden brown. Served with cucumber mint sauce.

Vegetable Samosas – I’ve tried making these on my own, I’ve bought them frozen at Hannafords (though, I can’t seem to find the anymore, what’s up with that?) and I order them every time I’m in an Indian Restaurant. I find myself craving them sometimes when it’s been too long.

Also, Secret Society of List Addicts does guest posts every Tuesday. Should I think up some creative lists and send in for a guest appearance?

<3.Melanie.Kristy