Life in the Cheese Drawer

i bought oatmeal from trader joe’s, a huge mistake because it’s so expensive. i can get cheaper oatmeal at the food co-op. BUT, there was a recipe for gluten-free chocolate chip oatmeal cookies on the back. and since i’ve been trying to limit (note: not eliminate) my carb intake, i thought this would be a good experiment.
original recipe:

• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Trader Joe’s Organic Creamy Peanut Butter
• 6 oz Trader Joe’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped
• 3 cups Trader Joe’s Rolled Oats

i made a couple changes. i didn’t use white sugar, increased brown to 1 cup, and didn’t put in the nuts. they turned out more than fine! yummy, even! i was worried they would fall apart due to no real binder, but the eggs and oatmeal did well in keeping it all together.

today i went to the rochester farmers’ market for the first time! of course this time of year it’s still indoors, but there were so many vendors! it makes me excited for summertime and what it’ll be like (even thought i got a CSA, i’ll still go to the FM). they have a really cool setup in that you can buy credits at the market with your credit card and use them at any vendor. easy if you forgot to get cash, especially since the fee they charge is less than your average ATM fee.
then later on, i went to trader joe’s to pick up some things to make wild rice soup tomorrow (aaannnndd i just realized i forgot the wild rice…). what i noticed about the types of people who go to each of these venues? the crowd in st. joe who went to the farmers’ market was akin to the crowd here who goes to trader joe’s. the crowd here who goes to the farmers’ market is an earthier bunch. a true hippie?
anyway, the two deals of the day i found: bacon for $5.50/pkg (cheap for FM) and free range eggs for $3.50 (cheap in general for free range). the egg gal also sells asparagus, so i’m excited for that.
in other news, i need to curb my diet pop intake. it’s getting out of control! in other other news, WHY ISN’T IT WARM YET i want to start running outside!!

i sing that to the cats when i feed them. “foo-ood time!”
i made a couple things this weekend. first, i had 3 quart bags of cranberries from thanksgiving time that i had to use. i made scones with half a bag, then tried my hand and drying some.
two observations: 1. i need a dehydrator if i’m going to do more drying. 2. they must marinate craisins in sugar water, because my cranberries were po-tent, omg. i sprinkled 1/4 cup of sugar over them and still my lips puckered. antioxidants, here i come, i guess. i still have a quart bag left, and i’m not sure what i’m going to do with them.
then, because i was feeling ambitious, i decided to try my hand at high-temperature pizza making. alton brown suggested finding quarry stones and using that as a pizza stone. a week-long search of the area resulted in the biggest quarry stone being 6″ square. well, i bought nine of them. less than $5! threw those suckers in the bottom of the over, turned the heat up to 500 and made me some pizza.
i used mr. brown’s dough recipe, which calls for a slow rise overnight in the fridge. the dough was pretty chewy (which nate liked) but it got done in the middle. then, to top it off, nate and i bought some mozzarella balls, which i sliced and put on the pizza on top of basil and pepperoni. on one pizza i put some feta cheese on as well. besides the chewiness, the pizzas were awesome and only took 7 minutes in the oven.

 

i made the most boring scones ever. i should have known when the recipe called for only 1/4 cup of brown sugar to toss with 1-1/2 cups of chopped cranberries. they’re kind of like biscuits trying to be breakfast, but not really.
all this to say, i have 2-1/2 quarts of cranberries in my fridge and freezer. what should i do with them? obviously scones are out of the question…unless i find a better recipe.

my cousin-in-law brookie has a new blog in which she is documenting her learning process of eating smart. it’s always heartening to see people learn the awfulness that is devil’s syrup (aka corn syrup or any derivative)!
speaking of which, i was reminded of the awfulness of DS today when i felt a rumbling in my lower half and rushed to the bathroom. i will get sick if i consume a lot of DS, and apparently the cupcakes from yesterday’s RCTC facebook extravaganza were loaded with the stuff (sadly, they did not come with an ingredients list). i hope it’s all out of my system. note to self: cupcakes from hy-vee have corn syrup in them.
now i wouldn’t rank myself as much of a stickler when it comes to portion size as brooke does, but i do root for the non-processed foods and less-ingredient foods (i’ve also probably got 100 lbs on brooke, so there’s something to be said for portion control). but i am also a proponent of eating socially, which is why i had the cupcakes yesterday. it’s one thing to decline ice cream at liz’s house or extoll the unvirtuousness that is monsanto to megan (she may think my anti-corn crusade is stupid, but agrees that monsanto is the devil), but quite another to sit there with no cupcake while everyone’s stuffing his/her face at a work event.
it comes down to the school of thought that you live to eat or eat to live. living to eat is a too uncontrollable, while eating to live is so sterile. there’s a fine line one has to walk. eat smart, but eat socially at the same time. some days you can lean one way, while other days quite the opposite. eat socially smart.
so while i may put up a good-looking anti-DS front, be it known that i do diverge from time to time, especially when i’m not thinking about it.
and boy, do i pay for it.
*runs to bathroom*
[in other, somewhat relevant news, i had always avoided ben and jerry’s ice cream because whatever i picked up inevitably had corn syrup in it. but liz mentioned the other day that pistachio pistachio lacked it, so i went to their website and checked out their ingredients lists. and 1 of 2 things is happening: i was either picking up the wrong flavors, OR (and i’m hoping this is the more likely) they responded to the recent brouhaha of the all-natural claim and have been phasing out corn syrups. there are many flavors that are DS-free! woo!]

everyone and their neighbor says low- or no-carb diets are the best for losing weight. so i present to you, my favorite no-carb dish:

fried up bacon pieces (half a package chopped up), broccoli, mushrooms, and cheese. how can you go wrong??
i normally pair it with steak, and since it’s definitely not grilling weather, i pan fried mine in olive oil and butter in my cast iron skillet.