brownies

So, I've been having some serious chocolate craving and nothing beats this classic brownie recipe - dense, and bittersweet. Adding instant coffee does the trick for some rich flavoring for chocolate desserts but these brownies already have overpowering flavors from the bittersweet chocolate. The coffee would just make the brownies bitter, extra bitter. One piece of this outrageously delicious brownie definitely fixed my craving - pulled from a recipe book by the very best Ina Garten.

1 pound unsalted butter
28 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra large eggs
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 12×18x1 inch baking sheet. 
2. Melt together the butter, one pound of the chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature. 
4. In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture.
5. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup flour, then add them to the chocolate batter. Pour into the baking sheet.
6. Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and dough. Bake for another 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
   
   Do not overbake!Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into squares. Enjoy :)

picture roll 2

I made hodduk!

sprouts!

I've been soaking some lentils so I could sprout them - it was a success :) It was my first time so I was a little nervous about messing up the whole process. I made a salad -

dressing:

• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs spicy mustard
• 1/2 lemon squeezed
• 1/2 tbs red wine vinegar
• 1 tbs flax seeds
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

 date with an almond? har har har

BRRR!

After being such a bum around the house, I decided to do my 5-miler today....until I realized how windy it was outside. I ran down my street and by the time I turned the corner, I had to stop...it was so hard to breathe with the cold wind blowing in my face. I also had difficulty balancing myself with all the wind in all directions....so I turned back to go home. how sad. But when I got home, I ended up making myself a green smoothie instead..

• 2 1/2 cups of spinach
• 5 strawberries
• 1 banana
• 1 cup of water

For dinner, I made my parents sujebi (Korean gnocchi, kinda); made a puree with strawberries and spinach (in order to make sure they get their vitamins ;] ) then worked that into the 'gnocchi' dough. For the soup, I threw in potatoes, carrots, onions, zucchini, and kelp. I also made jjajang rice for my brother.....I always forget to take pictures whenever I'm cooking Korean food. I'll make sure to get some in next time.

For myself, I wasn't too hungry after the green smoothie so I threw another spinach salad together with some avocado and tomatoes + lemon & olive oil. Then I also made rutabaga fries......

 

 

Used this to spice up my already spicy rutabaga fries (it was gift from my roommate!)

 TA DA!

Sweet & spicy....I loved those so much. I'm definitely ditching mr. potato for some rutabaga loving. Then...for dessert...I stayed simple.

Stay warm!

lazy, just lazy

seems like I've completely forgotten about this blog...but believe me, these past couple of weeks have not been so exciting - other than studying and cramming for exams. The only one okay picture of something I ate is this....

Yogurt mess with last handful of my cereal and dark chocolate chips (had to get rid of them asap) and flax seed and cocoa powder.

Well, now I'm home from winter break...been laying around the house and reading blogs. My chia seeds came in and I've been experimenting with them since yesterday....I'm so amused by those. At first, my mom was grossed out by them(?) but about ten minutes ago I made her a tupperware of chia pudding. I made chia pudding yesterday with almond milk, a little bit of agave and ate it with some pomegranate seeds. I decided to make chocolate chia pudding - looking good!

OHMYGAH OMEGA

the little guy at the top is just the seed without any liquid absorbed and the tough guy at the bottom is the cocoa powder + almond milk + water + agave absorbed seed. See the difference?

I made tonkatsu for my brother, and Korean party(?) noodles for my parents (made the soup by bringing dried anchovies and dried kelp to a boil, made some sauce on the side with soysauce + red pepper flakes + sesame oil + sesame seeds + minced garlic, then topped everything off with some green onions, eggs, and kimchi) - it's funny because I didn't even taste any of those things before serving. But me on the other hand....I wanted something a little lighter so I threw whatever I could find and made a salad.

Then....on the side - had some kale and turnip greens laying around so I decided to make a green smoothie (banana, lemon juice, agave, strawberries).

don't be intimidated by that mean green look.

I want to make these rice balls tomorrow - you'll find out sooner or later what they really are. I'm off to bed...cheers!

changes

My mindset for the past 3 years on food had been - "I'll eat whatever I crave, as long as I don't go over my calorie limit" or "Even though this will cost me ___ calories, I'll just go work it off" - (at one point during one of the summers, I found myself at the gym up to 3 times a day forcing myself to burn off a certain number of calories eaten after each meal.) And also during those years, I crazed over highly processed foods that claimed to be 'fat-free' or 'low calorie.' I thought I was being smart by counting calories and fat intake, while I provided little to no attention to the ingredients list.

Earlier this year, I stopped with the calorie counting and the excessively spent hours at the gym - then limited my intake on processed foods, added more greens and vegetables to my diet and looked for fresh ingredients when grocery shopping. During a short research of my own, I came across 'raw foodism' - I'm just so intrigued by those who have adopted this diet and their testimonials. I don't intend on eating 100% raw because I just think that would be impractical for me - but I'd like  to expand my choices to those yummy plant-based sources.

Soon it will be a month since I've been vegetarian and have cut down on A LOT of processed foods - I'm actually really proud to say that because I didn't think I would even last a day. Oh and I've been drinking water, A LOT of water, about....3 to 4 liters a day? Is that abnormal? But the bottomline is that I feel so much better already even though I've only cut out meat from my diet and have cut down on processed foods. (Processed foods as in....granola bars, refined sugar, cheese, those desserts with endless lists of unknown ingredients, fried foods, canned foods, etc - just to list some.) - I haven't been getting my usual breakouts when I'm stressed (I've been messing with my sleeping schedule due to finals), I have more energy throughout my days, and....(getting more personal here about my feminine matters..) - I've been on the pill for my extreme PMS (excruciating lower back pain, mild headaches and dizziness, cold sweats, and of course..those damn cramps) but I've recently went off it. I feared that all of those symptoms would come back to haunt me but none of it did ; I just like to believe that due to those little changes, my body feels better.

Like I mentioned above, I don't plan on eating 100% raw but rather, plan to eat raw as much as possible while continuing to eat dishes that call for recipes with whole ingredients.

fun invention?

 

"The machine is currently in use in one of the major shopping centres in Barcelona, Spain, where it gives away free Christmas treats in exchange for working of the calories on the bicycle. The aim of the project is to educate people, and especially kids, about obesity, a growing problem in today's society, and consumption habits. The vending machine raises awareness about just how many calories candy contains and how much effort it is to burn them off. Depending on the calories of each product, you need to pedal more or less in order for the vending machine to release it."

Kale Kale Kale!

• 1 bunch kale (stem removed, cut into small sizes)
• 1 or 2 TBS olive oil - (drizzle over the sliced kale)
• sea salt & ground black pepper (or another seasoning of your choice!)

Bake until the edges are brown - not burnt! (keep your eyes on these)
About 10~15 minutes at 350 degrees!

Before coming back to campus, I went to TJ's for some snackage!

YUM!

I can never pick one - I had to mix the two with a splash of Almond Breeze!

picture roll

 

vegan ice cream sandwich

 

 

 

 

 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

food, and more food?

Fun fact (or should I say, scary fact?) :  3,000 Calories are consumed by the average person at Thanksgiving dinner. (How can you avoid that? - My advice, fill up half of your plate with veggies and help yourself with little bit of everything on the other side of your plate. Eat until you're full, not until your stomach feels uncomfortable and you have a hard time sucking in. Indulge in all of your Thanksgiving favorites without going overboard - aka intuitive eating. Also, if you're too full to eat dessert - save it for later - it won't be as scrumptious if you stuff your dessert down on a full stomach. Savor every bite. And please do enjoy yourself, and the company of your family & friends, Thanksgiving doesn't have to be all about the food.)

The last two days have consisted of eating out..for homemade meals. Yesterday when I came home, I left for my friend's to spend the night - we attempted to do a LOTR marathon - but a few of us fell asleep (like me, who ended up falling asleep during the first movie). The next morning we all woke up to this....

French toast casserole

potato pancakes

my plate (I was starving!)

Then all day today, ran errands for tomorrow - grocery shopping and such - saving the shopping at Walmart for later tonight, meaning waaaay later, blech.

This evening another friend of mine invited a couple of us to dinner - his mother cooked quinoa with vegetable stock. She cooked shrimp for me and made chicken for the others (how kind of her!) - it was delicious, I love quinoa so much! :) Then we finished the meal off with some pumpkin pie - I had a small slice myself (which I didn't take a picture of). I'm off to finish my book for my research paper and then I have some more grocery shopping to do. Happy Thanksgiving!