I'm a Hot Sweaty Mess

It's about a bajillion degrees here in Columbus and my hair feels like a fuzzy ball of brown cotton candy. (Hotness!) I've had a crazy-busy holiday weekend. I went to a cookout, fireworks, miniature golfing, the Cheesecake Factory, out for margaritas and tacos, a friend's house for Uno-playing, movie-watching at my place, walking in Sharon Woods, Knight's Ice Cream and in a couple of hours I'm headed to Caribou to see Shannon, Zach, Hannah, Reaghan and new baby Jude.

I also did some cooking. I made lemon-garlic chicken thighs, teriyaki asparagus and asparagus with toasted almonds and garlic.

Since I'm too lazy to write much more, I'll be content with making a list of my new favorite things.

• Website -- Supercook -- This is now my most favorite website on earth. It's the sole reason I did so much cooking this weekend. You enter all the food you have in your house. The search engine looks on recipe websites and tells you what you can make with your on-hand items. (Or what to buy to make something more exciting.) I'm thrilled with the idea of not wasting food!
• Movie -- Lars & the Real Girl -- I thought it was weird for the first five minutes. Now, it's one of the best movies I've ever seen.
• TV Show -- The Secret Life of the American Teenager -- It's on ABC Family. I watched the first episode and thought it was great. And Molly Ringwald as the mom? Fantabulous!
• Reality Show -- The Mole -- I'm convinced Craig is the mole. We shall see.

To Be Vegan or Not to Be Vegan...

I'm debating about whether to be vegan (also minus sugar, caffeine, gluten and alcohol) for 21 days (like Oprah) to cleanse my body. I've been eating a lot of crap lately - I think if I get it out of my system, I'll feel better.

Yesterday, I checked out a couple of vegan cookbooks from the library. I've already made a recipe - Muffins That Taste Like Donuts from Vegan Vittles. Of course, I was drawn to the least Oprah/body cleanse-friendly recipe on earth. Still, the nutritionals aren't bad - only 2 points per muffin (about 120 calories or so.) Amy, they'd also be Evie-friendly since they have no dairy!

I halved the recipe to make 6 muffins - if you want to make 12, double it.

Topping

• 1/8 C sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Dry Ingredients

• 1 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/8 C sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Wet Ingredients

• 1/2 C applesauce (I used unsweetened)
• 1/2 C plain or vanilla soymilk or rice milk (I used vanilla soy milk)
• 1 T maple syrup (I used light Aunt Jemima's - I know it's not real syrup, but real syrup is expensive!)
• 1 T vegetable oil (I used canola)
• 1/2 T lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix the topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Mix the wet ingredients together in a small bowl.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well with a wooden spoon. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups. Sprinkle tops with topping mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Let rest for 3-5 minutes in pan. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My Review:

Although these muffins were very good, the person who created them has obviously never tasted a donut in her entire life. They taste nothing at all like donuts.

With that said, they're still pretty good muffins. They have a wholesome flavor thanks to the whole wheat pastry flour and the cinnamon sugar topping adds a nice touch. Plus, I'm just satisfied with one - I don't need to eat the whole tin at once. That's always a good sign!

I would definitely make these again!

I Love Asparagus!

I've decided I need to cook more and eat more nutritious foods. I've been relying too much on carry-out lately.

Tonight I made a variation of a Cooking Light recipe and it turned out beautifully! The cooking light recipe was "Gnocchi with Asparagus & Pancetta." However, I didn't have those things, so I made "Rotini with Asparagus & Canadian Bacon."

Rotini with Asparagus, Canadian Bacon (serves 2 @ 8 pts)
1/2 lb whole-wheat rotini (I used Ronzoni SmartTaste, which is white rotini with whole-wheat pasta stats)

• 2 slices Canadian bacon, thinly sliced
• 1/2 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 T fresh lemon juice
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 oz goat cheese (mine had garlic & herbs)

Cook pasta following package instructions. Drain in a colander, reserving 1/2 C cooking liquid. Cook bacon in cooking spray in a large skillet over med-high heat. Saute for 3 minutes or until browned. Transfer bacon to another dish.

Add asparagus to pan and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add pasta, reserved cooking liquid, bacon, lemon juice, salt and pepper to pan. Cook 1 minute and top with cheese.

I thought it was fantastic - a light, refreshing summer meal.