Boxed Lunches

? Have you ever noticed how boxed lunches (the kind ordered at meetings at work) pre-judge those who will consume their contents? Basically, you choose if you want a sandwich or if you want a salad. The rest of the contents are completely pre-decided for you, all based on your single and seemingly unimportant choice of a sandwich or a salad. I find quite interesting the box-makers' decision on what the accompanying edibles should be. Let me explain: the salad comes with a roll. The sandwich comes with a bag of chips. So, if you get a sandwich you are obviously a fatty and want chips, not a roll. Whereas, if you get a salad, you are definitely not going to want to put any greasy chips into your healthy salad-filled body. You deserve a roll. This is regardless of what kind of sandwich or salad it is and how healthy it may actually be. The avocado and turkey on whole wheat bread sandwich eater gets the same goods as the Italian meat-lovers cheese-maniac mayonnaise delight eater. There is some jump in logic here that I just can't follow: those with a preference for salad-eating want the un-fried roll, and those with the sandwich-consuming mindset want chips. Please note there are also desserts, fruit, and other accompaniments which follow this same perplexing pattern. Oh, they have a salad, they must not want a dessert. Oh, the sandwich eater's a goner anyways, what with his greasy chips, carbo-licious cheese and mayo-filled sandwich and all; he's just asking for it. Might as well just throw a pop in there and a brownie. Make it a pop, brownie, AND a cookie for that matter! It'll make no difference. It is also decided for us, the boxed lunch-eating people, that we can only have a salad OR a sandwich. What of those who like to mix it up, say with the mind-blowing half sandwich and half salad combo? Anyhow, I just feel kind of sad for the sandwich eaters, or for myself-as I ate a sandwich today, since I am assumed to be one who would prefer a bag of chips over a roll. I tend to feel that if I have a sandwich, I don't necessarily always want the chips.

Cooking Tips & This Morning's Ingredients

James fell upon this baby today. This guy is great. He's full of great cooking tips and delicious recipes. I am dying to try them. I like his videos on garlic, olive oil, and butter (he advocates for eating real butter and not spreads). I'm hoping with his tips I can master a delicious bolognese sauce. Oh man, my new bestfriend. His recipes look so good.

I love his kitchen backsplash too. Gotta get me one of those. Guess I need a kitchen first. Which means I need a house.

This morning my ingredients were

And the end result
A yummy waffle breakfast with my niece (with these waffles, raspberry sauce, and fresh whipped cream). Waffle breakfasts are my fav, but having it with my niece is the icing on the cake.

My Man

You may be asking yourself, "What is this red dot?" It is one of the greatest inventions of our times.
Perhaps you find yourself thinking, "Well, that Sarah, she's just easily entertained."
Well, this is still an amazing invention. It's a jar opener. The day I discovered this baby, I thought "I don't need a man" (if it were to come to that...I'm not THAT negative, maybe...anyhow). Foods that come in every form are available to me with this at hand. Beautiful.

Also, make sure you try these chips. They are the best chips I have ever had. No joke. I take my chips very seriously.

Life Lesons Learned in the Kitchen, entry #2

Do you drive on the freeway for your first spin in a car at 15?

Do you learn how to walk before you can crawl?

Do you yell out the punch line of a joke before the lines are appropriately delivered?

Do you watch season 3 of a show before you've finished season 1?

No folks.

You don't.

Yeah that's right. You don't.

So why find a random recipe and try to make it at the last minute when you have to bring it somewhere?

I should have been suspicious of some of the ingredients. I mean, come on, I know food. 3/4 c. flour....unheard of for this type of dish. No oil or butter.....blasphemous! I knew it was too good to be true.

Yes folks.

It was folks.

I may be no Julia Childs, but I can cook. I mean, come on. I can whip something up that you will likely enjoy. However, I should have recalled that it is a bad idea to bring a dish somewhere when I haven't ever tried it before. Don't jump the gun and commit when you may likely crash and burn. Yes, I said it gang. Become acquainted first, then commit.

Great-Grandma's Raspberry Jello

When I was little we'd go over to my great-grandparent's house in Yakima for Thanksgiving and Easter dinner. On the table we would each have a little adorable jello that had been placed in a mold (a teeny jello ring). The jello was the delicious mess described below. I cannot have a family dinner without this jello. It is heaven on earth.

It's so good. You have to try it.

1 large box of raspberry Jello
2 cups boiling water
1 cup cold pineapple juice (from the can of pineapple)
One 2/3 size can (not the regular size) of pineapple tidbits, drained. --be sure to save one cup of the juice
1 cup of frozen raspberries
1 cup of whipping cream (prior to whipping)
1 Tbl powdered sugar
1 tsp Vanilla

Add Jello to boiling water and stir until dissolved. Add pineapple juice. Stir and chill until almost set. In the meantime, whip the cream and combine with powdered sugar and vanilla. Once the Jello is close to being set, fold the whipped cream into the Jello and then fold in the drained pineapple and the frozen raspberries. Continue chilling until firm.

The other day at work I was showing my friend the beloved jello left over from Thanksgiving and he said it looked like cat vomit. I really wouldn't know, I'm not a cat person.

Eat more, chunkers

I would like to formally thank Taco Bell for encouraging everyone to add another meal (fourthmeal) to our current overindulgence. I'm not the type to go to fast food because 1. I'm poor 2. I like to cook and prefer homemade meals almost always 3. I need to run more, not eat fast food more. Yes, somewhat of a food snob. But hey, I'll eat it. Put something edible in front of me and I will gladly get it into my belly.

So, oddly for me, I've gone to Taco Bell twice in the past week. I discovered the double decker taco this summer and happily got that again and I discovered at my second trip that they have a new "healthier" menu which seems to be the same food but with pico de gallo on top-which I'm okay with because I LOVE pico de gallo. It would be nice if it actually was healthier though.

On another note, I made cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and I did in fact enjoy it with turkey (to my surprise). I prefer to add less sugar for turkey-combining purposes. I bought frozen cranberries from trader joes that were already sweetened (12 oz., 8 g carbs per serving-if that says anything about how sweetened they were) and added them to 1 cup of water and 1/2 c. plus 2 T. of sugar that first was brought to a boil. I let it boil a few minutes then took it off the burner. Pretty delish. I was tempted to add lemon juice but didn't want to risk it so I didn't. I have a thing about adding lemon juice to fruit that I cook for jam-type substances or other purposes. I usually do risk it and it turns out good. I think cranberries may be their own lemons though, due to their sassy flavor.
See next post for grandma's raspberry jello. You should be REALLY excited.

Un-foodstuffs

Foodstuffs, what does that even mean?

–noun
a substance used or capable of being used as nutriment.
Origin: 1870–75; food + stuff

Oh, that's what it means.

It's just one of those words that people throw around and no one really knows what it means.

Ok, maybe people know what it means but I don't. I don't really mind.

Speaking of not caring, lack of motivation, etc. etc. I have felt so unmotivated to cook lately. I think I just may have had the life sucked out of me. As I walked to my room past my mom with my cold cereal boxes and milk for dinner on this Thanksgiving Eve, my mom scoffed and said "ha! cold cereal!?" She expects me to never settle for cold cereal I guess. Let it be known, I'm fond of a good cold cereal with deliciously cold milk. Yes, I like to eat real handcrafted meals, but cold cereal just hits the spot sometimes.

Anyways, back to the life being sucked out of me. I feel like my brain is partitioned into three sections: 1. My gainful employment 2. My internship (I pay to be there) 3. School. My partitions are pretty much in that order too. I am having a hard time accepting feeling that I cannot put my all into any one thing. I know I'm not doing my best in anything because I have to balance everything. I'm about 35% energy at my work, 30% at my internship and (...how much is left?) 25% at school. (I just realized that would be 90% after publishing this post. Oh well.) It is not a comfortable feeling to only be able to apply minimal focus to something you want to be dedicated to. I daydream of only being a student. It would be so crazy to only be going to school. It would be so nice! My internship is actually part of school. Oh man. Can't wait for my stress-induced sore neck to go away. Should be gone in April! (After March graduation.) In the meanwhile, I am struggling to focus. Hocus pocus. See what I mean? Any one word or thought sets my mind off on random tangents that I would much rather entertain than that which I must accomplish.

The good thing about always having something you should be doing is that I find I always get other things done that I didn't want to do before when I didn't have multiple tasks clamoring for my attention. Exhibit A: A box organizing and sorting project I've had on my mind for months is mysteriously accomplished when I have many other top priorities on my list begging for my attention.

To end on a positive note; Pie. Creative pie crusts here. Thanks Martha! She's such a dear.