Snack Week Begins! - Fruit Salsa

Welcome to Snack Week! An overwhelming percentage of you decided that you would like healthy options for your afternoon snacking. While I’m a big fan of the 3pm Snickers bar I think that my body is craving something a little more nutritious. How can I tell? Because I’m sick.

After coming back from Christmas break, I neglected to buy any groceries. Let’s blame long hours at work, snow and plain old laziness. So for two weeks I’ve been living on the staples in my pantry. Pasta, pre-made sauce, dried beans and rice. Luckily I had some chicken in the freezer or I would have starved or had some serious muscle failure. Luckily, I only have to feed myself. If I had a pet or husband to feed they would have ran away from home, or at least been slightly less lazy than I and ordered a pizza.

Snack week is not only filled with healthy, small portion foods, but it is jam-packed with fruits and vegetables. I’m trying to knock out the sore throat virus with some vitamins and minerals! While at the store this week I stocked up on fruits, veggies and whole grains. I did forget to buy cold medicine though, so instead, I’m going to go to sleep at 9 o’clock tonight. I’m very excited about that.

Raspberry Meringues

When I was teaching a crazy amount of group exercise classes (nine a week, I’m exhausted just thinking about it!) I loved my Fridays. Friday was the only day a week that I didn’t have any classes to teach. It was my favorite day of the week because Thursday mornings I had a 5:30 am class, but Fridays I got to sleep in, ahhh. Sleep. Friday was the ultimate lazy day, or at least as lazy as I can be. I’m pretty sure I have adult ADD.

This is how lazy Friday would go. Alarm goes off at 6:00 am, BOING! I’m out of bed and off to the shower. Unlike boyfriend, who enjoys watching an episode of Saved by the Bell before hitting the shower, I like to wake up with hot water. This is where I start to plan my to do list, which I promptly forget once I start blow drying my hair. My brain has some holes in it. I’ll forget everything on my list once I sit down to eat my cheerios and watch the second Saved by the Bell episode. Oh Slater, how I love your muscle shirts.

Then I’m off to work. My hilly drive to Boulder made me very happy. The sun rising behind me and the moon setting over the Rockies, lovely. Heading into the lab I try to remember what exactly I was planning on doing for the day. Something having to do with chemistry, right? The next ten or eleven hours is when this chemistry would happen. Yes, I said ten or eleven hours. The life of an academic, it’s fun! Come to grad school where the days are long!

Lazy Friday ends with a trip to Wendy’s and a stop at the Redbox. No working out at night, just eating French fries, watching a movie and usually, doing laundry. Oh yeah, I’m exciting, I know how to party. Now, since we’re being ‘good’ this month, I thought a trip to Wendy’s was not the best way to celebrate lazy Friday. So, I made you some cookies. Light, airy and fruity cookies. Plus, they’re pink!

2011 Foodie Resolutions

So, I have been thinking about what I want to accomplish this year.  Aside from getting a "real" job and escaping academia, becoming a "grown-up" and possibly moving in with my favorite person, there is food to think about!  Last year brought many firsts, including deep frying, candy making and homemade bread.  The plans for this year are as follows...

1.  Become an accomplished candy-maker.  I will determine what I need to complete to become "accomplished," but I think this requires at least 15-20 candy recipes this year.  Waistlines beware!

2. Complete the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge.  I have taken on four of these recipes, how many does that mean I have left?  My own rule is to complete them all in one year, alphabet thrown to the wind.  Why would I need to do it in alphabetical order anyways?

3. Destroy the notion that "Chicken is boring."  Chicken is so NOT boring!  And I will prove it to you this year.  You may have noticed that I have never posted a beef recipe.  This is because I haven't eaten a steak, hamburger or roast in over fifteen years.  I'll explain this someday, but not today!

So that's it.  I'm looking forward to this year.  It is going to be sweet, yeasty and amazing.