I was never really that in to how food tasted. Really. I used to eat tuna out of the can for lunch because it was easy, low fat and tons of protein. What did I care how it tasted? I was done eating in less than 10 minutes.
The reason behind that kind of eating, started when a friend in High School took me to her gym after school to work out. She introduced me to the world of sweat, grunts and aerobics.
With that, came eating healthy. I remember sitting down to dinner one night and proclaiming “I’m not eating that anymore!” Much to my parents dismay and confusion, they eventually went along with it. I sat there with my cottage cheese and tomatoes while they ate deep friend chicken nuggets and french fries. OK, that sounds dramatic, but she did used to make that as a meal once in awhile. To her credit, most of the meals my mom prepared were budget friendly and pretty healthy.
However at that time, eating healthy to ME meant one main rule: NO FAT. I now know that is the wrong way to go. Think of all the good fats that are essential in things like almonds, avocados, olive oil. Back then I would have said “No” to all of them.
When I really got in to weight lifting, I even ate plain baked potatoes. Like it was an apple. That was when I was really in to working out and weight lifting. I mean really in to it. Who would ever eat a plain baked potato!? Yuck. But, hey I did pretty good at reaching my goal. I was squatting 245 lb and benching 100 lb with 11% body fat. Not bad, right?
I certainly don’t do that extreme work out or eating routine anymore. Oh no, I’ve acquired taste buds and enjoyment from a good meal. Nor do I care to ever spend that much time at a gym again.
In fact, this weekend I whipped up a new yummy recipe. This time of year always gets me in the kitchen baking or cooking. That fall air blows in and suddenly I find myself standing in the kitchen saying “Where’s the beef?”
Well, I happened to have 1 lb. of organic beef that was to either be eaten or thrown in the freezer. And my new crockpot was still sitting in the box where it had been all summer. And the yam I bought was starting to sprout wings.
I figured a meatloaf had to be pretty easy. I’d only made a weird turkey version years before, but really, how hard could it be? Well, it was even easier than I thought. After looking around on-line for a good recipe and realizing there were so many variations, I decided to come up with my own. And we loved it, so thought I’d share:
2 eggs whisked
add: 1 lb of beef
1 C breadcrumbs
1/2 C chopped onion and garlic mix
1/2 C steak sauce
salt and pepper
Mashed it all together in to a loaf shape with my hands and put it in the crockpot on high for about 3 hours. Next time I make this, I plan to add sliced mushrooms and feta cheese. Yum!
For the yam, I just peeled, sliced, drizzled with 2 Tbsp. of butter and sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon. Covered and baked in the oven at 375 for about 30 – 45 minutes.
Bon Appetit!
Remember when all those Toyota recalls were going on? And the horrible press? Every day the news had more bad things to say. One man was even let out of jail after all the Toyota mess came to light. From my hometown no less.
Well I definitely remember because I have a Toyota. And I kept receiving letters that my car was on the recall list. You know, regarding that whole gas pedal getting stuck thing. And Toyota blamed it on floor mats getting in the way. Please, that is such a lame explanation. The gas pedal itself sticking or a computer malfunction causing acceleration sounds much more likely.
So, I took my car in for an oil change and brought my recall letter to see what I needed.
The Toyota employee, Jose… I will leave out his real name. For now. HE told me that MY car didn’t need the recall.
Me: Are you sure? I keep getting these letters saying I need it.
Jose: Nope, your VIN# starts with a J so that means it was made in Japan and none of the models made there are being recalled.
Me: You are POSITIVE?
Jose: Yes.
Months later, guess what? Yesterday I went back for a routine oil change and this time they said “You have a recall on your car, did you know?”. No actually I DON’T know because you see, last time I was here, I was ASSURED that my car was NOT being recalled.
Jose was there yesterday and I wanted to go up to him, punch him, and say “Hey thanks to you, I’ve been driving around in a kill machine! What if I had been in an accident? Killed someone? Myself?”
But I didn’t.
Anyway, my recall involves getting my gas pedal removed and resized and also the floor mat replaced. Nice. Real, real nice, Jose.
You know that saying ‘the customer is always right’. Well, I personally am tired of always proving that I’m right. Can’t I ever rely on the company, the employee, the rep on the phone. EVER?
When we first adopted Pixie she had two broken legs. Her previous owners (if that’s what you can call them)… maybe I should say – Her previous captors brought her in to a shelter with these two broken legs and said that Pixie (at that time called Jolie) had “jumped off the bed and broke her own legs”. Sure. And I can change the color of my hair with my mind.
Regardless, at least they brought her to a shelter and didn’t throw her into a river somewhere. Too soon?
On top of the two broken legs, she only weighed about 2 lbs and had mange so badly that she lost almost all of her hair. For any of you who don’t know what mange is – it’s a bad case of mites. So, how did she get that, captors? From jumping off the sofa?
The shelter, being as advanced as they are in the medical field, used popsicle sticks and tape to try and hold her two front legs straight. Yes, this is 2010 and I said they used popsicle sticks.
Thankfully the Heigl Foundation (yup, as in Katherine Heigl) came along and adopted her from the shelter and gave her a temporary home at a Vet Clinic who could properly take care of her legs and mange.
She had to wear casts the first weeks she was with us and they had to be changed every week or so. She could still walk in them and because they were hard – we could always here her coming a mile away as she tap, tap, tapped her way to us.
Luckily, popsicle sticks and all, her legs healed perfectly.
She’d figured out how to get around in those casts pretty well. But when the casts came off she sort of had to learn how to walk again. You can see her right elbow sticking out a bit as she carefully makes her way, but no worries, she now walks like gangbusters.
It’s that time of year. Pumpkins! I love pumpkin anything. Last year I ate deep fried pumpkin. Delicious. But, really, have you ever had anything deep fried that didn’t taste good? The usual around here is pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin bread and of course, lots of fun pumpkins around the house.
Here are 2 that I’ve picked up so far for this year. If anyone knows what kind of pumpkin this first one is, email me and let me know. It’s a pretty pink but the cream colored stuff all over it… well, that’s what I don’t get. What is that called? At the place where I bought it, they just called it an ‘alien pumpkin’. They didn’t know. And it crumbles off pretty easily too so it’s not quite like those ‘knuckle head’ or ‘goose bump’ pumpkins. Hmm… tis a mystery to me.
Shelter pets need our help. Just because some are older or not as pretty as you’d like them, doesn’t mean they wouldn’t make wonderful pets. Don’t they all deserve a chance?
Today, go to www.petfinder.com and choose an animal that you think might need an extra push, then post them on your facebook or twitter and you may have helped save a life! Or, hey, adopt one for yourself! Just be sure to type in your zip code to be sure it’s a dog in your area.
Here’s Tiffany from the Los Angeles area found on Petfinder.
