Oh gosh, it's been an embarrassingly long time! Anatomy has absolutely taken over my life, resulting in days where I don't see the sun, talk more to cadavers than live people, watch dissection videos before bed, and am in constant fear that something in my body is breaking and presenting as a little patch of pain on my arm. IN OTHER WORDS, I have gone a little crazy but less than 2 weeks until I am finished! Granted, we start biochemistry the day after (which we finish in 9 days as opposed to the 18 weeks I did in undergraduate) but apparently it will get better then!

Still, I wish I was able to post more often! One of the things keeping me sane these last few weeks has been cooking epic meals at night for dinner and lunch the next day. So yes, I am still cooking and YES I AM STILL VEG! I'm going on a couple months now, feel great, and am def proud of myself for actually making a change when I said I would! They say behaviors turn into habits after about 28 days (I believe this is or at least was a standard stay in a rehabilitation facility) so if that's legit I think I'll be sticking to this no meat thing for a while! Pittsburgh isn't known for their variety of winter vegetables though, so we will have to see. All I know is carrying home a pound of potatoes, a cabbage the size of a beach ball, another squash, and 10 beets was not the best decision I made today. That definitely sucked.

In other news, I was elected Class Secretary today which is hella exciting! WOO WOO! I have never had any positions on any boards, ever, so am a little nervous but SO grateful that my class elected me! One of the main responsibilities of secretary at our school is to send out a birthday email each week and during the election I may have said that if elected I would bake 150 cupcakes for a huge celebration so umm that's happening and I CANNOT wait. Baking 150 cupcakes is easy, getting them to scaiffe in the morning? A little tricky. I need to figure out how I find everyone's birthday and fast, but in the meantime let's celebrate another VERY belated birthday: Julia Childs!! HAPPY BELATED 100th BDAY JULIA! :)

(Hahahah ok so I thought it was like last week that I celebrated it, but apparently it was over a month ago. I PROMISE I won't be that awful celebrating my the birthdays of my class!)

I may have been 2 weeks in, but I still showed her some love! Any excuse I can get to watch my fav Julie and Julia I take, so I watched that while making the cutest eggplant pizzas from one of her cookbooks! I have made them again since, and they are so easy and tasty I'll be making them again!

Eggplant
Breadcrumbs
Egg
Tomato Sauce
Any kind of cheese (I've used pepperjack and mozarella at different times)
However you'd like to top it! Ive added kale which was delicious, or just chopped basil from my window. 

Slice the eggplant into about half an inch slices. Dip in the whisked egg then into the bread crumbs. Lay on a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes or until you can tell the eggplant is cooked. Take it out, spread on the sauce, cheese, whatevs, and stick back in until the cheese melts. ENJOY! :)

My dad and I were on the same page, and that week he dropped off the most amazing Ratatouille (inspired by Julia of course) that I ate for a good couple of days in the library. He tells me he will teach me his tricks the next time I am home (maybe this weekend?!) so I will share the recipe when I get it, but until then let's just say it was amazing.

Plus, anything that reminds me of that cute little mouse is cool by me. God, I love that guy.

More posts to come, I promise!!

It's official! I am a medical student!! Got my little white coat, talked to some patients this week, feeling pretty legit! As amazing as the last 2 weeks have been is probably how awful next week with Anatomy will feel for a while, but I feel incredibly fortunate to be where I am right now!! I have been so caught up with all the new changes in my life that I haven't been the best at updating, but I promise that will get better! Fortunately I have my share each week to keep me level and ensure that I am eating healthy, so I feel really lucky for that.

My past share was definitely eclectic, so I got to relieve some stress by whipping up some goofy meals with goofy things the past couple of days. Its been exciting finding different ways to incorporate the vegetables into usual meals before they go bad, like a race of something!

Well, minus the cantaloupe. But it was such a great mix up from all the vegetables I usually have! I also had a ride to and from the farmer's market, so that was doubly awesome (I didn't this week and had to carry a watermelon home, it was great). What a perfect post-yoga snack :)

I got a whole bunch of collard greens, which I'll admit, I basically let go to waste. I have found some inventive ways to incorporate kale but these guys threw me off a bit! I have been having fun finding ways to mix in some random vegetables with my usual meals though. I added some chopped collard greens to a tuna sandwich a couple times though, just to break up the usual mushy-ness and add in a little freshness, and completely made over tomato basil soup by mixing in some feta, fresh basil, and homemade croutons. I'll admit I was proud of this!

And last but DEFINITELY not least, this was the first week that I was able to make some desert-y dishes with my produce! I guess my farm has had their autumn squash come in a bit early, so I had some acorn squash in my share this past week. I love, LOVE maple syrup so made a glaze to go over my roasted squash and died a little. It probably wasn't the healthiest thing in the whole world, but haay it's got to be better than cake. I also got a couple branches (?) of rhubarb this week, and although I didn't have time to make a pie or anything, I was able to whip up a little crumble.. FROM SCRATCH. Admit it, now you're the impressed one. Mixed the rhubard and frozen blueberries with some sugar and honey, put it in the bottom of the ramekin, and added a combo of flour, brown sugar, and strawberry and cream instant oats (creative, ya?) ontop!

Oh my gosh, how did I almost forget?! I also got the most amazing letter from one of the farmers involved with Clarion Rivers and it was such an adorable touch. I read it almost immediately in my best southern accent of course. I died the entire time!

Dear CSA customers,
My, we're having nice weather here lately. Not quite as warm out but still sunshiny. Had a nice shower a few days ago that we really appreciated- should give gardens and fields a boast.
We're just a small family with a small farm. :) Daniel and I married in April of 2011 and in February we were blessed with a healthy little son. Actually just now he is playing here on the floor. He just learned to sit by himself and yesterday his second tooth pushed through. He's also just getting over a head cold so we're glad to have our happy Benjamin back.
We have 6 acres situated here on Larkin Rd. It's only 1 1/2 miles from Tobie Schmucker's, who are my parents. Daniel's family live in Greentop, Missouris so we dont get to see them very often. Daniel's brother is getting married next Thursday so tomorrow morning we plan to head out for Mo. We wont be back till around the 15th so we decided we'll just write our letter for your boxes a little early.
We have buttercup squash planted, besides okra, cucumbers, ground cherries, celeraic, parsley, a few parsnips, and some fall beets. The beets are just starting to peak through the soil!
With only 6 acres we dont have much of anything and what we have isn't producing the best. Hopefully with time and some fertilizers it'll soon do better. We enjoy produce growing and hope you enjoy our fresh produce.
- Daniel, Arlene, and Benjamin Miller.

SERIOUSLY how cute it that?!?! It really instills a connection between the buyer and the grower, which is something you definitely, definitely don't get in Giant Eagle or Whole Foods for that matter. There was another adorable letter in my bag this week, but I'll keep that until later to make sure you come back for more :)

Oh my godddddd.

So I may have relapsed this weekend. And it was glorious.

Let me clear things up before you think I am off the wagon for good though. Not only did I plan to eat meat a week in advance, but I chose the most AMAZING place to do it! Backstory: I had a friend visit from SF for a couple days this past weekend and felt pretty bad asking a dude to eat vegetables alongside me all weekend so was hoping to find a place with both veg and meat options that we could both enjoy. A couple days before his arrival, I am at a Farm to Table happy hour (who am I?) and a woman tells me about this new restaurant called Cure that recently opened in Lawrenceville. Now I am a Lawrenceville lover and would have been interested regardless, but then she filled me in on the mission, lets say, of this place. The chef, Justin Severino, has created a restaurant based off exactly the values that I hope to support. Not only does he buy his livestock from local farms (along with all his vegetables and herbs), but believes in the importance of ethical and sustainable farming AND cures his own meat. There is such a connect between the farming I wish to support and what he is accomplishing at his restaurant that I was immediately excited. I have been having some pretty intense leg cramps/swelling lately possibly a result of poor vitamin consumption, so had (what I pre-determined to be ok) meat on the mind already and BYOB just sealed the deal!

So I had a fun couple of days in Pittsburgh with my friend before our night out, eating hotcakes at Pamela's, exploring the nationality rooms in the Cathedral, taking the incline up to Mt. Washington, eating an amazing meal in Southside, getting wasted at Hofbrauhaus, breakfasting in Lawrenceville, shopping at the Strip, picnicing at Frick Park, kayaking, and seeing Batman in the Omnimax. All these things set up a pretty epic weekend by itself, but Cure on Saturday night really made it.

(BTW I believe Cure is basically reservation only. You can just submit your request online and they send you a confirmation email so for a phone-phobe like me it's ideal!)

Anyways after seeing Batman and walking along the Ohio River, we journeyed out to Upper Lawrenceville and were almost transformed to a whole different city as we entered the modest corner door into a one large dining room with cuttingboard tables, warm lights, chalk boards listing which local farms each ingredient is from, and the open kitchen up above.

The adorable menu. Not quite the length of the Cheesecake factory's and that is a great thing!

Immediately our wine was uncorked and we began with a smoked lardo wrapped peach dish with sweet corn, black garlic, "green goddess"- a wonderful blend of all their herbs in the kitchen, etc. and were blown away when the most colorful dish was set infront of us. I was kind of expecting creamy corn and syrupy peaches but what we got was the most flavorful thing I have had in a REALLY LONG TIME! We both died, literally died, and regretted after scraping the plate clean that we didn't take a picture. Next our main courses were brought out and god, if it was possible for something to taste better than the appetizer this was it! I had a plate of peckin duck breast, which was bouncy and pink but not one bit raw or bloody or weird, 2 links of the most epic sausage I have ever eaten (they get their whole hogs from my Clarion River Organics, an idea which made it even more delicious!), and a little cube of pork belly. I was just blown away. No vegetables can taste that good, I know it and I am sorry but it is unfortunately true. My friend got a short rib dish with potatoes, shiittakes, so much more that I can't remember right now, and a lobster beignet. The portion size was perfect, the flavors intense yet balanced. As though I wasn't already in food heaven, we got a chocolate souffle cake with pistacchio butter and funnel marshmellow, which was the perfect ending to the perfect meal. I can honestly say that it was probably one of the top 3 meals I have ever had, and the fact that we both took time to enjoy each and every bite (especially the last!) really took it to the next level.

SO really, you have to go, end of story! Shoot, make a reservation right now, you NEED TO! If it wasn't for paying my first rent check in the last week (a traumatizing experience) and having to pay for medical school next week (=death) I would be there right now. I am just looking for a reason to go back, REALLY! I have never been so excited about a place, ever.

Woo! Another week meat free and I am feeeeling good! Since it has been crazyyy hot lately, I have been mostly eating green beans, cauliflower, and zucchini steamed, roasted, sauteed, you name it! Those aren't very exciting things to talk about so I unfortunately haven't had much to post. There has been some tasty aspects to my week that I'd like to share though!

Ya that hot..

First is that it's officially corn season, which is awesome. Corn is a staple in my family during the summer months, and if you ever come over for dinner you'll find the way we all eat it quite unusual. After a combination of one of those full arm L-shaped casts (pink, of course) and 3 kids with braces, my family has a particular knife that we use to almost shave the kernels off the cob before eating it. It makes it a lot less fun, i'll admit, and sometimes when you put the butter on before it becomes a slippery mess, but it's all worth it! We get our corn around the corner at Kern Farms which is such a great, convenient way to get fresh vegs without going to the grocery store. Plus, they have a pretty loose concept of a dozen :) But yes, my mom brought some corn to my apartment this week and it was the first time I ever made some by myself. I have an abundance of zucchini and cucumbers from the farmer's market and my share last week, so I combined the fresh corn with them, added some chopped jalapeno for a kick, and sprinkled my fav feta on top! A perfect post-run dinner and easy leftover to take to the park the next day. YUM!

Aside from that lil treat, I also made chocolate zucchini bread this week, which was AMAZING! Sometimes I get so boggled down sauteing the zucchini every night that I forget that I can use my excess as an excuse for baking. Fortunately this realization occurred the same night as the bachelorette finale! Somehow they stretched 10 minutes into 3 hours, so I had ample time to get my bake on during the show. By the end of the night I found myself alone, sobbing on my couch, with literal handfuls of chocolate cake. I'd say it was a pretty epic ending to my day and obviously an appropriate celebration of Emily and Jef's love (Ary was just too sensitive, I think I would offend him within seconds of meeting him). Anyways! I adapted the recipe from these two blogs (sliceoffiest, oneordinaryday) and even put my version of the recipe below, because it was really that amazing. I baked mine in 3 little loaf pans, shared with friends, and got more enjoyment from my "secret ingredient" than I did making the cakes themselves. Really though, make these now. I just might myself!

1 3/4 c shredded zucchini
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c white flour
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
heaping 1/2 tsp of apple pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc., more cinnamon than nutmeg if you're making your own!)
1/2 c veg oil
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
As many choco chips as you can part with!
Preheat oven to 350 and grease whatever pan pleases you. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, apple pie spice (or your own combination).
In a separate bowl, beat the oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended. Lightly blend in the zucchini. Add the flour mixture and carefully beat until combined. Then dump in your chocolate chips! Since I used such little pans it really only took 40ish minutes to cook, but I would definitely set your alarm for 35 minutes and use your judgement at 5 minute increments after that! 

Crazy color beets!

So those were my top 2 creations this week! I picked up my share again yesterday and was totally excited over more beets, green tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and yellow beans (so much better than the green, really!). Buying into this CSA was probably one of the best decisions I made all year and has really made it easy to call it quits with the meat. Wednesday mornings I get an email from the organization listing all the things that may be in my bag and ways of preparing the new vegetables, and my excitement just builds until I pick it up! It might not be christmas morning, but to me it's pretty damn close. I'm heading home to the suburbs this weekend with my vegetables in hand, so hopefully I will have more exciting recipes to post from my trip home. I got my mom to read Eating Animals and am SO proud that she went veg for over a week, so I definitely want to show her some tricks when I am there ! :)

My stash for the week!

Oh and one last thing, get these crackers. A box for you, a box for me. THANKS

Beet week!

Not too many amazing recipes to be posting this week! Lots of friends are back at Pitt so I have been grabbing lunch instead of fixing up some vegs in my apartment! I can tell you that Oakland has some pretty amazing vegetarian options. Veggie burger at Red Oak Cafe, gigantic salad at Hello Bistro (GO!), all the best things at Pamela's, my go to drunk food, the vegetarian quesadilla at Fuel and Fuddle, have made this last week pretty easy for me! The biggest challenge was not getting a corn dog at Kennywood, but after hitting 5 intense rides immediately after I wasn't regretting my decision :)

The new recipes that I did try this week all involved beets from my share this week! BEETS! Who would ever go to the grocery store to "just pick up a few beets"? Not me, or at least not me before last week! At first they intimidated me. I hate radishes and they look quite similar, so I was def nervous. I have had beets one in France and some macedonian salad before, so I knew I wouldn't die if I ate them (a radich, I would) so clicked on my trusty food gawker for some inspiration. What I put together was the most amazing dish I have made in my baby kitchen in the longest time! I couldn't stop talking about it for days and even sent the recipe to my CSA so they can share it on their website! Seriously, it's that amazing! Just cutting up the beets was an exciting experience, so many rich colors that these just have to be good for you. I ate this before doing a power hour for my friend's birthday, and had to warn everyone that I ate beets beforehand to avoid this hilarious situation.

One large beet or two smaller ones
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Chicken Broth (this amount I am really unsure of)
Garlic scapes or the green spring onions (from 2 weeks ago)
Chopped beet greens
Chopped kale leaves
Whole grain pasta
Feta cheese
Put beets and olive oil in large skillet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until tender. Add the choppped garlic scapes or spring onion and cook for another minute. Add broth and simmer until beets are very tender. Add the greens except pasta. Boil pasta, top with beet mixture and serve with tons of the feta cheese.

At the time I just used some of Trader's feta, but after cruising down to the Strip this weekend and picking up a gigantic block of fresh feta from Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, I am never going to buy it from anywhere else ever again. I also got eggplant, cherry tomatoes, kiwis, asparagus, and thyme all for under a dollar a piece. Just the experience of going to the Strip is enough, but the prices really are incredible. I also bought some more loose tea at a little hole in the wall called Prestogeorge where you can get an entire box worth of tea for 2 dollars. Its all loose, which means you get to smell dozens of different containers and pick which ones you want, and making your own teabags is hella fun. Last night I made organic chamomile before bed and it was such a peaceful end to my day :)

Drinking flowers!

Anyways, I had to pay 50 dollars to get my immunizations up to date today making not only my arm hurt but my wallet too. I don't think there's a huge trip to Traders in the next week, so I stocked up on 1.99 Lucky Charms at CVS. I don't think anyone will be needing a recipe for that :) Picking up my share tomorrow, so can't wait to see what I have to experiment with for the next week!

So, hypothetically, let's say....

SO! One of my favorite questions for people I am getting to know is what they would have for their last meal if they were on death row and were to die tomorrow. Hopefully this is solely a hypothetical questions, so it has no rules. Your meal could be compiled of things you've eaten all over the world! Some people know the answer immediately, some really need to think, but I think it gives awesome insight into a person. Since I have asked it SO MANY times, I know my meal right off the bat!

My appetizer would be a plate of fried calamari from a cafe in Zagreb, Croatia. I visited the city twice during my backpacking trip, and each time it couldn't be more perfect. The first time, we were coming off a solid month of city hopping. We were really booked for a while, seeing 3 cities in a week, so although we tried to enjoy the local cuisine we did spend a lot of time heating up pounds (no joke) of spaghetti in our hostel or eating crackers and cheese on overnight trains. Once we got to Croatia where we had 2 weeks (and a legit currency exchange for the first time!) we slowed down a bit, ordered a nice lunch, and enjoyed it while gazing out across a small square. It was so magical that when we stopped in Zagreb for a day on our return trip, we got it once again. I want this one more time :)

Beautiful square in Zagreb, Croatia where you can find the most delicious calamari EVER

Now my dinner is pretty complicated, or usually sounds so when people tell me their one item they would have. You could have sides in this game, you know!? My dinner would be based off the dinners my family has on our back porch in the summer. This meal usually consisted of steak as a centerpiece and I am not sure if I would still be attempting vegetarianism in prison, but if I was, I would just substitute my dad's steak (NO ONE ELSE'S) with some salmon. My sides would be garlic bread, a tomato with basil and olive oil, potatoes, onion from the garden with a side of salt, and a garden salad of just lettuce and oil and vinegar dressing. You would also have to stack your bites, which is something I thought everyone did but apparently not? Anyways, with this, I would have some "fresh squeezed lemonade" that they sell at  the Art's Festival. I never seem to have enough, so it would obviously be bottomless. YUM!

And since I won't need to be worrying about caloric intake ever again in this situation,  I would not pass up dessert. In Macedonia, I had what they called a "hot and cold" numerous, numerous times. It's basically one of those chocolate lava cakes with a side of vanilla icecream, and yeah you can get them at like Fridays, but the one at this restaurant surpasses them all. I think I'd top it off with a cappuccino from Big Dog in Southside since concerns about sleeping would also be unnecessary :)

Can't believe I found a picture!

There you have it! My last meal :) Just writing about everything makes me so hungry, but I do get (hypothetically) nervous that despite the meal being a combination of some of my best dining experiences, it wouldn't come close to eating each of the dishes in the context, with the company, where I had them. Without surviving off of pasta for a month, without the company of my family, without the numerous stories that come along with each dish, maybe the meal would lack any significance at all.

Besides the substitution of steak with salmon, I know this post doesn't really touch upon much, but I think it is important nonetheless. Ironically, a week ago, I got a text from my little brother asking what I would have for my last meal. His point of asking was not to gain insight into my soul (hopefully he has that already) but to bring up an amazing point. What would you eat if you knew it was going to be your last meal? Now, go eat it. Except in extreme circumstances, we don't know when our last meal is going to be nor do we have the choice to decide what it should be. So think about it, and plan a day this week to eat it (or something similar if it's anything like mine!). Enjoy the food, but more importantly enjoy the company and relish the experiences you have had with the meal. I did this weekend :)

EGGPLANT FAIL

What it was supposed to look like:

What it actually looked like:

NAILED IT!