Chai Tea

Yesterday I discovered an absolutely deeeelicious drink, that until I tried I thought I would not like.

(Spoiler Alert: I am so totally going to use this story when trying to convince kids to try a new food.)

I generally do not like chai tea on its own, but love those chai lattes or mixes because they are yummy and sweet. Luckily, yesterday in the market I saw a chai tea done by the Celestial Seasonings and decided to buy it, because I really love their teas. It is so good! And even better, the lid suggests brewing the tea, then sweetening it and adding milk.

IT IS DELICIOUS OMG. By adding honey and rice milk to the tea, I have discovered my new favorite drink. Which I am sipping right now.

It's so yummy go buy some! And then make me one. ^_~

Citrus and Peanut Asian Pasta

Tonight's quick, random, thrown-together-at-eight-thirty-with-whatever-ingredients-I-had-on-hand dinner was freaking delicious. So I am sharing. You're welcome.

Ingredients
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1/3 C peanut butter (real peanut butter please, not that crap mixed with palm oil and sugar)
1/2-1 C fresh squeezed orange (I used 1 1/2 oranges for juice and then peeled the rest and arranged the slices on top of the noodles after it was cooked, YUM)
1/4 C soy sauce
1 garlic clove, diced
1 Tbsp sugar
1 drizzle honey
1 big squeeze Sriracha (a spicy Asian sauce, you can sub any spicy thing you want: Chipotle seasoning, red pepper flakes . . . )
2 + long carrots, grated
1/2 + C of frozen peas (or fresh, or snap peas, or any veggies)
Ginger if you remember it, I didn't but it would probably go very well
Roasted, unsalted peanuts to top (I love peanuts and used probably 1/3 C in the sauce)
Linguini for two or however many you have!

Boil salted water and add linguini, cook until done. While this is boiling, mix the peanut butter, orange, and soy sauce in the wok and let it heat for a few minutes, until the warmed peanut butter incorporates into the sauce. Then add everything else as you chop it! Let simmer as long or as little as you like. Drain the pasta, put it in a bowl, top with big spoonfuls of carrots and peas and peanuts and deeelicious sauce over it all, drop some fresh orange slices in the mix, and enjoy!

This was delicious and really, really quick. Nick even said "You have to make this again" which is a good compliment from my gourmet-loving boy! He suggested using rice noodles instead of linguini next time, which I may or may not do.

Adding more vegetables would just make this better. Adding more peanut butter or more honey would be very, very delicious. And considering I was craving Panda Express yesterday, I think this was a pretty healthy was of satisfying that craving!

Enjoy!

Delicious Eggless Whole-Wheat Waffles! My new breakfast favorite that doesn't make me feel like I am indulging!

Ingredients for Healthy and Delicious Eggless Whole Wheat Waffles

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• 1/2+ C oats
• 1 1/2 + cup whole wheat (the 1/2 cup may be white flour if preferred)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 4-5 Tbsp applesauce
• 1 cup sour milk (milk with 1Tbsp lemon juice)
• 1+Tbsp water as needed to thin mixture as preferred
• Handful chocolate chips
  

Mix it all together the classic Katie way, which is to say, adding and substituting until you are happy with what you've got! Add more applesauce if needed, pour in more water or milk if it's too thick, play around with how many oats you want--it will still end up delicious!

PS The more chocolate chips the better!

PPS This makes a healthy, filling, still-fluffy and delicious waffle! We don't even use butter and syrup on top of our waffles anymore, but if you wanted to omit the chocolate chips I am SURE that adding diced apples in the waffles would be delicious, or putting berries and real maple syrup on top would be just as perfect!

So much cheesy goodness = Going to be running for hours at the gym

I baked a homemade pizza tonight, with a freshly made sauce and a dough with thyme and yumminess. Then I made some instant tapioca which is delicioso. At dinnertime I ate one slice. I felt pretty good. Like I didn't need more.

Flash forward to like an hour later, and I've eaten a quarter of the pizza and feel fit to burst. As soon as the super full feeling goes away I'm going to the gym and running it all off. Ugh.

I've actually been super good lately and lost some weight (don't know how much, I'm avoiding my scale) and eating really well. For some reason today though pizza sounded so good I couldn't resist, and who can eat just one piece, really? (I did, a week ago, and supplemented it with a salad. Which is probably why I was craving cheesy goodness today.)

Oops.

Updates in Real Life

I am on Spring Break! Huzzah! I am quite relieved, because for the week prior I was kind of losing my mind. I had four midterms for my five classes, and they flattened me a little bit. I don't know how I did on them all yet, so cross your fingers for me! I will say that taking Child Development as a major means my midterms are quite a bit easier, and less stressful, than when I was doing nursing pre-reqs. Microbiology was not my friend.

(Though I still have not re-started biting my nails since I took that class. Nothing like a healthy dose of paranoia about microorganisms and a year-long tummy-ache to let your nails grow like they are supposed to!)

So school is officially half-way through. It has gone by quickly, but I'm a bit anxious about the next half, because I have a LOT of projects that will be worked on and turned in by the end. (Papers. So many research papers. Holy cow. Apparently in Universities they actually expect you to WORK! Who knew?)

I'm sitting on our freebie couch, listening and watching Nick play Minecraft (square legomen! Aaagh!) (He says there is actually programming in it. Plus, he can blow things up with TNT, so WIN) and we just got back from dinner at Mikuni's sushi with his parents. It was absolutely delicious!

I'm still working on losing weight, and will post more on that later, but don't want to jinx myself. So shhhhhh!

It's raining here, and snowing where our parents live. Dad is back from Italy, he came home last Sunday, and mom comes home tomorrow! I very much look forward to seeing them both together and hearing all about Italy, (and getting my SOUVENIRS, yippee!) and Nick and I plan to go up Tuesday night to see them. Troy is traveling to Munich right now, as I type, on an overnight train. He is also on spring break, and I expect him to have lots and lots of fun! (Safe fun, Troy.)

Mmm, what else?

Working at the private school is going really well. I like teaching, and just found some free tutorials to help me out with Dreamweaver and programming at my university that I hope to take. Pretty awesome! I like the freebies that Universities give you. (Since you're paying a ton of money anyways.)

Nick has some pretty exciting news about the direction that he wants to take his career, but I won't post that until at least Tuesday night, because I am keeping it a secret from my parents. (Hint: it involves engineering.) (Teeheeheee!)

I really, really want a Starbucks. Something hot--like a peppermint white mocha, a caramel macchiato, a latte. Something warm! (My toes are cold. I think from therein springs my hot drink craving. If Nick were closer I would put my toes on his stomach to warm them up.)

And we ordered curtains! Red pretty curtains from JCPenney's, ordered like two weeks ago, supposed to come in 4-7 days, and reportedly shipped just a few days ago. FAIL, Penney's. Whenever they arrive, though, I am looking forward to seeing how they look! I also really would like to get some plants for our little patio and for inside, so I will kidnap mom and go shopping with her soon. ^_^

Biggest news of all: I TOTALLY BOUGHT THREE PAIRS OF SHOES FOR THIRTY DOLLARS, YAY!