When a door opens, what does it become???

A JAAAARRRRRRRR!!! Okay, so I realize ajar is one word...but this spacing was more appropriate for the joke. And if it was Rya's version it would probably go something like this: "When is an open door ajar?!" :)

Oh..and HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! I personally loathe this 'holiday' but I love my friends so I suppose I'll just use today to reflect on that, and then I'll eat chocolate.

So for my updates- I have still been putting money in my JARRR, we are up to $80 now right?! Wowza :)

(Reminding that this is a judgement free zone) My new word is: 'Prurient' which I read awhile ago in Animal Vegetable Miracle and didn't know what it was, so I marked the page and am finally going back to look it up, but at any rate 'prurient' means: Inordinately interested in matters of sex, lascivious. My sentence will then be: While grocery shopping for salad ingredients, I engaged in many prurient thoughts, leading me to purchase more than one cucumber.  (Are both comma's there correct? I know it's stupid but I often get confused when to use a comma haha)

My Recipe for the month is one that Gene and I actually made together, and I pulled the recipe from a book called "The Compassionate Cook". And here it is:
Vegetable Pot Pie
Ingredients:
1. 9-inch pie crust (I made one out of flour, water and vegetable shortening)
2. 1/4 c. flour
3. 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
4. 1 tsp salt
5. 3/4 tsp garlic powder
6. 3 cups firm tofu, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
7. 2 tbsps olive oil
8. 1 c. finely chopped onions
9. 1 c. sliced celery
10. 1 c. sliced carrots
11. 1 c. of other vegetables (we did peas)
12. 2 cups "Chickenless Gravy" which is DELICIOUS and just water, some olive oil, nutritional yeast, a veg. bouillion cube and fresh onions and mushrooms. Put those in a saucepan and simmer for 10 min, then add as much flour as you want to thicken it.

Directions: Preheat oven to 375. Combine #2-6 in a paper bag, shake, and then saute the mixture in the oil (#7) for 5-10 min. Add in #8-11 and continue cooking for another 5 min. Add gravy to skillet and mix well. Poor mixture into pie crust, roll out top dough and place on pie. Bake for 30 min or until crust is slightly browned.

And that's that! I have one more piece left which I am going to eat very soon, because that just made me hungry.

Love you bothh!!!

happy sunday!

Hey all
I hope you checked out post secret for today. the last one is my favorite..i'm posting it on the blog.

I have literally cooked nothing new this week. not even bread. I'm still eating the soup that I made last week and have more of it in the freezer. I feel very unmotivated to cook lately which really sucks.

As of now we should have about 50$ in the vacation jar (JAR!).

Work is going great at WRA..i have a lot of autonomy as an intern and am given tasks that utilize much more of my abilities than your typical internship.  I hope they like me and hire me again for the fall.

I'm still training at Austin Grill..Jac-our shirts say "Keep Austin Weird"! It really is a weird city, doncha know! Lotsa kyids wearin funny clothin n stuff! oh ya

My word for this week isssss: vulpine-cunning or crafty.
Sometimes it's necessary to channel one's vulpine behaviors to get ahead in this world.

Corny sentence, I know. it's really hard to find a word of the day. hard like my dick.

love you girls. can't wait for JAR to be together next weekend!! GOOO JAC! AKA Robot Finger!

AXIOM!!!

Hi Loves,

This is such a good distraction at work.

My recipe this month was chicken burgers with diced veggies mixed into the meat. I am not going to post the recipe since you both probably wouldn't cook them. They were delicious and I have extra frozen to use which is exciting.

My word this week is "axiom".
It means: a self evident truth that requires no proof
- a universally accepted principle or rule
- (not a necessary truth. i.e. political axioms)

Jaclyn, Alisa, and Rya are the most amazing friends in the world. (this is an axiom)

Congratulations Jac on starting the 100 push ups challenge. I am in week 4 and I absolutely love it. Alisa has been monitoring my muscle definition! I just have to work on keeping my head straight and going a tad bit lower to the floor.

I added a profile photo to our blog but I only have access to the pictures on my work computer so I didn't have many options.

Can't wait 'till we're all together again in a couple of weeks.

xoxo

ONE HUNDRED PUSH UPS YOU SAY??

Why hellooo laddiesssss,

First off- Alisa thank you for putting that bread recipe up, I have been craving some good homemade breads and just don't really know which recipe to choose, and if you choose a bad one then you've wasted some serious time! I'll  be making this bread soon enough, and I'll let you know how it goes.

Also- I feel bad about the charity giving because I didn't get you guys anything for Christmas :-( So I'm not holding you to that HOWEVER... I love the idea and I have actually been thinking about becoming a member of Slow Food (you have to donate $60) SOOO if you just wanted to do that for my birthday, then I would be more than okay with that :) www.slowfood.com

Lastly- I have decided to start the 100 push-up challenge today! I figured I might as well get 'er done now, and then by the time the warmer weather rolls around I'll be just itching to show off my guns. SO- here's the website: http://hundredpushups.com/index.html. I just took the initial test to see what 'column' I am in for the first week, and I think I'm going to wait until Monday to start 'Week 1' if you ladies wanted to join me.

Das it, Das all.

Lovems you,
Jac-a-lac-a

charity!

also, jac tell us what charity you want us to donate money towards for your xmas present!

January's almost over!

Hey ladies
my word of the week is vociferous, meaning "marked by or given to vehement insistent outcry", as in, "upon realizing that there were no restaurants serving french fries, nor churches serving blooming onions, on New Year's Eve, Jac vociferously trampled through the streets proclaiming her grief for all to hear."


This is my second week in a row of making bread! I've been baking it in a clay pot i brought back from St. Kitts, so it's round, like Rya's boobs. the first recipe was not as good as the second, so i'll post this one. it's pretty good for a go-to whole wheat bread recipe.

Ingredients

• 1-1/3 cups and 1 tablespoon warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons and 1-1/2 teaspoons honey
• 2-1/3 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon and 1-1/4 teaspoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons and 1-1/2 teaspoons honey
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1-2/3 cups whole wheat flour
• 2-3/4 teaspoons butter, melted

Directions

This recipe's Ingredients were scaled to ield a new amount. The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield of 3 loaves.

1. In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
2. Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.
3. Punch down, and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely

Adding the melted butter on top of the bread afterwards makes it extra sexy.


i also had a shit-ton of left over vegetables this weekend, so i decided to make soup. I cooked some black beans and then threw in vegetable broth, corn, crushed tomatoes, cabbage, turnips, carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Saute the carrots celery onion and garlic in olive oil in the pot you'll be using, then add the rest of the ingredients with the veg. broth. i didnt' use exact measurements, just threw in my leftover food. i seasoned it with chili pepper, cumin, pepper, salt, and some louisiana hot sauce. it's DELICIOUS and RESOURCEFUL. Bonus points for cubing some avocado and throwing it in after you heat it.




I also got a job waitressing so now i will be fully employed. I start orientation for White Ribbon Alliance on Thursday! Yay for having an income! 




Love you all

Jac's word of the week and Recipe of the month!

Alright ladies, my word of this week is "Gloaming" which means twilight or dusk. Sentence: "During sunset the gloaming sky was much like the deep-purple shade of Jac's finger after an unknown incident at the Bayou."

My recipe for January is a Quinoa Loaf (it's in the oven right now...it looks AWEESOME...we'll see how it tastes!) So here's the recipe from the Binghamton Co-op Cookbook:

-3 c. cooked Quinoa (1 c. grain + 2 c. water- bowl then reduce heat, cover and cook until water is absorbed)

-3 tbsp olive oil

-1 c. chopped onions

-1 tbsp chopped garlic

-1 1/2 c. finely chopped carrots (I used the food processor to save time)

-1/3 c. miso

-2 1/4 tsp dried thyme

-1/2 c. chopped walnuts

-1/4 c. dried sunflower seeds

-1/4 c. whole wheat flour

-1/4 c. unbleached white flour ( I only had whole wheat flour so I just did 1/2 c. of that instead of 1/4 c. of each)

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium size skillet, heat the oil and saute the onions and garlic for 3-5 min or until the onions are translucent. Add the carrots and simmer for 3 min. Stir in miso and thyme. Remove from heat. In a blender or food processor, grind the walnuts and seeds into a medium pulp. 

In a large bowl combine the cooked quinoa, carrot mixture, ground nuts, both flours and mix together well. Pat the mixture into an oiled 9-inch loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Cool before slicing. 

ALSO- I have been reading my book "Animal Vegetable Miracle" AND I put $10 in my jar on Sunday. BAM!