VegHead in Shreveport

HAPPY WEDNESDAY! Look at me, posting on time/on the schedule again!

About 1 week and two days ago I decided to go officially and properly vegetarian. I've always known it would be better for my health and for the environment, but living with my venison loving mother has always made it a little difficult. That's not to mention that I had never done much grocery shopping for myself until Keith came to live with us. But now I've truly dedicated myself to making a tiny impact in myself and in the world with my diet. (This sudden motivation may or may not have come from Kalel Cullen's blog post, video, and suggestion of Paul McCartney's "If Slaughterhouses Had Glass Walls.)

Yes, that's a smoothie bowl. Yes, it was delicious. Yes it's the only picture I've taken of food for the last week. 

So far I've found the diet to be a bit difficult. There are very few places in Shreveport that I've found that have vegetarian friendly meals. I'm finding it very frustrating that everywhere I go I get french fries, mashed potatoes, fried onions, etc. I eat a lot of bean burritos and eggs (I am not vegan, vegetarian who eats only free-range eggs and is lactose intolerant). Mostly I find going out very frustrating now when I once loved it. Italian has so far been the exception as I only ever ate Alfredo before anyway. 

Aside from the frustrations of going out, I really enjoy my new "friendly" foods, as I've begun to call them, at home. I've found so many different ways to make/mix/cook the veggies I've always loved and some I'd never tried. So far, these AMAZING zucchini fries from Yummy Healthy Easy have been my favorite go to.

I haven't made the ranch dip, but with Hidden Valley they're pretty great. Last night I also made this Fruit Salsa from The Thread Affect and it was pretty good. Pasta has also become my best friend again. I can eat pasta with butter or Alfredo or marinara and be perfectly content. 

These fruit quesadillas (by A Cedar Spoon) were also a huge hit with myself and Keith, so they're definitely here to stay. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a homemade desert so much!

As I discover more delicious ideas and undoubtably learn some things about being Vegetarian in Shreveport I will let you all know!

Have you ever been/are you vegetarian? What did/do you find most challenging? If not, what is your favorite veggie?

Dorm Yum: A Must Haves List

This week seems to be the week of lists! Monday I posted the list of weekly shows I'm watching this fall and today I thought I'd post about the food I like to keep in constant supply in my dorm room. These are, by far, not the only foods I keep in my room and certainly cannot make up an entire diet (most private universities I know have a cafeteria for that), but these certainly make my life easier and my blood glucose level happier.

1. Bread & Butter : This is an absolute must for me. I love to keep "French" bread or at least wheat rolls in my room at all times with a tub of Land-o-Lakes in the fridge. I'll eat a piece of buttered bread before a morning class, or after, or before bed, or as a midnight snack, or as a study break snack, or as all of the above. They say "[one] can not live on bread alone," and indeed you shouldn't, but I challenge that and say I could live on bread and butter for at least a few months.
2. Decaf Coffee : My kidneys may damper my caffeine intake, but they will not take coffee from me! I love to get up every morning, turn on the coffee pot, and wake up fully with the smell of brewing coffee. Not to mention it tastes good (I also like to keep herbal teas for late, cold nights)!
3. Water : I'm not one to drink tap water, and I've noticed a large number of my friends who forget to or simply don't keep water in their rooms. This leads to either: 1) they buy expensive purified water from the bookstore or b) drink the sodas from the cafe and nothing else. This isn't very healthy, so I like to keep a case of 24 bottles of spring water in my room at all times.
4. Crackers/Nuts : Right now I have several kinds of crackers in my food drawer and a can of cashews. I love the option of having crackers or nuts to just munch on when I'm studying or louging back reading. Wheat Thins are a great option and come in several flavors, as are the Ritz brand toasted chips.
5. Chocolate : I am a firm believer that a controlled amount of chocolate is good for your mental (and possibly physical) health. When I can find them, I love to have the After Eight chocolate mints or when I can't I usually go for the dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips from the baking section. Chocolate chips are great because you can eat a handful without eating all of them.

As I said this isn't all I keep in my dorm, but these are really my must-haves.

What are your dorm/kitchen must haves?

Of Sisters, Food, and Explosives

As promised Sunday, this is the continuation of the saga of my weekend. I'm leaving for Colorado tomorrow and cannot wait to see everyone and the fantastic state!

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After finishing all the baking I mentioned in An Adventure in Baking, I went to bed. The next morning, Saturday, I got up at 7:30am and began getting ready for the day. The morning was to be full of house and yard work, so I didn't snap a picture of my boring yard clothes. At 9:15 I left for the morning and hit the interstate towards the Sorority house. I got there and hung out with a few of my sisters until everyone else showed up and tasks were distributed. I actually enjoy cleaning the Sorority house, maybe it's the fact that everytime I'm there I'm surrounded by girls I love. After all our tasks, which ranged from stripping wallpaper to painting letters to dusting to weeding, we all took a break and headed out for an awesome lunch and some more bonding. 

After lunch, we all found our way back to the house and went over some awesome stuff for fall rush/recruitment, did a bit more cleaning, then broke for the afternoon.

Sorry for the horrible quality, I was in such a hurry, I had 15 minutes to shower, dress, and take this photo.

At 6pm, the real party started. It was so much fun being there with all the girls that I forgot to take pictures until things started exploding (more on that in a moment). It was a potluck, so there was plenty of wonderful food. While we ate, and after, we all sat around our main room and caught up on all the happenings of life. One thing that is never missing in our house is laughter, man did we laugh. A little later, we pulled out the board games, divided into teams, and played a rather competitive and hilarious game of Cranium. I loved seeing all my sisters' talents on display.

Finally, the sun started to set and we started lighting things on fire, or at least a couple of the girls did. Don't worry, it's not as scary as it sounds. On of my sister's parents own a fireworks stand and she brought a wide array of flamables left over form the 4th of July! Okay, it was a little scary to think of these girls with explosives, but all turned out well. We watched sparkly lights, didn't get arrested, and got some amazing pictures.

I was so happy to see all the girls, especially my grand-big! This is her after catching a "parachute" from one of the fireworks.

It was such a wonderful night and day with my sisters. It makes me hate consindering tranferring to another school, and another chapter, but they've been supportive of my dreams and I feel confident I've got friends for a lifetime!

An Adventure in Baking

This last Friday I had a lunch date with my grandfather. It was quite lovely. I really like spending time with him and I'm glad we got to do something before we leave Wednesday for Colorado! I wore a pretty, but casual, summer outfit for the whole day.

After lunch, I went to visit my grandmother and take her my leftovers, where I spent about 4 hours. My car wouldn't start! It was horrible! The key doesn't turn right now and it takes quite a bit of finagling to make it work, but at least it does work, and for that I am grateful!

After the trama with the car, I went to the grocery store and picked up a whole mess of supplies! I'd committed to baking cupcakes and cooking sausages for my Sorority's Summer Potluck (Which went AMAZING! I'll have a write up on that for you Tuesday!) The cupcakes I wanted to make were ones I saw on Pinterest. They looked like owls and were so adorable, I just had to try them (owls happen to be my sorority mascot and my favorite animal)! But while at the store, I decided to also get some muffin mix and make some blueberry muffins!

I feel like they turned out really well. I was surprised that each one was almost perfectly golden brown

After the muffins were out of the pans, I started on teh cupcakes. I made them with some yummy yellow cake mix, and resisted licking the spoon!

They baked wonderfully as well. I think out oven (we just moved to this house) is pretty darn amazing, or I am! When the cupcakes finally cooled, I got to town trying my best to get them to look like owls. I used half oreos and brown Reeses Pieces for the eyes, an orange Reeses Piece for the beak, and, of course, chocolate icing to make it all stick. I was so proud of the finished product!

I was really surprised how well the little owls held up over night and on the car ride to the sorority house. Everyone thought they were adorable! Finally done with the baking, I curled up in bed with The Espressologist and quickly passed out. It was a busy, slightly hectic day, but, believe it or not, the next day was much more busy! But I'll get to that on Tuesday. Now I'm going to run off to bed and sleep my life away!