Archive for Life
Spaghetti Sauce!
Monday is Spaghetti Monday in our house, and at the last week of the farmer’s market here in my town, I bought some awesome tomatoes from a local farmer. I got five of them for five dollars; they were pretty big, and even if it was a little pricey that have a great taste and texture for spaghetti sauces. Yesterday I ended up making the sauce early and serving it with some chicken breast and green beans. I have a new habit of saving my jars from things like Miracle Whip (which I’ve cut out of my diet, mind you), etc., so I got to put it in an old spaghetti sauce jar. Here’s what I did:
Ingredients:
- Four large tomatoes (I ended up eating one of the five on sandwiches last week…)
- 3/4 Water
- 1 T Italian seasoning
- 1/2 t Garlic salt
- 1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste – mine happened to be an organic brand I had around
- 2 T Vinegar (less to taste; we tend to like the taste of vinegar around here)
- 1 T Sugar
- 1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
I chopped up the tomatoes into sections, then put them in a rather large pot with the water, Italian seasoning, toamto paste, and garlic salt. I let the tomatoes simmer a bit in the water, about an hour (we were rearranging furniture while it was cooking). When they got pretty wrinkly, I started smooshing them up with a plastic spoon so that there were smaller chunks.
Again, I let the sauce simmer, probably about another half an hour, until I could smell the aroma from the pot. =) Warning, it smells really good, so make sure you’re not too hungry. Then I added in the vinegar, sugar, and lastly, the EVOO. The EVOO provides monounsaturated fat, something that’s supposed to be really good for you. Another half an hour, and dinner was served!
The chicken was pretty simple; just chicken breasts sprayed with canola oil and given some rotisserie chicken seasoning. But the dinner was great! We plan on growing tomatoes in a container garden this spring/summer/upcoming year, so I’ll be collecting more jars and making this a definite staple.
Things That I Want Out of Life
I was reading on a forum that I frequent about a “That Girl” challenge for 2010. That’s essentially what I have my blog for: becoming my own personal version of “That Girl”. I am already participating in a lot of challenges on that forum, so I might not join there right on the forums, but I will participate here. There’ll be another post with my “That Girl” goals for the year 2010. This is just a listing of the things that I want and goals that I have. These are things that, likely, are not going to be in my cards in the near future.
- Get hitched. This will mean helping my SO (significant other) push his way through school and, hopefully, this goal will be achieved by 2011.
- Have a house with plenty of backyard space so that I can have a large, sustainable garden in the backyard. Tomatoes, peppers, etc. A pecan tree would be glorious; so would an avocado, but…
- [Own horses?]
- Have my childbirths be delivered by a midwife
- [This means finding a midwife.]
- Have my family’s primary physician be an herbalist
- Three to four kids
- Initially, a three bedroom home; preferably nearer to my parents
- Chickens! And probably geese and ducks
- Goldfish pond
The problem with me, sometimes, is that I look too far into the future instead of looking at today. But I love looking toward the future. It helps me concentrate my goals and ambitions for today better, I think. Anyway, that’s it for now. Will refine this later.
Following an Eyebrow Tutorial
Found this eyebrow tutorial today, so I will be trying out most of it! (Save for the part with the bleach… Maybe will try that another day.) Will post pics when I get the chance.
Frustration
Quickly, something I’ve noticed:
On days where my face feels gunky, I just need to give it a wash with this very nice black seed soap that I bought from the beauty supply store (it’s supposed to cleanse AND moisturize), or some Dove soap (finally bought some; missed this stuff) and finish up with my St. Ives Apricot Face Scrub. Fresh and clean.
My scalp is constantly hurting. It either itches or just feels really bad or it feels like it’s sore… I deep conditioned my hair last night (Infusium 23 Moisturology + Garnier Fructis Triple Moisture + LeKair Natural Shea Butter Cholestorl Creme + aPhogee’s 5 minute reconstructor). Left it on for several hours under my wig while we had company. My hair feels so much better today.
I am growing kind of frustrated with my hair, though. I keep telling myself that I’m going to relax the left hand side bone straight (as it’s pretty underprocessed compared to the right hand side), but then I put water on it to wash, condition, or put protein in it and so I have to wait at least a week.
We’ll see what happens next week, I guess. I am just a little impatient. I’ve seen some pictures, though, showing that I can MAYBE expect 6-9 inches of growth between now and this time next year. I just have to sit on my hands, try and leave my hair alone (since I wear wigs over it most of the time anyway) and not clip it (because I’m sure I don’t have massive split ends). The growth will happen when it happens, I guess.
On a much more positive note, I’ve started clean eating. It feels much nicer and it’s a lot easier than I thought it would be. The only thing that really gets in the way sometimes is my love of cooking/baking. I like to bake for myself and others. However, last week I made Tosca’s Bison Burgers and they were AWESOME. The meat was 7 dollars a pound (god help me), but I bought it for my SO because he’s obliging participating in the clean food stock up/bad food purging.
Clean eating is hard when you have to do it with others.
Lastly, someone stole my bike this weekend. :/ So I need to find another way to exercise.
“Crack Cookies”
So everyone knows those wonderful, fluffy, addictive Christmas time (and pretty much anytime now) cookies that they have in the stores for about 3-4 bucks a dozen. My neighbor refers to them as “crack cookies”. I was looking for them online, to see if I couldn’t find a recipe for them. Apparently, they use a “sour cream cookie” base. I found this recipe at allrecipes.com
There were a few others, but money’s a touch tight right now so I figured I’d use this one first. Made the most sense, and I am trying to conserve resources. Instead of 1/4 cup of sour cream, I used 1/4 cup of fat-free yogurt. Probably should have used whole-fat yogurt, but since I am trying to stick to clean eating (aside from deserts, which will be consumed less frequently by me now), that’s what I had on hand.
The dough is currently chilling in the freezer. We have a bunch of holiday cookie cutters, so I’m really pumped about that.
This is the frosting I’ll be using:
It looks pretty close to the ones that they use in stores, albeit a little less perfect. I’ll post more when we get to rolling, cutting, and baking.
An explanation of me and my goals
This post is a day late, and I apologize for that.
Basically, the goal of my blog is to chronicle my journey through being not someone else, but being a better me. Right now, I’m dealing with the cosmetic things: weight loss, skin care, things like that. I am hoping to lose 50 pounds by May 2010, which will hopefully put me at a dress size of at least 12. I am doing this partially for my health and partially for my vanity. It will also save me money on clothes. I plan on doing at least three hours of exercise per week and watching my diet to eliminate foods that I just plain don’t need to eat.
Hopefully, along with the weight loss, will come a reduction in my breast cup size. I have thought about reduction surgery, but am unsure that I want to go through with it without trying on me own. I am currently a 36 DDD and would like to be a 36 D or 36 C.
I also am trying to grow out my tresses. Right now they’re very short (I had uploaded a picture of them, but took it down). They are texturized (my hair, when natural, has a 4b [tight and kinky] curl pattern to it). My goal length is about APL (arm pit length). I am unsure of when I should plot this goal down for, but I know that it will take a considerable amount of time.
I would like to get braces. I will have to look into this more, but the current quoted fee that I have is around $5400 USD and an approximation of about 2 years to completion. If I find my quote I will update this to the exact figure.
I want to be more fashion savvy, or at least look like I care a bit more about my appearance (which I do). I’ll likely update with an outfit or two that I have put together, along with experimentations in accessorizing. I’m already pretty good at doing my own makeup, so maybe I’ll put that in here too.
Like I said, I am not looking to do a complete and total makeover in order to look like someone else. I want to be me, only better, and I hope that this may inspire other people to do the same
About Me
I am a 22 year old Texan, born in Chicago, hailing from Michigan.
I am a Cancer.
I am a black American.
I am a size 16.
I am 5’10″.
My bra size is 36 DDD.
My shoe size is 11.
I am MAC foundation color NC45.
I need braces.
I am a student.
I’m a master of many trades, Jack of none.
I may or may not have ADD.