Things you need to read

For the past couple of days I've been having a hard time motivating myself to study for finals.  Instead, I've been wasting a lot of time reading random blogs that my facebook friends recommend.  But I've found a few blog posts/articles that were not a waste of time, for me at least.

It's very hard as a young adult, and especially (sadly) at BYU, not to compare yourself to others.  I, and almost all of the girls I know, have issues with this.  I'm sure many of the guys do as well, but I don't talk to them as much or as deeply as I do with other girls.  All of these articles are written for both genders, talking about self-confidence, your perception of the people around you, the effect that negative comments can have on those people, and the fallacy of judging the book by its cover, as it were.  I highly recommend that you read them all.

ttp://www.danoah.com/2010/11/worthless-men-and-women-who-make-them.html

http://www.danoah.com/2010/10/worthless-women-and-men-who-make-them.html

http://www.danoah.com/2010/09/disease-called-perfection.html

http://www.danoah.com/2010/12/how-dare-you-be-beautiful.html

<3

Eliza

Last week of school

The only problem is the mountain of studying/homework/prep I still have to do.  And my inability to get things done on time.

Ah, well.  Yesterday I went grocery shopping and got lots of exotic things: beets, turnips, and cabbage (all for borscht!), fuyu persimmons (the eating kind, not the baking kind), and eggplant (4 of them, and I've already used 3 on baba ghanoush; the last I'm saving for baigan bharta).  Yum......

Also, check this out:

I feel like such a popular cousin.  Can you guess which option I chose?

<3
Eliza

Thomas Friedman

You need to read this.  It's really nice to have someone put all of my frustrations about the political-ness of world relations out there.  Except for Benjamin Netanyahu.  He deserves his own article.

School

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I've been quite busy.

Last week was Thanksgiving.  Sunday night was roommate Thanksgiving, for which I made five pies.  The epic snowstorm that was forecasted for Tuesday night and Wednesday never showed (1/2 an inch?!?).  I watched all three Lord of the Rings movies.  I went to winco, and bought approximately $3 worth of food.  They had also sent out an ad with coupons for free bacon, orange juice, english muffins, cereal, and eggs.  Megan and I shared.  I read books!  (Including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.)  I had no stuffing, all week :(

Mostly, I went to Herriman to spend Thanksgiving with the Woodwards and the Rosses.  (Is that how you pluralize it, or am I making things up?)  I arrived on Wednesday evening, made pies, and slept.  On Thursday morning we ran the Turkey Trot.  It was about 5 degrees outside.  Then we went back to the house, prepared hors d'oeuvres, and finished up the place-setting and side-dish-making.  We ate food, which was awesome.  I particularly liked the yam casserole, which had dried apricots, mango nectar, and a crumb topping.  Mmm...  Kelsey brought an awesome chocolate chip cheesecake.  We also had mom's apple-raspberry-cranberry relish!  It made my day.

That evening, we watched this video, and the second LotR movie.  Friday morning we got up, ate cheesecake and pie for breakfast, and went to the gym (thank goodness!).  I stayed for the afternoon, and Aunt Geniel, Suzannah, and I went Black Friday shopping at Target and Plato's Closet.  It was great :)

I returned to the apartment Friday evening, and watched the Return of the King while eating ice cream and pie.  Lots of it.  Saturday was fairly unproductive; I actually slept in until 12:42 pm, which was amazing.  I also read two pages of my physiology textbook.  Then Heidi came home and we went to Target and spent too much money.  Ah well, there are always returns... :)

Sunday was pretty low-key as well.  All of my roommates returned (it had been just Megan and I previously; we had fun, but it was a little quieter than normal) and we had fun.  I also played the piano for two hours after church.  That was great, but it tensed up my back so much that I couldn't fall asleep because I literally could not relax my muscles.

Monday - work, school, work, study, test, cold, study.

Tuesday - work, school, study.  Went to bed at 8, woke up at 10:30, went back to bed at 1.

Wednesday - study, school, work, blog, study.

Upcoming:
1. I'm giving a presentation on diabetes in my physiology class tomorrow.
2. I have an econ assignment and a politics paper due tomorrow.  I am also going to see Tangled with Heidi.
3. I have my Spanish oral final on Friday.
4. Two econ assignments due next week.  Kill me now.
5. Sleep.  Remember those days when I would sneak about to stay up late?  Now I sneak about to go to bed  early.

Oh, the gray and drab life of a student two weeks before finals.

<3
Eliza

Harry Potter

Kristin and I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.  It was awesome, and definitely my favorite of all the movies so far (although that dance scene was really awkward...).  I liked that it was more closely related to the book.  Guess I'm just a purist.

Anyways, we also dressed up.  Kristin had an awesome Hermione costume and I went as the Whomping Willow.  No, you didn't read that incorrectly.  I was a tree.  See the photographic evidence below :)

On my boot I put a bran flake (for the knot at the base of the WW) and Crookshanks (who opens the passageway)

On my stomach there was a picture of Harry, Ron, and Hedwig in the flying Ford Anglia.

A broken Nimbus 2000 on my back.

Leaf earrings, cut out from a green folder.

"Bark" eyebrows, crazy hair, and dark lipstain.  Mostly just because it looked dangerous.

Andrea (on the left, Luna Lovegood) is a former roommate of Kristin's (on the right, in the Hermione costume).  No, I wasn't really grabbing her hair.

Megan helped me to cut out all the leaves, tape the on, and get all ready.  We went, had a great time, and came home to sleep.  Yay!  Also, we took a picture with a guy wearing an awesome Voldemort costume.  Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for Andrea to put those up on facebook before I can post them here.

Hope everyone else enjoyed the movie as much as I did!

<3
Eliza

P.S. While we were waiting for the movie to begin, there were several wizard's duels.  It made me laugh.

Water Polo

I think I mentioned a few posts back that I have been playing water polo with the BYU water polo club.  About three weeks ago, we went to a game in Park City against the University of Utah.  We had never played together before, so that was exciting...  There were 5 girls who showed up on our team, and so we had guys sub in during our game.  U of U had about 3 guys show up, so they subbed girls and some of our guys.  We lost, but it was very fun.  Here are some pictures:

I thought this was the intense picture, when really it was just the smiling picture.  Oh well.

There were no action shots of me, but I guess the person in charge of the camera thought that I was very funny as I sat at the side of the pool.  

There are several more, but I won't post them.  How embarrassing.

At the top left, you can see my new friend Nicole and I, being water polo groupies during the boys' game.

So, that was water polo.  It was fun, and I'm sad that I only have one more practice this semester, on Saturday.  But it will start again next semester!

<3

Eliza

Sanity Check... just to make sure

Am I crazy for thinking these are way cute?



What about these?



How do you feel about red boots?




Just wondering :)

<3
Eliza

P.S. Check out my new food blog, procrastinatingcollegecook.blogspot.com!  I decided not to lambast you with all of my recipes on this site, so now they have a new home.  Hope you enjoy it!

Halloween part-ay!

For Halloween, I decided to honor the family tradition of pumpkin soup.  I made some, invited Heidi over, and the rest of the gang invited an apartment full of friends from their freshman ward.

Margarine.  Yum.

Leeks and onions.  I paid almost $6 for the leeks.  Dang.  Luckily, I only needed one, so I have one in the freezer!

Who doesn't like this stuff??

Everything stewing together... 

After a bout with the immersion blender :)  SO delicious.

Pumpkin cream cheese swirl bread.  I would post a recipe, but it was kinda gross.  Mom, could you send me the recipe for Lori's pumpkin roll, pretty please?

Our festive Halloween spread.  We had salad (thank you, Kristin :), rolls and green beans from the Sparks girls,  and then rye bread,  pumpkin cream cheese bread, and the onion tart that I made.  The pumpkin soup and Kristin's amazing apple dumplings were over on the stove.

I would tell you everybody's names, but I don't really know most of them, and the pictures are blurry for the rest :)  However, in the last picture, the two on the right are Kristin and Heidi.  

I will post the recipes for pumpkin soup and onion tart later, but now I have to study!  Love you all!

<3

Eliza

P.S. Mom, is it, like, blasphemy for me to post the pumpkin soup recipe?  Everyone at the party loved it and wanted the recipe, so I thought it might be happy to put it here for future (present?) generations. 

The run

Two Saturdays ago, I ran a half-marathon.  I had been training for 3-4 weeks (maybe a total of 25 miles of running), and I went and did this.  Crazy!  Surprisingly, it went okay.  I walked about a mile or a mile and a half total, split up between sections of running, and it was fun. Here is a short picture documentary of the experience...

Kristin and I after a run in the rain one week before the half-marathon.

This is the only picture I have of us training.  I know it's weird, but I'm not really into taking pictures of myself when I'm sweaty and gross.

The morning of the race, we got up at 5 so we could be on the road by 6.  I made banana bread waffles for breakfast, and we were off!  However, before we left, we saw this on the door, drawn by Stacey:

For your visual pleasure, here are some close-up shots of each of us three runners in that picture:

Here's Megan, at the water station.  She has two different colored eyes, and so the guy at the station is excited about that.

This is Kristin, with someone yelling "Awesome!" behind her.

And this is me.  I didn't have a fanny pack or any other handy place to put my snacks, so....  Just kidding.  I did stuff granola bars down my leggings, but they were definitely on the sides of my legs.  No need to accentuate what's already there, right? :)

Anyways, we rode a bus to the beginning of the race and sat in the tent up at Sundance, which is a ski resort about 30 minutes from BYU.  It was pretty chilly, but we huddled together by the heaters and were fine.  The race started at 9, and we lined up with about 2700 other runners, many of them in costume (this was Halloween Eve, after all, and we were running the Provo Halloween Half Marathon).  Here is a map of the race we ran:

As you can see, it has a fairly steep downhill slope on the first five miles, but after that it evens out.  I felt like kind of a wimp beforehand, running a half-marathon all downhill, but afterwards I was impressed with myself. It hurts to run downhill!  After the first five miles, we crossed the highway and ran down the Provo River Canyon Trail, which was beautiful.  We ended at the Riverwoods Mall, right next to Borders.  So you know what I did after the race... :)

Anyways, once we passed the 4-mile marker, I was excited - I'd run further than I'd ever run before!  Our pacers looked at each other nervously.  At about mile 6, although I'd eaten two granola bars, I was getting low and Kristin was having some blood pressure issues, so we slowed down for a while, alternating walking and jogging.  I can't get my blog to load this picture, probably because it's copyrighted, but if you click on this link, you can see me at mile 6.5, checking my blood sugar (I only checked once during the entire race, crazy!).

At mile 7, I sped up again, and pushed on running through mile 9 before I walked.  I ran to mile eleven, and I had started to lose hope of ever catching up with my pace group (set to finish at 2 hours 20 minutes) before the end.  I was down to my last bag of fruit snacks after eating 3 granola bars and another bag of fruit snacks.  Finally, I caught back up to Megan!  She's a little bit crazy, and she'd decided to run the entire thing without stopping.  And you know what's even crazier?  She did it.  Whoa.  Anyways, we ran together till about 12.5, and we caught up to our pacing group at 12.  At mile 12, I started to push it.  I alternated running and walking, and I was very tired.  

I had just entered the civilized section of the trail, and I could see buildings of the mall.  People were lining the pathway cheering us on, when one guy stepped out, ever so helpfully, and said, "You can do it!  Only 200 yards to the finish line!"  Well, at the thought of 200 more yards, I had to walk.  So I did.  I managed to get back into a jog for the final push, but it was a struggle.  I walked as soon as I hit the finish line.  

Here are the results:

As you can see, I didn't come in the first half of the runners... but I'm okay with that.  Fish out of water anyone?  I got 95th in my division, and I'm even more okay with that.  Next time I want to get under 2:10, but I'm just happy that I beat my goal time of 2:20.  

Overall, it was a fun and exciting experience, and I'm glad I did it.  I plan to do it again next year, with maybe a little bit more training beforehand.  The race itself was perfect - I didn't start to feel overheated until the last half-mile, when the sun finally peeked out from behind some clouds.  It also wasn't so cold that I wasn't comfortable the whole time.  

One surprising thing: when I'd finished the race and was sitting drinking some water, I reached up to wipe some sweat away, and my face was grainy.  Hmm.  I couldn't figure out what it was until I licked my lips.  I had salt all over my face from sweat.  Gross.  But very interesting.  

Luckily, after a long nap that afternoon, I was only a little bit sore.  I even wore heels to church the next day!  I won't tell you how it felt to stand up after sitting in one place for sacrament meeting, though.  

Anyways, that was the run.  I feel like a beast for even contemplating running it, but it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be.  I highly recommend running a half-marathon; it's a great self-esteem booster - even if you look a little lumpy around the hips.

<3

Eliza

P.S. Happy 100th post!!!  

I know you're still waiting for the running post, but...

So, I have been working on the running post, but as I don't have any pictures of us all in our running outfits, I couldn't really finish it off.  Don't worry; it's coming!  I also have a Halloween post in the works.  I'll get to it.  In the meantime, I made something so easy, so divine, so wonderful tonight, that I had to share it:

Honey-Glazed Pear Upside-Down Cake

If that name doesn't appeal to you, I don't know what will.  And also, I'm not sure we can be friends anymore.  (Sorry the picture's blurry; it smelled so delightful I had a hard time holding myself back to take pictures while I could have been eating it!)

I first read this recipe about three weeks ago, and I've been dreaming about it ever since.  Two weeks ago, the grocery store was having a sale on all kinds of pears - Bosc, D'Anjou, Bartlett - so I picked up a couple of each, in anticipation of the recipe, which I hadn't read thoroughly enough to know that it called for 3-4 Bosc pears.  By the time I finally got to actually cooking the recipe this evening, there were only four pears still edible: two Bartletts, a Bosc, and a D'Anjou.  So I ran with it.  It was delicious.

First, you caramelize some honey in a pan.  Add pears and cook.  Then you roast them in the oven, pour batter over the top, sprinkle some sliced almonds on top of that, and bake.

Upside down, just out of the oven.  It smelled sooo good I can't even tell you.  Pears + honey + vanilla + lemon + almond??  Duh it smelled delicious.

Wait as long as you can after it comes out of the oven (I didn't wait long enough, and my cake had a large hole in the middle), and flip upside down on a plate.  Eat.  So easy, and so sinfully delectable.

The big hole in the middle of my cake, quickly fixed by stuffing it with the cake that remained in the pan.

I had Heidi over to help eat the cake, along with Stacey and Kristin.  We saved about 1/5 of the cake for Megan, who was at work, but we devoured the rest of it.  The recipe is supposed to yield 6-8 servings; we got 5.

Recipe (originally from here, and many of the instructions are quoted word-for-word):
Honey-Glazed Pear Upside-Down Cake

My modifications are mostly marked with asterisks, with references down at the bottom, so I wouldn't clog up the recipe itself!

1/4 c. honey*
4 small or 3 large Bosc pears, peeled,* quartered lengthwise, and cored
3 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)*
1 cup sugar
Finely grated zest of one lemon (not optional!)
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 c. flour (would half whole-wheat give this more depth?  I don't know... maybe I'll try next time)
1/4 t salt
6 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled, plus 1 tablespoon melted and cooled separately*
1/4 c. sliced almonds (buy these at the store, don't try to slice them yourself.  The structure helps hold the cake crust together)

1. Preheat oven to 350.  In a 9-inch skillet,* simmer honey until it begins to reduce, caramelize, and darken, 6-10 minutes.  Do not let honey burn; if it starts to smell burned, turn off heat.

2. Arrange pears, close together and cut-side down, in a circular pattern in skillet, stem ends pointing toward center (I didn't bother, as my pears were all assorted and different sizes). Simmer over medium heat, turning them from one cut side to the other, until they begin to turn golden, about 10 minutes.

3. Pour pears and juices into a 9-inch cake pan.  Flip pears over to their curved side and scatter with thyme sprigs (or sprinkle with ground thyme) if using. Transfer pan to oven and roast, uncovered, until very tender, about 25 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together sugar and lemon zest. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Fold in flour and salt; stir in 1/2 cup butter.

5. When pears are soft, remove pan from oven, discard thyme sprigs and brush edges of pears with remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter. Pour batter on roasted pears* and scatter almonds over batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cake cool for 30 minutes in pan. Run an offset spatula along edges of pan to loosen cake; carefully invert cake onto a serving platter. Serve warm or cooled.

My changes to the recipe:
1. The recipe calls for chestnut honey.  I used regular clover honey.  It was still good.
2. I didn't peel the pears.  Mostly because I was so eager to bake the cake that I didn't read the instructions very well.  but still... yummy.  And also it adds more fiber, even if it's not as pretty.
3. I didn't have fresh thyme, so I sprinkled a tiny bit of ground thyme on top of the pears before I put them in the oven.  It was good, and added another flavor dimension.  I think if I have the chance, though, I'll try it with fresh thyme sprigs.
4. The recipe called for 1/2 cup plus 1 T, but I didn't feel like I needed quite so much.  I used maybe 6 tablespoons plus the tablespoon to melt over the pears.
5. The recipe says not to use a non-stick skillet, as they apparently don't go in the oven (?).  I just cooked my pears over the stovetop in a non-stick skillet and then dumped them into a 9-inch cake pan for the roasting.  The recipe reflects my changes :)
6. It won't seem like there's enough batter, but just pour/spread/spoon it evenly over, and it will turn out.


Enjoy!

<3
Eliza

Bagels

Last Saturday, I was at home during a rainy, cold day, and I didn't want to do homework.  Not the most uncommon situation, but in this case I didn't have any urgent tasks, and so I decided to do something fun.  

I've been planning to make this recipe for a while now, and I finally had the time.  In case the post title didn't clue you in, I made bagels!  Whole-wheat cranberry walnut bagels, to be exact.  I started them off in the early afternoon, then went and worked on researching to vote.  I let the sponge rise for two hours, then added the rest of the ingredients and kneaded.  And kneaded it.  And kneaded it some more.  If I had a bread mixer, it wouldn't have taken so long, but it was still worth it.  After about 1/2 an hour of kneading, I'd finally gotten my dough to the right texture.  I shaped it into little bagel balls and let it rest.  Then I shaped it into mini-bagels (variation from the recipe, yay!), and let it rest again.

I hadn't read through the directions very well, so I was a little bit surprised that I needed to put the dough in the fridge overnight.  It worked, though.

On Sunday afternoon, after church, I came home and pulled a pan of bagels out of the fridge.  I preheated the oven and set a pot of water on to boil.  In the meantime, I mixed some nutella and cream cheese to replace the hazelnut cream cheese called for in the recipe.  Yum.  Then I added baking soda to the boiling water, dropped the bagels in, and turned on the timer.  After a minute, I flipped them.  After another minute, I dropped them back on the pan with some cornmeal underneath.  I learned after the first batch that it's better to grease and cornmeal the pan, rather than using waxed/parchment paper.

I put the bagels in the oven for a few minutes less than the recommended time, because they were about 1/2 the size of those in the recipe.  When I pulled them out, they were fragrant, chewy, and delicious, full of whole-grain, walnut, and cranberry goodness.

When they were warm, I didn't want to put the cream cheese mixture on them, because they were too good alone.  Once they'd cooled, though, it was an amazing addition.  I froze about 1/3 of them, ate or gave away half, and then left the rest out for lunches.

This project was so fun - I had a great time, even though it was kind of a long time.  One funny part?  The next day I had sore ab muscles from leaning over the counter and kneading.

Overall, this project was worth it - much yummier and healthier than store-bought bagels.  I've also started researching other bagel recipes, although I need to use up these ones first!  Have fun!

<3
Eliza

P.S. On Sunday I got together with Melissa and Natalie, from our "compassionate service committee" (aka baking committee) of last year's ward.  We made pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, and banana bread.  It was so much fun!

P.P.S. You can get vital wheat gluten at winco or whole foods in bulk, or you could just buy a box of it at the grocery store :)

Food, part 2

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Um... yum?  These were delish, and although you have to keep a pretty close eye on the stove for the custard, they were fairly quick and easy.  Plus, they're very cute and they smell divine.  I won't write out the recipe, but you can find it here (along with the picture above).


Butternut Squash and Cheese Pie


Picture taken, again, from the original website, here.

Ingredients:
-1 butternut squash (1.5-2 pound)
-Olive oil
-1 large onion, chopped
-2/3 cup grated cheddar cheese
-2/3 cup other cheese (I used Swiss, but you could use gruyere or muenster, if you're feeling rich and fancy)
-1/2 cup goat cheese (I skipped this, and it didn't create a problem)
-1 T fresh rosemary or 1 t dried rosemary
-2 eggs
-2 egg yolks
-2/3 cup cream
-Salt and pepper
-One 9-inch pie crust, baked (I had my frozen one from conference weekend, which I pulled out and baked beforehand!)

Directions;
1. Cut and cook butternut squash with a little bit of olive oil.  I used the microwave, as usual.
2. Saute onion in olive oil until it browns.  Combine onion with cheeses and rosemary in a bowl.
3. Food-process eggs, egg yolks, cream, and butternut squash (I used my immersion blender!).  Combine with onion and cheeses.  Add salt and pepper to taste (make sure you use a lot; it really makes a difference.)
4. Pour into baked pie crust and bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until center is set.  Cool and eat.


Pita Bread

This pita bread was quite easy, surprisingly.  I put the dough together in the morning, stuck it in the refrigerator, and then pulled it out and baked it that evening.  It puffed up perfectly, and went perfectly with the next recipe...  Oh, and I used half whole-wheat flour to make it healthier.  Yay!

Ground Beef (or Turkey) Gyros

SO easy.

And delicious.  From here.  Although the pictures are actually from my camera, for once.

Ingredients:

-8 oz. plain yogurt

-1/3 cup chopped seeded cucumber

-2 T finely chopped onions

-1 garlic clove, minced

-1 t sugar

-1 lb. lean ground beef or ground turkey (you can find this frozen for about $1.50!)

-1 1/2 t oregano

-1 t garlic powder

-1 t onion powder

-1 t salt

-3/4 t pepper

-4 pita breads (use the ones from the recipe above, or buy already-made ones)

-Lettuce, Tomatoes, and sliced onions (red?) for topping

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, combine first five ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate.

2. In a separate bowl, combine meat and seasonings.  Mix well and shape into 4 patties.

3. Cook for 10-12 minutes, turning once.  I used a frying pan on the stove, but you could also broil or grill them.

4. Cut patties into thin slices.  Stuff into pitas with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and yogurt sauce.

These gyros are awesomely amazing.  They even have Houghton family approval behind them.  Whoo!

Good luck cooking!

<3

Eliza

Food, part 1

Things I've made:

Indian-Spiced Popcorn (fabulously yellow, no?)

This popcorn is savory, unlike most popcorn.  It is spicy and delicious, and I've had it (a half-batch) for dinner twice in the past few weeks.

Recipe: 

Pop 1/2 cup of popcorn, however you like (I just cooked it in a pot on the stove)

Melt 1/4 cup of butter with 1t garam masala, 1/4 t turmeric, and 1/4 t cayenne pepper

Drizzle spicy butter over popcorn and add salt as needed (as you pour the butter over it, so it will stick to the popcorn)

Sidenote: Mom, you can buy garam masala in bulk at Whole Foods.  Trust me, it's worth it.  Also, could you please buy some and send me a few teaspoons?  That would make me very happy :)


Roasted Carrots 
-I love boiled carrots, fresh carrots, and steamed carrots.  But this is probably my favorite preparation so far. It's awesome, and you could alter it as desired to give the carrots a different character.
Recipe:
1. Toss some chopped (diagonally, about 1.5-inch long) carrots with olive oil, salt, and plenty of pepper.
2. Put on a baking sheet in a single layer.
3. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until soft and slightly caramelized.
4. Sprinkle with parsley, dill, or any other spice you think would taste good.
5. Devour.
For more detailed instructions, see this recipe.


Roasted Broccoli

This is a picture from the site where I got the original recipe (see this for more detailed instructions/measurements), but it looks quite similar to what I ended up with.  I used the leftover broccoli from the veggie tray at my party (thanks, Stacey!).  I literally could not stop eating it.  Yummy.

Recipe:
1. Preheat the oven to 425.  Cut broccoli into stalks like those shown above.
2. In a small saucepan, heat some olive oil (regular vegetable would probably be fine too, but I didn't want to risk it) and minced garlic on low heat for about five minutes, or until garlic starts to turn golden.
3. Add a pinch of crushed red pepper to the oil/garlic mix and cook for one minute more.  Remove from heat.
4. In a large bowl, combine broccoli and oil.  Add some lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Toss to coat broccoli with a thin layer of oil.  I realized that I didn't have quite enough oil, so I sprayed some Pam on it.
5 Spread broccoli in a single layer on a pan and place in oven.  After 10 minutes, it should be slightly caramelized (read: browned) on the bottom.  Remove.
6. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese (I used the bottled kind, but fresh would be delicious too).
7. EAT!


I have tons more recipes, but I don't really want to put them all on one post.  So I will put more of my favorites from the last few weeks up soon!  Love you all lots.

<3
Eliza


P.S. Grandma: it worked!  I can see your comment, as long as you post it while you're in gmail.  It's great to hear from you, and thanks again for sending my winter stuff up!

Birthday parties!

I know it's been a couple of weeks, but I finally have the party post!  On my actual birthday, Heidi had a brownies and ice cream party for our basketball team.  It was great, and we had a wonderful time.  The other two parties were put on by my roommates (who are fantastic, by the way!)

On the eighth, Kristin made these cupcakes:

Remember when I posted about wanting to make these?  Well, Kristin saw that post and made them for me!  Aren't they precious?  The crown toothpicks and Disney Princess cupcake wrappers were in the package from home :)

Megan was the chief cherry-putter-onner of the operations.

Sadly, I don't have any good pictures of Stacey or Kristin at this party; however, we had a marvelous time.  

The other party was last Saturday.  There were cupcakes, balloons, games, a veggie platter, chips, party poppers, streamers, good friends from last year, and a happy birthday sign.  

The spread - is that cute or what?  Megan arranged it and put the streamers (pictured below; they're still there!) up.

Yellow cupcakes with chocolate shavings... yum.

Balloons!!

Kristin and I before the party.

They made me wear a huge birthday hat, which I would have minded more if they hadn't put on this fabulous birthday party :)

This picture of Stacey expresses perfectly how the parties made me feel.  They were awesome.

<3

Eliza