yeah, i'm pretty much a vegetarian until 6 pm

my friend emily (who is an engaging/lovely/honest writer/musician/mother, among other things...you should really check out her blog HERE) started following me on pinterest a while ago.  mostly cause we are dorks and talk about food a bunch.  being a faux-foodie is fun.  i think emily is a real foodie, actually.  but i don't know if i have the commitment to be a real foodie.

i digress.

so i have a food board that she follows.  if you want to see it, it's HERE.  (fair warning...i am kind of terrible about pinterest.  i will go through spurts where i will look at it a bunch for about two days and pin things...and then forget it exists for three months.  but this board serves as an online recipe box for me, so that's helpful.)

emily and i hung out a while ago at hearthstone (apparently, this is a link happy blog...but the place is awesome, and you should investigate it HERE), and i ordered one of their flatbread pizzas because the menu description contained words like pesto, mushrooms, and cheese.  duh.  so emily commented, 'are you a full-time vegetarian?'

i almost choked.

me?  a vegetarian?  the daughter of a hunter?

definitely not.

emily explained, 'well, most of your recipes on pinterest are veggie ones...'

she has a point.  i think if you did a search on my board, you would notice words like asparagus, avocado, spinach, hummus, and goat cheese come up over and over.  BECAUSE I LOVE THESE THINGS.

seriously.  love.

(you will also notice a theme of olive oil and garlic: two basic staples that i want to put in everything, even if there is no reason to at all.)

and when i get on pinterest, my eye is naturally drawn to these foods.  can't be helped.  so there are many many many vegetarian-friendly recipes on my board.

but let's get serious.  i love meat.  boy howdy, do i love meat/animal protein.  i love the basics (pork, beef, chicken, seafood), the hunted (squirrel, rabbit, venison), and the lesser-talked about (tripe, offal).  i'll eat it all.

but most days, i don't have any meat until my evening meal.  and not always then.  so about 70% of my life is vegetarian by the sheer coincidence that i happen to love fruits and vegetables. 

so yeah.  i'm pretty much a vegetarian until 6 pm.







(if you want to know the foods i don't like, they are as follows: rhubarb and grapefruit.  there are other foods i can't eat because of my allergies, but it doesn't mean i don't like them.)

**edit** it has been pointed out i also hate chocolate milk.  not sure how i forgot that.

the monthly cooking segment: new new new

i tried two new pinterest meals (if you haven't checked it out yet, my food board is HERE), and they were awesome.

i made pork chops...recipe HERE...and arugula pizza...recipe HERE.

i could not believe how easy the pork chops were.  i had never made them before, so i was pretty nervous.  but they turned out really well--super juicy.

i didn't actually make the flatbread, so my meal was not gluten free.  i just used whole wheat pitas.  but they were great.  goat cheese is becoming my new best friend. next time, i would use more arugula (first time i had ever even tasted it, let alone cooked with it!) than the recipe calls for.  and i would carmelize the onions more.

both items were really excellent left over, too.  the pork chops totally retained their juiciness.  

two thumbs up for both recipes.

the monthly cooking segment: pinterest is baller

hey, remember how i changed a goal to making stuff on pinterest?  oh, well, if not, read that HERE.

since i am abandoning the wigger women in a while, it seemed like a good idea to cook even more.  :)  so liz and i sat down this week and picked a couple of the meals off my food board (check it out HERE).

meal number one: spinach and artichoke baked pasta.  the original recipe can be found HERE.  this is gooey.  and cheesy.  and delicious.  and oh yeah...it's pretty ridiculous with salmon.

verdict: yes, please, and more of it!  (also delicious leftover.)

meal number two: eggplant sandwiches.  the original recipe can be found HERE.  basically, you coat some slices of eggplant with breadcrumbs, pan fry them, and then use them instead of a bun.  plus tomato...romaine lettuce...fresh basil...and goat cheese.  soooo good.  i recommend thinner slices of eggplant, really getting the oil out, more than a sprinkle of salt, and using tons of goat cheese.  :)

verdict: excellent, and very easy to tweak for various tastes (no basil and very little tomato for liz).

30 by 30 update: that awkward moment when march is july

hello, blogging family that i shamelessly ignore.  it's me, your negligent and sleepy friend, holly.  here are some updates for your reading pleasure.

1) in five weeks, i will be a master of students.

2) $2300/$2700.  turns out, all my dad needed to do to retire was get me to pay back this money.  :)

3) you know what?  i went to epcot over spring break and visited many countries.  so i'm going to call this a win for now.  boom.

8) i am officially changing this one from 'get something published' to 'make five food items from pinterest (check out my food board HERE).

11) i've been cooking my little heart out.  i've done 16/20.  HERE'S my most recent monthly cooking segment.

16) the marathon is in ONE MONTH!  eek.  it's in carmel.  you are super welcome to come and cheer if you want.  i'll need all the encouragement and prayers i can get.

29) i have read 70/100 books.  here are the most recent ones: a technique for producing ideas, wolverine, out of the silent planet, let go, and a diary of private prayer.

oh, hey, i turn 30 in 4 months.  no big deal.