(871) le semaine d'examens

That's right...I somehow made it to exam week and I'm still alive! I also have more things going on right now than I have had during the entire semester, not including school. Not sure how that happened, but I am ready for classes to be done so I can focus on them. I am also *slowly* preparing for my trip to France next year, which means getting a passport, and hopefully an honors grant too! 

Trying to do DIY/homemade gifts for everyone this year. This is the only one I've started because it requires no attention and needs to sit for 3 weeks: homemade vanilla extract. //baked bree

I still eat snacks like a five-year old: bugs in the bed/ants on a log.

I am not very confident about cooking things that aren't by a recipe, but there are a few things that I know how to cook easily; oven fries is one of them. Cut sweet potatoes into uniform pieces (peel if desired but I dont think its necessary). Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, smoked paprika, etc. There are many ways to dress these! Bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes, flipping halfway through, until soft and crunchy on the outside. 

This tofu scramble certainly helped me do a bit of improvisation, which I never do. I have also been searching for the perfect tofu scramble, like the one I used to get at a restaurant in High Point which is not only closed, but used to be so cross-contaminated that I was always sick from it. It was delicious though, and this is the closest thing I can find. Use any vegetables in your fridge for this and any spices you desired. This batch was: curry, cumin, paprika, cayenne, dried oregano and lots of nutritional yeast (which helps browning) and for vegetables: carrots, mushrooms, onions, and spinach. This is why I like to keep a package of tofu in my fridge because this was easy to pull together! //chickpea magazine

A little more improvising was done with this dish (yay!). It's hard to find a good, creamy vegan pasta that isn't loaded down with vegan cheese or soy milk. This vegan pumpkin pasta was perfect. I was quite hesitant about the nutmeg added to the sauce, but it compliments the salt and pumpkin perfectly. I added some white wine, vegan butter sauteed mushrooms and shallots to the sauce and it was amaaaazing. Definitely tasted better the first day but was still lovely. //chickpea magazine

Couldn't resist. Hot toddys are in my near future.

My latest meal goal is to eat something green with every meal, which doesn't necessarily mean a salad (as you can see by this post and the one below). This wonderful side dish, which didn't last in my kitchen for 10 minutes, was a lovely roasted broccolini with a smoked paprika vinaigrette and sunflower seeds for crunch. I may have to make this again next week. The flavors are just fantastic. //the year in food

I can't honestly say that I have ever had a brussel sprout. I just remember them being the butt of every vegetable/child related joke. They got picked on, as a vegetable, which I never understood. They couldn't be that bad. I mean, they weren't the stewed cabbage that was eaten in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Anyways...I have had my blog roll blown up about brussel sprout recipes in the past two weeks. So finally I roast the damn things and good lord. What have I been missing this whole time? They are perfect. I made these as one of my green sides but they are phenomenal. I would like to have them at the Christmas dinner table. So yeah. Don't hate on them, just go roast them! //oh, ladycakes!

I have been stalking this traditional Israeli breakfast dish ever since I started reading Deb's blog and seeing this pop up everywhere. What makes it so popular? Well, first of all, one of its alternative names is "eggs in purgatory" (clearly Dante would eat this) and not only is it easy to make, but it's cheap too. It consists of a spicy, anaheim chile laced tomato sauce (use San Mazrano tomatoes on this trussst me) topped with poached eggs which are directly cooked into the tomato sauce. I have never poached an egg, and didn't really poach these, but they are still edible and that's what is important. This would be great to serve a crowd at brunch because it makes a ton, haha. I served mine with garlic basil polenta rounds and brussels sprouts. //smitten kitchen