Tag Archives: food

Make these, please: Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

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I don't typically gush over things I've made, but these were pretty much the best.

I don't typically gush over things I've made, but these were pretty much the best.

I don’t know how seriously anyone takes what I say here most of the time. Which is good, because most of the time you shouldn’t. But, I’m serious when I say that you need to make these muffins. After one too many baking fails when I tried to make up recipes, I vowed to start following recipes, at least when I expect other people to eat my food.

This weekend I had out of town guests, and I thought it would be nice to make something they could have as a snack or quick breakfast. Instead of trying to make something up, I found this recipe from Cooking Light for Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins. I made a shopping list and everything. Except… well, when I got home I didn’t have the cranberries I thought I did.. and I kind of thought nuts would be good.. and.. so yeah, I ended up making a few substitutions on their base pumpkin recipe. I just can’t help myself, and apparently I cannot follow directions.

  • I substituted Splenda for the granulated sugar in the recipe because I figured with the 1/2 cup of brown sugar, it would still be sweet enough. If you use regular sugar, I’d recommend cutting back to 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup, depending on how sweet you want your muffins.
  • I used some walnuts I had on hand in place of the cranberries. This was the best decision. You could use any nuts, or omit, but I think they made the texture perfect.
  • I topped the final muffins with a tiny bit of cinnamon/sugar/walnut/butter mixture that I had left over from a test run of cinnamon rolls I didn’t end up making. This is totally optional, but it is pretty. And delicious.
These pumpkin muffins are soft, sweet and filling. You will not regret adding this recipe to your collection!

These pumpkin muffins are soft, sweet and filling. You will not regret adding this recipe to your collection!

Making it work: Tips for Weekly Lunch Prep

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This is a former lunch, but a good illustration of something I might be eating.

This is a former lunch, but a good illustration of something I might be eating.

So, if you know me even a little bit, you know I am not a type A personality. I like having a plan, but I also like wasting time and putting stuff in piles to lose later. When it comes down to it, I like having a schedule so that I know exactly how much time I have to lollygag before I have to get serious.

But, since school and work have started back, I knew I had to stop flying by the seat of my pants when it came to meals, so I’ve been making large batches of food to take as lunch and dinner.

I think without real food, it is easy to hit up the vending machine for food that I don’t feel good about and isn’t satisfying. Even in the school of public health, where we supposedly have  a “healthy side” of the vending machine, I don’t find huge nutritional differences between the “healthy snacks” and “regular snacks.” After, I’m still hungry and feeling guilty about wasting a $1 on a bag of baked potato chips.

This semester I crammed 32 hours of work and classes into a three day week. Yup, I know, pretty smart/stupid of me depending on which day it is. But you don’t have to have a four day weekend to do this. I tend to procrastinate until Monday evening to  prepare everything, and I’d say that excluding shopping time which you have to do anyway, actual time spent in the kitchen is only about an hour.

So far, I’ve lost about 9 pounds since I got home, from a combination of working out and meal planning. I thought I would share some of my tips in case you are looking for a way to save time and money during the work week.

Making it work: Weekly Lunch Prep Tips

1. Make food you actually want to eat. This is the most important part. Now isn’t the time to devote yourself to overly virtuous lunches. Yes, I know it seems like making yourself eat kale and tofu everyday for lunch would be a good plan. But it isn’t,  because you might make it the first day, but by the second day you will find yourself making any excuse to eat something else. You don’t want to have a sad lunch.

2. Don’t forget about your goals. Everyone has different needs for lunches. For me, I want something that is about 400 calories, contains vegetables and protein, and will keep me satisfied because my goal is weight loss.  Maybe you are looking to gain weight, maintain, eat more vegetables, save money… whatever. But you need to consider what you want before getting started.

3. Keep a list of meals that meet the requirements of #1 and #2. This can be a running list you keep, or recipes you’ve dog-earred in magazines. I think this helps me when I’m stumped at the grocery store. I usually only make two dishes per week, so it isn’t like you have to be super creative.

4. Be prepared. You’re going to need enough containers for your individual portions, something to carry it in, utensils to eat with, etc. I made the mistake last week of not packing any silverware with rice and beans. That’s not drinkable or appropriate finger food. It might help to keep a few extra (Clean!) forks/spoons at your work space or in your car depending on your day.

5. Make extra-extra. I’m often only cooking for one, but I tend to make recipes with 6 or more servings. If I make two dishes each week like this, I end up with extra servings to freeze later. So, as the semester gets busier, there will be weeks when I don’t have to cook at all because I’ve already got a week’s worth of meals frozen. This is also a good way to add variety to future week’s meal plans.

6. Think outside the box. I tend to make soups, curries, stir fries and other one-dish meals because.. well I already told you I’m lazy and I like them. But, I’ve had success making salads that kept well 2-3 days ahead just by waiting to add any wet ingredients. If you love sandwiches, you could also make something like chicken or tuna salad ahead of time.

7. Go halfsies. If you don’t want to make whole dishes ahead of time, take 30 minutes to chop, portion, or prepare parts of your favorite meals or snacks so that when you’re running late, you’re already halfway there. You could do this by making extra rice, pasta, sandwich spreads, chopped vegetables, etc.

So what are some ways you save time during the week? What are your favorite make-ahead or freezable dishes?

I did it! Trying something new… Quick Baja Fish Tacos

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Fish tacos so easy, even I can make them!

Fish tacos so easy, even I can make them!

I should clarify that I’m not new to eating fish tacos, I’m just new to making them. I’ve always kept my distance from cooking with seafood just because it tends to be expensive and occasionally skeeves me out with its little eyeballs or tentacles or other body parts I am more comfortable letting someone else take care of.

But, as I said yesterday, I needed to get back in the kitchen if only to get my cooking mojo back. I had seen a recipe for fish tacos in a recent Cooking Light, but didn’t save it anywhere so I had to do a quick google search at the grocery. I ended up with this recipe for Baja Fish Tacos from a few years back instead.

At first I thought this was too many ingredients for just one person, but after I started cooking I realized it is really easy. You could make it more DIY by making your own taco seasoning, but I used a premixed version from the store.

Much easier than I initially expected.

Much easier than I initially expected.

Quick Fish Tacos

Ingredients (makes about 4-5 tacos)

2 Tilapia fillets, uncooked and chopped into bite sized pieces
1 Tbs Lime juice
1 Tbs Taco seasoning
1 tsp oil
4-5 6inch corn tortillas
About 1 cup shredded cabbage
About 1 Tbs diced onion
1 Tbs sour cream
Extra limes for garnish

Directions
1. Mix taco seasoning and lime juice. Toss tilapia in mixture until coated.
2. Add fish to saute pan with oil over medium-to-high heat.
3. While the fish is cooking, mix cabbage, onions and sour cream.
4. Heat tortillas according to the package (I stuck mine in the microwave for 10 seconds,w wrapped in paper towels.) Add a spoonful of cabbage to tortillas.
5. When fish are completely cooked, top the cabbage mixture with the fish and serve with lime slices.

At first I was worried that the “slaw” wouldn’t have enough flavor without salt or pepper, but I think the creaminess is a good balance for the saltiness of the fish. I was really surprised how much I liked these, even though they are different from the more traditional fish tacos I’ve had in the past.

Nutritional Info per taco: 128 calories, 3.2g fat, 14.7g carbs, 2.2g fiber, 12.6g protein. WW+ 3 points.

As blog as my witness.. I will take time to make an actual dinner! …One day.

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I’m not sure if we are all experiencing the same astrological down turn or what, but sometimes it seems like there are mental/emotional blogger trends. Or, maybe more likely since I write a personal blog and tend to spend hours a day thinking about myself (research!)… I just notice when people are going through what I’m going through. Lots of break ups lately.. and people realizing they are in a funk.. and the one that might even make a bigger impact on the writing of people mildly interested-to-obsessed with food – lots of people avoiding the kitchen.

I would bet part of this is because of the heat, because who wants to stand around in a hot ass kitchen when you could be laying pantsless in a body of water somewhere? I recently came back to Columbia-home after a month of being home-home, where I actually cooked a lot for my family. But none of it was very adventurous.. I mean, who wants to see pictures of me cooking another stir fry? Show of hands? … Anyone?
Ok, so here I am, back to feeding just myself and wanting to eat nothing but granola bars and yogurt. With good intentions, Monday, I looked for recipes I might want to make, made a shopping list and went to two grocery stores restocking my bare refrigerator. And then.. I was too lazy to cook anything. Instead, I heated up some soup I’d frozen, and decided I would make something the next day.

Instead, yesterday and today I’ve had spinach salad and sandwiches for pretty much every meal, and for those of you following along.. neither of those requires cooking.
So here, in front of the blog world, I’m promising that today I’m actually going to prepare something that doesn’t exclusively involve stacking ingredients on each other. Because (as Melissa said..) I’m worth it!

Ok, serious questions.. How do you find motivation to make real food for yourself? Or does it even matter? Am I the only one who feels guilty eating cereal for dinner more than once a week?

How guilt and hoarding have made me resourceful

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Anyone who knows me really well knows that I am often powered by guilt, honest, but sometimes inexplicable and often self-gratifying guilt. My guilt these last few weeks – letting food go to waste. I try to remember that food in my garden isn’t taking food away from other people, but the thought of squandering pounds of food because there is just too much makes me panic with guilt.
Today, 11 million people could die because of drought and famine in parts of Africa alone – not to mention the millions of hungry people in my state and country. I’m trying to shift from guilt, a relatively useless emotion in terms of action, to mindfulness and gratitude for my land and for my plate. 

I’ve tried finding friends to take stuff, and I even looked for local food banks that might be able to use some of this stuff but their policies didn’t really welcome it.

And so.. here we are. This isn't even everything, these are just all the ones that I could carry in that day.

And so.. here we are. This isn't even everything, these are just all the ones that I could carry in that day. Last year the squash fizzled out early in the season after some hungry animals gobbled up the blossoms... so we may have over compensated slightly this year.

Combined with guilt is the “You might need this one day”- Depression Era hoarding gene I inherited from my grandfather. When we cleaned out his cabinets after he died, we found dozens of boxes of Ziplock bags and sugar. While some people hoard things that are not useful – dirty blankets, used up chapstick containers, cats – the gene I inherited says stuff like “Do NOT throw away 50lbs of squash because you can’t use it today, because in a few months you might need some squash,” in the same way that my grandfather couldn’t pass up a deal on Ziplock bags and sugar because some day he might need them.

So, I’ve made squash in some way or another for every meal, chopped squash to use later in the week to keep in the refrigerator and even made a squash curry soup to freeze for later. And I still have squash everywhere.

Oh look! More squash!

Oh look! More squash!

After doing Google “research,” I realized that squash could be frozen. It isn’t complicated, but it involves a step I’d never thought about. If you have extra squash you want to save, 1) Wash and chop them to the size you want, 2) boil them for 3 minutes, then quickly remove the squash from the hot water and 3) put them into a bowl of ice water. This is called blanching, something I’m sure everyone but me knew about before now. Blanching the squash stops the enzyme that normally causes decay so when you freeze them they will maintain their color and texture.

After squash, I tackled my next nearly useless bumper crop..hot hot hot peppers.

But, after the "I just sliced peppers before putting in my contacts and I feel like someone just maced me"-debacle of a few weeks ago... I wore protection this time.

But, after the "I just sliced peppers before putting in my contacts and I feel like someone just maced me"-debacle of a few weeks ago... I wore protection this time.

I’ve frozen peppers without blanching before with success, so for these I just washed, deseeded and chopped them before bagging.

I still have no idea what to do with these. There is enough hotness in this bag that I thought about pureeing it, putting it in a water gun and using it as pepper spray. But seriously, you could feel the heat in the air in the kitchen as I was cutting them.

I still have no idea what to do with these. There is enough hotness in this bag that I thought about pureeing it, putting it in a water gun and using it as pepper spray. But seriously, you could feel the heat in the air in the kitchen as I was cutting them.

Just as I was beginning to get the squash/pepper situation under control, I went outside to see that a storm had blown over a pear tree. I picked some of the fruit before it could go bad.

A bucket of pears. And also the rain boots that I wear in the garden. Because that's just how I do things.

A bucket of pears. And also the rain boots that I wear in the garden. Because that's just how I do things.

From these, I made our whole house smell like Christmas by making first a batch of Asian Pear preserves (we have several trees of Asian Pears that were ready to be picked) by cooking down cubed, peeled pears, sugar, lemon, ginger and a little cinnamon. Next I took another 20ish pears, peeled and finely chopped them and cooked them down with cinnamon, sugar, cloves and ginger to make pear butter. I don’t have a recipe for any of those because I just used the “little of this and a little of that” method, and cooked them until they were the right consistency. Because I’m still terrified of actually canning, these have to be refrigerated and consumed in a reasonable amount of time.

I kind of love glass jars.

I kind of love glass jars.

In other garden news… the bell peppers are finally starting to turn sweet, we have one little watermelon hanging on for dear life in the 100* weather, the tomatoes are pretty much finished, a dozen butternut squash (probably my favorite food) are starting to turn, and yesterday I picked one single fig off our some forgotten fig bushes. Heaven for me.

Peppers, peppers, more peppers.

Peppers, peppers, more peppers.

At the risk of you thinking my extended blog absence has been spent entirely in the garden and in the kitchen.. I actually just got back from a few days at the beach with these wackadoos:

That's my happy face.

That's my happy face.

Any ideas for how to use hot peppers? Or squash? Or basil? Or pears? I’m open to suggestion! 

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Tostadas

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From our 32 part series, “How to eat as much zucchini as possible without turning green”

Cheese + Vegetables = Heaven

Cheese + Vegetables = Heaven

I used this recipe from Cooking Light, but didn’t really measure anything. I tried both the flour tortillas that were recommended, and corn and everyone agreed that the corn tortillas were better. I also subbed a white onion for red and used pepper jack cheese. You could easily drop the chicken from this dish, but I kept it because I was cooking for my family.

I love Cooking Light, but sometimes they over complicate their recipes. This is super easy. You just cook your toppings, broil the tortillas for a couple minutes with nonstick spray, add the topping and cheese and broil for a few more minutes.

I love Cooking Light, but sometimes they over complicate their recipes. This is super easy. You just cook your toppings, broil the tortillas for a couple minutes with nonstick spray, add the topping and cheese and broil for a few more minutes.

Easy, inexpensive and a good way to sneak in some more summer squash and zucchini!

Other ways I’ve used zucchini in the last week:

Vegetable stir fry x 2 – Served with brown or black rice

Raw zucchini and squash thinly sliced over salad

Zucchini and egg white casserole: Chop 1 large zucchini, mix with 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup shredded cheese, 2 eggs, 6 egg whites, salt and pepper to taste. Pour into baking pan, and  sprinkle top with bread crumbs and cheese and bake at 350* until solid and browned on top.

I brought this in Sunday - clearly I have some work to do. I keep trying to give stuff away but none of my friends are voracious vegetable eaters.

I brought this in Sunday - clearly I have some work to do. I keep trying to give stuff away but none of my friends are voracious vegetable eaters.

And now I’m off to the garden! Thanks to everyone for their support on my “Lost and Found” post! 

Curry Zucchini Cakes

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One of the most popular searches reaching my blog is about the Ruby Tuesday zucchini cakes that I posted about in my all-vegetable lunch post. Unfortunately for the googlers, I don’t have a recipe for those zucchini cakes (like crab cakes, not like cupcakes), but I did use the concept as a jumping off point for this this recipe.

Also, at this point in the season, I'm looking for any healthy squash/zucchini recipes. This is a photo of what I brought in from the garden yesterday.

Also, at this point in the season, I'm looking for any healthy squash/zucchini recipes. This is a photo of what I brought in from the garden yesterday.

These Curry Zucchini cakes have a mild flavor, and could be served any time of day, like potato pancakes. I think they would be good with greek yogurt or sour cream.

Perhaps not the most photogenic dish, but good all the same.

Perhaps not the most photogenic dish, but good all the same.

Curry Zucchini Cakes

Makes about four 3-inch pancakes.

Ingredients

2 cups shredded zucchini (About 2 medium sized or one jumbo – You could also use yellow squash)
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp cumin

Super easy steps to zucchini cakes.

Super easy steps to zucchini cakes.

Directions

1. After you’ve shredded the zucchini, squeeze the extra liquid out and discard. I tried this several ways, and the easiest and most effective way was to just use my hands to squeeze the liquid out of handfuls of the zucchini over the sink. You’d be surprised how much water will come out. This is probably the most important step.

2. Mix the drained zucchini with the other ingredients until the mixture is uniform.

3. Spray non-stick spray into a large sauce pan over medium-to-high heat. Spoon mixture into pan, and flatten with the back of a spatula until they are about a half inch thick.

4. Flip cakes after you see bubbles on top, like regular pancakes. If your mixture is too thick for bubbles, just test the doneness by sliding your spatula underneath. You can flip them when the side is golden brown.

I’d recommend serving these immediately while they are still warm.

Nutrition per cake (1/4 batch) - Calories: 73.6; Fat: 2.3 g; Carbs: 9.5g; Fiber: 1.5g; Protein: 4.1g. WW+ Points: 2.

Down to the bayou: My New Orleans review

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Although I actually like seeing people’s vacation blogs, I wonder if one day it won’t be the equivalent of say… being forced to watch someone’s honeymoon slides at a party. And, generally I am terrible at writing reviews and recaps, mostly because I have three opinions on most things: Hated it (1%), Fine about it (60%), LOVE IT (39%).

One of the best things I saw on Burbon Street. Yes, Burbon Street is worth seeing once - twice if you like drinking and naked ladies. It smells a little bit like garbage, but if you pronounce it the French way...gar-Baaahj, it isn't so bad. The next streets over don't smell and have fewer naked ladies, so don't be fooled into thinking the French Quarter is all skeazy.

One of the best things I saw on Burbon Street. Yes, Burbon Street is worth seeing once - twice if you like drinking and naked ladies. It smells a little bit like garbage, but if you pronounce it the French way...gar-Baaahj, it isn't so bad. The next streets over don't smell and have fewer naked ladies, so don't be fooled into thinking the French Quarter is all skeazy.

But my overall opinion of New Orleans… I loved it! Yes, there are some scruffy parts, but there are lots of beautiful, historical, artsy parts. Almost everyone I met working there was local, and they were all friendly.(*See gator tour) We stayed in the Uptown district, which was in walking distance to the French Quarter and the Garden District, and there was an inexpensive street car system that runs to most of the major tourist areas.

One of the homes along the tour, which I think is actually still in relatively good shape. I think, for me, the events relating to Katrina were one of the reasons that I got into public health because it showed me that there are millions of people in America who still don't have advocates in the "system," and that can be tragic.

One of the homes along the tour, which I think is actually still in relatively good shape. I think, for me, the events surrounding Katrina were one of the reasons that I got into public health because it opened my eyes to how the "system" works (or doesn't work). I won't get on my PH soapbox, but feel free to email me if you'd like me to join my "Public Health Rants" mailing list.

We went on a City/Katrina Tour, which I enjoyed. There is so much stuff to see, that having someone drive you around and hitting the high points is a good way to figure out where you want to be. It was important to me to see the Katrina stuff since I feel like that is a part of recent history that has shaped my outlook of the world, although you can’t ignore the bad taste disaster tourism leaves in the mouths of locals. And me. I get it. And I hope that the money being made doesn’t prevent whatever rebuilding can be done there.

A big daddy gator going for a hot dog.

A big daddy gator going for a hot dog. They fed them hot dogs and marshmallows to get them to come out of the water near the boat. How would you like to be on that diet?

I'm a nerd for nature.

I'm a nerd for nature.

We also went on a swamp tour. I loved the alligators. *I hated the tour guide who lobbed marshmallows (apparently, alligator food) at my head for using my phone to take a picture. I would recommend taking a swamp tour, but I’d probably not go on the Cajun Encounters tour again.

Cafe Du Monde - Iced Cafe Au Lait & beignet, followed by a sugar coma.

Cafe Du Monde - Iced Cafe Au Lait & beignet, followed by a sugar coma.

I got to check a lot of “To Eats” off my list, but the beignets at Cafe du Monde were probably my favorite. My favorite restaurant was The Old Coffee Pot in the French Quarter. We stopped there the first night we arrived, not because it had been on TV, but because we were hot and tired, and it looked cute from outside.

I had the Jambalaya - "Grilled chicken breast, smoked Andouille sausage, Louisiana spices, and long grain rice baked in the oven..." And it was really good!

I had the Jambalaya - "Grilled chicken breast, smoked Andouille sausage, Louisiana spices, and long grain rice baked in the oven..." And it was really good!

Zen Mama had the Fleur de lis Chicken ... aka every meat food group you can imagine: "Chicken breast paired with a lump crabmeat and Louisiana crawfish stuffing, sautéed and finished in the oven and topped with Buerre Blanc, served with Andouille sweet potato hash and green bean casserole. "

Zen Mama had the Fleur de lis Chicken ... aka every meat food group you can imagine: "Chicken breast paired with a lump crabmeat and Louisiana crawfish stuffing, sautéed and finished in the oven and topped with Buerre Blanc, served with Andouille sweet potato hash and green bean casserole. "

And finally…

This vacation post wouldn't be complete without a photo of me holding something I'm about to eat! This was at the Cafe Du Monde. I know those bengiets look really huge, but they are actually filled with unicorn kisses, which are calorie free!

This vacation post wouldn't be complete without a photo of me holding something I'm about to eat! This was at the Cafe Du Monde. I know those beignets look really huge, but they are actually filled with unicorn kisses, which are calorie free!

I’m never sure what things people are interested in for recaps, but if I left anything out or you have any general questions I might be able to answer, leave me a comment and I’ll try to figure it out, form an opinion or make something up. 

Two of my favorite topics: My Garden and Cats

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I’m still working on my New Orleans post. I was struggling with it for a few days, hence my blogger silence, and then I remembered, this is a blog not a newspaper, and I can do what I want! 

Also, since I got home this weekend, things kept coming up that took precidence over blogging… Like Father’s Day! And catching cats!*

A fat yellow warbler. Dear parents, When you raise children to be creative and free thinking, and support their decisions to choose non-lucrative career paths, you should just expect to get handmade gifts. Happy Father's Day! I actually purchased some flowers for the garden, as well. But mostly it was this chubby yellow bird.

A fat yellow warbler. Dear parents, When you raise children to be creative and free thinking, and support their decisions to choose non-lucrative career paths, you should just expect to get handmade gifts. Happy Father's Day! I actually purchased some flowers for the garden, as well. But mostly it was this chubby yellow bird.

And then my Dad’s birthday was just a few days later. I gave him the True Blood season 3 DVDs for that, which maybe made up for his 25-year-old daughter giving him a handmade gift for Father’s Day. Side note, I’m glad I was born in August so I don’t have to share my birthday with any other holidays. That was your gentle reminder of my birthday month countdown.

While at home for all the Dad-related festivities, I spent some time in the garden. I decided pulling weeds is satisfying in the same way that it feels good to report spam Twitter accounts or organize your itunes collections. Except, when you pull weeds in the garden it actually accomplishes something that people respect. 

A mini-harvest. The garden has grown to be about... 5x bigger than last year, and everytime I come home my Dad has planted another 25 plants. So, in the next few weeks there will be a lot of picking and processing to do. Hopefully!

A mini-harvest. The garden has grown to be about... 5x bigger than last year, and every time I come home my Dad has planted another 25 plants. So, in the next few weeks there will be a lot of picking and eating to do. Hopefully!

One way to eat from the garden. I made some with turkey breast meatballs and some without. I wish I had a grill, but even in the oven these were still a good dinner.

One way to eat from the garden. I made some with turkey breast meatballs and some without. I wish I had a grill, but even in the oven these were still a good dinner. Wait, I take that grill part back, it is important to be specific with wishes. It is 100 degrees here... I wish I had a grill and someone to grill for me.

Some of our newish peach trees are starting to produce fruit! The peaches are small compared to the ones at the grocery, but they are sweet. I chopped these up and baked them to go over ice cream.

Some of our newish peach trees are starting to produce fruit! The peaches are small compared to the ones at the grocery, but they are sweet. I chopped these up and baked them to go over ice cream.

Here is a paparrazi-style photo of the peaches.

Here is a paparazzi-style photo of the peaches. Peaches are one of those foods that I forget how much I love until it is in season again.

*And in crazy cat lady news…. After seeing dozens of feral cats rounded up to be euthanized when I was living in Florence, I started looking for non-lethal alternatives for cats that are probably too wild to be pets. Coincidentally, two cats started showing up at my family house in Fort Mill… And then they had babies. My Dad says he is happy to have them around as farm cats essentially, and willing to feed them and provide some shelter from the elements… but, obviously they have to get spayed/neutered. Five cats can turn into 20 cats pretty quickly, and 20 cats qualifies you for sad reality shows. 

So, my project for the summer has been to find services for feral cats, and luckily there are a few in the area that practice the trap-neuter-return service. I’m in the process of getting them all fixed and rabies vaccinated, but it is proving to be a little more difficult than I anticipated. I mean, I’m used to this:

Yeah.

Yeah. Beyond domesticated.

I’m going to keep working on it, because it is important to me that at least they will be able to live and not have babies all the time… Even though they are probably  too cray cray to get fat and start a blog one day.

Happy Wednesday, all! And I promise to figure out what I want to say about New Orleans before I go on vacation next year!

A week in the deeper South: New Orleans

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This is probably what this vaca will look like too. Printed jorts and fanny packs are making a COMEBACK!

Me and Zenmama circa 1991. This is probably what this vaca will look like too. Printed jorts and mother-daughter fanny packs are making a COMEBACK!

Today I’ll be arriving in New Orleans. My mom and I decided to change up our usual beach summer vacation and try something new. Neither of us have ever been to New Orleans, and I’m looking forward to exploring a new city.

Beignet photo from Hamron/Flickr.

Beignet photo from Hamron/Flickr.

Suggestions I’ve gotten of things to do/see…

My plan for staying healthyish on vacation
Physical Activity: Work out at least every other day for at least 30 minutes, plus get in other activity through the day. Food: Try new things, but don’t use new things as an excuse to overeat at every meal. Also, don’t fill up on old things I could get anywhere. The Mental Part: Have fun, relax, and enjoy the vacation rather than freaking out about calories and pounds.
Hope you’re having a good week so far, and staying cool! Do you have any tips for staying healthy on vacation? I’d rather not return feeling like I need another detox!