claire.she.goes

Author: Claire

  • A little visitor.

    A little visitor.

    I hate insects. But I adore ladybugs.

    Funny, eh?

  • And another thing.

    Tonight as I was using the food processor, it occurred to me that I left out yet another detail from my recipe tips.

    (If you don’t know which recipe I’m referring to, just read my last 2 posts. šŸ˜‰ )

    In addition to watching the amount of beans that you use, you may find that you’ll want to reduce the amount of sugar as well.

    Really.

    I read Katie’s comments. Folks mentioned using less sugar than what she suggested.

    Over the weekend I used about a cup. I have a huge sweet tooth and it was beyond adequate.

    Honestly, if you’re worried about the dish being sweet enough, the chocolate chips more than make up for any lack of sugar.

  • Freestyle Food: Super Salad + An Important Tip

    I don’t plan on becomming a food blogger. But until I get back to love, life, and the pursuit of Jesus, I figure it can’t hurt to share a meal I made a few minutes ago, along with a vital note regarding yesterday’s recipe.

    First, the salad:

    The dressing was made of
    balsalmic vinegar
    sea salt
    and olive oil.
     
    As always, I mixed everything to taste.

    The salad itself contains

    1 can of tuna
    1 bunch of romaine lettuce
    2 tomatoes
    Finely chopped red onion – about 1/4 cup
    1/2 a cucumber
    and white kidney beans left over from the Deep-Dish Cookie Pie that I made over the weekend.

    Which brings me to my helpful hint. For some cooks, I’ll be stating the obvious. But bear with me…

    When you read a recipe, pay careful attention to the measurements for the ingredients. Especially when a cook speaks in generalities concerning numbers of cans, bottles, etc.

    For instance, the first item listed under the pie recipe was

    2 cans white beans or garbanzos (drained and rinsed) (500g total, once drained)

    (emphasis added)

    When I went to the store, I grabbed two cans of beans from the shelf. However what I really should’ve watched was the more precise measurement of 500 grams.

    Due to the size of my cans, I wound up Googling a gram-to-ounce/cups converter. Although Katie mentioned “2 cans” of beans, 500 grams in my universe amounted to just under ONE full can of beans.

    That sort of thing is easy to overlook. But I think it’s important to save yourself from a ton of culinary heartache.

    Measure carefully my friends! šŸ˜‰

  • My Latest Semi-Healthy Treat

    I know that recently I wrote about wanting to keep off of sugar. Well…I finally gave in to temptation.

    Last night I made this:

    If it looks like a giant cookie, that’s pretty much what it is. But it’s vegan. Ā And made with beans.

    Except for not adding salt, I followed this recipe to the letter.

    (Note: Chocolate-Covered Katie is the blog I turn to when I feel like lusting after healthy-but-sinful sweets. Her Deep-Dish Cookie Pie did not disappoint.)

    I made mine with white kidney beans. Ā Now…If you’re afraid of baking with beans, please don’t be. Just be sure to have realistic expectations. I’ve made black bean brownies exactly two times. Hence, when I blended the ingredients for this pie, I remembered a saying I came up with during my brownie adventures:

    “This’ll taste better in the morning.”

    I don’t know what it is. But in my opinion bean-based desserts taste 1000 times better the day afterĀ they’re made.

    Otherwise, if you try to eat them a few minutes out of the oven, they tend to taste…Bleh…Healthy.

    As I write this, it’s been nearly 24 hours, and there’s only one piece of my dessert left. Maybe it was the chocolate chips that pulled everything together. But I swear on everything I own, it tastes exactly like a large chocolate chip cookie.

  • Edible Awesome: Sugar-Free Cranberries

    Edible Awesome: Sugar-Free Cranberries

    Do you know how hard it is to find cranberries ’round these parts that donā€™t have sugar in them?

    Well, let me tell you. It’s a journey that’s been fraught with false promises.

    A few months ago I asked about a bag of c-berries at a health food store. I was told they didn’t contain any sugar. I trusted in what I was told. There was no list of ingredients on the package.

    And then, I took them home.

    They tasted like red sugar cubes.

    I tried to lie to myself, but I knew what was up from the first bite.

    Major grocery stores offer brands made with sugar and variants ending in ā€œoseā€.

    And then there are the healthy brands. One Brand That Shall Not Be Named sweetens their berries with ā€œcane sugarā€. These are the same folks who make dried mangoes with “mangoes” as their sole ingredient. I wondered what their problem was.

    Imagine my delight when I found these in the health section of a local store:


    Theyā€™re sweetened with APPLE JUICE. I picked up more than one package. I figured I had to. In my mind, theyā€™re like unicorns–I donā€™t know when Iā€™ll see them again.

  • “I’m not a businessman, I’m a BUSINESS, man!!” – Jay-Z

    Because I couldn’t mention B without her boo.

    They say “if you want different results, you’ve got to do different things”.

    I’m feeling the weight of those words lately. I keep asking myself why I’ve been doing the same things, when I want different results.

    And so, after being told so in infinite variations over numerous years, I’m attempting to live it.

    Years ago I named my blog “claireshegoes” purely for fun. Now, I can’t help but think that it has to mean something.

    I want to get into sharing personal media with the world. But it’s been rough.

    I had to send my first podcast episode to a friend. I couldn’t bear to hear my own voice.

    With the second episode, I listened to myself. But I cringed like crazy. And then there was the editing process. Due to procrastination, it took a lot longer than I wanted it to.

    Plus, I didn’t have as much fun putting my show together as I think I could have. I really want to get into podcasting. I want to produce quality audio, and enjoy myself while doing it.

    But in the meantime, what’s going on?

    Am I afraid of what’s going to happen if I really step up and stick my neck out?

    I think so. But you know what the song says.

    You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.

    While job hunting, you’ll undoubtedly hear about things such as elevator pitches. In this era of social media, you’ll probably be told about personal branding. I have winced more than once as I’ve been told about about being able to summarize myself in 30-seconds-or-less. Who wants to work on those things, right? Who wants to think of him or herself as a product?

    On one hand, I can relate. I don’t particularly care for the fact that we live in an era of human commodification.

    On the other hand, personal branding marketing can be useful. It’s a bit easier to clarify your purpose once you’ve decided what you’re about.

    All of that to say this:

    Big moves require big actions. And if you want to step up, you’ve got to step out.

  • My Podcast: Episode #2

    I’ve struggled with the idea of getting a podcast going.

    Believe me when I say that the struggle’s been all mine.

    Nevertheless, I’ve recorded Episode #2. CLICK HERE to listen.

  • Freestyle Food: The Oatsā€™ Accompaniment

    Have you ever made something and thought, ā€œLord, if Iā€™m gonna keep eating this, Iā€™m going to need helpā€?

    That was me with steel cut oats.

    I should have known something was amiss when I used water instead of milk. (I never make porridge with water.)

    And then to top it all off…I didn’t useg my head and divide the recipe. Like a good little zombie, I followed the instructions on the side of the package to the letter.

    This would have worked if I was feeding a family of five. However, itā€™s kind of bad if you only want one serving for yourself.

    On the plus side, my main breakfast dish for the week is DONE.

    So, yeah…

    After I made my oats, I knew I wanted to sweeten them up. But I didnā€™t want to add any sugar. Immediately, my mind went to a healthy compromise. I found myself wishing that I’d picked up some date sugar.

    And then it occurred to me. We had dates.

    BOOM

    2 apples
    Cinnamon to taste
    Water – Maybe about scant Ā¼ cup
    3 pitted dates
    2 tablespoons of dried cranberries*

    This is my before photo:

    This is my mixture after about 10-15 minutes:

    Afterthoughts:

    1. The dates dissolved completely.
    2. I put in way, WAY too much cinnamon. I kind of eyeballed it. If I had to guess, I figure there was at least 1Ā½-2 teaspoons in there.
    3. Forget apple sauce. On its own, my dish tasted like I was biting into apple-tinged cinnamon sauce.

    And with the oats?

    Meh.

    Nevertheless, the kitchen smelled phenomenal. šŸ˜€

    If you’re not trying to forgo sweets, have at it. I’m confident that my sauce would be better with brown sugar, but Iā€™m really not trying to go there. For now Iā€™ll say that I think Iā€™ve come up with an excellent healthy option for breakfast.

    *More on those later

  • Ok. Itā€™s not Monday.

    But Monday, Wednesday, and Friday were last weekā€™s RUNdays.

    Wednesday I went out the latest.

    It was nowhere near midnight. But it was awfully close to my bedtime.

    On my walk back home, I felt like a zombie. An exhausted, sweaty zombie.

    Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) has been a problem. Iā€™ve been looking up tips on how to handle it. I keep thinking about what I should do with my body after I run, and what sort of supplements I ought to take. I figure it can only get better.

    Right now my post-workout routine consists of showering and laying down to die.

  • Natural Hair + Swimming –> TIPS

    I haven’t got any. But I found some.

    Watch this video.

    And visit this site.