What's Cookin'? Tomato Basil Soup, That's What.

I've never been a big Halloween person. It's just not my thing.

So, tonight, I decided to have a quiet night at home instead of getting into trouble tonight and nursing a hangover tomorrow. My costume? Nike shorts and a tank top. My plans? Laundry, cooking, and my DVR.

Now, I'm sure most (if not all) of the people who are taking the time to read this are Texans. And if you are a Texan, then you know what an HEB Grocery Store is. But, maybe what you don't know is that every fall and winter, HEB sells these:

These are HEB Soup Kits. They also sell a Texas ranch soup version, a tortilla soup version, etc., etc. I picked this one because I just tried Jason's Deli's tomato basil soup and I just about died. I don't know what they put in that stuff. But, it was soo freakin' good. And, I don't really like soup. But, I gave this one a go because I was coming off that JD high.

These soup kits come with pretty much everything you'll need to make the soup. You really only have to add in things that you probably already have at home. This kit came with this inside: 

A packet of spice, a ramikin of tomato paste and some diced tomatoes. All I had to bring to the table (stove) was olive oil, butter, and water. 

The above statement is proof of how was painfully easy this was to make. If you don't believe me, just look at the directions. 

No one can screw this up. Not even me. I took pictures of the entire cooking process, but I'll just show you the finished product: 

Okay. So, I'm not a food photographer. But you know that looks good. And this is an excellent meal for a dinner for one. It's simple, not a lot of dirty pans, and not a lot of time. 

As for how the dish tasted, I thought it was good. The flavor wasn't as complex as Jason's, but it was good for what it was - for the amount of time and effort it required and for its price (about $3). Overall, I'd give it a C+. If I had added a 1/2 sandwich or something to go along with it, that grade might have been a B-. The "meal" just let me a bit unfulfilled. But, that's kind of my bad. What did we learn here tonight, people? Soup isn't a meal. 

Now you guys tell me -- what's your go-to-meal when you're cookin' solo? 

My Goals for This Week

There are all different kinds of goals. Big, lofty, long-term goals and basic, short-term, get-through-the-week goals. This post is about the latter.

I'll admit it. I've been a teensy bit lazy this week. Now, it's not like I haven't gone to work or fulfilled any of my central responsibilities. My cats are getting fed and bills still get paid. But, when it comes to eating right, or working out, yeahhhh ... sleeping in and laying on my couch with my kitties sounded a lot better.

So, I'm setting a couple goals to get back into the swing of things. Here are my goals for the week:

1. Go to Bikram three times this week. Since I've finished my Bikram challenge, I've only gone to yoga like four times. I know, I know. How sad is that?! It's the exact opposite thing that is supposed to happen after you complete a Bikram challenge. 
2. Run twice this week. This is new. This goal is because Mario, Courtney and I are doing the Warrior Dash in three weeks and I do not run. I definitely do not in mud. The post that is written after I complete the Warrior Dash will be a post you won't want to miss!
3. Proofread the blogs I've written to date. Some of my friends have brought it to my attention that my blogs are somewhat a mess. Now while I am a hot mess, there's no reason my blogs should show that.
4. Cook. I like cooking. I like cooking for other people. I like cooking for just myself. I like to look up recipes for what I can cook next. But sometimes, I just like to take the easy way out and grab something quick, easy, delicious, and greasy on my way home. Plus, no one likes washing dishes or the waiting part of cooking. Ugh. But, like I said people, I'm turning over a new leaf! Cooking will happen and new recipes will be posted. 

So that's that. I'll let you know how it turns out. Wish me luck!

Three Reasons Why I Love Lady Gaga's Hair

This post isn't about why I love Lady Gaga's hairdo. It's about why I love Lady Gaga's song "Hair." But, in case you're wondering, this is my favorite Lady Gaga hairdo:

This is from the "Bad Romance" video. Her hair is just so simple, cute, fun, but still kind of sexy too. I'm jealous of it. And her really big doe eyes in the screenshot.

Anywho. Hair. The song. It was a single for one hot minute, but not as big as "Born This Way" or even "You and I" so some not-so-hardcore fans maybe haven't heard it. Here's why I love it:

1. The techno / pop fusion. I love that this song is poppy, but still has clear undertones and notes of dancy, techno music. The song begins with Gaga just singing. You begin thinking that this track is nothing more than your run-of-the-mill nice, fun, upbeat song. But, then it builds to this really great dancy climax. This is something that Gaga does this so well. She brings a techno, dance spirit to almost every song and makes that genre of music accessible to the masses. And the synthesized “free as my hai-ai-ai-air” lines don’t hurt. That part is so fun to sing and car-dance to.

2. The message. This song is not-so-subtly laced with the ever-popular Lady Gaga theme of “just be you,” “it’s okay to be you,” and “never stop being you.” Now, I think this message, while becoming a bit of a Gaga cliché is still amazing. Even in my mid-20s, I think that my peers and I (who are also in their mid-20s) still have days where we have trouble feeling comfortable in our own skin. And I figure, what better way to remedy that than blare this jam obnoxiously in your car? I mean Gaga’s message is bound to seep in eventually.

3. The lyrics. To me, all of the lyrics in “Hair” are good. But, the lyrics that make up this song’s bridge really take the cake. Lyrics have the ability to transport you back to a finite place in your life. This is because those lyrics embody everything that you were thinking, feeling, and experiencing at that time. I know years from now, when I decide to reminiscence and play my “old school” Lady Gaga "Born This Way" playlist, these lyrics will immediately transport me back to this time in my life:

I just want to be free
I just want to be me
And I want lots of friends that invite me to their parties

I don't wanna change
And I don't wanna be ashamed
I'm the spirit of my hair
It's all the glory that I bear
I am my hair

The past six months for me have been a time of transition and growth. I’ve moved and switched jobs during this time. I’ve had the fun task of developing new friendships and reestablishing and firming up old friendships. I’ve also had the not-so-fun task of making some difficult choices about who remains in my life and who doesn’t. All of this has forced me to grow into a better, ever-evolving version of myself.

The freedom that comes from maintaining your individuality and who you intrinsically are, even when it gets tough, is hard to do. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever strived to do. But, I know that once you manage to do it, you’ll be happier than you can imagine.

Here's the song's audio via YouTube -- listen around 3:25 to hear the excerpt I mentioned above.

Recipe Time! The Quiche Edition!

My dear friend Kale is engaged! And what better way to celebrate the occasion than by having a party? So, that’s exactly what we did this past weekend! The party was intimate, mostly family, close friends, and the wedding party, of course. In an effort to be a little frugal, we opted to make many of the hors d’oeurves for the party. One of the things that will be served at the party is miniature crustless quiches. Four different kinds of mini-quiches, to be exact.

Now, I cook. I do. But I grill chicken, I cook up spaghetti, those sorts of things. I don’t, however, cook a TON of fancy dishes. And, yes, I consider quiche a little fancy. But, after cooking these little bites, I learned that there really isn’t much to it. And, after a test run of the recipe, we determined that I was capable of pulling off this dish. (Kale has a lot of faith in me.)

So with the help of my friend Sarah, we decided to spend our Thursday night cooking these suckers up. We also made dinner (homemade pizza) and drank (grapefruit mimosas and pinot noir). Both were delicious, I'll have you know. A Sarah is a far more giving soul than I, for being so willing to help me out with these.

A Google search hailed me toward this recipe:

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/breakfast/makeahead-recipe-crustless-miniquiches-125509

This recipe was good because it was specifically for quiches that could be made ahead of time, frozen, and reheated when needed. But, it needed to be adapted from zucchini and basil quiches to the following:

- leek, gruyere, and basil (top)
- bacon, gruyere, and leek (bottom)
- tomato, basil, and gruyere (right)
- basil and gruyere (left)

That’s right! Not just quiche, but quiche done FOUR different ways!

So to make them, here's what you do:

First, heat your oven to 350. The original recipe says 450, but that was wayyy too hot. During the test run, the edges got too brown and the middles weren’t cooked good enough.

Then prepare the batter. You’ll need all of this to make 24 mini-quiches. If you’re like us and double, triple, or quadruple the recipe, you’ll have change up these amounts. God bless the iPhone for making that easy to do.

- 1/8 c. cornstarch
- 5/8 c. whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 c. heavy cream
- 3/8 tbsp. kosher salt

Put the cornstarch in a medium bowl. Whisking steadily, slowly pour in 1/4 cup of the milk, mixing until quite smooth. Whisk in the whole egg and egg yolk, mixing again until smooth, then gradually whisk in the rest of the milk, the cream, and salt.

Now the filling(s). I'll start with the leek, cheese, and basil ones. I bought a bushel? (bunch?) of leeks. Leeks look like giant green onions. Mine happened to be a set of three. Then, I minced them as finely as possible. I considered grating them, like we did for the test run, but I think it contributed to the lack of doneness of that batch. Grated leeks are like mush. Kinda gross.

See what I mean? But, the minced leeks looked a little like this:

Looks much better, I think.

Then, I minced two cloves of garlic, and sauted the garlic in some olive oil. Once that got “fragrant” (about 2 minutes) I added the leeks and cooked it up a little. This is when you just have to feel it. You’ll know. For me, it’s about 3 1/2 minutes.

Generously spray the 24-cup mini-muffin tin with PAM (or your version of PAM).

After I did this, I handed this to Sarah:

The bowl of gruyere. Doesn’t that look tasty? I like to think of gruyere as parmesan cheese’s fancier cousin. Fancier name, more expensive, and a little stinkier. With this gruyere, Sarah started making the bottoms for these little bites. She does this by placing a generous pinch of gruyere into the bottom and pushing it down. It’s the foundation of your quiche, so be sure to do this.

Once that’s done, you’ll need a teaspoon and a tablespoon. Working together, we used the TEASPOON to spoon in the filling and the TABLESPOON to spoon in the batter. Between the two layers, add a pinch of basil. It will make them tastier and more flavorful.

Here's the before:

Pop them into the oven and let them stay there for 23-25 minutes. After that, flip the muffin tin around and let it stay for 3-5 more minutes.

After this, take them out and let them cool. I know it’s hard. But you must. After waiting about 10 minutes, we used toothpicks to pull the delicate quiches out of the muffin tin and placing them on a platter to finish cooling.

Here’s the info on the rest of the fillings. The cooking times didn’t really change, just the stuff inside.

- Bacon, cheese, and leek. For 24 mini-quiches, you’ll need the same amount of batter as mentioned about. Then, fry up half a package of bacon. Any kind you have. Then take and 1/8 of a cup of gruyere, and a few tablespoons of leftover leeks and stir them around gently.

Take your teaspoon and spoon this into the cups, once the cheese has been pressed down into the greased tin. Then add the tablespoon of batter and put them in the oven.

(I may have forgotten to take a picture of the "after" shot for these ... my b.)

- Tomato, basil, and cheese. Again, same amount of batter. For 24 mini-quiches, you’ll only need two Roma tomatoes. Take the tomatoes and slice them up long ways. Then, if you have a paring knife, slice out all of the wet, seedy part of the tomato. Trash that section. Then dice the rest up as finely as you can manage. Then, chop up some fresh basil. Add about an 1/8 of a cup of gruyere, and gently stir this around. Take your teaspoon and spoon this into the cups, once the cheese has been pressed down into the greased tin. Then add the tablespoon of batter and put them in the oven.

Before:

After:

- Basil and cheese. For 24 mini-quiches, take about a ½ cup of gruyere and a healthy helping of the basil. You want to make sure that these still have a good flavor, even though they are the plainest ones. Then add the tablespoon of batter and put them in the oven.

Now, I will tell you that making quiches four different ways is a bit time-consuming. But, you can do just one variety of quiche and it wouldn’t be so bad. Or you can make an evening of it – grab a friend, grab some wine, and have at it. It’ll be a fun, memorable friend time.

Again, these quiches are great for making ahead of time, freezing and reheating for another day. That’s what we did for Kale’s party. Or, you can make a batch and eat them for breakfast (or lunch or dinner) throughout the week.

And, get creative! Add in different things and don’t be afraid to experiment and try something that is seemingly “weird.” It may be delish. If you know me, you’ll know that I do not experiment when it comes to food. But, this was an experiment that proved to be a success. Definitely something I’ll do again!

Song of the Moment: "This City" by Patrick Stump

When asked "What is your favorite song right now?" Patrick Stump's "This City" comes to mind first.

For anyone that doesn't know, Patrick Stump was the lead singer of Fall Out Boy. I say "was" because Fall Out Boy is a band that ... disbanded. He's the guy that you hear singing all of the hooks to all of those Fall Out Boy songs that stay in your head alllll day long.

Anywho, this song is good. Is it poppy and striving to reach that mainstream demo? Sure. But, it's also one of those great pop songs that tries to gain a little street cred by adding a rapper into the mix (enter Lupe Fiasco).

Overall, it's just one of those songs that is hard not to affiliate with. I mean, take a look at these lyrics:

Cause this city is my city
And I love it, yeah I love it
I was born and raised here
I got it made here
And if I have my way, I'm gonna stay here

When I hear that hook coming over my speakers, I immediately conjure up memories of the city that I feel that same way about. The Jonna in my head starts recalling all these memories about the one city that I feel really truly helped me bring me into my own. For me, it's good ol' San Marcos, Texas. It's the city that I began my adult life in. More than that, to this day, every lasting friendship and relationship in my life can be traced back to that city. Because of that reason alone, I love that city.

If you've taken the time to get to the bottom of this post, take a listen. You just might like it.

Glass-Fusing: Part One

Months ago I saw a Groupon for a glass-fusing class. Impulsively, I convinced my friend Courtney to buy the same Groupon. Why? Well, because it was interesting. And, it was a BYOB affair, which means it involved wine drinking.

So, yesterday afternoon I jetted from my company picnic and headed over to meet Courtney for the class. As we approach the door, Courtney states, "We're the youngest ones here!" This worried me only because what I thought was going to be a young, hip Saturday evening activity now seemed like it was going to be kind of lame. Then, upon listening to alllllllll the directions and instructions and the information about the tools we would be using, I started worrying again this was going to be wayyyy more work and a lot less fun than the Groupon let on.

But, after awhile, some younger folks starting showing up (one girl brought Dos Equis AND her own pre-cut limes) and once we got up and starting actually doing stuff, it was a lot of fun!

Glass-fusing starts with taking pieces of colored glass (that can be transparent or opaque). You take this glass and layer it and place it where you want to make a design. Then, you lightly glue them with some Elmer's so they can be transported to the kiln. The employees put in a mold to give it its shape. You can take the glass and melt it into all kinds of things. For example, you can make a votive candle holder, a wall hangy, or a sushi dish (a.k.a. a plate the rounds up on the sides). A sushi dish is what Courtney and I made.

I opted to model my project off this one:

Going with an autumn / fiery color theme, I chose pieces of transparent red, orange, yellow, amber, and brown glass. Working with transparent glass is a challenge because you have to be really cognizant of your layering approach so the colors actually show up. And, layering can make colors appear. Courtney for example layered blue and yellow glass, making green.

It takes like a week for these things to be ready. For now, here's what mine looked like, before getting fired in the kiln:

I'll post an update once I get it back from the place.

Overall, I totally recommend an Saturday evening event like this. It was fun. It was different. It involved wine. And, it got me in bed before 10PM. Gotta love that.

Bikram Yoga Challenge? Check.

As an avid Groupon peruser, occassional Groupon buyer, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that Bikram Yoga of San Antonio was offering a Groupon. Ten classes for $40. Now, I know, that may not seem that great of a deal, but the original price of a ten class pass is $120. It's almost like you need to buy it for principle. And, I did.

And, I loved it. For those of you that don't know, Bikram Yoga is a sequence of 26 postures, bookended by 2 breathing exercises, in a room heated to 105 degrees, for 90 minutes. No, that's not a typo or an exaggeration, it's true. It's effing hot. And long. And hot and long. Really hot and long. But for some reason unbeknownst to me, I love it. I really love it. It's awesome. It's exhilarating and challenging and varied every single day.

As a firm believer that everyone should take quiet alone time everyday, this type of yoga is perfect. It's something just for me. It's just about me and the yoga focusing on yourself while you do the yoga. And I love it. Can't get enough of it. So much so that I opted to participate in a 60 Day Challenge. The 60 Day Challenge is to complete 60 classes in 60 days. Simple? No. Freaking hard? Yes.

I work full-time, I attempt to have a social life, and I like drinking too much red wine in the evenings with friends (or my cats and my DVR). All of these things present quite the challenge to the whole hot yoga thing. But I did it. I started August 14, 2011 and wrapped up 60 days later, on October 12, 2011. I feel fantastic. I feel tired yes, but I am swelling with feelings of achievement. And there's nothing better than that.