Picture Heavy Update!

Lately I've been experimenting with various foods I've never cooked before. Fortunately, most turned out pretty good. Here are the ones I photographed.

Salmon, pan-seared with potatoes, carrots, and lemon pepper. Served with a simple salad, broccoli, and a piece of lemon for some drizzling-action.

Chicken and cheese enchiladas, pre-baking. I used a mix of several recipes from google, but they all looked pretty similar to Jenna's from Eat, Live, Run.

Nooch! I finally restocked on nutritional yeast. This salad had sweetened pecans and walnuts, strawberries, nooch, my homemade honey mustard vinaigrette, and some random cheese I accidentally got instead of parmesan.

Italian dinner! My first time using ground turkey instead of ground beef. Tastes pretty similar when it's smothered in spaghetti sauce. Served with romaine lettuce and light Italian dressing.
Side note: Has anybody seen Baciami Ancora (Kiss Me Again)? I caught the Italian flick free on campus recently and I thought it was molto cute.

I made this one tonight. So far it's my favorite- I've been hankering for mushrooms ever since
I had some mushroom infused dish for lunch with the boy at Olive Garden recently. Turkey meatballs made with parsley, garlic, salt and pepper, served with mashed potatoes and spinach. I *really* wanted string beans, but I only have one pot... Recipe from Broke and Healthy.

Here is when I revert to using my cell phone because my camera battery died. I read once upon a time that easily visible fruits and veggies (as opposed those sitting in the crisper drawer) help people choose those over junk food. Well, duh! I'm trying to implement this idea into my fridge more. Here's my assortment of snacks for this week. Carrots, cucumber, and celery for dipping in hummus.

Things not pictured:

- Ravioli. Because it was an utter failure. It's not that easy, Jenna!
- Baked chicken. Oh my GOD. How did I never think to bake chicken before? I used this recipe as a guideline for cooking, although Sarah's baked chicken is literally making me drool. The chicken turned out so moist and flavorful. I used it in a salad and also a wrap.

********
Reviews and such.


Bite Mi has great Bahn mi sandwiches! Bahn mi is a Vietnamese style sandwich. It's really funny because everything one could find in pho is basically put between two slices of bread. Carrots, onion, cilantro, jalapeno, and meat. Here is my tofu sandwich. IT WAS GOOD. The spring roll, however, was a flimsy rip-off.

Ever heard of My Fit Foods? It is part of a new type of business popping up all over Austin, focusing on convenient, ready-to-eat healthy meals. My friend brought over this chicken dish and it was superb.

I finally got around to trying hemp milk and greek yogurt... and I am disappointed! Hemp milk is way too... nutty, and the yogurt was very sour. I'm still "training" myself to enjoy more varieties of healthy food (I'm a recent convert to mushrooms), so I may try these again in the future.

I wanted to share this little piece of art I made for my friend's new apartment. He said he was going to miss the pale green color his old room is, so I offered my creative skills. In the center you see the same green color (Pillow Mint by Valspar) surrounded by a newspaper collage. I think it looks pretty cool. :)

So that's it! I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend!