Early Preparation and Late Night Experimenting

A few months ago on a Saturday night (okay more like over a year ago at this point), I sat with my knees to my chest, painstakingly thinking of something to do.

The Boy and I had gone around all day visiting different gyms. A nearby MMA (mixed martial arts) gym, a karate studio, and the YMCA down the road. While I MUCH prefer the MMA and karate studios, due to lack of funds at that moment, I stuck with the YMCA. However, I don’t mind much. I figured I’d just workout, build up muscle, strengthen my cardio, and then when I am able to join karate again I’ll be even better than I would be then.

(I sort of have this slight competitive streak…)

During one testing for a new level of black belt, a requirement was 50 push-ups. Now, I have terrible upper arm strength in the first place, and the rule of no modified push-ups didn’t help. However, my mom told me “Oh Hannah, don’t worry about it. You know most of those boys can’t make 50 either.”

You’d think that would help right? Calm me down a bit?

The fire only burned harder. Why join the boys when you can beat them? My goal no longer became to make 50, but just to be better than the boys (as it was most of the time, since in our age group I was just about the only girl).

For your information, no I did not make my 50, and by far, I did not beat the boys.

Now I’m at a rock climbing gym and completely obsessed with it.

Anyways, after our gym extravaganza, my mother and I went shopping for a few last Christmas gifts. Lucky me scored a couple more baking pans!

Between the gyms and the shopping, my brain had been set to active. It was like a Jell-O; it refused to sit completely still. I had to do something. Of course I thought of food.

The local grocery store doesn’t close till midnight on every day except Sunday’s, when it closes at 9.

On this particular Saturday it was about 10:30pm and it comforted me to know that if I wanted, I could fulfill my wish of walking the isles of food, food, and more food. Though, as relaxing as looking at and planning vacations can be, this time, I much rather wished to actually escape my world into the joy of food for a bit, instead of just staring at all the tasty dishes I could one day possibly cook.

So by 11:20ish, I’d made my decision to experiment.

I justified the oddity by creating a dish I could eat for dinner the next night.

In the end, this is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

- Tri-colored pasta (I don’t know how much, I measured with a small bowl, but basically as much as you want to eat)

- 2 celery stalks, chopped in half and sliced thin

- Baby corn

- A small spoonful of natural peanut butter

- A small spoonful of natural almond butter

- 1 tablespoon of PB2 powered peanut butter

- 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce (plus a splash more for the sauce)

- Water, as needed

 

Directions:

- Cook pasta as directed, but do not overcook, then drain and set aside.

- Place celery and baby corn in a saucepot, pour enough water to steam them. Add 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce. Cover until veggies are tender. Remove from pot and set aside.

- Mix peanut butter and almond butter in a bowl, add the mixture, a splash of soy sauce, PB2, and enough water so sauce can form and peanut butter doesn’t burn. I eyeballed it, if I had to guess I’d say somewhere between 1/2 to a cup, added as needed.

- Once the mixture has become a bit liquefied but still thickening, add in pasta and veggies. Stir to coat.

- You can either eat as is, or (as I did) place it in an airtight container, store overnight, and eat it cold. The taste and texture will change, but it is still just as delicious.

This whole, cooking the night before, has become a sort of ritual for me. I love cooking the night before now. It makes the next day so much less stressful to know my food is nicely packed away in the fridge ready to be eaten at any moment.