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.
