I Like to Play with My Food

“I think I’ll have my aunt try it first, see if she pukes. If she doesn’t, then MAYBE I’ll try it.”

I know kids are picky about what they eat and what they find acceptable. But most boys will eat anything. So if you’re babysitting a kid and telling him about your oatmeal with peanut butter and that’s what he says, you know it’s bad.

When you say your making dinner and before your boyfriend even knows what you’re cooking, his first text back is “Ew lol,” you know it’s bad.

No, my food isn’t bad, but if those are the reactions I’m getting, then my food and I must have reached SOME new level of oddity. (Though, since I’ve joined Tumblr, I’ve encountered many creations like my own. Especially when it comes to oatmeal.)

Since my last post, I’ve tried a few new, interesting recipes. All of them my own except for one; it was a pretty basic (yet tasty) baked oatmeal.

Sunday night I got to make a food I’d been craving. Cabbage. Why I would be craving cabbage, not so sure, but I was, so just go with it.

I thought about a stir-fry. However, I eat a lot of stir-fries, so I wanted something new to try, something fresh for my palate. I decided to try a cabbage roll. Instead of baking though, I steamed mine. 

The rolls (yes, I had two) were stuffed with brown rice and veggies (orange bell pepper, onion, and some sliced cabbage). I flavored it with crunchy peanut butter, PB2 (powdered peanut butter), curry, cumin, cinnamon, and red pepper. After I “taste-tested” the filling, I wasn’t sure there’d be enough to stuff my rolls with.

Luckily, I had plenty.

I even had the leftover filling for dinner at work the following night.

The next food I tried this week isn’t really a new food, more like an old favorite remade. I had seen pictures of “peanut butter pinwheels” and “peanut butter sushi” and “peanut butter rolls” everywhere. The peanut butter lover in my stomach whispered to me on Monday to make some for lunch.

To do so, I flattened out two slices of my 100% whole wheat bread. On one, I spread Dark Chocolate Dreams from the Peanut Butter&Co. and on the other I spread my homemade peanut butter. Rolled them up and cut them up just like sushi. Tasty! Almost better than real sushi because I can actually take a bite of one of these pieces instead of having to shove the entire piece in my mouth at once.

Apparently I liked them more than I thought. Last night in my dream I was looking for something. When I checked a drawer, I found one piece of the Dark Chocolate Dreams sushi preserved in plastic wrap and I seemed to be overjoyed by finding this treasure.

On Wednesday I had oatmeal for dinner. To mix it up a bit, I made Ants On A Log Oatmeal. 

With the typical Old Fashioned Quaker Oats I threw in some chopped celery and raisins. For the peanut butter part I used Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter, also by the Peanut Butter&Co. To thicken it up I added in some PB2 as well. I must say, out of all my oatmeal dishes, this makes the top of the lists for sure!

Earlier this week I also decided to actually follow a recipe. It came from the site, TidyMom. Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal.

My first baked oatmeal. And I fell in love. I mean, come on, it actually had peanut butter in the original recipe. How could I not love it? I think it could have used another minute or so in the oven, it still seemed pretty moist in the middle. Almost gooey, not complete uncooked gooey…But somewhere in between. Anybody know if that’s how it’s supposed to be?

Despite maybe being a bit undercooked, I still ended up eating about half of it for dinner the night I made it. It cooled by the time I ate for dinner (made it in the morning). So I reheated it in a pan and spread Cinnamon Raisin Swirl on top. Absolutely delicious!

Tidy Mom, thanks for the recipe!

None of my foods got comments of note this week. Except for one on a photo of my Ants On A Log Oatmeal, “Eww, that looks delicious!” I’m still not quite sure what it means. No matter what, I was entertained. And if the friend who wrote that reads this blog by chance, thanks for the comment and the resulting laugh!

With such good food experiments it makes me think of how school is coming up soon (the 23^rd). I’m praying that God will keep me calm enough to handle all I want to handle. Working out, writing, school. Especially since I may be switching to Kinesiology as a major. (I’m terrified, but it may be where my future is.)

I’ve got 6 days till my first day back at school. Till then, I plan to work out (which is steadily improving, might I add) and eat as much glorious creations as I can find.

This week I've also been enjoying many other treats:

PB and Toast. First time having crunchy peanut butter.
Don't know why I never indulged before.

An old love reunited. Honey Bunches of Oats - Honey Roasted.
Nothing too creative here, but it makes for an awesome dinner.

So Delicious Mango yogurt with PB2 and crunchy peanut butter.
Left in the fridge overnight, I swear it tastes exactly like Greek Yogurt.

100% Whole Wheat Tortilla Wrap with crunchy peanut butter.
Mmm...Peanut butter quesadilla's should be sold in restaurants. 

No Additives, It's Not Real!

A couple months ago when both The Boy and I were quite busy in our own lives, and extremely exhausted when we finally were together we had planned an entire day to spend together. My idea was to get us out and about and enjoying the outdoors…or something. However, the side affects from the 99.3 fever the night before, had other plans. My body was no longer ravishly fighting off an infection, but I sure wasn’t up to doing much.

He was sweet and decided to stay with me anyways. We chose to relax at my house and watch movies.

When lunchtime came, I wasn’t sure what to offer him (he rarely eats at my house). I chose my tasty Peanut Butter Captain Crunch and he landed on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He used a store bought container instead of my homemade (perfectly fine, all the more for me). I wasn’t offended at all; homemade peanut butter does have a different taste than most store bought brands.

Over our lunch, The Boy decided it was time to confront me about a mistake I’d been making.

“You know, the peanut butter you make isn’t real peanut butter. It’s just pureed peanuts.” He said with a confident smirk.

“Uh, you do realize that’s all that any peanut butter is?”

“There’s no butter in yours, it’s just really tiny bits of peanuts.”

Okay…I could sort of see where this was going now.

I replied, “There’s no ‘butter’ in any peanut butter. They add oils to peanut butter, but they’re only to make it smooth and easier to spread.”

“Exactly.” He smiled smugly, “Yours is just peanuts. It doesn’t count, Hannah.”

Yes, by now, he was getting on my nerves. He may have only been joking, but still. I knew I was right, so I planned to just let him argue his side till the conversation died.

“You don’t need any of that stuff,” I explained, “peanuts are all fat to begin with, you don’t have to add any more oil unless you want to. It’s healthier this way.”

He was unconvinced but finally gave up trying.

…Until about 20 minutes later at my grandma’s house. My grandma even pulled out her jar of peanut butter to see what’s in it. Peanuts, hydrogenated vegetable oils, sugar, and salt. The hydrogenated vegetables oils are described as cottonseed, soybean and rapeseed, additives simply to prevent separation.

(Separation of the peanut oil from the peanuts, in case you were wondering.)

So I went through the list. Peanuts, yes. Hydrogenated vegetable oils, mmm doesn’t that sound yummy? Thanks, but no thanks. Sugar, can’t eat it. Salt, not bad, just not a fan. Various other additives and preservatives…Umm, my rule, if you can’t pronounce it or remember it or it’s just in there to “prevent separation” of the actual product itself, you don’t need it. And honestly, if someone’s fighting so much for that extra oil in there, I think they should be able to deal with having to stir the natural stuff back in every now and again.

Just saying.

My boyfriend remained stubborn as a mule, my grandmother seemed to sort of agree with me, and I decided that I’d make enough of my point.

I’m not against brands like Jif or Skippy; I’m not doubting their deliciousness. I often use Jif to Go for ants on a log, or even a quick snack. I’m just saying, peanut butter is peanut butter. You don’t need preservatives and extra fat to make it so.

In fact, I’ll eat any of it.

Homemade:

Teddie (absolutely love the fact it comes unsalted!):

Jif (Jif to go is the perfect serving size to make ants on a log, I actually use 3 celery sticks cut in half):

PB2 powdered peanut butter:

Smucker's (just realized I can eat this stuff, so happy):

Peanut Butter & Co. (a personal favorite, any flavor really):

And due to the amount of peanut butter I’ve been stuffing my face with lately, I figured it’d be good to get a gym membership again. (No worries, it’s also just because I’m an adrenaline junkie and the gym is my number one fix.) So I joined up at the local YMCA. It turned out to be a full day actually. The Boy came with and so we spent the day driving around looking for adventures, and then stopped at the Y on our way home.

So far I’ve had two workouts, every minute of them was glorious. I posted a Facebook status of, “Sweat pouring, lungs burning, legs shaking…Best feeling ever. Back at the gym and feeling great!” I can’t help it; it’s my happy place.

Surprisingly, I did pretty well for not being in a gym for about a year. I set workout goals and then marked what I actually accomplished.

For my first workout they looked like this:

For my second:

I didn't make 3 miles on the bike, but I did make extra on the treadmill, plus my strength training. 

The strength training went well. (As you can tell my arms are weak. I’m working on it.) But other than that, my numbers were all pretty much what they used to be. And no matter what they are now, they’re only going to get better, right?

I’m just nervous about keeping this up during school. I’m thinking of getting an EARLY start Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s. And if I keep up my determination, I should be able to stick with it.

Freaky Friday Moment At Its Finest

At this point in my life, I’m comfortable with the idea of coming off as weird. I’ve always been a little off, collecting rubber ducks, dead beetles, pencil shavings; you know the typical stuff. By 19 almost 20, it’s about time I just accept it and embrace it. It’s who I am, who God made me to be, and if God did this to me…Well, I’m not one to argue (with God at least).

So when I go to a friend’s house for dinner or go out to eat, I’m prepared for having to request special foods or not being able to eat the majority of what’s on the menu. Once, when out to lunch with my boyfriend and his family, I ordered The Goat Cheese Salad, without the goat cheese.

Yea, talk about trying to make a good first impression.

So I’ve learned to just not bother getting embarrassed anymore. Sure a few blushes sneak by now and then, but mostly I just learn to find the hilarity in it all. Might as well, right? Everyone else does.

So when I was watching an episode of my newest TV addiction, Heartland, I was hit with a feeling of that familiar hilarity but also one of massive insecurity. Why? Why should a TV show about a loving family living on a Canadian ranch induce such a rush of emotion?

They had guests. One particular guest, I could relate to all too well.

The family and friends were sitting down to dinner and the one particular woman asked if something was organic, when the answer came back “no” I listened to a habitual conversation I get to have. This time, however, I heard it from the other side. The grandfather began asking the woman why she hadn’t touched much of her food. She simply replied, “I’m allergic” when asked to what, her friend stated, “Everything.”

From here the woman started on her own list, “Dairy, white sugar, and gluten-free. Everything I eat has to be organic.”

Sound familiar?

I’m not completely gluten-free but usually that is the easiest choice. But this woman sounded so…strange, so needy, so peculiar, so sheltered. Like she was living in a box. It didn’t help when she said, “Oh it’s okay, I just eat a lot of vitamins.”

“Oh dear God, is that what I sound like?” I thought.

My best friend, I’ll call him Buds, lives in NY. When spring break of my freshmen year hit, I decided to go visit him for the week.

He had come to visit me a few times, but I had never had the time or money to make the trek there. When I did, of course I was excited, but nervous as well.

For days and days before I went I stayed up planning what I would pack to do, what books I’d bring to read, what clothes to wear, but also…What in the world was I going to eat?

Obviously, I wasn’t going to ask him to buy all my usual food, and I sure wasn’t going to eat out for every meal.

So I did what I knew how to do. I packed my own food.

Each breakfast was carefully measured by bowl then placed in separate plastic baggies. Lots of food bars were packed for snacks and random blood sugar drops. A jar of my homemade peanut butter was made in preparation then cautiously kept cool in my lunchbox.

This alone would have been enough to earn me a couple jokes from my friend. But the cake topper was when I asked if he could take me to the store so I could pick up a loaf of 100% Whole Wheat bread for my peanut butter sandwiches.

He was nice enough to not say much about me asking except for a few “Hannah needs her special bread” comments. Yet as we walked through the bread isle, I didn’t get off so easy.

There were a lot of “What about this bread?” “No, I can’t eat that either.” With a reply of, “Wow, that’s depressing.” Also, “Ohh this bread is soooo good! Too bad you can’t have any.” It doesn’t sound so bad, until you realize this went on for a good ten - fifteen minutes until I found bread I could comfortably ingest.

Luckily, these were just jokes. As are most of the bad comments I hear about what I can and cannot eat.

Sort of like when The Boy's brother asked, "What's it like to be broken?" Or his dad's comment when eating the gluten-free pizza that was ordered for me. He took a couple bites and when he was told it was gluten-free he stated in a matter-of-fact-way, "Oh, no wonder it tastes like crap." 

I don't so much mind the negativity when it comes. I usually find it just as hilarious as every one else (though I can feel the room sort of gasp when someone says something negative, then relax as I start laughing).

So as I watched the TV characters' reaction, their negative commentary and strange looks actually made me smile. Finally I was able to see how a lot of people view my lifestyle. I was also extremely grateful. How lucky am I to have friends and family who DON’T react like that?

Talk about weird moments.

Most days I can shove off the embarrassment of always having to ask for modifications, exclusions, or a completely different menu. It’s become a natural custom for me and I try not to think much of it anymore.

But oh wow, I hope that’s not what I sound like.