Just a Girl with a Kitchen

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Pizza Pizza

School started for me this week, so I've been crazy busy. Every afternoon, I have been too tired to go to the store, so cooking hasn't really been an option. After eating bread and cheese for dinner last night, though, I decided I had to go to the store after work today. I knew I'd want to keep my meals fast and simple, so I bought lots of fresh veggies and ingredients for the crock pot. But I digress, so let me interject here that I LOVE pizza. I love all of it, from Pizza Hut to Totino's frozen delight. However, now that I'm an adult with a cranky stomach, I don't love the sick, grease-laden feeling I'm left with every time I eat it. I rarely indulge in pizza unless I make it myself because it's just not worth it. Anyway, I've been craving pizza lately, so I just had to make one tonight. While I've always used refrigerated dough in the past, I decided to make a crust from scratch tonight. It was SO worth it! It was so easy and delicious tha

Kindred Spirits and/or Chicken & Farro Salad with Spinach & Butternut Squash

There are people in our lives who are "kindred spirits", according to Anne Shirley (of Green Gables). These friends are just good for my heart, and I love how, no matter how much time passes between visits, we always just pick up where we left off. This weekend, I have the pleasure of spending time with a kindred spirit, Norma, who has been one of my dearest friends for twenty years! She is staying at my apartment while she's in Dallas for a conference, and I am thrilled to have her here. So far, we've stayed up way too late talking, tried to catch up on the last seven months, and (of course) eaten lots of food. My wonderful friend also happens to be a lover of yummy, healthy recipes, so we like to cook and talk about recipes when we're together. It's HOT in Texas in June, so I decided we should have something cool and light for dinner. I recently tried farro for the first time, and I've been itching to make something with it at home, so I started r

Indoor Grilling

Tonight's dinner was inspired by my good friends Rebecca and Jeremy. They are grilling gurus, so when I go to their house, we often dine al fresco on something delicious they've grilled up. The last time I was there, Jeremy grilled bacon-wrapped shrimp, and I've been drooling over it ever since. Maybe it's the heat or maybe I'm just craving something different, but I have only been hungry lately for food cooked on a grill. One of the (few) downsides of living in an apartment is that I can't have a proper grill. Sure, I could trek all the way to the common area grills, but the heat, bugs, and my summer clothing style (best described as homeless chic) aren't something I want to deal with in public. So, I've been trying to come up with a creative way to replicate bacon-wrapped goodness that doesn't require actual grilling skills or totally bust my calorie allotment. I finally tried it out tonight with chicken, and it was amazing! I love being a

Making Sense of Some Of It

I haven't done so well with blogging regularly, but I'm inspired to do better. It was a crazy school year and an even crazier spring, so I welcome summer with open arms. I've had lots of adventures and tried several new things, so I'll have to post about some of them eventually. But for now, I'll just focus on the present. It's been a busy week for the first official week of summer break. I had a job interview for a summer tutoring position, went to dinner at an amazing family's home, attended a thought-provoking book club meeting, and met a wonderful friend for coffee. I've had so many opportunities for communication and re-evaluation of the school year that I can't help but be reflective. Every single one of these events has been a reminder (in some way or another) of my need to write in order to deepen my understanding of the world around me. People often tell me that I need to write about (fill in the blank), but I never really follow t

January's Adventure

For January's adventure, I chose to visit the "Toulouse Lautrec & Contemporaries" French Poster exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. I recruited my aunt, Joy, to come with me, and we had a fantastic day! These beautiful artworks were originally created as French advertisements around the turn of the 20th Century, but their intricate details and frequent Art Deco elements are right up my alley! I bought a print of my favourite painting, and it's now adding a touch of class to my apartment. After spending several hours at the DMA, we went to Highland Park Village for cranberry chicken salad at Celebrity Cafe. If you're a chicken salad connoisseur like me, you MUST go there! They have the best in town. It was an unusually warm day, so we were able to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. That alone was fantastic! After our yummy lunch, we strolled over to Molto Formaggio, where we sampled cheese and wine. We bought the most wonderful Brie I

Let's Get Started.

For a long time, I've wanted to publish a blog so I could share the healthy recipes I've created. However, I know I'll want to say a lot more here than just sharing recipes. Being healthy is a journey; it's about so much more than just food. I think it involves putting myself out there and having new experiences and making the world a better place. I've set a goal to experience something new in Dallas each month of 2013. So, each month I'll blog about my new adventure and hopefully post some photos. In between, I'll share healthy recipes and maybe even some book reviews. Oh, and don't be surprised if you see occasional photos of my cat, Lola, my reactions to BBC dramas, and stories about my nephew. These things are part of my adventures too. I started out as a journalist and writer, but I quickly turned to teaching as a way to earn an actual income. In the ten years since I finished undergraduate school, I've missed writing, and I ho