Outback Steakhouse - you are so funny!

I was seriously craving a steak all week long. I mean, every day I thought how great it would be to gnaw on a huge chunk of beef. Gross, I know. After months of being a vegetarian I was shocked at myself. I felt like Phoebe when she was pregnant - the baby wants meat!!

So, I gave in and ordered Outback take-out. The sirloin with a salad and garlic mashed potatoes. I added plenty of notes for them to mix my salad in a clean bowl, no croutons, gluten allergy, etc. So, I get my bag and inside is this cute little packet...of BREAD! Ahem, really Outback? All my gluten free warnings and you shove a piece of bread in the bag? Get a clue.

I guess it wasn't terrible, silly though. And into the trash it went. Everything was in it's own little container so I wasn't too worried about contamination. Was a shame to throw away that bread though. I remember how warm and soft and slightly sweet it was *drool*.

11 ounce steak in a giant styrofoam box (I hate those leaky monsters)

2 cups of mashed potatoes in a styrofoam bowl

1 cup of salad in a styrofoam container and about 1 Tbs of dressing.

Gotta tell you, I felt really off kilter with this. I'm used to a plate filled with salad and veggies and maybe a single serving of potato - which means 1, about 1/2-1 cup at the most. Here I was with this pathetic little salad and I craved more. I was stuffed full of potatoes before I even got to the steak.

I admit it, I ate the whole thing. It was delicious. Smelled terrible, but tasted so good...and I was hungry again in 2 hours. What's up with that? Feed me a zucchini and I can go for hours. Stuff me with potatoes and meat and I'm starving again in 2. Weird. I thought protein was supposed to keep you full longer.

My only explanation is that my body was so desperate for protein that it immediately incorporated it with my tissues and I could go for more.

I'm a little sad today. I was loving being vegetarian but after eating that steak I feel so good today. None of the usual fatigue, no dark circles under my eyes that I thought were normal. I guess I need meat for my health. I'm sure there are some arguments that I don't. That I can take supplements to replace what I'm not getting from being vegan (where do they get the stuff in those supplements?) and maybe I just wasn't getting the right mix of nutrients.

I'm tired of the fight. It shouldn't be so hard to figure out how to live. I shouldn't be constantly questioning my diet. Is it making me sick? Am I getting proper nutrition? Am I killing innocent animals? Am I killing myself slowly? Am I going to get glutened? How about food poisoning? It's exhausting.

So, dear Outback, thank you for not glutening me, despite your best efforts. Thank you for the vibrancy I feel today. I'll be back. Keep a steak on the barbie for me cuz Lord knows I still can't stomach the thought of raw meat in my house.

P.S. thank you for the gluten free menu: http://www.outback.com/menu/pdf/glutenfree.pdf

Shopping!!!

One of my favorite things to do is go shopping somewhere great and today I found a new place! See, the grocery store I usually go to is under construction - still open, but the last couple times I went everything was covered in this sticky gray dust. Today I headed out to go and as I was approaching I just couldn't bear the thought of coming home with a bunch of dirty stuff again (I seriously had to wash some of it last time!) So, I took a left and went to the store on the next street. La La La! It was great! I'm going back for sure - it was a gluten free palooza there. I got a bunch of stuff, as you can see.
My regular store stocks a handful of Amy's gf meals and on a good day I can find gf pretzels on the bottom shelf way in the back behind other stuff. My new store...wow! They had at least 7 different kinds of gf cookies, 2 kinds of gf pretzels, a ton of rice noodles, bowls and sushi makers! Not to mention the usual gf pastas and Betty's cake mixes you can find almost anywhere.

I was in awe as I stood in the frozen foods and they had 5 different kinds of gf bread, pizza crusts, muffins, cupcakes, regular cakes, BAGELS!!! and sandwich buns. They even had Amy's gf burritos and lasagna. I teared up a little.

If you're ever in the NW suburbs, let me know and I'll take you over to KingSoopers with the gf palooza.

Today's to-do list:

Find sushi recipes to do with my Nori that don't require soy sauce (did you see - I got sushi vinegar?)

Have Chipotle with the 'rents

Watch Letters to Juliet

And a bunch of house chores :(

Crock Pot Bakers?

I think this is my new favorite Crock Pot function! You can bake potatoes in it! And yams!
I hate starting up the oven to do just a couple potatoes and when I microwave them I always end up with some kind of hockey puckish thing. This was FABULOUS!! All you have to do is wrap them in foil and cook on high 4-6 hours or low for about 8 hours and they come out perfect. The skins literally fell off the yam, which was sweet and soft. The potato peels fell off too. MMMMM.

So, I'm thinking that there will be many crock pot bakers in the future. The best part? since they are wrapped in foil there's no clean up!

Have you ever cooked anything non-stew in a crock pot? Do tell! I'm always psyched to find new meals I can do in the Crock and save me cook time. Not to mention how divine it is to come home to the smell of dinner ready.

Oatmeal is my nemesis

It explodes in the microwave, it boils over on the stove. So far overnight oats are the only kind that don't leave a ginormous mess in my kitchen!

But zucchini noodles always treat me right ;0)

So, have you missed me? It's been absolutely weeks and weeks since I had a moment to sit and think, much less blog! This is blissful!

Tonight I'm actually sitting in my recliner with Purry Mccuddleson watching reruns of "How I Met Your Mother" while I write this. Afterwards, I'm going to crack open "The Smart Girl's Guide To Sports" and learn about hockey while I try to ignore my wicked vertigo that has been killing me slowly all week.

How about you - what are you up to lately?

Christmas Cakes

So, some of the cakes turned out:
These did not:
The massacre:
And that was Christmas!

Maybe I was on vacation

Food's been not so exciting for me over the holidays...weird right? I did manage to bake some cakes, they were supposed to be like little Gingerbread men but there was a massacre and all the arms, legs and heads flew around and eventually ended up in a pile. You didn't want to see that, did you?!?!

For Christmas dinner we had a roast and mashed potatoes - tres exciting. New Year's brought tacos (I actually craved them so bad that's what I requested. Seriously.)

Otherwise, much roasted taters, squash and kale chips. I throw in the random salads and sandwiches...you don't want to see all that too, do you?!?!

But, I'll be back to cooking soon, like when it warms up a bit and I can stand to be in the kitchen again ;)

My current project is to find a curly hairstyle that won't make me look like an elf or a crazy homeless person. I want to do some fun color too but my hair stylist never lets me go crazy. Well, I showed her! I can go crazy all on my own...black to red to blonde to dark brown and leaopard print. Uh, now I need her to fix it and give me something pretty. Shall I hack it off or leave it long?

I'm thinking something normal like this. Your thoughts?