So Friday was my birthday. I overdrank and felt like crap Sat., Sun. my dad and his girlfriend came up and took my brother and me to Ecopolitan (my favorite -- raw vegan! -- and I'm so glad they were at least willing to try it). That was healthy. But I've been working a lot lately, which means not so healthy. And it also means really tired from overnights, days, overnights, drinking, etc. SO, today I am low on stuff but also low on energy and don't feel like grocery shopping (hm, couldn't help matters that I had Girlscout cookies for breakfast). I decided to make some pasta with what I have on hand.

I don't anticipate it being very delicious, but I tried. I sauteed some garlic and onion with olive oil and a little balsamic (going for sort of carmelized-like), but I got distracted and overcooked them a bit. Oh well. Added tomato sauce from a can that's been sitting around forever (actually, it's past its due date, I'm living on the edge here), did NOT take the salt already in there into consideration when I added MORE SALT (that's why it might not be good), also added a little sugar, fennel, oregano, sage, hot pepper flakes, some vodka (this is weird, but I figured, Newman's Own Vodka Sauce is really the only jar sauce I like...) more un-sauteed onion (needed more and I like the texture) and some of that pre-roasted garlic from a jar I still need to use up.

Too much salt! Otherwise I guess it's OK so far, in small tastes. It's simmering now. I have a bunch of pastas and decided on whole wheat angel hair.

We'll see...

Oh, and speaking of all that salt, I think I'm becoming sensitized to salt. I'm usually not one to say that -- frankly, I like salt. But since I've been making so much myself, I find stuff too salty a lot now. I got trail mix and almonds during one of my jobs (attempting to be sort of healthy) and they were totally-ass salted. I usually get raw almonds and didn't even realize some trail mix has salt, I guess. Ah well, it's a sign of good things, at least. I added more sugar and spice to my sauce to try to cut the saltiness, so maybe that'll help. Or maybe it'll be an overload of salty-sweet-hotness!

Stir fry! Roasted tofu with sauce that I made last week (about time I ate it!), green beans and bean sprouts. I think I even got the cooking technique down so everything is done right (though it might be faster another way). Pretty good, and much better than I always recall stir fry being when using frozen veggies and pre-made sauce :P I don't have the sauce recipe on me, but it involved garlic, ginger, orange juice, chili powder (or cayenne, can't remember), green onions... Marinated the tofu in it for a few hours, then baked. I don't really like overly squishy tofu, so for the stir-fry, I fried it up first with just sesame oil (reserved the sauce), then steamed the green beans by themselves with a little water, soy sauce, rice wine and roasted garlic from a jar (still gotta use all that old stuff up). Then I added the tofu back in, poured over the tofu's roasting sauce, and added the bean sprouts. Oh, and added a little more soy sauce, garlic and a little sriracha for good measure. It's fun to invent and have it WORK. Helps that the basis, the tofu sauce, was a recipe. Now I have a starting point.

Also, this is relatively easy to eat with chop sticks. I have my good days and bad days with them...

However, I have been spending too much on groceries. Not very much on anything else, but still. So we'll see how long I can keep this all up... I certainly can eat cheaper, if healthiness is less of an issue. Sad state of affairs. Can't wait until summer & the farmers market!

Borscht! Not much to say besides the pic, except it wasn't too hard to make, and people need to give beets a chance. Deliciousness! And very pretty. I should have a soup party and make my yellow squashes soup, my green curry spinach soup and my red/fuscia beet soup. So pretty, and so yummy. My favorite would still have to be the green (not just cauze of the color), but they're all soooo gooooood.

I think I am going to try split pea next. More green!

And in parting, I just want to implore you once more:

All we are saying

Is give beets a chance

I think Ashcan Rantings is kind of a weird name for a food-based blog (as this has become). So I'm thinking of switching over to a new one for the food stuff. Then I can continue to embarrass myself with my ashcan rantings separate (no, I don't plan to do that anymore, and I deleted a lot of old stuff. Just not worth commemorating like that...)

Crap, I gotta make my coffee! My head is a millllion miles away.

Oh, and my point is this: I want to bring some of these entries over to the new one, but gotta figure out how. I suppose I just copy and paste, but that seems so oldschool....

Here is a dessert I just invented. I can't give a real recipe, because I don't measure anything. I think I'm going to call it a yogurt cocoa banana split, or maybe something more catchy.

You put some lowfat plain yogurt in a bowl. You cut up 1/2 a banana. You dump some unsweetened baking cocoa on it. You put some honey in there. THEN, my secret ingredient, you sprinkle on just a sprinkling of cayenne pepper. You stir the crap out of it and then you EAT IT. Yum!

Here are the suchis I made. Thanks to Sarah for the sushi-makin' stuff!

On the left is a vegetarian roll (well, what was left of it when I took the picture), made with green beans, red peppers and cucumber in a yellow soy wrapper.

On the right is, um, a spicy imitation crab roll, with fake crabmeat, mayo, sriracha and green onion in a regular nori wrapper.

Sorry for the crappy presentation -- I lost track of time and was in a big hurry to eat and leave to see some music videos at a local screening, so I was more interested in eating.

They were a little fally-aparty, especially the veggie one with less crap holding the inside together, but for a first attempt I thought they were presentable. And they tasted deliciousness!

I also made some roasted tofu, which I didn't eat much of. Tonight I plan to stir-fry it up with some green beans, red and yellow peppers, and whatever else I find in the fridge, and will hopefully remember to take pictures (the tofu was good, but needed to be more fried for my taste -- I'm bad, but I just don't like slimy tofu!).

Which reminds me, I've reached a new point in my personal growth as an adult -- I now have enough cooking stuff and variety on hand that I can often make things without having to go shopping based on the recipe! This is apparently normal for other people (you see a lot of "make this easy recipe with things you have on hand" types of deals), but I never have things on hand. Which is why I would give up and go to Subway or Jimmy John's a lot in the past. No more!

Here's the broccoli. It was frozen broc & I've decided that's a no-no, taste-wise. But the sauce was good. I'd like to figure out how to thicken it -- it said to saute the garlic & ginger in butter, but of course I used olive oil. Wondering if that makes a difference. Not a biggie -- it tasted good, the mooshy frozen broccoli was the only drawback. Makes me want to make stir-fry!