Roasted Chickpeas

I discovered a new. healthy snack today: Roasted Chickpeas!



I've always been a big fan of hummus, but I never realized how much you could do with chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans). You could flavor these in so many different ways, and the best part is that they will keep in an airtight container for up to a week. I've had a hard time finding healthy snacks that are also travel friendly or that I could just throw in my purse!

We bought a bag of dried beans at Whole Foods. Our local grocery store only had the canned version, and if you look at the ingredients list there is so much other junk in there too! Why?! I just wanted the beans. Anyways, more on that rant later. We cooked the beans according to the instructions on the bag. Then, we dried them off and put them on a metal baking sheet. Next, you drizzle with olive oil and any seasoning you want (we used garlic salt). Bake at 400* F for 30-40 minutes and enjoy!

To me, they tasted like a cross between corn nuts and popcorn, and they're surprisingly filling! They also only lasted about an hour in the house. They're that delicious, and give you a satisfying crunch if you're missing those chemical-laden potato chips :) I want to try using honey & cinnamon, and other spices like chili powder too! Yum!

Do you know what you're eating?

I've decided to start blogging again, and the direction might change. I think I'm going to continue to post crafts, but I also want to document the change in food my mom and I are taking.

Recently, I've been inspired by Micheal Pollan's books Food Rules and In Defense of Food. One of my favorite books was Dr. David Kessler's The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. That one visually explained what companies and restaurants do to our food, and it's horrible! Everything is engineered to make us eat more and more, and it's all mostly fat and sugar. I've never been disgusted with additives and processed foods until reading these books. They prompted me to research more about what I eat and how it affects my health. It's been enlightening.

The past 3 weeks my mom and I have been trying to cut out all processed foods and additives. I'd estimate we're about 90% of the way there. It's hard. I've never realized or cared about how many chemicals where in my food. We've been sticking to our 5 ingredients or less rule (from Pollan) and have been using the 100 Days of Real Food blog as inspiration. I've been trying to only use honey as a sweetener, eat more lean protein, and try new healthier foods.

Since changing our diets I have felt better, my skin is clearer, my sugar cravings have lessened, bloating has decreased, and my taste buds have started changing. Restaurant food doesn't taste as good anymore- it's too salty or makes me feel sick afterwards. I haven't been eating as much, because by eating more 'real' food I'm not as hungry. I've lost 4 inches in my stomach, and 6 pounds so far. Mom's grocery list has shrunk and we're spending less even though were getting lots of yummy fruits and vegetables and fresh seafood. It's exciting! I actually find myself wanting to eat vegetables, and not fries. And I used to looooooove fries.

I plan to start posting more recipes and things we learn along the way as we start to eat all real food and make more from scratch. Hopefully, it will inspire you to read the ingredients list and give real food a chance too!

Car Caddy & Play Mat

I've had a lot of changes in my life recently. The most notable being the beginning of my student teaching which has really eaten into my free time. However, I finally feel like I can juggle lesson planning, grading, and behavior management without feeling the need to collapse at 4pm... So back to blogging I go!

Somehow I managed to find the time to craft a few new things, and the first that I want to share was actually a new milestone for me! It was my first sewing project with an actual machine! Woot! In the past, I've always hand stitched everything or just used fabric glue, but lately I've been seeing all kinds of cute projects, and gosh darn it! I want to learn to sew like a real person!

So, with the help of my lovely and talented Aunt B, I created a birthday present for my boyfriend's nephew's 3rd birthday.

This car caddy was inspired from a tutorial found on Homemade By Jill, although I made several changes. First off, being the broke student that I am, the materials I used were: a thin place mat on clearance at Target, a terrycloth hand towel, and an old pair of jeans. Another aspect of the project that I changed was the closure. Instead of Velcro or a tie, I used the button of the jeans. I just cut part of the waistline off, and sewed the ends between the layers.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out! Since Little C is always on the go, he can load up all of his cars, take them anywhere, and have a road and garage to play with. Plus, it's machine washable! Overall, it was a quick day's project, and I had fun learning how to use a sewing machine for real! Thanks Aunt B!

DIY Reading Bag

I've been in an extremely crafty mood as of late which is both good and bad. Good in the fact that making stuff relaxes me, and I really enjoy it, but bad in the fact that I really need to be studying for the GACE. Yup. I'll be taking my teacher certification test this Saturday, and I'm nervous! Many people have already told me that it's no big deal, but being me, I still have to get a little worried! I'm also not excited about the fact that I'll be taking 4 tests on the actual test day.... blah! It's going to be a long day!

Anyways, back to arts and crafts!

I love making gifts for people, and packaging is half the fun! It's not nearly as exciting to wrap something in store bought paper after spending so much time creating the present. I feel the same about cards especially now that they've gone up in price. I have a good stock of supplies, so I might as well be productive! (Side Note- I really think this is going to be fun when I actually have my own classroom! I can't wait to use the excuse... "But it's for school!" when I want to make something! YAY!)

Source: Personal Photo

Here's a 'Book Bag' I made for a toddler's 1st birthday party. Everyone needs a special bag to take with them to the library, and although the colors are a bit 'girly', I think he'll still enjoy it! I tried to stay with somewhat neutral colors, so anyone in the family could use it!

It was really easy to make. I got the tote bag as part of a three-pack from Michaels, and used some iron on transfer paper for the back of the bag. I used Photoshop (You can just as easily use Microsoft Word) to edit the colors of the text, and then just printed it out on the inkjet printer. Easy!

For the owl, I didn't have the colors I wanted in any of my fabric scraps, so I bought three bandanas. I used pinking shears to cut out the pattern, and then used fabric glue to piece the owl together. I did sew the eyes onto each piece to hold the whole owl together before gluing it on to the bag.

To finish the present, I bought a couple of board books at a bookstore that was going out of business, and then wrapped them in some Kraft paper that I had on hand. The whole package was tied off in some twine. I used the tote bag as my 'wrapping' for the books, and I loved how the whole thing came out! I definitely think I'll use this idea again. The books were the most expensive part, but it was a very affordable present to make! Depending on what books you added, you could easily make this for under $10 depending on what you had on hand.

Whirlyball

Saturday was a crazy day. My fella and I were headed to one of his friend's birthday parties which had morphed into an all day extravaganza. It was exhausting, but completely awesome! The actual locations were a surprise to the birthday guy, so the rest of us had fun talking in code. We did a whole bunch of stuff like laser tag, arcade games at Dave & Busters, and eating lots of yummy food and cookies! But, there was one thing that I had never even heard of.

Let me introduce you to.....

Whirlyball.

What is Whirlyball, you ask?

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Just picture lacrosse on bumper cars! Two teams of five play 15-20 minute games where you try to hit the other team's target with a whiffle ball- all while dodging everyone else. It was intense!

And I was very bad at it.

I sat out the first game with some of the other girlfriends just so I could see what exactly went on in a whirlyball game. It looked pretty slow from the outside, so I was feeling a little more confident. I joined in the second game, and had the hardest time getting my bumper car to steer! Because you have to have one hand free for the scoop there's only one pedal and a crank that you move from side to side to turn. Apparently, this was way too complicated for me.

I spent the majority of the second and third games just staying out of everyone's way, and running into select people who were headed towards our goal. It was still fun, and my steering slowly improved! Of course, I found out a little bit later that it wasn't completely my fault- my little car was fixed after the third game, and suddenly worked so much better! I took the opportunity to let everyone know that clearly I was not as bad a player as I seemed, it was a conspiracy!

Several banged knees, sweaty shirts, and tired hours later, we called it quits. I feel like it's a game that if you could play regularly, you could plan strategics and pick up steering a little quicker! But as a whirlyball newbie, I highly enjoyed it!

Really, you should go try it! They have leagues, national championships, and everything!

Recommended Reading

Happy August 1st Everyone!

I can't believe how quickly this summer has flown by! Of course, summer classes didn't help, but still- where did the time go? Now that I actually have some time for myself, I've been crafting and reading lots more. It's good for the soul!

I read a lot. And I'm a quick reader- as in read a novel or two a day if I don't have to be too productive. It was great for school. I never had to worry about not finishing my reading. I could wait till the night before class and still be ok. Reading for pleasure is another story- I go through things WAY too quickly, so I'm constantly looking for new material.

Recently, I've been branching into more science fiction and fantasy. It's funny because as much as I love scifi movies and television shows, I haven't read a lot of scifi or fantasy novels beyond Michael Chrichton, Orson Scott Card, CS Lewis, and Tolkein. It's been enjoyable so far- they normally come in big series that are rather long! YAY new books!

I've definitely read a mixed stack the past week or two, and I wanted to share a few that I really enjoyed!

1. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson



This is the second book in the Millennium series, and I enjoyed it much more than the first! It was fast paced and grabbed my attention from the get-go. I adore the heroine in the series. Lisbeth Salander is witty, devious, and just plain intriguing. Once I started this one, I definitely couldn't put it down and I'm looking forward to continuing the saga with the next book!

2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett




I still can't get over the wonderful plot and storytelling that emerged in this heartwarming and heartbreaking story. Set in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 60's, The Help tells the story of the complicated relationships between the help and the families that employ them. The Help is a definite must read!

3. Beguilement (Book 1 in the Sharing Knife Series) by Lois McMaster Bujold




This was a series that I stumbled upon while wandering around the library looking for something interesting. Beguilement sets the stage for a romantic fantasy world where the population is divided into farmers and lakewalkers-two groups of people who never mix. All that is changed when special circumstances throws young farmer Fawn Bluefield together with Lakewalker Dag Redwing. I enjoyed the series as we followed the adventures of Dag and Fawn, and I definitely plan to look into other books by Bujold.

Middendorf's: A Must Visit

It was the only thing off the Exit, about 30 minutes from downtown New Orleans. It's a quiet place on Lake Maurepas that is accessible by car or by boat. And it's famous for the thin-cut fried catfish.

Personal Photo

Middendorf's

Middendorf's was one of my favorite restaurants and it definitely lived up to the hearsay. The fried catfish was so thin that it melted in your mouth! It had just enough breading and I'm so glad I got to try some. I had opted for the peel-and-eat shrimp with a cup of turtle soup. It was my first time ever trying turtle soup and I loved it! It reminded me of vegetable beef soup, but better!

Mom and Dad both got soft shelled crab, and since I was making the food rounds, I tried a few bites and it was very yummy! Rebecca (the token seafood hater) had a hamburger and proclaimed it delicious. Her exact quote was "You know it's a good seafood restaurant if the non-seafood stuff doesn't taste like fish!" It was her favorite restaurant of the trip as well.

All the portions were generous, but we still saved room for dessert! I ordered the bread pudding, which I've also never had and it was amazing! They made it with banana bread and rum sauce and I could barely finish it. Other desserts that were ordered were key lime pie and the white chocolate pecan pie. I definitely recommend saving room for dessert!


Personal Photo

After we finished eating, we headed out to the pier where we watched a breathtaking sunset over the water complete with a double rainbow. And funny face pictures commenced...

You should definitely check out Middendorf's if you're ever in the New Orleans/Baton Rouge area!