Come Play In May - That Ball I Dropped

Did you know an incomplete turns in to an F?

Come Play In May - Mondays Are For Bitching

That is so bitchin'. Totally tubular. Oh, wait. Wrong kind of bitching. Since today's Come Play In May prompt is Mondays Are For Bitching, I am going to bitch about how sore I am. "Self-Propelled." Ha. What a laugh. I mean, so what if you weigh over 350 pounds. You're Self-Propelled. Why in hell did I have to push you so much yesterday. That said, you did a great job chewing up the brush. Thank you.

Come Play In May - Day 3: Cook a Thing. Do or Do Not... there is no Try

 

Woo Hoo! Now this I know how to do. I can cook things. Not always successfully, but I can cook all of the things.

This morning I did a 5k, and I wanted something quick to eat before the race. I'm trying to cut out wheat again, so I needed to make something gluten free. The new Runner's World cookbook has some great ideas. I call them ideas, not recipes, because I rarely follow a recipe. They're jumping off points. The recipe for Sweet and Savory Corn Cakes sounded interesting. I'm more a savory girl myself, but the sweet or savory comes from the toppings. Eh. Butter is topping enough for me.

Here's our cast of characters. I added the garlic powder and the McCormick's Fiesta Citrus Seasoning. Hey, it's almost Cinco De Mayo, so why not add a little extra.

1 can creamed corn
1 c cornmeal (I almost rebelled and used white cornmeal instead of the yellow their recipe calls for)
1 egg, whisked
2 T olive oil
1/2 c flour (I used gluten free blend)
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t McCormick's Seasoning
1 T garlic powder
1/2 c water

In a pan, heat up the creamed corn. When it's warm, stir in half of the corn meal. When combined, add in the whisked egg, water, and the olive oil. 

In separate bowl, mix together the remaining half cup of cornmeal, flour, and baking powder.

Stir the creamed corn mixture in to the flour mixture until combined.

Heat up a frying pan over medium high heat. Drizzle a bit of olive oil or spray with cooking spray. Drop large spoonfuls of the batter on to the pan, smoothing with the back of the spoon. Cook for about 4 minutes per side, or until they are golden brown.

The batter makes about 12 corn cakes. I bet these would be tasty, if you didn't use garlic powder and fiesta citrus seasoning, that is, with maple syrup. I know for a fact that they're really good with butter. My test kitchen companions, Mitzi, Sparkie, Bear, and Tessa, all approve of this recipe.

You know I burned my fingers eating one of these bad boys, straight out of the frying pan, don't you?

Come Play In May - Day 2: Define Yourself

 

Your mission, Kyra, should you choose to accept it, is to define yourself in an uncommon way. I'd say the picture below does just that. I am a virtual running geek. These are some of my really cool race medals. There's Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Half Marathon, the Firefly 14 k and (hidden behind it) the Firefly 14 mile, my Jedi Challenge 10k (Han Solo, frozen in stuff) and my Cyberman Delete Delete Half Marathon. Coming soon will be my Sherlock 22 mile medal.

What this picture doesn't show is that I am a total mush when it comes to dogs. The Doctor Who race raised money for Boston service dogs, The Firefly race raised, and the Sherlock race is currently raising, money for Galgos (Spanish Greyhounds. If you have a heart, look in to their plight.) The Cyberman race raised money for the AMAA Youth Fund, and the Jedi Challenge race raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

So, there you have it. I am a geek. And I am awesome. At least that's what I am telling myself right now.

Want to come play with us?

Messy Meatballs

The other day, I saw a picture of some breakfast meatballs on the ever changing Book Of Face. I frequently eat leftovers for breakfast, so the idea of breakfast meatballs appealed to me. If you think about it, meatballs have the potential to be the perfect eat at your desk finger food. Since I already had breakfast, I set about to make these lunch meatballs. During my lunch hour, too. Perfect. The original recipe called for shredding and then re-shredding the sweet potato in your food processor, followed by the onion, followed by the mushrooms... Ain't nobody got time for that. I'd be starving until next week. I remembered what the demo guy at Costco said about using a Vitamix to finely chop veggies (You add a lot of water, blend them, then drain), so I tried it. It worked really well. To a point. I really should have drained the veggies longer. The mixture was really moist (I hate that word) so I added in two whisked eggs as binder. Hmm. Still to wet. What absorbs liquids. Ding ding ding. Chia seeds. So I have extra goodness in the form of chia. And they tasted really good, too. Win-win-win.

Messy Yummy Meatballs

1 sweet potato, finely grated
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
2 cups baby spinach, blended
3 Italian sausage links (mine were mild), removed from casings
1/2 pound lean ground pork
6 slices of bacon, cooked very crisp, crumbled
2 eggs, whisked
1/4 cup of chia seeds
1 T garlic powder
1 T Worcestershire Sauce

Preheat the oven to 375.

Cook the bacon strips until they're super crisp. Crumble and set aside.

Next, shred-chop-blend the peeled sweet potato, onion, mushrooms and spinach. I blend-chopped and drained the peeled sweet potato, the onion, the mushrooms and the spinach, then combined them in a large bowl.

Next, add in the sausage and the ground pork, mixing well. Whisk the eggs and work in to the sausage and veggie mixture. Mix in the chia seeds, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce and the bacon crumbles.  

Form in to 1 1/2 inch meatballs and place on a foil covered baking sheet. You may like to spray with non-stick cooking spray to make removal easier.  Bake the little yummies for 30 minutes. 

I didn't bake up the entire mixture, but I plugged the recipe in to my My Fitness Pal account so that I could track lunch. Estimating that the entire batch would make 8 servings, the per-serving nutrition comes out to 261 calories, 12 grams of carbohydrates, 18 grams of fat, 16 grams of protein, 390 grams of sodium, and 4 grams of fiber.


Enjoy!

Why I Write

Day 1. Axis of Ineptitude Challenge.  Hmm. Why I write. I started this blog back in 2009 to earn points in a contest put together by the Fab Fatties. I had no clue about blogging, other than reading other peoples blogs. To tell the truth, I still don't have much of a clue, which is why I have unread books on how to set up your blog. No fancy tabs, no fancy buttons. Blogger changed settings on me a year ago, and I still can't figure out how to fix it. Conferences seem to focus only on WordPress. I have a WordPress site that I've posted on maybe twice. WP scares me. I really don't have a clue how to use it. But hey, I have a book or two. Unopened. I also have a secret blog, a ranch related blog, and a fun blog some friends and I have together. 

Why. Why do I write. Sometimes it's because I need to rant. Case in point, when I was still a member of the Watchers of Weight group, I got really pissed off at how they push desserts. Come off it people. You didn't get fat from celery sticks and low fat cheese. Using low fat versions of ingredients doesn't counteract the fact that the recipes were full of sugar. And who eats a one inch square of a dessert? Not me. I'll snarf down half a pan in one sitting. Which is precisely WHY I don't make sweets very often. If I'm hungry, and in "feed me bitch from hell" mode, you'd better not be between me and a pan of brownies.

Other times I need to talk about something that happened. Sometimes, it's something that inspired me. Lately, it's more likely to be something that knocked the wind out of my sails, like realizing the amount of weight I need to lose is the equivalent to the big-ass bag of pool salt I hauled out back the other day. For the most part, I keep it superficial. I admire bloggers who can really let it all hang out. I'm not one of them. Maybe it's because I'm an astrological screw up (Sun in Gemini, Moon and Rising Sign in Scorpio), but the thoughts and feelings than swirl around in the murky depths of my mind will stay right where they are, thank you very much.

Then there are the fun reasons I write. I like to cook, take pictures of my food, bore you with recipes. I don't consider myself the healthiest eater, but I'm trying to get better. Some days, I'd say I love to cook, but having to clean up the damned mess I make in the kitchen day in and day out really dampens my affection for cooking. If anyone wants to come clean up after me, I will be happy to say I love cooking again. I like to eat and drink lots of wine, too, which is why I also need to exercise.

Yeahhh, exercise...I like it, I hate it, I need to do it... meh. Maybe I'll start writing about exercise again...or start to. God knows I need to be accountable, considering I've registered for a marathon. That sentence both excites and scares me. Yay, lets go run lots and lots of miles and run a marathon before I turn 50. Which, if you didn't know, will be in the middle of next year. When the hell did I get this old?

Bottom line, I think I write to inspire myself. Face it, very few people even read my blog, so I doubt I'm inspiring them with my pearls of wisdom. Might as well be a smart ass and entertain myself! Oh, and since it's the first of the month: Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit. :)

Hey, if you want to play along, come join the fun.

Axis of Ineptitude

This month, I'm going to try something new. One blogger I know on The Book of Face is Shelley, from Slightly Off Kilter. Something she posted the other day intrigued me: The Axis of Ineptitude. Well, I consider myself to be inept at quite a lot of things. I don't want to brag, but it's true. As it turns out, it's part of a blogging challenge for May. Hmm. I'll play.