Charlie’s Dad’s Quick but AMAZING Spaghetti Sauce

whew. That’s quite the mouthful.

Last weekend Charlie and I planned to cook his dad’s spaghetti sauce recipe and have a romantic Italian dinner for two.

á la Lady and the Tramp.

Okay, so honestly the first thing I thought of when Charlie talked about cooking a spaghetti dinner was this scene in Lady in the Tramp. Can you blame a girl!? Back in the day this scene made my 8-year-old heat melt to a puddle on the floor. Okay, if I’m still being honest, it still makes my heart melt.

Also, I’ve seen Lady in the Tramp approximately 239480203 times. It was one of Taylor’s absolute favorite’s growing up.

Okay, back to reality. I was super excited about cooking this recipe for several reasons. One, Charlie said it was delicious and I love delicious food. Two, as we’ve already established, spaghetti is weirdly romantic. Three, a man in the kitchen is insanely sexy.

I had a great time cooking with Charlie. He taught me how to properly use a knife, and I taught him that the palm of one’s hand is an extremely accurate measuring spoon. Also, the spaghetti sauce really WAS as good as he said it was. It comes together super quickly too.

Dad’s Quick but Delicious Spaghetti Sauce

For a vegetarian version, just leave the meat out and substitute Kalamata olives, red or green peppers, mushrooms, or other vegetables

Ingredients

One 15 oz can of chopped tomatoes, with the liquid 470 ml
One 8 oz can of tomato sauce 240 ml
One 6 oz can of tomato paste 180 ml
(NO garlic or seasoning in the above, just plain!)
1 lb or a bit less of very lean hamburger (or ground turkey) ½ kg or less
2 teaspoons olive oil 10 ml
One medium to large yellow onion
2 large cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon dried basil 5 ml
1 teaspoon dried oregano 5 ml
1 large bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
6 oz dry red wine (essential!) 180 ml

Instructions
1. Chop the onion and mince the garlic. Saute together in the oil until the onion is translucent.

2. Add the meat and saute and fully cooked. Drain off any fat or oil that you can capture.

3. Add all the other ingredients, stir together.

4. Simmer for 30-­‐40 minutes…or even just 20 minutes, if you are in hurry.

What’s the most romantic date you’ve ever had?

XOXO,

Jamie

My heart belongs to Joe-Trader Joe’s.

I’ve fallen hard for Trader Joe’s. When I go into the store I want to try literally every single one of their products because they all look so fabulous.

Funny story. Trader Joe’s is about a mile away from the house I’m living at for the summer, so I decided it’d be nice to walk there. I didn’t need anything in particular, but it sounded fun. I had a great phone conversation with my sister Taylor on the way to TJ’s and had a good time perusing the store. On the way back home though, it was dark, and scary, and I got completely lost…in a town I am completely unfamiliar with.

I called Emily (thankfully she picked up!!) and her, along with a little help from google maps, saved me. I wasn’t far from home at all

Here’s what I got:

Yes. You read that correctly. “Sugar, Chocolate, and Coffee Bean Grinder.”

SWOON.

I’ve been grinding this on top of everything!

My apple slices look a little like they’re covered in ground pepper, but nope! That’s sugar, coffee beans, and chocolate. Yum. Along with that, my lunch today was a tomato basil turkey wrap.

Snack today was plain yogurt mixed with stevia, the contents of my beloved grinder, bloobs, and TJ’s high fiber fruit medley cereal.

Sugar, coffee beans, and chocolate grinded on top of my morning oats.

I’m pretty obsessed.

What else can I use my grinder on!?!?!?!?

XOXO,

Jamie

A Far Away Land Called Connecticut

Picture this: I am sitting on the couch thinking of what to title this post and into my head pops that serious fairy tell narrator voice, “Once upon a time, in a land far, far away called Connecticut…”

And I start laughing hysterically.

That’s exactly how this post came into being. It is moments like those that remind me how much I love life. Laughing hysterically to yourself like a crazed lunatic<—It’s the best medicine.

Anyways, I spent the last two weekends in Connecticut with Charlie. Lots of good times were had and lots of good food was eaten which I will talk about shortly.

First I wanted to apologize for my absence from my blog. I put it off for so long that the thought of recapping what’s been going on in my life just became overwhelming. So I’ll try to keep this post short and focused on my time Connecticut. Here we go!

This is Charlie and I walking his dog Zannie. Zannie is the sweetest Australian Shepard ever. The first weekend, she was pretty jealous and cold towards me. The second weekend, though, she really warmed up to me.

Hanging out with friends, listening to music, and playing chess.

Just one of several epic breakfasts. Other notable breakfasts that went unpictured include omelets and french toast.

Charlie enjoying said epic breakfast on his amazing screen porch.

Out to dinner at the most amazing Indian restaurant. It’s called Utsav and here is a link to a New York Times review. I forget the name of what I ordered (and I didn’t take a picture of it partly because I was just simply enjoying my date too much and partly because I’m still kind of shy about photographing my food in front of Charlie<—he’s going to scold me for this), but it was o.m.g. die at the table good.

Last weekend we also cooked a romantic Spaghetti dinner featuring the best spaghetti sauce I’ve ever tasted. Be looking forward to photos and that recipe in the near future

What’s the best restaurant food you’ve eaten recently?

XOXO,

Jamie

The Unexpected

Above is a picture from the absolutely beautiful bike path I’ve been running on during my stay here just outside of Boston.

A picture of the path itself. I love this bike path because there is a lot of shade and a lot of people. I feel really safe running because I’m constantly surrounded by others. Also, it gives me a sense of camaraderie. And not going to lie, I like passing people. Although admittedly, I usually only pass people who are walking…

This is the beautiful and ever so kind Emily whose amazing family welcomed me into their home this summer. Random fact about Emily: she often laughs at things that aren’t funny. Then she snorts when she laughs (a fact that she acknowledges proudly) and I laugh because of her snorting.

This is Emily’s family dog. His name is Simcha (prounounced Simka) which is Hebrew for “blessed event.” Simcha is very old, but can be quite fiesty. He is a super nice dog, but for some reason he hates Charlie (which I find hilarious).

PS- I TOOK THAT PICTURE WITH MY NEW CAMERA! It’s the Canon Powershot ELPH 110 HS. So far, I’m really liking it. Definitely not a DLSR, but pretty great for a compact digital.

Me taking pictures of myself? Well…I got a new camera! So at least it’s justified…this time.

This is a really cute local coffee place. They have so many varieties of coffee plus any pastry/muffin/cookie your heart could desire. They also make salads, sandwiches, and smoothies that all sound delicious. I would LOVE to own a coffee shop/bakery like this. Doctors have time to open/operate businesses right?

Right…

Just a little bit of the menu. All the food menus are to the right. The prices are really reasonable too which is great because I spend far too much money on clothes and books to support an expensive coffee habit.

My iced coffee has a man sprouting from it! Hehe I had the iced white chocolate chip coffee. It was pretty great coffee, but it wasn’t so good that I would get it again. There’s way to many flavors at this place to get the same one twice!

So, last week was my first full week at my research internship with the Eating Disorders Program at Boston University’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders. I had a really amazing week and have already learned so much. This past week I spent a lot of time transcribing therapy sessions for a casebook that one of the graduate students is writing. I’m really enjoying this work, but it’s a little overwhelming. When I listen to the therapy sessions I can’t help but think about the concepts in the context of my own life. In other words, the therapy sessions have been forcing me to do a lot of self-reflection, and quite frankly, it is harder than I expected it to be! Anyways, I’m actually looking forward to work next week, so that’s a really great sign!

XOXO,

Jamie

She Said I Think I’ll Go To Boston

ohhh how things change.

I remember being a senior in high school excited for my upcoming freshman year at Northeastern University in Boston. My angsty teen self would sit at the piano, banging out “Boston” by Augustana and singing deafeningly (much to my sisters’ dismay).

But…it turns out that starting a “new” life or becoming a “different” person  requires much more than just a new place to call home. Real change can only come through changing our beliefs and behaviors. As naive as I was though, I thought that going away to Boston for college would finally make me happy. I could finally be the confident, outgoing, pretty, skinny girl that everyone adored. Well…things didn’t exactly work out the way I planned. I got to Boston, and I was still the shy, awkward girl I’d always been. I’ve talked about my story in detail in many other blog posts, so I’m not going to rehash that all here.

What I will say though, is that I’m back in Boston! I’m still a little shy and still a little awkward. BUT I’m happy in my own skin and with my own personality.

Clearly, I’m a gem

I’m having a lovely time here in Boston. In the first two days of my internship, I’ve already learned a lot I didn’t know about eating disorders and what it is actually like to conduct studies in the field. My research internship is under the direction of Dr. Heather Thompson-Brenner who has contributed immensely to the literature on eating disorders. Seriously, Google her name on Google Scholar and read all her amazing work! She is also just a super nice person in general. I’ll talk in more detail about my internship as I get further into it.

Charlie, the new boyfriend I mentioned in my last post, visited me in Boston this past weekend. The above picture was taken at a T stop when we were en route to the Museum of Fine Arts. It was pouring rain and we were pretty much soaked all day, but we had a great time nonetheless. And we saw lots of great art. I felt very cultured.

BIG NEWS FOR COLLEGEGIRLCOOKING! I FINALLY STOPPED BEING SO CHEAP AND BOUGHT A NEW CAMERA! GET READY FOR A BLOG THAT ONCE AGAIN CONTAINS (SEMI) DECENT PHOTOS. You can expect such photos in 5-8 business days

XOXO,

Jamie

Feelings Pass

So I thought I’d update ya’ll on my life a little bit.

Last Sunday I left Oberlin. I spent a week at home with family and friends before returning to Oberlin for commencement. Honestly, the past week I spent at home was great, but a little challenging at the same time. I had a really great time with my family, but I had a lot of free time to myself. As I’ve written about previously, being alone with nothing to do puts me in a weird/anxious/sad mood. I need to continue working with this feeling and just allowing it to pass. All feelings, no matter how unbearable they are in the moment, pass with time. Nothing is permanent.

Here’s what I’ve been up to in the past week:

I apologize for the pixel-y photos from my phone. I really do plan on getting a new digital camera sometime soon. Or maybe my sister will let me have her D40 again now that she has her spiffy, new D800? Pretty please sister?

Shopping with the sisters. We are kind of good at spending money.

Random photo shoots with Allie. This is about picture number 14, and the only good one we got.

Something was clearly hilarious.

Breaking in my new running shoes with a lovely 4 mile road run in the country. My new shoes are Brooks Launches, and I’m already in love with them. They are super lightweight and lack a bulky heel, so they promote a mid-foot strike. They really force me to run with proper form which is exactly what I need since I tend to get lazy and fall back onto my heels.

Ice cream and a walk with my best friends from high school (and junior high and elementary school). It was so great to catch up with these girls! Whenever we get together, I feel like I’m in high school again. That is a pretty carefree and wonderful feeling.

Many of you have noticed that a few months ago I pretty much just stopped talking about Darren on the blog. He used to appear very frequently on my blog because he was a huge part of my life. We broke up, and now is the first time I’m acknowledging it on the blog. It’s something very personal, and I didn’t think it was fair for me to publicly announce our break-up. I’m mentioning it now because I think enough time has passed, and also because there is a new boy in my life. I spent this weekend in Oberlin with him, and have had/am continuing to have a really great time.

He took me to a pig roast yesterday. Yes, I ate pork from that pig. It was damn good too!

XOXO,

Jamie

 

Bittersweet

First of all, I want to say super big sorry for slacking on the blog front. I’ve been completely immersed in my finals and just life in general (which is great by the way!), and I haven’t been making time for my blog.

Well, now exams are over, and things are about to change! On the plus side I will have a lot more time for blogging, and I’m really looking forward to my research assistant-ship this summer. I don’t think I told ya’ll about it, but I’ll be working with professors at Boston University on a research project examining attitudes and perceptions of eating disorders on college campuses. This summer I’ll also be applying for medical school, and continuing training for the half marathon I’m running August 19th! Needless to say, I’m looking forward to a fun-filled and rewarding summer.

On the flip side, summer brings change and change makes me anxious. I love the routine that school gives me. I have an entire week left at home, and frankly, I don’t know what I am going to do with myself. It drives me crazy to not have a million things to do and deadlines to worry about. I’m already getting anxious about how I’ll spend the entire month of August at home!

I have some serious thinking, relaxing, meditating, and planning to do. I should value my free time as a blessing instead of seeing it as a burden. There are plenty of things I would love to do with my free time. I could spend an entire day baking and decorating a five tier wedding cake. But then what would I do with a five tier wedding cake? Hmm…I wonder if I could talk my dad into storing it in his walk in freezer. A frozen cake can last for years…

okay now I’m just rambling.

Look at the pretty cupcakes I made!

Nothing fancy. Just boxed funfetti cake mix with store-bought frosting. I really just wanted to decorate them.

XOXO,

Jamie

Brinner

I love breakfast, but I especially love breakfast for dinner.

Enter, brinner:

Tonight’s dinner was three pieces of cinnamon french toast topped with vanilla yogurt and syrup! For me and probably the rest of the world, dinner is usually a more savory meal. However, today my sweet tooth was raging, so I went with it! The warm syrup made the yogurt all melty and yummy.

Okay, now this picture just cracks me up. I am the kind of person who continually adds more syrup to my french toast/pancakes/waffles as I eat them. So of course, when I got to my last piece of french toast, I needed more syrup. I poured the syrup in one spot, and accidentally made my yogurt/syrup look like a fried egg! Don’t you think so?! I love food that looks like other food. Meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting anyone?

So that was my most exciting eat of the day. Now onto other things…

Today was a super happy day. I took a scary exam this morning that I’m so thankful to have behind me. The last week or so has been really stressful and busy. Today I finally felt the return of normalcy (which will be short-lived thanks to my approaching final exams). The weather was beautiful! I was able to just lay out in the sun, relax, and clear my mind for a little while.

But even on beautiful, relaxing days, I still have to make time for academics.

This is my friend and I in bio-organic chemistry lecture today. We should probably pay better attention so that we don’t have to repeat the labs five times each before getting them right….

Nah.

This is a page from today’s bio-organic chemistry notes. After I took this picture, I was thinking to myself, “When did I become such a bad student? I was so studious in high school…” Then I realized…no, I was exactly the same in high school. I just had all the teachers fooled into thinking I was studious! I admit it, I fell asleep in Spanish 4 every day. Also, I may have skipped VHS on occasion for coffee.

Oh who am I kidding…I’m hardly a slacker.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! I might be setting a new personal distance record on Saturday, so I will let you all know how that goes!

XOXO,

Jamie

For the Love of Brussel Sprouts

Normally I write my posts at night, but this post is coming to you right after breakfast! I have 15 minutes before I have to run off to class, dissect a tadpole/frog and then hopefully rock my chemistry exam!

15 minutes is totally enough time for a quick post.

Yesterday’s lunch: A turkey and blue cheese wrap with a side of roasted brussel sprouts. I should really try to eat more veggies. I naturally gravitate towards fruit or dairy for snacks and sides. I have a feeling that I will be on a brussel sprout kick for a while though because these hit the spot. I just tossed them with olive oil, salt, and garlic powder and baked them at 425 for about 25 minutes. The burnt parts are my favorite!

I just noticed that just about every sentence in that last paragraph starts with the word “I”…When I’m in a hurry, varied sentence structure is not a priority.

The purplest smoothie ever! My roommate thought I added food coloring to it because it was so purple. Nope. Just blueberries. In the mix is blueberries, cottage cheese, soy milk, and stevia. This was totally delicious, but my mouth was blue even after brushing my teeth. You’ve been warned.

My chapstick also makes an appearance in the above photo. Right now I am loving strawberry Carmex. My junior high/high school best friend, Megan, got me addicted to chapstick. She put it on like every 20 minutes, and the habit wore off on me.

And with that, I’m off to class. Have a good day friends! And may the chemistry gods be with me!

XOXO,

Jamie

 

You Won’t Believe It’s Not a Milkshake

Okay, I have to get to a chem review session in 20 minutes, so this post is going to be super quick.

I present to you The White Chocolate “Milkshake” that is SO DAMN GOOD You Won’t Believe It’s Actually NOT a Milkshake and is Actually Super Healthy.

Whew…that’s quite a mouthful, but no other name would do this creamy, frozen beverage justice. When I brainstormed this gem, I had super high hopes for it. I LOVE white chocolate. The outcome completely exceeded even my wildest expectations.

It all started a couple weeks ago when I was browsing the internet for new smoothie ideas. I kept reading about how a pinch of xanthan gum makes smoothies super thick and creamy…so I made a super major impulse buy and spent $10 for xanthan gum on Amazon. TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Today I got my xanthan gum in the mail, and I made this. I must warn you, the ingredient list is a little scary. Trust me on this one though!

White Chocolate “Milkshake”

1/2 cup cottage cheese

6-8 ice cubes

3 tsp stevia (or other sweetener of choice)

2 tsp Jello Brand Sugar Free White Chocolate Pudding Mix

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

enough soy milk (or milk of choice) to blend everything together (probably about a cup)

Put it all in a blender and blend. Enjoy bliss.

XOXO,

Jamie