Tortellini Pasta Salad

I have stopped exercising. I am going to force myself to do bicycle today along with some sit ups and push ups. I guess is because I have a lot on my mind and no outlet or just tired of everything and everyone that I just want to sleep it all away. Also my schedule is changing; I now have a job and do volunteer hours. In addition summer is coming. It’s hard to muster the desire to work out in the heat but I must. I want to get to the weight my height is supposed to be at. I think I have 15 more pounds to go. Not sure if I will reach it but I’d like to think it’s possible.

I think I have also stopped exercising because summer is here. I don’t have a flat iron for my hair. I use a hair blower but my hair is damaged and thin. My mother is going to buy me vitamins to help and other things. I will blow out my hair less this summer. Just have to find a way to get my bangs out straight and then I think it will be ok. Though, I have been tempted to let my bangs grow out and just cut them again once the fall appears, but I really like how I look with bangs. Dilemma.

Book: Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story by Chuck Klosterman. Only twenty pages left and I will be done with it. It’s a great nonfiction novel.

iTunes: Theme for Scanty & Knee socks – Teddyloid. This song was taken from an anime called Panty and Stocking with Garter belt. I think it’s a parody anime. It was funny and I thought it had a great soundtrack which I had to hunt and download. This is the theme song for the nemesis of Panty and Stockings, which are two demon sisters bent on taking down the angelic sisters. It was a funny show.

Pandora: Mathematics – Mos Def. I have never heard this song before. Was not feeling it at this time, maybe if I heard it on another occasion I would be more into it.

Quote: Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade? – Benjamin Franklin. I shall try to remember these words and hopefully make use of my talents, whatever they may be.

Ingredients:

1. 1 pkg (9 oz) refrigerated tricolor cheese tortellini
2. 2 cups trimmed sugar snap peas
3. 2 Tbsp pesto
4. 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
5. 40 black olives, chopped
6. 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Serves: 4

Per serving: 316 Cal, 13 g pro, 42g carb, 5g fiber, 12 g fat, 4 g sat fat, 632 mg sodium.

Directions:

1. Place tortellini in large pot of boiling water. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Add peas and cook 3 more minutes, or until crisp-tender.
• I did not add any salt to the boiling water. It's cheese filled Tortellini, it has enough salt.

• As soon as the water boiled I added the tortellini and kept stirring for 5 minutes. Be careful when adding the tortellini, I almost burned myself. After the five minutes, I  added the peas. Well I couldn't find any sugar snap peas so I substituted for French cute green beans. It seemed to work well with the food.
2. Drain pasta and peas. Rinse with cold water. Place in large bowl and toss with pesto. Gently fold in tomatoes, olives, and pepper. Garnish with fresh basil if desired.

• I had my mother drain the pasta because I didn't want to get burned. Then, I opened the faucet and let cold water run over it. Then poured into a large thing, that I can't remember what it's called, and added pesto to it. With a large spoon I mixed the tortellini until it seemed to be completely covered.

• I had forgotten to cut the cherry tomatoes and so I went and cut them in half. I didn't add olives because no one in my family likes olives. I also forgot to add any basil but it was fine without it.  

 Everyone in my family loved it. My sister was over that day and she was very impressed. I, as well, was enjoying the taste of this salad. Afterwards, didn't feel much hunger. I also took many pictures to make up for my missing pic in the last post.

Italian Style Eggs

To be honest we aren’t really following a diabetic diet. When things get hectic or something happens to change the normal schedule, we don’t stick to what we are supposed to. I’m guessing stress causes us to eat whatever we find or over eat a bit. I still don’t eat rice. But haven’t really made an effort to eat healthy. Starting tomorrow, I will try to force my family to be more conscious of what we are eating. I am also going to cut back on soda. At least I stopped my mother from buying me soda to store at home. Water shall be my liquor at home and in restaurants as well, besides sodas are expensive in restaurants anyway. The most I will indulge outside are on alcoholic beverages. As for juice, I will have my normal cup of orange juice in the morning to wake me up and then water for the rest of the day. Or if I really want something slightly sweet, we have iced tea. I think its diet ice tea or something but that will help when I crave juice.

I was also looking at my blog and I definitely need to change the picture. I just don’t know of what. I will definitely try to draw something, or get some sort of interesting picture to depict me, especially because I am no longer using that cook book. Occasionally I will go back and pull a recipe if I can’t find anything else.

Book: Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story by Chuck Klosterman. It’s a nonfiction novel about the death of certain rock stars and how it affects culture. Why are they more famous once they die? Other themes pop up, of course, on his journey across the sites where these rock legends met their end.

iTunes: Show Me Love (Extended Version) – T.a.t.u. One of my favorites from them. When they first came out, I wanted to buy the CD but my sister was against the idea. I don’t understand her reasoning. But in time I got it and it was pretty good. I still listen to it to this day and one day hope to sing karaoke to the song Stars and be able to do the Russian part.

Pandora: Tha Crossroads – Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. This was the first song I heard from the group and I remember being slightly scared of the video when I was younger. What scared me was the man that was supposed to be the reaper who was taking souls of people in the video. He just gave me goose bumps.  

Quote: Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get. – George Bernard Shaw. Almost feels as if the universe is trying to tell me something. I will try to share my feelings but I just need a little more time.

Ingredients:                                                                                Serves: 4

1.      4 Slices (1/2 thick) French or Italian bread                                                                

2.      ¼ cup Canola oil

3.      ¼ cup finely chopped onion

4.      ¼ cup finely chopped green bell pepper

5.      6 plum tomatoes chopped

6.      1/8 tsp salt

7.      1/8 tsp ground black pepper

8.      4 large eggs

Directions

1.      Warm large nonstick Skillet over medium-high heat. Brush 1 side of each bread slice with oil. Place oiled side down in pan.  Brush tops with oil. Cook 2 minutes on each side, or until toasted. Place slice of toast on each of 4 plates. Set aside.

a.       Before making anything I grabbed the onions, green bell pepper and the plum tomatoes. I washed them carefully and with a knife and cutting board I proceeded to chop them into tiny pieces. The onions made me eyes sting a bit, everything else was fine. Also chopping was a bit weird since I don’t really know how to do it. I just cut it into little pieces. I wish I knew how to learn that quick chopping skills chef’s have. If they don’t, then what is wrong with them? Then I grabbed the Italian bread, brushed it with the canola oil using a spoon. No problem here.  

2.      Set pan over medium heat. Add remaining oil, onion, and bell pepper. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes, or until vegetables have softened. Stir in tomatoes, salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook 5 minutes, or until tomatoes make chunky sauce. Create 4 indentations in sauce with large spoon.

a.       I gently placed the oinion, bell pepper and oil. Stirred like the instructions say and then add the tomatoes, along with the rest of the stuff. I forgot to take a picture of this step. Sorry. I cooked for 5 minutes and waited a bit longer but my tomatoes didn’t make any chunky sauce. Which made sad and I wondered if I had done something wrong. Though I continued.

3.      Break 2 of the eggs into 2 custard cups. Gently tip each egg into one of the indentations. Repeat with remaining eggs. Cover and simmer 6 to 8 minutes, or until whites are completely set.

a.       I don’t know what custard cups are, I should have looked it up before attempting to do this but I wanted to have this done. I am a little behind and there are many other awesome recipes’ I want to try. I had to cook the yolk as well. If I had followed the recipe down the last letter it would have left the yolk slightly uncooked. Which is fine with me but my parents don’t like that. They prefer their yolk fully cooked.

4.      Place egg and accompanying sauce on top of toast. Spoon remaining sauce evenly around egg.

a.       I had no extra sauce, just scattered tomatoes, onions and green bell pepper. I didn’t think I was going to like it, because I’m not a huge fan of onions and peppers but it came out delicious. Both my parents loved it but I only had a little bite because I wasn’t too hungry.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

You may be thinking "Chocolate chip pancakes for Diabetics?" I thought the same thing when I read the recipe but this recipe is geared towards us that are fighting to remain in control of our bodies. I may not be diabetic but it runs in my family and I want to put it off as long as I can.

Book: Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris. It's much better than the last book which was all over the place. Too much was happening and then the resolution was just pretty bad, almost how the Odyssey ends, with Athena waving her hand and making all the angry parents be completely fine with the fact that most of their children are dead. I think there will be one more book and then the author will end the series. I certainly hope so because how many things can happen to Sookie. How is she not dead after all the things that happen to her?

iTunes: Delerium Feat. Sarah McLachlan (DJ Tiesto in Search of Sunrise Edit). I have the original along with this mix. The original is slower and has more darker overtones, symbolizing the struggle to find inner peace. Something that not all of find and what plagues me. Whenever the mix by Tiesto pops up I like to picture myself running, trying to get to peace. What I also like about the mix is that it’s very upbeat and I think that many people try to smile and pretend to be okay, while they are secretly suffering. There is a moment when that suffering peaks through in the song before it gets covered up again by the upbeat sound.

Pandora: Killswitch Engage - Hope is... I think this is life telling me not to lose hope. Never lose hope. It's what we fight with when all else is lost. I think Pandora tells that to Kratos in the third God of War game. Something I used to believe and I must keep believing.

Quote: What worries you, masters you. – John Locke. I am experiencing that at the moment.

Ingredients

1. 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2. 2/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3. 1/3 cup cornmeal
4. 1 Tbsp baking powder
5. 1/2 tsp baking soda
6. 2 Cups nonfat vanilla yogurt
7. 3/4 cup fat-free egg substitute
8. 3 Cups semisweet mini chocolate chips
9. 2 Tbsp canola oil
10. 3/4 cup nondairy whipped topping

Directions

1. Combine flours, cornmeal, baking powder, and baking soda in large bowl. Stir in yogurt, egg subtstitute, chocolate chips, and oil.
• I didn't follow the amounts they posted. According to the recipe it serves 12 people. There are only three cats in here. I halved everything. Also I only used one cup of semisweet mini chocolate chips. I didn't like too much how they tasted.

2. Coat large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and warm over medium heat.
• No rocket science here.

3. Spoon two tablespoons of the batter into skillet to form each pancake. Cook pancakes two minutes, or until bubbles appear on surface and edges set. Flip and cook two more minutes, or until lightly browned. Repeat with remaining batter to form 48 silver dollar pancakes. Top pancakes with whipped topping.

• Instead of making silver dollar pancakes I just made regular pancakes. Two for me and one for my mother and one for my father. I didn't like how they tasted at the end. It was good but eating two of the pancakes became too much. It was incredibly sweet. At the end of one I didn't want to eat anymore. I grew tired of the sweetness. Maybe if we had the whipped topping it could have helped. I didn't buy whipped topping because we never use it but maybe it would have enhanced the taste or something. My father loved it. I wasn't a huge fan but he was. Maybe I should put less semisweet mini chocolate chips next time. Or just have the whipped topping.

Pomegranate-Strawberry Smoothie!

Another long wait for another post. Though I wonder if anyone reads this. I just hope people can come across it. I am trying to force myself to write more.

Book: Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. Great book. It took me a while to finish it but great book. An interesting way to learn about the history of philosophy. At least its somewhere you can begin if you are thinking of getting into philosophy.

iTunes: Zelenoglazoe Taksi - Oleg Kvasha. I first heard this song on GTA IV. Great song. Don't know what they are saying but look it up. According to Wikipedia the title translates as Greeneyed Taxi and its a club remix. I love playing the game and driving around to this song. Also when it comes on my iPod, its fun to walk to it. If anyone can tell me what they are saying it would be nice. As for the song being randomly chosen, I think I just need to dance the stress away. Like I mentioned, I don't know what the song says.

Pandora: Please don't go - Tank. I have never heard of Tank or of this song. A sad song. I feel like a lot of friends are drifting away from me, but I think the good ones are staying with me through all my crazy shit. I don't want to lose friends but maybe its needed, despite how much I try to fight it.

Quote of this post: Life is both sad and solemn. We are let into a wonderful world, we meet one another here, greet each other-and wander together for a brief moment. Then we lose each other and disappear as suddenly and unreasonably as we arrived. - From Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. I think its better when I use quotes from the books I'm reading though I might not always find something. Especially if I am reading a science fiction or fantasy book. I'm personally tired of losing people.

Ingredients:

1. 1/4 cup pomegranate juice
2. 2 tsp honey
3. 2/3 cup of frozen unsweetened strawberries
4. 2 tbsp fat-free Greek
5. 1 tbsp flax seed oil/Olive Oil
6. 4 ice cubes

Directions:

1. Mix juice and honey in a small cup. Whisk to dissolve honey completely.
• I used a small bowl and mixed the juice and honey with a spoon. I stirred and stirred until the honey seemed to have dissolved. At first, I was worried that the honey wasn't going to dissolve, but after a stirring for a bit it did.

2. Combine strawberries, yogurt, oil, ice cubes and pomegranate mixture in blender. Make sure the ice is crushed and the smoothie ends up thick and smooth. Or until you find it to your taste.
• The recipe calls for flax seed oil, but I don't know what that is and I never found it in the supermarket. Olive oil seemed like a good substitute and in the end, it tasted great.  I'm not sure if the strawberries I used were unsweetened but I used fresh Strawberries with nothing added extra to them. I just washed them and removed the leafy part on top. We have a ten speed blender. I warmed it up with the setting called chopping and then onto the blend setting and finally set it on ice crush to make sure the ice was crushed and mixed in with the juice and other stuff. Once it looked smooth enough I stopped it and served it to my mom and dad. Both highly enjoyed it. I have been making it over and over again.

I had tried to become a member of the website diabetes.prevention.com but I didn't like the fact that they asked for so much information. I want to try to stay somewhat anonymous. Though I have been toying with the idea of just coming out and posting my own picture. It might help people more if they can connect with me and a face. I don't know yet. We'll see what the future holds in store for me. But I hope people out there are trying these recipes. And remember to drink plenty of water, sleep, and excercise.

Apology

            It has been a month and a half since I have posted. At home the foundation kept falling apart and I couldn’t find enough materials to sew everything back up. I will not give up on this yet. I will try to be more consistent and prepare meals and post my thoughts on it and how it tasted, along with information about Diabetes that I receive or manage to find. I would like to make this a more amazing read and will include anecdotes from my family’s struggle with diabetes. Hence, why I am contemplating using a picture of myself but I am leaning more of trying to find a drawing or to try to create a drawing of myself, maybe in chibi form. I just hope to keep busy with projects and hobbies so as not to think too much.

            Things are going to be a little different. I will no longer be using the recipe book that I started out with. It’s only because I fear some legal repercussions and I am too poor to be sued. The recipe’s I find will come from this magazine called “Outsmart Diabetes.” This issue contains some “diabetes’s friendly recipe’s.” It seems to be a decent magazine with some interesting articles that I will mention but not go into great detail. It will be up to the reader to look up the info or to get the magazine.

Now 4 tips:

-          Sleep

o   We all need sleep. I believe 8 hours is the required amount. Some of us can function on less sleep, lucky bastards, but the rest of us need our glorious 8 hours so we aren’t cranky and irritable. Sleep also helps speed up your metabolism and gives you more energy.

-          Water

o   Eight glasses of water a day will help with weight loss and diabetes. First find out how much water will be a healthy amount for you but at least six glasses a day should be fine.

-          Fat

o   A healthy amount of fat is good for your body. Speak with your doctor to find which ones are good for you and if you want share it with me.

-          Exercise

o   If you are diabetic it helps keep blood sugar in check. If you purchase the magazine “Outsmart Diabetes” they have some exercises one can do.