It doesn't run in the family.

As I finished slicing some tomatoes in half and sent them into the oven, my brother (also known as my roommate) walked into the kitchen.

"Look!" I said, proudly pointing to a carton of organic half-and-half on the counter. "I bought organic half-and-half for my homemade tomato soup." I rarely have dairy to begin with (because I'm mildly lactose intolerant), so purchasing organic dairy was new to me (with the exception of organic greek yogurt, when it's on sale).

The look on his face said he was clearly just as excited about this as I was. (...Okay, maybe not.) He nodded once, and then opened the freezer and pulled out a frozen pepperoni pizza.

The juxtaposition of my homemade tomato-with-organic-dairy soup with his frozen pizza made me laugh. A dark, defeated, I-wish-he-would-stop-eating-that-crap laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. I've given up converting my family.

I've had far more luck teaching my friends good habits than my family. I have friends who stopped drinking soda, increased their fruits and vegetables, and switched to whole grains. I have friends who even tried the meatless thing with me (hey, Alex!). But with my family, not so much.

They continue to consume Splenda and aspartame.

They continue to consume foods containing trans fat and a long list of chemical ingredients.

They continue to devote half the kitchen space to ice cream, chips, and other junk food.

They continue to consider corn as the vegetable of choice.

They continue to have an entire fridge full of a variety of sodas in the basement at all times.

I just want everyone to be healthy. :(

EDIT: So, I hated that the techies at Food Revolution chose to link to THIS blog post. This post was originally a frustrated and illogical rant, and while much of it contained my true feelings, I worded it poorly and exaggerated a few things that made me come off like a real pretentious idiot. :) Thinking about all the people reading it made me sick. I finally had to tweak it a bit. So if you notice a few parts of this post missing, that's why!

P.S. Check out my Pinterest for hundreds of healthy, meatless meals!

Homemade pasta to celebrate my half-birthday

Can you believe I've been 21 for six months already? I never thought I'd actually care about being 21, since I was never one of those teenagers that drank all the time and couldn't wait to hit the bars. In fact, my first taste of anything besides wine was on my 21st birthday. Since then, I've really enjoyed getting to try new things, like all the different kinds of wine, homemade strawberry daiquiris, and CIDER.

I always celebrate my half-birthday. I just love any reason to make a day special. :) So to celebrate, I decided to finally try my hand at homemade, whole wheat pasta. What a treat! I spent quite a while in the kitchen, but it turned out beautifully. And I took pictures!

I used my brother's pizza cutter to cut the dough into fettuccine-sized strips. :D

Isn't it precious?? Gosh, I feel so accomplished.

And of course, what celebration would be complete without my beloved Fox Barrel Pear Cider? I love this stuff. Its website describes it like so:

America’s first, truly pure pear-juice based cider line, Fox Barrel makes Pear Ciders that are naturally fermented using 100% pear juice, not from pear juice concentrate, or flavored hard apple cider. Our ciders are filtered cold for extra purity and our Blackberry Pear and Apricot Pear Ciders are infused with natural blackberry or apricot juice.  Fox Barrel contains no added colorants, sugar, sorbate or benzoate preservatives.  No added malt, spirit, grape or apple alcohols, Fox Barrel ciders are smoothed with pure pear juice.

 And this stuff is delicious. Almost as good as Bulmers Pear Cider in Ireland.

For my pasta, I made a homemade tomato sauce with meatballs. But wait! These aren't just any meatballs. Nope. They're vegetarian lentil "meat"balls! I used my leftover lentil patties from yesterday and reshaped them into balls. I added sage and fennel to give them a more sausage-like flavor. The tomato sauce is my own concoction that I always use--some combination of tomatoes (pureed with my immersion blender), olive oil, Italian seasoning, a touch of sugar, black pepper, and salt. Sends me to heaven every time. I haven't used pasta sauce from the jar for almost an entire year! Yay me.

So I knew that fresh pasta only took a minute or two to cook, but dang! I could have sworn they were only in for thirty seconds before they popped up to the top.

The finished product. The verdict = happy half-birthday to me!

The surprise of the meal was definitely the lentil "meatballs." No joke, these almost tasted like meat. I've tried making vegetarian meatballs before, and they were dreadful; the flavors clashed with the flavors of the tomato sauce, and the "meatballs" turned to mush almost as soon as I added the sauce to the pan. But these were just delightful. They stayed crispy on the outside, even after simmering with the sauce. Plus, the lentil pseudo-meatballs had such a neutral flavor that they just blended perfectly with the tomatoes. Heaven. Have I mentioned how much I love lentils?

As for the pasta? They could have been a little thinner, but they were still enjoyable. The entire dish was almost tear-inducing.

More, please? :)

Ireland: Food & Drink

Whenever people ask me about my trip to Ireland, I respond, "It was amazing." If they ask for more details, I mention how the people are incredible, the scenery is breathtaking, pubs are unbeatable, and the food is fantastic.

Hawaiian Panini at the Strand House Cafe in Dingle

Let me put this into perspective for you. I live in a college town in South Dakota. 95% of the restaurants here are either chains or locally owned sports bars and pizza places. To be in a country that valued fresh, organic ingredients from local sources was surreal. I cherished each plate set in front of me.

In America, restaurants give you giant platters of grease, cheese, fat, and salt, and their business relies almost solely on the human weakness for junk food. In Ireland, restaurants prepare creative dishes from delightfully fresh ingredients, and they give you a satisfying amount that treats your taste buds with interesting combinations of textures and flavors.

When I ordered the Hawaiian Panini at the Strand House Cafe, a pile of greens accompanied the sandwich on my plate. I love salad, but I balked a little when I saw the bell pepper strips, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and small heap of potato salad at the top. Peppers and tomatoes still sit on the list of foods I'm working to acquire a taste for, and, well, potato salad has never even been on that list. Yuck.

However, I tried it. And you know what? I liked it. This potato salad tasted worlds better than any of the bright yellow monstrosities I had tried back home. I took a second bite--still no gagging. I finished the entire thing, and wanted more. The flavors were subtle, light, and pleasing. It wasn't overly salty or soaking in vinegar or mayonnaise. It was divine.

Then I tried the peppers, even though I knew thought I hated them. And I liked those, too! I ate the entire salad. And the panini. And then I teared up.

No, seriously.

Organic peppers at the market in Howth

Some of the other foods I tried and ended up loving were brussel sprouts, glazed turnips, mutton, chutney, pesto mayonnaise, muesli, soda bread, quiche, and brie (chicken-cranberry-brie panini? YES PLEASE!).

As for what I didn't like? Guinness. Sorry, Arthur, but your beloved brew did not hit the spot with me.

Free samples of Guinness at the St. James Brewery in Dublin

At one point in the St. James Brewery, the words "There's poetry in every pint of Guinness" were written on the wall. I liked that line, even though the sample they gave me during the tour was terribly unpleasant. I still understand the meaning behind it, though. The poetry is in the deep flavors of barley and hops, and the smoothness of the drink. I could appreciate that; I just couldn't appreciate the aftertaste. In fact, I turned down the free pint they gave us when we reached the top floor (a glass room giving a 360-degree view of Dublin). 

The 360-degree viewing room at the brewery

I will also add that the insane popularity of Guinness surprised me. Some people assume Minnesotans just sit around eating lutefisk all day, but I can assure you that I have never even seen lutefisk, and I've only met one person who has actually tasted it. I wondered if Guinness in Ireland was a similar misconception. Well, I'm here to tell you that it's not. Guinness was everywhere--on t-shirts in every store, on neon signs on every pub, on every bar counter, and in the hands of tourists and locals alike. The Irish love their Guinness. This is a mystery to me, but I find it endearing nevertheless.