FOODIE: Looove cookie

I wanted to make some cookies for some of the kids and staff at the school I sub at a lot in Oak Park. So I made a cookie with everything good in it. I used wheat flour, Hershey bar pieces, Reese chips, chocolate chips, grounded oatmeal, walnuts, brown and white sugar and unsalted butter. Yay! This is a love cookie :) Just make a base for the cookie dough then add all the things you love!

IF MY VAGINA COULD TALK, IT WOULD SAY...: Breaking up is hard to do,especially when the sex was so goood!

So I met this 27 year old Nigerian Muslim Texan who captured my attention the summer of 08. I was immediately intrigued and taken by him. I had a full body attraction towards him. It was not sexual but sensual. He seemed innocent and had that southern charm and "yes ma'am charm" that I have loved since I was a lil girl. I knew he was a little Antoine Fisher-ish but I still f'ed with that. So turns out he was really Muslim- like I pray 5 times a day and want my wife Muslim kinda real. Okay.....I can so NOT do that but lets see how long we can ride this out- I was open. I fell in love/lust, hell I am still not sure but next thing I knew I was in deep. The kinda deep that I am not about to express on this blog, just yet at least. So he dumped the hell out of me the other day b/c I confronted him about his "friendship" with an "ex-stalker" of his and b/c his "separated" wife, yup he was married, served him divorce papers and he blamed me! So although like he expressed to me "this is my out", I am still having a hard time with it. I mean this man has been not my life but my time filler and excuse for not doing shit like job or soul searching for over a year and especially the last 5 months, they have been intense. I was gonna go to Egypt with him!! So now I have to figure out a way to "move on".

So the process of moving on can be done two ways: constructively or destructively. I usually love the destructive way which is to party and cry and continue to procrastinate. But I really want to turn the love I had for him and make it make me do positive things such as active goal setting and taking care of myself. I have blogged about being sick recently due to stomach issues that I know have something to do with my dairy and gluten filled diet. It has been getting bad since last week so my body is demanding I act while my heart is demanding I not. My heart aches and when it is broken it loves wine, martinis, pasta and chocolate! yum! But the fatty comfort sloppy looking kind. But I also love speciality food items such as Alo drink and dark chocolate so if I could just eat that.....



It is a struggle. I am a crazy Gemini trying to move away from Doinwhatyodoes to DoinwhatyoNEEDtodo :)

So oh yea, breaking up is hard to do when the sex is sooo good! I mean this boy gave it to me so good on a regular that I would have wet orgasms on the spot. His kisses were so passionate always. I have been cuming for the last few months every other day! If I do not go into some serious rehab of mind and spirit then I will be slutting the F out very soon b/c my flesh is wanting dick and some good dick like his. I hope to God he does not call me and offer me some or just call and I offer him. The flesh is weak.

Speaking of dick, have you ever had a time where you were getting passionate with a guy and he couldn't get hard? hat does that mean. A friend of mine, no she isn't ugly or fat, had this problem recently. Just asking b/c I know i hate wasting a number. All women have a number of partners that she does not want to surpass. So before you give it up to a guy, you have to ask yourself , "is he worth up'ing my number for?"

Anywho, I will miss his dick. We had some goodtimes. ByeBye my love :( I am being so ridic right now b/c of course I know that once I align myself spiritually that I will unite with my husband and our sex will be mag-ni-fic b/c blessed by God :) But for now.......Just pray for me

The hardest thing for me is with time. I did not realize how much time I spent with him so now that he is not here, I am like how do I occupy this time. We never slept together at night for obvious reasons so I wont miss that. But I did see him everyday and talk to him several times a day. Now every time my phone rings and it is not him, I feel a little sad. I just have to re-program myself and begin new rituals. One thing that does work is distractions and a positive one for me is my niece and nephew. My niece is hilarious and witty, much how I was at her age of 2 and my nephew is 5 months and just laughs and fills my heart with the sweetest joy, I cannot be sad with them around and it so happens that they will be here til next Wednesday b/c their parents are going out of town :)

I miss him already. We had fun together. He was exciting to me. But that time has passed. it was not good anyway. It did not align with my future goals but does very much well with my immediate self gratification goals so if he calls..........

Wish me the best!!!

FOODIE: Battle of the Dips

BATTLE OF THE DIPS: Tyrese's Buffalo Chicken dip vs Yolanda's spinach and artichoke dip

So during the superbowl, My friend tyrese and I were too tired from waiting for pizza for over an hour from Papa Johns to do much when we got back to the house. So yesterday we had extra time so we both decided to do our favorite dips. My dip was one of my favorites I would get at Olive Gardens or Friday's back-in-the-day. Many are made with cream cheese and mayo but I decided to follow the advice of Emeril and use milk and make a rue cheese sauce then add the veggies and bake. Yum! I also fried, well actually had Tyrese fry b/c I hate to fry anything, my own corn tortillas which was fun.

Tyrese used chicken in a can, red hot sauce, cream cheese and blue cheese dressing.

mix everything and bake for 15 min

Mixed Chicken and cream cheese

add blue cheese and hot sauce

Here is a video of us frying the tortillas:

IF MY VAGINA COULD TALK, IT WOULD SAY...: HAPPY VAGINA DAY

So Hallmark is making tons of money this weekend, not from me tho! I am not celebrating V-day as Valentine’s Day but as Vagina’s Day. My vagina and I talk all the time, mostly about sex, but also about healthy eating and exercise. My vagina loves to run outside, swim, in the pool or pond not the ocean, and drink speciality drinks such as Alo. Lately my Vagina and I have been chatting about consistency. I have been experimenting with eating gluten and dairy free and I have not been running outside. I have created this excuse for my inconsistency by blaming it on (nurture) incidents such as my car accident on Christmas 07 or (nature) innate personality traits such as being a Gemini with a twin personality. Neither are good excuses b/c I am consistent- consistently inconsistent.

So I have yet to make the decision to unwrap and explore Yolanda, right now I am DoinWhatYoDoes.

So Wednesday I did not have to go to work as a substitute teacher b/c all the schools were closed due to 10 inches of snow from the day before. So I sat in my bed and read some of my cousin Shelly's, founder and CEO of Naturi Beauty, blog post for the day. Her post on Food/Energy/Vitality got me thinking about my inconsistency with my career, love life and health- overall being. She posted the question "does food serve you, or do you serve food?" I answered, food serves me!

Well for the last few years, post Brazil 2006 where I ballooned into a toasted marshmallow due to my over consumption of Caipirnha and Fillet Mignon, food has served me. I have had bloating and stomach aches post Mexico 2004 after having tape worms due to eating on the street and now suffer from IBS and maybe have been always suffering from a dairy and wheat/gluten intolerance. My pudgy stomach shows this :) I have been trying to get the strength together to focus my energy towards molding Yolanda instead of using the excuse of DoinWhatYoDoes. I need to do a gluten free, meat and dairy free diet for two- four weeks and monitor how my body feels. Once I make a commitment to health by exercising and eating correctly for my body CONSISTENTLY, then I will feel better inside and out. I always have felt at heart that I am a vegan b/c I love beautiful colors and tastes of fruits and veggies but at the same time I know I would like to be a flexitarian where I eat a mostly vegan diet but allow myself to have controlled portions of other dishes that I crave occasionally. I mean we eat to live, not live to eat, right?

I love beautifully plated small plate meals, I want a beautiful kitchen in my home, I look forward to making green lunches for my children in the near future. So first I have to conquer this inconsistency and move toward a consistent or better yet balanced Yolanda.

My vagina is looking forward to her.

FOODIE: gluten free vs spicy cracker salmon cakes

So my friend and I made salmon croquettes or cakes. I made my gluten free and he made his with crackers. We used can pink salmon. He used wheat crackers and I used cornstarch to make it stick. We just seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and egg. Delic!

FOODIE: gluten free banana nut muffins

So this is my first gluten free baking experience after trying to start a gluten free diet. Gluten is a protein that helps bread to rise and form. People that are allergic to gluten have celiac disease or have a gluten intolerance or allergy. I believe I have an allergy towards dairy as do most humans and intolerance towards gluten like my dad! My dad has asthma and a very serious allergy to gluten and maybe also malt so he cannot smell or consume wheat or he will have an allergy attach and his throat will close. He has had many close calls but he still lives. So I have decided at 26 to experiment with gluten free cooking. Gluten free baking mixes are interesting b/c they use different types of flours and xanthum gum to make bread.

So the batter taste good but while baking.......there was no smell of bread? That made me sad. It was heavy and full not light like bread but a heavy mushy banana wetie ball. I liked it tho. I think I will use natural sweeteners such as Agave next time.

Like I said my tummy would be better if I lived a dairy and gluten free lifestyle but I am eating a cookie as we speak....

THOUGHTS OF A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER: So how do you make the word "ranch" plural?

Question: So how do you make ranch plural?
Answer: Dressing

So I was in a 3rd grade class in Oak Park, MI and I was teaching a lesson on how to make nouns plural. The kids were having such a hard time. So I asked one young man, "how do you make the word "ranch" plural aka more than one?" And when he answered "dressing", I knew exactly what he was thinking about! These kids first response is what they know- ranch dressing.

To give the boy an excuse, we did just have a discussion on health and why ranch dressing and bbq sauce is not good.

I make sure to discuss health and give the kids a health lesson everyday and usually use my lunch and morning drink as an example :)