9.2.10

SUN 31	MON 1 *	TUE 2 *	WED 3 *	THU 4 *	FRI 5	SAT 6
MORNING GLASSES OFF	MORNING GLASSES ON OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES ON OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES ON OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES OFF CLEAN FORGOT	MORNING GLASSES OFF OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES OFF OJ2O n Vitamins
	Man-Kzin IV	...	Man-Kzin IV	Man-Kzin IV	...
Hollywood Grill HOBBY/WORK book LA trip Laundry	Yog n Fru Coffee WORK Office	Yog n Fru Coffee WORK Office	Yog n Fru Coffee WORK Office	Yog n Fru Coffee WORK Office	Yog n Fru Coffee WORK Office	Muesli n Yog HOBBY/WORK Review & Plan Laundry
OJ2O PLAY Derby Lite	Vaguely Beans Wine Gums WORK Office	Vaguely Beans WORK Office	Gr Sal w Chicken WORK Office	Gr Sal w Chicken Pita WORK Office	Gr Sal w Chicken WORK Office	PB SW n OJ2O PLAY Derby Lite
HOBBY/WORK Review & Plan Grocery	Apple WORK Office	Chex Mix :/ WORK Office	Apple WORK Office	Apple WORK Office	Apple WORK Office	Handlebar PASTIME Big Time
	walking	walking	walking	Man-Kzin IV	talking
Choppers PASTIME Starship Troopers 3	Green Salad & OJ20 PLAY MOD Skate	Pit Crew Pasta PLAY/WORK take bath color hair hang baking pans tidy front room	Vaguely Chickpeas PASTIME take bath Man-Kzin IV	PB Sw n OJ2O PLAY Derby Lite	Skrine Chops Baskin-Robbins PASTIME The Tick True Blood	PASTIME Big Time
EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES ON	Popcorn n Choc EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES ON	Dessert EVENING

Muesli and Yogurt, Banana, and Blueberries

This is also good, but sliced almonds won over muesli because they're easier & because they're what I want in the muesli, more efficient to cut out the middleman! Though the little date pieces are very good in the muesli, and it's fancy-tasting... this could be my weekend breakfast.

1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Old Country Style muesli
1/2 cup Stonyfield lowfat plain yogurt
1 banana
1/4 cup Trader Joe's frozen organic wild blueberries, thawed

Spoon muesli into a bowl and top with yogurt. Refrigerate overnight. In the morning, slice the banana over the yogurt and top with blueberries.

Nevermind about making this to go. It's too much of a pain, because you have to set up a container every night—

[NOTE FROM POPPYLABS 6/13/09: Nevermind setting this up overnight, I just fix a bowl on a Saturday morning and mix it all up together & it's really good.]

[NOTE FROM POPPYLABS 6/27/09: Nevermind thawing the blueberries, the frozen blueberries turn everything cold & it's like breakfast ice cream. I actually like this better now than the yogurt with blueberries, bananas, and almonds. Maybe I will start keeping frozen blueberries at work...]

Per serving, 295 calories

Yogurt and Blueberries, Banana, and Sliced Almonds

1/2 cup Stonyfield lowfat plain yogurt
1/4 cup Trader Joe's frozen organic wild blueberries, thawed
1 banana
2 Tbsp sliced almonds

Spoon yogurt into a bowl, and top with blueberries, banana, and almonds. SO GOOD.

To go:
Spoon yogurt and blueberries into takealong containers, and also almonds into containers. In the morning grab a container of yogurt and blueberries, a container of almonds, and a banana for your lunch bag. At work, slice the banana over the yogurt and blueberries and top with almonds.

Per serving, 270 calories

Trader Joe's Frozen Organic Wild Blueberries

That said, I still am a princess about:

These are smaller and sweeter than regular blueberries, with thinner skins. Which means they don't —eegghhh— burst in your mouth.

If you're keeping a list:
1. No blooping.
2. No bursting.

And blueberries are a superfood, another favorite topic that I haven't even gotten started on. And seriously, a cup of these has 80 calories. Though if you eat them by the cup, they do turn your teeth blue.

While you're at Trader Joe's, pick up a bag of sliced raw almonds too...

Dept. of Weights and Measures: YES WE CAN

Look here, it's driving me crazy trying to keep track of which cans are 14 ounces or 14.5 ounces or 15 ounces. Aren't cans the same size, mostly? And by size I mean volume? Except when they're not? So unless I say otherwise:

this is a can	this is a large can

Which brings to mind, I mostly use the Jewel brands of everything. I don't, you know, love Jewel products. I mean, I think they're fine & I'm not the princess I was about brand names. So also unless I say otherwise, I'm probably using Jewel brand products and you can use whatever brand you want, and if I do say otherwise, it's a product I'm still a princess about and you can still use whatever brand you want.

Vaguely Cowboy Kidney Beans

1/2 lb ground chuck
1 onion
1 red bell pepper
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 can Jewel diced tomatoes
1 cup coffee plus 1 cup water
   or 1 can Swanson's beef broth
1 can Jewel kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Gently render ground chuck over low heat as you finely dice the onion, pepper, and garlic; you can add vegetables to the pan as they are diced. Add chili powder and stir until fragrant. Add tomatoes and broth, and bring to a strong simmer. Add beans and simmer until slightly thickened, about twenty minutes.

Per 1/4 recipe, 300 calories

9.2.9

SUN 24	MON 25	TUE 26	WED 27	THU 28	FRI 29	SAT 30
MORNING GLASSES ON OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES OFF OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES ON OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES ON OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES ON OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES OFF OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES OFF OJ2O n Vitamins
		Man-Kzin III	Man-Kzin III	...	...
Muesli n Yog WORK Grocery	Yog n Fru WORK/HOBBY Cleaning Alla Poppy	Yog n Fru Coffee WORK Office	Yog n Fru Coffee WORK Office	Yog n Fru Coffee WORK Office	Oat n Fru Coffee n Silk WORK Office	Muesli n Yog HOBBY Review & Plan
PB Sw n OJ2O PLAY Derby Lite	Gr Sal w Chicken WORK Cleaning & Cooking	Gr Sal w Potato WORK Office	Gr Sal w Potato WORK Office	Gr Sal w Potato WORK Office	Posole Blu Bagel :/ WORK Office	PB Sw n OJ2O PLAY Derby Lite
Apple WORK/HOBBY wash pads poppydoodles	Mate & Toast HOBBY Review & Plan	Apple WORK Office	Apple WORK Office	Chex Mix :/ WORK Office	WORK Office	...
		walking	walking	...	walking
Choppers PASTIME The Tick My Name Is Bruce	Vaguely Beans PASTIME Iron Man	Posole Choc HOBBY schedule baseball schedule LA trip prep derby lite	Gr Sal w Chicken Choc HOBBY prep derby lite sew zipper sew patches	PB Sw & OJ2O PLAY lead Derby Lite	Apple PASTIME get walking shoes	UIC PASTIME WCR Bout
EVENING GLASSES ON	Popcorn EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES ON	bite of posole EVENING GLASSES ON	Sultan's Market EVENING GLASSES ON	Bottom Lounge EVENING GLASSES ON

B Organizes The League Photo

T-Shirt Surgery: A Simple A-Line Dress

I'm the world's biggest fan of skating in a dress. It's comfortable, it's cool, and it's cute to wear! And I need more of them, because I have worn out these three black dresses I bought two years ago. I've been figuring out a formula for surgering them out of t-shirts and knocking out a bunch of them & it'll be cheap, too. This is my formula for a simple A-line dress. It wore very well skating ten miles on the lakefront!

I don't know if measuring and mass producing goes against some punk principle of t-shirt surgery. But know thyself, that's the kind of punk I am.

First, measure yourself:

1. Measure yourself across from armpit to armpit. Your dress can be narrower than this up top, but not wider because this is where it will hit your shoulder. If it goes past your shoulder, it won't look like a good fit.

2. Measure yourself down from your shoulder to your underarm or bust. Your armhole is going to hit between these two points. If it's higher, your arm won't go through too well! If it's lower, your boob will show (though that's a choice, too.)

3. Measure yourself around the bust. Your dress can be wider than this here, but not narrower because your boobs will be squished.

A note on boobs: I am flat as a board, so the following pattern works fine for me. You know how Eskimos have like eighty words for snow? I have, like, no words for darts.

Next, measure and mark the shirt. This is an XL t-shirt, by the way. I'm totally recutting the top to fit, and leaving it long and roomy at the bottom. Oh and, I'm using my 6" x 24" Omnigrid quilter's ruler to measure and this white watercolor pencil to mark with. The roadside of my life is littered with failed hobbies, and the tools I bought for them. But did you know that Doris Day of the Dead's mom is a pretty famous quilter? I have her book, but anyway—

First, turn the shirt inside-out and smooth it out as flat as you can:

1. Find the center of the shirt. I measure from edge to edge on the neckband, locate the halfway point on my ruler, and mark with a little vertical line on the neckband.

2. Measure and mark your desired width across the shoulders. I measured six inches out from center on both sides, or twelve inches across for this dress.

3. Measure and mark your desired drop from shoulder to underarm. Mine is eight inches.

4. Measure and mark your desired width across the bust. My bust measurement is 30 inches, I divided that in half & measured out 7-1/2 inches from center and then added about a half-inch seam allowance on both sides.

5. Draw a curve between the two widths. You can eyeball this, or you can use a curved ruler. I've had this ruler similar to this Fairgate Fashion Ruler all along, almost never used for fifteen years. It works great, who knew?

6. Draw a diagonal line from the armhole to the shirt hem. I go all the way to the edge of the shirt, because I need room for my butt.

Now, cut around the armholes and down the sides of the shirt. I cut the front and back together, so they're the same for this dress.

Finally, sew the sides up to the armholes. Leave the rest of the shirt unfinished. Actually I liked how the neckband looked, so I left it on & I left the hem, too.

Green Salad with Turkey and Black Bean Tomatillo Salsa

a heart of romaine lettuce
a third of a 6 oz bag baby spinach
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
three turkey cutlets
   or 3 oz Swanson or Perdue roasted turkey
6 tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1 head of garlic, separated and roughly peeled
1 onion, thickly sliced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
a 15 oz can Jewel black beans, rinsed and drained

Quarter the romaine lengthwise and slice the quartered lettuce crosswise into bite-size pieces. Put romaine pieces and baby spinach into a salad spinner, wash and spin. Divide greens into two or three bowls or takealong containers.

Melt butter and oil together over medium heat. Saute turkey until cooked through, about two minutes per side; remove from heat, let cool and slice into strips.

Turn on broiler. Arrange tomatillos, garlic, and onion slices on a foil-covered baking sheet so that tomatillos will be closest to the broiler flame & garlic and onions farther away. Broil vegetables until well softened and browned, turning over halfway through, about ten minutes. When done, peel the garlic cloves and puree everything together. Scrape into the pan with the butter and oil, just for fun, and stir in salt and sugar. Stir in beans.

Toss greens with about a third of the turkey and black beans per serving.

Per 1/3 recipe, 375 calories

9.2.8

SUN 17	MON 18	TUE 19	WED 20	THU 21	FRI 22	SAT 23
MORNING GLASSES OFF forgot	MORNING GLASSES OFF forgot again	MORNING GLASSES OFF forgot ack	MORNING GLASSES OFF OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES OFF OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES OFF OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES ON OJ2O n Vitamins
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Picnic ...	Turkey n BB Salsa WORK Office	Pasta Salad WORK Office	Pit Crew Pasta WORK Office	Gr Sal W Chicken WORK Office	Gr Sal W Chicken WORK Office	$5 Pizza n OJ2O PLAY Derby Lite
WORK Grocery & Cooking	Apple n PB WORK Office	Mixed Fruit WORK Office	Apple n PB WORK Office	Nibbs n Nuts WORK Office	Apple WORK Office	Apple WORK/HOBBY downsize storage finish salsa
	Man-Kzin III	Man-Kzin III	talking	How To Meditate	Man-Kzin III
Choppers PASTIME Ashes To Ashes poppydoodles	Spagh Bolognese OJ20 PLAY MOD Skate	Pasta Pit Crew HOBBY Review & Plan poppydoodles	Gr Sal w Chicken 2 Choc n PB HOBBY untitled short poppydoodle	PB Sw n OJ2O PLAY lead Derby Lite	$5 Pizza PASTIME VFW	Chips n Dips PASTIME Vegas In Chi-town
EVENING GLASSES ON GAH	EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES OFF	EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES ON	Coco Cake EVENING GLASSES ON

Fancy Monkey Pizza a.k.a. man pizza?

We ended up eating this with knife and fork, because homemade biscuits don't hold up that well for dipping; so it was very fancy monkey pizza, after all.

You could ditch the cheesy tomato sauce, and just serve this as fancy monkey bread. Or ditch the monkey business, and just make biscuits.

3/4 c butter
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp garlic salt
3/4 c grated parmesan cheese

2 c flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
5 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp shortening
1/4 c milk

one jar marinara sauce
grated mozzerella cheese

Melt the butter in a small bowl, and mix the garlic powder, garlic salt, and parmesan cheese in another small bowl.

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter and shortening into flour with a pastry cutter. Stir in milk, and transfer dough to a well-floured work surface. Pat dough into a quarter-inch thick rectangle, fold crosswise and then lengthwise; then pat out dough again. Cut the dough into squares, then triangles. Dip the biscuit pieces in the butter and then the cheese, and arrange in a baking pan.

Pour about half the jar of marinara sauce into another baking pan, and top with a good amount of mozzerella cheese.

Put both pans in the oven and bake for twenty minutes. Unmold the bread onto a plate. Tear off pieces of the bread with your hands, spoon cheesy tomato sauce over bread and eat with knife and fork.

Per 1/4 pizza, 990 calories

Spaghetti Bolognese alla Poppy

Whee, carbo load for Walk & Roll! I try to eat carbs for three days before an event. And by event, I basically mean Walk & Roll; this is ten miles on the lakefront and trying a little for speed, probably the hardest work I do all year. Normal practice doesn't require a giant meal & it's not really an excuse for giant amounts of pasta, more's the pity...

1/4 c butter
1 carrot
1 rib celery
1 small onion

Also I have this half red pepper left over from the frittata, so in it goes.

4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp sugar
1 lb ground chuck
2 c milk
1 large can crushed tomatoes

And here's a whole bowl of chopped fresh tomatoes, I will use these up too.

1/2 lb spaghetti
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a saute pan over low heat as you finely mince the carrot, celery, onion, and garlic, adding them to the pan as they are minced. I use the bowl attachment that the Cuisinart SmartStick comes with & it's pretty fast. Turn up the heat to medium high and saute vegetables until softened, about ten minutes. Stir in garlic and sugar. Add meat, breaking it up in the pan into little crumbles. As soon as the meat looks not raw, add the milk and bring to a strong simmer. Simmer until milk is evaporated, about twenty minutes or more. Add tomatoes and bring back to strong simmer. Simmer until sauce is thickened, another twenty minutes or more.

Bring water to a boil for spaghetti. Dump in the spaghetti and cook for ten minutes. Drain the spaghetti and divide between two bowls. Pour over a half cup of sauce and top with a couple tablespoons of parmesan cheese per bowl.

Per serving, 673 calories

Vaguely Mexican Pinto Beans and Hominy

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 poblano peppers
4 cloves garlic
2 chipotle peppers
1 tsp oregano
one 14 oz can Jewel diced tomatoes
one 14 oz can Swanson's chicken broth
   or 2 cups homemade chicken broth
one 15 oz can Jewel pinto beans, rinsed and drained
one 15 oz can hominy, rinsed and drained

Opaa whole wheat pita bread

Gently heat oil over low heat as you finely dice the onion, poblano, garlic, and chipotle; you can add aromatics to the pan as they are diced. Add oregano, and stir until fragrant. Add tomatoes and chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Add beans and hominy; simmer until slightly thickened, about twenty minutes.

Per 1/4 recipe plus one pita bread, 393 calories

Green Salad with Tuna and Chickpeas

a heart of romaine lettuce
a third of a 6 oz bag baby spinach

I get that package of three romaine hearts and the 6 oz bag of baby spinach & use them a third at a time, until they're used up.

1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 Tbsp ReaLemon lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
a can of Tonno Genova tuna, drained
a can of Jewel chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Quarter the romaine lengthwise and slice the quartered lettuce crosswise into bite-size pieces. Put romaine pieces and baby spinach into a salad spinner, wash and spin. Divide greens into two or three bowls or, indeed, takealong containers.

Combine the garlic with the lemon juice, then whisk together with olive oil to make a vinaigrette; if you're using the Genova tuna, you can use the oil from that. Add the tuna and chickpeas, and toss.

Toss greens with about a third of the tuna and chickpeas per serving.

Per 1/3 recipe, 287 calories

9.2.6

SUN 3	MON 4	TUE 5 *	WED 6 *	THU 7 *	FRI 8 *	SAT 9
MORNING GLASSES OFF	MORNING GLASSES ON	MORNING GLASSES ON >OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES OFF OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES OFF OJ2O n Vitamins	MORNING GLASSES OFF grr forgot...	MORNING GLASSES ON OJ2O n Vitamins
	The Ringworld Engineers	The Ringworld Engineers	The Ringworld Engineers	The Ringworld Engineers	counting
Hollywood Grill WORK Grocery	Oat n Fru Coffee n Silk WORK Office	Oat n Fru Coffee n Silk Nibbs n Nuts WORK Office	Oat n Fru Coffee n Silk Do-Si-Dos WORK Office	Oat n Fru Coffee n Silk WORK Office	Oat n Fru Coffee n Silk WORK Office	Oat Nuts n Rais HOBBY Review & Plan
Nibbs n Nuts & OJ2O PLAY Derby Lite	Cur Veg Stew WORK Office	Gr Salad w Tuna WORK Office	Gr Salad w HB Egg WORK Office	HB Egg n Pita WORK Office	HB Egg n Pita WORK Office	Pita n Cheese Apple n PB PLAY t-shirt surgery
Mango PASTIME Running Away Humboldt Park	Apple n Nuts WORK Office	WORK Office	WORK Office	Apple n PB WORK Office	Apple n Nuts WORK Office	Nuts Rais n Nibbs WORK Laundry & Cleaning
	The Ringworld Engineers	The Ringworld Engineers	The Ringworld Engineers	The Ringworld Engineers	counting
Choppers PASTIME Dollhouse The Tick	Gr Salad w HB Egg Choc n PB HOBBY Alla Poppy	haircut	Burg n Sw Pot Fr PASTIME Lost	PB Sw & OJ20 PLAY Derby Lite	Fancy Monkey Pizza Choc & Tea PASTIME VFW	Vague Mex Beans PASTIME Dollhouse Dangerous Angels
EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES ON	Oodles of Noodles EVENING GLASSES OFF	Choc Cake EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES ON	EVENING GLASSES ON	Popcorn EVENING GLASSES OFF

MONKEY PIZZA a.k.a. Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread with Mozzarella Baked In Tomato Sauce

3/4 c butter
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp garlic salt
3/4 c grated parmesan cheese
one can Jewel jumbo biscuits

one jar marinara sauce
grated mozzerella cheese

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in a bowl, and mix the garlic powder, garlic salt, and parmesan cheese in another bowl. Pop open the can of biscuits and cut the biscuits into quarters. Dip the biscuit pieces in the butter and then the cheese, and arrange in a baking pan. Normally this would be a tube pan; but all I have are eight-inch round cake pans, so I use one of those with a ball of aluminum foil wadded up in the center.

Pour about half the jar of marinara sauce into another baking pan, and top with a good amount of mozzerella cheese.

Put both pans in the oven and bake for thirty minutes. Unmold the bread onto a plate. Tear off pieces of the bread with your hands and dip the pieces in the cheesy tomato sauce.

Per 1/4 pizza, 928 calories