Update from Miss Scarlett

Well y'all, I'm gettin' me a big ole' DEE-VORCE.

Yep. That's right. After two and a half years of marriage, we've finally accepted the fact that we are fundamentally incompatible and that if either one of us had the will to fix what's wrong, we would've done it by now. I mean, we've been together for 6 years - much of that time was on-and-off dating because I was a break-up MACHINE. (How I wish I'd paid attention to those red flags and flashing warning signs.)

I'll be moving into a new apartment - a bright little studio in my favorite neighborhood! - in 10 days. I haven't even started packing yet, but I'm already envisioning my new kitchen and making lists of which recipes I'll attack first. I think it's safe to say I've *almost* got my mojo back.

And did I mention that my best friend gave me an apron for my birthday? A smart-looking navy blue one with a white Palmetto tree on each pocket (in honor of our home state: South Carolina.) I'm actually chomping at the bit to break it in. It'll be good to be back in an apron, back in my kitchen, learning and creating - where I belong.

My friends, the end of my Culinary Funk is in sight.

To be continued....

My long lost readers...

To those of you who actually read this thing - I apologize for my chronic absence of late. I cannot get motivated to cook. Or write. Anything.

I am at a crossroads in life and things will be very different either way I go. I hope that once I do get my "groove" back and start cooking & writing again, you will still be here. It's a gamble...

Temporarily Single Week

Tomorrow, the Husband is headed out West to visit his family and friends. I have the house to myself for a week. What does this mean? Well, lots of things, but what I'm most excited about is this:

The bed sheets will be tucked in - hospital corners! - on both sides of the bed, not just mine. (He can't sleep with the sheet tucked in at the foot of the bed and as a result, I get short-sheeted because he rolls himself into some kind of weird "sheet cocoon" throughout the night. I call his cover-stealing move the "death spiral" - like that thing alligators do to their prey after they're caught. They roll them around and around under water to drown them and finish the kill.

What? Okay, so I watch too much Discovery Channel.

Break the Habit: Day 2

1 c. Toasted Oatmeal Flakes
1/2 c. 1% Milk
1 slice Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Coffee w/ splash of whole milk

I usually can't handle chocolate in the morning, but this bread was seriously yummy! I'd been craving the chocolate-banana combo for weeks and, short of making myself a Bluth Frozen Banana, this bread was the best I could do to kill it.

If you don't know what a Bluth Frozen Banana is, I'm not sure we can be friends...

Break the Habit: Day 1

This morning's breakfast:

1 c. Toasted Oatmeal Flakes
1/2 1% Milk
1 Cranberry Cornmeal Muffin (see previous post)
Coffee with splash of whole milk

And ya' know what? I didn't get hungry until 2:30-3ish. Part of that was due to the time change (my internal "feeding clock" was a little off) but I don't care. I didn't eat the junk muffin and I saved the $4.

Monday was a success.

The Bad Breakfast Habit

I am trying to break a bad habit. A habit that is costing me at least $100 a month. Smoking a pack a day? Nope. Going out drinking with friends on the weekends? No. Shopping? Uh-uh.

My vice is this: almost every morning during the week, I buy coffee and a muffin at a local coffee shop. It's $4 and some change. Five days a week. Four weeks a month. That's a nice chunk of change that could be much better spent. I KNOW this, and yet - I find myself in the coffee shop line more mornings that I'd like to admit.

The strangest part of this habit is that I don't even LIKE the coffee shop - the employees are rude, the muffins are almost always stale, and the coffee isn't my favorite either. But it's on my way to work, the muffins are low-fat, around 325 calories and fill me up, and the coffee does the job.

I just got the new issue of Runners' World magazine yesterday and was relieved to find a great article on nutrition. Relieved because most months, I find the magazine totally worthless and aimed only at "serious runners" (which I happily am not, although I did just run my first 10k last month!) The article stressed the importance of variety in every meal and how runners should never miss an opportunity to fuel their bodies properly. It was a much-needed kick in the pants (which are going to get much tighter if I stay cozy w/ the junk muffins.)

I'm hoping the one-two punch of "financial and nutritional reality" will help me kick this naughty breakfast habit. For as much as I'm working out - teaching four classes a week, training to become an RPM instructor and training for a half-marathon - I really can't afford to be putting these empty, worthless calories in my body. White flour and sugar are not my friends!

I know perfectly well that my breakfast SHOULD consist of Irish oatmeal with fruit and almonds, a glass of skim milk and perhaps a piece of whole grain toast. Fiber, essential fats, protein - this is what my body needs. And yet I am unable to tear myself away from the grips of the Cinnamon Coffee Muffin drizzled in an ooey-gooey, sugary, white glaze. These things aren't even freshly baked at the coffee shop. They arrive in cardboard boxes and then wait in the freezer until they're ready to be thawed out and put in the pastry case. Just reading that description makes me realize the sadness of my addiction.

SO. Enough whining. It's not like I'm the victim of a car-jacking every morning. I've never been approached at a stop light by a thug with a gun demanding, "St. Elmo's. NOW. Buy a medium coffee and a cinnamon coffee muffin!"

Knowing that these muffins are a TERRIBLE habit and the farthest thing from an ideal breakfast, I've been working hard to find a homemade substitution. Something that will give me my muffin/bread fix that I can grab on my way out the door, along with a mug of Hubby's coffee. (Being the saint that he is, he makes coffee and eats breakfast at home every morning. Whatever. Some of us have a serious head of hair to contend with. Even with my shorter, "Posh" haircut, I'm still spending entirely too much time in the bathroom every a.m.)

Cornmeal Cranberry Muffins are not even remotely healthy. But they are delicious and not nearly as sweet as my usual a.m. muffins. One of these with a mug of home-brewed coffee and I may be on my way to breaking the bad breakfast habit.

Nigella's Red Shrimp and Mango Curry

I whipped up another quick and successful dinner from my Nigella Express cookbook last night.

I couldn't believe how quickly this came together and it was FAR better (and healthier) than the Red Seafood Curry I had at a restaurant last weekend. The only change I made to Nigella's recipe was to use lite coconut milk instead of regular. Lite coconut milk is made from the second or third squeezing of fresh coconut meat moistened with water. It's a thinner, lighter version of regular coconut milk (with 60-70% less fat), and can be used in most curries, soups, drinks, and desserts.

I used Trader Joe's frozen large shrimp and because they were already cooked, I found that they ended up a bit "chewy" in the end. I should've reduced the heat or the cooking time once I got the shrimp in.

Trader Joe's also sells peeled and sliced sweet potato and butternut squash and I think that's the best time-saver for this dish. Unfortunately, they were out of the sweet potato so I had to get whole ones. Still - a quick peel & chop and I was all set. I also opted for fresh mango, but you could certainly go the frozen or jarred route (both options at TJ's.)


I served this over white rice (which hubby picks up from a local Chinese restaurant right before dinner) with some Naan.

Ingredients
1 tbs. Garlic Oil
1 scallion, finely sliced
1 1/2 tbs. Red Thai Curry Paste (or more, to taste)
1 c. Light Coconut Milk
1 c. chicken stock
2 tsp. Fish Sauce
2 1/2 c. cubed Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato
2 c. Shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 c. Mango, cubed
1 tsp. Lime Juice
3-4 tbs.

Heat oil in skillet. Add scallion and cook for 1 minute. Add curry paste.

Add coconut milk, stock and fish sauce and bring to a boil.

Tip in the squash and sweet potato cubes and simmer, partially covered, for about 15 minutes or until tender.

Drain shrimp under running water to remove excess ice and tip them into the skillet. Let the sauce come back to a boil. When it does, add the mango and lime juice and cook for a minute or two until shrimp are cooked through. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve over plain rice or wide rice noodles.

Serves 2-4