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I tried the carrot cupcakes recipe again. This time I used half the sugar. I really, really like these!

Cook book: Everyday Food: Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart Living Magazine

This recipe looked oddly intriguing. I just skipped the ham / prosciutto and voilà it’s now vegetarian. I had never seen bocconcini before. Apparently, it’s an Italian soft cheese, but can be substituted for fresh mozzarella balls - found in the specialty cheese section in plastic containers filled with water and the cheese balls. Just make sure the container isn’t frozen. Overall, this was a great spring recipe that relies heavily on a really excellent melon - so make sure it’s a good one!

Diet – Leave out half of the mozzarella balls.

Vegan – I’m not sure that this recipe would taste very good with regular vegan cheese because of the texture. You could try Tofutti Mozzarella Soy cut into squares.

Ingredient List: canteloupe, bocconcini (substitute with mozzerella cheese balls or Tofutti Mozzerella Soy), lemon juice, salt, mint leaves.

Cook book: Everyday Food: Great Food Fastby Martha Stewart Living Magazine

I needed a quick side dish to put with my “gourmet” grilled cheese, so I tried the Snap Peas with Mint. This recipe takes about 10 minutes max. I bought the 1/2 pound pre-washed organic snap peas so it went even quicker. The mint gives it a really fresh and unexpected taste. Now the Mango Chutney Pepperjack Gourmet Grilled Cheese recipe is super easy and tastes amazing - Martha only wishes this was her recipe! :) All you do is use pepperjack cheese instead of cheddar and instead of mayo or butter or whatever it is that you put on the inside of your grilled cheese sandwich, substitute for mango chutney. Easy as pie, er, grilled cheese.

Diet – Leave out the butter in the Snap Peas recipe. Go easy on the cheese (thin slices) for the grilled cheese and “grill” in olive oil.

Vegan – Leave out the butter in the Snap Peas recipe. Use vegan faux cheese and “grill” in olive oil.

Ingredient List: butter (or olive oil), snap peas, mint leaves, salt, bread, pepperjack cheese, mango chutney.

Cook book: Everyday Food: Great Food Fastby Martha Stewart Living Magazine for the Snap Peas, & my own recipe for the grilled cheese.

My first new cook book disappointment arrived at Recipe #2. With great sadness, I have wasted a bunch of asparagus. I split the recipe in half, but there’s still a ton left and it wasn’t very good. I don’t like the consistency and texture of creamy soup, but it smells great. If I ever remake this recipe I won’t put it in the blender to puree it smooth. I would instead cut the asparagus into 1″ pieces or puree part of it as a base and put the asparagus chunks in after.

Diet – Substitute butter with olive oil to cook shallots and thyme. Substitute heavy cream with low fat milk.

Vegan – Substitute butter with olive oil to cook shallots and thyme. Substitute heavy cream with organic original (plain, not vanilla!) soy milk.

Ingredient List: butter (or olive oil), shallots (a type of small onion), thyme, flour, asparagus, salt, heavy cream (or plain soy milk), lemon juice.

Cook book: Everyday Food: Great Food Fastby Martha Stewart Living Magazine

I tried the first recipe out of my new cook book Everyday Food: Great Food Fast today. I had to start with dessert, so carrot cup cakes it is! Wow, amazing recipe! What’s great about these is that you can have them iced (with cream cheese frosting) for a dessert or unfrosted for a breakfast item. I used organic baby carrots (the ones in the bags for snacking) which made them sweeter and lighter. My only critique is that they were too sweet even without the frosting. Next time I make these I think I’ll cut the sugar back to 1/2 cup so they taste more like a muffin and less like a heart-attack.

Diet – For those on a diet, cut back the sugar, use Neufchâtel cream cheese, and use a mini muffin pan to help on portion control.
Vegan – Substitute eggs with egg replacement or tofu to keep the recipe light, and use an alternate frosting or spread.

Ingredient List: shredded coconut, oil, orange juice, vanilla, eggs (cage free or use tofu), baking powder, baking soda, allspice, salt, flour, carrots (organic baby carrots), walnuts, cream cheese (optional), powdered sugar (optional).

Cook book: Everyday Food: Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart Living Magazine

After reviewing several new cookbooks this weekend, I decided on Everyday Food: Great Food Fastby Martha Stewart Living. Although it’s not a vegetarian (or vegan) cook book, the 1 picture per recipe quotient was very appealing. And the design is hands-down the best cookbook graphic design that I’ve seen (obviously, it’s coming from Martha Stewart Living, the home of clean design). Anyway, it’s gorgeous and I’ve already made several recipes from it.

So far, I love:

• Every recipe has a picture.
• It’s organized by season, so you can shop local if you want.
• Most of the recipes are really quick (30 min. or less), and they actually are quick, unlike a lot of cookbooks.
• It’s fresh!

As a die-hard fan of list making, tasks, and GTD – Getting Things Done – I’m always trying out new programs, hoping to find the best of all worlds. I even went back to using a moleskine journal/datebook in ‘04, but could never seem to keep it updated since I sit in front of a computer all day. So after Google Calendar showed up without “Tasks”, I went in search of another way to stay organized. Backpack is cool, but too “clunky” and doesn’t mix easily with Google Calendar (which I can’t abandon), Google Homepage (which I have half-abandoned) and Netvibes. The lists are too spread out and for whatever reason the design elements just don’t make me excited. Remember The Milk however, is sweet.

Why I love Remember the Milk:

Integrates with Google Calendar, Google Homepage, Netvibes

You can add/complete/postpone tasks from Google Homepage etc. so I don’t forget to use it.

Reoccurring tasks (grocery shopping, laundry, call mom etc.)

I can keep all tasks in the “Inbox” list, and then add extra lists for movies/books I want to watch/read, Goals etc.

Ability to “only show items with due dates” on the Widget, which cuts down on Someday/Maybe clutter

Priority (red, blue, light blue) is cool, I use it mainly to organize my Goals list.

Tags! I love using tags instead of separate lists so I don’t forget things. I tag things by action and/or location. The more items that show up the bigger the font in the tags list… (home, goals, errand, call, study, shop, wishlist etc.)

Now if only I didn’t have to use Microsoft Outlook at work…

*UPDATE* The mobile version of RTM is another big plus.

Al Gore, you disappoint me. All the recent news on the “Al Gore’s personal electric bill” controversy has made me think heavily on credibility and politics. I am extremely frustrated by Al Gore — not because he isn’t completely carbon neutral, not because he pays energy credits to a company he founded, not because he doesn’t have solar panels on his roof — but because he lives in a 10,000 square foot house. The frustration isn’t in whether or not he has “purchased his carbon credits down to be carbon neutral.” That doesn’t matter as much as living what you evangelize! We could all go buy carbon credits if we had the money, but that still wouldn’t fix global warming. Buying yourself out of the responsibility of “global warming guilt” is just a warm fuzzy — it’s only there to make you feel good.

(Interestingly, I found this article from USA Today “Gore isn’t quite as green as he’s led the world to believe” from Aug 10, 2006 chiding Gore on his consumption, so old news I suppose.)

What’s my excuse for being late to the global warming game? It’s not politics or will power, but the lack of real actions steps – short of selling my soul and installing solar panels on my balcony. After checking out my friend Al’s site about an Inconvenient Truth (that he likely discovered), I found a few things that I can, have, or won’t do.

What I can do… today (or tomorrow):

1. Buy more cups and coffee mugs so I don’t have to run a 1/2 load dishwasher.
2. Bike or walk the 1.4 miles to work. (And take my lunch to work more often so I don’t have to drive home just to look for food).
3. Buy more produce from the farmer’s market.
4. Try to cook in season. Also, get more organic foods at the regular grocery store.
5. Recycle paper and cardboard, (instead of just cans and glass).
6. Use the programmable thermostat to set the temperature to 65º while I’m not at home and at the night.
7. Buy some CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs.

What I have already done:

1. Eat less meat. Methane bad. Dairy good. Since I’m already a vegetarian, I can almost ignore this one, but I guess the same could be said for dairy products as they make the cows work, but alas, I <3 dairy!
2. Buy an almost “green” car. According to FuelEconomy.gov my car has a 3/10 air pollution score and 5.7 ton/year of greenhouse gas emissions. It’s even on the “Greenest Vehicles of 2007″ list.
3. Keep my car tuned up. Thanks Toyota.
4. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen.
5. Use less hot water. Wash clothes in cold water instead of hot.
6. Turn off electronics that aren’t in use. This seems blatantly obvious to me.

What I just can’t (or probably won’t) do:

1. Plant a tree.
2. Buy Green or Wind Power certificates.
3. Sell my car. Flexcar is a great concept, but not realistic for me personally. My monthly transportation expense: $70 gas + $65 insurance + $159 car payment = $294… much less than a $74 bus pass +$65/day for Flexcar.
4. Telecommuting. I only live 1.4 miles from work, so the only time I telecommute is when I have the sniffles.
5. Fly less. It’s not like I fly every week, so I’m entitled to a yearly flight on a vacation!
6. Check my tires weekly. Seriously?
7. Get a home energy audit.I can’t help but think that the waste of tax payers’ money out-ways the energy saved.
8. Use a clothesline. Maybe in the summer, the Pacific NW wasn’t meant to be a clothesline zone from about October to May.
9. Unplug electronics from the wall. Once again… seriously? Actually, I think this a great opportunity for an invention. Why can’t there be a switch that controls it all? As you leave the house you turn out the light and the “I don’t want to waste outlet electricity” switch. And maybe just the top plug would be for have to have plugged in.