Stuffed Artichokes

I made this recipe a few weeks ago, but I am finally getting around to posting this.
I had never cooked artichokes before, and this was a wild shot in the dark.
I think it turned out pretty, pretty, pretty good.

.........

STUFFED ARTICHOKES

Ingredients

• 2 artichokes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 4 cloves garlic, slivered
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 
• 1/4 teaspoon dried ground fennel
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Vegetable broth

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. In a skillet, saute the garlic and onions til soft. Stir in the thyme, fennel, breadcrumbs and nutritional yeast. Stir often and cook until the breadcrumbs start to brown. 

3. While the breadcrumbs are cooking (or after if you aren't the best at multitasking), prep the artichokes. Rinse them and pull off the outer layer of the leaves. Chop off the top and bottom of the artichoke... the bottom so that it will sit flat and the top inch or so to get rid of the sharp pointy thingies. Take some scissors and snip off any remaining pointys.

4. The original recipe has some crazy instructions here on removing the choke from the center of the artichoke... I didn't do this. I couldn't spread the leaves enough to get to the center... so I cooked it as a whole and just didn't eat the center... taadaaa! Lazy person instructions. 

5. Take the stuffing and start stuffin'! Starting from the outside in, gently pull back a leaf and put some stuffing inbetween the layers. Continue doing this to each leaf as far in as you can. My artichokes didn't want to let me into the middle too much... but such is life. 

6. Line a baking dish with foil (for easy clean up... read: lazy), place artichokes upright in said dish. Pour broth into the dish, about an inch or so high. Cook for 60 minutes.

7. Enjoy! 

Cave Exploring

A few weekends ago we went camping in Flagstaff. 

B-E-A-uuuuuuutiful! 

Technically we camped in Sunset Crater, which is just north of Flagstaff, but Im sure you'll forgive my generalities :) 

We spent Saturday grillin and drinkin some beers.

Our campsite. 360 degrees of beauty.

The ground is black volcanic rock/ash. I love the contrast of colors.

 Then Sunday we woke up bright and early (when some rogue quad riders accidently "got lost" in our campsite), so we headed on over to the lava tubes to go cave exploring. 

Yes. 

Cave exploring. 

You see, I had asked around for suggestions of things to do in Flagstaff and Diana recommended a handful of lovely trails. After reading their descriptions, I started to give the boys a synopsis of each but as soon as they heard "this one goes into a cave" they tuned out. 

They were sold. It really was the only option for this weekend.

"Have gun will travel reads the card of a man...."

The entrance to the cave.

Yep, see him crawling into it?

Making the descent.

If you look closely, you can see the boys at the bottom.
Red sweatshirt and flashlight waaaaaay down there.

Last glimpse of sunlight.

Inside the cave - giving a geology lesson?

I don't have any more pictures from inside the cave, because, well, it was basically a dark tube of rock. Most of the pictures did not come out. It was definitely an experience when we shut off all the flashlights, and just stood there. In the dark. Complete dark. Let's just say I was glad I had three bodyguards there with me.

Such a great adventure and a fun start to that Sunday!

(Thanks again, Diana!)  

Solar Eclipse of the Heart

So by now, I'm sure you've seen every one's pictures of the solar eclipse that happened on Sunday. It was an awesome view from all over the Western United States.... but I'm just gonna brag for a minute and say that the views from Northern Arizona were the best. We had been camping up in Flagstaff area for the weekend, having fun cave adventuring and aboriginal ruin exploring (but more on those later), so we stuck around to view the eclipse from the Wupatki National Monument. 

My boyfriend is a bit of a space nerd, so he brought his telescope with a solar filter along. (I'm sure you heard a million times by now, you should not view an eclipse with the naked eye or through normal binoculars/telescopes. Safety first!). Several other people had the same idea of watching the eclipse from this spot so we made friends, shared solar viewers /glasses, and took lots of pictures. And yes, several people felt it necessary to sing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" very loudly for the whole 1-2 hours. (Can't really say I blame them).

All of the pictures below are from the boyfriends camera, the pictures of the sun were taking using a small digital camera pointed at the eye piece of the telescope.

gettin' ready

Shadows created by pinholes in a posterboard. They mimick the shape of the eclipse at that point in time. This was taken during the "ring of fire".

Sun is starting to set... see the outline of the trees in the bottom right?

My favorite picture, this photo was actually featured on Universe Today. 

 

I have many many more pictures from the weekend - but I am still playing catch up between work, fight club, and packing/planning my next adventure.They will be posted soon as soon as I can.

Did you see the eclipse?

You guys know Ashley... right? 

That's her face over there --->>

Well she is off having a gand ol' time in Maui right now, 

so I hopped on over to her blog to share about one of my favorite adventures. 

Head on over to her blog to check out my Epic Road Trip.

(some hiking included)

Or if you're coming here FROM her blog... introduce yourself! 

Then keep reading the next post below for an awesome link up with yet another lovely blogger 

Kristin @ Skinny Jeans & a Chai Latte.

So glad you stopped by :)

Food & Beer Friday: Sonoran White Chocolate Ale

So there is this chick named Kristin. 

And she's pretty rad. 

She likes Law & Order and food and beer.
Three of my favorite things!!

And she started a "Food & Beer Friday" link up.

But no Law & Order link up?? Where's your priorities, girl??

So yeah - today I'm linking up with Skinny Jeans & a Chai Latte for Food & Beer Friday's. 

But, before we go any further, I must warn you: 

I am no beer sommelier, don't expect fancy words, 

I'm just gonna give you my uneducated opinion :)

First off, lemme say I'm a big fan of checking out local breweries. I love Four Peaks down in Tempe and might even rank Kiltlifter as one of my favorite beers. So when I walk through the aisles of the
grocery store/gas station/liquor store I love to see unique locally brewed beers.

The other night, I found this gem.

Lemme tell ya something, it was amazing. 

I'm not usually one to drink dessert beers, but I just had to try this one. 

It tasted very much like white chocolate. 

The bottle said to pair it with lobster or shrimp. 

"Inspired by the beauty of the White Mountains; the Sonoran White Chocolate Ale is a light, refreshing and completely unique wheat beer. Like a fine chocolate, this brew has a delicate aroma and a subtle taste of white chocolate, which is truly astonishing! For the ultimate experience; pair it with coconut shrimp or lobster. Enjoy one with your meal and another for dessert."

But I was fresh outta lobster (who'da thunk?), so I just drank it AS my dessert.
Mmmmm. I wish I bought two bottles.
Drink it in... it always goes down smooth.

So if you are ever in Arizona, or have access to beer from the Sonoran Brewing Company,
please try this beer. You (and your taste buds) will thank me.

Also, please note this post maybe should probably be called "Beer Friday" since I didn't mention food. Whoops.
If you really need a foodie fix check out my Cauliflower Pizza Cups or Healthy Curly Fries.

Happy Weekend! I'm off to Flagstaff to hike relax and watch the solar eclipse.
Cheers! 

Sushi Bowl!

I'm a huge fan of fushi (aka vegetarian sushi = faux sushi = fushi),

yet I can't justify "going to sushi" every night.

And while I have a sushi making kit at home, 

I'm lazy and would like the flavor with out the mess/commitment.  

Enter Robin's Sushi Bowl

You may read this and think "well... duh." 

But, it only dawned on me a few months ago, so I'm sharing :)

It's not so much of a recipe, as an idea
to take the sushi ingredients that you love, and put them in bowl form. 

Portion control does not photograph well. Next time, I will choose a smaller bowl. 

  Ingredients (this time around)

• Rice - I used Seeds of Change Organic Quinoa and Brown Rice. I LOVE these rice packets. Throw them in the microwave for 90 seconds and you have perfect rice. I am oddly awful at cooking rice, I even have a rice cooker and always mess it up some how. 
• Seaweed snack
• Edamame 
• Low Sodium Soy Sauce 

Other nights I've thrown in some avocado and/or cucumber... but you could also throw in some tofu, teriyaki chicken, shrimp, crab, fish, carrots, cabbage...basically anything sushi-esque. I think the main trick to making this dish reminiscent of sushi is the seaweed. It takes it from being a rice bowl to a sushi bowl.  

Taa daaa! Magic!

Speaking of sushi... I am super excited to be meeting up with the ladies from the AZ Bloggers Network this Sunday for a sushi date. Can't wait to hang out with the ladies I met a few weeks ago as well as meet some new people.

Have you ever made a sushi bowl before? 

Do you have any other at-home-sushi tips for people like me (aka lazy)?

Dear Ashley...

This little guy wants to go zip-lining with you.

[via]

I know you said "no rhinos" ... but just a widdle baby one wouldn't hurt right?

Hump Day Quoteables

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 

Happy Hump Day! 

Chinese Cultural Center

Sunday we took a mini adventure down to the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix (as mentioned here). I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was hoping it was something like Chinatown in SF or LA. When we got there, it looked more like a strip mall filled with Chinese shops. Slight disappointment.

Our mission was to visit this tiny little herb shop called Healthy Chinese Herbs (any Arrested Development fans, you might understand why I kept saying "Ancient Chinese Secret!" all day).

Ancient Chinese Secret!

The shop was small and a whole wall was just FILLED with drawers containing different types of herbs, bark, roots, flowers, and other various items. Apparently you tell them a little bit about yourself, then they make a special blend specifically for whatever ailments/results you want.

We waited our turn and then went in to see the "doctor". He asked about any prescriptions we were on, felt our pulse, looked at our tongue and then suddenly knew what we needed. It was uncanny how much he deduced with only asking us a few questions. We were given our ... uh, recipes? prescriptions? pieces of papers with our names and a bunch of Chinese symbols on it? and we headed back to the front counter where they would bundle up our personalized teas. She said it would be a 15 minute wait so we decided to wander around.

That's when we found this lovely jewel of a garden. Just around the corner. Yay!

A little boy informed me that the bridge was zig-zag because they believed that evil could only move in straight lines. I have yet to research the truth behind this, but I felt it was an interesting "fact". 

We strolled around the garden, took some pics, and said "hi!" to the fishies and the tadpoles. This was what I was hoping for. Something pretty to look at.

After (slightly) more than 15 minutes, we wandered back inside to get our teas. Tell me how cool these look:

Mine - to help increase blood flow and give me more energy. 

Boyfriend's - to help with his cold and allergies. 

We got five packs each (one picture shows one pack), you boil the whole thing with water, then strain it and drink it. Not gonna lie... I'm terrified to try this. It looks more like it should be decorating my bathroom than going into my belly... but I promised I would at least try it.

What's life with out a little adventure, eh?