Mighty Muffins

I've always loved to cook.
I read recipes while I should be paying attention in class,
I fantasize about my upcoming meals,
Cooking makes me feel sunny-
Allowing me to explore my creativity and express myself-not to mention making people (namely, myself) happy thru my food  is highly gratifying-

Baking, on the other hand, never held my interest so much-
I crave more salty than sweet, and 
Following strict instructions never appealed to me, when in the kitchen that is-

Yet, I find myself doing it these days-
Because,
I was wrong.
You can have fun with baking!
True, the oven makes the apartment 20 degrees too hot, but the product is worth the sweat (and even Adam's grouchy over-heated attitude)

So when I came home from school today, and was not prepared to start studying (eek!)
I took out a silver mixing bowl and a wooden spoon and took a look around:
Not much in the fridge, nor the pantry.
But we did have eggs, and almond milk, and greek yogurt-and don't you know it says so right on the label-replace butter with the Chobani! Happily! I mean, this is supposed to be a healthy food blog right?

Some pecans and chopped up dates later-we had a batter-
Oh mother flour-
I need flour.

So mostly wheat flour, and when that ran out: corn meal (i do enjoy that bit of gritty texture corn meal provides)...
And a few spoonfuls of Flax Meal.
Flax is an excellent source of Health-Let's discuss.
A) Lignans. Flax literally has 75-800 times as much lignans than any other plant food! Just think about all those antioxidants! think about if you ate flax with blueberries: you'd live forever.
B) Fiber-both insoluble and soluble. We all know how insoluble fiber is real effective for the digestive system-but soluble fiber?  I just learned how soluble fiber is effective in maintaining blood glucose levels-which is perfect for me because my blood sugar drops rapidly and unexpectedly and I get cranky-so any day I can maintain my blood sugar is a good one ;)
C) Omega 3s-the good fat-no, not an oxymoron, silly! 

Baked at 350 'till i could stick a tooth pick in the center and have it come out dry-
And Bam!

But it just wasn't quite right...

So I sliced 'em open, layered some reduced fat cream cheese (the kind that comes nearly solidified in a brick-the texture is far superior to that in a tub)
And Bam!

I'll be eating and enjoying these for days to come-

Bucatini Breakfast

While I have now talked a ton about noodles and my deep love for them, my boyfriend is obsessed with Bucatini. 
I don't know the circumstances or what about it made him fall in lust-
But he's been on the search every since.
This elusive pasta feels rare because every Italian restaurant we go to or order in from, he longingly looks for Bucatini on the menu-and after a few minutes, usually sighs with disappointment.
Just like the hole for which this tubular pasta is named, Bucatini left a gaping void in his heart.

So when we were spending some quality time in DiBruno brothers, you can only imagine how his face lit up when he found a sealed plastic bag of raw Bucatini.

He happily boiled salted water and gingerly handled the thin-spagetti like pasta-cooking it to Al Dente perfection.

We were short on time, so he folded the Bucatini into a container of Rao's tomato basil sauce and tucked it into the picnic basket he had made for me to celebrate our anniversary last summer.

There we sat, on a blanket in Independence Mall Park, surrounded by hungry and jealous Opera fans.
Yes, we did have the most romantic evening-watching Nabucco outside-filling our hearts with culture and our bellies with sweet and salty Bucatini.

But this post is not about our marvelous night-it's about the Morning After:
The idea came to me after watching TV slash flipping thru channels-and I saw a girl making a delicious crepe-and somehow I jumped to Bucactini stuffed omelette!

We somewhat dangerously laid a baking sheet, the only baking sheet we own mind you, on top of the stove top and lit 2 burners,
Whipped up some scrambled eggs-
And let it just-
Go!
And it did!
Perfectly!
Laid some Bucatini in the center-Adam flawlessly flipped the omelette together and presto:
Bucatini Breakfast!

Pasta so nice, we ate it twice
In a row
And it was awesome.