Zucchini Tots

This is likely the last you'll hear from me until the bar exam is over on July 30. Excuse me while I panic in the corner.

It feels like we've been doing nothing but studying. We took a brief break on Tuesday to watch soccer (for the sake of being honest, I went for the excellent happy hour specials, NOT the soccer), and it was so nice to feel like a normal member of society.

When we got back, I felt EXTREMELY guilty for taking 3 hours off studying, and I started craving pizza, sushi, pasta, and ice cream.

We didn't eat any of those things, BUT (in case you didn't get the point) I am a MAJOR stress eater. And it's not like I crave baby carrots and spinach when I'm stressed (though how nice would that be?).

SO, as the bar exam gets closer, I've needed to find things that taste unhealthy, but are not unhealthy. Hence, zucchini tots.

Justin was SUPER skeptical: "I don't actually have to eat those, right?" And then he ate 1/2 of them. It doesn't taste like a normal tater tot, but they are SUPER delicious and satisfied my fried food craving.

Here's what you need (from Skinny Taste) . . .

3-4 zucchini, skin peeled off
1/2 medium onion, chopped into small pieces
1 egg
1/4 cup of bread crumbs (we used GF ones from The Fresh Market)
1/3 cup of sharp cheddar, shred
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Here's what you do . . .

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Shred your zucchini with a cheese shredder - I used one that looks like this, and it worked perfectly. Then, use a kitchen towel to wring as much water as possible out of your shred zucchini. The dryer, the better.

3. Mix dried, shred zucchini, onion, egg, bread crumbs, cheddar, salt, and pepper in a bowl and mix well.

4. On a baking sheet coated in non-stick spray, make little balls with the zucchini mixture. I push mine into little flat pancakes. If you weren't able to dry out your zucchini well, you may want to pop the baking sheet with the little pancakes in the fridge for 3-40 minutes - it helps.

5. Bake for 20 minutes total and flip them about half way through cooking. I also turn on the broiler for about 3-4 minutes at the end to get a nice crisp on top. Enjoy!

I've already made these several times - they hit the spot, and I don't feel guilty, which is a huge bonus.

Thank you all for the amazing words of encouragement. I will be needing them over the next few weeks!

See you on the other side!!!!! #oneanddone

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Random Thoughts Thursday: Bar Exam Edition

Random thoughts: all the reasons and examples of how studying for the bar exam is destroying my brain:

1. This afternoon I desperately needed a break from studying, so I wandered over to H&M for the sole purpose of trying on a romper (see photo above). I decided this would be a life changing piece of clothing and I needed one immediately. In case you all are wondering, I looked AWFUL in a romper. 

2. Our freezer died, so our apartment complex replaced our entire fridge. I wasted a solid hour deciding how things should be organized in the new fridge (that was exact same model as the old fridge). That was a highlight of my day.

3. I've been talking to Piper so much that sometimes when I start talking to her, she runs away and hides under the couch. 

4. For what it's worth, Perry will usually come OUT of his hiding spot when I start talking, so that's something.

5. I started following a Barbri lecturer on Twitter because I liked her so much (for all you Barbri geeks, it's Property Professor Paula. She is seriously amazing). 

6. I have a weird thing about moose, so I got overly excited when we found the moose at the natural history museum and made Justin take multiple pictures of me in front of it. 

7. I've been doing Barre3 workouts at home (amazing, btw) because it's the only workout that actually feels good after being hunched over my notes all day. The other day, I was doing this move where we lay on the floor and do something…but I just laid on the floor and closed my eyes. 

8. There were several food trucks outside our building the other day and one of them was this truck that offers unique popsicles. I almost cried trying to choose the right popsicle. In case you were wondering, grapefruit rosemary was the wrong choice. It tasted like soap.

9. Studying for the bar exam is really awful. The self-doubt is the worst and the amount of information is the absolute worst. I'm definitely trying to stay positive, but it is a challenge every single day. How am I POSSIBLY going to know enough of this to pass this test?!?! Positive thoughts are much appreciated :)

10. That last one was kind of a bummer, so I will end with this: I was walking through Dupont Circle the other day and saw a girl who I was CONVINCED was Hilary Duff. I started smiling weirdly and quickly trying to think of how to approach her, but then it turns out it when she got closer, she wasn't Hilary Duff and I was just smiling creepily at some stranger. I think the worst part about that story is how excited I got when I thought I was about to meet Hilary Duff. 

I love you all. Send me your happy thoughts. 

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Greek Lettuce Wraps

Bar prep is slowly destroying me.

That's an exaggeration. Obviously. But it's really really awful. I feel like an idiot pretty much every single day (why am I not good at multiple choice?! Why do I not know the law after THREE freaking years?!).

That being said, there are a few benefits. To avoid going completely insane, I LONG to exercise every day. Whether it's walking or a dvd (Barre 3 dvds have become my best friend), I am SUPER motivated because it means I have a legitimate excuse not to study for an hour. I will be super fit when this is over (at least in theory). 

The other benefit: we are eating rather well. Another excuse to not study is to cook - I have to eat, right? I randomly threw this together a couple weeks ago and it has become a go-to dinner because it is REALLY fast, really delicious and refreshing, and super healthy.

Here's what you need . . .

1 big piece of boneless, skinless chicken

Cavender's Greek seasoning (see picture)

Butter lettuce leaves, rinsed

Red onion, sliced

Tomatoes, chopped into chunks

Cucumber, chopped into chunks

Feta cheese (use the full fat stuff - the reduced fat just isn't worth it)

Red wine vinegar

Olive oil

This is Cavender's. We use this for EVERYthing - so delicious.

Here's what you do . . .

1. Season your chicken breast evenly on both sides with Cavender's. Saute your chicken in olive oil in a pan for about 6-7 minutes on each side, or until juices run clear.

2. Let your chicken sit for about 5 minutes, then cut into chunks.

3. Assemble your wraps. Try to find the biggest pieces of lettuce and put in chicken, onion, tomatoes, cucumber, and feta. 

4. Drizzle evenly with red wine vinegar and olive oil. Enjoy!

You can customize these any way you want. Add extra veggies, use a different protein - whatever makes your macaroni cheesy. 

Did I just say that? I'm going insane. 

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Random Thought Wednesday - All About the Move

This random thoughts post is primarily devoted to the last two weeks, which I will affectionately refer to as "my own personal hell."

1. We'll start with the happy. WE GRADUATED FROM LAW SCHOOL!!!! I am SO excited to be done - can you tell??

2. My biggest graduation concern was my hat, which is apparently called a "tam." I could NOT get my stupid tam on properly. I look like a complete disaster in the majority of the pictures (there is one Justin's dad took where it's actually crooked - omg). I graduated Magna Cum Laude from law school, but couldn't figure out how to wear my hat. Impressive.

The view from our roof. You can see the Washington Monument!!

3. Prior to graduation, the move happened. They packed us on a Friday, loaded on a Monday (Justin's birthday - poor guy), we drove up Tuesday, they unloaded Wednesday, we drove back to North Carolina for graduation on Friday, and back to D.C. following graduation on Sunday, which also happened to be our one year wedding anniversary. I feel stressed just recapping all this.

4. My youngest brother, Caleb (food truck partner in crime), probably thinks I am emotionally unstable after experiencing a move with me.  Cal flew up from Florida to help us move and witnessed several of my breakdowns throughout the moving process (because change and I don't get along so well). I imagine it's difficult to see your sister hunkered down in the kitchen sobbing for no reason, but he handled it well.

5. Frankly, he has no room to judge me.

6. Unpacking is not going well. We are still surrounded by boxes and starting bar prep, so there is little time to unpack. Occasionally, I will go on sprees where I just fling open boxes and put things in random places. This makes Justin crazy. He found a colander in the bathroom the other day. Oops.

Perry camped out under the sink during the move

7. Let's talk about Perry and the move. Perry does NOT travel well. Perry cannot take drugs anymore (see random thoughts incident from a  few weeks ago), so no one was quite sure how this was going to turn out. Long story short, it was bad. He made it to D.C., but he made the trip as painful as possible. And he got a bath when we arrived. Excellent start to our new life in the city!

8. After his bath, he promptly hid behind our washer and dryer. He subsequently got stuck. I hope this cat appreciates the lengths we go to for him.

Piper made a pillow fort when we slept on air mattresses

9. Piper, on the other hand, is loving our new place. One thing Piper does NOT love is the elevator. She crouches low to the floor and completely freezes while we ride. This can be a minor embarrassment when other people/dogs get on the elevator with us and Piper REFUSES to move from her crouching spot on the floor.

10. When the dust settled, I went on my first D.C. adventure with my friend, Nicole. I went to my first ever spin class where I felt like I was going to DIE. They also ranked your performance, but I did not realize there were two screens, so at one point I thought I did so poorly that they just removed me completely (this was not a pleasant feeling for my super competitive self). Apparently, I had just moved to the second screen (I ultimately came in 7th in case you were wondering). Then we went to brunch completely sweaty and gross, which is 100% acceptable in D.C. I'm loving this city so far.

11. Seeing this on a regular basis doesn't hurt either.

And that's it! I survived! Now, we have 9 weeks of bar prep, so if I'm not around as often, it's because I'm crying into my bar exam prep materials.

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Caleb's Gluten Free Cheddar Bay Biscuits

I asked my brother, Caleb, to write a guest post on these biscuits and he said, “hell no.” Frankly, it’s probably better that way. A post by Cal would be laced with profanity and wouldn’t contain any actual measurements. You would all abandon me.

Umm before we get started with the recipe, I have to say THANK YOU for all the sweet Facebook messages, texts, and calls I’ve gotten about my “Random Thoughts.” All the love feels so amazing! This week has been hell (Perry is feeling much better, finally), but having all these lovely comments to read has made things so much better, so THANK YOU!

Onto Caleb’s biscuits! Every time Justin and I visit Florida, we beg Cal to make these for us (and he always does because he’s an excellent little brother). He doesn’t measure ANYTHING. It blows my mind. These turn out perfect every single time.

Me and Cal

He made a copy of the recipe he sort of follows and wrote his own comments. For example, where it says “3/4 cups of milk,” Caleb crossed it out and simply wrote, “bullshit.” Fortunately, I’ve watched him make these enough times that I knew what they were supposed to look like.

Cal's recipe

I made these for Easter dinner and they were fantastic. I actually measured things, so there are real measurements below. I have to say, his are still (somehow) better. He just has the magic touch.

Here’s what you need (from the recipe above and the mind of Caleb Obler) . . .

One box of gluten free bisquick (see picture below)

3 cups of milk (I used 2%)

1 tsp garlic powder

3 tbsp salted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups fresh shred sharp cheddar 

For the topping:

3 tbsp salted butter, melted

½ tbsp. dried parsley

½ tbsp. garlic powder

1 tsp salt

Stir together right before you are ready to spread on the biscuits (see directions below).

Here’s what you do . . .

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. In a bowl, combine the entire box of bisquick, milk, garlic powder, butter, and cheese. Stir to combine, but it does not have to be perfectly smooth.

3. On a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, drop a handful sized drop of batter. Do not try to form it – you want little peaks to form on the top of your biscuits.

4. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until you start to see the little peaks brown on top. You want an even browning.

What the biscuits should look like before you put the topping on them.

5. Once you see the browning on the biscuits, take out the biscuits and with a pastry brush, spread the butter/parsley/garlic/salt mixture over the biscuits.

6. Bake for another 5-7 minutes.

7. Remove and eat warm. Enjoy!!

These are some of my favorite things and they were a hit at Easter. They do NOT taste gluten free (aka, they taste awesome).

Many thanks to Cal for sharing his recipe and promising to open a food truck with me if my life falls apart. Our food truck would kick serious ass.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

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Random Thought Tuesday

Ya'll ready for this?!

Ew. This does not look like the pretty pictures I see online

1. Can someone please provide me with a healthy "green" smoothie recipe? Every time I make one, it looks like someone threw up in my cup. I'm convinced all the pictures of green smoothies online are doctored to be a gorgeous green color.

2. I recently discovered this phenomenon called oil pulling. Basically, you swish coconut oil in your mouth for 15 minutes each day and it's supposed to clear out all these toxins in your body. I was 100% convinced this was going to be life changing. Day 1: I felt nauseous, but assumed it was the toxins leaving my body. Day 2: I threw up (too much throw up in one post?). I have officially given up on oil pulling.

3. On a similar note, someone needs to invent gluten free saltines.

4. We took Piper for a 3 mile walk last week. And by walk I mean I carried her for at least half of it because she laid down and refused to get up again. I'm not sure if I'm more embarrassed by that or the fact that I put her in an Easter dress on Sunday.

5. Are you all familiar with sock buns? You essentially put a sock in your hair and roll your hair over it and it makes this beautiful bun. I became obsessed with this last week (poor Justin). I used this Christmas sock with green stripes (you have to cut a hole in a sock). It totally worked, but you can see the green stripes through my beautiful sock bun. Only AFTER I had cut a hole in my sock did Justin tell me you can purchase hair-colored donuts specifically to make sock buns. Sigh.

6. We have approximately 2 weeks left of law school and my motivation is at an all time low. I was in Criminal Procedure the other day and we were discussing "attenuation of taint" (Google it if you really want to know what that is) and I started to giggle like a 5 year old. Again, I'm embarrassed for myself.

I will explain why this is relevant to #7 soon

7. My backup plan if this whole law school thing doesn't work out is to open a food truck with my youngest brother (Cal). It would be a gluten free food truck with a smoker. And we would try to sell alcohol, though Justin says this isn't possible. This idea is clearly becoming more appealing as I Googled prime food truck locations in D.C. last week.

8. I am 99% certain that I will cry hysterically in front of our mover because I get emotional about change. I am 100% certain that Justin partly chose our mover because this guy appeared to be capable of handling an emotional woman. Keep in mind, he toured the house during my oil pulling experience, so Justin likely chose well.

9. We FINALLY finished House of Cards Season 2 (I know, we're like a million weeks behind) and OMG. I fully intend to stalk Kevin Spacey in D.C. when I need a break from studying for the bar this summer. Although, did you know that because Netflix owns the rights to Frank Underwood, you can't take pictures of him or with him when he's "dressed in character"? How do I know if he's Frank Underwood or Kevin Spacey wearing a suit?! Life problem.

One of my precious children

10. I'm never having children. I've felt this way for awhile, but it was reemphasized at 11:30 p.m. yesterday in the ER vet with our cat who had a bad (read: violent) reaction to a sedative we gave him to take him to the vet for an exam. And again at 6:30 a.m. when we went to pick him up and pay the bill. He's fine, by the way. He's currently rolling around upstairs high on whatever sedative they gave him at the ER last night.

11. We've gotten to a level of chaos and stress that Justin can see when the crazy comes into in my eyes and will just go get me a glass of wine. This is an excellent trait in a husband.

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Strawberry Margarita

We booked movers this week. A margarita was absolutely necessary

Life is completely chaotic and hectic right now. We are moving in a month (a freaking MONTH) to D.C. (OMG) and it's becoming a struggle to open a casebook for school, let alone read it (ew).

I came home from school the other day and wanted a margarita. We had 0 margarita ingredients except tequila, triple sec, and fresh strawberries.

I was desperate. I worked with what I had and it turned out GREAT.

Or maybe it didn't and I just wanted a margarita that badly. Try making one and let me know:

Here's what you need . . .

1 oz. = 1 shot glass

2-3 oz. of strawberry simple syrup (recipe below)
2 oz. of silver tequila
1 oz. of triple sec
1 oz. coconut water
ice

Here's what you do . . .

1. To make your simple syrup, combine 1/2 cup of sugar and a 1/2 cup of water in a pot. Melt the sugar, then take off the heat. Blend sugar water mix with strawberries.

2. Combine all your ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Add more simple syrup if you prefer a sweet cocktail. I don't love super sweet cocktails, so 2 oz. was perfect for me.

3. SHAKE IT! Pour. If you hate strawberry seeds, strain it with a mesh strainer. 

4. ENJOY! I think this would also be excellent garnished with a little fresh lime, but we didn't have them and I had no intention of leaving the house to buy them.

Easy! Delicious (I think)! Cinco de Mayo is soon, so you should start prepping now. 

PS: How cute are our Easter placemats? They were in our Easter basket from Justin's dad and stepmom and I LOVE them. 

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