First off, A HUGE announcement…

I am now, Lauri Watson, R.D., L.D.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am starting my new job Next Monday and I am SUPER pumped about it

____________________________________________________________________________________

Foot Ball: Is it just a game for sweaty, oversized men who have too much pent up aggression, or does it stand for something more?

For this post, I’m trading in sweating over a hot stove for sweating in a crowded stadium, chopping veggies/prep work for tailgaiting, and dinner with friends for cheering with 80,000 of the closest ‘friends’ I never met!

Thursday marked the opening day for college football, and as a Carolina GameCock, I felt it was my duty to show up, tailgate, cheer, and sweat with thousands of other people who also felt compelled to do the same exact thing.

No, I don’t enjoy spending my Saturday afternoons glued to a TV watching 300pound linebackers bulldoze their opponents all for the possibility of a 10yard gain.

After all, I am not a HUGE football fan, but I am a HUGE USC GameCocks Fan!

You see, I grew up in Columbia, SC, the home of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. Basically, around here, you are born a gamecock. You are taught to bleed garnet and black and to hate orange. Tailgating is a way of life every Saturday during football season and it would be heresy to miss a game.

I attended USC for my Undergrad in Psychology and I must say, I have never experienced anything like cheering on the gamecocks from the student section. Wild & Crazy doesn’t even begin to cover it!

So, again, is football just another game, or is it something more?

Well, to me, Football symbolizes so much more than just a game.

Its a chance to bond with friends and family–>

A chance to relax and enjoy a good game ofcornhole–>

Its a chance to meet new people, both old and young–>

Its knowing that FALL is here and the 100 degree weather will soon be traded in for 70 degree perfect fall days!

Its also a time when NOTHING else matters but the game! No bills, No family/work drama, No household chores or errands.

Just the game. Thats it.

But most of all, its a feeling of camaraderie. Knowing that the 80,000 other people in the stands today are here for the same exact reason–> To cheer our guys to victory.

The sound of Odyssey 2001, the roar of the crowd, the revealing of cocky, and the rush of seeing your football team take the field is truly AWESOME–>

We were playing S. Miss. and we had 2 old friends (one a USC fan, and one a S. Miss. fan) sitting in front of us.
The tension was thick and the smack talking was ruthless!

Unfortunately for S. Miss, this is what it looked like just before USC scored… again–>

And this is the reaction of the gentleman in front of us. Ben was so happy, he didn’t mind.
That is the beauty of the game–> A random dude can jump on top of your husband in excitement and its okay.

The final score ended up being 41-13

Celebrations and tailgating continued after the game.
Our good friend and chef of Food For Thought Catering Co. supplied the grub–>
AWEsome BBQ, potato salad, hash and rice (no worries, nothing ‘weird’ in the hash), and Blue cheese coleslaw

THANKS CORY!!!

Next week, we tackle Georgia, one of our biggest and toughest opponents. But win or lose, I can assure you that Carolina fans will show up, each and every week to join 80,000 of their closest friends at Williams Brice stadium to cheer on their COCKS!!!
GO GAMECOCKS! Fight, Win, Kick A**!!

We are on our way to Cola to see the GameCocks play!!

Get Pumped!

After a restless night at the hospital with my momma, I’ve made it back home and back into the kitchen!! People were in and out of her room all night long and the piece of furniture that the hospital calls ‘a fold out bed’ felt like I was sleeping on a board!!

I’m proud of myself for packing dinner, breakfast and lunch for us so that I didn’t get stuck eating nasty hospital food and neither did she!!! Some hospitals actually serve pretty good food, unfortunately, my momma isn’t at one of them!!

On to tonights dinner–>

Every now and then, a recipe comes along that really SHOCKS your taste buds!! This one is thanks to Mama Pea–> If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading her blog “Peas and Thank you” yet, I would HIGHLY recommend taking a trip over there and checking it out! Her posts almost always include a little life lesson courtesy of her gorgeous girls and a recipe along with several funny punchlines along the way! LOVE IT!!!

“Cheese” Stuffed Bean Burgers

• 1/3 cup amaranth
• 1 cup water or stock
• 1 cup dry whole wheat pasta (I used penne)
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (~15 oz)
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tb minced onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic

Cheesy Sauce

• 3 TB hummus
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 T b nutritional yeast

Original Recipe

So WHAT on earth is nutritional yeast?!?! Basically, nutritional yeast is deactivated yeast that is popular in vegan/vegetarian recipes. It is a complete protein and is rich in B complex vitamins.I have never used it before and I debated on even purchasing it since it was about 7 bucks and I’m not vegetarian… BUT I wanted to follow the recipe, so I went ahead and forked over the cash.Oh, and you can find it at Earthfare!

I’m really glad that I did!!! It added a TON of flavor to the dish–> Almost like creamy nacho cheese without the cardboard taste! Plus its always fun to try new food items and to learn about new products… right?!?

Directions:

Cook one cup of pasta in boiling water until very soft (NOT al dente). Meanwhile, cook the amaranth in 1 cup water or broth of choice. The original recipe called for quinoa, but I didn’t have any on hand, so I substituted amaranth. I would suppose couscous or millet would work too

Once the pasta has cooked, puree it in a food processor along with the rinsed black beans, garlic, onion worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce.

*Side Note: Have y’all ever noticed that Worcestershire sauce contains High Fructose Corn Syrup?!?! We have had this bottle FORever, so I don’t think I’ve ever glanced at the nutrition label before! The original recipe called for ‘vegan worcestershire’ sauce, so I glanced at the nutrition info. out of curiosity–> It also contains anchovies = NOT vegan! Weird…

Next, stir in the amaranth (or millet, couscous, quinoa, or whatever)–>

Stick the mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes–>

While the mixture hung out in the fridge,I prepared some yukon gold ‘french fries’–>

Cut em up, spray/toss with olive oil or grapeseed oil, sprinkle with salt and into the oven on 350 for 15 minutes. Then I bumped the temp to 400 degrees for another 10 minutes.

They tasted AWESOME, but I do wish they were a bit more crispy… Does anybody have a good french fry baking method that gets the taters crispy, but not burnt? I’m thinking about blanching them next time…

Sprinkled with a little parm-e-san cheese–>

Next up, Make the ‘Cheesy Sauce’

Mix lemon juice, hummus, and nutritional yeast–>

Easy Peasy–>

To finish up the burgers, Score Four–>

Might wanna spray your cookie sheet/pan with nonstick cooking spray as these guys were sticky!

Make a Big Ball and Little Ball–>

Form the big ball into a patty and top with ‘cheesy sauce’

Now form the little ball into a patty and place it on top of big ball–>

Kinda press in the edges and your patty is good to go–>

Mmmmmm Buurrrrrgerrrrrs!

Cook the patties in a skillet sprayed with nonstick for about 5-6 minutes on each side, until a nice golden brown–>

Top with fix-ins!

I was sent some Arnold Sandwich Thins as Part of the FoodBuzz Tastemaker Program to try out a few weeks ago–>

I’ve had Arnold Sandwich Thins before and I prefer the Whole Wheat over the Multi-Grain as far as taste. I like these buns because they are thin and don’t overwhelm the sandwich. I also like them because they are only 100kcals and contain 5g of fiber each!

However, I don’t like some of their ingredients–>

What the heck is Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate?
So I do like the Arnold’s Sandwich thins, but I do wish their ingredients list was a little more like EarthGrains sandwich thins–>

Source

Thanks FoodBuzz for the opportunity to sample Arnold Sandwich Thins!!!
Back to Burger Building!!!
I loaded mine up with a couple slices of tomaters, pickles, a shmear of mayo, and sunflower sprouts–>

LOVE these sprouts from City Roots!

So how did the burger taste?!?! INCREDIBLE!!!!
Hands Down the BEST veggie burger I’ve ever had!!!! THANKS MAMA PEA!!

Put it this way…. I was getting the ‘stank eye’ from Ben while I was cooking up these burgers… Ya see, he is a bit skeptical of ‘veggie burgers, ‘ or most any meal that doesn’t contain meat! He is pretty much a ‘meat & taters’ guy, BUT I am lucky enough to have a husband that is willing to give new foods a try!
And he LOVED it! I figured he would add a ‘real’ slice of cheese to the burger, but instead he devoured it… as is!! He even commented that the ‘cheesy sauce’ really made the burger!!
So there ya have it, a thumbs up vote from even the biggest skeptic

I thought the texture was actually pretty similar to that of ground beef, but the burger had SO.Much.More.Flavor than regular ground beef!!

And no ‘greasy, burger hangover’ feeling afterwards!!

So it does exist: A vegetarian cheese burger that actually satisfies that cheeseburger crave!!

  RHR