Great Sunday over here! First and foremost…I did laundry. End post. Day = success.
Well, there’s a bit more.
I left my apartment midday to meet my bestie/roomie Nellie in midtown, and we walked and gabbed our way to Bella Bridesmaid to pick up bridesmaids dresses for our friend Frances’ wedding!
Frances is one of our dearest friends, and her wedding will take place in the breathtaking North Carolina mountains late this summer. I have a bombardment of weddings this summer (they say it comes in tidal (?) waves), but along with my older brother’s wedding, I’m especially excited about this one!
This bridesmaids dress experience couldn’t have been further from the horror story ’27 Dresses’ stereotype. In true Frances fashion, the dresses are tasteful, beautiful and a fabulous color.
I think this is the color as well! I will absolutely wear this to other events…after the wedding :).
Before I left to meet Nellie, I had a orange and a cup o’ cottage cheese. Some people find the texture of cottage cheese off-putting, but I love the cold curdy stuff AND it is a fantastic source of protein!
Ok, so I have catfession to make. When I showed you a picture of my breakfast this morning, I purposefully moved this guy out of the picture.
I noticed that my pictured already included my cat mug
And at first, I thought it was too early to share my inordinate love of cats with you…so I set the little man aside.
After some reflection, I changed my mind–might as well rip off the bandaid. So there you have it! I love all animals, but I LOVE cats! I’m not exactly sure why I prefer felines, but I think it’s because I truly respect their independence and how they make you work for their attention. There may or may not be other cat paraphernalia scattered around my room, but I think that’s plennntyy for now.
SO, you can imagine my excitement for this afternoon’s main event…my first volunteer orientation session at Animal Haven, a no-kill NYC shelter with a fantastic reputation!
I volunteered and then was hired as an adoption counselor at the Charlottesville SPCA my senior year of college, and it was far and away the most rewarding job I have ever had. I think my days at the CASPCA were some of my happiest to date. When I went through my recent breakup, I was determined to occupy my heart and my energy with something I love, and Animal Haven/volunteering came to mind. My future sister-in-law, whom I adore, applied with me, and we both showed up at at 3 pm today for our first orientation!
I had a quick turnaround time between Bella Bridesmaids and Animal Haven, so I whipped up another Green Monster for lunch. Same ingredient as yesterday’s GM, except this time I added a packet of Keurig instant coffee for the daily caffeine boost I’m addicted to I like to have.
From the staff member’s orientation speech, the policies and procedures sound very similar to what I experienced at the CASPCA, which is a GREAT thing. Animal Haven appears to be an incredibly well-run and thorough organization, and I’m so pumped to become a part of it! I have one more orientation to attend 2 weekends from now, but then I’ll begin spending several hours there on Saturdays and Sundays with sweet baby angels like this guy
Whoops, sorry, that would be this year’s Westminster Dog Show footstool winner. JK Malachy, you killed it out there!
That’s more like it.
Bummer that I have to wait several more weeks to begin volunteering, but Idid get my nifty volunteer t-shirt!
After orientation, I munched on a Kashi TLC Granola Bar and some almonds while I made my way through the drizzle to Trader Joe’s. My mission? Pick up ingredients for fajitas!!!
Actually, I prefer to call them Furritos, because I find the stigma that fajitas must be slender lil’ things and burritos can weigh more than an infant to be rather limiting. My ideal tortilla:filling ratio is somewhere in the middle, so Furrito is an more apt description.
Pre-my-ex-boyfriend, I was single in NYC for about two years, and I built up quite a repetoire of “batch” recipes that I can make on a Sunday and have throughout the rest of the week. The keys to a successful Single Girl Recipe are cheap ingredients, easy preparation, fast preparation, and most importantly, yummy taste! These babies fulfill all of those requirements.
SINGLE GIRL FURRITOS:
- 1/2 bag TJs Fire-Roasted Corn
- 2 large bell peppers (I used red because I prefer their flavor but any will do!)
- 1 large purple onion
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained of extra salt
- 1 package TJs Chicken-less “chicken” Strips or 2 cooked chicken breasts, sliced
- Shredded cheese of choice–I used TJs Shredder Soy 3 Cheese blend
- Salsa of choice–I used TJs Chipotle Salsa (great smoky flavor)
- Tortillas–I used TJs Multigrain
- Spices to taste
- Full-fat Greek yogurt/sour Cream/Guac/lettuce–optional (or maybe not in your book and, fair enough)
I meant to get some Greek yogurt, which I love to use as a healthier replacement for sour cream, but the TJs mayhem had me a bit frazzled and I whiffed. I plan to get some after work tomorrow.
I munched on some more hummus and pretzels while preparing dinner. Can’t get enough of this combo!
First, I sliced up my peppers lengthwise and my onion crosswise. If you want to make this recipe super quickly, you can pan-saute your onions and peps in a little olive oil. Since I had some extra time, I preheated my oven to 450, tossed the veggies in OO and baked them for about 15-20 mins on aluminum foil-covered baking sheets. I pulled them out when the they were soft and the skin was a little black and blistery around the edges.
While those babies roasted, I rinsed and drained my can of black beans. This step isn’t necessary, but most canned legumes come soaked in salty liquid, and I think it’s important to cut down on sodium where possible.
The Chicken-Less Strips are precooked and don’t require any prep. I prefer organic chicken/meat to soy-based ‘meat’ products, but the good stuff is ‘spensive, the ingredients in these Strips are acceptable, and when they’re mixed up with the other goodies you really don’t notice a difference. Similarly, I opted for the Soy Cheese Blend tonight, but I prefer real cheese. In this case, I got the soy cheese because it lasts significantly longer in the fridge than dairy cheese, although I do enjoy the taste as well. I am flying home to Nashville for Easter this weekend (whee!!), and was worried that a whole bag of dairy cheese would spoil before I could finish it.
So, make sure you have all of your mise-en-place in order before the veg are done
Once your peps and onions are soft and caramelized from roasting in the oven (or from sauteing)
Coat a large, somewhat deep skillet with a bit more olive oil, turn to medium-heat and throw your beans, corn, chicken/soy chicken and roasted veggies in! At this point, I like to mess around with some spices. Tonight I added a dash of chili pepper, cayenne, a tiny bit of garlic salt, and a tiny bit of cinnamon (it works, I promise).
Simply stir the mixture until everything is heated through. Now wipe the sweat off your brow–the hard part’s over!
You can warm your tortillas in a low-heating skillet to soften them and wrap the ingredients up like normal fajitas. I luuurrveee the grill marks I get from my George Foreman, so I placed some cheese, salsa, hummus and filling in a cold tortilla, folded the left and right sides over the top, and sizzled it under George’s watchful eye for about a minute.
I drizzled some more cheese and salsa on top, and ate my Furritowith a mixed-green and veggie side salad.
I am telling you, these are freakin’ GOOD. Even with my money-conscious substitutions and missing Greek Yogurt/Sour Cream, it was absolutely delicious. And the best part is, this recipe makes an absurd amount of freezable food. This entire recipe cost me $15 (I already had the corn at home), and I’ll get at LEAST an entire work week’s worth (say that 10x fast) of dinners with the leftovers.
I also ended up making a shockingly delicious dessert tonight, but I’ll save that for another post. Don’t wanna spoil y’all so soon! For now, I bid you adieu with a full, happy belly and another cup of ginger tea!
Your friend Frances sounds like a really cool person.
Who taught you to cook and be so adventurous with food?
Haha it really was all you, Mom!
[…] As intended, I picked up some Greek yogurt after work on Monday, and have been using it in place of sour cream on my Furritos One forkful per bite! […]
[…] we begin, I have another confession to […]
[…] Nellie’s office buys these in bulk a la’ the above, and she graciously brings me baggies to fulfill my fix of them! I may or may not have campaigned to get these at my firm, to no avail… […]
[…] Saturday afternoon, I had my second volunteer orientation session at Animal Haven! I’m officially a purple-tee wearing volunteer and cannot wait for my first shift. Sunday […]
[…] its unadulterated flavor, GY makes an excellent substitute for sour cream. I recently used it on my Furritos, but it will do the trick in any instance where you’d normally use sour […]