A Veritable Vegetable Paradise!

Things I did this week:
1. Wrote 5...thousand papers for class
2. holed up in a coffee shop all week with my face in my computer and a pastry in my hand
3. ate nothing but coffee shop pastries for dinner every single day
4. went to the twilight: breaking dawn midnight premiere (am I proud of this? I am not. I am seriously, seriously not. But omitting this from my list of the week's activities would basically be like telling a lie...and then I would have to live with the repercussions of that decision forever. The repercussions, I guess, being that you would probably never have to know where I was the night of Thursday, November 17, 2011. huh. Well, I guess what's done is done, and it cannot be untyped.)
5. wished it was thanksgiving break

Now, it is thanksgiving break! It really, really is! And let me tell you, it is everything I imagined it could ever be. I would make you a list of things I have done so far over break, but it would be less of a list and more of a statement that I slept for like 12 hours yesterday...it was beautiful. I kind of wanted to write a poem about it. Then I realized that would have been super weird and creepy, so instead I used my newfound energy this morning to cook up all the veggies in my fridge that I didn't eat this week while I was munching on chocolate chip scones in various cafes across Boulder. The pastry muncher strikes again! Anyway, after 3 sweet potatoes, 2 apples, a whooooole lotta carrots, and some zucchinis, scurvy has officially been averted!

In case you just powered through an "I'll sleep when I'm dead...which is now" kind of stressful week too, I wanted to share the recipes for the (kinda) healthy stuff I made with you. You know, to bring the bounce back into your step and the sparkle into your smile and all that good stuff(not that your smile doesn't sparkle...it totally does)--think of it as a "post chocolate chip scone binge, pre-thanksgiving stuffing binge" shock o' healthy greens and vitamins to your system.

Also, I made a playlist! It's for chillin' out, mostly. It contains none of the songs from the Twilight soundtrack, even though it's kind of good.

Carrot Soup with Ginger and Lemon

Recipe from Epicurious

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 1/4 pounds medium carrots, peeled, chopped (about 3 cups)
• 2 tomatoes, seeded, chopped (about 1 1/3 cups)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 3 cups (or more) chicken stock or canned low-salt broth

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

• 4 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 small carrot, peeled, grated

Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 4 minutes. Add ginger and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add chopped carrots, tomatoes and lemon peel; sauté 1 minute. Add 3 cups stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover partially and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly.

Puree soup in batches in blender. Return soup to pot. Mix in lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)

Bring soup to simmer, thinning with more stock, if desired. Ladle into bowls. Top each with sour cream and grated carrot.

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

Recipe adapted from Real Mom Kitchen

Makes 6 muffins

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Tablespoons Canola Oil

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 large Egg

1 cup grated Zucchini

1 cup grated carrots

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Whisk together sugar, oil, salt, and egg.  Add the zucchini and carrots.  Mix the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl, then add them to the zucchini and carrot mixture.  Spoon batter into muffin tins and bake at 375F for 18-25 minutes.

Sweet Potato Chips

Inspired by Cupcakes and Cashmere

3 sweet potatoes

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
(I kind of just winged the spices, it's really just however much you like)

Peel and slice sweet potatoes into very thin strips-- about 1/8 inch.  Mix olive oil and spices together, toss with sweet potatoes.  Place slices on a cookie sheet and bake at 375F until top begins to brown and look crisp, then flip the slices and continue to bake.  Remove when chips are crispy.