It’s almost my birthday. I’m going to be 31. Sigh. But it’s fine, because everyone tells me I look 25. Those same people also routinely tell me I look 30 pounds lighter than I actually am. I’m starting to think maybe these people are liars.
I love them so much.
So I have the burden of trying to figure out what I want to do to celebrate, and cannot get my shit together. I can choose the obvious bar night… but do I really want to be hungover the next day? It kills a whole fucking day, and I’m going to want to make it to a yoga class. Hungover yoga is not fun. Trust me. You just end up in Child’s Pose the whole time, while somehow still sweating out the booze. Not cute. Also, you end up getting severely judged by your yoga teacher, though he’ll swear he’s an open-minded person.
If we go out to a bar, I cannot get crazy. CANNOT. Everyone else can be crazy… but I’m just not in the mood to be out of control. And I fucking hate being hungover! The worst.
My other choices are dinner, drive-in movie (which, let’s face it, will still involve booze), host a party (too much work), a pool party (too far away, and requires my mom to be involved), or ignoring the day and pretending I’m not disappointed (unlikely). I’m a disaster. Sighhhhhh. Suggestions are welcome.
Anyway, food stuff! I’m a recent vegetarian, and I want no judgement for this. I’m not going to start judging everyone else for eating meat. I totally get it – pork belly is fucking delicious. You do you. And I’ll do me.
Anyway, becoming a vegetarian can be kind of difficult when you only have a handful of meat-free meals in your regular rotation. It gets boring, you know? So I’ve been trying new recipes lately. I make a lot of mushroom pasta (as you know), but was looking for a different variation. Stroganoff is one of my favorite meals in the world, so I was excited to find this recipe on Pinterest the other day. I modified it a little bit (because I forgot to get a couple ingredients), but it still turned out great.
Mushroom Stroganoff
1-2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups button mushrooms, sliced
3-4 portobello mushrooms, gills removed and sliced
1 tablespoon flour
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon coarse ground mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or dry… it’s fine.)
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
1/4 cup sour cream
Egg noodles – 1 pound, cooked according to package instructions
Salt and pepper
Optional: Parmesan cheese
Melt butter in a large skillet, and add onion. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Stir often. Add mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes or so before adding the garlic, plus some salt and pepper. Cook for 5 more minutes. Sprinkle the flour over everything, and stir well. Keep stirring while everything cooks for a few more minutes. The flour will make everything stick to the bottom of the pan – splash in a little veggie broth (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup) to help deglaze the pan. Stir in the rest of the broth, mustard, soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5-8 minutes. The sauce will thicken a lot – keep stirring. Add the fresh (or dry) herbs, and cook for a few more minutes. Remove from heat for 5ish minutes, then add the sour cream. Mix well, and pour over the top of cooked egg noodles. Feel free to add some shredded parmesan. Shovel into face.
Tiny Ass Kitchen 