iPhone love

Just wanted to post some practice pictures I have taken with my new phone!

The Hunger Games

This series is one of those books that I've heard about over and over again, and kept putting off reading them. I finally got my sticky paws on the trilogy and read through it in a week. (Which, is impressive because I've done a lot of textbook reading and homework too, and usually if I do one I don't do the other). Regardless, it was a terrifying tale. One that leaves imprints of dread on my heart. I felt as though I knew the character, as if she was my friend, and she just experienced one of the worst things imaginable. Honestly, by the end of the third book I couldn't stop crying. I am glad I finally got the nerve to read it.

Memorable Quotes:

“For there to be betrayal, there would have had to been trust first.” Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“You don’t forget the face of the person who was your last hope.” Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“I’ll be able to wash the damage done by the tears from my face. But no tears come. I’m too tired or too numb to cry. The only thing I feel is a desire to be somewhere else.” Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“Because sometimes things happen to people and they’re not equipped to deal with them.” Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire

“I can honestly say he’s never been attractive to me. Maybe he’s too pretty, or maybe he’s too easy to get, or maybe it’s really that he’d just be too easy to lose.”

Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire

“I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever,”

(Peeta) Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire

“It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.”

(Finnick) Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay

“...because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children’s lives to settle its differences.”

Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay

 

“...collective thinking is usually short-lived. We’re fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction.”

Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay

 

Failure

1. As a young adult, I experienced many different things. Some of these proved to be traumatic and left me damaged, mentally/emotionally. There came a point where I even recognized that I was in over my head with painful emotions and needed help. I went to the Doctor I had seen my entire life, and asked for recommendations on what I should do. I was prescribed an anti-depressant. After weeks of taking the medication, I hadn't felt much better and I was experiencing adverse effects. I was crawling in my own skin, I was uncomfortable. I explained these symptoms to my Doctor and said I no longer wanted to be on the medication and was looking for alternative solutions to my existing problems. My Doctor insisted that I did not know what I was talking about in regards to the adverse effects and said I should continue taking the medication. I told her that I know my body and was not going to and she gave me no other options. I walked out of the office no better than I was before. I turned to an age old medication, of alcohol, and realized if I drank enough I didn't have to feel anything, or even really think of anything. Before long, alcohol was my crutch, my best friend, my escape. Making my problem far worse than it had been before, and then some. My Doctor had failed me, the health system had failed me. My problem however minuet was ignored, and denied...and pushed me to another disease of alcoholism.
2. I read the news the other day. A local lady held up a gas station, one I had been to often. The first report of the incident was a recollection of events that made her appear as if she were evil and an assailant. With understanding, she did hold a cashier at hostage with a gun, this initial article was based off of stereotypical understanding of that situation. Later, another article was posted that stated with her gun she made suicidal remarks and asked the cashier to call the police. She held him at gun point and pointed a gun at the police. The police fired various rounds at the lady, and she was pronounced dead at the hospital. She was failed by us, our doctors, our medical system.
3. My heart breaks because any type of failure in mental health is detrimental to ones future. The lack of proper care of these problems causes more problems, causes irrational behavior, causes death. I am disappointed because as I look now with proper assistance from a certified counselor, I could have had further solutions. With less stigma, with doctors who cared about their clients and not making a buck from a prescription drug company, for more adequate screening tools and availability that lady's life could have been spared.
   I wish to dedicate my life to Mental Health Awareness. To change the way American's view our medical system. To save lives by making it okay to have a problem and okay to seek help and for Doctor's to actually do something that will help.
   
4. I feel like a dreamer.
   I have no idea if such a change could ever happen in a country like this.
   

On the Road

The title On the Road was bounced around a lot during my previous college years. I spent a lot of my time with art majors and literature majors, so I got to learn all sorts of interesting facts and titles of books. One that I have always found intriguing was On the Road, which although character names have been changed was a largely autobiographical work that outlines the road trips Jack Kerouac embarked on. I appreciate this type of work-- traveling memoirs I guess, because there is a gypsy trapped inside of me with so much wanderlust that it hurts. I don't tend to travel to places, I lack the budgeting skills and patience to be able to make a trip, so indulging in the tales of another helps me live vicariously. Due to this, my opinion of the book is biased to be in the like.

As I have made my way through the book, I have noticed a similarity in his writing style to the style of Emma Donoghue in ROOM. His thought processes are expressed as choppy and childish, similar to the five-year old narrator of ROOM. Now, don't get me wrong, Jack Kerouac has a way with words and his prose can be at times melodic and beautiful, it's paired a seemingly immature narrator. This book is recognized as part of the "Beat Generation"; inspired by the usage of drugs and promiscuity. Apparently this was an iconic time period for literature, which is understandable, his free-form style of writing is inspiring enough for myself that I can understand how huge the movement was for literature.

Part two on to the rest of the book it becomes more evident that the characters are neurotic from drug usage. The content is full of jibberish and I began losing my patience and attention to the book here. It was hard to follow. This must be what defined the Beat Generation. Drug usage, confused jumbled paragraphs that are just wild. The men just look for women to make it with, use and leave, while they scour the country looking for trouble. Stealing cars and leaving their bastard children behind. What a puke.

Good to know that men in the 1940s were just a piggist misogynists as they are now.

Pride and Prejudice

Here's the first of an upcoming trend of posts. I am trying to improve my vocabulary, as well as improve my reading and writing skills. I used to read/write often and now I do neither, except on rare occasion. Therefore, to practice vocabulary usage and writing I will be doing writing about stuff I have read, giving my opinion and whatever else I feel like it. Since no one reads this it doesn't really even matter.

I tried reading this because I have heard it mentioned several times, and in some of the literature classes I wish I had taken to be forced to read these stories (although I would have probably blown it off anyways), this one has been mentioned time and time again. Some of the women and girls in my life actually enjoy this story, so I thought let's give it a try.

What a bore!

TO have so much praise and recognition the plot line was egregious for my taste. To me, this is just portrays that the women of varying economical/social backgrounds had nothing better to do with their time than trying to pair off with rich men or their cousins so that they would be taken care of with "wealth" or their "family wealth". On top of that, instead of doing anything productive with their lives, they gossiped and gossiped some more. (Times have changed so much!!)
What a life that must have been!
Don't get me wrong, I realize this is a different country and a much different time, but I have always envisioned this time as so romantic. I, sometimes, wished that I could just experience the feeling of being "courted" and "wooed". I was mistaken, since this time was full of gold-digging. I wonder if the men felt as disgusted about "gold-digging women" as they do now, since we have Kanye singing about gold-diggers...Well maybe those women were just taking a lesson from pride and prejudice and looking for men that could give them money or keep their family wealth alive.

I did not finish the book, but for what I am guessing the idea is that there was a false pretension when the characters judged someone right off the bat as a jerk. I'm guessing that at the end, they realized their first impression of a prideful, selfish man was false and lesson learned. Or perhaps, to fit alone with the hours of snore reading, the end is just continued gossip and them finding out that he is just the way they perceived.

I guess I am happy that the main goal in my life is not whether or not I will be married off to someone, ANYONE, who will be able to provide for me. I am also happy to see that we are not in a culture that revolves around the "felicity" of men, and women making sure that is maintained... that would make me puke.

Thank god for the feminist revolution, so now we have different things to gossip about and our parents aren't consumed with who will marry our children, more hopefully my child will not end up "knocked up" before marriage and will find a job/education to sustain themselves... since now we just have high divorce rates, a lot of bastard children, and a lot of families who cannot sustain on their own but in fact need government subsidized everything...

I guess romance has truly always been nonexistent.

Jimmy Eat World- The Middle

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost, 1915

R.I.P. Caylee Anthony

Hey Everyone,



If you are truly upset by what happened in court with Casey Anthony, channel this energy to a positive.



It is incredibly repulsive how many people have posted how disgusted they are that Casey did not get convicted of murder and how they want to get Caylee Anthony justice.



BE PROUD to know that in our justice system the verdict is not based on emotion or opinion. As it should, verdicts and convictions NEED to be based on FACT, and if you paid attention to the trial, there was absolutely, NO PROOF and NO FACTUAL EVIDENCE to prove without reasonable doubt Casey Anthony committed this crime. You should be happy to know that if you are being TRIED for anything that you won’t be put in jail because someone simply thinks you are guilty of whatever crime or someone is upset & you are the scapegoat for their emotional energy. (That being said, I am not PRO-CASEY ANTHONY, nor do I think she is necessarily NOT GUILTY, but I do believe it is our ethical and moral obligation to base accountability of a crime on fact).



It is hypocritical for any person to complain consistently that they care for the death of Caylee Anthony when they only paid attention to this case because the media glorified and broadcasted the trial religiously for over a month. It is hypocritical to say; well I care because I watch the trial from day one. Had this trial not been advertised and covered by almost every form of media possible, would you had even known or cared? How many cases of child abuse/neglect and/or other children’s death have you read about, caught up on, and followed through until someone was tried in court? How truthful are you being about how much you care about the welfare and justice of children, when you only truly post anything or care because everyone else has jumped on the bandwagon of caring for ONE child vs the thousands of children that are facing similar tragic experiences.



We can create millions of candlelight vigils, host a mob to attack Casey Anthony, complain on facebook and join groups that show just how much you hate Casey Anthony, but let’s face it. We cannot bring Caylee back from the dead, and we can’t retry Casey for the death of her child. It is over. What is NOT over is the children suffering every day without a single media source covering the damage that is happening to them and not a single person caring THAT MUCH to personally involve themselves in ways to change the system. To fight for their rights since they are incapable of speaking up for themselves, and putting them first. Don’t wait until it’s too late to try and make a change for the children who still need YOUR HELP and YOUR VOICE. Read, research, find a way to make a difference, use Facebook as a tool to unite a group to save the children of our country, our world. Fight for the children to save their lives, don’t lazily write posts on facebook that will do nothing positive or make any change.



Think about it.

http://news.yahoo.com/caylees-law-petition-drive-missing-child-laws-change-234203533.html

http://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/2011/070711.asp

http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/statistics/can.cfm

Grilled Porkchops with Chilled Bean and Tomato Salad

As found in Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine (May/June 2011 Volume 3 Issue 2)

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper, divided
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 (15 oz) cans of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons minced celery
• 2 tablespoons chopped celery leaves
• 4 (1 inch thick) bone in center-cut pork chops (about 2 1/4 lbs)
• 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning

1. In a medium bowl, combine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Gradually whisk on oil. Add beans, tomatoes, parsley, celery and celery leaves. Cover and chill 1 hour.
2. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat; coat with nonstick nonflammable cooking spray. Sprinkle both sides of pork chops with remaining teaspoon of salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Add pork chops to pan; cook for 4 minutes on each side, or until desired degree of doneness, reducing heat to medium if necessary. Sprinkle pork with italian seasoning. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
3. Stir bean sala. Spoon onto serving platter, and top with pork chops. Garnish with celery leaves, if desired.

Engagement Chicken and "Please a Crowd" Salad

As found in "100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know"

For Chicken

• 1 whole chicken (approximately 4 pounds)

• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, plus 3 whole lemons—including 1 sliced for garnish
• 1 tablespoon kosher or coarse sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• Fresh herbs for garnish (4 rosemary sprigs, 4 sage sprigs, 8 thyme sprigs, and 1 bunch fl at-leaf parsley)

1. Position an oven rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Remove the giblets from the chicken, wash the chicken inside and out with cold water, then let the chicken drain, cavity down, in a colander for 2 minutes.

2. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Place the chicken breast-side down in a medium roasting pan fi tted with a rack and pour the lemon juice all over the chicken, both inside and out. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper inside and out.

3. Prick 2 whole lemons three times each in three different places with a fork and place them deep inside the cavity. Chicken cavity size may vary, so if one lemon is partly sticking out, that’s fine. (Tip: If the lemons are stiff, roll them on the countertop with your palm before pricking to get the juices flowing.)

4. Put the chicken in the oven, lower the oven temperature to 350°F, and roast, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

5. Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Using tongs or two wooden spoons, turn the chicken breast- side up. Insert a meat thermometer in the thigh, and return the chicken to the oven and roast for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the meat thermometer reads 180°F and the juices run clear when the thigh is pricked with a fork. Continue roasting if necessary. Keep in mind that cooking times in different ovens vary; roasting a chicken at 350°F takes approximately 18-20 minutes per pound, plus an additional 15 minutes.

6. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving. And here’s the secret: Pour the juices from the roasting pan on top of the

For Salad

• 2 pints red or yellow cherry tomatoes
• olive oil for drizzling
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• leaves from 6 thyme sprigs
• 1 bag washed baby spinach
• 3 Belgian endives, thickly sliced
• 6 ounces blue cheese

Dressing

• 1/2 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup olive oil

1.) Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread tomatoes on rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and thyme toss tomatoes gently to coat
2.) Roast the tomatoes for 15 minutes, or until almost bursting. (Check carefully during the last 5 minutes to avoid bursting. If any do burst remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon.) Remove from oven and let cool.
3.) While the tomatoes are roasting, prepare the dressing: in a small bowl, combine the shallot, mustard, and lemon juice, and add a little salt and pepper. Whisk in 1/3 cup olive oil in a slow, steady stream.
4.) In a salad bowl, combine the spinach, endives and roasted tomatoes. Crumble the cheese over the salad and add mustard-lemon dressing. Toss Gently.

NYC FOOD

So this past weekend I went to New York City to visit college roommates with my sister. The food was amazing. The walking of the city was fun. I visited Brooklyn, Manhattan, Bronx. I went to Bushwick, Williamsburg (which I plan on living in when I AM RICH), Union Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, and even Harlem (So sad to not have run into Bill Clinton). It was very excited & tiring, but I will update with some pictures of our eats.

Changing my sleep clock.

I think I have successfully trained my body to want to go to bed around 11pm. Usually I am tired or relaxing by that time and head to bed, which is great compared to my biological sleep clock wanting to go to bed 1-4am. Not cool, which made it so I had to sleep in til the afternoon.

Next step: Getting it so I am used to waking up earlier in the morning. Today I set my alarm for 9am. I am used to getting up around 10, so this change wasn't too drastic and I went to be at midnight so I got 9 hours of sleep. I would like to train my body to get up at 7 am. So a couple weeks at 9am. A couple weeks at 8am, and then up at 7am. Especially for the summer, so I can enjoy as much time outside as possible.

Let's see if it works!!

Endorphins.

Okay, so on a very positive note. I love when you can recognize the difference in your mentality when it comes to exercising almost everyday, and how your mental health decreases when you stop for a few.

I woke up this morning with no vigor to get out of bed. When I did get out of bed, I was sluggish and grumpy. I am not the most cheerful and happy go lucky person you will meet, I am pretty close to being the exact opposite even with exercise and a good mood. However, when I able to exercise, I am able to get out of bed without really needing to push myself, and I am able to have more control over my anger outbursts.

I think that this is amazing. You read about it in magazines but when you can actually feel the difference it's like being amidst your own psychology science experiment! Another reason to keep up with the exercise :)

Cabbage Soup Fail!

I was not able to finish out my diet this week! I know I know, I am admitting defeat to my long-lasting relationship with food. I am not sure how I feel about the whole "diet".
I am going to point out a few reasons as to why I felt I disagreed and admit I was weak and failed to fast for a week!

1. First and Foremost, I only call this a diet because that's what it is postmarked on the internet. I did this for effects of helping myself lose weight (since I hit a plateau) but mainly, I believe that cleansing diets are important for digestive health. I was once told that your body does not allow things to "get stuck" and you do not need cleanses to get healthy. I disagree with that considering valuable organs get clogged with fat and cholesterol all the time, there is no doubt in my mind that digestive organs wont get clogged or have fecal matter stuck in them. I think it's really important to keep up with the health of all your organs and in my mind a cleanse is for the health of your Poop making system!
2. I strongly disagree with the idea of starvation. I know that a lot of people cut calories to lose weight, but your body at resting state requires around 1200 to function without even adding in the extra of exercise. When you cut below that, your body has nothing to keep sustaining itself and it causes you to start storing things as fat, etc. I decided with the lack of serious calories.... I shouldn't exercise like crazy so my body wouldn't get confused and start storing things that it shouldn't as fat! So I lacked exercise which was not helping me out mentally.
3. It's very hard to do this diet when your partner in crime is very dramatic and feels like the lack of foods is causing them to die. Lack of food causes you to be already slightly moody and to have to deal with dramatics of someone constantly saying they are going to faint/have a headache/ can't go on.... not a fun time!
   

That's just my opinion. Overall, I thought it was great, and I also think I was able to to eat a lot of calories even if it was just fruits/vegetables... you just gotta make sure you keep eating. However, it is also supposed to be a mini fast. And like I said, I don't believe that has good effects on your body!

Day #2 of Cabbage Soup Diet!

Well, today is day two. I can eat as many raw, fresh, or cooked (with no additives) vegetables as I want as well as, as much cabbage soup.

I woke up at 10am, and drank my usual 2 cups of coffee with creamer and splenda. After this I chopped up some fresh Cauliflower and I've been munching on it for the past 30 minutes. I thought today would be easier, but I am not a professional at eating a lot of vegetables without additives, but I am also not complaining. Fresh/raw vegetables are great for you. I used to eat them straight out of the garden as a kid. I'm just not used to it today.

I did not focus on the meditation part of this diet yesterday and hope to do more of that today. In an hour or so I will eat my first bowl of cabbage soup.

As for the bathroom diaries, nothing crazy has happened at all, so this either means I eat enough fiber in a day normally or.... I don't know what else! More later.

Okay, So now it is 2:20pm. I haven't been as hungry for food today as I was yesterday but I've also been constantly sipping on my favorite tea, Tazo (Wild Sweet Orange) pictures to the left of this. Yummy! Still no crazy poop stories, which is leading me to believe that when we froze the soup it may have taken some of the qualities from it (The soup was made a week ago but because I had some many appointments and errands I didn't want to have to poop like crazy while I had these) or my digestive health is crazy tolerant of things that are supposed to make you go poo! Hahaha. I've so far eaten one bowl of soup and the cauliflower I mentioned earlier this post. So, I'm doing pretty well. I think I may eat a salad of spinach and cucumbers and peppers just because we bought a mass quantity of fresh vegetables and I don't want them to go to waste. I googled it and you're allowed to have 1 tablespoon oil and one tablespoon vinegar for the entire day. So I could break it up and do teaspoon and a half of each and eat two salads today and two tomorrow?? Oh and for dinner I get to look forward to a baked potato... AND MORE SOUP. Hahaha! The voyage continues.

Day #1 of Cabbage Soup Diet!

Okay, so despite efforts of people telling me the side effects of cabbage soup diet will not be worth it. I decided I am going to go forward with it even if it makes me poop like crazy. I want to focus on the cleansing/fasting effects rather than any of the negatives. I want to train myself to sustain on smaller amounts of food, and I want to feel good. This diet had an emphasis on some breath work which, if anyone has taken yoga, knows is pretty important especially with meditating.

Today the goal is to only eat fruit and cabbage soup. The new diet incorporates protein shakes.

So far I've eaten a fruit salad (which included some yogurt which wasn't part of the diet but it was nonfat/ vanilla and yogurt helps with digestive system so I DON'T SEE A PROBLEM ha!), a pear, 2 cups of coffee, and a bowl of cabbage soup. We'll see how the rest of the day treats me!

Okay, it is 2:45pm. I ate lunch and did some cleaning and read some of my book. Started feeling hungry so I went out to the kitchen munched on a couple strawberries and half a bowl of cabbage soup. I'm starting to feel like I'm wanting other foods other than fruits, so it's getting a little tough for me at this point however I am keeping my eye on the prize. Also, still no crazy pooping action, I am hoping to avoid that altogether since I maintain a pretty healthy fiber diet anyways! We shall see, dinner is in 2 more hours which will probably be another portion of fruit salad and a bowl of soup! Probably add some cayenne pepper this time :)

10:34pm: I ate dinner today which was a bowl of cabbage soup and a bowl of fruit salad. Went shopping, and returned home. I had another bowl of cabbage soup and 2 plums! While watching a movie and relaxing. So far, the only crazyness I've experienced is I've had to pee like a pregnant lady :)

Oh and I did a face mask: So that's my first day. Tomorrow is all veggies. Today I made it by, by eating a lot of soup. I wonder what tomorrow will be like? We shall see!

Cabbage Soup Diet

Okay, My sister introduced me to the Cabbage Soup Diet. I decided I am going to try it out and I think I'll document my experience in here. So here we go. Here is the recipe:

Cabbage Soup Recipe

• 6 large green onions
• 2 green peppers
• 1 or 2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole)
• 3 Carrots
• 1 Container (10 oz. or so) Mushrooms
• 1 bunch of celery
• half a head of cabbage
• 1 package Lipton soup mix
• 1 or 2 cubes of bouillon (optional)
• 1 48oz can V8 juice (optional)
• Season to taste with salt, pepper, parsley, curry, garlic powder, etc.

Directions:

Slice green onions, put in a pot and start to saute with cooking spray.

Cut green pepper stem end off and cut in half, take the seeds and membrane out. Cut the green-pepper into bite size pieces and add to pot.

Take the outer leafs layers off the cabbage, cut into bite size pieces, add to pot.

Clean carrots, cut into bite size pieces, and add to pot.

Slice mushrooms into thick slices, add to pot.

If you would like a spicy soup, add a small amount of curry or cayenne pepper now.

You can use beef or chicken bouillon cubes for seasonings. These have all the salt and flavors you will need.

Use about 12 cups of water (or 8 cups and the V8 juice), cover and put heat on low. Let soup cook for a long time - two hours works well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Here is what I need to do for the next 7 days:

Remember: This diet should only be followed for 7 days at a time, with at least two weeks in between.

Day One:
Fruit: Eat all of the fruit you want (except bananas). Eat only your soup and the fruit for the first day. For drinks- unsweetened teas, cranberry juice and water.

Day Two:
Vegetables: Eat until you are stuffed will all fresh, raw or cooked vegetables of your choice. Try to eat leafy green vegetables and stay away from dry beans, peas and corn. Eat all the vegetables you want along with your soup. At dinner, reward yourself with a big baked potato with butter. Do not eat fruit today.

Day Three:
Mix Days One and Two: Eat all the soup, fruits and vegetables you want. No Baked Potato.

Day Four:
Bananas and Skim Milk: Eat as many as eight bananas and drink as many glasses of skim milk as you would like on this day, along with your soup. This day is supposed to lessen your desire for sweets.

Day Five:
Beef And Tomatos: Ten to twenty ounces of beef and up to six fresh tomtoes. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water this day to wash the uric acid from your body. Eat your soup at least once this day. You may eat broiled or baked chicken instead of beef (but absolutely no skin-on chicken). If you prefer, you can substitute broiled fish for the beef one one of the beef days (but not both).

Day Six:
Beef and Vegetables: Eat to your heart's content of beef and vegetables this day. You can even have 2 or 3 steaks if you like, with leafy green vegetables. No Baked Potato. Eat your soup at least once.

Day Seven:
Brown rice, unsweetened fruit juices and vegetables: Again stuff, stuff, stuff yourself. Be sure to eat your soup at least once this day.

Found Here

So, My mom made the soup I took a little cup full to try it out and it tastes pretty good. I read a blog post that someone else also liked the soup, at two bowls and then ended up pooping for an entire night! Ahh. I am going to freeze the soup, because I forgot about multiple appointments I have this week, and some of them would just not be comfortable or wise to be needing to poop during! So, I will start this up the following Saturday & we will mark the adventures here!

Superbowl Sunday

I am not including recipes this time, just because they are so basic and can be found on food.com.

They both turned out amazing though and I will say I think the trick to cooking pizza right is putting it in the oven for 5 or 10 minutes first before any toppings so it cooks and gets crispy.

SO YUMMY.

This is a picture of my very first Chicago style deep dish pizza. I love pizza in all its forms, and yes you will probably catch me grabbing for a thin sliced New York style pizza faster than this, but I cannot explain how amazing the deep dish is!! it's unique and tasty for sure!

To stay on track:

When I feel overwhelmed, I look to other sources for positivity. I am trying to remain on top of my a-game and am trying to stay positive even when negativity is kicking my teeth in. It is not easy. Here are some quotes that are helping me seek understanding.

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
— Mother Teresa

Some people in my life are having a tough time getting over my imperfections. They are constantly trying to drag me down and rub my face in my mistake. It's not helping me at all, and it makes sense that while they are doing this, judging me, they also do not have time to truly love me. It is not fair, but it is the way it is.

"It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not."
— André Gide

I suppose I must deal with people hating me for making my mistake. It is better for them to hate me for being a person with errors and imperfections, than being loved the way I was, unhappy and abusing alcohol to seek out happiness. When, now, with the realization that I was going down a dark and dangerous path, I can change and be happy and healthy. I'd rather be hated for making a mistake, then loved and continuing to hurt myself.

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."
— George Eliot

Just because things happen and you lose track, doesn't mean you can't ever get back on track. To err' is human. We can always be what we might have been. We can always be what we want to be.


"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bad things happen, it is up to us to move on and take each new day on with optimism and hope that things will get better. There is always a new day, and there is no reason to carry on with should have could have would haves of the past. The only thing we can change is now.


"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone."
— Bill Cosby

For as long as I live people will withhold expectations for me. Sometimes, I will be able to meet them. Sometimes I will not. Sometimes people will not be able to accept me as I am. I will not progress if I let these people falter or ruin my steps and if I try to change myself to please their needs.

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."
— Robert Frost

Although at times we may wish that life could stop and we could go back. Life moves forward. No matter what, life goes on. It continues, the best you can do is to move with it and do the best you can to make the future brighter.


"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."
— J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)

People who treat those who are beneath them as they are crap, are not good people. People that treat those below them with respect and help them on their way, are good people.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

• 8 oz. dried medium noodles
• 16 oz package frozen whole or cut green beans
• 1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 2 tbsp butter or margarine
• 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 1/2 cups chopped red or green sweet pepper
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 10.75 oz cans condensed cream of mushroom or celery soup
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded process Swiss or American cheese
• 2 9.25 oz cans of tuna drained and flaked

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook noodles according to package directions, adding the green beans the last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, toss the bread crumbs with the 2 tablespoons melted butter; set aside.
1. In an extra large skillet melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms, sweet peppers, onion, celery, and garlic. Cook and stir until vegetables are tender. Add soup milk, and cheese, stirring until cheese is melted. Stir in tuna, cooked noodles, and green beans.
2. Spoon tuna mixture into a 3 quart casserole. Sprinkle bread crumb mixture around outside edge of casserole. Bake, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes or until baked through and bread crumbs are golden.
   

The Life Before Her Eyes

Okay, this post is going to include movie spoilers, so if you hate them and would like to watch the movie on your own first, then don't read the rest of this.

So, I decided I wanted to watch a movie this morning, opened up netflix and a movie they recommended was "the life before her eyes". It's a movie about a school shooting, perhaps I watched it a little too soon to the Tuscon events, but I cried my eyes out. I hate the idea of shootings. That all of these innocent people just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't understand it. I don't know how any person has it in them to hurt another.

Okay so this movie is being shot back and forth between a teenage girl, and that girl as an adult. It's not as confusing like some of the movies with shot like this can be. You are well aware that it is the same girl and they are going back and forth between her life then and her life now.

It was a variety of different important events for the girl, and her learning experience. A quote that I feel needs to be brought up, "Conscience is the voice of God in the nature and heart of man." was delivered by a "professor" in the film. It is a quote that I truly believe in, and I believe the girl does as well. She is also very inspired by the her science teacher informing her, "And if there's anything I want you guys to take with you from this class, as you're abusing your bodies over break, is three things: the heart is the body's strongest muscle, that the brain has more cells in it than our galaxy has stars, and that the body is 72% water. So wherever you go over vacation, don't get too dehydrated.".

The main character during her teen years struggles a lot with her life. She passes through some very difficult situations, perhaps one falling in love with an older boy, who she has sex with. She becomes offended by the word slut and her best friend asks her if she is so offended by the term why does she does what she does? She explains that it was a choice made out of love, from her heart. She becomes pregnant and loses the baby, and ends up leaving the boy. I guess, she questions a lot. She struggles with believing the heart is the strongest muscle in the body, because hers hurts so badly from her loses. Also, her best friend if highly religious and a very good friend to her and she questions why she deserves such a good person in her life.

The main character during her adult life, raises her daughter with the professor she seen speak in her youth. She is a teacher, and she's trying to get through the 15 year anniversary of the school shooting. As she does many of the things through her daily life, she remembers bits and pieces of her past. Her daughter is becoming difficult. She finds her husband with another woman. She decides to visit the scene of the shooting with flowers.

At the end of the film, it ties the whole thing together. As she is walking to school as a teenager, she stops at a graveyard for children who haven't made it, there she stops at the post for her unborn child, Emma. This is the name of the child she has as an adult. As she is walking into the school as an adult, a student asks if she is a survivor and she should sit at a specific spot. She exclaims no and walks into the school to place flowers around. They replay the shooting scene, and the shooter asks them who will die. Originally Maureen said he should shoot her. As the scene passes, the main character tells him to shoot her, replaying the quote, "Conscience is the voice of God in the nature and heart of man". The idea here is that the teenage life was what she had already experienced, and the adult life would have been what she imagined would have been so. Right before the shooter killed her. That's what she experienced. The idea is caught with the title, being that people say when you die, your life flashes before your eyes.

Thought the movie was put together very well, especially for an independent film. Definite recommendation. I cried, a lot, which is not common with me and movies. I guess, it was just easy to make it real with the fact that this is what could really happen in one of these tragedies.

Florentine Chicken-Artichoke Bake

(From The Potluck Cookbook

7 cups dried bow tie pasta

1/4 cup of butter

2/3 cup chopped onion

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups milk

2 tsp dried Italian seasoning, crushed

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

4 cups chopped cooked chicken

4 cups of monterey jack cheese

2 14 oz can of artichoke hearts, drained and quartered

2 10oz packages of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained.

1 cup oil packed dried tomatoes, drained and chopped.

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup soft bread crumbs

1 tsp paprika

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain; set aside. Meanwhile, in a large skillet melt one half of the butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir about 5 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat, set aside.
2. In a VERY LARGE BOWL, whisk together milk, eggs, and italian seasoning. Stir in chicken, monterey jack cheese, artichoke hearts, spinach, and tomatoes, and half of the Parmesan cheese. Toss with the cooked pasta and cooked onion mixture. Divide mixture into two 3 quart rectangular backing dishes. Cover with foil.
3. Bake for 20 minutes, meanwhile in a small saucepan, melt the remaining butter; Remove from heat. Stir in remaining Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, and paprika. Sprinkle crumb mixture over pasta. Bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes more or until heated through.

My Two Cents:

1. THIS RECIPE IS FOR A POTLUCK SO FOR A SMALLER FAMILY PLEASE CUT IT IN HALF!!!
2. I used fresh baby spinach that was starting to get soggy and wilty in my fridge, you can microwave it and it will be just like the frozen stuff.
   
3. Bring a big appetite for this, it's delicious and really filling.

Overactive Imagination?

I cannot watch graphic movies that include crime/murder/horror. People can judge me all they want for it, but I can't help it. First of all I don't like thinking about horrible things happening to people. I can recognize that it exists, but that doesn't mean I want to think about it. If I do think about it, I will be consistently paranoid.

Recently, the my Dad has been on a crime kick about true stories of people who have been murdered. I cook and this stuff is on tv, so as much as I try, no matter what I am hearing about it and thinking about it...

So then, when people stop talking to me because they are annoyed or whatever... I automatically assume they have been murdered now! What the heck, weirdo! I am just letting my imagination take over, and assume some freaky stuff. I wish I wasn't like this, because it is seriously a bit much.

So, after a short talk with a friend, she talked me out of worrying so much... and told me to avoid these shows. Looks like I'll be listening to my ipod tonight while cooking.

Taco Pasta

(As From "The Potluck Cookbook")

4 oz dried penne

1 lb uncooked ground chicken

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 cups of water

1 1.25 oz envelope of taco seasoning mix

1 11oz can of whole kernel corn with sweet peppers (I found this in the store as "mexicorn")

1 cup of sliced pitted ripe olives

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup salsa

1 4oz can of diced green chile peppers, drained

4 cups of shredded lettuce

tomatoes cut into thin wedges

Optional: Tortilla Chips & Sour Cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Cook Pasta according to directions, drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile in a large skillet cook ground chicken and onion, until meat is brown; drain the fat. Return to the skillet. Stir in the water and taco seasoning mix. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cooked pasta, corn, olives, half of the shredded cheese, salsa, and chile peppers.
3. Transfer mixture to a lightly greased 3-quart rectangular casserole. Bake, covered, about 45 minutes or until heated through. Remove from the oven; sprinkle with remaining cheese.
4. Serve with lettuce, tomato wedges, and if desired tortilla chips and sour cream.

My Two Cents:

1. Very easy to make!
2. Learned a new tip from my sister today, if you ever have a very potent onion, soak it in ice cold water for about 30 minutes, this helps get rid of that overpowering (and gross) taste.
   
3. I used more cheese, because I am a cheese addict.
   
4. The original recipe is actually double all the ingredients (it is for a potluck where you would want to make a lot) The amount I made would be good for a large family probably about 6 or 8 servings. If you have a smaller family, cut it in half again! YUMMY!
5. The book said this is a "kid favorite". Since I am a child stuck in an adults body, I can confirm that this is true so if you have some kid appetites to feed, hook them up with this!!
   

Make Yourself Feel Beautiful

I woke up this morning feeling low and down. I think it is a direct correlation with staying up until early morning (3am) and my mood. I decided to put on some make up and curl my hair (which I got cut yesterday) and do a mini photo-shoot of myself so I could feel pretty and get out of my nasty-ness. I also cooked dinner, but I didn't take pictures. It was a Spinach Chicken Roll Up. (Looks similar to chicken cordon bleu). I am glad I didn't take a picture because it wasn't tasty and I wouldn't recommend it.

Anyways, here is my photoshoot to feel better about myself. Enjoy, or don't, it's still here for people to look at.

Progress.

Well, I am not going to lie, this post started out as a completely negative post. I have found that on days I stay up past midnight, I wake up the next day (even after 8 hours of sleep) feeling lethargic and down. I lack motivation and I am easily upset, by little things. Not a fan! Anyways, so to avoid this from happening, I am going to start working on making sure I am asleep by midnight, no matter how engrossed in a book, television show, movie, or facebook I might be. I've already discussed that I have an issue with winding down, but I guess the issue has always been that I want to be one of those people that can go to bed at 9pm and wake up at like 5am. It just seems like the thing you're supposed to do as an adult. Reality is, I am never tired until at least 10pm, and aiming to be asleep by midnight still means I can wake up early (8 hours of sleep would be 8am) Blah blah blah. Who cares why am I writing so much about this.

So, as I started my day a grumpy monkey... I did multiple things to try and feel good. I took a long shower, and in the shower, I tried repeating in my head. "today is a good day, today is a good day, today is a good day". I wasn't really convinced but I was clean and relaxed. I ate some ramen noodles for breakfast, and caught up on two of my favorite shows... that was pretty fun... so then I decided to put on make up because I always like doing that and decided to take pictures of myself. It's weird, perhaps conceited, but I have been working like a mad dog to lose weight and feel good, so if in some pictures I feel pretty, it should help.

Talked to two lovely ladies from my past today.
Both of which reminded me the benefits of remaining positive, without actually telling me benefits, just talking about their lives motivated me to get back on track.

So here I am, rewriting what was a hateful post into a positive wahoo.

• I have decided to start working on 6 miles a day, when I was only doing 3 miles of walk away the lbs. So far, I've done it two days in a row. I took a day off, and then I did 3 miles today, tomorrow I will do 6 miles again.
• I have cut my hair again, and I used a "Brass Banisher" to help make it not so yellow from a box blond. I stayed away from touching my roots, and was hoping to tone down the blond in my hair right now so it wouldn't look so trashy as I grow out my hair to my natural color. (believe me, i might be blond but the blond I chose, is really really blond and the roots I have growing in almost really look tacky)
• I am trying to stay away from the scale so I cannot mark an progress on weight loss, just because the numbers right now are making me more sad than happy.
• I rewarded myself with some new movies VERSUS getting drinks at the bar. ( I have Valentine's Day, He's Just Not That Into You, and The Sweetest Thing en route to my house) (OH, plus a new book).

I guess that's about it, trying to think positively isn't always easy so I'm not really thinking of much else I've done that's good :) Have a nice day.

Imagine Cover by Sam Tsui

You can say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

A negative with another negative must be a positive...

Since I've cleared my head of the rant of stigma against Mental Health, now I can run my mouth regarding politicians and their lack of brain cells when it comes to crisis.

Since the tragedy one week ago, I've seen politicians make ridiculous statements on how they are going to "fix" this situation. One of the first things I heard was one politician claimed he is going to carry his own fire-arm. Okay, great, if that helps you feel more protected and sleep better at night great! Can you please tell me what this is going to solve? Let's fight violence with more violence, yes, this makes complete sense to me.

I understand that most Americans feel it is their right to own, possess, have access to a gun. Whatever, cool, own a gun. How many people have done research to understand that our country is one of the highest ranking with murders caused by guns?? Although people may feel that it may not relate to them and their gun, how many people are aware of accidental homicides. Or How many are aware that their gun could end up in the wrong persons hands via theft? What about the children in the homes of the negligent parent?? Yes, unfortunately they exist (far more often than you think) and yes they most likely have a gun in their house. Whatever, who cares about those statistics, they only matter when it happens to you anyways...

Let's just think of the reality of this. Sure, we should have the right to guns. How come it is so ridiculously hard to get a loan for a car or a home, but it is so easy to get a gun? How come a person cannot easily get a car, which gets them to a job to PAY for a car and a home. Unless they are lucky enough to have a co-signer, or GREAT credit (which let's face it, barely anyone has). But, Anyone can easily walk into wal-mart or where ever and get a gun? Oh, well I guess it makes sense, so all of the homeless have something to protect themselves while they live on the streets... Right? Come on, THINK ABOUT IT! Make it harder to obtain a gun! I know this might piss some people off because then they might have to have the IQ of someone smarter than a fifth grader...Maybe then we won't have the "crazies" walking around shooting people up like it's their job. Just because they can't get a gun! Haha, wait what??? This sounds too simple... why would we make it harder to get a gun...Let all the fools run around with them... let's continue the trend of murders and be proud that we are a country who prides ourselves on FREEDOM and MURDER!!!!

Then, making comments on restricting freedom of speech?? Oh, because people so freely have been fighting and being negative. This must have caused Jared Loughner to act a fool and shoot them up. Especially since he posted a video that helped get him suspended about being ticked off that his college took away his freedom of speech. Get with it, Republicans and Democrats have opposing opinions, they have never gotten along and there has always been negative opinions and arguments between the two... this doesn't cause people to shoot people up. Encouraging and giving praise to arguments by offering more airtime on television to NEGATIVE things doesn't promote us to live with peace, but... it's not going to make people shoot people. Graphic video games and movies might increase people's aggression and desensitize them to murder and blood. Still, right and wrong is clearly defined for us all... we all know the reality... or we all should know reality...

but we live in a society that encourages violence, prioritizes this in media. we live in a society that does not support receiving appropriate treatment for health issues (including mental). we don't live in a society that encourages peace and trying to get along with others. We live in a society that likes to place blame and look at things in retrospect with anger and disappointment rather than take responsibility and look to the future with hopes of preventing these feelings from occurring again.

Ah, educated politicians, you are fools when it come to crisis.
The message you have delivered to me is when something bad happens it is best to think like a fool and blame the easiest scapegoat. Take the first exit and ignore the future.

Pursuit of Happiness- KiD CuDi

Did KiD CuDi seriously write the anthem to my generation?

The war on stigma

I originally wrote this and realized that the main issue of my rant was not clearly being stated and I was getting confusing with other issues I debated throughout my rant. So here is my second try and hopefully this time my words are much clearer.

Recently our country faced a devastating tragedy where a 22 year old male decided to walk into a supermarket and shot 19 people, killing 6 and injuring 13. A week has passed since the tragic event and I’ve watched the news cover the story faithfully, searching for answers. Here we are again, another shooting in America, and we are looking for something or someone to blame.

Terry Newell, in his article for The Huffington Post, states, “The question of responsibility can quickly lead to invective instead of insight. That has already begun in the typical attempt to fix blame. But blame is not the same as responsibility. Blame, derived from the Latin blashemare, means "to rebuke, reprimand, condemn, criticize." Responsible, derived from the Latin responsus, means "to be morally accountable for one's actions." Blame is a one way focus on what others have done. Responsibility is a two-way conversation on what we owe to each other. If we seek to fix blame instead of responsibility, we take the mentally easy way out. The former requires only anger. The latter requires fact, analysis, and empathic dialogue”. Newell’s words could not be more true or ingenious. We can hastily and easily place blame on everything around us, we can out of anger and remorse push off the blame onto this or that instead of taking responsibility for the course of action that was taken. Blame is a quick fix, responsibility would require us to think about what we should do from now on.

With that in mind, let’s turn to where my concern sets in. Like I’ve mentioned, I’ve tuned into the news and watched them jump the gun to blame this and to blame that. One thing I have seen blamed was the fact that Jared L. Loughner has psychological issues, the possibility of schizophrenia or bipolar. Okay, so it has already begun, blaming a mental health issue rather than taking responsibility for their being a huge deficit in the care of mental health.

First, I want to mention that we already have a huge stigma against mental health disorders. People have been unfortunately raised to think that a mental health diagnosis makes you “crazy”, and who wants to be categorized as crazy. The worst part is, no one realizes that each and every person has some sort of mental obstacle to overcome. No one has a perfect brain, no one functions 100% perfectly. We all learn to deal with our mental obstacles differently, some of us are better at it than others. Some of us need to seek out help from counselors and psychiatrists. There shouldn’t be a stigma against seeking out help for these issues, we all have them. Now, we can be afraid to be diagnosed with something that Jared L. Loughner had, and that we will end up just like him if we are diagnosed with it. It would be better to just pretend otherwise so we don’t have to be judged negatively.

I can say that I have a lot of experience within the mental health field within my professional and personal life. I have met more than a handful of people who self-medicate with the use of alcohol and other illegal drugs. Heck, I’ve even known people to take other people’s prescriptions of anti-depressants because they couldn’t go to the doctor themselves. When ever I’ve brought up seeking out a real counselor, people will insinuate they don’t need to, there is nothing wrong with them. Yet, day in and day out they are seeking escapes through drug abuse? Then I’ve seen the other end of the spectrum, the people who seek out help but receive treatment regimens that are never going to help them. I worked with children with mental illnesses and I seen so many that were put on high dosages of medications that made them drool and lack coherency. So we either aren’t seeking and getting treatment or are receiving treatment that isn’t going to help the problem.

So there are articles and suggestions for parents to help seek out professional help for their children to prevent another Jared L. Loughner from happening. That surely is great and hopefully eventually would work, but right now we lack professionals capable or willing to actually work on the problems our children and people have. They’d rather we give the quick fix of medication, so we can end up with scenarios like Michael Jackson, a mentally ill individual dying of a drug overdose because his doctor prescribed a handful of medications and never thought for a second that there could be a consequence of an early death. Sure, some people do need medications to regulate the neurotransmitters in their brain, but, beyond that turning any person into a medicated zombie is just unnatural and unnecessary.

The most interesting part of this whole scenario, at least to me, is that it is constantly brought up that yes, Jared L Loughner (oh and PLENTY OTHERS) slipped through the mental health system. There were several reports from the staff at the community college where Mr. Loughner attended that clearly showed that there was fear that he could harm others. SEVERAL REPORTS and attempts for Mr. Loughner to receive an evaluation. However, he slipped through the cracks because our laws can only force this upon someone if he is a direct threat to causing self-harm or harm to another. When will America learn that have such loose laws is just going to continue with people like Jared L. Loughner or Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to be able to continue without receiving appropriate medical attention for their mental health issues. I’ve personally been involved in situations in a work scenario, where I’ve called the police because a child was acting in a harmful way and needed an evaluation but because he did nothing to hurt himself or another (yet), there was nothing they could do. What is that? Who are we really helping by doing this?

Until we raise awareness, until we stop the stigma against mental health issues, We will never truly get people the help they need. We will never truly take responsibility for what needs to be done, what hasn’t been done, what our mental health professionals should be doing and aren’t. Until then, we will continue to see this trend increase and continue to experience these unfortunate tragedies. If you are reading this, do yourself a favor and educate yourself. Become aware and support the cause for Mental Health. We should support and love each other, and that means accepting each other even if we need help. We do owe taking this responsibility to each other.

Sweet-and-Sour Chicken

(As found in Taste of Home Guilt Free Cooking)

• 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into strips
• 1 medium carrot, sliced
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 small zucchini
  
• 1 cup snow peas
• 1/2 medium sweet red or green pepper, cut into strips
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 can (6 ounces) pineapple juice
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 can unsweetened pineapple chunks, drained
• 2 cups hot cooked rice

1. In a non-stick skillet, cook the chicken, carrot and onion in oil until the chicken is browned. Add the zucchini, peas, and red pepper; cook and stir until vegetables are crisp-tender.
2. In a bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, pepper and pineapple juice until smooth. Stir in the ketchup, lemon juice and soy sauce. Pour over chicken mixture. Add the pineapple. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve over rice.

My Two Cents:

1. The sauce flavor was the closest I've gotten to "take out Chinese" sweet and sour sauce. So thumbs up
2. Problem: I wish the sauce was more red and colorful on the rice, that's all.
3. Taste wise, it was scrumptious.