Recipe: Chocolate Pistachio Bundt Cake

This is my very first Tasty Tuesday post! If you are new, welcome! Please stay awhile and look around! I hope you enjoy my blog! 

I was super skeptical about this recipe when Mom brought it home from the lake.  Chocolate syrup IN a cake?  Pistachio pudding mix?  I couldn't imagine it would be good, even though Mom kept repeating that it was excellent.  I really should learn to trust her.  Especially when it comes to chocolate.  Mom is always right when it comes to chocolate.  Always. 

Anyway, don't let the ingredients through you off.  I've never had pistachio pudding, but this cake didn't taste like the nut at all.  Nor did it taste of orange juice, despite having a 1/2 cup in it.  We made this cake according to the directions, except we couldn't find a 3 oz box of the pudding mix, so we bought three small boxes (I think they were 1 oz each).  The cake was really green, more so than Mom remembered, so we may just add 2 boxes next time.  We used Jello brand pistachio instant pudding for future reference.  We also decided that 1/2 cup chocolate syrup would be fine; 3/4 cup felt like too much.  I found a different recipe online that called for 1/2 cup, so next time we try it, we'll use 1/2 cup.

Chocolate Pistachio Bundt Cake

1 pkg. yellow cake mix (about 18 oz.)
1 pkg. instant pistachio pudding mix (3 oz.)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 - 3/4 cup chocolate syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a bundt pan.* 

Combine all ingredients except syrup in a large bowl and mix 2 minutes on medium speed with an electric mixer.  Pour 3/4 of the batter into the prepared pan.  Add chocolate syrup to the remaining batter; mix well.  Then pour into pan.  Do not stir or marble; this will happen on its own.  


Bake for 50-60 minutes or until tester comes out clean.  


*A bundt pan is really necessary for this dish, although I imagine a tube pan can be substituted.  You would just lose the pretty look.  

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday.

Menu Plan Monday and Other Things

I took a much needed vacation from life this weekend (which explains my absence from blogging).  I've done this before, and this weekend I needed to rest up to prepare for the week.  This week begins the month long process of moving my library to another part of the hospital.  Today and tomorrow movers are disassembling half my library shelving, moving it to my newly refurbished storage unit, and reassembling it.  Next week my journals that have been in offsite storage since February will be returned to me (yay!) and I can put them back where they belong.  I'm hoping the two weeks after that will have me physically moving the rest of the library to it's new location.  If I remember my camera, I'll post some pictures!

I didn't blog about food waste on Friday, but we did have some.  We wasted some tortillas that had gone stale from when we had chicken fajitas a few weeks ago.  We're having steak fajitas this week, but I'm planning on using the leftover tortillas in turkey roll-ups for lunch to keep them from going to waste.  How did you do this week?  Don't forget to visit The Frugal Girl for more on Food Waste Friday. 

So anyway, I think I have a pretty good menu planned for this week.  In my attempt to try a new recipe every week, I'll be baking the Blueberry Crumb Cake I found over at The Pioneer Woman either today or tomorrow; I'm sure it will be great for breakfast.

We are eating from the freezer this week.  My parents had great luck at the last warehouse sale at one of our local grocery stores, but there is a ton of steak, chicken, and pork left.  So all of our meat (except for a turkey breast that was on sale) will come from the freezer. 

This weekend we ate:
Friday: Mom and Dad - Chicken fingers and mashed potatoes; Elizabeth - out with a friend
Saturday: Hamburgers, Broccoli Salad, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, Chocolate-Pistachio Bundt Cake (new recipe this week!)
Sunday: Mini Thanksgiving in August - Turkey breast, Corn Casserole (recipe coming soon!), Green Bean Casserole

This week we will be eating:
Monday: Pasta and Vegetables in Lemon-Parmesan Sauce
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Steak fajitas (if you have a good recipe please share!), Mexican rice, chips and guacamole
Thursday: Grilled chicken and sausages, campfire potatoes, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes

"Librarians Rule": An Affirmation for Librarians

Whenever I'm feeling down or depressed about my job or when I feel like I'm not valued by my users and coworkers, I always turn to my favorite blog post about the awesomeness of librarians.  "Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian" is the perfect pick-me-up for a day when I'm feeling unappreciated. 

I think my favorite passage is 

"Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the masses. They preserve every aspect of human knowledge. Librarians rule."

Because librarians do rule.  We know this; our patrons know this (or they would if they actually thought about it).  But sometimes we just need a little reminder.  So next time you are feeling a little undervalued or not getting any respect, check this out.  And remind yourself that librarians rule!

Recipe: Orange Oatmeal Muffins

This is a recipe I got from Weight Watches last year when I lost about 25 pounds.  I made them this past weekend again because, when I found the recipe, I couldn't remember if I had made them before or not.  I've made a few changes based on the ingredients I had on hand and based on taste.  

Warning: these are not very sweet muffins and have a tendency to be dry.  I like them heated up a little and spread with butter (or in my case Smart Balance).  When made according to this recipe, there are 3 points in each muffin.  I have no clue how many are in my version. 

Orange Oatmeal Muffins - makes 9 muffins

1 1/2 cups baking mix (suggested Bisquick Heart Smart)

3/4 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup fat-free or 1% milk

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg, beaten

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1/2 tablespoon orange zest (from about 1/2 an orange)

Extra sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 400.  Grease a muffin tin or line with paper liners.*  Combine baking mix, oats, milk, sugar, egg, juice, and zest by hand in a large bowl.  Mix only until just moistened.  Divide batter evenly among 9 muffin tins.  Sprinkle each cup with 1/8 teaspoon of sugar.  Bake 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

*Note: I use a standard 12 cup muffin tin greased with cooking spray.  Because this recipe only makes 9 muffins, I fill the remaining 3 with a few teaspoons of water to keep the pan from scorching.  

A Day in the Life of a Medical Librarian

Last Monday was round 5 of Library Day in the Life, which is an opportunity for librarians around the world to share what they do on a daily basis.  Obviously, I'm a bit late to the party, but I did tweet about my day last Monday using the hashtag #libday5.  So if you follow LibrarianLizy on Twitter, this may be a repeat performance for you.

I think that Library Day in the Life is super interesting and as Lauren suggested, a great way for students to find out what a librarian really does all day.  There aren't that many solo hospital librarians out there (I am one of three in my city) so I thought that some of you might find it interesting to see what I actually do all day.  For those of you who don't care, well, just come back tomorrow when I have a recipe to share. 

8:00 (or there abouts): arrive at my desk, turn on the computer, see if I have any new messages (I don't) and open my office window.  

8:10-9:00: check both email accounts, respond to necessary emails, check FaceBook and Twitter on my phone, write and link up Menu Plan Monday, greet the various doctors who walk past my window, and begin an email exchange with my counterpart at our sister hospital. 

9:00: Weed through my Google Reader, collect recipes from other peoples' MPM posts, play around online.  

9:15: A resident comes in to ask about a CD-ROM program which turns into an actual issue because the program no longer works.  I hunt around looking for a new one, find that it's outrageously expensive, and email our surgery coordinator to find out if someone else will pay for it.  

9:45: Discover it's Library Day in the Life, begin following it on Twitter, and notice that the humidity in my office may rival the humidity outside.

10:00-12:00: Finally break down and continue updating the library's policies and procedures.  This is a very unfun task, but necessary as the they haven't been updated since 2001.  It's very quiet in the library, but that's fairly typical lately.  I think it has something to do with it being oppressively hot outside (why I'm not sure, but I'm convinced they're related).   

12:00: I eat lunch at my desk (leftovers from the weekend) and read a book I brought from home.  I eat at my desk because I usually get the most requests when the residents are at lunch.  I like to hang around from 11:00-1:00 just in case.  Today, though, no requests.

12:30: A shipment of books arrives!  I unpack it excitedly and set them aside to be cataloged later in the afternoon.  These are books I ordered the day I found out my book budget is as large as it is, so I'm really excited to have some nice new books.

1:00: The librarian from the sister hospital calls and says she overwhelmed and asks if I'm busy.  I am most certainly not so she passes me a lit search.  The question: why and how does the JC choose the antibiotics they recommend for the treatment of pneumonia?  I search PubMed and Google for the answer without much luck.  I also try UpToDate, which has the same suggestions but doesn't state how they arrived at that recommendation.  

2:00: I pass along the information that I did find and go back to blog reading and playing around online.  I update our the libraries' blog to share the new books that came in.

2:30 I check Docline (our ILL system) and see that we have no new requests.

2:40: I have a huge "that's what she said" moment (that I won't repeat here) and was very glad that no one was around to witness it.  

3:00: I start cataloging the new books.  I actually have to change part of a MARC record (scary!), but do it successfully.  I create a new Pandora station and listen to show tunes which makes this task go by much faster.  

4:00: I finish cataloging and make a new sign to hang up reflecting the books that have arrived in last month at the library.  

4:30: I frantically remember that I'm not going to be in the office for two days because of a leadership seminar so I make a list of things I need my library assistant to do while I'm gone.  

4:45: Leave work.  This was actually a fairly productive day for me.  Reference work, updating policies and procedures, and cataloging make for a good day!

That was my day! I'm glad this was a good day to share, because I've had some extra quiet days and some days where I'm so busy I can't breathe.  That's life as a solo I'm learning.  Every day is a new adventure! 

Did you participate in Library Day in the Life?  How did your day go?

August Goals

A lot of my favorite bloggers post monthly goals at the beginning of the month and then review them at the end.  I really like this idea and have been meaning to do it for a while.  There are a lot of things I want to accomplish and I'm thinking that setting goals will help me stick to my plan and achieve them.  I plan on posting my monthly goals on the first and reviewing them on the last day of the month.  Obviously I'm a day behind, but I don't think that should count against me.  :)

So my August goals...

 

1. Only put $300 of my paycheck in my checking account each payday.  The rest will be divided up among my 3 savings accounts.  This will help me spend less money and put more money into savings.  Right now I'm concentrating on boasting my emergency fund and potentially (??) saving for another trip to Europe.

2. Seriously look for an apartment.  I hope to be ready to move into my own space by the end of September/first of October. 

3. Try one new recipe each week.  I'm pretty good about this, but I have so many delicious looking recipes that need trying and only so much time to do it in! 

4. Get up 15 minutes earlier every day for my "quiet time".  Quiet time isn't a new concept for me, but I used to do it at night.  I often feel asleep before I could get to it and I think moving it to the mornings will help me have a more productive day and will help me stick with it.

5. Clean out my closet.  Weed through clothes I don't wear (both summer and winter) and make a list of what I need as far as fall/winter clothes and shoes go.  I plan on selling what I can at consignment shops and donating the rest.

What are your goals for August?

Menu Plan Monday

I can't believe it's August already! July simply flew by! I'm really not ready for this month to begin. Stores are putting school supplies on sale and the tv is full of ads for back to school clothes, supplies, and college needs. This will be the first August in 19 (!!) years that I haven't been getting ready to go back to school. Watching all friends get ready for the second semester in January was hard enough, but this time, knowing that the day school starts will be just another work day, is a super strange feeling.

Anyway…the menu plan for this week. I spent a lot of time (I know no one is surprised) baking this weekend so we will be enjoying the fruits of my labors. :)

This weekend we enjoyed:

Friday: Peel 'em and Eat 'em shrimp, baked potatoes, broccoli slaw, the last of the Italian Cheese Twists

Saturday: Macaroni and Cheese, corn on the cob, fresh pink eyes, corn bread, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes

Sunday: Grilled Pork Loin, green beans and potatoes, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, Garlic Pull Apart Bread, Blueberry Cobbler

On the menu for this week is:

Monday: Pasta with Spinach and Asiago Cheese, leftover bread

Tuesday: Grilled steak, rice, Caesar salad

Wednesday: Mom's homemade sauce with pasta

Thursday: Leftovers

Breakfasts will be Orange Oatmeal muffins (recipe coming soon!), cereal, and fruit. Lunches are leftovers as necessary and sandwiches.

What's on your menu this week?

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by I'm an Organizing Junkie!