Thursday, January 8, 2015

Ride along on a college course with me!

As many of you may know, I'm a marketing student in the business school at University of Washington Tacoma. This quarter I have a class for my Applied Computing minor called Entrepreneurship and Technology. Part of this class is to blog, so instead of starting a new blog, I decided to use my current blog and bring you guys along for the ride. For those of you I know who are entrepreneurs, this part of my journey may help you out in some way just by reading... I certainly hope so!

First... One of my favorite images...


It is all a part of Life of Cordes :) Enjoy!

Assignment 1: What do I want out of this class...

Above everything, I'd like to explore ways to make my personal goals be realized via achieving my business goals. Being entrepreneurial at heart, these two sets of goals are closely related. My personal goals are to travel, and to be able to work on my own schedule from any location. It's ok if that is 60 hours a week, if it's from my hotel room in Italy! Long term, I want to share my knowledge, experience, and education with the nail industry at all levels; from the individual nail artist to international suppliers, and be able to make a living doing so. The beauty industry, and especially the nail industry, is way behind the curve of technology that many other industries are already using in the mainstream. I would like to use my knowledge of the industry and technology to further the use of technology some meaningful way.

Which brings me to my goals for this class- primarily, I would like to explore options to monetize my industry experience besides actually doing services on clients. I would like to learn how the infrastructure of tech companies works, and explore paths to bring that infrastructure and technology to the nail industry. And even if I don't plan on using them, I would like to learn what types of funding avenues are available for business startup and how that relationship normally works. 

I think the experience of this class at this point in my college education could serve to play a key role in developing my professional path from here. This class has really gotten my brain working on how to use my experience and skill set to start my own company, and really utilizing my minor. 

Next up... my thoughts on the movie "startup.com"... don't miss it!

Here's to a great quarter!  
Michelle

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Homemade Meatless Burgers

So, I promised if these turned out good I would post. So here I am! 

They are kind of involved to make, but this recipe makes about 8, so the ones you don't use can be frozen and reheated for later meals. I had one fall apart on my first try, so I ate it the next day crumbled with spaghetti sauce and quinoa noodles for a good meat free Italian dinner. :)



This recipe DOES contain an egg, so if you are casein free or truly vegan, you will need to sub something else. Possibly some olive oil or bean paste of some sort would do the trick! If you find any good options, feel free to comment below. Use organic and/or locally sourced ingredients when possible :)

Without further ado, here's the recipe!

HOMEMADE MEATLESS BURGERS:

1 cup water
1/2 cup quinoa
1 tbsp olive oil (or other plant based oil)
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups (approx) finely chopped mushrooms, I used white button
1 tsp minced garlic (I used garlic paste)
1/4 tsp dried oregano
Dash sea salt
1 egg
1 cup cooked mashed black beans
1/3 cup quick cooking oats
1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari

Rinse quinoa and combine with water in a saucepan. Bring to boil and reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat let sit covered for 15 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Set aside to cool. 

Cook and mash the black beans, or mash a can of drained and rinsed black beans. 

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet pan and sauté the onions about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, garlic, oregano, and salt. Sauté another 5 minutes or so until everything is tender. Set aside to cool. 

In a bowl, beat the egg, then add the quinoa, beans, onion/mushroom mixture, oats and soy sauce. Mix until well combined. 

Place a piece of parchment paper on the counter. Using 1/2 cup scoops, form the mixture into pressed patties. (I used the Tupperware hamburger ring and press shown in the pics). Slide a top part of a broiler pan under the parchment paper and bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for about 30 minutes, until browned and crispy. 

Allow to cool for a few minutes and use like a burger, or crumble in a bowl while still warm for a good ground beef substitute! Allow extras to cool and then later between wax paper and freeze for later use. (I plan on reheating in a cooking sprayed skillet, just like the store bought ones!)

Enjoy! Until next time, Ciao!
Michelle