Good Eats: Dijon Chicken

You know those recipes where you can't really decide if you love it or if it is just a complete shock to your tastebuds?

 

.............. This is one of those...............

In fact, after eating my second helping of this dish (which I paired with sautéed mushrooms that I would definitely recommend you do, as well)... I decided that for me, it was the competing tastes that compelled me to enjoy this dish.... Now J, on the other hand, loved it from first bite and asked that this recipe be added to our "staple collection".... (Our organizational system of recipe classification is an interesting one, to say the least.... more on that later).

I figured since he loved it enough for it to be in the category of our most frequently visited recipes, that it was worth sharing (and definitely worth cooking again in the near-ish future).

I originally found this recipe here and since it was called the "WORLD'S BEST CHICKEN" I decided, what the heck- I can always add more chicken recipes to our collection.  I noticed (too late) that this has a slow-cooker option (but only on low for 3-4 hours) so that may be a nice weekend alternative, but definitely not work-week suitable (since when was the last time any of us actually worked only 3 hours).....

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed

1/2 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup sugar-free maple syrup

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1Tbsp Rosemary (this is how much I used... but this is truly left up to you and your tastebuds)

Salt & Pepper, to taste (I used freshly cracked sea salt & pepper immediately before baking and didn't feel compelled to add any after cooking)

1 handful of shredded parmesan cheese

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the mustard, syrup, & vinegar.

3. Place chicken breasts in a greased casserole dish.  Season with a little salt and lots of pepper

4. Pour mustard/syrup/vinegar concoction over the chicken breasts. Make sure each is coated. (I spooned mine on and then spread it out so it would cover the edges---this seemed to work well)

5. Bake 30-40 minutes, drain extra sauce.

6. Sprinkle with Rosemary and parmesan cheese. Serve.

Now, honestly- I wish I would've paid more attention when I was making my sautéed mushrooms, but unfortunately it truthfully was me just adding "a little of this, a little more of this, and a lot of that" until I got the flavor I wanted.  Wish I would've written it down for myself since they were one of my favorites....but hey, at least I got to use up extra stuff in the fridge that was going bad (no wasting ingredients here!)

xoxo,



Good Eats: Parmesan-Broiled Tilapia

YUM.

I wanted to get some seafood in this week and boy did I ever.  This was nom-alicious and I absolutely loved it.  I originally found this recipe here and decided to try it/tweak it for multiple reasons. 

1. I love tilapia

2. The recipe stated it would be prep-to-table 10 minutes, max.

3. it has "parmesan cheese" in the title (if you haven't noticed by now...I love cheese)

 

 

So I had somewhat low expectations for this dish... mostly because my favorite dishes usually take far more work/preparation than 10 minutes (including cook time). Despite the fact that this recipe was the #1 most pinned recipe from the blog (which, by the way, you should totally read her stuff- she's got some great, simple recipes on there), I figured anything that simple couldn't be outstanding-ly amazing....

 

 

I was wrong.

 

Spectacular! The combination of flavors, the flaky texture of the tilapia, the browned cheesy goodness was enough to make my heart pitter patter... it was delicious. We served it alongside an assortment of corn, black beans, and bell peppers to create a southwestern-ish feel, as well as on a bed of yellow rice (next time, I will use brown rice, to be healthier... I decided on the rice at the last minute and this was all we had in our stockpile).

 

 

So here's how this all works... you crazy last minute meal planner ladies (like myself)...

 

Ingredients

3-4 Tilapia fillets (thawed if frozen.  I prefer to buy mine frozen because it's nice to have it in the freezer whenever I decide to add fish to our weekly meal plan... I don't cook enough fish to buy it fresh, and I refuse to go to the supermarket more than once a week (usually Sundays), so I don't want to make pit stops on my way home to pick up fresh fish.  I also am a coupon-ista and let's be real, when frozen tilapia fillets go on sale... I buy them.)

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (I prefer the kind that either comes in bags--near the other shredded cheeses-- or the kind that comes in a glass jar...rather than the traditional parmesan cheese you think of when you think of spaghetti)

1/8 cup butter

1.5 tbsp. low-fat mayo

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

2 Tbsp Lemon juice

1 tsp dill

Fresh cracked pepper, to taste

 

The original recipe yielded a lot less "topping" than what we wanted, which is why you will notice I doubled most everything (except the butter, fillets, and mayo--- I substituted extra Greek Yogurt instead of the extra mayo).  Maybe our fillets were just larger than the original recipe, but the amount worked well when I doubled what you see above.

 

Preparation

1. Turn oven to broil and place one rack on the highest possible rack setting in the oven.

2. Combine remaining ingredients (minus the tilapia, duh) in a small bowl.

3. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Place tilapia in foil-lined pan.

4. Broil tilapia for 3 minutes on highest rack setting. Remove from oven.

5. Flip tilapia over so that the uncooked side is on top.  Divide the parmesan mixture from your bowl over the uncooked sides of the tilapia. 

6. Return to oven and broil for an additional 4 minutes. (topping should appear case-like, browned, and bubbly).

7. Remove and serve immediately with your favorite side items.

 

 

I loved it... I also loved how simple this recipe is... and really it only uses ingredients that you most likely already carry in your fridge/pantry (minus the tilapia, probably) so it is something you can quickly add to your weekly meal plan and shop ahead! (which, by the way, I am increasingly more obsessed with this concept because hey- there are more things in life than just meal planning and grocery shopping... this way I also can increase our intake of fresh fruits/veggies by planning the weekly meals according to what type of fresh veggies I am using and what their shelf-life in my fridge is.)

 

please excuse the steam that is presently blurring this photo... I literally took this bad boy immediately after pulling the tilapia from the oven and smacking it on a plate.

 

Happy Cooking, Ya'll,

 





 



Good Eats: Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Sorry for the hiatus, ya'll.  This week has been packed with re-decorating J's office (post soon!) and cooking up some new favorites in the kitchen!!

Quinoa stuffed peppers....Well that was a mouthful... After spending a weekend of moving/packing/organizing (finally settling in here), both of our stomachs were tired of bad food (If I even see a McDonald's sign over the next couple of days I may shiver).... busy weekends = not much time in the kitchen to cook healthy meals.  So, we decided to kick-start this week with veggies and protein and get back on track with eating right!

I have seen quinoa everywhere.  I know it has been around for awhile, but lately it seems that everyone is swapping their rice portions for quinoa, so we needed to give it a shot too.  We both love bell peppers, so when I stumbled across this recipe, I knew I needed to try some rendition of it in the near future.



Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa, uncooked

2 cups water

1 can low-sodium black beans

1-2 carrots, finely chopped

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 can corn, rinsed and drained

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 tsp seasoning salt

salt & pepper to taste

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2-3/4 cup no salt added tomato sauce

3-4 bell peppers

1/2 cup part-skim shredded cheese

1/2 cup salsa

 

Assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray medium casserole dish with cooking spray. Set aside

2. Cook quinoa in medium saucepan with 2 cups of water until done.  Set aside. (Make sure to pre-rinse your quinoa!)

3. In large saucepan, mix together the veggies and spices.  Cook over medium for around 15-20 minutes until the veggies are cooked through.

4. Stir in cooked quinoa and tomato sauce.  Add more sauce as needed.

5. Cut off tops of peppers and remove seeds.  Sprinkle parmesean cheese in the bottom.  Fill with quinoa mix. Top with more sprinkled cheese.

6. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes until the pepper is browned on the top and has softened.

7. Serve on scoop of salsa as base for extra kick!

 

We loved this dish! It was just spicy enough, and we had enough of the quinoa/veggie mix to freeze for future peppers!  I definitely think I will try it with some lean ground turkey next time, but this was fabulous for our "Meatless Mondays" habit!

 

 

Happy Eats, Ya'll

 

 

 





Get Organized: Household Warranty Binder

Let's be honest with ourselves.....

I'm sure everyone has had a problem with a household device/item at one point and thought to themselves.....

I'm pretty sure that is still under warranty....

 

Insert second thought:

now... where on earth did I put that thing?

 

Or another one of my personal favorites.... after you pack everything up and move somewhere new and you're trying to put that side table together again that you took apart "for space" on the moving truck and you can't for the life of you remember how you did it the first time.....

 

I've got a solution for that!!!

 

 

 

 

Since we just recently got married, with weddings comes all sorts of new shiny toys and appliances.  And while I must confess that most of our beautiful gifts are boxed up being saved for when we move to our next destination (location: unknown) summer of 2014.... We did combine his/hers and open some of our beautiful gifts that we wanted to put to use immediately.

 

 

Since this stage in life requires compiling a bunch of mix-matched furniture and new appliances together, it is easy to lose important documentation.  So we created the "Home Warranty Binder".

 

Which, although only some of our things are in there- it has already been saving us tons of time and money when we think something may be broken and we realized "hey we can get that replaced for free" or my personal favorite "oh... I wasn't working that properly...oh yeah, it works now."

 

 

Supplies:

1. Large 1.5-2inch binder of your choice. 

 (I bought mine from Target- and I stocked up because I know at some point this will end up being a dual volume)

2. A-Z tab dividers

(I bought the more expensive "tougher" version because I wanted this to withstand many years of use)

 

3. Heavy Duty Page protectors

(again, I tried the store brand to be frugal, but they were too floppy and I knew it would end up disastrous)

 

4. Colorful Pens- I use Staedtler pens for everything . I started off with the smaller pack, and have since migrated to the large one.  They come in so many colors, are fine print, and have an awesome case that actually allows them to stand up when you place them on the desk!)

(you can buy them here on amazon)

 

5. extra white paper

 

 

Now I'm a little neurotic OCD about alphabetizing, so I chose to write the names of each item by letter on plain white paper until this binder is more complete (ie when we move)...so that way I don't have Cuisinart listed out of order when I have 4 appliances by them.  When I am more complete, I plan on printing a typed version of this list that I can update as needed and simply re-print :)

 

 

Let's get organizing!

First, start collecting your user manuals, instructions, assembly packets, and warranties.  Grab a basket or a file folder and for the next month or so, every time you go into that junk drawer and find another one, throw it in the file folder.  Or, if you're like us and newlyweds opening gifts, Pull out the manuals when you open gifts and immediately put them in a safe place (rather than leaving them in the box and accidentally throwing them out).

 

When you have enough to get started, Start making your lists based on starting letter.

 

I decided to organize ours by brand name rather than name of the actual item for multiple reasons.

1. "end table"-- which end table am I referring to?  Oh the World Market one...that makes more sense now

2. I won't have to remember what I filed it under... ie : did I file this under pan or frying pan ? oh wait...was it under skillet?

3. When my binder gets too full, I can easily divide it in two OR (this next thing is what I'm really planning on doing) organize it based on room. 

example: KITCHEN Warranties in a kitchen binder.  Household furniture under furniture binder .

 

 

Gather your supplies and set aside an hour or two.





 

Write down the item (or brand, like I did) on a white piece of paper under the appropriate letter.  Place all materials in a page protector, and file under the appropriate tab divider. 

 

If you have bulky manuals (like KitchenAid Mixers, for example), secure a SMALL piece of tape on top of the tap divider, or use a butterfly clip to close the top.  This way, you can still access your materials when you need them, but you don't have to worry about them sloshing around and falling out :)

 

 

(place all booklets in the same divider, with one of them clearly displaying the item name and/or picture)

on a side note....this is the most phenomenal coffee maker of all time... but i'll save that for later

 

 

 

And there you have it!  An organized location for all of your important documents!!!

 

Other Examples of similar versions:

1. Wedding Planning Binder.

- look for an upcoming post on the wedding planning binder I created that ended up being such a nice tool to bring with me throughout all of planning and day-of coordination! 

- I bought a pre-made one from the store (with one of those kits) and it just wasn't fitting my needs so I created one with the relevant information that I needed. 

- This post will be coming soon within the next week!

 

 

2. Building a House Binder

-Similar to the life event of getting married, when you build a house and/or do renovations to your own house (or apartment)- you end up with new things that you may not know how to work.

- Keep all those papers from the light fixtures you installed, contact information on who installed them, and warranties in the same place!

 

3. Life Organization Binder

- Yes, I made one of these as well. I'll do a post on it in the near future.

- This is where you have a tab for every individual (and pet) in your home.  You keep important information about each person and copies of important documents in here.

- We have one that hosts our passports, birth certificates, copies of our social security card, and health insurance information.  We also keep important employer information here and copies of certifications, keep a list of our physicians contact information, allergies, etc.  This way if a crisis were to hit and we were overwhelmed, emotionally, we can grab the binder on the way to the hospital and it has everything  that they may need all in one place ( I mean, who remembers when they're panicking that they happen to be allergic to Iodine?)

- For the pet portion, we keep copies of adoption papers, veterinary information, shot records, and rabies tags.

 

4. Tax Season Binder

- Everyone's favorite time of year..... (sarcasm).  You need this because you know that when you get to that deductions screen you can answer "yes" to quite a few of them and then think..... well darn, I have no proof..... and this will be the one time I get audited.  So you don't claim the deductions that you should-- this can prevent that.

- We keep important receipts that are tax-deductions, copies of the slips from donation centers like Goodwill and the National Kidney Foundation all in one place (organized both by type of deduction, and then by date- keeping them in chronological order within their designated category makes it a breeze when filling out those forms (or if you use a professional, hey just drop off your entire binder)

- I'll do a post about this when it gets closer to tax season-- since it's best to start these at the very beginning of a new tax year.

 

 

Got something you need a plan to organize that isn't listed above?  let me know about it! I'll work on creating a binder/organization system that can work for you and then get a post back out there on how to create it!

 

Happy Organizing,

 



Good Eats: Mexican Black Bean Pizza

What I have noticed over the past couple of weeks of this whole "eating healthier lunches and dinners" is that I miss two foods most of all (other than dessert, obviously).

Mexican Food

-and-

Pizza

So when I stumbled across this little gemstone, I knew I had to make some remnant of it... and let me be the first to tell you- it was delicious.

I tweaked the recipe (as usual) to fit two things: 

1. to make it healthier-ish

2. to fit what I had in my pantry/fridge (since I had used most of our fresh veggies by this late in the week)

I made three of these bad boys, but honestly- I only needed 2.  I could only manage to enjoy 2.5 mini slices of this treat, and J finished up his 4 slices, and my 1.5 extra and both of us were full and satisfied. 

This is also one of those dishes that looks not as pretty as other dishes you can create due to the hodgepodge of ingredients all piled together, however, let me tell you- it is definitely worth trying at home.

It curbed my craving for mexican and pizza all at once, all while having protein power, low-fat cheese (yum), and veggies!  Also it was lower in carbs due to the use of whole-wheat tortillas instead of that fluffy pizza dough... (which surprisingly, I enjoyed this flatbread version better than I like normal pizza dough... yes I just admitted that)

Ingredients:

One of my absolute favorite parts of this recipe is that you truly can use what you have (in regard to veggies) and just pick up a few extra things at your weekly shopping trip.  I will definitely be keeping some black beans on hand for whenever I decide to make this next, and then just need to stop for some fresh tortillas!

6 10-inch whole wheat (or whole grain) tortillas.(read the label on the bag- find the one with the least sugar)

1 cup low-fat/reduced fat cheddar cheese

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, seasoned with taco seasoning, cooked, and shredded

1/2 cup diced onions

1 cup salsa (I used medium, chunky-- next time I plan on "making my own" with some tomatoes, avocados, onions, and seasoning)

olive oil

1 can low-sodium black beans, rinsed & drained (again- read the label... I found out that the "store brand" black beans actually have lower sodium than the branded "reduced sodium" can!)

1 can "no salt added" corn, drained (or you can use frozen corn kernels, thawed)

1/2 tsp red pepper flake

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray casserole dish with cooking spray.  Lay 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts inside and sprinkle with taco seasoning, salt, & pepper.  Bake 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

2. Once chicken is baked, remove from oven and shred. (I used my KitchenAid Mixer for this with the beater attachment).  Sprinkle more taco seasoning to taste (It should look shredded & "speckled" with the red seasoning).

3. Place in tupperware container and set aside.

4. Drizzle olive oil on baking sheet.  Place 2 tortillas, side by side, on olive oil.  Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese on top (just a little bit).  Cover with an additional tortilla, each (think of this like making a grilled cheese tortilla sandwich).

5.  Bake cheese-filled tortillas in oven for 6 minutes, until the cheese has melted.  Remove from oven.  Gently press top tortilla flat with turner to make the two tortillas "stick" better together.  

6.  In a small bowl, mash rinsed/drained black beans.  Add salsa. Mix together.  (this will serve as your "sauce").  

7. In another small bowl, mixed the drained corn with the red pepper flake and smoked paprika.  Add onions and mix. 

8.  Take the bean/salsa mix and spread on top tortilla, leaving around a 3/4 inch rim of tortilla.  Top with the shredded taco chicken.  Sprinkle corn/onion mixture on top, and top with a small handful of shredded cheddar cheese. 

9.  Return to oven and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes. 

10. Repeat for third "pizza" as desired.

Future Tweaks:

1.  I would love to try this with mango salsa.  I think that the slightly sweet taste may add more depth to this already delicious dish.

2.  I am going to try mashing avocado with my black beans- to add more protein

3. Next time, I am going to cook my chicken in advance. (example: the night before, I will plan a different chicken dish, and just cook two extra breasts that are seasoned differently-- this will cut down on the time it takes to prepare, and this will be a great last-minute dinner fix!)

4. Cook less.  Next time I will just use 4 tortillas, since 1 "pizza" (plus my leftovers) was enough for both of us to be satisfied. 

5. I may try the "southwestern corn" next time.  This is a beautiful blend of bell peppers, onions, and corn.  AND although it is technically "canned" it is considered a "steamers" by green giant- meaning they don't add as many extra preservatives! Nom Nom Nom

I hope ya'll seriously try this... it was one of our favorite finds!  I love that the tortilla (especially the bottom one) gets extra crispy- so you can cut through it easier with the pizza cutter.  I also love that you're full, but it's not the "dough" that fills you up- it's all the loaded up veggies and proteins!

(again, it doesn't look as appealing as it tastes... next time I'll add some bell peppers to get some more color).

P.S.  I forgot to mention....this was so yummy and satisfying that neither of us wanted dessert... 

Happy satisfying those "comfort food" cravings,

Good Eats; Hummus-Crusted Chicken



Hummus-crusted chicken... sounds like a plan to me.

I love hummus...and I love chicken.  Let's combine the two, shall we?

I originally fell in love with this recipe on Pinterest and immediately had to pin it to my boards. Although, I may have accidentally used some of these ingredients last night for dinner thinking I had extra...whoops.  So I decided to be less-than-creative and instead of the veggies this calls for (other than the onions), I would use the leftover Fiesta Bean Salad that was still taking up space in our fridge.  I figured the hummus and chickpeas would give the dish a tangy Mediterranean feel, and (fingers crossed) the two dishes would compliment each other, rather than clash.

And after nomming on this, I have officially decided that with a few (small) exceptions, I will only use Pinterest to find recipes ever again.  Wow...so yummy

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt

Pepper

1 medium onion, chopped

1 c Hummus

1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 lemons (1 for juice, one for slicing)

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 oz shredded parmesan cheese

 

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Prepare large baking dish with spray.

2. Season chicken with salt and pepper. 

3. In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil and chopped onions (Confession: I sprinkled a little seasoning salt on these as well...guilty)

4. Lie seasoned onions in bottom of greased dish.  Place chicken on top of onions and cover wih hummus.

5. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over the hummus-topped-chicken.

6. Sprinkle the pan with smoked paprika.

7. Thinly slice the remaining lemon and lay it between the chicken breasts (I laid one on top as well, for aesthetics purposes only)

8. Bake 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

 

 

Happy Eating,





Ten Things: I wish I would have known my freshman year of college

One.

Befriend your professors.

Some of the most remarkable people I have met in my entire life happen to be college professors of mine. 

Unfortunately for me, I didn't really take the time to get to know them until my Junior/Senior year.  I'll admit, it helps that I went to a small, liberal arts college where most of my non-science classes had a maximum of 15 people in them.  (So yeah...they didn't really need an attendance sheet to tell you were missing class).

One of my most favorite teachers of all time happened to be in a very different department than the one I spent most of my classes in.  By the end of my senior year, I ended up with a minor in a field I never even considered when entering college- and I owe that entirely to the fact that I signed up for every single class this professor taught...simply because he was amazing.

 

 

Two.

It's more-than-okay for you to be yourself.

You know those pictures that you look back on and think to yourself "WHAT was I thinking?"  Yeah...don't deny it...you know you do.

Since graduating, and looking at all those pictures from freshman year, I've come to realize that you can try your best to "fit in" like everyone else and wear what everyone else is wearing....

or you can go to class in gym shorts and a t-shirt and be there to learn. 

College is about finding out three (or four) major things:

1. Who are you?

2. Who do you want to be?

3. How (on earth) are you going to get to that person you want to be?

4. How to be proud of yourself.

 

 

Three.

Salad drenched in ranch dressing = pizza.

So go for the pizza.

I remember when I went off to college I was paranoid overly-cautious about the dreaded

"Freshman Fifteen" (insert-scary-sound here)

I remember thinking: pizza: bad // salad: good

I also remember frequenting the salad bar because this was the "healthy" option....

I equally remember getting to the end of said-salad bar and giving my cucumbers a nice bath of ranch dressing.

To top it off, I remember eating the salad, still craving the pizza....and going up and getting the pizza.

Moral of the story: either ditch the ranch, or treat yourself to the pizza every once in awhile...it won't kill you.

 

Four.

Make new friends

(sorry this picture is so grainy, but I loved that these ladies were by my side that day)

 

 

I was incredibly lucky to have had wonderful childhood friends.  I still call most of them "close" to this day.

But looking back, I came home most weekends to visit with these ladies (who I adore, don't get me wrong), and may have missed the opportunity to meet new people.

Lucky for me, I landed the worlds' best roommates my sophomore year and now, well, they are definitely the three people who know me better than I know myself.

If I hadn't opened up and branched out, I never would have met these ladies.  I never would have let them have the opportunity to know me, or me to know them.

They changed me....not because they meant to- but rather, they helped me to grow. 

Finding friends in college is one of the most amazing experiences.  Suddenly you become friends with people because they have similar interests as you.  Or they may challenge you.  They motivate and inspire you.  You're not friends with them because you've "known them your whole life" or because you ended up in "K-12" with them...you are friends with them because you want to be.

These friends, well, they'll stick with you through life's greatest moments...and life's toughest challenges.

They will be your cheerleader when you need motivation.

They also won't be afraid to tell you when you're being a big ole' dummy.

They're real.

 

 

 Five.

Go to bed early.

 

I remember thinking "this is the life". 

I could stay out til 2 in the morning if I wanted to... and as all college kids do, sometimes I did stay out til then.

Then I realized I truly valued the precious hours of sleep...so did my brain.

 

 

Six.

Sign up for stuff you think "you will NEVER be interested in".

If you didn't already get this vibe from number one, well here it is in black & white.

You go to college knowing EXACTLY what you want "to do with" your life.

Some people do.

Others don't.

Or you could be like me and waffle back and forth for three years before firmly setting your mind in a single direction.

This is the time to figure out what you like as well as what you are good at.

My college has this amazing program called "Interim" (similar to a Maymester).

EXCEPT: most of the classes are not academic-based.  Sure you'll learn some science and/or history throughout the course, but it is mostly geared toward life experiences.

 

Freshman Year:

I ended up in a class I thought I would hate (being on the bottom of the totem pole, you get to pick last).  Movies and the Meaning of Life.

Yawn.

It was a philosophical class where you watched small-budget films and/or "weird movies" to try and come up with answers to "life's biggest questions".

Guess what?

IT WAS AWESOME!

Not only did I discover that I have an interest in ethics and philosophy, but simultaneously (I may also venture to say "more importantly")

I learned that I love movies (especially weird ones)

Groundhog Day: Brilliant

 

Sophomore Year:

A stitch in time.

Yup, that's right. a sewing class.

I had always loved artsy craftsy stuff, so I thought "hey why not give this a try?"

Now, I can make pillows, quilts, you name it- I'll try it.

 

Junior Year:

Internship.

I spent this month rotating throughout different specialty fields knowing that I wanted to pursue a field in medicine.  At this point, I had no idea which route to medicine I wanted- whether that be, PT, OT, PA, NP, RN, MD..... every other combination of two-letter abbreviations for providers...I considered it all.

And, while I may not have decided upon the road I wanted this particular month, I did decide what I am most passionate about.

Had I not enrolled into this class, I would not have realized that I am extremely drawn to hospice and palliative care. 

I would not have enrolled to do a senior capstone research project for a concentration in Medical humanities, had I not experienced this course.

That research is so much a part of who I am and who I have grown to be, that looking back, I can't imagine what I would have done with my life had I not had this experience.

 

Senior Year:

Science of Baking.

let me tell you the truth... I was a horrible cook.

by horrible- I don't mean the stereotypical "I can't cook" and then they whip up a full three-course meal.

I mean the "I can't cook I burn water." type.

My desserts came in the means of "warm delights" which you heated up in the microwave... the only muffins I made were the kind you just had to add milk (or water) to... and my idea of gourmet was splurging and going for Velveeta as opposed to my traditional Easy Mac.

And I learned, not only the skills to not burn the house down, but also that I could whip up some tasty treats.... and more importantly

I liked being in the kitchen.

Since then, well, baking has become a source of relaxation for me. (especially cupcakes)

(this is my most favorite cake... pumpkin pie cake with cream cheese buttercream frosting) 

 

 

 

 Seven.

Go on at least one spring break trip with your friends.

I'm not talking you have to go down to Cabo and spend a week on the beach...

But grab a pal, or two, and plan a fun trip.  As much as you'll say while you're in college "When we get out and have jobs we will travel so much together"....let me be the first to tell you: it won't happen.

Post-graduation = new schedule...suddenly you have something more to do than just sitting in a classroom around 4 hours a day.  And then your schedule will almost never coordinate with your friend's schedule.

I luckily took a senior trip with one of my greatest friends to none other than the happiest place on earth.

Best. Spring Break. EVER.

 

 

Eight.

Take way too many pictures.

I never believed anyone when they told me college would fly by.

It does.

I feel like just yesterday I graduated from High School....

When you leave, you're not going to keep all the things you genuinely think you will want.

You're not going to continue holding onto every single textbook you used.

Or that notebook from that one class you seriously almost made 100 percent in and you can't bring yourself to throw it away because "you put so much work into that".

You will, however, always look back at pictures.

It also grows increasingly more fun to put pictures side by side when you reunite with your friends for life celebrations later on :)

 

 

Nine.

Don't rush the first semester to be over so you can "finally" go home for the holidays.

 

I remember studying the day after what seemed like all of my college friends (except one) had left to head home for Winter Break. 

I was bitter.

Why did they get to finish on Thursday and I was stuck eating cafeteria food for another day.

Don't rush it.

Believe it or not, there will come a time when you wish you could go have dinner at your college cafeteria.

There will also come a time when you realized that when all you had to do was study for some stupid exam, life was really good.

 

 

Ten.

Don't bring dirty laundry home with you in the backseat of your car.

Trust me.

Even if it is only a three hour drive (like mine)....that stuff will smell G-ROSS by the time you get home.

 

It's nasty. Take the extra time to do it before you leave.

PLUS the last thing you want to do on your time off is laundry.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Good Eats: Spaghetti Squash "Pasta" Casserole

Spaghetti squash....  I've seen it everywhere.  Pinterest seems to be absolutely full of recipes for this little vegetable.  I haven't had the guts to try it, yet.

BUT then I started reading about how you could substitute cooked spaghetti squash for pasta noodles and decided I'd give it a shot...at least once.  We adore Italian food.  I love spaghetti, lasagna, stuffed shells...anything with that tomato sauce- ricotta- cheesy- goodness.  Alas, since I pledged for a month of healthy- (cough, healthier) meals, I will give in and disregard my love of ricotta cheese and pasta noodles... but I lay my foot down on the parmesan cheese... that has to be included (even if it's in smaller amounts( insert audible sigh here. )  I'm still slightly skeptical that this will even closely resemble "pasta".... and maybe even a little more reluctant to try something new when it comes to Italian food....

In my "healthier" agreement, we agreed to obviously eat more fruits and vegetables, less carbs, more protein, and less "Virginia's favorite food group" aka dessert. So here's to the veggie accomplishment- luckily it is all in one meal (please don't get me wrong- I love vegetables...in fact, I quite frequently order the "vegetable plate" when we go out to eat.  I think my sweet tooth is just now opposed to vegetables since I'm missing my Little Debbie Cakes chocolate).   I originally found a similar recipe here and decided to add some more seasonings and veggies (we added the extra veggies because we had some leftover from the store and may as well use them before they go bad!)

J wasn't too stoked about the "there is no meat in this" comment that I happened to slip out immediately before he took his first bite....

(I still think this is an awkward looking vegetable, but hey- I'll keep an open mind)

Ingredients:

1 whole spaghetti squash

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 zucchini, diced (the original recipe called for 1 zucchini)

2 carrots, chopped  (the original recipe called for 1 carrot-shredded)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 tomatoes, diced (the original recipe called for 1 tomato)

16 oz tomato sauce

1 tsp Basil (original recipe did not add additional seasonings)

1 tsp Oregano

2 tsp Garlic Powder

6 (ish) oz shredded mozzarella cheese (the original recipe called for 4 oz, but since I doubled my vegetables, this was not enough cheese to make the casserole "stick" together)

4 oz. shredded parmesan cheese (my heart is pitter-pattering at the thought of this- confession: I added more than the original recipe called for since it only called for 1/4 cup....

 

Preparation:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Poke spaghetti squash all over with a knife and cook in the microwave for 8-12 minutes (it will be soft)

3.  In a medium pan, cook oil, garlic, bell pepper, zucchini, and carrots over medium-high heat. Add basil, oregano, and garlic powder.  (I also used a dash of fresh sea salt and ground pepper because I planned on using no-salt-added tomato sauce) 

4.  When spaghetti squash is cooked, cut in half and use a fork to "string" the squash out (it will resemble pasta noodles).  Put this in a medium bowl. 

5.  Add the sauce to your stove-top pan with veggies, mix well until heated.

6.  Transfer the sauce/veggie mixture on top of the spaghetti squash "strings" in the bowl. Mix well. 

7.  Spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Add contents of spaghetti squash, veggies, and sauce mixture.  

8.  Sprinkle 5 oz of the shredded mozzarella cheese and 3 oz. of parmesan cheese on top. Fold this into the mixture.  Add remaining cheese on top.

9.   Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving. Cheese should be browned and bubbly.

Thoughts after eating:

 1. I like love spaghetti squash... maybe even better than pasta noodles....

2. This is incredible- even without meat (husband approved!)

3. I want to try it with some lean ground beef or ground turkey at some point, although this is delicious on its own, my curiosity is getting the best of me.

4. This is officially replacing my favorite "spaghetti casserole" recipe that is in my recipe box.....

 

 

In summary:

 Veggie "pasta": 1  Biased Virginia: 0

 

Happy Nom-ing, ya'll 



Good Eats: Cajun Roasted Pork Tenderloin & Veggies

Confession: I adore love pork.  I love pork BBQ, I love grilled pork, I love tenderloin seasoned with every last spice you can possibly imagine.  I don't like that pork can be rather fatty (and salty). 

but I love pork tenderloin- lower in fat, and I buy ours unseasoned so I can flavor it just how I want it (and cut out some of that salt that many pre-marinated pork tenderloins have in them).

Now this recipe takes around 30 minutes of prepping and 2-2.5 hours of cook time, so I definitely recommend this as a weekend treat rather than a quick & easy weeknight meal.  Nonetheless, it was sensational :).  Now I tweaked this recipe from this one.  I added a little more butter, used a smaller amount of pork, more seasoning, no celery (boo celery), and less potatoes. 

Ingredients

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1/2 tsp red pepper flake

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp mustard

2 cloves garlic, minced

Dash of creole seasoning

1.5-2 lbs pork tenderloin

2 large carrots, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 cup white onion, chopped

4-6 red potatoes (depending on size), sliced

olive oil

salt & pepper, to taste

Preparation:

I prepped everything early in the day and let the dish sit in the fridge! This made for an easy dinner cooking when we got around to being ready for dinner!

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. 

2. In a large skillet, melt butter, red pepper flake, oregano, thyme, mustard, and garlic.  Stir and cook for 2 minutes to allow the flavors of the garlic to seep into the butter sauce.

3. In a foil-lined 9 x 13 baking dish, place pork tenderloin in center.  Cut slits in tenderloin, about 1.5- 2inches apart and a depth of 1 inch.

4. Drizzle the cajun butter sauce over the pork tenderloin.

5. Arrange carrots, red bell pepper, onion, and red potatoes around the pork.

6. Drizzle olive oil over entire dish.  Add salt & pepper

7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 300 degrees for 2 hours.

Pre-baking.  I am slightly neurotic and like to have my veggies somewhat organized, but I'm sure you could just place all the veggies together around the pork and it would taste the same.

I'll confess... I started smelling this dish around 45 minutes after it started cooking and I was famished. Alas, I had to wait an additional hour and 15 minutes before I could dig in!

 Now, this dish definitely has a little kick to it- so if you do not like spicy things, I'd steer clear of this one.  The flavors combine together deliciously, and while I do not like orange foods carrots, I'll admit that I can tolerate these carrots due to all the seasonings included!

This served us both heaping mound-fuls for dinner, and gave us enough leftovers for another 2 dinners, or 4 lunch-sized portions.

Delicious!

Happy Nom-ing, Ya'll 







Good Eats: Southwestern "Fiesta" Bean Salad

Yummy Yummy Yummy.

Any recipe that has the word "fiesta" and/or "southwestern" in the title/description obviously deserves to be tried.  When I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest and the link took me to Skinnytaste I was like: "woah"... that means this recipe not only has "fiesta" in the title...but also is healthy. 

As I hate am not a fan of cilantro, I decided to substitute with basil, oregano, & thyme.  I also wanted this dish to be a little spicier and zesty, so I added smoked paprika and a little more red pepper since I wanted this to have some "kick" to it.

 

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tbsp lime juice

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp & a dash of Red Pepper Flakes, divided

1/2 tsp salt

15 oz. low-sodium black beans, rinsed & drained

1 can chickpeas, rinsed & drained

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup white onion, chopped

1 tsp Basil

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Thyme

1.5 tsp Smoked Paprika

1 medium avocado, diced

 

Assembly:

Putting together this delicious lunch was spectacularly easy.  (Loved that since this was a "whoops I forgot about lunch" moment).

 

1. Combine garlic, lime juice, EVOO, cumin, 1 tsp of red pepper flakes, & salt in a medium bowl.

2. Add black beans, chickpeas, tomatoes, onion. 

3. In a small bowl, combine basil, oregano, thyme, smoked paprika, and a dash of red pepper flakes.  Once mixed well, add the contents to the medium bowl of veggies.

4.  Mix all ingredients well (sans avocado).

5. Add avocado right before serving.

 

 

Thoughts after eating....

1. This is definitely going to be a staple in our revolving recipe collection.

2. There is so much versatility in this recipe.  We ate it as is for lunch, but you could put this on fresh spinach and use the juices from the bowl as salad dressing.  You could also pair it with baked/grilled chicken that has been marinated with lime juice.  J, naturally, thought this "would be great with steak".... I was thinking more tilapia and/or chicken, but I'm sure steak would compliment this as well.

3. It is so easy to whip up.  Love that it is packed in protein & fiber, but doesn't take forever to assemble. 

4. It gets better the longer you leave it in the fridge to marinate!

 

 

Happy Nom-ing,