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I am not a baker by any means. Baking cookies, even with directions, is something I find difficult. Although I enjoy cooking, baking is a whole different game to me. With that being said, I really want to learn how to bake, especially bread.
This No-Knead Bread is a great recipe for beginners to try out. I was amazed at how easy and hands-off this process was. The most. hands-on experience I got from this recipe was mixing the ingredients at the beginning. I found this to be much easier to do with my hands rather than a spatula, spoon or whisk.
Overall, this bread was easy to make and was delicious! After baking, I sliced my bread and stored it in the freezer to make toast for breakfast or as a snack.
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The days have truest been flying by and I’m amazed that today is already December 24th! I believe I posted two weeks ago. After that, I went on a day trip to Disneyland which was so much fun! It was colder than we were anticipating but we warmed up by midday. After Disney, I flew from California to New Jersey to spend a few days with my parents, then drove back to my current state, picked up my boyfriend from the airport, and then we drove back to New Jersey a few days later. And now, I’m in Spain!
With all the travel, plus work, plus cooking, it’s actually been difficult to find a few moments to sit down and write a blog post to send an update and a new recipe. Yesterday we busy because we landed in Spain in the morning and then spent the remainder of the day with my boyfriends family. We were both exhausted and so this morning we ended up sleeping in until 1pm (which was about an hour ago).
This week I thought I’d share an oldie, but a goodie. This is recipe from when I was still living in Kansas City, MO which was a little more than a year ago. I wanted to make something filling and work friendly, but also healthy. So I thought a twist on a burrito bowl would be a great option, substituting sweet potato for the ground beef.
These are a great base if you want to then branch off to tacos instead. Simply cut the sweet potato into smaller cubes, and some lettuce, cheese, and other favorite toppings, and you’re all set.
I sued minimal seasoning this time around to try and minimize smell. The site I’m currently at has about 4 microwaves upstairs, more downstairs, and more in the other building. At the Kansas City site, there were only 2 microwaves in the kitchen upstairs and they were in high demand!
Based on that, feel free to adjust based on what works best for you to make this delicious 🙂
Recipe List:
Sweet potato
1 pack grapes/cherry tomatoes
1 can sweet corn (or fire roasted corn)
1 can black beans
2 cups white rice
1 pack of fresh cilantro
Recipe Directions:
Cook rice based on your preferred method
I use an Instant Pot: 2 cups rice, 2 cups water. Pressure cook on high for 5 minutes, and let pressure release for 12 minutes.
I then let the rice sit in “Keep warm” until I’m ready to use it.
Preheat oven to 400° and prepare sweet potatoes.
Remove skin from sweet potato*
Slice sweet potatoes into thin halves.
Cook sweet potato in a single sheet for about 22-30 minutes, until tender.
When the rice is completed, chop up cilantro and mix in.*
*The steps are optional depending on preference
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There has been a lot going on the last few weeks. Between school work and clubs/extracurricular activities, it’s a bit hard to try and find time for myself. Last week we had our much needed spring break. I spent the second-half of the week up in San Francisco which was really nice. I was planning to a get some work done that week, but I ended up mostly relaxing and playing video games. I also re-made my schedule based on how my first Module went. This past week I’ve followed it really well, and it’s much easier to stick to because I’ve given myself a lot of buffer in between scheduled items. Even so, this week has been very busy with new board positions for one of the clubs I am in, and on Monday we have Student Government speeches, and I’m still trying to piece mine together. We only get 2 minutes, which while I’m speaking will feel like forever, but in reality, it’s not a lot of time. So I want to make sure I’m focusing on the most important points. Wish me luck!
One of my first weekends of the semester I tried this Balsamic Chicken Broccoli Bake recipe from the magazine All-Time Favorite Home Cooking Recipes by Centennial Kitchen. The magazine has a lot of great recipes and I’ve tried a few of them out, which I’m looking forward to sharing in the upcoming weeks. The final photo doesn’t look appealing, but the dinner was really good!
As is the case with most of the recipes I try, this recipe was super easy to follow and didn’t require a lot of work. The veggie mix was broccoli, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, red onion, and mushroom. I’m usually not the biggest fan of mushrooms, but mixed together like this I didn’t really notice them, so it was a great way to get an intake of mushrooms. I will say though, I didn’t think the mushrooms would last very long raw, so I cooked the whole package. This made the mushrooms the more dominant veggie, whereas I would have preferred more broccoli. Also once the veggies were cooked, they seemed to disappear. So if you like a lot of veggies, I would add a little extra to the pan so you know you have plenty left over. On that note, I ran out of chicken super fast! Cooking the chicken as a whole breast was really easy, but it made it very difficult to portion it out over the week. So next time, I might cut the chicken up prior to cooking it so I can better see how much chicken I really have. Additionally, the seasoning on the chicken could have been better. It was very balsamic-y, which is on me, because apparently I missed the chicken with the salt and pepper shakers.
In this recipe, it worked out nicely because there were also veggies included in the dish. However, many of the recipes I try are strictly for cooking the chicken or fish, and so there often aren’t sides. One thing I’ve been trying to incorporate more into my meals are mini side dishes, mostly to make sure I’m full on my meal before I go back for seconds (and then run out by Wednesday!). For the week I made the balsamic chicken, I didn’t actually read the full recipe before going to the grocery store, so I bought ingredients for a side dish and made that as well. For the side dish I made a Creamy Cucumber Salad which I got from the blog The Stay at Home Chef.
This cucumber salad was a great addition, and would likely make a good addition to any meal! It was very easy to make, but I unfortunately think that I managed to mess it up. I may have added a bit too much sugar, and I know for a fact that my cucumbers were not “sliced thin” (Dad would be disappointed with my slicing skills). But overall, it was still really good. I added it on the side of my plate, but this could also be placed in a small separate bowl if you don’t want to risk mixing things on your plate.
Overall, great meal! Just need to get some better photography skills, but you get the gist. On the page to the left of this recipe there’s a recipe for Honey-Lemon Turkey legs which looks REALLY good, but it’ll have to wait until I finish the recipes that are already on my list!
Next time I’m hoping to post some of the lunch wraps I’ve made, but to be honest, it all depends on if I find the photos or not. If not, I’ve got another great salmon dish to share! Until next time 🙂
For winter break from grad school, I went back home to New Jersey for about a month. I initially had intended to keep posting every two weeks like normal, but that obviously didn’t happen. The week before break I had finals, and also a scheduled post which I ended up missing due to studying. I was planning to just post it the following Wednesday, but then I flew home, and it was SO nice to just relax and not have any responsibilities regarding school. I was able to sleep in until 11 everyday, have a beer with my dad, go for walks with my mom, and then watch TV or play videos games. It was a perfect vacation. Benefit being that it was also Christmas!
Some of our Christmas decorations!
Soooo I ended up not writing any blog posts.
I will say though that the break was really good for me. During the Fall semester I was still trying (and struggling) to figure out a daily schedule in order to do the things I needed to do, like school, and do the things I wanted to do, like cook, workout, play video games, watch TV, etc. My eating schedule was a mess and sometimes I’d miss meals because I was doing work and then eat the meal I missed 3 hours later but then not be hungry for dinner. Or I would wake up early to try and workout but then by 1pm I’d be knocking out for an accidental 2 hour power nap and then be wide awake at 10pm when I was ready to go to bed. So the holiday was really good for reducing stress and emphasizing relaxation.
The holidays this year were very different, due to the obvious reason. I was able to fly home, and after completing the NJ quarantine post-flight, I was able to spend time with my mom and dad. My sister and her boyfriend stayed in California so we were unable to see them this year. Additionally, my dog passed in April so this was our first Christmas without him. Although it was very different, we still made the most of our time together and we tried to connect at least once every week so it was almost as if they were in NJ! We Zoom’ed for Christmas and we also started doing family game night via Zoom (everyone’s new favorite system). The two games we’ve been playing so far are Azul and Tiny Towns. They’re both strategy games (in my opinion) but they’re easy to learn and a relatively quick play. We tried to play one or two rounds every time we had game night. So that made the holidays really enjoyable. Honestly, there was so much more that happened and I’m so happy that I got to go home. There were so many enjoyable moments and as happy as I am to be back in my apartment, it was sad to leave.
Regardless of me sleeping in until 11am, I did do a lot of things for myself (yes, I was productive). Over the break I: a) spent time planning out a meal schedule for the semester of exactly what I’m going to be cooking for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks; b) created a realistic (catch that bolded word) schedule for myself so that I can do more of the things I want to do instead of drowning in the things I need to do; and c) spent some much needed time with my family.
Speaking of that meal schedule…. I’m very excited to share that the re-vamped schedule is SO good and I’m SO excited to share these recipes and try them out. But before I get to that, I will share the last recipe I made which was before winter break even started! The recipe I made was a sausage and zucchini dish which can be found here, from the blog Counts of the Nether World.
For me, this was such a great mix of veggies and meat and really easy to make, which is always my favorite. As the recipe says, it only took about 10 minutes to make (unless you buy uncooked sausages, which I did once, and it took me ages). I’m essentially always in a jam with time, so having the pre-cooked sausage made this recipe a breeze to make because all I had to do was heat it up. Additionally, I didn’t have to mince or dice any of the veggies. As you can see from the blog and from my photo here, the veggies were cut into chunks which made the whole process really quick.
I didn’t end up buying enough of the ingredients to make a full meal out of this (for the whole week), so I ended up pairing it with some rice to not take away from the focus of the meal. To have as a stand alone meal I think is realistic because the sausage on its own is filling, and the addition of the vegetables is not only filling but also adds more nutritional value to the meal. Had I enough to make a proper portion size of the recipe, then I would have easily made this a stand alone meal. Paired with the rice this was also really good, and for me it was good because it just added a bit more variation to the meal.
A little short today regarding the food, but I would still recommend trying out the recipe if you need a quick weeknight meal. I mostly wanted to give and update. Like I said, I’m super excited about the recipes that are to come (including some that I made while home with the Master Chef, aka, my dad). I’ve also got a whole mix coming up, not just dinner recipes! I’ve added some breakfast recipes I’ve found, as well as lunches and side dishes. I’m looking forward to either sharing a new food blogger for you to follow or a new magazine for you to buy based on where the upcoming recipes come from! The break was SO nice, but I’m happy I’m back to posting and trying out new recipes.
Look for the next post soon! There are so many to choose from so look forward to the surprise 🙂
On Monday I drove up to San Francisco to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her boyfriend (and their puppy…who is not really a puppy anymore). I’m here for the whole week and it’s been so nice. It’s been a great change of scenery especially since I’ve spent the last two weeks isolating so that I could come up here and know it would be safe. I also took a COVID test just in case, even though I knew I didn’t have it. It was more so for my sister so that she felt comfortable having me come up.
It was a LONG drive, oh my god. I’m currently living in Claremont so it’s about a 6 hour drive.It honestly wasn’t too bad because I had a lot of distractions, but it wasn’t my favorite. About 3 hours into my drive, I had to stop for gas so I wouldn’t have to stop near SF once it was pitch black, but I guess I stopped in a not-so-safe area of southern California, so I had some friends on FaceTime keep an eye on me while I got gas. It was very uncomfortable. But the rest of the drive was smooth, except that it was dark at 4pm and I wasn’t expected to arrive until 9:30pm. But I made it! So all is well.
Normally we have other people over for Thanksgiving, but this year it was just the three of us because of COVID, but it was really nice. I think in general it was a little easier because there wasn’t as much food that had to be prepared, so I think it took off a lot of the usual pressure.
In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d post a pork tenderloin recipe that I made last week. This was the first time I’ve ever cooked pork, so I was a little nervous and definitely overcooked the pork in an effort to make sure I hadn’t undercooked it. But next time I’ll know and it’ll turn out perfect. Overall I would say that the recipe was really easy to follow and there wasn’t a lot of work done on my part. I think that’s the benefit of one-pan meals. There’s not usually a lot of prep work and there’s also not a lot of clean up. Perfect for when you’re busy. I got this recipe from the magazine Eat This, Not That!, the same magazine where I got the recipe for the Sweet Potato Quinoa Chili (thanks mom and dad for sending the magazine!).
The recipe called for a 20-oz pork tenderloin, and naturally, I don’t know what that means. I think when I went to buy it, it only displayed the amount in pounds, and that’s not a conversion I know how to do in my head an apparently I was too lazy to pull out my phone, so I bought about 2.5 lbs of pork tenderloin. There were only about 3 options and they were all about the same size anyway. But in doing so, I think I should have bought more sweet potatoes and beans because I felt a little low on veggies after cooking.
This is uncooked!
The honey mixture was REALLY GOOD. I loved it and will probably use it in other meals. It was just the right amount of sweet. But I had the same issue here as I did with the veggies. I think I was short on the honey mix. It covered the pork perfectly but I didn’t have enough left over to really get the veggies too. But all in all, I really liked how this turned out and it was just the right amount of food. I think for next time I need to get more potatoes and beans, cut the potatoes thinner, and maybe not buy so much pork.
Heading back to Claremont on Sunday and back to the same heavy school work routine. I’ve got about 3 weeks left until winter break, so at this point I’ve just got to push through. We’ve got a few more project deliverables due this week, then final exams and final presentations. I can’t believe it’s already the end of my first semester of grad school It’s been A LOT of work, but I really feel like I’m gaining the skills and experiences need to do what I want to do with my future career. Looking forward to my spring semester classes and hopefully hearing back soon regarding summer internships!
Gabriela Maria 