Tag: Food

Review: Instant Pot Pumpkin Chili

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Disclaimer: Any links are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual.

Another pretty open week at work. Our original project is on hold for this week to focus on a separate training aspect of our project. We had the first session yesterday and I think it went really well! There was a lot of engagement and positive feedback, and we had some constructive feedback that will help us for the next few training sessions. After these sessions are done we’ll be transitioning back into the main project.

I’m not contributing too heavily to any main content right now, but I’m pulled in when we need to make any updates to the presentations and I get to participate in all of the meetings with the senior teams. In my downtime I finished up some online Green Belt courses and have been taking some LinkedIn Learning courses to both help my project and to develop skills. Long-term (for now) my interests lie in business development and strategy, or something that couples those two aspects. Some of the LinkedIn Learning videos I watched (and took notes on!) dove into this a bit more and gave more insight into the business aspects that I’m not directly interacting with currently. Even though I’ve got a bit more free time at work, my project is still a main focus and I don’t have the bandwidth to completely dive into a business-based project to get more hands-on experience. The LinkedIn Learning gives a good opportunity to learn some of those skills so I can refer to them in the future.

This weekend I’m spending some time with my family. We bought matching glow-in-the-dark skeleton costumes for Halloween and are going to do some trick-or-treating. I haven’t gone trick-or-treating since middle school, maybe high school. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m really looking forward to it!

Other than that, there hasn’t been anything too exciting this week. I did a mini online shopping spree but ended up returning more than half of the items I ordered. The few pieces I kept though I really like. Since I moved, my wardrobe has been in need of some updating due to the change in weather. I’m trying to do this progression slowly so I don’t break the bank 🙂

Now onto the food!

This week I made an Instant Pot Pumpkin Chili from the blog Noble Veggies. I’ve made chili a few times and I always love the variations I find. Most of the chilis I’ve made have been veggie based, but still filling and delicious. The Instant Pot Pumpkin Chili of course featured a special ingredient: pumpkin!

Pumpkin, like other types of winter squash, is high in fiber which supports digestive health.

Adapted from Dr. Axe

Having just driven 4 hours back to my apartment, I was most definitely not in the mood to cook or prepare food. Finding this recipe was great because it uses the Instant Pot! My prep work included cutting the zucchini, onion, and bell pepper, and mincing the garlic (with my garlic press). Other than a few minor initial steps, once these ingredients were in the Instant Pot, they were ready to go! Check out the post on The Noble Veggies blog to find the instructions!

As I said in my last post, pumpkin is not an ingredient that I regularly cook with. In fact, I think prior to my previous post, I had never cooked a recipe using pumpkin puree. I really wanted to try this recipe in the spirit of Halloween and fall, but have to admit I was a little nervous. In last week’s recipe, the taste of pumpkin was very subtle and added a small sweetness to the pasta. I was nervous that in a broth form the pumpkin puree would have a more powerful taste, and I’m not sure if that’s a flavor I like. It turns out that I had nothing to be worried about. Similar to last time, the pumpkin was subtle. I did taste it a bit more in this recipe, but it was a good taste and a great mixture of the different flavors.

This recipe cooked very, very quickly which makes it great for a busy night. I didn’t eat right away, but I kept the Instant Pot on the “Keep Warm” setting and the chili kept nicely. This recipe lasted me about 5 servings with a mix between small and generous portion sizing.

Another added benefit of this recipe is that the clean-up process is super quick. The prep work easily took me the longest amount of time. That can be cut down by purchasing pre-cut veggies at the supermarket.

Rating

10/10

Recipe

Instant Pot Pumpkin Chili

This was so easy to make, so incredibly delicious and a filling dinner. Best part was the minimal prep work and the minimal hands-on requirement. Please, please try this. It was so good! Some notes and things I learned:

  • Add some extra goodies to each serving like avocado and shredded cheese
Here’s the final product! I’m still learning to take good looking photos, but I bought a light source for next time that should help. Top this with some avocado and cheese!

That’s my only note and lesson learned. Honestly this recipe was perfect. It’s a bit heavy so I can’t make this every week, but I would love to make this a part of my regular meal cycle.

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Review: Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

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Disclaimer: Any links are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual.

This week I had the luxury of free time and leaving work on time! We just finished a project workshop and my next set of action items are on hold until I get the needed materials. This means I’ve had a bit more free time at work to pick up other projects that were put on hold to prioritize materials for this workshop. It’s been nice to get back into the other projects and have a bit of a change-up, but by the end of this week, the main project has picked up again so we’re back to it!

Good thing is that I’m really enjoying the project and the work that I’m doing. We’ve had a few late nights associated with this project, but I always feel energized at the end of the day. We still have a lot of work, but I know we’ve made great progress and it’s great to be a part of it.

As we begin to enter the next stage, there’s “chatter” that we may be able to travel to some of the different site locations. Fingers crossed! I think it would be great to see this project implemented at some of the locations and get a better understanding of the impact it will have. There may even be an opportunity for some international travel which would be very cool!

To get into the spirit of Halloween and fall, I decided to make a recipe that had pumpkins in it! Pumpkin is not an ingredient that I regularly (or ever) cook with, so I was excited to give this a go. I was a bit relieved to be using pumpkin puree rather than having to buy a pumpkin and start from scratch.

Pumpkin is one of the best-known sources of beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant.

Pulled from Medical News Today

I found this recipe from The Washington Post which surprised me a little. I never think of looking on these types of sites for recipes, but they have some great suggestions! I’m really thinking about subscribing to get the weekly recipe ideas. They always look delicious and easy to follow.

All the goods minus the protein we added! I have two cans of pumpkin puree pictured here, but I only needed one. I also only needed one out of the 4 bottles of chicken broth.

I would say that this recipe took me about 40 minutes to make including prep work. I try to use as much fresh stuff as I can because I personally find that it tastes a little better, but you could easily cut down on prep time by purchasing prepared items.

The one thing I absolutely loved about this recipe was how easy it was. I’ve found that blog posts tend to give a lot of details for how to heat up your oven, or how to chop up your onion, and sometimes you can get lost in the weeds. These directions were very clear, very short, and very direct (directions my Fiery Red personality loves!).

The big mix! Plated with the extra goodies really makes this look delicious.

I would say this is one of a few recipes that for me, turned out exactly or very similar to the photos displayed in the article. The article suggests serving the pasta with steamed broccoli. It wasn’t clear to me if that was intended to be on the side or mixed in, so I mixed my steamed broccoli into the pasta and it was a great addition. I also switched up other additions such as protein. One night I added some leftover balsamic marinated chicken and another night I added dried prosciutto. Even though I loved this dish, I think it would have been a bit plain without some of these additions.

Rating

10/10

Recipe

Pasta with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce

This might be my new favorite comfort food. It was really easy to make and for me, gave a new twist on the classic pasta with marinara sauce. I would 100% recommend trying this, and please do and let me know what you think! Some notes and things I learned:

  • I think I somehow made it a bit drier than it was intended. I’m not sure how, but maybe I needed a bit more liquid or not to cook the sauce for as long
  • Adding protein to this was a great idea. It really upped this recipe. My recommendations:
    • Small broken up pieces such as chicken, prosciutto, beef, etc.
    • I think anything could work honestly, even some shrimp, etc. Experiment with it!
  • Don’t forget to add the sage and parmesan on top!
    • I forgot for the first bite, but added it for the second and it was even better
The final product!

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Silver

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Disclaimer: Any links are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual.

Welcome to my first restaurant review. As much as I would like to cook something new every week, that’s just not the reality of things. I travel quite a bit whether it be for work or for leisure, which means it’s not always practical to prepare a meal for the week. On top of that, I also do have nights where I have no desire to cook or I’m just too busy to cook or go to the grocery store. On other occasions, I have the time to meet up with friends and enjoy a night out.

To keep a running consistency of posts, I decided to start reviewing what I order at restaurants as well. I eat out quite a bit and these reviews may end up being beneficial for someone who lives in an area I’ve travelled to.

This week for work I had the opportunity to travel and meet the rest of my team in person for the first time. Busy is an understatement. We had a lot of work to get through this week, but we made amazing progress. It was great to spend time with my team and get to know them better.

I was also able to spend some time with my family this week. Last weekend, my sister and I went apple picking at a farm nearby. It was spur of the moment but a lot of fun. We spent most of our time waiting in line, but we tasted an Apple Cinnamon doughnut and some Apple Cider while we waited. Once we got up to the apple trees, we got a little lost looking for the apples we wanted, but we eventually found our way. Tonight we’re thinking of going on a haunted hay ride, and tomorrow we’re seeing a show.

A few weeks before my work travel, I was able to meet up with some friends for dinner, drinks, and dessert. Coincidentally, we ended up ordering the same things, two and two. We went to a restaurant called Silver, which has locations in Cathedral Heights, Washington D.C. and in Bethesda, Maryland. None of us had been to Silver before, so we were excited to try it out!

Here’s what we ordered:

House-made Tomato Basil Soup

Two of us started off with this Tomato Basil soup. I love soup and always order it when I have the chance. This soup came over to our table steaming hot and smelled delicious. I’m actually not a huge fan of tomato soups, but I really liked that this wasn’t overpowering with tomato. I’m not sure what was in this, but there was a great mix of flavors.

Crispy Brussel Sprouts

Yummy! These crispy brussel sprouts were a great sharing appetizer. I didn’t have too many of these because I also ordered the soup, but the plate was empty when it left the table. I would really recommend these to split. With the soup, I found them to be heavy and filling, but if I hadn’t had the soup, they would have been perfect.

Moroccan Tomatoes Tagine

Another big win. This dish was also plant-based and gluten free. As you can probably see from the picture, this was very tomato heavy. I wasn’t expecting so much tomato (even though the dish says tomatoes), but this was really great. It’s got a mix of quinoa and leeks and a few other goodies. I ended up being full before finishing this but took the rest home in a box. I had it the next morning for breakfast with my omelet. It was a great mix!

Truffle Bison Meatloaf

Don’t let the truffle bit deceive you or scare you away. If the name didn’t say truffle, you would never know that there’s truffle in this recipe. I didn’t order this dish, but those that did said it was really good and they would order it again!

Overall, I really recommend trying out this restaurant and some of these dishes. The atmosphere was great and the food was delicious. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!

Review: Creamy Spinach Tomato Gnocchi

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Disclaimer: Any links are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual.

I’ve officially rebooted my Instagram and am working on setting up a posting schedule to keep up the consistency. In the process, I’m learning that keeping consistency on Instagram is not as easy as I thought, and that I am not as well-versed in Instagram as I thought.

On the first note, taking photos while cooking is difficult. I’m able to use a small stand to take many of my photos and position the phone, but the “action shots” are a bit harder. I would like have enough photos on hand to keep a steady flow ready. In addition, I’m trying to take some videos of the prep work or the cooking, but that means I can either take photos or take a video. Deciding between the two becomes harder when I think about trying to keep a balance of posts versus reels on the page.

Check out my first reel on Instagram! Be sure to like and follow to stay up to date on blog activities.

On the second matter, my only experience with Instagram has been with posting photos. I’ve never used social media heavily and I don’t post “professional” photos. It’s something for fun and for my own enjoyment. The quality of the photos has never been of much concern. However with my blog Instagram, I care much more about the quality of the photos. I’m learning to use the editing tools and filters, but I have a long way to go until my photos look how I’d like them to. I’m also learning to use new features that I’ve never used before like the reels. Posting a reel this past Sunday made me feel very out of touch. I had no idea what I was doing. I eventually managed to get a reel posted, but I could tell right away that I didn’t do it “correctly” and it took me significantly more time than it probably should have. I did learn for next time though, so I anticipate it will be better!

I really enjoy taking the time to search for new recipes to try. I find it difficult at times to think of something new, or what changes I can make to a current dish to make it into something new. Finding recipes online usually takes me a long time because I want to make sure it’s something that fits the cooking timeframe I have, and I want it to look good. Regardless, I find following someone else’s recipe to be just as enjoyable and delicious, and it saves me some time.

This week I made the recipe “One-Pot Creamy Tomato Spinach Gnocchi” from the blog Fork in the Kitchen.

When searching for recipes I always look for the photos. I like meals that are either very colorful or that look like cozy comfort food. For me, this recipe hit both marks.

My biggest interest with this recipe was that it was a one-pot dish. I’m sometimes skeptical with these, but this one turned out great! Having a one-pot recipe is great when you’re busy because it minimizes how much clean up there is after! That’s a huge win for me because I hate doing the dishes, but I also don’t know anyone who enjoys doing them either.

To add to the convenience of this dish, the recipe called for refrigerated gnocchi. I’ve tried gnocchi a few times and it’s a bit too much potato flavor for me. However, the refrigerated gnocchi I bought from the grocery store this past week were delicious. I still don’t think they’re something I could have regularly, but I was pleasantly surprised to have really enjoyed the gnocchi. I think the mix of flavors helped minimize the potato taste, in favor of something better. It was also a huge time saver for me because it was one less thing I needed to prepare, either by making gnocchi from scratch or pre-cooking dried gnocchi.

Something else that really peaked my interest with this recipe was the addition of leek.

Leeks are high in vitamin A and flavonoids!

Pulled from Precision Nutrition

I’ve never tried or cooked with leek before, so I was excited to try it out. Foods such as leek sometimes fall into the domain of intimidating. For me, it was because I didn’t know too much about the taste of leek, and I have no experience preparing or cooking it.

Mix of the leek, yellow onion, and garlic cooking. Leeks are halved, sliced, and rinsed before use.

Rating

8/10

Recipe

One-Pot Creamy Tomato Spinach Gnocchi

I loved this recipe and would definitely make it again. I recommend it for anyone who is in a big rush or has a tight schedule. It was a very easy recipe to follow. Some notes and things I learned:

  • I opted for Vegetable Stock because it’s what I had on hand
  • I opted for Half & Half because it’s what I had on hand
  • I would pay more attention to how long I cook the gnocchi for – I think my gnocchi ended up overcooked
  • I had a hard time squashing the cherry tomatoes – next time I would opt for a different cooking utensil that would be able to do this better
  • I would add more liquid – my gnocchi turned out very thick. It was still delicious, but I would have liked it more creamy.
It tastes better than my picture looks! As you can see, the dish turned out really thick, so I would opt for more liquid next time to thin it out.

The Fork in the Kitchen blog lists at the bottom how to adjust the creaminess to your liking. Try out this recipe and some of the other recipes featured on Fork in the Kitchen and let me know what you think!

Northern White Bean Salad

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Disclaimer: Any links are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual.

Hello to old and new followers, and welcome back to my blog!

I took a long break from blogging and cooking new recipes to focus on my graduate degree. After completing my Master’s, I continued to do business research with a professor, and opted for a summer internship program with a biotech company. With both roles, it didn’t seem like the best opportunity to start blogging again, so I held off. Following completion of my internship, I started working for another biotech company which required me to pack up and move from southern California back to the East Coast!

I’ve lived in California for quite some time now, and it was a bit strange coming back to the East Coast. I’ve been back on the East Coast for about 2 months now and have spent most of it either traveling back and forth from my new apartment to my parent’s house, buying new furniture and decor, or taste-testing the local restaurants.

As for the job, I’m really enjoying it and it’s only been about 3 weeks! I feel that I’ve already been given so many opportunities to develop my skills and showcase my abilities. It’s been really rewarding. I’m also excited because my new role involves a bit of travel, which is something I’m always itching to do. For now, it sounds like the travel will remain in the US, but I’m excited nonetheless.

Happy to be back to cooking and testing out recipes!

Since my graduate program was mostly online due to the COVID pandemic, my new in-person schedule is very different than what I’m used to. Being online meant I didn’t need to be highly structured about when I made my meals, or when I went to the gym, or when I took time for myself because I was always home and everything was within reach. Now that I’m in-person for my job, I’m realizing how quickly the day goes by and how difficult it is to fit in everything I’d like to do. Most importantly, I’m learning about the importance of a standard schedule to ensure I’m getting my laundry done, making my lunches, and running any errands, otherwise I’ll either have no clean clothing, no lunch to eat during a busy day or or have to buy a lunch within my lunch break!

This is where we now talk about what you came here for. Likely, you have a busy work schedule, or a busy schedule in general, and time is not a luxury you have to be cooking fancy meals that take all day to prep. My hope is to minimize some of that potential stress by reviewing and taste-testing some popular recipes online, or sharing my own recipes to see what really is a schedule friendly meal.

This Northern White Bean salad is a no-cook recipe that goes great as a side dish for any main meal. I personally love pairing salads like these with my lunch which is usually some chicken and rice. I try to change up the salad every week to keep the meal a bit interesting.

Balsamic marinated chicken with Northern White Bean Salad and some rice

The biggest time killer in this recipe is the prep work, essentially all the dicing and mincing. If you are crazy busy, you may want to look into getting a faster option compared to the manual version. I’ve seen this Vegetable Chopper on Amazon frequently, and also seen it in Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, and Target. I’ve never used this before, but I’m very tempted to try it out. If you end up using one, let me know in the comments how it went for you!

I didn’t time myself, but with chopping the tomatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, and cilantro, this recipe took me roughly 30-45 minutes to make (with a TV show on in the background). What I love about this recipe is that it doesn’t require a high capacity of my attention. I can (carefully) cut my vegetables while watching a show or having a conversation. This provides the opportunity to do the things I need to be doing (cooking) while also doing the things I enjoy doing to relax. It means this doesn’t feel like a “task.” I also cut my tomatoes one-by-one so if you use a better method, you’ll save significantly more time!

I made enough to last me everyday for lunch, and enough to pick on during the week. I also have a guest staying with me who eats significantly more than I do, so the list below calls for quite a bit of food. When finished and mixed, this dish at the amounts listed below fit into my 4 qt bowl Tupperware, right up to the lid. For a smaller overall portion, I recommend cutting the items required in half.

Aside from my guest, I’ve started increasing the amount of food required to create a recipe because I’ve found that I typically run out by Wednesday or Thursday. I don’t usually have enough time during my work week to re-make a meal or a side dish, so this was incredibly inconvenient and also meant that I was spending money on take out when I’d much rather be putting that money to a different use.

This recipe is incredibly easy. With the canned beans, pop them open, rinse, and drain. I know some people have a preference for drying canned items such as beans, peas, corn, etc. after they’ve rinsed it, so do whatever you’re more comfortable with. I halved my tomatoes short-ways and diced my onion. The diced onion was nice because I didn’t notice how much onion was in the dish, but I think next time, my preference will be to have the onion in thin slices, just to add some variety to the sizes of items. I minced the parsley and cilantro, and threw everything into a big bowl.

Working my way through the numerous tomatoes!

For the dressing, I combined about 1/2 cup olive oil with a full lemon’s-worth of lemon juice, and 2 more cloves of minced garlic. I stirred that up a bit, and mixed it into the salad.

Food Fact: Tomatoes are a good source of vitamins A, C, and K

If you’re interested in having a fuller salad or creating this as more of a main dish rather than a side dish, here are some of my recommendations: avocado, spring mix or arugula (or kale if you like it), salmon or chicken, and/or seeds. I haven’t done much cooking with seeds so I wouldn’t know which to recommend, but if you do decide to add some, let me know which and how that mixture tasted! I’d love to try it out.

Garlic and onion are typically not ingredients people consider when they think of work-friendly food usually because the food either smells, or your breath smells. For the food smell, the good news is that this dish is great when served cold. You will not have to worry about making the office microwaves smell like onion or garlic. I personally don’t worry too much about the breath portion, as I don’t interact with many others directly in-person. We typically communicate via video calls and chats. However, I like to keep some breath mints with me just in case, and I recommend you do the same if you’re feeling a bit worried about that.

The completed Northern White Bean Salad mix

I hope you’ll try this recipe out and let me know how it goes! If you’re looking for other variations of this recipe, there are SO many on the internet, you’re sure to find something that fits your taste. You can also substitute different types of beans and goodies to make this exactly what you’re looking for. Enjoy!

Recipe List below:

  • For the Salad:
    • 4 32oz Canned Northern White Beans
    • 2 pints Cherry Tomatoes
    • 1 Red Onion
    • 6 cloves Garlic (more or less depending on preference)
    • 1 bundle Parsley (more or less depending on preference)
    • 1 pack Cilantro (more or less depending on preference)
    • Salt & Pepper for taste
    • Optional addition:
      • Avocado
      • Feta or another type of crumble cheese
      • Arugula or any salad mixture
      • Seeds (based on preference, I haven’t cooked much with seeds)
      • Fish or Meat based protein
  • For the “Dressing”
    • Olive oil
    • 2 cloves Garlic
    • 1 Lemon (for the juice)
    • Salt & Pepper for taste

Recipe Directions below:

  • Prep veggies and goodies:
    • Halve tomatoes
    • Dice or slice onion
    • Mince parsley
    • Mince cilantro
    • Mince garlic
    • Optional:
      • Cube avocado
      • Cube salmon/chicken
  • Drain and rinse beans
  • Prep dressing
    • Combine olive oil, lemon juice, and minced garlic
  • Combine all ingredients into large bowl
  • Mix and serve

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Ecuadorian Ceviche

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Happy Friday! I hope your week was less chaotic than mine!

On Wednesday I finally caught up with my work. Which looking back, honestly didn’t take that long, but it consisted of 2 days with a maximum of 3 hours of sleep a night (which is good, considering). Saturday I had a competition that took the majority of my day, and by the end I was so whipped out that I just called it a night. Sunday was a lost day too because I went grocery shopping, cooked, had game night (in the afternoon) and went to soccer, and by the time that was done I think my body just clocked out for the day. Monday was the first painful day — I had 2 case studies and a quiz due on Tuesday and I hadn’t started yet (poor planning on my part). Good news: I managed to finish everything. Bad news: I went to bed at 3am and had to wake up at 5 to start the rest of Tuesdays work and start/finish my study guide for my exam on Wednesday. All-in-all, would not recommend and would not do again. But I made it. Yay!

Don’t forget the salsa fresca (not pictured!)

Heading into the coming week I’m going to be doing a lot of lecture re-watching to prep for my Module 1 finals. I always look forward to the end of Modules/quarters/semesters because usually by that time my schedule has been thrown out of whack, I’m exhausted, and I’m really hitting my check-out point. Knowing its ending gives me a bit of a second wind because I know at the start of the next Module/quarter/semester, I can hit the re-set button and make plans to fix things that didn’t work in the previous round. So dreading the next 2 weeks, but also really excited for the next 2 weeks to pass.

Other than that, not a whole lot of new updates. Working on applications, building my network, doing well in school, and prepping for next year with club plans and goals. This semester I definitely have a lot more work, but it feels much more manageable, probably because I already got the fall out of the way. Currently just trying to swim, while also adding more things to my load. Just trying to find the right balance.

For today’s post I decided to do a bit of a throwback recipe, one that was made over the winter break while I was home. Good news: today’s post features Master Chef: Dad! For those who haven’t read previous posts featuring Dad, I enjoy shamelessly promoting how good of a cook my Dad is because, he is. I think there’s a saying about how nothing beats a home-cooked meal? Right on.

While I was home, Dad (and I ) made two really good recipes! Today I’m going to share with you Ceviche, which is by far one of my favorite dishes from Ecuador!

To make this you’ll need:

  • 4 limes
  • 1/4 red onion
  • raw shrimp (1 lb.)
  • popcorn (no butter!)
  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 2 cups orange juice
  • 5 tbsp olive oil
  • 3-4 scallions
  • dill
  • cilantro
  • 1 cup salsa fresca (not the Tostito’s kind that’s thick)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
what “sliced thin” really means…

The recipe is as follows:

  1. Prep the onions — In a medium/large bowl:
    1. Save 1 half lime and juice the rest
    2. Add 3 tbsps olive oil to lime juice, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt & whisk
    3. Slice 1/4 red onion, very thin; separate and add to marinade and soak onion
    4. Chop up 2-3 stalks of dill, add, mix, soak, set aside
  2. Cook Shrimp:
    • Add raw shrimp to large pot, fill with water, cover and cook. Remove from heat, strain, and rinse with cold water when shrimp turn pink
  3. Prepare marinade for shrimp
    • In a blender: 2 cups orange juice, 1/2 cup ketchup, 2 tbsp olive oil, pulse to blend
  4. Add 1 cup salsa to shrimp marinade and mix
  5. Juice leftover lime and add to shrimp marinade
  6. Add in shrimp, soak and sit for at least an hour (not in fridge)
  7. Chop up some scallions (3), cilantro and prep some popcorn
  8. Serve shrimp marinade mixture with onions, add scallion, cilantro, with popcorn on side.

Other than letting the marinade sit for an hour, this recipe is super quick to make. You can also make extra of the onions and add them as a side to any other meal. It delicious and deceivingly filling, even without the popcorn. But the popcorn makes it extra good, so I definitely wouldn’t skip on that. Plus, how many meals can you think of that feature popcorn?

Thinking of posting one or two of the dinner recipes I’ve made this semester. To be honest, there’s a lot lined up for future weeks and there’s a lot that’s already been made! I almost feel like I’m falling behind. I’m contemplating upping how often I post, but I also don’t want to add too much to my schedule. So for now I’m going to stick to every other week, and we’ll see how it progresses.

Stay tuned for the next post!

To be continued…

Gabriela

Egg “Muffins”

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Hello! I have been so bad about keeping to my posting schedule, but I’m going to do better going forward. Two weeks ago I was supposed to post, but was behind on my schoolwork so decided that was more important. Then I spent the rest of that week playing catch-up, and then it just got buried under everything else. Initially I was posting every other Wednesday, but my schedule this semester makes that a little difficult. Mondays and Wednesdays are my heaviest days because I have 2 classes plus a 3-hour night class. But then Tuesdays and Thursdays, in between my classes, are usually the days I spend prepping my schoolwork for the next day/class. So I think it would be better for my schedule to switch to a Friday or Saturday posting. So other than this post, that change will take effect going forward!

Honestly, no major updates. Grad school is grad school. Busy, little stressful, overwhelming, all the good things 🙂 This week is my “midterm” week. We don’t really have midterms, I just have exams and quizzes this week. I took one this morning and I think it went well! The questions were really straight forward, so I’m hoping I did well. Later this week I have another quiz in my IP class which I’m definitely a little nervous about. There’s a lot of information and some of it is a bit confusing.

One of my goals for this year was to do more cooking rather than just making dinners. The problem with just making dinners is that my dinner would then also turn into my lunch and then I’d be out of food by Wednesday. So by adding lunch meals to my cooking plan, I now have food to last me the whole week, rather than 3 days. In doing so, I also decided to make breakfast. I think breakfast can be so fun, although sometimes I dread it. When I wake up in the morning, I’m always groggy. The heat is on and naturally I just want to roll back into bed and go back to sleep. I’ve been trying to consistently do my workouts in the morning and then take a warm (cold) shower to wake me up, and this usually helps. But on days when I sleep through my workout, the last thing I want to do is go cook.

Groggy morning, post-studying, but got my egg breakfast!

But it’s been a lot of fun! Cooking in the morning is dreadful, but then eating a really good breakfast seems to make it all worth it. Until you see the dishes that now have to be cleaned – but that’s a whole other thing.

In honor of the most important meal of the day, I thought I’d share some of the egg breakfast recipes I’ve been trying out the past few weeks! **None of the links below are sponsored, just wanted to share them to make it easier for someone to follow-up and find the original recipes**

Loaded Scrambled Eggs

I got the initial idea to make something like this from the blog “Easy Chicken Recipes”: https://easychickenrecipes.com/loaded-scrambled-eggs/. However I made a few changes 🙂

These were great because scrambled eggs are SO easy to make and really hard to mess up. From the original recipe, I omitted the milk, cheese, and bacon. To substitute for the milk, I instead used sour cream, which I personally really like in my scrambled eggs, and in general. From the recipe and the photo you can see this is packed with veggies. It has red bell pepper, onion, tomatoes and mushrooms, all of which are a healthy way to start off your day! It’s topped with chives and I added some avocado on the side because avocado always makes a good side to eggs. I really liked this because it was quick to make but also because the mushrooms were hidden. I don’t normally like mushrooms, but when they’re mixed in with other veggies or food and I don’t notice them, I love them. Mushrooms can help stimulate the immune system!

Avo Baked Eggs

So this recipe is from an app called Garden Plate. Many of the recipes are free with the app, but some are only available with the full version which is a paid version.

This was really good and really simple, but I am apparently unskilled in the art of making a hole in an avocado. So to make this, you have to make the pit area of the avocado larger so that the egg fits and sits comfortably. I was not good at this. The egg would spill over or there wouldn’t be any avocado left. So I would definitely recommend using large avocados and wish you the best of luck. When it is successful (and even when it’s not) this is really delicious and really easy to make, especially on a groggy morning. It looks small, but it’s deceivingly filling!

Egg Muffins

A roommate in college had made these once and I had always wanted to make them because they looked so easy to make and they made mornings really quick because you could make a bunch at once for the whole week.

For these, I put a helping of spinach leaves, tomatoes, and bell peppers into the cups and then added in the eggs (about 14 eggs mixed). On top of that I added a little bit of salt and pepper for taste, and then put them in the oven for about 15 minutes at 400º. You can essentially put anything into these to make your own version of the egg muffins. I don’t think I would recommend tomatoes. The liquid made the bottom of my egg muffins a little distorted, but the tops looked nice! If you don’t care about appearance, then go for the tomatoes, because they still tasted really good.

The last week I’ve drifted away from eggs for breakfast and tried some other things. Next week I’m hoping to make banana pancakes and will definitely share how those go, although next time I’m hoping to post a dinner or lunch recipe or something I made with my dad while I was home over the winter holiday. Keep an eye out for what’s coming! (Now back to studying…)

To be continued…

Gabriela

Skillet Sausage and Zucchini

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Hello and welcome back (to me)!

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 🙂

To be continued…

Gabriela

Spiced Sheet-Pan Pork and Vegetables

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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!

To be continued…

Gabriela

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

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Hello, hello!

I hope everyone is doing well. With certain places opening up again, please remember to still be careful. It can’t hurt to still be smart about your distance with other people and washing your hands. 🙂

On my side, things are going well. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by school. There are a lot more distracting noises at home — neighbors mowing their lawns, dogs barking, young children screaming. So focusing is kinda a joke, and motivation is at an all time low. BUT, graduation is soooo close! Just have to hang in there a little longer.

It’s midterm week and I’ve got quantum chemistry and bioinorganic chemistry coming up. Also found out I have three finals on the same day (love that…). I’ve got a 20 source annotated bibliography due Friday, and yes, my sanity is slowing deteriorating.

But with all of those super fun things going on, the one thing I’m looking forward to is my birthday (yay!). Initially my big birthday celebration was going to be EDC in Las Vegas with some friends. However, with coronavirus, that’s been postponed until October and I’m back home for the time being. The upside is that I do get to spend my birthday with my parents! I haven’t had a birthday celebration with them in 4 years because I’ve always been in California. It’s usually with my sister, but it’ll be nice to celebrate with my parents again!

IMG_7219So anyway. A few weeks ago my roommate emailed me an idea for a recipe swap. Since we can’t all be together, this is a fun way to stay connected and meet new people. The recipe I received for the swap was called Healthy Sweet Potatoes and Black Bean Tacos, which naturally, we added to. We had had steak and veggies the night prior and there was a bit of steak leftover, so we added it into the tacos (it was delicious).

We used the same ingredients as the original recipe. I was a little curious about the sweet potato, but it actually fit so well in the tacos. And the honey! So unexpected but so good!! It was a huge hit with my mom and my dad. For toppings, we added shredded cheese, avocado (which we smashed up to make it easier to put on the tacos), and sour cream. The only other change we made was instead of adding the spice mix to the sweet potatoes, we mixed it in with everything, so all of the goodies had some spice.

This is an easy recipe to follow and a great recipe to convert between vegetarian and non-vegetarian. This could also be an easy vegan meal with just a few changes to the ingredients. I would HIGHLY recommend this recipe. Thank you roommate and recipe sender for this great recipe! This is probably something I wouldn’t have typically looked for, but I’m so happy I decided to try it!

Stay safe and stay well. Hoping everyone is hanging in there the best they can.

To be continued…

Gabriela