recipe – Page 3 – Gabriela Maria

Review: Creamy Spinach Tomato Gnocchi

October 7, 2022November 12, 20221 Comment

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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

September 30, 2022October 1, 2022Leave a comment

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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Quinoa and Salad

April 9, 2021October 1, 2022Leave a comment

T.G.I.F.

I don’t know how you all feel, but this has been a LONG week. I’m feeling very worn out. And this weekend only has more in store for me! I have two tests on Monday and homework, but I also feel like I still have a lot of catching up to do. But I’ll get there. Slowly powering through.

I will say, something that has really helped me stay sane is sticking to my eating and workout schedule. It’s very tempting when I get up, to go right to my desk and get some work done so I feel caught up. But I think that burns me out even more. Doing my workouts in the morning helps me start off the day feeling accomplished, and eating healthy and regularly helps me keep up my energy.

This week I’m going to share what I ate for this week, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Although, I can’t share photos of my dinner because I forgot to take them 🙂 but it was really good! Plus, the blog I got the recipe from has a better picture which makes it look even better.

Quinoa Fruit Salad

Okay, first thoughts: interesting combination…. Second thoughts: wow, this is delicious.

Unfortunately I’m not going to share the recipe because I got it through my fitness app which is paid. The app I use is called We Glow. I personally really like this app, I really like the workout programs, and of the recipes I have tried, I’ve really liked all of them and they’ve been very simple, easy to follow. Added bonus: this dish looks pretty, so I feel like it already gives a boost to my morning. I cooked the quinoa on the weekend, and would cut the fruits in the morning. Sometimes once you cut fruit, it doesn’t last very long in the fridge. It only took a few minutes to cut, so it wasn’t a big deal. 10/10 recommend (also recommend the app or any paid fitness program if your motivation is low, or if you don’t really know what to do/where to start. Paying motivates me because I’m losing money, so I better be using it!).

Buffalo Shrimp Salad

This salad was a winner. This was actually supposed to be buffalo shrimp lettuce wraps, like lunch burritos, except the ~healthy~ version. Yeah. I tried them! They were….boring. And tasted like a mouthful of lettuce. So, I converted this into a big salad instead because I felt that the lunch needed more color and excitement. This turned out really good. I don’t typically finish salads because I get bored while eating them and tend to eat all the goodies first. This is probably the first time that I devoured a salad. 10/10. I also don’t usually like iceberg lettuce because, well, it’s iceberg lettuce, but I think it was actually the better choice for this salad because it let all the other flavors really show. SO this salad was a mix of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, buffalo shrimp, cranberries, strawberries(!!!), olives and balsamic vinaigrette for the salad dressing. it was an interesting mix but such a good mix. It was also a good opportunity to use some ingredients in my fridge that were probably going to go bad soon. Great way to just combine everything and enjoy.

Easy, Creamy Beef and Shells

Yes. This was easy, creamy, and delicious. I found the recipe on Pinterest, from the blog Kitchn. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures! This also didn’t last me very long because it was so good that I just kept eating it. I loved this dinner. It was so so easy to make and it was one of the few recipes that didn’t have a mile long ingredient list or instruction list. There were a few big differences between mine and the recipe I followed. For starters, the recipe calls for a 15-oz. can of tomato sauce, and I bought pasta sauce (which to me is tomato sauce). Looking at the photos in the Kitchn blog, there are smaller cans of tomato sauce that are literal cans. I don’t think there’s a big differences between the two, but mine was a little hard to measure out because it was a full jar of sauce. So I think this made my finished dish more liquidy, but it was still really good. I also didn’t include as much cheese. The recipe calls for 2 cups of cheese, which I had. But after the first cup of shredding, I felt lazy, so my dinner only had one cup of cheese. For me it didn’t make a huge difference, but I’m also not a big cheese lover. if you love cheese, definitely do the full 2 cups. I also used half and half instead of heavy cream, mostly because I couldn’t find heavy cream. This was such an easy and cozy meal. Great to have after a very long day of sitting in front of the computer. It was also nice to have something a little heavier after a lighter breakfast and lunch.

Other than that, not a whole lot going on. I’ve got a lot of work to do…but I also bought a new Switch game soooo, we’ll see. Looking forward to at least taking a mini break today, even if it’s just for an hour. In other news, I hosted champagne tasting with some of the girls last weekend. I think we were all caught off guard by how quickly the champagne hit us but it was still a lot of fun! I also made my first cheeseboard! And to be honest, I’m really proud of it, so I thought I’d share a picture 🙂

To be continued…

Gabriela

Pesto Bean Soup with Olives

April 2, 2021September 28, 20221 Comment

Hello, hello!

Two weeks in a row of posting! But don’t get your hopes up 🙂 I’m going to try to post more regularly and make it part of my weekly schedule, but sometimes I forget to take pictures, so then I don’t really have a lot to post. We’ll see though, because I really enjoy posting these!

This week has been pretty light in terms of school work. I had a finance quiz due yesterday morning, but other than that I haven’t had anything due, just a lot of reading. This week I’ve been focusing really heavily on my campaigning for Student Government. We need 3/5 of the student population to vote, and today is the last day (if we meet 3/5 student body). Hoping I’ll win! There’s so much that I want to do in Student Government, and even if I can’t finish it all, I want to at least get it started so that next year’s representative can pick up where I left off.

But anyway, other than that, there really hasn’t been much else going on. I’ve been really productive these last two weeks. Even though there’s still work for me to catch up on, I almost feel like I’m ahead. It’s a nice feeling because I don’t feel so overwhelmed by all the work I have to get done (ideally this weekend, but let’s be honest).

A few weeks ago I made this Pesto Bean Soup with Olives that I found in Food Network Magazine: Super Easy Soups & Stews (this was a great Christmas gift!). I personally love soups. I think they’re always very easy to make, and they typically turn out great (I had one recipe that didn’t really go as planned…). Plus, there are so many options with soup! And it’s a great comfort food. I must say, I’ve tried very hard to plan out my recipes so that I’m not cooking soup every single week, and it’s hard! They just always look so good!! Also, this recipe only has two steps, so how could I not?

I love how this soup turned out. It was delicious 🙂 I actually ended up running out early because I kept adding a little extra to my bowl every night since it was soooo good. To be honest, I wasn’t going to make this soup at first. When I was originally going through the magazines to pick recipes, this wasn’t one that caught my eye. I think I tend to pick recipes that are photographed brightly/in a lot of light. Almost as if it makes them look more appealing? Or maybe it just makes me picture eating the meal on a nice, sunny day so it’s instantly appealing. The photo for this recipe was really nice though; it may have been because it was a green soup(?).

Overall, 10/10 would HIGHLY recommend. I’ve made pesto pasta in the past because I was craving pesto (and pasta), but I think this satisfied the pesto craving better. There are so many flavors in one spoonful, it was almost exciting eating it. That sounds so corny. But basically, it was really good.

Like I said earlier, I really enjoy writing this blog. It’s fun for me and even though I’m not the greatest photographer or cook, I get to share the things I enjoy with other people. Since I started, I feel like my cooking has come a long way, but I’m excited to see how much more I can improve. Overall, my execution of recipes is much better, but I also feel like my general knowledge is better. For example, when I cook something without a recipe, I feel that I have a better idea in terms of what foods go well together. It’s been really enjoyable.

I have some thoughts about what I want to try out in the future with this blog. I think it would be fun to do more cultural food. I have a few friends who are international students, but also many of my domestic friends are very closely tied with their cultural backgrounds. I think it would be fun to do some posts in the future with them to share some typical foods from their respective cultures. Food for thought…no pun intended 😀

To be continued…

Gabriela

Balsamic Chicken Broccoli Bake

March 27, 2021September 28, 20221 Comment

Happy Saturday!

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 🙂

To be continued…

Gabriela

Black Bean Quinoa Chili

February 24, 2020September 28, 2022Leave a comment

Week 8!

I am sooooo close. This week I have a biochemistry midterm and a research proposal due and then Week 10 I have an inorganic “midterm.” I say “midterm” because our final exam is the following week, so it’s really just a large test. And then its spring break!!!

My roommates and I have decided to go to Santa Barbara for a few days. Initially I was just going to go to visit some of my friends from when I used to live there, but then we decided that we should all go together! I’m excited for my roommates to meet my friends from SB and vice versa. One of my roommates has never been to SB before so I’m really looking forward to showing her around.

Toe update: I’m cleared! Kinda. I’m allowed to start practicing again on Monday, but this weekend I’m supposed to start running and do toe exercises to start stretching and strengthening my muscles. My exercises involve picking up marbles with my feet. That’s it. And it’s so difficult. I have to concentrate really hard in order to get my toes to curl just slightly. But we’re getting there. Progress.

So anyway. All is well. I’m sleeping and eating. Not stressed. Definitely ready to graduate.

I’m also back to my usual schedule again which is so nice. I’m going to the gym in the morning, cooking my meals on Sunday, etc. Normally when I go grocery shopping I go to Sprouts for all of my veggies and then head over to Trader Joe’s for everything else. I did this because I always thought that Sprouts was relatively expensive for things other than produce, but this week I did all of my shopping at Sprouts and it was so cheap! And I bought so many “actual” groceries (which isn’t usually the case). It was so exciting to NOT spend a fortune!

~SO~ with that, this week I made chili! Well, not really. It had no meat in it, but if you use your imagination, the quinoa could be the meat base. So it’s really just a burrito bowl? Maybe? But regardless, it was really good!

I followed the recipe from Health Food. It took me a bit of time to find all of the groceries for this meal, mainly because I’ve never really bought groceries at Sprouts. But with that, this recipe was super easy to make. I only had one accident and it was with the garlic. I put one clove int the press and it got stuck, so I pushed harder, and in pushing harder I accidentally turned the press and the garlic went ALL OVER my laptop! It was such a mess.

This meal wasn’t as filling as I thought it would be but it was still really good. I think next time I would either increase portion sizes or I would add something else to it (I don’t know what though). But either way, it’s still in the books to make again! So delicious!

To be continued…

Gabriela

Lentil & Vegetable Soup

February 10, 2020September 28, 2022Leave a comment

Happy Monday, Week 6!

I’m already halfway through my quarter. My roommates and I all feel the same way – we’re ready to graduate. Last week went by so quickly, and when Friday come up, I didn’t really believe it was already Friday. I ended up not posting because my schedule was so out of whack.

But now I’m ready!

I should be out of my boot within the next two weeks, and hopefully back to lacrosse in three weeks. These next two weeks are going to be pretty chaotic. This week I’ve got test corrections due for my inorganic exam, and I’ve got a 15 page sulfur lab report due. Then I’m in LA for the whole weekend, including President’s Day. Then the following Friday, I have a bioinformatics research draft due, and a graduation requirement essay due. I have yet to go grocery shopping for this week, and to be honest I don’t know what to make yet. But, one thing at a time.

So anyway, back to food. This past week I made a lentil soup for dinners. I’ve actually never had lentil soup, or cooked lentils, so there was a bit of a learning and tasting curve. This recipe turned out really good and ended up being really easy to make. It was great to have because it’s been relatively cold outside, so it’s been great to come home and have a warm soup for dinner.

The recipe I followed was from Cooking Classy. I measured most things out this time, so I followed the recipe pretty closely. I only used one box of vegetable broth, since two boxes wouldn’t have fit in my pot. The only other tweak I made was with the tomatoes. I saw them on the list, and knew I needed to buy crushed tomatoes when I went to the grocery store, and yet, I did not come home with crushed tomatoes. Thankfully I had some leftover cherry tomatoes in the fridge, so I instead cut those up and tossed them into the soup.

Tweaks and all, it turned out really good. Although, next time I will remember to buy crushed tomatoes (inserts face palm emoji). This was great because I felt like I wasn’t going to make enough, but it ended up lasting me the whole week, which typically doesn’t happen. I’ve recently been trying to minimize my meat intake. To be entirely honest, it’s kinda expensive and I never feel like it lasts me long enough. However I’m still going to the gym so I need to keep up my protein intake. The lentils were a great substitution for that.

So now that it’s Monday, my whole week is off by a day. I normally do my cooking for the week on Sunday. I have yet to go grocery shopping or even decide what to make, so we’re off to a great start. Hopefully I’ll figure it out by tonight before the week slips away from me again!

To be continued…

Gabriela

White Bean and Tomato Soup

January 25, 2020September 28, 2022Leave a comment

Hello and happy weekend!

I broke my toe this week and it’s thrown my schedule all out of whack! But I am finally getting back to it. I’ve taken care of that, taken the GRE, and now I’m ready to enjoy my weekend. I have a GameCube and recently bought MarioKart and Animal Crossing, and I’m hoping to buy Zelda or Mario Party Sunshine at some point. But the thing has been a mess because my controller won’t stop vibrating when I shake a tree in animal crossing, and the disc was “unreadable” right as I was about to win in Final Fantasy! So frustrating. So I’ll have a look at it today so that it’s up and running for my weekend relaxation.

This week’s soup is SO GOOD. I know Chicken Noodle Soup is the “go to” for when you’re sick, but this is better. The crushed red pepper flakes (which I love) really do wonders on your sinuses. Literally all you need is a spoonful. Also, its soup! Soup and pasta are by far the coziest foods to eat, you can’t really go wrong.

I got the recipe for this soup from Making Thyme for Health. The blog focuses on plant-based recipes, so if you’re vegetarian, definitely check out some of the other recipes! This recipe was also really simple to make. It’s not a recipe where you can just throw everything into the pot and wait, but the directions are very straight-forward and clear so it’s easy to follow along.

I don’t have a very large soup pot, so I had to modify the recipe so that it would all fit in the pot I was using. I only changed amounts, not ingredients, and I added a lot (not really) of red pepper flakes. I’ve never eaten white beans (I think?) so it was cool to try something new within the recipe. I’ve also never cooked using a can of crushed tomatoes. While they’re not overwhelmingly new experiences, it was still cool to use new things in my cooking!

It was also great because there was kale in it! Side note, I think kale is gross. Plain, I can’t stand the taste of it. I applaud people who do. It’s really healthy, but so nasty. But recently I’ve been adding it into my smoothies, and my cooking so I haven’t been tasting it as strongly. It’s great because now I get the benefits of kale without the strong taste.

Overall this turned out so delicious and I would and will 100% make this again. It was nice and filling, and the perfect thing to come home to after a “long” day of “working hard.”

To be continued…

Gabriela

Citrus Shrimp & Avocado

January 17, 2020September 28, 2022Leave a comment

TGIF. But actually. I’m looking forward to the long weekend, and especially no classes on Monday. I love my classes this quarter. They’re a lot of fun and they’re really small, which means I’m getting to know my classmates really well! But I really need a weekend for my weekend, so I’m happy there’s nothing to do on Monday.

I wanted to make a light dinner since typically my lunches are very heavy, plus the fact that I tend to come home pretty late. And having a huge, heavy meal right before bed makes it hard for me to sleep. However, to be entirely honest, I didn’t love this meal. The shrimp were DELICIOUS….but I should not have made them into a salad. I felt that the salad just didn’t do it for me. I think next time I would top the shrimp over rice and add some veggies on the side. The shrimp were so good and I feel like the salad just really drowned them out.

But anyway: I highly recommend making the shrimp. I followed the shrimp recipe from foodiecrush. The instructions were really easy and straightforward. Basically, chop and mix and cook. No brain power needed.

Everything smelled soooo good. To the sauce, I also added some lemon and orange zest because I was having a “why not?” moment. I don’t know if it did anything, but it made me feel like it did. Additionally, I only used a 2lb bag of shrimp, which I think contributed to me not liking the salad portion. Next time I would cook 2 bags of shrimp (the recipe calls for 3lbs but I only had a 2lb bag at home).

For the salad, I also followed a recipe from foodiecrush. I think this salad would have been really good, but I think there were a lot of errors on my part and so it just wasn’t really what I was hoping it to be. For starters, I think I had way too much lettuce. I had plenty of avocado (so good), and I bought the almonds….and then forgot to put them into the salad.

They didn’t end up being mixed in, but when I pulled a portion out for dinner, I added in the almonds separately. It definitely made a difference. It added more flavor to the dish overall.

But like I said earlier, I think this would have been good if I had made it a little better. But I do think that next time I will make the shrimp and put it over rice with some veggies. The shrimp was very easy to make and turned out absolutely delicious.

To be continued…

Gabriela

“Garlic” Chicken and Veggie Pasta

January 10, 2020October 1, 2022Leave a comment

Happy New Year and welcome to week one of winter quarter!

I’m ~almost~ done. Not in the homestretch yet, but I’m sure this quarter will go by quickly. So far I’m really enjoying my classes and I work well with all of my lab partners. I have a lot of work ahead of me this quarter, but somehow it all feels incredibly more manageable than last quarter. Which is great because I have other things that I’m looking forward to doing this quarter other than just sitting in my library cubicle.

As it is a new year, of course there are new year’s resolutions to be said! For starters, I want to firmly stick to my gym schedule AND I want to start using the machines. Even though I grew up as an athlete, I’ve never really gone to a gym because all of my workouts were on the field. Now when I go to the gym, I notice I’m really intimidated and feel like everyone is watching me. It makes me feel really pressured and also makes me scared to try things that I believe “I can’t do.” I started Tuesday and Thursday, and both days I used a new machine. Going on Thursday, I noticed that because I had gone to a machine on Tuesday, I already felt more comfortable approaching the idea and I ended up having a great workout!

Secondly, I really want to expand on my cooking abilities. So for the next 11 weeks (the entirety of my winter quarter), I want to cook a new recipe every week for lunch and dinner. I’ve always wanted to try a bunch of new recipes, like the ones everyone secretly has pinned on their Pinterest boards but never actually tries. I really want to feel comfortable and feel like I can make something delicious!

Of course, as I’m sure it’s clear, I love food and I love to cook. I used to be awful at it (actually though…), but I’ve had a lot of practice and I’m starting to really enjoy it. It’s become a normal part of my Sunday schedule. In the morning, grocery store, buy some flowers to spruce up the living room, come home, and meal prep for the week. Meal prepping has been great for my busy schedule and also helps me stay on track with what I’m eating and making sure that I’m getting all of the calories I need. Between playing lacrosse, going to the gym regularly, AND swimming on weekends, I burn quite a lot of calories and need to make sure I’ve got something in my stomach to keep me going.

To start off with my New Year’s resolution, I made a Garlic Chicken and Veggie Pasta which I found off of a Facebook video from Tasty (I think). Personally, I think this dish is improperly named. One, because I definitely didn’t taste garlic and two, because I have never used THAT much oregano. But it was still really tasty!

Since it was just a video, there were no measurements or super clear instructions, so I just kinda winged it. It turned out great though!! It was delicious. It was super easy to make and lasted me for 4 days of lunch, although to be honest, I probably could have pushed that to 5 days. With the combination of chicken and pasta, the dish was heavier than I was expecting it to be, so I definitely could have stretched it out over another day.

The recipe consisted of chicken breast, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, shallots, kale, and penne. To start, I had to prep all of the veggies. The carrots were shaved and sliced, and the zucchini and yellow squash were sliced. I used 2 carrots, and 1 zucchini and yellow squash. The chicken was cut into little cubes and cooked in olive oil on the stove. I added some salt, pepper, and oregano. While cooking the chicken, I prepped the penne in a separate pot. I opted for whole wheat penne from Trader Joe’s and used about half the bag (around 3 cups). When the chicken was finished, I placed it into a separate bowl and cooked the carrots, kale, zucchini, and yellow squash in the same pan. While cooking these, I added in about a quarter of the shallot, 3 gloves of garlic, and some salt, pepper, and oregano. When the pasta was finished, I mixed it into the pan and added the chicken in as well. On medium-low heat, I mix everything around in the pan, and added some more salt, pepper, and oregano.

It was a lot of food, but a lot of really good food! I plan on sticking to my schedule of making a new recipe every week, but I definitely can’t wait to try this again. I would highly recommend it! Enjoy!

To be continued…

Gabriela