Tag: update

Kale and Sausage Stir Fry

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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 really picked up at work. We have a mix of project components all due by November 10th. Some components we can complete without roadblocks, but others are data-based, and so we can only progress based on how much data has already been compiled. I added formulas to the spreadsheet we’ve been working on to try and make the process less manual, but to also minimize how many times we have to go back into the spreadsheet. It’s definitely saved us some time overall to commit to other project components. As we enter Version 2 of our project, I’m curious to see if there will be a Version 3, and if not, what my involvement will be in the next steps of the project. I’m excited to see it!

Halloween this past “weekend” was a lot of fun! I spent it with my family and we ordered matching skeleton onesies to make it easier. Although we ended up not going trick-or-treating, we had a lot of fun setting up the candy table for the trick-or-treaters. My dad has a great set-up going with a skeleton who sits behind the table with blinking eyes, bats and ghosts flying in from a nearby pole, and a remote controlled spider/skeleton hybrid. We ended up going out for dinner and drinks dressed in our costumes. It was a fun night!

I was feeling a bit lazy this past weekend so I tried to opt for something that could be very mindless. I didn’t want to have to worry about how long an ingredient was being cooked for or having to add certain ingredients at a certain point in time. I wanted to be able to put everything in the pan and call it a day.

Some of the ingredients for this dish. Placed on a cutting board that was handmade by my dad! They were great Christmas presents from a few years ago!

This week I made a Kale and Sausage Stir Fry which was great to have for work. The skillet I have is large, but not large enough for the quantities I was making. Unfortunately that meant that I couldn’t throw everything in the pan and call it a day, but it was still a very straight forward meal. Cooked red onions tend to lose their strong flavor and add a nice subtlety to the recipe. They also don’t have that distinct onion smell when you re-heat them in the office microwave.

Kale is not an ingredient that most people like. I personally do not like kale. However, when it’s cooked and mixed with other ingredients, I really don’t mind the taste of it at all. The downside to cooking kale is that many of the high nutritional benefits are lost or minimized. In contrast, cooked bell peppers apparently help you absorb the vitamins better. I’m not sure how true that is, but if you’d like to read more on it, here’s the article I found. And finally, there was the asparagus.

Asparagus is low in calories and a great source of vitamins A, C, and K

Pulled from Healthline

Mixed with the sweet potatoes and the sausage, I found this to be an easy but filling recipe. I love adding sweet potato to my recipes. I find to to be a great fall ingredient, it’s always easy to prepare, and there are many ways to make it! I did have a minor cooking accident which made the prep time much longer than anticipated, but all is well and my minor wound healed fine. Check out the recipe below and let me know what you think!

Recipe List below:

  • 1 Bundle Fresh Kale
  • 1 Bundle Asparagus
  • 1 Yellow Bell Pepper
    • Can also substitute for other colors depending on what you prefer
  • 1 Red Onion
  • 3 Small/Medium Sweet Potatoes
  • 1 Pack Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage*
    • I use pre-cooked sausage that takes much less time to prepare
    • This is another ingredient that can be substituted for what you prefer
  • 2 tbsp Olive Oil
  • Medium Sprinkle Garlic Powder
  • Medium Sprinkle Onion Powder
  • Light Sprinkle Salt
  • Medium Sprinkle Black Pepper
  • Medium Sprinkle Sesame Seeds
  • Light Sprinkle Red Pepper Flakes*

Recipe Directions below:

  • Prep veggies and goodies:
    • Peel and cube sweet potato
    • Separate and slice kale
    • Dice red onion
    • Cut up asparagus
  • In a large skillet, add 1 tbsp Olive Oil and sweet potatoes
    • Cook sweet potatoes on medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown
  • Add 1 tbsp Olive Oil, bell pepper, onion , and asparagus
    • Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, sesame seed, and red pepper flakes*
    • Cook for 8-10 minutes or until tender
  • Remove ingredients from skillet and add to large mixing bowl
  • Add kale to skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes or until kale is wilted
  • Add kale to large mixing bowl and add pre-cooked sausage* to skillet
    • Cook for 8-10 minutes
  • Mix ingredients together and serve.
The final product. This was a great mix of veggies and a filling dish for a busy day at work.

*Optional additions. This sausage addition helps make the recipe a bit more filling. I add the red pepper flakes because they’re one of my favorite additions to any meal.

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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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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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Quinoa and Salad

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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

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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.

Yay for corny photos!

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

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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

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