vegetables – Page 2 – Gabriela Maria

Silver

October 14, 2022October 14, 20221 Comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here’s what we ordered:

House-made Tomato Basil Soup

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

Crispy Brussel Sprouts

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

Moroccan Tomatoes Tagine

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

Truffle Bison Meatloaf

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

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

Review: Creamy Spinach Tomato Gnocchi

October 7, 2022November 12, 20221 Comment

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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Ecuadorian Ceviche

February 26, 2021October 1, 20221 Comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To make this you’ll need:

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

The recipe is as follows:

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

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

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

Stay tuned for the next post!

To be continued…

Gabriela

Spiced Sheet-Pan Pork and Vegetables

November 27, 2020September 28, 20221 Comment

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.

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

Salmon with Roasted Tomatoes and Shallots

October 14, 2020September 28, 20222 Comments

So what’s happened in the last two weeks?

Two Friday’s ago we had a resume event where we were able to make changes to our resume to make it as good as possible. I had lots of little tweaks but now looking at my resume, it’s so much better. So that event was a success! Last Tuesday we received our first projects in which we get to work directly with a company. Our first meeting as a team with our client is actually later today, so I’m both excited and a little nervous. On Monday (two days ago!), my Medical Diagnostics class gave our phase 1 presentation for our project. It went really well and we got a lot of great feedback and constructive criticism from our professors, so I’m excited to see how we progress with phase 2.

This recipe is the first recipe that I researched for and it turned out way better than I was expecting it to. In all honesty, I didn’t have high hopes just because I haven’t followed a recipe in a long time, so I was sure that I would mess up somewhere. I think this was also my first time cooking fish? I’m always nervous cooking any fish or meat because I always think that I am undercooking it, since I don’t like when it’s overcooked. It’s the little things.

As you can see here to the left, the recipe itself was actually very straight forward and easy, so it was a good choice to start off with. This recipe is from a magazine series titled Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publications, and the specific magazine was the 13×9 One-Pan Comfort Food. I grabbed this magazine a while back since I knew things with grad school would be picking up quickly, and I thought this would be a great way to still have healthy meals while not totally cutting into my already busy schedule. Plus, I need to eat! So why not make something fun?

The recipe calls for salmon, salt, pepper, cherry tomatoes, shallots, garlic, oregano and olive oil. Having most of these items already in stock, the shopping list for this recipe was not only extremely short, but also well within budget. The most costly thing was the salmon of course. I also have this habit of not reading the amounts I need, rather I just read what I need, so I ended up buying a little bit over 1-lb. of salmon, which turned out fine, but in the end, I think I should have purchased a second package of cherry tomatoes. less tomatoes didn’t make or break the dish, but I think it would have been nice to just have a few extra goodies on the side.

As you may or may not be able to see from the photo, the recipe suggests finishing the dish off by adding “a bed of hot cooked Israeli couscous tossed with olive oil and a few handfuls of fresh arugula or baby spinach.” Now, me being me and not reading directions, I, of course, did not see this, so I just finished it off with some good ‘ole classic rice. Worked just fine 🙂

What can also be seen from the photos are the clear differentiations made in my version. I initially was following the image by using whole cherry tomatoes, but then having finished the package and wanting a bit more, I sliced up a Roma tomato (and I wish I had sliced up a second one). I also chopped the shallot smaller, rather than in the strips that the image suggested. Additionally, I cut the salmon into portions prior to cooking. I mainly did this because the salmon I bought was so long that it would not have fit in the pan. But it also turned out to be beneficial because it made platting the food much easier (in my opinion).

As I mentioned earlier, I finished off the dish with some rice and I added teriyaki sauce for some added flavor. This in and of itself was delicious, but seeing as how this was my big meal for the day (quite literally), I was noticing that I was getting hungry a bit after eating. So I decided to add a bit of a spin onto the recipe and instead of doing Israeli couscous with baby spinach or arugula, I added chopped up sweet potato and avocado. This was delicious and I personally feel like it really added a lot of great flavor.

So that was this week’s recipe! I definitely recommend trying it out, it lasted me the whole week (with ~ 1.5 lbs of salmon). I don’t know if my salmon was farm-raised or wild caught (I prefer wild caught for taste and environmental purposes), but if you do choose to try this out and have wild salmon, here’s a nutrition fact about wild salmon:

Wild salmon is high in omega-3 fats and a good source of protein. It also contains other nutrients such as B vitamins, potassium, and selenium. (Information obtained from The Power of Superfoods magazine – I love my magazines).

Hope you try it out! Next post is a quinoa based dish!

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

“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