Saturday, September 27, 2014

#3.5: Make 20 Recipes From Pinterest – Chicken and Garden Veggies Quinoa Skillet

                      

Ingredients
  • 1 large onion
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 tbs EVOO
  • 2 large bell peppers
  • 2 lbs chicken breasts
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground pepper
  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 medium zucchini
  • 1 bunch broccoli
  • 10 oz grape tomatoes
  • 1 bunch parsley/dill/basil




First, chop and prep the vegetables. 



I use this handy green thing specifically for onions. You only need to roughly chop them up, and cranking the handle minces them for you. I'd strongly recommend getting one if you're at all interested in saving your skin from mascara stains or your ego which is usually bruised when other see you crying uncontrollably.



Dice the chicken.




Heat the oil in a skillet.




Sauté the garlic and onions until browned, about four minutes.




Add bell peppers, and cook everything for an additional three minutes.




Add chicken. Cook for five minutes.




Add quinoa, water, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 12 minutes.




Throw in the zucchini and broccoli, and cook covered for 15 minutes.




Add tomatoes and whatever herbs you chose.




Eat.



This was soooo good. I didn't run into many problems while making this. The only major thing was I ended up adding way too much water (way more than the single cup that was called for), but it was mostly absorbed after being in the fridge for a couple days. 

I also discovered that I hate zucchini, so when I make this again I'll replace it with more broccoli, bell peppers, and tomatoes. Maybe I'll even add some carrots. I'm SUCH a connoisseur.



Thanks for reading, no one!

Thursday, September 25, 2014

#4.8: Read 25 New Books, #6.3: Read BuzzFeed's 21 Best YA Books of 2013 – The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Listing reading BuzzFeed's 21 Best YA Books of 2013 may have been a mistake; I'll have to read a lot more than I was originally intending to, and it's keeping me from rereading certain books that I haven't in a while (i.e. Harry Potter).

BUT that's why it's called a challenge, right?

I picked The Coldest Girl in Coldtown off the list to read because it wasn't part of a series (there are a lot of books on that list that are the second or third book in a series, and obviously I'm going to have to read whatever books precede those, so once again, I'm going to have to read a loooooot).

A little background about my reading preferences: I am not one for fantasy or sci-fi. The only exception to this is the Harry Potter series, which I've read 10 times and am still obsessed with. I like books about romance. I like books about people my age. I like books that are funny. I like stories that are real, in the sense that they could feasibly (or unfeasibly, whatever) happen.

Back to the book.


"Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mixture of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of range and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black."


Spoiler alert: it's about vampires. That initially turned me off, and I had a hard time getting into the story, but once there was romance happening, I was ALL IN. I thought the book ended in the middle of what could have been a great opportunity for even more romance, and there really was a lack of closure. Maybe this means there'll be a sequel? I sure hope so.


Thanks for reading, no one!

Sunday, September 21, 2014

#16: Win a Contest

Several months ago I entered a contest through disneymovierewards.com. The grand prize was a trip for four to Disney's Aulani resort, themed as "Frozen in the Summer". Before you get too excited, no, I did not win a trip to Hawaii. But I was close!





I ended up winning an Olaf stuffed animal. Not a vacation, but I was excited nonetheless.


Cute, right?



You can even mutilate and dismember his body! Fun!








Thanks for reading, no one!


Autumn

Sunday, September 7, 2014

#3.4: Make 20 Recipes From Pinterest – Chicken Pesto Quinoa Bowl

Time is passing so quickly, and to be honest, it's scaring the shit out of me. There's a lot on my plate at the moment that I don't want to deal with, and when that's the case, I distract myself with the Internet. A bad idea, really, as that in of itself makes time slip away even faster.

Anyway, I made this recipe over a month ago (I think?). It was one I found through Pinterest relatively recently, but it immediately caught my eye and I wanted to try it. Do you remember The Protein Bar? It was a restaurant I tried during my DC trip, and I wrote a little bit about it here. To summarize, it's a small restaurant chain that specializes in healthy, high protein meals, everything delicious and made with natural ingredients. 

I didn't get the Chicken Pesto Quinoa Bowl the two times I visited, but I think (lol idk??) I remember seeing it on their menu. 



Ingredients
• 2 c quinoa
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 c spinach
• 2 T pesto
• 2 T grated parmesan
• 1 t lemon pepper
• 1 t garlic
• 1 T EVOO





Boil 4 cups of water, and add the quinoa. Simmer for 15-ish minutes, or until done.




Cut the chicken (and season with the lemon pepper) and garlic...




…and add to a warm skillet with the olive oil.




After the quinoa and chicken are done, add them plus the spinach, pesto, and parmesan to a large bowl, and mix.



All done!




I did have to make adjustments to the recipe, but once I did, it was sooooo good. At first, once I had mixed everything together, the flavor was weak. I ended up adding more pesto, parmesan, and salt, and wanted to add more chicken and spinach, but this could easily be solved by using less quinoa. It does make a lot anyway, so using less quinoa would be good if you don't want a lot of leftovers.




Thanks for reading, no one!

Autumn