Roasted Garlic & Herb Chicken w/ Pasta

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 box of mini rotini pasta
1 bag of Jack Daniels Roasted Garlic & Herb Marinade (It comes in a bag)
1/3 cup of butter
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1-2 cloves of garlic OR 1 teaspoon of pre-minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
1/2 cup of Mixed Veggies (frozen)

Stick the chicken breasts in the marinade bag and let it marinade for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. It's basically a giant zip-loc bag filled with marinade. It's like $2-3 at the grocery store and it is amazing for adding flavor to meals. After it's been marinaded, grill up the chicken for about 5 minutes, or until fully cooked. Set aside on a plate to let the juices re-distribute.

Boil the pasta and drain. Add in the butter, basil, oregano, garlic, and garlic salt, mixing well. Turn the heat on low and add in the veggies. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the veggies are tender.

Cut up the chicken breasts (one per serving, this recipe is meant for 2 people) and add one to each bowl. Mix  with the pasta and veggies, and serve! :)

BBQ Burgers

So I bought a few fresh onions from the store when I made a (failed) attempt at turkey meatballs. I decided I needed to use it somehow so it wouldn't go to waste. Then I came up with this idea for burgers AND to freeze the rest of my onions. :)

1/2 lb ground beef (I used 85/15 fat content)
4 tablespoons of Spicy Honey bbq sauce
1/2 onion chopped obnoxiously fine in the food chopper
2 tablespoons of Steakhouse Grinder seasoning mix.
2 slices of sharp cheddar cheese

Add the onion and seasoning to the meat and completely mix together. Separate the meat in 1/2 and make them into balls. Squish the balls until they make a nice even patty shape. :) Stick them on that pan! Let them heat thoroughly. I like my burgers well done so I usually wait a good 4 minutes per side. ONLY FLIP YOUR BURGERS ONCE!!! It makes sure that each side is cooked evenly and that your center is where you want it at.

After your burgers are about 99% cooked, you add two tablespoons of Spicy Honey bbq sauce to your burgers each. I generally put one tablespoon on one side, flip, then the rest on the other side. I cook these for maybe 30 seconds more to warm the bbq sauce and let it caramelize a bit on the outside of the burgers.

It looks gruesome but trust me, it's delicious :)

Afterwards, stick the cheese on it and whatever other toppings. I used a little bit more bbq sauce on the bun for an extra zing. I heated up some rice in a bag and voila! Dinner is done! :)

Adventures in Food!

So this is basically a mish-mash of my encounters since last posting in May :)

My mother is a Whole Foods fanatic when it comes to quick lunches and snack-y items. She'll call me from Chicago and tell me about all the deals going on. She's funny like that. While I was home over the 4th, I went with my mother onto one of her excursions to Whole Foods. Low and behold, I discover key lime pie slices in a plastic tin. Who knew such beauty existed in this world? It even comes with a mini spoon. Who doesn't like mini spoons? Thus, now I shall venture to Whole Foods for the sole purpose of getting my Key-Lime on.

Second trip: Hawaii. My parents took me to Hawaii (Maui specifically) for my 21st birthday, as well as a much-needed family vacation. :) We encountered this place called Whaler's Village and found a cookie store! It's called Honolulu Cookie Company. They have the most amazing shortbread cookies. Some made with Kona coffee, others dipped in chocolate, others filled with macadamia nuts! It's wonderful. They do online orders and ship 2nd day. I've shared a few of these cookies with the front office of my apartment complex and they love 'em too! :)

Third Trip: White Chocolate Grill. There's a location in Scottsdale (way north on the 101) and there's a location in Naperville, IL. Since I'm from Naperville, naturally while home I went there. My family and I went for my father's birthday and trust me, it was divine. I do have to mention though that it is a little pricey. I wouldn't go in there hoping that 2 people can eat for under $40 or so. Being called White Chocolate Grill, naturally, most of their desserts are amazing. And White Chocolate. But don't be too upset! They do have non-white chocolate desserts as well for those who don't like white chocolate (blasphemy, but I don't judge :-P).

Specifically, we ordered the chocolate cake/souffle and white chocolate "blondie" brownie. The white stuff on the chocolate cake is actually just a vanilla sauce. They were absolutely amazing and I taunted my friends gleefully that evening.

Last Note:

This has absolutely nothing to do with food, but ever get so annoyed that you wish you could let people know without being a jerk? Have no fear! There are options! I work at Rio Salado College's bookstore and we get neat little knick-knacks in, sort-of like Borders does. This one entertained us the most. You should definitely pick one up if any of this applies to you :-P

Chicken Chili - Update

Hi! Sorry it's been so long. I've had a few health issues to deal with and they're finally under control. Also took a vacation to Chicago to visit family, which is all fun and fantastic. :) Here is one of my updated recipes!

Chicken Chili

2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
3 Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts
4 Bell Peppers
2 small cans of Chili Beans (Pinto beans w/ chili sauce)
2 28oz cans of Crushed Tomatos
1 cup of frozen corn
1-2 onions, chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 box of "Mini Rotini" pasta
1 1/2 tablespoons of chili powder
2 teaspoons of cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 Teaspoon of Cayenne (adjust for desired heat)

Cube up the chicken into bite sized pieces and throw into a heated (LARGE) pot with the olive oil and brown off. Chop up the veggies as well into bite size chunks. I like to leave the bell peppers in strips, but it's whatever you like. I personally mutilate the onion because I like the flavor but not onion chunks. Mini-choppers are great for this. However, if you like your chili topped with onion, reserve about 1/4 cup of onion for the top. Throw the veggies in the pot and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are tender.

Add both cans of chili beans AND THE SAUCE! The sauce adds plenty of extra depth to the chili and makes it a little thicker than usual. Stir up the veggies, chicken, and beans so everything is even. Then add both cans of crushed tomatos. My gallon-sized pot was barely able to contain all of this so if you have a bigger pot, I'd suggest it. Now it's time to add all of the seasonings. The Red Pepper flakes and Cayenne can be adjusted as needed for spice. The current recipe makes it probably about a "medium salsa" if that makes sense. Stir carefully and completely to make sure all of the seasoning gets distributed. Now one last touch: Pasta.

Add in about 1/2 a box, or a little less, of mini rotini pasta. The mini pasta is best because it doesn't compete in size with the other ingredients. It basically turns this into a complete meal all in one bowl!

Make sure to simmer this for about 10 minutes, or until the pasta is completely cooked through. Then serve, and enjoy!

This makes a TON of food so feel free to adjust it as needed. This is becoming my lunch for the next week (overtime, yay!) for work. Here is me, consuming the delicousness!

Till next time folks!

Spicy Montreal Burgers

Honestly, I find burgers incredibly annoying to make in my kitchen. I don't have a grill or a grill pan and the "community grill" outside scares me. I don't know what's been growing or whatnot on there.. Thus, I have to basically pan fry them and hope all goes well.

The name Spicy Montreal comes from my favorite little seasoning shaker. I'm a spicy food freak (I add Tabasco to everything..) so naturally, I would go for the mix with red pepper flakes. I also purchase the pre-made burger patties as well. I like that they're already weighed out for me. These generally come out to be about 1/3 of a pound each, roughly. Those make some mighty big, fine burgers. :-) Here's the burgers in progress.

I know, a little gruesome, but hey, whatever works right? Well, they ended up turning out awesome. I decided to add some tomato too. Now I'm really against slicing vegetables. It's probably because I don't know how to properly slice them, but anyways, I sliced up a tomato. I was super proud of my awesome slices...I mean, they're pretty. I even picked one up for Chris and was like "I made pretty slices!" See for yourself.

I also enjoy being very meticulous about stacking the toppings. I always add one condiment (mayo) to the top bun, and the other (either mustard or ketchup, depending on who the burger is for) on the bottom. I also make sure to spread it with a knife. I hate gloppy ketchup and mayo running every which way, but that current bite not having enough. I also prefer spinach over lettuce because I like the flavor. Spinach isn't evil, people! And it doesn't have to just be for salad! :-) Here's what the burgers looked like after I added cheese and my annoying stacking obsession.

Yummy! By the way, they're friggin' huge. I couldn't fit the whole thing in my mouth. (Awaiting the "That's what she said!" comment...) After cooking up some sweet potato fries, lunch was ready :-)

I think my next adventure will be some sort of taco flavored burger with salsa on top...Any ideas!?! :-)

Salmonella

Never, ever get coffee with raw milk in it. No matter how delicious that peanut butter mocha sounds, it will wreck you.

A few weeks ago I came down with a nasty bout of salmonella. Had to fill out a bunch of CDC paperwork and crap. It wasn't fun. Now, I love my boyfriend dearly. We've been dating for the better part of 3 years. However, he decided that I needed to be sheltered at his apartment during this so he could take care of me. Aww, cute, right? Well...his idea of "cheering me up" was this...

Seriously? Who does that? He buys me delicious chocolate peanut butter truffles, even eats a few next to me, when the last thing I want to do is even look at food. I give him props for trying, but I think he needs to have some better timing. In the end, they were delicious, you know, once I got better. But I hated him so much for taunting me with this. :-P Sigh. Men.

Happy Cupcake!

Okay, so this has a story. My mom got bit by a spider when I was home for Spring Break this past March. It sucked. She ended up in the hospital and all that jazz. It wasn't a fun time for her. My dad and I were being good family members, cleaning the house, etc. I decided to make a run to the grocery store. My mom is known for chatting up the checkout ladies at Dominick's, or wherever she goes. My mom is super friendly, as many of my friends would know, and always has to get the scoop on EVERYTHING. Anyways, sidetracked, I went to Dominick's and was picking up some things that would be easy for her to eat. The manager, whose name I can't remember, immediately recognized me as my mother's daughter. I guess we look alike. :-P See for yourself!

Yay momma! So, when the manager recognized me and heard of my mom's predicament, she immediately went over to the bakery section and got my mom's favorite sweets. Well, antibiotics tend to do bad things to your stomach, so my mom told me to have some of the sweets that the manager bought for us. The manager specifically said that this cupcake should make my mom happy. It is a very happy cupcake. :-)

And yes, I do play World of Warcraft. I am a bit of a nerd. :-P