Grilled Chicken and Veggie Wrap

I'm exhausted.  My legs hurt from walking and my head is way heavier than it usually is.  I have been so busy this past week that it has been hard to find the right times to eat.  So, not only have I been (and am) exhausted, but I've also been starving!  Today though, I finally got a satisfying meal.  I went to one of the dining hall options I have at my school, and they happen to sell wraps (along with smoothies and other stuff I wasn't in the mood for).

I personally LOVE wraps!  They are everything amazing about a sandwich rolled up into a super easy and portable meal.  This wrap does not take much time at all and is super easy to make at home.

Ingredients:

-Wrap (I used a spinach wrap because I'm fancy like that, but a lavash or even a tortilla will work).
-grilled chicken
-red peppers
-cucumber
-feta cheese
-spinach
-wasabi aioli

It is super easy to make.  You take the wrap and place all the ingredients in it and then you just wrap it up!  Seriously, this could not be an easier meal to make.  Like a sandwich, you can put pretty much put anything you want in it.  Add some sun-dried tomatoes if you want to go crazy.

Instead of the wasabi aioli (seriously who has time to make wasabi aioli?) try a spicy mayo (see my salmon sandwich recipe for a super easy way to make this).  You could even add dressing instead of a condiment if you want.

It tasted amazing!  I ate it in my room with my lovely background of homework I have yet to do.  Although the atmosphere was a bit depressing, the meal was still delicious.  

I followed this meal with a nice episode of Giada at Home (to further procrastinate from homework).  I know I said I can't watch TV on my computer, but for now it will have to do.  

Because the dining halls were closed

I was walking to the dining hall furthest away from my unit because I wanted to try it out.  This is a long walk to do, especially in sandals (what I was wearing).  I finally got there only to find out that it was closed!  I was still hungry, I wasn't just not going to eat.  So, we decided (I was with a few other people) to go out to eat.  Now, I couldn't use meal points at the restaurant I went to (and I'm Jewish and fit the Jewish stereotype of being cheap, so I really didn't feel like spending money), but besides that my meal was great.

We went out for Thai food.  I switched my order around about three times, but I'm so glad I did.  I ended up ordering Pad see ew (they are a thicker noodle, kind of like chow mein at a Chinese food restaurant).  I got mine with tofu and broccoli, and it was delicious! I personally love tofu so I thought it was great.

These are not the best pictures I could have taken.  It's not that I don't take stellar photos with my iPhone (sarcasm), it's just that I really don't want to be the person at the table taking pictures of their food when out in public (it's a different story in the privacy of my own home), I wouldn't want someone thinking I'm instagramming them or anything.

There was also fried egg mixed in with the noodles, which I used to dislike but now I realize how great it is!  I wish I could tell you how they made it, but I can't.

After this, I went back to my room and did something I said I was not going to do... I watched TV on my computer!  I'm seriously addicted to TV and I was having withdrawal.  I needed my fix.  Let me tell you, that was one of the BEST episodes of Family Guy I have ever watched!

My First Real Meal

I've been in my dorm for two days now (although it feels like a lot longer)!  I'm overwhelmed and tired, and all I really want to do is lay (lie?) down, watch TV, read a magazine (yes, I read my US weekly at the same time I'm watching Brother vs. Brother) and eat.  Unfortunately, I am not at home so I cannot do the first three things, luckily, the one thing I can do is eat.  I'm still trying to get used to the dining halls, but in the meantime, there are plenty of other restaurants I can go to, including one I went to today which was (like I always say) AMAZING!

I love grilled cheese sandwiches (they are one of the first things I learned how to make)!  What is better than melted cheese and bread?  The one I got today was probably one of the best I've ever had (I could have also been starving since I really hadn't eaten much before it, but that doesn't matter because it was still good).

This place did something very special with their grilled cheese, they used garlic bread instead of just plain bread!  That is one thing I must try next time I make a grilled cheese.

I got The Swiss (swiss cheese) and I added tomatoes because tomatoes are so delicious in a grilled cheese (if you've never had tomatoes in your grilled cheese, you must try it)!  The cheese was melty and delicious.

The only thing that could have made this better would have been to be eating it in the comfort of my own home, with the new episode of the Kardashians on in the background, but for now, just enjoying the food will do.

Spicy Hoisin Lime Dressing

It's official, I am moving to my dorm tomorrow.  That means I will no longer have TV (for five months).  I will now be devoted to school work, but more importantly I will be devoted to food!  For my second to last dinner home I made a salad, which as I'm writing this sounds very lame but the dressing I made for it was so amazing that it is not, in fact, lame!  The dressing is super easy to make (I feel like I say that about everything I make, but it's true!).

Ingredients:

-oil

-sriracha 

-hoisin sauce

-juice of one lime

I don't measure anything for this dressing because it's really not necessary to.  Make the dressing to taste, if you want it sweeter add more hoisin, if you want it spicier add more sriracha.  Sriracha is one of the best things I have bought recently, I would definitely invest in a bottle if you don't already have one.  It is not very expensive ($4 for a huge bottle), and you can use it in just about everything (check out my recipe for the spicy mayo spread for my salmon sandwich).  Mix everything together in a jar (you might have extra so any container with a lid is good to store it for next use).

Pour it over some lettuce (I use spring mix because I like it better than romaine, but arugula would also be delicious) and mix.  I added some slices of avocado, corn, feta cheese and thinly sliced carrots (I believe this is actually called "julienned" but seeing as I can't properly "julienne" a carrot or any vegetable for that matter, I just say "thinly slice" them).

It is an absolutely beautiful salad, super colorful and so many different fun textures.  The dressing is slightly spicy but still so light and refreshing from the lime!  If you want a more filling meal add some chicken to it like I did:

Writing this is making me hungry for another one!  I watched Jeopardy after I ate this (actually is was Teen Jeopardy) with my dessert of oreos and milk (which was also delicious) and I got three questions right!  That's a pretty good way to cap off this dinner.  I hope you enjoy this salad as much as I did!

Salmon Sandwich

Forget a tuna fish sandwich, this leftover salmon sandwich is so much better!  My family had a salmon dinner the other night and we didn't finish all the fish so, we stuck it in a tupperware and put it in the fridge to sit and either be eaten the next day or go bad.  Luckily, I snatched it before it got gross.  To dress up the old salmon I made a spicy mayo spread, which was delicious (so delicious in fact, my brother even liked it - apparently it tastes like that spicy sauce on spicy tuna sushi rolls)!

Ingredients for the sandwich:

-salmon

-mayo

-sriracha 

-spinach or any lettuce

-swiss cheese (or any cheese)

-bread

The sauce is super easy to make.  All you need is sriracha sauce and mayo.  Mix the two together (be careful with the sriracha sauce though because it is very spicy).  

Spread the amazing sauce on one side of the bread and top that side with spinach and the salmon.  On the other half of the bread melt some cheese (I used swiss, one of my favorites).

Then you just put the two halves together and voilà, you have a fantastic salmon sandwich.  Why would you throw away the salmon when you could eat it again in another meal?

It tasted so good I want to have salmon again just to make it again.  The best part of the sandwich was definitely the sauce, I had to make more so I could put even more on my sandwich!  If you don't want to have a salmon sandwich, at least try the sauce.  I know I will be making it again for my next sandwich.

Now, who wouldn't want that?  This dinner followed by dessert in front of the TV with a classy episode of Wife Swap on, sounds like a good night to me!

The right way to eat a smoothie

Yes, I said EAT a smoothie (sipping a smoothie is for babies - literally).  I had an acaí bowl the other week and while it was good, it really made me think, "this is not worth $8!"  I can make something similar to it for way less money, and who doesn't love saving money? (I'm talking to you Sandra Lee).  No, my smoothie bowl is not an acaí bowl, but really the acaí bowls do not live up to all the hype.  In my opinion, the smoothie bowl is a lot better and so here it goes!

Ingredients (you can use whatever fruits you like, I just really think these taste good):

- frozen blueberries
- frozen strawberries
- one banana
- half an avocado (this makes the smoothie super creamy)
- some yogurt (I use vanilla yogurt because I really don't like the taste of plain yogurt)
- uncooked oats (this gives a really nice texture to the smoothie and I personally love the taste of uncooked oats, because I'm a weirdo)
-splash of water

How to make a smoothie:

Step 1: Place the blueberries, strawberries, banana, avocado, yogurt and a splash of water in the blender and blend it up.

Step 2: Mix in the oats with a spoon (this makes it easier for them to blend into the smoothie so they don't stick on the sides of the blender).  You can put as much as you want, I don't measure my amount but I'm guessing I put in about a cup.

Step 3: Pour the smoothie into... a BOWL!  It is so much more fun to eat the smoothie from a bowl with a spoon than sip it with a straw.  I personally like to chew my food a little rather than sip a meal (that is why I could never go on a juice cleanse - that and because I'd be starving!)

This is definitely filling and tastes so good!  You will never go back to drinking your smoothies again... you're welcome.

Birdie in the avocado nest

When I am not watching TV, I am most likely on Pinterest.  Literally the only thing I use Pinterest for is to look at food.  Now, I have seen this dish come up many times on my home page and so I finally decided to make it.  What I am talking about is an egg cooked in an avocado.  I didn't really think this was going to come out as delicious as it did, so I was pleasantly surprised when I took the first bite.

The avocado is slightly warm and gets even creamier while the yolk is runny and amazing.  I put some sriracha sauce on mine so it had a little spice, and OH MY GOD!! It was seriously so good I want it again as I am writing this.

Ingredients:

-half an avocado (pit removed)
-one egg

Scrape some of the avocado out so that the well to put the egg in is slightly bigger.  I had a little trouble putting the egg in the avocado half because I didn't take enough out.  Next time I make this I am either going to use a bigger avocado or a smaller egg.  Then you just pop it into the oven at 425 for about 15 minutes (just until the whites are white and set).

Put some sriracha sauce or whatever you like on it and dig in!  I ate mine with a rye cracker and so I had the crunch of the cracker, the creaminess of the avocado and the gooeyness of the egg... OUTSTANDING!

Enjoy!

Best Brussel Sprouts Ever!

I had such a fabulous dinner last night!  What made it so great wasn't the salmon or the corn but the... brussel sprouts!  I need to first say that I did not make this delicious side dish, that was my mom (I did help stir them every now and then though so they didn't burn).  These are so tasty and you must make them "a.s.a.p. as possible" (to quote Michael Scott)!  They might not be the healthiest vegetable dish you will ever eat, but they will definitely be one of the tastiest.

There are only 3 ingredients ("how easy is that?" - Ina Garten).

-1 onion, chopped

-1 lb of bacon cut into small pieces (you of course could use less but why would you?)

- brussel sprouts

Step 1:

Cook that delicious bacon (I am Jewish but even I know bacon tastes amazing!) with the onions.  You don't need any oil or salt or pepper, I told you these are super easy to make!  

Step 2:

Wash the brussel sprouts and cut them in half (that allows for all the wonderful flavor from the bacon and onions to get in between the leaf layers).  Put them all in the pot with the bacon and onions and let them cook down to pure amazingness!

Step 3:

Enjoy (like I did)!

Plate before:                                                                                  

Plate after:

 These are addicting, so be careful!

Taste of Thai

A couple of years ago my family went to Thailand and probably the best part of the trip was, you guessed it, the food!  Although the street food does go through the body kind of fast (I think you know what I mean) it still tasted AMAZING!!  I loved the thai iced teas (I had at least one everyday), but besides that, one dessert that my family ordered multiple times was mango with sticky rice.  I love coconut and mango and rice so this dessert I guess is made for me.  Seriously, if you have never had this dessert, you have to try it!

So, I was looking online for recipes on how to make sticky rice (kind of stressed me out because there were a billion different ways to make it).  Anyway, I just got a new rice cooker (my new favorite kitchen appliance after my Magic Bullet) and so I decided to make the rice in there.  I used a recipe I found online here:

http://thaifood.about.com/od/quickeasythairecipes/r/stickyricecooker.htm

You MUST use sticky rice, other rice does not work for this recipe.  Here is the rice that I used (you can see my beautiful rice cooker in the background):

 I then followed Emeril's recipe for the coconut sauce part I found here:

 http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/sticky-rice-with-coconut-sauce-kha-niao-man-recipe/index.html

Instead of scraping the cream from a can of coconut milk, I found a can of just the coconut cream (which tastes amazing on its own) from Trader Joe's.  But, if you can only find a can of the coconut milk, put it in the fridge for a few hours to help separate the cream from the milk (DO NOT SHAKE THE CAN!).

Pour the sauce over the sticky rice and stir.  Let the rice soak up all the delicious flavor of the cream for a little while.  Then you just serve the rice with some slices of mango and (as Emeril would say) BAM!

I love to make my plates look pretty because food always tastes better when it looks good.  And let me tell you, it tastes so good.  My whole family approved.

This dessert paired with a nice couch, some comfy pajamas and an episode of New Girl makes the best end to a night.  To quote one of my favorite TV chefs, Ina Garten, "what's better than that?"

My New Favorite Dessert

A few weeks ago I went to a farmers' market.  I like farmers' markets even though I sweat because it's always hot and every time I go to one I seem to run into people I know.  Really the last thing I want to do on the weekends is see people I know from school because I see them all week, sometimes I just need a break.  It's not that I am antisocial but, I would much rather be at home watching Giada (as in Giada at Home - my favorite cooking show on Food Network).

To continue with the food part of this post (sorry for my short rant) - the farmers' market.  I got a chocolate covered banana because for some reason I really was in the mood for one.  It was SO GOOD!  Since then I have been craving another one, so finally I got around to making one at home.

This is probably the easiest dessert you could ever make (like actually, I am lazy and even I did it).  There are only 3 ingredients (as my beautiful picture shows).

-1 cup of chocolate chips
-2 tbsp coconut oil (I saw on Pinterest that you could also use vegetable oil)
-frozen bananas

In case you don't know how to make the frozen banana part of this frozen banana treat (I'm assuming most people know how to do this step anyway) 

     -Put a stick in a banana and place the banana in the freezer until it is frozen.

To make the chocolate shell:

     -Put the chocolate chips and the coconut oil in a bowl and microwave it until the chocolate is melted.

Then just take the frozen bananas out of the freezer and immediately dip them in the chocolate shell and watch the chocolate harden.  I spiced my bananas up a bit with some walnuts but if that's not your thing, don't worry, it's not necessary.

Here is my beautiful dessert (sorry it's half eaten already)

Or, if you really want to have some fun, you can cut the bananas up and have little chocolate banana bites (equally as delicious and a little easier to eat).

I enjoyed this dessert while watching Jeopardy.  I got zero answers right (or should I say questions?) but who cares?  A satisfied stomach is more important than knowing music composers of the 18th century, right?

Happy eating!

A Little Introduction

I love TV.  I don't even know how I could live without it.  Why would I read a book instead of watching "the most dramatic finale of the bachelorette ever?"  I wouldn't.  I'm sure there are people who say that reading is more fun, but really, those people are wrong.

Unfortunately, I start school in just about two weeks (although I have had to think about it since I got out of school in June thanks to the back to school commercials that begin when summer starts... thanks Target).  This means that I will have NO TV!  I will not be able to stay up to date on the shows I watch every week and I must wait until I come home for break to catch up!  Yes, I could watch these shows on my computer, but any person as obsessed with TV as I am understands (I hope) that it just isn't the same.

Luckily, there is one thing that I love almost as much as TV... food.  I eat everything, except chili and breakfast sandwiches (when I was younger and a little chunkier, I ate six breakfast sandwiches on the plane because I liked them, now I can't even watch a commercial for them).  Anyway, I have decided that because TV will not be in my life for a few months, I should find something new to occupy my time.  That something is food.  I want to show that a college student doesn't have to be on a "ramen diet."  Hopefully I can get through the year with good food, but without gaining the "freshman 15."