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!