Triple Play Part 3!!!

As I round my last post for the day I want you all to know I don't know if I will ever be able to make this the same again. I threw some ingredients together and it turned out really really freaking well. But I am going to try just for you, my lovely reader.

Lemon Basil Garlic Chicken
1-2 boneless chicken breasts
~1Tbsp olive oil
~1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
~2 tsp basil
~1 Tbsp garlic (diced)
Pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 375. Mix all ingredients in a gallon sized bag and let sit for ~15 minutes (ideally this should sit for an hour or two in the fridge, but I was hungry and couldn't wait). Put a little bit of extra olive oil in the bottom of your glass pan and spread out oil so that it coats the bottom evenly. Place chicken in the pan and cook for ~30 minutes. My lovely roomies Sam and Cristina loved this recipe. I have to admit though, I didn't really measure my amounts; I just gauged by sight. Mine did turn out a little more lemon-y than I normally like, but I have a feeling I put more in than I stated here. You can always add more if you feel there is not enough liquid in your marinade.I also added more garlic than what I wrote, but my mom always complains I put more garlic in food than I should so I put a "normal" amount in my recipe.  I heated up some leftover mashed potatoes and cooked some green beans really quick and there was my dinner!

Enjoy my lovelies!!

Triple Play Part 2!!!

Pepperoni poppers

So my roommate Sam and I were procrastinating on Pinterest one day and found this recipe for pizza rolls. We changed the recipe a little (because what fun is following the specific recipe) and have since renamed them Pepperoni Poppers!

Pepperoni Poppers
Serves 4
3 cans Pillsbury butter biscuits (or since you are a broke college student, the generic ones)
1 block colby jack cheese
1 package of pepperoni (the big one, not the 50 piece one)
1 egg
Garlic salt
Italian seasoning
Parmesan cheese
Sauce (pizza or spaghetti)

Set your oven to 425 degrees and pull out a 9x13  glass pan. Spray the bottom and sides with whatever you use (Pam, generic, etc). Cut the cheese (heh) into about 30 pieces, give or take. Don't worry about making them super perfect, no one will be seeing them. Open your biscuits and flatten each one a little so that they will be easy to create a pocket. Place a piece of pepperoni, a piece of cheese, and another piece of pepperoni so that they are a mini sandwich into the center of the biscuit. Fold your biscuit so that you cannot see any of the insides and place folded side down into the pan. Repeat until the pan is full. Beat 1 egg and spread evenly over all the pieces. Sprinkle garlic salt, italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese over the top so that they are evenly spread (Sam and I like a lot of garlic, so we kind of put a lot of garlic on ours).

Pop them into the oven for 18-20 minutes and there you are! Serve with a cup of sauce if you would prefer!

Om nom nom

¡Buen provecho!

Triple Play!!

This is blog one of three for this evening. I have been lax in posting and wanted to catch up for you all.

Here we go!

Homemade chili:
(Serves 2-4 depending on portion sizes)
1 lb ground beef
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can red kidney beans
1 package of Kroger's Chili mix
1 tsp- 1Tbsp Chili powder (depending on how hot you like it)
1/2 can re-fried beans
Mexican (or any other kind) of shredded cheese

Brown your meat in a pan and drain the fat. Put all the ingredients in a stove top pot, stir, and put on medium heat until the chili starts to bubble. Put on low heat and stir occasionally. Serve when ready. I like to sprinkle a little bit of cheese on top of the chili, but of course this is not absolutely necessary.

**This was the first time I actually cooked chili on a stove top instead of a crockpot. If you are planning on coming home late and don't want to have to worry about cooking, brown and drain the meat the night before and put all the ingredients together in the crockpot the following morning. Set on low and when you get home, BOOM dinner.

Bon appetit! 

Goals

As I round to my final year of grad school, I can't help but begin to think of my goals for the next few years. I tend to make goals in 1, 5, and 10 year increments so that I don't overwhelm myself, but to also give myself a timeline to set in order to know where I stand and what I am going to do to get to where I want to be in my life. So I thought I would share some with you all:

1 year:

• Graduate from ISU
• Pass comps
• Get a teaching position with EIU or another school (preferably in IL)
• Travel to one country (maybe more, if available)

5 years:

• Be married
• One child 
• Associate professor at a university
• (possibly) Halfway through my PhD
• Own a home
• Travel to 3 new countries

10 years:

• Have one more child
• Have PhD
• On my way to tenure at a university
• Lead a foreign country program at university

I hope to have most of these goals (if not all of them) accomplished in the next 10 years, but life always manages to do what it wants. C'est la vie.


On a random sidenote, I finally bit the bullet and dyed my hair red! I love it, but I won't be posting a picture until I get one that I really like. :o

Take care my loves!