What I've Been Up To

So I bought probably the most appropriate cookbook for a college student EVER. Ramen to the Rescue. There's tons of stuff in there that looks absolutely delicious (and easy to make!), but the first recipe that caught my eye was ramen-crusted chicken tenders with honey mustard dipping sauce. You pretty much just crunch up a bag of ramen (flavor packet included), dip the chicken pieces in egg, then roll them in the mashed up noodle mixture and bake. 

And can I just say? They were delicious. The chicken flavor from the ramen packet wasn't overwhelming, but it definitely added a tasty boost from normal breaded chicken. We served them with steamed asparagus and rice (some part of the meal had to be healthy, after all).

I can hardly wait to try more from this cookbook. I love making time to try new recipes; I feel like most of the time, the things I eat are just quickly thrown together (or else prepared by my parents... Which I can hardly complain about!). Anyway, today's homemade dinner was a nice change of pace.

This is my boyfriend. And this is what we look like cooking.

I feel like I haven't posted in forever, even though it's only been a couple of days. I'm just not used to having a blog, I suppose: on one hand, I really like to devote energy to posting, but on the other I don't want it to take over my life. I never want to be that person who spends more time online than doing real, in-the-moment activities. That said, I'd like to have a blog that's the same quality of the ones I love reading the most, and that kind of thing takes work. 

So what have I been up to? In the past few days I've been finishing up the Ravenclaw scarf I'm making for a friend, working a lot, having an awesome father's day lunch, and watching an embarrassing amount of The Bachelorette. I'm procrastinating on starting my boyfriend's pajamas pants because I just don't want to cut them out: I'll have to match plaid! The last time I did that was for another garment for him, a plaid button-down, and it took FOREVER. The cutting is always my least favorite part of any project; once I get that out of the way, though, the rest should come together in no time. 

That's all for now. I do have one small new project to share in the next few days (and I'm almost done with a scarf!) Until then, have a great week, you guys :)

Lately, I've been wanting to cook. All the time. I think it's because I'm not living in a dorm right now, and I have a kitchen and tons of ingredients at my disposal, plus marginally more free time than I had during the school year. I made some awesome guacamole the other day, which we ate on burgers my dad grilled. I've also been making increasingly elaborate lunches for my breaks at work; it saves so much money to bring my own food instead of eating at the food court.

 My favorite thing to make at the moment is pizza. It's really easy, and the outcome is as tasty-if not tastier- than the frozen kind I normally make. Plus, I like to think it's at least a little healthier for me. The most time-consuming part is making the crust, but even that is still pretty easy. I've been using this recipe, except I substitute half the white flour for whole wheat, and add two teaspoons of diced garlic.

The whole wheat flour makes the crust a little difficult to roll out, so I couldn't get a perfect circular shape. (I can get behind the "rustic" look, though.) I used pre-made pizza sauce (note to self: learn how to make pizza sauce!) And added extra oregano, garlic powder, and minced onion to it.

Topped with mozzarella, parmesan, fresh chopped basil (which is so necessary; it tastes a thousand times better than the dried kind you may have in your spice cabinet), and
 turkey pepperoni. I think I baked this for about 15 minutes at 425.

The finished product! The crust turned out kind of strange-looking, but whatever, I'm no professional. My family downed this in less than half an hour (when you live in a house with 4 other people, these things tend to happen). I think next on my pizza agenda I'd like to make something with barbecue and chicken. I'm going to look into this.