Happy Chinese New Year!

With the treacherous, terrible, terrible "ice storm" we had last night the government was shut down for 3 hours. I'm exaggerating on the extremeness of this storm because there wasn't really any. The bonus that came out of this nice 3 hour delay to work was this recipe I made up that is a Korean style inspired Kale Chip to celebrate Solnal the Korean (Chinese) New Year which is TODAY :).

sol nal 설날

I say it's Korean style because it tastes exactly like those seaweed chips you can find in every kids lunch box in South Korea. :) 

Garlicky Kale Chips:

OVER FLOWING KALE

First I tore the leaves off into LARGE mouth bite size pieces.

 Bye-bye stems.... (I regret not saving them for a broth of some sort)

 The delicious rub ingredients:

GARLICY KALE CHIPS here we come!

 Spice makes it nice!!!

Rub a dub dub! Kale is rubbed down with the delicious mix and set for 275 degrees F. in the baker for 25 minutes (with a good toss-a-roo half way through).

 While these little fella's baked we put some Chicken Adobo on the stove.

Then This evening it was time to try  a vegetarian Chili with the new ingredient I found on sale:

Cocoa Chile Blend:

Sweet Potatoes chopped and browned a bit with olive oil and onions.

 The Line up:
4 small sweet potatoes
1 onion
2T Olive Oil
2 bay leaves
1/4 t cloves (ground)
1 1/2 T Cocoa Chile Blend
1t cumin
3-4 stock cubes
16 oz dark red beans
16 oz chick peas
4-5 garlicky cloves
1 can of tomatoes

This all basically falls into a pot and you heat it up for about an hour. Piece of cake!

After heading to Zumba I needed to refuel my body with the ultimate Chocolate Green Monster!  I had a real sweet teeth tooth so this hit the spot!

Delicious Green Monster for two!

Nighty Night!

Walnut, Sundried Tomato, Feta, Basil Pesto!



Guten Tag Everyone! This week has been rain, rain, rain, rain and guess what... rain.  I thought our experience with hurricane Irene two weekends ago was enough rain and would allow for us to have some sun but nope.  Tropical Storm Lee just HAD to come over and ruin the sun party. I think we're going to be in the rain for a while.



Water for elephants. I've been meaning to read that book.

Last night called for something with pasta, chicken, and my about to go bad basil.  Since most pesto calls for fresh cheese (money money) and pine nuts (money, money, money) I decided to call my cheaper Costco friends (aka Feta Cheese and Walnuts) into action. 

Basil, Sun-Dried Tomato, Walnut, Feta Pesto! 

(This is what it is...)

Ingredients list:

• 1 C. Sun-dried Tomatoes
• 1 C. Water
• 4-5 Chicken Breasts
• 4 Tblsp. Olive Oil
• 1 Lemon
• 2 C. Basil
• 1/2 C. Walnuts
• 1/2 C. Feta Cheese
• 3-4 Cups cooked pasta (just until firm)

 First off I boiled 3-4 cups of any type of pasta just until firm  and set that out of the way.

Boil the Sun Dried tomatoes in 1 cup of water for 10-15 minutes in a small sauce or skillet pan. RESERVE the water to help make the pesto smooth.

Show these Chicadees who's boss! Laying down the pounder!

For the Chicadee:

2 Tblsp. Olive Oil in a large skillet over medium heat

 4-5 Chicadee breasts pound and season them with salt (or use season salt given to you from your awesome brother) and use plenty of black pepper 

 1 lemon zested on the face-up side of the Chicadees 

Let these little babies cook until nice and brown on one side then flip and squeeze  lemon juice around them.

 

Good price for the basil from LA Mart $1.79 pound

Basil goes in head first then the sun-dried ta-maters with the reserved water that they were boiled in.

Then add 2 Tblsp olive oil and a few Tblsp of water only if it doesn't become smooth enough to blend well. 

After adding the feta cheese and it should look like this!

Then get any veggies that you like and give them a shower.

You can let them nest on top the chickadees while the chicken is browning. 

BEHOLD THE YUMMY Mountain of veggies!

Season them with salt and pepper too, no need to add any more oil, lots of flavors already from the Chicks.

Now the Chickadees are just waiting patiently in the background.

I just love the golden crisp crunch of browned chickadees!

After the veggies were done I heated the pasta and 1 cup of the pesto for 5 minutes in the skillet getting all the noodles coated with the pesto flavors. Then I combined the pasta and veggies in a big bowel to get everybody well acquainted with the pesto.

 



This makes plenty of leftover pesto that will keep for at least a week or you could freeze it too. I plan to spread it on breads or if I need a quick sauce later this week I'll use the rest.

There's nothing like tasty pesto on a rainy day.



Ms. Furry Fern is getting soaked!



This week begins on Monday!

This week is off to a great start! We woke up to breezy temperatures in the upper 60's which is much deserving of a walk to school work as you can gather from the picture! Now that my foot is back in order (got off the silly crutches last Monday) I can take long walks again. No running or leaping yet but I'm just really grateful and I have a new appreciation for having two working legs.

What I learned from this experience is I get cranky and moody when I don't exercise and I get seriously jealous of walkers, joggers, movers, shakers, bicyclists AND even roller bladders when I have a non-ambulatory lower limb. (I really don't care for roller blading that much, as it always results in my face hitting the ground.)

Hopefully we hang on to this new routine of waking up early to walk to work because it's a much more peaceful way to start the day.

Speaking of routines I'm doing fairly well on my list so far.  Mostly everything except keeping in touch with family and friends better.  Folks I need to work on that so bare with me and I'll come around someday. :)

I have to add something to that list because I've already started it. Learning Filipino or rather I should say Tagalog.  I've been studying Spanish and Tagalog with a free trial to Rosetta Stone.  So far so good! I'm thinking I should organize what I learn on this blog. Of course not "take it" from Rosetta Stone, however expand on what I've learned because there just isn't a whole lot out there for learning Tagalog online. Actually there's not even much out there to even pay to learn Tagalog. So maybe folks could learn with me if I post it up for grabs on the Webby.

Hmmmm something to get started on!

 

Throwing in the towel...

That is, throwing in the towel into my gym bag. ;)  Today is the start of a new exercise regime that requires goggles + swim cap + towel = swimming. This is all thanks to my silly slip down up and falling on my ankle last Wednesday during my lunch time jog.

This here is what it looks like today. Less swollen now and some of the bruising is going down but at least I have this picture to remind me not to make the same mistake ever again. This was just a bad birthday present to myself.

 So what happened you ask? I was enjoying my music and the beautiful weather just jogging along and leaping (because that's what I do) and my last leap just happened to be a bit further down than I had estimated so I landed straight on my ankle. Woopsie! A tremendous sharp pain shot through my body, some dark words were said, and I immediately laid down on my back cursing at the sky while holding my foot. Two people walked by but they were in their own world and even though I waved I guess they just didn't see me. A guy came over but he didn't really seem to want to help me up if I had someone else that I knew who could come and help, so he walked off.  I called Mark for help but he was in Target where there's no reception so I couldn't get a hold of him but luckily I've got some awesome friends at work and Emily came to my rescue. 

That evening I couldn't bare any weight on it and up until Sunday I was using crutches. On the upside of this Dr. Mark has been helping me A TON with getting around and all. I'm pretty much feeling super spoiled... PLUS I got to use all those fantastic motorized scooters at the grocery store. We were in Georgetown at Whole Foods (our first time there) and it felt like Disney World all over again riding along through the isles on the scooter. I was so shocked too, since DC has a reputation for being unfriendly, that everyone was so willing to help me reach for things and asking what happened and just so NICE. This was my first experience of folks being just really nice here in DC.

The thing I don't understand is when Mark and I are together a lot of older people ask "OH! Did he do that to you? "  Of course everyone's joking but I don't understand how people think of that as the first thing to say. That bugged me.

Anyways, I'm throwing in the towel on leaping for a few weeks but I have a feeling this incident is not going to stop me completely. :)

I read online to start off slow if you haven't been swimming for a long time even if your a regular land exerciser. I wonder if I can go for 30 minutes at least... Soon to find out! :)

Cheers!

Jen :~D

Guess What!?!

So Mark and I have decided that there's one solution to the problem of living in this stressful, high market price housing area, that is beginning to really wear on me and making me a sour puss....

We HAVE TO MOVE!

So guess where our favorite location is and I'm going to do anything and everything to get us jobs there?!?!

Hint.... it's a mile in one direction.



SCUBA SCUBA DO!

That's right. I'm DOing scuba and loving it! I feel like this is the only big preparation part for our underwater wedding for September 30th. Stress free awesomeness. Tonight is my 2nd class for the book work, lessons and quizzes. Yikes! I cringe at the word "quizzes", even though it's not actually difficult because afterall there's a set of 12 year old twins in my class, but still I LOATH that word.


Last Saturday was my first time with all the gear on in the pool. My classmates rock so that makes the time go by fast and there's so much to learn from safety stuff to just simply how to swim with fins on.  Ok, so if you don't like to get in water I think everyone should at least try wearing fins.  It makes you feel like a kid again because it's just so hilarious to feel how awkward it is to walk in that floppy foot wear.

Anne keeps throwing great suggestions for wedding attire and this swim cap in white is one of them.

We're not going to have a huge party in Costa Rica but there will need to be some type of dessert SO Anne came up with these little guys as wedding toppers . So cute! Too bad we won't see penguins in Costa Rica though.

So becuase we're diving we'll have to let these characters swim in a dessert such as flan. Filipino flan because that's the best! I bet we could find some Filipino's in Costa Rica who can let us borrow their kitchen to make flan... hmmmm....

Only a day and half more to go till the weekend! Last weekend was SUPER busy but this weekend only has Mr.Potter on the agenda...

Ciao ciao for now!

Jen :~D

HAPPY 26TH BIRTHDAY MARK!

A good start to anyone's birthday is seeing a parrot in the pilot's seat. So Mark, your 26th year is off to a grand start!







- I even got a fast snapshot of this so pic coming soon. -






This morning on the way to work (we drove today because it's a rainy one) we saw a live parrot on the hand of a man who was driving somewhere. Somewhere that looks fun because he had some kayaks and a parrot on his hand. How cool is that! I wouldn't have noticed this phenomenon if it wasn't for the fact that we just got back from small town Decatur where we discussed the importance of looking at people traveling in cars because more than likely you'll see someone you know. I guess I was still in that mind set and glanced over to see if I knew the person with kayaks on their car.






So tonight we're celebrating Mark's Birthday with a BBQ of meat on top of meat. Tim and his friend Prince (who grew up in Austria ;) ) are over and they've been cheffing it up like Culinary Institute of America students should. I bet Mark can't wait for the meat feast tonight! (Sadly JJ has to work so he will get the left overs :( ) I will do up a spinach salad because I think we need some greens on the table and nothing screams summer like a salad.

I'm Hummmm .... gry

Hmmmm... 

The task of deciding what's for dinner never fails to be challenging.  I think it gets tougher whenever you ask yourself "what sounds good tonight".  I usually ask that to Mark and last night his response was

"Anything!"

That sounds easy enough right? Well it just comes down to the fact that he's easier to please than me.

I've been using four websites for recipes lately:

Eating Well

Real Simple

Simply Recipes

Big Oven

These all have great recipes that are usually pretty healthy and they always have a few 30 minute meal options or budget friendly meals. There's also this fun app for iPizzle called the dinner spinner. I usually use that as my last resort because it typically brings up lots of recipes that overdose on butter and cheese. Don't get me wrong, I love butter and cheese but we just can't eat it every night.

Bingo! Just had an idea, Sweet and Sour Chicken it is problem solved.  This is great because Mark will get his rice and I will use our soon to be rotting pineapple that is sitting so prettily on the table. 

I've kinda created my own version that requires no frying of the chicken (to make it a tad bit healthier).

 

Pucker Punch Chicken 

(a lot less calories than your typical take out)
Makes 9-10 servings

• Preheat your oven to 375 F

Get out that long jelly roll sheet pan and put some parchment paper on there; then lightly oil it.

• 5 Chicken breasts - cut into nibblets about 1" or so

• Beat 2 eggs in a separate bowl 

In a large plastic ziplock baggy mix:

• 1.5 Cups all purpose flour + 1 tsp baking powder + 3 Tblsp Corn Starch + 1/2 tsp Salt

          + 1 Tblsp pepper

Coat handfuls of chicken with the egg and then place in baggy.  Seal bag with air and shake till everybody inside has a nice jacket of flour. Little by little place nibblets on the baking sheet with as little excess flour as possible.

• 1/8 C. Olive Oil and a pastry brush to give those little guys a brushing before they take their naps in the oven.

Turn the heat up to 425F and bake for 15 minutes, then turn them about with a spatula and back the temperature down to 375F to bake for another 20 minutes or until golden like a goose egg.

While they're baking chop the following into 1-2" chunks:

• 2 bell peppers

• 2 onions

• 2 carrots 

• 1 pineapple sides cut off and cored

• 2 heads of broccoli; chopped and set aside if you like it to have a crisp crunch, otherwise you CAN throw it in there, but I don't recommend it.

Sautee all those chopped up beauties in 2 Tblsp olive oil, salt and pepper to bring out their FLAY vors.
(I wonder if Bobby Flay from the Food Network plays a lot with that word. If not I should get credit for producing catchy advertising for him. :)

In a separate Sauce pan mix:
1.5 Cups Water with 1 chicken bouillon cube (Or 14 oz of chicken broth)
1/2 C. Apple Cider Vinegar
3/4 C. Sugar
3 Tblsp Honey
Bring these to a boil then turn off the heat
Whisk 1/4 C. Cornstarch with 1/4 C. cool water in a small bowl then add slowly while stirring to the sauce. Return the heat to low and just stir enough not to let it stick to the pan. It should thicken after 10 minutes.  Cook until it is almost as thick as maple syrup.

After all the veggies are caramelizing nicely then add the broccoli (I put a lid on it to sort of steam them for 7 minutes).

GRAND FINALE!
You might need a bigger bowl or pot but nevertheless throw the sauce over the veggies and add the chicken nibblets VOILA! DINNER. And it's a ton healthier than the take out kind. 
Like the restaurant bell sound when a dish is done.

Yesterday was a no exercise day. Everybody needs a day off and mine just felt like it needed to fall on a Tuesday.
Can't wait till Friday! We're leaving for Decatur Illinois! WOOT!

Byyyyyy Doggies!

Byyyy Doggies is the expression that my Grandpa always says when he's excited. For right now I've been scouting dog adoption websites and that's what I'm saying!

I've been nagging Mark about getting a puppy for, oh let's see, EVER, since we moved back to the states. I love all dogs big ones, small ones they're all great and I'm not too picky about which one we'll try to get but I do think that with our tiny apartment we need a pup who isn't going to grow to be too large. SO Mark's favorite dogs are pugs! I even sport a shirt that has a pugster on it so I think we're probably going to end up with one of those guys.  BUT in the mean time I found this little gem ...

LEXIE the TINY (I'm going to change her name to Lexie the Great!)

She's as cute as a button and I'm in love! It's a lot to decide though whether to get a dog right now. We certainly have enough people to take care of her with JJ living with us so that's not an issue. The question is do we get a puppy and train him or do we get an older short haired friend that is more set in his/her ways?
Bonus is Lexie here is old enough so that we wouldn't have to train her.  :) AHHHhhhh I want Lexie the Great so bad! (PLEASE nobody snatch her just yet until I talk to Mark about whether we can get a pup right now or not...pretty please!)

Are you a cat person or dog person?  I'm actually both but I just have bad allergies to cats but so far haven't had any problems with pups.

Dill Dill-y-ogurt!

This is the recipe I was talking about that is way better than any Ranch dressing on the market and it will leave you feeling satisfied and guilt free!

Get your chopping board out and a large bowl
1 peeled cucumber chopped
2 minced garlic cloves
1/4 red onion diced
4 sprigs of dill leaves chopped
Place all the above in your bowl and  then squeeze
1 lemon
Drop
2 cups of Low Fat Yogurt in
then mix everything and
Salt and Pepper to taste

We put this over seared salmon the first night and then I used it on salad the whole week.  Also a great dip for veggies and crackers.  I got the idea from the sauce I make for Gyro's where all the ingredients are the same but instead I use cilantro.

ENJOY!

Where did June go?

(POST FOR JUNE 22nd late because I keep having computer issues)
So since yesterday was the longest day of sunlight in the year I thought it seemed funny that June feels like the shortest month of the year. To me it has literally FLOWN by. Probably it has to do with Kristin (my suite/house mate from university) has a wedding fast approaching and I'm excited to get back to the Midwest to see family and friends for a split second.

The window washers are here!

Twice a year we get our windows washed for this luxurious high rise.  SSA takes up 17 floors in this 26 story building and Department of Defense and Justice take up and share the rest. Of course they have plenty of other locations too. The agency doesn't pay a whole lot of rent to park ourselves in this building but rather they charge $120 PER month (which the price is suppose to rise again soon) for parking in the underground garage.  Thank goodness we can walk 25 minutes to work and if we have to drive there's street parking about 10 mins walk away. Shooo I wish I owned the parking garage because that's a ton of cars!

We've been eating spinach like crazy lately! Basically we've been going through 2.5 LBs a week! A few months ago we discovered CostCo's huge spinach sucker and it has made life SO easy when it comes to getting some greens in the good ol' belly.  Popeye would be so proud! (Whatever happened to the sailor man anywho? I haven't seen him pop up for a long while now.) Since we go to the Korean/Indian "Lotte/Assi" market every two weeks I stock the cart full of delicious toppings for salads and such.  We scored a bundle of dill for $1.49 and I've been putting it in everything. I made dill pickles, and a homemade yogurt dressing that tastes even better than any ranch dressing on the market. At any of the big name grocery stores here (Giant, Safeway, Harris Teeter) it'll run you about $2.99 for a small package of dill (small meaning probably thickness of four fingers put together) and at Lotte you get a bundle almost the size of your head. (Ok a bit smaller but SO much more for the buck.) I'll put my Dill Dillyogurt recipe up. This has been my lunch for three days in a row at work: 

I love veggies and fruit together in salads and we grilled this weekend so I had leftover chicken with delicious Rudy's Rub everywhere.  ANG SARAP SARAP! (Filipino saying for tasty) If you don't know Rudy's BBQ it's from San Antonio Texas (where Mark is from) and it is the best out there by far.  The seasoned rub has a deep smokey flavor already and then you grill it and POW! Right in your face! Whenever his Mom comes over we always ask her to bring some for us.

A few weeks ago our scuba gear arrived! So exciting. I'm taking lessons in July once we get back from DECATUR ILLINOIS! YAY- I can't wait to go home!!!!!