Tribute to Summer

Well, its getting closer to summer and I thought I would celebrate it by grilling! I really love everything about grilling. The taste, the smell, the quickness, and the fact that you do it outside! I used two of my pork tenderloins and bought some cherry tomatoes, green peppers, and a zucchini to make shish kabobs! The longest part of this whole meal is the marinating process. Here is the original recipe for the marinade I used:

1 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup of vinegar

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

basil or oregano to taste (I didn't have either of these so I used Allspice!)

Mix all those together and put the vegetable in. Let this marinate for at least 3 hours.

For the pork I just rubbed some Lawry's and pepper on them and you got yourself a meal! Happy Grilling!

The Other White Meat

Tonight, I decided to use some pork as my main ingredient. I found this recipe online and thought it was pretty good! I cut this recipe in half and used 2 pieces of pork but i will put the normal recipe on here. I also decided to add frozen vegetable to the rice (cooking them in the microwave first) for nutritional reasons. :)

Sweet and Sour Pork Loin Medallions

5 or 6 boneless pork tenderloin medallions

2 tablespoons vinegar

1/4 c. catsup

Dash of nutmeg

Salt & pepper

1/4 c. sugar

1 c. water

Brown pork pieces in oil. Drain off oil. Add all other ingredients (I mixed them together in a bowl first) and cook slowly for 20-30 minutes or until liquid is reduced. Pour excess red sauce over rice.

Easy peasy, right?! Tastes good too!

Enjoy!

New Directions

Ok, so I epically fail at this whole blog thing. Therefore, I have come up with a new idea. I am now transforming my blog into a cooking blog! I will be sharing all of my cooking experiences with you all. Whether I succeed or fail it will be here. I am starting to experiment with creating my own recipes as well so I will share them here as well. I will also try to take pictures of everything I make ( sometimes I forget and start eating it...). I like pictures :) Most of what I make will be 1 person servings only because that's all I have to cook for but every once in a while I'll make soup or something that will serve more. However, the recipes will be easy to double or triple or whatever you need. Lucky for you, I did a little experimenting tonight so my first post will be an original by your truly.

I was planning on making my honey glazed chicken tonight (I will share recipe later) however, after getting everything set up I discovered I was out of honey! The world is testing me. So, I put my mind to work trying to figure out what I had that would serve as a sufficient glaze. After rummaging through the cupboards and refrigerator I finally settled on jam. So, with no further ado, Jammin' Chicken and Peas...

Jammin' Chicken and Peas

1 Chicken Breast

1/4 cup of frozen peas - slightly thawed

Garlic Salt

Your favorite jam

Cook chicken breast on medium heat in a preheated skillet with olive oil (drip a drop of water in oil to determine if the oil is hot). Cook chicken thoroughly. No pink. Sprinkle some garlic salt on both sides of chicken. I'm not sure how much I used because I tend not to measure but if I had to guess I would say all together around a 1/8 teaspoon. Then sprinkle some garlic salt on peas before dumping them into skillet with chicken. Stir occasionally so that peas do not burn (you can turn the heat down a bit to about in between low and medium). Shaking the pan works well. After letting the peas cook for around 5-7 minutes, smear your favorite jam (I used raspberry cranberry) on top of chicken breast. Try to keep only on chicken. Let cook for about 1 more minute just so the jam get warmed. Serve and eat!

Phloem & Xylem

Well, I don't really have anything more exciting than small rodents with little blades strapped to their feet skating around on a thin layer of hydrogen and oxygen in a solid state, but I will write about it anyway. I had my botany lab today and we were looking at slides of wood. We had to be able to identify the different tissues and cells which, together, make these amazing plants called trees. It is so crazy to think about tiny microscopic pieces of matter sticking together to make such a massive and sometimes delicate tree. The way these cells are able to know their exact duties in life and work together with their neighbors is just incredible. I wish humans could do that. Here's a look at what I saw today...

Mice Hockey

Today, was rather treacherous to my physical well-being. It is around 50 degrees (above zero) here in Point making all the snow very slippery. And the melted snow is slightly frozen in the shady spots making mini ice rinks all around. I'm surprised I don't see mice out playing hockey or something...Anyway, thankfully I managed to stay on my feet all day even though I looked like an old lady. I find that better than that getting some nasty bruises. Hopefully, tomorrow I will have something more exciting to talk about.

Here we go again...

Well, here goes another try at blogging! Cross your fingers...

My life the next 2 weeks...

Today is a somewhat of a dreary day. Overcast and windy with a few drops of rain here and there occasionally. I plan on doing homework all day so that I won't have anything to do this week since I have an ungodly amount of softball games to play. Here, let me show you...On Tuesday we are leaving at 5:30AM to play two games up in Northland, then we come back that night. On Wednesday, we play two home games at 4 and 6. We have practice on Thursday and then on Friday we travel to Duluth to play two games at 10 and 12. We stay overnight in Duluth and then play 2 more games at 2 and 4 on Saturday. Now, if your not exhausted by just reading that than there is something wrong with ya... I am pretty much going to be so dead that brushing my teeth will require 2 hours of preparation in building up energy. Oh ya, and then next week...is Finals. Great. However, after that...I am going home! Never to return to this college for anything school related. That's right! I am transferring. I decided being a teacher is definitely not for me. Somehow I thought it was at one point but I have come to realize that I would literally go crazy if I became a teacher and had to deal with kids all day everyday for the rest of my life. Therefore, I decided to change my major (and my school). I have decided to go into Natural Resources! Something I have always loved. I have not narrowed down the exact school quite yet but it is going to have to happen very soon. I am so excited to begin this new journey in my life! I am pretty much going to be starting college all over again. However, this time I have decided to go my own way and not follow other people just so that I will be comfortable. I feel that God is calling me to this field of study and I am going to follow that calling. I am not quite sure what He is going to have me do with this major but whatever it is I want to glorify Him through it!