Yum!

via thepioneerwoman.com

I try to read The Pioneer Woman's blog posts every day! There are always fun new stories, inspiring photographs, and recipes that make me very hungry! Her style of including step-by-step instructions that include pictures of every step have inspired me in my attempts to document my own cooking!

Pictured above is one recipe I found today that I can't wait to make this weekend!

Check it out on PW's site, it's called "Penne a la Betsy". And look at some of her other recipes while you're there. You won't regret it.

All you have to do is quickly scroll down the page to see how amazing the ingredients look. Or you can look at my super-intelligent equation below:

Shrimp + Pasta + Cream + Wine = big fun party!

And I love using wine in recipes! Jamie and I never leave bottles of wine unfinished in our fridge. It's our policy to ensure our guests never have to drink bad wine. We're just trying to look out for you. Yeah, YOU!

I'll let you know how it goes, and if its really any good!

A Taste of The City

Pigs in a Blanket

It's been crazy around here!

Last week our kitchen was a pigs in a blanket factory for C5 floor rush. It's like sorority rush, but for MIT students. It's a pretty awesome event - and involves lots of pigs in a blanket!

Pigs in a blanket are so much fun...

Spectacle Island

The Charles is beautiful in the morning. Before it is disturbed my numerous motor boats, sailboats, kayaks, and crew people, it is very calm and serene.

On our journey to Spectacle Island, we motored out of the Charles in a sailboat, and made our way to Boston Harbor.

There were some amazing, unique views.

We went through the locks...

...and made it to the harbor!

We raised our sail, but not for long... It broke, and we had to motor all the way to Spectacle Island.

But we made it there! And I have a picture of the welcome sign to prove it.

Spectacle Island featured views of the ocean,

and views of the city.

Jamie took some beautiful pictures!

We motored back to Cambridge, with our sailboat friends in tow.

This is a secret view of the Longfellow Bridge - it is my favorite! You can only see these gondala-gargoyle-ish statues from the water!

And finally, the amazing view of Boston from under the Longfellow  Bridge.

 

Chex Mix

On Saturday, Jamie and I went on an adventure! I'll have to post the details of our adventure later, but for now, I'll tell you how I made the snack we took with us!

I started by mixing together approximately:

1.5 cups of rice chex

1.5 cups of corn chex

1 cup pretzels

1 cup cheetohs

1 cup garlic-flavored bagel chips, broken up into small pieces

Next, I measured 3 tablespoons of Smart Balance, and melted it in the microwave.

Then, I gathered:

1 T Worcestershire Sauce

3/4 t Lawry's Seasoned Salt

1/2 t garlic powder

1/4 t onion powder

And then, I mixed all of the spices and worcestershire sauce into the melted Smart Balance...

...poured it all over the chex mix, and mixed it all together (with my hands)!

I stuck the mixed together bowl of future yumminess in the microwave for one and a half minutes.

I took it out of the microwave, and stirred it all up. Then, I repeated the microwave and stir process two more times.

I spread the hot mixture out onto a paper towel to cool.

It was really yummy!

My lifelong dream

I have always wanted a giant chalkboard (and an overhead projector but I don't think that one's happening anytime soon). My dream came true this week when Jamie and I painted one on the wall outside our door. It is pretty awesome! Jamie even had the idea to paint a border around it that matches our door.

It started with the kids on our floor, who wanted to paint a magnetic chalkboard hockey rink. I thought that was awesome enough - that I would be within close proximity to a giant chalkboard. And when I found out they had extra paint so I could have my own giant chalkboard, I got really excited! Here is their awesome half way finished hockey rink. Notice the little dinosaur magnet that is going to represent them playing hockey!

And here is my finished bulletin board! I wrote the schedule of events for the freshmen so they'll know where to be and when. Now they have no excuse.

Greek Salad

The accompaniment to the grape leaves I made last night was this greek salad. It was quite fun to make! I attempted to document it PW style, too, and here it is! 

I started with simple ingredients: oil and vinegar.

I put 1/4 cup of each into my pyrex with 1/4 cup of water.

Then I added 2 cloves of pressed garlic and approximately 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley.

Last I added salt and pepper. Oh yeah, and a little bit of dried oregano. After that, I poured it into my salad dressing cruet and shook it up really well (The picture of my cruet did not come out well so you'll have to imagine that part in your head).

Now, for the good stuff! I washed a green bell pepper, a cucumber, romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and green onions.

Then I chopped them all up, added a can of sliced black olives, and spun all of the water out in my salad spinner!

I tossed some crumbled feta cheese on top and sprinkled dill over the top.

It went quite well with my grape leaves! Yum!