All posts in: Nomz

26 Dec 2012

Nomz: Avocado Salad

Avocado has always been one of my favorite ingredients. I tell all my friends that I refer to it as the glitter on top of sandwiches, but we can’t just limit it to that. It’s the foundation for guacamole – the support for any salad – and a great source for vitamins, fiber, potassium, etc. It’s the kind of fat you actually want to be eating.

Ever since I became a member of Pinterest, I’ve been stocking up on ALL recipes including avocado. So the other day when I was at the grocery store, I picked up three of them with the intent to make something truly spectacular. I didn’t exactly have all of the ingredients I needed to make one type of avocado salad so genius little me decided to mix three different recipes to see what I could conjure up.

The result?

One avocado
7 cherry tomatoes cut in half
As much corn as I wanted to use
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Half a lemon squeezed
1 tablespoon of honey

Turns out, you can just “guess” on the dressing so don’t follow my advice above and follow one of these real recipes instead. I’d like to note that my made-up recipe wasn’t bad or anything, but sometimes you are better off following instructions. However, with salads, you can’t go wrong – it can go either way which is…bad or good. So…

Uncategorized

07 Oct 2012

Weekend Meal:

[Mushroom Cream Sauce]

We had an agreement about the terms and surprisingly it turned out to be a really great idea. This time around, I was in charge of the meal and he was responsible for the dessert and the movie choice as long as it was a chick flick. Next time he’ll make the meal and I’ll be the one to provide the sweet treats and an action flick. Hi. Compromising.

I have to admit, I’ve been a little rusty in the kitchen recently having not made any meals for myself consistently for the past five months. I realize that this is a problem, but I promise it will be changing soon and I’ll be able to share all of my new recipes with you. I chose to make a mushroom cream sauce with bow tie pasta because it was easy, but also because I’d never tried it before. It was my first Pinterest recipe! For the vegetable dish, I decided to make caprese skewers. Samantha’s mother convinced me that it was the simplest thing to make for any meal or dinner party during my cooking lesson with her three years ago.

I don’t have any pictures for you that I took myself because I’m not exactly sure if they “looked” that good, but I promise you they didn’t taste that bad. I think I’m just in need of more practice. If you’re looking to try something new, here they are!

[Caprese Skewers]

Life

20 Feb 2012

Nomz: Roasted Cauliflower

photo cred | Simply Recipes

I contemplated putting up my own picture of the side dish that I made tonight, but immediately became so self-conscious that it would remind you all of THIS.

Since it was a long weekend, I decided to use this opportunity to whip up something. I found this recipe for roasted cauliflower on one of my favorite food blogs – Gojee. How it works is you enter in the ingredients that you already have and they pull up recipes for you that match it. If you have an account with them, you can also store their recipes as well. The recipes are so simple and also delicious.

My Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut cauliflower in 1″ pieces
Heat butter and 1tbsp olive oil
Put cut cauliflower into a glass pan or small casserole dish that is greased with oil
Drizzle the butter and olive oil over cauliflower
Add: salt, pepper, chili powder, and garlic as desired
Bake for 20-25 minutes

I didn’t do this, but it wasn’t until after it finished that my friend suggested that I put aluminum foil over it to keep in the moisture so that the cauliflower doesn’t dry out next time.

For the unmodified recipe, click here.

Uncategorized

19 Jan 2012

Snowpocalypse 2012: Nomz & DIY

I should probably work on my food photography a little bit. There’s no better way to bare the snow than to share a meal with friends. Veronica and I decided to make some stir fry tonight with chicken, vegetables, and udon noodles.

I’ve always been a little bit skittish when cooking meat so I usually let her handle that. We used both oregano and lemon pepper for seasoning and our sauce is typically made with brown sugar, soy sauce, and corn starch.

Ta-da! It kind of looks like brains, but I promise it tastes a lot better than it looks.

Still a little hungers, we decided to whip up some of our favorite “Eggs-in-a-basket.” This does not look visually pleasing, but hey – it’s hard to get it right sometimes. As we were making them (or as Veronica was actually making them,) we started to ask ourselves why we never strayed away from the original recipe. Why didn’t we add different ingredients ever? So this time we did. After making two standard ones for us, our third one included honey drizzled on top of it. The look on Veronica’s face indicated to me that I would not be sampling that one. Next, we used the leftover circles to make our version of “mini french toast.” However, it wasn’t until she had completely made them that we realized our batter of milk and cinnamon was missing one key ingredient – eggs. As you can imagine, that didn’t end well either.

We also worked on a DIY project I found while perusing blogs not too long ago.

Perfectly concealed and organized! As you can see, I don’t tie ribbons very well, but it’s the effort that counts. I couldn’t be more thrilled about my box of tech!

What a wonderful two days off school we have had due to the snow! Whether or not Seattle University decides to open tomorrow does not directly affect me that much, but still the students continue to heckle the school’s Facebook page for yet another day off. I’ve also seen some statuses from students who just want to return to school because this affects their learning.

This is why we can’t have nice things. I’m grateful for the days off, but I also appreciate the Seattle University marketing team for keeping us updated on the news whenever they get any and for having to deal with the unruly responses. They really don’t deserve that – we should all learn to be a little nicer from this. For a laugh, click here.

Life

02 Jan 2012

Nomz: Macaroni and Cheese Ham Sandwich

(In a text to my best friend) – – > Is a mac and cheese w/ ham sandwich questionable?

Response: Yes.

This evening, I made the ultimate lazy poor college student meal for dinner. Even though I had seen recipes for the Macaroni and Cheese Sandwich around the internet recently, I was still a little skeptical to try it. It’s double the carbo-load! I can understand why that might intimidate people. I wish I could tell you all that I made some incredible mac and cheese to go with this, but I cannot lie. It came straight out of the Kraft Box. Did I grill my sandwich on a skillet like I should’ve? Nope. I put two pieces of bread in my toaster, topped it with some sliced honey ham and loaded the mac and cheese on top of that.

It may not be the most elaborate meal, but it has left me stuffed and if it doesn’t give me an ache after this, then we can call it a success.

By the way, the photo above is not the photo of my meal obviously because it’s sans ham.

31 Jul 2011

Nomz: Lemon Spaghetti

Lemon Spaghetti is the one recipe that I have been itching to make all summer! Today, I finally had the time and the drive to do it so I walked myself to grocery and picked up everything that I needed to make it happen. This pasta is light, healthy, and so fitting for this season.

One thing that I realized from making this recipe was that I really need a lemon squeezer. Manually squeezing it myself made me tip the whole cup over and have to start again. Since I barely made 1/2 cup of juice with the whole organic lemon, I decided to substitute the rest of it with “Simply Lemonade.” Boom. Improvisation.

Feel like trying out this delicious pasta yourself? Here’s the recipe!

20 Jun 2011

Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free

So sometimes I’m a little terrible at doing my job as a blogger! A couple months ago, I received a cookbook called Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free by Amy Green that I have been meaning to review, but unfortunately that little money grabber called college kind of gets in the way of everything. Amy also wrote me a sweet little note that came with the book too! The cute cover happens to match the 180 adorable recipes found outside including Banana Walnut Belgian Waffles, Oven-baked Cumin Lime Tortilla Chips, Pear and Spinach Salad with Lemon Truffle Vinaigrette, and many more…177 more if we’re getting detailed.

For those of you that know me, you know that I love my sweets. I don’t usually tend to stray away from sugar or gluten, but I do have friends that do. I wanted to step into the shoes of my friends who are sugar and gluten-free so I decided to try out some recipes designed for them for a change.

I decide to pick a simple recipe that included one of my favorite fruits: Cinnamon and Vanilla Poached Pears. The recipe was so simple to follow and was done in less than 20 minutes (as promised!) Interestingly enough, we selected one pear that was ripe and one that was not and discovered that the ripe pear (as instructed) actually turned out to be much better! It was able to soak in more of the vanilla and cinnamon flavoring and was easier to eat. This summer, I will continue to try out more recipes from Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free as well as the other cookbooks that I have received in the past so keep your eyes peeled as I teach myself how to cook foods that aren’t boxed and aren’t frozen!

13 Jun 2011

Nomz: Baked Potato

On my very first official day of summer, I decided to make a baked potato. I didn’t take a picture of it because after I put all of my toppings in [sour cream, bacon bits, cheddar cheese, broccoli, and corn] it didn’t look too pretty anymore, but I am very excited that I am back to cooking for myself. Throughout spring quarter, I was relying heavily on the neighborhood restaurants, but that ate up my wallet reals quick. I know it sounds silly to say that I JUST learned how to make a baked potato by myself, but in my defense, there are so many recipes for it. It’s hard to know which is the right one. If anyone is interested in making a potato just like mine, click here.

2 Questions:

1: Why is there so much emphasis on scrubbing the potato well and what instrument to scrub it with?

2. Why does it take so long?

My best friend told me I could’ve used the function on my microwave, but I told her I wanted an authentic baked potato. I thought it was worth it, but it won’t be if I get sick from eating the skin that I didn’t scrub as well as I should’ve.

Photo Source

25 Mar 2011

Nomz: Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry

I just realized that my last Nomz: post was all the way back in late September. It’s cool – I eat during the school year, but I don’t always have time to make more elaborate meals because of my schedule. Luckily, since I am still on spring break, I had the chance to try out some recipes that I wouldn’t normally get to experiment with during the school week. A couple months ago, I was sent the $5 Dinner Mom – Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook by Erin Chase from St. Martin’s Press, which I used to help me make my dinner tonight.

The book is paperback and includes simple recipes perfect for breakfast, lunch, and snacking! The ingredients for each recipe are also broken down by price, which is ideal for a college student.

And, as always with Erin, the recipes are easy and family-friendly:

•    Chocolate Chip Raspberry Pancakes
•    Bacon and Egg Quesadillas
•    Vanilla Almond French Toast
•    Overnight Honey Nut Granola
•    Swiss Tuna Melts
•    Lasagna Roll-ups
•    Chuckwagon Chili

Feel free to check out her website here for more recipes!

26 Sep 2010

Nomz: Black Bean Chili w/ Corn and Apple Nut Salad

I’m so sorry that these do not look very appetizing, I promise they are! Tonight, I made black bean chili w/ corn using a recipe I found while watching a Canadian cooking show called Best Recipes Ever. This show has become one of my favorites just because the recipes are so simple! To view the recipe, just click here.

A lot of the times, I have to alter the recipe because I may not have some ingredients, but I usually try to do what I can with what I have. For instance, I used my onion and garlic spices instead of using them fresh. For the most part, you get similar results.

I also made an apple nut salad to go with the chili because I wanted to stick with my healthy team tonight. One of my biggest worries for this year was learning how to cook so in a way I’m kind of surprising myself with all that I have made so far.

What’s I used:

Fresh lettuce

Chopped apples

Celery

Mixed nuts [peanuts, almonds, and walnuts]

Bacon Bits

a light Caesar dressing