A Pick-me-up During Finals

It's finals week and that generally means stressed students everywhere. I had to meet at the library with my group to prepare a presentation for our final and I brought along a little treat. I brought cream cheese brownies, I figured we all needed a little sugar boost!
I just prepared store bought brownies and added this mixture in dollups: 8 oz cream cheese (softened), 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Do not over mix it, simply swirl your knife through the cream cheese to incorporate into the chocolate. This is always a winner!

Top 10 Super Healthy Foods

I decided the blog doesn't need to only offer recipes, but provide other, important information as well. Here is a list of the top ten best foods for your body. I am very knowledgeable about nutrition and understand that it is vital to maintain a healthy, balanced diet. You should try to incorporate all these items into your diet. i like to call these items "superfoods":

1. Low fat or fat-free plain yogurt, not flavored
2. Eggs
3. Nuts (almonds, soy nuts,and pistachios are the best)
4. Quinoa
5. Beans
6. Salmon
7. Broccoli
8. Kiwi
9. Sweet potato
10.Berries

Out of the Ordinary

Cooking the same meals or using the same ingredients can definitely turn into boredom with your taste buds. I was starting to fall into that trap, so decided to try something new. I went to Tybee Island and bought oysters from a fisherie and steamed them all on my own! Something I've never done before. I served topped them with garlic, paprika, thinly sliced shallots, and parmesan cheese. I served them with horseradish and hot sauce. Everybody had a fit over them. This is just an encouragement to step outside your scope and try something new!

Casual Nights are the Best

Tonight was just a casual night around the house. I decided to cook a simple, delicious meal for my roommates. It really taste great and looks like it took a while to prepare, while really it requires very few ingredients and is ready in minutes! They loved it, so I thought I'd share! It's called Easy Lemon Pasta with Chicken, recipe courtesy of The Neely's via the Food Network Channel:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/down-home-with-the-neelys/easy-lemon-pasta-with-chicken-recipe/index.html"

I used whole grain penne pasta instead of regular and also halved cherry tomatoes and added them. Makes a great leftover meal as well.

Going Home: Comfort Food

I figured I would discuss what always goes down when I go home. That is, my grandmother's cooking that is straight up comfort food. I grew up on these home cooked meals, but my style of cooking has differentiated so much from this type that it's nice to expect it every time I go home.
My grandmother only cooks family recipes, she has led me to believe that these are simply the best. She cooks meals that are literally 90 years old! She explained that people back then did not have the availability to products we have today, but she closely substitutes.
to me, not only does this type of cooking taste great, it has a significance behind it that can never be replaced. It truly is comfort food that makes me feel right at home, with a sense of belonging.

Mom came to visit!

My mom came to visit me over the weekend and we spent the day in Savannah on Saturday! Like always, we enjoyed great seafood on River Street while relaxing in the beautiful weather. After dinner came my favorite part, dessert! We walked to Savannah Sweets to buy a variety of goodies! I got my favorite vanilla pecan piece of fudge and she got chocolate peanut butter. This particular day, they had made caramel apples to look like farm animals and we thought they were so cute!
Of course, we tried one of those as well (ours was a pig) and it was not only edible, but delicious! Another neat product Savannah Sweets offered that day was a huge rice krispie treat shaped into a bee hive. I thought this idea was great for a large event, such as a birthday or summer picnic!

Easter

Easter means a number of things to different people and a number of reasons to celebrate. Traditionally, my family attends church and then everyone heads over to my parents house for food and fun. We always have a variety of food, but we have never gone a single Easter without my grandma's bunny cake. I couldn't imagine an Easter without it! So the cake kept the this Easter pretty normal. Something did make it different though. My dad went Turkey hunting Easter morning and killed a large male. Sure enough, he cleaned it and decided it should be eaten for Easter lunch! Dad and I cut the breast into tenders and lightly fried them. With the rest of the Turkey, we cut into pieces,wrapped bacon around them, marinated them into vinegar with seasonings (much like Italian dressing) and grilled them. Might sound gross to some, but do you buy Turkey from the grocery store? Well, that Turkey is normally processed. This Turkey was not only the absolute freshest, it was free of preservatives and organic! YUMMY, and everyone agreed!