Chai Apple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal

What is this, a post on Thursday?!? Why yes, turns out I'm just brimming with ideas and recipes lately, so I decided to add in Thursdays to my weekly Sunday/Tuesday posts. This way you get 33% more flavor and information! I'll keep this up as long as I can y'all.

Warm oatmeal is one of my favorite comfort foods for a cold winter's day breakfast. You can buy the store packaged versions, or make your own at home for much cheaper. All you need is some oats and whatever you like in your hot cereal. Chai Apple & Brown Sugar is my favorite combo. But try dried apricots and orange juice, or banana and blueberry. Sky's the limit!

Ingredients:
1 cup quick-cook oats
1/2 medium apple
1/4 cup chai tea concentrate (instructions below)
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 cup hot water or milk

Step 1: Place a chai tea bag into 1/2 cup water. Microwave for 5 minutes or boil on a stove, this will cause some evaporation and the chai tea flavor to concentrate. Chai tea has cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice in it which will add to the delicious taste and smell of the oatmeal! 

Step 2: Dice up the apple. In a bowl, mix the oats, tea, water or milk, sugar and apple pieces. Microwave for about 2 minutes. The apple will become soft, the oats cook, and all the flavors mix.

Step 3: Mix well and pour on a drizzle of syrup.
This warm, sweet, hearty breakfast will satisfy your taste buds and fill you up to keep you going until lunch.

What's your favorite type of oatmeal?

Fancy ramen: steak & spinach soup

This is one of my favorite ways to fancy up ramen noodles. After freshman year of college, I thought I'd left the days of ramen behind forever. Not true. Some months in grad school I feel even poorer than I did back in my dorm days, and sometimes I just crave the chemically created fake chicken taste & smell. Sure, I may be weird but don't lie and say you never have had a ramen craving!

Anyways, since I now like to pretend I'm all grown up and 'adult' and all that, I feel the need to spruce up old college standbys. I can't just be eating out of a cup-o-noodles anymore, after all. Besides the social expectations, I also have grown into great knowledge and concern for my health. As I am still on the young side of life, I'd like to take care of myself now to prevent problems later down the timeline as long as possible. So I sneak extra protein and veggies into everything I can. With that, here is the healthiest version of ramen I could come up with. If you have other ideas or something even better, feel free to comment and share!

Ingredients:
1 package ramen noodles
1 cup fresh spinach
1/2 cup meat of choice (I had some leftover steak from burritos)
1 egg
1 cup water

All you do is microwave the ramen & water for 3 minutes. Add the spinach, meat and crack the egg (yes, right into the bowl) and microwave another 3-5 minutes. Stir well and enjoy! The spinach will be slightly wilted and the egg cooks fully so no worries. If you're vegetarian don't add meat, put in some beans or tofu instead. Any other veggies or spices of your choice can also be added. This is an extremely easy, fast, cheap and portable lunch.

Creative leftovers: Butternut Squash Mac n Cheese

The best recipes in my opinion are the ones that either get eaten the first time around, or lead to easy leftover combinations. I hate to see food go to waste, and unfortunately when you're cooking for only 1 or 2 people that can happen quite often. You make something that tastes great the first time, and the second time, but by days 3 and up you are sick of it. So it sits in the back of the fridge, hidden by water bottles and fresher produce until you clean out your fridge tri-monthly and get grossed out by the mold and bacteria on it. Therefore I try to cook things which easily lend themselves to meal makovers to dress up the leftovers and make it feel like a whole new meal. So I took some macaroni & cheese I'd made earlier, leftover chicken, and bruchetta topping (since the bread was now mush) and mixed it up for a super-easy, quick & healthy lunch.

Less wasted food = more money in your pocket = win-win.

Ingredients:

1 cup Butternut squash mac-n-cheese

2 diced roma tomatoes

1/4 white onion, diced small

3-4 oz cooked chicken breast (or meat of choice, or no meat if you prefer)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Microwave on high 1-2 minutes. You can sprinkle with extra cheese, or add any kind of cooked veggies you like. Enjoy!

Hawaiian shrimp & broccoli

I am once again moving, so I make due with whatever is left in the house for dinner. I had in my freezer:

1/2 bag frozen broccoli

1/2 bag frozen shrimp

In the fridge: 

1/4 fresh pineapple

Soy sauce, Worchestershire, BBQ, ketchup

In the pantry:

1 bag simple rice, brown rice

Step 1: Microwave the rice 90 seconds and fluff.
Step 2: In a bowl, mix 2 tbsp ketchup, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp Worchestershire sauce, 2 tbsp BBQ sauce, 1 tbsp sugar. Add shrimp, coat well. Microwave on high 4 minutes. 
Step 3: Add broccoli, microwave another minute.
Step 4: Dice pineapple very small. Add and mix well.
Put 1/2 cup rice on plate, add 1 cup shrimp mix and some sauce. Dinner in under ten minutes! Enjoy!

Sweet and tangy, protein plus fruit & veggies!

Balsamic chicken and Spanish rice

I got the basic idea for this from allrecipes.com but of course I tailored it to my tastes and what I had around the house. I had taken out a chicken breast to thaw with the intent of making chicken quesadillas, but my boyfriend used all the tortillas to make tacos. So plan B. =) 

Chicken:

Balsamic vinaigrette

Lemon juice

Garlic powder

Chili powder

Rosemary, thyme, dill

Rice:

1 cup Minute Rice

1 cup water

Cumin

Garlic powder

1/2 cup salsa

1/2 cup corn

First, combine all marinade ingredients in a plastic bag. I cut the chicken breast into smaller, thinner pieces to cook faster. Left marinating in the fridge for about an hour.

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When ready to cook, I put a few tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and heated it up. Then the chicken and marinade was dumped in all together. Cooked over low heat for several minutes with a cover on.

While the chicken was cooking, I put the spices, water and rice in a microwave-safe bowl and microwaved for 5 minutes. Let sit for 3 minutes or so, and fluff with a fork. Then add the salsa and corn, and microwave another 2 minutes. After the chicken was fully cooked, I put the chicken pieces on a towel to drain. 

This is what the rice and chicken looked like fresh off the stove/microwave.

 Delicious!