Food tricks

Living on my own, without too much time to spend preparing meals all day, I have found that it is imperative to stock my kitchen with things that can be whipped together at a moments notice.  After a long day of classes, practice, homework, whatever it is, when I get home late I usually just want to eat something and then relax.  Standing over the stove is the last thing on my list of things I want to do.  Keeping these five items stocked in my freezer makes life a million times easier, and the adjustability of the portion sizes is also great for when friends decide to visit last minute. 1. Chicken I buy chicken breasts from the grocery store, but before I freeze them I cut off the extra fat and use a meat mallet to pound them out a little thinner.  Depending on the size, I usually cut them in half, then wrap them individually in plastic wrap and zip them up in a larger freezer bag.  Wrapping them individually makes it a lot easier to control portion sizes, and ...

I love onions.  I was never really a big vegetable person as a kid (as in anything vegetable related was an absolute no-go), but growing up has significantly expanded my once-extremely-picky palette and now, almost anything with onions and bell peppers is an immediate Yes, Please. Unfortunately, dicing onions can be a real hassle, especially if your eyes tear up as much as mine do (Did you know that they reason we cry cutting onions is because they chemicals they release creates sulfuric acid in our eyeballs?? Umm ouch.).  Luckily, my mom showed me this little trick that really helps. First, I try to keep at least one onion in the fridge.  They can obviously be stored at room temperature, but it seems to minimize the crying response when they are being cut when they are cold. Second, instead of cutting rings and trying to line them up to dice them, slice off one stem (is that what they are?) Third, carefully cut the onion (almost) all the way in vertical lines. Wow... th...

Yes you did read that correctly... this is a recipe for Nutella Banana Swirl Muffins... Also known as Heaven in a Muffin Cup. The other day was Felix's birthday, so I asked him what I could make him to celebrate. I was already planning on making banana bread for a team potluck the next day, so I asked if he wanted banana bread muffins.  He got really excited and started talking about how I should put Nutella in them..... Now, I have a secret banana bread recipe that is amazing and I have thought about posting every time I make it, but I haven't been able to get myself to do it.  This particular recipe does not say anything about Nutella additions, so I hit the Pinterest boards. I found this incredible, amazing, mouth-watering recipe.  Felix couldn't find the words to describe how much he like them (he also thought he could get them to last for two weeks despite the fact that he was eating like 5 at a time).  I also learned I could probably just try adding Nutella swi...

So I have a couple food obsessions: Onions and Bell Peppers (could pretty much eat them in anything) Chai Lattes (I am trying to start liking coffee because I am getting old and it seems like something I should do--and Alexa is pressuring me--but I am in LOVE with Chai) Croissants (soft, buttery flaky ones... like the ones from Sam's Club that Lex wouldn't split with me today) Mozzarella sticks (pretty much anything with melted cheese if I'm being honest) Scones (The dining hall at my school makes the most incredible, mouth-watering scones... I think I could sustain myself eating them exclusively for the rest of my life) I mean, in order to have a blog about food, I feel like you have to love eating... but there are a few things that I just cannot turn down, and these are some of them. So now that I've whet your appetite (gotcha), I have another little story to tell.  This is my last semester in undergrad, so I am trying not to buy extra odds and ends for my apartment....