January 30, 2010

Thanks Grandma!

I've never been the kind of person to post pictures of food I've made, but that's because I've never been good at making food. I recently told this to my mom, who told her mom, who then bought me a Betty Crocker Cookbook. This has been the greatest edition to my kitchen. Since I don't know how to make a lot of different dishes it's nice to have a cookbook to flip through for ideas. Looking for recipes on the internet is alright if you know exactly what you are looking for, but since I rarely do I'd much rather sit down with a real book to figure it out. I must be getting old because my aversion to technology seems to be increasing.

Anyway, I came home from an all day ESL Tutoring training and was really hungry. I decided I wanted to make something non-traditional, something I have never made, and something spicy and delicious. Having never cooked an Asian dish in my life (and also having the majority of the ingredients in my kitchen) I decided to give the Spicy Chipotle-Peanut Noodle Bowl recipe a try. I had to make a few adjustments though since I didn't have all the ingredients.



Lanni's Spicy Chipotle-Peanut Rice Plate (or Bowl if you prefer)


1/4 cup peanut butter (I'm a Peter Pan extra crunchy kind of girl)
1/4 cup apple juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (from 7-oz can), seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon adobo sauce (from the can!)
1/8 cut chopped fresh cilantro
1 medium size chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups water
1 medium carrot, cut in julienne strips
1/2 medium bell pepper, cut in julienne strips (the recipe called for red but I only had a green one)
1 cup rice

1. In small bowl mix peanut butter, apple juice, soy sauce, chilies and adobo sauce together until smooth. Stir in cilantro.

2. In saucepan, heat water to boiling. Add carrots and bell pepper; cook 1 minute. Remove carrots and bell pepper from water with slotted spoon. Add rice to water; cook as directed.

3. Meanwhile in skillet cook chicken over olive oil till cooked. Add peanut butter mixture and cook on low heat until rice is finished.

4. Pour chicken and peanut butter sauce on top of rice. Top with carrots and bell pepper.

The verdict? Spicy and delicious!

January 28, 2010

I don't wanna close my eyes

The neighbors upstairs have been blasting Aerosmith's I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing on repeat for the past 30 minutes. They are musicians so I'd like to think maybe they are just playing it on repeat to learn how to play it, but considering one plays the tuba and the other the clarinet, I really don't think that is the case. Rather I think they are just really into Aerosmith. I've always felt that there was something rather off about people that really love Aerosmith. I don't really know how to explain it. I don't really think I can. But when I was working at the fabric store in Champaign I worked with this girl named Bridget who was probably 19 at the time. She was originally from Wheaton and was student at the U of I. She was also a girl scout. She also loved Aerosmith. So much so that her and her roommate (who I presume equally loved Aerosmith) decided to decorate their entire apartment in an Aerosmith theme. For the longest time I assumed all people from Wheaton were like this, until I met Adam.

All I want for my birthday




There are many reasons why I want this sewing machine. Some of which are:
-I just tried cleaning my current sewing machine and am pretty sure I made it worse in the process
-I've always wanted a Husqvarna. They make chainsaws, lawnmowers and sewing machines!
-It's model name is Emerald 183. I live on Emerald Ave and I was born in 83, therefore we are destined to be together.
-Now that it's 2010, I think it's time to get a computerized sewing machine.
-I really, really, really want it and it would make me really, really, really happy to have a new sewing machine.

I may not have much

but at least I have this huge baby.

49 cent

.49 in my bank and so MANY bills.

 
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