Chicken Alferdo (418)

The other day I made dinner... What? I know. Buy hey, I did a good job. Go Megs! Lets back it up a little bit, I made something that was like a frozen bag full of stuff that you cook on the stove and then you can add stuff to it (I can not think of the name of it). Which was Chicken Alferdo, and I love Chicken Alferdo so I was happy to make it (two thumbs up). It was really easy and only took a few minutes to make. And it was really tasty.
So in the bag, it had broccoli, chicken, and the sauce. Chicken Alferdo normally has fettuccini with it, I made it separately. It doesn't come with the pasta but I highly recommend making some as does the bag.
Like I said before, it is really simple to make. You just dump the contents of the bag on the stove and heat it up. For the noodles all you have to do it boil water, once boiling add the desired amount of noodles and keep them in the water until they are no longer crunchy. Once they cook, drain the noodles and then add them to the chicken mix (once that had finished cooking). Then just heat that up together and stir it around so that everything is covered and then serve. We made garlic bread to eat with it but you can make whatever you want to go with it.
I really enjoyed making this. It was so easy, especially for a full night with softball. It was quick and I could get out the door and still have an excellent meal. I made this while watching 90210, it doesn't take a rocket scientist or a pro chef. It tasted like Olive Garden's which is my favorite, I always get it. Now you can get a little taste of heaven without going in to OG and have a great meal any day of the week.
We got our mixture at Sam's Club. I'm sure you can find it anywhere, maybe not the same exact brand, but I never told you the brand I used, mostly because I don't remember what it was, and I'm too lazy to get off the couch to go look (I'm in the zone, I got to finish this). I highly, highly recommend picking up a bag and trying it out for yourself. You will not regret it and it will definitely be a fan favorite. Get creative!

Inventory of My Day in Food! (420)

I was running out of ideas and needed something to talk about, so why don't I tell you what I ate yesterday. Isn't that fun. So I'm going to take you through my day and tell you a little bit about each of the items.
Breakfast
Little Bits Muffins-Chocolate Chip
Blackberries
International Delight Iced Coffee Vanilla

I literally eat this everyday. The muffins are really same but really good. I normally have so type of fruit, most days its Bananas but they weren't ripe yet. Then I got to have some caffeine so iced coffee it is.

Mid Morning Snack
Cliff Builders Protein Bar

I have lifting first hour, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I eat a protein bar to make a good workout into a great workout. They have 20 grams of protein so you will be making those gainz for days.

Lunch
Turkey Sandwich
Bowl of Fruit
String Cheese
Bai drink

My sandwich was on whole wheat bread with mayo and lettuce, and of course turkey. The bowl of fruit from the big bag of frozen fruit I got at Sam's Club. It thaws out before I end up eating it and it is so good. Then I had two string cheeses to have some more protein. Then a Bai drink just to have something else besides water and it was really good. We just got a box of them when we were at Sam's Club last and they are so GOOD!

Afternoon Snack
Cookie Cake

I know, I know. At least I'm being honest about it. It was the last piece and I'm glad its gone. I could not stop eating it, I love cookie cake. Plus I took my dog for a walk and had practice, all is good.

Dinner
Chicken Alferdo
Garlic Bread

I actually made dinner last night and it was really good so go Megan. The chicken, broccoli, and sauce were all in a bag from Sam's Club (gesh, I guess we get everything there) so you just cook that on the stove and added pasta. I next blog is about it, so check it out. Then garlic bread, garlic and bread pretty simple and good because I love garlic.

That is it. Lately I've been trying to eat a lot more fruit and veggies and cut out snacking. I really challenge you to do the same. Eat healthy, workout, and drink water. I literally can not wait for softball to start. I got to get in shape. Lets go, have fun.

Emils Hideaway (411)

Last night was girls night out. More or else. My mom, sister, and I went out for dinner. We ended up going to Emils Hideaway. Emils is a local restaurant in Cedar Rapids. I highly recommend trying out there food. This was my second time there, and I absolutely love it. It is a bar so they serve bar food, but it is the best bar food I have ever had. We went on a Tuesday night so it was not very busy and was more of a restaurant atmosphere. I believe the previous time I went it was a Friday or Saturday, so it was absolutely packed and felt like you were in a bar. The name is not deceiving, it really is hidden. But its not impossible to find. It is also really cool inside, they have pool tables and really cool chairs, and designs. They also have a really open floor plan which is really nice. The bathrooms are labeled "chicks" and "dudes" which is really funny and really cute.
We were pretty boring with our drinks, just having water (but hey, the water was good). We decided to have an appetizer, so we went with fried pickles. I LOVE FRIED PICKLES. I don't have them too much so this was definitely a treat. They absolutely have the best fried pickles of anywhere hands down. No one even comes close to how good these are. I could not stop eating them, my sister could not stop eating them, and my mom who doesn't really enjoy fried pickles really liked them. And they came out super quick after we ordered them. For the main dish, I order the pork tenderloin and fries. Of course I got the breaded, and it comes with pickles, onions, and lettuce on it and then I put ketchup on. They are a really good size which of course size matters when talking about tenderloins. I give them two thumbs up, I was dedicated to finishing it. SO FREAKING GOOD! The fries were really good too, there fries and I enjoyed them, not much to say. My sister got the thai chicken pizza and my mom the cuben. Both said they were really good.
We had really good service, and it was really fun to eat greasy bar food on a Tuesday night. I highly, highly recommend checking them out. You can not go wrong with the food, everything on the menu is super delicious.

Party Potatoes (375)

Yesterday was a beautiful productive day for me. I cleaned my room and bathroom, ran some errands, practiced my softball, and even took my dog for a walk. It was so nice out, almost 50 degrees in the middle of February. It was so nice out, we had the blinds open and even some windows open. For dinner my mom got out steaks, my favorite, so we even ended up grilling out. Yum, steak and all of my favorite sides. We were definitely in good eating. Earlier that day, my mom asked if I wanted Party Potatoes. If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be Party Potatoes. A little bit of everything all my favorite.
Party Potatoes are really easy to make, just start by making mash potatoes and then the rest is just adding spices.
So take enough potatoes that will feed whoever your feeding. Wash and peel the potatoes. Peeling is optional! Then dice them up and boil them so that they become soft and can be mashed. Using a mixer, start to mash them, adding milk. Once that becomes mashed potato material, we will now start adding spices. We add ranch seasoning, garlic powder, and chives. You can even add bacon bits if you want. Then just mix that all together. Then take the potatoes and place them in a glass rectangular glass container. Now your going to add cheddar cheese and put a lot on, you want them to be cheesy. Then your going to microwave them so that the cheese melts, and serve them. Simple and delicious.
So what we did was have steaks but find something yummy that goes really well with it. We also had salads and green beans. It was such a great dinner and there are potato leftovers. I will for sure eating the leftovers as snacks just whenever I'm feeling something really good.
I highly recommend trying these out, they are really easy to make and you will not be disappointed in how they taste. Steak and party potatoes are one of my favorite meals. Will it be your new favorite meal too? Who knows, try it though and get creative!
See you next week, have fun .

A little bit of a rant, for confusion! (433)

Lately I been on a health kick. I say this loosely but I have been eating a lot more fruits and veggies. on Twitter I follow an account called Life Pro Fitness, I highly recommended checking them out. This past week they posted about how fatten foods are cheaper than healthy fruits. There was another post saying people will spend five dollars on a Starbucks drink but second guess when it comes to buying fruit. I sit her writing this eating a sandwich and Fritos (healthy I know). But I look on the packaging the ham I used, we paid seven dollars for a pound and a half, but we got the Fritos on a super buy for 99 cents. Today we went to Sam's Club and bought all of this delicious fruit. My big bag of frozen fruit I buy cost around ten dollars. And the blackberries were around five dollars (granted there were a lot). Why to be so much. That's why there are so many obese people in the world. They don't want to pay for the overpriced apples, bananas, etc. Maybe if they were priced just a little bit lower people would considered buying it. And even when going out to eat, a burger and fries are always a few significant dollars cheaper than a salad. Why? Back to the Starbucks scenario. All them white girls spend five dollars on a Frappuccino but not when it comes to something healthy and nutritious. Starbucks are sugar and calorie filled drinks. Why not a delicious fruit. Fruit is so good for you because they take more energy to digest and burn than the calories that they contain. Michelle Obama has done wonders to the schools food. But what about transforming other areas of food. Can't we bring down the prices of food that will make people look and feel good about themselves. Eating healthy and working out are the key. But sometimes its hard to and people don't want to spend the money when you can buy five of something that may be a little more appealing like Fritos. Why can't we have cheap deals with special kinds of fruit, or healthy cereals, or frozen yogurt. But we load out sales with high calorie addicting snacks that you don't want to put down. Honestly for me I don't want to eat and eat fruit because it was so expensive. Don't get me wrong I love the taste and want to use them all up. So lets all grab something healthy and delicious and snack on that inside of the potato chips.

Texas Sheet Cake (420)

Click here for recipe. Have fun and enjoy!

Sunday was Valentine's Day, and I didn't get to spend the day with my boyfriend, and spent the day reading a book that needed to be finished. Cookie Cake is one of my favorite treats, I always ask for them for my birthday. Sometimes my parents are kind and get one for Valentine's Day but they didn't this year, which is sad. However we decided to make something, I just I justify it as being made with love (it was Valentine's Day of course). We were searching through recipes and my mom said to make these. So I did and I don't have any regrets. "Texas Sheet Cake is the perfect combination of brownies and chocolate cake."

Making this cake is really simple. Items that you most likely already have on hand. The usual items in baking: flour, sugar, salt, cocoa, etc. I really recommend following the directions very closely because this is the type of cake that can be a like bitchy and need exact measurements and directions. Trust me, everything will be find, just refer to the instructions. The recipe calls for buttermilk, which is something I don't have and we didn't use it. We found other recipes that had sour milk in them, so we used sour milk because you can make that from just regular milk. Making sour milk is really easy and there are options on how to make them, I used vinegar. Click here for instructions. Upon further research I found that buttermilk and sour milk are the same thing! so use that recipe and it will be perfecto. I recommend that you put the frosting on when both the frosting and cake are warm.

 

After our dinner of lasagna we were stuffed so we had our tasting after. So while watching 27 Dresses, which is my favorite. I had a piece of it and DAMN it was good. I put ice cream over it and it was still a little warm so it melted it. YUMMMM! I also had chocolate chip ice cream with it which doesn't change a lot, just more chocolate. I haven't been eating a lot of these this week, not because they aren't good, but because I've been on a health kick, so these fun-filled chocolate delightful calorie filled treats aren't really calling to me. Fruit and running have been though.

 

I hope you stay tuned to my next post, with is about fruit and a little bit of a rant.

Smoothies (378)

So today I made a smoothie... And it was really good, and really yummy, and well really healthy. This past week I've kind of been on a health kick. I say that loosely but I have eaten a lot of fruits and veggies this week and I just continued it on to today. I recently got a huge bag of fruit at Sam's Club. Like its really big and full of different kinds of frozen fruit. YUMMMMM! I took the fruit in my lunch box (still frozen). I did melt but it kept it cold and I used to eat it all the time in elementary school (that was so long  ago, I'm going to graduate next year OMG!). So I used it for a smoothie today. I love smoothies, especially in the summer (gotta get that bikini body). I was craving one, and I love how creative you can get with millions of flavors/ creations.

So in this giant bag of many different fruits. I grabbed a nice portion of fruit, dumped in some yogurt and milk. I didn't measure anything. I added milk until I got the consistency I wanted. And used a hand blender to mix everything. That way its really easy to clean up, and I'm lazy so I'm done for that. I had a thicker smoothie, cause that's what I like.

I just love all the different combinations you can make. You can add whatever you what, and that's what I love about it. You can add all the fruit or none of the fruit. You can add Peanut Butter or Nutella or Yogurt. And making smoothies aren't complicated. The worst part is the blending and finding the perfect consistency. And its so much fun to put it in a cute cup with a cute straw and maybe a little garnish.

My suggestion to you is to look at Pinterest or google all the different types you can try. Just put in what ingredients you have and want to put in. You can explore all the types that come up. So have fun and get creative with everything that comes in your mind. Its taste to good to be true that its so healthy. Make one today and you will not be sorry.

Crepes (412)

Yesterday, February 9, if you did not know was Mardi Gras aka Fat Tuesday. One of my classes is French so we had a party during class where we made crepes. Yummtastic. I have it second hour so it was like a second breakfast. I was so excited to have a break and just have a class period to chill. Right now we have foreign exchange student that is from France, so she came into our class and had crepes with us. We all signed up for bringing in items that we wanted to have on our crepes. Crepes are kind of like pizza's where they are so versatile. You can have fruit, chocolate, or meats. So get creative with it. My teacher has an electric crepe maker which is what we used, it was super easy.

Our teacher gave us a batter recipe which, if we were bringing batter we had to use it. I didn't have to make it but it looks super simple.

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Place ingredients in blender in the order given, then blend until smooth. You can also stir by hand.

For cooking the crepes, like I mentioned early we used an electric crepe maker for the efficiency and easiness for a classroom. You can make then on a stove or whatever you have. For the electric crepe maker we had, all you had to do was (after it was heated) dip the flat surface in the batter. Then after a while, you just flip it. It only takes a few seconds, really simple and easy.

For the toppings you can add whatever you want. We had a lot of sweeter items. I put banana and blueberry's on for fruit. Also Cool Whip, sugar, and powdered sugar. Then drizzled chocolate syrup on top of it. It looked really pretty. You can also try Nutella, strawberry's, chocolate chips, etc. Crepes are so easy and you can add whatever you want.

One of my dreams is traveling the world. That means someday doing to France. I think it would be so cool to go to a Crepe Shop and have some really authentic ones. I have had then in Mexico and Dominican Republic though. However that isn't same as France. So try to make some on your own, and get creative with it. They are so easy and simple. So have some fun with them.

Garlic and Parmesan Potato Wedges (405)

Click here for the recipe and instructions!

Tonight was leftover night at mi casa. And since I wanted to be a good student and get blogs done before Sunday night, I decided to make food. These little goodies are perfect for appetizers or for side dishes, they would've been great for Super Bowl parties that just happened on Sunday. Go Broncos! and all hale Queen B!! They are super easy to make, for me the hardest part was cutting the potatoes. That was really difficult, 'cuz sharp things and I do not want to cut myself. Mostly likely you will already have all the ingredients on hand or you can mix and match by adding some of your favorite spices or not using other stuff mentioned.

Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees. Then wash your potatoes (you don't want them nasty stuff on them). Then start slicing them. I cut them into fours. So I cut it in half then in half again the long way. You could definitely make them smaller or bigger. That step also depends on how big your potatoes are. So I didn't really follow directions (don't be basic, you can't mess these up). I split them into two different small bowls, like the kind you would eat cereal out of. Then drizzled the olive oil on and mixed it around with my hands (yasss, so professional) and then sprinkled garlic powder and salt on. I also used this random seasoning that we use on everything. Just made sure that everything had some seasoning on it. Then I put them on a cooking sheet that I sprayed with Pam and then placed them on there. Then put even more salt and garlic on and also sprinkled on Parmesan cheese. (I really like garlic and salt) Then just put them in that oven for a half hour. Then I just took them off the cookie sheet and served them with ranch, and sprinkled a little bit of salt on them. Make sure to sure them with ranch or sour cream.

This were so easy and I really enjoyed them. You will most likely have everything on hand so just whip them up tonight. Serve them with something or make them at your next party. Whether they are made for a party, a sporting event, or just for a meal they will not disappoint. So have some fun and get creative. :)

German Chocolate Cake (262)

So today is Super Bowl Sunday, and all I did food wise was bake a cake. No fun foods that scream football comfort foods. Go Broncos! But I'm not super into football so I'm cool with just doing homework during it and waiting for the halftime show for Beyoncé! We bought a bunch of cake mixes a while ago when they were really cheap at a store.  My mom said that there was a bunch of them so I was like I'll make one. So I made a German Chocolate mix! 'cause I'm that lazy girl and don't feel like making it from scratch. So I followed all the directions, and I was really nervous that it was going to be too runny but it was perfect when all was said and done. So the cake mix itself is more like a not as chocolaty mix. What makes a German Chocolate Cake, it the icing, it has coconut and pecans. I opened it while it was still baking and I was like this smells like play dough. But don't worry it doesn't taste like it. I used the Betty Crocker mix and I really like it. The cake is super moist and delightful. My goal is to eat healthy this week, but a piece of cake will be in my lunch.
Fun Facts:
-German Chocolate Cake isn't even German!
-June 11th is National German Chocolate Cake Day in America!
-German Chocolate Cake was created in America by Samuel German!
-I'm going to go eat a piece of cake for how amazing that half time show was!!

Nutella and Marshmallow Sandwhich (454)

Click here for the recipe and instructions!

I was desperately trying to find something to make for these blog. I stumbled across these and figured it was easy enough, all I needed to do was get marshmallows. So this morning (Sunday) I felt like making them, for a little something-something before a productive Sunday. I also am in love with Nutella.In the summer Nutella toast is my go to breakfast. **Side note I found a Nutella smoothie that I really enjoy, I will for sure share it with you guys** So I was really excited about trying this. I was also really hopeful, just because it is Nutella and marshmallows. Like who doesn't love those two things. And it was really easy, only 3 ingredients: bread, Nutella, and marshmallows. Well... and butter but that's not super prominent.

Like I said, 3 ingredients. All you do is spread on Nutella on a slice of bread and place marshmallows on top of it. In picture instructions on the website I found the recipe it shows them putting the marshmallows on the other slice. I was just worried that they wouldn't stay when putting the two slices together. Then you just butter both of the outer sides of the bread so that 1) it creates a nice golden brown tint when you cook it and 2) so that it doesn't stick to the pan and burn. Then place the sandwich in a pan, so that you melt the marshmallows and the chocolate. Also be sure not to burn the bread, the most important part is melting the insides (is that creepy to say? its definitely not as creepy as the baby dog monkey commercial). I'm sure you could also use a sandwich press (Panini Maker) which is an appliance that we have and use all the time. I was worried that it was going to smash the sandwich, just because chocolate and marshmallows are quite as dense as turkey (or other meats). So I was really worried that it was going to melt all over the place and create a huge mess. If I was to do it again I would try to put it in there.

So now for the taste! OMG OMG OMG I thought it was really delicious. I would definitely make this again for a couple reasons. For starters is was really easy to make and something different for me to have for breakfast. It was really quick to make. And lastly it TASTES LIKE SMORES! YUMMMMMMMM I love smores and its like having a campfire for breakfast. Something fun and unique. It also looks really cool, all marbleized.

Definitely make these for something special and something unique, you will not be disappointed.

Mellow Mushroom (470)

Are you a pizza fanatic?  I mean who doesn't love pizza. The perfect sauce, the perfect toppings, cooked to perfection. Are you really human if you don't love pizza? Pizza is a perfect example of how you can express yourself in the kitchen. You can add and take away whatever you want. Just think of the endless combinations that people come up with. And with all the different types, it means that you can try so many different kinds. I feel like pizza is a universal item that everyone can relate to. And the taste and availability is out of this world.

A while ago I went to Coralville with my sister and brother-in-law. We were going to watch Pitch Perfect 2 and wanted food beforehand, so of course we had pizza. My sister told us about this restaurant that she had heard of, with crazy pizza types and fun décor around the entire restaurant. She also said something about pretzels and how "you never know what shape you're going to get." I mean I stopped listening after the word pizza, because it's PIZZA. So I mean when she said pretzels I was already sold. So Mellow Mushroom we went.

If you want to check out their menu, click here  <----- do it, you won't regret it

So of course we got pretzels. I believe we got garlic butter and parmesan, with a side of red sauce and butter and kosher salt. I just remember them being really thin, and therefore they were really well done. They were fresh just a little done. I feel like if we went back and tried them again they would be ten times better. It's also really cool because they have a visible kitchen so you can see the cooks rolling out all the dough and making the pizza and pretzels. Also all the ovens they have to cook it.
We also obviously ordered a pizza. We got the Thai Dye. What's the Thai Dye you ask? Olive oil and garlic base, all natural grilled curry chicken, mozzarella cheese, Roma tomatoes, onions. Topped with fresh basil, cucumbers and a sweet swirl of Thai chili sauce. Seriously, go check out their menu. The names are amazing and you will definitely find something (or a couple that you want to try). I normally just get deluxe pizzas so that night I branched out with the Thai Dye. I do not regret it one bit, it was so good. I don't remember a lot of details of it, all I know is that it was really good and it was a gigantic pizza.

I highly recommend the Mellow Mushroom. It was so cool and really good. It is definitely an experience. With the really cool décor and really neat atmosphere with "chillness" of the servers and everything.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever Tasted! (95)

The other day, I made cookies because I was craving something sweet and unhealthy. I used a recipe on the back of a chocolate chip bag and it was the best cookies I have ever tasted. They were so soft and loaded with lots of chocolate chips. Right after they came out of the oven, I tried one and they were perfect, warm and gooey. Perfect. I didn't do anything extra expect what was on the back of the bag and I was not expecting them to turn out like that, they were so good.

Hurts Donut (256)

This past Saturday I was in Iowa City with my sister and brother-in-law. They went to the Brrr-Fest and I had to drive them down there. Afterward we were all hungry, so my sister suggested going to Hurts Donut's, for a snack/breakfast the next day. This place is really cool, and it took me a minute to get why its is called what its called. As soon as you walk in the door, so are hit with the smell of donuts. And it looks really cool in there. We ordered the "dirty dozen" where you got to pick any 12 donuts for $15. Keep in mind that these donuts are specialty donuts that have lots of toppings that are necessarily "normal" flavors. They don't have a menu, depending what time you go, you have a chance to get flavors that they rotate between. We got a bunch of really fun ones, like Cocoa Puffs, and one names "Jesus," also a German Chocolate. There are definitely stuff for everyone here. I tried one the day we got them, which was one of the Jesus's we got. I really liked it, it was fresh and to me tasted like an apple cider donut, which is my favorite. The next, I went over to my sisters house and had breakfast eating the donuts. Well the next day they were really stale and was not very good at all. I would recommend eating when they are fresh, but maybe Hurts Donuts could invest in better boxes to keep them better.