Stuffed Zucchini

I've been looking to add more vegetable recipes to my rotation of meals. Stuffed bell peppers are one of my favorite dinners so when I saw this recipe for stuffed zucchini in one of my new cookbooks, I knew I had to try it ASAP. This comes from the Barefoot Contessa and the original recipe can be found here. As always, I put my own twist on it!

Here is what I did:

1. Boiled several zucchini for about 10 minutes, or until I could easily stick a fork through the center.

2. Meanwhile, I browned hamburger meat and seasoned with salt and pepper.

3. Also, at the same time, I prepared a box of my favorite cheesy rice mix.

4. Once the zucchini were done boiling, I set them aside and let them cool enough that I could handle them. I cut the zucchini in half long-wise and scooped out the seeds.

5. Then, I lay the zucchini in a glass pan and filled the center with hamburger meat, cheesy rice, and topped with shredded cheese.

6. I cooked the zucchini for about 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Yum!! This instantly has become a favorite!

Book Review - The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Now that The Hobbit movies are complete, I really wanted to re-read this one. J.R.R. Tolkien is one of my favorite authors, especially since my return from London where I learned that Tolkien was involved in a weekly writing group with non other than C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia). They met up at a bar in Oxford and discussed their writings and gave each other feedback. :) Good writing practices and their work shows it! 

I read The Hobbit originally senior year of high school and just loved every bit of it. I enjoyed the details, the fantasy, the characters. In fact, I wanted to be a hobbit and go on grand adventures to Middle Earth. Re-reading it now, after seeing the movies, actually was quite disappointing. I'm not one to say that movies are better than the book, and I definitely still adore this book, but...well, I enjoyed the MANY additions the film-makers included. For example, the entire third movie (The Battle of Five Armies) is just several pages in the novel. 

This will always be one of my favorite classics, but I do want more from it. I wish J.R.R. Tolkien were around to add to his creation. Give more details! I'm planning to tackle Lord of the Rings this year, which I have never read and hope that I will find more of those details that I love so much. :) 

Book Review - I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban

With a title like that, how could I not read this one?? I saw this book on the best-sellers for a long time, but I honestly didn't pick it up because of the genre (I'm terrible about my disinterest in nonfiction...). Anyway, I was given the book as a gift from a friend and I'm so glad for that! 

It took me a while to read this (a little over a week). I started out being very interested in the book and really liked Malala's writing style. I was so interested to learn more about education in the middle East and how girls are viewed. Because education is my passion, I just wanted to learn from this book. 

I learned quite a bit about Malala's culture and lot about her life, but I was disappointed in the amount of discussion surrounding education. It seemed to be quite limited, given that was part of the title. The opening of the book explains Malala's shooting, then the majority of the book is her personal history leading up to those events. It becomes clear, though, that Malala is influenced by her father and much of the reasons she was shot were more to do with him and his lobbying than hers. 

I also feel that I didn't hear enough passion in the writing, which I was expecting. Again, I think due to my interest in education, I wanted more about that and was disappointed. Nonfiction is not my favorite genre and this book brings that to light again. Overall, I was a bit bored and disinterested throughout this read. It wasn't my favorite, but I'm glad I read it! 

Book Review - All You Zombies by Robert Heinlein

All You Zombies by Robert Heinlein

Typically, I steer clear of anything with "zombies" in the title. Zombies really aren't my thing. But, last weekend while I was visiting my parents for my mom's birthday, my parents encouraged me to watch a movie called Predestination. The movie was a trip to say the least...it involves time travel, sex changes, and plenty of intrigue. I even noted one huge plot hole that will probably continue to drive me crazy for a while (I guess really it is a difference in opinions about the theories behind time travel). Naturally, when I discovered the movie was based off a short story written in the 1950s, I had to get my hands on it.

It took me approximately 20 minutes to read this short story and it followed the movie VERY closely, down to the language. The movie was "enhanced" but had the main elements of the plot and characters. I really think the movie is a good representation of this story. 

I loved this short story! One of my 2015 goals has been to read more short stories; it is a genre I love but I often overlook for novels. Thanks to Back to the Future I have been increasingly interested in time travel in my reading choices so far this year, and this fit nicely into that category. I felt a great deal of sympathy for the characters as the story is fairly grim. Because of the time traveling aspect, so many characters are intertwined. I liked seeing how their stories are connected. 

My greatest appreciation for this story is that it was written in the 1950s, far before time travel and sex changes were commonplace talk. I'm amazed that the author could conceive a plot so intricate without being influenced by modern television and science fiction. Definitely a quick, fun read that left me thinking....and thinking....and thinking. This story will stay with me for a while! 

Smashed Potatoes and Lemon-Garlic-Pepper Chicken

I have been ferociously writing away trying to finish my dissertation with a semblance of my sanity left intact. :) I have found the best way to stay motivated is with rewards - juvenile and self-indulgent, but it works for me. One of my rewards is giving myself the evening off. As I've become more and more interested in cooking - meaning I'm interested in eating yummy food, so I have to cook it myself - I've been using those evenings to try new recipes. I got two new cookbooks (The new Make-Ahead Cookbook from the Barefoot Contessa and the Southern Living Cookbook) for Christmas that are filled with recipes I've been excited to try! Last week, I tried a new recipe from the Barefoot Contessa, smashed potatoes, and revamped a recipe from the Pioneer Woman that I've tried once before.

Smashed Potatoes

I loved potatoes - boiled, mashed, roasted, baked, scalloped, fried, chipped...there really is no wrong way to do a potato. When I get a new cookbook, I read it straight through like any other book. I find that by doing this, my brain thinks about the recipes and works on how I would do them (I rarely cook straight from a recipe). So, as I was working my way through my new book, this recipe jumped out at me and I mulled it over for about a week and a half before I just had to test it myself. I'd never made smashed potatoes before and I REALLY wanted to taste these. 

Here is the original recipe: Smashed Potatoes

And here is what I did:

1. I took Yukon potatoes and scrubbed them, then put them in a pot of water and set the burner on medium-high.

2. Once the potatoes started boiling, I lowered the heat to medium and let them boil for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, I tested them to see if I could easily stick a fork through the center. I could, so I moved on. If I couldn't, I just would have let them boil longer.

3. I placed the potatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet that I sprayed with Pam. Using my old-fashioned potato-masher, I smushed the potatoes. They were really messy looking at this point, and that is ok. 

4. I sprinkled salt and pepper on the potatoes and put them in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. 

5. After 20 minutes, I took the potatoes out of the oven. I put a little slat of butter on each potato and sprinkled mozzarella cheese on top (I would have used Parmesan as the original recipe called for, but I didn't have any). 

6. I put them back in the oven for 3 minutes.

7. I took them out of the oven and devoured them instantly. They were so stinkin' good! I've really been wanting more vegetable recipes and this one will certainly make my regular rotation from now on! 

Lemon-Garlic-Pepper Chicken

I'll be honest, chicken is not my favorite meat to cook. Often, I find that chicken is just bland and flavorless no matter what I try. I really don't get excited for chicken and my favorite chicken recipes mostly slather the chicken with sauces and other toppings. I saw this recipe for lemon-garlic chicken drumsticks on an episode of the Pioneer Woman and was intrigued. Typically, I do not like lemon, but I thought it was worth a try. She cooked the drumsticks for a picnic so they were actually cold when eaten and she remarked how great they are hot or cold. To me, this suggested something that would be tasty for lunch. 

I made this recipe exactly as she did. The chicken turned out great! The lemon was not too strong and the drumsticks did work great in my lunch for work - except for two things. 1) My entire office, hall, and the workroom smelled like garlic all day. 2) Drumsticks are super messy. In fact, I'm really picky about chicken and like chicken breasts or tenders best. Drumsticks are a lot of work for not much chicken and they are messy. I decided to try this recipe again, but use chicken breasts instead of drumsticks. I loved the result!

Here is the original recipe: Lemon-Garlic Chicken

And, here is what I did:

1. I rinsed the chicken breasts and placed them in a bowl. 

2. I added garlic (however much you like - I like a lot). 

3. I cut four lemons in half and squeeze the juice on top of the chicken. 

4. Then, I sprinkled salt and lots of pepper on each chicken breast. I threw the lemon rinds in the bowl (for extra flavor), covered the bowl and placed it in the refrigerator over night. 

5. The next day, I heated the over to 400 degrees. Then, I placed the chicken breasts on a foil-lined baking sheet I sprayed with Pam.

6. I sprinkled more pepper on each piece of chicken and laid the lemon rinds around the chicken. (I wish I had taken a picture of this; it was so pretty! I could see this recipe being good for a dinner party just because it looked so nice!)

7. I cooked the chicken for about 33 minutes, until I could easily cut through the center and saw clear juice and no pink. 

These were so full of flavor, even in the center of the piece of chicken, which is usually really bland. They were garlicky, with just a hint of lemon, and had lots of pepper flavor. I don't think this will be a recipe I want on a regular basis, but it will be great to through in occasionally. I also think slicing the chicken and using it in a summer salad with oranges and strawberries would be great when it gets warmer outside. 

I have marked my cookbooks up with more recipes I cannot wait to test! :) 

Favorite Web Links (Week of January 14th)

I've found lots of good stuff this week! 

What If? Arne Duncan, current U.S. Secretary of Education posed the question, "What if every district committed both to identifying what made their 5 best schools successful & providing those opps to all their students?" on his Twitter page. This question is getting at the idea of value-added which is something policy makers feel would help schools (few topics make my blood boil like value-added). The response he got is probably not what he expected and is priceless beyond compare! Here, the Washington Post includes a few of the many comments he received. 

Teachers Were Never the Problem - to go along with the link above, I found this link from 2013 that still rings true today. Teachers are not the problem in education. In actuality, it is a much larger social issue but we can't talk about such things! This article looks at poverty and its role in the education disparity.


2014 Review - A pretty good summary of the year with so many hilarious asides. I was cracking up, but have to admit, I felt pretty gloomy and needed to hug my puppy afterward. Surprisingly, while the rest of the world seems to have had a bad year, 2014 was pretty productive for me!


Not the city you thought, where new grads are ending up! - As I am embarking on a big move this year (still don't know where to), I'm fascinated by any article mentioning hip cities to live. While the job is my primary choice for where to move, I'm also investigating the city life as well. I want to be somewhere fun, and somewhat trendy where I can enjoy myself while I work hard.


Daily Reading Plan for Shakespeare - My undergraduate major was English, and I have loved reading since I was a child, so naturally, I adore Shakespeare. In college, I got to take only one Shakespeare course and it was wonderful! Recently, I've seen so many plans for reading the Bible in a year, simply by reading a few sections of scripture each day. I've started about half a dozen of these, but lost motivation about a week in. This plan for getting through all of Shakespeare's works in a year follows the same idea. Read a little each day, a few sonnets on the weekends, and you're good! I might use this plan to modify for a more reasonable amount of time (maybe two or three years). Either way, it is so cool to see! And, I have the book it is based upon from my college Shakespeare course. :)

Reading my way Through Short Stories in 2015!

In 2014, I made a deliberate effort to read more nonfiction. Thinking I did not enjoy nonfiction, I wanted to see if I could prove myself wrong. Well, I did a great job reading a selection of nonfiction from self-help to comedy to memoirs, and the verdict: it's not my favorite. However, I did find a few books that I enjoyed, and I could appreciate different aspects of nonfiction. 

In 2015, I want to revisit a genre I do enjoy but don't read enough - short stories! I love a good short story. In 2014, I read a selection of short stories by J.D. Salinger, one of my favorite authors of all time. I absolutely loved "A Perfect Day for Bananafish". Of the nine, that was my favorite. 

Short stories include all the elements of fiction that I enjoy, but concentrate around one specific element like the characters, setting, or plot twist. In fact, "A Perfect day for Banafish" ends with the climax (in my opinion), leaving the reader to wonder about what became of the characters in the end. It is rumored that Salinger has answered all of these questions in a series of novels to be released many, many years from now...we will see! Three of my favorite short stories are "Behind the Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway, and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber. 

I have already started 2015 with a bang and picked up The Best American Short Stories 2014 edited by Jennifer Egan to kick start this goal. I read the first short story in the volume last night and really enjoyed it! 

I also like that short stories are, well, so short! I don't feel like they take a long time to get through, and I do not need to be in a rush. I can carry my selection of them in my purse and can get through a short story in a day. Or, I can read an entire short story before bed. I think I will really enjoy adding these short pieces to my weekly readings!