Apartment Tour part Three: the Kitchen!

Want to know the main reason why I moved off campus? Here it is: a kitchen :)

The two paintings were a antique store find in Palouse- 10 bucks for both. The table was a craigslist find, though a little more expensive at about 70 I think. Still, for an ikea table and four chairs, that's not too bad.

We still need to find something cool to hang above the sink, we were thinking about hanging up some fun trays, but we weren't sure how.

Knives, coffee, and utensils!

Our teeny counters are packed! But actually still functional. Most of the space that is used up by appliances is space that we wouldn't really use anyways because it's so far back on the counter.

The coupon corner and home of my awesome colander (see top left of the photo) and Kitchenaid. I still need to name her, any suggestions? The steak thawing is Haley's haha

And last, but definitely not least, here's our awesome pantry. Who knew apartments had pantries??

Here's all my stuff!

The End!

Apartment Tour part 2: The bathroom

THIS IS THE MOST EXCITING ROOM IN THE ENTIRE PLACE.

Okay not really, or at all. BUT we have an awesome bath tub, and the entire bathroom is spick and span thanks to some good cleaning that went down this weekend.

Here is where we stash most of our stuff. My shelf is on the bottom, Haley's is the middle, then Tay has the top. There are only towels on the top shelf now, though, because Tay uses some of the storage space under the sink for that.

The folded towels remind me of a hotel!

The sink and medicine cabinet:

Don't mind the lack of makeup! I think this sign is pretty fun :)

....and (drumroll please) the bathtub! Yay! Other than cooking, having a bath was one of the things I missed most when I was living in the dorms. Nothing beats a nice hot bath (at the end of the day haha).

The final installment of the apartment tours will be the kitchen! Stay tuned.

My Room

Apartment Tour part 1: my room :)

and yes, I do live in the living room!

Remember this bed that I was thinking about buying last spring? Well I bought and painted it! Check it out:

Here's where I get ready every morning. The little white medicine cabinet is where I stash my herbs and spices (the kitchen is right around the corner).

The bedside tables are actually two of the seats from my desk/dining room set. They work really well, match the rest of the furniture, and I we didn't have to buy them separately!

My desk and work area! I keep all of my office-y stuff on my bookcase along with my books, text books, scarves, and other miscellaneous stuff.

Hey!

My own little corner!

More of my work area room. I love having so much open space and natural light.

The End! Next part of the Apartment Tour: The Kitchen!

Fair Time

This is the only fair I've been to all year/summer! It was freezing and kinda late in the evening, but it was a blast.

Hally the cow and Halley the human!

She was eating my coat, which explains the possessed look on my face :P

Swine: they only look dead. I swear they were actually sleeping.

The Ladies (the guy who took this photo and his buddies were laughing at us for taking photos in the barn :) )

The Zipper is my sister's favorite ride at our fair. This made me think of her. Heya Georgie!

I got ice cream at the fair. Strawberry with chocolate chips. Umm yumi!

Cougar Football

The ladies

Proof of the necessity for a better chef's knife, and my occasional boredom at football games :) 

See #86? We worked on an English project together one time. See #2? We were in English together senior year. How cool! 

The sun's a-going down

The Zumba® Ladies!

Holy Wow Make This Now

Remember last night's salad that was just okay?

This is that exact same recipe, sans the too spicy fish. It's amazing. It's a bunch of spinach, a scant 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, 1 Tbs of the dressing, and one avocado smashed with lemon, cilantro, salt and pepper.

I devoured this after Saturday morning Zumba, and it tasted soooo good.

Blackened Tilapia Salad

One of my favorite restaurant meals is at a pub in the Salt Lake City airport, called Squatters. My mom and I ordered this salad the first time, and I have had it at least one or two more times since (which is something because I don't fly all that often).

I really want to recreate this salad at home, so I looked up Squatters to find a description of the salad on their website. Here it is:

Yum?? Yes. Plus they use really great ingredients (local & organic when they can!)

In recreating it there were four basic steps. The Quinoa, the blackened Tilapia, the guacamole (in the airport this is what they use instead of avocado slices) and the cilantro lime dressing. I skipped out on the fried "tortilla ribbons" and the aioli sauce this time around.

High points: the guacamole, cilantro lime sauce, quinoa, and spinach were amazing. Especially the quinoa and guacamole. The only thing that wasn't amazing was the tilapia! :( It was just too darn spicy!!! Next time I'll use a different recipe for the tilapia. Other than this though, it was really tasty. Maybe next time, actually, I won't use any tilapia.

Here is the recipe(s):

Blackened Tilapia Salad
original recipe here

Part One: Cooking the Quinoa

1/2 cup uncooked, dry quinoa
3/4 cups cold water
pinch of salt

Let the quinoa soak in water for about 15 minutes. Use hotter water if you need it to hurry along. Pour the water off of the top, then rinse it with a mesh strainer under running water for quite some time. Don't just dump it right into the strainer before draining it. The drained water has some bitter flavoring from the quinoa that you want down the drain!

Put the rinsed quinoa into your cooking pot and add the water and salt. Let it come to a boil on high heat uncovered, then cover it with a tight lid, turn the heat down to low, and allow it to cook for another 15 minutes. After this time, keep it covered, but remove from heat and let it sit, covered, for another 5 minutes.

When this is done open the lid and fluff it with a fork! You can use it right away or (like I did) let it cook and store it in a glass container in the fridge to use later.

Part Two: The Blackened Tilapia
Adapted from here

1 tilapia fillet, thawed if frozen
1 Tbs paprika (I ran out, so used less than this)
1 tsp salt (I used more like 1/2 tsp actually)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp oregano
pinch of garlic powder
1 tsp vegetable oil

Mix all the spices and oil together to form a rub. Rub the rub (!) on both sides of the fillet. Allow the fillet to sit with the rub at room temp for about half an hour.

When it's ready to be cooked, heat a large non-stick frypan at medium-medium high, and plop the fillet into the pan. Let it cook until the opaqueness is creeping up the sides of the fish (about 3 minutes) then flip it over and finish cooking on the other side. Serve immediately.

Part Three: The Cilantro Lime Sauce
Adapted from here

1/2 jalapeno seeded and chopped
1 small garlic clove, chopped
about 1 tsp fresh chopped/minced ginger

Pop these ingredients into a blender, and give it a whirl. When they're pretty well mixed/chopped, add the rest of the ingredients.

Juice of 1/2 lime
3 Tbs honey
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp salt (again, I used a little less)
2 Tbs super-packed fresh cilantro

Mix it all together and liquify the crap out of it!!! Then add:

2 Tbs olive oil

Mix it all together a final time, pour it into a resealable container, pop it in the fridge, and save it for later.

Part Four: THE GUACAMOLE!!!!!

1 avocado
juice of 1/2 lime
about 2-3 tbs chopped cilantro
a few chunks of tomato
salt and pepper to taste

Mush up avocado. Stir in lime, cilantro, tomato, and salt and pepper. Be happy.

ASSEMBLING THE SALAD!!!

Start with a bowl/plate thing. Add spinach. Add about 1/3 cup of your cooked quinoa. Add the guacamole in a big blob on the side. Sprinkle about 1 Tbs of the cilantro lime sauce over the spinach and quinoa. Add the cooked blackened tilapia on top!

Have a glass of water handy, this tilapia is intense. Or just omit it all together, there's easily enough flavor with the cilantro lime sauce and the guacamole to make that okay!

Oatmeal 101

Today's oats were possibly the best. Ever.

Oh, and this is post number 101!

How perfect!

But first, I must share the backstory to this bowl of delicious (and nutritious!) breakfast oats. There I was, minding my own business, reading through one of my mom's old Prevention magazine. I love this magazine to death, but that's another tangent. ANYHOW, in sed magazine, they recommended adding cocoa powder to something (I can't remember what) because 1 Tablespoon packs in 2 grams of fiber, awesome taste, and only 10 kcal. I do not need to be told twice to add chocolate to anything, so I knew that my oats the next morning would be some sort of chocolate-y goodness.

Now I take my dark chocolate very seriously. I also take my peanut butter and dark chocolate combinations seriously.

Enter dark chocolate + peanut butter oats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh goodness.

1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup skim milk
1/3 cup water
1 sliced up banana

Heat these all up on the stovetop (in a pan of course....) on medium until the oats start to bubble with excitement, then stir a bunch. Wait a few seconds more, let the oats continue to bubble, then stir, stir, stir!

Remove from heat, and stir in the following:

1 Tbs dutch unsweetened cocoa powder (the darker the better)
a sprinkle of cinnamon
about 1 Tbs peanut butter, blobbed on top like in the photo

Then take a photo, only one, because you won't be able to wait much longer to chow down on this puppy!

Potato Onion Quiche

Potato Onion Quiche

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen here. 

Savory Tart Shell
6-8 baby potatoes
4 baby onions (or one large onion)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
about 1/3 cup Mozzarella cheese, grated
3 eggs
1/4 cup skim milk
Assorted spices (I used oregano, thyme, and basil)

Preheat oven to 350. Scrub and slice the potatoes into about 1/4-inch thick discs. Put the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with water to two inches over the taters, and boil until they're tender, about 15-20 minutes for me.

Slice the onions, and saute with a little olive oil. After they've started to brown, add the vinegar, and let them cook until carmelized. This will take forever.

Whisk together the eggs and milk.

Lay potatoes in tart shell, place onions on top, gently pour milk and egg mixture over the top, sprinkle the cheese over the top, and finally add the spices. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until egg mixture is set, cheese is melted, and your apartment smells amazing.

Let it cool, eat a spinach salad, then cut, serve, salt, and eat!!!!!

Savory Tart Shell 
Slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen here.

1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 Tbs plus 2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbs unsalted butter, cubed
1 large egg

Mix dry ingredients. Add the cubed butter, and use hands to turn it into something that resembles granola, leaving some lumps. Finally add the egg, and mix more with hands until it turns into a very tough dough sort of thing that (for me!) won't stick together. Sprinkle this mixture over a lightly greased quiche pan and press and press (and press and press.....) until it all sticks together and resembles a pie crust! This will take forever. You may need to sprinkle in the tiniest amounts of water.

Post-Zumba Dinner

Whole-wheat bread

Mozzarella Cheese

Fresh (farmer's market!) tomatoes

thyme

oregano

basil

s+p

Pop under the broiler on a cookie sheet until the cheese is melty and the bread is starting to crisp. Eat!

I ate mine with half of an avocado plus the rest of the tomato, with an apple for dessert!

Yum!