Spicy Chicken Rigatoni

This is one of my favorite recipes to make during the workweek. It’s fast, easy, and so yummy I could probably eat it every night of the week if Jason let me. I slightly adapted this recipe from Tastebook.com

Your ingredients:

I hadn’t heard of Panko before I started dating Jason- it’s a Japanese breadcrumb that kicks Shake & Bake’s butt.

I added some red pepper flakes for flavor.

Coat the chicken in just a little bit (hey, wedding diet here) of Philadelphia’s cooking crème (I used roasted garlic) and coat with the seasoned Panko.

Pop chicken into a 425-degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

In the meantime, boil a pot of noodles on the stove in a medium pot.

In a small pot, sauté about half a tablespoon of red pepper flakes (add more/less to your spice preference), one clove of garlic, and a little bit of pepper and sea salt over low heat with olive oil. The recipe calls for about 1/4 cup but I never use more than a tablespoon and it tastes great.

When garlic turns golden (be careful not to burn it), add four cheese rosa sauce and stir well.

I like to add some frozen corn kernels to the sauce for texture.

Once the chicken is fully cooked, broil on high for one-two minutes, again being careful not to let it burn.

Remove everything from heat and serve! 

A Few Good Men (and Women)

The other night the soon-to-be-hubs and I had a rare date night and saw Zero Dark Thirty. It's a movie I knew he wanted to see and I always have liked military movies.

To me, the movie really drove home the commitment not just our men and women in uniform, but members of the government, have to make in order to keep our country safe.

There is a scene right before the SEALS are about to leave on their mission where the guys are just messing around-tossing a football back and forth, betting on a game of horseshoes. They're just messing around like a normal group of guys, not even concerned about the pending mission.

Now I don't know about you, but I would be scared shitless! This scene not only drove home the difference in personalities between service members and civilians but the amount of hard work and training required to go into a fight like that and be completely confident.

When hubs and I first started dating, he had been out of the military for a couple of months...and I felt like I owed him for all the sacrifices he'd made. I tried to never cause a fight because I felt like he didn't deserve it. Now I have no problem getting mad at him but I still feel like he is the better, more selfless person due to the sacrifices he's made for a country that by and large, doesn't care.

The fact that he's willing to go back and serve for far less money than we're both making right now, speaks levels about him.

I know we both have a difficult road ahead of us but I consider myself lucky and honored to help him on this journey.

Cookies & Cream Cookies

One of the hubs's (can I call him that even though we're not married yet? I say yes...) favorite desserts is Oreos. So when I bake, I like to bake anything that utilizes them.

I present Cookies & Cream cookies, courtesy of Cookies & Cups

These cookies don't actually include Oreos but rather these little pieces of yumminess:

I could probably eat a bag of these things by themself. Nevertheless, I decided to be a good girl and include them in the cookies.

The recipe is really easy, pretty much add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. And then you get these:

Needless to say, they were really good.

I think next time I might add some white chocolate chips for more texture but they got Jason's seal of approval and that's good enough for me!

Just Relax...

In order for one to get a good picture as to how I feel about my job, exhibit A:

Needless to say, it was a rough day. I more or less started my actual job today, after 7 months of training. Of course, I had no advance warning...which sounds stupid if I was in training that long, but it's true. I had to deal with rude providers and a ton of headache work. Granted, there were some extremely nice, appreciative people I talked to who were genuinely grateful to have someone helping them...but unfortunately it's the negativity that has the most impact.

So bring on the sangria!..and baking

It really makes no sense, but cooking and baking are one way I completely relax. Unlike a lot of people, coming home to make dinner doesn't stress me out, it helps me decompress. Maybe because when you cook, your mind is on adding the ingredients and preparing the dish rather than whatever other stressors are in your life.

Recipes to come soon :)

An Introduction...

I am starting this blog as a way to document this journey my fiance will be embarking on in the coming months. In short, we are both employed in corporate America...and hate it! My fiance is a veteran, having served in the Marine Corps for several years. Sitting at a desk eight hours a day doesn't exactly cut it for him!

As for me, I graduated this past May with a degree in Anthropology and plans to go to grad school...needless to say, a desk job is not what I had in mind either.

We are getting married this October which is a journey in and of itself. After the wedding my wonderful hubby has plans to re-enlist in the military, which I am all for. I mean, you can take a marine out of the Marine Corps, but can't take the Corps out of the marine.

Talk about a whirlwind year!

My hope for this blog is to be able to share our life but also to feature other topics I am interested in, such as cooking and reading. I'm always trying new recipes that I love to share!

So stick with me...!