Back To School

Well, the summer is officially over.  It was back to school for me today!  My morning started early, but not too early.  I really wasn't feeling a 5:00am wake-up call for the gym since we got in late last night from our Labor Day weekend getaway.

I made sure my school bag was all packed.  Isn't this a cute bag?  It was a bridesmaids gift from my friend, Katie.

My first class, Foodservice Systems, was at 8:30am.  It was great to see my school friends again!  Luckily, we have the same schedules, so we'll be suffering learning together all semester long!

Had a little break in the grad student lounge.  It's the first day, and things already seem crazy.  I found out in my first class that I have not one, but two internships this semester.  I previously only knew that I would have to do one of them.  In my first class, I told my professor that I had Thursday or Friday mornings available to do the internship for her class.  Then my work schedule was emailed to me after class.  Mind you, ALL summer, I have not worked Thursday mornings.  And what do I get on my schedule "from here on out"? Working Thursday mornings.  Oy vey.  My approach is to take this all one day at a time.  


My second class, Introduction to Nutrition Practice, was good.  The professor seems really nice and interesting.  She specializes in pediatric nutrition which I'm definitely interested in learning more about, so that is exciting!

So, since my day had some good points (seeing friends and getting back into the swing of things) and stressful points (internship craziness and work schedule nonsense), here's an appropriate recipe that I made for dinner tonight.




Sweet & Sour Chicken with Vegetables


Inredients:

• 6 small skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 2 cans of cubed pineapple
• 1 bag sugar snap peas
• 2 heads of broccoli, chopped
• 1/2 cup cashews
• gyoza sauce (or some kind of sweet & sour stir fry sauce)
• 1/2 cup scallions
• brown rice cooked in pineapple juice

Directions:

1) Cook brown rice according to instructions, substituting pineapple juice for some of the water.

2) Spray skillet with cooking spray and heat to medium.

3) Cut chicken into small pieces and add to skillet.  Add about a 1/2 cup of gyoza sauce and cook until no longer pink in the center.

4) Add snap peas, broccoli, pineapple, scallions, and cashews.  Cover and cook for about 5 minutes.

5) Serve over brown rice.

One more sweet to end the day: flowers from a cute boy!

Now Bake Us Some Figgy Chicken

For all of you Scrooge's out there, that is a play on the popular Christmas song, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."  You know..."Now bring us some figgy pudding..."  Now that we have that straight, please go to your kitchen and make this recipe ASAP.

As I was brainstorming meal ideas for this week, I decided that I wanted to make some sort of stuffed baked chicken.  I feel like goat cheese and figs are a combination that you often see in restaurants, so why not be the star of my chicken?  I made this recipe up as I went along and it came out quite tasty if I do say so myself.  Please give it a try and let me know what you think!


Goat Cheese & Fig Stuffed Chicken
Serves 2

Ingredients:

•  2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup dried figs, chopped
• 1/2 cup marsala cooking wine
• 3 oz goat cheese
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp margarine
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

1) Chop figs and mix them together with the goat cheese, allspice, and 1/4 cup of marsala.  Set aside.

 2) Cut a pocket in each chicken breast by pressing down on the chicken with the palm of your hand while making an incision in the thickest part.  Carefully slice to make a pocket, keeping the other side of the chicken breast intact.

3) Open each chicken breast and pound to flatten.  Salt and pepper both sides to taste.

 4) Stuff each chicken breast with the goat cheese mixture.

 5) Fold the top of each chicken breast over to cover the cheese mixture and place in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

 6) Microwave the margarine and the remaining 1/4 cup of marsala for about 30 seconds (until melted) and pour over the chicken breasts before placing in the oven.

7) Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.