Mashed potatoes with zesty chicken

I usually cook mashed potatoes by boiling the potatoes and then mashing them. Apparently, that is not true mashed potatoes. My friend Nathan told me that you are supposed to add milk, butter, black

Pepper, etc. I tried it and he was right! It came out so much better! 

 The chicken is a simple baked chicken breast, with a sauce made with mustard and black pepper,etc. It turned out so so good!!!! 

First lasagna( made on my own)

Pesto Chicken and Pasta

  Name: Pesto Chicken and Pasta
  Cooked Date: Saturday, August 13, 2013

   *Cooked For The First time *

     I want to start cooking more, for several reasons. The first reason being that I love cooking and baking and I really want to make them a part of my life and my daily routine.  My baking  I will write about in my Life in the Oven blog; this blog is for my cooking. I bought several recipe books for baking and cooking, and one of them is on recipes that are easy and do not take too much time. I decided to begin with this simple Pesto Chicken and Pasta because it was a good place for me to start, since I already know how to make pasta. It was taking something I already knew how to cook-pasta- and taking it one step further-adding chicken.  I noticed as I was cooking it  that the recipe called for deli chicken, which meant that it called for chicken already cooked, and I had assumed that you cooked the chicken yourself. Still, I liked that mistake because it made it more of a home-cooked meal all the way around.
     I did make the mistake of turning on the wrong stove top to cook the pasta as I was cooking the chicken, but no real damage was done. The only damage was that the red stove top cover that I had put on the top that I had accidently turned on; it is now a little bit black, but no real damage.
    The actual meal was not burned, and while I probably could have cooked the pasta-bowtie- a little bit longer, it turned out really good. :) I loved it! I am not saying that it was high-class, restaurant good, but I thought it was good. I loved the taste, and I love pasta and chicken together.
  I'm thinking of trying my usual pasta with tomato spaghetti sauce but adding chicken to it, see how chicken and tomato spaghetti sauce go together. and olives of course :) I LOVE green olives, and they taste real good once cooked.
    This meal was simple, yet it was easy. It took me 30-45 minutes. This was longer than the time the book quoted, but since I cooked the chicken myself(cutting it, mixing it with the pesto basil, and then cooking it) it took me longer. Still, not bad.
      The price was also good. for two bottles of basil pesto, box of bowtie, and chicken breast, it was about $10(plus some other stuff that I bought, but this is a quote for the price of these items alone). From these items, I can make two batches, and get about 2 meals from each batch. For someone on a budget, looking to keep costs low, this is a good recipe.
   

New Small Kitchen Plans

In August, I will be moving from my studio apartment at University Park to a new apartment building, off campus, called Mesquite Square. I leased a bedroom, 1 bath layout, and I leased the smallest 1 bed, 1 bath layout. even though it is the smallest layout, at 513 square feet, it is slightly larger than my studio apartment at U.P. However, I will miss my studio. it's small, but cozy and cute. Still, I'm looking forward to making my new apartment nice and cozy as well. It hit me though a few nights ago, that the new kitchen is tiny. it does not have a lot of counter space, and the little it does have I will have to use for my three big appliances: Deep Fryer, Bread Machine, and Microwave. I went online to look for ideas on how to deal with a small kitchen and I found some pretty neat ideas in terms of storage, organization, and adding some extra counter space. I thought I would share the ideas I found online, along with some I came up with myself.

• Reverse Shopping List-(idea found online)
• As I was looking online, I found this idea of what the person called a reverse shopping list. the premise is that in kitchens, it's easy to lose track of the groceries you have, especially in small kitchens where you are cramming everything in. this person had the idea of hanging a chalkboard/white board on the refrigerator, and writing down items that you do have, instead of items that you don't. as soon as you run out of an item, you cross it off. that way when you go shopping, you have an idea of what items you have run out of.  it also keeps you from buying an item, thinking you have run out. or forgetting that you ran out of. I love this idea, and will for sure be using it. I'm thinking of having two whiteboards or one large one and diving it; one for pantry stuff and the other for  refrigirator stuff. and within each board, I'll divide it in terms of baking items, spices, breakfast type food, and snacks or in the refrigerator one in terms of meat and dairy and liquids. something like that. i might not divide them like that, but just write down the items I currently have. I am for sure going to also write down next to it the amount I have left, like if I use the baking flour and after I'm done it has about 1/4 left, I'll write 1/4 next to it, so I can look at each item and know the rough amount I have left. with the spices, I'll just write: full, half, or low. also, going to write the date that I got each item. sounds like a lot of work, but if you think about it, it really isn't. it's more of a matter of being organized. I suppose for this to work, you have to be the kind of person whom does not keep a lot of food in the house. still, it will help me know what I have in my kitchen, how much I have left, and what items need replacing. this was such a good idea, and im glad i found it online. 
• Extra Counter Space: Sink and Stove
• this small kitchen's biggest problem for me is, like I explained above, counter space. since most of the counter space will be used by those 3 appliances, I wanted a way to maybe add some exra counter space for food prep, and I found some good ideas online. one idea is to buy a huge cutting board and put it over the sink. not one that covers the entire sink necessarily, but one that you can lay across the sink or something, giving you a little bit of a food prep area.not a lot, but enough, especially if you clean as you go along. another way I found of adding extra counter space, is to buy a cover for the stove. they sell them on amazon.com, and you can put this cover over your stove, and that converts your stove top into a little bit of counter space. you can put small appliances, like toaster over it when stove is not being used, and use it for food prep. when stove needs to be used, I'm thinking of either putting it over the sink(eliminating the need to buy a big cutting board)or I can just put it on top of the refrigerator. Even when the oven is on, I'll have to move it, since it can't stand the heat, but this is not a big issue at all. I think this is a brilliant idea, and I think not only does it help with counter space or even space for small appliances such as my deep fryer and my toaster(just have to move them to the side along with the cover when I need to use the stove or oven)but it also will make the kitchen look nicer I think,not having your burners exposed. I'll probably do both, the cutting board over the sink and the stove cover. when I need the sink to wash dishes, simply will just put the cutting board off to one side or something.
• Utensils
• I came up with a brilliant, if I do say so myself, way of storing my utensils(the drawers seem small and I'll like to use the drawers for the other kitchen gadgets, such as the peeler, pizza cutter, bread knife, etc. my idea is to store my utensils in glass jars, and put them on this little counter area which is above the sink, almost like a bar area type thing, except to high to be used as a eating area. I went to wal mart, and found the perfect thing to use: straw dispensers! They are perfect, and my utensils should fit(I put in some knives wal mart was selling to see). I'll have to use about two of them, maybe three, but it is perfect! I will most likely do the spoons in one, the forks in another, and then the knives(and maybe my bread knife and potato peeler if it will fit, although I doubt the bread knife will fit) in a third(I'll buy some more knives to fill out the 3rd) and then put the spoons and forks ones to the right and left, and then the knives one in the middle. I think it will look great, but hopefully I can fit all in two of them. I think it will save me space in the drawers for the bigger kitchen utensils, and it will also be a unique, and cheap, decor. 
• Sink Area
• an idea I found online concerns the sink area. This couple put those hooks that you don't need to drill into the wall(and Mesquite allows us to put up small nails for hooks, small shelves,etc, just need to plaster them when moving out)and put the towels on them, and then used those laundry line clipper things(can't think of the name)to clip the towel to the hook so they don't fall out. they also sell over the sink shelves that you can put on your sink area, and they are tall enough to go across the faucet, and  you can use it to put dishwater, sponges, etc. I probably will do the hooks, I think that is a neat idea, but not the shelf. don't think I need it, I can keep the dishwasher under the sink, and the sponge in the sink itself or in a sponge holder by the faucet. the hook idea is also a good one for hanging stuff like oven mitts in an open wall area of the kitchen, and the clipper things will make sure they don't fall out.
• Don't Be Afraid to Move Things 
• This is more of advice than an idea, but in a small kitchen, you have to save space where you can. So if I'm not using something every day, I will store it in the cupboard or pantry(if it fits)or under the sink or something(to the side in the undersink area if it's an appliance) and taking it out when I need it. The microwave is too heavy to be moving around, so that needs to stay stationary, but my bread machine is not too heavy and would be no problem to store it in the pantry or in a drawer or above the refrigerator or under the sink(to the side in the undersink area)and taking it out when I need it. I think when dealing with a small kitchen, you have to realize that maybe not everything will be have its own set spot. it might have to move around, or be stored and taken out when needed,etc. small kitchens are limiting, and so if you want everything to have its own space and never be moved, then you are limiting it even more.

I love my studio at U.P because it is small and cozy. and when decorating it, I had to be creative and think about what function something had, what the best layout would be to allow for foot traffic, and I had to be somewhat creative you know? this small kitchen is the same way, and I'm very much excited ,and slightly nervous, about it.