Gone are the people with all their awkward things

My all time favorite artist. His music makes me want to to jump on a plane to Hawaii and lay on the beaches lazily while sipping some cold coconut water with his music playing in the background.

Coconut + Soy = WIN!

 DELISH

Ignore the blurriness of the picture and go get yourself some Vitasoy coconut flavored soymilk. Mmmm

Twenty Minute Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:
2 cups fuesili, penne, or any small pasta
1/2  cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 diced green peppers
1/2 cup of chicken breast
1 cup of milk
2 tbsp of white flour 
2 tbsp butter
2 sprigs of cilantro
Crack black peppercorn
1 tbsp of chili powder
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Heat water to boil in a pot. Add pasta and boil according to instructions on pasta carton. Meanwhile, season the chicken breast cubes with fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper and chili powder. Heat (medium high) pan with extra virgin olive oil and add cubed chicken and diced green peppers and satay until chicken is almost cooked. Add parsley until chicken in no longer pink in the center (should be firm to touch). Drain pasta when fully cooked and rinse pot out quickly with some water and boil off excess water on stove. The burner should be on medium high and add butter until thoroughly melted, add one tbsp on flour and mix with a whisk. Add milk and continue whisking to break up all butter and flour clumps. Add remainder of flour and continue whisking until milk thickens up. Add cheese and continue mixing until melted then add chicken and green peppers. Add the noodles and toss until thoroughly coated. Turn off burner. Season with salt, chili powder and (lots) of black pepper. Serve! (make sure to soak pot right afterward or else the sauce will be a pain to wash off)

*You can pretty much add any type of protein to the dish (bacon!). I only had green peppers on hand but I would have liked to use broccoli, cremini/button mushrooms and even a sharper cheese to the dish.

There you have it! Super easy mac & cheese, I have no idea what I was afraid of. I usually dread making any types of creamy sauce as it tends to come out watery, clumpy and just plain gross. My first attempt at making fettuccine Alfredo several months back has changed this and I am very happy with the results.

Should of worn my blue suede shoes

Went to Johnny Rockets for the first time this weekend. I've been somewhat curious about the restaurant since its opening in Canada as I am a sucker for the 50's vinyl and jukebox styling in these places. I went to the Yonge/Dundas location and I must say the decor is much more impressive than the one in Mississauga's Square One mall which is essentially a long open restaurant that faces the mall corridor. People walking past the restaurant can literally peer over the 4 ft divider and look at your food. The downtown Toronto location was very cheesy and had all the stereotypical 1950s paraphernalia including mini jukeboxes at each table and those fan straw holders. The staff was quite nice but the manager did not seem particularly friendly.

Moving on to the food, it was okay at best. They had several burger varieties and I ordered the St. Louis burger (bacon, cooked onions, cheese) and chili cheese fries. It looked wonderful but it was bland and the fries had a slightly cardboard taste. I most likely will not be returning but it did satisfy my curiosity. The decor made it worthwhile. Of course, a milkshake was ordered and that was a delish treat.

3 Stars (1 of which is for the milkshake)

Off Topic: Pyschobabble

Watched this video for an upcoming exam and found it very interesting. It was made in the 1960s and provides an opportunity for viewers to look into the different types of psychotherapies in place (Client Centered Therapy, Gestalt Therapy and Rational Emotive Therapy). My least favorite was Gestalt therapy, I felt that Perls was extremely combative and mocking. The patient spent much of her time defending herself against Perls' comments and it gave the patient limited opportunities to express herself genuinely. Very impersonal. If I had to pick it would be Ellis' Rational Emotive therapy because he was giving her actual concrete information rather than repeating everything that the patient says. He does talk quite a bit and could of probably given her some more room to speak. Overall, I was not expecting the videos to be so interesting! Check it out and I'd love to hear what you have to think.

http://nathensmiraculousescape.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/three-approaches-to-psychotherapy-a-film-series/

*the most baffling thing of all is that Gloria ends up choosing Perls as her therapist.

Ooozey Cheesey

So terribly busy with school that I have been neglecting my blog. I will be done this week so I will make sure to add a recipe post but until then, I hope these pictures will be somewhat satisfying.

Took a short study break to make a quick lunch:
Pita Pizza with spinach and red peppers + strawberry banana smoothie

My brother and I decided to make pizza!
The odd shape of the pizza is evidence of my difficulties working the dough

Final product
Added olive oil to the crust in the last 5 minutes to moisten it


Overall, everything was quite simple to make. All you really need is a good base (I used pitas and pre-made pizza dough), sauce, cheese and whatever toppings you have laying around. Some toppings I used for those two dishes were minced garlic, onions, pepperoni, spinach leaves, red peppers and mushrooms (my fav). Toss it in the oven for 10mins (pita) or 25mins (pizza) and you're all set. It's a great opportunity to fulfill your veggie intake for the day.