Recipe Swap

Sam asked me to do a recipe swap.  I’d already sent a version of this recipe to a friend once, so I figured I’d use this.  And why not blog it?  I make this recipe whenever I’m at the store and I don’t want to think about what to make for dinner.  This is fairly spicey, so if you don’t like a lot of spice, don’t rub the chicken with the spices.

Enjoy!

Spanish Rice and Chicken dinner:

Start with this:  http://shop.zatarains.com/zatarains(R)-spanish-rice-p-890.html

There is a recipe on the back.  Here are my modifications:

Dice some veggies that you like.  I always use green peppers and
onions and an assortment of other things.  Use whatever you like; if
you use squash, zuchinni etc, put it in at the end or it will get
mushy.

Get a spanish/mexican spice mix or use your own individual spices as you like.  I normally mix cumin, cayenne pepper, chili pepper, tumeric and white pepper.
Get 4 chicken breasts.  Clean the chicken ( i like to cut it in semi-large
chunks so that it cooks faster), dry the chicken and rub with the
above seasoning.  You don’t need to put it on thick, just put a nice
light covering on it.  Get a skillet and put a small amount (about a
tbsp) of butter or oil in it (olive oil is my fav) and get it
crackling on med-hi heat and then put the chick in.

Now follow the directions on the back of the box (I think all it calls
for extra is a can of diced tomatoes), but throw in the veggies too.

Do this in a large skillet or you WILL run out of room and that is messy.

That’s it.  It is super easy and really filling.  This easily feeds 5 people with some leftovers for lunch the next day.  If you need a smaller batch, use less chicken and don’t add much veggies.

Another Check-in

Health

143 sodas (3/143)

I had two in one week which means none this week.

715 hours of TV watched (10/715)

Right on track!

286 meals out (5/286)

I kind of cheated on this number.  Because I went to a kung fu tournament, where I had no chance to eat in all weekend, I only counted it as one time eating out.

Floss 500 times (4/500)

Finally started flossing.  I’m not doing it every day yet.

Fitness

72 yoga classes (1)
400 kung fu classes (12/400)

I’ve been going to double classes 3 days a week

429 morning sun salutations (2/429)

Hoping to keep up with daily sun salutations.  This really loosens up my muscles in the morning.

Family and Friends

143 phone calls to sisters (3/143)

72 calls to Nan (2/72)

72 calls to G&G (1/72)

I talked to everyone on my list in the last week and a half.

Education

73 books read form BBC list (1/73)

I read the Secret Garden.

There was one change to my list this week.  Instead of concentrating on relearning spanish, I want to learn Mandarin.  I’m not talking about being fluent, but I do want to be able to converse when I go to China next year (more on that later).

How hard is it to take a multi-vitamin?  Really?  I own them! I just need to take them.  Also, no soda or eating out this week.  I picked an awful week to not go to the grocery over the weekend

Creativity Goals

Creative

1. 5 poems memorized
2. 10 songs learned on concertina
3. 10 songs learned on keyboard
4. 429 saved and documented pictures taken
5. 429 entires to blog
6. 14 completed crafts
7. 32 homemade weekend brunches
8. 1 outfit sewn (worthy of wearing)
9. 10 batches of cookies
10. 10 favorite recipes found and recorded
11. 1 loaf of bread made
12. 5 homemade gifts
13. 5 family meals learned

I don’t really want to go over these individually.  I like doing crafty things, but I generally don’t make time for it.

Travel and Financial Goals

Travel

1. 1 trip to abroad
2. 1 trip to DC
3. 1 trip to a new state
4. 1 trip by myself

Financial

1. $60,000 saved
2. 143 mint visits to update financial info
3. 1000 earned outside of job
4. 15000 dollars in IRA
5. 1 brokerage account setup

Travel and finance are parts of my life that I want to make sure I progress, but I don’t really feel the need to focus on them.

Travel

1. Sadly, I’ve never been abroad.  I hope to remedy this.
2. I’ve also never spent time seeing the sites in our countries capitol.  I went to DC recently, but it was for a kung fu tournament, so I didn’t see any of the city.
3. Maybe I’ll go to Maine for this.  I hear they have good lobster.  I like lobster.
4. I want to go on a trip by myself for many of the same reasons I want to go to dinner and a movie by myself.  I’ve never done any of these things, and I think it is important to be able to spend time alone.

Finance

1. I would like to have money to put a downpayment for a house soon.  Since I live in Boston, this has to be a pretty hefty number.
2. I should update Mint weekly to keep up with my finances.
3. Selling things I already own or selling things I’ve made should do this.  Maybe I’ll babysit or work on peoples computers too.  Knowing how to make money outside of a job could end up being useful some day.
4. This is more about putting the maximum each year.  I want to be able to retire comfortably, and starting early is very important for me to be able to do that.
5. ING sent me a code to get free money for setting up an account with them.  I think I’ll check that out.  I’m considering saving 1/2 the money for a house downpayment in an index fund.

Career and Community Service Goals

Career

1. 1 website developed even if it isn’t used
2. 5 programming books read
3. 2 raises

Community Service

1. 143 hours volunteering
2. $1000 in kiva
3. 143 compliments to strangers

It is kind of sad that these two are my shortest categories.  If I complete these I’ll feel pretty good though.

Career:

1.  I never really take time out of work to develop my programming skills.  Developing a website would increase my understanding of HTML and JavaScript.

2.  I will definitely be reading an HTML Unit book soon.

3.  A yearly raise two times seems reasonable.

Community Service:

1.  This would be one hour a week.  Could you imagine how much we could do for the world if we all donated one hour a week?

2.  Kiva is a fantastic setup.  You loan money to entrepreneurs trying to start or grow their business.  Any money I make off the loans I’ll put back into the system.

3.  Does this count as community service?  It should at least make people smile.

Week 1 completed!

Week one was pretty productive. 

My progress so far:

• Soda – I’ve only had one in the first week.  This is exactly on target.
• TV – I’ve watched 5 hours so far.  This is again, exactly on target.
• Meals out – I made the executive decision, that birthday’s don’t count.  So I have been out once so far.  This is under the mark, which in this case is good.
• I had to re-evaluate my diet already because I wasn’t getting enough protein for kung fu.  I’m now consuming 100 grams of protein a day, and this is enough food that I’m barely eating anything else.
• 4 kung fu classes so far.  This is over my mark of 3 classes a week!
• I’ve made two phone calls to my sister and one to my Nan.  These numbers are actually both increased by one, but I figured if I wasn’t counting eating out on my bday, I shouldn’t count the extra phone calls.
• I’ve sent my sisters one package already.
• I’ve made one batch of cookies
• Sam and I made one loaf of bread.  See her blog for the writeup.
• This is the biggest accomplishment of the week.  I took the plunge and paid off my student loans as a birthday present to me.  As of my 24th birthday, I am OFFICIALLY debt free.  I will probably write a blog about this in the next week.
• 7 blog entries already!

Things to work on next week:

• Get floss.  I can’t really make my flossing commitment if I don’t even have floss that will fit under my permanent retainer.
• Finish Secret Garden this weekend and read “Half the Sky” next week.  For some reason I haven’t felt much like reading on the subway.  I daydream and people watch instead.
• Start taking vitamins daily
• I’m going to DC!
• Start jogging for the 5k in November

I’d say that is more than enough to bite off for one week.

Recreation goals!

Recreation

1. 3 camping trips
2. 14 hiking trips
3. 3 concerts
4. 3 theater productions
5. Complete Boston 30 things to do list
6. 1 snowman built
7. 2 video games BEATEN!
8. 1 3 generation family in sims

This list is just as much about having fun as it is completing things I’ve wanted to for some time.  These are all things that I’ve been wanting to do.

1. I used to camp a lot with my family, but I haven’t in a long time.  I have all the gear, I just need to take the time.
2. I also used to hike a lot (there was a lot less to do in Ohio).  There are a decent number of trails around here to hike.
3. I like concerts
4. I also like going to see plays and musicals.  There are a ton of schools around here that have cheap productions.
5. I have done a lot of things on this list.  I would like to complete it.
6. I generally don’t go out in snow like I did as a kid.  I used to spend the whole day out playing in snow.  I want to do this again.
7. I haven’t beaten a video game in a long time.  2 in nearly 3 years should be doable.  Especially now that I have access to Persona 4!
8. I love playing the Sims, but I seem to build a lot more new families than I play my old ones.  I want to have a third generation of Sims I’ve played the whole family all the way through.

The subway inspired me

One of the items on my list is to run 2 5ks.  This morning on the subway, I noticed that there was a 5k in my area.  Even more excitingly, it is a “Superhero” 5k the day after halloween.  I had already planned on being Poison Ivy for halloween, so how could I not go to this 5k?

I haven’t actually prepared at all, and the race is 3 weeks away, but I didn’t put a qualifying time for completing the 5k goal.  If I can get under 25 minutes I’d be pretty ecstatic.  Since my kung fu competition is this weekend, I’ll have 2.5 weeks to train for the 5k with little distraction.

Maybe I can convince someone to run with me to make sure I don’t keel over somewhere around the 2.5 miles mark.

I love when things inspire me to get off my butt and get moving.  Check it out!

My education goals

Education

1. 5 historical books
2. 5 classes taken in anything
3. 5 biographies read
4. 5 finance books read
5. 5 “girly” books read
6. 73 books read form BBC list
7. 1 Spanish movie understood in spanish
8. 5 banned books read
9. 5 inspirational/ self help books read
10. 5 books read because someone said to
11. 5 presidential speeches watched
12. 1 holy book (not Bible) read
13. 100 hours spent studying for graduate tests

Since I’ve graduated college, I really haven’t read much at all.  I’ve read a few books here and there, mostly financial or health books.  I had been considering a Kindle for months but not getting it because of the cost.  I talked about it enough that my awesome boyfriend bought me one for my birthday.  Now I have no excuse not to read a few hundred pages a day on the subway.  This should help with my extensive list of books to read.

1. I love to read historical books.  I bought a historical book that is a lot like the “devotional” books.  There is one entry for every day.  I think I’ll start with this one.
2. Classes are an easy way to learn new things and meet new people.  There are a ton of classes I’d like to take.  I’m going to make sure at least one is career related.  Maybe I can even get work to pay for it
3. I do not really love to read biographies, but there are a lot of interesting people in the world.  Hopefully I can find 5 interesting biographies.
4. I’ve finally got enough money to be able to do things with it.  Reading financial books should really help me make good decisions.
5. I don’t read enough pointless novels.  I could probably read a romance novel in a day.
6. The BBC has a list of “must read” books submitted by its readers.  I have already read 27 of them.  I hope to complete the whole list.
7. I used to know Spanish pretty well, but I haven’t used it since high school.  I’d love to understand a movie in Spanish.  It might have to be a kids movie, but I’d be happy with that.
8. Banned books are good for the soul!
9. I’m going to include stuff like my “Meditation for Dummies” in this.  I also have a few books like “Crucial Conversations” that will work for this.
10. I always forget to read books people tell me to.  I already have two books in mind for this.
11. I couldn’t have done this during the Bush era, but I should listen to a few of Obama’s speeches.
12. I’ve been meaning to do this one for a long time.  Still haven’t decided which book I should read.
13. I know I eventually want to go to graduate school.  Studying for a test would put me that much closer.

Goals Involving Friends and Family

Family and Friends

1. 3 friends visited I haven’t seen in years
2. 5 days I do whatever Jeremiah wants
3. 100 xmas cards sent
4. 50 thank you notes sent
5. 3 new friends
6. 143 phone calls to sisters
7. 72 calls to Nan
8. 72 calls to G&G
9. 14 packages to sisters

Sadly, this is the area I need the most work.  I really take my family and friends for granted.  This will hopefully fix that.

1.  I had so many awesome friends in high school and college, but I don’t keep up with them.  There is pain and loss involved with keeping up with my high school friends, but by now we should all be able to get over that.

2. I’m sure Jeremiah loves this one.

3.  I’m always so bad about xmas cards.  I’m hoping this will encourage me to get into the habit of sending cards.

4.  See 3, replace xmas with thank you.

5.  New friends are always fun.

6.  I should call my little sisters once a week.

7.  I should call both sets of grandparents at least once very two weeks.

9.  My sisters would love getting packages.