Lady in Pink

Snow day = lack of work and finding a new comic…this one is adorable, has a little robot/computer guy, and a fun romantic storyline…

So, I’m doing work in the University Downtown Center while Hicania is in class…I wish I had headphones.

1) A girl behind me on the computers was telling her friend, pretty loudly, about some lip-waxing/burning misadventures.  You burnt yourself using face removing cream…because you left it on for double the time you are supposed to…stop talking.

2) The guy on the opposite side of the partition from me, on his cell phone: "Yeah man, I’m surprised our phone call didn’t get disconnected yet…I mean, my apartment internet has been messed up all day."  WHAT?!

3) A community group focused on getting money to plant trees around various neighborhoods in Binghamton (a valid and good goal, I’d say) decided to hold their meeting LOUDLY in the comfy chair area where I was reading/studying, because they couldn’t find the room they had reserved.

4) Some random woman (not faculty, staff, or student) tried (also loudly) to convince the guy running the info desk in the computer lab that she needed a student to teach her to do something on the computer, and that she needed to tape record this teaching session, with detailed descriptions of which buttons were being clicked ("like…second from the left…little image thingie…like on the screen.").  Also, that the system they have for signing something out or in is inefficient and they should fix it.  AND that she would like to meet with the director of BU’s computing deal to get non-university people access to printers…or something.

–

To make us all happier:

A lot of things have changed for this semester (my CDC ‘internship’, less Scholars meetings, classes only TR, job search, apartment packing), and I’m still adjusting to things that changed last semester (the gym routine, free weekends, no Matt, no Hicania in my office).  So, I realized that I need some new routines.

1-Job search, Chai tea, & This American Life.  Andrea introduced me to Chai tea which not only makes me feel sophisticated and fancy, but gives me a reason to use my wide variety of mugs, AND is delicious.  Tonight I drank tea, caught up on like 3 episodes of TAL, and browsed new job posting on about 80 web sites.  I am ridiculously relaxed and excited at the same time…there are finally jobs I’m interested in/possibly qualified for, and unlike every other time I’ve looked at listings, I’m not ready to curl up in the corner and sob about it.  Is it the tea? Is it the NPR? Is it the fact that I had CDC training today and feel like I’m actually on the way to doing some active job searching?  WHO KNOWS.  But any way, chai is delicious, superintendents are nuts (TAL #346), and Santana is being sweet and cuddly like you’d never imagine. 

On that note:

2-Blogging about the adorableness of my baby puppy. (More writing in general).

Gorgeous, right?  Andrew brought his digital camera home from school and after I got back from Queens with Matt, my adorable little brother presented me with a series of absolutely wonderful photos of Santana.  I think this one looks like a professional portrait or something.  I have no idea how he got her to cooperate and sit still for so long.  I usually get a camera full of puppy nose when I try.  I might be turning into one of those grossly in love puppy-moms…Matt and I started a puppy baby book for Santana last week.  I took her to a groomer (just for a bath and nail trimming!) and she got her scraggly fur trimmed (I will admit, that made me a little sad…I love that she’s a scruffy pup) and a girly, flowered bandana, which I have left on for the past three days.  She might be completely spoiled…but she makes me feel better and smile even when I am feeling depressed, sick, lonely, whatever.  She is the sweetest, cuddliest puppy ever and just loves to play, be close, and pay attention to every move you make.  It is one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten (UK graduation gift from Veronica) and right up there with the important parts of my life.  She loves Matt, Matt loves her, she loves bacon, I love bacon, she loves running around in giant circles, Freckles loves slowly following her around.  Done and done.

3-Monday Date Nite.  My partner GA last year was one of about…oh, maybe…five reasons I didn’t have a complete meltdown during my job between August 06 and May 07.  I was really afraid we wouldn’t see much of each other after we stopped working together…NOT SO.  We managed to have mostly weekly date nights on Tuesdays last semester that got slightly more sporadic later in the semester.  This semester we’re going with Mondays for early dinner, late movie.  The bonus is that she’s got class in the UDC between dinner and the movie, so I’m going to set that time aside for me to sit in the computer lab down there and get definite work done every week.  I think this will be super helpful and give me some regular scheduling where so much of the rest of my stuff this semester is super flexible and doesn’t commit me to specific hours for most of the time. 

4-Craftiness! A while ago, my aunt (ex-aunt-in-law?) bought me some scrapbooking stuff as a gift, and I have since been mildly interested in it.  Then this past October, Marinda invited me to a "Stampin’ Up!" party and I was completely hooked.  I am trying hard not to spend lots of money on it, because it can get expensive, but every once in a while I treat myself to a mini-splurge.  And during weeks when I’m particularly stressed, but not necessarily overly busy, I force myself to set aside an hour on a night in the middle of the week and stamp for a bit — it is SO relaxing for me, and then I get to have some concrete result of the relaxation.  I think it overall has a great effect on me, so I am going to make it a part of my weekly routine this semester to keep me on track and in the not-flipping-out range of existence.  Andrea and Kelly also taught me how to knit (well, almost), and that requires more patience to get something close to a feasible result, but it is still relaxing, and can be done with slightly less-focused concentration. So, YAY!  Plus, it all gives me an excuse to sit with some girls and relax and catch up. 

5-Puppy walks.  Yeah yeah, back to the puppy.  On top of a more regular gym routine, as the weather warms up, I want to get back into the habit of long walks to Rec. Park with Santana.  She loves the walk and the park, and I love to watch her explore and then get tired of walking and try to pull me up random steps into strangers’ houses to go home.  Really, the reason for wanting exercise in my routine is self-explanatory, but the need for adorable puppy fun is less obvious if you aren’t turning into a crazy dog lady like I am.

6-Reading for fun.  My two class (Modernism something or other & Masterpieces of the Novel) are a mix of books that look wonderful, and books I will trudge through.  I read a bunch of wonderful stuff since last semester, and my list of books to read keeps growing.  So, even if it’s slow, I’m going to build in time for reading non-school books.  Next on my list:

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk Read more about this book…

The Tenth Circle: A Novel by Jodi Picoult Read more about this book…

So, I fussed about my blog, Matt was most likely annoyed, I fussed some more, he had me download Windows Live Writer, which I realized is about 9 zillion times better than what I was doing after about 10 seconds of using it.  Then he showed me all the plug-ins…most are very web-y and not useful to my specifically very pink blog, but I found some fun ones…LET’S TAKE A LOOK!

1)  Book details…lots of times I want to link to amazon or another site when I’m writing about a book…NOW, when I want to write about a book like, for example, Wicked, I can just pop this in my blog:

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction) by Gregory Maguire Read more about this book…

2) Quotations… I click this plug-in and it gives me a giant list of quotes to choose from… that is just plain fun. deal.

Quote of the day:
What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure. - Samuel Johnson

3) Polaroid…I love putting in pictures….with PLUG-INS now I can look cool. Haha, let’s take this opportunity to look at some new adorable pictures of the puppy (more to come).

So, mostly everyone I’ve talked to about this recipe eventually responds with something along the lines of, "yeah, well, cream and bacon will make anything delicious." Probably fairly true…I am a huge fan of bacon. I really align myself with Homer on this one…Simpson that is…the pig is indeed a "wonderful, magical animal."

That being said, I was really surprised at how wonderful this dish turned out. (I had this dish at a dinner party a little over a year ago, and this was my attempt to replicate it without a specific recipe)

Brussels sprouts are a type of cabbage, which I’m usually not a fan of unless it’s in a really well-made coleslaw. When we bought the pack of B.sprouts at Pike Place, I remembered my mom always being crazy about them, and I remembered that I was generally fairly disgusted by them. I also remembered that I think that disgust was based on smell, cooking method (steamed until super soft), and general childhood fussiness. However, I also remembered that a year ago, I was shocked by how much I loved the dish that Stacey had made for our group dinner.

So, I searched the internet for a recipe…and couldn’t find one. I could find recipes that incorporated one or another part of what I remembered, but couldn’t find the whole thing. So, with a few recipes in the back of my mind, I sort of just made it work. I was scared….it was worth it. It was a delicious side dish (I served it with Sole, aromatic veggies, and orzo, but it would have worked better with a stronger main dish…beef, chicken, pork, even a salmon or something). Sure, it’s not exactly healthy, but B.sprouts are full of nutrients (the darker, more colorful a vegetable, the more nutritious it is), and this is a great way to introduce them into your diet. Just make sure the rest of your meal isn’t full of bacon and cream, and you’ll be fine.

The stuffs you need:
• 1 crate thingy of B.sprouts (probably about 2 cups, before we trimmed them?)
• 4 slices of bacon, cut into small (about 1/2 inch) pieces before cooking
• 1 large shallot, sliced
• 1/4 cup water or chicken stock/broth (obviously the stock/broth will add more flavor than the water)
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup heavy cream (this just depends on how much you want to add)
• A little parmesan cheese & fresh ground black pepper

The cookings you do:
1. First thing’s first…trim the B.sprouts. I’m not sure if we did this completely right, because it seemed like we almost halved the amount of veggie we had left by the time we cooked. I checked a couple websites, cooking blogs, random internet things to find out how to clean and trim, and they all talk about trimming the stem (where it’s harder, dried out) and the outer leaves (any that are loose or damaged or anything and could negatively affect the taste and texture of your food). The further in you get, it seems the leaves just get sweeter and more tender, so I guess over-trimming is better than under-trimming. Anyway, we (mostly Matt) trimmed all the B.sprouts and then cut them in half down the middle of the stem, so we had twice as many pieces, all with a flat side. Rinse and set aside.
2. Delicious thing’s second…cook the bacon. If you’re going to chop or crumble bacon into a dish, it’s always easier to cut it into small pieces before you cook it. If your knife isn’t super sharp, it will be annoying, but you can get around this by either using kitchen shears (if you don’t have a pair of scissors set aside specifically for your kitchen, you really should) or by using slightly frozen bacon (I’d recommend the shears). The chopped bacon can go directly into a cold pan and cooked over medium high heat. It doesn’t need as much attention as bacon slices, but just stir it once in a while, and keep an eye on it. Take it out and drain on paper towels when it’s done to your desired crispness. Then hide the plate of bacon in the microwave or under a larger dish…or anywhere someone like Matt won’t pick at it.
3. Drain off all but about 1 Tablespoon of the bacon grease and lower the heat to medium/medium low.
4. Slowly cook the shallot in the pan with the bacon grease. You can cook them anywhere from soft and translucent to lightly caramelized. You can also use regular onion for this, but I really love the soft, sweet flavor of shallots.
5. When the shallots are just before where you’d like them to be (they’ll cook a little bit longer), push them out to the sides of the pan, leaving a wide space directly on top of the burner. If your bacon grease is completely gone after cooking the shallots, spray a little cooking spray or add just a tiny bit of oil (or butter!) in the pan so the B.sprouts won’t stick.
6. Place the B.sprouts in the center of the pan with the flat side face down, in one single layer. If your pan isn’t big enough to let them all squeeze in there in one layer, brown them in two layers, then put all of them back in the pan when you add the water/stock/broth later.
7. On medium-ish heat, let the B.sprouts’ flat sides brown (about 4-5 minutes or so, until they get beautifully golden brown). Don’t stir them or move them around, but check one half-way through to make sure they aren’t burning.
8. When they’re browned enough to make you smile, toss them gently together with the shallots (they might fall apart a bit, but that’s not a big deal), and add the water/broth/stock to the pan, stirring just a little to scrape up any yummy bits that have stuck to the bottom. Let this water/broth boil off for a few minutes, until it’s almost completely gone. This finishes cooking the B.sprouts, so if you want them firmer or softer, decrease or increase the liquid accordingly.
9. Add the cream, stirring slowly, and stick by the pan from this point on, because the cream will thicken up quickly and will be pretty nasty if it burns.
10. When your cream has thickened enough so that it’s coating the B.sprouts and is not soupy (if you find it’s too much cream, just decrease the amount you use), add parmesan cheese and black pepper to taste.

I wrote a good portion of this between 6 and 7am in the Newark airport after a red-eye from Seattle…I’m sorry for any completely non-sensical points.

I just finished reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire.  It’s the basis for the popular Broadway musical, but apparently the musical is wildly different from the book.  I’d recommend the book to anyone…it is fun, serious, thoughtful, and really well written, in my opinion. 

Anyway, as I was reading, I got thinking about several other parallel novels/prequels/re-imaginings of classics that I’ve read… I tend to love them.  In the same way that I really enjoy seeing movie adaptations of books I like, even if the movie is horribly unsatisfying (Eragon and The Golden Compass are the two recent examples), and especially if it is satisfying and wonderful (it will be a sad day when there are no more Harry Potter movies on the way).  The earliest of these types of books that I ever encountered was “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, told by the Big Bad Wolf.  My aunt read this to me when I was younger (it was originally released in 1989, according to Wikipedia), and I completely fell in love with it.  This particular aunt is responsible for my love of Disney and for introducing me to Jodi Picoult. 

The other examples I can think of off the top of my head are Gertrude and Claudius by Updike, which is a “prequel” of sorts of Hamlet, and does a wonderful job of presenting the love between Gertrude and Claudius, and turning my favorite Shakespearean hero into something completely different.  Updike didn’t just pull from Shakespeare, but also used a few other historical sources, so it isn’t completely a revision or a parallel in the way that Wicked is.

Wide Sargasso Sea is more truly a prequel and parallel novel to Jane Eyre, another of my favorite works.  Drawing on the mad woman in the attic from Bronte’s original, Jean Rhys, the author of Wide Sargasso Sea, presents Bertha Mason’s past in the Caribbean.   What Wide Sargasso Sea achieves most blatantly of these examples is to take a classic work from a much earlier era, and transforms its story and characters in such a way that it becomes a popular text in a new theoretical discourse…in this case, the postcolonial theory that deals with race, identity, movement, assimilation, etc. All issues that are not strongly developed or considered in Victorian literature. 

All of these examples, to varying degrees, give the reader opportunities for more direct reflection than reading either the original or the parallel on its own.  Wicked, pulling not just from a novel, but from a wildly well-known film, does this constantly; “One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her–is it ever the right choice?  Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil?  It is at the very least a question of definitions” (231).  This portion of text is speaking directly about the Kumbric Witch, a legend within the story that is completely intertwined with the roots of Oz.  However, taken separately, in the context of the original Wizard of Oz, the quotation very clearly brings the reader to Elphaeba, the main character of Wicked and her future role as the ‘Wicked Witch of the West.’  At this point in the novel, the reader is meant to be at least partially sympathetic with the green-skinned Elphie and so tied to her story that this reflection on the definition, intention, and meaning of the witch and wickedness serves to remind where her life is headed, according to the original story we are so familiar with. 

One of my original questions/considerations while I was reading Wicked was how necessary a reading/viewing/understanding of the original is to a really satisfying reception of the parallel.  But the more I think about it, the more I think popular and really successful parallels are going to be pulled from already widely popular, possibly canonical works…works that the target audience will at least be able to recognize, with most readers quite familiar with the original.  I’m sure there are parallel novels directed towards very specific target groups, drawing on the niche market of the original to draw a smaller, but highly loyal group of readers.

As a reader familiar with the original, there is a tendency to draw comparison, to see how the parallel leaves out or changes things from the original.  Further, in the case of Wicked, a parallel of a work that was both a text and a film, which original is Maguire working from?  I have never read the Wizard of Oz, but this makes me want to…my urge is to find all the ways that Wicked speaks to the book that may be irrelevant to the film.  Now that I know the classic story from a second perspective, I want the third pretty badly, especially since the third, Baum’s novel, is the true ‘original’.

One of the things I thought Wicked did really wonderfully was to put both itself and the original in a frame of historical variation, allowing the reader to question a little bit of everything that is going on.  Towards the very end of Wicked, where you might be expecting the ‘happily ever after’ summary: “It may merely be apocryphal that when the Wizard saw the glass bottle he gasped, and clutched his heart.  The story is told in so many ways, depending on who is doing the telling, and what needs to be heard at the time.  It is a matter of history, however…” (406).  Again, the text speaks directly to a legend within the novel, while directing the reader’s attention back to the original.  This time, we see Wicked’s perspective; The Wizard of Oz is a part of the apocrypha surrounding this period in history, and Wicked is presenting the true, untainted perspective we have missed out on.  There is a great possibility that such a tone could be read as disloyal to a classic original, brushing a long-standing masterpiece off as myth and legend within the ‘truth’ of this new, parallel narrative.  However, if these arguments come up, it’s important to remember that the worlds of fiction (especially a world like Oz), are mythological from the start, and in the same way that allusions to classical mythology work endlessly throughout literature, The Wizard of Oz is upheld by Wicked, it’s relevance, importance, and the fact that it is completely embedded in our cultural mind are all honored and emphasized by the fact that Maguire was so powerfully inspired by the original.  Works that do not inspire and touch their readers (or viewers, in some cases) do not yield parallels, prequels, re-imaginings, remakes, whatever.  The presence of such parallels or revisions, even if the new work is not as successful as I believe Wicked to be, proves the importance of the original.  Even as years pass, we continue to think about the works that are most important to us.  Provoked by powerful literature and other media, writers pull from these strong cultural pools of shared knowledge, worlds, and characters, creating not only a new perspective on a beloved narrative, but also placing a distance between the original and the parallel.  This distance doesn’t push the original away to make room for the ‘truth’ of the newer narrative, but instead allows for a new view of the original in light of its receptions, development, historical and timeless relevance, and its relationship to the deep, general themes that tie it so strongly to readers. 

As I work on making my resume solid, I realize I have a random list of ideal/hypothetical/somewhat non-congruent specifications for my future job and/or career…

1.  I want to work in an office/position/company that is welcoming, safe, and very much a community of people…I have been spoiled by SALI at UK and Campus Life at Binghamton…I have worked with amazingly nurturing people, surrounded by superb workers, and in really friendly environments.  But that is not necessarily a guarantee in any field…although maybe it is more likely in a Student Affairs community?
2. I need to be in a position where I feel like I am making some kind of change or difference on a small scale…whether in community involvement (I volunteered at a center for literacy & learning in Lexington, and would love to find a job that does something like that), student development (the last couple years have really cemented the fact that the things involved in advising, programming, orientating, and generally working with college students are things that I am really good at and that I really enjoy), or really just any kind of smaller-scale company where I know my impact is felt.
3. I like to be in control, be able to see and plan the future to some extent, and to be able to express myself and my ideas…so any kind of position where I am just pushing papers or doing the dirty work of someone else’s cause or plan is not ideal…this sort of rules out a lot of larger-company-type things…I guess?
4. I would love to be able to use my degree to some extent…imagine that! I could end up teaching…probably not…and if so, sometime in the future, or as a last resort.  I could edit…I enjoy editing the writing of anyone other than myself…but that is not really where I see myself next year…for some reason?
5. I would also love to be able to use the experience I’ve developed in general marketing/advertising stuff (which would come along with any kind of programming or community position), and in computer programs like publisher, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, whatever else Matt ends up teaching me about programming…but those skills, without some kind of degree or certification or something, won’t be my keys into finding a job…they’ll be qualifications that help me stand out once I am being considered. 

Ok, that is one of the lamest lists I have ever created…it solves nothing, helps in no way, and mostly just causes more anxiety about the entire job search.  At this point, it is too early to come to any conclusions about what I will be doing after May/June, but it is also not at all too early to be freaking out about it, driving Matt crazy by randomly flipping out, and taking entire afternoons to look at HR websites for jobs, even though I know nothing will be posted yet.

HERE ARE SOME LESS SERIOUS, STILL AWESOME, HILARIOUS DISCUSSIONS OF JOBS:

• http://www.qwantz.com/archive/000858.html
• http://www.qwantz.com/archive/000793.html
• http://www.qwantz.com/archive/000616.html
• http://www.qwantz.com/archive/000845.html

THANKS T-REX, THAT HELPS A LOT!

 Matthew and I had a dinner party last Friday…it was delicious and we had way too much food (are we shocked by this? NOT AT ALL).  From leftovers, I made us a Pad Thai type dinner on Sunday…and unlike my many attempts to make Lo Mein for two people (usually ends up being enough for at least four), it made 2 bowls of delicious, and pretty nutritious dinner! 

• 1 red pepper, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup of carrots, sliced into pieces about the same size as the pepper
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 Tb minced garlic
• 1 bunch of scallions, chopped
• 1/3 to 3/4 cup leftover peanut sauce (originally made from chicken broth, coconut milk, lime juice, soy sauce, peanut butter, cayenne pepper, garlic powder)
• About 1 cup of leftover shredded/chopped pork (it was a papaya-glazed recipe I had smashed together from a few different recipes, but you can really use any already cooked meat you like…or seafood…whatever)
• Chopped peanuts (unsalted)
• 1 package fresh Asian noodles

The pepper, garlic and scallions went into the sauté pan with a little canola oil (maybe 2 swirls around the pan) first.  They’re called aromatics, and they develop their flavors first, making a really great flavor base for any dish…you could use spicy chilies or peppers, and onions or shallots.  The carrots and peas went in shortly after this, because they need to cook.  Meanwhile, the pasta was being cooked for about 3 minutes in boiling water.  While the pasta is cooking, the peanut sauce and pork went into the pan, heating up with the vegetables…it should seem too thick to coat the pasta at this point, but that will get resolved.  When everything in the pan is heated through and the pasta is cooked, the pasta was moved directly from the water into the veggie/pork/sauce pan, using tongs or a spaghetti fork…this brings some of the starchy pasta water along with it, thinning the sauce a little, and allowing it to coat the pasta and get everything mixed together.  Divide into two dishes and top with peanuts.

• 1/2 pound ground turkey
• Chopped white or yellow onion
• 1 Tb minced garlic
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes with chili peppers
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 can chili with beans
• 1/2 cup water
• Salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper (all to taste)
• 1 or 2 packages cornbread/muffin mix, prepared according to directions on package (I used two of the small boxes of Jiffy, which call for 1 egg and 1/4 cup milk for each box)

Season turkey and brown.  Drain.  Sauté onion  and garlic in leftover grease from turkey, adding a little salt to draw out the onion’s liquid.  Add corn and sauté to bring out the sweetness, add tomatoes, black beans, chili, and water.  Bring to a simmer and cook on medium-low heat for 15 minutes.  Taste and add seasoning to your preference.  Cook for 15 more minutes, or until as thick as you desire.  The longer you cook, the more the flavors will mingle and develop.  Heat oven to 400 degrees (or the temperature called for on your cornbread mix).  Pour chili mixture into baking dish and top with prepared cornbread batter.  Bake according to package directions, although it will most likely need to cook slightly longer than that time to thoroughly cook the cornbread.  Test middle of cornbread with toothpick or fork to check for doneness.  If the top gets too brown before it is cooked through, cover with foil and continue cooking (the edges of mine browned quickly, so I put a layer of foil around the edges only, and the middle continued to brown). 

This is delicious, makes a ton of food (enough for at least 6-8 people), and we spent at most $10 on the ingredients.

So, I decided to use my blog to keep track of/record/share some of the things that make me ridiculously happy…one of those things is cooking…and lately, with little time or patience because of school and work, I have been pretty excited about quick and easy dinners that are still home-made and delicious.  

—-

The original plan for this pair of dinners was to make my own white sauce, but I was lazy and in the middle of final papers, so I ended up buying a jar of pre-made garlic parmesan alfredo-type sauce.



Dinner 1: Spicy Beef and Asparagus with white sauce.

• I seasoned a nice-looking piece of beef (sirloin maybe?), seared it on all sides, let it rest, then just sliced it super-thin.
• Tossed some canned asparagus (frozen or fresh would have been better, but that is all I could get from the Giant that day…if you’re using the canned, make sure you rinse it off…if you’re using frozen, make sure you thaw…if you’re using fresh, just steam it in like an inch of water or something) with half of the jar of sauce and heated it through.
• I mixed in about 1/2 a box of cooked penne and topped with the beef.

 

Super easy, quick and delicious

 

Dinner 2: Breaded chicken with garlic parmesan penne and sautéed garlic green beans

• The worst part about this one is breading the chicken, which is sort of messy and takes a little time, but it’s way worth it….I cut a big chicken breast into strips, dredged them in flour, tossed in an egg wash, and coated with italian bread crumbs.  Then I fried them for like 2 minutes a side in vegetable oil. Drained them on paper towels and wrapped them in foil and put them in my toaster oven on low heat (like 250 to 300 degrees) to let them finish cooking and stay warm. Wiped the oil out of the pan.
• Boiled some fresh green beans until they were about half as done as I’d like them, then drained them and tossed them into the chicken pan with a little bit of oil and some chopped garlic, salt, and cayenne pepper.
• I just heated the rest of the jar of sauce with the other half of the box of cooked pasta, added some extra parmesan cheese, and a little cayenne just to tie it into the green bean flavors.
• Served the chicken on top of the pasta, with the green beans on the side.
• You could also make this with mashed potatoes (with or without gravy) instead of the pasta.

 

Both of these dinners made great leftovers for lunch that just heat up in the microwave in a minute or so (which is good, considering I am very very bad at making enough for just one….usually I’ve got enough for at least 2 people, and there are certain recipes I can get down to less than 4 servings no matter how hard I try…)