BRB Chicken Stock

BRB stands for “Beyond the Realms of BS.”

It’s also kinda fitting because I forgot to take a picture of it. heh heh heh… It’s also fitting because it has so little in it. :O Tis how I plan to be living for the next couple months because my monies must be diverted to the following causes:
1) Deposit for medical school
2) Rent/utilities/internet
3) Spine realignment fund

I haven’t purchased chicken with bones in it for a very, very long time. (To be honest, I can’t remember if I’ve ever actually purchased chicken with bones. ._.) I went to the HK Supermarket with my friend the other day to buy meats (I was completely out of the non-canned variety) and came across several chicken options. Being me, I chose the cheaper option since they looked about the same and at the time, I thought they were both boneless.

This turned out to be a lie.

But it is a-okay. Since I like to stare at food blogs in my spare time, I figured I could make chicken stock with it. Waste not!

I had a cookie craving the other night, so I decided to multi-task.

…Have I mentioned, however, that one of my housemates moved out and that another is currently in south Jersey doing rotations? They’re the ones with the cars.

Translation: I have no fresh vegetables at home. (Oops.) I still have many, many cans of vegetables from the Costco marathon last August before Hurricane Irene, but that’s not quite the same. I also have a rather meager portion of frozen vegetables left, but I’m rationing those.

All this is to preface why this chicken stock is super bare bones. I may make a legit version someday, but it will not be today.

BRB Chicken Stock

(Yeah, sorry. No picture. BRB also means be right back? But in this case, the picture’s never coming back?)

Ingredients:
-chicken bones, preferably with some meat on them*
-pepper
-minced onions
-water
(*The chicken bones definitely had meat left on them because I don’t have super skills. :[ It works out though if you’re going to be making chicken stock!)

Instructions:
1) Fill pot with enough water to cover the chicken bones. Add minced onions and pepper.
2) Bring to a rolling boil and lower the heat.
3) Skim off the fat.
4) Let simmer for 4+ hours. (I probably only did it for 2 hours, but let’s face it–this wasn’t going to be gourmet chicken stock anyway.)
5) Remove from heat and strain out bones. Put in refrigerator overnight to cool.
6) Store in containers to freeze (good for several months) or keep in fridge (good for a couple days).

The minced onions came from Melanie (the one who moved out). Her cabinet has a sign that says, “Take Me!!!” I may attempt to find a bunch of recipes that call for crushed sesame, minced onions, soy sauce and sushi rice soon (not necessarily all in the same recipe o_o).

I know chicken stock is traditionally used as a base for something else, but I didn’t have enough containers for all the chicken stock I ended up making, so I drank a small bowl of it with some chicken pieces in it and it warmed my soul.

One of these days, I may graduate myself to getting a whole chicken.

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Whole Wheat Strawberry Banana Muffins

Short update on my spine-cracking progress: I have graduated to once again being permitted to do low-impact exercise again! (In other words, I’m allowed to stretch, do non-crazy yoga, swim, and use ellipticals/stationary bikes.)

My no-spending challenge is going quite well so far (hopefully, I’m not speaking too soon). Last week, I managed to pilfer 12 sandwiches, 2 slices of pizza and 5 burgers–all free of charge. This will most likely extend the life of my loaves of bread to the end of next month (and if not, there’s still lots of cereal to be had!).

I really love it when they have events at school that provide a bunch of food. :] I’ve taken to bringing empty sandwich bags with me in my backpack for such occasions. <3

I made these this morning before running off to school to study some more biochem (it is kicking my butt :'( ). It’s adapted from a recipe on allrecipes.com, but I changed a bunch of stuff (decreased the amount of sugar and oil, added some oats). I’m sure you could use fresh strawberries too (it’d likely have even more flavor), but I have a giant bag of frozen strawberries, so I’ve been trying to find uses for them. They aren’t too sweet, but they’re surprisingly filling, and have been approved (by that, I mean taste-tested after I ate the first one and lived) by my housemate (dietetic intern) and three friends in my program. :]

Whole Wheat Strawberry Banana Muffins

Ingredients:
(Makes 12.)
-2 cups whole wheat flour
-2 bananas, mashed
-1/2 cup rolled oats
-1 cup frozen strawberries, diced
-1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened
-2 tbsp EVOO
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
-2 eggs
-1/2 cup dark brown sugar
-1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 12-muffin tin or use paper liners (I ran out halfway through, so I did half and half).
2) In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, sugar & bananas.
3) Combine flour, baking soda + cinnamon and stir mixture until moistened. Stir in strawberries until evenly distributed. Spoon into muffin cups until completely filled (they don’t puff up too much).
4) Bake for 20 minutes.

Creamy Chicken Corn Rice

I think this is kinda cheating as a recipe, but it works, and I guess on busy days (or just days there by the time I get home, I’m starving and can’t be bothered to make things from scratch…), this is a good one. :O

Creamy Chicken Corn Rice

Ingredients:
-corn
-chicken (de-fattied, as I like to call it [just cut off the fat], and cut into bite-sized pieces)
-garlic, minced
-pepper
-rice
-1/2 can cream of mushroom

Instructions:
1) Cook rice. De-fat the chicken and cook. Add garlic and cream of mushroom. Cook until chicken is no longer pink on the inside.
2) Sprinkle with pepper and serve over rice.

Variation: Throw in frozen vegetables instead of just corn. I did this the next night to finish off the other half-can of cream of mushroom.

Bruschetta

Another one of them talking-in-the-past entries! This was from last year (November?).

I had a bunch of mozzarella and some fresh basil left, so Joanne and I decided to make pasta and bruschetta for dinner on Friday. The last time I saw her was probably somewhere last year, when Jun and I decided to make ginger milk custard and she inquired on the whereabouts of our pants. :[ We grossly overestimated how much we could eat though (never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry–I know this, but somehow did not listen to my mind blaring at me), so we ended up with enough to feed us til the following night.

Bruschetta

Ingredients:
-fresh tomatoes, chopped
-fresh basil, chopped
-mozzarella, sliced or chopped
-red onions, chopped (optional)
-garlic, minced (optional)
-extra virgin olive oil
-balsamic vinegar
-loaf of french bread
-salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions:
1) Chop tomatoes, red onions, and basil. Mince the garlic. Slice the bread. Drizzle olive oil on sliced bread and add mozzarella.
2) Toast for 5-6 minutes, then spoon chopped tomatoes, red onions, and garlic onto bread slices. Add basil, drizzle with balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

We didn’t use red onions or garlic because we were lazy, and also because the pasta was already loaded with so much stuff (mushrooms, onions, garlic, basil, ground beef, tomatoes, sauce…). That coupled with the fact that there was also ice cream and/or frozen fruit bars (<3) to be had, as well as iced tea and cookies…well, yeah. :O All our stomachs were pretty happy. :D

money challenge #1

The #1 is there because there is a high likelihood that I may do this again later on down the road.

In an effort to save money, I’ve basically decided that I will not be spending money from now until the end of February. “Spending money” includes everything from eating out to groceries to…well, seriously–everything. I am diverting some of my monies to my Spinal Realignment Fund (including transportation fees to and from the place). Luke, my walking-home buddy (also known as my we’re-going-to-start-a-farm-and-split-a-herd-of-miniature-horses-buddy) drove me there yesterday because he heard me mention that I was going to walk there and it was super rainy. He waited for my appointment to be over so he could drive me back too, so I’ve basically decided that he’s the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Originally, this challenge was just going to last until mid-February, but I figured if I was going to go til mid-February, I might as well just see how I’d fare til the end of it. (My friend told me to make it into a game, so I extended the stakes.) It’ll be good practice for the future. ;]

The “challenge” officially started on January 22nd, and will be lifted on March 1st.

I am allowing exceptions for the following:
1) Rent, utilities, internet
2) School-related necessities
3) Jun’s birthday present
4) 1 box of soy milk from Costco
*5) Possibly a loaf of bread and fresh fruit/vegetables
6) If Soupervan really comes back, there is an exception for that (but instead of going every other day, it’ll be once a week or something to that effect).

*If I can avoid even this, more power to me. My Costco stash is such that it might just make this a not-so-necessary luxury.

If you’re worried about the recipes disappearing, fear not! I have a ton backlogged so there will still be one approximately every other day. :]