My Adventures in Cooking: Mixed-Rub Ribs

So, it's been a hot minute since I updated.  In my defense, I've been very busy.  Working 30 hours a week, going through finals (I got A's in both Remote Sensing and GIS though, yay!), and working on my thesis is no cakewalk.

But tomorrow is Memorial Day, and since I have no soldiers to cook for, I decided I'd make myself a festal (pair of) meal(s) to cheer myself up.

First, be awed by my incredible thriftiness:

 

But wait - there's more -

So, when was the last time YOU saved $15.42 on your groceries?!

 I got peaches for $0.88 a pound, and a "personal" watermelon for $1.88.  I'm excited for them...will probably have them for dinner since I'm so full.  But more of that later.

 This is my secret wing sauce.  I'm still perfecting the recipe.  Once it's perfect I may share it, but it's not perfect yet, and I won't share it til it is!!

 All that meat for $5!!  I love sales!

 Mmm...yum!

 I decided to try mixing a dry rub and a "wet" one, to see what it would taste like.  So this is a little bit of my wing sauce.

 My dry rub.  This one is a secret that is coming with me to my grave!

 Yeah...that bit was a little gross.  But I covered it with foil and put it in the oven for 3 hours at 300F.

 I love wings.

 I LOVE wings!

 Also, marinating in separate bags is awesome, because you only have to cook a little at a time.  How perfect?

 My new favorite Brussels sprouts recipe.

 So there weren't as many sprouts left in the bag as I thought (and a couple had bugs, ew), so I had to add a little something.

 Luckily, I had some asparagus I'd forgotten about, so I chopped half of it up and threw it in too.

 It tastes SO good - but it's SO messy!!!

 Is that awesome or what?

 I mean really, how do you get better than that?

 Oh yeah, once it's cooked.  Mmm...so delicious!

 Mashed potato time!

 I love this mixer - and it cost me TEN DOLLARS!  I've paid more than that for a roast!

 Most invaluable tip to new cooks: clean up as you go along!  It makes SUCH a difference.

 Now, is that a tender cocoon of awesomeness or what?!

 Getting it out of the pan and onto the plate was pretty nerve-wracking, but I managed it.

 Look.  At.  That.

 Mmm...so delicious.  SO delicious!

 Asparagus was great in this recipe, I gotta add it again.

 ...there are no words.

 Except for "mmmmmmmMMMMmmmmmMMMMmmmmm"!!!

 It all fell off the bones!  So I removed them from the plate.

 Those bones are picked clean.

 This was so rich and so fatty I had to start drinking diluted lemonade just to cut the fat.  Finally, I understand what they're always talking about on Chopped!

 Pretty much says it all.

So...after all that, guess what I'm going to do?  Goodnight!

What day is it again?

So...this has been a very...interesting...month.

I don't know where I'm going to be next year and it's upsetting me.  But right now I have to focus on finals and just get them done, and done right.  Once that's over, I can get back to the future.

I have one final tonight - an online one - and I'm going to campus to do it in the library.  For one thing, I need the exercise, for another thing I have a really bad habit of getting distracted and I don't want to risk that during a final - even though I get super distracted in libraries too.  People watching is fun, but I'm hoping since it's finals week they'll be less interesting to watch.

Quite proud of my grocery shopping exploits this morning though.  Went to Sam's Club first, got egg rolls for my lunches, a 10 lb sack of potatoes (for $2.50!!!), organic baby carrots, and asparagus all for the bargain price of $20.42.

Then I stopped by Trader Joe's and got crushed garlic and frozen blueberries for $4.76 - the crushed garlic is for egg-fried rice, mashed potatoes and my garlic Brussels sprouts recipe.

Last stop was Ralph's, where between sales and some "valued shopper" coupons they mail me every so often, I was able to get frozen peas, frozen carrots, a pint of ice cream, toilet paper, chicken, two cans of chickpeas, orange juice, bacon, breakfast burritos, organic parsley, green onions, and two cartons of yoghurt for $24.00.  The chicken was another one of those Foster Farms' Picnic Packs - 4.5 lbs for $3.11!  How can you resist that? 

The last time I got a Picnic Pack I made sriracha chicken, but it's SO hot I'm not doing that again, so this time I made orange chicken.  Well, I'm making it right now - still bubbling away merrily on the stove.

I was really good though - I got home, unpacked my groceries, put the bags back in my car, checked the mail (nothing - but hey, no bills!), and then threw the chicken and the orange juice in my favorite large pot along with some whole allspice.  Cut up the bacon, fried it, put it in the pot too, and left that while I started boiling lentils, rinsed some chickpeas, chopped up onion and green onion, and put the parsley to soak.  Chickpeas, half the lentils, all the onion went into a large glass bowl.  The other half of the lentils I'm going to save for biryani, or maybe curry.  Picked the parsley (which I HATE, by the way), chopped it, and added it to the chickpea salad.  Had the salad for lunch, and now I'm just waiting for the chicken to be done so I can cool it and put in the fridge before I head out to take that online exam.

And, ALL my dishes are washed - I cleaned up as I went along.  Go me!

Disordered State of Mind

I've always thought that the state of your living space reflects the state of your mind.  For weeks now, my apartment has been an unholy mess.  Coincidentally, my mind has been an unholy mess too.  So I've tidied up my apartment some and opened the windows to let some air in.

But I haven't time to write now...two essays and a powerpoint are my goal for this weekend, being that one of the essays and the powerpoint are due Monday.

Yeesh.