Back in the Dorm - Cooking, Part II

   My second part of my dorm cooking recipe series is Creamy Pesto Orzo with Chicken.  I found this recipe on Pintrest (albeit without the chicken), and since pasta recipes are particularly one-pot friendly, I played around and came up with this!  It's super comfort food, in my opinion.

Creamy Pesto Orzo with Chicken


Ingredients:
1 cup orzo
3 tbsp pesto (I use jarred pesto), or more, to taste
Grated parmesan cheese, to taste
1 chicken breast (optional)

Use your pot to "saute" the chicken.

Cook the orzo as directed.  While it is cooking, cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces.  Drain, and return pasta to the pot.  Stir in parmesan cheese and pesto, to taste.  Let sit, and you have what I like to think of as mac and cheese, only better.

Back in the Dorm - Cooking, Part I

   While I've been interning, I've also been living in Intern Central - the dorms of The George Washington University in DC.  GW rents out their rooms, interns get a 3 month lease, and everybody wins.  It's not the Ritz Carlton, though - although I have my own room, I share a bathroom with about 15 other girls, and I share a kitchen with 30 other people.  I still love to cook, but this means that I need to make my meals using as little space as possible, which means one pan or one pot (and incidentally, that's all I have with me).  Here is the first of several meals I've made in one pot or one baking pan:

Roasted Chicken, Potatoes, and Asparagus

Ingredients:

• 1/4 lb. small red potatoes
• Asparagus (however much you want)
• One chicken breast
• 2 tsp iced garlic (I buy it premade, in a jar)
• 5 tsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp dill
• 3 tbsp. whole grain mustard, or more to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the over to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a baking pan or sheet with parchment paper.

Dice potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes, and toss with whole grain mustard, one tablespoon of olive oil, and salt to taste.  Place in one third of the baking pan or sheet.

Coat the chicken with dill, olive oil, and 1 tsp garlic.  Place in the baking pan or sheet.  


Bake for 30 minutes.


Meanwhile, toss the asparagus with 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp olive oil, and salt and pepper, to taste.  Add to the pan after 30 minutes.


Bake for 15 more minutes, and then serve!  Feeds one, with enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

What I've Been Up To Lately

yes, I did take this

   I must truly be the worst blogger ever.  After faithfully posting nearly every day last summer and into the fall and winter, I went over four months without touching this blog.  But now it is summer again, and I've got time on my hands, and so here I am, again!
   Since my hiatus, I have been busy.  I've run a half marathon (under two hours, baby!), graduated from college, and started an internship in Washington, DC.  I absolutely love this city, and in the nearly two months that I've lived here, I've learned a lot.  In the upcoming weeks, I hope to share a bit of it with you all!  For starters, I've come up with a list of tips for DC newcomers, like myself.

1. Traffic signals are just a suggestion (unless you hear sirens).  If there are no cars coming, go ahead and cross,
2. Learn the "inside" of the metro - the area where all the lines start to cross each other and get tangled up - first*  
3. Yes, it really is important to add NW, SW, NE, and SE to any address
4. Anything in Foggy Bottom or around Farragut Square is going to be expensive.  Try Dupont Circle, or even better, Adams Morgan for younger, cheaper things.
5. Georgetown is the only place where taking the bus is really a good bet, in my opinion.
6. It is a 5 mile loop from the Lincoln memorial to the Capitol and back - great for running!
7. You can never try too many gourmet(ish) burgers or cupcakes.  I recommend Good Eats (by Top Chef contestant Spike Mendelson!) and Crumbs bakery - but many more are great too!
8. If you find a good Mexican restaurant, let me know.
9. While you're here, network, network, network.
10. Soak it in.  This is a city with a huge amount of influence and possibility, so make the most of it!

*And you only need to know the stops you tend to go to.  This will help you navigate faster - if you know what direction you need to go, you only have to look at the station at the end of the line in the direction you need to go, and figuring out which train to take will get easier.