Milestone for Jeanne.

I've did it. I've really did it. No, it's not that I've received an acceptance letter from pharmacy school. It's that I'VE HAD SANDWICHES FOR TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT! If you know me at all, that's a huge accomplishment. It sounds so high-maintenance, but I can't even eat the same kind of meals for three days without gagging. I start avoiding it long enough for it to spoil, so I would have a legitimate reason to throw it out. Bizarre, I know.

I haven't had sandwiches for every meal, of course. That would be silly. ;) What happened was that I made similar sandwiches to the ones I posted the other week for a couple of days, but somewhere along the way, I remembered that I didn't like tomatoes all that much, and it made me avoid meat-filled sandwiches for a while. During that time, I made sandwiches with Ralph's Hazelnut spread and Ralph's Natural Crunchy peanut butter for breakfast/lunch. I remember getting tired of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches really easily, but for some reason, the peanut butter and hazelnut spread combo has been working for me. Half the jars are gone! And I've finished one whole bag of bread!

The other day, after my PSYC 1 midterm, I decided I really wanted to try making a risotto-inspired dish so I could use up the terrible American rice I bought from Ralph's. I stopped by Henry's Marketplace to buy a small can of tomato paste and chicken breast slices (and grabbed 3 pears, 3 oranges, and 2 onions while I was at it for total of $6!) Gathering rice, tomatoes, butter, canned corn, organic chicken stock, and some lactose-free milk, I worked at it for an hour or so before giving up. I couldn't get some of the rice to fully cook, and naively thought if I put it into my rice-cooker, it would solve the problem. That ended up doing nothing except making my "risotto" into a more porridge-consistency. But the good thing was that the dish smelled really good (probably because the chicken I haphazardly marinated turned out great) and I packed it up into my glass containers to bring to school. Had some yesterday and the occasional crunch of uncooked rice was quite nasty, but I think once I solve that problem, this recipe is a keeper.

Early this afternoon, I made tomato egg drop soup to finish off the remainder of the chicken stock. Sadly, I covered the bowl with saran wrap and left it in my room, only to come home and discover that a fly flew and DIED in it. I googled to see if it was safe to eat the soup, and found mixed opinions. I decided I was too grossed out anyway, and dumped the soup and instead made myself the two lovely sandwiches you see above. =D I sautéed some onions that I had pre-chopped from the failed-risotto day, and added it to the turkey, egg, monterrey jack cheese and buttered toast sandwich.

Also, I stopped by Trader Joe's today to pick up some prepackaged Rotisserie Chicken Slices, Chicken and Vegetable Potstickers, Spinach Tortellini, and a can of Turkey Chili (I tried a sample of the chili dogs they had and it was delicious!) Stopped by Ralph's to get more bread(!), and picked up two jars of spaghetti sauce. Also got fresh green beans for $2 from the farmer's vendor right next to Trader Joe's. I spend too much time at the market. :( Need to come up with better schedule.

Lastly, I've decided I'm going to try eating Trader Joe's frozen foods instead of keep wasting time making dishes that turn out terrible. The ones I picked up today were just $2 apiece, so 5 frozen meals for the week will just be $10! I figure if I combine that with sandwiches for lunch, I won't wear out my tastebuds. Will update y'all on how that goes!