Virginia- you kinda suck!

Update: I wrote this post before I saw the Allstate survey of the worst drivers in America.  Funny how DC was worst followed by Baltimore than Arlington/Alexandria.  The only come back from locals was to blame it on the tourists.  I call Bull Shit!!  What I have seen was could only been from locals.!!!

Well, I have been living in Virginia for two months.  I thought I would post some brief thoughts on what I think of this state…or at least the DC metro portion of this state.

4 Things I HATE about Virginia (DC metro):

1)  The driver's are frickin CRAZY!!!  The behind the wheel driver's test must be pretty lack otherwise once the driver's are behind the wheel they turn into possessive, don't give a Shit, and utter lack of well being for themselves or others, CRAZY MONSTERS.  The ridiculous crap I have seen in two months would scare you to death.  1a)  I guess they didn't learn in driver's training that "it's okay to miss you turn and/or exit and precede to the next one and/or back track or do a U-Turn" because they will flip a U-turn across 4 lanes of traffic or drive backwards/head on into traffic to make that original turn. 1b)  The speed limit is 35mph and I am doing close 45mph, why the heck are you riding my ass?

2) The Aggressive and Inpatient behavior by most the locals.  Note:  I didn't say all. In fact most are quite nice once you talk to them but……if you are walking next to them or in line, watch out.  Why do some people around here act like their Butt Hair is on Fire even though they have no place to go and the line is moving at comfortable rate.  Two can play at this game!!   If you don't move out of my personal space, you are getting a shoulder.  If you try to cut in line,  I will call you on it….and don't give me the crap that you don't speak English etc….we all know better. lol

3) Morning, noon, night, sunny, rainy, humid or dry; whenever I walk on our grass,  I am bitten by a bug!  WTH!

4)  Decent and TRUE Mexican food! Why can't I find a place that isn't Southwestern or Spanish with a bunch of onions and bell peppers in everything.


Things I like about Virginia…mostly Alexandria and DC metro:

1)  Everything is within 9 miles!  All the stores I frequent most often are pretty close by.  Same goes for doctors , etc.,  It seems everything in pooled in one little area. Nice!

2)  History!  There is so much history I need to explore out here.

3)  I love our home!  Sure, it's a town home but it's the perfect size for now.

* Hopefully, more positives in the months to come :-)

Leftover Meal

3 Sweet Sausage Links (about 5 oz)
1/2 a medium Onion
2 pieces of Bacon
1/2 head of a small Cabbage
1 TBSP Olive Oil
1 Lb of Spiral Semolina Pasta
Jar of Alfredo pasta sauce

Dice up the Onion and Cabbage. Remove casing from the Sausage and crumble into a frying with the heated olive oil.  Add the Bacon and Onion to the same pan.  Cook until the sausage is no longer pink or about 10-12 minutes.  Add the cabbage.  Cook all together until the cabbage is wilted.

While cooking the sausage, boil the water for the pasta.  Cook pasta according to the package.  When the pasta is cooked, ladle a scoop of the salty water into the sausage mixture.

After everything is cooked, combine all the ingredients together.  Add the Alfredo to your taste desire.

~Enjoy

Paleo Rice

1 head of cauliflower
2 TBSP Coconut Oil
3 TBSP Butter
1 cup Sweet Onion,minced/small chopped
3 cloves of Garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper

Lightly chop/pulse the cauliflower in a Cuisinart. It should look similar to rice when done.

Melt coconut oil and butter in a medium heat pan. Add the onions and garlic. Sauté the onions and garlic until tender.

Stir in the rice cauliflower. Then add the salt and pepper to your taste.

Cover and cook on medium heat for 5-10 minutes or until tender. Stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook for additional 5 minutes to stiffen the rice. Serve and enjoy.

* I use medium heat because my gas burner is very powerful. Older cooktops may require a high temp to cook the rice in the same amount of time.

ISLAND CHICKEN

1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
Splash of Canola oil
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 1-2 lemons) 
1 1⁄2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 boneless chicken breasts




Combine all ingredients except chicken in a mixing bowl or large airtight plastic bag. Whisk or shake well until the marinade is well mixed. Add the chicken breasts to the bowl or plastic bag so that they are covered by the marinade. If using a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap. If using a plastic bag, press out all the excess air and seal the bag tightly. Refrigerate and marinate up to 10 hours (I would suggest marinading for at least 3 hours at the minimum).  Coconut Oil hardens when it gets cold so the Olive oil counteracts this but you may want to pull out chicken to marinate it at room temp.  I don't suggest this unless you are in cool environment.


Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium heat. Grill the chicken for 6-7 minutes per side (depending on how thick the chicken breasts are), until the chicken is no longer pink in the center (if you have a meat thermometer, the chicken should register 165 degrees). Tent with foil and let the chicken rest for about five minutes before serving.
Alternately, the chicken can be baked using the following directions:
When ready to cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 350° F. Place the chicken breasts in a baking dish and pour the excess marinade over them. Bake in the oven until cooked through and the internal temperature reaches 165° F, about 45 minutes (exact baking time will depend on the size of your chicken pieces.) Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

Broccoli Cheese Chicken & Stuffing

4 1/2 cups of Herb Seasoned Stuffing  or  Almond flour with Italian Seasoning drudge
2 Tbsp butter, melted
3/4 Cup water
1 package (10oz) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed or fresh broccoli
6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
paprika
1 can (10 3/4oz) Campbell's Condensed Broccoli Cheese Soup (regular or 98% fat free)
1/3 cup milk

{to make this Paleo, you can drudge the chicken in an Almond flour mixture instead of using the stuffing but you will have to reduce some of the water in the recipe.  You will probably will only need 1/4 cup of water)



Crush 1/2 cup stuffing and mix with 1 tablespoon of butter in a small bowl.  Set the mixture aside.

Stir the water, remaining butter and broccoli in a large bowl.  Add the remaining stuffing and mix lightly.  Spoon into a 3 quart shallow baking dish. Arrange the chicken over the stuffing and sprinkle with paprika.

Stir the soup and milk in a small bowl. Pour over the chicken.  Sprinkle the crushed stuffing mixture over the soup mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

CARAMEL APPLE PORK CHOPS

2 boneless Pork Loin Chops

oil (of your choice for browning/cooking)

1/4 Cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 tsp  ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

salt and pepper

2 tart Apples (Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Braeburn, or Golden Delicious)

4 Tbsp butter

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Brush pork chops lightly with oil and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side, or until evenly browned.  Remove from the pan and keep warm.

In a small mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt & pepper to taste.  Core Apples and peel.  Slice them into 1/2 inch wedges.  Add butter to the skillet and stir in apples and brown sugar mixture.  Cover and cook over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes, just until the apples are tender.

Remove the apples with a slotted spoon and arrange on top of the chops; keep warm. Continue cooking the mixture in the skillet, uncovered, until the sauce thickens slightly. Spoon the sauce over the apples and chops.

15 Chic and Creative Ways to Tie a Scarf

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Mustard Fried Chicken 'Paleo Style'

2 boneless Chicken Breasts
1 1/2 cups of Almond Flour

2 Eggs

2 cups of your preferred oil

Flour Mixture
1 1/2 cups of Coconut Flour
2 Tbsp Mustard (Coleman's powder)
1 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Season Salt (Lawry's)
1 Tbsp Paprika


Slice the Chicken in strips.  Dip the chicken into the almond flour than into the egg batter.  Afterwards, dip the chicken into the flour mixture.  Heat the oil until it is very hot and lightly drop the battered chicken into it.  Cook for about 7 minutes or until browned, turning the chicken half way through.

Chicken Sesame Marinade

This is a splash and dash recipe because I didn't measure it out as I was putting into the Ziploc bag :-)

one packet of Chicken Bouillon
2 splashes of Worcesterhire sauce
4 splashes of Balsamic Vinegar
4 splashes of Sesame Oil
3 shakes of Onion Powder
2 shake of Paprika
2 dashes of Black Pepper
3 shake of Italian Seasoning
juice from a half of a Lemon
teaspoon of minced Garlic
(2 servings)


Marinate the chicken for at least 4 hours.  The sesame oil gives the chicken an nice nutty flavor!!!

50/50 trade off…..

My 8 months being an active duty USMC dependent has been hills and valleys.  I am not directly blaming the USMC for the valleys but more our government and there waste.  It took me two days and a total of an hour and half on hold and another 30 minutes in line and I still haven't resolved my issue of being assigned a nurse practitioner instead of a doctor. I am 37 years old, there is nothing a nurse practitioner can do for me these days.  She can't write prescriptions or send me to specialist for my issues.  Apparently I need to go to the Magical Floor 6 in the Naval Hospital to be assigned a doctor.  This is the second time I have been told to go to Floor 6 for a Tricare issue.  I am wondering what this Special floor holds for me?  I will find out after my first Tricare doctor's appointment on Monday…….  I wonder if there will be unicorns there?  Probably not because that would be considered government waste.

I did have one hill courtesy of the USMC.  I walked into the FMEAP without an appointment but Lana spent over 30 minutes helping tweak my resume for my MBA applications.  She gave me some awesome pointers!!!!  After she critiques my resume again, I am going to give her a stunning ICE review .  FMEAP is a great program so I want to make sure it continues by notifying the command that it's effective.

Since now I have the time, I have been trying to take advantage of all the things that are offered to military dependents.  There are many, which I am thankful for…..

To be continued….