The Needle That Broke The Camel's Back

I need to vent.  My life has been extremely busy these last few weeks and I'm starting to feel overwhelmed.  My days are all rolling together and my lack of sleep is making me into a very grouchy person.  Last week alone, I blew up on three people.  That is really not the type of person I am.  The hard part is that I am managing my time as efficiently as possible.  I keep a daily planner glued to my hip and yet I still find it hard to schedule in all the things I need to do.  ROTC has been very demanding lately and some of the cadet leadership above me have had me on the verge of pulling my hair out.  Thursday last week I went to bed crying because of how exhausted I've been and dreading going to drill this past weekend.  Luckily, drill was not as horrible as I thought it was going to be and I was glad to see my battles again since Annual Training.  Some of these things that have had my nerves tense I can speak about and the others I can not right at the moment but soon I will be able to share with you all the rewards of all my hard work this month.  I am very grateful for my supportive family, friends, neighbors, and especially my husband for helping me during this month and for understanding when at times I am no more than a distant ghost of the present. 

With that said....I cannot WAIT until October is OVER!!!

A new blog with a different path

I'd like to start off saying my feet and legs are SUPER sore.  This past weekend, I was running around the woods of Fort Bragg for an ROTC Field Training Exercise (FTX).  It was an experience for me that I surely won't forget.  I have to say though as an MS-3 that should have known what was going on, I noticed quickly that I wasn't as prepared as I thought.  There isn't much information out there that breaks down how these things work.

I've decided to create a separate blog just for those types of things.  I know it's in nearly every MS-3's dreams to score in overall E at LDAC.  It's definitely one of my dreams.  But I also want to share my knowledge so that other people don't make the same mistakes as I have.  Or maybe help some new MS-3's that didn't have the chance to learn some things as an MS-1 and/or MS-2.  I'm glad I was able to make mistakes and learn from them early on in my MS-2 year when it comes to Land Navigation.  I did  fairly well passing every event we did.  I will post some pics as soon as I get them from the public affairs people.

Anywho, if anyone is interested in checking out my new blog, here it is below.  I hope it helps some people out there!

An MS-III's Guide to Becoming a US Army Officer

P.S. - I will still keep this blog for my personal use.  I separated them since I want to keep the new one strictly for ROTC advice purposes.

Starting off the semester with a busy bang!

It's been too long my fellow bloggers!  Over a month I believe!  Honestly I've hardly had time to do much of anything besides school and work since the Fall semester started.  I'm actually a lot busier than I expected to be.  Good thing I took three classes over the summer to lighten my load this semester!  I can't even imagine where I'd be right now if I hadn't done that.  Probably ready to blow up.  My brain already feels like a pile of noodles right now haha.

So school started back up on the 15th of August.  I jumped right into ROTC starting as the Platoon Leader and then to make things worse my Platoon Sergeant was MIA most of the time so I pretty much had to do the tasks for that position as well.  This is all on top of getting our fresh new recruits organized, helping my squad leaders figure out the tasks they needed to do, working part-time in the school's IT department, tutoring two students in Calculus, and oh yeah…finding time to get my OWN classwork not to mention tend to my husband as a good wife should!  Talk about a mess. I seriously need to start USING this planner I had bought before the semester started.

So besides being extremely busy, life has been good.  We have 5 MS-III's for the year.  One ADO and the other three besides me are fellow cadets who were in the program with me last year.  I'd say we have a pretty good team.  We work really hard together.  I'm learning more and more as each day goes by.  Way more than last year…not to say I didn't have an awesome instructor last year, but our new instructor is a lot stricter but in a good way of course.  Were currently covering Combat Orders.

I have a great story to tell all of you but I will save it for this weekend if I have time to blog again.  I truly do miss putting my thoughts down in words.

Our first FTX is coming up really soon and I've already gotten word that I will be the Company Commander during the first iteration.  Talk about working up my nerves.  I always get nervous when I have to be in a high position.  Hopefully I do well though.

Classes are doing good.  Data Structures is kicking my butt.  I really don't enjoy the was my professor lectures.  He goes too quickly sometimes to comprehend.  And even when I try and talk to him after class, he rushes me through my questions and tells me he's sorry he can't explain it any better.  He is definitely no Dr. Turner.  I wish he was teaching Data Structures.  :(

My U.S. military history class is amazing.  It's a tough class but I'm loving the challenge and really enjoying all the events we are covering.  The only thing I dislike…is the amount of reading we have to do.  It's not that I don't enjoy what I'm reading…it's just hard to juggle with everything else I'm doing.  I'll definitely be keeping my books after the semester is done to keep on hand for some pleasure reading.  I know I won't have time during the semester to get a full grip on the content but just enough to get me as close to an A as possible in the class.

My human computer interaction class is too easy…sometimes I even forget it's an actual class I'm taking lol.

Ok well you are half way updated with where I am at this point.  I hope to get a recipe or two up within the next month.  I definitely have tons of stuff I want to share with you all.  I just pray I have the time and energy to share it!

School on my fellow bloggers!  ;-)

Rainbow Tie-Dyed Cupcakes!

So back in April I had a little obsession with rainbows.  Last week I was in my rainbow mood.  (Always makes me happy lol)  So I decided to make rainbow cupcakes.  I had seen a video of someone making them and it inspired me to do them myself.

It was super simple.  Especially for many who like to take the easy way for baking and use boxed cake mix.  Here's what you'll need:

1 box of white cake mix (plus ingredients in back)

mixing bowl

six plastic cups

six forks

food coloring (original and neon colors)

muffin pan

muffin liners

Once you mix the cake mix as directed on the box, pour the batter evenly into the six plastic cups.  Then mix your colors appropriately (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple).  After that pour about a teaspoon of each color in each hole in your muffin pan (with liners).  Bake for about 22 minutes.

You might be having trouble getting your red cake mix to be a vibrant red.  If you want to do a little twist on your cupcakes, you can use red velvet cake mix like I did.  You get a beautiful red plus a twist of chocolate on the bottom of each cupcake!

I just love the way they came out too.  I didn't even put frosting because of how cute they looked. They have a beautiful tie-dyed look on the top and side views.

But when you slice them in half…you have a perfect little rainbow.  Enjoy and happy baking to everyone!  =)

I want to learn

Pure dedication

The long road goes unnoticed

But I choose that road

Pure motivation

Lingers vibrant in my soul

I choose to push on

Pure frustration

Long sleepless nights so bitter

But I want the best

Pure jubilation

For victory is so near

I am almost there

Pure education

Always better, won't take less

Smart and strong I am

Pampered Chef Toys: Beer Can Chicken

I have a confession to make...I love Pampered Chef!  Haha yes, I love ordering their cool make-life-easier cooking tools.  Their recent catalog introduced tons of neat stuff to use on the grill.  One of my most recent purchases was the BBQ roasting pan & can holder.   One thing I love about ordering new things from Pampered Chef is that most of their items come with a recipe that you can use with you new tool.  My roasting pan came with a recipe to make Beer-Can Chicken.  It came out amazing and now I'd like to share with you all my edited Rican version.  Happy grilling to everyone this weekend!

Beer-Can Chicken

Ingredients:

 Adobo

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tbs minced onion

Montreal steak seasoning

 1-2 tbs olive oil

5-6 red potatoes

3-4 lb whole fryer

1 can of your preferred beer

1. Prepare grill for indirect cooking over medium heat (350-400 degrees).  Rinse and cut potatoes into wedges.  Combine Adobo, black pepper, garlic powder, minced onion, and cayenne pepper.

2. Trim excess fat from chicken and sprinkle combined seasoning onto the chicken.

3. Combine potatoes with olive oil and then sprinkle the Montreal steak seasoning lightly.

4. Pour out about one-fourth of the beer from the can and place the beer can in the can holder.

5. Place the chicken over the can holder so that the can is upright in the cavity  of the chicken.  Place the potatoes around the chicken.

6. Place the roasting pan on the grid of the grill.  Cover and grill for 65-75 minutes or until the thermometer reaches 165 degrees in the thickest part  of the breast. Make sure to rotate the pan at least once (preferably 35-40 minutes in).

7. Carefully remove the chicken and serve with potatoes and iced tea! =)

Get in touch with your Rican: How to make Pastelon

Long time no blog!  Ok so I've been a busy body as usual but I have been cooking/baking up storms in my kitchen...just no time to blog about them!  I will make sure to find time before I kick back up with ROTC in August.

So one of my husband's favorite dishes is called Pastelon (pronounced paust-teh-lone).  The ingredients are quite simple but it is a long a tedious process.  I call this a weekend dish because it can easily take an hour and half to two hours to make by oneself.

Now forgive me for my photos.  I've made this several times but picked my best photos from each to show you the process.

These are the explicit tools you will need:

10" skillet

pot (to cook ground beef)

12" skillet (for frying)

tongs or fork (I use both!)

basting brush

a roll of paper towels

1 cookie sheet

And your ingredients:

1lb of ground beef

2 cups of shredded cheese

1 raw egg scrambled

5-6 sweet plantains

 (make sure the plantains are yellow on the outside and a little soft when pressed)

2 cups of oil (to start)

1 tbs of Adobo seasoning

1/4 cup of Goya Sofrito

1 envelope of Goya Sazon

1 bulb of garlic minced

4 olives sliced

The first thing I do is cook the sweet plantains. Get your 12" skillet ready with 1 cup of oil heating on medium.  Also take your cookie sheet and place two layers of paper towels down on it.

1. First you have to peel the skin.  I cut off both ends first and then peel.  

2. Once all the plantains are peeled begin to slice them the long way about 1/8 inch in thickness.

3. Once all your slices are ready to fry, start placing them in your 12" skillet.  Each side should fry about 2-3 minutes.  Stay on top of them though, you don't want them to burn, just slightly golden and soft. Use your tongs and/or fork to flip them gently.

4. After frying both sides, carefully move the slices of plantain from the frying pan to the cookie sheet to let the slices dry.  Once you run out of room, do another two layers of paper towels on top of those slices and keep stacking.

Once all your slices are done frying, set them aside to cool and begin on the ground meat.  Take your pot and set it on medium heat.  

5.Place your ground beef in the pot with begin to mash and mix your Adobo seasoning into the meat.

******I love using the Mix 'N Chop from Pampered Chef for this!  Grinds of the meat just perfectly while mixing the seasonings in!******

6. After the meat is fully cooked, drain out the fat and place the meat back into the pot.  Change the heat from medium to low.

7. Take your envelope of Sazon, the Sofrito, the minced garlic, and the olives and mix them into the meat.

8. Let this cook for about 5 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Now comes the tricky part!  Molding your Pastelon into that beautiful pie shape!

9.  Take your 10" skillet and place it on medium low heat.  Start taking your plantain slices and forming a sort of crust around your skillet.

10.  Once you have a nice layer of "crust", take your basting brush, dip it into your egg wash, and baste  the plantains.  This will act as a glue to keep the plantains together.

It will look like this, but remember to create the side of the crust as well.  (This is just the bottom):

11.  Next you will take a handful of shredded cheese a spread it on top of the plantains.  (Another way to "glue" your plantains together)

12.  Take your warm ground been and fill your plantain crust evenly.

13. Next, take the rest of your shredded cheese and spread it evenly on top of the ground beef.

14. Lastly, take your remaining pieces of plantain slices and cover the top like a pie crust.

15.  Take you brush and baste the top with egg wash.

16.  Cover it and let it cook for 5 - 10 minutes until the egg wash is cooked.

It should look like this:

Once, it's all cooked, you can now flip it onto a big serving plate!  This is the easiest part.

Make sure to have an oven mit for this though!  Place your serving place over the top of the skillet. Take your skillet and pan together and then…FLIP!  Viola…you have yourself an authentic Puerto Rican tasting Pastelon!

Enjoy!

I must warn, this is not an easy dish to make.  It took me several tries after making it one time with my aunt.  But trust me, this indulgence is definitely worth it.  A perfect combination of savory and sweet for dinner!  I serve with rice, and steamed veggies.