Loyal daughters, gather ’round.

I am an alumna of Mississippi University for Women (MUW), the first public college established for women in the United States. It is a small university, the only public liberal arts institution in the state, and the student body is predominantly (85%) female.

Our relatively small school has a reputation as one of the strongest educational institutions in the state of Mississippi: it is consistently ranked among the top Southern master’s universities in the country, and recently ranked 7th among Southern master’s universities in the “strong commitment to teaching” category.

Yet because the university is small (approx. 2400 students), and because Mississippi is, like most states, facing a budget crisis, Governor Haley Barbour (R) has proposed merging MUW with nearby Mississippi State University.

Ignoring the financial aspects of such a merger (which, ultimately, would not help allay budgetary woes all around), the fact that Barbour has proposed closing a higher education institution that traditionally caters to the needs of female students is worrisome.

But not only has Barbour proposed this change to MUW, but he has also proposed merging two of Mississippi’s historically-black colleges, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State University, into another, Jackson State University.

Though I hesitate to call “prejudice,” it seems that Governor Barbour has no consideration for the needs of minority students, nor for Mississippi students in general. The argument has been floated about the state that Barbour feels eight state universities are simply too many. Yet next-door neighbor Alabama, dealing with its own dire budget constraints, continues to maintain 14 state universities, with no discussion of closure or merger.

As an alumna of MUW, I have joined the fight to protect and preserve the university from which I graduated two years ago. We have begun a Twitter campaign (using the hashtag #saveMUW) and many Facebook efforts to spread awareness, and have begun mobilizing within the state to do what we can to prevent closure. Ever since rumors of Barbour’s intended proposal came down last week, hundreds of MUW alums have contacted the Governor’s office, through email, post, and telephone, to make their opinions known.

Some traditions should be protected, and some senses of heritage must be preserved. Women fought for what seems like eons to gain access to educational opportunities, and the W was a large part of that fight, having seen thousands of successful graduates pass through its gates over the past 125 years. The idea that its importance has been discounted by a governor who spends more time these days planning a potential Presidential campaign (God help us all) for 2012 doesn’t help matters.

I write this post in the hope that our collective fight–the fight of Mississippi University for Women to remain relevant, the fight of Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State University to remain viable–is something you, dear reader, may find worthwhile to defend. We need all the support we can muster. Cutting education should be the very last consideration when states prepare their budgets. Education is vital, particularly in a state such as Mississippi, where students (especially female students, considering the high teenage birth rates) need every opportunity for higher education they can get.

Click on the “W Girl” page on this blog to get more information about what you can do to help.

Caffeine boost!

While type-type-typin’ away at my thesis tonight, I have been sucking down caffeine like there’s no tomorrow. Soda gets old after a while, though, so I decided to whip together a quick milkshake with some of the ingredients I had lying around my kitchen.*

Ingredients:
2/3 cup coffee-flavored ice cream
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp sugar
A dash of vanilla flavoring
Some semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels (to taste–I used a small handful)

To make: Combine ingredients and blend until smooth. Top with a dollop of whipped cream and a couple more chocolate chips.

Mmm … paper-writing fuel. Goooood.

*”Ingredients I had lying around my kitchen” includes my friend Carrie’s ice cream … well, it’s been in my freezer for two weeks, and it was screaming my name. Sorry, Babe. I’ll treat you to Scoops later this week–I wanna pick up some fudge for Mama before we leave town next week, anyway.

Not-veggie vittles.

As I’ve recently reintroduced chicken to my diet, I’ve decided to revisit some of my favorite chicken recipes. Today, I made an oldie, but goodie: my version of tequila chicken. This chicken originated when I did the Atkins diet several years ago (big mistake; I don’t recommend it), but I’ve made some modifications over the years to suit my own tastes. I made this tonight for a friend, and served it with basic homemade mashed potatoes for a nice, comfort-food combination, so appropriate for a cold day.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
1/2 c olive oil
3/4 c tequila (I used Jose Cuervo, but use whatever you’ve got)
3 tsp lime juice
2 tsp seasoning mix*
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
4 pats of butter

For topping:
1 jar chunky red salsa
1 c shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 c sour cream

*Seasoning mix: Traditionally I’ve used a mix of cumin and chili powder in this recipe, which gives the chicken a little kick and some nice, smoky flavor. But in the grocery store yesterday, I came across Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning, which includes (as per the Mrs. Dash site): sweet chili pepper, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, black pepper, oregano, basil, bay marjoram, thyme, savory, coriander, mustard, rosemary, garlic, onion, and lime juice/peel. This blend is perfection! I loved the mix of flavors it added to this dish.

Prep:
Combine olive oil, lime juice, tequila, spices, and salt and pepper in a bowl or Ziploc bag with the chicken; toss to coat. Place in refrigerator and marinate overnight.

Cooking directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place chicken breasts on a baking dish (lightly grease/spray to prevent sticking). Bake for 45 minutes or until juices run clear and the chicken is no longer pink inside.

Remove chicken from oven. Place a small pat of butter on the top of each breast and allow to melt. Before serving, top each piece with salsa, sour cream, and shredded cheese (to taste). To save on calories, use reduced or non-fat cheese and sour cream.

As you can see, these are super easy to make, and a delicious meal for company. A Mexican-themed dinner would welcome this recipe, as it works well with rice or refried beans as a side dish. Another option? Shred the cooked chicken and use it to make tacos or burritos.

Enjoy!

“Obnoxiously articulate?”

Below is my post for the W Comm blog this month. It hasn’t been posted over there as of yet, but here it is for now.

Redolent.

Veggie vittles.

As I’ve stated before, I am a born and bred pasta lover, though I try to limit my pasta intake these days to once a week. This recipe for stuffed shells, a particular favorite of mine, is a cheesy, gooey, creamy overload of flavor. Rich as it is, though, it’s definitely a check in the “only once in a while” cooking category. But it’s a delicious treat, and so, so easy to make, especially since I saved serious time by using pre-made alfredo sauce rather than making my own.

This recipe made an insane amount of food. I packaged one pan of the leftover shells for a friend of mine and sent it home with her last night. At lunchtime today, I got a text:

“OMG … This is an orgy in my mouth.”

You can’t ask for a better endorsement, in my opinion.

Ingredients:
2 cups prepared Alfredo sauce
1 box large pasta shells
1 large container (32 oz) ricotta
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 egg
1tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 white onion, chopped
salt and pepper (to taste)
fresh oregano

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook shells as directed (boiling 10-12 minutes, typically, for al dente — remember to salt the water). Drain, rinse, then drain again, and set aside.

Heat olive oil on low, then add chopped garlic and onion. Saute until onion is tender.

Mix ricotta, egg, garlic and onion, a pinch of salt and pepper, and 1 cup mozzarella until smooth.

Spread 1 cup of alfredo sauce on the bottom of a large baking dish (and don’t forget to line that dish with aluminum foil for no-mess cleanup). Stuff shells with cheese mixture and set side by side in pan, seam-side up. Continue until pan is full (you may not have room for all shells; I didn’t, and had to use a second baking dish). Cover shells with remainder of alfredo sauce, 1 cup mozzarella, and fresh oregano. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Add-ins:
You can easily add other fillings to these shells by mixing them into your ricotta mixture. Spinach works well in this recipe, as do meatless crumbles (heat in the microwave or on the stovetop before adding to the mixture). It might even be interesting to try this with broccoli florets, chopped near-fine (and without stalk pieces). If you’re a meat lover, ground beef or sirloin, sausage, or diced, grilled chicken would also work very well with these shells.

Veggie vittles.

I love Mexican food. Always have, and likely always will. I’m not much for seriously spicy Mexican, but anything with a little kick or a little bite is tops in my book. Plus, for vegetarians, Mexican cuisine offers a wide variety of choices, and with the substitution of vegetables for meat and cheese, even some options for vegans (seeing as how I lovelovelove cheese, however, that’s not an acceptable option in my kitchen!).

For as much as I love Mexican, though, I had never made enchiladas before tonight. Tacos, burritos, all manner of homemade salsas, even chile relleno (one unbelievably bad decision a few years ago, let me assure you, as it turned out to be quite nasty), but never enchiladas.

But as I discovered tonight, enchiladas are so easy to make that I’m somewhat embarrassed to never have given it a shot before. My version of enchiladas leaves out the meat (natch) but amps up the flavor with (vegetarian) refried beans and some nice spicy accents (side note: I would caution vegetarians to make sure that the beans they purchase are actually labeled as vegetarian; if you check the label, other types/brands use meat as “flavor enhancement”). I also decided not to use the traditional enchilada sauce, as I’ve never been a fan; instead, I used a good, chunky garden salsa, which really added a tasty touch.

This recipe makes enough to serve six. Well, four in my case … the roommate and I polished off three each (and actually, now that I go back and count, though I planned for 12, I only had room for 11 tortillas in my pan …).

Ingredients:
12 corn tortillas
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 can vegetarian refried beans (I used Rosarita Vegetarian Refried Beans … quite tasty)
2 cups mild prepared salsa (I used Green Mountain Gringo Mild, which can be found in the organic section of your local supermarket)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small skillet, toast tortillas until warm and the edges begin to get crispy. Set aside.

Mix refried beans, cumin, garlic, and chili powder in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover and heat on high 3 minutes.

Line a baking dish with aluminum foil (trust me, you do not want to have to scrub this pan after baking) and cover the bottom of the pan with the salsa.

On one side of each tortilla, spread the bean mixture down the length of the tortilla. Top with shredded cheese (to taste … I free-measured a pinch on each). Roll tortillas and place, seam side down, side by side in the baking dish.

Cover the tortillas with the remaining cheese. Place on lowest rack of the oven and bake for 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Let cool for five minutes before serving.

Don’t those look scrumptious???

While the roommate covered her enchiladas with more salsa …

… I, flouting calories, chose to cover mine with a Mexican blend queso dip:

Even though the dip was quite good, next time, I definitely won’t use as much cheese as I did here. Despite that overdose of cheesy goodness on my part, the enchiladas came out very tasty, with just enough kick to really wake you up. I will also use fresh, sauteed garlic, and perhaps some fresh onion, next time I make this.

Overall, a real winner, and one I will return to again and again!

Veggie vittles.

Another day, another thrown-together dinner: spinach lasagna rolls. This uses essentially the same ingredients (and directions) from the penne and spinach pasta posted here, but in a different, yet equally tasty, form.

Ingredients:
1 package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp minced onion
1 tsp butter
2-3 oz. light cream cheese
1-2 tsp grated Parmesan (to taste)
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 package lasagna noodles
2 cups tomato sauce (from a jar tonight … I’ll post my own recipe when next I make it)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Boil the lasagna noodles for 8-9 minutes (al dente). Pull the noodles out of the water and set them side by side on a plate or rack to cool (don’t let the noodles touch, or they will stick together).

While the pasta is boiling, place spinach in a microwavable container. Cover and cook for 7-8 minutes. Let stand for a couple of minutes, then squeeze out the excess water (I used a wide spatula to press the spinach into the bowl repeatedly to drain the liquid).

In a small pan, heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil on low. Add the chopped garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Place spinach, cream cheese, garlic, minced onion, remaining olive oil, butter, salt and pepper, and some Parmesan (I used about a tbsp or so) in a blender or food processor and blend for about 30 seconds. If it clumps up, add a little more olive oil until it’s the texture you want.

Cover the bottom of a shallow pan with tomato sauce. Spoon spinach mixture onto each of noodles about 3/4 of the way down (if you cover the entire noodle, they’re difficult to roll). Roll the noodles lengthwise and place in the pan seam-side down. Cover with remaining sauce (and top with 2-3 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese, if you prefer). Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before eating.

Quick and yummy!

Veggie vittles (well, dessert, anyway).

The air conditioner in our apartment decided to quit today. Not fun. But it did inspire a frantic search through the kitchen for something ice-cold to drink, resulting in a thrown-together version of frozen hot chocolate.

Ingredients:
1 packet of hot chocolate mix (I had Nestle Milk Chocolate on hand)
2-3 tsp of chocolate syrup (add to taste)
8 ice cubes
1 cup milk
1 tsp sugar

Directions:
Mix the chocolate mix, syrup, milk, and sugar together. Pour into blender with the ice cubes. Blend until smooth and creamy. Pour into a glass and top with whipped cream.

This made enough for two. My roommate really enjoyed it, and she’s a bit of a picky eater, so that’s a pretty good endorsement, at least in my estimation.

For what I had on hand, this turned out to be quite tasty. Next time, I’ll make it with some real chocolate instead of the syrup, which will only make it taste yummier.

(Damn. I should have taken a picture. It was pretty.)

Veggie vittles.

So, it’s been a while since I’ve been grocery shopping. I’m down to bare essentials in my cupboard until I can get to the store. The good thing about having bare-bones groceries, though, is that it forces you to be creative, as with this evening’s dinner.

I had a little less than half a box of penne pasta in the cabinet, some garlic, and some chopped spinach in the freezer. Voila! (Or, as my old friend Shea would say, “Viola!”): penne and spinach pasta.

I kind of free-handed it with the measurements, but it turned out pretty well! I had just enough for dinner tonight plus some leftovers for tomorrow, so the amounts I’ve listed below will serve two. But you could double the ingredients and easily serve more folks.

Ingredients:

Half a box of penne pasta (I use the multi-grain Barilla Plus brand)
1 package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well
1 clove of garlic, chopped
2-3 oz of light cream cheese (I think this is about how much I had left in the container)
2 tbsp of olive oil
salt and pepper (to taste)
grated Parmesan (to taste)

Boil the pasta as directed. Drain.

While the pasta is boiling, place spinach in a microwavable container. Cover and cook for 7-8 minutes. Let stand for a couple of minutes, then squeeze out the excess water (I used a wide spatula to press the spinach into the bowl repeatedly to drain the liquid).

In a small pan, heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil on low. Add the chopped garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Place spinach, cream cheese, garlic, remaining olive oil, salt and pepper, and some Parmesan (I used about a tbsp or so) in a blender or food processor and blend for about 30 seconds. If it clumps up, add a little more olive oil until it’s the texture you want (you may want to blend longer if you want your sauce to be smoother and creamier; mine was somewhat lumpy, but I lovelovelove spinach, so that did not bother me).

Mix into the pasta. Top with Parmesan to your taste.

I loved this, and I’ll definitely be making it again, albeit with one alteration: I think that fresh shaved Parmesan would be much tastier than the grated Kraft Parmesan-Romano blend I had on hand. Still, for what I had in the kitchen, this turned out remarkably well!