Recipes! Food! I might be becoming a grownup! (What?)

I like to cook and for the past year I have not really had the time to actually cook, except for maybe once in a blue moon. No longer! Now I can actually take the time to find good recipes and try them out on all those who are willing to be my guinea pigs.

I didn't take this...It's a photo by Irving Penn (thanks google!)

Friday night was the night, I decided. I was going to try a new recipe and hope for the best. Miranda kindly allowed me to use her as my guinea pig, seeing as she would be getting a free meal out of the situation. So I went over to her apartment and cooked up a little storm while we chatted and drank some good beer. And I must say it ended up turning out to be quite delicious!

Here is the recipe:
Lemon-Thyme Chicken with Sauteed Vegetables
4 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped garlic, divided 
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, divided 
salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 pound chicken breast tenders, lightly pounded
4 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium shallot, sliced
1 1/2 cups frozen shelled edamame, thawed
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
2 medium zucchini
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1.) In a ziplock bag, combine 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 teaspoons garlic, and 2 teaspoons thyme; season to taste with salt and pepper. Add chicken, seal bag, and turn over a few times to coat chicken evenly. Set aside
2.) Heat 2 teaspoons canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallot, remaining garlic, edamame, and tomatoes. Saute for 4 minutes.
3.) Use a vegetable peeler to slice the zucchini into long ribbons. Add zucchini, remaining lemon juice and thyme to the other vegetables in the skillet and saute for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl, stir in feta cheese, and add salt and pepper to taste.
4.) Add remaining oil to skillet and remove chicken from marinade. Saute for 2-3 minutes per side or until cooked through. Serve with vegetables and enjoy!

The meal turned out to be really refreshing and yummy, as well as pretty healthy. Miranda didn't have a peeler, so I just sliced the zucchini super thin and that worked totally fine.

For desert, we had Häagen-Dazs Five Ice Cream in the lemon flavor. The. Best. Ice. Cream. Ever.

Trust me, go get this ice cream. NOW.

In further adventures in cooking, I cooked breakfast for myself, the roommate, and a friend this morning. We had yummy buttermilk pancakes and some bacon. I haven't made pancakes in a very, very long time, but they turned out sooooo good. Super light and fluffy. I want to try some variation, adding blueberries pancakes or apple cinnamon...oooh or chocolate chip! Who doesn't love a good chocolate chip pancake?