U-try-it Recipe: Jerk Chicken

Who gets tired of chicken? Me. I absolutely despise chicken sometimes. I've been searching for recipes to make chicken less... boring. Here's a spin of Jerk Chicken. Not too spicy with a little sweet twist. I love this chicken!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
10-20 pieces of chicken
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions

Make the jerk rub by combining the salt, allspice, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic, nutmeg, pepper, ginger, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and thyme. Toss the chicken pieces with the spice mixture, then cover, and marinate in the refrigerator 2 to 4 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Pour the vegetable oil into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Place the chicken pieces skin-side up into the baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour 20 minutes, until no longer pink near the bone. Turn the oven on to broil, and cook until the skin crisps, 2 to 5 minutes.

Here is the chicken after I marinated it for 4 hours... this is the most important part!!!

yummmmmmmmmyyyy!! It smells sooo good coming out of the oven

I served the chicken with cabbage ( Click here for my recipe for the cabbage ), rice (box brand) and cornbread. Dinner was a delicious and it was great to take to work.

Recipe was found at Allrecipes.Com

Prom 2012

My little cousin Qishawn went to her prom Friday, May 11. I had the pleasure of testing my "makeup artist" skills on her. She took me through the MOTIONS preparing for this prom, but what high school senior isn't excited about their prom. I think I almost committed suicide because my dress wasn't finished being sewn until three days before. Qishawn looked beautiful and I was proud to be apart of her night.

First I used my MAC "spiked" eyebrown pencil to fill in her brows. She had her brows waxed earlier that day but didn't like the look. I actually had to persuade her to let me do them. After much back and forth, she finally let me. I used MAC concealer to make the brow pop and she supplied her own foundation. For her eyes, I placed MAC "Aquadisiac" about 3/4 of her lid. I applied MAC "Sketch" in the outer V of her lid. I used a 252 large shader brush to apply both shadows. I used a 224 tapered blending brush to blend the Sketch into the Aquadisiac. I used MAC "Dazzlelight" to highlight the brow. For her lip I used NYX "Gold Pink" megashine lip gloss. She loved her look... my family almost lost it when they laid eyes on her. I am NO WAY a makeup artist... but I enjoy the transformation process. Seeing her face after she saw how I worked made me feel good inside. Makeup has become a hobby and I hope to continue to make others feel as good as she did on her night.

Thursday Tunes (lol)

I know.. I know.. Its not Tuesday but I had two finals since Tuesday and now I finally have time to catch my breath. Here's what I'm listening to...

As I stated last week... I'm a Meek Mill fan. I first heard Meek on Rick Ross' Pandemonium with Wale and asked myself "Who the hell is this yelling at me on the track?" But, I begin to listen to his lyrics and started to admire his delivery and flow. His first Dreamchaser mixtape still gets major play in my car. Dreamchasers 2 still has the same grit and hunger that he brought us with the first mixtape. My favorite tracks are Burn, Amen, and The Ride.

Also in rotation is Jadakiss' Consignment. It has the same street rap I was looking for Young Jeezy to bring with TM103 (but was sadly disappointed). I love drug/numbers rap and Jada takes it there. I'm not a huge Jadakiss fan but this mixtape GOES. I'll probably have it in rotation for a while. My favorite tracks are Paper Tags, By The Bar, Respect It, Traffickin, and Count It... By the way, did you everything you'd hear Jadakiss and Gucci Mane on a track together... I didn't lol. Jada put EVERYBODY on this mixtape.

And I'm still listening to Wiz Khalifa's Taylor Allderdice. For some strange reason, I've been blasting O.N.I.F.C repeatedly. Good top open-riding music. Enjoy!

Foodie Review: Blue Dolphin Seafood Bar and Grill

On Sunday night, we ventured east on route 50 and ended up in Crofton, MD. We ended up at The Blue Dolphin Seafood Bar and Grill. The Blue Dolphin sits off MD- Route 3 in a small strip mall. When we pulled up, I didn't really know what to expect. On the ride there, I was thinking fine cuisine so the strip mall threw me off for a little. I would be shocked and amazed at how good the food and drinks were. When we walked in, we noticed the posted hours were until 2am! We decided to sit at the bar. I took a good look around, it was a cozy atmosphere. This spot is perfect for a dinner date, family dinner or even dinner and cocktails. I ordered my favorite Patron Margarita, Tyree ordered a Long Island and Jay ordered Kettle One and pineapple. Our bartender nailed the drinks. My margarita was THE BOMB.

The menu is pretty extensive. This normally annoys me but everything on the menu sounded great. The long list of tasty appetizers features crab balls, crab dip, carpaccio, oysters, clams, Thai spring rolls, mussels and the king of all appetizers, The Blue Dolphin Sampler- Shrimp, Scallops, Crab Balls, Sirloin Beef Tips served with various veggies. Tyree ordered that. I browsed the soups and salad menu and picked a cream of crab soup. My soup was pretty tasty- lump crab meat with a creamy white sauce. My only complaint would be that the sauce was a little too creamy for me.

The entree menu featured seafood (of course), steaks, veal, chicken, pastas, sandwiches, maki rolls, and various combo platters. Tyree ordered Stuffed Lobster tail, Jay ordered Crab Imperial (which he had NO idea what a crab imperial was!!! We ended up taking that to my Aunt and he ordered crab cakes.) I ordered the Surf and Turf, Filet Mignon and a lobster tail. A few drinks later, our food came. Everything was extremely good. My steak, which I ordered medium well was cooked well done. I thought about ordering another steak, but I shrugged it off. I was pleased with our meal. I tasted Jay's crabcakes.. and geezus they were good. No fillers, all JUMBO LUMP CRAB MEAT. I would consider the Maryland Crab Cake to be my all-time favorite food. These crabcakes would probably come in 2nd place of my best tasting cakes.

All and all, I would definitely go back. I've done a little research and read that there is a happy hour Monday- Friday, 3-7pm which features domestic and imported drafts, $1.00 off all cocktails, 1/2 price appetizers and 1/2 price bottle of wine (offered all day and night Monday to Friday). They also have weekly specials Monday- Thursday.

Check out The Blue Dolphin Seafood Bar and Grill. Great food, great drinks.

Tuesday Tunes

So... *clears throat* If you didn't know. I'm a huge Meek Mill fan. I know I'm late to this freestyle he did on Hot 97, but so what. You probably didn't see it either lol

This Rick Ross feat. Chrisette Michelle track is pretty old but I love Ross' lyrical expertise and Chrisette's ablility to ride the beat with her voice is amazing!!

Another not-so-new... Frank Ocean's Thinking About You.. I actually first heard this song on Bridget Kelly's mixtape "Every Girl". Hearing a male sing it makes the lyrics feel different to me..

Future Blogs...

While finals are nearing, I know focusing on this blog will prove itself a little daunting. Yet, I'm researching topics to bring to my readers. Tyson will be 9 months in a few weeks and sometimes I find myself still trying to reclaim my body. When will I feel like TIMIKA and not the mothering vessle I was a few months ago. I need my stomach and my breast back. My stomach still does this weird pooch thing that embarrases the hell out of me. My breast can't be kissed or touched without my "mommy-senses" tingling. Its not sexy (-_-) I'm sure my boyfriend is turned off by my lack of sexiness. As I go through this post-pregnancy/post-breastfeeding journey, I'm sure I'm not the only young mother to feel unsexy. I just KNOW you all aren't talking about it.

So... I'm gonna talk about it.

Anticipate more recipes (accompanied with video!) and hair updates as I'm getting ready to remove and re-install my hair. As I rambled on and on in the previous post, expect more health conscious posts.

Thanks for coming back to check on my progress! I appreciate all those who read this!!

Day One...

How many times have you started something and ended up pushing it to the backburner? I'm famous for having amazing goals and starting out strong but somehow, I end up dropping them off. My laid-back attitude doesn't help this situation either. I always tell myself "there's always tomorrow". This is true, but TODAY I want to begin Day one of STICKING TO MY PLANS.

I've blogged about going to the gym and trying to eat a healthier diet. Well... I must report I haven't been running in weeks. I can blame it on my focus with school but I'm not going to make excuses this time.

How do I plan on overcoming this issue? I'm going to write out a schedule each night- no matter how tired I am, how much homework/studying I need to do... that lays out what I need to get done each day. I will not go to sleep until each item is crossed off my "to-do" list. I'm hoping my list will get me in the habit of maintaining and keeping in order everything I need to do while holding me accountable if I fail to do something that day. I'm a work in progress.

One of my good girlfriends, Cherish, has committed herself to being my "get healthy" partner. My boyfriend is too much of a couch potato to commit to this. I'm hoping that he sees my efforts and want to get in on it.

I can say that I haven't gone to far off the healthier eating plan. However, I'm doing more research to get the most out of my diet versus just cutting fats out.

holding myself accountable... sticking to my goals.. It another day one to my journey to better.....