Monday, August 29, 2011

What's For Dinner?

Any guesses?

Enchiladas!!

Ingredients:
1 bag tortilla
Large can of enchilada sauce
1/2 zucchini, chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 chopped and seeded jalapenos
1 can diced tomatoes with chilies
1 can black beans drained, rinsed
Shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350.
1.  Sautee onions, zucchini, tomatoes, jalapenos and black beans with salt, pepper, garlic, cumin and cayenne.  I basically just added spice to taste.  
2.  Pour enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 13x9 pan to cover.
3.  Sprinkle cheese on center of tortilla and a large spoonful of filling.  Roll up enchilada and place seam side down in the enchilada sauce.
4.  Cover enchiladas with the rest of the enchilada sauce.
5.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle cheese over the top during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Andy's enchiladas are off to the side....the ones covered in bacon.


I served ours with saffron rice, sliced avocado, sliced green onions, plain Greek yogurt and fresh cilantro out of the garden.

The nice things about these enchiladas is that the filling options are endless.  If you're looking for extra protein, you could easily add chicken, shrimp or beef.  Also, another option would be to beef it up with more veggies...I was imagining a super veggie version with mushrooms, bell peppers and sweet potatoes.  However, I highly recommend the yogurt, cilantro and avocado.  It added a nice, cool balance to the spicy enchiladas.

It has been so nice to have a relatively normal schedule and to not be working like a maniac.  I worked at the 911 dispatch center today; it was definitely enlightening.  People call 9-1-1 for the most random sh*t.  Such as being sick earlier and feeling perfectly fine now, or just to call with random questions about nothing really related to emergencies.  Tomorrow I'll be heading out with the EMS crews in the ambulance, so I'm looking forward to a fun day!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

MICU Madness

Guess who's finally back???  I have never been so busy in my life than I have this past month.  I've been working in the MICU, and for those of you not in the medical field, that stands for Medical Intensive Care Unit.  Basically, the sickest of the sick go there for care.  My first day off for the entire month of work is my "golden weekend", which happened to be the last weekend.  I have literally worked every single day for the past month.  They technically counted my post-call day on Friday as a day off, since I had to work 7A-7P Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Boo.  However, I feel very rested today considering that I freakin' slept til 10:30....and the only reason I got up them was because the local salon called my phone and said they had an open appointment.  Unfortunately, their massage therapist was sick so I couldn't use my sweet gift certificate that my mom sent me.
  I have to say that as someone who eats a very healthy diet, I ate terribly on the MICU.  I would wake up at 5AM, get to work by 6ish and drink coffee.  Sometimes I didn't even feel like breakfast.  Then I would eat lunch around 2, and dinner whenever I got home....6 or 8.  I was so tired this past month that I just wasn't eating....and my haggard facebook photo definitely shows that.  Haha.  However, I learned a lot and feel like a much stronger physician. 
   In honor of being finished with this month, Courtney, Donna (Courtney's mom), Andy and I went to eat at this awesome hippie restaurant called Home Grown Cafe in Newark, DE.  It was awesome and I would definitely go back in a heartbeat.  Funny this is, I bought my first ever Groupon to use at the restaurant and when I got there realized that it was only valid Mon-Thursday.  Boo.
Mahi citron: pan seared mahi served with citrus coucous, 
roasted asparagus and tarragon yogurt

This dish was phenomenal.  This mix of flavors was really on par.  You had the warm, crispy fish along with the citrus in the couscous and the cool tarragon yogurt with freshly chopped cilantro.  So good!  And also, almost everything at the restaurant can be made vegetarian or vegan.  For example, the vegan version of this dish had couscous, asparagus, and tofu wrapped taro root.  Seriously go check out their menu.  They have tofu, tempeh and seitan dishes galore.
  Another plus to dinner was the pitcher of Sam Adams Oktoberfest!!!  Courtney and I both about screamed when we saw that on tap.  The only thing that would have made us even happier would have been Dogfish Head Punk'n Ale on tap...(fortunate for us, it's a Delaware brewery).  Fall is the best time of the year because pumpkin takes over my soul.....I'm talking pumpkin oats, beer, bread, etc.  





Here's me saving lives....just kidding.  This is probably a night that wasn't terribly busy
and I was enjoying the peace and quiet in my cubby.
   One thing that's been great about this year has been my awesome intern class.  Last month, they program had all sorts of things planned for us to do together for team-building stuff.  We had a baseball game against the upper years and attendings.  Unfortunately we lost, but it turns out the interns always lose because they abruptly stop the game when they're ahead.  

The Tracheal Deviants!!

 
I'm hoping that I can now be back to regular posting.  I'm staring a month of EMS and pediatric anesthesia, so my schedule will be much more flexible.  Everyone stay safe and dry!!  Irene is going to be making herself known here in the next few hours.