Peach Cobbler!

After a busy, but fun week of orientation, I had a great time celebrating with my classmates last night! It was fun to get dressed up, not talk about classes or assignments, and go out and get my dance on! A super great way to officially get things started! I am excited for the road ahead!

I told myself that I was going to take it easy and relax this weekend. This morning that started with setting off the house alarm bright and early. I was cleaning up from last night and hit a glass bottle against a glass shelf and apparently my alarm took that to mean someone was smashing in my front window! Luckily, the cops did not come, but the blaring alarm at 9 AM was less than pleasant!

Summer and peach cobbler are pretty much synonyms and I have been waiting way too many months to finally utilize some sweet Georgia peaches! Morning brunch conversing about the happenings of last night was filled with plenty of delicious eats and great laughs!

Peach Cobbler
5 large peaches, super ripe 
1/2 cup brown sugar 
3 tablespoons butter (can use shortening)
1/2 cup milk 
1 cup flour 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 


wash and cut ripe peaches into about one inch pieces. place in a bowl with brown sugar. preheat oven.

cut peaches!

in a separate bowl, cut butter and add in milk. mix in flour, baking powder and cinnamon and stir until evenly mixed. pour the peaches into a baking dish and spread the flour mixture on top. bake in the over at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. 

golden delicious!

If there is a way to bake my way through medical school, someone should let me know. ASAP. I am thinking maybe I will sell powerbars in the morning to help us with anatomy...

Okra with Tomatoes!

I feel like I fell off the side of the earth. This past month has been a whirlwind, but I made it through. Lots of big life changes all at once. Definitely overwhelming, but with the help of some pretty awesome people, I am working on enjoying it as it is thrown at me.

I now call Winston Salem "home" which is pretty weird. I have been orienting myself with a new town, many new faces, and new structure of life. Not going to lie, this thing called "med school" is a bit intimidating and my lifestyle will be drastically different come Monday when classes start full speed ahead. My goal is to do my best and not stress about the things I cannot control. (lofty huh?) To take it one day at a time as mama says!

Fears are a pretty interesting phenomenon and I have been thinking about them lots lately. I decided that I could live my life afraid of the unknown, or take a chance to try something new. It's a bit uncomfortable to be away from "home" at times. It's a bit overwhelming to know that I am going to be spending countless hours studying instead of socializing as much as I may want. It's a bit risky to put yourself out there, but, honestly, I feel like it is the only way I will learn and grow. 

Okra with Tomatoes

1 clove garlic

1 small onion

about 20 medium sized okra

1 ripe large tomato

olive oil
water

white wine 

fresh basil 

pepper

chop the garlic and onion and saute in pan with olive oil. once nice and brown, add tomatoes, okra and a bit of water to help them steam. cover with a lid for about 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes to make sure it does not burn. add in the chopped basil, pepper and (optional) white wine for some extra flavor. put the lid on for another 10 minutes until the okra is tender and soft. 

I served it over a bed of spinach!

The farm fresh okra was sitting in my new fridge for about a week before I built up enough courage to experiment with it. It was the first time I cooked okra and, to be honest, I was super impressed with how this dish turned out after chopping the slimy vegetable! I think it would be great served with whole wheat pasta and freshly grated Parmesan cheese!

I have been enjoying this past week getting to know my classmates and am looking forward to creating some fun times together as we learn what it takes to become physicians. I know I have lots of hard work ahead of me, but I hope that I can keep it in perspective and continue to live a some what "normal" life (aka still bake, workout and smile!) I know that I could not be doing this without the support of so many and it really means the world to have loving people in my life! Whether it's cooking okra for the first time or adventuring into the unknown to learn more about myself, overcoming fear is the first step!