Family, Friends & Food get us through Times of Transition

Coming down from my “end of college career high” or leaving "fake life" as we called it is much harder than I thought it would be. I thought I was completely prepared to graduate, and I guess in many ways I was. What I wasn’t ready for was the actual ending of an era. Coming home knowing that I wouldn’t be going back to Bentley as a student ever again…I still haven’t completely coped with the reality of it all. Lucky for me, I have my wonderful family helping me get through this transition. We welcomed the summer this past weekend with lots of Memorial day celebrations - a BBQ by the poolside Saturday at Aubrey & Paul’s (our newly-wed cousins) beautiful new home followed by another BBQ by the poolside Sunday at Barbie & Michael’s house with the Cuban side of the family and then a day at the shore with my cousins on Monday. It was wonderful! One of my cousin’s, Laureen, talked to me about Health U. A recent college grad herself, she asked me if I was going to keep it up now that I've graduated. Absolutely! Health U will continue to be my avenue to help low-budget graduates, like myself, as well as college students continue to live a healthy lifestyle. After all, times of transition can be the times in our life when we learn the most about ourselves, change, and further develop into who we’re meant to become. While transitioning can be beautiful & exciting...it can also be scary, sad and difficult. All the more reason to recognize how important it is for us to stay healthy and optimistic during these times of transition so that we stay headed down the right paths.
While my cousin was happy to hear that Health U would continue, she did have one request…”Maria, could you please share a recipe that I would actually enjoy.” You see, Laureen is almost 23 years old, and still only enjoys very plain, simple foods. I’m sure she’s not my only follower who isn’t a huge fan of vegetables and exotic flavors. So, as promised, this next recipe is for you Laureen & for those of you readers with palates like hers. Laureen, remember when I came to visit you freshman year and brought you a home-made chicken and broccoli dinner? Well, we’ve come full circle. Here we are, graduated – and to celebrate the end of college/the beginning of summer my mom and I made chicken and broccoli last night for our Memorial Day dinner.

This dish is easy to make and a real crowd pleaser. Whether you like lots of flavor, or would prefer simple dishes – everybody likes chicken & broccoli pasta! It’s especially great now during the summer to bring to BBQ’s or parties. It tastes great hot and even better leftover the next day as a cold pasta salad.

Recipe:

Ingredients: Chicken, Broccoli, pasta (whole wheat is the best choice), white wine, olive oil, seasoning, chicken bouillon, garlic, scallions, parmesan cheese

Directions:
-Sautee chicken in olive oil, garlic and scallions while broccoli boils for a few minutes. Don’t over-cook your broccoli (only have it boil for about 3 minutes or so…because you will keep cooking it as the recipe goes on)
-Add broccoli to chicken sauté
-Boil water for pasta (& add pasta once water is boiled)
-While chicken & Broccoli is sautéing slowly add some white wine as needed to keep the bottom of the pan moist
-Mix chicken bouillon with warm water to create chicken broth
-Add chicken Broth to the chicken and broccoli mixture
-Season chicken & broccoli (red hot pepper flakes are my personal favorite seasoning) & stir
-Toss chicken & broccoli with pasta once pasta is done and add parmesan cheese


*Vegetarians – feel free to substitute chicken with tofu…and for those of you who love your veggies, you can add any of your favorite veggies to this dish. For example, my mom and I added mushrooms yesterday, which was delicious! Make it your own*