Misadventures of a Non-Cook: Chicken Pineapple Quesadilla

After my foray into raspberry cream pie deliciousness, I decided to try another one of Ree's fabulous recipes. I love Mexican food and her chicken pineapple quesadillas looked amazing. So I met up with my darling friend Regan, who is a wonderful cook, and we made plans to make this dish. In a strange twist of irony, Regan had never been to a farmer's market.

I love farmer's markets because I love fresh fruit and veggies. And a friend of mine earlier this summer introduced me to the wonders of Soulard Farmer's Market, which is like a normal farmer's market on steroids. It's huuuuge. So of course, to start our epic cooking adventure, we headed off to Soulard Farmer's Market!

Here we are, about to enter!

Regan also painted her toes and they looked all pretty and sparkly. Yay for sparkly toes!

Soulard Farmer's Market comprises of four distinct aisles each selling a medley of fruits, vegetables, herbal soaps, incense, all sorts of stuff. Different stalls have different prices for fruits.

And in the middle of the whole shebang, is this lovely little spice shop. Regan and I bought cumin here.
Regan loves spices.
This shop's been around for forty years.

One of the owners. She looks really crabby in this pic but she was actually as sweet as can be. She just refused to smile for my camera.

We bought avacados.

A pineapple, which took a bit to pick out. One stall was selling them for 95 cents which we thought was a fantastic deal. It would be, but the pineapples had unidentified ickiness on them so we decided to suck it up and buy the 1.75 pineapple at a different stall, which looked a lot nicer.
And a green pepper. Note Regan's cute ring.
Roma tomatoes and a red onion.
Fresh monterey jack cheese! I love fresh cheese! 8D
Once we were done, Regan bought a pretezel dog and I bought a coke. Though I did sample said pretzel dog. It was quite delicious.
We decided to buy tortilla shells and chicken breasts at a local grocery store. So we crossed back into our side of the river!
Regan with the chicken.
The lovely tortillas.
And Regan felt it prudent to buy a fake moustache from one of the supermarket vending machines.

I don't know this woman.

But I can't resist singing along to Journey with her.

So we first washed our lovely pineapple.

(Here's all of our Farmer's Market ingredients together, minus the cheese.)

Oh yeah. We rock these aprons.

Then we had to chop up the pineapple.

And chop it again.

And chop it again. Chop.

Then I had to flavor ze chicken with our yummy cumin. Rub all that goodness in, plus with some salt and pepper.

Then we had to grill the pineapples. I have to admit, I had my reservations about grilling pineapples. I mean, I love pineapple on pizza and everything...

Then we began to cook the chicken.

And yes, Regan made me do this cooking. She remembers my previous meltdown with a chicken. I had to face my fears.

Regan pats me on the head, says I'm doing a good job with the chicken. Then she gets me and her a coke.

Isn't she a good best friend?

We toast.

Regan starts the guacamole. Mmm, avacados.

Now for barbecuing the chicken. Regan has a very special delicious barbecue sauce for the job.

That's Regan's dog. He has three legs! I had to carry him across stage our sophomore year of high school. He was the star of the play.

Us slathering on barbecue sauce on ze chicken. Good lord that looks good.

Regan's punk little brother.

Regan continues to make the guacamole. But she has to stop, overcome with emotion and empathy for her vegetable friends.

Plus the onions made her eyes water.

Regan grows her own cilantro. So we snip snipped a little. Fun fact about cilantro: a small percentage of people find cilantro to have a bit of a soapy taste. My mother and I are in that small percentage. This by no means makes cilantro taste BAD to us, I still like it in my salsa and quesadillas. But it still has that strangely soapy taste.

Then I chopped up the delicious barbecued chicken into quesadilla sizes.

Regan's finished guacamole and pico. YUM. Not to mention our grilled pineapple slices. Which do in fact, taste like heaven. Oh my lord and creator did they taste good.

I also shredded ze monterey jack cheese.

Regan and I snuck a couple bites of this chopped chicken. We couldn't resist.

Then it came time to make the quesadillas!!!

Geez, just seeing this in photographs makes me hungry.

Now let me tell you. This tasted AMAZING. You wouldn't think barbecue sauce, chicken, pineapple, and monterey jack would make such an unbelievable combination but it truly does. Next time I make these, I'm going to go a little lighter on the pineapple. Mine still tasted heavenly, but the pineapple almost overpowered the chicken. I want them all to be in balanced harmony.

For serious, check out this recipe at www.thepioneerwoman.com. You will not regret it.

Misadventures of a Non-Cook: Raspberry Cream Pie Edition

First off, you should know that I am not a cook. Nope. There's a reason why this is called Misadventures of a Non-Cook. The Non-Cook is me. I once had a meltdown defrosting a chicken. I called my mother crying about it. I survived my first two years of college by using a mealplan and ordering a heck of a lot of takeout. And of course, frozen meals.

Then along came Ree. I discovered www.thepioneerwoman.com and is in the process of changing my non-cooking life. The story of how she met her husband made me cry and laugh, sometimes in conjunction. And her recipes...

Well, her recipes looked like something I could do. ME! The non-cook! Who could barely make a poptart without burning it! With each recipes, she took step-by-step photographs so that if I was messing up, I could tell. And so I decided to start my own Non-cooking section of my blog. And this is the second recipe I tried, with help from my handy-dandy mother. And for this one, I took pics.

Now all credit for this pie goes to the Pioneer Woman. Go to her website for way clearer directions on how to make this. I'm just documenting my process.

Okay, so for raspberry cream pie, my mother and I had to make a shopping trip. First we bought oreos.

Then we bought raspberries. I wish we could've gotten them at a farmer's market or the roadside stand that sells fresh fruit in my town, but after a little inspection, we found a nice bunch of raspberries.
Then we bought vanilla jello mixture. This stuff is important!

Don't judge me.

And raspberry yogurt.
And whipping cream. My mom and I are hardcore whole cream fans. And we ain't afraid of butter or 2% milk either!
Then we drove home quite cheerfully and trotted up to the kitchen to begin our deliciousness!

By the way, this is my beautiful puppy. Isn't she sweet?

So you put 25 oreos into a food processor to make the crust.
Ree then instructs you to take one out, eat it, and replace it. I am very attentive to recipe directions.

You saw nothing.

Then after you get it all crumbled up and yummy, you mix it with butter. This will make the pie crust.
Then you put it in a pie pan and you smush it all down to form the crust. FYI: the crust mixture will get ALL OVER your hands and fingers. It tastes freaking amazing.
Heh.

Then you take your raspberries and mix it with the proper amount of sugar. And smush those raspberries all together!

This is my punk brother eying our pie crust. Back off punk!

Then we start the actual cream pie mixture. We splop in the raspberry yogurt.

My dad was curious to see our goings on. WE'RE MAKING PIE!!!

We mix that with the jello mix.

Punk little brother will not go away. He's taller than me. This is so unfair.

Ree's recipe then demands to know if we're serious about this whole cream business in raspberry cream pie. Here's my mom's response:
Oh yeah, this woman is serious about her whole cream. We add the cream.

This is my punk brother's puppy. She's cute. But my puppy is cuter and prettier and smarter. And I'm not biased. It's just a fact.

This is my punk OLDER brother who is wanting to know why I'm taking a picture of everything and ripping off my favorite blogger.

Shut up, punk older brother.

So then it comes out like this.

And we put it in the oreo pie crust like this.

Oh lord. My mom and I kept saying, "Oh lord. Oh goodness. Oh God."

Then you must freeze it for a while. Like for an hour. Then put plastic wrap over and freeze it for another hour.

But after my mom waited 45 minutes, she gave me this look.

And we decided it best to eat the pie now.

Yum. Freaking. Yum. My mom and I nearly died of happiness over this pie.
Now like I said, this isn't a directional. Go to Ree's website, follow her recipe, and try the pie out for yourself. Heck, if a non-cook like me can make such glorious-ness, so can you.

I'm going to make another pie now. I'll be back!

My Top Ten Favorite Voice Actors

A lot of people really don't like the dubs of anime. I've always thought this was an unfair assessment. All right, I know early 90s dubs of anime suck and 4Kids makes most anime fans cry (or laugh depending on the mood) but not all dubs are that horrible. Funimation and Viz usually do great jobs. And I have to say, I LOVE some of the voice actors for anime and American cartoons. Obviously, I'm more familiar with anime VAs but the great thing about anime VA's is I doubt you'll find one who hasn't dabbled in American animation. Now these are my favorite ACTORS. My favorite voice ACTRESSES will be up later. 8D

10. Little Kuriboh

First off, it's my list, and I can put what I want. :D Even though he runs a web series, I still consider him a voice actor. Heck, he does nearly all the voices in abridged. That takes crazy talent.

9. Shadyvox

Like I said, MY list, I can put who I want! Seriously, I've been very impressed with Shady's voice work for over a year. I always get real pleased when he cameos in LK's vids because he's just so talented. He reminds me strongly of Jason Marsden (who will appear later, 8D) and pulls off an American accent really well. I can't believe he's younger than me, the punk. What's even sadder is that if I ever meet him (he's quite attractive) I'll be totally star struck. I should not be star struck by someone who is younger than me.

8. Illich Guardiola

For years I've wondered how to pronounce this dude's name. Ah well. Animes I know him best in is Tokyo Majin, (Kisaragi) Pretear, (Hayate) Red Garden, (Luke) Lucif, (Venus Versus Virus) and those are the most I know off the top of my head. He has a slight accent, so it's a little interesting to hear his dubs. I think my favorite role of his would be Hayate, just because Pretear is such a ridiculously girly cheesy anime and I don't know how any of the actors were able to keep a straight face. Especially Hayate, who is supposed to be a cranky, serious, stick-in-the-mud. Anyway, I love his deep, accented voice.

7. Steven Jay Blum

Ah, Steven Blum. One of my brothers has actually met him, the lucky bastard. Animation I know him best in is Samurai Champloo, (Mugen) Cowboy Bebop, (Spike Spiegel) and Wolverine and the X-Men (Wolverine). He has a real talent for doing bad boy voices. While I was watching the raw version of Tokyo Majin and mentally casting everyone, I originally wanted him to do Kyouichi. But David Wald proved me wrong (all love to you, babe!) so I'm not disappointed. Steve Blum can have a wonderfully sexy gravelly badboy voice and then have a cute digimon voice, he's incredibly varied. I look forward to seeing more of his work!

6. David Kaye

Geez, what can I say about David Kaye? He puts such a badassery in voiceacting and he literally makes a living at playing Magnificent Bastards (cheers, TV tropes!). Animation I know him best in is Inuyasha, (he plays a FABULOUS Sesshomaru, HOLY CRAP!) X-Men Evolution, (Professor X), and Class of the Titans, (Cronus, as shown from the pic). He's really good at playing older, intimidating men because he has such a deep, enigmatic voice. I have to gush about his Sesshomaru for a minute--it is not easy to play emotionless characters, contrary to popular belief. He adds enough emotion in Sesshomaru without it being overplayed and still portrays a stark, raw, scary character. I really, really, REALLY hope he dubs him again for the Final Act.

5. Greg Ayres

There's a lot of hate towards Greg Ayres and I've never really been able to figure out why. Is it because he's a fan turned voice actor? That's hardly fair. I'm a fan, and I'd love to do anime dubs someday. He's a good actor too, he has a very distinctive voice. Animation I'm most familiar with him is Chrono Crusade, (Chrono) Ouran High School Host Club, (Kaoru) The Wallflower, (Yuki) and Welcome to the N.H.K. (Yamazaki). He was also in Pretear. I should really do a blog about that anime, because it's one of those So Bad, It's Good anime. I'm getting off topic. He also has a gravelly kinda voice but it's strangely boyish. He's done excellent jobs in everything but my one issue with casting was his role in Ouran High School Host Club. It has nothing at all to do with his performance, he did very well. But his voice is so distinctive I could always tell him apart from Hikaru, which I don't think you were supposed to do. The whole point about the twins was their issues with people who couldn't tell them apart and I could always tell them apart as long as I heard them talking. But that's just me.

4. Jason Marsden

Why, oh why did you grow your hair out, Jason? You were so beautiful when you were like this! Ahem, I'm getting off topic. Jason Marsden is definitely one of my faves. I LOVE his voice. It is sooo sexy...AHEM I mean, it also has a certain distinction. Not to mention, he's an incredible actor. Roles of note I can think of would be, Lion King 2, (Kovu) Spirited Away, (Haku) W.I.T.C.H., (Matt) Static Shock, (Richie) and A Goofy Movie (Max). He has tons of others, no worries, and I have watched cartoons for the single purpose of hearing his voice. I wonder if it's possible to lust after a voice...

3. David Wald

David Wald is a little known anime actor, so I couldn't find a picture of him and I felt it inappropriate to hijack one of his facebook photos. How do I have his facebook photos? Well, I'll tell you.

Tokyo Majin is one of my favorite animes, as most people are aware of. I was waiting on TENTERHOOKS to see who would play Kyouichi, my favorite character. I was baffled at the name of David Wald but I was an optimist. And David Wald BLEW it out of the water. He did a WONDERFUL job as Kyouichi. Definitely the best bit of acting he's done, in my personal opinion. The final episode's scene between Kyouichi and Aoi moved me to tears it was so incredibly well-done. Anyway, I joined the Tokyo Majin group on facebook soon after buying volume 1. It was a very small group as Tokyo Majin was and still is a rather obscure anime. But I noticed one member was a David Wald. So I asked wrote on the group's wall, 'does anyone know if this is the actual David Wald who played Kyouichi?' No one knew. So I took matters into my own hands and facebook messaged him with that inquiry. He responded back cheerfully that yep, he most certainly was that David Wald! I about exploded. I had a really nice conversation with him about the character of Kyouichi and I even begged to know if he personally thought that Kyouichi and Aoi had any sparks. (And HA, he agreed with me! Take that Tatsuma/Aoi shippers!) So, I have to include David Wald. He's done a few other roles but he's been off of anime since ADV films went under. I'm hoping Funimation will see what a talent he is and offer him more roles. Here's hoping!

2. Keith David

Keith. Freaking. David.

This guy is such an amazing actor. A few of his many roles are Gargoyles, (Goliath) Coraline, (the black cat who I dubbed affectionately, "KEITH DAVID KITTY!") Princess and the Frog, (Dr. Facilier), and Princess Mononoke (Okkoto). But something that strikes me near and dear about this incredible thespian, is that I've met him.

I've met him.

I've acted with him.

No, seriously.

I was attending a Gargoyles con. Gargoyles has recently been made into a comic, so at that particular con Keith David was invited to participate in a radioplay being made of the comics. This is seriously cool stuff because we get to hear the main actor of Gargoyles pick up where the TV show left off.

So I tried out in front of everybody, reading for the part of Elisa, the romantic lead and second main character of Gargoyles. By the way, it was really nerve-wracking trying to act in front of KEITH FREAKING DAVID. But I managed.

And...

I GOT THE PART.

I'll have you know, I did NOT see that coming. So I got to sit right next to Keith David and play Elisa to his Goliath. I had to do a romance scene with Keith David. I nearly died. Several times. I must've done something right, because that evening, I ran into Keith David in an elevator. We chatted, he told me I did really well in the radioplay, I told him about my voice acting aspirations, and as I stepped out of the elevator, he actually HELD the elevator door open, and told me if I was ever in L.A. to contact him, and he would get me connected with some people. *dies*

Not only is this man an amazing actor, he's freaking nice too. *dies again*

1. Vic Mignogna

I have to put Vic first, cuz I'm kind of in love with him. :D I first saw Vic as Tendou Kodzune in Tokyo Majin. I was slow on the Vic fandom (he's also another VA that gets a lot of snark and hate...why? He's such a good actor! Maybe it's cuz he's so pretty...) Then I saw him Full Metal Alchemist. Then saw him be cast as Tamaki in Ouran High School Host Club. Which was a PERFECT role for him, he did it SO well. He has a lighter voice...so when he was cast as Zero in Vampire Knight, I was dead excited but filled with trepidation too. I shouldn't have been. He proved to me that he could do Zero, one of my favorite anime characters, to a perfect T. His portrayal of Zero sends chills down my spine. And sometime, youtube Vic Mignogna Vampire Knight and listen to his story of how he got the role. It's so cute! I love that Vic Mignogna is so involved with the fandom. Darn dude has a girlfriend...if you're ever single again Vic, look me up darling!!!

SPECIAL BONUS

I forgot to add Kirby Morrow. He was supposed to be right after Greg Ayres. Sigh. Bear in mind he's one of my favorites too. I first saw him as Miroku in Inuyasha, and at first after having some reservations about his voice, I decided he made a fine Miroku. He works with Kelly Sheridan a lot too which is really funny. They are legit romantic leads of each other ALL the time. I think they should just get married and call it a day. But if they did, I probably would die of fangirl squeal. Anyway, he's a great actor and he's really pretty too!!!