Busch Gardens

On Sunday, Stephen and I went to Busch Gardens! It’s in Tampa which is where I grew up, so it was fun to be home for a little while. We went with some of his friends from back home in Ocala who I had never met, it was fun to meet them! We got there super early (well for me anyway) at 9 am because a new roller coaster had just opened to days before. It’s called Cheetah Hunt and it was really awesome. I loved how smooth it was compared to most of the other coasters. I literally popped a blood vessel or something in my left eye from being shaken around too much on a roller coaster, it looks gross.

As we were wandering around the park we found an area where you could look at a ton of animals. Stephen insisted that we go in so even though I’m not much of an animal lover, I agreed.

Nap time

There were three lions in this area and they were so cool. One of the ones in this picture is lying on his back with his paws up, even I have to admit it’s kinda cute :].

 

There were also three elephants who were eating these palm branch things. You can tell that they are really smart because they would use their feet told hold down the branch while the ripped off a piece with their trunk.

We saw some of these animals while on a ride called “Rhino Rally” where you ride around in this safari truck where the animals live. It was pretty cool, but I was sad we didn’t  go to where the giraffes were :[.

Here’s Stephen and I in front of the elephants :]

We decided to take the sky ride across the park so we could have a bird’s eye view of the park. Here’s one shot I took from the air.

While at the park we saw a ton of weird interesting people. Here’s one example:

At the end of the day we decided to wait for the cheetah show to start but we had about 30 minutes to kill so we grabbed a drink at the pub.

My drink (the pink one) was yummy but his (tiny and oh so manly) drink, not so much.

After the cheetah show, which didn’t turn out to be much of a show, we hit the road back to Orlando. And today is Memorial Day, so no school for us! Happy Monday!

 

Kitchen Krazy!

So yesterday I went to Walmart to buy one thing from the kitchen aisle, a glass jar. And this is what I came out with…

I just NEEDED all of this!

A measuring cup, the glass jar that I came in for, two sets up mini measure cups, and the best purchase of all: a Bubba Keg Tumbler! There is just something so irresistible about the kitchen aisle. You KNOW what I’m talking about…right? :]. I’m totally obsessed with this Bubba Keg Tumbler because it’s amazing for my recent smoothie addiction! It can keep drinks hot or cold, sweet. Speaking of my smoothie addiction, the reason I needed a glass jar was to have a container for my Xanthan Gum. What is Xanthan Gum, you ask? Well, it’s only the best thing to ever happen to smoothies! It’s a very fine powder that is used for thickening food. It makes the yummiest, thickest smoothie. And I mean thick. Half a teaspoon of this bad boy and you’re good to go. I thought I’d give you my most recent and favorite smoothie recipe. I’m a lover of coffee and peppermint so if you are too, prepare to be dazzled.

•One scoop of chocolate protein powder         •Half teaspoon of Xanthan Gum       •Dash of peppermint mocha coffee creamer

•1 Starbucks Via Packet (instant coffee)
•Half teaspoon of Xanthan Gum
•4 or 5 ice cubes
•Half a frozen banana
•some water (as much as you want for desired thickness)
•dash of cinnamon

This may sound like a weird combo to some, but it’s so delicious. Kind of a healthier take on a frappuccino. I buy my protein powder (found where the nutrition bars are) and xanthan gum (found in the baking aisle on the organic kiosk) at publix.

Do you have a favorite smoothie recipe?

Chicken Flautas

Possibly the best thing I’ve ever eaten: My boyfriends spin on chicken flautas! I feel like if I didn’t share this recipe with you guys I would be committing a crime. It’s that good. The first time I ever had chicken flautas was at Tijuana Flats. One day my boyfriend, Stephen, decided to cook them for me and I thought there was NO way he could make them better, no offense to him :]. But boy was I wrong. They were ten times better! So here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken Breasts

Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese

Red Peppers

Cilantro

Whole Wheat Tortillas

Caribbean Jerk Marinade

Vegetable Oil

1. Marinate chicken in the Caribbean Jerk Marinade, cook until done, shred chicken with a fork.

2. Cut up the red pepper into strips and put it into a small pot. Pour in some of the marinade and cook on medium, covered, until the peppers are soft. Cut up into small pieces.

3. In a big bowl, think cake mix sized, add the cheese, chopped cilatro, chicken, and peppers. Stir it up!

4. Put a pan on the stove and add some vegetable oil, heat to med-high. Throw the tortillas on the pan one at a time. Flip over once and wait until the the tortilla starts to bubble to take it off the pan. (This step is to make the tortillas a little crispy! Yum.) Pat excess oil off the tortilla with a paper towel.

5. Now comes the fun part! Take a spoon and add a few big spoon fulls of the chicken mix onto a tortilla. Now roll it up like a burrito! I’m an expert on this because I used to work at Moes, haha. If you’re unsure of how to roll it up, you could probably find a youtube video on burrito rolling lol. Maybe I’ll do a tutorial one day! This is always my job of the cooking process :]

6. Now turn the oven on 350 deg. and cook the flautas for about ten minutes or until they start to brown just a tad. Voila! Delicious dinner!

Before we end, we must talk about the dipping sauces. First is sour cream, obvi! Next is another one of Stephen’s delicious creations. (Can you tell the he’s a really good cook by now?) We simply call it jelly. Here’s what’s in it: Sweet Orange Marmalade, Sweet Chili Sauce (can be bought at publix), and red pepper flakes. Add equal parts of marmalade and chili sauce and top with a dash of red pepper flakes and stir it all up! This sauce is literally amazing on everything. I especially love it on chicken. If you wanna get really crazy stir the sour cream into the jelly and be prepared to get addicted!

Have you ever had chicken flautas?                                                        

Do you have your own  recipe?

My Very First Post!

Welcome to my blog! My name is Courtney and I live in Orlando, FL. My blog will basically follow me through my life as a college student and hopefully provide you with some entertainment at the same time! As you can see the name of my blog is “Courtney Can’t Cook” and that is 100% accurate, or atleast it was until this past year. Now it’s about 90% accurate, haha. My boyfriend has been trying to teach me the ways of cooking and it’s definitely a challenge for me. I’m sure there will be many posts following my cooking adventures! Well, I hope you will like my blog and keep coming back! xoxo

If you have any blogging advice or tips for me, comment below! :]