A hotel room meal

Cravings: a real meal, not a sandwich! When you're living in a hotel room, most of your meals are sandwiches. Ughhhhh.

Disclaimer: I wrote this about 5 days ago but could not post it due to no internet access.

These posts are going to be very all over the place since so much has happened and my connection is so spotty. I have many pictures and do not remember the order of everything, especially since half are on my camera and half are on my iphone!

What I do know is that last Friday I decided to make chicken in the microwave. Charlie's flight was grilling but we wanted to go see The Avengers (base movie theater was showing it), so we didn't have time to grill. The result was mediocre, but mostly due to lack of seasoning. The chicken actually cooked decently.

I bought a package of chicken "tenders" - basically breast strips w/o fat or skin chopped into thinner slices.

The recipe can be found here.

Along with my microwave chicken, I had a salad. 

Charlie made the point that I don't have to buy all of my salad ingredients and prepare them myself, but that we live in a country where they actually do that for you. Wow, I have been overworking myself! I bought one of those salads that has all the ingredients in little pouches, and it was delicious! All I needed was a fork and bowl. And my mouth.

Look everyone - I need my scissors, I am so happy I brought them! (For other things you may need when living in a hotel room, please reference this post).

I also had a brown rice microwavable packet. You literally just open the container and microwave for one minute. I usually buy these at trader jos or costco, but found these at the commissary and they were great as well.

I hope if you are living in a hotel room, that this meal has given you some inspiration to eat something more than a sandwich! It can be done :-)

Microwave Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:

-1/4 pound chicken breast "tenders"

-1/4 bottle of Dale's seasoning sauce, or marinade of your choice (make sure to use something with salt as the microwave adds NO flavor)

-zip lock bag or saran wrap/plastic wrap

-microwavable plate or bowl

-optional: sauce/dip for when it's done. I used a greek yogurt based ranch dip.

Directions:

Marinade the chicken in a ziplock bag. 

(I marinated more chicken than the recipe called for, but then I used a different bag that only had a few pieces of chicken)

Put it in a microwavable dish, and make sure it's sealed. 

Microwave it on about 60% for 7 minutes. 

Microwave ovens vary a lot, so you may need to cook it for shorter or longer. My microwave at home is super powerful so I'm sure it would be ready sooner. Just keep an eye on it and check it every 3 or so minutes until you get the hang of your microwave. The bag or seal may expand in the middle of cooking - this is fine for a few minutes, but keep an eye on it so it doesn't pop open!

Make sure to keep the oven on 60% of less, or the chicken will be very rubbery.


Sort of mediocre, but cooked through, edible, and not a sandwich! (When you're living in a hotel, you eat a lot of sandwiches).

Once your chicken has cooled, put it in a plate, and add sauce or dip! Enjoy - it's not a sandwich! I know I said that, but it's true.

I used Otria's Greek yogurt dip:


Enjoy your not a sandwich!

Essential Items for living in a hotel room

Disclaimer: I wrote this post about a week ago and never got around to posting it because of a shared internet connection in our hotel room, with Charlie getting priority!

Cravings: a kitchen, still!

We are in a hotel room for the next two months. Oh joy.

No seriously though, it's great that the military allows us to come and stay w/our spouses!

Military lodging is just like a hotel minus the room service etc.

What's in our room besides the basic bed, table, drawers, closet and bathroom:
-mini fridge
-microwave
-tv
-coffee maker
-ironing board and leaking iron

That's all folks!

Here are items I have found are essential for surviving when you are living in a hotel room for longer than a vacation. I did not include the basic packing list materials.

-Scissors and tape - let's say you buy something at target that needs cutting open. Tape is to put things on your mini fridge, such as schedules, reminders etc.
  
-batteries (my toothbrush died in the plane! Can you imagine what someone must have thought was vibrating in my bag?). I don't prefer a brand so I posted both big ones, I'm all for equal opportunity:
 
-hangers (there are never enough provided)

-your own lotion, shampoo, body wash, loofa, etc. Your own blow drier as well if you're particular. Here are my preferences:

-any meds you may need - advil, vitamins, melatonin, etc

Sidenote - I google imaged advil, and it showed up with Hebrew letter on the side, how freaking weird!?!?

(gotta keep my hair long while I'm in a hotel room)



(I never travel w/o this stuff, I'll write a post on melatonin later on)
-can opener

-corkscrew if you are a wine drinker (Charlie and I did not bring one and have not needed on yet, but our neighbor has one if we need it. I still felt it was important to put on the list, though!)

-hand towels for the gym

-stamps - you may want to send a greeting card, etc




Here are things to buy once you get there:
-paper towels

-clorox wipes - yes I know there is room service every day, but it's still nice to have the option to clean something in case you need to!

-dish-soap and a sponge - if there is a rental closet where you're going you can usually get a few bowls, silverware etc. You will want to clean it, even if it's in your dinky little sink.

-paper goods (plates, bowls, cups, cutlery). You can also buy one set of these at a dollar store

Just for fun:
-white board for your door. Yes, me and a few other spouses bought these to use just like in college. Judge us!

-grilling items - our base has grills outside of the lodging buildings. I have tinfoil, ziplock bags to marinade, charcoal, lighter fluid, matches. I need a spatula! Maybe the rental closet?


-Totally optional but if you want it to feel homey, a tablecloth and candle really does the trick

(I love yankee candles. I have told Charlie that if we ever get in a fight, he can go buy me floral scented yankee candle instead of flowers).

-Again, totally optional, but helpful, see if any rental closets have laundry baskets - you can use one to toss your shoes in and one for your dirty clothes of course

-check to see if your hotel has wifi. Ours does not. We do not have hot spot on our phones, and so we are sharing an ethernet chord (hence why I haven't posted in 8 days). A cable splitter would solve the trick!

Hot spot would be a very viable option as well.

I hope this helps any future military wives having to stay on base lodging, or anybody that needs to live out of a hotel for an extended period of time!

I will try to post microwave meals as they happen, but I've been really bad. I cooked a bunch at Charlie's parents house over the weekend and brought back chicken breasts and enchiladas for us to re-heat. Brown rice packets have been my friend too, as well as refrigerator oats.

Updates and recipes coming soon!