Fourth of July Ribs

Having the day off Tuesday allowed me to be super productive. One of the biggest tasks I took on for the day-besides our kitchen cabinets- were the ribs we ate for dinner. This past year one of the things I have worked on doing better is cooking. I noticed through my first year at Washburn we were eating extremely unhealthy and I could tell I was gaining weight. I've alluded to this is previous posts but have been exceptionally happy with how big of a habit it has become.

Every Sunday one of the first things I do when I get up is meal plan for the week. Trust me- it is not an extravagant meal plan like those you see on health blogs but it is something. I typically pick anywhere between 4-5 meals for the week to buy groceries for. I don't pre-prep the food unless I know it will be a super busy week. I just lay out five meals during the week and choose one to cook at the end of each day. 

Now for those who know me, I am not the best cook. I never have felt "comfortable" in the kitchen. However, I do enjoy cooking... as long as there is a recipe associated with what I am cooking. I don't know what pairs well with what so I leave that to Pinterest. This week I decided with the fourth I would tackle cooking ribs. 

Andrew is not a huge fan of eating meat off the bone or really anything other than beef, chicken, and turkey. But every once and awhile I am able to sneak in another meat of choice so I thought what better day than the fourth of July! 

Recently I stumbled across the Little Bits Of blog and have been drawn to multiple of her recipes. Especially this BBQ Ribs post she highlighted when she took over the Whole 30 Instagram page awhile back. By all means I am not following the Whole 30... which is proven when I substituted her homemade BBQ sauce for store bought. However, this served as a guiding point for my venture to make our ribs somewhat edible. 

  

Although Andrew didn't eat much they satisfied my craving for BBQ! We hope your fourth was filled with delicious food and {safe} celebrating! 

Baking Season

After my long hiatus there is lots to update on! Back in August I signed up for a fitness challenge for a local gym called Arete Community fitness. Through this gym they offer video workouts, meal plans, and a support group via Facebook. I knew it was going to become a busy time at work and I needed to be held accountable to continue working out and eating somewhat healthy. This challenge was just what I needed to get on track and find a routine that worked for me!

Since joining my first challenge, I've completed two total, I have begun to find a love for being in the kitchen. I always somewhat enjoyed cooking but often viewed it as a chore when I got home from work. Don't get me wrong, there are still evenings that it feels just like that... a chore, but I have grown to find pleasure in being in the kitchen. I've taken this time to learn new things since I never truly felt like I was a cook. However, I have slowly become better and have found myself feeling more comfortable in the kitchen.

Through these challenges I have been forced to plan our meals out weekly. So our routine is this- I sit down Sunday morning when we wake up and decide what we will have for dinner and create a grocery list. This way when I get off work I don't have to question what we are having for dinner. I can come home and get straight to work. Which doesn't seem like it should have been too hard to figure out but I needed someone to get me started!

Anyways, after we grocery shop I'll come home and prepare things for the week. Today, I was feeling festive, which means I wanted to bake and decided to bake cupcakes I found in a cookbook a couple weeks ago!

I have always wanted to learn how to make those delicious cupcakes you can find in bakeries and although I don't believe I have perfected that yet, these were a great start! Forgive me for the lack of photos! I was sharing them via snapchat with my family but forgot to save them. Regardless there is a nice finished product at the end!

Peanut Butter Chip Cupcakes

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

¾ cup buttermilk, shaken

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened

¾ cup lightly packed dark brown sugar

⅔ cup unsalted natural creamy peanut butter

2 large eggs

¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

• Preheat oven 350 degrees. Line 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, stir together the buttermilk and vanilla.
• In the bow of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and peanut butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium-low, add the eggs one at a time, and beat until creamy. 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk  mixture, then the remaining flour mixture beating until just blended after each addition. Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Divide the batter evenly among the liners (the batter will come to the very tops of the liners) and bake until the tops are just dry to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer the plan to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting with peanut butter frosting

Peanut butter frosting(makes 2 cups)

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup unsalted natural creamy peanut butter

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 ½ confectioners sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon whole milk

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, peanut butter, and salt on medium-high speed until creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, gradually add the confectioners sugar and beat until just incorporated. Add the milk, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and spreadable, 1 to 2 minutes.

Sunday Project

Can't believe we are already into December and are fully into the Christmas season! This will be the first year I have a place that is "mine." I've always shared an apartment with roommates and had the liberty to do what I wanted but this year I've been responsible with making it my "home" and I've come to realize I enjoy cooking, crafting, and decorating more than I thought before.

In other apartments where I knew I'd be for a short year before I went home for the summer I never put more effort than to hang a poster on the wall and call it good. However, now our plan is to stay in one place for awhile. To be completely honest, that was one of the main things I was looking forward to after graduating grad school- have a place to live for more than 2 years. I was tired of moving. In our new apartment I have been able to really make it ours and have started to think more "domesticated" (I used to always call my best friend Stephanie this because she always was thinking in a Susie Homemaker way when I would just shrug these things off). 

One project I've been waiting to tackle is cleaning and re-doing my Kitchen Aid mixer. When Andrew, my sister, and I rented a house out in Warrensburg I got the opportunity to go through Andrew's grandma's old things and take what we needed. When I was in the process of doing this I came across her old KitchenAid mixer. The mixer was a dingy yellow color that needed a little TLC. When I took it, I didn't care what it looked like- it was functional and that's all that mattered to me. Now that the kitchen is mine and Andrew could careless what it looks like, I've started to make it look "pretty." My mom had told me about some blogs she had read awhile back about taking them apart and cleaning them and hand sent me one that seemed fairly easy to tackle and with the holidays approaching, I bust out the KitchenAid mixer and started baking. 

There were a couple of different recipe's I wanted to try so I  spent the majority of yesterday making

• Butterscotch shortbread
• Puppy chow
• Crockpot Chex Mix
• Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

After my baking purge I finally decided to take the time and deep clean- and I mean DEEP CLEAN- this KitchenAid mixer and repaint it. We decided to go with a Hunter Green color that would cover the spots that didn't seem to come off and WALA!

There are still a couple places I need to touch up but I'll save that for another Sunday! Next on my list of projects- Christmas gifts! 

Food coma

The holidays always make my heart and stomach full. Spending time with both Andrew and my family is always full of laughs along with delicious food.

This past week I told Andrew I wanted nothing more than a salad for dinner. We gorged ourselves on Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, and the day after that. There is always a ton of leftovers and everyone just ends up eating those the remainder of the weekend.

When we came home Sunday, it was rainy and gross outside. My all time favorite food in the winter is soup. Since the gloomy weather was supposed to continue I decided to prep two soups to take for lunch throughout the week.

This Black Bean and Lentil Chili has already made an appearance once on my blog. Last year I was given this recipe to try and absolutely feel in love. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been looking forward to winter just to have an excuse to eat this!


While in Beaver Creek, CO for a conference a couple weeks ago we had Pumpkin Soup and I became obsessed as fast as I ate the soup. While we were eating, someone recommended Panera's Autumn Squash soup and I am forever grateful. Unfortunately, it will not be in my budget or stomach's best interest if I ate this soup everyday. So I found a replica to try on my own and I'm looking forward to eating it this week for lunch! Behold- Butternut Squash Soup!

**I completely blanked and forgot to get the coconut milk while we were at the store so I substituted greek yogurt

A few of my favorite things

Lately I've been in a "mood" according to Andrew. His exact words tonight were "What has gotten into you? Crafting, cooking, and cleaning?!"

In all reality, when we're at home I don't want to just sit around and watch football. I want to do something. With the holidays in full swing we've started to decorate our apartment. My husband is a real life Grinch. He doesn't see the fun in doing all these things but that makes it more fun for me! :)

Two weekends ago, I started cleaning and came across a DIY Burlap Wreath I started making shortly after Andrew and I got married. It was looking a little drab so I decided to finally take the Nebraska football down outside our apartment and switch it up with something more festive. 

The wreath itself was super easy to make. I unwrapped a wire hanger and thread different types of burlap through. I then fastened the Santa and pinecones on with ornament hangers. The whole project probably took about 60 minutes total, which is exactly what I need since I get bored easily with projects. 

Next we decided to put our Christmas tree up. This was supposed to be done "after Thanksgiving" but since we planned on going home for Thanksgiving we had to have it up so we can return home to it! Andrew put a total of three ornaments on before he got bored. 

This is him telling our dog Alba to sit for a photo in front of the tree

Since I was already in the crafting mood and we were at Michaels, I decided to update our tray we use to hold remotes in our living room. I painted the tray and used scrapbook paper to cover the inside. Again, super easy and done within one night. 

1. Painted the tray

2. Cooked dinner

3. Painted a second coat

4. Ate dinner

5. Glued the scrapbook paper in the middle

Phew... and I'd be lying if I said I don't still have the crafting bug. When I get into these "moods" as Andrew calls it, I end up spending hours on Pinterest. My t-shirt quilt is a project I've slowly been gathering supplies for and tonight I officially "started." Stay tuned!

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A Case of the Mondays

In case you weren't aware, today is Monday and let me tell you... every part of the world made that known to me today. Of course, that meant when I got home from work all I wanted to do was veg out in front of the TV but Andrew and I recently decided we were going to try and be better about our eating so I knew the old habit of serving ice cream for dinner wasn't going to work.

When brainstorming for dinner ideas I remembered last week I had planned to make an easy one pot Mexican pasta dish I found on Pinterest. When work got crazy and I didn't get a chance to those ingredients just sat in the cupboard. Since we had almost everything together I had Andrew stop and grab the remaining two ingredients from the store and we made that for dinner. This meal was a hit with Andrew and I'm glad we stayed strong and tried it out.

This "One Pot Wonder Southwest Pasta" was so easy to make and will keep it in my back pocket for another "Monday." All you have to do is throw all the ingredients into a pot and wait.
**We left out the black beans because I forgot to have Andrew grab those at the store but it was still delicious

Finally- the marinade review:

Our first attempt at grilling went SUPER well. The meat-we used chicken- was delicious! Would definitely recommend the marinade in the future and am glad I made a large batch to start. We've already used it again

We're one day closer to a long weekend. Happy Monday!
:)

A Slice of Life

I told you I'm going to try and be better about posting... so here I go!

The other day I was in a workshop for work and they were talking about blogging within the classroom and how it can help students write about something they care about. The presenter then asked if anyone in the room blogged. She seemed like she was hoping so bad that someone other than herself blogged so I raised my hand. I feel that I have started to slowly work my way into blogging and felt comfortable enough to raise my hand to help a sister out. Anyways, she was discussing how she utilized the blogs in her class and said she posted a lot of "slice of life" posts and I thought it had a ring to it so I figured I'd give it a show and share with you all a slice of life! :) These posts contain all things important in my life and blog: food, family, and work.

1. These southwestern egg rolls were a learning experience. They are probably the most adventurous thing I've tried to cook since the "calorie free eggplant Parmesan" I convinced my roommate to try in college. Can you say DISASTER? Luckily, these weren't as bad as that. I plan to make them again sometime with a couple adjustments (less and/or no frozen spinach).


2. This whole marriage thing is an absolute hoot! During my commute to work I tend to find myself just thinking about life and how lucky I truly am to have him as a husband and our two fur babies. This past Saturday evening Andrew and I just sat and laughed at each other telling stories and jokes and it was by far one of the best nights I have had since we got married.




3. Work is starting to pick up! It is outrageous that it's already August but I'm excited for the year to really kick into gear. Washburn has been extraordinary since I started here in June. I was surprised last week and "officially welcomed" with a plant.





So there you have it - a slice of life from me! I've slowly been making progress on my blog - check out those sweet buttons to the side and follow me. :)

Winter Hiatus

Ok, ok, ok... I have finally returned. Like all of those rocking Shonda Rhimes shows (#TGIT), I have been taking a brief winter hiatus but am back in action!

Here's a recap of the happenings in my world. :)

What I'm eating:

Curry Turkey! YUMMM! Remember a couple posts back... probably my last post... when I was talking about my co-worker who was bringing in the DELICIOUS soup recipes for me to try?! Well she has struck again only this time with something that is so easy and quick I don't even need a crockpot. This has been my go-to meal for the past couple weeks. It is so easy to make there really is not much to this recipe. Check it out:

1 lb ground turkey
Canned diced tomatoes and green chiles
Curry powder

Brown the turkey and season with curry powder. Put as little or as much as you want! After draining excess grease from the turkey, add in drained tomatoes and green chiles.

I served this over rice but have been told Trader Joes' brown rice and barley medley in the frozen section pairs great with the turkey (I plan to eat this combination throughout the week so I'll keep you updated!).

What I'm reading: 

Yes Please! by Amy Poehler.
I have just recently caught onto the Amy Poehler/Tina Fey bandwagon but have heard exceptional things about Amy's book. I've been loving her in Parks and Rec and am looking forward to seeing what insights she has to offer in her book!

Product I'm loving: 

Bare Minerals Prime Time BB Cream- I am still fairly new to the BB cream gang but have decided I am in LOVE with Bare Minerals Prime Time BB Cream! It is so much lighter than foundation but still provides me great coverage that lasts the entire day.

I have recently discovered the world of Influenster and received my first voxbox this past weekend! Prior to receiving my box, I was given a code to use at Adore Me. This website has tons of things to choose from and it was hard to choose a single thing to use my code on. However, frigid days in Nebraska called for a warmer robe for me to wrap up in to stay warm. As soon as I placed my order I was anxiously awaiting it's arrival. So much, it became the talk of the office and I was asked every day if it had arrived yet. Since it has arrived I have practically lived in it. The material reminds me of cuddling in a blanket and makes getting out of bed in the morning a little bit easier.

This box is full of goodies for me to test out and see if they're ones I truly love! I can't wait to see how they all work and am looking forward to letting everyone know all about my favorites!