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.

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. :)