I'm on a roll!

Hello Lovelies!

I'm at it again!

Not only am I on night numero dos of meal planning/new recipe success, but here I am blogging  2 days in a row!

I know you all must be impressed.

So what did I make tonight you ask? I knew you would be curious. I made another of my pinteresty finds.

Le potato soup:

                                                                                                Source: skinnytaste.com via Lauren on Pinterest

The exciting thing is that it's the skinny version. It's made with potatoes and cauliflower. SOOO delish, but also good for you! :)

(Shhh... don't tell my husband! He loved it, but has no idea it's good for him too.)

I followed the recipe to the tee tonight(I just left out chives, bleh!). It was VERY easy to follow and didn't take long at all. I served it with rolls, but it would have been even better with steaks on the grill... I just wasn't that good tonight! It would be perfect for a cold night, but we didn't have that tonight. Typical bi-polar Florida November weather. We had a really cold weekend, and the last 2 days have been in the 80s! (Feel free to cool off anytime now! I enjoyed having our A/C off.)

Here's what our dinner looked like:

Success #2 this week!

On a side note: Seriously, what did we do before pinterest? I'm OBSESSED! Just take a look at mine and you'll see. Recipes galore, I'm finally trying to try some out! Crafty things that I just keep meaning to try. Even my "Babies" board is full of ideas and we're not even TTC yet! It's just so hard to resist!

What are some good recipes you have found on pinterest?

If I'm not already following you on pinterest, leave me a comment with the link to your boards. I love finding new people to stalk follow for new ideas!

Still deciding what meal on my planning list to cook tomorrow night, but hopefully it will be as easy and yummy as the first two!

Happy Tuesday y'all!



It's Volheim, Chef Volheim

Ok, ok I'm a little silly tonight! But I wanted to share with you all just how awesome I am in the kitchen! :)

Again, I kid.

I really wanted to share this amazingly easy, but absolutely DELISH recipe with you!

I found it, where else, but on pinterest.com of course!

Source: myrecipes.com via Lauren on Pinterest

It's called Tuscan Pasta and it's to die. The hubs even gave me a 9 our of 10 for dinner.(He hates vegetables and I made a salad to go with it and guilted him into eating it.)

It seriously took me a grand total of 30 minutes.

I even altered the recipe a little. I added grilled chicken in the pasta to give us some lean protein. I just marinted the chicken in lime juice, grilled it, diced it up, and added it to the sauce(just a thought if you want to try it.)

And this is what we got:

Yumm-o! Let me know if you try it!

Now to match my silly mood.. here's a little bloggy game I've been meaning to play for a while :)

What if...

What if I were to get pregnant?

We would both be more than thrilled, but also a little anxious since we weren't really planning on having our own little bundle of joy for another year.

Source: carolineesmith.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

What if I could have any job in the universe?

I'd be a stay at home mom. I know that sounds a little sad, but that's really what I want to do. 

What if I had the day to myself?

With nothing to do? No cleaning, work, or errands? I would sleep in, go to the gym, lay out by the pool, get my nails done, and then get dressed up pretty and go out for a nice dinner with my husband 

What if I could get married all over again?

Whew! I don't know about all that.. Our wedding was INCREDIBLE, but a lot went into it. I don't think I'd want to go through all of that again! I think it's safe to say we had the wedding of a lifetime, and the memories will last us that long :)

What if I could live anywhere in the US?

Well we're currently discussing possibilities. We have no real ties at the moment, no school, neither of us really have grown up jobs yet, so we're exploring job opportunities in other cities. We're currently looking at Tampa and Jacksonville, but we're not being close minded!

What if you could have any talent in the world?

Hmm.. that's a tough one. I think I'd have a great singing voice so I could be a performer and make lots of money :)

What if I went back to school?

I have this thought pretty much everyday. I can't make up my mind. Get a masters? Scrap PR and get another bachelor's degree in something easier to find a job in? Go to cosmetology school? Go to nursing or ultrasound school?

What if money weren't an object?

Stephen and I have this conversation on a regular basis(we're dreamers, what can we say?). We like to play the if we won the lottery game... My answer is always the same, pay off all of our current debts, help our families out paying bills and buyig fun stuff, buy a big nice house and decorate it exactly how we want, have a few kids, and do a lot of traveling, volunteer work, and donating.

Source: theberry.com via Lauren on Pinterest

What if I could meet one celebrity?

I don't really have one I don't think...

What if I could shop at one store for the rest of my life?

I couldn't pick just one store! That would be boring! But I do love Forever21, CottonOn, and Charolette Russe

What if I could choose any pet?

I love my Natty dog, but I would get him an English Bulldog friend

Source: google.com via Emma on Pinterest

What if I could go on a trip right now?
Funny you should ask, I've been having 2nd honeymoon cravings all day! Maybe a cruise? Back to the bahamas? Italy? 

What if I had to choose between a house cleaner and professional chef?

House cleaner, no question. I don't mind cooking at all, but I HATE cleaning.

What if I had the option to get plastic surgery?

I may toy with the idea of getting a boob job.. but I'm not sold on that idea either.


Happy Monday y'all! Hope the rest of your week is quick and painless! I'm looking forward to two days off (in a row!) starting tomorrow!

Monday again?

Is it really already Monday? Where have the last couple weeks gone?! I swear I feel like it was just  September 1st and now here we are half way through September! Basically I'm trying to make excuses for my inexcusably bad blogging habits, but there really aren't any. I'm back to just having one job(until I start subbing in the next few weeks) and I have a LOT  more free time. Last week my husband was gone on his first TDY so I had a lot of time on my hands. Did I do anything productive? Not so much.

I did squeeze in some fun though. I had lunch with friends, hung out with my mom, picked up a couple extra shifts at work, watched the first Saints game of the season!(More on that in a minute), went to the beach, got back in the gym, went to the Gulfarium with my family, and just enjoyed some "me" time.

As I mentioned, this was our first TDY since being married, well actually, ever. It did not go well. There was a lot of fighting between the two of us over those 5 days, and I think we just both had very different expectations of what it would be like. I will spare you all the gory details, but for my other MIL spouses out there, did you ever have this problem? What do you do to help make seperations easier on you. I was just surprised because last year he was gone practically the whole year between basic and tech school and our relationship actually got stronger through all that. That's why I wasn't really worried about a measley 5 day seperation, but it was much different this time. He has a deployment next spring so we have to figure out how to handle these things before then so any advice you may offer is welcome!

Back to the fun stuff, I mentioned that I watched the first NFL game of the season. We're mostly college football crazed down here, but my family and I are big Saints fans, always have been. This year they played the first regular season game on Thursday night against the Packers. Well some of our close friends are crazy Packers fans. They had a football party to watch the game and were nice enough to invite my mom and I and even let us wear our Saints gear. It was a lot of fun even though we lost! Lots of food, lots of chatting, a little beer, and plenty of football! I even got to try out one of my new pinterest recipes, which I will share with you because it was super easy and very delicious!

It was kinda pot luck snackage for the night so I brought one of my stand by favorites, pizza dip(which I will share the super easy recipe with you), and tried out my new dessert favorite, the peanut butter ball.

The Pizza Dip(always a big hit!)

Start with an oven safe dish and cream cheese(amount varies depending on how much you want to make)For this occasion I used 16oz

 Combine Italian Seasoning and cream cheese in oven safe dish and spread evenly along the bottom of the pan.

 Add a jar of pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce on top of the cream cheese and add more Italian Seasoning to your taste.

Add a bag of shredded mozzerella cheese and more Italian Seasoning to taste.

Place dish in oven at 325 until melted and warm. Serve with chips, crackers, anything you can think of and enjoy!

**(Again portions can very depending on how much you need to make)

Here are the pictures from my Peanut Butter ball experiment. You can find the full recipe at this awesome cooking blog. It was a big hit too and super easy to make!

It's football season, so hope you guys enjoy these easy football party recipes too! Happy cooking and happy Monday y'all!

Thursday and all of it's randomness

Ok, let me just start this post off with what I consider to be very exciting news. I finally broke down and joined pintrest! I had been avoiding for a long time, but I just couldn't resist any longer. And let me tell you what, it is SO addicting! If you're on pintrest too follow me here, so that I can follow you back. I'm new to this so I'm looking for cool new things and trying to get the hang of it all.

My work schedule is never the same. This week it just so happens that after today, I get tomorrow off. Woo hoo! The only bad part of this(if you can find a bad point to a day off!) is that it means I am working all of Saturday and Sunday. Boo! The bright side is that today is pay day. YAY!

Stephen has some AF buddies coming in town this weekend to stay with us, so that should be fun. I love having company. This has also given Stephen the nudge he's been needing to get the bed situated in the guest room. That's the last room in the house that's just a complete wreck and I'm excited to get it all set up and looking cute to have people stay over! Ok, ok, I know we don't have over night company very often, but it's nice to have a space set up for them on the occasions that we do! I'm hoping that the bed will be in place shortly after I get off work tonight, and then tomorrow when I'm off I'll go in search of the perfect comforter and get the room looking cute.

My new found love of pintrest and the potential of decorating my new little guest room have me feeling a little domesticated. In my head, I'm a domestic goddess. This is far from the truth! I admit that I will leave clean clothes in the dryer for a few days hours because I don't feel like folding them and putting them away. I make hamburger helper too often for my Mom's liking(she is anti "fake" food like HH and spaghettio's). I do cook dinner most every night, and pack both of our lunches for work. I try, but let's face it, I would rather go do something fun with my husband then cook or clean. And let's not get started on my lack of decorating skills! I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it here before, but I'm decorating challenged. More so creativity challenged. I can copy other people's cute ideas(mainly my Mom's!), but coming up with my own. Forget it.

Well, I have been on a mission here lately to get more creative with dinner time. I'm a pro at making chicken and rice, but more poor husband needs a little variety! So I've made it a goal to cook at least one new meal a week so we aren't eating so much chicken and hamburger helper! Last night I made breaded pork chops with Parmesan potatoes and green beans. It was very yummy and so easy! (Pictured below) For any of you other newlyweds out there looking for new ideas, I'm gonna share the recipe:

Pork chops: Preheat over to 400. Take out a package of thin cut pork chops(thawed). In a small bowl crack two eggs and beat them well(think the way you would if you were going to make them scrambled eggs), In a separate bowl pour a good sized pile of Italian Style bread crumbs. Dip each pork chop really well in the eggs and then roll it around in the bread crumbs. When it's covered well, place it on a baking sheet. Repeat with desired number of pork chops then pop baking sheet in the oven for 20 minutes.

While the pork chops are baking, wash your red potatoes and cut them into quarters. Place the cut up potatoes in a big pot of water and set it to boil on the stove. After about 12 minutes(or until the potatoes are softened), drain the water, and add a tablespoon of cardio control margarine(or butter if you prefer, I'm just currently trying to be healthier), a sprinkle of sea salt, a sprinkle of basil, and Parmesan cheese to taste.

Serve both with whatever else you've made and enjoy! (I know, I know it was not that difficult of a recipe.) In fact, I don't even know if you can call it a recipe. But that's my point! If I can do this, you can too! I tell you what, for a simple meal, my husband definitely enjoyed it! I thought ahead and made enough for him to take lunch today too, I know cold sandwiches have to get boring. ( I know, I know. I'm a great wife! You don't have to tell me!)

BESIDES my new meal adventure last night and making both of our lunches, I made a big pan of lasagna! Stephen's little brother, Shawn, goes back down to Orlando for college tomorrow and we wanted to see him one more time. He seems to like my lasagna and it makes it easy because I can cook it all the night before and just bake it when I get home from work. So I'm looking forward to that! Yummy lasagna dinner and visiting with the little brother before it's back to school for him!

 

This is what the lasagna looked like last night when I got done assembling it. Tonight I'll bake it and it will turn into melty, gooey, goodness. I can share my recipe for homemade lasagna later, if anyone is interested!

I had intended to delve into my quarter-life crisis I am currently having, but this random rambling has taken up too much of your time already. I apologize for those of you who made it all the way to the end! Tomorrow I will spill my guts about the decisions I'm currently facing and hopefully writing out and getting some input will help? Maybe.

Until then, Happy Thursday y'all!