taco (salad) tuesday (and I know it's Monday)

 easy peazy guac: one avocado, scoop of salsa, and squirt of lemon juice

I sauteed half a chopped onion with cayenne pepper and chili spice (what's that called?). I added my ground beef and cooked it and then drained it. While it was draining, I threw my romaine lettuce in the cast iron skillet to get wilty and some flavor. 

I then made a bed of lettuce, added the meat, the guacamole, and grated some Colby Jack cheese on top. I added a spritz of red wine vinegar and olive oil, and it was finished. Super easy, and lots of good nutrients. :) 

Happy Cooking!

Daisies and dinner: making a home

While enjoying the busyness of work, I've also been finding great joy from creating a home. Having a place to call my own and being to welcome people into it for meals, and prayer, and late-night talks, and spend-the-nights, has been amazing. 

One of the responsibilities and joys of a home is grocery shopping and cooking. Aldi's has become my favorite grocery store because there I am able to purchase healthy, raw ingredients for yummy food to feed anyone that comes by.

The other night I made spicy turkey meatballs in my cast iron skillet. 

Ingredients:
Ground turkey
1/2 onion, chopped finely
Italian breadcrumbs
Generous sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes
Sprinkle of garlic powder
Marinara sauce
Pesto 
Pasta

Mix meat, onions, breadcrumbs, and spices together in a bowl while about 1/2 inch of vegetable oil is heating in the skillet on medium heat. Roll meat mixture into 2 inch balls. Drop into hot oil. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, turning them over ever two minutes to cook evenly. Once finished, place them on a plate with a paper towel in order to soak up excess oil.

Boil water for pasta. Cook pasta according to directions on box.

Mix marinara sauce with a tablespoon of pesto sauce and heat over medium heat.

Drain pasta. Serve meatballs and sauce over the pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, if desired. And it's always desired :)

Salad and summer watermelon go great as sides. 

acorn squash soup recipe

Before Thanksgiving, my family and I ate a light chicken soup made from the leftover chicken from beer can, spicy chicken. The soup stock had pureed potatoes, mushrooms, celery, carrots, Celtic sea salt, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper. 

I froze a quart of this soup to save for later cooking adventures in my dorm. :)

Today is reading day. I have plenty of studying and writing to do, but I wanted to start with a healthy, yummy meal instead of heading to the dining hall for something less appealing.

I put the frozen soup stock in my rice cooker. I had an acorn squash I had bought the week before I hadn't done anything with yet. I tried to peel it. Ladies and gents, acorn squash, shock of all shocks, does not peel. I ended up having to cut extra squash away with the peel, but in the end, it worked. I chopped the squash into 1/2 cubes and tossed them into the rice cooker. 

I let it cook for about 10 minutes. Then I transferred the soup into my smoothie maker and blended it until smooth. I then put in back into the pot to continue simmering and let the flavors meld. I poured some into a bowl and sprinkled cheese on top, and now I have a delicious, bone-warming soup, perfect for this wintry, reading day. 

Every recipe I looked up online required you to roast your acorn squash before adding it to the soup stock. I don't have an easily accessible oven, so I just chopped it and let it simmer longer.

The recipe is as followed:

1 qt chicken soup stock

1/2 cup carrots

1 stick celery

1/2 cup mushrooms

1/4 onion

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 spoon sea salt (sea salt tends to be very potent, so only the tiniest of pinches is really necessary)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1 acorn squash

Put chicken soup stock in rice cooker, or in pot on stove on medium high. Add carrots, celery, mushrooms, onion, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and cumin. Let simmer for 20 minutes.

Peel and chop acorn squash carefully, or use leftover roasted acorn squash. Butternut squash will also work. Add to soup.

Let simmer for 10 minutes. 

Add all of soup to a blender or food processor. Blend on high until smooth. Return to pot. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Pour into bowl, sprinkle cheese or sour cream on top, and enjoy! 

Pumpkin Bar Recipe

With fall upon us, it seems appropriate to start baking with pumpkin again. I took a study break today to make some pumpkin bars so I can have some yummy snacks. I thought I'd share it with y'all. 

1 cup pure cane sugar
15 oz can of pumpkin puree
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray. 

2. In large bowl, mix sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Stir until smooth. Blend in flour, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and apricot pieces. Pour into pan and bake on center rack in oven.

3. Bake for 30 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. 

Happy Fall!

Blog Roundup

As my life has been a bit crazy this week with moving from one city to another with the process of packing to go to third city this weekend, and fourth (and final) city next week to move back onto campus for the college semester. Because crafting has not really been happening this week, between packing, visiting the art museum with my lovely sisters, and hanging out at the pool with my aunt and cousins, I wanted to share some of my favorite blogs from around the internet. Some of these blogs I've followed for a while and others I've only just discovered. 

Never Not Knitting is my favorite knitting blog. Her podcasts include her knitting projects for her patterns, her difficulty with traveling to book signings with her six year old and her one year old, and beautiful photographs of her projects. Even though many times she won't release full details because of her knitting is often content from her books, everything is artfully and tastefully done and exciting to watch progress. Her theme song for the podcast is the best! Her botanical knits are stunning. The Oak Grove Fingerless Mitts and the Seedling Beret are some of my favorites. 

Fresh Modesty is a new blog I stumbled upon because of her sewing blog, Working with Eager Hands. She has two e-books about sewing with jean fabric and sewing modest swimwear. Her navy lace dress and her chevron maxi skirt are some of my favorites of her sewing projects.  

Stilettos and Diapers is a another new blog I came across recently because of her maxi skirt tutorial. Her recipes for clean eating and her DIY section are probably my favorite sections, but her fashion posts are cute as well.   

Simple Simon and Company is a great sewing blog written by two moms, liZ and Elizabeth. They sew mostly for their adorable children, write great tutorials, and take gorgeous photos. Some of my favorite tutorials of theirs are the Morton Salt Girl Dress and the Easy Maxi Skirt. They write beautiful posts about the Art of Homemaking. "We would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant, and truly see the things that matter most." Dieter F. Uchtdorf. 

Sewing in No Man's Land is another one of my favorite sewing blogs. This seamstress is married to a foreign service officer and she blogs about her sewing, kids, DIY projects, and adventures of finding fabric and materials all over the world. She also has great tutorials for sewing for kids. 

Made, another great mom sewing blog, has some of my favorite sewing tutorials and technique instructions. She's also the author of Fabrics A to Z, which is a great resource to understand fabrics and how they will behave in certain projects and how you can use they to show off their strengths.

Go look around for some great crafting, sewing, cooking, and fashion inspiration!

Please comment with your favorite blogs to read (or your own). :)

Happy Thursday. 

College Omelet Recipe (playing house continued)

I realized how much I have missed having omelets everyday which I did during the school year. I was so consistent that I would just walk into the dining hall and Ms. Chavis would see me and go ahead and fix my omelet before I even got to her station. Peppers, spinach, and cheese omelet. Everyday. All year. And I loved it. My breakfast buddy thought I was crazy, but every morning she had difficulty picking something different or creative, whereas I was totally happy with what I knew was good. I love trying new foods, but you could never be sure about trying new food at the cafeteria. :) 

So I made my own version of the college omelet with what was in the refridge. 

Ingredients:
two eggs
bell pepper
green onion
shredded cheese
salsa
garlic
olive oil
pepper
any other veggies in the refridge that you want to add

Mince the bell pepper, green onion, and garlic so that you have about a handful of small pieces to sprinkle. You don't want huge chunks of veggies in your omelet, but you want them there. 

Scramble eggs in a bowl until frothy while the olive oil in the skillet is heating over medium heat. Grind some pepper in the pan before adding the eggs.

Pour eggs into heated pan. Sprinkle the minced bell pepper, green onion, and garlic onto half of the omelet. Sprinkle cheese on top of this. Spread about a tablespoon or so of salsa on top of the cheese. 

Let cook until the eggs are almost entirely set. Fold in half, let sit for about 30 more seconds, remove from pan, and enjoy!

I originally had pulled mushrooms out of the refridge to add to the omelet, but then decided that I really don't like them, so why add them to my yummy omelet? 

Happy Wednesday!

Chicken Pad Thai Recipe

Chicken Pad Thai: 

Ingredients:
2 chicken breast
1 package of snow peas
half a can of bamboo shoots
package brown rice noodles
handfull of chopped, unsalted peanuts

sauce:
3 tbsp peanut butter
6 tbsp sesame seed oil
3 tbsp soy sauce 
2 tbsp brown sugar

Saute chicken in a splash of sesame seed oil until it is thoroughly cooked through but still moist. Cut into bit size pieces. Toss snow peas, chopped peanuts, and bamboo shoots into the pan. 

In a separate boil, mix together peanut butter, sesame seed oil, soy sauce, and brown sugar. Pour over chicken mixture in the pan. 

Cook brown rice noodles according to directions on box. Serve the chicken pad thai over the rice noodles. 

Enjoy!

Pad thai is a great building block recipe. You can add all sorts of vegetables that you have on hand and you can use chicken, shrimp, or possibly pork (never tried it that way, but I'm sure it's possible). The chopped peanuts add some great texture. Pad thai is probably one of my favorite dishes, so it was fun to make some last night. 

Happy Monday!