The Hobbit

I'd like to start out by saying that I'm very sorry for not posting for so long. I have been pretty busy lately finishing up my first quarter of college. But since the movie the Hobbit is coming out on the 14th I decided to start reading the book. And for those of you who haven't read it yet, go read it. Right now. Why aren't you moving? It is a great book. Even from the first chapter the characters are well expressed, colorful, and very well put together! It is a very funny and entertaining book and I don't want to put it down! I am also very excited for the 14th because that is when I get to go see the movie and I'm sure I won't be disappointed :)

Too much food!

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while but there really hasn't been much going on around here. Today however I spent several hours in the kitchen making my brother a birthday dinner. I made Fried Chicken, Mashed potatoes, and a decadent coffee cake. We just finished eating a little bit ago and we are stuffed! I definitely picked the wrong day to wear tight jeans. In fact I may have to go put on some sweats. I now officially don't have the energy to do anything but sit here and type. Normally  I don't eat that much at all but this food was just so good and I was so hungry!...Oh there just went my plans of doing nothing for the rest of the evening. My mom just "asked" my sister and me to go fold a HUGE pile of laundry on her bed. Normally I don't mind laundry but tonight I just can't do it, I do not have enough energy to do that! Plus I am sorta OCD when I fold my laundry I usually have to do laundry all by myself so I have a perfect system of folding and organizing and whenever I fold it with my mom and/or sister they mess up my system and it seriously irritates me! Oh well off to fold laundry...yay...

Apology

Well I know I promised you guys pictures of food etc...but my mom decided to not let me do the special lunch tomorrow so I can't make it right now. But when I do make the food I will post pictures. Sorry guys.

Sickness and Food

Well unfortunately my two younger siblings have come down with the same cold that I had and am still getting over. It's too bad that they're sick but it's also too bad they are sick today. I know this will sound selfish but today is the day we are doing a big house-cleaning because my brother's girlfriend is coming up tomorrow and will stay all weekend. And since Liesl (my sister) is sick we will not have her help cleaning the house. But that's okay I didn't have to do any work when I was sick so I guess we will be even. Tomorrow I will hopefully have a long post because I will be starting the food for Sunday lunch. In case you're wondering I can't make it on Sunday because we have church in the morning and I won't have time if I try to do it then. So anyway I will be making Fried Turkey Breast, Creamy Mashed Potatoes, Coffee Cream Cake, and Flour-less Brownies. I think I've made this meal or at least part of it before but the Fried Turkey Breast, Creamy Mashed Potatoes, and Cake is all from the cookbooks of The Pioneer Woman. This is her website link: http://thepioneerwoman.com/ I highly suggest looking at it, her blog is amazing as is her food! Anyway I will post more about the food when I make it tomorrow.

SUN!

Well we finally got some serious sunshine out here today. Since I live near Seattle we don't get much sun even in the summer. But today we got up to about 75. So today I went out to "tan" and only spent about 2.5 hours out there but tonight much to my despair my entire back and the back of my legs are so burnt I can barely walk. I am currently laying on my stomach on my bed with five bags of ice on my back and legs thanks to my sister!

This is what my sunburn looks like. You can't see how bad it is but it's like bright red. Any solutions to make it less painful and turn it into a tan?

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's day to all of you moms out there! And a special Happy Mother's Day to the best mom in the whole world! (That would be mine in case anyone is wondering). So tell me what are your plans for today? For me I think my grandma has planned a big family get together, (at our house?) Other than that I'm not sure what's happening. This morning me and my dad got up at 6:00 and went driving around to borrow lilacs from the lilac bushes in our neighborhood for my mom because they are her favorite flower. Unfortunately there were only two known lilac bushes in the area so we came home with a rather pathetic bunch of flowers. Since I am too broke to buy my mom a present I had to make her something and considering I'm at all "artsy fartsy" It turned out very well. I made her a Coffee Face Scrub and put it in a mason jar with a lid then took a square piece of retro looking cloth and put it over the lid and held it there with a ribbon. Then I tied a small bunch of lilacs to it. I lost the instructions for the Coffee Face Scrub so don't ask me where I got it. But if I remember correctly it is: 1 Cup coffee grounds, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup olive oil, and 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon. mix it all together and put it in an airtight container. It will keep for 2 months. You just put it on your damp face scrub it around then rinse it off with warm water and pat dry. I highly recommend ya'll make it even just for yourselves because it smells absolutely divine!

Not my best day

Well today was kind of a crappy day for me. It all started when I woke up this morning at 5:50 AM! Don't get me wrong I'm a total morning person and I love mornings the problem with this morning is that:

1. Our house was cold
2. The coffee had not yet been made (usually my dad is up before all of us and makes it)
3. I had a VERY sore throat and felt achy and my whole face/head hurt like crazy.

So this morning was not very great to start so I thought to myself, my throat is probably just sore because I'm thirsty. So I went downstairs and drank a GIANT glass of water. Did it improve the soreness of my throat? Nope.
While this was happening my dad came downstairs and started making the fire. Our chimney is stuffed up so by fire I mean he made some coals a little red. Did it warm the house? Nope.
 While he was down there he made coffee so when it was ready I went over all prepared to have myself a delicious cup of iced coffee (yes I am aware that iced coffee is not the best idea when your freezing cold but you are probably not aware how addicted I am to the stuff) So anyway I start digging through our cub bard looking for a mug. (I should probably add here that our dishwasher really doesn't work that well. At all.) And I couldn't find a clean mug that didn't have dishwasher specks on it. (Yes I am too lazy to re-wash one.) Finally I found my mom's travel mug so I filled it with ice cubes and poured in the delicious looking coffee and went over to the fridge to doctor it. I started by pouring in some heavy whipping cream and I looked at it as it went in and it looked gross and I could smell something foul so I held it up to my nose and smelled it and it was DISGUSTING! But it was already in my coffee so I had to dump it. Then I was in despair because I didn't have a mug for my coffee when genius struck and I realized that since I was having COLD coffee I could put it in a plastic cup. So I did. And it was delicious.
But on to the rest of my day. I had oatmeal for breakfast and afterwards took some vitamins to help me feel better. Then about an hour later I got a horrible stomach ache and felt like I was going to throw up. Four glasses of milk and maybe 20 minutes later I finally felt better. Unfortunately my head still feels like crap so I have spent most of the day in bed watching season three of Sweet Home Alabama. (Great show by the way.)
Anyway despite all that I had a good day because I decided that  I really like cowboys! And It was great having a day to myself without my siblings harassing me. And I got out of the dishes. And my brother is getting home from Phoenix tomorrow. Oh and I got a new cell phone!

Why I don't like working out...

Me and my sister Liesl started a new exercise regime yesterday. It doesn't use any gym equipment or anything like that so I thought that it would be relatively easy. And for someone with any measurable upper (or lower) body strength I'm sure it would be. For me, it was torture. Of course I put on my new workout playlist and powered through, however you're supposed to go through the circuit three times and I went through about one and half times before my limbs were shaking so bad I fell over. Twice. But if anyone is interested in it here is the link to the workout at Women's Health Magazine.  http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/anywhere-workout

I would really recommend it unless you have to walk up or down a lot of stairs afterwards. As me and my sister discovered when you're done your legs and arms are like jelly and you may just end up falling down or up the stairs. But I'm going to keep at it. Summer's coming around you know and as they say No pain No gain.

Good Eye Mites!

No I am not going loopy :) If you say the phrase 'Good Eye Mites' just the way it's written it sounds exactly like you're saying "Good Day Mates" in an Australian accent. Now why am I just now sharing this nugget of wisdom with you? Well let me tell you. Once upon a time....(A.K.A. last night)...I didn't fall asleep until about five-ish this morning and since I was bored last night because I couldn't sleep I decided to browse Netflix to find something to watch. Well I found this semi-interesting Australian Sitcom and I ended up watching about 13 or 14 episodes of it before I finally fell asleep. I guess it soaked into my sub-conscious more than I thought because all day today I have been thinking in an Austrailian accent! I talk with my normal American accent but when I do all my thinking it has been with an Australian accent. And not to toot my own horn or anything here but my mind does a pretty good Australian accent.

The Ramblings of a Saturday Morning

Hello Peeps!
Sorry I haven't posted in a while I have been very distracted looking for colleges and a job for the summer. Neither of which I have found by the way. Also I'm looking for a new phone which I found I just can't afford. Which leads me back to the job...My ideal summer job would be working for Starbucks because I love the smell of coffee, the sound of making coffee, the sweet-bittery taste of fresh made coffee...maybe I love coffee a little too much. So I'm trying to apply for a Starbucks job but I don't know when I can start because I live in a very small little town that doesn't have a Starbucks or really anything like that so I would need to move to a different town to work and I still need to find a place to live, which I can't afford because I don't have a job and I can't get a job because I can't move and if I can't move and then get a job (or the other way around) I can't go to college. Is anyone confused yet? Oh but on the plus side I have decided to start working out. I found a very good looking workout thing that I can do at my house (because we don't have a gym here) and it is a 21-day plan thing that I am going to start today. Maybe. If I can get enough energy. Well my mom called us to breakfast and it smells like pancakes, and I love the smell of pancakes and the taste of pancakes all bready and sweet with maple syrup on top....okay okay I'm done now.

Hey everyone!
Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I've been in Missouri with my family because my grandpa died. But interesting story. While I was there I got my first tick! It was so disgusting!! Apparently if you get a Q-Tip and dip it in Tee Tree Oil and rub it around the tick then it will actually pull itself out! And it worked...I got to watch this tiny little tick pull itself out :( it was disgusting!! But I don't have any pictures yet I will post some later. But now I'm super tired so I will post more later.

Cows

Yesterday I went out with my grandpa to help him water his cows and a couple of them had just recently given birth so we were checking on the new calves to make sure they were okay. We found one of them pretty quickly and it just lay there in the grass and it even let me pet it! Apparently baby cows are as soft as they look :) Then we had to go on a 30 minute trek through the field to find the other calf because it was lost. Through all this I was trying to take pictures of the cows and the field and trying to keep my hair out of my face, and trying to NOT step in cow poop which was all over the field...

I did manage to learn a couple things from my trek though:

1. Don't go trekking through a field full of cow poop while trying to take pictures of cows and keep the hair out of face

2. I need new shoes...

Hey everyone!
just wanted to let you know about a cool giveaway I found online. It's at http://www.theyuppielady.com/2012/03/burberry-tote-giveaway.html and you can get a Burberry Tote for free. It's regularly priced at $695 so get over there and check it out!

Strawberry Pizza

Yes. You heard right. Strawberry Pizza. No it does not contain pepperoni. I found this recipe a while ago and have made it several times and it is always a big hit. Basically it's got a pie-like dough on the bottom that you bake then you spread a cream cheese mixture over that. Cover that with sliced strawberries then pour a strawberry sauce over top. It's delicious, although people always get a little put-off if you tell them the name and don't explain what is in it. Anyway I'm gonna be making this in a few minutes. I'm just waiting for the dough to chill in the fridge. Also today I made pretty much the best doughnuts known to mankind. No I'm not bragging, they are actually the BEST doughnuts ever. Honestly I had to remove myself from the kitchen or else I would just continue eating them and eating them until I was so full I wouldn't be able to move...although I would enjoy the eating them part :)

more cooking...

I spent a lot of today doing more cooking for my mom. It's her birthday tomorrow so I was working on a version of a Strawberry Shortcake but I for got to take pictures but I will put a picture on of the finished product tomorrow.

Sunrise from my porch

I took this picture the other morning from our deck. Isn't it beautiful?

No Title...

Well unfortunately for me I live in a very boring little town where nothing interesting happens. So today I did...nothing. Well actually I baked three pans of brownies but I can't tell you about that because I don't want this blog to be only about food. Oh! I know! I also worked on something for my mom's upcoming birthday. She's turning....old(er). But most of the day I spent checking my computer to see when my new cookbooks will come and trying to convince my mom that we need to move to a more populated city. I lead a very exciting life don't I?

Clocks, potatoes, chicken

Hello again!

So this morning I was rudely awakened at 3:30 AM by a horrible dream and didn't get back to sleep. Which of course made me very tired later (yet still early) in the morning. Then around 7:00 AM I was laying on our sofa with my soft slippers and my fluffy blanket, and I got sleepy so I decided I was only going to doze. So I did. But then I woke up and looked at our big clock on the wall and saw that it was 8:30. I promptly chastised myself for actually sleeping and not just dozing. Then I realized I would be home alone because my mom would have taken my sister to school. So I meandered upstairs and when I passed my sister's room I noticed she was still in bed. Thinking my mom had overslept and forgotten her I promptly made my way to my mom's room to inform her that it was past 8:30 and Liesl (my sister) was still asleep. Fortunately for my pride, when I was about half way to my mom's room I glanced at my cell phone screen and saw that it read 7:30 instead of 8:30. Feeling very confused I scurried (love that word by the way) back downstairs and walked close up to our big clock and saw that it was in fact only 7:30. I still feel guilty for scolding my subconscious for oversleeping, but I've been forgiven because I treated myself to iced coffee with extra sugar and a Cranberry Scone. 

Sorry there are no pictures this time. I actually did more cooking today and I could have taken/posted pictures of that but I decided I was not going to post about food anymore. Ever. Well at least not till next week. But speaking of food I made Creamy Mashed Potatoes and Chicken Fried Steak. Well actually I just made Fried Chicken Breast. No, wait it was Fried Turkey Breast. We were out of chicken. But anyway I got both recipes from the Food Network website, from The Pioneer Woman. And I highly recommend both recipes, they are absolutely delicious! But no more about that. Because I'm not going to talk about food until next week.

I'm not going to talk about how creamy and perfect the mashed potatoes were.

Or how crispy the fried turkey was.

Or how much my family loved it. Or how they want me to make it again next week. 

Cranberry Scones

I would like to start out by pointing out that I don't plan on only posting about food. However since I made brownies yesterday I've been in a baking mode. My dad asked me to make these scones for his Men's Bible Study Group, and since I have nothing better to do. I agreed. I also decided to photograph the baking process because I really like food photography. This is my first attempt at it though so I apologize if the pictures aren't great. 

Adding the butter to the flour mix.

After the butter is added.  I thought the crumbly flour looked pretty

Egg yolks and sour cream. Yum?

Egg yolk and Sour cream waterfall.

Dough ball. My mom had to take this pic cause my hands were gooey from the dough.

Flat as a pancake.

Cinnamon and sugar topping. 

The finished product :)

This time I was smart. I learned from yesterdays brownie mistakes, I made a lot of these scones and promptly put all but eight of them in the freezer. Hidden. Where snack-y family members can't eat them all before I do. I hope it works...

Brownies

Hello everyone!

My brownies. (After we all sampled a few.) 

Let me start out by saying that my family has a major sweet tooth. Usually I do the baking in my family and I like to think I'm pretty good at it so it's not unusual for the cookies or cake or whatever I make to disappear pretty quickly, however, the rate at which they disappear still does surprise me sometimes. For example yesterday afternoon I baked my family some Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies. I made them in  a 9 x 13 in. pan so there was quite a few of them. Naturally when they were finished we all had to sample one or two (just to make sure they tasted good) but there was still lots left over. Then last night I went to my grandparent's house for the night and when I returned this morning there was like five brownies left! I didn't even get to eat that many! I think I know who the culprits are though. One would be my mom because she gave six of my brownies to my grandpa. But the thief is my younger sister. She eats the deserts I make like there's no tomorrow, (which is not fair because she is still unbelievably skinny) but I think she took a few to school with her. Anyway it looks like I will just have to make another batch.