Our life after "I do"

Meal obsession!

2013-04-19T19:54:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share one of my favorite meals recently. I feel like I eat this for breakfast lunch and dinner! It's so quick and easy, so versatile and SO delicious.

Call it what you want but basically it's my version of huevos rancheros So here is what I do.

1) corn tortilla in toaster oven on 375 for about 6 min. You can also put it on the oven, in the microwave, whatever you want to do to make it crunchy!

2) Hop on over to your stove and cook some black beans. (you can also microwave, just warm them babies up!)

3) make an egg, I like over medium, but make it however you want.

4) Get some toppings, I reach for hummus, mango peach salsa, spinach, cilantro, avocado, ground flax seed and plain greek yogurt (such a good sour cream replacement, you can use non-greek yogurt too!) I personally like the taste of all these toppings together but on top of that it's a great well rounded variety of nutritious, delicious food!

5) grab your tortilla, I put the hummus on first, then put everything on top in any order!

6) Eat away! :) It can be messy to eat but I eat it like a chip almost nice big delicious chip!! (Doesn't it look delicious?!)

Quickest dinner ever...really!

2013-04-07T17:53:00.000-07:00

Okay so I have continually struggled with eating healthy because in my mind it was always hard and took a ton of time. Until recently I discovered it's just about throwing healthy things together to make your own delicious meal. There is no need to follow the hour long recipes with stuff that tastes just "okay" or falling into the trap of "healthy" recipes that really are not that good for you.
I have a confession though, I love soup! It's easy to make, delicious, and super filling. Plus you can really do anything you want to it.
So here is a meal idea for people like me who don't realize how easy it is to cook healthy and don't really want to cook long dinners but really want a quick delicious healthy meal.

I'll call this umm....

Quick soup from your fridge!

(to generic? I'm not a creative at naming, call it whatever you want LOL!)

Start with however much water you want and bring to a boil.
I did 4 cups

Throw in whatever bullion cubes you want (you could use broth but substitute that for some water)
I chose 2 veggie cubes

Throw in whatever veggies you want. (You can also add meat, I'd have precooked meat if you want this to be fast, but cooking it doesn't take to much more time)
I picked about 10 sugar snap peas, 10 carrots, 5 strips of bell peppers, 2 stalks of celery (and even 4 pieces of apple)

Cut all these ups into the size you want, put into boiling water
took me about two minutes

Add spices (whatever you want!)
I picked garlic powder, pepper, a tiny bit of cinnamon and basil

Boil veggies in water
I did this for about 10 minutes, until everything is soft

Ready to eat!
MMM SO GOOD!

Seriously though, takes about 12-15 minutes all together for a delicious healthy meal that you can make however YOU want!

Update!

2013-04-07T13:07:00.003-07:00

It's been forever since I've posted something on our blog. Most of you know what is going on in our lives but for those of you who don't know and would like some updates I want to share them with you!! :)

For starters we only have 4 weeks left of school! OH YA! I am so excited!
Primarily I am super excited to be working a bunch more before my 5 weeks of vacation and one week of Samantha Mcfall's visit :)
This summer Brent and I will be spending a week in Washington, a week on a cruise to Alaska with my family (during our 2 year anniversary!), then I will be heading to Washington D.C to spend three weeks with my sister!
I am really excited to get a chance to spend some time with my sister! Growing up she was already in college when I was pretty young so we've never got to spend to much time together, but the time we have spent together is AMAZING and this will be the first time we really get together with both of us being "adults" so I'm really thrilled!

Brent is working full time at Schedulicity and going to school part-time. He is getting a Bachelors in Computer Science and should graduate in about 3-years as of right now.

I am working part time for Needle as a independent contractor for Norwegian Cruise Line chatting with customers on their website. I am also the Business Manager for the school newspaper at MSU called The Exponent. That job won't really start until fall semester but I am learning a lot now and am loving it, it's going to be an amazing opportunity! I am getting a Bachelors in Business- Accounting and a minor in Sociology(just because I really enjoy the classes and won't take me very many credits, so why not!), and I will graduate in about 3-years as well.

I'm sure everyone knows by now we moved into a new apartment on campus last August and have loved it a lot more then our old one. We are very grateful to be able to be in a better apartment however we still can not wait to have a house.

We got a lizard! His name is Nimrod, because he loves to hunt, however he is slightly stupid, the name was a perfect fit for him! He loves crickets, meal worms, digging, basking in the light and his skin sheds...pretty cool guy! (we think it's a boy)

We are trying to eat healthier (FOR REAL THIS TIME!) We've realized we have gained to much weight since being married and it needs to stop! We want to be healthier and look better! So don't tempt us with cookies.....(well maybe one) ;)

No babies are planned for our near future...school, our marriage and careers are our primary focus right now. Need a good foundation before we have babies.

We are really enjoying more then ever being married right now. The first year I'm not going to lie was SO difficult! I don't know how we didn't kill each other =P But each and every day we find ourselves falling more and more in love, and still getting butterflies. It's been incredible and I can't wait to continue to see what our future will look like!

Hope you enjoyed our update!
I've started realizing this semester I kind of enjoy writing more then I thought. So expect more post in the future!

Lunch on the go

2012-06-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

I know you have those days when you need something to grab and go, well here's a good idea even if it's going back to those childhood days!

Peanut butter, banana and honey sandwich!

Oh ya! So delicious, so quick and so easy!

2 slices of whole grain bread
Peanut butter, no additives just peanuts is what you're looking for in the ingredients, try Adams peanut butter.
half a banana
tiny bit of honey

There you have it, and even an extra half of banana! :)

Optional:

Try toasting your bread first for a little something different.

Bread: $.40
Peanut butter and honey: $.10
Banana: $.05

Quick natural lunch for $.55 you can't get much better than that!

A healthier potato soup

2012-06-05T20:20:00.001-07:00

I was craving Potato soup like nobody's business and I was very disgruntled because I've only ever had it with sausage, bacon, butter, and cream....so how was I supposed to eat it and stick to this 28 day challenge?
So this is what I came up with...and it was DELICIOUS!

Potato Soup

6 cups vegetable broth (I used water and bouillon cubes for this)
3 medium potatoes- chopped
2 cups carrots - diced
1 clove garlic - minced
1 onion - diced
1 tsp Italian seasoning
pepper and salt

Directions:

Put broth on stove and bring to a boil. While broth is heating up cut up garlic and onions, saute.
When broth is boiling toss in potatoes, carrots, garlic, onions and seasoning.
Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
Voila! You're done! Simple as that!

Optional:

If you want it thicker mash up some extra potatoes in the soup or add in corn starch. Or add in more vegetables!

Add ins:

Kale, celery, pretty much any vegetable.
If you want it to look more like potato soup consider a splash of almond milk.

Approximate Cost:

Potatoes: $.25
Vegetable bouillon: $2
Carrots: $.50
Garlic: $.05
Onion: $.25
Seasonings: $.01

Total: $3.07 for about 4 servings.

Take in to consideration these prices very on anything you buy on sale or when in season or if you grow it! Also the highest cost in here was the broth, this can easily be changed by making your own vegetable stock. Lots of options to lower this price. But $3 for a healthy and hearty dinner, not to bad!

Homemade laundry soap

2012-02-28T19:47:00.000-08:00

Homemade Laundry Soap

What you need

1/2 cup washing soap

1/4 cup borax

1/2 bar of soap

24 cups of water

storage container(s)

What you do

This is the scary part, cut up the bar or soap into slivers. I used a knife, but I'm sure there a million other things you could use to do this safely!

Once that's done pour 4 cups of water into a big pot and bowl the water, put heat on low. Put in the soap slivers a little at a time. Stir until the soap is melted into the water.

Add the rest of the water to your storage container or where you're going to mix everything up in

Add the washing soap, borax and soap mixture and stir all together.

Let sit 24 hours

and you're good to go!

My mixture was a bit slimy, but it works great! Use 1 cup per load.

If you want it to be more scented use a few drops of essence oils.

Fish Tacos

2012-02-27T11:34:00.001-08:00

Okay so fish is really something unusual for me to cook with! I am not the biggest fish fan! But I argued with myself and decided that I want to add it to my diet. So with out further ado here is what I came up with to make my belly happy with my decision!

Fish Tacos

First you need to grab

6 medium flour tortillas

lime

shredded lettuce

cheese

Spread

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 cup cilantro

2 tablespoons taco seasoning

(for a little bit healthier version and the way I did it is cut out the sour cream and mayo and use 1 cup plain yogurt instead)

Filling

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 lbs cod (or some yummy fish) cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2 tablespoon taco seasoning

Time to cook

Combine sour cream, mayo, cilantro and taco seasoning in a small bowl. Mix and set aside.

Heat a large skillet on med-high. Combine cod, vegetable oil, lemon juice, and taco mix in med bowl mix together and pour in large skillet. Cook stirring constantly for 4-5 minutes or until fish is flaky.

Once cooked cover a tortilla with the sour cream spread, fill with fish, shredded lettuce, cheese, and set a slice of lime on the side. MMM! Good to go! :)

P.S Serve with some rice, and beans of course!

Oh! and also can make a great taco fish salad! Yum!

Sun dried tomato spinach pasta

2012-02-21T17:55:00.000-08:00

Sun dried tomato spinach pasta

What you need:

1 cup sun dried tomatoes

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup onion (diced)

1/2 cup asparagus (diced)

3 garlic cloves (minced)

2 handfuls of spinach(or however much you like)

1/2 tsp crushed red peppers

1/2 tsp basil
salt and pepper to taste
Linguine pasta noodles

optional: 1 cup Chicken, Shrimp, Italian sausage, ground beef, shellfish

Step 1: (If you have the sun dried tomatoes in oil skip this step) Boil broth, put in bowl soak sun dried tomatoes for at least 15 minutes.

Step 2: Sauté garlic, onions, asparagus in olive oil, red peppers and basil until onions are almost soft. Put in handfuls of spinach and cook 2 more minutes, set aside.

Step 3: Boil water, cook noodles.

Step 4: Chop up sun dried tomatoes a bit, stir in with spinach mix and chicken broth.

Step 5: Drain noodles put back in pot.

Step 6: Mix sauce in with noddles, cook on med-high heat until dish is hot. Approx. 2 minutes

Step 7: Grab plates, grab forks, make salads, don't forget garlic bread and parmesan on top of pasta!

ENJOY!

Fabric softener

2012-02-20T09:21:00.000-08:00

Homemade Fabric Softener

2 cups hair conditioner

6 cups hot water

3 cups white vinegar

Pour everything into a big bowl. (I used a pot just because I was making laundry soap after this).

There will be large chunks of conditioner as you can tell, but the hot water will dissolve it easily. Whisk away!

After pour into a container, I chose mason jars.

When you use it about two tablespoons can go into your wash OR you can put this into a spray bottle and spray a towel with this mix, throw it into your dryer with your other clothes and you're good to go!

Finished!

Lets go over costs:

So on average your fabric softener can cost you about $.075/fluid ounce this costed me $.012/fluid ounce.

In a different perspective for one bottle at 120 ounces that's $9 vs $1.44

lets say you buy 1 bottle a month that's $108 a year vs $17.28 that's a savings of $90.72 a year!

I have an obsession...

2012-02-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

So the first step is admitting your problem.
My problem, Pinterest.

This is me...

You think I'm kidding, but sadly I'm not. If you follow me on pinterest you probably see your wall covered in things I pin. I hope you enjoy it! ha

However, I have found a lot of really amazing things on this website, so I like to say this is a good obsession!

You've probably seen my "I love you because" board that I made for Brent and our 6 months. I just wanted to say this thing has been amazing! Brent isn't a very mushy person, and well, neither am I. But we both love to hear from each other what we love about each other. It has been such an awesome feeling to walk by and see what my husband notices I do and what he loves about me. Going back to the five love languages book this has really satisfied both of out needs for words of encouragement!

If you are married, I highly recommend making this, it took me about 10 minutes to make once I had everything, costed under $15 (with leftover crafting supplies) and I'm hoping to have this for years and years to come.

The best part of this is you can do whatever works for you and make it however creative you want it.

This is how I made mine,

drove to Michael's

purchased

-wrapping paper($2)

-stick on letters($1.50)

-picture frame($5)

-tacks ($1)

-glue ($1)

-"love" and "xoxo" pieces ($4)

I drove back home

took out the cardboard back to the picture frame, and wrapped it with my wrapping paper.

Then after that stuck and glued on the letters, put a piece of paper on it so it was easier to read what we write.

and then...put it in the picture frame hung it up, put two tacks in the wall, hung our initials up, and put the pen on top of it.

And Viola! Great way to say I love you daily! (I added wedding photos around it, I like to call this my love wall)

What's great is you can add/remove/redo anything to this! I think I am going to possibly paint the frame a different color than white, Just not sure which color yet?...hmmm..decisions, decisions...

If you guys do make them let me see how they turn out by sending me pics and such! I'd love to see others creativity!

Thanks for reading, MWAH!

BEST.COFFEE.EVER.

2012-01-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

So Starbucks does this thing called a pour over. I describe it as a manual coffee pot.
Well I saw one at World market for $7 and had to get it! BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE!
It makes a personal cup of coffee for you, just in the last week we've saved money on coffee by not over using any or dumping any out. It's delicious, and sooo quick!

Here's how ya do it.

Heat your water!

(ignore how dirty the stove is! Literally this apartment is permanently dirty in lots of places, I CAN'T wait to move next year!)

Scoop your grounds into the filter. (2 Tablespoons for 8 oz.)

Waters done.

Saturate your coffee grounds, and wait as your most delicious cup of coffee gets done.

MMM :)

(On a side note: Don't get me wrong, this isn't actually my favorite tasting drip coffee, French Press is where it's at! But they are hard to clean, and I feel like take way more time. Also if you believe in the healthy vs non healthy benefits of coffee. It's believed that a lot of why coffee is unhealthy for you is the oils in it..French presses happen to keep those oils which causes for so much tastier coffee. But with paper filters it extracts the oils from the coffee. Which still causes for a great cup of coffee. little fun facts of the day)

I'm doing this AGAIN...

2012-01-27T09:14:00.000-08:00

So I stopped blogging because honestly, I had NO IDEA what to write about. But now that I'm finally settled into a life of my own that's full of adventure I figured, it's.time.again!
It's been harder for me than I thought it would have been to keep in contact with people since I've moved, so this should be a good way to let you all know what's going on in my life!
Lets get started.

What have I enjoyed about being married may you ask, and what have I learned in these last 6 months.
Holy cow it is hard! But I love every single moment of it!
Cooking, cleaning, learning, working and figuring out each others differences are just a handful of what I've enjoyed the most! Let me share one of them with you today....

Cooking (:

This is what for dinner tonight.....
CROCK POT MAC&CHEESE! yummmmm!

Mac&cheese is one of Brent's favorites...not so much mine. So I figured it was time to try and meet in the middle somewhere, and this worked wonders! And was still just as easy as it is from out of the box!

Recipe:

1 pkg. macaroni nooodles!
1 Tbl vegetable oil
1 (13 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt

4 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup melted butter

Optional: pepper, mustard, basil, parmesan, sour cream, garlic, anything you like in mac&cheese.... =D

What to do:

cook your noodles! grease your slow cooker. cover those noodles with vegetable oil. Stir in everything else. cook on LOWWWW for 3-4 hours, after it's done shove in your face!...how easy peasy lemon squeezy is that?! Annd don't forget to mention how DELICIOUS!

Hope you try it out for yourself, you won't regret it ;)

Photography!

2011-06-03T03:13:00.000-07:00

So I'm really starting to realize how much I love photography! So I've took and edited a few photos recently, and here are three of them. Two I took from waterfront one is from supercross. Thoughts? Should I keep doing photography, or find something else?! haha. Would love feedback!

Dream items!

2011-05-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been so excited about planning different items that I am eventually wanting to have in our home, and different ways to make our apartment and eventually our home something our very own!

This bed turns into this couch!

And my number one dream item EVER!!

but more realistically this one!