Wednesday, November 30, 2011

WWW Nov 30, 2011


This is not the best quality photo on either of us.  But I had to share because it is the only photo taken of Kameron with his Thanksgiving mustache.  It was so awesome terrible, that I had a hard time taking him seriously for a few days.  Then, before I knew it, it was gone.  I had planned on setting up some silly scene and doing a photo for our Christmas card with that beauty.  Oh well, another year.  While your being jealous of my dreamy husband's mean mug, check out some other cool stuff...

So crazy bird cool!

This bike made me giggle =)

I don't think I have mentioned my love of typography.  here is a good place to see why.
This might have changed my life in a small way. 

Seriously, how cool is this crayon art piece? Looks like so much fun!

You all have seen tattly right? I would rock one!  (or ten)

This looks like hours of frustrating entertainment!

Goofy shortfilm.

I love plants, but do I love them this much?

Crazy wedding invites (if you have massive amounts of disposable cash!)

ps. thanks Julie for taking that photo!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup

Every year I have to make split pea soup. On our birthday, we decided to go over to the local meat market and buy some nice steaks to have for birthday dinner.  To my joyful surprise, they had smoked ham hocks in the case too!  "I'll take the largest one please!"  And that's when split pea soup became our destiny...and I have to admit, I'm surprised by the short ingredient list.  I thought I forgot something, but it's all there.  I'm not sure where the sweet potato came from, I was looking at the veggies I had and just thought it might be a perfect addition.  It was.


Ham and Sweet Potato Split Pea Soup
What you'll need:
1 large ham hock
4 cups diced carrots divided
3 cups chopped celery divided (use heart and leaves if you can)
1/2 large onion chopped
8 cups chicken stock
3 cloves garlic
1 medium sweet potato diced and divided
1 bag dried peas
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

In a large soup pot, add chicken stock and ham hock and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a slight boil and let cook for about 4 hours.  Meat should come off the bone in big chunks.  Don't worry about shredding it, it will continue to fall apart as you make the soup. (You may want to add a little more ham chucks.  We added a small pack of the packaged ham cubes.)

Once ham has fallen off bone, try and remove (if any) the bits of skin/fat that are attached to the meat.  Add garlic and pepper and half of each carrots, sweet potato, onion, and celery.  Allow to cook, still at a small boil, until soft (about 15 minutes).  Once vegies are soft, add the bag of dried peas. Reduce heat to medium low.  Stirring occasionally let peas cook for 30-45 minutes or until you can see that they are starting to absorb the liquid and break down.  Once peas start to mush, but you can still see some of their shape, add remaining vegetables.  The soup will be done when vegetables are soft and soup is thick.  The peas shouldn't be visible anymore.




If you wanted to make this quicker, you could skip the ham hock and just use the packaged ham chunks, but you would loose the awesome flavor that develops from boiling the ham bone.  Winter comfort food? Yes please! Enjoy!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Fortune Friday

This is an awesome fortune friday!  Earlier today I was thinking about the fact that it is friday, but I wouldn't be able to do a fortune friday post because of two reasons.  First, the photoshop file I use to do the post every week is on my computer at work, and second, I'm out of fortunes and need to either go eat some chinese food or buy a few fortune cookies from the bulk at Winco.  Right as I was finishing that thought Kam was walking in the house from getting the mail and handed me little hand addressed envelope.  It was from my mom.  And what did I find inside?  Two fortunes and a little note!!!  Don't you love it when things just unexpectedly come together like that?

Thanks for saving fortune friday mom!!! 

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Oh deer!

A lady I work with's partner is a big hunter.  He has one of those motion censored cameras set up at one of his favorite hunting spots.  The other day she brought the camera in so I could download the photos and print a few for him.  I thought some of the images were worth sharing.  I love the ones at night where you can see 4 or 5 deer feeding.  I also thought the turkey image was appropriate. Hope you enjoy them too.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Happy Birthday to Us!!

Today is, as far and Kam and I are concerned, is the best day of the year!  It's both of our birthdays!  It's such a fun day to share with your other half, it's our own private holiday.  We sometimes joke that we are together today because we have the same birthday.  It was the first thing we learned about each other.  

Way back when, when we were both working at Aberdeen Sears (Nov 2004) we were having a casual conversation in the break room (we both had crushes on each other, but had only really walked by each other a couple of times) and Kam mentioned that his birthday was is a couple of days.  And I said really, mine is too.  It's all history from that moment.  So happy happy day to my best friend, love and birthday twin.  I love sharing this day with you!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Sausage, Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna Rolls

I have seen these Lasagna roll ups here and there and decided I wanted to give them a try.  There are probably 200 different things you could fill them with, I just kind of used what I had. If you wanted to make them meatless, it would be really easy.  Or use white sauce instead of red.  Basically any way you make lasagna, you could roll instead of layer.  I was even thinking of making thanksgiving leftover lasagna roll ups.  Kam might explode with excitement over that one though....


Sausage, Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna Rolls
What you'll need:
8 Lasagna noodles cooked according to package (make 10 just in case one tears beyond repair)
1 package ground sausage (you could use ground beef, turkey or chicken too)
2 cups sliced mushrooms
4 cups fresh spinach
1 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (remove most of the oil and chop into smaller pieces)
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup parmesan reggiano
2 cups pasta sauce (if I wasn't making this after work I would have made homemade, but I went the quick rout today)

Begin boiling water and cooking noodles.  In a large frying pan, cook sausage until no longer pink. Remove some of the fat leaving about a tablespoon. Add onions and saute until tender and translucent.  Add mushrooms, spinach, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, pepper and oregano and cook on medium low until most of the moisture is out of the spinach and mushrooms.  About 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Lay 3 or 4 noodles onto a glass cutting board (or your counter will work too).  Spread a small layer of the meat mixture over each noodle. Leave about 2 inches of noodle bare.  Spread about 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce over meat and a thin layer of mozzarella.  Now starting at the end of the noodle with meat, fold the noodle over a tiny bit and begin to roll the bare end which will be the bottom.  If you work slow and steady, you shouldn't loose too much filling out the sides of the rolls.  Now use a spatula to transfer the roll into the pan.  You should have room for 8 rolls in your pan.  Cover each roll with 2 or 3 tablespoons more sauce and remaining mozzerella and parmesan reggiano.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, removing foil for the last 10 minutes.

Love this flower pepper!  Love it!





This was a great dinner.  Lasagna with a different presentation.  They were even better the second day!  I think these would be really fun to serve guests.  Kam was my assistant for this one and when I have about half done rolling them, I asked him if he could do this.  He shook his head in a funny Kam way and said NO, No, no.  He was pretty stoked to eat them though! Enjoy!

Snow finally blanketed Spokane.  Now I hope we get 12 inches before Thanksgiving so we can go sledding at our friend's Eric and Julie's.  We are spending the beloved turkey day at their house this year, and they have THE BEST sledding hill!  Here is a photo of us from last year's sledding adventure.  We love them!
Happy saturday amigos!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Theme Thursday Up



So my plan for theme thursdays, which I did not do on the first one, was to go to pinterest and type in a word and choose images that people have pinned with that description.  I thought it would get a variety of fun pictures.  So here is the first true theme thursday. 



Wednesday, November 16, 2011

WWW November 16, 2011



Guess what's coming?!?!

and some other cool stuff from around the web...

what happens when a sweet song meets jelly beans.

more cool jelly bean art. apparently it's a new thing?

Rad antlers!

Sweet free wallpapers.

Awesome camera stuff!

This bathtub might be perfect.  How comfy does that back rest look?

Love love these placemats!

I hate cotton candy but love lemonade, so I'm not sure what I think of this.

If you love animated gifs...you will love this!

They should do this to all of them!

Love this poster. Love it!

(Snow photo via here)

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Neighbor

My plan for a Simple Sunday post was to let the photos tell the story and not actually type any explanation with the photos.  But when I got up to the sun shinning and looked out our window at the pretty fall leaves, it occurred to me how interesting the view out our side window really is.  Check out this beast of a van.  It belongs to our neighbor Martin, who is an interesting fellow, and it never moves.  He retired a few years ago, and one of the first things he told us when we met him moving into this palace was the he was a bachelor.  He made a POINT to let us know that he was a bachelor. Which at the time I thought was an odd thing to point out to new neighbors with in the first 10 minutes of meeting, but now that I have gotten to know Martin a little better, it all makes sense.

My favorite thing about being neighbors with Matin is that he shamelessly talks to himself while doing yard work. I'm assuming he talks to himself all the time, but this is just what I witness.  I know what you're thinking, so what, I talk to my self too.  But this isn't just your normal mumbles to yourself that no one can really hear or understand.  This is Martin, in the back yard, mowing the lawn, and YELLING to himself over the sounds of a running law mower.  So loud that we can hear him too.  It took a few mow jobs for us to figure out what exactly was going on, but in time we learned that Martin never learned not to try and talk to his mom over the music of his walk man.  A lesson we all learn at some point and value. Sure, he talks while he rakes leaves and pulls weeds, but nothing is quite as unique as talking over your lawn mower.

Now back to that van.  Our bedroom window is on the same wall as the one in the photo and our heads while we're sleeping are under that bedroom window.  So on Saturday mornings at 6:30 when neighbor Martin decides to get rid of the leaves (or dead bodies) that he's been accumulating, he slams the heavy doors of that beauty 10 times, then the 30 seconds it takes him after he turns the key to rev the engine, RUUUUUUMMMM, it finally turns over and he slams that baby into gear and you can hear him all the way up the street.  Good morning B&K.

One last thing before you forget you've ever read this and can move on with your life, this is not the first blog post about Martin.  There is another...and it is not by me.  I have stolen the photo from that post.  
Yes, all summer long he dries his laundry, ALL of his laundry, on the line that is right next to the fence that separates our  back yards.  So summer Saturday mornings when I want to enjoy a little sun and a morning cup of coffee, this is my scenery.  It cracks me up and I secretly love it.  I stole the photo from here, its my sister's blog.  Yup, that means when we have family in town, Martin entertains them as well.  Now it is my goal to sneak a photo of him so you can put a face to whatever image you have in your mind of what this guy looks like, which totally fits his personality.  To be continued.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Carnitas

Happy Saturday everyone!  Not too much to report today, just being lazy.  We woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning.  It may still be fall, but winter is in the air.  I'm kind of hoping for a white Thanksgiving.  Hope everyone is doing something fun today, whatever your kind of Saturday fun might be!
Carnitas
What you'll need:
2-3 pounds pork loin, butt or shoulder (I had loins, you would usually use something more fatty)
1/2 cup orange juice
2 divided teaspoon salt
2 divided teaspoon cumin
2 divided teaspoon chili powder
shredded lettuce
corn tortillas
cilantro
lime wedges


Place everything into slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.  Remove from cooker and let rest for about 30-60 minutes to cool enough to handle.  Shred and break up into large chunks.  Place shredded meat on to a foil lined cookie sheet. Preheat broiler.  Place meat under broiler and broil until tops begin to get crispy and slightly dried.  Around 10-15 minutes.  Be sure to watch it!


Avocado sauce (if desired)
1 avocado
juice of 1/2 a lime
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
few dashed green hot sauce


Place in food processor and blend until smooth.


Now make yourself some mexican rice to go with the awesome tacos you are about to love.  Pile some meat and lettuce, some cilantro and a squeeze of lime, top it all over with a little avocado sauce and eat eat eat!

 
 
This is one way that you can make carnitas.  Kind of the quick and easy way, set it and forget it method.  I plan on trying this recipe again, handing the initial cooking of the pork differently.  Plus, the loin just didn't have quite enough fat in it.  This will be a to be continued...Enjoy!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Fortune Friday

Hey everyone!  It's been quite busy around here this week.  Work has been crazy and I got a freelance job from the MAC that I have been spending my extra time on.  Time for me to get more organized, I added one more thing to the mix of my life, I really don't want dgydd to suffer because of it. Happy Friday and a fun weekend to everyone!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Happy Birthday Liz


Today is my super fun, funny, sweet, beautiful sister in law's birthday.  I hope you have a wonderful day Liz and someone gives you the super pretty vintage pendant necklace and a cute little owl vase thing that you have always wanted.  hehe.  We love you and wish we could be there to give you a birthday hug!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Happy Birthday Dad!

WWW November 2, 2011


I came across this again. This is the dress I found to show my mom what I wanted my wedding dress to look like...
And this is what she made.  Now I want to wear it always like little kids who are still wearing their halloween costumes in March.
I also have to share my favorite thing about the dress.  You can't see it very well in this photo but my skirt is lace.  That lace was from my mom's wedding dress.  It was amazing, thats all I can say!

check out these lightbulbs.  so cool when they spin!

why wouldn't you want to hang your coat from sticks?  or your curtains.

more cute tights.  I love tights. Look here how to make some of your own cute tights!

this will be my child.  too cute!

this freaks me out to no end.

new take on the cake pop?  cookie pop.

wouldn't these be fun for any holiday decoration?

i think it should say "stay outta my life." but my cookie is good enough!

i want to learn to knit so I can make a giant one of these.

have an old shirt laying around? spruce it up with this tutorial. i thought it was pretty cool!

Half way there people!  Does everyone realize it's Daylight Savings this weekend?  Have a happy day!
(photo via ben blood)

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Margaritas


These are how Kam and I celebrated Halloween.  We had a margarita and wait for our trick-or-treaters.  Last year we had 2 little kids.  They came with their daddy at about 8 that night so we thought our chances of seeing cute costumes was over.  Kam had bought 2 (maybe 3) bags of candy for all the kids we were going to get, then when we finally got what we knew would be the only two kids, Kam only gave then 2 pieces of candy each.  I would have hoped he would have game them each 2 handfuls, but Kam needs his halloween candy too.  So this year....we had 3!

What you'll need:
Juice from 2 oranges, 4 limes & 2 lemons
4 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup water
3-4 cups ice
1/2 cup white tequila

Blend it up until smooth and drink it!





Dex doesn't care too much for citrus.  

The best part of the whole thing for me...I have been bugging Kam for 5 days now to write his whole 7 thank you cards from our wedding, so he sat and drank his margarita and wrote his thanks yous.  I guess it's not a surprise, although he did forget to write the address on one.  Hope you all had a fun night too!

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