Menu Sunday

I know it's Wednesday and I'm just now getting around to posting my Menu Sunday post.  We've had some pretty good meals this week so far!

Mon:  Cauliflower Pizza

This was so delicious I did a recipe review!

Tues: Spiced Black Bean Burgers and baked sweet potato wedges
There isn't a picture for this one, but they were so delicious.  KB is a big black bean burger fan and he enjoyed them a lot.

Wed: Layered Shrimp, Corn and Pea Salad

This looks very fresh and delicious.  I'm a big avocado fan but KB thinks they are slimy and gross, so I'll probably only put that on mine....or hide it in his.

Thurs: Santa Fe Chicken Salad

I'm still on a huge Mexican kick, so we're eating it a lot again this week.  I'll be leaving the sour cream out of this recipe (or replacing with plain greek yogurt).  For some reason I think it sounds weird with the sour cream and KB's not a huge fan.

What goodies will you be eating this week?

It's a Jungle Out There

.....or more like in my kitchen window.

I made a bunch of terrariums over the weekend and I'm trying to get them started on my kitchen windowsill.  Some of them have fun stuff in them like this snail/worm combo.  I added a little bit too much water, so I'm having to let them air out for a few days, but once I do that they should take care of them selves for however long I want to keep them around.

Recipe Review: Cauliflower Pizza

I'm going to post a Menu Sunday recap.....but it probably won't be until Tuesday.  Womp womp.

Tonight we tried something really different, Cauliflower Pizza.  I had heard of doing this before, but I'd never really seen it done.  I was wasting time on Pinterest one day and saw the most delicious looking pizza and it happened to be a cauliflower pizza.

The dough is really easy.  It's cooked, riced cauliflower, cheese, garlic, oregano and an egg.  I was skeptical that it could actually make a dough, but it did.  I added on some sauce, cheese and pepperoni.  The middle of the cauliflower dough didn't really get done on mine, but I think I spread it too thick.  KB was very skeptical (most of the time he is when I try something new), but really liked it.

Score one for the cauliflower!

Weekendings

It's been a pretty good little weekend so far....

 KB picked me these flowers from the field across from our house.  The honeysuckle smells really good and I'm finally getting to use one of the four crystal vases that we got for our wedding.

He picked me these too.  They are very little and cute.  I put them in a really small Coke bottle that KB found while he was hunting.  He also found this really cool old glass juice container that I'm going to turn into a terrarium.  He's out at his deer food plot today on the lookout for ferns and moss for my plant project.

I got a cool new book at the library.  The lady that wrote this lives in a town really close to where we live.  So far it is moving really quickly.  I read about 50 pages while I sat outside.  I was starting to get a little pink though, so I went inside.

I had my mom's birthday present in the back of my trunk at the grocery store and some random old ladies told me it was beautiful and wanted to know all about it while I put up my groceries.  Since my mother is a frequent blog stalker, I'll refrain from saying what it was, but those old biddies put me in a good mood all day because of their random compliments.

Thoughts on a Thursday

It's time for Thoughts on a Thursday!  Link up with Carolyn to play along!

• I did this workout tonight and it was awesome!  I'm generally a skeptic when it comes to dance workouts, but this one was challenging, but not so complex that I got lost and stood there wondering what's going on.  I'm definitely sweating and only lack .1 pounds on the Wii to being the "normal" category.  This would probably be the first time that I've been considered normal!

• We've had the most awesome weather here this week.  It's been warm, but not that hot and it hasn't rained except at night.  I've been able to hang clothes out every day and not have to water my flowers.  Even though we're in NC we're on the opposite end from Hurricane Irene, so this weekend is supposed to be pretty too.

•  It's hard to believe, but in a couple of short weeks I'll be on the beach in Mexico....que bueno.  I still haven't bought any good outfits for the trip and I'm hoping to score some end of summer deals.  If you know of any good bathing suit sales....hook a sister up.

I don't have a ton of thoughts.......but that's pretty normal!

Pin Me Down

I finally jumped on the bandwagon and joined Pinterest.  So far it's been really fun and it's a neat way to gather all those little "I should remember that" things.  I'm still not really sure what I'm doing, but I wanted to share some of my recent favorite pins...

A cute fun work outfit that I successfully recreated!  Big shout out to The Shabby Princess I got lots of compliments!

Corn cakes with goat cheese.....I think so!

What my laundry room will look like one day.....right now we don't even have a laundry room....just a laundry area.

What I've been doing a lot of this week (hugging the dogs....not failing....that I know of).

Workout Review: Paula Abdul's Cardio Cheer

I'm honestly not sure what I was thinking when I put this on my Netflix queue.  I'm not really the cheer leader type, but I thought it might be a good workout.

The first disc I received was "Moves" which aims to make crisp, clean transitions and dance steps....huh?  I pretty much spent the entire time really lost.  The total workout time listed is 40 minutes.  I probably spent 25 looking at the screen not knowing what's going on.  Paula doesn't teach the workouts, but has a 15 minute slurred speech montage about how good cheer leading is for you at the beginning of each workout.

There was a small weights portion that was decent, but the cardio was seriously lacking.  I sweated a little bit, but I think it was mostly just because I turned our AC off and opened the windows).

Paula should probably just stick to American Idol.....oh wait.

Menu Sunday

Here's what the Browns will be eating this week....

Mon: Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes

We still have lots of tomatoes from random people.  I swear they are reproducing in the produce drawer at night.  We also always have tuna on hand.  I have to buy it in bulk at Sam's since it's KB's favorite snack.  I pretty much didn't have to buy anything at the store this week for this meal.  SCORE!

Tues: Chicken Teriyaki and Brown Rice

This recipe looked really easy and for some reason I've been craving Asian food.  I will be substituting low sodium teriyaki sauce for regular since the regular bottle had a whopping 44% of your daily needs in 3 tbsp.

Wed: Pesto Chicken Salad

I made some pesto last weekend from my mom's huge basil plant and I ended up freezing it.  I'm also thinking about cooking the chicken in the crock pot during the day.  The recipe calls for rotisserie chicken, but to me it takes just as much time pulling it off the bone as it does to cook a couple of chicken breasts

Thurs: Ham and Black-Eyed Pea Salad

I've really been into salads like this one this summer.  I've made some with tuna, some with chicken, and now some with ham.  The black-eyed peas should be interesting, but probably delicious.

I also ended up making quite a few recipes last night.  Including these....
Janey's Baked Steak (It was quite delicious!  KB really liked the sauce, which is big for him since he's not much of a sauce person.  It was really easy, so you could probably cook this on a weeknight too)
Roasted Sweet Potatoes (These were amazing.  It's still really hot here, but I wanted something that reminded me of fall.  These were easy and they tasted wonderful.  I always love a good roasted root vegetable)
Hungry Girl Pumpkin Brownies (These are actually chocolate brownies, but with pumpkin instead of eggs, oil and butter.  They are supposed to be way better for you.  I used some of my gluten free mix that I won.  They were very, very dense and fudgy and not cakey.  I like fudgy brownies so to me they were really good.  You can't taste the pumpkin in them at all.  They reminded me a lot of the black bean brownies you can make).

Tonight KB is going to get a bucket of fried chicken from KFC.  We saw some people eating some in the park when we took the dogs for a walk and he's now made it his life's mission to get a bucket.

Thoughts on a Thursday

Link up with Carolyn to play along!

• KB passed his RPA1 test.  This is the first of 3 tests for him to be certified as a pension fund administrator.  He's been studying a lot and I'm happy he passed with flying colors.  We're going out for ice cream tonight to celebrate.
• I have often professed my love for a slow cooker, but tonight when I came home and dinner was ready I loved it even more.  I made Stephanie's General Tso's Chicken.  So delicious!
• I'm in serious need of some fall work clothes.  It's starting to get a little chillier here (right now it's 65 and raining...booo) and it makes me want to get a few new "back to school" items.
• Tomorrow night I'm going to a street festival near where I work with some ladies from work.  I normally don't get to hang out to much with people from work because I carpool, so it should be really fun.

I don't have too many thoughts on this Thursday, but what are yours?

Infestation

We're infested.  With these:

That's right....our good buddy drosophilia melangastor.  Fruit flies always make me think of high school biology where you had to breed them for certain characteristics.  Somebody's flies inevitably got out of their holder and infested the school for a few weeks.  Maybe that was just my high school...

My kitchen is now infested.  I'm not really sure where they came from.  We're pretty clean people.  I compost all the old food, so it isn't even in the house, I always make sure to empty out my drain trap everyday into the compost bin, and I store all the fruit and vegetables we have in the fridge (even bananas).

I think I'm going to have to bring out the big guns.

My homemade traps with vinegar, plastic wrap and dishwashing liquid are sort of working, but not enough to control the issue.

It seriously makes me feel like I'm on an episode of Hoarders where those people always have those fly strips that are full.  Shew!

Monday Musings

I missed Thoughts on a Thursday last week, so I thought I'd have a randomo post today.

-I had a great weekend with this stud....

Super mushy moment alert, but he is pretty much awesome and I love him lots.

-We watched this movie:

It was pretty good.  KB is a big fan of the "Wall Street" movies.  He's a super nerd when it comes to the stock market, but that has a lot to do with his job so I guess he kinda has to be.  He was jealous that the traders in the movies had 6 trading screens instead of his 4.  I'm not even really sure what that means.

-I wore a really awesome outfit to work today and got lots of compliments on it.  It involved lots of grey leopard print, a black pencil skirt, grey patent pumps and a large statement necklace.  It's amazing how much better the day is when I like what I'm wearing.

-There has been a new recurring visitor to our bird feeders.  This little guy (or gal) has been paying us a visit recently:

It's really loud so I can always tell when it's on the feeders.  This is one of my grandma's favorite birds so it always reminds me of her.

Menu Sunday

Here's what the Browns will be eating this week:

Mon: Slow Cooker General Tso's chicken from last week
         KB had to work late one night and one of my good friends from college drove through on her way to Knoxville.  We met up and had a delicious dinner outside.

Tues: Mexican Shrimp Salad

Shrimp and avocados were on sale at the grocery store so this was a must.

Wed: Easy Black Bean Enchiladas

I've really been feeling the Mexican food recently, so we'll be eating it twice this week.  I also had some leftover tortillas from last week as well as some black beans that I made a few weeks ago and froze.  I'm trying to clean out my freezer before I can't shut the door!

Thurs: Napa Valley Chicken Salad Pie

This looks interesting and I'm not too sure how I feel about it.  I really like chicken salad, but I'm not sure how it will taste warm and in a pie crust.  We'll see what happens...

What will you be eating this week?

Guilty Pleasure

I'm not so proud to say that we've drank 2 pitchers of Kool Aid.....in one week and have no plans to stop.

OH YEAH!

Tomato-licious

I came into a lot of tomatoes over the weekend.  These were the type of tomatoes that were almost too ripe to even use.  I'm not a huge fan of really ripe and soft tomatoes, so I wasn't really sure what to do with them.  What do I always do with stuff I don't know what to do with.....

I dehydrate it!

I really should have cut them a little thicker because once all the water dehrydated some were almost paper thin.  I ended up using a few of them in a tuna salad last night and they were very delicious.  They were also free!  Sun-dried tomatoes in the store are usually at least $3 or $4, so I felt like a super saver.

Lookie Lookie

What was outside this morning....

KB's sunflowers are blooming!  They are over 7 feet tall (it took a while to get a picture).  KB always makes the disclaimer that he planted them as an "experiment" for his deer food plot next summer/fall.  I won't tell anyone that he checks on them everyday and ran inside to tell me that they were blooming this morning.

Menu Sunday

Here's what the Browns will be eating this week....

Mon: Italiano Tuna Salad Wraps

Our house has been really hot lately because it's been really hot outside and I'm too cheap to turn our air conditioner on enough to really cool it off.  Cooking with an oven seems unbearable sometimes, so this is a nice alternative.

Tues: Impossibly Easy Broccoli and Pepper Pie

Broccoli and red peppers both happened to be on sale this week.  I also have some gluten free Bisquick hanging out in my cabinet, so everything for this meal was really cheap.  I'll probably also add some corn and other veggies to bulk it up a bit.

Wed: Bacon, Caesar and Mozzarella Panini

I love paninis and have a panini maker that I haven't used in a while.  This looks pretty simple and delicious.  I will probably omit the caesar dressing, since it already has pesto....FLAVOR OVERLOAD.

Thurs: Slow Cooker General Tso's Chicken

I love slow cooker meals on a Thursday.  By this point in the week I really don't feel like doing anything, so it's good that I can come home and just lay around.  Stephanie at "A Year of Slow Cooking" always has the best meals and they are super quick.  I'm excited to try this one.

What will you be eating this week???

Weekend Happenings....

So far it is shaping up to be a pretty good weekend.

Yesterday began tax free weekend in NC and I bit the bullet and spent money on a new computer.  Mine was getting to be too slow and too weird acting to even be considered a computer.  I pretty much only use the computer to get on the internet.  I probably could survive with just an iPad and not even a real computer.  Needless to say, because I don't really do anything on computers, I got a pretty cheap one, but so far I seem to like it.

I got an HP Pavilion in silver.  I figure it it's good enough for Jay-Z then it's good enough for me.

Best Buy was also super crazy last night.  To even get into the computer section you had to wait in line and put your name down to be "escorted" by a sales person.  Our sales person "Andy" was super nice and didn't try to upsell us too much.  He even gave me a free Mr. Goodbar while I was waiting....go Andy!

Today is the birthday of a super special little lady....my grandmother.  She is crazy and she is weird, but she is my grandmother and I love her.

I made a delicious salad and hummus plate to take to her celebration tonight.

Thoughts on a Thursday

Link up with Carolyn to play along!

• This week has been super long.  I'm so ready for it to be over!

• I'm thinking about braving the tax free weekend craziness to find a new computer at Best Buy after work tomorrow.  I'll probably end up getting pissed off at all the dumb people around and not get one, but it's at least worth a try.

• I feel like everyone and their brother has been getting pregnant recently.  The girl that cuts my hair, the girl that does my nails, a lady I used to work with, and quite a few bloggers I follow have all announced that they are pregnant this week.  It must be something in the water (please remind me to not drink said water).

• I'm in serious need for some "back to school" clothes.  I'm not in school anymore, but I always like to buy new clothes around that time.  It just feels right.  I really need some new tennis shoes, but everything seems to be "rock and tone" and all that dumb stuff.  I just need normal tennis shoes.

• Little Rose seems to be doing much better!  Today was our first day in almost a week that she hasn't thrown up and I think her medicine is finally working.  We're still not really sure what happened to her, but she seems to be acting fine (fine enough to break down her baby gate to get out of her designated room).

What are your thoughts on a Thursday??

Summer Treats

I've found the most delicious, wonderful, refreshing summer treat....

FROZEN!

I bought 2 cantoloupes at the store and one was pretty ripe.  For some reason I decided to freeze it....because that's what I do with any random extras that I seem to have.  It's delicious!

I just can't stop....

singing this song.




I even played it while I was listening to some boring conference call (I was on mute of course). I wish I could wear crazy pants and dress like them.

Too bad their nearest concert to podunk NC is 3 hours away....on a Tuesday..womp womp.

Weekend Recap

It was quite a weekend at the Brown household!

I went to the dentist.  No cavities for me!  They also used this new ultrasonic cleaning brush that shoots jets of water at your teeth to get them really clean and stain free.

I got a new fun color on my nails.

It's called OPI's "Big Hair, Big Nails" from the Texas collection. In person it's a lot more pink than bright orange, but it's still pretty neon and fun.

I also made a fruit cocktail cake.  I originally saw the recipe on America's Test Kitchen on PBS (nerd alert!) and since I don't cook in a bow tie or have tons of time to do random tests, I doctored it a bit.  I used a box pineapple cake mix and it turned out pretty well.

It's not very pretty, but KB seems to like it and almost half is already gone.

I was also on the lookout for a new computer this weekend.  This weekend is tax-free weekend in NC and I'm thinking about scoring a new computer for cheap.  We're still rocking the IBM ThinkPads circa 2005 compliments of UNC Chapel Hill.  They were good while they lasted, but I think 6 years is about all you can get out of a laptop.  KB's makes a funny noise and mine is just really slow.

I got a few new books from the library too.  I'm reading this one now:

It's a pretty easy read (it was in the "young adult" section) and the story is pretty interesting.  Basically, rich older people get some type of virus where they can't have babies and they pay teenagers to have babies for them.


What did you get into this weekend?