Menu Monday

Happy New Year's Eve! We aren't doing anything this year and will probably be in bed by 9:30.  What swingers!

Here's what we'll be eating this week...

Mon: Kickass Kale Salad

Source: fitnessmagazine.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I'm going to be subbing in just regular lettuce for the kale. KB's grandparents gave us a ton of greens over Christmas and I'm kinda over them for now. I'm going to be adding in lots of goodies to this salad though. KB and I both got lots of nuts and dried fruit in our stockings so I'm going to use them in this. I'll probably also add in a little bit of leftover shredded chicken.

Tues: Slow Cooker Black Eyed Pea Soup with Sauteed Cabbage

Source: allfreeslowcookerrecipes.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I love black eyed peas, cabbage and cornbread. I could eat like it's New Year's all the time!  I made this soup a few years ago and while it may not look like the most appetizing soup it is really delicious.  I'm going to sub in some country ham chunks instead of sausage for the meat.  KB has had some drama with a capital D this week so he needs something delicious when he finally gets home.

Wed: Weight Watcher's Garden Vegetable Soup

Source: doctoroz.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I really love soup and it's supposed to be all cold and nasty here this week, so this soup looks perfect. I'll probably add in some cabbage too to give it a bit more substance. It looks really good - even if it is Weight Watcher's.

Thurs: Buffalo Chicken French Bread Pizza

Source: howsweeteats.com via Rachel on Pinterest

We went and ate at Buffalo Wild Wings a few weeks ago for the first time in a really long time and it was amazing! I'm not a huge fan of buffalo chicken wings, but I love buffalo sauce. It's so spicy and creamy and wonderful. These flat bread pizzas look like you could use them with all kinds of different toppings also.

What goodies will you be eating this week????

Break It Out

After a long and much needed break I am back!

Christmas was a bit lackluster due to the fact that I only got the bare minimum off of work and had to travel to everywhere to spend it with everyone in mine and KB's extended families.  Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but packing it all into 2 days is a bit much.  Hopefully next year I'll either have more time off work or we can work out some sort of alternate arrangement with a few of the more extended family members.

This is how I feel right now:

Stay tuned for some fun updates on our house, my upcoming juice cleanse, treadmill buying and other fun news!

Pinteresting Wednesday

Here are my favorite Pins this week....

Link up with The Vintage Apple to play along.

Source: birdsandbloomsblog.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: shopbop.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: ziplist.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: collofthewild.tumblr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

What are your favorite Pins this week???

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Spring in my house!  I moved lots of my plants inside for the winter just to see how they would do and they are going like crazy.

There's lots of things growing around here...

I got this Christmas cactus from Lowe's last year sometime in January.  They were selling them for just a dollar.  I left it outside all spring and summer and it never really did much.  As soon as I moved it inside though, it went crazy!  It's growing like crazy and this past week has started blooming like crazy.

I've been wanting an orchid for a while, but could never find one that was affordable enough.  These things are seriously expensive.  I found this one in Aldi a few weeks ago for only $9.  I couldn't pass it up.  I love it!  I've read a bunch about all their needs (they are as needy as a hormonal teenager), so hopefully I'll be able to keep it alive.

I love their blossoms!  I must be doing something right though, because I have a little bloom that's popping up.  Supposedly you can take that bloom when it gets a little bigger and transplant it into a whole new plant.

I'm also planning on trying to root a pineapple plant.  My grandmother has a pineapple plant that she rooted from a pineapple top and it is huge!  You can actually harvest your own pineapples from them after a few years.  I read online that you need to let it root first in a shallow dish with water.

I also moved inside my African Violet.  I made this fun little pot out of jute twine last night.  It turned out pretty well and my African Violet fit right inside of it.

We're also working on doing some outside work on our new garden spot.  I'm not sure what the people that lived here before us were doing but it involved lots of landscaping fabric and irrigation pipes (can you say sketchy).  We're trying to rip up all of the landscaping fabric before tilling it up, but the stuff is everywhere!

What do you have growing???

Christmas Recap

Whew!  After 4 days of going strong I'm glad to be back to something sort of normal.  We had a lovely time with all of our family (and I do mean all), but I'm glad to be back home.  Here's a recap of some of the top gifts...

A Wii step riser!  I used this for the first time tonight and it is amazing.  It makes my normal blah Wii routines really challenging.  It was also really easy to put together once I got the dogs off of it and got a piece away from Pancho.

A lovely monogram necklace!  I wore this today and got lots of compliments on it.

Some new shoes!  Mine are the backless kind, but I can't wait to wear them.  My old ones are dog eaten and gross, but I still wear them anyway.  I have a feeling these will be the same way.

I also ended up getting a few camo things.  I think it's a big conspiracy to get me into the woods and turkey hunting with KB.  He got me this pullover, which really isn't that bad when it comes to camo.  It's also cut for the lady hunter.  I guess that would be me.

What did your Christmas time look like???

Menu Sunday

It's a weird week in the Brown household.  For once, our social schedule is pretty packed so I won't be making too many meals.

Today's meals are also brought to you by the lovely Doodle Divas.  It was a weird day at work on Friday and I needed some help making my grocery list.

Mon: KB's grandparents' Christmas extravaganza
          Yay - I don't have to cook!  Boo - I have to drive 30 minutes the other way after working all day.

Tues: Long Boy Burgers

Source: sunshineandbones.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I'm really excited about these.  They aren't super healthy, but I've been eating so much junk recently - why not?!  I will be using ground turkey instead of ground beef because I like it better and whole wheat rolls.

Wed: Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken

Source: crockpot365.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I think I may have made this before, but I can't remember.  I have a feeling by Wednesday I'm going to need a good Crock Pot recipe where I don't really have to do anything.  I also didn't have to buy anything at the grocery store for this meal.  Double score!

Thursday:  KB's band's Christmas party
       This is a continuation of the party that occurred last night.  Yes.....a continuation.  Depending on how the work week goes, I may not be making it out to this one.

Friday:  I'll be eating at KB's grandparents' house for Christmas Eve dinner.  I'm going to bring a delicious dessert tray that includes:

Hot Chocolate Rice Krispies

Dark French Chocolate Bark

White French Chocolate Bark

Carrot Cake Petit Fours

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Homemade Gingerbread

Whew - it's going to be a busy Friday!  I'll be taking the leftovers of all of these to my parents Christmas celebration the next day as well as a big pot of this:

Mulled Wine in the Crock Pot

Source: crockpot365.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

It's going to be a busy week! What goodies will you be making this week???

Thoughts on a Thursday

It's time for my Thoughts on a Thursday.

Link up with Carolyn to play along!

• I'm planning on doing some major baking this weekend. I'm definitely making these....

French Chocolate Bark

Source: bhg.com via Beverly on Pinterest

Peppermint Bark

Source: kim-thislittlelifeofmine.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Christmas Crack

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

• I'm also looking for some good holiday non-dessert recipe.  If you weren't in the US for any holidays what would you really want?  I'm co-planning a big New Years feast for all of my college friends - one of which is currently in Africa and will be home for New Years.  I'm excited!

• I'm finally done with all of my Christmas shopping!  Now I just have to wrap it all.  I hate wrapping presents and am quite possibly the worst wrapper ever.  All of my gifts end up in gift bags or with weird crappy wrap jobs that don't have enough wrapping paper and are all crinkly looking.

• I've eaten so much junk this week.  Our office has started getting lots of holiday gifts from our clients and it has seriously thrown off my diet.  Hopefully Santa brings me some willpower!

What are your thoughts on a Thursday???

Pinteresting Wednesday

I can't believe it's already Wednesday!

I'm linking up with The Vintage Apple for Pinteresting Wednesday.  Here are some of my favorite pins of the week.

Source: sunshineandbones.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: cutebreak.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: anthropologie.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: fullcircleadv.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: pillsbury.com via Rachel on Pinterest

What are your favorite Pins of the week?

Thoughts on a Thursday

It's time for my thoughts on a Thursday!

Link up with Carolyn to play along!

• It's finally starting to really feel like winter here in a BIG way and I've been living in these recently...

Just like LL Bean said....they are wicked good.

• I'm so behind on my Christmas shopping.  I haven't bought anybody anything.  I at least sort of have a list, but it's stressing me out that I don't have anything.  I'm thinking about hitting up the mall really early on Saturday to get most of it knocked out.

• I really wanted to watch the premiere of this earlier in the week.  Unfortunately I didn't make it until 10:00.  Story of my life.  Was it good?

• The Brown household has been on a major winning streak recently.  Thanks to Meg and Bon Bon Rose I've won some good giveaways.  I won an award at work that came with a $50 Amazon gift card and today KB won an award at his work that had $100 cash.  Go us!

What are your thoughts this Thursday???

Ho Ho Ho

We're finally in the Christmas spirit at our home.  We put up the tree yesterday.  Every year my grandmother got me a Christmas ornament.  When I got married I took them with me and put them up on my tree.  Here's some of my favorites:

Happy Holidays from the Browns!