lightening up

Well, since I was such downer in my last post, I thought I could lighten up a bit.

I thought I could take a leaf out of Amy's book who often posts "friday funnies" and post some of my favorite meme/pictures from pinterest.

Hope you love this post...

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I heard you like, "ridiculously photogenic guy," well this one takes the cake.
 I don't even know what the funniest part of this is.

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DIY projects: Nailed it.

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In case you needed to know what month comes after April...

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Last night, I looked up old Nsync* videos on youtube; wow, that was NOT a mistake.
Their acting was so, so, so bad, and yet their dancing was so good ;)

The best part about watching old Nsync videos and laughing at them is realizing Justin Timberlake still has a legitimate career.

cooking for two tuesday: tin foil dinners

So hmm... lately I'm not really feeling the whole blogging thing, but I am trying to at least keep up with my cooking posts.  I think I feel a little cynical about the whole thing after spending an hour or two reading the archives of seriouslysoblessed {a spoof blog making fun of Mormon women}.   I don't really think I'm like that girl, but, yeah, I also kind of am. 

At first reading it was pretty funny, and then it just seemed kind of rude.  I do think TAMN is ridiculous, but there's no denying that I (as well as the authors of many of my favorite blogs) have things in common with her.  I think we women tear each other apart enough as it is without taking all of our negative traits and rolling them into one absolutely atrocious person to represent all of us. But consider the source, I take everything in life too seriously.

I obviously need to lighten up.

Moving on though...tin foil dinners.

You need: tin foil, potatoes, carrots, beef, onions, salt & pepper, and any other vegetables or seasonings you are feeling adventurous to try.

Wow, this photo makes the beef look really gross, but I promise it wasn't.

Every time I make this I can never get the time and temperature right.  So let me know if you have any tips.  I found a recipe online that said to bake it at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes on each side, but after that it still wasn't cooked completely, so I upped the temp to 425 and put it in for another 25 minutes.  Usually the carrots are the main issue, but I feel like I cut them small enough.

PS I know nothing is wrong with my oven, because I don't have this problem with any other recipe.

On a somewhat non-cooking related note, I made this apron for my niece's 3 year old birthday. Turns out it was a little too big, but I guess that's what happens when you don't use a pattern and instead hold up an 8 x 11 sheet of paper to your niece's chest to get a general idea of her size.   

cooking for 2 Tues: Easter Classic

Not sure what Easter means in your neck of the woods, but here in Utah, Easter dinner usually involves ham and cheesy/funeral potatoes.

PS: Our Easter was awesome, easily the best part was when all 8 of the adults in Lee's family followed around my 3 year old niece as she had her own personal egg hunt in the backyard.  No really it was fun, but I am pretty sure it was kind of silly.  Don't worry the whole affair is on video.  

Lee says I "cheated" on this cooking post because the ham here was not cooked by me, but was leftovers given to us by my MIL on Easter. 

I did however, cook the potatoes.  These potatoes are in my top 20 favorite foods.  I pretty much love all food so I have to say top 20 instead of 10.

Mix together in a bowl:

1 lb package of hashbrowns (or get fancy and cut up your own potatoes; whatever you overachiever)
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 package of sour cream
2 cups of cheese
1/2 c of onion (I prefer green onion)

Pour all of that into a greased 9x13 pan, add more cheese to the top if you're feelin' frisky.
Then you cover the top with about 2 cups of crunched up corn flakes and pour 1/2 cup of melted butter on top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

If you've never had this it probably sounds gross, but trust me, it is heavenly.

We also ate some other stuff.

Hope you had a great Easter!

cooking for two: taco tuesday

One of our favorite meals, but not the most healthy. 

tacos

first you need pico

so cut up some fresh tomatoes, cilantro, and green onion

you'll also want some lettuce

You're going to need some shells.  I like to heat up flour tortillas in a frying pan with butter, although you could use olive oil if you want to go on the lighter side. 

I also melt cheese on top of the shell...mmm.

I did not take a picture of it, but I make, "taco rice," which you can buy for $1 at any grocery store in the prepackaged rice/soup aisle.

I also cook ground beef and use your basic taco flavoring/seasoning packet.

Put it all together and you have a fabulous taco.

{Sour cream added also}

If you want to be really disgusting and kind of redneck you can add ketchup like Lee, but let me tell you, you are ruining it.  GROSS!

the boy with the bread

I knew I'd get you to click on this post if you knew I was going to talk about Peeta.

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Can I just say I love all the pins that feature Ariel as some tragic emo girl.  Whoever put those nerd glasses on this pic was an evil genius. 

After I saw The Hunger Games, it made me want to reread them again.  No spoilers here though, since the master reads my blog (sometimes) and he has been attempting to finish Mockingjay for a few weeks.  Me, I started the series (again) last Friday and finished Mockingjay yesterday. 

I've pretty much got a literary crush on Peeta, not sure what I think of Josh Hutcherson since even considering it sort of makes me feel like a pedophile since he was born in the 90's.

Now that I'm done with Hunger Games I wish there were more to it.  Gah! I've got a hankering for some more romance, especially if Peeta is involved.  I guess I'll just have to settle for watching this:

Thanks again Public Library.

Dear Lee: Maybe you could throw me some burnt bread in the rain as a romantic gesture?
PS: Totally Joking

Who is your literary crush? (not the actor, the book character)

Peeta Mellark Mr. Darcy Edward Cullen Other (name in the comments please)

pollcode.com free polls

And for all the single ladies:

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This LITERALLY made me laugh out loud.

self worth

This morning I was reading this blog, which had a post about weight.

At the end of the post the writer posed the question: do you guys find that your happiness & peace fluctuates along with your weight?

I found myself compelled to comment on this and once I was done I felt like sharing those words here too:

I used to base my self worth upon my weight (which was never good enough) and the saddest part is that those are the type of thoughts that lead people to disordered eating. Exercise (and spirituality) actually helped me to change those thoughts. As I worked on becoming a better dancer (in college), learned to love running (I am running my first marathon in June!), and improved my relationship with God, I began to see that my body, no matter what it's shape or weight, no matter how much I hated my knees, my body was a gift from God, given to me in love that I had stewardship to take care of (aka eat healthy and exercise). I also began to see my body as a tool to help me accomplish things. If I want to continue to use my body to run, dance, clean my house, one day have babies, and most importantly to serve others I need to love it, take care of it, and not set stringent standards on what is acceptable or beautiful and what is not. No matter how much weight you lose, you are still not in control of your specific body type, and so many other factors, so just as you say, before you even begin to lose weight or change your life you must change your heart. You have to give yourself love.

cooking for two tuesday: no meat

So I planned to present my world famous tacos today; but here's the thing.  No meat = no tacos.

So instead we had egg sandwiches. 

Lee is the kind of guy who has to eat meat for dinner, but I'm not the kind of girl who always plans ahead or has unfrozen meat in the refrigerator.  So oft times that brings us to some type of meal involving eggs.

This meal is nearly identical to my BLT post, but whatever.  Not all of these posts are going to be super exciting/different. 

 

Sandwiches: wheat bread (toasted), butter, eggs (fried for me, scrambled for Lee) tomatoes (salt & pepper) & lettuce.

Steamed broccoli

Fruit bowl: 1 banana & 1 apple cut up for us to share.

It took about 10-15 minutes to cook (mostly due to the broccoli) and was delicious.