I can't think of a title!

The last time I posted was in February. So much has happened in the past 3 months! Ok, one major thing.We bought a house! That's right, we took the plunge and sold our souls to the bank. it's brand new too! Which means it"s really nice, but it has no grass. This annoys me because when we moved from the apartment to a house I wanted to quit having to take walks every time the dog has to go potty. I wanted to have a yard so that I could slack off a little in the dog duty department. I also wanted a yard because I've discovered a new project I want to start - a veggie/herb garden!!!  Without grass the garden will wait until next summer, but to test my ability to grow plants, I bought some potted herbs for the deck. It's a really cool planter with 3 different things Rosemary, basil and tomatoes. We bought them with a little growth already, I don't trust myself to plant seeds yet. I meant to take a picture before I "pinched" them but didn't. Now I'm just waiting to see if I harvested them right or if I just killed the plant. Time will tell. Meanwhile tonight I'm making "Kris' Alfredo Sauce" I've tried all kinds of fancy recipes and they flopped because I'm not a chef. But my friend Kris gave me a super simple recipe that has made fettuccine alfredo my new favorite go to meal. I will be forever grateful to her. My hips and pot belly, however, hate her :)

And after all of this planting and harvesting talk I thought there must be a bible verse about it! Sure enough Galatians 6:9

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Wonderful Waffles

I've had a waffle maker for 8 months, it has gotten tons of use, but I couldn't find a waffle mix or recipe that made a good (as in not paper thin) batch of waffles. For a while I blamed it on the "stupid kitchen appliance....nothing ever works like they say it will" But after sharing my frustration with my lovely, helpful sister she told me about a recipe that works!

Chocolate Dutch Baby

Today on two peas and their pod Maria posted a recipe for a "chocolate dutch baby" and suggested that we try it for Valentines day, supposedly it is a quick, easy breakfast. I can barely drag my butt out of bed to let the dog out and make Nate's coffee so I know that this will not be a breakfast treat. Plus she says that is a lot like chocolate cake so I'm guessing it will make a great dessert too! I had never heard of this before but since I am totally craving cake right now I want to try it. Plus, it's almost mandatory since I am, after all, Dutch...baby :) So check back on Wednesday to see how it went!

side note: I considered naming this post "Dutch Baby Coming Soon" but I thought that might be mean, because my mom and sister would see it and immediately think I'm pregnant. All in good time my friends, all in good time.

Taking Stock

I'm a little late on my new years resolution post. My resolutions should be eating healthier, taking advantage of the free gym membership we get with our apartment, saving money for a number of things, the one that I'm excited most about is getting a (used) car with four wheel drive that can fit multiple children :) Instead I find myself wishing I had the resolve to get and stay organized. It got really bad after reading this. I want to be Ree. I want to be smart enough to understand how to "stock up" without needing to be rich. I want to have the space to have enough food to last weeks. I want to have an awesome kitchen. I want counters EVERYWHERE, with enough space to have an amazing wooden cutting board permanently displayed, and I would smile at it every time I walked past. I would name it Pablo. I want to not need to go to the store today to pick up stuff for dinner, because I am an awful meal planner who does not think ahead. And it's because I don't know how to stock up! I want to be the perfect wife who has everything together and never needs to ask her husband to get fast food because her poor planning has led to them not having a meal to eat.

All of this has made me realize that I need to stop wanting. I have so much already, wanting all of these material things is silly. I am a good wife. I can try to be better, but I will not obsess over trying to be Super Wife. This year I want to be happy with my imperfections, knowing that God made me quirky and complicated on purpose, I'm pretty sure he has some great plans for me. Instead of wanting to be perfect, I want to be what God wants me to be.

That being said, if anyone has any advice on how to stock my pantry so that if I'm stuck for a meal idea I'll be able to scrounge one up from ingredients I already have on hand, please share.

Happy February everybody!

Panini

Chicken Bacon Ranch Panini

I realize that this isn't the best picture. I made these on a Saturday, and on the weekends we eat in the living room while we watch movies, so the lighting isn't good. But even so, I think the bread looks so good! It tasted even better. This is probably the fanciest meal I've made on a weekend. The usual is mac n cheese or left overs. But I love this, I will make these more often. I got the recipe from the pioneer woman and I am so glad I tried it. I don't don't have a panini maker, but I did pull the old George Foreman grill out of the closet , and it worked fine. 

More Posts Coming Soon

I haven't been posting lately, shame on me. It's a combo of laziness and wanting to get all of the changes up before I post anything. But I can assure you that I have still been cooking and documenting, so more posts will be coming soon. I think I'll post tomorrow about what we are having tonight! I's a crock pot meal so it took very little effort and I only had to use 2 measuring cups and a small bowl to prepare. My kind of meal! If I don't have to do many dishes I find myself to be so much less irritable after dinner!

Under Construction

I'm hoping to give the blog a big design overhaul this week, and Nate is helping me, so I think it will go well. But while we try to get everything running smoothly it will probably look a little crazy for awhile. Hopefully the end result will look much better than it does now!!