Ummm….

 

Holy rat shit, Batman!  It’s been such a long time since I have blogged!  I’m a bad blogger.  You know how it goes, life gets weird and complicated and the next thing you know you haven’t blogged in months.  Pretty much everything has changed, but I’ll get to that later.  For now, I thought I would do a little round-up of sorts.  If you don’t already know, I love Pinterest.  I pin all day, erry-day.  Check me out.  One of the things I love/hate about Pinterest is the part with all the recipes and pictures of delicious food- aka “food porn”.  I find recipes and then I make them, so today I will tell you about the recipes I have tried- whether I loved it or not! A few have already been photographed to death and put up on this little blog of mine and most haven’t.  So here we go, from the most recent to the least. Also, I’ve included the link for the stuff that’s the most popular here on Magnolia.

- Pioneer Woman Sour Cream Noodle Bake: So I pinned this just the other day but I’ve been making it for a very long time.  It is freakin’ delicious.  The green onions take it to a whole other level.  It’s simple to make and is so god for leftovers. Plus, Pioneer Woman can cook like nobody’s bid-ness. The hubs usually asks for it at least once a week in the winter time.  If you’re thinking of making it, DO IT…NOW!

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-Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs: Made these little babies just last night.  The recipe is simple and the result is delicious.  These have a lot of flavor and are very garlicky and onion-y – SO FLAVORFUL!  Even better the next day for lunch!  The best part for me? They are low carb – love it!

-Million Dollar Spaghetti: So this one, I’m not a huge fan of but the hubs is pretty much obsessed.  It’s super easy, very creamy and once again, makes for great leftovers.  If you’re a fan of pasta, I suggest it.

-Taco Pasta Bake: OH MY GOOD GOSH this is like crack to me!!!!  I’m in love with this recipe for a few reasons: It’s easy, fast and cheap.  The best way to eat it is with Rotel dip drizzled over the top…holy mother… The hubs is also equally as obsessed.

-Cucumber Salad: super simple and fresh tasting. My mom used to make this every now and then in the summer time so it brings back good memories for me. Greek yogurt, dill and a little lemon juice.. Martha knows what’s up.

-Pan-Roasted Chicken with Lemon-Garlic Green Beans: This is flat out ridiculously delectable.  The original recipe from Real Simple calls for bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts but seeing as how bones in chicken freak me out and I am trying to be a little bit healthy over here, I used boneless, skinless.  Also, I used canned green beans and sprinkled on a little lemon-pepper seasoning.  All in the name of convenience, really.  This was a little more time consuming, but I think the more times I make it the faster it will go.

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-Baked Chicken Fajitas: pretty good, but not a favorite.  Easy week-night meal.

-Pizza Biscuits: These were alright but very time consuming. 

-Date Night Pasta: VERY spicy.  A good, basic pasta dish.  Plus, I love bowtie pasta.

-Sweet and Spicy Citrus Tilapia: Oh-so-good!  The marinade is easy to put together and cooking the fish takes no time at all.  The end result is a dynamic sauce and marinade with lots of flavor.  Goes great with a little long grain rice and garlicky sugar snap peas. Relatively healthy.

-Baked Mexican Bean Dip: easy and good for lazy, cold Sundays

-Cake Batter Cookies: Pretty good but not as rich as normal chocolate chip cookies.

-Cheeseburger Pasta: kind of bland.  I had to add a lot of stuff to make this taste worthy of eating.

-Feta Dip: Once again, seriously like CRACK COCAINE!  I could eat this by itself for dinner…in fact I may have done that once or 10 times…

-Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta: Holy mutha-effin’ goodness… I could eat this all the time.  With extra Cajun seasoning, fa sho.  Only downside? CARBS.

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-Mini Corndog Muffins: Delish!  Once again, good little snick-snack for a lazy, cold Sunday.

-Sticky Buns Breakfast Ring: I believe I’ve already expressed my feelings about this deliciousness here.

-Crockpot Beef Stroganoff: So the hubs claims to “hate” beef stroganoff, but the first time I made this I didn’t tell him it was beef stroganoff and he exclaimed that it was the best thing he’d ever eaten.  WINNING.

-Two Minute Mug Brownie & Ready to Eat Cookie Dough: deliciously fattening.

-Angel Chicken: not a fave, but read my thoughts on the matter

-Chicken Enchilada Pasta: YUUUUMMMMMM.  Just reading the recipe makes my mouth water.  MAKE THIS NOW!

-Chicken Rollups: Confusing recipe but it’s a favorite of mine.  I love these for heating up at lunch time.  The hubs can’t stand the texture, but I suspect that’s because he’s weird.

-A-Freaking-Mazing Artichoke Dip: This is so good.  If you need something to take to a potluck, take this and a bag of tortilla chips, stand back, and wait for everyone to worship you for being the queen of artichoke dip. Seriously.

So there you have it, folks.  A few of the best things on my food board.  I’m always on the hunt for more, but all in moderation.  I’m trying to lose some L-Bs, and if I get to my goal weight I get the one thing, besides a Chihuahua, that I’ve wanted since I was 13.  Stay tuned. 

So, any recipes you think I might enjoy?  Any recipes you think I could make for the hubs that don’t involve pasta?  Holla.

Look what I got my hands on…

 

And I have big plans!  The hubs is going to help me transform these pallets into something FA-BA-LUS and I.CANT.WAIT. We’ve had to put it off for 2 weekends now and if we don’t get to it this weekend I may explode.  If the stars align and we’re able to carve out some spare time this weekend we will hopefully come out of it with a little something like this.  Fingers crossed!

Laundry List

 

So if you learn one thing from this little blog-o-mine you will learn that I tend to start a project and then get distracted, leaving the project to flounder and collect dust for months weeks until I just get sick of staring at it.  With that being said, I recently started a sort of large-ish project in my laundry room! Yayy!!  But then life happened and now my sort of large-ish project is lingering.  Boooooo.

Our laundry room is actually pretty large for the size of our house, but it was an addition many many years ago and was never quite finished.  There are 2 closets and some cabinets against one wall that provide much needed storage, but the color of the wood has been driving me batty.  I plan to finish out the room eventually, but for now I just wanted the cabinets freshened up a bit!  I got myself some Kilz, a brush and a foam roller and got busy.  This is what we started with:

I have everything primed and ready for paint, but it’s still just sitting there!  Poor neglected laundry room.  I’m hoping to get the first coat of paint on it this week, so I’ll you posted on the progress.  The color I’m using is Breakwater White from Behr.  The list for the rest of the room is pretty long, but it really shouldn’t take too long.  Here’s a little rundown: finish painting cabinets, install trim where it’s missing, paint all trim white, paint walls, bring in accessories and curtains for my cute little window and reorganize the cabinets. 

I love small, utilitarian type rooms like this.  Don’t get me wrong, I love furniture, but sometimes it’s nice to only have to deal with paint and a few accessories, ya know?  Until next time, wish me luck with the painting! 

Morton and the Mirror

 

Every weekend I try to go to AT LEAST one thrift store.  I’m always searching for quirky things for our house, frames for my future gallery wall, or furniture that needs a little TLC.  For the record, I’m not one of those lucky gals that stumbles upon a barely sat in Eames chair for $20 or some other out of this world deal.  I sometimes find a mirror I can repaint or some candlesticks that I can put on my mantel.  However, this weekend was different.  I felt like that lucky gal.  I wandered into a new thrift store I’d never been to before and it was like stumbling upon a treasure trove!  I saw chairs to reupholster!  Mirrors to hang on my walls!  Quirky antiques to adorn my shelves!  It was AWESOME. But then I rounded a corner and saw that one thing I KNEW I had to have.  And here it is…

Isn’t she beauty-ful?!?!  I can’t even BELIEVE I found her, just hanging all alone on a peg board wall for only a few dollars!  She was waiting for me to take her home.  Can you tell I’m obsessed?  I have plans..

 

Then today when I came home for lunch, there was a gigantic package waiting for me, which is always SOOOO exciting.  What could it be?!?!  So I carefully undid the tape and inside was another box and inside that box was the most wonderful thing that has ever arrived on my doorstep via UPS… his name is Morton.

 

OMG!!!!!!!!  I squealed! And then I immediately hung him up on any random nail or screw I could find, just to see how he will look in all sorts of places around the house.  I can’t believe he’s mine.  From my parents for Christmas.  My mom actually had him shipped to her first because she wanted to meet him before she sent him to me.  HAHA!  Wow, I sound like a total nut job right about now, huh?  Anywho, that’s Morton and my new mirror.  I’m off to FaceTime with my parents and Morton…

Thanks for stoppin’ by!

Apple Pie: A Weekend Project

 

Hey everybody, Nick here.  So this weekend my lady and I took on a little cooking project of sorts.  Here in the south we like our apple pie, and I’m not talking about the kind you bake.  I recently procured some Tennessee white whiskey, made from corn and smooth as water.  The perfect thing to do with this stuff is make apple pie liquor.  So the wife and I headed to WalMart to gather our supplies.  We got ourselves some apple juice, specifically Simply Apple, some cinnamon sticks, sour apples, and some Mason jars of the quart variety. 

Now, in a big stew pot I mixed up my apple pie.  I would share this with you but sadly, it’s my secret, get your own!  Haha!  Really though, you can look it up online; or as the wife would say, “Google it!”  So while my magic elixir was simmering away on the stove I took all the tops off my jars, cut up my apples and put the cinnamon sticks in the jars.

Make sure you get the seeds out.  Nobody wants seeds in their pie shots.

After it simmered for about 15 minutes it was ready to be cooled down.  Since the liquid has to be cool before it can be poured into the jars, I went ahead and prepared an ice bath for my pot.  I’m impatient and didn’t feel like letting it cool on it’s own.

Here’s an artsy little pic the wife took of my handy work.

 

So next I just used a ladle and a funnel to fill my jars and then set them all in a cool place to chill out for a week or so.  Now I won’t lie, I’ve already taken a few swigs from one of the jars and it is BEYOND delicious.  It’s also dangerous stuff, since you can’t taste the alcohol.  This stuff will be perfect for get togethers in the cold winter months and on into the summer for barbecues and such.  If you can’t get your hands on any white lightening, pure grain alcohol works just fine.  Hope you enjoyed my first post here on our little blog!  I leave you with some more pictures my lady took of the process.  Thanks for stoppin’ by!

Holy Smokes!

Long time no blog, folks!  It been crazy with a capital K around here lately!  Mix together the holidays with some sad family stuff and we were all caught up in that little thing called life.  So I’ll get you up to speed on what’s been happenin’ in our neck of the woods.  '

Christmas was absolutely fabulous and I got to spend FOUR whole days with my parents and brother.  They live about 7 hours away from me, so anytime I can see them is a good time for me!  We always stay at my aunt’s house when we go “home” (we used to live in the same town, but since I now live in KY and my parents are in IL we meet up in our hometown) and it’s so nice at Christmas to have everyone there in the house as one big family.  I luuuurve it.

I got a pair of Tom's and I’m so psyched to wear them!  They’re beautiful and white, so I’m not quite ready to bust them out in the dead of winter and get them all gross, but they are AWESOME!  Nick got a LifeProof case for his iPhone.  If you’ve never looked into them, they’re awesome and waaaayyyyy better than Otterboxes. 

With the New Year now officially rung in and off to a fast start Nick and I sat down to make a list of everything we want to do around the house this year.  A few things we hope to get crossed off the list early in the year are:

-Paint the family room

-Paint the kitchen

-Paint the laundry room, including the cabinets.

Hopefully these painting jobs will give us the DIY nudge we need to take on all the other projects on our list!  Obviously this will lead to some (hopefully) pretty great posts here on the ol’ blogger-ooski.  Anywhoodle, stick around and let the good times roll!

While I’m thinking about it, if you’re visiting our little blog from Facebook or you’ve found me randomly on the internet(so basically everyone except our parents, who are already subscribed) purty please hit the little button on the left side that says “Join this Site” and follow along with us on the regular.  We sure would love ya for it!

Thanks for stoppin’ by!

Kreativ Blogger

 

The lovely Jeanne from Snuggle Bunny's Journey has awarded me the Kreativ Blogger award!  Thank you Jeanne!!  It really means a lot to me to be recognized by another blogger.  Go stop by Jeanne’s blog and take a peek around.  She has the cutest little boy!

For this award I am to tell you 7 things about myself and then pass on the award to 10 other bloggers.  However, I don’t really have 10 other bloggers to give it to!  I’m the worst, I swear!  But here are the 7 things…

1. I’m married to my love, Nick, and we’ve been married for 2 and a half years.

2. I’m one of the biggest home bodies I know.  I just love being at home.  I’ve always loved being home and with my family.

3. Nick and I have 2 dogs, a Golden Retriever named Peanut and a Husky named Jacobe.

4. I am a magazine addict.  I love almost all magazines, even some of the trashy gossip ones, but my favorites are Glamour and People.

5. I love foods that other people think are gross or weird.  These include, but are not limited to, green olives, corned beef hash, feta cheese, and cauliflower just to name a few.

6. One of my favorite things to do is snuggle up on the couch on a rainy day and watch movies I’ve seen a thousand times while eating delicious take-out .  It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

7. I love to paint my nails.  I also have an unhealthy obsession with makeup and am a fashionista at heart.

Once I have 10 bloggers I will pass the love along!