Olympics! And other fun shenanigans!

Hi there!

So, I'm currently watching the London Olympics Opening Ceremony while I type this.  This is the first time I've ever watched an opening ceremony and I must say it's pretty cool!  I would have loved to be a volunteer!  How fun would it be to be a part of that?  All that fun music and dancing?!  So fun!

I have no new recipes for you today :(  So sorry!  I didn't make or try anything new this week.  But don't worry, I should have at least four new recipes in August for sure because I have four family members or friends with birthdays in August!  So there will probably be at least 4 new dessert recipes!  :)  I don't like letting so much time go by in between posts so I thought I post something brief (mainly pictures) of what I've been up to recently. . . 

Dave and I ran in the Color Me Rad 5k!

My hair got the worst of it!  Haha!

Throughout the 3 mile race, there were 5 stations where colored corn starch would be thrown on you!

Dave got it good!  Haha!

YUM!  We went to my cousins wedding this week and it was such a great time! It was country and southern and just fun!  Not to mention, the food was amazing!!  Some of the best wedding food I've ever had!

The pulled pork was out of this world!  I didn't even put any sauce on it because it didn't need it!

And how cute is their cake!?  It was equally as tasty too!

Me and my sisters . . .

And me and Dave!

I also watched the Bachelorette Finale this week and was so excited that Emily picked Jef!  He was one of my favorites from the very beginning!  He reminded me a lot Dave in that he was kind of quiet and had his own sense of style.  Plus he was really gentle and sweet! <3

Of course I have to mention my sweet nephews!  I can't get enough of them!

It's been yet another busy (but fun!) week!  I'll catch you all on the flipside!  Have a great weekend!

2 New Recipes! Dinner and Dessert!

Hi there!  I have two delicious recipes for you today!  That's what happens when I have two days off from work in a row!  Monday morning I got a text from my boss that I didn't need to come in that day - sweet!!!!  I will ALWAYS welcome an unexpected day off!  I knew right away that I was going to spend some of my free time in the kitchen!  I saw these cake batter pretzel bites on The Domestic Rebel

blog and have been wanting to make them ever since!  I see SO many cake batter recipes on Pinterest but not many of them really draw me in but these sure did!  I think it's because of their sweet and salty combo!  I love that!

Start with one box of Funfetti Cake Mix and 1 stick of softened butter.  I just used my hands to mix it all together.

Once the batter is mixed well, take little handfuls and roll them into a ball.

Start making little pretzel sandwiches by squishing the dough balls in between two pretzels.

Place all your pretzel sandwiches on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and freeze for at least an hour.

Melt some white chocolate morsels in the microwave.  Dip the pretzel-wiches in the chocolate and then into the sprinkles.  Place them on the wax paper lined baking sheet and put them back in the freezer to harden.  It's super hot out here in KY so I've been keeping mind in the freezer or refrigerator. They are SO good!  This made 56, no 58 (I forgot I ate 2 in the process of making them) little sandwiches.  I think it all depends how big your batter balls are though!

Next up: Ravioli with Summer Vegetables!  Yum!  This was tonight's dinner!  It was very easy to make!  (I apologize for only taking 3 pictures.  Whenever I make a recipe for the first time I seem to get really involved and forget to take pics)  Anyway, start by boiling 20 oz of refrigerated cheese ravioli according to directions on package.  Meanwhile chop up 2 yellow squash and 4 tomatoes off the vine.

As the ravioli is cooking heat two teaspoons of olive oil in a skillet along with 2 cloves of minced garlic.  Drain and rinse a 15 oz can of chickpeas then add them to the skillet along with the squash and tomatoes.  Add 1/2 teaspoon Thyme and 1/4 teaspoons black pepper.  Cook on medium - high heat for about 7 - 8 minutes or until the vegetables are heated through.

While the veggies are cooking shred 4 cups of spinach.  Once ravioli is finished drain it and return it to the pot.  Add the cooked veggies and the spinach to the pot and mix everything together.  This picture doesn't show it but we also added a handful of parm cheese!  The parm cheese really made this dish!  It was very good, very quick and easy, and pretty healthy!  Dave and I will be making this again soon!  Oh, and it made about 5 or 6 servings.

Enjoy!

Dance Filled weekend!!!

Oh my goodness!  I had quite the weekend!  It was so fun!  And it was filled with lots and lots of dancing!  Saturday morning I went to Zumba.  I've gone to Zumba 4 or 5 times now and it's always fun!  But this time it actually seemed like a workout.  It got my heart pumping!  I think maybe now that I've gone a few times I finally knew the dances well enough to get into them a little bit more.  I really liked that it actually felt like a workout this time.

Then later that night I went to a Bachelorette Party . . . so there was lots of dancing going on!  It was so fun!  We went to Boogie Nights which is a club at a Hollywood Casino that plays 70's, 80's and 90's music.  It was awesome!  Here are a few photos from the night . . . 

Me and the gorgeous bride!

Riding down the escalator to the dance floor!  How fun is that?!  You get to make a grand entrance!

The view from the top of the escalator looking down onto the dance floor!

There were lots of fun characters that worked at the club.  Like this disco man on stilts!

And this guy dressed as Billy Idol!

It was such a fun night!  I know a lot of people who have gone in the past and talked about how fun it is but I just never had the desire to go.  I'm so glad I did!  So fun and different!  However, this night just confirmed what I've always felt . . . . I can NOT dance!  Haha!  I've always been involved in cheerleading and dance but that's different.  I am completely capable of learning choreography and getting down that way but when it comes to freestyle I suck!  Haha!  At Zumba on Saturday I just kept thinking "I know I look like a cheerleader right now!"  All my movements were all stiff and cheerleader-ish!  And then that night at the Bachelorette Party I was surronded by all these great dancers.  Made me feel so inadequate!  Haha!  I worry that when I dance freestyle I look like this . . .

Elaine Benes awesome dance skills!

or maybe this . . .

The Jersey Shore guys dancing!

Seriously!  I feel like a dance like a dude!  I just throw my hands around in the air like the Jersey Shore boys!  Why can't I dance like Anne Hathway in this scene from Bride Wars?!?!

Bride Wars Dance Off Scene
(starting at about minute 6.40)

Haha!  Ok, maybe I don't want to dance exactly like that!  But at least it's a little more feminine than the fist pumps!

Maybe I should take lessons somewhere?!?  Regardless, it was such a fantastic night and I am so excited for my friends wedding!  It will be here SO soon!  Hopefully I can freshen up my dance moves by then!

Spaghizza! (A Spaghetti/Pizza hybrid)

Hi there!  I've got a new recipe for you!  And it's super easy!  But before I get into that I wanted to show you a couple new foodie finds!

First is this gum from Extra.  I am not a gum chewer.  The only time I chew gum is when I'm at work after lunch.  I really don't want to be blowing some stinky breath into my patient's faces!  I actually bought this gum for my husband.  It just seemed like something he would like.  While he was chewing it I could smell a delicious root beer smell wafting (that's probably not a good work to use - it makes me think of a fart! haha!) from him and it smelled amazing!  So I tried it - yep, it's amazing!  It's root beer-ish and vanilla-y!  Yum!

Next are these new granola bars from Larabar.  I was not impressed :(  I saw that some girls got one of these in their birchboxes so I went on the hunt for them.  There are 4 flavors: Bananas Foster, Roasted Nut Roll, Apple Turnover, and Cherry Cobbler.  So far I've tried the Roasted Nut Roll and the Bananas Foster.  Neither of them impressed me.  I'm not really even in a hurry to try the others.  They weren't bad but they just didn't wow me!

So, onto the recipe!  It's part spaghetti, part pizza.  So I call it spaghizza (spa-geetza)!  I like to say that word.  Especially in an italian accent!  Anyway, I've made this a few times now and each time I use different vegetables.  In the past I've used only zucchini and one time I used zucchini and yellow squash.  This time I used zucchini and a green pepper.

Saute the veggies in a bit of olive oil just to soften them slightly.

Then pour in some marinara sauce of your choice.  I also add a little big of pepperoni.  You can use as much or as little as you like.

Add in just a tiny bit of cooked pasta.  I think there are about a total of 20 noodles in there.  So it's not much pasta.  I try to make the majority of the dish vegetables but with a tiny bit of other little extras.

Then add in a handful of parm cheese and stir it all together!  This made 4 servings.  It's quick and simple and somewhat healthy!

I don't think I've ever really gone into detail on this blog about how I typically eat.  It's pretty simple really.  When it comes to food that isn't whole/raw (like fruits and veggies), I just look at the ingredient list (I honestly don't pay much attention to the nutrition facts such as fat or calories) and make sure that I know what they are and I can pronounce them.  The picture above is of the marinara sauce I used for the spaghizza.  I know what all of those ingredients are besides citric acid (although I've heard of it) and calcium chloride.  So Knowing 12/14 of the ingredients is pretty darn good!  The reason I pay more attention to the ingredients rather than the nutrition information is because it is important to make sure you're not taking in any chemicals.  Chemicals and additives are added to SO much of our food!  And that's what makes us sick.  Plus, more than likely if the ingredients are all legit, the nutrition info is going to be good as well.

Just FYI:  I looked up citric acid and calcium chloride.  Citric Acid is a natural preservative/conservative and it's used to give foods an acidic or sour taste.  Calcium Chloride is a type of salt.

Hopefully that little tidbit was helpful and hopefully you'll try this recipe! :)

Pinspiration: Photography For The New House!

I'm here with some more Pinspiration!  These first 3 pictures I found on Pinterest and it gave me an idea.  I thought it would be cute to have a picture of Dave and I during all 4 seasons!  I would line all 4 pictures up side by side on our wall.  Now that we're moving I figured it was a good time to actually start on this project so we can hang them up in our new living room soon!

Cute Winter picture idea . . .

Spring or Summer . . .

Great Fall idea . . .

So, since it's currently Summer I figured we would start there.  Usually when people think of Summer they think of water or beaches or something.  Neither Dave or I have a pool or will be going to the beach again this summer so I thought I should come up with another option.  (plus, who wants a picture of themselves in their swimming suit right in their living room?!?)  My next idea was maybe a picnic or something.  So I googled "couple picnic photos" and you won't believe the images I found!  They were all either super corny poses (see below) or the food was the focal point of the picture (again, see below)!  And some were a mix of both!  (once more, see below) Haha!

Wow. . . .

She looks like she has an abundance of confidence!  Haha!

Classic!  Gotta have a picture of them feeding eachother!

Finally, I found a few cute ones.  Which gave me hope!

I thought these were cute!

How fun would it be to do a fair picture!?

This one is super pretty!  I love the lighting!

This one is my favorite . . . and it's the one we chose to try to replicate!  (sidenote: can anyone guess who the female is in this picture?)

Yes, it is in water and yes they are in their suits but you can barely tell so I thought it would be all right.  We're having a heck of a time trying to find old inner tubes like this. I really hope we can find some in time!  We're taking the pictures in 5 days and we haven't found any yet!  Our friend/photographer picked out a great spot for the pictures so now we're just hoping for good weather and some inner tubes!

Wish us luck!

Weekly Round-Up! Birthday, Magic Mike, etc. . .

I have been so, so, so busy!  I really hope to put up some recipe posts soon!  Between house stuff and just having lots of get togethers during the summer I really haven't had much time to blog.  I'm looking at my calendar right now and these next two weeks are going to be busy as well!  Hopefully things will settle down after that!

So here's what's been happening during the last week . . . 

I turned 28!  Yay!  I had to work on my actual birthday which wasn't very much fun but at least I came home to some treats!

Dave made me a funfetti cake with rainbow chip icing!  (This is all I wanted for my birthday!  Haha!)  And check out my blingin' candles!

Bout to demolish this cake!

The day after my birthday I was off work and so was Dave so we spent the entire day together!  We went to the pool for a few hours and later that night we went out to a fancy shmancy restaurant called The Precinct!  My Mother-in-law got us a gift card for Christmas so we finally put it to use!  I took a few pictures in the restaurant but the lighting was so dim and I didn't want to use my flash (I felt like the restaurant was too fancy to be obnoxious and draw attention to myself with blinding flash) so they didn't turn out well at all.

I'll post one pic though. . . this is a comment card our waiter gave us after our meal.  Do you like my response to "what would you like to see on our next menu?"  More dessert options!  Haha!  I wasn't implying that their dessert options weren't good - because they were amazing!!!  (esp. the chocolate mousse) but there were only 3 choices.  I would have loved to have seen more!  :)

Me and my friend Morgan had been looking forward to seeing Magic Mike all week (well, let's be honest, we've been looking forward to seeing it since we saw the first preview about 2 months ago when we saw The Lucky One in theaters!) but we were so sad when we got to the theater Friday night and found that it was sold out!!!  We were crushed!  But we were proactive and immediately bought tickets for the next night so we wouldn't have any more disappointment!

Look what we have here!  Is that fabric I see??  Yep!  I (well, I should actually say "Jeana" since she's the one making it) already started on the quilt!  We spent two hours at JoAnn Fabrics but we finally got the fabric picked out!  I am so excited an anxious to see the final project!

*My friend Jeana has a blog too!  She is a huge movie buff and she reviews movies after she seems them.  You can check out her blog here:Jeana's Movies)

And then we finally got to see Magic Mike!  We're much happier in this picture!

How was everyone else's week/weekend?  Hope it was fantastic!