Green Thumb Update

Well, it was bound to happen. We've had a few casualties. Our two broccoli plants were the first to sprout, but it's been all downhill since then for them. Last week we had to pull one out and replant a new seed in its place because it just wasn't going to make it. It's buddy is currently being supported by a toothpick, but hopefully it'll make a strong recovery. My theory is that the roots can't get deep enough for them to thrive, which is why they sprout and then die. We'll see if that holds once we're actually able to get the plants moved outside (and with overnight temperatures still flirting with freezing, it'll be a while yet before that happens). We've also starting putting a fan on them for a few hours a day hoping that the breeze will help the plants to grow sturdy stalks to they survive the move outside. We tried setting the potter outside one afternoon when it was warm and calm, and within an hour the wind (a fairly mild one--10 mph at most) had blown over every plant. The tomato plants are recovering well since we moved them inside and are standing back up, but our poor little green onion hasn't faired as well. But hopefully a few more days of good sunshine will perk him right back up!

But the best news is that we're finally starting to see progress from our pepper plants! They had us worried because they were taking so long to sprout, but when Darrell thinned out a few of the sprouts (he planted multiple seeds in one holder to start) he said that the roots had gotten pretty deep, so apparently they were working on growing down instead of up to start. Here's an updated picture so you can see our little garden for yourself!

The peppers are in the foreground; they're still pretty small yet, but five of the six are making good progress, so we're super excited about that. The tomato plants are majorly thriving, all four of the stalks are getting fairly thick, and they are starting to branch out leaves like crazy. Behind the toothpick supporting the broccoli plant is our squash plant, the other big development since I last posted. And I'm not joking when I say big. It's stalk is probably as thick as all the other plants COMBINED. It's crazy. And it's secretly my favorite. But don't tell the others. Sadly, it's buddy didn't have as much luck sprouting, so we've also replanted that pot as well.

We're also continuing to see progress out of (almost all of) the herbs. I had to get close up pictures of the pots so you could see the sprouts--these herbs are slow going! I think it's going to be quite a bit longer before I'm making delicious pesto!



We're pretty sure these are the basil plants because they look identical and sprouted at exactly the same time. Grow little buddies grow!



Darrell thinks the one on the right is Italian parsley because of the shape of the leaves, which led him to conclude that the other one is cilantro since those herbs come from similar families. These two buddies love their sun; we have to rotate them on a daily basis because the grow toward the direction of the window instead of straight up

Unfortunately, our remaining herb pot is not having any success at all. It's the one that sits right behind the bar of the window, so I'm thinking that it's not getting as much sun and warmth as the others. But we'll see. We can't replant yet because we don't know for sure which one it is, but I'm secretly hoping that it's rosemary because we just don't use that herb as much as the others.

Now we're just hoping for a few warm and dry days so we can get out and dig our garden plot, and hopefully we'll have the vegetables outside by the middle of May! Happy Gardening to everyone else testing out their green thumbs!

It's That Time of the Year Again!

Prom Season. Graduation Season. Wedding Season. Swimsuit Season.


So many different monikers for the season formally known as Spring. One big one is missing, though, and in my mind it's the one that ties all of the others together: Get-Your-Butt-in-Shape Season. Every time I get on Facebook there are at least two status updates where people are agonizing about how hard it is to get back in shape, complaining about losing the winter weight, and fretting about putting that swimsuit on for the first time. All over the internet the "special feature" articles are about trimming down and toning up, body cleanses, and finding the perfect swimsuit. Of course, the articles aren't all pushing for weight loss, such as the ones criticizing princess-to-be Kate Middleton for loosing too much weight prior to her big day (tomorrow!). Good, bad, or otherwise, all of the articles and publicity solidify the fact that right now really is a time of the year where people are more likely to become self-conscious of the way they look--because as the temperatures get higher, so do the hemlines. 


My response to the whole matter? Meh. I mean, I totally get it and I'd be lying if I said that I'm always all smiles when I pull my swimsuit out of the drawer for the first time in the spring. But I don't think that relegating fitness (and with it, healthy eating) to one "season" of the year is the best approach. It should be a whole-year full-lifestyle kind of thing. That being said, I do tend to find myself stepping up my game in the spring. It's so easy to go running when the sun is beckoning you outside and the sidewalks and roads aren't covered in ice and snow. And it's so easy to eat healthy when the supermarkets are laden with fresh fruits and vegetables (at reasonable prices!). And this spring, I'm going to step up my game more than usual. Not because of some crazy "swimsuit" season or anything, but because I've got another 5K on the horizon--a 5K that I'd like to finish in under 28 minutes. And maybe later this summer I'll man up and run a 10K. Either way, it's back to a training schedule and lots of running--but I'm more okay with it now than I was before the St. Patty's 5K because I'll actually be able to do most of my running outside (so long as spring actually sticks around). First up on the training agenda? Two mile runs on Saturday and Sunday. Bring on Prom/Wedding/Graduation/Swimsuit Season!

Resistance

Ready for another World War II era book? I wasn't kidding when I said that I had a small handful of them backlogged that I need to blog on, so here's the next one. Similar to The Book Thief, it discusses the war from a unique perspective. There's no blood and guts and brutal front-line action to be found here; instead, it follows the lives of some resistance (anti-Nazi) workers--the stress, the deception, the surreptitious plans, the consequences. And, as is par for the course in Anita Shreve books, it encompasses a love story--an unlikely one at that. 


Of course, that's all information you could get off the back jacket of the book. What the back of the book doesn't say is just how well Anita Shreve portrays the lives of the resistance workers. No detail was overlooked, and at many times I felt like I had become a part of the story, like I were walking through the woods with them, like I knew the characters in real life. And while this captivated me and made it hard for me to put the book down, it also made it hard for me to get through the ending. Because Anita Shreve has a knack for telling things like they are--no unrealistic "happily ever after" endings to be found here. To be fair, the ending isn't bad or anything (it's definitely got some surprise twists!), but don't expect to find a Hollywood-esque fairy tale ending here. Fairy tale endings aren't exactly "real-life", and they are even further from real life during World War II (or really, any war). But, I know some people aren't a fan of books/movies that end that way (as I had a friend once say "If I wanted to watch a movie that doesn't end with a happily ever after then I'll just make a movie of my own life. But when I go to a movie, I want to get away from the crap that is real life and get lost in a world where happily ever after does exist"), so I figured I'd give a little disclaimer. 


This is definitely a book I'm hanging on to (yay for $1 finds at used book stores!), and one I look forward to reading again, although I think I'll time it better next time. Three World War II era books in a row can really get one down and out, especially when crappy weather is doing that already. I definitely went through a somber two-week period as I was reading through these books--but I suppose some of that is my own fault for getting so involved in the books!

Rosemary Bread

I know I've been on a little bit of a yeast kick lately, but man oh man is it ever worth it for this bread. This bread is just So. Unbelievably. Good. Whenever I make a new recipe I always watch Darrell as he tries it so I can see his reaction, which of course once he figured that out he started intentionally making gross faces just to get a rise out of me. But this bread? He took his first bite and all he could say was "It's just... Incredible". Couldn't even get an insult out or anything. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I could keep rambling on about this, but let's just cut to the chase. Make this recipe--and make it soon.

I'd like to be cutesy and say that I intentionally took a picture of the bread after breaking some pieces off so that you could see how light and flaky it is, but in reality I just ate that much of the bread before regaining my senses and remembering to take a picture

Rosemary Bread

(I'm forever indebted to this website for introducing me to this recipe)

1 tbsp dry yeast

1 tbsp sugar

1 cup warm water

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp dried rosemary, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter, melted

Olive Oil for dipping if desired (we sprinkled some Italian seasonings and parmesan into ours, but using balsamic vinegar with the olive oil would probably be just as tasty)

Preheat the oven to warm, or about 200*. Combine the yeast, sugar, and water; mix until frothy. Add 2 cups of the flour, salt, and half of the rosemary. Knead the dough for a few minutes (I did this with a spoon because the dough was still quite sticky at this point). Add the rest of the flour as necessary, 1/2 a cup at at time, until the dough gets soft and stretchy without being overly sticky (a little stickiness is okay). Turn the oven off. Pour the olive oil into a separate bowl and move the dough into it. Roll the dough a few times to coat it in the oil. Cover the bowl with a cloth and place it into the warm oven. Let it rise until doubled in size, approximately one hour. After it has risen, punch it down and knead it again. Then divide the dough into two equal sized lumps and let them sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Shape the dough into oval loaves and place them on the pan. Brush them with the melted butter (all of it--they will be quite saturated) and sprinkle the remaining rosemary on top (press them in lightly if they don't look like they'll stick. Return dough to the oven and let it rise for another 45 minutes. Remove the dough and sprinkle them with some salt (original recipe calls for using kosher salt at this step--I didn't have any and they came out just fine). Preheat the oven to 450* and bake the bread for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned (the original recipe called for 20-25 minutes, but I checked mine after 12 and it was perfectly done, so I'm not sure about the baking times. Just keep an eye on it the first few times you make it until you're comfortable with how your oven cooks it--and trust me, after you make this once, there will be more times).

I know I've said this before, but working with yeast is really not that intimidating. And I won't go so far as to say that I promise my oven method will work, but I'm convinced that if you follow these directions you'll get a beautifully risen--and subsequently soft and light--loaf of bread. Now please, do yourself and your loved ones a favor and make this bread!

PS The recipe may yield two loaves, but don't expect it to last long. And please don't think about cutting the recipe in half. I promise you that you'll regret it. At the very least, if you aren't a carb fiend like Darrell and I (we ate through both loaves in less than 24 hours), give the second loaf away and make someone else's day. But whatever you do, just make this bread! 

Easter Blessings!

I know I'm a few days late on this, but I was so busy enjoying my long weekend that I just never found myself inspired to get on the computer. Unfortunately, I had to keep myself busy by myself; not only did Darrell not get any days off for the Easter holiday, but he actually ended up having to work the Saturday before Easter. However, we did (finally!) get some time together on Sunday night, and since Spring decided to make a glorious return (albeit short lived since it's already back to cold and rainy) we decided to make the most of it. How?

I can't tell you how excited Darrell was to get out to the driving range; he was giddy like a kid in a candy shop the whole way home from Webster (we went to go visit my sister and see some of the remodeling she's done in her new house for Easter). Of course, on the way to the range he was all negative and preparing himself to have an awful time on the range since it's his first time out this spring. It didn't seem to me like things went too terribly, although he does have a massive blister now. And what, you may be asking, did I do while Darrell was practicing his golf game? Laid on the grass and looked through a recipe book. Thrilling. But seriously, I could have been out there doing far more torturous and boring things and I wouldn't have minded. It was incredibly gorgeous--no wind or anything. A rare gem of an evening in good ole South Dakota. 


And nothing wraps up a wonderful evening quite like this:

In retrospect, we probably shouldn't have made a dinner out of popcorn (popped over the stove! Sooo delicious that way) and smoothies, but at the time it seemed like a good idea. And our Redbox selection? The King's Speech. Pretty solid movie--I guess it won all those awards for a reason! We really didn't know anything about the movie going into it, but it ended up being a successful choice--although for just a dollar it's hard to go wrong with Redbox!


Stay tuned this week; I've got a backlog of posts to get caught up on, including a bread recipe that is To. Die. For. I'll try to get to it later today, but I'm definitely going to have to wait until after I've eaten to blog about it because just thinking about it (on an empty stomach!) is making my mouth water. 

Alfred Hitchcock in SD?

So I get home from work the other day and as I'm getting out of my car I start to notice this strange whirring/buzzing sound. I didn't think too much of it and just figured one of my neighbors was out with some sort of tool getting a head start on yard work (despite the cold weather and soggy yards). However, as I'm walking across the street to the mailbox, I look up and see this on the neighbor's roof:

All those black spots you see? Birds. All birds. No joke. So of course, I start looking around the whole neighborhood to see if there are birds on any other roofs or just that one. I notice a few birds on one of the houses behind mine, so once I get inside I decide to step onto my deck for a better look. And find this:

More birds. All along the fences, all over the empty lot next to our house, all up on rooftops. There had to be hundreds of them. It was unreal. I took a picture with my cell and sent it to Darrell and his response was "What the hell? Why us?" I certainly echo those sentiments.

But you know what? Less than ten minutes later they were gone. All of them. Not a trace left in the neighborhood. And I've not seen another one in the days since. Definitely added to the weirdness of the whole thing. Plus, I'm convinced the birds were a harbinger of strange things to come, because later that night I'm baking some bars and this happens:

Yes, that is a stainless steel measuring cup, and yes, that is the broken handle sitting next to it. Busted off while I was scooping oatmeal. Oatmeal! So bizarre. And since this is the second set of measuring cups that Darrell and I have managed to bust in the eleven months that we've been married (the first set cracked in half!), we decided to step it up a notch a bought the heaviest-duty set we could find. I'm going to be majorly disappointed if something happens to one of them--for what we paid for them they'd better come with a lifetime warranty!

The Book Thief

This book review is loooong overdue. I've actually finished another book since this one, and I'm well on my way to finishing another. So I figured that I'd better get this one posted before I had three books queued up and ready to be blogged about. You'll also notice a slight trend between these next three books, although I swear it wasn't intentional. Anyway, on to The Book Thief

I looooved this book. At one time, when I went to pick it up to read it, I actually had the thought "maybe I should do something else instead of read, because if I read this some more now I'll be closer to finishing it and I don't want it to end". Or something along those lines. But seriously, the book was amazing. It's set in Nazi Germany (which is an era that I love to read about--and also the common link between the most recent books I've read), but told from an unusual perspective: Death. Although Death is the primary narrator of the story, it follows the journey of a young German girl and how the war affects her life and the lives of those around her. Death comes upon this story because of a journal the girl kept, which he happens to pick up while collecting souls (but I won't say whose...). Despite being told by Death, the story isn't all dark sad and gloomy. Not only does Death have a dry sense of humor at times, but since it's also the story of the young girl, it details the highs and lows, comedies and tragedies, of her life. Which I think is what I love most about this book. I've read quite a few books on Nazi Germany, but this was the first one I've read that shows the war through such unique eyes: the eyes of a young German girl--what the war means to her, her slow understanding of the issues, the tragedy of coming of age during such an awful time--and the eyes of Death. 


Even though I'm sure not everyone enjoys reading war literature like I do, I still think that everyone should read this book. It's not the blood and guts of many war novels, but merely the everyday life of a young girl who just happens to be living during that time period. And if for no other reason, everyone should read this book just because of the incredibly unique literary style and voice. I've read my fair share of books, and I've never seen one that has a "format" like this. I certainly had a hard time putting the book down, that's for sure!


Oh, and PS: I borrowed this book from a friend, so if anyone out there is ever looking for a gift for me this book would definitely be on the list. Even just thinking about picking it up and reading it again makes me excited!

Soup and Breadsticks!

So our dinner last night wasn't quite like Olive Garden's soup, salad, and breadsticks because we didn't have any salad--but it was delicious nonetheless! We were already planning on cooking up a batch of pasta fagioli (unseasonably cold temperatures in April = soup weather), and then I (surprisingly!) got off work early, so I decided to use the time to my advantage to whip up a batch of homemade breadsticks. For those of you afraid of working with yeast--don't be! It really isn't super terrible. I've only had one yeast-disaster, and that was because I didn't let the bread rise as much as it was supposed to. But I've learned a trick that almost always guarantees a perfectly risen loaf!

Here's our final meal (recipes to follow)--next time I'll try to remember to "stage" the picture so I get both dishes in one shot and it doesn't look quite so haphazard!

Pasta Fagioli
(originally found here)

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 15 oz can Great Northern (or other white) beans, drained
15 oz can tomato sauce (or crushed tomatoes if you like things a little chunkier)
1 large bay leaf
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp parsley
1 tsp oregano
2 14 oz cans chicken broth
1 cup water, plus one can full
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups (6 oz) dry Ditalini pasta (or other small pasta--we used mini shells)
Grated Parmesan or Romano (optional)

In a deep pot, saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat. Meanwhile, blend the can of beans with one can water in a food processor until almost smooth. Add blended beans to pan, followed by the remaining ingredients except for pasta and grated cheese. Bring to a slow boil. Let simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add pasta and cook uncovered until pasta is al dente, according to package directions. Ladle soup into bowls and top with freshly grated cheese.

Like any soup, it takes a little bit of time on the stove (and makes the house smell fantastic while doing so!), but it's the perfect amount of time to whip up a batch of breadsticks!

Parmesan Breadsticks
(I think it's from a Taste of Home magazine from years ago? I've had this one for awhile, but have modified the directions to include my fail-proof method for getting the bread to rise)

2 packages active dry yeast (1/4 oz each)
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp butter plus 1/4 cup, softened and divided
1 tsp salt
4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic salt

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the milk, sugar, 3 tbsp of the butter, salt, and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. At this point, turn the oven on to it's lowest heat setting. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 6-8 minutes. Once the oven has preheated, turn it off and prop the door open slightly to let some of the heat escape. Place the dough into a greased bowl and turn it once to coat the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. I usually keep the oven door propped open for the first twenty minutes or so, then close it for the remaining time. Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 36 pieces and shape each piece into a six-inch rope. Place two-inches apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 25 minutes. At this point I either slightly preheat the oven to stick the breadsticks back into the warm oven, or if it's sunny out I'll find a spot in the sun for them to rise for the short period of time. Melt the remaining butter and brush over the dough; sprinkle with Parmesan and garlic salt. Bake at 400* for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

I hope my notes made sense; Darrell and I don't keep our house nearly warm enough to allow dough to rise properly, so finding this suggestion was a lifesaver. Because nothing beats the satisfaction of kneading bread dough or the smell of freshly made bread in the oven. We also always halve this recipe; as it is we eat the eighteen that a half recipe makes in less than 24 hours, so we certainly don't need more temptation sitting around the house!

More Sprouts!

So I have an amazingly delicious dinner from last night to post about (think Olive Garden's soup, salad, and breadsticks), but I'll get to that later today if I have time, if not tomorrow for sure. But for now I'll quickly show you this exciting development:

We have herbs! I don't have a clue which one is growing because Darrell told me not to label the herbs because "once they grow I'll which ones are which". Now, I totally believe that once they get full-grown, but as of right now we're totally just hanging in suspense as to which one has sprouted. I'm hoping it's basil because that's one of my favorites, but chances are it's something else since we have two basil pots planted and only one pot has sprouted. But you never know!

To Whom it May Concern

Dear Spring:


Where have you gone? We all miss you. Please come back soon. I am really starting to worry about the morale of my residents--I hear complaints daily about how much they hate me and where they want to move instead. I've been trying to convince myself that they are just lashing out because of the lack of sun, but I'm beginning to think that some people might mean it. I already have one of the lowest populations; I can't afford to lose more residents. And I definitely can't stand all of these comparisons to stupid ol' Canada.


I know that Old Man Winter is a mean old guy, and I'm sure that his refusal to leave is probably frustrating you, but please remain calm about it. Some of those poor people in the South and Southeast never saw all those tornadoes coming. I think that if you just relax and allow your warmth and sunshine to pour through, Old Man Winter will have no choice but to leave for good--and I know those storm-struck states would enjoy the sunshine during their mourning and cleanup. 


Anyway, I just wanted to make a plea for your return. I know that darn groundhog caught you off-guard when he predicted that you were going to come six weeks early, but that doesn't mean you get to disappear six weeks early as well. 


Thanks for your consideration; I hope to see you back here soon!


Love, South Dakota

Homemade Pizza(ish)

I don't remember exactly when Darrell and I started favoring homemade pizza to frozen pizza, but it started sometime after we discovered a recipe for Barbeque Chicken Pizza and pre-made pizza crusts. And we've been sold on them ever since. However, we've never quite been brave enough to attempt making a crust from scratch, so instead we continued to shell out nearly $2.50 for a pre-made crust. 


Well, those days are over! I (all by myself!) tackled a pizza crust from scratch last night, and it was no where near as difficult as I thought it would be! As you'll see at the end there are still a few kinks to work out, but I'm definitely excited to do it again. We didn't top the crust with our go-to barbeque chicken, but rather just mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil since this was our meatless entree for the week. There wasn't anything too thought-provoking that went into the topping, so I'll focus on the crust. I don't have a good picture of just the crust, so I'll jump right to the recipe and throw in some pictures at the end.


Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
(found here)


1 pkg active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey


In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about ten minutes. In a large bowl, combine flour, wheat germ, and salt. Make a well in the middle and add honey and yeast mixture. Stir until well-mixed. Cover and set in a warm place to rise for a few minutes (I let mine rise for about ten minutes). Roll dough on a floured pizza pan, poke a few holes in it with a fork, and top with your favorite ingredients. Bake in a 350* preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.


For fun, I took a few pictures along the way to show the process--which, in retrospect, I'm really glad I did instead of just relying on a picture of the final product!

Getting ready to roll out the dough. As you can see, I wrapped the dough in some plastic wrap (sprayed with oil) during its rising stage. I stole this trick from a friend (who also helped me realize that homemade crust isn't so frightening!)--just don't wrap the dough so tightly that it doesn't have any room to rise!


Doesn't it look so pretty all ready for the oven?

This is about where things started to go downhill. As you can see, the pizza is currently rolled out on a pizza pan--an upside down one at that. You see, Darrell and I love baking pizzas on a pizza stone, which we pre-heat so that the crust gets a nice crisp to it. Well, I was really uncertain about rolling out the pizza crust on a hot pizza stone, so Darrell had the not so brilliant idea to build the pizza on a separate pan and then just slide it onto the pre-heated pizza stone. So here I am, happily putting my toppings on my pizza, while, unbeknownst to me, my crust is adhering itself to the pan. After momentarily basking in the glory of my creation, I began the process of moving it onto the stone. Foolishly optimistic, I slid a pancake turner under one side of it to help coax it off.... But nothing budged. Thinking that I could just loosen the whole thing before moving it, I began sliding the turner all the way around the crust. Things were going fine until "riiiip!" a huge chunk of the crust stuck to my pancake turner and ripped a gaping whole in the bottom of my beautiful crust as I tried to pull the turner away. Devastated, I tried to fix the hole as best I could, but soon realized that my mission was futile--the other areas that I had "loosened" were already starting to stick again, and the toppings kept getting in the way of sealing the hole. So finally, I mashed it together, scooped it up to move it to the pizza stone, and did my best unfold it into something closely marginally resembling a pizza. Are you ready for this? It's pretty bad. Don't judge this whole experience based on this final picture.

Don't say I didn't warn you. That's about as far from a pizza as you can get. The bright side? It still tasted fantastic. Sure, some parts were significantly doughier than others because of the unevenness of the crust, but we Darrell didn't seem to mind at all. The crust definitely has a little bit of sweetness to it, but I thoroughly enjoyed the uniqueness of it. I'm anxious to try it again with some different toppings--and hopefully a more pizza-like end product. 

They're Alive!!

How awesome is that?!?! Our little seeds are actually growing into something! You have no idea how excited I was the day I came home and saw the first little green sprout. I instantly took a picture with my phone and sent it to Darrell, despite the fact that he'd be coming home in less than two hours. Of course, being the ever down-to-earth and level-headed guy that he is, his response was: Don't get too excited... We still have a long ways to go


Well I say phooey to that! I'm going to get excited by every little milestone along the way because it makes me happy (yes, cue the "simple pleasures for simple minds"; I've heard it all before). And truthfully, I was mostly just excited that our setup was actually working--it's a biodegradable Menards planter filled with plant starter soil and covered with a greenhouse-esque dome that's just sitting on a chair in our kitchen. Apparently, though, that's good enough for these guys! The sprouts you see are broccoli in the foreground and tomato in the background; the green onion was just starting to peek up and we're still waiting to see anything from the squash and peppers (and all of the herbs). But I'm convinced that if these little guys can make it, then the rest of them can too!

Honey Wheat Pork Chops and Cheddar

So not only was last weekend wonderfully spring because of the Twins games, but we also kicked the weekend off on Friday night by pulling out our grill. Nothing is better in than a meal hot off the grill--much like the brats we had last night! Of course, Mother Nature still hasn't quite been able to shrug off Old Man Winter, and there are cold temperatures and possibly snow in the forecast for Friday, so it looks like we'll have to take a brief hiatus from our grilling frenzy. 

Friday night we turned to an old favorite in these pork chops; we found this recipe sometime last summer and must have done it at least every other week after that. It's just that good. And even my husband, who isn't a big "cheese" person, really enjoys the flavor of the smoked white cheddar. So delicious--and of course, so perfect for the grill (we tried it stovetop once over the winter in our grill pan and it wasn't quite the same--plus it nearly set the smoke alarms off!) Without further ado: 

Honey Wheat Pork Chops and Cheddar


4 pork chops
12 oz honey wheat beer (we used Boulevard this time)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 oz smoked white cheddar, shredded
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp walnuts, toasted and chopped


Combine beer, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour into a bag with the pork. Marinade at least four hours. Drain and discard marinade. Cook pork on the grill over a drip pan (as you can see we just throw ours right on the grates). Stir together cheese, green onions, and nuts. Spoon mixture over chops. Cover and grill two to three minutes more or until cheese is melted. 


The other thing I love about grill recipes? They're so simple. Seriously. No complicated directions, no dirtying lots of dishes, just simple, good, food. 


And lest you think we are raving carnivores, we did serve a nice side of greens beans on the side, steamed (where else?) on the grill.

We've been on a little bit of an Asian kick lately with our green beans, so we tossed these with some dark sesame oil, a little garlic, and red pepper flakes, wrapped them up in foil, and tossed them on the grill. Ten minutes to perfection, and not a single dirty dish in the kitchen. Glorious.


I should warn you know that if you aren't a grill person, you probably should ignore the majority of my food posts for the next, oh, five months. Because we put our grill to good work in the nice weather. Now if it will just get warm enough for us to be able to sit outside and enjoy our meal as well... Life would be perfect (take the hint Old Man Winter and get the heck out of dodge!)

A Match Made in Heaven

And no, I'm not being cutesy and romantic and talking about Darrell and myself. I'm talking about spring, baseball, and the outdoors. Life just doesn't get much better than that. Darrell, my brother, and I drove up to Minneapolis this weekend to enjoy some Twins baseball, and while I never had any negative feelings about attending Twins games at the Metrodome (well, more like Metrobowl now, after it collapsed from the snow storms this winter), I don't think that I could ever go back. Not after enjoying games at Target Field. I mean, seriously, how awesome is this view?

Even with overcast skies and a less-than-thrilling game (Twins lost 0-1 against the Athletics), it was still a great night for baseball. I didn't get any pictures of the game on Saturday night, but here's a shot of us with our view of the field in the background.

We were seriously hoping for a foul ball, since we figured that 20-some rows up on the right field line would be pretty decent territory for one, but no such luck. Nothing even came close. Oh, and ignore the massive bags under my eyes--I played in a volleyball tournament Saturday morning (seven games in less than three hours) and was beat for the rest of the day. And apparently when I'm tired and nap in the car, bags happen. Oh well.


We also had tickets to the game Sunday afternoon. I'd explain the whole convoluted mess of how we ended up with tickets for both days (three for Saturday and four for Sunday), but it's just not worth it. Let's just say that you have to know my family to understand just how big of a mess it was. But I digress. Like I said, we had four tickets for Sunday's game. The three of us stayed with family in the Cities Saturday night, so we were already in town and ready to go to the game. My parents, sister, and boyfriend were supposed to drive up and meet us (and yes, I know that is more than four people--my dad was going to buy standing room only tickets at the gate). Well, they left my sister's house in Webster Sunday morning in pouring rain. And according to the forecast, that rain was headed straight to Minneapolis. So they decided to save the time and gas and bail on the game. We were likewise feeling uneasy about the likelihood of the game getting played, but since we were already up there we decided to wait it out. And I'm glad we did. Granted, the weather was having more mood swings than a pregnant lady, but it never did end up raining, which was all that mattered. We could deal with the constant back and forth between overcast and clear skies, which also caused the temperature to vary from cool and breezy to warm and muggy. It was a little bizarre--but we still got to enjoy the game. And this time, from seats along the first base line. 

No foul balls Sunday either, although we did see some get hit into the area we were sitting Saturday night. I guess it's just a matter of timing. Unfortunately the game wasn't much better--there was a little bit more scoring going on (final score was 3-5), but the Twins were on the losing end again. And I know I've already got a shot of Darrell and I on this post, but I thought I'd demonstrate just how varied the weather was. You can't see much of the sky in the previous picture, but it's heavily overcast and no sun is getting through to the field. Just over a half an hour later?

Massive sun. Thankfully our seats were in the shade or I probably would have left the game with some serious sunburn. Darrell and I should probably buy stock in sunscreen products once we have kids because they'll probably have the same easy-to-burn fair skin that we do (not quite as bad as redheads, mind you, but between the two of us we easily go through a bottle of sunscreen the one week a summer we're at the beach with Darrell's family--not to mention all the trips to the lake with my family). 


Hopefully the Twins get their bats going with a little bit more consistency--I know it's still early on in a loooong season, but no one wants to be tied with Detroit at the bottom of the American League Central Division!


PS I just realized that I never got a picture with my brother this weekend, despite spending the entirety of it with him. In fact, I don't think he's made an appearance anywhere on this blog yet. I'll have to remedy that soon

Green Thumb-ing It!

Despite our crazy work schedules (Darrell's been putting in some 60-hour weeks--gross!), we have managed to spend a little bit of time together doing something productive. We still have a long ways to go before we have anything resembling a garden in our backyard, but we finally decided where it's going to go and what to plant in it!


Our humble garden beginnings:

Note my yellow tape and cheat sheet under the planter so that when we go to transplant them into the garden we know which seedlings are which. I was feeling pretty good about myself when I had that idea :)

It should be noted that we have absolutely no idea what we are getting ourselves into. We currently have two tomato plants and four pepper plants taking root (hopefully!) in our little seedling green house. Do we have any idea how much vegetables those plants will yield? Not a clue. So if you start to see lots of salsa and fajita cooking going on later this summer, you'll know why. We also have plans to do squash, broccoli, spinach, zucchini, green beans, and green onions (that doesn't sound like biting off more than you can chew, does it?). We (literally) couldn't be more clueless about this whole process, and Darrell is very much of the "let's just do it and if it fails then we'll try it a different way next time" mentality, so this summer will either be a massive failure or a massive success. I'm praying for the later--I've got oodles of veggie-heavy summer dishes (off the grill!) that I can't wait to start trying. And using produce from our own garden will be significantly cheaper (and supposedly healthier. But I only really care about the cheaper part).


Not only did we decide to test out our green thumbs on a vegetable garden, but Darrell has also been dying to have an herb garden in the kitchen, so we got that project started as well. The progress?

You won't believe how many stores we had to go to before we found something that would be acceptable to put on that ledge. Darrell really wanted a rectangular planter, but they were either massively deep or way too wide. So hopefully these little pots do the trick; I think they look super cute, and that window couldn't be in a more perfect location--it's within an arms reach of the stove and gets gobs of sunlight. I know Darrell planted two pots of basil, and I think the other three are rosemary, parsley, and cilantro. 


Stay tuned for progress on our little adventure--I'm dying to see some little green sprouts start to stick up! (And you can fully expect pictures of them when they do!)

Letter to Future Daughter

To my future daughter:


I think there are a few things you should know about me before you are conceived and come into this world. I may have plenty of strong qualities that will make me a good parent, but there are many things about raising a girl that I will definitely lack.


For starters, don't expect me to teach you how to do something like this to your hair:

photo credit here

I do not possess such finely developed hair styling skills. I've got ponytails down pat, I can do a mean French-braid, and my straight-as-straw hair doesn't need any coaxing to master the "sleek and straight" look. However, if you get your father's curls and waves, don't expect much guidance from me. And styling products? Don't even get me started. It's a lucky day when I'm able to find hairspray in my bathroom cabinet. 


Similarly, don't expect to have a mother-daughter bonding day where I teach you the ins and outs of using these kinds of tools:

photo credit here

I can't even begin to tell you what all those brushes are for and where on your face all those different shades and colors and tubes belong. Mascara I can handle. Eye shadow? Sure, just as long as you stick to the neutral colors and don't want to do anything fancy with eyeliners and smokey eyes or anything. Blush and foundation? You'd better have someone else pick the colors out, because that's what I did. And that about sums up my beauty routine.


But most importantly, you should know that I don't "get" fashion. And because of that, I will never let you leave the house looking like this:

photo credit here

Trust me, I won't care if it's what every one else is wearing. You might as well strike that phrase from your vocabulary now. And don't think that you can make the situation better by wearing slightly longer spandex shorts underneath. If anything, that will only draw attention to just how short your shorts are and they will promptly be confiscated. These same rules apply for any type of a skirt or dress. As long as you are living under my roof it will be expected that boys have to do more to see your butt cheeks than just walk behind you. 


If you have objections to any of this I recommend that you just go ahead and let all the male and tom-boy sperm ahead of you so that you can avoid the disappointment of having me as a mother.


Sincerely,
Your Caring Mother


Disclaimer: I do not, under any circumstances, have a bun in the oven. Nor is there currently any work being done to put a bun in my oven. I just felt this would be an enjoyable way to A) ridicule my faults as a women and B) address the serious of issue of way too short shorts that girls wear. We've had reasonably nice temperatures the past few days and it's butt cheek central around here--and no shame about it whatsoever. This kind of clothing is only the "style" because parents allow it to be--if every daughter's mother (or father!) refused to let her wear super short shorts, then clothing lines would be forced to carry more reasonable attire for teenagers. Bottom line.

On Budgeting...

Work has become our lives as of late, which hasn't left time for doing much of anything (although we did manage to squeeze a late trip to Lewis last night before they closed to pick up some stuff to get our vegetables/herbs started...but more on that later). However, all the working and paychecks and bills and everything else has spiraled me into the land of budgeting. We've been sticking to one pretty well for the past couple of months, and it really hasn't been too bad (Darrell maybe had to loan me some money at the end of last month because I was out of my allowance and really wanted a few cute shirts that were on mega-sale...but that's beside the point). However, we've found that in one area it is particularly difficult to stick to our budget: Groceries. Try as we might, we always end up just barely scraping by, and as of late have resorted to taking a calculator with us so we return that bag of chips to the shelf because they'll push us over budget aren't surprised by the total at the cash register. What we've realized, though, is that food is an area where we aren't that willing to compromise. We loooove ourselves some fresh produce (although we've gotten better at eating only what's on sale in season, hence the branch into cauliflower), quality meats (but, meatless Mondays have been successful the past two weeks, so we're on a roll with that) and the (occasional) spirited beverage. Plus, we just genuinely enjoy cooking (and eating!) a variety of tasty food, and sometimes that requires purchasing some "not-so-local-or-cheap" ingredients, like coconut milk and pine nuts. I'm also a little bit of a brand whore--the differences between generic brand and name brand peanut butter and yogurt (to name a few items) are noticeably different enough for me to justify forking over the extra dough.


Our solution (and, ultimately, I suppose, the point to this post)? I don't have one. Seriously. We already plan weekly menus to minimize waste (need a small quantity of green onions for one dish? We'll plan another with green onions so we don't have to throw the extras out). We love ourselves some rebates (handle of Bacardi Rum + sale price + $5 rebate = mega deal). We already shop the ads and specials. But just today I looked through the new ones for our local store and complied over a $40 list of the on-sale items that are either regular use items to stock up on (peanut butter, sugar, oatmeal) or items we'll incorporate into our meals this week (peppers, zucchini--although that one might get put in a bread--yum!, sweet potatoes). And I know from experience that once we plan our menu and add the other ingredients that we need that amount will shoot way up--easily over budget if we're not careful. I do need to get better about using coupons, although I do always use the ones in the ads when they are applicable. 


Ultimately, I know that there are things we could cut. But when it boils down to it, we don't want to. We don't want to give up fresh ingredients and flavor and taste and go back to our college days of Zatarans and tacos every week. And if things really start to get dicey (and food prices keep getting higher...) expect to see me on my bike A LOT this summer. Because this girl will gladly cut back on her gas budget in order to be able to fuel herself with quality food.