Some sweet quotes =)

I don't usually like forwards (especially the ones that say your life is going to be cursed if you don't send it on, haha) but I was drawn to this one. I've always loved quotes -- I'm a huge nerd, I save them on a document on my computer, lol! At one point I used to write them down in a book.. I should go back to that someday.

Anyway, these photos that go along with the quotes are too cute.. Definitely made my day =)

My two favorites...

My little project & 3 more days...

My husband Steve has been away at his new job training for 12 - yes TWELVE - days! In newlywed time (yes, yes I still consider myself a newlywed, hehe) that's a long time to be apart.  I did get to see him over the weekend briefly, but it wasn't long enough. It's ok though - only 3 more days to go..!

In order to combat boredom and sadness from missing him too much, I decided to make sure to keep myself busy.  I haven't been cooking since he left (luckily my in-laws helped take care of me in that department, hehe..) so I did the little things around the apartment that I'd been wanting to do.

The one little project I'm most proud of is my makeup organization! I've recently developed an obsession with makeup (thanks to all the blogs I subscribe to) and I quickly ran out of room in my lavender Caboodles organizer from 1992 (haha) so I figured it was time for an upgrade!

I went to Michaels and found an awesome desktop crafts organizer on sale and thought it was perfect. It fit nicely inside my linen closet and had enough compartments for all my makeup - most of it at least! The rest is tucked into a little plastic drawer organizer on the side. And my brushes stand nicely in my repurposed mason jars filled with pretty rocks (the florist at my wedding used the jars for our bouquets!).  I'm hoping this'll jump start a bunch of projects I've been wanting to do for quite some time.

 

Anyway, so now I've got 3 days left until he returns - hoping the mister will be proud of my little project, though it doesn't pale in comparison to what he's done around here (seriously, he's done some major construction projects!). He really does so much for me and for our families - I'm so lucky & so blessed to have him. Aaaand to add to the cheesiness.. my friend Michele posted this on Facebook, which was the perfect quote to describe how I've been feeling while he's away..

If you have a wonderful man who helps balance your whole world...who isn't perfect, but is perfect for you... who works hard and would do anything for you.. who makes you laugh and drives you CRAZY, who is your best friend, who you want to grow old with, and who you are thankful for everyday, and who you could not live without, repost this!!! -- ♥...

Thank God, I do =)

'Twas a Merry "cooking" Christmas

It's been almost a month since Christmas now, but I must share how I think my family was sending me a "sign" with all the gifts they gave me for Christmas... see below!

Posing with my mom in my "Will cook for SHOES" apron (haha soooo me) and my mini Giada pot (what in the world will I cook in it, I have no clue, lol).

The ORGANIC spice rack from my sister-in-law Jen... looooooooove it

An awesome cast iron pan from my brother Ray.. Emeril, no less =)

And my "green" cooking pan (along with a bunch of baking items) from Steve!

All of these items are FOOD & COOKING related! (duh, haha). These are just a few of the many cool cooking-related items I got.. So, I'm taking this as a sign - I am meant to have a career involving food. Haha, that or maybe they just know I like to cook and want me to cook for them.. but either way works for me.

So bring it on 2011.. let's see what dishes I'll whip up, what culinary adventures await me, and maybe what cooking-related hobby (or even career?) I may pursue.. I'm hoping to motivate myself to blog about them all (the tasty & not so) as well as other things that "inspire" me this year!

Oh, and here's a few more pictures just for good measure. I love my family.

Happy NEW Year!

Belated Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year to all =)

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I last posted.  It's been quite a busy time.  But now that things have quieted down, I can pay attention to my blog again.  I think I said it a few posts back - things are going to change as the new year begins.

For starters, I gave my blog a facelift! I love the colors now - much more bright & cheery than my last theme, as seen below:

I actually used an image from my wedding photos. Such a great photo by the brilliant Susan Stripling but it was a little too monotone for a background image. It's beautiful though.. 2 swans swam by us after we took our photos as husband & wife:

My current background is also an image taken by Susan - but this time it's a little more colorful and bright. It's a photo of my gorgeous bouquet of orchids and calla lilies.

This change alone has made me excited to blog more!

With that said, I plan on updating more often.  My friend (and first & only follower, lol) Shelby sent me a wonderful e-mail (my response to which I'll post another time) saying how she loved my blog and tried looking for more recipes, but couldn't find anything! That's because I don't update enough. So here we go.  Thanks for the inspiration, Shelbs - this one's for you.

And three, I'm going to make my blog public!  Not sure why I haven't yet.  Probably the "perfectionist" in me that keeps wanting to make it look "perfect" - but you know what?  That doesn't matter.  Whoever is interested in reading my blog won't care, plus I'm kind of loving it now =)

Here's to a NEW year filled with NEW & inspiring things!

Christmas Shopping!

Ahh, some of my wonderful online purchases have begun to arrive!  I have to say, I really enjoy shopping via the web, more this year than any other! I think about 50% of the shopping we've done has been online. Pretty cool :)

Anyway, on to the goods... First is vitacost.com - for all my natural & organic things like toiletries and some food.

Here's the loot!

Now for some close-ups..

Some of these are repeat products that I already love.. others are new for me to try. I've liked everything I've gotten at Vitacost so far, so I'm sure the new stuff will be favorites soon.

Ok, more tomorrow! Goodnight =)

Shopping for a cause...

Happy belated Thanksgiving! Can't believe it's December tomorrow.. that gets me to thinking about Christmas, and of course Christmas shopping!

Since I don't really do the Black Friday thing (too many crowds for me) & I haven't really gotten the Cyber Monday deal down,  I've decided to find ways to make my Christmas purchases actually give back.

So I did a bit of research and found some great shopping sites (some I've used before) that donate a portion of their sales to charity:

Greater Good

This is a great site. It lists various websites that donate part of their profit to charity. I've actually purchased from some sites like the Hunger Site and the Breast Cancer Site (where you can click to give too!).

Toms Shoes

I love the idea of the "One for One" movement - for every pair of shoes you buy, one is given to a child in need through a charity organization. What a great cause. Though I'm not particularly a fan of the original style of TOMS shoes, I see that there are so many

Warby Parker Eyewear

Similar to Toms' movement, Warby Parker donates a pair of glasses for every pair that's purchased. They do this through charity organizations like RestoringVision.org. Can't wait to buy a pair of Warby Parker glasses for such a great cause.

iGive

I'm still learning about this one, but I believe you register with a charitable cause (you can add your own, very cool) and then going by through the iGive site, you shop on brand-name shopping sites like Barnes & Noble, Gap, Best Buy. Sounds like a wonderful site that I may register for right now..

I'm sure there are so many more sites and organizations that do the same. Hopefully these sites will inspire me to buy gifts for my family & friends while being able to help people in need =)

Busy bee.. possible blog changes..

First off, Happy Veterans Day! Thanks to all our troops, retired & active, who have served our country..

It's been a busy few weeks since I've returned from my trip to Las Vegas with the family.. we had such a great time! Plus, I have friends coming to visit this weekend so I've been spending time cleaning & fixing the apartment up.. so I haven't really had the time to sit down and blog.

Anyway, so I think I'm still not 100% satisfied with the look & feel of my blog.. probably why I haven't made it public (i.e. posted on Facebook or given out the link)

It looks like I may re-vamp things a little bit. I've been thinking of creating a totally new blog, one dedicated solely to food & cooking. I've only published a few posts on this blog and 2 of them were recipes. So I'm thinking maybe this one will be more of just random things that inspire me & personal stuff.. the other dedicated to food =)

A real update to come soon!

In the mean time, I've been on a decorating kick in my apartment. Here's some cool ideas I may try to use..

(Photos taken from Better Homes & Gardens - bhg.com)

pretty & functional night stand

creative way to store & display jewelry

I'd probably use this to store make-up brushes



cute idea!



Acorn Squash, 2 ways

So a few weeks ago, I bought a ginormous acorn squash at the store because I wanted to try a squash recipe that I learned from the Healthy Eating class I took a few weeks ago. (more on that on another post..)


I had a bunch of different ingredients and used what I had on hand:

Organic barley, organic shiitake mushrooms, acorn squash and organic kale

Kale!

Here's recipe # 1 (a variation on my Healthy Eating teacher's recipe)


Stuffed Acorn Squash
(Serves 2-4)


Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 a large onion, chopped
• 1 lb of ground turkey
• I package of organic mushrooms, chopped (you can use Shiitake, Baby Bella, Button)
• 1 cup organic barley
• 1 bunch of organic kale, stems removed, chopped
• 2 small acorn squashes (or in my case, 1 large one)
• 1 can of corn
• 2 tbsp Pecorino Romano cheese (or any grated cheese)
• Olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.


Slice acorn squash in half or quarters depending on how big the squash is. Remove the seeds, rinse and pat dry. Coat generously with olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast squash face down on a foil-lined pan for 30-40 minutes.


Meanwhile, thoroughly rinse & cook barley according to package directions: Bring 2 1/2 cups of water to a boil, then add a bit of salt & the barley and bring to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until barley is tender.


While the barley cooks, sauté the onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Season lightly with sea salt & pepper. Add the ground turkey and mix until mostly cooked. Then add the mushrooms. Cook until softened. Add the corn and the kale and cook until kale is slightly wilted (try not to overcook if possible to retain the nutrients). When barley is cooked, add to vegetable mixture and add grated cheese. Mix thoroughly.


Spoon the barley mixture into the hollowed out squash and serve.

This actually turned out quite good! My husband enjoyed it =)

And then, even though I had only 1 large squash between 2 of us, we couldn't finish it! So, I looked up some recipes online using squash and found this great recipe for Mac & Cheese with Butternut Squash from MarthaStewart.com

Macaroni & Cheese w/ Acorn Squash (adapted from Martha Stewart)
Serves 6


Ingredients:

• 1 - 1 1/2 cups of pureed squash 
• 1 cup homemade or low-sodium canned chicken stock, skimmed of fat
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound shell pasta (I used whole wheat)
• 4 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated (about 1 cup) - I used white & yellow cheddar
• 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated (1 ounce)
• 2 tablespoons fine breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine pureed squash, stock, and milk in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Mash contents of saucepan; stir in salt and black pepper. Stir to combine. (You can use uncooked squash and let simmer longer until squash is tender.)

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles; cook until al dente according to package instructions, about 8 minutes. Drain, and transfer to a large bowl; stir in squash mixture, cheddar, ricotta, and 2 tablespoons Parmesan.

Lightly coat a 9-inch square baking dish (4 inches deep) with cooking spray. Transfer noodle mixture to dish. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan, and oil; sprinkle evenly over noodle mixture.

Cover with foil, and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil, and continue baking until lightly browned and crisp on top, 30 to 40 minutes more. Serve immediately.

Here's how mine turned out!

Mmmmm.. these were quite delicious and healthy too! More to come soon...

Happy things :)

There are just so many happy events happening around me.. babies, weddings. Our friends Shaun & Ann had a baby girl named Madison.. Steve's cousin Mario got married.. and my Mom's side of the family welcomed our latest addition, my little cousin ~ Agatha Grace =) I love all these happy moments..

She is just so darn adorable.. I had to share. I can't wait to meet her in just a few days! Off to Vegas on Friday with the family (no husband though, boo..) But I can't wait for a family reunion!

True friendship

Some quotes that I'm really feeling right now...

Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.

There are three types of friends: those like food, without which you can't live; those like medicine, which you need occasionally; and those like an illness, which you never want.

The friendship that can cease has never been real.

I've been thinking about what true friendship is a lot lately due to recent events in my life. Is a true friend someone you can talk with on the phone for 2 hours? Or just go shopping with? Or is a true friend someone who knows everything about you?


Whatever your definition of a good, true friend is, I can tell you that they are not always easy to find or to keep. If you are lucky enough to have a true friend (or several), I've learned not to take them for granted. Or let stupid things get in the way. It's important to be honest and genuine, and to really work at the friendship. I wish I didn't, but I know that the last quote is very true.. if it ends, then it never really was there, was it? 

Anyway, I do have to say that I am truly blessed to have people I know that I can call true friends. Despite any hardships or fights; despite the things that happen in our own individual lives, I know there are people I can say are my true friends...