Somewhere along the way I became the designated salad maker for our family functions. It's probably not what I would have choosen to become, but it is how it is so...(on the bright side salads are like...the easiest thing to prepare and the thing I always have the ingredients for, so even though it was unintentional, I have grown quite accustomed to being the salad person)
I thought I would share with you some salad making tips. Since becoming the salad maker I have learned two things about what makes a salad great 1) lots of "stuff" and 2) a special dressing you make especially for your salad. These things always please the peeps.
I think I aquired my title of "Awesome Salad Maker" by making Ralphie's Avacado Feta Salad.
Here's the recipe, I love it!
Salad
1 package of baby greens (I love the big package of baby greens at costco, and only like $3 for a weeks worth of salads)
1/4 C chopped red onion
1/2 C chopped walnuts (raise your hand if you hate walnuts! Me! I use pecans! or almonds)
1/3 C crumbled feta or blue cheese (raise your hand if you hate blue cheese! Me! I always use feta, and for some weird reason I prefer it grated instead of crumbled. You can get a big ol' pack of feta at costco for cheaper than anywhere else)
2 tsp lemon zest
1 apple - peeled, cored and sliced
1 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced
Dressing
4 mandarin oranges, juiced (I use half a can of mandarins and squish them with a potato masher)
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 t lemon zest
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
salt to taste.
This is a surefire crowd pleaser!
Then a few weeks ago Katie came to dinner and brought an awesome salad, and it took two weeks of harassing her but I have finally secured her dressing recipe for you! This got RAVE reviews last night. Rave.
The dressing
2T Red Wine Vinegar
3T sugar or honey or agave ( I used more like 2)
1/2 C Olive Oil
1/2 t dry mustard
1/2 t salt
1 C strawberry or raspberry jam
The salad
mixed greens from Costco
feta
blueberries
apple - peeled, cored and diced
candied pecans (recipe forthcoming!)
avocado
Seriously, it was amazing.
So, if I am making a sweet yummy type dressing I use a medley of any of the following
spinach or mixed greens
blueberries
apples
strawberries
mandarin oranges
avocado
feta
toasted nuts
candied nuts
red onion
If I am wanting a salad with just plain old ranch dressing (which I loooooove) (hey maybe Janssen will post her homemade ranch dressing recipe....mmm? pretty please?)
Then I use whatever type of lettuce I have, I always get something fancy in my bountiful basket
croutons
snap peas, cut in smaller pieces
red onion
tomato
cucumber
feta
green or red peppers
toasted nuts
and, here is a little super salad maker tip for you...if I am doing a non sweet salad - I always salt and pepper the whole salad. Always. It makes a big difference for me. So now you know.
But please still assign me salads if you invite me to a party. It's kind of my thing.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
PS Do you love the gargantuan picture? I thought 1:36AM might be a good time to redesign my blog, but now I am too tired to mess with it. So it's going to stay this way until I gather some gumption. But at least it's a cute giant picture, right?
PPS Can this count as my post for Sunday? Is that cheating?
PPS Can this count as my post for Sunday? Is that cheating?
Detour
I know, I know, I KNOW that it is 12:50AM on 11/14/2010 and therefore technically I missed a day of Nablopomo, I KNOW. But seeing as how I have not yet slept I consider it still 11/13/2010 and we are just going to run with that.
Why am I posting at such an unearthly hour? Mostly because of red peppers.
See, I hate going to the grocery store like every. single. day. Hate it. Dragging the three kids, telling them no to all of their requests while we are at the store, so on and so forth, so much work for one or two items. So today I sat down and made a menu for the upcoming week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday if you must know). And I was going to do all of the shopping today so I wouldn't have to take Things 1, 2, and 3 with me and so I could go the entire week next week without stepping foot in the grocery store. This was the plan.
At about 2 PM Blaine took Gwen and Bentley off in search of a corn farm (she has a report...bleh, I thought I was done with reports for life!), and I took Ivy to get an *oil change. After the oil change we ran to Costco to purchase a bunch of the items on my grocery list, meticulously made from my carefully planned menu, then I was planning a quick trip to the other grocery store to get the things that I didn't need in bulk.
But I ran out of time! See, I had a girls night planned with Laurie, my long lost BFF. We were going to go eat, shop and watch Inception. So I figured I would just stop at the second grocery store after the movie.
Girls night started, I had buckets of fun. Inception was sold out when we stopped to pick up our tickets TWO HOURS before the show began, so we got tickets for Wall Street instead (not worth my dollar and a half.....at all). We ate our dinner and did our shopping and watched our painfully long and in depth and kind of scattered movie. Then we talked in the car for a while. Then finally around 11:20PM I made it to the store.
Merciful Heavens! You would think the Apocalypse was coming tomorrow! The store was packed, the shelves were barren, the lines at checkout were a mile long. It was a nightmare! I eventually found most of the things I needed (except for Red Peppers, Strawberries and bacon - well they had bacon, but it either was laced with gold or there is a major bacon shortage in Utah because hot diggity--- $4 for a pound of bacon? No way). I stood in line forever. While standing in line I noticed a vintage Dr. Pepper in the cooler near the register. It was calling to me. Dr. P made from real sugar. I needed it. It was my reward for standing in line for thirty minutes without killing anyone.
The whole time in line I debated about whether or not I would stop at a different store on the way home to purchase the remainder of my items. It sounded hard, I was tired....but I had my list and my goal to not go shopping next week. It was a dilemma indeed. As I walked to the car I decided that I would just go home, and get the other items I needed on Monday.
I get to the car, buckle up, sigh a big end of day sigh and crack open the DP.
*FZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz POP*
It freaking exploded. All over me, all over Blaine's car, on the steering wheel, on the seat, everywhere.
Alright, I'm covered in pop. No problem, I've been covered in much worse things. I'll just clean it up when I get home.
I get on the freeway and go about one mile before I am forced off of the freeway because the ENTIRE freeway is closed. Shut down. Nada. Nill. Zip. No freeway.
There is a quote I once heard that inspires me often in situations like these...
'When life hands you lemons, squirt lemon juice in your eyes without blinking, just to show life you don't mess around".
Fine. You know what, this detour is taking me right by Macey's. That's perfect. I will get my shopping done after all.
Except the detour was about to let me on a little bit before Macey's, but I decided to stick with my plan and drove the extra mile out of the way to get my shopping done. Macey's is open 24 hours so I'll be in and out and in my bed in no time.
Exept I got to Macey's at 12:05AM and while it is, indeed, open 24 hours it is not open on Sundays.
*squirt*
So I persisted on the backroads, to the next grocery store. Also closed at midnight.
And so here I am. It's 1:16AM and I am red pepperless. And I missed a day of Nablopomo. But can't you give a girl who is covered in soda, was diverted off of the only freeway, and who was rejected by not one but TWO supermarkets a break?
Goodnight bloggerland!
* I am not a woman with much brand loyalty. I normally go the cheapest route, but when it comes to getting oil changes I will now forever and always go to grease monkey. Let me count the whys...1)free popcorn, hot chocolate and soda while you wait 2) they put a carnation and a mint on your dashboard for you 3) free car wash 4) always at least a $7 coupon 5) they're nice and do a great job 6) They don't bug you about repairs and such unless you actually need them and finally 7) I SAID FREE HOT CHOCOLATE! Seriously, getting the oil changed has become this frazzled mother's day spa. I especially like the Grease Monkey in Pleasant Grove, FYI.
Why am I posting at such an unearthly hour? Mostly because of red peppers.
See, I hate going to the grocery store like every. single. day. Hate it. Dragging the three kids, telling them no to all of their requests while we are at the store, so on and so forth, so much work for one or two items. So today I sat down and made a menu for the upcoming week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday if you must know). And I was going to do all of the shopping today so I wouldn't have to take Things 1, 2, and 3 with me and so I could go the entire week next week without stepping foot in the grocery store. This was the plan.
At about 2 PM Blaine took Gwen and Bentley off in search of a corn farm (she has a report...bleh, I thought I was done with reports for life!), and I took Ivy to get an *oil change. After the oil change we ran to Costco to purchase a bunch of the items on my grocery list, meticulously made from my carefully planned menu, then I was planning a quick trip to the other grocery store to get the things that I didn't need in bulk.
But I ran out of time! See, I had a girls night planned with Laurie, my long lost BFF. We were going to go eat, shop and watch Inception. So I figured I would just stop at the second grocery store after the movie.
Girls night started, I had buckets of fun. Inception was sold out when we stopped to pick up our tickets TWO HOURS before the show began, so we got tickets for Wall Street instead (not worth my dollar and a half.....at all). We ate our dinner and did our shopping and watched our painfully long and in depth and kind of scattered movie. Then we talked in the car for a while. Then finally around 11:20PM I made it to the store.
Merciful Heavens! You would think the Apocalypse was coming tomorrow! The store was packed, the shelves were barren, the lines at checkout were a mile long. It was a nightmare! I eventually found most of the things I needed (except for Red Peppers, Strawberries and bacon - well they had bacon, but it either was laced with gold or there is a major bacon shortage in Utah because hot diggity--- $4 for a pound of bacon? No way). I stood in line forever. While standing in line I noticed a vintage Dr. Pepper in the cooler near the register. It was calling to me. Dr. P made from real sugar. I needed it. It was my reward for standing in line for thirty minutes without killing anyone.
The whole time in line I debated about whether or not I would stop at a different store on the way home to purchase the remainder of my items. It sounded hard, I was tired....but I had my list and my goal to not go shopping next week. It was a dilemma indeed. As I walked to the car I decided that I would just go home, and get the other items I needed on Monday.
I get to the car, buckle up, sigh a big end of day sigh and crack open the DP.
*FZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz POP*
It freaking exploded. All over me, all over Blaine's car, on the steering wheel, on the seat, everywhere.
Alright, I'm covered in pop. No problem, I've been covered in much worse things. I'll just clean it up when I get home.
I get on the freeway and go about one mile before I am forced off of the freeway because the ENTIRE freeway is closed. Shut down. Nada. Nill. Zip. No freeway.
There is a quote I once heard that inspires me often in situations like these...
'When life hands you lemons, squirt lemon juice in your eyes without blinking, just to show life you don't mess around".
Fine. You know what, this detour is taking me right by Macey's. That's perfect. I will get my shopping done after all.
Except the detour was about to let me on a little bit before Macey's, but I decided to stick with my plan and drove the extra mile out of the way to get my shopping done. Macey's is open 24 hours so I'll be in and out and in my bed in no time.
Exept I got to Macey's at 12:05AM and while it is, indeed, open 24 hours it is not open on Sundays.
*squirt*
So I persisted on the backroads, to the next grocery store. Also closed at midnight.
And so here I am. It's 1:16AM and I am red pepperless. And I missed a day of Nablopomo. But can't you give a girl who is covered in soda, was diverted off of the only freeway, and who was rejected by not one but TWO supermarkets a break?
Goodnight bloggerland!
* I am not a woman with much brand loyalty. I normally go the cheapest route, but when it comes to getting oil changes I will now forever and always go to grease monkey. Let me count the whys...1)free popcorn, hot chocolate and soda while you wait 2) they put a carnation and a mint on your dashboard for you 3) free car wash 4) always at least a $7 coupon 5) they're nice and do a great job 6) They don't bug you about repairs and such unless you actually need them and finally 7) I SAID FREE HOT CHOCOLATE! Seriously, getting the oil changed has become this frazzled mother's day spa. I especially like the Grease Monkey in Pleasant Grove, FYI.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Life is like a table
Parenting is a spectrum of emotions. Sometimes it's all peaches and cream, and your kids are drawing sweet happy pictures of you and them and a giant gumball machine....
Here's to a better day tomorrow. A little more patience, a little less anger, and hopefully a smiley that will last the whole day through.
And sometimes it's infuriating, like when the scallywags color all over your table. And you can't get it out.
And on the kitchen table of parenting sometimes you've got both of those things going on at the exact same time. Both of the emotions, the infuriating ones and the lovey dovey ones. And your head starts to spin.
And since your head is spinning you take a step back. A literal step back. And you step in to a giant puddle of water. A puddle of water that has been sitting on the hardwood floor for who knows how long. Then after cleaning that up you might go downstairs to do the laundry, and see the mountain of toys that has yet to be cleaned up, find a collection of soiled underpants in the back corner of the closet, and/or step on a pokey tinkerbell tiny plastic wing for the umpteenth time.
Then you start to see life as the colored upon table more so than the beautiful drawing. And you start to get mad. Real mad. You might yell a little. You might throw all of the toys that were on the floor into a garbage bag and "throw them away" (but not really).
But I am just warning you, you may want to reconsider this reaction. You maybe, instead of yelling, should go into your room. Take a couple deep breaths. Do a little of this. Maybe draw up a hot bath and lock out the children (though the last time I did that Ivy climbed on the counter, opened the cupboard and threw out four glasses and dumped out an entire gallon of milk). Anyway, I am just begging you to keep your cool because if you do those things I said before...
Someone might take their beautiful picture they drew of you and change your smiley face to a frowny face. And it might make you feel real bad.
But at least there isn't a speech bubble with expletives coming out of it, right? We can count our blessings for that.
Here's to a better day tomorrow. A little more patience, a little less anger, and hopefully a smiley that will last the whole day through.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Your go to girl...
Nothing makes me happier than a good Youtube clip. A drawing from Gwen, hand picked daisies from Bentley or a wet sloppy kiss from Ivy (or Blaine for that matter) all pale in comparison to the joy I get from watching the Stay at Home Dad Workout, or Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions. Alright, that might be a slight exaggeration, but still - nothing beats spending an hour laughing until you cry at the collective genius of the human race. It's true what they say, people are awesome. (I had seven heart attacks watching that video, six of which were when the guy does the finger handstand).
Anyway, as your personal "go to" person for what's hip in society I feel like it is my solemn obligation to share the best of Youtube with you.
So.....I just saw this one today...and for the first time in my life I am not the one millionth plus person to see the video!
I LOVED it. What a brilliant idea. We could make so many awesome videos using this format!
Enjoy
Um....also, I really really have wanted to share the Antoine Dodson video with you but I hesitated because, well, the subject matter is heavy, but really....it's a really funny video. If you happen to live under a rock and have not seen it yet then I must apologize for failing to share it with you.
First you have to watch the news clip, which is not so funny ...
And then watch this video, and have a nice laugh....homeboy.
And the great news is that money made from purchasing the song on itunes goes to Antoine. I love it, "e'er"body wins.
Excuse me, I have to go and hide my husband. :)
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Very well, indeed.
Well, I did it. I finally finished planning the agenda for my birthday. The blessed occasion is in one day less than a month, so really I finished just in the nick of time.
I thought you would all be curious about my plan for the day, so please enjoy the following itinerary...
7:30AM Free Grandslam Breakfast at Denny's (795 calories)
9:15 AM Free Starbucks hot chocolate (330 Calories)
10:00 AM Free bowl of Penne Rosa from Noodles for brunch. (810 calories, wow, could have gone my whole life a lot happier if I had not known that!)
11:30 AM Free sub from Firehouse subs for lunch (690 calories) (not sure which sub to get yet, any ideas?)
12:30 PM Free second lunch from Rubios - free fish taco platter! (700 calories)
2:00 PM Free Early afternoon treat from Coldstone (approximitely 700 calories, depending on mix in)
4:00 PM Free meal at Tucanos for supper(the trick here is going at 4 before it is technically dinner and therefore whatever sap you get to do the "buy one" part so you can "get one free" only has to pay $15 instead of $20) - the calorie count up here is left to my wild imagination, but I'll go with (1300 calories)
6:00 PM Free meal at Benihana - again, only guessing on calories here (900 calories)
7:00 PM finish up the day with a free scoop of ice cream from Baskin Robbins. (190 calories)
9:00 PM Die of cardiac arrest
And since my caloric intake for the day will be over 6,400 calories I think I will call it quits at that point, and save my free sonic slush, free $15 at the happy sumo, free meal at Rodizio as well as my free burger at Ruby Tuesdays for another day.
I guess I better start kicking my zumba up a notch eh?
A lot of these deals you may want to sign up for before hand, like a month or so before since they mail your postcard. Also a lot of them you can use throughout the entire month of December. So do yourself a favor and eat well during your birth month. Very well, indeed. Oh and when you get your coupons and eat free in your birth month, consider it a little birthday gift from me. Because as we all (especially Ralphie) know, I stink at sending birthday presents. Happy Birthday!
P.S. I totally have a bum email address for all of these places that I only check if I am expecting something. I use this email address for facebook and goodreads too so that I am not bombarded with emails all day long. It's nice having it so I don't get updates from these restaurants for the entire year, but you better bet I will check on it every day in December!
P.P.S. Here's hoping that my parents don't read this post so that when I "treat" them to Benihanas for their birthday they won't know I did it for free.... : ) (Yep, totally signed them up for it).
I thought you would all be curious about my plan for the day, so please enjoy the following itinerary...
7:30AM Free Grandslam Breakfast at Denny's (795 calories)
9:15 AM Free Starbucks hot chocolate (330 Calories)
10:00 AM Free bowl of Penne Rosa from Noodles for brunch. (810 calories, wow, could have gone my whole life a lot happier if I had not known that!)
11:30 AM Free sub from Firehouse subs for lunch (690 calories) (not sure which sub to get yet, any ideas?)
12:30 PM Free second lunch from Rubios - free fish taco platter! (700 calories)
2:00 PM Free Early afternoon treat from Coldstone (approximitely 700 calories, depending on mix in)
4:00 PM Free meal at Tucanos for supper(the trick here is going at 4 before it is technically dinner and therefore whatever sap you get to do the "buy one" part so you can "get one free" only has to pay $15 instead of $20) - the calorie count up here is left to my wild imagination, but I'll go with (1300 calories)
6:00 PM Free meal at Benihana - again, only guessing on calories here (900 calories)
7:00 PM finish up the day with a free scoop of ice cream from Baskin Robbins. (190 calories)
9:00 PM Die of cardiac arrest
And since my caloric intake for the day will be over 6,400 calories I think I will call it quits at that point, and save my free sonic slush, free $15 at the happy sumo, free meal at Rodizio as well as my free burger at Ruby Tuesdays for another day.
I guess I better start kicking my zumba up a notch eh?
A lot of these deals you may want to sign up for before hand, like a month or so before since they mail your postcard. Also a lot of them you can use throughout the entire month of December. So do yourself a favor and eat well during your birth month. Very well, indeed. Oh and when you get your coupons and eat free in your birth month, consider it a little birthday gift from me. Because as we all (especially Ralphie) know, I stink at sending birthday presents. Happy Birthday!
P.S. I totally have a bum email address for all of these places that I only check if I am expecting something. I use this email address for facebook and goodreads too so that I am not bombarded with emails all day long. It's nice having it so I don't get updates from these restaurants for the entire year, but you better bet I will check on it every day in December!
P.P.S. Here's hoping that my parents don't read this post so that when I "treat" them to Benihanas for their birthday they won't know I did it for free.... : ) (Yep, totally signed them up for it).
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
It's like raaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnn on your wedding day...
If we are facebook friends you probably know that I have cruisebrain. Cruisebrain is the insatiable desire to plan, and go on, a cruise. It all started a few weeks ago when I got an email from Orbitz announcing their end of year cruise clearance. I found a four night cruise leaving out of LA for $185 per person. Hello! That's an awesome deal. I was thinking at that price we could even take our kids and call it a family vacation (because who doesn't want to enjoy a fancy lobster dinner with their unruly children? Actually let's be honest, because people aren't exactly knocking down my door and asking to watch my kids for a week : ) ). Gwen has a school break coming up in February and the stars were just aligning up smashingly.
Until I realized that on a cruise I would still have to put my kids to bed, deal with their snarky attitudes and hear them complain about eating fillet minion. Then I started thinking about taking this cruise as an 8th anniversary celebration with just Blaine (and any other people over the age of 25 who wanted to join us).
So the four day cruise turned in to a seven night cruise.
This one, to be exact
I am totally excited. Besides the minor hurdle of finding some poor sap to watch my kids, we are set! I haven't actually purchased the cruise but I fully intend to.
And then I go and check the news this morning and...
Our cruise ship is on FIRE.
Ahem. Wow. Is that a sign? Because...it kind of seems like a sign. Actually though....the passengers are getting full refunds AND sent on another cruise for free AND are being reimbursed for transportation costs. So they can start my cruise ship on fire any day! Preferably a day towards the end of the cruise though....
*as a note, my parents were scheduled to go on a cruise on 9/12/2001. They were supposed to fly out on 9/11/2001 but their plane was unavoidably delayed by about a week (as you may recall). The cruise line issued those passengers unable to make it to the embarkation port a voucher for a new cruise. It took about a year or two for my parents to reschedule the cruise. So they finally got it figured out, go on the cruise, and then there was some sort of pandemic on the cruise and my mom spent the entirety of the cruise very ill (as did like 70% of the passengers). So they were issued another voucher to go on another cruise later. I can't remember how long it was till they used that voucher, but man, it was probably like 2007, talk about having a hard time getting on a cruise!
*as another note, I guess my days of "taking my chances" and cruising without a passport are over. Though I have to say, being unavoidably detained in any place that a cruise ship visits doesn't sound so bad to me. I can really see myself starting a new life in Belize., or Cabo San Lucas, or ....
Until I realized that on a cruise I would still have to put my kids to bed, deal with their snarky attitudes and hear them complain about eating fillet minion. Then I started thinking about taking this cruise as an 8th anniversary celebration with just Blaine (and any other people over the age of 25 who wanted to join us).
So the four day cruise turned in to a seven night cruise.
This one, to be exact
I am totally excited. Besides the minor hurdle of finding some poor sap to watch my kids, we are set! I haven't actually purchased the cruise but I fully intend to.
And then I go and check the news this morning and...
Our cruise ship is on FIRE.
Ahem. Wow. Is that a sign? Because...it kind of seems like a sign. Actually though....the passengers are getting full refunds AND sent on another cruise for free AND are being reimbursed for transportation costs. So they can start my cruise ship on fire any day! Preferably a day towards the end of the cruise though....
*as a note, my parents were scheduled to go on a cruise on 9/12/2001. They were supposed to fly out on 9/11/2001 but their plane was unavoidably delayed by about a week (as you may recall). The cruise line issued those passengers unable to make it to the embarkation port a voucher for a new cruise. It took about a year or two for my parents to reschedule the cruise. So they finally got it figured out, go on the cruise, and then there was some sort of pandemic on the cruise and my mom spent the entirety of the cruise very ill (as did like 70% of the passengers). So they were issued another voucher to go on another cruise later. I can't remember how long it was till they used that voucher, but man, it was probably like 2007, talk about having a hard time getting on a cruise!
*as another note, I guess my days of "taking my chances" and cruising without a passport are over. Though I have to say, being unavoidably detained in any place that a cruise ship visits doesn't sound so bad to me. I can really see myself starting a new life in Belize., or Cabo San Lucas, or ....
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