Planned Pins for December's Pinstrosity Challenge

Pretty excited to try these babies out this month (click picture to be taken to website):

Peppermint Bark Cheesecake

Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint Chocolate Chip Frosting

Peppermint Popcorn Bark

Peppermint Whipped Cream

Fun Times with Pinterest

Anyone who knows me knows I love Pinterest. At least, most of the time I do.

At any rate, I frequently peruse the blog Pinstrosity to see which pins people are doing (and which ones I should stay away from!). They do this challenge thing every month(?) where they give you a theme and you find something you've pinned and do it. It's great for me because I have a lot of pins that would otherwise just sit there. So far I've done October (pumpkin theme) and November (giving back theme) and I have four (yes, four!) pins picked out for December (mint theme).

The fun thing is that when you're done with the project, you send them what you did and they put it on their blog! You can see mine here and here.

Happy pinning!

Happy Earth Day!

When we moved to Kansas City last August, I instantly realized that I had taken western North Carolina for granted. Since moving back, I've made more of an effort to get out and enjoy this beautiful part of the country I'm so blessed to live in.

The weekend after we put Athena to sleep, we went to Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and hiked the trail there. It's an easy two loops totaling 2 miles. From the USDA Forest Service site: This forest is one of the Nation’s most impressive remnants of old-growth forest. The forest contains magnificent examples of more than 100 tree species, many over 400-years-old, and some more than 20 feet in circumference and 100 feet tall.  

There are some other trails that branch off of the main trail, but we decided to go back and do those once the trees leaf out. Oh! I almost forgot! There are all these warnings posted..."This is an old-growth forest. Beware of falling limbs and trees." This is NO JOKE. We watched a tree fall not even 15 minutes into our hike. If our hearts weren't already pumping from the hike, they were then!

Canopy shot - trees just starting to leaf out

My boys

Q: Why did the Fungi leave the party? A: There wasn't mushroom. 

Trillium grandiflorum

Turkey Meatball Sandwich

Even though I haven't been posting about it, I'm still making tons of recipes I've pinned on Pinterest.  Last week I made a turkey meatball sandwich recipe that was incredible.  Granted, this is the first time I've ever made a meatball sandwich so I don't have much to compare to, but my husband, a meatball sandwich aficionado, agrees it's very good.

Some changes I made:
1.  I ended up purchasing no salt added crushed tomatoes so I added some salt to take out the blandness of the marinara sauce.
2.  Instead of feta, I used cotija cheese.  Didn't notice any difference and since we're moving, I'm trying to use what we have.
3.  I also bought pre-seasoned ground turkey but then still followed the recipe instructions on how to make the meatballs.  Made for some really flavorful meatballs!

  

Still In Love: Crepes

I'm not quite sure why I had this thought in my head, but I always thought crepes were difficult to make.  And then I saw Daphne Oz make them on The Chew and thought, "Hm.  Maybe I can do this too!"

My latest version is an apple-cinnamon crepe.

The batter came out very thin so I added some more flour.  Now, I'm sure crepe batter is supposed to be thin like that, but because my pan bows up in the middle, really thin batter will just pool in the outside of my pan.  Maybe it's time for a new pan??

My grandmother makes these amaaaaaaaazing fried apples and I tried to replicate that and failed miserably.  Well, maybe not miserably, but they didn't come out like hers do.  This is what happens when Nicole doesn't follow a recipe!  I just put the apples in a saute pan skillet with some butter and sugar and cooked until they reached a nice caramel color.  Which meant that I had some crispy parts due to the cooked sugar.  My husband liked the crispy texture, but I wasn't a huge fan.

I think I'll call my grandmother and see how she makes them.  To be continued...

Pizza Night!

The other day I had this brilliant idea to have a pizza night each week.  Turns out, a lot of people have pizza nights.  Haha!

I hate to be cliche and say pizza is my favorite food, but it really is.  Well, one of my favorite foods.  I could probably have pizza every night and not get tired of it.

So me being me, I gathered some recipes.  I found 50 Easy Pizzas from the Food Network and then asked my friends on Facebook what their favorite pizza recipes are.  Got a lot of reaaaally good suggestions that I can't wait to try out!

Last Friday I made your run of the mill salami and bacon pizza using store-bought sauce, mozzarella, and the dough recipe from the 50 Easy Pizzas article.  It says the recipe makes two pizzas, but my pan must be small or I just like a thinner pizza.  I think it could make four.

I'd really like to make my own sauce; must find a recipe!  I'm sure as heck not going to make my own mozzarella though.  I'll stick to store-bought for that.  :)

What's your favorite type of pizza?

Discovered: Crepes

Really?!  My last post was November 11th??  Geez.

Yesterday morning I decided to try my hand at making crepes.  And I...fell...in...love.  They are so easy to make and in my opinion, much tastier than pancakes and waffles.  Pancakes and waffles are just so heavy to me.

Yesterday's filling consisted of eggs, bacon, and spinach.  This morning I decided to go sweet rather than savory with a blueberry sauce.

Basic Crepes from Allrecipes.com:
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
1.  Whisk all wet ingredients together in a bowl.  Whisk in salt and flour slowly so no lumps form.
2.  Heat lightly oiled pan (I just spray PAM onto a non-stick pan) over medium to medium-high heat.
3.  Pour enough batter onto pan so that when you tilt the pan in a circular motion, it covers the surface evenly.  You don't want so much batter that it looks like pancakes...these should be thin.
4.  Cook until the crepe is lightly browned on one side and then flip to brown the other side.

Blueberry Sauce from Allrecipes.com:
Ingredients:

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries 1/4 cup water 1 cup orange juice 3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup cold water 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions: 

1.	In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries, 1/4 cup of water, orange juice, and sugar. Stir gently, and bring to a boil.
2.	In a cup or small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water. Gently stir the cornstarch mixture into the blueberries so as not to mash the berries. Simmer gently until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the almond extract and cinnamon. Thin sauce with water if it is too thick for your liking.

If you decide to try out the recipes, let me know what you think!

Recipe Verdicts

Is it really 5pm on Sunday already?!  The weekends go by so fast...and I'm definitely not prepared for the craziness that will surely be at work tomorrow.  First day of classes!

Let's talk about some food:

Source: kevinandamanda.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Mmmmmmmm...creamed corn...my favorite.  Grade: A+

Source: velvetlava.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

The hubs actually made this recipe...not me.  He's a swell guy.  Grade: B  (not him, the recipe)

Source: howsweeteats.com via Nicole on Pinterest

I'm surprised I made this considering I'm not a big fan of meat.  The flank steak came out well, the onion rings?...not so much.  I forgot to spray them after they were arranged on the pan so they ended up too floury from the flour they were dipped in.  :oP  Grade: B+ mostly due to user error and marinating time

Source: thecozyapron.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Nothing to see here...just a regular tuna sandwich.  Grade: A

Source: thetypeahousewife.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Average.  I might not've cooked the kale enough because it was kind of chewy.  Though, that might be the nature of kale.  I wouldn't know since I don't have kale that often.  This recipe also has you bake the potato in the oven and caramelize the onions (cook on the stove for 1 hour) which is ridiculous.  Stick that darn potato in the microwave and just soften the onions in a pan.  Sorry, but I'm not going to spend an hour on a pointless technique.  Grade: B-

Source: theidearoom.net via Nicole on Pinterest

This definitely didn't come out like the picture.  I'm thinking you're supposed to only cook the swirl side for a second or two.  Yep...just checked.  30 seconds to a minute.  I left them on longer than that so the cinnamon swirl cooked out.  Had this nice swirl valley through all the pancakes.  :)  This might be worth a second try.  Grade: A-

Have a great week!

Watching things grow

My garden then...

Only a few weeks later, my garden now...

I found two gnarly tomato hornworms on my tomato (obviously) plants yesterday.  It was my first encounter with hornworms and I'll admit, I was pretty grossed out.  They make this awful clicking sound and spew out nasty goo when they're threatened.  I didn't think about taking a picture (I was too consumed with getting them OFF MY TOMATO PLANTS!!) but here's a picture of one I found online for your viewing pleasure:

From http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/M1224.html.  This website has some really great info on these guys.

Here are some pictures I took of the chickens this afternoon.  They love chilling behind the wheel barrow.  

Little does homeboy know he (as well as his bro) will be placed in a new home in the coming week.

Thanks for stopping by!

These are a few of my favorite things

 Why the hell is my dog laying in the fire pit??

 This is the rain chain my husband got me for Valentine's Day.  I love it!  I then bought a half whiskey barrel from Lowe's ($30?) and put a water lily in it.  So far it hasn't flowered and I'm not sure it will based on how much sunlight it receives.  The wreath was made out of grapevines by my dad for my wedding.  I love him.

 I made this raised planter bed from this tutorial.  I have sunflowers, strawberries, basil, catnip, apple mint, cilantro, okra, cucumber, tomatoes, serrano peppers, and some sort of squash planted.  I say some sort of squash because they came up from my compost and I have no idea whether they'll be zucchini, summer squash, or pumpkin.  You may notice my tomato buckets on the fence...last summer I had them hanging but they became too heavy and broke so this summer I have them sitting on two iron plant hangers.  I need to do some serious pest control.  Just need to figure out the best eco-friendly way to do that.

This is my blue hydrangea that I absolutely love.  A late frost this spring caused some burning, hence the left side full of blooms and the right not so much.

 

My rain barrel!  It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it does the trick.  And best of all...it was FREE!  I won it in a raffle at Greening up the Mountains.  

The chicken coop!  I painted 'eggs' on the side.  I'm so cute I can hardly stand myself.  :o/  I realized after the fact that I should've installed the planter box lower so I can open the window without hitting whatever's planted.  Oh well.  Speaking of that window box, I made it myself from leftover boards from the backyard fence.  I like free.  The coop & run...NOT free. 

 The chickens then...

 The chickens now...

Spike is on the box and Little Foot is the brown one.  We think they might be roosters.  :(  We're pretty sure Ducky & Petrie are hens.

Hope you enjoyed my favorites from around the house...thanks for stopping by!

Out with the old

I've been doing a bit of purging lately.  Purging of blogs that is.  The majority of the blogs I frequent are mostly about food.  And I admit, I have found some really good recipes, but nothing I can't live without.

Yes, I enjoy the blogs and I enjoy being in the kitchen, but I feel like I need to focus on healthier things like gardening, reading, and finishing up my half-finished crafts.  And let's face it, I have tons of cookbooks that are crying out for my attention.  Not to mention Pinterest will for sure keep me up to date on the latest recipe craze.

Disclaimer: I did hold on to a food blog that I particularly like.  Come on, I have to have some fun!  :)

If any of you know of any good healthy food blogs, I'm all ears!

Coming Soon!

My adventures in backyard chickens!

Recipes April 15-21

Time sure does fly when you're having fun!  And when you're older and work full-time...they don't tell you that when you're growing up.

1.  Spinach farfalle with peas & diced ham - I'm in love with peas right now.  So yummy!

 

Source: theeccentriccook.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

2.  Baked buffalo chicken pasta - Okay, so this is not going to be a healthy one, but I'm craving the buffalo wing flavor right now.

Source: howsweeteats.com via Nicole on Pinterest

3.  Bananas foster banana bread - Trying to look for new ways to use my too ripe bananas.  This recipe uses a rum glaze--how can you go wrong with that?? 

Source: browneyedbaker.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Recipe Results

Why hello there!  I apparently forgot to post recipes and recipe results last week...so hold onto your britches, we've got a lot to get through today!

1.  Best Punch Ever - 4/5...it was pretty good but I guess the pina colada mix curdles somehow.  Still tastes good, just looks funky.

2.  Coconut & Lime Cupcakes - 4/5...gluten-free and my husband would not have been able to tell had I not informed him.  I forgot to add the lime zest into the batter; perhaps they would've been tastier.

3.  David Lebovitz's Tomato-Basil Pizza - 5/5...YUM!  But I love pizza...it's hard to go wrong.

4.  Dirty Rice with Andouille Sausage - 5/5...lovely spiciness!

5.  Crockpot Carnitas - 4/5...I wish I knew what authentic carnitas are like.  This seemed more like barbeque pork I was putting into a tortilla.

6.  Eggs Bendict - 2/5...I do not recommend this recipe.  The hollandaise was gross.  This was my first time poaching eggs & I failed miserably.  I've poached eggs two or three times since then & I'm getting better.  This is my new favorite way to cook eggs.

*I haven't yet talked about these next recipes, so I'm including their pictures/links with the review.*

7.  Chewy No-Bake Nutter Butter Bars - 1/5...I don't know if it was the recipe or if I did something wrong, but these were inedible.  Tossed 'em in the trash.

Source: picky-palate.com via Nicole on Pinterest

8.  Smoked Tofu & Egg Fried Rice - 5/5...had this last night...yum!  Used grilled tofu (pre-prepared) instead of smoked.

Source: fussfreecooking.com via Nicole on Pinterest

9.  Easy Sunday Lemon Pasta - 5/5...super easy & light.  I added tuna to mine because I love the spaghetti & tuna combination.  My stomach's growling...

Source: joythebaker.com via Nicole on Pinterest

 

Until next time...