5.29.2010

Warm, gooey nutella inside a pocket of crispy fried wonton. Oh YUM. These little babies are so tasty, so easy to make, and absolutely decadent!

And one more dessert.... it wasn't great but it was pretty good paired with ice cream!

My photos arent uploading correctly and it takes me a lot of time and is difficult to write so here is one of a few meals that I've been meaning to blog but have put off for... oh about 2 weeks.
Chunky tomato soup with spinach salad & muenster cheese


Now off to MN with my cowboy boots and the Harley!

5.22.2010

Grill


It is grilling weather!!

And I love it! pig, steer, or chicken. Its all good on the grill!

Happy Saturday!

5.16.2010

Waffleaffleagus





We started the morning with oatmeal waffles, lots of fruit, and great coffee. Followed it with a mass that had a weak homily. Disappointing. BUT finally, what I've been waiting for all week..... TEDxDes Moines. I can't wait to participate in Iowa's first TED Talks. More to come.... Have a great Sunday!

5.15.2010

Fajitas!!

Country music, sunshine, fresh air, organizing, great food, my two favorite coffee cups.... all make for a wonderful day. It's just my dad and I at home as my mom is in MN helping my grandma and grandpa sort through things before their big move. Hope it's going well!

I started the morning with a great breakfast. An oatmeal raspberry scone, egg, and a mini bagel with Panera's hazelnut cream cheese and nutella. :)
The nutella put the good in good morning!
creamy, sweet, and perfectly chewy.
Served with fruit and 3 drinks... surprise surprise. A french press of my favorite coffee, milk, and OJ!
After sorting through tons of paper, matboard, and old projects I started lunch. My dad and I were hungry and fajitas sounded great to both of us. This turned out to be a killer lunch! The recipes/directions are below...Marinade: 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1/4 cup coffee, 1/3 cup lime and lemon juice, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 Tbsp brown suga, a shake of red pepper flakes, 1 tsp garlic, and 1/2 tsp cumin. Whisk it all together.
Love you Mom! Check out that perfect heart.
Splash the marinade on the cut chicken (I divided the full breast into 6 parts for maximum soakage-upage)

Next up: Homemade Guacamole!
1 avocado, 1/2 tomato, juice from a lemon, 1/4 onion, s&p
Mash that beautiful avocado....
Add diced tomatoes and onions, along with s&p
and enjoy. This was great! I even got a "this is the best I've ever had" from my dad!
Once the chicken had been marinating for a couple hours I chopped 1/2 a green pepper into small slender pieces, halved mushroom slices, and cut 1/2 an onion.
Toss them with olive oil, pepper, and garlic powder. Onto the grill they went once the chicken was nearly done.
This smelled amazing!! My dad knows how to grill. just awesome!
Slice the chicken and assemble the troops.
How awesome does this look!?
Wrapped and cut. One fantastic lunch. I hope you try this soon! You won't be disappointed.

Even though it's warm out I am enjoying my hot chocolate and blogging. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday :)

5.14.2010

Dessert with breakfast

Its a Friday night... but all I can think of is breakfast! and saturday morning! I can not wait to sleep in tomorrow. eeek!

There are many ingredients in the 'frig and in the pantry that I need to keep working on, so I tried combining them with my breakfast craving!

First up: Flatout wraps. love 'em. simple and better than a wrap but not as heavy and bready as bread.
Second up: Almond Breeze, a type of almond milk. Where have I been!? It seems like everyone but me has tried it and they all love it. Although I do not like it as much as I thought/hoped I would, I am glad I tried it. If it was warmer and I was into making super smoothies I would use it more. Maybe thats on the agenda for tomorrow....
1 egg + 1 white + splash of almond milk + hot pepper flakes.
Scrambled them up. Toss in green pepper and a slice of bacon! oh yum!
To pull it all together I sliced up muenster cheese (it looks like butter doesn't it?!)
I used the cheese as 'glue' to keep the wrap together.
and wrapped it up.
This was delicious! And filling. Definitely a repeater!
I also had fresh pineapple, juicy grapes, bananas, and strawberries. YUM.

Currently, I'm working on a homemade cream puff... kind of like this one that I had two nights ago. Except tonight its double cream puff (w/ ice cream) topped with fresh strawberries & raspberries and warm nutella. Let me repeat.... Nutella. It's going to be a great weekend.

5.12.2010

Oatmeal Raspberry Scones - finally!

First things first. How cute is this butter?!
Land O Lakes now sells half sticks. half sticks! of butter!
too. stinking. cute.
Secondly, the oatmeal raspberry scones recipe that I have been talking about since... oh March!
This is a great recipe for many reasons - freezes well (raw or baked!), its fairly healthy (if you forget about the stick of butter) and it tastes great (raspberries, how I love thee).
Once all of the ingredients are mixed by hand, dough is kneaded, and raspberries are stirred in, press the dough into a 1 1/2 inch blob. Like zis...
Use a ice cream scoop to scoop 12 (or 13 if you want one to eat right away) scones onto your baking sheet.
Action shot of me
Bake for 15 minutes or until perfectly golden brown.
These are chewy from the oatmeal, tart from the raspberries, and subtly sweet. Very very good. Everyone loved them! I plan on making another batch this weekend, along with fresh rhubarb cobbler. Have a great rainy Thursday!

5.09.2010

ISU Graduation

I've spent a lot of time in this classroom and other classrooms like this one over the past 4 years. So many graphic studios, critiques, lectures, slide shows, etc.... and I loved every second of it. I really don't think there is another major that is better suited for me.
This weekend was wonderful. Here's a recap :)
My grandparents from Minnesota arrived Friday night and we started the graduation festivities Saturday morning with this great breakfast!

Homemade oatmeal raspberry scones (recipe to come. these were awesome!), scrambled eggs (gotta have a little salt and protein!), fresh fruit(!!), aaaand donut holes. All served with milk and coffee. Breakfast perfection!


We all drove to Ames and celebrated graduation at the design college. It was so fun!! Wonderful speakers, all of my friends and their families there, and a huge hug from my dad as I walked off the stage after I received my diploma. Then a quick, errr long, bite to eat at Jimmy Johns. 8" to be exact. After that we headed to Hilton for the big grad ceremony.
The auditorium was packed. Luckily, though, things went off without a hitch and speeches were kept short so we were out around 4pm. It feels so good to be done and it was such a great day with my family all there supporting :)
I just noticed the 4 of us coordinated... green pinkish/purple. oh how fab. ha

Jake, my mom Jill, me, and my daddio Glen
We rushed home, grabbed a fast dinner, and I left to get back to Ames to CELEBRATE!!
Justin, Cameron, Lace, me, Matt, and Lindsey
my grandparents and me
Gianni 7 + Angela
Favorite part of the evening!? dancing to PYT with all of the girls :)

I can't wait to post some of the great meals we had... including those scones! I'm heading out to watch Hurt Locker. Have a great night!


5.07.2010

a preview for you...

remember these guys from March? I made them last night, froze them, and will bring them out for a quick breakfast before graduation tomorrow morning!! More to come.... for now, I'm off to celebrate.