Sorry for the Delay in Your Regular Programming

But we are experiencing time management difficulties. We will be back on track soon.

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day! I can't believe I'm back in school!

Dyanomite!

My friends are from Rhode Island and tell me that there is a sandwich called "the Dynamite" that is basically like a pepper filled sloppy joes. I got to try some of their yummy leftovers and decided to try my own version. If you are from Rhode Island and I'm butchering this recipe, please feel free to leave me a comment - but I DID warn you that it is my own version!

"Dynamite"/Homemade "Sloppy Joes"

- 1 pound ground turkey

- 2 bell peppers

- 1 onion

- 1 15oz can tomato sauce (or more)

- spices/condiments to taste - this is what really makes or breaks it - make sure you taste!

Cook turkey in some oil (as to not stick until the turkey's own fat gets into the pan) until cooked through. Meanwhile, saute onion and sliced bell peppers in olive oil. Combine when done with tomato sauce and spices. We used a good splash of the beer we were drinking, several good squeezes of ketchup, oregano, basil, cayenne, paprika, and chili powder. Toast some hot dogs buns and all set!

Yum!

Wordless Wednesdays

Black Bean Salad

I have a delicious recipe for you all that is super easy to make and doesn't require too many ingredients outside of your pantry. Nick and I eat it for dinner with some bread on the side and we are full after.

Heidi from 101 Cookbooks created this black bean salad recipe so I'm going to link to it so you can look at her lovely site and explore the other recipes there.

Our changes to the recipe include using salad or spinach (instead of arugula) depending on what we have and doubling the dressing because it is so tasty. Also, I don't use mustard in the vinaigrette as the husband is still learning to like it and the dressing still works perfectly. Do

n't forget the feta - it makes the dish irresistible!

Monday Links

If you look at any blogs besides mine (I don't know why you would bother anyway), but IF YOU DID, you will notice that most bloggers do some form of weekly column. I'm into peer pressure so I'm going to join.

Monday will be links day - at least one link from each of the 4 categories: crafting, food, style and a funny, interesting or just plain pretty article. Some may overlap if I decide the interesting article is food related or the crafting is something that may fall under the style category.

Crafting:

Fat quarter handbag

Food:

Ice cream, you scream... we all get fat.

Style:

Adorable shoes that are too much money

Interesting:

Time to plan your next vacation

And because every post needs a picture, here are my feet.

All three of them?

Update - New Beginnings ... Again

Well it's been awhile and there have been a lot of changes in my household - including up and moving it to a different state!

1) I quit my job.

2) We moved to the Boston area.

3) I started a graduate program to get my Masters in Nutrition.

Now that I'm done with summer classes, I have the freedom that every working adult dreams of for the last month of summer. So logically, I've decided to sche

dule in my blogging.

If I'm left to my own devices while Nick is working, I'll watch crappy TV shows and bore myself to sleep by 10am on the first day of my break. And yes, I know it's Sunday. I haven't lost track of the days quite yet.

So there you have it, this is truly a new beginning and although I don't have that new dSLR that was originally delaying my blogging, I'm going to start again anyway. I'll just have to dazzle you with interesting information, recipes and links to distract you from my iPhone pictures that I don't have the software to edit.

So here is a link to get started: Couch to 5K App AKA - Get off your lazy ass - "everyone is doing it!"

I've always been theoretically interested in running. Very theoretically. I jogged last summer about 5 times, and that was enough practicality for a lifetime. Recently I've been actually getting moving and walking again so I thought this app would help me get that walk back up to that so, so hated jog. Maybe I can pretend I'm a runner for just one day but not until 9 weeks from now.

I'll let you know how that goes.

Source

Link Love

Things that I'm thinking about... or drooling over:

Meat lover's delight - bone marrow/short rib hamburger
Never eating cattle from CAFOs again
Lovely lists and loads of inspiration
Pineapple = summer and tropical weather
Spring cardigans
Summery sandals
Italian getaways

Red Pesto Ravioli

This recipe is absolutely delicious - we substituted in spinach and ricotta raviolis because those were the cheapest fresh raviolis in the store. They were delicious and worked well with the bed of spinach anyway.

Recipe at 101 Cookbooks.

Five Senses Friday

I'm obsessed with memes. In middle school and high school I would always fill out those quizzes and surveys that you would send around about yourself and your friends.

Abby Trys Again has been doing one every Friday called "Five Senses Friday" and suggested playing along. This will be a reflection on the week - not what I'm sensing literally at this moment.

Tasting: Surprisingly delicious vegan oatmeal date scone from Whole Foods (while I'm on doctor's orders of lactose free for 2 weeks)


Hearing: Spring birds chirping


Seeing: Snow melting and rivulets of water running down the road


Smelling: First Pad Thai in months at a great Thai restaurant


Feeling: Desperate for spring to come!

Source

Mix Tape

When I was in high school, I was the mix tape queen - with my now-husband (then boyfriend) being the king. We made them for ourselves, to give to each other, and to give to family or friends. I still shuffle my music and get bored if I listen to one sound too long.

I came across a new blog (this is a theme this year) and one of her posts was a compilation of new music, a lot of which I enjoy! I thought I'd spread the love.

Also, Girls Gone Child has introduced me to some new music. Here is one of my new favorite songs.

Choir of Young Believers - Action/Reaction from jeff hamada on Vimeo.

Oatmeal

I always tried to eat instant oatmeal because it was "good for you". The fiber, the "heart-healthy grains", supposedly filling... Either way, I found oatmeal boring and was often hungry right after. I didn't realize the problem wasn't the food itself, but me. I was doing it wrong.

Enter the star: Rolled Oats.

I understand that may not look all that appetizing because at this point
I had shoveled down about half and had been mushing it around to get all the flavors.

I came across a new blog 2 weeks ago called Kath Eats Real Food and she has a tribute to oatmeal. I thought I'd check it out since obviously any one who actually likes the mushy, sticky mess of oatmeal is crazy. The tribute has about a hundred different styles of oatmeal, all containing the basic ingredient "rolled oats". I thought I'd give oatmeal one last try, this time using the real deal, oatmeal that doesn't take a minute in the microwave! I even made apple cinnamon muffins to crumble on top (that was a rare ambitious weekend). I made my rolled oats with 1/2 milk and 1/2 water and topped it with a teaspoon of TJ's organic creamy peanut butter, TJ's Golden Berry Blend (dried golden raisins, cherries, cranberries, and blueberries) a sprinkle of shredded coconut and the top of one of my small apple cinnamon muffins.

It. was. delicious.

So forget instant oatmeal - it takes a minute compared to the 5 minutes that rolled oats oatmeal takes, and I think that 4 minutes is well worth the difference!

2010 - The Year of Food

Perfect New Year's Resolutions or Goals

From Phoodie and Michael Pollan:

"From Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food, the rules seem more 1910 than 2010, but offer practical advice for those of you who like to have a friendly reminder around this time of year:

1. Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
2. Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup. Pollan’s example: Sara Lee’s Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread, which fails every test proposed by this rule. “If not for the indulgence of the Food and Drug Administration, (it) could not even be labeled “bread.”
3. Avoid products that make health claims. The FDA’s “qualified” health claims” are all but meaningless.
4. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. “Processed foods products dominate the center aisles of the store while the cases of ostensibly fresh food–dairy, produce, meat and fish–line the walls.”
5. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible. Head to one of the many farmer’s markets. In January it’s not just root vegetables that are in season: grapefruit, pears, brussel sprouts, kale, and spinach are on the list."