Crepes and Nutella

I feel like today has been productive even though I really haven't done too much! I started out the day with some strawberries and vanilla chobini along side a kashi waffle topped with strawberries preserves. It was a perfect breakfast!


Then I showered and such and pretty soon it was time for lunch! I made a delicious wrap! It was filled with a Morningstar pizza veggie burger, some super sharp cheddar, tomatoes, spinach, and hummus!
Then I made some iced tea out of some Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger!
Then my mom and I went to Manassas to pick up some things! First we went to Wal-Mart and got some flowers to plant by the pool and I got some Basil and Parsley! I'm pretty excited especially for the basil! Then we went next door to Home Depot and got some corner shelves so I can put up all my little knick knacks! After that we went to Costco to pick up a couple things and put in an order for my sister's graduation cake! And on the way out we both got Berry Smoothies!!!! yum
When we got back I started on dinner- Jenna from Eat Live Run's Fettuccine with Mushroom Chardonnay Cream Sauce that was featured on The Mushroom Channel.
It was really good! The only thing I would change is I would probably use yellow onions instead of shallots and probably top it with some feta or goat cheese! Everyone liked it, except my sister who wasn't home and doesn't like mushrooms at all. My mom and brother complained that it had no meat because they are basically carnivores that think it can't be a meal without meat in it. But even though they complained they still liked it!

After dinner we ran out to Manassas again to the Verizon store and were about to get phones but they didn't have all of the ones we needed so we came home and bought them online. And for dessert we made crepes! We bought premade crepes at Wegmans and then we filled them with Nutella and Strawberries! And topped with some whipped cream and strawberry puree!

I thought mine was pretty but my mom insisted hers was prettier and told me to take a picture of hers too!
And now my brother and I are watching Bedtime Stories which I rented from the Red Box but apparently the rest of the family has already seen it! So they are downstairs watching Bride Wars which I already saw and my brother had no desire to see and we are upstairs watching Bedtime Stories. So far its super cute but it took a long time to get it to work because the DVD player is broken up here! We had to hook up my old dying computer and got that working but then the sound didn't work. So we had to unhook some speakers from the desktop computer and hook them up to the laptop and then it finally worked! Now I'm going to get back to my movie and I hope everyone has a great Sunday tomorrow!

Lime and Strawberry Frosted Cupcakes

Wegman's was fabulous as always! While I waited for my sister to be ready I snacked on some cheddar that I picked up at Giant the other day. It was really really good, super sharp! Its not the same as the goat cheddar which they definitely don't have at Giant but I will definitely be getting more of this cheese.
For lunch I loaded up on the hot food bar! I got some shrimp pad thai, spring roll, some indian lamb thing that was delicious, shrimp in a cream sauce, calamari, and a chinese donut to finish it off. It was all really delicious, as expected! The shrimp in the cream sauce is probably one of my favorite things on the Wegmans hot bar, the shrimp is fried and kind of crispy but then its in this sweet sauce that it kind of soaks up and softens it. So it has a fun texture and it really isn't in a "sauce"

After we ate we did some intense grocery shopping where I got lots of things I wanted (some ingredients for meals and cupcakes) and was disappointed when Wegman's didn't have other things I wanted (chia seeds, So Delicious coconut milk ice cream bars, organic dried pineapple without the crazy preservatives). After unloading the groceries I made myself a Green Monster to drink while cupcake making in hopes of not eating as much batter and frosting. This delicious Green Monser contained about
1/4 cup orange juice
1 container Light and Fit Strawberry Yogurt (I find the thin non greek yogurt works better for these so I use whatever kind my mom has because I usually just buy and eat greek yogurt)
1 banana
1 1/2 cups spinach
I really love the addition of the orange juice to my Green Monster's! I also have been blending them with ice sometimes so they are colder and more smoothieesque. Today I had the wonderful idea of using one of the Minute Maid Juice bars instead of ice and orange juice, which would have been delicious if there were any orange ones left in the box. There were only grape which I really don't like by themselves that much and I think would ruin my Green Monster!

Anyways the Green Monster didn't really help the finger from tasting all the different stages for the cupcakes. The cupcake inspiration came from the Food Network's Strawberry-Lime Stuffed Cupcakes. I used their cupcake recipe as a base. However I didn't really pay that much attention to the recipe which called for jumbo cupcake tins and put my normal cupcake tins in for the specified time. When I checked on them 5 min before the timer was set to go off they were a little done. They were not burned but they were definitely a little over cooked. Once they were cooled off I cut little holes in the tops and stuffed some of the fresh tiny strawberries we got in Ohio. They were the perfect size to stuff into these cupcakes because normal sized strawberries from the grocery store would have been too big, I guess that is why the recipe calls for jumbo cupcakes!
Now I would have been perfectly happy with just the lime frosting on all the cupcakes, however my mom and sister do not like lime anything. So to make them happy I made strawberry frosting for half of them. Which by the way this made exactly one dozen normal sized cupcakes so I frosted 6 with strawberry frosting and 6 with lime. Both frostings started out the same way and then I kept adding a little more of everything to get it right, so I can't give you an exact recipe but i can try!

Strawberry Buttercream
(all measurements are very generalized)
3/4 pound of powdered sugar (one box is usually a pound so 3/4 of the box)
1/4 cup of strawberry puree
3 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of shortening

Blend everything together adding more powdered sugar to make thicker or a splash of milk or strawberry puree to thin it.
Lime Buttercream
2/3 pound of powdered sugar
3 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of shortening
zest of one lime
juice of one lime
1 teaspoon of milk

Blend everything together adding more powdered sugar to thicken or more milk to thin.
Mid cupcake making I had to stop and peel up some potatoes to start cooking for dinner. We had a roast in the crockpot cooking with about half an onion and probably close to a tablespoon of minced garlic. It turned out really good and we had it along side some mashed potatoes (also with garlic of course) and cauliflower. It was delicious of course!
Then of course for dessert we had cupcakes.
We rented New In Town and just finished watching it. That movie was super cute and is definitely on my need to own movie list. Right up there with all 3 High School Musicals which I somehow do not own, probably because I always would watch them at Maggie's! (Who by the way still has my High School Musical Sing It at her house in Richmond!) The movie also made me want to move to Minnesota. I love snow and would not mind living in the cold and it just seemed like such a cute small town! Although I really don't know about Minnesota because I would probably get bored out of my mind, I would love to live in a Gilmore Girls Stars Hollow esque small town somewhere in New England. A town where everyone knows everyone and has fun things like Fall and Winter Carnivals at the town square. Someday I will live somewhere like that! I am curious to know what kind of dream location everyone else has. Do you want to live in a small town like Stars Hollow or are you more of a city kind of person. And of course you can't forget the suburbs or the country!

Clean Car

I got my car back yesterday!! It looks awesome! Not only did they fix put in a new tail light they fixed the entire bumper- even though there were some other scratches from other times that they said they would not be able to fix because they weren't caused by the hit and run. And not only did they fix everything they cleaned everything!! The inside of my car was super super dirty and they cleaned out everything and vacuumed up all the dirt and dog hair! It looks awesome, and now that it is actually clean I feel like I can keep it clean!

Before I went to pick up my car I made a tuna sandwich for lunch. The tuna mixture was made with a can of tuna, a couple teaspoons of mayo, green onions, and dill. I put it on the sandwich and then realized I forgot to add mustard into the mixture so I dabbed a little on top. I put just a tiny bit of mustard into my tuna for that extra kick, but I'm not a huge mustard fan so not too much!
Once I got back from getting my car I made a Not So Green Monster. We were out of bananas so I used some fresh strawberries that we picked up in Ohio. The strawberries are okay, they aren't as good as some of the other fresh strawberries we had while we were up in Ohio. I also added some orange juice into it which was a really yummy combo that I'm going to have to use again. So this Not So Green Monster had some strawberry non greek yogurt, orange juice, strawberries, and of course spinach!
Then for dinner we had some frozen Stoffers manicotti along with some frozen snap peas. It was a frozen dinner- enough said. Now that I'm back from Ohio I can go to the store and get some real food!
Then for dessert some Coconut So Delicious coconut milk ice cream! I had never had the straight up coconut flavor and it was just as delicious as all the others! I think the cookie dough flavor is still my favorite though. My mom said that they needed an ice cream bar with this flavor inside instead of the vanilla and dark chocolate on the outside and the it could be like a Mounds bar! And I agree that would be delicious!
Then last night I slept wonderfully because it was raining! This morning I woke up and had a Kashi waffle covered with some vanilla Chobini and fresh strawberries! It was delicious!
I'm so excited because my sister and I are going to Wegmans for lunch! yay! I haven't been to Wegmans since I've been back from Richmond. I'm going to go make a grocery list so that I can have some things to cook this weekend and next week so we don't have to eat any more of these frozen things that always seem to make their way into the freezer when I'm not at home!

Back from Ohio

So I got back from Ohio last night! It was really fun and I'm glad that I got to go. The week was filled with lots of junk food- tons of birthday cakes and pies along with chips and brownies haha. For the most part I just chilled with my cousins and my family. We had mass birthday celebrations, starting with Braden's birthday party on Saturday night. He had a Cars themed party and had an awesome Lightning McQueen cake.


Here are my cousins and I chilling at Braden's b-day bash! A pretty awful picture but the only one I managed to get of me, Coleen, and Jenna!Then on Sunday we had another birthday celebration for everyone else who had birthday's previously or coming up soon! We had some awesome strawberry pie made by my great aunt.
And of course another birthday cake for my cousins and my grandpa! It was pretty delicious- half was vanilla and half was chocolate and I had some of both throughout the week.
On Monday Leesa, Jenna, and Coleen all had to leave to go back to school and work. Poor Coleen is still in school for another month for her spring semester classes!

Tuesday we drove across the river to West Virginia to go to Hillbilly Hot Dogs. Apparently it was on the Food Network on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It was definitely an experience! It is decorated like a rundown hillbilly shack in West Virginia (which is kind of exactly what it is!) You order your food and then you can take it on one of these 2 old school buses that they have converted into a "dining area"
As for the food- you could get almost anything you could imagine on your hot dog. I got a West Virginia dog which had their special sauce, mustard, onions, and coleslaw.My grandpa's was more interesting- he got a junkyard dog. I don't even know what was on there but it at least sauerkraut, coleslaw, bbq sauce, jalapenos, and who knows what else. He tried to get it without the jalapenos but the guy told him he had to try it with a couple because once you eat them all together it tastes different then you might think- so he stuck 2 on one of the ends hahaha. The guy that owns the place is so nice and he talked to us for a while when we were trying to figure out what to order. I'm really not a big hot dog person but this was totally worth going to for the experience, if you are ever up in the Gallipolis, Ohio area or Huntington/ Point Pleasant, WV area you should definitely check it out.
After our hot dogs we drove down to Point Pleasant to see the Mothman statue! My family has lots of stories of people that were just about to get on or just got off the Silver Bridge before it collapsed so it was fun to go see the Mothman! I got my picture taken with the statue.
And Braden got his taken in the cut out thing. It was so bright outside when you tried to take a picture you couldn't see the screen and really didn't know what you were taking a picture of. My grandpa was taking pictures and took one of me in here too but it isn't on my camera so either it didn't get taken because he couldn't see it or maybe the mothman deleted it!We went into a little souvenir shop thing and got to talking to the owner for a while. He told us that people still see the mothman in the area occasionally and mothman sightings have been reported in other places too (like right before the second plane crashed into the towers on 9-11 and right before that other bridge collapsed up in Minnesota). If you haven't seen the movie or don't know the story behind the mothman check out Mothman Lives. It is pretty interesting even though it is probably all totally made up.

Anyways yesterday we headed back to Virginia and after a long 2 hour stop at Bob Evans (I use to think Bob Evans was just an old people thing but apparently its an Ohio and old people thing and considering my grandparents are both old and from Ohio its their favorite restaurant lol) with the grandparents I finally made it home. I spent all of last night and most of this morning catching up on the internet! Having no internet for a week has really left me behind on everything- I'm all caught up on my all but one of my e-mail accounts, facebook, and twitter, but I don't think I'll ever catch up on all the blogs so I'm just going to skim through the pictures and see if there looks like there is anything interesting! Then I'm going to unpack and do some laundry and clean out a closet downstairs to move some of my stuff into that has just been sitting in the dining room.

Random Pasta

Today has been almost the same as Monday! I wasn't at all hungry when I woke up at 10:30 so I skipped breakfast. I caught up on facebook and blogs and read some more of my book. Then around noon I ate the rest of my bunny butts from yesterday.
After lunch my sister and I went to Fairfax- again- to pick up the pool pump- again. And of course I stopped at Robuks and got juice! This time I got an apple, beet, carrot, and ginger! It was delicious! My sister got a strawberry banana smoothie and she really liked it- but she said she didn't like my juice :(
Then I came home and finished reading the Pact by Jodi Picoult book. This was my first book by Jodi and it was really good! I need to get My Sister's Keeper next so I can read that before the movie comes out! After I finished my book I started packing for Ohio! I'm so excited! My grandparents are calling it a long weekend but I could very well be gone for a whole week haha. I'm heading up to my grandparents house in West Virginia tomorrow evening and we are heading to Ohio on Friday morning. We are staying until Wednesday and depending on what time we leave they will either bring me all the way back to Haymarket or I will stay at their house and they will bring me back Thursday which will be a whole week! I also didn't realize until yesterday that this is Memorial day weekend so hopefully we won't get stuck in tons of traffic on Friday- we are going the opposite direction of the beach so hopefully everyone else is going to the beach?

For dinner my brother was making chicken so I made my own dinner! I sauteed up some zucchini, squash, and mushrooms for them to eat with their chicken. I took some out and added some onion and garlic, tomatoes, and made a sauce with some white cooking wine (which was not very good but it was all we had because my parents don't drink wine) and some of this manghego sheep milk cheese!
Then I tossed in some leftover spaghetti noodles from last night and topped it with some goat cheese and fresh basil! It was pretty awesome! Pasta made from whatever is around is pretty much the best kind of pasta ever because its always different!
Now I'm watching the American Idol season finale. I haven't watched it at all this season -or any other season- but sometimes watching the finale is interesting. Anyways I decided that I liked Chris because 1- he's a Christian, 2- he actually has a good voice, 3- he looks normal (actually he is pretty gorgeous), and 4- he plays the guitar and piano. And to top all of it he just played a duet with Keith Urban who is hands down my favorite singer ever!

I'm not sure when I'm going up to Ohio tomorrow but I'm not too sure about the internet situation up there so I'm not bringing my computer because I don't want to lug it around if there is no internet! So I might not be updating for a week but I'll post a big update when I get back! I hope everyone has a great memorial day weekend!

My computer is back!

The fedex man came and brought my computer back today! yay!!!! I missed it so much. Yesterday I was still not that feeling great. I started my day with a Kashi waffle topped with Fage, lemon curd, and a banana. It was delicious!
The pool pump that I picked up on Friday was still broken- now its cracked or something, so I had to take it back to Fairfax- which meant more juice! yay! I got an Apple, Beet, and Carrot juice this time and it was delicious! I think next time I would get this combo with ginger because I loved the ginger in the other one!
yeah I took the picture when I got home and it was already halfway gone haha
Then for lunch I made a quesadilla with leftover taco meat from taco salads earlier in the week and an assortment of all the random shredded cheese we had in the fridge that had very tiny amounts left ( i think I used up the end of 3 different bags of cheese). Topped with a dollop of sour cream and it was amazing!
Then for dinner last night my mom made fajitas and I totally forgot to take a picture! I think it was because I really wasn't feeling good at that point. But they were delicious!

This morning I was feeling much better and I started the day with a Kashi waffle topped with some vanilla chobini. It was definitely amazing! I wasn't super hungry and this was the perfect breakfast.

Then for lunch I made some bunny butts! Rotini and 4 Cheese with some chopped up tomatoes! yummmm I love Annie's!

After lunch I made Scotcharoos for my mom. They are super easy and super delicious! Melt together one cup of peanut butter and one bag of butterscotch chips. Usually about a minute and a half melts them together. Then stir in 6 cups of rice krispies. Then press it into a 9 by 13 pan and stick them in the fridge. In an hour or so you have rice krispies only better!Then I went to take my car in for an estimate for the insurance people who finally called me yesterday! Its going in next week to get fixed so yay! In other news my sister's car is now also broken. Her car wouldn't start and actually had to be towed to the place to get fixed! And my brother is still driving on a spare tire and has yet to get that in to get fixed hahah. I predict my mom's car will break next!

Anyways when I got back from getting the estimate for my car I took my dog on a nice long walk. A cold front has come through and it would have been perfect running weather yesterday and today except I felt like death yesterday and although I feel better today I didn't feel good enough to go run. When I got back my dad made some spaghetti and I topped mine with goat cheese! And I had some mixed veggies and garlic bread on the side. I'm not the biggest fan of spaghetti, especially because in my family spaghetti sauce isn't spaghetti sauce unless it is overloaded with meat but I put some goat cheese on it and it made it much better!Now I think I'm going to go have a bowl of ice cream and then read some more! I'm going to Ohio on Friday for an extended weekend with my grandparents and cousins! I'm so excited! It is all kind of a random last minute thing but I'm so excited!

Sick

Today has been another one of those blah days. On the way to church this morning I snacked on a Spirulilna and Cashew Raw Revolution bar. I really didn't like it, it was really greasy which was not like the other kind I've had. I would not buy that flavor again, I think I'll stick to the chocolate ones! For lunch after church I had a cous cous and vegetable veggie wrap. It was pretty good. I tried to follow the directions to heat it up in the oven but after cooking it for 35 minutes it was still halfway frozen and I ended up popping it in the microwave anyways! However it was pretty delicious and a nice thing to have around to pop in the microwave for a couple of minutes when you are starving and have no time to cook (just don't try to cook it in the oven- or at least don't follow their directions of wrapping it in foil).
After lunch I really wasn't feeling to good so I took a nap for a little. After my nap I decided to make a Green Monster to see if it would make me feel any better. I put a banana and a cup of spinach like before but this time instead of a cup of milk i put in some 0% Fage and a tiny splash of milk for more liquid. I also added some leftover pineapple from dinner before. It was both better and worse then the one before. The pineapple was really not the best pineapple so it really added no flavor at all and the sweetness of the banana was not enough for the plain yogurt. However, I liked the yogurt much better than the milk. I think the key is flavored yogurt. I am slowly and surely finding the best way to make a Green Monster- next time I'm going to add some flavored yogurt or maybe some strawberry preserves or something in with the plain yogurt.
For dinner all I really wanted was some soup so I busted out a can of the Amy's Chunky Tomato Bisque- my favorite! It was exactly what I wanted and was delicious as usual.
After dinner I watched the season finale of Desperate Housewives and I'm happy to say that I finally got a decent finale that didn't make me scream at the tv when it ended (although there were times during it but almost everything was resolved in the episode!). The only 'cliffhanger' was at the end when Mike was marrying someone but I'm pretty sure it was Susan and not Katherine and that is what I'm going to go with until the season premier in the fall. Right now I'm still feeling pretty awful so I'm about to go take some NyQuil and sleep a good long time and hopefully feel better in the morning!