6 Month Blogiversary!

Today is my 6 Month Blogiversary!!! I can't believe I've been blogging for 6 months!
This week has been and will continue to be insanely busy because my sister leaves for her freshman year of college on Wednesday! She is stressing out about all she has to get done before she leaves!She has been putting off doing lots of stuff and has tons of things to get done before that. I've spent all day today helping her finish up scrapbooks that were suppose to be her graduation presents to some of her friends. She also still has to write thank you cards for graduation presents and not to mention laundry and packing. Also tomorrow her and her friends are doing a city wide scavenger hunt before they all leave each other! My brother is also going back to school, but not until Saturday. They actually will be at the same college but freshmen move in is during the week and returning students are on Saturday. And boys don't have near as much stuff to do and pack as girls do- I doubt he has even thought about packing things yet!

Anyways we got some of our first tomatoes this week! They are mortgage lifters? Last year we grew a bunch of different tomatoes but they all got blight, so we were going to not grow any this year because the blight can stay in the soil, but my grandpa brought these back from Ohio when we went up for Memorial Day. So we are growing them in big pots instead of actually in the soil to try and avoid the blight. They are looking pretty good and are pretty delicious too!

I made a yummy capreseish salad with the tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, spinach, basil, topped with a balsamic vinaigrette.
And some Amy's chunky tomato bisque alongside!
I was really needing something sweet that night so I dug around in the freezer and found some Vita Brownies that I heated up and topped with some vanilla ice cream and some butterscotch!
The next morning for breakfast I used my neglected for too long juicer to make some juice! We have been out of one or the other ingredient to make juice for a long time and I finally got some apple, carrots, and ginger juice (we didn't have beets). And I finished off the end of the vanilla chobini with the end of the mango granola!

That was kind of my brunch because it was 11:30! After brunch my mom and I headed to Target with my sister to get some last minute college shopping done. We were in there for hours and by the time we were leaving I was starving. So I headed over to the grocery side (we have a Super Target which is the most amazing thing ever) and picked up some Vermont White Cheddar Artisan Wheat Things aka crack crackers. They are so addicting.
My mom decided she didn't really like them- she is crazy! So we drove through chick-fil-a so she could get some fries instead and of course we got peach milkshakes as well.
My mom and I did some more shopping, including grocery shopping at Wegmans! By the time we got home it was dinner time! My mom made chicken so for myself I made some Cous Cous! I found a box of Cous Cous at Wegmans that sounded similar to the Moroccan Cous Cous I made a couple months ago. I added some raisins and topped it with feta! I had some of my mom's mandarin orange salad on the side! It was a delicious dinner!



And I finally found Starbucks Ice Cream at Wegmans. I had a coupon for a free pint but they do not have it at Giant, I should have known my beloved Wegmans would have it!

It was pure bliss in an ice cream carton!

The next morning for breakfast I had some 0% Fage with pineapple preserves and apple granola. The one thing they did not have at Wegmans that they have at Giant is the mango granola!!!
Lunch was a delicious tomato, basil, mozzarella sandwich. These are probably my all time favorite sandwiches. We picked up some heirloom tomatoes at the local farm and they are the most amazing tomatoes ever!
I spent the rest of the day working on graduation applications! When I graduate in December I get both my bachelors and my masters because of the way the teaching program I'm in works. So I have to fill out two different forms, meet with two different advisors, etc etc. When we move my sister down to CNU on Wednesday I'm going to go to Richmond afterwards instead of back home. I am going to a wedding on Saturday and didn't feel like driving home and then back down there again (Richmond is in between our house and CNU). So I figured while I was down there I needed to go meet with my advisors to get all my graduation stuff squared away since I won't be able to once I start student teaching. All the paperwork was giving me a headache so I made some tea. I got some peach tea at Wegmans so of course I tried combining the two teas together. It worked out wonderfully and was delicious! Exactly what I was expecting the original one to taste like.

That evening my sister and her friends came over for a bonfire. We had hot dogs with watermelon on the side!
And then of course late we had smores! We have a fire pit in our backyard and usually make smores throughout the whole summer but this was actually the first time- and probably the last too!
This morning I ate a cherry pie larabar on the way to church. This was the last week in church with the whole family :( When I got home I made the best sandwich ever for lunch!
Tomato, basil, mozzarella, feta, and sprouts!! Holy yum!!!!!!!!

And for dinner we had BLTs. We have definitely been eating a lot of these over the summer! Its just the perfect way to eat all these delicious tomatoes!
And then for dessert was a brownie mousse cake!

Brownie Mousse Cakes are infamous in my group of friends in Richmond. It is like my signature dessert and I can't believe in my 6 months of blogging that I haven't made one yet! It is super easy, I could see this being on Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee because you use box brownie mix, can of frosting, and cool whip. All things that I would frown upon when baking many things because I am definitely a made from scratch is always better kind of girl. However this recipe was my absolute favorite dessert that my mom used to make when I was little and although I suppose you could make this more homemade with making your own brownies, icing, and using real whipped cream I never have because it is pretty amazing just the way it is! Also be sure to get the bigger size box of brownies- you know the ones that are made to be cooked in a 9x13 pan not a square pan. I had a coupon for free brownie mix at Wegmans and didn't realize until I went to mix them up that it was the smaller size so the "crust" part is a little thinner in my pictures.

Brownie Mousse Cake

15 oz brownie mix
1 can vanilla or cream cheese frosting
8 oz pkg cream cheese (softened)
12 oz Cool Whip
1 pkg mini chocolate chips

1.Preheat oven according to directions on brownie mix.
2.Grease the bottom of a spring form pan.
3.Follow the directions to make the brownie mix and cook it in the spring form pan
4.After cooking, let completely cool
5.Combine the frosting and cream cheese until smooth
6.Fold in the Cool Whip and about ¾ of the bag of the mini chocolate chips
7.Spread on top of the completely cooled brownie in the spring form pan
8.Top with the rest of the chocolate chips.
9.Refrigerate 3 hours before eating.


Well the rest of this week will be pretty busy helping my sister pack up then heading down to Newport News to move her in on Wedneday, then running around Richmond until Sunday! I'll try to blog in between all the craziness! Hope you guys have a great week and thanks for helping me get to the 6th month point in blogging!

Wasting Time on Ebay

Well I'm not going to lie, instead of blogging I've been spending all my online time on ebay. I've been bidding on juicers. I thought I was going to win one, but I always get outbid by people bidding way more than I can at the last minute! It is so frustrating, I want a juicer so bad but I really don't have enough money for one right now.

Anyways Saturday some of my relatives that I had just visited in Ohio were at my grandparents house, which is about an hour and a half from us. So we ate some lunch and then headed up to see them! I had some Amy's Soup
This is the first time I tried the Chunky Vegetable and it was delicious as expected, however the Chunky Tomato Bisque is still my favorite (and I think always will be!)
And some egg salad on a slice of soft oatmeal toast!
Once we got up to my grandparents house we decided to head to downtown Martinsburg to check out the local chocolate store, DeFluris. My grandparents buy us chocolate crosses from here every Easter and they are delicious, but we have never actually been in the store. They had lots and lots of delicious looking truffles

I got a Dark Chocolate Raspberry, Peach Brandy, Vermont Maple, Fisher Ridge Wine, a Cape Cod ("white chocolate, tart cranberries and a hint of orange create a wonderful refreshing truffle") to bring home with me! We then walked around downtown Martinsburg for a little, they were having a car show and the streets were blocked off and they had live music and vendors set up everywhere. We walked down to the train station so Braden could look at the old roundhouse because he loves trains! Eventually we made our way back to the cars so we could head back where my grandma had dinner waiting for us! I was planning on saving all my chocolate for later but once we were in the car everyone else decided to try one of their truffles so I pulled out one too. It was the dark chocolate raspberry one.

DELICIOUS! Nothing can compare to a good truffle! While we were in the store you can look through a window into the back where they make the chocolate and I was thinking how fun it would be to work somewhere like that. Can someone please find me a chocolate making job?

When we got back my grandma had a huge dinner for us. I didn't take a picture because we were crammed in, in the dining room and once I sat down I wasn't able to get back up to get the camera! But we had a pot roast cooked with carrots and potatoes (I love carrots cooked with pot roasts, yummm!), tons of fresh fruit and veggies, homemade applesauce (my grandma makes the best!), mac and cheese, and rolls. For dessert she made an angel food cake that is topped with a mixture of coolwhip, cream cheese, and pineapple (she also sometimes makes it with mandarin oranges instead.) Its the perfect light summery cake and was great to finish off that heavy meal with.

For fathers day we headed to Red Lobster after church for my mom's b-day/ fathers day/ my mom got $100 in Red Lobster gift cards from her students on the last day of school lunch. I couldn't decided what I wanted, I knew I wanted coconut shrimp but wasn't really feeling any of the other things they paired it with for the combo things. Then I realized I could order the appetizer version and get another appetizer for the same price as the combos and get the same or possibly more food out of the deal! So I ordered some crab and lobster stuffed mushrooms and my coconut shrimp that comes with the best pina colada type sauce ever!

I ate half of both the mushrooms and the shrimp and ate the other half for dinner! When we got home from lunch I had another truffle, the peach brandy one! Just as good as the others

And my dad got this like homemade twinkie type of thing that had been dipped in chocolate, so of course I tried a piece of that.

It was so nice outside yesterday I grabbed my dog and went for a run. I am so sick of this hot weather, if it would stay in the 70s all summer I would be much happier! I guess I need to move to Maine! I also got my dad to hang up my last shelf in my room and put up my headboard, so then I spent most of the rest of the day cleaning my room some more! It is getting there, I think maybe it will be clean by the time I start student teaching in the fall hahaha.

Today I woke up around 11:30 and skipped breakfast and went straight to lunch at around 12:30 ( I seem to be doing that a lot lately, I am clearly not a morning person like many other food bloggers out there!) I made a grilled cheese quesadilla, with garlic and herb cheddar, goat cheese, campari tomatoes, and spinach on a spinach wrap. It was delicious and the only thing that could have made it better was basil.
I am growing basil, but its not quite ready to eat yet. I planted my basil and parsley a couple weeks ago and its coming along nicely. I've never grown anything from seeds before so I'm pretty excited (I've planted the basil that you buy at the grocery store with the roots and everything and it actually works about 50% of the time haha)

My mom said she was grilling hamburgers for dinner, however she is currently sleeping on the couch so I'm not so sure about that. Either way I'm not having hamburgers so I guess I should go figure out what I'm going to eat for dinner, hope everyone has a great day!

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!