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!

Organized Mess

Well in my last update I just briefly touched on the weekend so we are going to pick up normal food blogingness on Tuesday night! So there is this BBQ place in Manassas called Hogs on the Hill which my dad and brother are absolutely obsessed with. They closed a couple years ago for remodeling or something that was suppose to be a temporary closing but they never reopened. Every time we go by them we would look to see if they were opened yet, but they never were. We had just about given up on them when my dad and brother drove by this weekend and they had a huge Grand Reopening sign out. So of course they brought home tons of barbecue and we've had several meals with it. Also it is run by an adorable Asian man (yes I know super random but they do make pretty amazing barbecue) and this guy actually recognized my dad, even after being closed for 2 years. They give you the plain pulled pork and both regular and hot bbq sauce for you to mix in to your own meat. So I made a delicious open faced sandwich on 7 Grain bread with a little of both of the sauces! Delicious! I don't know if i I would go far as my dad and brother to say this is the best barbecue ever but it is pretty delicious!
Yesterday was a wonderful day of sleeping in, which was much needed after the little amount of sleep I got in Richmond and babysitting the next morning I came back. So of course I skipped breakfast and went straight to lunch. My mom and I went to the farmers market on the local farm by our house and got some awesome tomatoes so of course my lunch revolved around those. Tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil from my basil plant!! (its still not huge but big enough to take a couple leaves off occasionally for sandwiches like this!), and a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar all on 7 grain bread. It was delicious! The only thing that would have made it better would have been some pesto, but I certainly don't have enough basil on my plant to make any pesto yet and I didn't think to buy any at the store!
For dinner my mom made lasagna. My mom was a stay at home mom and we use to get homemade lasagna and other meals all the time. I always took it for granted until she started working and stopped cooking all these awesome things. She started going back to school when we were all school age and actually graduated from college the same year I graduated high school and started teaching the same year I started college. Since she is a teacher she basically doesn't cook during the school year, which is why when I would come home I would always be able to cook and go to the store. Now that it is summer she has been able to cook more, which I think is one of the biggest reasons I'm not as motivated to update my blog as much. I'm really not getting to cook many meals because my mom is home cooking.

Anyways I can't remember the last time my mom made a lasagna, but it has been so long that I really associate lasagna taste with the frozen Stoffers ones that she would pull out of the freezer when she didn't have time to cook anything else. Needless to say this is 500 times better! I was starving so I got myself a ginormous piece before it cooled enough- thus the lasagna mess all over my plate hahaha. Of course we also had some garlic bread to go with it! It was delicious!
For 'dessert' after dinner I had bought some new tea to try! It was ginger peach green tea and I was super excited to try it.

The verdict? Not that impressed with it, it definitely has a strong ginger flavor but I could not taste any peach in it at all. I will drink the rest of the ones in the packet but I would probably never buy it again. Actually I might buy some normal peach tea and brew them together to get an actual ginger peach flavor, hahaha. If I do that I'll let you know how it turns out.

This morning I ate an Apple Pie larabar in the car on the way to babysitting. When I got home I busted out some more of that lasagna for lunch, I didn't take a picture of it because my camera was upstairs and microwaved lasagna might be delicious but is certainly not pretty because it oozes out everywhere! Much of the rest of the day has been spent organizing the bathroom that I share with my brother and sister who are both leaving next week for college. It was stressing me out and now that I know they will not be here to mess it up I designated all the shelves and drawers for specific things and put post it notes on them so that until they leave they can know what goes where! I'm definitely an organized mess kind of person, things don't have to be spotless, they just have to be where they belong. The best example of this I can give you is that there are random small piles of clothes all over my room. I've got my pjs next to my bed, work out clothes on the floor underneath my laundry bags, and tank tops that I have worn once and might need to wear again before washing hanging on the closet door knob. It might look messy to you but it is where things belong!

So everyone who reads this blog regularly knows how much I am in love with all forms of goat cheese. So head over to Mara's blog for a chance to win some free goat cheese! Yummmmm!

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!

I love hummus!

It is absolutely gorgeous outside today!!! It is warm but that means there are too many bugs, especially bees and wasps! So yesterday for lunch I made the best sandwich ever. Sourdough bread topped with tomatoes, bean sprouts, and munster popped under the broiler until the cheese was all melty and delicious! Then I slathered lots of sabra garlic hummus!!! yummmmmm this is my new favorite sandwich for sure!!!
Then on the side I tried some Annie's Cheddar Bunnies! yummm they were really good too!
Then for dinner I had a taco salad, with spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, taco meat, cheese, ranch, and tortilla chips.
Then I did some homework and went to bed fairly early. This morning I woke up early because the wedding I was going to was at 10. I had a slice of cranberry orange bread with almond butter. Then me and my sister drove out to Chantilly for Tom and Rebekkah's wedding! Rebekkah looked so pretty! but unfortunately I forgot my camera!!! So we just went to the ceremony- they were having a small reception. So I came home and made another awesome sandwich. This time I also added in some cheddar and prosciutto. yummmmm but I liked it better minus the prosciutto and cheddar.
Now my sister and I are bored bored bored. We are watching some movie that we on demanded that really isn't all that good hahaha. So we will see if anything more exciting happens!

Hoedown Throwdown!

So yesterday was very busy!!! I woke up and didn't feel that great but I forced myself to eat some cranberry orange toast with almond butter because I knew I would feel worse if I didn't eat. I had to go meet with my group for my special needs class to work on our group presentation for next week. So I also made up a wrap to eat because I didn't know how long we would be working on it!
Then after we finished that I came home and packed up some more of my kitchen stuff and then went to go see the Hannah Montana movie!!! ahhh it was beyond cute! I love Hannah Montana but the movie really wasn't too much like the show but it was adorable! Anyways after that I came back and packed some more and did homework. Then somehow I got talked into going to see Benjamin Button! There is this new movie theater opening in Chesterfield and all this week they are showing like new on DVD or almost to DVD movies for $1 and they also have $1 sodas and popcorn. So I really wanted to see Benjamin Button but it wasn't until 10! So I finally decided that for the price of going to the Byrd I could see the movie and get popcorn and I really couldn't pass that up. However at the time I didn't know the movie was 2 hours and 45 minutes long!!!! ahhhhh but once I found out I still decided to go anyways because I figured I could always nap after tutoring today! So I showered real quick and ate some Trader Joe's tomato basil soup. I didn't take a picture because I was rushing! Anyways it was pretty good but not as good as the Amy's Chunky Tomato Bisque!

So after eating I drove to Maggie's and we drove to Sara's then we went to the theater. The movie was good but really too long, they could have cut out the middle and nothing too important would have been lost. The end was good- Maggie and Sara cried haha.

Waking up this morning was not fun. But I did it and brought a Chocolate Coconut Cream larabar to eat during the break between tutoring and class. This semester is almost over we only have one more week of tutoring left and then the next Monday we are having a party for the kids!
When I got back from tutoring I made another pizza for lunch! Once again with the spinach tortilla wrap thing, tomatoes, onion, sprouts, asiago, and also this time some goat brie and some shredded italian blend of cheese that I found in the fridge that I had forgotten about! It was really good!
So for the rest of the day I am going to pack up stuff into my car and do some homework and then I'm headed over to Maggie's to watch Lost!!! And then tomorrow I'm headed home again because I have a wedding to go to on Saturday!