Lemon Raspberry Pineapple Sorbet

This is my last week of summer before I start student teaching next week, so I am enjoying every minute of this last week and relaxing as much as I can! I finally have not only a school but also grades and teachers. I am going to be in first and fifth grade. I am excited about first but I am dreading fifth! I want to teach kindergarten, first, or second grade- I like the little kids not older ones. I’m glad that I have first grade first so I can get myself adjusted to student teaching and get my unit plan out of the way. Hopefully that will make my fifth grade placement a little less overwhelming.

Anyways onto the food! Sunday night when I got back from Richmond I went with my parents to Mimis Cafe. We started out with some bread to share.

And for dinner I had some delicious citrus broiled shrimpies! They had a delicious creamy pesto sauce on top that was so amazing! It came with some asparagus and a small salad. It was the perfect size meal and came with lots of yummy veggies. I love Mimis for exactly this reason- they don’t overload you on food and their sides are actually veggies that I want to eat.

Of course the perfectly sized meal leaves you room for one of their petite desserts! I got a raspberry moose which I’ve had before and is delicious. It is such a hard decision choosing between the raspberry, lemon, or chocolate moose.

I’ve been attempting to fight off the beginnings of a cold, so I dosed up on Nyquil and slept forever! I woke up just in time for lunch. I made a sandwich that looks delicious but wasn’t quite as good as it looks because most of the veggies were at that almost gone bad but not quiet so I used them anyway and they just didn’t taste that great.

For dinner I met up with my friend Janelle at Del Rio, a Mexican restaurant in Leesburg before we went to bible study! I got a combo that came with 2 beef tacos, a cheese enchilada, and a pork tamale. It was all delicious but way too much food and I probably ate a little over half of it.

Janelle got a spinach enchilada with a sour cream sauce! It looked delicious as well and I think that if I go again I might try that!

After dinner we met up with the other girls for small group at Panera! I am so excited that I have finally found a good small group to get involved in up here. There are two of my friends from Intervarsity at VCU and Janelle who I have known forever from church growing up, Young Life, and she was involved with Intervarsity at CNU so I ran into her at conferences and camp over the past 5 years. There are also several girls that I don’t know and I can’t wait to get to know all of them better and spend some quality God studying time!

Tuesday morning I willingly drug myself out of bed at 7:30 in the morning so I could attempt to figure out how long it would take me to get to my school during rush hour and the best way to get there. It only took me about 40 minutes, which isn’t bad at all! I drove one way there and one way back and definitely saw way more traffic going the opposite direction on the way back (the way I would be going to the school). While I was driving I ate a Chocolate Macaroon Larabar- this is probably the best flavor larabar ever. I need to buy a whole box of just this kind.

When I got home I made some very disappointing juice. We were out of apples and I found one lone peach in the fruit basket. I juiced the peach along with carrots, a beet, and ginger. The peach was not really good and that made the juice not very good but I drank it anyways.

Then I headed over to my mom’s classroom to help her set it up. We quickly realized that it was almost lunch time so we ordered from Z Pizza aka my favorite place to order pizza from up here. Not only do they have the best pizzas ever, they now have their rustica pizza’s back which they use to have and then got rid of them but now they are back! The pear and gorgonzola one is so delicious and just the perfect size for one person.

We had to make a $20 minumum delivery fee so we added in chocolate chip cookies! These were so delicious, thin and gooey and amazing!

After doing some work in her classroom, we went to the grocery store and bought lots of yummy stuff to make the rest of the week, so be excited I will try to update my blog lots this week. While at the store I bought some sparkling water so I could make my own sparkling tea, since I’m getting kind of tired of the same flavor and the new berry flavor isn’t at the stores up here yet. So I came home and brewed some peach tea.

Then added some sparkling water. It was okay, I should have added honey to it before I added the sparkling water because it was hard to stir it into the class. I usually like my tea unsweetened or only with a little sweetness in it but I think the sparkling tea needs more sweetness so it can be more like soda.

For dinner I was going to make some pasta but then I realized that we are having pasta tonight (it was tomorrow yesterday haha) and later in the week, so I just threw what I was going to put on my pasta in a bowl. I tossed some diced tomatoes from our garden with some pesto sauce, zapped it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and then tossed in some goat cheese. It was pretty delicious.

Then for dessert I made something that I’ve been wanting to make for a while- lemon, raspberry, pineapple sorbet! It turned out deliciously!

Lemon Raspberry Pineapple Sorbet

1/2 cup sugar

zest of two lemons

juice of two lemons

2 cups pureed raspberries (I bought frozen raspberries in syrup and pureed those if you use fresh ones or ones that aren’t in syrup I would let them soak in some sugar before you puree them)

20 oz crushed pineapple

1. Make a simple syrup by cooking the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice over medium heat until the sugar is completly dissolved.

2. Add the pureed raspberries and half the pineapple to the simple syrup.

3. Puree the other half of the pineapple and add it to the mixture.

4. Throw it all in the ice cream maker and let it whirl around until its frozen and delicious!

Anyways it was a delicious way to end a long day yesterday. This morning I woke up and made some juice- I got a big bag off apples at the grocery store yesterday so back to my apple, beet, ginger, carrot juice! And I had some 0% Fage yogurt with pineapple preserves and granola! It was delicious!

Now for most of today I plan on being lazy and catching up on my DVR- I have about a bazillion Top Chef episodes that are begging to be watched! I also want to give a big shout out to my friend Rachel- today is her birthday! She is one of my most loyal readers and is forever getting on my case when I do not update daily. I have known Rachel for forever and our birthday’s are exactly one week apart, she gets to be older than me for one week exactly! She is on a cruise so I don’t know if she will get on the internet to see this today but I’m sure she will see it when she gets back so HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL!!!!!!!!!!

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!

Muddy Buddys!

I hope everyone's week has started well! I spent most of yesterday and some of today laying out by the pool in the hot hot weather!

Sunday started off with a bowl of vanilla chobini with some mango granola while I blogged to you about my staycation!
Then for lunch was a slice of leftover Mellow Mushroom pizza (there was only one slice because my dad ate some of it at the restaurant once I was finished) and a slice of a frozen Kashi pizza. I added some goat cheese onto both of them to make them even tastier!
My dad grilled steaks for dinner and we had some squash from a local farm to go along with it.
For dinner we picked up this cake from costco- a sponge cake with a raspberry filling and lemon topping. It was pretty good but I think it needed more raspberry in it, because the filling wasn't very strong and didn't have a lot of flavor.
Yesterday I started the day off with some juice (the usual combo of apple, carrot, beet, and ginger) and a slice of Apple Strudel bread with PB&CO Mighty Maple Peanut Butter. This was probably the most amazing pb toast ever. Yum!!!!!!
For lunch my mom popped in some quesadilla rolls into the oven. I was too busy helping her set up a facebook account to think about taking a picture! Does anyone else's parents have facebook? When my friends parents first started getting facebook I thought it was the weirdest thing ever. I am one of the original facebook users with the mindset that facebook is a college thing, when I signed up you had to have a college e-mail account to get a facebook account. I remember waiting for VCU to be on the approved list of colleges and then once I had a facebook waiting for my friends at smaller schools to have their schools approved by facebook so they could get one! Anyways I've slowly accepted that facebook isn't like that anymore and have started to warm to the idea of others getting it (both older adults and younger high school and middle school kids). Several of my aunts and other friends of the family have facebook, including many old friends of my parents, now have facebook so I've been telling my mom that she should get one so she can catch up and keep in touch with these people. Well she finally gave in and I helped her set it up. I think its great for her and it was really fun going through to find people she knows and add them as friends!

Anyways for dinner, we've had tons of catfish sitting in the freezer that my brother and grandpa have brought back from fishing trips. We finally got around to cooking some of it. My dad insists that the only way to eat it is fried, but my mom and I have been trying to find other things to do with it instead of that. She decided to compromise with him and oven fry it, but we have tons more to try other things with. I was really not a fan, I would much rather try it another way to see if I might actually like catfish cooked differently.

After dinner my sister made some Muddy Buddy's! Muddy Buddys aka puppy chow or garbage are a staple from our childhood. My grandma use to always make them and every now and then we think to make them now. I've made them on many occasions for my friends in Richmond and I think everyone agrees that they are amazing and addicting.
Muddy Buddies

9 cups of your favorite Chex cereal (Corn, Rice and/or Wheat)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup peanut butter
¼ cup (½ stick) butter
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
about 1 ½ cups powdered sugar

1. Add the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a microwavable bowl
2. Microwave for one minute and stir until smooth (if its not melted enough put it in for 30 seconds at a time until its smooth)
3. Stir in the vanilla
4. Add the chex and stir until they are all evenly coated.
5. Add a small layer of powdered sugar to the bottom of a large tupperwear container (or two medium sized ones)
6. Add the chex mixture and then cover with more powdered sugar.
7. Shake the container until all the chex are covered with powdered sugar.
8. Enjoy!!!

We took our muddy buddy's down to the basement and watched Coraline. I hadn't seen it but I had been wanting too. I really don't know what to say about it, it was very strange and kind of creepy but really good and I would probably watch it again!

I stayed up pretty late finishing the book I was reading (The Little Lady Agency- it was really good, I suggest it if you like chicklit!) so I slept in pretty late today! I skipped breakfast and went straight to lunch- a Portabella gardenburger with provolone, hummus, and tomatoes on a 7 grain bread. It was delicious!
Then I laid out by the pool for a while, but decided it was too hot and came inside to do some yoga instead. Now I'm going to hit the shower and see what my sister is up to, since she doesn't have to work tonight! Hope everyone has a great evening!