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!

No More Staycation

Well our staycation was fun! We did some hiking, dinner theater, saw some caverns and the natural bridge, and I spent some awesome alone time laying out by the pool while my family went down to the beach ( I am really not a beach person, I love me some Outer Banks but not so much Virginia Beach where they were going).
Staycation started with a fruit pizza that my mom made! I love some fruit pizza, and for some reason this was the first one she had made all summer!

Sunday after church we kicked off staycation with lunch at Desiderio- a new italian restaurant in Gainesville that makes their own mozzarella and pasta! It was delicious! We started out with the bruschetta duo- one was topped with a cheese mixture and one topped with tomatoes marinated in a balsamic mixture. I had half of each and they were both delicious!
For my dinner I got a Seafood Fra’Diavolo which had "Shrimp, mussels, and calamari, tossed in our spicy Fra’Diavolo sauce and served over linguine" It was pretty much amazing! Also the portion sizes weren't as massive as you sometimes get, it was still a little big but not huge which was good!
Of course I sampled everyone elses meals as well. My brother and sister got the ravioli, which was their handmade pasta stuffed with their homemade mozzarella and some parmesan and ricotta. I had high expectations for this and it definitely lived up to that!
My dad got lasagna which was pretty good too, but the sauce needed a little more tomato base to it. However the huge globs of the mozzarella totally made up for it.
My mom got their daily special which was penne in a spicy marinara with fresh local sausage. I'm not a big sausage person but this was really good!
And for dessert we couldn't resist the cannolis . We got mini cannolis- you could pick chocolate or normal shell with chocolate or normal cream inside. Of course I got chocolate chocolate- and it was amazing!
Thursday night we went to the Lazy Susan dinner theater to see their production of Little Shop of Horrors. I started out with their signature cocktail- sans alcohol since my parents don't drink. It was still pineappley and delicious!
For dinner they had a buffet. You couldn't walk around and see what was on the buffet, so not knowing what was at the end I got stuff at the beginning that I wished I had not because they had better stuff at the end. Its safe to say that I definitely did not eat all of this, I just kept finding better things to get! My favorite was probably the mac and cheese, it had a thick layer of just cooked cheese and a little bread crumbs- yumm! When my sister makes stouffers mac and cheese (which is a lot) I usually eat the burnt part around the edges because it is my absolute favorite and she does not like it!
I wasn't going to get any bread until I saw the apple butter, and I can't say no to apple butter!
Yesterday we went hiking at Crabtree falls and on the way back stopped in Charlottesville for dinner. We went to Mellow Mushroom, which I guess is a chain but I've never heard of it. It was really cute and they had tons of stuff on the menu that I would want to eat. I couldn't resist a pizza, but they also had lots of sandwiches, including tons of vegetarian options. My pizza had tomato sauce and pesto, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, mozzarella, and feta. The whole thing was amazing, but the crust was especially delicious!
Now it is raining so I don't think we will be doing much of anything today, just relaxing and enjoying the last day of our staycation!

Mac and Cheese and Cranberry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies!

Look 2 posts in one day! Well don't expect this every day but I had things to update about tonight!

First lunch was pretty awesome! I made a pizza on a rosemary and olive oil wrap. I popped the wrap into the oven to get it toasty and then loaded it up with garlic, tomatoes, leftover veggies from the veggie melts last night, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese! I popped it in the oven then went to do something else and took it out a couple minutes too late. It was a little extra crispy around the edges but other than that it was still good!
After lunch my dad and I went to The Farm at Broad Run- this nearby organic farm that has a farmers market to sell all their produce. It was definitely picked over, you could tell they had lots more this morning, including chicken eggs. I definitely want to go back and get some of their eggs. But for today we got some donut peaches, yellow and red little plum tomatoes, beets, squash, and an eggplant! The peaches were so good, we had never had donut peaches before and the people working at the farm told us to go ahead and try one and they were delicious so of course we got some!




For dinner everyone in my family was doing different things. I was in kind of a bad mood so I decided to make some ultimate comfort food- mac and cheese!
yummm it had cheddar and gorgonzola cheese, tomatoes, and mushrooms of course!
Cheddar Gorgonzola Mac and Cheese
2 teaspoons evoo
2 cups mushrooms sliced
2 bunches green onions
1 cup diced tomatoes (whatever kind you have on hand)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2/3 cup pinot grigio
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup cheddar
1 to 1 1/2 cups gorgonzola
2 1/2 cups macaroni cooked and drained
1/2 cup bread crumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 375
2. Sautee the mushrooms in the olive oil until they are tender
3. Add the green onions, tomatoes, garlic and wine and cook about 5 minutes until the wine reduces some
4. Combine the milk and cornstarch and slowly add it to the sauce stirring so its completely incorporated
5. Bring the mixture to a boil and then add the cheese and stir until all the cheese is melted and smooth
6. Add the macaroni to the sauce mix well and pour into a casserole dish.
7. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top and cook for about 30 minutes until its warm and bubbly!

After eating dinner I made some cookies, because baking always puts me in a better mood! I've been wanting to make cookies with chocolate covered cranberries ever since my dad got some chocolate covered cranberries at the chocolate store up near my grandparents house. However I've been looking for chocolate covered cranberries and haven't been able to find any around here (well I'm pretty sure they have them at Wegmans I just haven't made it to Wegmans recently). So I decided to make some oatmeal cookies with dried cranberries and chocolate chips instead!
Cranberry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Combine the butter and sugars until fluffy
3. Add the eggs, vanilla, and orange extract and beat until well incorporated
4. Slowly add in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until everything is well mixed.
5. Stir in the oats, cranberries and chocolate chips
6. Drop onto the cookie sheet and cook for about 10 minutes

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Little Sister is Graduated!!!

My little sister has graduated!!! yay! It has been a super super busy and exhausting last couple of days! Thursday after I blogged last I made a wrap with a Morningstar Mushroom Lovers Veggie Burger, spinach, tomatoes, hummus, and garlic herb cheddar.
I don't even remember what I did the rest of Thursday! I hung out with my cousin and aunt some and I think I helped my sister plan out food and make grocery lists for her party. For dinner I made some pasta. I sauteed up some baby bella mushrooms and then added some garlic a little white wine and milk. Then added some asiago, romano, parmesan mix and a little goat cheese I found in the fridge. Then I stirred in some campari tomatoes and topped it with some more cheese and parsley. It was delicious!

Friday morning I woke up and tried some blueberry Oikos for breakfast. It was pretty good but I think I prefer my Fage and Chobini.
Then my mom and I went to the grocery store with a massive list of everything we needed for my sisters party. When we got back I promptly made a green monster with orange juice, plain 0% Fage, a very ripe banana, and lots and lots of spinach. It was delicious!!!
Then I started cooking! I mixed up dough for chocolate rolled cookies and started chopping tomatoes up for bruschetta Dinner was a quick frozen pizza as I got ready for graduation. I had never had Palermo's before but it was delicious! It came with goat cheese and spinach and I added some mushrooms! Yummm! I ate half the pizza and then remembered to take a picture before putting it away.
Then we set out to graduation. Graduation is at Nissan Pavillion- which is a local concert venue super close to our house. We didn't think graduation would cause as much traffic as a concert but apparently it did. We sat in tons of traffic and saw lots of the seniors getting out of their cars and walking/ running to get there because they were all very late! Finally we got there and found my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin!

It was suppose to start at 8 but they came on around 8 and said because of the awful traffic they were going to delay it a little, so it was after 8:30 when it started. The speeches were pretty good, their main speaker was the person who runs Meet The Press on NBC. She was pretty good and to the point, but my favorite was the SCA president who said "I have a mouthful to say- that's what she said" and he got the entire mass of people there to crack up laughing. It was pretty amazing. After the speeches we sat through them calling all 622 names. All in all it was probably a little after 11 when it was finally over. Then we spent forever trying to find my sister, who left her cell phone and everything in the car because they weren't allowed to carry anything with them. Once we found her we took lots of pictures! Here is one with me and my little brother and my sister- the last one to finally finish!
Afterwards we quickly ran to Wegman's to pick up the graduation hat cookie cutter because my sister wanted graduation hat shaped cookies! On the way out I found true love
I finally found this new sparkling tea!!! I've been seeing these commercials everywhere and have been dying to try it! I've looked at Wegman's before and at Giant and Harris Teeter and haven't been able to find it anywhere! We were walking to the check out line when I saw the display! I was so excited and my mom just rolled her eyes, but let me tell you this is the most amazing thing ever. It was everything I imagined and more hahaha. The strawberry kiwi flavor is really good and I'm really not even sure what other flavors there are but I want to try all of them!

When we finally got home, after midnight, we cooked some more! My mom and I cooked until 3 am while my brother and dad set up a new table for the deck. My sister came home from her after grad party at about 2:30ish and was very confused to see us all up! Around 3 am when I finished the graduation hat cookies, rest of the bruschetta topping, and deviled eggs I finally went to bed, only to wake up right before 10 am to start cooking again! I decorated the graduation hat cookies, mixed up crab dip, sliced up tons of baguettes for bruschetta and crab dip, and made chocolate chip and chocolate peanut butter chip cookies.

I took a break around 12:30 for lunch. I had a yummy egg sandwich with cheddar cheese on soft oatmeal bread!
Then it was time for the grad party! Here is her pretty cake from costco!
And here are the chocolate chip cookies- recipe from the back of the Nestle Toll House bag- it never fails!
And the graduation hat cookies! The cookies themselves weren't that great tasting I thought- but they sure were pretty! The recipe is from Taste of Home and I subbed out the butterscotch chips for chocolate chips.
And my personal favorite- chocolate peanut butter chip! The recipe is on the back of the Recess Peanut Butter Chips! These cookies are so good and I don't know why I don't make them more often! They are really chocolaty and gooey and delicious!
And here is the dessert side of the table- all the cookies and cake.
And here is the whole table! Except more things kept getting added so not everything got pictured!
Deviled eggs that I made! I think the recipe has been posted before, probably around Easter

And my crab dip! I honestly don't know where I got this recipe- I printed it offline somewhere. It is 1 pound crab, 2 blocks of cream cheese, 8 oz sour cream, 1/4 cup mayo, 1 cup cheddar, 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, dash of worsteshier sauce, some dried mustard (i think about 1/2 teaspoon) and you mix it all up and cook for about 20 min. Then you stir it up and top it with some more cheddar and paprika and cook it for about 15-20 more minutes until the cheese is all gooey and bubbly! I highly recommend it, it is so good!
Well apparently I missed taking pictures of lots of other things! I also made bruschetta I chopped up tomatoes, onion, garlic, and basil and put it on baguette slices, topped it with some fresh mozzarella and popped it in the oven until the cheese was all melty and gooey! We have some leftovers so maybe I'll take pictures of them later because they were so yummy and pretty! And my mom made mini quiches that were super cute and really good! She also made meatballs with grape jelly and spicy ketchup! And we had a fruit bowl and veggie tray! And I think that is it!

This morning I had a cherry pie larabar on the way to church and then came home and laid out/ floated around the pool all day. We had some leftovers from yesterday for lunch and are about to have others for dinner!