Furry Friday: Pictures for Daddy

I love my cats all the time, but I think I love them especially when Andrew is gone. They save my sanity! Who can go crazy when they have cute furry babies to talk to and take care of?

Andrew always misses the cats a lot whenever he's gone, so I make sure to send him pictures. Here are a few I sent him over the past couple weeks:

Sweet cuddle-bug

I think he wants to go to the gym?

The Basement Cat is looking very basement-y. 

This picture didn't get send to daddy, but I had to include it so the little Albus wouldn't be left out. It may not look like it, but this is actually his "please rub my belly" pose. =)

Link up your own furry post!

Monday Morning Coffee

One of my favorite bloggers, Jenna over at Eat, Live, Run started a new feature on her blog that she referred to as a "virtual coffee date." As in, what she would say to a friend over coffee while catching up on life. I love that, and since she also borrowed it from another blogger I figured it would be okay to borrow it for my blog too!

So, let's pretend we're sitting at a lovely little cafe sipping coffee, and you just asked me what I've been doing lately. =)

Two Fridays ago Andrew left for a month of pre-deployment training with his brigade out in the California dessert (it's called "NTC"). It's been a long time since we've done NTC and he has not had to be gone very much since he got home from his last deployment in 2010 so I will admit it's been an adjustment all over again. But, as always, my method of coping with him being away is staying as busy as possible and this time has been no exception!

I was so blessed a few weeks before the brigade left to meet a large group of wonderful ladies whose husbands were in the same brigade, and even better, they were all Christians! I've been really praying for more Christian fellowship and support, especially with the deployment looming, and bam, God answered all of the sudden right when I needed it most. He's pretty cool like that! So here's how my first week or so of NTC went:

Friday: spent the evening with new friend and fellow military spouse blogger, J, watching the Olympics opening ceremonies and chatting about everything under the sun

Saturday: yoga, errands, and then a get-together at Summer's house on post

Sunday: church, lunch at the PX with a group of church people, and lots of Olympics watching

Monday: coffee with Shannon, errands, and the gym

Tuesday: grocery shopping, lunch with Heather, brigade Bible study

Wednesday: craft morning at Meredith's (where I finally started working on doing something with my wedding pictures!), yoga, and a few other misc. things

Thursday: morning prayer time at Heather's with a few ladies, house-cleaning, and had Krista over for dinner

Friday: doc appointment, helped Lizel with a car situation, went to dinner and a movie with Allison and Meredith

Saturday: farmer's market and lunch with Lizel and Brigitte, girls' game night at the home of a lady from church (which included some crazy rounds of Catch Phrase--love that game!)

Sunday: church, lunch with church friends, and then a lazy afternoon

Whew. Is there any doubt my week went by fast? =) This week is shaping up to be just as fun, although I am trying to slow down a little just because I neglected the gym a little more than I planned. Oops! 

In other news, school starts up in a few weeks, so I've been getting my financial aid and textbooks lined up. I'm excited to start; I miss school! This semester I registered for 5 classes so we'll see how that goes. I will definitely not have much free time, that's for sure. 

Okay, I think that's all I've got. Time for chores before I hit the gym! Have a great week, my friends!

Recipe Post: Oven "Fried" Chicken

The other day I realized I needed to have some structure to my blog; ie, certain days where I post certain kinds of things. I think it will help with the mental blocks I always have and prevent the long hiatuses I frequently take. It will probably take me a few weeks to really get the kinks worked out, but start looking for some more regular updates. I saw another blogger who asked themselves the question, "What kind of blog would I want to read?" and I found that tremendously helpful for myself as well.

Anyway, a recipe post will definitely be one of the regular features. I haven't completely decided which day it will be, but I'm going to go ahead and post this as this week's recipe post.

So. Who loves fried chicken? ME, for one. Growing up in the South, it has always been one of my favorite meals. I can make some mean homemade chicken, especially if I talk myself into pulling out my deep fryer. But it's not something I like to indulge in often. There just isn't any kind of oil out there that is healthy enough to fry chicken in since you need such a large quantity, and that goes for anything else deep-fried. Fortunately I have a pretty darn good substitute for my friend chicken cravings: doing it in the oven! It doesn't look quite the same, but it tastes about as close to real fried chicken as you can get. The gravy definitely turns out the exact same though, and what's more it's a little better for you than real fried chicken gravy because you can make it with a little butter and chicken juices instead of using whatever terrible rancid oil you deep-fried the chicken in.

It's unbelievably simple.

First, preheat your oven to 375. Line a roasting pan or dish with foil and add some butter. I used half a stick since you basically want enough butter to coat the bottom of the pan and make the skin crispy. Put the pan in the oven while it preheats.

Meanwhile, grab a plate and dump some flour on it. I never measure the flour, so just eyeball it. Guess how much you'd need to cover the amount of chicken you're making and then add some extra to use in the gravy later (because if you don't make gravy the world will cry...or at least I will)--it's probably around 1/2 a cup. Add about 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of paprika, and a generous sprinkle of black pepper.

Toss it together with a fork and get the chicken ready. Your oven should be preheated by now, so take out the pan with the butter. It should be all melted and bubbly like this:

This is the point where you realize just how good this chicken is going to be and your mouth starts watering and your tummy rumbling at the prospect.

Bread your chicken pieces thoroughly with the flour, then place in the pan skin-side down. This is very important! Here's a picture to remind you.

Put the pan in the oven. My chicken took about an hour to cook. This is the 2nd very important step: halfway through the baking time, pull the pan out and flip the chicken over so the skin side is up. Then let it continue baking til no longer pink in the middle.

Look at that beautiful brown, crispy crust! YUM! Then look at that goodness in the bottom of the pan. Remove the chicken to a plate and scrape that stuff into a skillet to make gravy. I didn't bother taking pictures of the gravy-making process because there is an expert out there who has already done it much better than I could. But sometime I am planning to bribe a friend who has a nicer camera than mine to come over and shoot a video of me making it because brown gravy is something that stumps a lot of people. It took me years to get it right.

There was supposed to be a picture of my plate containing the chicken, gravy over brown rice, and my sauteed zucchini, but I was starving and had already dug into it before I realized. So I suggest you just make some yourself and then you won't need to see mine! =)

Bulleted Randomness

* I love making pancakes for breakfast now that I found the perfect recipe. I never have blueberries to put in but they're just as perfect without. I don't feel quite as guilty eating them as with other pancakes considering they're so full of protein and fiber!

* You know what's great about Sundays? Law & Order: SVU marathons on the USA channel.

* Waking up with a headache sucks. I had my alarm set to get up for church but felt too crappy so I turned it off and slept a few more hours. I hate missing church though, especially now that we found one I like.

* Yesterday was mine and Andrew's 5th wedding anniversary. Craziness! In some ways it feels like we've been together forever, and in other ways it doesn't feel that long at all. I wish we could celebrate it with a romantic getaway, especially since he'll most likely be gone next year for our 6th, but it's not in the budget this year. Anyway, I was having fun looking through our wedding pictures yesterday. I love this one--inside joke captured on camera:

* I'm rereading this trilogy on my Kindle and enjoying it just as much as the first time.

* Yesterday I had lunch with some friends at L & J's Cafe, and officially decided that it is the best Mexican food in El Paso. It was my second time there, but while the meal I had the first time was good, yesterday's meal clinched the deal. And here are my friends and I after lunch (I'm the one in the bright teal capris):

* On Friday I got caught in a flash flood. Apparently those happen often here in the summer. It was not fun, to say the least.

* I miss my gym classes. Between holidays and various other occurrences, I haven't been to any in a week and a half. I am capable of kicking my own butt at the gym, but it's boring. Excited to be back at yoga tomorrow!

Being Alone

I just saw this quote pinned by someone on Pinterest and liked it:

“I think it’s very healthy to 

spend time alone. 

You need to know 

how to be alone 

and not be defined by another person.”

Unfortunately it's being attributed to Oscar Wilde all over the internet and, peeps, Oscar Wilde didn't say this. Actress Olivia Wilde said this, in an interview after experiencing a break-up. I know it's irritating not being able to trust everything you see on the internet, but you know what, you just can't trust everything you see on the internet. That's another subject though. *

Even though Olivia Wilde said it and not Oscar, she has learned a bit of wisdom that more of us need to realize. 

Humans were designed to be social beings, and to need people. But this need can sometimes control us in unhealthy ways. It isn't good when this need leads you to continue hanging out with friends who are a bad influence on you. When you're afraid to stand up to someone who's walking all over you. When you go from one romantic partner to the next with a sort of desperation. When you can't be content being single. When you can't bear to spend one evening or weekend away from your spouse or significant other. When you feel like you can't be happy or fulfilled without someone in your life. 

I think this is one reason I'm thankful for military life. It teaches me this lesson in a very stark way that not many people get to experience. I love my husband more than anything in the world, but I've learned that I can spend an evening, a week, a month, a year without him and not fall apart, even though I miss him like crazy. I've learned to live without family close. I've learned not to cling too tightly to friends. 

Practice being alone and okay with it!

*I'm thinking of starting a regular feature on my blog called "The Worst of Pinterest." What do you think ?

Bloom Where You're Planted!

For someone whose blog is entitled “My Life, Army Style,” I’ve noticed my blog doesn’t contain all that much of either.  ;-) This isn’t intentional, as I think of blog posts all the time but never get around to actually composing them.  But today I’d like to talk about a military-related topic that I’m pretty passionate about: negativity towards duty stations.

I didn’t realize until I had been an Army wife for a few years and started being around military spouses how many of them hate where they have to live. And I see it more and more all the time.  It has started becoming a source of frustration to me. That’s not to say I haven’t had to learn my own lessons in this area. I believe I have mentioned here about the meltdown I had when I found out we were moving to Ft. Bliss/El Paso, TX! However, perhaps my meltdown would never have occurred had I not been hearing for years what a horrible place it was and having people pity me once they found out where we were going. Once I started doing my own research, I realized the importance of having an open mind and experiencing things for yourself before forming an opinion. I’ll also never forget what a wonderful thing it was when, in the chorus of “I’m sorrys” and “ughs” on my Facebook post announcing our move, a friend of mine who was a more senior spouse (and I intend to do another post soon on why all junior military spouses should spend time with senior spouses) sent me a message to tell me how much she and her family had enjoyed Ft. Bliss, that they still missed it, and that they were so happy for me that I was going to experience it too. Talk about a reality check. =) That was the moment when I decided that I was going to have a positive mindset about every place we were sent, no matter what negativity people were trying to pass along to me.

Having been here in El Paso for almost a year now, I can without hesitation say that I really like it here. There are a few aspects I am not a fan of (such as the wind storms and no Trader Joe’s!), but overall the good far outweighs the bad. Here are a few of them:

•  There is some crazy good food here. And it’s not all Mexican either.
• There is an awesome outlet mall, plus 2 regular malls.
• Ft. Bliss has the nicest PX/commissary/restaurant/movie theater plaza of any Army post, and amazing free gyms.
• You can drive to the mountains in 15 minutes and go hiking.
•  Desert sunsets and sunrises.
• You get a tan without even trying.

That’s just a few things. Is this my favorite place in the world and do I want to stay here forever? Well no. But can I live here happily and contentedly with my husband for the few years we are going to be here? A thousand times yes. And even though I am still known to make statements like, “Ugh, I’m going to die if we ever got sent to Ft. Bragg!” that’s just talk, because I know that if it came right down to it, I could have a good attitude about Ft. Bragg too. When you talk to military couples (the mature kind) who tell you they loved and miss places like Ft. Irwin, CA or Ft. Polk, LA, it really gives you some perspective. And if you want to understand the significance of that statement, just go on Google maps and put those places in the search bar. Go on, I dare you. ;-) But that’s when you realize that attitude makes all the difference. It isn’t always that the physical place turns out to be amazing; sometimes it’s the amazing people you meet there instead.

For someone like me who has made up her mind to be positive about places and the military in general, I can’t tell you how draining it is to be around someone who is constantly complaining. I know nobody ever wants to hear this, but happiness does NOT depend on your circumstances. You CAN choose to be positive, to let little annoyances roll off your back, to not think everybody you meet who isn’t gushingly polite to you is being a product of their locale, and not to blame everything bad that  happens on where you are being forced to live. I know we all have bad days/times and need to vent, but after awhile, if a person has done more dragging me down than me lifting them up, I give up. Being positive is hard enough on your own without being in the company of negative people. Even if you’ve tried your hardest to like a new place and you can’t, you are only making it worse for yourself (not to mention your husband!) by giving in to constant negativity.

So with all this in mind, I thought I’d jot down some of my tips for handling a not-so-welcome PCS and duty station. =)

My Little Deviants

These little cuties look so sweet and innocent, don't they?

Think again.

Take this cutie, for instance:

He takes it upon himself to decide when I'm sleeping too long. Once he has come to this decision, he jumps on top of my dresser thing by my side of the bed. Then he proceeds to slowly knock my things off, one by one, stopping to sit and stare at me in between to see if that item's destruction has worked on me or if he should go on to another. Cell phone...glasses...Kindle...lotion...all goes onto the floor with a flick of the paw until I wake up and swat him down. It was funny for awhile but now I'm starting to worry about the consequences of my Kindle hitting the floor so many times. Time to find a more secure place for my stuff!

And now for this one:

He has a serious addiction: cat treats. This addiction has led him to desperate measures. Despite the fact his parents are probably more generous with the treats than they should be, he is not above breaking bags open with his teeth and devouring all the treats therein if said bags are left out. When his parents started making sure to never leave any more bags of treats out in the open, his descent into crime went rapidly. Soon he had figured out how to jump on the counter, pull the cabinet where they are kept open with a clever paw, knock down the treats, and consume them quickly before he was caught. 

Unfortunately for the Albus cat, he has finally been thwarted. 

This cute little plastic container is impenetrable by any species lacking opposable thumbs. 

Gotcha, you little miscreant.

Strong Bands Fitness Week!

I just found some photos posted by the Ft. Bliss MWR of a fitness event I participated in last month, and decided to snag a couple containing yours truly so I could write about it! Both Army posts we've been stationed at so far have had amazing gyms, and at least once a year host an aerobathon. I have yet to miss one and they are always a blast. Whereas Ft. Lewis only had one a year, Ft. Bliss has one every quarter. For their May event, they really amped it up!

On Monday we got a Strong B.A.N.D.S. (stands for Balance, Activity, Nutrition, Determination, Strength) card with a block for every day. We had to attend at least one fitness class a day and get a signature from the instructor. This wasn't hard for me since I am somewhat addicted to fitness classes, although it was different finding one to do on Friday since Friday is usually my day off. I ended up doing my usual yoga on Monday and Wednesday, zumba on Tuesday, spinning on Thursday, and Gravity on Friday. All the classes were extra full because of all the people taking the challenge and it made for some nice energy!

[By the way, this is the machine used in a Gravity class, and it involves your body weight used against an incline:

It's more challenging than it looks and I'm always extremely sore after doing it!]

The week culminated in a 2-hour aerobathon on Saturday morning. This was the fun part! I got there early to make sure I got a spin bike because they go fast, and my two fitness buddies from the week, Nicki and Ellen, followed my example. Spinning was first for half an hour, and since the teacher is a beast, we were all worn out and dripping with sweat just after that! I couldn't find any pictures of this where I was visible though.

Next was half an hour of a class called Ripped. It was a mixture of aerobics and weights. I didn't completely care for it, mostly because I'm so uncoordinated that I get easily frustrated trying to follow the routines (and I know this is contradictory considering I love zumba, but somehow this was different!). As proof, here I am doing something completely different from most of the people around me...although I don't feel too bad since I'm clearly not the only one confused. ;-)

After that was zumba. Zumba is fun. And I get annoyed when people say they can't do zumba because they can't dance. Zumba teaches you how to dance! ;-) If this awkward white girl with no moves can get a workout from it, you can too!

The last event was of course my favorite: yoga. It wasn't exactly an ideal environment for a good practice, with such a huge crowd of beginners, but it was still a good closeout to the event. 

(Why do I always think I'm sinking lower into my front leg than I actually am?! Arghhh! Must fix.)

My two workout buddies and I were definitely on a workout high afterward! It was so much fun!

If your gym ever offers an aerobathon, I encourage you to participate! I already can't wait for the next one. =) Major kudos to Soto Gym and the Ft. Bliss MWR for putting on such a great event!

Life Update and a New Favorite Meal

I am finished with my second semester of school! It feels weird to have time on my hands again. I'm letting myself be a little lazy right now, just to enjoy it, but I'm working on a list of projects to work on over the summer so that I make good use of the time. I wanted to do summer classes but for reasons I won't bother going into, it's not going to work out this summer. I'm kind of bummed I'm taking another semester off but it's okay.

Next week I am heading off to Florida to spend about ten days with my family! I haven't been since last March so I'm really excited. The big event of the visit is my brother David's wedding to a great girl named Jeribeth. This is my first sibling to get married and I'm thrilled! Wedding festivities are so much fun. But they are also stressful, as everyone knows, which is why I'm relieved I'm able to stay for a few days afterward. The only bummer about the trip is that Andrew can't come with me, even for the wedding. It was a hard decision to choose to be away from him for this long when the Army takes him away so much as it is. But hopefully we can get in lots of quality time after I get back before it's his turn to leave again.

That's all I've got for life right now. But since not talking about food in a post would feel wrong, I'm going to leave you with my new favorite dinner dish, which I found in the latest issue of Clean Eating magazine  (I thoroughly recommend that magazine, btw)! It's called Curried Chicken with Zucchini and Cashews, but I despise nuts in dishes, even though I like them plain, so it's up to you whether to put them in or not. I love this meal though! So much I made it twice in one week, haha.

Curried Chicken with Zucchini and Cashews

1/2 cup brown rice, cooked according to package directions
olive oil
1 lb chicken breast
2 cloves garlic, minced
15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 zucchini (or yellow squash)
1 cup low-sodium or organic chicken broth
3 Tbs mild or hot red curry paste*
salt and pepper to taste
fresh cilantro
roasted unsalted cashews, if desired

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes, until golden brown. Add chickpeas and zucchini and stir to combine. In a small bowl, whisk broth, curry paste, salt, and pepper. Add to skillet, mix well and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and sauce reduces and thickens. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Serve over rice, and top with cashews.

* I could only find hot red curry paste at the grocery store, so I only used about a teaspoon since I can't handle food being too spicy. Even with mild, I'd add a little at a time so you can get the flavor you want. Since I only added such a little bit of curry paste, I added a little yellow curry for some extra flavor. 

Homemade Egg Rolls

Awhile back (yes, an embarrassingly long awhile back), I mentioned I was making egg rolls and that I would be sharing the recipe. So, here you go!

First off, it's really hard to guesstimate how much filling to make. I was hoping to fill all two packs of shells so I'd be able to freeze a batch, but I ended up only using 1.5 packs of shells and we ate them all in a week. Ha! It all depends on how full you fill your shells.

To begin you chop veggies very small. This is where my food processor made me fall in love with it even more. =) I used half a head of a big head of cabbage, 1 big onion, and a couple medium-sized carrots. You can use any combo of veggies you want though.

Get your fryer going. I have a deep-fryer (don't judge--I only use it for these egg rolls and my cake donuts once a year, haha), which has a designated level to fill with oil, but if you use a deep pan, the oil needs to be deep enough for the rolls to float and must be heated to 375 degrees.

Then you fry your meat. (Or if you're vegetarian and don't eat meat, you can just chop an extra pound of veggies. But I'm not, and never will be, a vegetarian. Sorry. ;-) I intended to use a pound of lean ground pork, but when I opened the package I realized it smelled funny. This was no doubt due to my having way more work to do on spring break than I planned and the rolls not getting made til Sunday even though I put the meat in the fridge with the intention of making them on Thursday. After indulging in some well-deserved verbal self-abuse, I threw the pork out and ground up a pound of raw shrimp instead. Anyway, fry your meat in in a smidgeon of oil until nearly done, and then add:

4 Tbs of soy sauce

1 tsp minced fresh ginger (or 1/4 tsp ground ginger)

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp sesame oil

Once that is mixed in, add your carrots and onion. Fry for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the cabbage. Let it cook until the cabbage is wilted. If there is a lot of liquid in the pan, drain it off. Too much liquid will keep the rolls from staying closed in the fryer. 

Yummy filling!

Next is the fun part: frying the rolls! The package of egg roll skins will tell you how to roll them up, so I didn't bother trying to demonstrate that part. But here's an idea of how much filling I put in and a few rolls made up and waiting for the fryer: 

My mom and I always sealed them shut with a mixture of cornstarch and water, but I noticed that a flour and water paste was also suggested on the package of skins so I tried that, and I thought it worked so much better! It's important to keep them sealed well. 

Place the rolls carefully in the oil and let them cook until golden brown (about 2-3 minutes), then take them out and drain them on a baking sheet covered with paper towels. I do not recommend having too many rolls made up before frying, by the way. If they sit too long they get soggy and fall apart. I fry about 3 at a time, and while they're frying I make up the next 3. 

The finished product! Enjoy them dipped in duck sauce (you can find it in the Asian food section of all grocery stores)! =)

Note #1: These reheat wonderfully in a 400 degree oven--just bake them til they crisp up again. Just like pizza, they do not reheat well in the microwave.
Note #2: Please no questions on how to bake egg rolls instead of frying them. ;-) I have no idea, and don't think that would taste at all delicious. I freely acknowledge that these are not health food! But everyone needs a splurge now and then, and egg rolls are one of my favorite splurges. (Along with cake. Lots of cake.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I made these cupcakes today for my friend Emily at her birthday request. =) They're "Irish Car Bomb" cupcakes (Guinness chocolate cake, Bailey's filling, and Bailey's buttercream frosting) and I found the incredible recipe at Annie's Eats. I can't wait to share them with her and the rest of our friends at her birthday lunch tomorrow!

I hope everyone had a good St. Patrick's Day! 

Spring Break!

My spring break from school sure crept up on me! My last school didn't have spring break since they had quarters instead of semesters. Anyway, this is usually what people think of when they think "spring break":

Alas, that will not be me. My spring break will be spent at home. Sigh.

I have a rather massive amount of homework to do this week, most of which is for English class. Also, my house is a mess, so some spring cleaning is definitely gon' be happ'nin' all up in here, yo. (Sorry about that, I'm watching an episode of The Wire so I can send it back to Netflix and the 'hood lingo is catching.) But I want to have some lazy time too. So I've laid out a schedule for myself which includes one school task and one cleaning task a day, and once those are done I can do whatever I want. Woohoo! Except today I'm doing things a little backwards since our mail comes early and I want to get this DVD back to Netflix. ;-) 

The other day I realized I still haven't posted about my new baby: the 12-cup KitchenAid  food processor my wonderful husband bought me for Valentine's Day! I am in love. It's been so much fun to play with! One thing I'm planning to do this weekend is make egg rolls. I have an awesome recipe for homemade ones that I rarely make because without a food processor, chopping the veggies for the filling is a huge pain. But now the only time-consuming part is actually filling and frying them. Stay tuned for the recipe later this week!

Homemade Granola Bars

I love granola bars! But I haven't found very many store-bought types I like, and I think it's cheaper to make my own anyway, especially since I'm super picky about ingredients. It took me awhile to find a homemade recipe I like, though. I like them soft but not gooey, and I like them to hold together.

This one fits the bill! I found the original on allrecipes.com, but of course I had to change it up a bit as always! Below is the version with my changes:

2 cups oats (I've used both old-fashioned and quick oats and they both work fine)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup craisins

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

1/4 cup chia seeds

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup honey

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and spray with vegetable oil spray.

In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, thoroughly blend oil, honey, egg, and vanilla; pour into the flour mixture, and mix by hand until the liquid is evenly distributed. Press evenly into the prepared baking pan.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden. Cool completely in pan before turning out onto a cutting board and cutting into bars.

Note: The wheat germ, flaxseed, and chia seeds aren't necessary to the recipe; if you don't have them you can substitute equal amounts of flour. But they provide some awesome extra nutrients such as fiber, iron, protein, and vitamins!

Cleaning a Stove with Baking Soda

This afternoon I am a very happy housewife. I feel like someone came and installed a brand new stove in my kitchen!

Out of all of the rooms in my house, my kitchen gets deep-cleaned the most regularly. I spend a lot of time in it, so I keep it clean. When we moved in, I noticed how dirty the stove was. However, nothing I did seemed to get rid of the nasty black and brown stains around the burners from grease and food particles. I hated looking at that stovetop! I felt like a horrible housekeeper. Not even a magic eraser took it off, and that's when I gave up! I figured it was hopeless.

Today I decided I'd try again. I had tried using baking soda on it one other time, but I didn't do it right because it didn't seem to do anything. I figured I'd try one more time though, because I'd read all over the blogosphere about people working magic with baking soda.

I took 1/2 cup of baking soda and added 1/2 cup of water. Then I dipped a microfiber sponge in it and started scrubbing. I used a toothbrush too. To my amazement, stains were coming up! That's when I grabbed my camera, because any good cleaning project needs before, during, and after photos. ;-)

This is one side of the stove. Gross, huh?? I had already started scrubbing the other side, and it looked much worse!

The whole stove after I was done scrubbing. This wasn't a quick project, btw. It definitely took some elbow grease and my arms are tired! But like I said, it was this dirty when we moved in so I have no idea how many years' worth of gunk had piled up.

Holy cow.

This is the same side that was pictured earlier. Also note how clean the burner caps are too!

 I need to tackle the grates next--they are rather awkward to handle and I just didn't have time today. But I did work a little on the middle one and could tell that all that black stuff was going to come off too.

If you've got a stove covered with built-up stains, give baking soda a try! =)

Salad!

When I was growing up, I hated salads. Or at least I thought I did. We usually only had iceberg lettuce with a little tomato, and whoever decided iceberg lettuce should be cultivated as a human food item deserves to be slapped. I don't think I realized all a salad could be until the first time I visited a Ruby Tuesdays and tried their salad bar. Baby spinach, broccoli, carrot, bacon bits, hard-boiled egg, etc.? Yes, please!

But despite enjoying salad bars at restaurants, I still rarely made them at home and rarely had anything good to put in them when I did. I also thought Andrew didn't like them. So I was surprised when we visited the huge buffet for the first time on our cruise back in December and he came back with a giant salad. I asked him why, and he informed me he really likes salads "when there's good stuff to put in them!" Soon after it dawned on me how easy it would be to keep my own "salad bar" in the fridge. Unlike a lot of fruits, sliced/chopped veggies keep very well in the fridge.

It only takes about 20 minutes to chop veggies (we like broccoli, carrot, radishes, and mushrooms) and hard-boiled egg, grate cheese, open a can of chickpeas, and put everything in little containers. Spinach and cherry tomatoes are already in easy containers, so it takes all of two minutes to put together a fantastic salad.

I've also decided to make my own salad dressings from now on. All of the salad dressings at stores either contain unhealthy ingredients or are too expensive. I haven't found a single salad dressing that isn't easy to make yourself! Here's my current favorite:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
pinch of salt and pepper
pinch of garlic
teaspoon of parsley

Delicious!

If you haven't already thought of having your own permanent salad bar in your fridge, I hope this inspires you. =)