someone's in the kitchen with dina...

So tonight as my meatloaf bakes, I bring you kitchen tips. Yes, I'm also wearing heels and pearls while I cook and my hair is sprayed within an inch of its life. Think June Cleaver.

Tip #1: Make sure dish scrubby is not in drain before running garbage disposal. Otherwise you may learn what a dish scrubby is actually made of. I'll just tell you and save you ruining your scrubby -- that plastic stuff that you scrub dishes with and weird little pieces of sponge. Rats.

Tip #2: There is a right way and a not right way to load the dishwasher. I am fairly sure dessert/salad plates do not go on the top rack. I think that is for glasses, coffee mugs, bowls, etc. I could be wrong...

Tip #3: If you are designing your own kitchen and don't know what to put in that large empty space, may I suggest cabinets. Always more cabinets. Maybe even add on a kitchen annex for more cabinets. Nothing is worse than a lack of cabinet space. Come to my house and you will see every appliance I own stored on top of my cabinets. And a bag of flour on top of the drier.

Tip #4: Always smell the milk to make sure it's good. Because rotten milk is super nasty. I seriously smell it everytime I open the milk to use it. Even if I've already used some that day. It may have turned....

Tip #5: Seal up the brown sugar. Why, you ask. Oh, let me tell you. I had to dump out a 1/4 of my lovely pink Tupperware canister of brown sugar because I failed to put the lid on all the way. Know what happens to brown sugar when exposed to air? Yup, you guessed it. It becomes a giant rock of brown sugar.

Tip #6: The crisper drawer is not the beer drawer. I know, it seems like a really good idea. And in theory it is. However, think about it -- opening and closing the drawer causes the beer to roll back and forth. And what happens when you shake a can of beer (or soda for that matter)? You got it, it explodes everywhere. I suggest keeping it in the door. And then you can open the fridge and smile at all the lovely bottles of Boulevard there to greet you.

Tip #7: When expecting company for dinner, always set the table ahead of time. It will make you look more ready than you may actually be. *I learned that from my mother.

Tip #8: Do not put knives in the oven. If say, you are heating up wings and for some reason you were using a knife in your dinner preparation (???), make sure you do not leave it on the baking sheet. The handle will melt. Yes, the knife may still be usable but it will be a little special.

Tip #9: Tupperware is the greatest invention ever. Okay, that's not a tip. That's just me admitting I love Tupperware. I really truly do. It's a little embarassing. I may need help.

Tip #10: When in doubt, ask someone older and wiser.

chicken enchiladas

It is a common discussion as to who in my family is the best cook. I choose to believe that it is me. This may or may not be correct. But I will usually try to make most anything at least once. Remember the chocolate pie saga? I did make a chocolate pie last week and it turned out beautifully. It was a big hit. As was the beer bread. And as always, the butterscotch brownies.

Very few of the things I make are original recipes, I just hunt until I find the exact right thing. And I'm trying to be better at writing things down when I find them or printing them off and filing them away to use again. Otherwise, I end up going on the beer bread recipe search every time I want to make it. Trust me, I have gone on this search many times. That and the great sugar free peanut butter pie quest. I make it for my grandparents and they love it, but I always have to hunt for the recipe. So annoying.

Anyway, tonight I am making chicken enchiladas. They are absolutely delicious. I switch the recipe up a bit and make it more lasagna style just because I'm lazy and don't like to roll up enchiladas. I got the idea from Alton Brown. But this recipe is from AllRecipes. I love it!
INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch cilantro
1 cup sour cream
2 (7 oz) cans jalapeno salsa
2 (7oz) cans prepared green chile salsa
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
Onion **I only use about half
12 (6inch) tortillas **I believe I use about 6 medium sized whole wheat for the "lasagna style"
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:
1. To Make Sour Cream Mixture: In a blender or food processor, puree cilantro, sour cream, jalapeno salsa and 1/2 can of the green chile salsa. Set aside.
2. To Make Chicken Mixture: In a large bowl, combine shredded chicken, onion and the remaining 1 1/2 cans of green chile salsa. Mix well.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Heat tortillas in conventional or microwave oven until soft. Pour enough of the sour cream mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish to coat the bottom. Place 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of the chicken mixture in each tortilla, roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish. Pour remaining sour cream mixture over all and top with shredded cheese.
5. Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 30 minutes, or until dish is heated through and bubbling.

It's absolutely delicious! I can't wait to eat this for dinner. I made it for one of my sisters and it was a big hit.

Saturday was my aunt's funeral. I suppose it was good as far as funerals go. We had a gigantic meal for lunch provided by the church ladies. There was some potato salad my bf loved. He wanted me to get the recipe. So I talked to my mom and had her find out who made it and she got the recipe. So, here we go. Get ready.
WALT'S POTATO SALAD
Boil and chop 4 eggs.
Go to the grocery store deli and purchase potato salad.
Open potato salad container, dump into own container.
Top with boiled eggs and paprika.
Isn't that the best thing you ever heard. I can't wait to tell my boyfriend. And then to maybe learn how to make real potato salad. I have confidence I can do it.

Another one of the dishes we had was made by one of my very favorite people, Sammy. She makes amazing sweet potato casserole that is more dessert than main dish. Everything she has made that I've tried is amazing. Saturday was no different. She brought these amazing lemon bar things. They had a graham cracker crust and a whipped cream topping. And the lemon, so perfectly tart. I hugged her as she walked out the door. She's an older lady and just the sweetest person ever. I talked to my mom this afternoon and she said Sammy passed away this morning. Her husband took her to the hospital last night and this morning she was gone. I saw her yesterday and she seemed fine.

Death sucks. It just doesn't even make sense. I don't know what to say.

On another note. I can't find the jeans I had on earlier. No idea where I put them. Damn.

awesomeness

So I just finished baking approximately 5 dozen cookies. Half butterscotch chip and half chocolate chip. Whew. And a loaf of beer bread. I broke my diet (terrible, I know) just long enough for one tiny fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookie and a mug of skim milk (I always drink milk like that in a mug, weird). It was delicious. That is always the perfect cookie. Now I have to clean my kitchen. Yuck. I plan on just throwing everything in the dishwasher. After I unload it first.

Beer bread, did that intrigue you? Would you like the recipe? I bet you would. It's delicious and oh so easy. Here we go.
3 cups all purpose flour (sifted)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
12 oz. beer (I use Busch light usually because that is what we frequently have)

Mix ingredients together (you can even do this in the pan). Bake in a greased loaf pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

I am so unbelievably excited. There was a necklace on etsy that I desperately wanted. I waited too long and it sold out. I posted a comment on the store owners (?) blog telling her how much I loved the necklace and wanted one of my very own. Well, today I happened by her store and noticed she had one for sale. I immediately purchased it. Eek! I'm so excited. I literally cannot wait for it to show up in my mailbox.

sad

My aunt died today. She had battled cancer for a long time. It sucks. A lot. Just the whole thing does. Instead of talking about it, I'm going to entirely avoid it and write about something I totally want.

I keep seeing commercials for these on cable. Cable commercials are the best. Selling you crap you don't really need. But this is something I'm pretty sure I desperately need. And here's why. I suuuuck at peeling things. I mean I am so terrible. The only way I will peel a potato is if I cook it first. To do mashed potatoes, I quarter the potatoes, boil them, peel and then mash. It works just fine. And well, there's not much else I peel even though I'm told I should. So when I saw the commercial for this I instantly started talking about how much I want it and wish someone would buy it for me. And tonight I Just happened to cruise by the Bed Bath and Beyond website and they sell it there! So now I feel slightly better about wanting it if it's available in a real store. And there's one so close to my house. I may just have to go buy one.
It would be even better if someone would just go buy it for me. I promise I would use it all the time. I would peel all of my potatoes (screw that nutritional value in the peels, some people refuse to eat peels). I would peel peaches for those that do not like peach peels (I personally love the texture). And whatever else it is you peel. Ooh, it would definitely be useful for shaving chocolate to top my chocolate pie for holidays. See, it would be fantastic.

guilty pleasures

So I have some habits that I am highly embarrassed by. And for some reason I'm feeling the need to share them tonight.

I am seriously addicted to Cherry Limeades from Sonic. I could seriously drink one every day. However, I should not drink 2 Route 44 Limeades in one day. If you're counting, that is 88oz of pure deliciousness. However, it's way too much. It will definitely cause a bellyache.

If weather and work did not dictate otherwise, I would never wear anything but sandals. Specifically flip flops. All winter I am dying to wear flip flops. As soon as the weather is vaguely warm, I pull them out. Right now my Margaritaville flip flops are sitting by my front door.

I have fairly curly hair but very rarely wear it curly. I straighten it daily (I know, my hair is all going to fall out of my head). My hair has also not been it's truly natural color for at least 10 years.

I'm addicted to Nivea chapstick. It's the only thing that doesn't make my lips peel. Gross, right.

And I love Gilmore Girls and What I Like About You. I record both of them everyday and watch them when I come home from work. I know, I am 25 years old, too old for these shows. But I just can't help myself. And if I forget to set the DVR to record, I send an emergency text so that it will still record.

I love lamp

My bedroom has no overhead light. This is possibly the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Now that I think about it though, I believe I previously had an apartment (maybe in college) that didn't have a light. I used Christmas lights... That was in college though, when it was whimsical to not have lights. Now it's just annoying. How can I put away laundry or vacuum or find a black bra? Let me tell you, it's very difficult! All I had were these puny little paper lanterns.

So, they're cute right? Just not very bright. They were a Christmas gift years ago and were originally cream and green. Well they hadn't matched anything I owned for quite some time. So I attacked them with brown spray paint (making them less than bright) and pink ribbon and hot glue. A good end result, unless you want to use them to see.

Now comes the new lamps. I bought them post college when I was planning to have a blue room. They were on clearance and I loved the look. Well, I never really had a blue room after I bought them. So I've used them, they just never really matched and it drove me crazy so I did not bring them when I moved. However, after discovering the lack of light in my room I wished desperately for them and had my mom bring them to me last weekend. And thus a craft project was born.

1. This is the original lamp shade. Or what was on the frame. I forgot to take a real before picture. See how the inside is blue. So when the light was on you could see the blue through the white. Clever idea really. Unless your room is pink. So I got out my X-acto knife and a pair of scissors and went to town.
2. So after I cut the old shade off I realized the top and bottom of the shade frame were only held together by the fabric of the shade. Ooh, wooden skewers in the kitchen, problem solved. So, some hot glue, 6 wooden skewers and some white fabric later we have a very plain lamp shade. I was proud that I'd done it but it wasn't anything exciting.
3. Today I bought ribbon. I really just wanted a brown satin (but remember the sucky crafts department at Wal-Mart) but they didn't have any. It was like destiny though. I found pink and brown striped ribbon. So, add some more hot glue and I have fantastic lamp shades. I am so thrilled with how they turned out. I looooove them!

spring cleaning

I just scrubbed my microwave. With a dish scrubby. I'm not sure you're supposed to do that. But I did. And it worked very well. I think cleaning the microwave is my absolutely least favorite cleaning project. Ick. And my cleaner makes me sneeze. Or maybe it's just spring time.

I made a sweet 90s playlist for my boyfriend. It's all music I was listening to in high school. I'm listening to it right now while I am cleaning. I like it.

Tonight I'm making lasagna for dinner. Yum! It always takes so long but it's totally worth it.

I got a new zip up fleece at Cabela's yesterday. I was so excited. It was exactly what I wanted and the price I wanted to pay. Okay, I wanted the grey one from the women's department but the black one from men's was half as much so I got it but, it was a bargain so I was okay with the compromise. Of course, I find this as the weather warms up. But I'm sure spring is not here for good yet. Even still, it will be good for cool spring mornings. Yay!


I was all excited, I was going to start making the grey scarf I promised to make one of my friends. I went to Wal-Mart (I should've known better) to buy yarn. Absolutely no grey yarn that did not feel super scratchy. Arg. I'm going to have to make a Michael's or Hobby Lobby run soon. I need to start being crafty again.

Perfect

The weather is still fantastic. I love it. My door is open right now. And I should be getting ready. We're going out to dinner. I'm planning on a skirt to celebrate the gorgeous weather. And boots to cover up my terrible dry skin that I scratched and then made bleed by shaving my legs. It is now covered with a Hello Kitty band aid. Hello Kitty is okay on your finger, but on your leg, you just look like a clumsy kid. So, what are you doing to celebrate the first few days of spring?

gorgeous

The weather is absolutely perfect today. I am missing out on fishing. I am walking out the door to go to work in about 1 minute. I wish instead, I had flip flops on my feet and a fishing pole in my hand.

Please please please let spring be coming soon. My toes are desperate for freedom. To throw on flip flops, or even Chacos.

being awesome

So sometimes I feel like I am stuck in the 90s. Is it still cool to say "awesome"? I kind of don't think so. But I do it anyway. Quite proudly in fact. I frequently reaffirm my awesomeness. I have some fun domesticness this week. I keep forgetting to buy grey yarn for Meera's scarf. Would somebody please remind me.

I'm making BBQ chicken pizza. That means I need to defrost the chicken so I can cook it. I should be doing that right now. I think that's for tonight.

I'm also making lasagna. It's my mom's best friend's recipe. She (my mom's best friend) died when I was a freshman in high school. She was an amazing person. She was my third grade math teacher. I remember singing along with records to learn our multiplication tables... I also remember a lesson involving Pop Tarts, I don't remember what the lesson was, just the mention of Pop Tarts. I loved Pop Tarts (truth be told, I still do -- the brown sugar & cinnamon ones). It always makes me smile to make the lasagna. It's just warm and comforting. My mom quit making it for a long time after she died because it made her sad. If we had lasagna it was that pre-made kind from Sam's Club. My mom makes the lasagna again now and it makes my heart smile to see her remembering her friend as she stirs the ingredients and cooks the noodles.

We made blueberry muffins in home ec the day she died. I was pulling muffins out of the oven when I heard my sister and another boy get called to the office and I just knew. I knew what had happened. I knew she was gone. I have not eaten a blueberry muffin since that day. They turn my stomach -- the smell, the taste. It was a long time before I could eat any muffins at all.

She was definitely an awesome lady though. Her neice has a very cool tattoo in honor of her aunt. I love it.

So, this week the cooking high lights are the lasagna and this ridiculous pizza. I ate some Stromboli earlier. It appeared magically in my fridge. Mmmm! Thanks BF's mom. It was delicious.

Ooh, I also bought new wine over the weekend. I can't wait to drink it! Not because I'm an alcoholic but because it will be so good! Blackberry and a spiced wine that is to be drank warm. Yum! I'm most excited about the spiced. We bought some about this time last year but I was really sick when we drank it. So I wasn't sure if it was really good or just good because I was sick. I tasted it again when I bought it this time -- yup, definitely that good. You should definitely be jealous.