made me laugh today... :)

The Mighty Storm

Holy cow- just finished this book-

I really didn't want to put it down last night at 12:30 am, but I needed to get some sleep.  Started it last night at 5:30pm, read for an 1 1/2 hour straight and then I had to, you know, actually talk to my family and make dinner etc.

I finished it today.

I was so totally wrapped up in this story- just wow.  The author is going to come out with a sequel in early 2013, but honestly not sure my heart, nerves, or emotional well being can take it.    I am all about happy endings....so to me just leave it where it stands... ;)

I usually like to start a new book as soon as I finish one, but I am so wiped out from this book I just don't want to start another one.

I know, it has been forever since I have blogged...but who is noticing???

I cannot wait to check this wine tasting room out...It is in Tustin of all places and is called Pozzuoli Winery.  They are a winery in Paso Robles (my favorite) and they actually opened up a tasting room here.  They also have olive oil tasting.  I cannot wait to check it out.

I will post pictures/details when I go.  Hopefully it will be soon.

Some of my recent finds on Pinterest... :)


David Tsay Photography



Image from Southern Weddings Blog

Skip & Go Naked Punch (recipe from theitgirlproject)

6 pack of Beers
1 can frozen Pink Lemonade concentrate
Vodka (fill empty lemonade can with vodka)


that's me today.... geesh

(Picture & Original recipe from Once upon a Chef)

Black Bean Salad with Corn, Red Peppers, Avocado
with Lime Vinaigrette

Ingredients
1 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of sweet corn
1 red bell peppers, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T minced shallots
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 T sugar
4 1/2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon lime zest
3 T fresh lime juice
1 avocado, chopped
Mix all ingredients, except avocado in medium bowl. Let sit in the fridge for an hour or so (or overnight) when getting ready to serve, add avocado. 

We ate this with tortilla chips- it was SO GOOD.

The original recipe called for cilantro, but I cannot stand it, so I didn't add it. I added the avocado before I served it, but we had leftovers and ate it the next day- the avocado did not brown up, probably because of the lime juice. I also used canned corn, instead of right off the cobb. I heated up my corn in a pan to try to give it a grilled flavor...

(picture & original recipe can be found at Plain Chicken)


Gorgonzola Garlic Bread

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
salt
pepper
1 loaf sourdough bread
(Parmesan cheese)

Preheat broiler.

Cream the butter with the gorgonzola cheese. Mince garlic and add to cheese mixture; season with salt & pepper. Slice bread in half lengthwise. Spread cheese mixture on half of bread. (Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese)

Place bread under the broiler until cheese is melted and bubbly. Cut into slices and serve.

This was really yummy! The kids even liked it because I didn't tell them that there was gorgonzola on there. The original recipe called for parsley, which I don't like nor did I have. I also didn't put any fresh parmesan on as I didn't have any- I think it probably didn't need it. I used sourdough bread, the original recipe called for an Italian loaf. I think my bread must have been a large loaf as the above amount only was enough for one half of the bread. I will definitely make this again!

(found picture on Pinterest, not sure where it is from)

I LOVE those shelves!!!  WANT, WANT, WANT!  :)

Going out with the girls tonight to either two40south or my favorite place The Twisted Vine, they are both wine bars, so it should be fun regardless of which one we decide to go to.

My favorite people at Bernardo Winery in Rancho Bernardo this weekend.  Tanner had a 2.5 hour break in his lacrosse tournament, so we found this winery nearby.  Fun place!  :)  This picture is from my phone- not the best...

(picture from Pinterest- I couldn't find a link to where these chairs come from!! I am sure someone made them )

How fun would it be to have a couple of these chairs out by the pool??? ;)

This is so me right now, but I think mine should say,  "Having to put a great book down to do things like sleep or eat or talk to my family....  ;)


I have been on a romantic comedy kick- so easy to just download a book to my kindle.  I think the books are called "chick lit" -  they are quick reads, usually about 300 pages.  I have finished 5 in the last week and a half....


I know, total nerd....

 

 

Riley was recognized today at her school assembly, twice.  Once for Math Academics and another time for an essay that she wrote.  She knew we wanted to take pictures, so the first picture is her hiding her face...nice huh?  When she finally looked at us, I stuck my tongue out and got her to smirk.

She made me promise to tell Mark not to shout out her name or yell- that would so embarrassing.  She is so me, except I would never say anything to my parents, because then my dad would have done those things just to embarrass me.

We had a quick trip to San Diego this past weekend for Jake's soccer tournament.  We stayed at the Loews Coronado Hotel-   It was a nice enough hotel.  We were able to either walk or get a golf chart ride to the beach to watch the tournament so it was great that it was so close.

We ate at the The Burger Lounge in Coronado.  I have to say that I ate the best vegetarian burger ever!  It was made with quinoa, so now I am on a search for a good recipe.  Everyone else loved their food- the french fries were delicious and addicting!

The best part of the trip for Tanner & Jake was going to the Wave House.  Tanner made the reservations before we got there and once Jake saw the "Flow Rider" he wasn't so sure he wanted to do it. They wouldn't refund us the money so I was pretty upset that Jake was backing out of it -  But once he saw that some girls his age were going to do it, he decided he could do it too

Jake on the Flow Rider

Tanner on the Flow Wave

(picture & recipe found at Eating Well Living Thin blog)

Found this recipe on Pinterest and tried it this past weekend.  It was okay.  I think next time I would substitute the condensed can of soup for something else- sour cream maybe?   It was definitely better the next day when I warmed it up for lunch.  Maybe the flavors just needed to blend together longer?

(picture & website found on Pinterest)

My next project- try to paint an outdoor rug...not sure how it is going to work out, but I really need to try since Tanner chewed up our outdoor rug with the lawn mower because he was too lazy to move it out of the way...teenagers....


Anyway, I am going to give it a try- wish me luck.  If it turns out I will be sharing it... ;)

(picture found on Pinterest)

Gorgeous - isn't it?  Would love to have something like this in my yard...

(picture &  recipe can be found on a Pinch of Yum blog)

Rustic Garlic Penne with Roasted Broccoli & Sauteed Mushrooms


So I made this the other night and it was good, but it was actually so much better the next day.  I think the pasta is on the dry side, so if I make it again, I think I would add more butter or possibly toss the pasta with some olive oil before adding the other ingredients.  I also didn't add in any flour....


The next day for lunch I added a little bit of butter before I re-heated it and it wasn't dry at all.  The mushrooms are really yummy too.... ;)

wish list from Frontgate....

Teak Bar-  $1295

LOVE the pattern -  but $99 (for a pillow you use OUTSIDE??)

This whole collection is cool, but I would have to be RICH to even own one piece of this.  Where do I get cool stuff like this on a Target budget.... Target?  Really, I can't even swing the prices at Target right now.  Oh well, I will just keep dreaming.  

Look who got his braces off!  :)  He is so happy...

This is the first weekend in a long while that we haven't had something sports related to do.  I will, hopefully, be crossing items off of my to-do list.  And if that happens I will be able to show some before & after pictures of my projects.   Maybe I will be able to scrap like I did last weekend!  I did two pages!  AMAZING.  I feel really bad that I am not documenting some of the kids things....it is all passing so quickly.  

(from HGTV.com)

Doesn't this look nice & relaxing??  Love it.

Tanner & some of his lacrosse buddies.  FHS won the lacrosse tournament over the weekend.  With the win they had last night at their last game- they went undefeated this season. 
Fun to watch!
(Tanner is #39)

(image & recipe can be found at Cooking Quinoa.net)

Yes, it is another recipe for quinoa, but this one is SO good.  I found the recipe on Pinterest and since I had some cooked quinoa left over from the previous recipe I decided to try it out.  Boy, am I glad that I did.  I modified the recipe a bit and I didn't use the tortillas shown above.  It was super easy to make...here's my verison:

Quinoa filling for Tacos

• 1 T+ of Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup green onions diced
• 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 cup corn (I used frozen & it wasn't thawed)
• 1/2 green bell pepper diced (or red)
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (drained & rinsed)
• 1/2 salsa
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 T fresh lime juice (I didn't have this, but it would be so good with it)
• 1 avocado, peeled & diced
• shredded romaine lettuce

Heat skillet with olive oil to medium.  Add onions, cabbage corn & peppers.  (I added corn first & let cook a little bit by itself since it was frozen).  Cook for six minutes.  Add garlic & cook additional minute more.  Add in quinoa, black beans, salsa, chili powder, salt &  black pepper.  Stir until well combined & cook another 3 to 4 minutes.  Add lime & stir.  

I used regular corn tortillas & then filled with this mixture, topping it with the diced avocados & lettuce.  YUM.   

Mark had it as his side with his tacos.  It was almost like a rice mixture.

I had plenty left over so I used a flour tortilla & made a burrito, added some cheese and had that for lunch today at work!

(image from So Very Blessed)

I have been wanting to try quinoa for awhile and I finally found a quick & easy recipe on Pinterest to try.  You can find the original recipe at So Very Blessed.  I made a few tweaks to it. 


Here is my version:


1 cup cooked quinona
1/2 cup shredded carrot
2 stalks green onion diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese
1 T flour
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix together all the above ingredients
Distribute mixture into a greased mini muffin pan, (using a 1 heaping T)
Bake for approximately 15 minutes.


I made up my own aioli sauce-  using mayonnaise (which I normally dislike) pepper, minced garlic & lemon.


So, really what I did was cut her recipe in half, leave out the cilantro (yuck!) leave the amount of garlic, green onion & cheese the same (and changed the type of cheese).  It was really good.  I ate a WHOLE mini muffin pan myself!  Hopefully it wasn't too fattening.  Since both the sauce & bites had garlic in them, I am pretty sure I kept the vampires away last night!  ;)