Taco Ring Recipe

We eat some form of tacos probably once a week. Last night, we tried a fun variation on tacos, with the Taco Ring!  It was really easy and quick to make, which was nice since we got a late start on dinner yesterday.

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of crescent rolls
• ground beef
• cheese
• any taco toppings you like

Directions:

First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Start cooking your ground beef with taco seasoning, and whatever else you might like such as green peppers, onions, etc. While that's cooking, starting arranging your crescent triangles in a circular shape, with the corners overlapping.  Make sure you spray your cookie sheet with cooking spray!

When the beef was just about done, Matt stirred some shredded cheese into it.  Then, you put it on top of the crescent rolls and fold the triangles in.

 The directions said to cook it for 18-22 minutes, but it only took about 14 minutes for us.

We cut it into smaller sections with a pizza cutter, and had sour cream for dipping! We also had shredded lettuce and small pieces of tomatoes! So good!

If you have any quick or easy recipes you like, please comment and share!

Hamburger Cups

We are all about quick and easy recipes over here! Especially when we both get home from work and don't feel like waiting forever for dinner to cook.

Do you like the Facebook page Tasty? They share recipes on Facebook by playing a video showing the food being prepared, the ingredients & amounts, etc. I've shared a few recipes on my Facebook, just so I can have them to refer back to. I tried one of the recipes, Hamburger Cups, and it's actually a meal we have quite often now. Super easy and really delicious too!

Here's what you're gonna need:

• 1 pack Grands Biscuits
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup of ketchup
• 1 tsp worcestershire
• 1 T mustard
• 2 Tbs brown sugar
• cheese
• any other toppings you want

First, mix together the ketchup, worcestershire, mustard and brown sugar.

Cook the beef in a skillet and then drain.  Add the beef back to the pan and mix it with the ketchup mixture.

Grease your muffin tin, then take your biscuits dough and stretch out each biscuit until it can fit into each of the holes in the tin.

 Fill the biscuit cups with the beef/ketchup mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Top with cheese (Matt prefers shredded cheddar, I like sliced American cheese) and bake an additional 5 minutes.

YUM! 

2015 To-Do List: 1st Recap

So, it's time to see how good of a job I have (or haven't) been doing on my 2015 To-Do List!
 
#1. Every month, try one new idea found on Pinterest.
First, in January, I made Bubble Pizza, which was pretty good!  We may not have it often, but it's still a go-to meal to have ;) In February, I tried 2 things off Pinterest: a new way to organize my nail polish, and a way to try and clean the kitchen sink.  One was definitely more successful than the other, haha.  Last month, of course, were the delicious Jamaican Jerk Chicken tacos we made! That was definitely a Pinterest win!!

#2. Read these 9 books. (see here for the list)

I'm not doing as good in this category as I'd like to be.  I've read one full book from the list-- Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown.  I can't recommend this book enough! It honestly did have great tips, and a few recipes! Even though it might be weird if I laughed out loud while reading, there were parts that were so funny and entertaining, I couldn't read fast enough!  I did start reading, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. by Adelle Waldman, but I read a few chapters and still couldn't get into it, so I had to put it down.  Now, I'm currently reading Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin.

#3. Watch five consecutive episodes of Doctor Who with Matt.
We haven't watched any episodes yet.  But hey, there are still 9 months left in the year!

#4. Find more ways to organize anything.I had to start the new year with a planner, so that was the first thing to check off of my to-do list for my 2015 To-Do List........too much there?
Like I mentioned above, I organized some of my more used nail polishes.  I love having this jar on the counter now!

I also did a really big clean out of my closets, and got rid of a TON of stuff! (Oh, by the way, there will be another big yard sale at our house this Spring! Date is TBD :)

And, because every blog post needs a picture, I thought I'd share this funny one, rather than pictures you've already seen from the above topics!  When Matt and I both saw this, the first thing we each said was, "That's SOOO Maple!!" haha She is not a fan of water!!

Happy Good Friday :)

A Big Catch-Up!

Oh my, where has the time gone?! I didn't know so much had happened that I actually FORGOT about blogging.  Not even joking.  The past month has gone by so fast, but so much has happened!  (And, I've had several people tell me that I need a new blog post up, so hopefully this will get you through! :)

For those that haven't heard, I actually started a new job a little over a month ago.  I'm still at Varina, just in a new position.  I'm now over in the School Counseling Office and it has been great! Everyone has made the transition very easy!  However, the first couple weeks were nuts because I was out some days for training, out for snow..I think by the third week I was finally there all five days! haha.

Matt was out of town for a few days for work, and Maple was NOT happy about it.  She sure did miss him.  This is when she found her new favorite sleeping spot.  We don't use our comforter, so it's usually folded up in the floor.  Well, Maple has found that to be quite comfortable and would prefer to sleep there. One night when Matt was gone, she wouldn't even stay in the den with me...she would just stay in there!  Then, there was the day I came home and found one of Matt's socks on the floor by his side of the bed, that Maple pulled out of the hamper...it was both sad and cute.

A couple weekends ago, we headed down to Eden, NC, where we usually go for the family reunion on my dad's side, known as just "The Reunion" with no explanation needed.  This time, although we did get to see a lot of family, it was for a funeral.  My Memaw was one of thirteen and one of her brothers, Uncle Troy, passed away earlier this month.  There was no question as to whether or not we'd go, so we headed on down.  Also, Uncle Troy and I have the same birthday, so I always thought that was cool!

Matt and I stopped at Longwood first to pick up Abby...when we stopped for snacks, Abby introduced me to these tall cans of Coke and I couldn't pass it up, haha.  Then Abby and I found it funny (almost too funny) that all of the snacks and drinks she, Matt and I got were all round or cylindrical.  Clearly, we had a lot to think about. haha.

We kept on driving and after lots of confustion, we met up with Mom, Dad and Vickie.

After going to the visitation, we headed out to dinner at the Mexican restaurant right by our hotel.  This Hampton Inn really is our home away from home every August!

I was so amused with the new coffee cups they have!

These were pretty appropriate for Matt and me!

On the way back home, we stopped back at Longwood to drop Abby off.  Matt suggested that we go walk around campus, and we're both glad he did!

As soon as we got out of the car, Matt noticed that something was going on in the Student Union rooms, so we joked that we should post on Facebook and ask if any RAs were having programs and we'd stop by.  As we walked down Brock Commons and got closer to the Student Union, the front doors were open so we could see.  Matt pointed out the huge gaming screens and I said, "Isn't that usually Phi Mu Delta's event...?!" and we slowed down.  Matt kept looking and said, "yep, I see our letters."  We didn't say anything, just walked in, and one of Matt's brothers jumped up to see him immediately!  It was GREAT seeing everyone's reactions to seeing Matt (not many of them know me anymore; it's sad we've been gone so long!)!  

We did run into a few Longwood grads and RAs, too! Jesse (left) and I worked on the same RA staff in The Hams my senior year, and he was also one of Matt's groomsmen. Danny (right) also worked on The Hams staff with Jesse and me.

P.S. Like my Pi Day shirt? It was, indeed, Pi Day :)

Last week, we tried a new recipe, found on Pinterest: Jerk Chicken Tacos!  When we were in Jamaica, the jerk chicken and jerk steak were AMAZING!!  This jerk chicken was quite the same, but it'll definitely do!  Also, if you go to the original link, you'll see that we did ours slightly differently.

Ingredients:

chicken

Jamaican Jerk Seasoning

mayonnaise

tortillas

taco toppings (we only had lettuce, cheese and cilantro, but Matt did add salsa on his, too!)

The recipe was super simple:

1. Cover your chicken in jerk seasoning and grill it.

2. While this is cooking, make the jerk mayo: mix 1/3 cup of mayonnaise and 2 teaspoons of Jerk seasoning.  Top your tacos with this!

3. When your chicken is done, cut into strips or bite sized pieces.

4. Assemble your tacos and ENJOY!!

Saturday, in the windy cold morning, we saw all the fun sights along Monument Ave in the Ukrop's Monument Ave 10K! We do this every year, but this year wasn't like all the others.  We weren't trying to beat a time.....we didn't even RUN.  It was weird and I really did miss running it, but I know we would've been disappointed with our time if we ran anyway.  Matt hasn't been feeling well, and my feet have been hurting a lot lately, so we walked with Mom and some family friends!  Walking definitely made the 6.2 miles feel TWICE as long, and the cold didn't make it that much better, either!  Either way, that's another 10K in the books for us!  And, there's always next year!

Waiting to start:

We passed Ronald McDonald..

and this was one of the most creative costumes we saw! (I was bummed I couldn't get the whole DreamWorks sign...)

Now that I've done a pretty much month-long catch-up, I will TRY to be better about blogging! This month clearly got away from me!

Bubble Pizza

Last week I tried a fun recipe I saw on Pinterest: Bubble Pizza!  When I first saw it, I thought it was interesting...but it looked fun to make and I figured it would taste good!  Turns out, it was fun to make and it did taste good.  Matt preferred the corner pieces..which had the crispiest crust. haha. If you need a quick/easy/fun meal for one night, I definitely recommend it!

Ingredients:
1 can of Pillsbury refrigerated biscuits
15 ounce jar of pizza sauce
Pizza toppings - we only used pepperonis...I think next time, we'll add more toppings!
4 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tbps of Parmesan cheese
Oregano to taste - I left this out

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut each biscuit into quarters, and place in greased baking dish.

3. Add your toppings, and then pour the sauce over everything.

4. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Take off the aluminum foil and cover in shredded cheese and Parmesan cheese.

6. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted, and you have the crust you want.  I think I did it for 8 minutes....will probably go longer next time.

7. ENJOY!

And, if you remember my 2015 To-Do list, one thing was to try something new each month that I've found on Pinterest.  January = check!

2014 To-Do List: 4th and Final Recap

At the beginning of the year, I made a 2014 To-Do List with four things I really wanted to accomplish in the new year:

#1. Blog more reastically.
#2. Cook more.
#3. Participate in more races.
#4. Read more.

If you missed the first three recaps, they can be found here:
2014 To-Do List: 1st Recap
2014 To-Do List: 2nd Recap
2014 To-Do List: 3rd Recap

So, here we go for the 4th and final recap!

#1. Blog more reastically. 
Um, yeah. I know I didn't. haha. Until December, that is! December and my 25 Days of Christmas are the only reasons I have so many blogs in the last quarter of the year! haha

#2. Cook more.
Well, I've just really decided I enjoy baking a whole lot more than cooking.  Not to say that I haven't cooked, just not nearly as much as I had hoped when I added this to my to-do list at the beginning of the year.  I tried this awesome Monkey Bread recipe on Thanksgiving that's super easy and will definitely be making it again!!  Also, I used Memaw's recipe and made her cheeseball for the first time...so good!!  Oh, and I can't forget Maple's Christmas Cookies I made! ;)

#3. Participate in more races.
The last three months was an exciting time for races!! There was one that Mom and I were supposed to do that unfortunately was cancelled the week prior.  :(  

In October, I signed up for a virtual race to have some extra motivation in my half marathon training.  I signed up for the Halloween 10K and completed that! I came across the US Road Running website somehow, and it's very neat--you can choose from a WIDE variety of races to compete in, all with different themes.  Since it's a virtual race, you can run or walk anywhere or any time, but they do give you a deadline.  After you complete the distance, you log-in to your account on their site and log your finishing time.  Also, you can choose to sign up for either a 5K, 10K or even half marathon for some.  I don't recall seeing any marathon ones, but that doesn't mean there aren't any!
It costs under $20 to sign up, and you're mailed a race bib and finisher's medal for completing it!  You can also choose to spend about $25 dollars, and you get a shirt to go with it! I have so many race shirts, so I just wanted the bib and medal.  While you really don't get the race environment for the virtual races, as you would in a big event you go to, it's still not that bad.  You can run WHERE you want to and WHEN you want to...just sign up for an event!! Plus, it helps when you want to run a race, and there aren't any nearby at the time!

Also, I completed my first half marathon!!!!  Then came the fun Christmas races!!! First on the list was the Christmastown 8K! It was a BLAST!!  The following weekend, we all did the Tacky Light Run, which was at night so we could see all the tacky light houses! Super cool!

#4. Read more.
Yeah, so, I didn't read any books these last three months. Whomp.I started a book yesterday....if that should count! haha


And here's the final look back at the year:

#1. Blog more realistically.
Original Goal: Blog 2-3 times a week.
Accomplished: So, if I wanted to blog, on average, 2-3 times a week for the year, that meant I would've needed 104-156 blog posts.  This year, I had 100 blog posts. So I was close, but only because of December!!

I broke it down by month so I can look back and see which months I really slacked on...haha

January: 7
February: 4
March 7:
April: 8
May: 9
June: 7
July: 10
August: 6
September 6:
October: 4
November: 5
December: 27  (including this one!)


#2. Cook more.
Original Goal: Find some good recipes and cook more often.
Accomplished:  Well, I actually did a little better on this than I thought. The beginning of the year, I started out stronger when making MEALS, but then snacks and baked goods just became my "go-to" haha. I made a grand total of 13 new things (that I documented....who knows, I may have made something that I didn't blog and I've forgotten about it!!)! Hey, that's about an average of one new thing a month! haha.

In January-March, I made: Jep's Best Baked Beans, Jep's Meatloaf Choice, Willie's Famous Chicken Strips, coffee cake, BBQ bacon wrapped chicken tenders, and roasted peppers.
In April-June, I made: guacamole, mango salsa, and mango smoothies for after my runs!
In July-September, I made: Loaded Baked Potato and Chicken Casserole and orzo salad recipe
In October-December, I didn't do much, but tried a couple new recipes (see above), and I definitely remember making chex mix and pretzel rings! :) Mmmmmm.

#3. Participate in more races.
Original Goal: Sign up for more fun races I want to participate in.
Accomplished: This was my favorite thing on my to-do list!!! I had so much fun finding new races to sign up for and complete, and I'm pretty proud of all that we did! I did 8 races this year (because 2 of the races I signed up for were cancelled at the last minute; and other races sold out FAST. Maybe next year :)

In January-March: The only race we did at the beginning of the year was the Monument Avenue 10K...but that's okay...it's an annual event that we all always look forward to!
In April-June: Mom and I walked in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure with some of our family friends. Matt and I also did The Color Vibe!!
In July-September: We only did one race, but this was a BIG ONE. Matt, Dad and I completed the Spartan race!!  HUGE accomplishment.
In October-December: As I just mentioned above, I completed the Halloween 10K, the half marathon, the Christmastown 8K, and we did the Tacky Light Run!

#4. Read more.
Original Goal: Read more books for fun.
Accomplished: The middle of the year is where this to-do list item succeeded!!!!  This year, I read a grand total of 34 books!

Here's the breakdown by quarter of how many books I read:

January-March: 2
April-June: 12
July-September: 20
October-December: 0

And here's a list of all the books I read:

Melissa Explains it All by Melissa Joan Hart
Reshaping it All by Candace Cameron Bure
Growing Up Duggar by Jana Duggar, Jessa Duggar, Jinger Duggar and Jill Duggar
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson
Si-cology 101 by Si Robertson with Mark Schlabach
The Duck Commander Family by Willie & Korie Robertson and Mark Schlaback
Mates, Dates & Cosmic Kisses by Cathy Hopkins
Mates, Dates & Chocolate Cheats by Cathy Hopkins
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Killer Cupcakes by Leighann Dobbs
Innocent in Las Vegas by A. R. Winters
Why 26.2? by Bonnie Jean Schaefer
Happy, Happy, Happy by Phil Robertson with March Schlabach
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Hairspray and Homicide by Cindy Bell
The Women of Duck Commander by Kay, Korie, Missy, Jessica and Lisa Robertson
The St. Valentine's Day Cookie Massacre by Elisabeth Crabtree
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg
Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Side Effects May Very by Julie Murphy
Cruel Summer by Alyson Noël
The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle
No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
A Sixteenth Summer Novel - Pulled Under by Michelle Dalton
How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles

Monkey Bread

Good Morning!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We had a busy day of watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, decorating the Christmas tree--yep, we've already started decorating!!--, preparing food for lunch, and then we headed out for the day.  First, we headed to my aunt Cathy's house for lunch with Mom's family.  We had a great time and lots of laughs!!  After lunch, we headed to Matt's Nolte grandparents' house for dinner.  After dinner, we headed to his Doustout grandparents' for dessert!! So. Much. Food. All day long!  As we were finishing lunch at our first stop, we were already getting full, so we knew we had a long day ahead of us! And, as full as I was there, I made sure to get a piece of Mom's chocolate pie! Mmmm.

To start off the day, I got up early and started making breakfast. I was trying something new, so with my luck, it could've been a total flop, but, everything actually turned out great! And edible!  I made Monkey Bread in the crock pot, and it's so super easy.  Here's the recipe if you'd like to try!

Ingredients

• 1 can of Grands Original Biscuits (we had accidentally used the Original biscuits for dinner earlier this week, so I used the can of Southern Style biscuits we had. They seemed to work just as well!)
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 stick of butter

Directions

1. Melt the stick of butter.
2. Mix the brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon in a gallon sized Ziploc bag.
3. Cut each biscuit into 6 pieces.
4. Dip each piece of biscuit into the melted butter, then toss it in the bag of sugar/cinnamon.  Once all of the pieces are in the bag, shake it up to completely coat each piece.  Some of the biscuit pieces will stick together, so after shaking the bag, you may have to peel some of them apart and toss them in the sugar yourself. This was easy to do as I was taking them out to put in the crock pot.
5. After getting all of the pieces coated, put them into the crock pot. We used a crock pot liner which I know saved us a ton of time of scraping up a big, sticky mess afterwards! lol
6. Pour any remaining melted butter on top.
7. Cook on low for 2.5 hours.

When there was about an hour left on the cooking time, Matt realized we DID in fact have walnuts, so he chopped some up and threw them on top of the Monkey Bread.  I can tell you it definitely wouldn't have been as good without them!

Yum, yum! 

 

2014 To-Do List: 3rd Recap

It's that time again! Time to check back in with where I am in my 2014 to-do list.  No procrastinating here, so here we go!

#1. Blog more realistically.
Let's see, in my first recap, I had only blogged 18 times in 3 months; in my second recap I had blogged 24 times; and in the past three months, I've blogged 22 times.  Meh,not bad, but could be better. Dear Self, please get better at this.

But, the next recap will definitely top the rest, because that will include December, which will include my 25 Days of Christmas posts--they'll be here before you know it!

#2. Cook more.
I've been helping more, but when I look back, it seems like our summer was so busy that we just did something quick, or we weren't even here!  However, I did try a couple new recipes.  This Loaded Baked Potato and Chicken Casserole was pretty good.  I wasn't a huge fan of the chicken part in it, but the baked potato part was great!

I also made this orzo salad recipe, but when I didn't find orzo in the pantry like I thought we had, I just used some other pasta noodles instead.  Still tasted great to me, and it was really great to take to work in my lunch! Also, in that pasta recipe, I used mozzarella cheese instead of feta cheese.

Without sounding like I'm trying to make excuses, I did honestly have better intentions of trying to cook more, but a lot of the time, it just didn't work for our schedules.  Matt is off Mondays and is always home from work before me, so most of the time if it's a crock pot meal, he preps and starts it on Monday, or starts dinner first anyway. I'm very thankful for him and his love for cooking!!

Within the next three months, especially around Christmas, I know more baking will definitely come :)

#3. Participate in more races.
Well, of course we completed the Spartan race!! But, that's the extent of races for these three months, it seems. Bummer.  However, assuming all gets better -*fingers crossed*- there are several fun races to come for the last three months of the year!!

#4. Read more. 
Since I was off for the summer I really knocked this one out of the park! Here are all of the books I've read since July 1st:

• Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien
• How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
• Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
• Hairspray and Homicide by Cindy Bell
• The Women of Duck Commander by Kay, Korie, Missy, Jessica and Lisa Robertson
• The St. Valentine's Day Cookie Massacre by Elisabeth Crabtre
• To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
• Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg
• Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler by
• Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
• Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy
• Cruel Summer by Alyson Noël
• The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle
• No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige
• Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
• Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
• A Sixteenth Summer Novel - Pulled Under by Michelle Dalton
• How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles

Boy, am I missing summer and having SO much free time to read, now!! I'm only on my second book since school started!

If you missed my other 2014 To-Do List Recaps, here are those links for you:
1st Recap
2nd Recap

2014 To-Do List: 2nd Recap

We just got back from Disney last night and I know many people are waiting to see more of those pictures (and don't worry, there are PLENTY!!), but I haven't had a chance to upload those pictures to my computer yet, and my computer is already taking too much time just to open Blogger to write this post! There will probably even be several posts about our trip to Disney, because there's just so much to share!!

However, to get pass the time until then (and I'm not planning on it taking too much time to get to it!) it's time for the 2nd recap of my 2014 to-do list! If you missed the first recap, you can read it here.

#1. Blog more realistically.
In my mind, I still didn't blog as much as I wanted to, but, it was an improvement from last time! My goal was to blog 2-3 times a week, and I guess I'm sitting at an average of about 2 times a week. Not horrible. I blogged 8 times in April, 9 times in May, and 7 times in June. Hopefully since it's the summer and I'm not working now, I'll have more time to blog and share what we've been up to!

#2. Cook more.
I really slacked off on this goal the past three months! I didn't cook as many full meals, but I did try new recipes! As far as dinners go, the only thing I can probably do without help is spaghetti and toast, but even then I always call Matt in to check behind me, because I'm always worried I'll leave a piece of meat uncooked in the sauce! haha.
Some of the more snack-time recipes I tried were guacamole, mango salsa, mango smoothies, and, uh, whoops, looks like that's it! haha.
Note to self: You're on summer vacation. There's no reason why you can't learn and try to cook more. haha.

#3. Participate in more races.
Let's see, since the last recap, I've only done a few races.  I walked in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure with some of our family friends.  That evening, Matt, mom and I were supposed to be running in the Glow Run, which we were really looking forward to. But, due to the weather, they cancelled it, and the outcome wasn't pretty. They didn't bother to reschedule, but said we could switch our registration over to another one of their races, but, it's really not that convenient for us to just up and go to Oklahoma, Texas, Pennsylvania, or any of the other states for this 5K. There was nothing closer to us, so we just lost out. Luckily, we did get our shirts from packet pick-up the day before. Then, several weeks later, Matt and I did The Color Vibe, which was a lot of fun! It might seem like I'm not doing more races like I'd hoped, it's just that the majority of them are in the fall/winter!

#4. Read more.
Okay, I think I blew the 1st recap out of the park on this goal. haha. Spring Break was during this last 3-month time period, and I read several books that week, which helped with this goal! Here are all of the books I've read in the past 3 months:

• Reshaping it All (I finished it--I was almost finished reading it when I did the 1st recap)
• Growing Up Duggar
• Titanic: Voices from the Disaster
• Si-cology 101
• Duck Commander
• Mates, Dates & Cosmic Kisses
• Mates, Dates & Chocolate Cheats
• Wicked
• Killer Cupcakes
• Innocent in Las Vegas
• Why 26.2?
• Happy, Happy, Happy
• When You Reach Me (this was my flight read to and from Disney!)

I love that I've been making more time to read for fun! I have a list of books I'd like to read, so we'll see how many of them I can get through over the summer!

Mango Salsa

Has anyone tried the new mango salsa at Qdoba? I have and I'm obsessed! After eating it a couple of times, I knew I had to find a copycat recipe and make some of my own at home. When I did a Google search for a recipe, luckily, it took me straight to the Qdoba Facebook page where they shared the recipe they use!

This salsa is seriously amazing and is very light and refreshing, with just the slightest hint of heat.

Recipe:

• 2 cups of mango, diced
• 3/4 of red pepper, diced
• 1 cucumber, peeled, de-seeded, diced
• 1/2 cup of red onion, diced
• 1 1/4 T jalapeno, diced (I just use one whole jalapeno)
• 1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped
• 2 T lime juice
• 1 T sugar
• pinch of salt

And all you have to do is mix it all together! It's wonderful and easy!

Mexican Dinner - Trying New Things

We have Mexican for dinner often, but we usually have tacos, nachos, or Matt's occasional quesadilla.

While going through Martin's buying all of the ingredients, Matt decided he wanted to try making enchiladas! He's always good and cooking new things, so I knew these would turn out well....although I was nervous...the sauce just kinda looks weird to me.

Anyway, I tried it, and besides the fact that we accidentally picked up Hot & Spicy taco seasoning, and used it anyway (every part of my mouth was burning, from my lips to the insides of my cheeks!!), it was really good!!

I forgot to take "after" pictures, so just trust me when I say it looked and tasted good!

Also, I found a recipe for guacamole to try making and guess what, it turned out well (and was edible!).

The only time I really remember having guacamole before was this past Christmas, when my cousin Alison made a yummy taco dip, and guacamole was one of the layers.

Plus, I'll take any excuse to use these fun salsa bowls my dad gave us!

If you'd like to make this guacamole, here's the easy recipe I followed:

• 1 avocado
• 1 plum tomato
• juice of half a lime
• 1/4 cup of chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro
• 1 clove of minced garlic

So good! The only thing is, I was in a rush and wasn't thinking, so I didn't mash the avocado before adding the rest of the ingredients. It didn't make it taste any different, but it would have a better consistency if I did that! I'll be sure to remember it for next time! Enjoy!

2014 To-Do List: 1st Recap

At the beginning of the year, I posted some things on my 2014 To-Do List. Instead of waiting until December 31 to look back at the year to see what I accomplished, I decided I'll do a post every three months to check back and see how I'm doing on this To-Do List. Here's the first check-in!

#1. Blog more reastically.
Unfortunately, this is probably the one thing on my 2014 to-do list that I haven't stuck with the most. My goal was to aim to post something on my blog 2-3 times a week.  When I look back at each month so far, in January I only had 7 posts, in February I had 4 posts, and in March I had 7 posts, including this one. I have no clue why February was the worst, and I only posted an average of once a week! Well, maybe it's because we had so much snow this year, and you can only post but so many pictures of snow before it gets old! haha I hope I'll get better at this one throughout the year! I'm thinking I will...because with warmer temperatures, I'll get out and do more, and have more pictures to share!

#2. Cook more.
I definitely have stepped up a little bit more in this area! haha. I really love flipping through Miss. Kay's Duck Commander cookbook that Matt's parents gave me for Christmas! I've made Jep's Best Baked Beans, Jep's Meatloaf Choice, and Willie's Famous Chicken Strips. I've also made coffee cake, BBQ bacon wrapped chicken tenders, and several other things where I've had Matt's assistance in making sure it comes out edible...haha. Sunday evening, I tried a Pinterest recipe and made these delicious roasted peppers! YUM!

Here's Matt's way of "topping the meatloaf with bacon." So worth it though! haha

 

If you'd like me to share any of these recipes, let me know and I can do that in a future post!

#3. Participate in more races.
Actually, just three days ago was the first race of the year to check off the to-do list. We ran in the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K on Saturday, and for the most part, I was pleased with my time. I really wanted to finish in under an hour...even if I finished at 59:59. Matt and I finished in 1 hour and 17 seconds. SEVENTEEN. SECONDS. I can't believe it.
Well, without it sounding like I'm making excuses for myself, I never trained in the rain (which we ran in on Saturday), and I had no intentions of hurting through the whole race. First it was my foot, then my knee.  I never got tired, I was just ANNOYED more than anything that I was hurting. However, my head wasn't hurting (until after lunch) so I definitely won't complain about that!
Regardless, it was fun! After completing it, Matt, Dad and I waited for Abby and Mom, and we got to see a lot of the fun costumes!

Apparently, even in 2014, there are still people who don't know how to take a picture on a phone...Sad.

#4. Read more.
I've definitely gotten a good start on this to-do list! The first book I read this year was the first one I got for Christmas, Melissa Explains it All by Melissa Joan Hart. I'm now just about finished in the second book I got for Christmas, Reshaping it All by Candace Cameron Bure. I only have a few more chapters to go! This book is really neat, because at the end of each chapter are healthy recipes. I've made one so far, fresh salsa, which I lovvvee. It's so simple: just tomatoes, red onion and cilantro. All to taste. I even took it to a small covered dish lunch we had at school on Friday, and everyone loved it!  Next up to read is my third book from Christmas, which Mom had to pre-order for me. It came earlier in the month, and she sent it to me via "The Pony" so I'd get it at school. (The Pony is like a mail delivery system only through the schools, Central Office, etc.) I have a few more books on my shelf to read after that, so I told myself to stop buying more books until I finish reading all of these! haha