pinterest cooking

This post on Brittany's blog inspired me to offer my own pinterest cooking experiences to the blog world...because who are we kidding, I really don't cook anything anymore unless I've seen someone's perfectly photographed recipe on good ol pinterest.

So here goes....(there are a lot)

1. Green bean casserole, Pioneer Woman. Really good. Brought it to Christmas Eve. Normally don't like green been casserole but this was killer.

2. Green Chile Chicken - from "For the Love of Cooking". DELICIOUS! Taylor and I both loved it.

3. Parmesan Baked Artichokes. Really easy side dish that we loved.

4. "Healthy" Chicken Parmesan...from Skinnytaste. This has become one of my go-to weeknight meals. Easy and DELICIOUS! I use Trader Joe's marinara...which is awesome.

5. Chicken Marsala...this was really good. Next time I probably won't use both marsala wine and white wine...it was a little too booze-y tasting. Not that I don't love booze...I just didn't feel like getting drunk off my chicken. It didn't taste like it was cooked off. Also, I cooked this when I was on the hard core South Beach Diet Phase One, and then my lovely husband pointed out it was dredged in flour before it was cooked...I forgot flour counts as a carb. Bummer.

6. The Best Baked Oven Fries...from Annie's Eats. They were great. A little labor intensive if I remember? But definitely the best baked oven fries I've done.

7. Mongolian Beef. One of our favorites...I've made it four or so times. Tastes just like P.F. Changs and is surprisingly easy!

8. Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta al Forno - I've been really lucky with my pinterest cooking...except for this guy. Dry and pretty tasteless.

9. Tomato Basil Soup from Jenny Steffens Hobick. Delicious, but it was one of those things where you get sick of the leftovers really fast. So make it for a crowd.

10. Oreo Cheesecake Cookies - good, but the cooking time was off in the recipe, so the first batch I burnt. Actually it may have been my ghetto oven. Just watch them closely if you ever try them!

11. Bruschetta - this was absolutely perfect. Excellent proportions of olive oil, basil, tomatoes, etc. YUM!

12. Lasagna Roll Ups - EVERYONE has these pinned, so I was pretty excited, but unfortunately they were pretty bad. Maybe better with chicken or just cheese. The beef variation was no bueno.

13. "Healthier" General Tso's Chicken (b/c it's not fried)....I remember this being pretty good. I could live on Asian food.

14. Chunky Vegetable Soup - This was so-so. Too many carrots in Taylor and I's opinions.

15. Christmas M&M Pretzel Things- Fantastic! The recipe says 5-6 minutes at 350...but they only need 2-3 minutes. The white chocolate ones melt faster than the milk chocolate, so you could separate them if you wanted true perfection. :)

Christmas post (on January 22)

I will start this post with a picture of my parents (huge) Christmas tree. There's nothing better than Christmas at home. This picture is taken on Christmas eve, which is my second favorite day of the year, second to Christmas day...which follows. Every year, Christmas day is exactly the same, so here are our traditions:

Good Morning!

 Amy passes out presents...

 and we take turns opening. This year, Dad gets superman boxer briefs from my brother.

 So of course he models them over his jeans, with his Dwight Schrute shirt and ever-present mock turtleneck.

 After we finish opening, dad was surprised in the garage with a snowblower. He was VERY excited.

 And my dogs are adorable. Of course. They remain outside with brand new bones so they don't eat our gifts.

 So let's drink to that!

 Mimosas.

 And here it comes...the meal that deserves an entire blog post to itself, our Christmas morning tradition, the ONE day of the year we get to eat....my dad's egg's benedict. He has made it for over 25 years, and each year he perfects his recipe until it gets so perfect we all close our eyes after every bite and moan and groan and then ask for more. It's mind-blowing. It's my favorite thing to eat it the whole wide world.

After this, I fall into a coma for at least 2 hours. Everyone else somehow finds the strength to play games and talk on the phone. But I sleep.

 And when I wake up, there's more food! Here is my favorite appetizer...fried artichoke hearts.

 Salad, prime rib...

 homemade shoestring fries...

 Birthday presents..

Baskin Robbins ice cream cake.

And a perfect ending...Shamus convincing my dad that dogs on the furniture is a good idea :)

What a very, merry Christmas!

JOB JOB JOB!!

Last Monday I got a call from a friend about a judicial clerkship at the Jackson County Circuit Court that was opening up...and to apply fast.

Tuesday morning I came up to the courthouse, delivered my resume to the judge.

Wednesday afternoon I got a call for an interview. SO excited. (didn't even think I'd make it that far)

Thursday I interviewed.

Friday the judge called me. And I got it!!!

Monday I started.

Today I have completed my first week! And I love it! The only kicker is the dress code. Every judge is different, so not all law clerks have to do this, but I have to wear a full suit every day. And I only have one that is wearable, because the other one needs hemming. So I gotta get a new wardrobe. I've gotten a bunch of great deals on shirts to wear under my suits, ($12 shirts at the Limited, $16 shirts at Costco, yes, Costco, $15 shirts at Nordstrom after our discount) so that makes me a little less angry about this mandatory shopping that I can't afford.

I am so so so grateful and thankful to finally have my first job as a lawyer. It took awhile, but it all works out in the end, and no matter how much I didn't believe that a month ago...it's all good now. :)

HBMDC Pick a Pumpkin

A couple weekends ago Taylor, Amy and I went to the Heartland Bernese Mountain Dog Club's "Pick a Pumpkin" in Louisburg. (They are the Club with the Rescue organization we got Maeby from).

I was so excited to see all the dogs and take Shay and Mae to the pumpkin patch!
It was really fun, except when I had a minor freak out because Maeby wiggled out of her collar and was just sitting in a patch of burs and thorns and I couldn't get to her!!!

Here are some pics:

 Bad shot of everyone walking - there were probably about 20 or so berners and then a couple scragglers like Shamus, a couple Shelties, and one tiny Maltese or something.

 Okay, so there were two puppies there. And I was beyond obsessed. These pictures will never do them justice.

 There's Kelly and Cooper walking two of their dogs, Lemon and Jackson.

 Another puppy shot. Yes, I was stalking the puppies.

 Together! And I think it's their dad they are standing by.

This is either Isaac or Spencer....can't remember. But he was tired, and gorgeous.

 I'm sorry, you get the fact I loved the puppies and wanted to steal them.

 Our fam!

 I find this picture to be very humorous. Shamus won't move for Amy.

 I was the photog, not the walker. :) And as you can see, this photographer has no idea how to edit bad pics.

My two babies!!

We got three big regular pumpkins and three cute little white ones. We have yet to do something with them. But we had the experience, so hey! Fun. Fun. Activities.

Meet Miss Maeby Hartley!!

I've been missing from the blog world due to computer problems, but all is well and fixed....so I've returned!

SOOO.....we got another dog! Three weeks ago today. From the Heartland Bernese Mountain Dog Rescue Organization. She is the sweetest rescue dog in the world with the best personality. She is a purebred bernese mountain dog, however, she's the smallest one you've ever seen. 50 lbs full grown, where normal females are around 80. Her small size is probably due to bad breeding, since she's probably from a puppy mill where they don't care who has what puppies, so they don't keep up breed standards and all that. In her old life, she was left out on a chain in a yard all day, wasn't spayed, pretty skinny, tons of fleas and all that stuff, but now she's looking gorgeous and in excellent health. She loooooves anyone and everyone. I'm so glad we saved her!!!!! 

Shamus and her have a love/hate play-bite each other all day relationship. At first I thought he was pretty pissed off at us, but now they're madly in love. :) They don't like being without each other, which is good, but their playing leaves me with two slobber covered dogs all the time, so ...that's gross. Oh yeah, and she's not potty trained. Only down-side. She hasn't had an accident in a while though, so that's great!

So without further ado, meet Maeby!!! (Her name is a character from Arrested Development...if you haven't seen that show get the dvds, asap). 

This is from the day we got her, on our way to Des Moines to get spayed and all that good stuff. Such a pretty smile! (side note : I volunteered to drive her to Des Moines instead of the rescue group because I got to eat lunch with Kate and see her house for the first time! So fun.)

 Photoshoot!

 Fighting for dad's attention....(Taylor did not know I was taking a pic)

 She's so CUTE!

This is where they stand and bark at joggers. Ok, Shamus barks, she stands there like a perfect angel :) Hahah..

Anyways, we couldn't be happier, she is such a great addition to our family. She's playful enough to keep up with Shamus but super chill at the same time. Two dogs with an energy level like Shamus would be madness. This is only sorta madness. :)