Roasted Smashed Potatoes

My husband and I really like potatoes, the trouble is that one of our favorite ways to make potatoes is sauteed with zucchini which is really yummy, but sometimes you really need to change it up! I tried something new because I also like the crispiness of potatoes that are roasted, and I also tried a spice we never use because we didn't have it before. We finally opened all of our wedding gifts and a spice rack was one of our favorites, we can't wait to try out all the new stuff we never really bought before since it was just an extra expense and we had the basics. Anyway, on to the potatoes!

Place cleaned potatoes on a baking sheet with the water, and bake for 25-30 minutes at 500 degrees.

Coat potatoes in oil, smash the, sprinkle them with seasoning and place back in oven until crispy and golden.

Remove from oven, and enjoy!

Ingredients
8-9 red potatoes
3/4 cup water
3 Tbl olive oil
1/2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat the oven to 500. Begin by washing the potatoes and placing them on a baking sheet with edges. Then pour the water into the baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the oven and let sit for at least 10 minutes.

Wipe up excess water and coat the potatoes in the olive oil. Using a fork, smash the potatoes so they are about 1/2 and inch thick and sprinkle with thyme, salt, and pepper, or really any spice of your choosing. Place back in the oven for another 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are a nice crispy, golden brown. Serve and Enjoy :)

Chicken and Cheese Roll Ups

So, I made a winner last night. It is sort of like a chicken kiev, but better. Or at least I think it's better, since I don't actually eat meat I wouldn't really know, but since I am the cook I get to choose, right? No, I'm just kidding. I used lots of ingredients that I know Josh loves, and made them into something that seemed like it could be fantastic. As it turned out, he went for seconds! I suppose that means it was a hit.

Cut up your stuffing ingredients, the basil, garlic, and cheese.

Roll the meet in flour, egg, and bread crumbs once they have been stuffed.

Pan fry them until they are crunchy!

Bake them at 500 for 15 minutes, see all that yummy gooey cheese coming out!

Yummy Yummy meal! Easy as pie, maybe even easier ;)

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
2 fresh basil leaves
2 cloves of garlic
2 sticks of mozzarella cheese (about the size of 1/2 a cheese stick)
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
2 Tbl olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Chop up the garlic cloves and basil leaves. Then cut the mozzarella into sticks. Cut your chicken breasts in half, but not all the way through. Leave them connected on one end, so there is just an space to shove in some yummy goodness. Sprinkle the chicken breast with salt and pepper to taste. Place the garlic, basil, and cheese inside the little pocket.

In three separate bowls, have the flour, egg, and bread crumbs. You will place the chicken breasts first in the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs. You can do a second dip in the egg and bread crumbs if your chicken doesn't seem completely coated. Mind you, this does get a little messy and you have to make sure that your yummy stuffing doesn't fall out, just be careful.

Once your chicken has been dipped, place them into a skillet on medium heat with the olive oil. Let them cook for about 5 minutes, until they area crunchy brown on the outside. Once that is finished, place them in a baking dish, uncovered for about 15 minutes. Then serve! So yummy! (or at least that is what my husband says)

Meal Plan #5

This week I finally have another meal plan!! It has been weeks since I made an actual menu and went grocery shopping and haven't been eating leftovers, random things thrown together from the cupboard (which can be great, but I love trying new things), or fast food with family/friends/new people we meet in IA. Anyway, I was so excited to be able to make a meal plan, pick some fun recipes to try and go grocery shopping! The best part of this is that we have continually been blessed by our new church and they have taken up a collection of gift cards/cards/notes of encouragement for us as we settle in and we got an ALDI gift card which is a big winner in our home and lots of Target, Home Depot, and local restaurant GCs as well. Usually I would use the gift card just to save on normal food, but since we just moved we decided that we would use that $25 to re-stock our cupboards with staples. So, in addition to what I bought here, I also got lots of different chips(chocolate, white, PB, etc), lemon juice, corn syrup, oats, vanilla, olive oil, and sponges. Staples can really add up and we were going to add one or two at a time to our kitchen, but I am so thankful we were able to do it this way :) Also, because Josh's new job has a different salary than what we were making before, our budget actually went up for food. Since we both like trying new food, this is an area we wanted to increase, although I understand this isn't a priority to many people it is a hobby of mine, so it was well worth it for me! Especially until I can find job myself and have less time to cook and bake. Ok, on to the meal plan and grocery list! Hope it helps!

Meal Plan 6/4-6/10

Monday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: sandwiches, chips, fruit

                Dinner: black bean pizza

Dessert of the week: cinnamon scones!

Tuesday:

                Breakfast: granola

                Lunch: sandwiches, fruit, yogurt

                Dinner: chicken and cheese rolls, glazed snow peas, roasted smashed potatoes

Wednesday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: sandwiches, chips, fruit

                Dinner:  Burger Bash with Youth Group

Thursday:

                Breakfast: oatmeal

                Lunch: sandwiches/fruit/chips

                Dinner:  baked zucchini sticks and pan fried panko chicken

Friday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: sandwiches, chips, fruit

                Dinner:  zucchini patties, salad, red potatoes

Saturday:

                Breakfast: honey yogurt waffles, eggs

                Lunch: rice, beans, cheese

                Dinner: leftovers

Sunday:

                Breakfast: cereal

                Lunch: leftovers

                Dinner:  frozen pizza

Groceries: sliced cheese (1.99), shredded cheese(2.99), mozzarella cheese(1.79), canned crescent rolls(1.29), 2 cans black beans(1.18), ranch dressing(1.29), fruit(6.47), sundried tomatoes(3.49), pesto(2.29), snow peas(1.49), zucchini(2.80), panko bread crumbs(1.79), peanut butter(2.29),sweet potato chips(1.99), bread(.99), milk (1.49), apple juice (.99), pork chops (5.25), sundried tomato cheese (2.99), Italian dressing (1.29), flour (1.49), tortillas (.99), condensed milk (1.19)

Grand Total:49.81

Black Bean Pizza

Last night was a successful cooking night! Not only were the scones great, but our dinner turned out really yummy too :) I made black bean pizza which I originally found here from Pinterest and changed to our liking. Josh doesn't particularly like beans, but as long as they are paired with other things he usually doesn't mind. This dish was one of the combos that he enjoyed. So, here goes.

Ingredients
1 can croissants
2 Tbl olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup water
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
ranch dressing for taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place croissant rolls, unrolled onto a baking sheet and bake for five minutes. While the crust is baking, heat a medium skillet on medium heat and add the olive oil, garlic, and oregano.

Let that cook for 30 seconds and add the beans, crushed red pepper, and water. Let the water reduce to half and then begin crushing up the beans.

You can use a potato masher  to mash up the beans, but I used my spatula which gave it a nice thick texture. Once the beans are all done (after the water was reduced and then mashed them) spread the bean paste across the prebaked croissants. 

Sprinkle the cheese on top and place in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the croissant is browned around the edges. 

Then just add the extra toppings! We added lettuce and ranch dressing. Next time we will add some tomatoes too! 

The crushed red pepper really added a nice kick and we really enjoyed this yummy dinner!

Cinnamon Sugar Scones

Ok, I know I said I was going to be more on top of things, but I apparently lied because here I am skipping days in between posts. I finally took a few days and really got my act together though. I just needed some time to reorganize after all the hustle and bustle of moving! Tonight Josh is out late playing frisbee golf with some guys from the youth group so I thought I'd make a yummy treat for his return. I chose cinnamon sugar scones, and I picked the right treat! To see the original recipe check out Money Saving Mom.They turned out sooo tasty! Oh, and I finally remembered to take a few pictures. Here goes-

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, separated
3 Tbl honey
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Cinnamon sugar mix by Penzey's (which just so happens to be the MOST amazing spice place I've ever been) to your taste (you can also just mix cinnamon and sugar together to your liking)

1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 tsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Then mix in the butter until it is crumbly. Then in a small bowl mix together the egg yolk, honey, milk, and lemon juice.

Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix until they are just combined. On a separate floured surface, put the dough in a ball. Flatten to 1 inch thick circle and cut into eight pieces.

Then transfer the pieces onto a greased baking pan. Whip the remaining egg white and brush onto the dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mix onto the egg white and place in the oven.

Let bake for 10-12 minutes. While in the oven mix together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Remove from the oven and add the glaze.

Once you add the glaze, ENJOY!!!

Running

I really enjoy running. This is not something I would have EVER thought I'd say when I was younger. In fact, until about three years ago I never would have thought I'd say that. When I was little I was pretty overweight, then I started dancing. Dancing was my passion for years, and it still would be if my hips weren't so bad, and it wasn't so expensive to keep up with classes. I still love watching So You Think You Can Dance, and love watching dance recitals and ballets, but running is my new exercise hobby.

It all started when I went away to graduate school. I no longer had a large school with a dance team I could participate in and definitely didn't have the money with tuition and housing to take classes. I moved out to California for graduate school and since running was cheap and easy (and the weather was forever nice in CA) I thought I would try it out. I started out easy and found the Couch to 5K running plan. It was awesome! It was so easy to follow and built up nice and slowly so it didn't kill you. I loved it and when I finished I didn't know what to do with myself until I found a 10K plan. I continued with my running to try a 10K running plan, but was somewhat skeptical I would ever actually be able to run over 6 miles. As it turns out, if you train, it really isn't all that terrible. Again, saying all this as someone who had NEVER run before in my life. Dance is so much different than running because while practices are long, you only actually put your all into a 3 or 4 minute time period. So, learning to sustain your energy is a big transition.

As I began my running journey I learned that people I went to church and school with were also interested so we started running together and I got a lot of my friends going with the whole idea of running. We started running in groups and finally decided to train for a HALF MARATHON. That's right people, a half which just so happens to be 13.1 miles. I mean, that is double what my 10K training would have required me to do, but I jumped on the band wagon anyway. I posted my schedule on my wall and began training. I ran for a year straight with a very regimented schedule of four days a week with my long run on Saturdays and doing weights after my runs. I did it, I never ran a half because I never wanted to pay for it, but I trained for it and I did it.

When I moved home, I slacked a bit on the running. Let's be honest, I slacked a lot. Moving from California to Indiana is quite a move and it takes A LOT of time and energy and for a few weeks before hand and the few weeks after I moved I hardly worked out at all. I knew I needed to because I felt blah. When I was running I felt awake and healthy and overall happy and as excited as I was to move home to my friends, family, and boyfriend I still knew I needed to work out. So, I finally started sort of working out again, but not a ton of running because the humidity is awful then it was because it got so cold and so I would do work out videos instead. Those are great, but they just aren't the same. Before the wedding it started to warm up and I did start running again with the dog, who loved it. I always walked him before, but he really just loved running. I knew that it was something I really wanted to start again.

Now I get a new beginning again. I get to start a schedule in my new life and I have plenty of time since I don't have a job yet. I don't want to injure myself because there is no better excuse than that to stop working out so I am starting from scratch. I'm doing weights everyday and doing a Pooch to 5K running plan so I don't kill myself or the dog! I did start on the 3rd week since I had been doing a little running and wasn't completely starting over so to say. Now I am not only doing for myself, but I have a running partner again. Buchanan loves going on his runs. He knows that when I pull out his running harness it's time. He sits still to put it on then goes and sits by his leash until I put it on him. I am excited to be starting again and hope that if you live in the Des Moines area and want a running partner you will let me know OR keep me in check via comments. I want to stick with it and maybe actually run a half marathon now that we have an income and I'm out of school :)

This is Buchanan...come ON mom! The harness is on, let's not take pictures, let's GO! :) He is annoyed haha Don't worry though, we left one second after that. Let me know if you are interested in running or running programs I'd love to help!!!

Basket Flower Arrangement

Today I am going to show you how to do a fun flower arrangement. This one is particularly fun because I made it in a basket. I maybe should have shown this at Easter, but it's still spring, so that's close enough. This also might have been a great idea for a mother's day gift, but you live and you learn :) The most challenging part of this arrangement is preparing the basket. The shape I used is the triangle which you can get more basics about here.

Let's get started. In order to prepare the basket  you must 1) get a piece of foam that fits your basket and 2) find a plastic liner that fits in the basket as well. Once you find these two items, you are ready to go!

1) Place the plastic liner into your basket, make sure it is in there securely, use water proof tape if necessary. Mine fit in just right, so I didn't need anything to help hold it down. Then soak your flower foam, and place it into the plastic lined basket.

2) This is the easy part! Just follow the triangle method for flower arranging. Place your three largest pieces of foliage first. These pieces will be the three points of the arrangement. The tallest in the back and then the other two pieces on either side sticking out making the triangle shape. Don't forget to angle these forward a bit to give the piece depth.

3)The next step is to add in the foliage that will fill up much of the space left over. The first pieces that will be placed will fill in the framework shape of the triangle. I started with the back and moved forward. Cutting my pieces shorter and shorter as I went to make the triangle effect. Then slowly fill in the central piece of the foam. The piece will look like an outline and then to give it depth I fill in the front portion of the foam.


4) It is finally time for the flowers! Now is when you fill in the leftover spaces. Again, start with the biggest pieces. In this piece it is the large pink flowers in the back. Once those are placed then use your side pieces to go from the back point to the two sides (don't place the front flower yet) making a line down each side. The flowers should make a triangle shape without the bottom line.


5) The next flowers you will place are the focal flowers. In this arrangement they are the large white flowers. I chose to make my focal point to the side this time. I don't like complete symmetry, so an off center focal point is something I enjoy. You can make yours wherever you would like. Once you pick a good spot for those, make sure one is facing almost completely forward, and the other is more angled toward the ceiling a bit. 


6) Now it is time for front and filler flowers. The first of the last flowers you will place is your front row. I waited to do this until after the focal flowers so that I didn't crowd the front. I used multiple types of flowers to fill in the front and empty spaces because I like the pop of different colors, especially in the spring and summer. Just make sure when you use different colors that you are spacing them out from one another so there isn't a clump of one color, except for the focal flower.


7) The last thing to do is add any ribbon you would like and to check all sides and angles to be sure you don't have any holes or weird spots. Let me know if you have any questions or check out my intro to flower arranging. This will help you with color schemes and the basics of shapes, lines, movement and other important aspects of flower arranging! Enjoy :)