I, along with so many other people, have now been sucked into the Pinterest Universe. I mostly use it for recipes, but I have actually gained the confidence to (gasp!) make crafts.
For those of you who know me, you know that my wedding favors were the pinacle of my artistic ability. My mom and I painted wine glasses, were planning on doing a design, but the prototype looked pretty heinous. So, we just painted the bottom of the glass blue, and it basically turned the whole thing blue. I liked it because it didn't have our names on it, and it wouldn't be a random dust collector in someone's house. (We use our's very frequently.) Granted, we weren't very good at mixing the shade of blue, so the glasses themselves vary. Whatever. It was free, people!
So, I considered it my crowning achievement. Until now.
Before you pick your jaws up from the floor, remember that I am a mere mortal, with a mere hot glue gun. And some spray paint.
Yeah, so all I did was hot glue fake hydrangeas and a wooden letter to a grapevine wreath, but this is a big step for me! I found a "autumn wreath" on sale at Wal-Mart for about 50 cents, so I bought one and tore all of the gaudy fake leaves off of it, and made this wondrous wreath. I feel like I can conquer the world! I may make a table! Who the heckdarn knows what I can accomplish?!
Let me preface this by saying that I've fallen victim to the Pinterest Universe. I never thought that I would be sucked in, but it is chock full of neato ideas and crafty things and recipes. I'm also looking for something to occupy my time during the slow season at the hotel.
I found a homemade hummus made with cannellini beans and fresh cilantro. Because I've gorged myself on too many holiday treats, I'm craving healthy foods. Weird, I know!
This requires:
1 Can of Cannellini Beans
2 Tbsp. of Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. of Lemon Juice
1tsp. of Minced Garlic
1 tsp. Cumin
1/2 tsp. of Chili Powder
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. Chopped fresh Cilantro
All you do is stick everything in a food processor until smooth. Really hard, I know. But this is so unbelievably yummy, and it tastes better than any store bought hummus I've had (sorry Sabra, I will always love you.) So, we have a tupperware thing of this that we pull out and use as a dip with pita chips or baby carrots, and we use it as a spread for sandwiches and turkey wraps. Yum!
For dinner that night, I made Pioneer Woman's Broccoli Cheese Soup. You can get the recipe here:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/11/broccoli-cheese-soup/
I've made this a few times, and I always divide the ingredients. There are only two of us, after all. But, I made a huge pot of it last night so that we would have many leftovers. Josh and I both took some for lunch today. And with today being 25 degrees, it is quite welcome.
While this simmered I whipped up some Corn Muffins with Ye Olde Jiffy Mix. Comfort food at its finest.
No TV or Movie updates, because I'm too cheap to go to the movies, and new episodes of my shows have been new. I'm seeing Girl with the Dragon Tattoo tomorrow, loved the book. We'll see how it goes!
This has been quite a Christmas. So much so that it has caused me to hibernate into an abyss-like black hole, cutting all methods of communication. Now, we're forced back into the real world, into the bleak month of January. It's about this time that I hate winter. I really only like winter during Christmas. And even though winter in Charleston is about 50 degrees, I still don't like it. Not one bit.
Now to change the subject completely....
About a month ago, Josh and I made french fries. This endeavor started when we got into an argument about whether or not we needed a french fry cutter. This all started at a marching band competition when, at the funnel cake stand, a guy stuck a potato in a cutter, pulled the lever, and... voila! French fries.
But I digress.
I thought that if we just simply cut the potatoes into fry shape, then fry the fries, it would be the same darn thing. For those of you looking to fry things with the one you love, follow my steps:
1) Pour oil into a deep skillet and then heat up the thing until it looks like molten lava bubbling up. Go big or go home.
2) Let your husband lecture you on how much you burn yourself whilst making meals for him on a normal basis, so let him volunteer himself to take the reins and drop the fries into the magma.
3) Grab a bag of the frozen Gorton's beer battered cod and preheat the oven. When making fries, you really don't have that much effort to make anything else. Plus, fish and chips are a good combo, and this frozen fish was pretty dang good! I wouldn't have even gotten it, but it was on sale at Publix, and I had a coupon. That doubled. I'm cheap.
4) Keep watching Josh wince as he's dropping fries in and taking them out. He took them out when they started floating. Wait for his previous words to bite him in the butt.
5)Put the fish in the oven.
6)Get into an argument about how the Gorton's Fisherman jingle goes. Keep singing it until you're blue in the face.
7) Grab laptop and play the darn commercial on You Tube.
8) When proven the victor, do a dance called the "suck-it dance," whereby you prance around like a Tennessee Walking Horse, and move your arms in a Pee-Wee Herman, "Tequila"- like fashion.
9) Pop a fry in your mouth, then scream about how hot it is.
10) Disregard what you just did and stick another one in your mouth.
11) Console an upset Josh because hot oil has splashed on to his hand, causing a really gross, painful looking burn. Stick his hand under cool running water.
12) Finish the job.
13) Rejoice in homemade fries and home-heated up fish.
There you have it! A sure-fire way to make fries cheaper than it is to buy them.
