Just Checking In

Hello, hello! I'm sorry to have been away for a week and a half, but I swear, life be cray-cray around here. As most of you know, I've been working on my fiction writing. With a single-minded determinedness on that, I've been enduring all my other chores, chomping at the bit to write more. The story is coming along well. I'm at the point where I've decided to muck it all up. It was a short, sweet story and but now, plot changes are a-coming. Today should be a much slower day than the last couple, so I'll have plenty of time to work today.

Blackberry Nectarine Lush

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Easter. I know we did! The hubby and I headed out to his sister's house to have dinner with the family. It also happened to be my mother-in-law's birthday, so we had quite the Easter celebration. We had it all. A turkey and a ham. Two pasta salads. A big chocolatey, butterfinger-y birthday cake. Kids hopped up on way too much sugar... You know, the normal Easter fare 😂

A Day In the Life: April 2017

I haven't done a "Day in the Life" post in forever (since February of 2013!!), so today I thought I'd have some fun. I'm also changing the format of the traditional "Day in the Life" post, just cause I can 😜

I woke up yesterday with the intention to blog. It was one of those mornings where I felt completely uninspired and couldn't come up with anything to say. I wrote out a post and then I reread it. Even I was bored. Deleted. One of my intentions since coming back from my break was to share quality work, not just sharing work for the sake of sharing. So I decided to take the day off from posting. To work in the garden. To do some yoga. To enjoy my pups. It was then that I had the idea to do a "Day in the Life" post so I decided to take some pictures throughout the day.

Oh yes, it's definitely time for a fun post! Let's get started-

BLT Poached Eggs with Avocado Hollandaise

This is kind of a spur-of-the-moment post, as I actually just made this dish the day before yesterday. I say "spur-of-the-moment" because usually I spend weeks or months working on a post. Making and remaking a recipe so I can take and retake photos. Rearranging the pictures in the post. And then, I usually spend a couple of weeks looking at the photos daily, deciding if I want to share them.

Things sure have changed since I first started the blog 😂 

This dish is so tasty though, I couldn't wait to share it. It's pretty darn easy and fool-proof for how delicious it is. You won't believe how simple it is to make the Avocado Hollandaise, I think it's 100 times easier than real Hollandaise! I also like the flavor better than the real stuff, but I digress. Let's talk about this dish and my inspiration for it! 

Homemade Oreos

Today is my little brother's birthday (Happy Birthday Bro!), so I thought it fitting to post the cookie that he chose for his birthday treat this year. Technically, he chose "dipped Oreos" but one first needs Oreos in order to dip. He did mention that the Oreo's didn't have to be homemade, he just wanted different flavors of dipped cookies. The hubby said asking me to send commercial Oreo's was like asking Gordon Ramsey to send a Big Mac. I snorted in derision and told him I was probably more like Guy Fieri sending take-out from a diner, drive-in, or dive he visited. In the end, I opted to make the Oreo's before dipping them. 

Jalapeño Popper Pizza

It's Friday and we're going to talk about pizza. As such, I hereby open with this quote,

"You can't have Thanksgiving without turkey! That's like Fourth of July with no apple pie, or Friday with no two pizzas!"

I bet you can guess what show that quote is from... 

If you guessed 'Friends', you guessed right 😜 What can I say? I was picking up the house this morning, doing my normal chores, making the bed, and thinking about what I was going to write today. I started thinking about pizza... and that it's Friday... and the quote just popped into my head. Quotes from 'Friends' strike my mind every day in almost any situation, and while we won't be having 2 pizzas this Friday, the quote still made me smile. 

Recipe Redux: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Happy Monday friends! I promised in January that I was going to share this recipe soon, and then... I went on break. However, I'm back, it's spring, and it's time to talk about chocolate and banana. Only one of the best foodie combinations ever, if you ask me. Next to chocolate and peanut butter, and maybe peanut butter and banana, of course 😂  I enjoy a good banana bread on its own but when you add chocolate, it just takes it to another level! 🍌🍫

Lemon Caper Cod

-with roasted broccoli and potatoes, parmesan cheese, and lemon vinaigrette

Time for that fish I was yammering about! I told you guys I finally got it right 😃

Fish is not something that's usually hard for me. Maybe it's because I usually cook it on the grill? Or deep fry it? I don't know what happened before that I usually never have it sticking to that pan, but for this dish, the fish kept sticking. I do have a tendency towards beginner's luck which could explain my past successes. And when you have to tend to be fortunate the first time, you don't learn the chemistry. So, for anyone having problems with sticky fish, here's my tips-

It's Almost Spring!

Actually, I guess it is spring. 

Hello!

I know it's been awhile, but I'm feeling ready to get back in the swing of things. There's something about spring that's just so inspiring for me, I'm starting to burst from wanting to share recipes and photos again. Winter is my least favorite season, it always feels bleak to me. I know there's many wonderful things about winter, and I appreciate them... for awhile. But then I'm ready for renewal. I love when the early daffodils pop, when there's buds on all the trees, when I start seeing juvenile cardinals and gold finches at the feeders again. It's magical. I have a few items in my garden that just pop up all on their own, like little gifts from nature. Such as my chives, above. They just burst from the ground one day, green and beautiful, full of hope.