Fruit & Cream Pops

One more popsicle recipe before summer is over, mmmmk? 

Kentucky is in the middle of a heat wave, so even though it's September and I've already switched out all my summer decor for fall, I want to share one more summer recipe. I'm going to miss summer and my freezer full of ready-made popsicles. At one point this summer, I had Raspberry Kiwi, Strawberry Chocolate, Raspberry Jam Pops, and these Fruit and Cream Pops all in the freezer at the same time. Such variety! It was like going to an ice cream shop. Or a popsicle shop. Hey, why aren't there popsicle shops??

Chicken Guacamole Taquitos

I have a confession:

I've been hitting the guacamole hard this summer. Hard. It's been a serious craving for a good 2 months, and a couple times a week I find myself picking up yet another 2 avocados. 2 avocados makes a perfect amount of guacamole for me to eat in about 3 days (I know I've uttered that sentence before!). I've been snacking on the guac with tortilla chips, stuffing it into burritos, and baking it into these tasty little taquitos. 

Lately (Summer 2014)

I can't believe it's the last day of August. Tomorrow is September, summer is officially over, and all I have to look forward to is...

-the leaves changing color

-low humidity

-baking with pumpkin

-going to Cancun in October!

-breaking out the long pants. Hoodies. Boots.

-football

-chilly morning runs

-not having to run the air conditioner

-root veggies coming into season! 

-feeling the desire to turn the oven on again

-jacket weather

-apple cider

-Halloween

-all my shows coming back!

Ok. I must confess. I don't hate fall, and I might even be looking forward to it a little bit. But just a little bit. Don't worry summer, I will miss you! To gear up for the switch in seasons, I thought I'd share some summer happenings-

My little bro came out to visit in August. He arrived in Kentucky to relax for a week, right before he went back to school. He's a high school teacher and basketball coach. A little gearing up before the school year, if you will. We had a great visit, with lots of running, sight-seeing, Cincinnati Red-ing, swimming, and eating. Oh, plus an inordinate amount of video game playing. Ok, so I wasn't involved in that part! Haha. This picture was taken at The Yardhouse, a great bar and grill right next to Great American Ballpark. I mean, look at the size of those beers! Heaven...

The hubby and I are never ones to be serious!

Summer is watermelon season, and guess who loves watermelon? My crazy puppies. I couldn't cut into one this summer without being harassed. Come to think of it, they do the same whenever they hear a banana, a bell pepper, or a carrot on the cutting board. At least they're healthy monsters :)

Giz can't jump as high to get his watermelon, but he tries his best!

Sometime during this summer, I was out running by myself. It was a fairly hot day with high humidity, and the 5-miles I ran might as well have been 26.2. It was a miserable run, what with sunscreen-soaked sweat dripping and stinging my eyes every 2 seconds. But I pushed through, and as I was walking to my car, I froze. About 10 feet from my car was this baby bunny. He was so adorable. I'd barely taken a picture on my phone where there was a sudden rustling near me. Something sprang out of the bush close to where I stood, almost making me jump 10 feet in the air. It was his momma. She ran (hopped?) over to him, and they ran (hopped??) away. It was a sweet moment in nature, and it made melting away on that run almost worth it. Almost :)

Gizmo's selfie.

Haloti's selfie. I can't decide whose I like better!

A Chinese fortune I received. I normally roll my eyes at these silly, traditional scraps of paper stuffed inside those crunchy cookies, but I liked this one. In fact, I even put it in my wallet. A positive affirmation to keep on keeping on. 

Bib and goodies from our 7-mile race.

Crossing the finish line of that 7-miler. I'm so super-proud of that time. I've said it before, and I'll say it again- I am not a born runner. It's never come easy to me. In fact, I always tried to avoid sports involving running as a kid. Soccer. Basketball. Track. I stuck to volleyball. Minimal running. However, with the proper training, I'm slowly and steadily getting faster. I may never run a marathon, but I've come a long way since that girl that started out last September not able to run 1 mile. I couldn't feel better about my accomplishments this year.

A brotherly tongue bath is the way these pups start most days :)

To celebrate this holiday weekend, we had a family cookout at the hubby's sister's house yesterday. Everyone in the family has busy, full lives, so we really relish the time we all get to spend together. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill, stuffed our faces with cupcakes, and even managed to take some family pictures. Oh, and if you thought I was the one to remember to take pictures, you would be wrong. So woefully wrong. LOL.

Happy Labor Day Weekend friends! I hope anyone and everyone is sending summer out with a bang. Because, before you know it, there will be pumpkin on this blog :)

Udon with Thai Pickled Cabbage and Grilled Chicken

Ohhhhhhh. 

This cold pasta salad is gooooood. So good. I'm a big, big fan of pasta salad. I have a friend that can't stand the taste and texture of cold pasta, and I'm afraid I can't relate. I can't even relate a little bit. I could eat cold pasta salad for breakfast, lunch, dinner, 4th meal, and beyond. The taste? Yum. The texture? Hits the spot. I can sympathize with my friend though, because there are plenty of yummy foodie things that I can't stand. Rosemary, for one. Beets. Liver. The hubby's green juice he makes in the morning. It's funny how one person's filet mignon can be another person's, well, liver and onions. 

Let's talk Thai Pickled Cabbage. I saw the recipe on one of the blogs I follow, Sidewalk Shoes, and I knew I just had to try it. Pam made it sound right up my alley. And it twas'. We've got lots of access to cabbage right now, with it being proliferous at the farmer's markets. Plus, the hubby's uncle grew some. I thinly sliced a whole head, and got it into that delicious pickling liquid as soon as I could. I ended up letting it pickle for 2 weeks, mainly because that's how long it took me to get to it! That 2 weeks did that cabbage good. Upon opening that jar, I was hit with sweet, salty, and earthy scents wafting up at me. And wow, does this cabbage ever have flavor. It adds so much to the salad. If you decide to make this dish, do not (under any circumstances) skip the pickled cabbage. 

When I first made the cabbage, I wasn't sure what I was going to use it for. I finally decided on a pasta dish, and since the pickled cabbage is cold, I deduced that the dish should be cold as well. I picked up a package of udon at the grocery store, a thick Japanese buckwheat noodle. All that was left to do was add a chopped, grilled chicken breast and some shredded carrot. Oh yeah, and make some sauce. I ended up making a saltier sauce to balance out the sweet and spicy of the pickled cabbage. It worked perfectly, the taste ended up an exercise in balanced Asian fusion. I sat down with a plate for lunch one day, and after a few slurps, it seemed the pasta had disappeared. Almost embarrassingly fast.

Oh, how I heart Asian food!

Happy Friday of a long holiday weekend! What does everyone have on tap? The hubby and I are nutty coocoo, and we are running another race tomorrow. I'll be running my first 10K. Funny how I ran a 7-miler before I ever ran a 10K. I'm excited, and a little nervous. The course is a little hillier than I'm used to, but hills are good for you. I really need to run more of them, I just get so comfortable at my little training spot. I haven't made a goal, because I'm not sure of what it should be.  The hubby and I ran hard last weekend, resulting in a little fatigue this week. We ran twice, and both felt hard. We did some cross-training at the gym yesterday, and today is just yoga. I'm going into the race with fresh legs, but I'm still unsure. Especially with a hilly course. I'd like to come in at 1 hour, but again, I'm not sure if that's realistic with the hills. I guess we'll see, won't we? We've also got a family cookout later after the race. I'll be preparing cupcakes today, yay for baking! I'm going with classic chocolate cupcakes, with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. Perfect for the kids.  After the cookout? The hubby and I will be parked on our couch, either asleep or awake cheering on the Ducks. I can't believe the Ducks are playing at 10:30 Eastern time. It'll be a miracle if we are able to stay awake for that. Then, there's Sunday...

Sunday is draft day! 

Yep, it's that time of year again for fantasy football! I can't wait to pick my team, because as of this very moment, I have not one clue of the direction I'm going. And I love that. One of our couple friends participates in the league with us, so they'll be here with us and we are making a tail-gate worthy spread. My girlfriend is making a taco dip and salsa, and I'm planning on whipping up bacon and cream cheese-filled jalapeños. And of course, there will be beer. No draft is complete with a cold brew!

Happy Labor Day Weekend friends!

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

Thai Pickled Cabbage-

1/2 cup lime juice

3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp kosher salt

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp ground ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1 head cabbage, thinly sliced

1 small jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced

Salad-

10 oz udon noodles, prepared according to package directions

1 cup carrot, shredded

1 chicken breast, grilled and chopped

Sauce-

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp honey

sesame seeds, thinly sliced scallions (optional-garnish)

Directions:

1. Prepare pickled cabbage- in a large mason jar, combine lime juice through garlic. Put lid on jar, and shake thoroughly. Open jar, and shove cabbage and jalapeños in. Cover, and shake. Place in fridge for 2 weeks, shaking every once in a while. 

2. In a large bowl, combine noodles, carrot, and chicken. Drain cabbage, and add to bowl. 

3. Prepare dressing- in a small bowl combine soy sauce through honey. Whisk to combine. Drizzle dressing over salad, toss to combine. Top with sesame seeds and scallions, if using. Serve immediately.

Printable Recipe

Thai Pickled Cabbage recipe adapted from Sidewalk Shoes.

Love this recipe? Try these!

Grilled Chicken Chow Mein

Hoisin Chicken with Spicy Cucumber Salad

Szechuan Green Beans with Ground Pork

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Treasure Box Tuesday

Raspberry Mint Ice Pops

All right, so it's after Labor Day. Which technically signals the end of summer. Malarky, I tell you. It's supposed to be in the 80's the entire week here, with nary a drop of rain. If that doesn't sound like summer, I don't know what does. And that in itself justifies one more teeny, tiny popsicle recipe :)

These are by far my favorite popsicles that I've made. Yes, better than the winesicles and the gummy bear popsicles with their booziness! Now, I may be slightly partial to the raspberries, but it always says something when I prefer fruit to booze. I highly recommend making these with your end-of-harvest raspberry bounties, you won't regret it.

Now, where was I yesterday and Monday? On Monday (the holiday), the hubby and I discovered that someone had dumped 2 very young puppies near our property. Never one to refuse caring for a fur baby and seeing how the animal shelter was closed for Labor Day, I didn't even think twice about boarding these guys for the night. It was a hot day, and we were headed to my sister-in-law's for a family cook-out. We decided to put them in the basement. It was hot that day, the basement is cool, and it has concrete floor (easy cleaning). I set them up with newspapers, food, water, toys, and blankets. I think they did ok while the hubby and I were out of the house, but they did not enjoy being in the basement that night. They cried all night long. I felt like slime. As soon as day broke on Tuesday, I moved them to the front porch. And suddenly, the world was right. The pups settled right down, passed out, and didn't make one peep from the porch. Sheesh. Should have put them there all along. Anyhoo, the hubby and I got them to the animal shelter yesterday. The employees told us that since the puppies were so young, they shouldn't have a problem finding homes. I hope so. They were sweet puppies, but you could tell they were going to be HUGE. I don't know what they were, they appeared to have some shepherd or maybe some Rottweiler in them.

So, that adventure is over. My dogs are exhausted today from "guarding" the house :) I'm having my morning coffee, and hoping these cuties find a good home. Maybe I'll have a popsicle later? Hard to say :)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup mint leaves
4 cups raspberries
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan, combine water, sugar, and mint. Cook 4 minutes, or until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, allow to sit for 15 minutes. Strain liquids through a sieve, discard mint leaves.
2. Combine sugar-water, raspberries, and lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse until smooth.
3. Divide mixture among popsicle molds (makes 8 popsicles). Insert craft sticks, freeze pops overnight or until set.

Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light

We Have A Roof!

Good afternoon!

I don't have too much to say today, I'm still recovering from a migraine I had Monday. I'm still feeling a bit foggy and detached, and a bit hung-overish. What a fun Labor Day, huh?

Anyways, as of yesterday, we have a roof and I wanted to post a couple of pics. These people meant business, showing up at 6 am. I almost had a heart attack, as I was letting the dogs out to do their business in my pajamas with my hair pointing every which way. They worked fast, and were gone by noon. Behind them, they left our finished roof. The hubby and I think it's bee-u-tiful :)

Please excuse the oh-so-classy dumpster out front :)

Another shot of the roof

Front-on shot

Let's get a closer look!

It's actually brown shingle. I think it will look more brown when the siding is on the house, since the siding is a taupe color.

Love it!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Crazy Week

Too busy to blog? That's me. I have been running around since last Friday! As last weekend was Labor Day, there was a mini-family reunion among Jerame's family at his Aunt Martha's house. The festivities started on Friday night at our humble abode. We had Jerame's cousin and his wife along with Jerame's Aunt Martha and Uncle Ron over on Friday night for drinks and board games. I definitely over indulged! Saturday and Sunday were spent at Martha and Ron's eating, drinking, doing karaoke, and playing corn hole. Again, a lot of over indulging! On Monday the hubby and I tried to recover until the afternoon when we had our fantasy football draft with my family. Tuesday was spent shopping as I pushed off my Monday schedule. Wednesday, the hubby and I drove to Cincinatti to pick up medicine for his mother. This normally 5 hour round trip ending up taking us considerably longer when one of the back roads we take was closed and we got lost on the detour, losing about an hour. Needless to say, the trip consumed the whole day and we didn't make it home till early evening. Thursday was going to be my down time but alas, we decided to have Martha and Ron over for dinner. This transformed my day off into a major day ON as I cleaned the whole house, went to the store for dinner supplies, and began to prep vegetables for dinner. I ended up making Chicken Primavera with fettuccine, grilled chicken, and roasted bell peppers and broccoli. It ended up being delicious! Friday ended up finally being my day off. I spent it well with a nice leisurely work out, catching up on reading my savings blogs, and playing with the puppies. It was a busy busy week, I am looking forward to a slow down this coming week :)