A Little Rambling

During the school year, the thought of having endless hours of nothing to do sounds soothing and wonderful, a kind of hazy ideal of naps and snacks and lazing in bed with a book.  However, now that summer is here and I don't have anything to occupy my mornings, I've managed to get bored quite quickly.  It's going to likely be worse now that Mom's working out of town for several weeks at once because there's not anyone to be bored with!  So, I have begun questing for different ways to occupy myself.  I've gotten through a couple bestsellers, and I've been doing well with my goal to make at least one new recipe each week.  I've gone dancing at least twice, had a Shakespeare night, played a few game nights, and watched more hours of Netflix than I can count. In defiance of boredom, I decided to do something I've never done before.  I made a skirt! and one, and two, and a twirly twirly twirly! When Jessica and I went swing dancing at Kats Korner o...

The other night, mom cut up a fresh pineapple, and I looooooove pineapple.  I decided I needed to make a smoothie, but not the healthy kind.  It was perfect.  Light, fruity, delicious. Ingredients 2 or 3 scoops Haagen-Dasz pineapple coconut ice cream about 1/2 c of ice as many pineapple chunks as you want about a cup of pina colada mixer Directions 1) Mix it all together with a blender. 2) Genießen.  (enjoy!)

I'm sitting here snacking on this week's recipe as I blog.  I was at the grocery store earlier, realizing that the week was almost half over, and while I had cooked several times, I hadn't made anything from a new recipe, (which is my challenge to myself over the summer).  Mom wanted some hummus, but the store only had roasted red pepper (my favorite!), and since she doesn't like peppers, she hadn't bought any.  So, I decided to make her some. Hummus is delicious, high in protein, gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan.  It's great with pita or veggies and makes a good on-the-go meal or a healthy snack.  I chose rosemary to flavor it because a) it's my favorite and b) I have a large rosemary bush in the backyard, so it's convenient.  Also, you'll notice that there's no tahini* in my hummus, for two reasons: I don't like sesame, and we didn't have any anyways. Ingredients 2 cans garbanzo beans, drained 1/4 c olive oil 1/4 c lemon juice ...

This last week was long and wonderful and relaxing and just what I needed.  It was filled with fun and adventure, and so fair warning: this is likely to be a long post! Day 1: Phoenix - Ft. Lauderdale In the early morning hours, I met Marc at security and we boarded our plane.  I usually fly alone, and I enjoyed the single best advantage of flying with a buddy - trading massages throughout the flight.  Passes the time nicely and makes those chairs more bearable.  Once in Ft. Lauderdale, we caught a bus to the car rental place and met Chantel and Shantel and picked up our big ol' Ford Expedition, which fit all 8 of us and our luggage (snugly).  I was the driver, even though Matt's older, and I was thrilled to find it had a little back-up camera in the rearview mirror to keep me from crashing into anything.  Matt, Chris, Austin, and Sicily took a train from Palm Beach to meet us, and when they got there I got a running, jumping, spinning cinema-worthy-epic-a...

A couple weeks ago, I saw a recipe for "Cheddar Bay Biscuits," a knock-off of something served at Red Lobster, where I have never eaten nor have any desire to eat, as I don't like seafood.  Wait, I take that back, I ate at one in New York, for reasons unknown.  I ate a caesar salad, my traditional seafood avoidance dish. Anyways. All of a sudden, I heard of these biscuits often, and always with glowing praise for their deliciousness.  Having spent the last week in the tropical paradise of the Bahamas, (I promise, that blog post is coming soon!) I've heard a lot about seafood and different recipes and approaches, but this is the only one that appealed to me, as it's NOT fish.  Finally being home and looking forward to not eating out, I decided I needed to try this recipe.  I enjoyed myself so much that I have set a summer goal: make at least one thing from an actual recipe every week. So, I give you a recipe based on a food I never tried first - Red Lobster...