Bourbon chicken, some catch ups, and another deployment

Hey blog world! Remember me? No, you don't? Please forgive me for abandoning you. I just felt like I had nothing interesting to write about. But I do miss it and I love accounting for my boring lil life, so I guess I'll continue. Plus Charlie left this morning on a deployment so I want to account for what is happening since I delusionally think he'll care :-) Love you sweety!

 I made some yummy crockpot chicken the other day but didn't snap any pictures (whoops). It looked like crockpot chicken, haha! My dad randomly said he liked Bourbon chicken, and that he decided he likes "alcohol in meals" even though he doesn't drink a drop (and never has!). I knew Charlie would love it so I looked up a few reference points and came up with my own formula:

Pam spray (for the sides of the crockpot)

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tbs apple cider vinegar

1 tsp ginger

1 tbs garlic

1/2 cup whiskey

2 chicken breasts (for charlie)

4 chicken thighs (for dad)

*I would have done 4 breasts for Charlie but he was leaving on his deployment the next day*

I cooked it on high for 4 hours. It was yummy! Sorry for the lack of pictures.

Okay so more catch up will come soon but for now I'll just share some fun pics.

Here is Maya burying her little head in me at a sweet moment at Starbucks right after we got back from italy (yes I realize that was at the beginning of May).

I love when she does that! And sheesh, I look old. Can we speak about the fact that I recently had a birthday, but as you all know, I turned 24 yet again.

Charlie got me this for my birthday:

Amazing! Now I just need to find embroidery software compatible with Mac. I'm surprised by the lack of options. He also got me some boxing stuff which we'll now have to wait to use until he gets back in September.

My favorite part was probably this card from my parents:

Seriously - most fitting card! Almost made me less jealous of the European cruise my parents were on, lol!

I got a visit from this little one later in my birthday week: 

My how she has grown! I can't believe it's been a year since you stayed with us little "mazy" I miss you and your momma, but am so glad you're not too far in AZ.

Look how cute she is:

And guess what? This 1.5 year old is potty training! Birdie, whatever's in your water, we all need it!

"Peepee peepee!!!" She knew when to tell use and went in the potty. Amazing!

I actually got Charlie to take some pictures with me before he left, which is a huge accomplishment since he hates when I take pictures of him or us.

Haha this one is funny:

Check out his multi cam two piece flight suit!!! Too bad he can't wear it here when it's this hot.

I'll miss you my love, and can't wait to be with you in December. I love you!

Disneyland and food catch up!

 Hi all!

Long time no see. Decided to try out this blogger app on my phone (thanks for the idea, Jaren!). 

Well, been upto a lot here. First of all, I went to Italy! And came back. I may blog about that later. I have pictures but lets be realistic here, it was a couple months ago already. Whoopsies!

I also went to Disneyland with Stacy. Best trip! We found out Minnie is a DG!

And I may have photo bombed Mickey so I wouldn't have to wait in line for him. 

Bahahaha, obnoxious. 

Our favorite?

Definitely space mountain! Also, teacups, and the world of color show. This show put the bellagio water show to shame. Look at our pure joy:

Okay, I've been cooking up a storm. Charlie and I are staying with my parents while we rent our house out (to put a looooong story short), and I'm the family caretaker. I love it! I get everyone their groceries, run their errands, and of course cook. 

Here's my attempt at my great grandmas scones, best served with butter and jam (wish I could find clotted cream here!)

Mom requested ugat shmarim for her birthday after last year's surprise:

And I made her breakfast in bed:

I found my favorite way to cook a whole chicken:

And a great technique for perfect meatballs (these were turkey)

Made a couple pizzas with homemade whole wheat crust:

And got some candy molds that me and Jaren put to use for cupcake decor. 

I also cooked up a storm with Eden when I visited her and will post recipes for everything soon. 

Isn't she adorable!? Mmmm tamale pie.....0

Shredded Brussel Sprout Salad With Mandarins, Cranberries, and Almonds

I've been asked for Brussel Sprouts recipes 3 times in about 2 weeks so decided to post this, even though I have about 238473874 things to catch up on. Like that I am posting from Italy, sitting on a couch next to my hubby :-)

My little sis from DG, Caroline, posted a shredded Brussel Sprout salad on her blog a while ago, and I have been making them since. One of my go to salads is my mom's apple cider "slaw" with dill and pine nuts (it gets gobbled up every time I make it). I figured, Brussel Sprouts are just little cabbages, so why not? I love the salad, but not as much as I love roasted Brussel Sprouts, or these yummy ones. It's a close second though!

Ingredients:

-about 30 brussel sprouts, run through the food processor's shredder/grater thing, not in the bowl with the blade (or you can shred them with a knife if you want to cry for an hour), or buy pre-shredded (trader jos baby!)

-1/2 cup of dried cranberries

-1/2 cup of toasted nuts (almonds, pine nuts, walnuts)

-1/2 cup of canned mandarin oranges

- lemon dressing, recipe below (or you can use store bought raspberry vinagraite or whatever you want)

FYI, that's our wedding pattern, I love it :-) Wanted something casual or fancy. And I think it's pretty timeless. 

Moving on.

Toss everything together with the following:

-Juice of 2 lemons

-1 tablespoon of sugar or equivalent of splenda (or 1 tablespoon of honey/agave etc)

-2 teaspoons of minced garlic

-1/4 cup of olive oil

You can really use any acid instead of the lemon (apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar would be great choices). You could also use pomegranate seeds instead of the cranberries! Hmmmm I want to make that next.

Ciao to all!

Socializing and exercise helps, who knew?

Hi all,
The last few days I have spent time with lots of friends and have worked out a lot. And guess what? I feel great! Who would have thought.

On Thursday, my chapter sister from my sorority Megan came into town, because her fiancé was here for a trip and they decided to make a trip out of it. I told her I'd text her when I was close, but since I was driving I used Siri. Good thing I glanced down before I sent it because this is what Siri thought I said:


Okay, I seriously don't remember what I even said! Obviously something like, "what hotel are you at". Psychokiller? Really Siri?? That's not even a word my computer recognizes right now - the red dotted line is under it!

I had a lot of fun with Megan and Stephan. We wandered around Bellagio and had a drink. The conservatory was decked out for Chinese New Year:


And here's a blurry one:


The next day I met them for lunch at the buffet at Caesar's. My dad loves buffets and would always drag us to them. Thank goodness that buffet in Las Vegas now means amazing gourmet food, in small frou frou portions! I love it!

Here we are very very full (and looking 12 and 14 years old respectively):


I rushed home and changed to meet my friend Stacy (yes the pastry chef who saves my baking) for a class at a studio called Eleve. It's a class where everyone has a mini trampoline, and it's a core/cardio/yoga type workout. I loved it! I should have taken a picture of it - if I go back I will. Stacy and I went to Dom Demarco's for dinner and shared a small white pizza. I was PLANNING on going home and studying for my master's, but Jaren texted me during dinner and said she and Roger had decided to take shots, and it felt wrong that I wasn't there. For a woman who doesn't drink often, I guess I just really love shots and my friends know!! Ha!

I wish I could just post the entire text conversation with Jaren because every word out of her mouth cracks me up. But I have a feeling it would upset her. So after dinner I drove over, and did NOT have a shot, but a baileys banana milkshake. It's SO easy - you just blend baileys with frozen bananas!

At around 11 Clara woke up and scared the crap out of me! She just all of a sudden appeared behind the railing upstairs.
She wouldn't cuddle with me and only wanted Jaren, what the heck Clara, I thought we had a thing going.


Today I met Haley at the Farmer's Market and walked around, where we ran into Stacy. It is gorgeous out today! So excited, spring is coming! Wow, I am using a lot of exclamation points, if I wasn't me I'd probably be judging me right now. I mean, I'd probably be judging me right now!!!!!!!

I went to the gym and did this elliptical workout:


Loved it! Definitely had an elevated heart rate.

After I came home and had a strawberry/spinach/mint smoothie, I decided to study at my parent's kitchen table and all of a sudden there's an Odge in my hood!


My dad has such a funny sense of humor. Of course then my mom made me wait like that until Lee was there as well:


Hehe, love my bubbas.

I am off to Nikki's house tonight for a much needed girls night. Happy Saturday and Shavua tov.

!!!!!

Today's a little better

Hi all,
Happy Valentine's Day!
I am not a big celebrator of this holiday - single or in a relationship. I never got sad that I was single on Valentines day for the few years I was, and I never hyped it up to any boyfriend or to Charlie (the only boyfriend that really matters!). Nevertheless, I want to write a post filled with Love today, since yesterday was filled with anger!

I am blessed and grateful for everything in my life, so here's a recap of the last few weeks!

Baking cookies a few weeks ago, I realized I didn't have enough butter at room temp. So I baked the first few batches with sticks of butter in my back pockets to soften it. Worked amazingly!


Katy came to help (my oh my how my Katy has been domesticated). She kept calling me butterbutt :-)

Love you Katy!





I made some yummy food and broke every rule of keeping kosher:


Now cover them with a brown sugar/butter mix, and tell me it's not amazing.
(thanks Haley for the recipe)

I helped find a tiny little puppy a forever home: 
Thanks Jodi for taking him in and doing all you do with animal rescue!

I tried to make a pbj cheesecake crescent roll something. It was okay.


Found some ancient cookie products from my mom's collections:


Haven't used it yet, not sure if it would even work!


Look how cute my mom is - she wrote her name on it in such a cute spot, love her.


I played with Raggedy Hannah and her boyfriend at Starbucks (Thanks Olivia!)


I babysat our good friends' son and played mama for a morning - what fun!

Maya liked being a big sister. His momma met up with us in the afternoon at McDonalds, and Maya waited outside like this the ENTIRE time:


I fantasized about soup and bread with Stacy:


And took a video message while driving to send to charlie on a day I felt pretty. I even put on lipstick!

Believe it or not, my hands were on the wheel and this was handsfree!

Usually when we Skype or FaceTime I am in pjs with no make up, I wanted him to remember he has a pretty wifey.


I spent some time with Jaren and her good friend Marlen - separate post for that coming.

And I ate at Rachel's Kitchen a few too many times!


This weekend I am going to try to go to a kickboxing class at a boxing gym with my friend Ali (who is something like 7-8 months pregnant and still doing it!). Maybe it will help the feelings from yesterday?

I also have two books to read - starting with The Round House. I haven't read in a while and am excited.

Sending love everyone's way!