Life Lately

Hello? Hello out there! Figured I should stop by since we're almost halfway through February. How did that happen, by the way? 

Here are a few updates on me since I haven't blogged in like, a month. Woops...

Teaching
I have been teaching my first class this semester and it has been going really well. The class is Crime & Justice Policy and it is mostly upperclassmen. The students are really awesome and definitely can get into the class discussions, which is great. Their first exam was today and the grades turned out pretty well so I'm happy! The next unit is talking about courts and corrections, so I'm excited to delve into an area that I'm more passionate about. Also, it takes SO long to prep for one 75-min class (at least 1.5/2 days). SO much respect and gratitude for those who teach all day!

Dissertation
I defended my proposal last week and got the green light to go ahead with the analysis! Now I'm working on that aspect. I need to defend by late March, which means I have to have it to my committee by early March. So basically I have about a month to do my analyses, write up the results, and write up the discussion/conclusion chapter. Bring it on.

At my proposal defense. Hello Powerpoint.

House
So we're officially in the 'pending' stage of buying our first home! I can't wait to go into more details, but that will have to wait until we close at the end of this month. It happened way faster than we expected but God's has very clearly guided us through this whole process and (hopefully) buying this specific home.

Miscellaneous Points

•  Super bowl. We made amazing deep dish pizza, completely homemade. Matt gets all the credit for the crust and he did a great job!

• I miss running. I was recently diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in my right foot so I've been trying to do my stretches multiple times every day. I have been able to run a little bit, but no more than 2 miles. Hopefully I can start building up the mileage again soon because the weather has been amazing lately here in Texas.
• Valentine's Day is upon us and instead of going out as is the stereotypical thing, we are going to stay at home. We're planning on slow roasting lamb shanks and maybe going out for dessert afterwards. It will be my first time cooking with lamb, so I hope it goes well!

I'm sure there are other things, but that sums up a lot of the big stuff. Figured I would at least put this out there so no one thought I had stopped blogging completely!

Do yourself a favor

And go make these. Now. Because you have to wait several hours to eat them. The wait will be worth it, my friends, I promise you.

Before the powdered sugar gets added

What are they, you ask? Pioneer Woman's Knock You Naked Brownies. They are probably the best thing I've ever made (which is saying something). They're most certainly my favorite dessert item I've ever made. Matt says his grandmother's apple pie is still his favorite dessert, but this is a close second. The brownies themselves have a layer of caramel in the middle, making them extra gooey, rich, and delicious. The powdered sugar doesn't overpower it at all either.

Post-powdered sugar, all ready to enjoy

As I said, you have to make them several hours before indulging serving. I baked them Saturday around 9:30 AM and we had to sit in our apartment all day smelling them before enjoying them for dessert at a friend's house. Painful-- yes. Worth it-- yes. You definitely want the caramel to set.

Layers from bottom: brownie, caramel, chocolate chips, brownie, powdered sugar. 

They are delicious served chilled with a glass of cold milk or vanilla ice cream (Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla if you know what's good for you). 

I hope your Monday is a good one with images of delicious brownies floating in your head ;)

Five Things for Friday

I am so happy it's Friday. This week has been exhausting, more so for Matt than me, but we'll get to that in a minute! Here is my list of weekly happenings...

1. Why has this week been exhausting? Matt's taking 2 summer courses online and for over a week the videos he was supposed to watch were unavailable. The server was down for that long! Anyway, they came back on Monday so he watched 1 lecture Monday, 3 on Tuesday, 2 Wednesday, and finally finished getting caught up last night. Oh, and he works full time, so this involved him going to bed waaay past our normal bed time. In an attempt to be a good wife, I tried to stay up. But after 10 PM, I was out :( We're just happy he's caught up now!
2. We're going with my family to Disney World next January and I got to make our dining reservations this past week (yup, gotta make them 180 days in advance)! Let's just say we'll be eating at awesome places, like 

   

   Be Our Guest (as in from Beauty & the Beast)! Source

3. Matt & I will be running a 5K at Disney, but I decided to push myself even more. I want to run a 10K sometime this fall. Yikes, it's scary actually typing that out- makes it more real! I'm yet to sign up for one because they're not as popular as 5Ks and half marathons. If you know of any in the DFW area, let me know!
4. We will be making these brownies this weekend for a dinner party. Can you say yum?

   

   Just minus the nuts; source

5. It's date night tonight and I have no clue what we're doing. I'm sure whatever Matt has planned will be great, as long as it involves a good bed time! :P

What about you? Any fun plans this weekend?

Five Things for Friday

I hope everyone had a great week! Me? I'm just pumped for it to be Friday. It has been a long one... Anyway, here are some random happenings in our life lately.

1) Yesterday I felt like baking as well as spoiling my husband (he's had a rough week, guys). So I made him his favorite-- oatmeal raisin cookies. Thankfully I'm not one who minds raisins in her cookies, so it works out. Anyway, I used this recipe (just subbed raisins for the chocolate chips) and they are absolutely delicious. Highly recommend :)

Yes, you get the cell phone pic today. I
assure you, they are tastier than they look.

2) Yesterday was awesome for another reason-- my shoes came in! Due to my new hobby of running, I've been having some foot issues. Along with getting 2 steroid shots in my foot (don't recommend, BTW), I have been in the slow process of replacing my shoes. My two immediate needs were tennis shoes (which I got from a local running store) and sandals. I used to live in flip flops up until this incident, so it has come as quite a shock to not have them anymore. Anyway, at the recommendation of a fellow runner, I went to our nearest Walking Company store and purchased some (pricey) sandals. They had to be shipped though, but it was worth it. I wore them like slippers yesterday, they're that comfortable. And cute, right?

If you want a better angle than this, click here

3) We bought a traditional coffee maker several months ago to make decaf coffee at night. We have a Keurig, but don't like paying for K-cups, hence the 'old-school' coffee machine. Anyway, I started making decaf coffee around 2 in the afternoon, sticking it in the fridge to cool down, and come about 8, 9 at night- bam! Homemade iced coffee. It's great to have while relaxing with Matt at the end of the day. It's the little things, right?

4) I have an Android phone, mainly because when I bought my first 'real' smartphone, I didn't want to pay $200 for an iPhone. However, the new iOS 7 that was released... I kind of want it. The Control Center aspect is particularly cool... It makes my 2 year old HTC phone and its lousy battery life look pitiful.

5) We get 2 date nights this weekend, which I'm pretty excited about. With Matt working late a lot and then having to do school when he gets home, quality time has been lacking lately (hence why our decaf coffee time is so valuable). So not only do we get to do our traditional date night tonight, with whatever Matt has planned, but we will have a second one Saturday night thanks to an attractive Groupon. Gotta love those deals!

What about you? Anything exciting happen in your life? What about plans for the weekend?

This weekend, I...

Linking up for another edition of our weekend in review. Go here to see what others have been up to!

This weekend we were quite busy, especially in the cooking department!

This weekend, we made homemade pizza, on a pizza stone nonetheless, and it turned out amazingly! 

Beef & bacon pizza, from this amazing cookbook

This weekend, we used my dad's breadmaker that hasn't been used in about 15 years and made some honey whole wheat bread. It also turned out great! 

This weekend, we grilled up some Tequila Lime Chicken (from this cookbook), made strawberry limeade, and enjoyed a Mexican feast. So much good food!

This weekend, we took a relaxing walk around our nearby park system and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine before it got too hot. (See, we did more than just eat!)

This weekend, I got to do a lot of reading. I have recently finished reading my first Stephen King books: 11/22/63 and The Green Mile. Both were fantastic and I highly recommend them.

That seems to sum up my weekend. What about you? What did you do?

Monday Update!

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a good Monday, well as good as one could hope being that it is Monday. Figured I would pop in and give my readers (AKA our family and other hold outs) a quick update!

1. Texas finally gave us a beautiful weekend! After freezing last Wednesday & Thursday, the sun came out, temperatures crept into the 80s(!) and Matt and I took full advantage. Well, not full as we still had to study, but we did take a lot of walks around the park system near our apartment. There is a large dog park near our place and it was fun to see all the dogs playing with each other!
2. We did a decent amount of cooking this weekend. We made this dish on Saturday in the slow cooker and let me tell you- it was delicious! Bacon + BBQ sauce + apples, slow cooked all day, made for some delicious chicken breasts! Highly recommend it!
3. I'm sure there will be a blog post coming later when I can completely wrap my mind around this, but I think I decided what I want to be 'when I grow up.' I want to be a professor. Eek that's still terrifying to write but after doing a lot of praying and talking with Matt & some profs at my school, that feels right though downright scary. Anyway, that's all I'll say on that point.
4. We are taking a big family trip to Disney World next January, and last week Matt & I signed up to run the Family Fun 5k! It isn't too competitive or anything, but we get to run through Epcot which will be awesome! Let me know if you have any creative costume ideas- we want to do shirts of some kind but not sure.
5. I wrote 18 pages in two days. That has to be some sort of record. Yay white collar crime!

I think that's about it. Because I can't leave this post without any pictures, here is a pic I stole from an Epcot 5K in the past. So excited!

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Apple Crisp Pancakes

I'm going to warn you now- make sure you have about 30 minutes free after you read this so you can make these. You will thank me later :)

See these? These are apple crisp pancakes. You won't be able to have just 2, promise. The texture of these pancakes are what makes them unique. See that crust on top? That's the crisp part- oats mixed with apples & spices- that was cooked into the pancake. Dude. As I said, it's the texture that really makes these pancakes stand apart. They're delicious to boot and since you're eating apples, you can convince yourself it is a reasonably healthy breakfast, right? We'll keep that between you and me!

Anyway, on to the recipe.

Apple Crisp Pancakes, adapted from here
Ingredients:
Pancakes:
2 cups Bisquick mix (or similar baking mix)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup peeled & diced apple (I used 1 Fuji apple because it was in my fridge but I imagine any kind would work; recipe recommends Granny Smith)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup oats (either old-fashioned or quick-cooking)
2 tbsp + 2 tsp cold butter

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg


Directions:
-Heat griddle to 350. Spray with non-stick spray if needed.

-In medium bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, & nutmeg. Cut in butter using pastry blender or fork until mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

-In large bowl, stir all pancake ingredients until well blended.

-For each pancake, pour 1/4 cupful batter onto hot griddle. Sprinkle each pancake evenly with 1 heaping tbsp of streusel mixture.

-Cook 2-3 minutes or until bubbly on top & dry around edges. Flip & cook for 1-1.5 minutes or until lightly golden brown around edges.

I think our batch had about 11 pancakes total. We had leftover streusel topping, so you may want to half that portion of the recipe. Feel free to top it with maple syrup, etc, but we didn't feel it needed it!

Matt pouring batter & Lindsey applying the topping!

Cooking away

Yum!

I hope you enjoy them as much as we did! :)

Cheese & Chocolate Make Everything Better

To continue our weekend of festivities prior to the beginning of the fall semester, Matt and I visited a nearby location of the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant. I had tried fondue once a few years ago but Matt had never had it so I knew he was in for a treat!

The DFW area has restaurant week(s) where several area fine dining locations have a price-fixed 3 course meal where $7 of each meal are donated to a local food bank. We thought it would be a great time to take advantage of that deal and chose the Melting Pot as I had been wanting Matt to try it. Plus, we would get a good deal for the amount of food we ordered and I can't pass up a good deal! 

Anyway, our Saturday night dinner did not disappoint! It took us a little while to get used to the cooking your own food aspect during the main course, but we got the hang of it and enjoyed the delicious cheese, sauces, and of course the melted chocolate. Dessert is always everyone's favorite course, right?

But enough words. Here are the pictures of our delicious meal, via my lovely cell phone pictures.

The first course: green apples, various veggies, and bread

Main course: potstickers, steak, chicken, & shrimp plus a myriad of sauces

And of course dessert: strawberries, bananas, rice krispies, brownies, marshmallows,  pound cake, and cheesecake!

All done!

Yum! Just looking at these makes me want to go back like, now. 

Pretty Amazin' Jambalaya

So one of the many things Matt and I did over spring break was make this delicious jambalaya. 

[I had to steal the picture from here as I was too busy enjoying mine to take a picture! Ours did not have shrimp]


It was so incredibly delicious! I know I say that about everything but dude, this is going in my repeat recipe list, which is quite a feat as I tend to try new recipes way more than repeat old ones. There are quite a handful of ingredients and it is time consuming, but it is more than worth it in my opinion (and my husband's!). 


If you don't want all the meat, that's fine. The original recipe called for pork sausage and shrimp, neither of which we used and we did not feel like we were missing anything. 


Jambalaya
Adapted from here
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
12oz andouille sausage, diced
12 oz turkey bacon, diced

1 oz butter
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
2 celery stalks, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 dried bay leaf
2 1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (didn't have, substituted chili powder)
2 1/4 cups brown rice
1 15oz can crushed tomatoes
2 1/2 cups rich chicken broth

Steps
- Preheat a large cast-iron pot over high heat. Lower the heat to medium and add the sausage, bacon and butter. Cook the meat as evenly as possible, stirring slowly, until the fat is released.

- Season the chicken with salt and pepper, add it to the pot. Once the chicken has browned, about 5 minutes, add the onions and cook for 15 minutes. Add the bell pepper, celery and garlic. Continue to stir, allowing the ingredients to brown without burning, about 5 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked, remove & shred, then add back to pot.

- Add the thyme, bay leaf, paprika, cayenne, and rice. Keep stirring for 5 to 7 minutes over medium heat.

- Add the tomatoes and broth, raise the heat back to high until the liquid boils, and then cover and reduce to a low simmer until rice is almost cooked through, about 25 minutes.

-Season to taste and enjoy!

Happy Pi Day!

3.14159265...etc etc. Hence why March 14 is also known as Pi Day.


In yet another edition of why I love being married to an engineer, Matt and I baked last night.


What did we make??

Mini Apple Pies!

And we even put it in our Pi pan. Because we're nerds. And we got it as a Christmas gift. 

You can go here for the recipe. It is time-consuming peeling all those apples and whatnot, but it isn't difficult and they are absolutely delicious, so in my book they're worth it!


They are now off to Matt's work where fellow Pi/pie-enthusiasts will enjoy them.


And for some action shots, because no cooking-related blog post is complete without them.

My husband being the expert apple-peeler 

Mix of all the spices + sugar + flour

Turns out a coffee mug was the perfect size to cut the dough!

8 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped mixed with the seasonings

Put the apples in the crust

Slice of butter on top, followed by scraps of dough, then brushed with melted butter 

Right out of the oven! Yum!

 So go make these for the math enthusiasts in your life, or just the pie enthusiasts that you know of. Matt brought up the point that you could really make any kind of pie like this, and makes it much easier to eat then 'real' pie. And you get more crust, which is oftentimes my favorite part!

Woohoo!

It's spring break! I've been so looking forward to this week! Not so much in the fact that I won't have to do work, that I'm going somewhere cool, or I get to sleep in. Oh no, none of those things are really true.


I have a list of all the things I need to do school-related. It takes up an entire Word document page. 


I am getting up early with my husband like normal so he can go to work and all that. Man, this morning was bad. Daylight Savings Time seems to be rougher than I remember...


But, here are the good things about my spring break 2012:

• We got to hang out with some good friends this Saturday and have a lot of fun
• I don't have to drive to campus
• I don't have classes. I'm particularly excited about not having my late night class tonight! Woohoo!
• Have a fun day in Ft Worth on Thursday with my husband
• Visit a dear friend on Saturday
• Cook a lot more. On the agenda are things like mini-apple pies, jambalaya, twice-baked spaghetti squash, and stir fry.

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 Pi day on Wednesday- I thought making mini-apple pies would be quite appropriate!

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Making some jambalaya, minus the shrimp for my seafood-disliking husband 

None of these recipes involve the slow cooker and involve actual cooking that i normally don't have time for. I'm excited!

What about you? Any exciting plans for this week, even if you're not on spring break?

Fat Tuesday + A Recipe

My mom and her side of the family are all New Orleans natives, so I have a particular attachment to that city and its unique culture. Of course today marks the official day of Mardi Gras, being Fat Tuesday and all. Since we couldn't go to New Orleans to celebrate with the family (in a clean fashion, no Bourbon St Mardi Gras for us!), Matt & I made my grandmother's recipe of red beans & rice! 

Source

I've never made it before but it is so easy, so delicious, and makes tons of leftovers so I count that as a win! It's best to let the beans soak overnight, so you may not be able to make it for today, but that shouldn't stop you from trying an easy New Orleans recipe!




Ingredients:

-1 lb dried red beans

-1 onion

-1 bell pepper

-stick butter

-salt, pepper, sage, rosemary, bay leaf

-1 lb smoky sausage, sliced, or a ham hock (we used smoked turkey sausage)

Directions:

-Rinse the beans then put them in a pot and cover them with water, filling the pot to about an inch or so over the beans. Cover and let sit overnight.

I must give a shout-out to my amazing photographer, Matt :)

 

After sitting all night... definitely a different color and the beans grew! Like magic...

 -Next day, drain the water from the bean pot and refill it with even more water. Set it on the stove over medium heat to start boiling.


-In the meantime, slice your bell pepper, onion, and sausage. Saute the veggies in butter while waiting for the water to boil

-Once the water is boiling and the veggies are soft, throw the veggies & sausage into the pot and stir well. 

-Add your seasonings, stir it around, then let it cook for 5 minutes. Taste it and adjust your seasonings accordingly. What kind of taste are you looking for? Whatever is good for you :)

-Cover the pot and let it cook for several hours, at least 1.5 to 2 hours. Once the beans are soft and the broth has turned the color of the beans, you have 2 options to get the broth thicker:
1) Add 1/4 to 1/2 stick of butter and stir every 5 minutes to let it cook
AND/OR
2) Smush several beans (about 50-100 or so) up against the side of the pot and mix well, again stirring every 5 minutes


-Let it cook 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally (in 5 minute intervals), while you prepare your rice.


-Serve over rice and enjoy!

I was quite happy with our first solo attempt at red beans, I was just missing having some king cake for dessert!

How Pinteresting!

Dude. It's February first. I literally cannot believe it. As this semester is particularly crazy, I need to start doing a lot of my cooking on the weekend. Otherwise it is every recipe gets thrown in the slow cooker. I like those recipes, but sometimes I want to actually cook. You know, with a skillet or something. Plus I can cook with Matt, which makes it 10 times more interesting fun. 


So I've been on the lookout for some fun and tasty recipes we could make in the coming weekends, and here are some I've found!

Strawberry Balsamic Pizza with Chicken, Sweet onion and Bacon... Om nom nom

Twice-baked stuffed spaghetti squash

Chicken gyros

Healthy spinach lasagna rolls

And because no food-related post is complete without one from the Pioneer Woman...

Short ribs in tomato sauce

All of these come from my pinterest board. And of course link-up with Michelle at the Vintage Apple so we can see your finds!

Reading, IKEA, Reading, Baked Oatmeal, Reading

That about sums up my weekend! This semester is starting off fast and it looks like it will be much more time-consuming than the last one (and probably any other semester I've ever had). Three fairly difficult courses, TA'ing for a couple of classes, working on editing a paper, plus doing all of my typical duties means I don't have much free time!


In preparation for how much reading I will be doing this semester, we got a laser printer. We already have an all-in-one inkjet, but just the sheer number of articles I will be reading make it much more cost-efficient to have a laser printer. We didn't have a formal 'home' for the other printer (seriously, it was living on the floor under the desk), so after purchasing this new one we knew we had to find homes for both of them.


Enter IKEA,  the Swedish land of all of our other post-wedding furniture purchases. After perusing the selection for an hour or so, trying to figure out if this small coffee table type thing would work or what about this bookshelf, we finally settled on this one:

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Those shelves are nice and adjustable, so we only put in one of them so I can have tall things sitting on the shelves, like books and filing systems. The Type A, mega-organizer in me is quite happy. The printer sit on top, I have plenty of room to store my articles and other materials, and it sorta kinda matches our bedroom furniture-- what's not to love? 


Anyway, after building our new bookshelf, I started reading. And reading. I pretty much read all weekend, pausing for food and work out sessions with Matt. All of that reading was for one class, too. Definitely made me think long and hard about why I want my Ph.D. Thankfully Matt was there to remind me when I wanted to throw the highlighter across the room! 

We still managed to fit in some other things though, like a nice chill date of Freebird's Burrito's and watching a not-so-bad movie. We also made this on Saturday morning. HIGHLY recommend it! It came together quite quickly, it is healthy, and it is different than cereal. Win win!

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I am sorry to say that my posting will probably decrease this semester, along with my ability to read all of the blogs I follow. I will still try to post the random fun things we do, and just what's on my mind as I'm sure I will need another outlet for stress asides from the gym! 


I hope everyone has a great start to their week!