20 Aug 2010
by jmommy08
in Fabulous Food Fridays, Five Question Fridays, My Superhero, The Juice
Did you ever use a recipe but kind of not measure the ingredients and end up with something so much more wonderful than the original recipe? I did that last night for dinner and let me tell you – even the leftovers were amazing! So without further ado…
Taco Goulash
1 small onion (or half one large onion), chopped
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
1 small green pepper, seededand chopped
2 cans beef broth
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 box vegetable rotini
1/2 cup salsa
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin powder
In a large saucepan, warm the olive oil and then cook the onion until translucent. Add green pepper, broth, diced tomatoes, black beans, vegetable rotini, salsa, chili powder, and cumin. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!
I love easy yummy meals – especially when they don’t require a meat purchase because then they’re even cheap!
Hope you enjoy – and for some entertaining reading while you’re stuffing your face with the yumminess – it’s Five Question Friday!
1. Do you have any nicknames and if so how did it come about?
My hubby and I have nicknames for each other – I call him my melon (When Harry Met Sally reference) and he calls me his lobster (Friends reference). When we were living in separate states, I got him a lobster to cuddle with!
2. What is your birth order amongst your siblings?
I am my mother’s oldest, but my father’s third (maybe fourth) child. It puts me in an interesting position because I am the oldest, but we have a brother older than me that we know too!
3. In a movie of your life, who would play your significant other?
Meet Josh Lucas. I think he would be as close physically as I’m going to get – except for the blue eyes – Superhero has brown eyes.
4. What is currently your favorite song?
Hmmm…my absolute favorite is Standing Outside the Fire by Garth Brooks. I am really liking Love Like Crazy and Keep On Lovin’ You.
5. Are you saving your money for anything right now? Big or small purchase?
I am saving gift cards that I keep getting to get a yellow Kitchenaid stand mixer.
Head on over to My Little Life to check out other Five Question Friday answers!
06 Aug 2010
by jmommy08
in Fabulous Food Fridays, Five Question Fridays
I have missed you!
We’re veering away from Fabulous Food Fridays this week so I can play catch up! Although, I do have a pork butt roast in the crock to make pulled pork for dinner that smelled devine when I left this morning. That is your dose of food for today!
I hope all is well with you. All is well with me – no worries there.
My mother and I took an impromptu trip a few weeks ago – which is what threw me off of blogging; well that and being pretty consistently busy at work. But I’m back now.
We have a very busy August coming up. Superhero found the camera cord, so I will be able to invite you all to join us on our adventures. This weekend we are going to the St Andrew Society’s Highland Games and a birthday party for Baby J’s buddy (I can’t believe he’s one). In a few weeks, my mom will be coming down for a weekend and then the next week Baby J and I are going to Washington DC to the National Zoo and the Maryland Rennaisance Festival. I look forward to sharing it all with you!
In case you didn’t notice, I’ve added a new page! Please take a moment to check out My Recipe Book. It’s a little sparse now, but will have many more recipes added in time.
Now…onto the important stuff!
1. Are you a neat sleeper or a messy sleeper?
Messier than heck! I have really weird night terrors (for lack of a better thing to call them). I will wake up in the middle of a dream thinking the dream is real and still happening. Last night, I dreamt Baby J was on the bed with us but was going to end up over the opposite edge from me. I sat up to grab her and Superhero caught me and broke me out of it. Totally weird, I know. Outside of that issue, I move quite a bit in my sleep and usually end up with the covers all tangled around me.
2. Fill in the blank. I wish I was more ________________.
I wish I was more energetic. I get home at the end of the day and there’s laundry that needs to be done, dishes that need to be washed, carpeting that is in desperate need of vaccuuming, floors that need swept, a bathroom that needs cleaned, a tub that needs scrubbed, and all I want to do is curl up in bed with my babies!
3. What is something that you wish you had been warned about?
We signed up for a lead abatement grant program last year to help with the horrible issues in our bathroom (I’ll put up pictures someday that will be scarier than a Rob Zombie flick). If I had known that a year later, three or four more program applications later, I would still be waiting for my bathroom to get fixed, I may not have applied. It’s not that I’m ungrateful – I mean, we’ve got a new roof, had lots of electrical work done, had fire alarms installed on every floor as well as CO2 detectors, and have a whole long list of other things that are going to get fixed for next to no cost to us – but if you saw my bathroom, you would understand why I cannot stand this delay!
4. What was the best thing you ever found at a garage sale/flea market?
Well, considering I get all my produce from the
Hartville Marketplace/Flea Market I consider $3 bags of apples the best thing ever – but I’m sure that’s not the direction the question intended. I did get a bike and an old laptop just before I went off to college at a garage sale – so those were great buys! But I have to say the best things I have found at “garage sales” are anything baby related at
Moms2Moms sales in the Detroit-area. These are the greatest sales ever and I actually schedule a weekend at the beginning of each season to go get clothes for Baby J. I mean, what’s better than a bag full of onesies for a dollar? Or a Fisher Price Jumparoo for $30? Can’t beat deals like that!
5. If you could have any meal brought to you right now, what would it be?
Hmmm…I would love some ooey gooey homemade cinnamon buns! That just sounds divine and it’s been to hot to even think about making them lately. Served up with a yummy fruit salad, a mug of steamed soy milk with raspberry flavoring and a glass of grape juice; I would be a happy happy woman!
Hope you have a WONDERFUL weekend!
09 Jul 2010
by jmommy08
in Five Question Fridays
Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to leave a comment to let me know you were here.
1. What is one food you could eat everyday?
Dutch Apple Pie. I LOVE Dutch Apple Pie. Okay, if I ate it every day, I would be as big as a house, but at least I wouldn’t have to ever see a doctor. You know what they say – an apple a day keeps the doctor away! Do you think that includes the one in pies?
2. Are you working in the career you thought you would be when you were 18?
Nope – at 18 I was in my first year of college taking education courses to teach High School History. Maybe someday, I’ll go back and get my education certification. Or maybe I’ll work my way up with the city and be a public servant my whole life. It wouldn’t be a bad thing.
3. What is something that you wish you would have done when you were younger and you didn’t?
Umm…I think this one is so hard to answer because I’m only 26. So I don’t really look at anything and wish I had done it – I still am hopeful that I’ll get to do it. Someday, I will get to go to Japan and walk on the floorboards that sing in the temple in Kyoto. Someday, I’ll get to go see the sunset over Alaska. Would it have been easier without a child? Probably, but by the time I can actually afford to go, I think Baby J will be old enough to enjoy it with me.
4. What color are your kitchen walls?
Yellow. My kitchen is sunflower themed. I have red-wood cabinets, yellow walls and red curtains with a sunflower border (which I made myself – love them!).
5. Do you remember what your very first favorite song was?
Probably Peter, Paul, & Mary’s Puff the Magic Dragon. We grew up on Peter, Paul, & Mary. They were the first concert I ever saw. Since then, my favorite song has been and still is Standing Outside the Fire by Garth Brooks. Although, I have lots of other songs that I love!
Check out more Five Questions at
Mama M’s.
25 Jun 2010
by jmommy08
in Five Question Fridays
Double posts again today! Stay tuned for some tips on yummy homemade pie crusts!
I thought I would join in with Five Question Friday and since this week’s questions are focused on music, I thought this was the perfect time to join. (I’m a fan of music – can you tell?)
1. Do you know how to play a musical instrument?
I played the French Horn, violin, and clarinet in Elementary school, but stuck with the clarinet into Middle school. I picked up the Bassoon in eighth grade and the tenor sax in eleventh. Now, I play nothing. I sing all the time though – much to my husband’s dismay. If you were to ask him if I had a good voice, he’d say “Sometimes.” That’s his I-have-to-sleep-next-to-this-woman safety answer.
2. What is your pet peeve while driving?
Old people who drive like typical old people. They’re all over the road, they can’t see over the steering wheel, and they drive 25 miles an hour down the highway (there’s a minimum speed limit for a reason). I am not speedster, but that drives me bonkers. It’s a good way to get rearended. I honestly believe that we should have road tests every five years to renew our license.
3. Would you rather have a housekeeper or unlimited spa services?
I don’t mind cleaning, but I just don’t do self-pedicures right, so I’m going unlimited spa services!
4. Is there a song that you hear that will take you back to the moment, like a junior high or high school dance?
“Please Remember” by Leann Rimes
It was one of the songs they used on our senior video and it happened to have the only picture of me on the montage during it – am I a little self-conceited or what? Anyways, I’m painting my car in the picture, so the song brings back memories of my last day in the parking lot early in the morning painting my car with so many other seniors!
5. What song best represents your life right now?
“Love Like Crazy” by Lee Brice
Maybe it’s not quite that it represents my life, but more like a motto I rely on right now. The song talks about a guy and his wife who got married young and had three kids. He makes next to nothing and ends up rich and happy in the end. It gives me the strength in the really dark times to know that at some point, we’re going to be okay, even if we’re struggling now. How do I know we’re going to be okay? Because we love like crazy!
“Be a best friend, tell the truth, and overuse I love you
Go to work, do your best, don’t outsmart your common sense
Never let your prayin knees get lazy
And love like crazy
Always treat your woman like a lady
Never get to old to call her baby
Never let your praying knees get lazy
And love like crazy”
If you’re popping over from Mama M’s, please make sure to leave a comment to say Hi! Oh, and don’t forget my
giveaway!
