Photo Challenge Day 8 - A Bad Habit

I like to think I don't have many bad habits, but this is one my mother still gets me on to this day.

Gum.  Without thinking about it, I "smack" my gum.  It's annoying, but I don't even realize it until someone mentions it.  I'm trying to get better which is easy because I've cut back on chewing gum.

Challenge originally found here

Photo Challenge Days 3-7

Here are the pictures from the first week of the photo challenge:

Day 3 - Clouds

I love this shot taken outside of our balcony!  The clouds are so wispy that it reminds me of brush strokes from a painting.

Day 4 - Something Green

If you followed along with our wedding on the Bee, you know that our favorite colors are blue and green. As prevalent as those colors were in our wedding, we actually don't have too much around our apartment  with the exception of our bathroom. Shocking, I know :)

This was one of our personalized cake toppers from our wedding, and I love looking at it everyday as it sits on our kitchen pass through.  Guess I should try and get those last bits of cake crumbs off.

Day 5 - From a High Angle

This was shot off of our second floor balcony.  Those trees are probably dying, thanks to the drought we dealt with this summer.

Day 6 - From a Low Angle

One of Gypsy's favorite spots to get a little sun in on the windowsill in our guest room.

Day 7 - Fruit

Thankfully we went to the grocery store this week, otherwise this would have been a picture of frozen strawberries.  I didn't notice the bad grape before taking the picture, but every bunch seems to have one.

Challenge originally found here

Petite Lasagnas

After heading out to pick up my mini muffin pan for my Pinterest food inspiration, I was ready to test it out!  There are several recipes for bite size lasagna out there, but I used the one from The Girl Who Ate Everything 

Ingredients:

- 1 Jar of Marina Sauce (did not use the whole thing)

- 1 Pound of Ground Beef

- 48 Wonton Wrappers (found these near the tofu section in the grocery store)

- Cheeses: Italian Blend, Parmesan, Mozzarella & Ricotta

- Salt, Pepper & Oregano to season (I ended up skipping out on the onions)

I started off by browning the beef, seasoning it with a little salt and pepper.

Spray the mini muffin pan and place one wrapper in each cup.  I used the whole wrapper, and simply folded it so it would fit inside the mini cups.  I felt like this gave more of a structure to the outside.

I sprinkled Parmesan & Italian blend cheese into each cup, followed by a half spoonful of ricotta.  Next, I layered the beef, a spoonful of marina sauce and a sprinkle of oregano.

For the second layer, Chris stepped in to help cut the wrappers.  We used the top of a shot glass and he was able to cut several at one time.  

I used the smaller circle wrapper and repeated the layers from before - cheese, meat, and sauce.  I finished them off with some more Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

Into the oven at 375 degrees for 18 minutes and out came

They popped out very easily, next time I won't use as much spray.  I served them with a spinach salad and some garlic toast.  I think this may have been Chris' favorite recipe to date because his were gone in no time and he went back for seconds. 

Do you have any favorite mini food recipes? 

Just Like Old Times

Getting to hang out with my dear friend Kristen (or MOH Navy for those that followed on Weddingbee)  is  such a treat because she no longer lives in Texas.  It's always just like old times, catching up and talking like no time has passed.  I really cherish this time now as she and her baby bump are about to head over seas with her husband who is in military.

We had a quick bite to eat at Corner Bakery, where I did a pasta combo - Caesar salad and Pesto Cavatappi pasta.

The pasta was an all-natural roasted chicken and cavatappi pasta tossed in a rich pesto cream sauce and sprinkled with toasted bread crumbs.  I almost wanted to lick the bowl it was so good!  I'll be back for more - or may have to see if I can find a recipe for it online to make at home. Now that's a better idea!

After dinner we headed over to Color Me Mine to paint.  My first trip here was with Kristen and the rest of my bridal party for my bachelorette weekend, and I've been back once more with Chris to de-stress during the weeks leading up to the wedding.  There are so many items to choose from, but I finally decided on two bowls which would be cute for candy dishes or other snacks/apps for a party.

Kristen taught me a painting technique for the sides that utilized paper towel cut outs and layering.  I then finished off the rims with cute little dots.

One week later and here are my finished pieces.  Look how different the color looks from when it was painted to after the firing/glazing.

Whenever I look at these bowls, I'll always think of my wonderful friendship with Kristen and remember to cherish every moment.

Have you ever painted your own pieces?  What types of activities do you enjoy doing with friends?

Photo Challenge Day 2 - What You Wore Today

My normal weekend wear normally consists of jeans and t-shirts and today was no different.  Sporting a Philadelphia Eagles shirt in hopes of a win against the 49ers.  Hopefully this game will be better than the outcome of the Aggies yesterday.

On a side note, laying out my clothes reminded me of my old school days when I used to lay out my clothes before the first day of school.

Challenge originally found here

Blueberry Oatmeal Crumble Bars

In case you missed my guest post over on Silver Lining earlier this week, here are those Blueberry Oatmeal Crumble bars for your weekend enjoyment!

Thank you foodgawker and Pink Parsley for providing a recipe to break out my food processor for the first time.  I think these Blueberry Oatmeal Crumble bars included the largest number of new ingredients to buy for me.  I almost felt like a legit dessert baker.

Ingredients:
Filling
- 3 cups fresh Blueberries
- 1 Tbs of Lemon Juice
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Tbs of Corn Starch

Crumble Crust
- 1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 cup Rolled Oats
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 3/4 cups Butter, soft & cut into 7 - 9 pieces
- 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- 1/4 Tsp Cinnamon
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Right off the bat, I might have messed up this recipe.  For some reason when transcribing to my note pad I left off the Salt and had 1/2 tsp of Cinnamon instead of 1/4.  Note to self: Always double check!  Also it would probably help if you know how to convert pints into cups before you go shopping.  I tried to guesstimate, but didn't want to have too few so I purchased 3 pints.  I only used 1 and a half.  Guess that means I'll be making these again in the near future!

Anyways, onto the baking!  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the berries and lemon juice in a medium saucepan, cook over medium heat stirring often.  Continue to stir until soft and tender (about 8-10 mins).  Add in sugar and cornstarch, bring to a boil cooking 1-2 mins until thick.  Set aside.

For the crumble crust it suggests that you combine all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse in 1 second intervals until coarse crumbs.  I had major issues with this.  All of my issues stemmed from the size of my food processor attachment, I think it was too small.  We received the Cuisinart PowerBlend Duet Blender and Food Processor for the wedding.  I'm guessing they have already upgraded from less than 6 months ago because it is no longer on the BBB website.

Via Overstock

Honestly, I was a lot little frustrated that there was too much to put into the food processor at once.  I mixed what I could, and then added in the rest.  It wasn't perfect but it worked.

Set aside 1 1/2 cups of crumble for your topping, pressing the rest into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.  Use a spoon to drop the berries and a spatula to spread the mix.  Squeeze the clumps of the topping through your fingers, sprinkling over the filling.

Bake for 30-35 mins, until golden brown.  Let it cool before slicing it to serve.  These were soft, fruity and delicious!  I'm almost tempted to make it without salt again.  Do you think that 1/2 tsp would make a big difference?

Are you a fan of fruity desserts?  What's your favorite?

30 Day Photography Challenge

Thanks to Nellie over at Our Wired Lives and Ali from His Birdie's Nest for posting this 30 day photography challenge!  As you may remember, one of my 30 before 30 goals is to learn more of the features with our DSLR camera.  I still want to take a photography class, but I really think this 30 day challenge will push me outside of my current comfort automatic zone with the camera.

source

I'll be posting each Saturday & Sunday and then do a work week round up on Friday for the photo challenge.  This way I can continue to post my normal cooking, home decor & married life posts as well.  

Day 1 - Self Portrait

When finding a mirror to take this picture, I realized that we don't have a full length one in the apartment.  I'll be on the look out to add one in the new house.  Rockin' the Aggie shirt for our big game vs Arkansas today. You can also see some Aggie artwork that hangs in our guest bath.

Challenge originally found here