7 Quick Takes (vol. 20)

A quick catch-up, since summer awesomeness has happened around here. Here's a compact list from my little corner of the world.

~~ 1 ~~

It's been wedding central for me. His great pic is from a reception of one of my best friends. It was such a great weekend, spent some time with my parents, had awesome fresh veggies and enjoyed country life for a weekend.

~~ 2 ~~

 Got to see all these awesome college friends at another friend's wedding. We even got to celebrate and engagement :) So blessed to know these awesome people!

~~ 3 ~~

 

I made it to a baseball game the other week. I helped chaperone some of our kids from church and it was a great evening. I think I like the smaller scale games (we watched the Madison Mallards, which apparently are a "collegiate summer baseball team") verses major league games...although those are pretty darn fun too.

~~ 4 ~~

 So I got this pineapple corer/slicer for my birthday (it was on my wedding registry :) and I love love love it! seriously! So easy and fresh pineapple is sooooo much better than the canned stuff. If you like pineapple you should definitely consider getting one, or talking someone into getting it for you ;)

~~ 5 ~~

I've been reading and listening to audio books, which means sometimes I'm not getting a lot accomplished at home. I love books you can't put down! Anyways, I finished listening to 

Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West by Stephen E. Ambrose

picture from here

 This was so fascinating! This was a great compilation of Lewis and Clark's writings, letters from and to them and just a great over all biography of Meriwether Lewis.

Currently I'm listening to The sweetness at the bottom of the pie by Alan Bradley.

 picture from here

 I'm still not sure what I think of this one, but I'm only about 1/4 of the way through, so we'll see.

I just finished reading Halos by Kristen Heitzmann

 Image from Here

I love Kristen's books. There's always a love story, always a little faith (but not over the top unbelievable stuff) and always a good plot that pulls you along. Definitely not anything deep, but good inbetween books when you don't want to really think too much. This one I didn't like quite as much, the guy was a jerk in the beginning and there were some disturbing parts, so yeah, wouldn't buy it, but it was good.

~~ 6 ~~

I've been going to Concerts on the Square every Wednesday since they started this summer(which has been 2 so far) and absolutely love them! Random fact: apparently there are over 20,000 people that come every week! Crazy awesome! Last night it was "American Fanfare" themed, so they played patriotic pieces like Stars and Stripes Forever, 1812 Overture, Fanfare for the Common Man and did a great Armed Forces Salute (which recognized each branch individually). On top of those they played great pieces like All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera, and Trouble from Music Man.

~~ 7 ~~

I'm excited for the long weekend, and I'm excited because I'm going to attempt to make these:

Image from Here

So we'll see how they turn out. Hopefully they're awesome!

hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

For more Quick Takes, head on over to Conversion Diary.

What I've Been Up To (The Sunny February Edition)

What I've been reading.

Dear Mr. Knightley: A Novel
by Katherine Reay

image from here

May Crowning, Mass, and Merton: 50 Reasons I Love Being Catholic

by Liz Kelly

 image from here

What I've been baking

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

image and recipe from here

This was my Valentine's Day dessert. The icing is amazing! A word to the wise, if you're going to make chocolate covered strawberries eat them right away. I tried to freeze them, big mistake, although I heard you can refrigerate them.

French Macarons

I used Nutella as the filling

Mango Chutney

Image from here 

Great with crackers. My recipe was out of a Jamaican cookbook, but looks very similar to this one.

What I'm listening to (Music).

 I am loving John Mayer's album Paradise Valley.

What I'm listening to (books).

  Now that I have a longer commute to work I've been flying through audio books. Some were great some, well not as great. I'm just going to include the ones I liked.

The Professor and the Madman

by Simon Winchester

image from here

This story was so interesting. It's about the true story of one of the main contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary.

 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

by Edward Irving Wortis

 image from here.

I loved this story. It's a great adventure story, something I wanted to keep listening to until the end.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

 Image from here.

This book was wonderful! It is definitely one of my favorite books, and the audio book was so well done.

Dad is Fat

by Jim Gaffigan

image from here.

I listened to this on my long drive to Nebraska. It was great. I don't have kids and I still loved it.

 

What I've been doing to enjoy these past few snowy months

Well I got engaged a few months back :)

So it's been a lot of trying to decide what our wedding will look like. Lots to plan.

Also, I moved the end of January, so I've been settling in and still doing a bit of rearranging.

That's been my life recently, oh and watching the Olympics, which I didn't have nearly enough free time to watch. Hope you are all well and enjoying life!

Any suggestions for books to read or listen to? I'd love to hear what you're loving!

7 Quick Takes (vol. 17) Awesome Recipe Edition

I have been loving all the fabulous end of summer/beginning of fall produce and (finally!) the awesome fall weather! Here are a few of the recipes I've made lately and loved (7 Quick Takes Style ;)

 

 ~~ 1 ~~ 

Peach Cobbler Bars

 So I canned peaches with a friend and this recipe was the perfect use for some of them.

These are great for a little handheld snack for football parties or other fall get togethers. Simple to make too.

~~ 2 ~~

Zucchini Nutella Swirl Muffins

Oh my goodness I absolutely loved this recipe!! The flavor was amazing and because the only chocolate is the little bit of Nutella on top it wasn't over powering. A must try if you're looking for a good use of your zucchini.

 

~~ 3 ~~

One-Pan Pasta

 

image from marthastewart.com

I made a smaller version of this for supper the other night, added some zucchini and black olives to the finished pasta and it was pretty amazing. (I used this awesome Italian pasta that I got at Pike's Market when I was in Washington, which just made the recipe even better.)

 

~~ 4 ~~

Fruit Crumble

So I am absolutely loving Daphne Oz's cookbook "Relish", that's where you can find this recipe. I am really into coconut oil at the moment (I found a bottle at Marshalls, who knew?!). This is a simple crisp recipe that you bake in single serving ramekins. Top with vanilla ice cream and they are awesome! I made it the first time with strawberries and rhubarb and the second with peaches and strawberries. Both were great.

~~ 5 ~~

No Bake Energy Balls

 

These were a great pick-me-up snack that I didn't feel quite as guilty eating. They kept great in the fridge for a week or two. I left out the pumpkin seeds and flax seed and they were still yummy.

~~ 6 ~~

My Mom's Potato Salad

There are a ridiculous amount of varieties of potato salad. I grew up on this one and so I'm a bit biased, but I like it because it's simple, you can actually taste the potatoes and it's an easy base recipe if you want to add anything (plus it uses celery salt instead of celery, which is fabulous for those of us that aren't too fond of celery).

 

 

~~ 7 ~~

I don't have another new recipe that I've made lately (that I liked enough to share), so I suppose you get 6 instead of 7.

I'm off to Nebraska this weekend for some awesome family time. I get to see my awesome sister sister at her convent :)

I hope you all enjoy the weekend!

For more Quick Takes, head on over to Conversion Diary.

A Little Food Post

I've had a bit of free time, so I have been happily spending it in the kitchen. I was talking with my friends a few weeks ago about the challenge of using what you already have on hand and cooking fabulous (new) recipes with those ingredients instead of finding the recipe and then having to go out and buy the ingredients. Liking this idea, and what it would mean to the many neglected odds and ends in my pantry, I decided to do just that. Below are some of the recipes that came from my odd collection of ingredients. I'm big on bread, can you tell?

Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks

I didn't use Lauren's pizza dough recipe, but instead used my simple recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Dipped it in some pizza sauce and it was pretty amazing :)

Beer Bread

This recipe is ridiculously easy. It's fabulous for that can of beer that someone brought over to your place and left and has been sitting in your fridge for months...This would be amazing with a fresh bowl of soup.

Raspberry Muffins

So see these 6 beautiful muffins? That's all this recipe makes! It's amazing. I'm always nervous about doubling or halving new recipes, afraid that my proportions will be off. Uma has already done the dirty work and here's a lovely recipe if there's only one or two of you in the house. I used butter milk instead of regular milk (yes, ridiculous that that's what I had on hand) and of course added a bit more vanilla :)

Lemon Basil Pesto Pasta

picture from here

If you've got fresh herbs and want a very flavorful side, this recipe is great. I did not use anchovy fillets (shockingly I did not have any on hand) but did have capers, that are who knows how old, that were dieing to be used. Also, I feel like I never have the right type of mustard for recipes. I just used plain old yellow mustard in this recipe and it turned out quite nicely.

How about all of you? Any clean out the pantry recipes you've found and love?

Food :) Oh How I Love Thee! Oh, and a Bit of Hockey

So I'm back, at leas for a bit. I did some cooking over the weekend and made an absolutely amazing recipe that you all need to try.

Baked Crispy Coconut Chicken from Six Sisters' Stuff

Oh my goodness were they fabulous. Great spices, nice juicy chicken strips with a crispy crust and a lovely simple apricot dipping sauce to go along with it. Definitely something I'll be making again.

I didn't so much do the photography thing this weekend (hence me taking picture from the lovely sites I got the recipes from). I ran out of salsa last week. It was a sad day, but it did mean I got to whip up this recipe again (because seriously, why by salsa when you can make your own just the way you like it?). The recipe is so simple! My adapted recipe includes, a can of tomatoes, a big can of Rotel (I used a 28oz. can), half a lime, 2 cloves of garlic, a small chopped onion, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon cumin and about 1/4 cup fresh cilantro. Stick it in the blender and you're set :)

Photo adapted from here.

Saturday I went to the UW Women's Hockey game with some friends. It was pretty darn fun. Every year they try to "fill the bowl" and charge $1 for a ticket (students are free) as well as encourage people to bring a nonperishable food item to donate in addition, one of the law offices in town donated $1 for every person who attended. There were 12,402 people in attendance, it was great :) Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

Fresh Food and Family Fun

A little something fun. We are Family, Chipmunks style :)

So this weekend was filled with lovely things like family, fresh produce (some of which was free, even better I know!), house guest and lovely weather. What more could a girl ask for?!

My wonderful parents came up to stay with me for the weekend and they brought me some reserves from their garden, like butternut squash, cherry and regular tomates and garlic. We hit up the amazing farmer's market Saturday morning (it's "The largest producer-only farmers’ market in the country." who knew?) and came home with a few more cherry tomatoes, sungold this time (have you tried sungold cherry tomatoes? If not you must! They are such a wonderful summer snack. They are a bit sweeter than the red ones.), some green and red peppers, some green onions and basil (mine didn't make it this year, my mint and cilantro were too aggressive). It was quite the success and always a lot of fun just to walk around the capital and see everything that's in season.

Saturday afternoon was our family reunion for my dad's side (good lookin' group huh?!). It was over at my aunt and uncle's, which was fabulous since they're only 20 minutes away. The day was perfect. It's always great to catch up with family, make plans for the rest of the summer, eat way too much fabulous food, and just enjoy each other's company. I was sent home with some sweet corn (I'm so excited to cook it up, it's the perfect August food), potatoes (it's a long story) and some fresh maple syrup. I've found that once you start using the fresh syrup you never can quite go back to the storebought stuff. Luckily my uncle makes a huge batch every year, so I'm set for the moment :)

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend, now it's back to another week in the office. Happy Tuesday!