Bed Bath and Beyond

Maybe about not more than a year ago Chris and I purchased a nice china set. We purchased a fine bone dinner set. It had taken us so long to purchase a good set, because I am picky! I wanted a white set, because I wanted something classy. In school we plated on white plates, and I just love them, the white allows for the food to be the star and shine. I need to work on my plating more on my blog posts, haha but to be honest, a lot of times I am just so excited to eat and try my creations, that I sort of just slap it on the plate.  

Well we were told these wouldn't break, and I have dropped a plate a few times, and it didn't break.One day last week, I made a bowl of oatmeal, and I didn't have a good grip on the bowl, I dropped it and it broke. I cleaned the broken bowl out, placed it in a bag, and went into bed bath and beyond with it, and a bowl that was unbroken to show them. I wasn't expecting to get a free bowl, I just wanted to see if they sold them individually because it really annoyed me only having three bowls! That is another thing, Chris really wanted deep bowls for cereal and chili. This set is honestly the perfect set! A lot of sets we felt, just didn't feel heavy enough with good quality. It is so difficult finding white sets because to me, a lot of them look cheap and cheesy, not classy, and I am in love with the set we own.

Well, I went in, they looked at the bowl, and looked up the set. They said they only sold it as a set, but told me because they have a 100 percent guarantee policy, that they could give me a bowl from a set, and they did! Bed Bath and Beyond in Hamilton, NJ was absolutely amazing about this! I was really disappointed when they said they didn't sell it individually, because I just really wanted my complete set, but when he said they could do that I was so relieved, I completely would have payed for it, that's why I went there! But they seriously were amazing! I am still just as in love with this set, as when we first purchased it. 

When we were looking for a set, we didn't know if we wanted a square set or a circle set and these are a combination of both! They are just amazing, This is the set we have!

Happy Easter Yall!

Just wanted to wish you all a very Happy Easter!

Some of you may or may not be wondering why I chose the image I did,

Though a lot of people celebrate Eater having to do with Jesus' reincarnation,

I am not religious, but I respect others religions, but

A lot of people are unaware that Easter was a Pegan holiday "before Christ"

It originated from Ēostre a fertility goddess, 

Hense the sign of rabbits,

Just a fun knowledgable fact,

Whatever you believe, or don't believe, Happy Easter

Brussels Sprouts!

I have recently become obsessed over Brussels Sprouts, they are so delicious and easy to cook! I couldn't believe I have never made or had these as an adult, probably because I hated them as a child. I found the base of this from Laura Vitale from Laura in the kitchen, she used lemon zest in hers and I didn't have a lemon when I made them, so I just used lemon juice, from the predone bottle of lemon juice.

I just started with cutting these in half and pealing of the outer layer, and of course rinsed them. 

After cutting them I just tossed them in some salted boiling water, only for three minutes, just enough time to parboil, until they turn bright green. You really do not need to boil them long at all, because we want the end result to be crispy not mushy!

Just strain these into a clean strainer after they are done par boiling. Just allow them to sit while you prep the garlic and olive oil.

I went ahead and sliced two garlic cloves, thinly. Don't mince it, slice it! :) You will get a crisp on the garlic to go along with the sprouts. A normal person would probably only slice one cloves; however, if we have met, you know I just absolutely love garlic! It is funny because before culinary school I hated garlic, onions, and black pepper, crazy right?!

Get a good amount of olive oil really hot in a saute pan. We are using a generous amount because we want to get a nice golden color on these and we want them crispy! Texture makes all the difference in vegetable! I remember in school, my chef had said most likely when people say they don't like vegetables, they have never had them cooked properly, and that is 100 percent true with me when it comes to these sprouts. I have only ever had them mushy, and when you boil the hell out of theses they are mushy, disgusting, and smell like feet, why would you want to eat something like that? So be generous with the olive oil and get it super hot, so you hear these babies sizzle when they hit the pan.

Once the oil is hot, place the Brussels Sprouts cut side down, and reduce the heat from high to medium high after they've been in for about 45 seconds to a minute. 

Allow them to cook on each side about 3-4 minutes, depending on just how crispy you'd like them.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon zest. (If you don't have zest, you can substitute with lemon juice as I did, though they would be better with zest. Fresh zest is strong and fragrant).

Once they have obtained beautiful color, toss in the sliced garlic, and cook for maybe a minute, stirring the garlic around so it doesn't burn, and turn off the heat immediately.

Finally, enjoy these beautiful veggies, you always hated as a child. This recipe is so simple yet absolutely delicious and divine. I have literally made this five times, and I just cannot get enough of them! A friend of mine told me to bake them as well, that they obtain a great crisp that way as well, so I need to try that out!

Check out Laura in The Kitchen, this is where I obtained her recipe,but I followed my own  feel for ingredient amounts with my own personal taste. 

Whipped Greek Yogurt?!

I had been seeing the commercials for this whipped Greek yogurt for a while, and I have been dying to try it. It was super light when I picked it up at the store, I could only find the blueberry when I was there.

Some difference in this is obviously the whipped texture, but it is only 100 calories versus 140, I cannot remember 100 percent, but I want to say it still contained the same amount of protein. It is interesting to me that they made a whipped Greek yogurt, because I was under the impression that one of the things that made Greek yogurt Greek was because of the thicker texture from the process in which it is made. I could be wrong? But I am about 98 percent sure that's correct.

So the texture is super light, as "whipped" implies, and the flavor was very strong, honestly this reminded me of ice cream! I seriously felt like my breakfast was a decadent dessert. This stuff is amazing and I will be buying more of it! I usually put yogurt in my smoothies, I wouldn't so that with this one though, I feel like that would ruin it. I really want to try this in strawberry!

With everything said, this is absolutely delicious and I would recommend it to everyone! However, it really annoys me that it is referred to as Greek yogurt... because it isn't!

OH!!!!

I leave tomorrow for Louisiana!

:) 

I will try to have prewritten posts to go up during the time I am gone,

but if I don't post, you know why.

I will be returning home April 12th.

Lush Goodies!

I walk into work and this is what I find waiting for me! Lush does these things called staff boxes! These are boxes of the new promotional items for us to try and use for free, so we will know how they work and how we like them, so we can better sell them! How awesome is that? The large box is the Eater box and the small one is the Mother's Day box!  The bag.... contains a shampoo bar, not part of the staff box... but I will get into that.

This shampoo bar is copperhead, it contains red henna and coffee, and yes you use it as you would a bar of soap, kind of. You get it wet, lather it in your hands until you feel you have enough for your hair. I have never used a shampoo bar, but this batch was a crumbly batch, and my floor leader asked if I wanted to take one home, since they were just going to get thrown out. I can't wait to try this out!

Now into the boxes, let's start with the Easter box!

A list of everything in the box, I opened it,.. and this is what I see

A huge, absolutely beautiful golden tin!!

Seriously, just, how beautiful is this golden egg shaped tin? Can we just admire it for a minute? I did before I opened it!

Pot o'Gold was the first Item to catch my eye!

This is a shower Jelly, a shower Jelly is like a shower gel, in actual jelly/jello form. You use this like you would a bar of soap, also you can toss these in the refrigerator or the freezer for a cool refreshing feeling, they also contain aloe vera, so they are soothing to the skin, this smells so amazing! 

This soap is the somewhere over the rainbow soap, it is blue on one side and violet on the other. This soap has Neroli, Mandarin, and Rose oils. One of my co-workers describes it as if it just rained and you're sitting outside next to Dorothy enjoying the air.

These next two are really nice bath bombs, the rabbit is called hipity hopity. It is a lime/lavendar bath bomb and contains rock candies inside of it! The Golden egg is called the Golden egg and it is super glitery and contains cocoa butter and shea butter. It is a bath bomb and a melt together, the melts are super hydrating. I have actually used both of these, I bought the bunny before I got this box actually!

Hipity Hopity:

And the Golden Egg:

The next and last thing in this box was a bubble bar, he is called bubble grub

Isn't he just the cutest?! He is a vanilla bubble bar, you just crumble a small amount, or for however many bubbles you want.

Next up the mother's day promotional items!

I still need to get familiar with these, I don't know too much about them yet, honestly.

This blue thing is a bubble bar... I think it's suppose to be a nun.. I didn't read the box I was too excited, but I probably should! Next to it is a shower gel called yummy mummy. I did try this it is a super relaxing strawberry scented gel!

There was a huge gorgeous Rose scented bath bomb inside, and I feel like there is a special goodie inside of this one! I cannot wait to try it out!

Lastly, it came with the yummy mummy body conditioner! It is essentially like hair conditioner, only for your body, and I have never used one, but I cannot wait to try it. This scent is the same as the shower gel! :) I can imagine these will work wonders together to really soften and brighten your skin, as strawberries is a brightener.

Quinoa Bowl

This has been one of my absolute favorite go to meals for dinner, it is super easy, quick, and absolutely delicious. This is also a pretty healthy dinner choice as well. I do apologize for not having measurements. When I follow a guided recipe than I have the measurements, as well as I always measure when I bake, but when I come up with my own, I never measure.

This is pretty simple though, and you can use about how much of each ingredient you personally feel that you would enjoy going upon your own taste preferences.

I start with boiling some quiona, sometimes I use red, sometimes I use tricolor, sometimes I use a garlic flavored quinoa. I boil a portion of it, usually a 1/4th of a cup... doesn't sound like a lot? Well you are going to be adding a lot of vegetables to this, this is a portion for one though. When I boil it, I boil it with vegetable broth as opposed to water, it adds more flavor, who doesn't like more flavor?

While it's boiling, a slice tomatoes, and mix them in with frozen corn, and pinto beans from a can, and i just saute them all together over medium heat, until cooked and soft. At the end I toss in the minced garlic and cook for just a minute, and turn the heat off so it doesn't burn. To this I add salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, and lime juice. Season to taste.

Once the quinoa is done cooking, I toss in the veggies, give it a taste, and season more to my liking with all seasonings if it needs it. I also stir in some cheddar cheese, not too much, you don't want to over power your veggies, you just want enough to balance it. The very last step is the most important one to me, adding your avocado. I love avocado! I love it so much I could and have just eaten a whole avocado for a snack! Naturally, I am using the entire avocado in my bowl, so I just slice it on up and stir it in lastly, you do not want to add it to the sauteing veggies, unless you want it mushy.

MRI on My Knee

On a bit of a brighter note from Monday, a week ago I finally had an MRI done on my left knee. I usually hate going into the hospital, but it's been about a whole month now that my left knee has been bothering me, and I have rested it, and I can still go four or five days no running, wake up and it is in tremendous amounts of pain, so I finally went in. Sometimes you just really know when something feels very wrong. My doctor was glad to see me and hear I was doing better from everything in the video Monday. She retested all of my vitamins, D is low, but my iron is back to normal! Which feels fucking amazing to hear! My vitamin B6 B12, and C are good! I haven't got results yet, and I need to call and try to get them. I did however notice my nice awesome expensive running shoes (asics kayaew 21s) had a crack in the gel. I brought them into sports authority where I purchased them, they were 8 days past the return day policy.... ironically the one that had the crack in it was the left shoe! The same foot of the knee that has been hurting me, I have no idea if these are related... but it's ironic. They were super nice, the Sports Authority in Mount Laurel, NJ they examined the shoe and determined it was a manufacturer error and that it was a defective shoe and told me I could pick out a new pair and they would exchange them. I was so grateful,as they did not have to honor it, since I was past the date of return! I picked out the same pair, but made sure the gel was in good condition. Also a man helped me with my insoles, and he said I have a high arch, and I was running on neutrals, I was thinking that had something to do with my knee pains, but I ran in them with the high arch, and.... the pain came back, not while running until 4 miles, versus earlier I couldn't get through 1 mile without it hurting. I still feel like something is wrong... but I think the high arch insoles will help.

Also I have another funny kid letter Chris showed me, and a picture of us Facetiming, I love those days so much!

The letter is a little difficult to read so I'll type it in.

Dear Airman, Thank you so much for your service. Happy Thanksgiving! Merry Christmas! I am in 4th grade going to Emerson ? Elementary School. I hope all of you survive until the New Year! Enjoy the nights of Hanukkah! Happy Valentines day in a couple months! I hope you survive all the way till Independents Day!  

Enjoy the holidays next year, and every year!

p.s. Fight again if you need to serve our country!

p.s.s. Happy late Halloween!

p.p.s.s. Watch out, you could get killed!

Ohhhhhh my haha kids say the cutest things, and are super blunt, basically this kid loves all the holidays and says don't get killed!