My favorite things

One of my most favorite things to do is to decorate, well ok, think about decorating. We live in a great little apartment right now and I think I've done pretty well with what we had, but I really can't wait to have a house of my very own to decorate. Well, the next best thing is my very own office! The business that I am working for is currently moving offices. We are moving from a small one room locale to a much larger two room plus locale. So that means I get to use what we currently have and furnish and decorate the rest of the place! I'm so excited about it, I can barely contain myself. I really hope I get to start looking for some stuff soon! I already have some great ideas to make it a great and much more professional office. Oh, did I also mention that I love to organize, so yeah, there is going to be a lot of that going on very very soon. I will post pictures as soon as I can get started! Wish me luck!

Whole Wheat Pasta with Spinach and Walnuts

Tonight Z cooked up the delicious Whole Wheat Pasta with Spinach and Walnuts from Ellie Kriegers, "The Food You Crave." It is probably the best pasta salad I've ever had. We used to make this all the time in Hawaii and we never ever got sick of it. It is a combination of whole wheat pasta, garlic, red onions, spinach, walnuts, feta cheese, and a yummy dressing of red wine vinegar, olive oil, and dijon mustard. Now, Ellie says to put the pasta in the fridge after it is done cooking, but we love to keep it out so that it is a little bit warm when you mix it all up. It wilts the spinach just a little bit and it makes it all that much better! Be careful about the vinegar usage in the dressing. It is supposed to be a little bit tart I think, but if you don't get the proportions just right it will be too tart.

This is another super simple recipe that is really delicious. You don't even realize that it is actually healthy! We are lucky that we have two more meals left with this recipe! Yay! This weekend will be the Summer Corn and Vegetable Soup. I know you are as excited as I am!

On another note, Isn't it interesting how messy men are when they cook! Water all over the floor as well as onion peels. Oh, well, he's still the best guy in the world!

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Tonight we had the delicious Buffalo Chicken Salad from Ellie Krieger's book "The Food You Crave." It's basically like eating buffalo wings in a salad. It has the spice, the blue cheese, the carrots and the celery, all in one. As Z put it, "It had the right combination of creamy and spice." The only hard part was pounding out the chicken. Since we don't have a meat mallet, that meant Z went to work with my pink handled hammer! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that one!

The total recipe only took about 20 minutes and afterwards the kitchen was already clean, so it really didn't take much. If I had to do it over again, I would add a little bit more Chalula, just because I love it when it is super spicy. Have fun with this one!!



Next up, Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with Spinach and Walnuts, Yum!!

Let's Get Back to Cooking!

One of the reasons why I started this blog was because I wanted to do a little Julie & Julia, but with Betty Crocker, however it's been a little slow going. Z and I also decided that since we are trying to eat healthier, cooking from a Betty Crocker cookbook might not be ideal. BUT, do not fear, we have come up with a great solution. I will be cooking one complete meal with dessert from the Ellie Krieger cookbook, "The Food You Crave," each week. There are approximately 168 recipes (minus the seafood ones).

This is the first week and we are breaking the rules a little bit because there were three dinners that we really wanted to make, so dessert and sides will have to wait until next week. The three recipes that we will be making are a Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with Walnuts and Spinach, Summer Corn and Vegetable Soup and Buffalo Chicken Salad. Buffalo Chicken Salad for Sunday dinner! Yay! Our cooking experience and pictures will be arriving Sunday evening!

Oh, and since we are on the subject of cooking, if you haven't ever read the Bakerella blog, you must! Everything looks so delicious!!

Certified or Certifiable?!

When Z and I moved to Arizona we decided we would try to get by with one car, however since I ended up having to get a job further away from home we had to get another car. Initially we were going to go to a used car dealership and get an affordable car that we could pay-off immediately without having any payments. Well, we ended up going to about 6 or 7 dealers, test drove about 10 or 12 different cars and only 3 were OK. The first was a cute little VW Bug, great car, but not worth what they were asking for...and they wouldn't haggle! The second was a Dodge Neon - perfect price, but the AC didn't work and for those of you who know anything about Arizona, that wasn't going to work. The third was a 2005 Toyota Corolla. Both Z and I fell in love with it, however we were at one of those places that don't put the price on the car so they just rattle off a whole bunch of prices. There were two Corollas at that dealer and we got the two mixed up, our Corolla was way more money than we were willing to spend on it since it did appear to have maybe been in an accident at some point. So, what did we do you ask? We freaked out!!! Then, calmer heads prevailed and we decided to go check out a Toyota dealership and take a look at the Certified Pre-Owned Corollas. Of course, we fell in love with one. She is a beauty and we got her at a great deal, not too mention peace of mind in knowing that she was in perfect condition. The only thing left to figure out is her name. Z thinks Blanche because French for white is Blanc. I don't really like that idea. She is really zippy and perky, with a hint of sophistication. What do you guys think? Powder? Iris? Snowflake?

Julie & Julia - Great Movie!!

Z and I went to see Julie & Julia this weekend as kind of a celebration for finally getting a job and I have to say that it was a great movie!!! I really didn't think it was going to be as good as it was. I was really interested in the Julia (Meryl Streep) parts and I was worried that it was going to be mainly Julie (Amy Adams), but it turned out to be pretty even and both stories were equally intriguing. Not only was it a well done movie - following two completely different stories, yet somehow making them coincide - but it was hilarious! Meryl Streep was amazing in it. She's a wonderful actress and really did Julia Child justice, showing her truly kind, energetic, and down-to-earth personality. My favorite scene is when Julia and her husband, Paul, are sitting in a restaurant and Paul asks her what she really likes to do (I'm sure this isn't the exact quoting, but you get the gist)-

Julia - "I love to eat. And I'm so good at it!"

Paul - "You are, you are great at it"

Julia - "Look, I'm growing in front of your eyes!"

Ha, it was hilarious!

Ok, so, I know that there is a lot of talk out there about the fact that Julia Child didn't like the actual Julie Powell blog, bringing a lot of people to think that this movie won't do Julia Child justice. But, I guarantee that anyone who loves Julia Child, will love the My Life in France parts. (And you might just think that the Julie Powell parts are pretty funny - and just maybe she will put into words your love of Julia Child.)

Enjoy the movie and let me know what you think!