How to make delicious Brussels Sprouts

I love brussels sprouts. Seriously, I love them. They are like little balls of deliciousness. I hadn't ever eaten a sprout when my good friend taught me how to make them a few years ago. I haven't stopped eating them since.

First step: Steam the sprouts. I use fresh sprouts and trip the hard part on the bottom off. I steam them until tender.

Step 2: Heat up a little olive oil and butter in a pan. I often will saute minced garlic or some chipped onions in the butter before adding the sprouts. Add the sprouts to the pan.



Step 3: Saute sprouts until slightly brown on outside.

Step 4: Enjoy!


Instead of garlic and onion you could also use bacon or something similar. This variation is also delicious but I generally don't have bacon around so the garlic version is easier!

Note to self: stop being lazy and use a real camera instead of your camera phone!

Harris Teeter Super Doubles

I decided to take a trip to Harris Teeter to see what I could get since it is a Super Doubles week. Unfortunately, pretty much everything I had a coupon for was out...(extreme couponing?!?) so I just got a few things.


3 bags of steamfresh broccoli
1 bag of steamed rice
2 bags of cheese
1 box Kashi granola bars
1 GINORMOUS jar of tomato sauce

Total value: $23.23
Paid: $7.08

Not a bad trip!

My Coke Rewards

A tower of coke tops ready to be put into my My Coke Rewards account. This has got to be one of the EASIEST ways to earn prizes. Well, easy if you drink Coke products!

I started collecting bottle caps at the end of January and I already have enough points for a free photobook from Shutterfly! Wahooo!!! Now the question is, do I trade my points in now or save them for something else? Hmmmm!

CSA Week 1

I am BEYOND excited that it is CSA time again. I know that in about 5 weeks I will be totally sick of greens but when I opened that box today and saw all of those beautiful veggies I almost wept with joy. Ok, so that might be a little dramatic, but I was pretty darn excited.

There was a surprise in the box this time - radishes. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH RADISHES? I have no idea blog readers, no idea. It is time to work the google on the internet machine to figure something out. I will of course report back with what I came up with. I am not sure I've ever eaten a radish before....

Anyway, here is what was in the box:

2 heads of lettuce
1 bag of arugula
1 bag of misc. greens (no clue what it is...but it tastes ok)
1 bunch broccoli
1 bunch radishes
1 pint strawberries

Of course I split this with a friend so my haul was half of all of that. Here is my half:

Doesn't that look delicious? I am hoping to get more strawberries next week! Oh, and no arugula is visible in this picture because I don't like it and made my friend take all of it! :)

2011 Garden

I was inspired by my friend Jack's rocking container garden, and decided to give container gardening another shot. Long-time readers may remember my garden from last year. I'd call it moderately successful. I did grow some plants, but a lot of them ended up as breakfast for a furry critter.

So this year I'm trying gardening 2.0, the table top edition.

But first, I had to do some serious damage control. At some point this spring some weeds decided to take over my pots.


Anyway, I got rid of the weeds, added some fresh soil and went to town. The result - a table top full of plants!

I have: tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, bell peppers, basil, sage, and rosemary. I planted A LOT of basil. I really love basil and want to have enough to try to make homemade pesto this summer.


In fact, once I finished I had a few more plants than I had pots so I created a little bed next to my house for the extra basil plants. The pieces of wood were left in the yard by the previous owner so I decided to repurpose them. Hopefully that (or the scary flamingo from my mom) will be enough to keep the rabbits away but we will see!

Menu plan, week of 4/25/11

I am hoping to get back to a much more normal schedule this week after the past few weeks of craziness.

This past weekend while my friend was in town I cooked us a feast of butternut squash risotto, baked chicken, brussel sprouts, and homemade rolls. So I'll be eating my way through those leftovers for most of the week.

Plus, this is the first week of my CSA so I am guessing that I'll have some veggies to get through once I pick up my delivery on Wednesday!!

Breakfasts:
Homemade granola bars
Fruit

Lunches:
Sandwiches
Leftovers

Dinners:
Panera night w/Candice
Leftover pizza
Misc. Leftovers

Snacks:
Apples
String cheese
Graham crackers
Chocolate chip cookies

Final Update: Day o' Productivity!

I think I am about to call it a day. As you'll see, I was pretty darn productive!

The final tally:

Outside:
- Sweep front steps
- Sweep back patio
- Clean patio chairs
- possibly purchase patio table if I see one
- plant flowers in front
- plant veggies in back (pictures coming in future post!)
- clean out car (well...I got all the junk out. I wouldn't exactly call it "clean" in there yet though)

Upstairs:
- Guest room laundry
- Guest room bathroom
- Master bathroom
- Vacuum
- Declutter master closet
- Dust

Downstairs:
- Vacuum
- Wipe down tables
- Dust
- Mop hardwood floors
- Bathroom
- Tidy up dining room
- Clean out fridge of old food and completely clean it
- Toss old coupons
- Install programmable thermostats (this looks hard - might have to wait for an assistant)

Errands:
- Lowe's to get plants, soil
- Return library book
- Grocery store (waiting for HT Super Doubles this Wednesday!)

Hopefully the rest will get done the rest of this week!

Update 1: Day o' Productivity

It has been a slow start to the day because my trip to Lowe's took longer than anticipated. Plus it is about 90 degrees out so I am putting off some of the outside work until it cools off a little this afternoon.

But here is what I have accomplished so far:


Outside:
- Sweep front steps
- Sweep back patio
- Clean patio chairs
- possibly purchase patio table if I see one
- plant flowers in front
- plant veggies in back
- clean out car

Upstairs:
- Guest room laundry
- Guest room bathroom
- Master bathroom
- Vacuum
- Declutter master closet
- Dust

Downstairs:
- Vacuum
- Wipe down tables
- Dust
- Mop hardwood floors
- Bathroom
- Tidy up dining room
- Clean out fridge of old food and completely clean it
- Toss old coupons
- Install programmable thermostats

Errands:
- Lowe's to get plants, soil
- Return library book
- Grocery store

Day o' Productivity

I've been out of town A LOT for the past 2 months. It has all been fun and I'd do it again in a heartbeat but it has meant that my home to-do list has been put aside. As a result, I am way behind on certain things PLUS my house is a mess. So it is time to get on top of that.

Here are my (ambitious) goals for the day. I realize I probably won't get them all done but at least everything is written down so that I can come back and finish throughout this next week and in future weekends.

Outside:
- Sweep front steps
- Sweep back patio
- Clean patio chairs
- possibly purchase patio table if I see one
- plant flowers in front
- plant veggies in back
- clean out car

Upstairs:
- Guest room laundry
- Guest room bathroom
- Master bathroom
- Vacuum
- Declutter master closet
- Dust

Downstairs:
- Vacuum
- Wipe down tables
- Dust
- Mop hardwood floors
- Bathroom
- Tidy up dining room
- Clean out fridge of old food and completely clean it
- Toss old coupons
- Install programmable thermostats

Errands:
- Lowe's to get plants, soil
- Return library book
- Grocery store


Aaaaaaaaand, I'm off!

One way to save a buck...

Turn it into an elephant! Thanks to the magazine on Southwest's airplanes, I'll probably never spend this dollar! :) Now that is one way to save a buck!

Fantastic freebies!

I had a wonderful surprise in my mailbox a few weeks ago (and yes, I have been busy enough that it has taken me a few WEEKS to post about this)!

It was the Target Beauty Bag freebie and it had some real goodies in it!


The bag had a full sized chapstick and some other samples. I have been using the chapstick and have really been liking it. This is why freebies are a good idea! I probably wouldn't have purchased the product on my own but now that I've had the opportunity to use it, I'll likely purchase it in the future!

There were also a lot of great coupons which I will definitely be putting to use in the near future. Plus, it all came in this cute bag, and you can't beat a cute bag, right?!?!

2011 Personal Development Goals: March

I haven't had too much personal time this month but I did the best I could!

So how did I do this month?

2011 Personal Development Goals:
- Read at least 3 books per month. Only read 2.


- Try 1 new recipe per month.
Well I made a variation of my granola bars (white chocolate and cranberry) but I am not sure this counts as a new recipe. Will have to step it up in future months!


- Attempt 6 "Do it yourself" projects. Yes!
I replaced the fixtures in the half-bath!

- Volunteer somewhere at least once per month. Fail.

2011 Home Remodeling Goals: March

I haven't had too much time for home improvement projects recently but I have made some progress...

2011 Home Remodeling Goals
- Tile Backsplash for Kitchen - not yet
- Paint rest of house (dining room, hallways, living room, master bedroom) - not yet
- Replace light fixture in dining room - not yet
- Replace kitchen faucet - not yet
- Replace towel racks in all bathrooms - two down, one to go!

Other:
- Replace master bathroom faucet - done!
- Replace 1/2 bathroom faucet - done!
- Decorative elements in foyer - done!

Financial Goal Update: March

Well this is a little late but better late than never, right?!?

- Pay cash for all home remodeling goals so far so good
- Make an extra principal payment each month yes!
- Pay off 5% of my mortgage this year. I have paid off 0.97% so far this year. YAY! Almost 1%!
- Up my retirement savings by maxing out my Roth IRA. Not maxed out yet, but contributing!
- Continue saving for a new car. Yes
- Pay for all travel in cash So far so good and still saving for summer travel :)
- Pay for Christmas gifts in cash Saving for this goal

Menu plan, week of 4/10/11

This is going to be a short week here at home because I have some very exciting plans coming up! :)

Breakfasts:
Homemade muffins, homemade granola bars

Lunches:
Chicken sandwiches, fruit

Dinners:
Misc. leftovers

Snacks:
Cheese sticks, fruit strips, cookies