It's Seriously Time to Move

Today is a stressful day, so pardon while I go on a crazy "get it off my chest" post, but this will definitely make me feel better.

Today, Matt is taking his two check AND his check ride, for formation. For those who don't speak Air Force pilot training lingo, that's basically his flying pre test and his flying formation test. All in a 12 hours shift. These are the two most failed flights in UPT, and Matt has to do both of them today. Yay. Factor in the fact that he doesn't really like formation, and we have ourselves a stressful day. He's stressed, and I'm stressing for him. I can't help that.

There's more to the story, though. Here are some more contributing factors:

-It's just really, really hot and humid outside. it's only 11 am, it feels like 98 degrees, and the humidity is 60% with a dew point of 74. This is just plain miserable for me.

-My house is driving me crazy. I'm tired of living in a house where everything is falling apart:

• My bathroom fan does not work. We have told them to fix it twice. I have mold all over my ceiling and the walls, too, when I don't clean them. 
• My stove top is really annoying. None of the burners lie flat and they burn unevenly.  
• There is lead paint on my walls. 
• There is asbestos in the attic. 
• The sealant on the bathtub has peeled off, I have water getting in between the tiles, and mold growing IN the sealant where I can't get to it. 
• The linoleum is peeling up at the corners. 
• Water is getting in between the kitchen sink and the counter so the counter is starting to bubble. 
• There are cockroaches and spiders living in my house. Cockroaches. 

I promise I will get some more positive posts up soon! I just had to get that off my chest. I'm pretty busy cleaning today, but I'll do some more writing soon. 

Lemon Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

This is probably my absolute favorite type of muffin. I LOVE almond extract, and poppy seed muffins, and the fresh lemon zest makes them so bright tasting! And they taste just like the muffins you would buy at the bakery- but even better, because they're not as oily, but still deliciously moist.

I first found this recipe among my mom's gigantic stash of recipes. I think it originally came from Country Woman Magazine (which, I must admit, I love). I have been making these muffins for years and they always disappear rather quickly. I have made some changes, though. They originally did not have lemon zest in them, but I love the combination of lemon and almond, and I think the zest just enhances the flavor. I have also decreased the amount of oil in the recipe. The original recipe resulted in muffins that were so oily, the top of the muffin stuck to your fingers. Still deliciously good, but I have always felt that eating an oily muffin makes me feel weighed down. Why have all that extra oil in there if you don't need it? And I don't think it added anything to the taste of the muffin.

So here is the recipe, with my changes to it:

3 c flour
2 1/2 c sugar
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
2/3 c vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract (or to taste)
Zest of 1 lemon (or to taste)

Shift the first 5 ingredients together in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs until smooth. Add in the milk, oil, extracts, and lemon zest. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredient, mix until incorporated.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Makes 24 muffins

Note: Almond extract is VERY STRONG. If you don't like it, definitely decrease the amount. Don't add extra! It will definitely overpower the muffins. Also, feel free to add even more lemon zest if you love lemon. 1 lemon gave a lemon taste, but not a strong one.

Hint: I buy fresh lemons a lot, for both the juice and the zest. However, I got tired of wasting money, using just the juice, then throwing the rind away. I can't remember where I learned this, but if you freeze the rind after juicing, you can then thaw out the rind and zest it before you throw it away! That way, nothing is wasted! I have yet to see if the zest is still the same, but I have about 3 lemon halves in my freezer waiting to test this theory.

Another hint: For best juicing results, use room temperature lemons. For best zesting results, use cold lemons.

Happy baking!

Food Network Made, Sara and Matt Tested

There is a lack of entertaining things to do in Columbus. Unless you're local and this is all you know. Or you don't mind driving hours to your activity. That aside, I have been looking for fun activities for Matt and I to do. I didn't come up with much, but I did manage to come up with something, as little as it is.

Every month when my Food Network Magazine gets delivered, I read the whole thing in one sitting. I like it that much. Anyways, I have only recently just decided that once a week, I'm going to have Matt pick out a recipe from the magazine that he wants for dinner. It's not much, but hopefully he'll pick some recipes that will have ingredients that I've never used before, so I can branch out :) Last night was the first adventure!

He picked out Ham, Swiss and Apple Wraps. We both really enjoyed it, and it was easy and fast to make! Also very low calorie.

There are a few things I will do differently next time, though:

-Since I couldn't find any large whole wheat wraps in my local Kroger (fail), I wish I had diced the apples and onions. I think if you use the large wraps, though, the slices will do.

-Even though I don't like Swiss cheese, it worked well in this recipe. If you really don't like Swiss, or don't want to spend the extra money, try mozzarella. Stay away from a cheddar, though, I think that would be too much.

-While I loved the dressing, I thought it was rather sweet, especially with the apples, and would have preferred an extra tang or acidity. Next time I might try a honey mustard that's more mustard than honey, or at a little cider vinegar to the dressing.

Yum, yum, yum! I can't promise I will post every recipe we try, I'm going to try to! Because I apparently have nothing else to blog about except food. Oh well. Let me know if you make any of these recipes and what you think of them!

My Dog is Spoiled...

...or at least my husband thinks he is. I'm still convinced that he's only given what a good dog deserves. Cough. 

Actually, he usually ends up with homemade treats because I have the itch to bake that I have not yet satisfied this week, but I don't want to make any more sweets for myself (chocolate bread pudding anyone?). Plus, it's a great way to use up the whole wheat flour in my pantry (just the right amount too!) and the bananas that are ripening far too quickly. Not to mention, my dog is really, REALLY good at the sad pouty eyes. Really good. 

Luckily for me, I just recently bought a dog bone cookie cutter just for this occasion! (See, Jack's not spoiled...) So I internet surfed (ok, I went on Pinterest) and found a recipe my friend Cari had pinned, so I tried it out!

 Not only did he get dog bones, but donuts as well! And nondescript circles

Close up of the Peanut Butter Banana Dog treats

Even I liked them, although if they were for me, I would definitely add some sugar. But I can imagine you could make some yummy biscuits out of this. Anyways, next time I might try adding some Greek yogurt, just to make it my "own recipe" that I can post. I would also like to try an Applesauce Oatmeal version, a pumpkin and turkey version (for Thanksgiving!), and maybe a turkey and cheese version, too. The best part about these is there is nothing in here that us Homo sapiens can't eat, so it makes it easy to test taste, even though it might not be exactly to our liking. I'll keep you posted! Jack really liked these! 

Chicken with Creamy Mexican Sauce

Here's what I made for dinner last night, of my own recipe:

Season chicken breasts with salt. In butter, brown both sides of the chicken. Remove from the pan. In the same pan, saute some broccoli until desired "doneness." (Next time I will also add onions, garlic, and peppers would taste good, too). Add one can cream of chicken soup, and sprinkle with cumin, crushed red pepper, pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Add in some cheddar cheese. When bubbling, add the chicken and cook through. Serve with salsa and rice.

Note: If you make this in a  cast iron skillet with some bacon fat leftover, this is REALLY GOOD. Just make sure to go easier on seasoning the chicken with salt, since bacon fat is rather salty.

Quick Updates

Wow.

I must apologize for being so lazy as to not update the blog. I have also been super busy, I worked 2 30+ hour weeks 2 days in a row, and I have also have been trying to read a lot

So what's new...

I reread Hunger Games and finished Divergent. If you liked Hunger Games, then you'll like Divergent as well. They're not the same, but they're both about futuristic corrupt governments, and the heroine has to fix the problem. I think everyone should read it. The author is Veronica Roth. The best part? Diveregent is the first book of a trilogy! Love trilogies. I was SO mad yesterday when my UPS box came in the mail and discovered I had accidentally ordered another copy of Divergent instead of Insurgent, the second book. SO MAD. Oh, well. That's a quick Amazon search and BAM, Insurgent is coming in tomorrow's mail! Can't wait. Until then, though, I will continue reading Wicked.

This past Saturday I got to make the cake for my friend's gender revealing party! That means I knew the sex of their baby before anyone! It was SO exciting! (And REALLY hard to keep that secret, lol). Even though my frosting gave me some crazy grief, I managed to make a really cute cake (with a pink filling, it's a girl! Congrats Canaan and Jillian!) and some cupcakes, too. I swirled the pink and blue frosting on the cupcakes. I recently found a blog that showed a different way than the technique I used to swirl the frosting, so one of my upcoming posts will be comparing the two techniques to see which way is easier!

The weather here the past 2 days has been amazing! Yesterday it poured all day, Matt and I walked Jack in the evening right after it finished raining. It was still warm and humid, around 75 degrees, but hey, I'll take that over 110 any day. It was still pouring this morning, THANK GOODNESS, because when I got home from work at one thirty, I was able to take the hyper dog for a walk. It's still really humid, though, so any decent sized puddle he found became a quick cool off bath. But he met a new friend on our way home! My friend Bethany (who I haven't seen in a long time!) was just coming home from work, so I let Jack meet her puppy. He was all bark at first through the fence, but after awhile Jack calmed down and even played a little bit with him. Jack was tired already, though, so he mostly ignored Dalton after awhile. He is now passed out on the floor, so I'm getting some nice alone time after work. I love my dog, but after a long day at work, sometimes I just don't want to deal with a hyper dog. I would take him for way more walks, like I was doing in the winter/spring, but it's so hot outside right now I can't be outside for long. Boo.

Man I need more coffee. But that's nothing new I guess.

Oh... Paula Deen just made a potato casserole that looks REALLY BAD FOR ME. But oh so good.

Ok, I really need more coffee. And Matt just came home! See you!