What I've Done - Cleaning your washer and dryer

Washers and dryers are supposed to be clean, right?  After all, it's the place where you CLEAN your clothes.  Washers and dryers can actually be super grimy and icky.  Here are my tips for keeping your washer and dryer squeaky clean

1. Wipe the outside of your appliances - Wipe off that nasty soap residue from the time your detergent leaked.  Wipe down all the knobs.
2. Clean out your lent trap - Take out the lent.  Wash the screen with soap and water.  You'll know it's clean when the water runs through it instead of beading up on top.  Now get your vacuum attachment and vacuum out the trap area.  I found a few guitar picks and a dime.  Score!
3. Wipe down drum pieces - Did you know that the bleach cup comes out and you can wipe it down?  I had no idea.  There was lots of nice mildew-y stuff where the cup had been.  You can also take off the top piece of the agitator and wipe it down really nice.
4. Run your washer with nothing in it - Use the hottest water setting, put in a cup of vinegar, allow it to fill and then agitate for one minute.  Soak for an hour.  Run through the rest of the cycle.  Now do the same thing but use a cup of bleach this time.  My agitator was totally white again and didn't have grey scummy stuff on it anymore.

I've also heard that you're supposed to clean out your hose, but that sounded a bit complicated to me so I skipped that.  Let me know how it turns out for you!

What I've Done - Coconut Oil

Okay, you guys.  I have a beauty secret to share.  I recently discovered the magic of coconut oil.  I already knew that I liked cooking with it, but now I like using it for pampering myself.  All you have to do is heat up two spoonfuls of coconut oil for 30 seconds in the microwave.  massage the oil into your scalp, hair, and split ends.  Two spoonfuls was the perfect amount for my thick, shoulder length hair, but of course you might need to adjust the amount accordingly.  I pinned up my hair with a clip and headband and went about my business for two hours.  I proceed to wash my hair, cover it in conditioner (usually I just put it on my split ends, but this time I put it everywhere), and washed it again.  It is silky smooth!  Seriously.  I can't stop touching it.  I feel like I have fewer split ends, or at least they're less pronounced now.  My hair is super soft, and it's not nearly as frizzy.  You've got to try it right now!

What I've Done - Peach and Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake

This one was a bit of a bust.  It turned out correct, but it just wasn't all that good.  It wasn't very flavorful, and I left thinking, "I could have just made a white cake from a box and dumped in some peaches."  So here's the recipe:

3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds (I used vanilla extract)
1 cup sour cream
1 ½ cups diced fresh peaches (I used canned peaches)

Mix it all together and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.  I don't have a bundt pan so I used two round cake pans instead. 

While cake is baking, make syrup. Combine peach puree, sugar, and orange juice in a small non reactive saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Using a pastry brush, dab syrup generously all over surface of the warm cake, allowing it to soak into the cake before reapplying. Let the cake cool completely.  THIS WAS A BUST.  It never turned into a syrup for me.  It was more like peaches in sugar water.  Whatever.

Tell me other people have had recipe fails?!?

What I've Done - Carpet powder and air filter freshener

We live the woods of town.  We live just inside the city limits, and our apartment backs up to a wooded area - ton of trees, bugs, lizards, the list goes on.  I've talked to the people upstairs and they said they don't have any trouble with bugs.  I think that's because they all live downstairs.  We keep our apartment clean.  We wash the dishes.  We take out the trash.  We keep the windows and doors closed.  I guess it's just part of it.  Anyway, I'm willing to try just about anything to keep away the bugs.  I read about sprinkling baking soda on your carpet, letting it sit for 15 minutes, and vacuuming it up as a way to keep the bugs away.  I tried it a few weeks ago and I think it might be helping.  I'll keep you posted!

Did I tell you about the day that we had a lizard in our apartment?  It scared me so much.  I was sitting on the couch and all of a sudden I saw a slimy, black tail sticking out from our vertical blinds on our sliding glass door.  I screamed and ran to the bedroom.  Robert checked it out.  It was a 7 inch long salamander thing.  He shooed it out with a fly swatter.  Apparently if you only close the glass door without closing the screen door as well then 7 inch salamanders can get in.  Who knew?  The screen door has been closed since then.

I'm also always looking for ways to freshen up the place.  I read about sprinkling a few drops of essential oils on your air filter to make things smell nice.  I sprinkled some lavender oil on ours.  It smelled nice but only last a couple of days.  Overall consensus - not worth the hassle.

How do you keep pests away and keep your place smelling great?

Summer School

As I type, my sweet husband is taking his final exam for Greek 3.  In 2 hours he will officially be finished with lectures for the summer and just has one paper left before officially being finished with summer school.  That paper is due in a week so he is very close!  Summer school can be kind of crazy because you sit in lecture for 3-4 hours straight and due a week's worth of homework every night, but Robert has been a trooper and has completed 6 credit hours this summer.  Now he will be able to focus on working at his new job at Applebee's.  The past few weeks have been crazy while he has been in class 15 hours a week, studied about 20 hours a week, and worked about 30 hours a week.  It's nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and Robert will just be working for the next month before school starts, but we're hoping he'll be able to work a bit more and be close to full-time.

So needless to say, July has been a busy month.  We didn't do anything too exciting for 4th of July.  The town puts on a show but you have to pay to get in.  How lame is that?  And fireworks for personal use are pretty much banned; all you can do are sparklers, snakes, and fountains, but at our apartment complex even snakes and fountains are banned.  Wah wah wah.  We did have dinner and games with some friends though so that was nice.  And who doesn't like a paid day off?  The main bummer was that we had planned to meet up with my parents in PA to visit my dad's side of the family and Robert got scheduled to work on July 5th so we had to stay behind.

Dramatic moment of last week - Do you ever just have one of those days where nothing goes your way?  Well last Thursday was my day.  I sat down at my desk and spilled coffee on my mousepad so it was wet for hours.  Then about two seconds later my sandal broke.  The part that goes in between your toe just separated from the sole of the shoe.  I stapled it together.  That lasted about 7 seconds.  I ended up spending my lunch break buying new shoes.  It was a bit ironic because Robert and I had gone to Target a couple of days before to look for new sandals.  I didn't find any that I liked.  I guess a broken shoe will make all other shoes a lot more appealing than they previously were.  So I went back to work with these new shoes:

It turns out that I actually like them so that's good.

What I've Done - Wild Rice and Chicken Casserole

This one comes to you courtesy of Picky Palate.  I have trouble getting Robert to like brown rice.  I grew up eating it so it tastes totally normal to me, but Robert is used to eating white rice so brown rice tastes dry and gross to him.  The compromise - wild rice.  Plus, we had half a bag in our pantry and needed to use it somehow.

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
3 stalks celery, finely diced (I didn't have any so I skipped it, but I'm sure it would be a nice addition)
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 Tablespoons fresh minced garlic (I used garlic powder)
2 Cups shredded, cooked chicken breast (boiled)
2 Cups steamed white rice (I used brown rice, and Robert couldn't even tell!!!)
16 oz prepared wild rice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
______
Cheese Sauce (I totally skipped all the cheese sauce stuff and substituted it with a can of cream of chicken.  We're pretty sure cheese triggers headaches for me, so I'm attempting to avoid it when possible.)
4 Tablespoons butter
1/4 Cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 Cups chicken broth
2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese
Top with 1 1/2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Heat oil into a medium dutch oven or pot over medium heat.  Saute onion, celery and carrots until softened, about 10 minutes.  Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in chicken, both rices, salt, pepper and garlic salt.  Reduce heat to low.
2.  To prepare cheese sauce melt butter into a medium saucepan over medium high heat.  Whisk in flour, salt and pepper then slowly pour in chicken broth whisking continuously.  Whisk until thick and nearly boiling then stir in cheese until melted.  Pour cheese sauce into rice mixture then transfer to a 9×13 inch baking dish. Top with additional cheddar cheese and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted through.  Serve.

*I cooked and baked mine in an iron skillet.  I'm anemic and will take any extra iron I can get!  Did you know that cooking in an iron skillet amps up the iron in the food you're cooking?  It's an easy way to get extra iron.

Robert said this was a dish worth making again so that's always a good sign!

What I've Done - Cleaning makeup brushes

Stop what you're doing and go wash your makeup brushes right now.  You will be shocked with how unbelievably disgusting they are.  I've heard of a variety of ways to clean them.

• Official brush cleaning solution from cosmetic store
• Shampoo
• Dawn and vinegar

I used shampoo and water.  It was gross and so cool!  It was black and brown and murky.  My brush is way softer now, smells nice, isn't matted together, and isn't filled with dirt and oil.   Hooray!

C.S. Lewis

That is why we must not be surprised if we are in for 

a rough time.  When a man turns to Christ and seems

to be getting on pretty well (in the sense that some of 

his bad habits are now corrected), he often feels that

it would now be natural if things went fairly smoothly.

When troubles come along - illnesses, money troubles,

new kinds of temptation - he is disappointed.  These

things, he feels, might have been necessary to rouse

him and make him repent in his bad old days; but why

now?  Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher

level: putting him in situations where he will have to

be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving,

than he ever dreamed of being before.  It seems to us

all unnecessary: but that is because we have not yet

had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He

means to make of us.

I find I must borrow yet another parable from George

MacDonald.  Imagine yourself as a living house.  God

comes in to rebuild that house.  At first, perhaps, you

can understand what He is doing.  He is getting the

drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so

on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you 

are not surprised.  But presently he starts knocking the 

house about in a way that hurts abominably and does

not seem to make sense.  What on earth is He up to?

The explanation is that He is building quite a different

house from the one you thought of - throwing out a

new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running

up towers, making courtyards.  You thought you were

going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He

is building a palace.  He intends to come in and live in it

Himself.

What I've Done - Favorite marinades

Robert loves to grill.  I love to eat grilled food.  It's a win-win.  Here are some of our favorite marinades:

Balsamic Bruschetta Marinade

• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1/4 c crushed tomatoes
• 1 t basil
• 1 t garlic powder

Very Greek Marinade

• 1/2 c olive oil
• 1/3 c lemon juice
• 1 t poultry seasoning
• 1 t oregano

Bourbon Street Marinade

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 t garlic
• 1/4 t ginger
• 3/4 t red pepper flakes
• 1/4 c apple juice
• 1/3 c brown sugar
• 2 T ketchup
• 1 T vinegar
• 1/2 c water
• 1/3 c soy sauce
• 1 T cornstarch

What are some of your favorite marinades?

What I've Done - Buttnernut Squash and Black Bean Enchilada Skillet

I'm attempted to have Robert and me eat a meatless dinner one night a week.  It's partly due to health purposes and partly do to cost purposes.  I made a new dish this weekend - Butternut and black bean enchilada skillet.  I found the recipe on Pinterest, but it's from Recipe Sweet.  Here's the recipe:

 2 teaspoons Olive Oil
1 Medium Yellow Onion, Diced
3 cloves Garlic, Minced (I used garlic powder)
½ Jalapeno, Seeded And Diced
3 cups 1/2 Inch Diced, Peeled Butternut Squash (I used half of a butternut squash)
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
Salt And Pepper To Season
1 can (15 Ounce) Can Black Beans, Rinsed And Drained
8 Yellow Corn Tortillas (taco Size), Cut Into Thick Strips (I used 4 flour tortillas)
1 can (15 Ounce Can) Red Enchilada Sauce
1 cup Reduced-fat Colby Jack Or Mexican Cheese, Divided (I didn't add any cheese so it was a bit healthier)
Cilantro And Low Fat Sour Cream, For Serving

1. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large oven-proof skillet. Add onions, garlic, and jalapeno and cook 2-3 minutes until onions become translucent and garlic is fragrant. Add cubed squash, cumin and chili powder and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the squash is slightly tender, 8 to 10 minutes. You want the squash to be fork tender, but not so tender that it starts to fall apart and become mush.
2. Next add the black beans, corn tortilla pieces, and can of enchilada sauce and stir to combine. Reduce heat to medium-low and sprinkle in 1/2 cup of cheese. Stir again and simmer for a few minutes until everything is nice and melted.
3. Serve with sour cream, cilantro, guacamole, or hot sauce! 

This was a big hit with the hubs.  He claims he doesn't like squash, but I'm gradually converting him.  The key to making him like squash is to not overcook it.  He hates when it's mushy/stringy which I can understand.  This made for great leftovers as well.  The beans provide lots of fiber, and getting orange vegetables such as the squash provides plenty of vitamin C and supports eye health.  What are some of your favorite vegetarian dishes?

What I've Done - Hot Pockets

This is another super easy Amy invention - Homemade Hot Pockets

When I invent stuff I really don't do any measuring.  I just put it whatever looks right.
Deli ham (or turkey)
Shredded cheddar cheese
Squirt of mustard
Spoonful of mayo
Chives
Can of crescent rolls

Mix it all together and stuff inside crescent rolls. Bake on cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 350.

What I've Done - Sour Cream Enchiladas

This is so unbelievably easy.  It's one of my inventions.  It was created in a moment of desperation.  What do we have that is fast, easy, and cheap?

Sour cream enchiladas!
Fill tortilla with sour cream and a piece of cheese.  Roll it up.  Put in baking dish.  Cover with enchilada sauce.  Bake til hot and bubbly.  Done!

What are some of your fast dinners that have been invented out of desperation?

First Annual Girls Weekend

This weekend I got to spend a few days in San Antonio with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.  We had such a great time!  I left work a bit early on Friday (which is never a bad thing!) and headed to the airport.  I don't love traveling by myself but it wasn't too bad.  All four of my flights for the trip were delayed.  How does that always happen to me?  Anyway, I made it to San Antonio just fine and Serina and Bethany were there to greet me.  We checked into our lovely hotel - The Marriott on the Riverwalk and then got a late dinner at Casa Rio.  The food was tasty, but the service was lacking.  Regardless, it was neat to eat at the oldest restaurant on the Riverwalk and people watch while dining outside.

The view from our hotel

On Saturday morning we started out with breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to go to the top of the Tower of the Americas.  We got to go up to the observation deck on the 40th floor which was pretty cool.  Next we took a boat tour of the Riverwalk.  This helped us pick out a few places that we wanted to visit.  We hit up La Villita which is a little area with a bunch of shops with local arts and crafts - very cute.

On the boat tour

The view from La Villita

We dined at The Republic of Texas for lunch, and I enjoyed some tasty BBQ.  Robert and I are not fans of North Carolina BBQ, so I wanted to take advantage of some good BBQ while I could.  After lunch we went to the Harley Davidson store so Bethany could buy Jason a present, and then we made sure not to miss Ben and Jerry's next door!  We went back to the hotel and enjoyed some resting and time at the pool.  There was a youth convention with 25,000 kids in town for the weekend, but luckily the pool wasn't packed and we really didn't notice them a ton while in San Antonio.

We attempted to go see The Heat but it was all sold out so we went to The Market Square.  I remembered going here and enjoying it when my family and I went to San Antonio when I was in high school.  We went to a restaurant I recommended - La Margarita and it did not disappoint.  We followed that up with more ice cream!  This time it was from Marble Slab Creamery.  We went back to the hotel and watched The Call on demand.  I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Queso fresco with picco de gallo mixed in!

Sour cream enchiladas

 
Sunday morning we had breakfast at Zocca and it was delicious.  We got caught in the rain, but it wasn't too bad.  It was a nice reprieve from the 106 degree heat from the day before!  We took advantage of cable a bit more by watching HGTV (Bethany and I don't have cable), and then headed off to the airport.

Robert was there waiting for me when I got back to RDU.  It was a great weekend - lots of tasty food, catching up, and adventures.  Can't wait for the next girls weekend!