only very rarely does this happen.

i am up before 7.
with no alarm.
(i just won't admit to the fact that my "fitted sheet" stopped fitting around my bed last night... and i can't sleep when my feet start playing with the bunched-up stuff at the foot of my bed...)
so here i am. 6:30 am. on pinterest. surfing the web. all nice and bundled up in my blankie because going back to sleep wasn't an option.
i need some tea or something...


but i think that breakfast will have to do!
on a whim i packed some pumpkin puree... (i can't ever really explain why i do things like that sometimes). i mean, we're camping. well... ish. in my mind there is nothing "camping" about what we do every year for a week at payette lake. we stay at a condo. and then we bike down to the campground... i tend to think of this as a little sinful. ;)
nevertheless... it does have its benefits.
like a full-on kitchen. and no bugs in my food! (there are definitely times that i relish the taste of ants... but not now. actually... probably never.)


when i was packing all the food to come up here, i found a mysterious bag from winco. with numbers 1747 written on the twisty-tie. looks promising! so i packed it. and found out that it was indeed pancake mix! 
this morning... i was craving pumpkin pancakes. these were... adequate. definitely not up to snuff... as far as pumpkin pancakes go. if you want a REAL recipe. check this one out.
i know i've probably raved about it before. but my raving does not do it justice! 
you. must. try. it!

 and it even looks divine! 

(pic courtesy of two peas and their pod blog)

no mere mortal can resist.

i bet you all had the same reaction i did when you saw this movie.

i MUST learn this dance!

i learned it tonight. (and hopefully i will get to ahold of a video here shortly...)

.

.

.

what else have i been up to lately???

i realize that i fail miserably at updating this blog.

i'm repenting though.

even though that means i will have to limit my pinterest time...

*wipe a tear*

one of my favorite classes this semester is sports nutrition.

at times it makes me want to re-think my life and just go into dietetics.

i mean, what a better major than someone who loves food as much as i do?

it just makes sense.

but i guess i'll just have to own a bakery on the side.

hmmmm...

but i digress.

back to the subject.

sports nutrition. yes.

we had to develop a menu for an overnight hiking trip, and make sure that all of the calorie/carb/protein/and fat requirements fit.

the extra credit?

we had to make it.

and guess who made pizza tonight?!

it was... (considering it was supposed to be eaten while hiking, and NOT gourmet?)

actually pretty good.

i mean... flatbread pizza? not my first choice.

but it's hard to pass up pizza while camping.

i mean... come onnnnn!

(granted, we cheated a little. i mean, how am i supposed to dehydrate the spaghetti sauce to make a leather when i don't even own a dehydrator??? i mean, i want one. but i have nowhere to put it. and i have too much junk already.)

we just threw regular sauce and veggies on the flatbread, but you would normally use reconstituted sauce and re-hydrated dehydrated veggies (if you like veggies on your pizza.) top that with some cheese and you are set to go!

i can just imagine this cooking over a fire right now...

(and my mouth is watering.)

taken using my new phone!

i'm impressed.

alas... i haven't gotten cool enough to get a smart phone yet.

maybe someday...

well that's enough to bore you for now! 

(if you really want to see more of what i've been stalking for the past few hours... check 'em out!) 

here and here and here...

can you tell i'm excited for this summer?

i am SO going hiking.

a little bit of every scattered thought.

how is everyone this (lazy) holiday morning?!


i'm fantastic... just in case you were wondering. :)
today is one of those mornings when life is just good. 
happy music-baking-motivated-i'm gonna go on a long run-type of morning!








so i have to work on my motivation to try this... because you know me, i am a very lazy person when it comes to my hair. anything that takes over an hour to do just isn't worth it in my book. 
this one looks like it could take a while...





and you remember that granola that we made like, two days ago?
it's gone!
crisis! i need to make some more!!!
this time, i think i'm going to try this recipe. and then maybe this one. this one??? (i have a surplus of recipes, most of which i haven't had the chance to try yet!) 


pumpkin granola
originally from baking bites


ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
¾ tsp. salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pepitas


directions:
1. preheat the oven to 325° F. line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. in a large bowl, combine oats, spices, and salt. mix well.
3. in a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, pumpkin puree, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla extract. whisk until smooth. pour wet ingredients into oat mixture and stir until the oats are evenly coated. they will be moist. evenly spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.
4. bake for 20 minutes. remove pan from the oven and stir. bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the granola is golden and crisp. remove from the oven and stir in dried cranberries and pepitas. let cool completely. store in an airtight container.




i was reminiscing this morning... and decided to plan my next big adventure.

a castle on a cloud

day 16:

my dream house.

i tend to collect pictures, and i usually don't write down where i get them.

(so for the sake of attributing these... none of them belong to me... but i don't remember where i got them. oops.)

***

now if anyone else out there is like me - and LOVES hot chocolate... but for the sheer fact that i would sit and drink cupfull after cupfull... (calorie counters cringe at the thought)

i found this to be a good alternative.

and homemade. (gotta love that, huh?!)

homemade sugar free/ fat free hot chocolate

3 cups instant powdered milk

1 cup splenda

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1 sm. sugar free/fat free jello vanilla pudding, instant

mix all of the ingredients in a gallon size zip lock bag and close bag - mix. store in air tight container or the zip lock baggie. to make a cup of hot chocolate, use 1/4 cup of mix to 1 cup of hot water.

serves 18

i also have a fetish with mugs. i want this one.

...or for a single serving  (i mean... am i really going to make 18 servings worth of hot chocolate???)

1 cup non-dairy milk (you can also use unsweetened almond milk)

4 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

2 packets stevia

Optional: pinch of cinnamon and a dash of vanilla 

first measure out one cup of milk, and then transfer 2 tbsp of it to a mug. Heat the rest of the milk on the stove top or in the microwave (it took me about one and a half minutes in the microwave) until steaming but not boiling.

while the milk is heating up, add the cocoa, stevia, vanilla and cinnamon to the 2 tbsp milk in the mug. stir it together until it forms a chocolaty paste.

once the milk is heated up, add it to the chocolaty paste and stir till combined. just whirl a whisk between your hands back and forth to froth it up if desired.

***

i bet there is no better remedy for a stuffy head and sore throat than a hot cup of chocolate and nice warm toes by the fire  errr... space heater? (we'll just pretend for imagination's sake, shall we?)

TWELVE

a smile.

i don't leave the house without it. 

:)

--------------------------------------

and while i'm up, i might as well tell you what i've been doing...

finals are done!

huzzah!!!

and i took a glorious 3-hour nap today.

so while i couldn't go to bed, i decided to make something.

apparently one of my hobbies is to cook late at night.

like at 3 am.

we didn't have any dill, but we substituted a whole lotta spices and goodness instead (mainly basil, rosemary and oregano).

and boyyyyy was it gooooood!

farmgirl susan's beyond easy dill & cheddar beer bread recipe 

basic beer bread mix:
3 cups organic all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder (make sure it's fresh!)
1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (or 2 teaspoons dried)
1 cup finely grated sharp cheddar cheese
12 ounces beer

optional glaze: 1 egg & 2 teaspoons water, beaten

heat the oven to 375°. combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, dill, and cheddar in a large mixing bowl. slowly stir in the beer and mix just until combined. the batter will be thick.

spread in a greased 8-inch loaf pan, brush with the egg glaze if desired, and bake until golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. remove from the pan and cool 10 more minutes. serve warm or at room temperature.

flavor Variations (also see the comments section at the end of this post for lots more beer bread flavor inspiration):

garlic & Herb: add 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, and 2 minced garlic cloves (or 1 teaspoon garlic flakes) to the basic mix. for fresh herbs, use 1 chopped tablespoon of each.

dill & chive: add 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (or 2 teaspoons dried dill) and 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives to the basic mix.

rosemary & feta: add 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary and 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ounces) to the basic mix.

italian: add 1 teaspoon each dried basil and oregano (or 1 tablespoon each chopped fresh basil and oregano), 2 minced cloves of garlic, and 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan or romano cheese to the basic mix.

other additions: any dried or fresh herbs; 1/2 cup freshly grated asiago (or other hard cheese); 1/2 cup finely chopped onion, 1/2 cup chopped scallions; 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour or 1/2 cup oats in place of 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour. or practically anything else you can think of—just use your imagination. 

is this the real life? is this just fantasy?

can't you just tell today is going to be a beautiful day?

it's fall, there isn't any snow yet (knock of wood), i slept in, i'm going to ride my bike to d.i. today, and watch football, and make FALAFEL! i don't know if it really can get any better...

we started the weekend yesterday with a date. (yes, i actually did get a date... if it is only the one date that i get of the semester, i will consider my dating life a success!)

here's the crew:

and yes, it was a masquerade.

aren't those guys studly?

can you believe we got those at walmart?

they have reaffirmed my belief that they really do carry everything.

for dinner, we had fajitas - which we absolutely amazing. and that was followed by what we lovingly refer to as a "cookie monster"... which i have seen other places called a "pizookie." 

they were the cutest things that i've ever seen!

we each got out own individual cookie that was in a skillet that was about the size of the top of a mason jar. oh my lanta - i think i died and went to heaven!

(and it even came with the cute little hot pad for the handle!!!)

i want.

and when i do get some... cuz i shall!

this is what i'm going to be making. 

and then it is going to go for a very looooooong swim in an ice cream bath.

right before it all ends up in my tummy.

oh happy day!

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 10″ cast iron skillet lightly with vegetable oil. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In another medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat about 2 minutes.

Add in the egg and vanilla. Beat 2 minutes longer.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until well-combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Press the dough into the skillet as evenly as you can.

Bake about 40 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Transfer the skillet to a wire rack to cool. When ready to serve, cut into wedges. Add a scoop of your favorite ice cream on top while it’s still warm!

if i might quote my idol, rachel ray...

{YUM-O!}

do you ever feel like your cookie-cutters are under-utilized? 

i mean, the poor things get to shine only once a year when you decide to make sugar cookies!!! it is a sad, sad existence if you ask me. 

so i think it is time to let the cute little cookie cutters out of their stereotypical role as a "cookie" cutter (here and here) 

i think that would make an interesting movie plot...

"the cookie cutter that wouldn't cut cookies."

i mean, they've got to run out of ideas for movies eventually...

today i love:

sweats after wearing a dress all night long

showers - since i ran out of time yesterday... (and yet my hair doesn't look that bad!)

farmer's markets. i caved and bought a honey bear. (my last one suffered a very horrible death in the microwave.)

writing. stuff. (no you don't get to see it yet!)

food. i'm currently soaking chickpeas for falafel for a picnic this afternoon!

going to school. and not having to worry about real life. yet.

taking liberties in the kitchen.

i keep hearing this sound lately.
it sounds a lot like a woooooooosh...! 
and then i realize that it is life. as it goes rushing by. 
i remember when i was a kid, and the school year seemed to go by. soooooo slowly. what happened???
we're already a month into school, and i barely feel like i've even gotten settled in.
it's times like these that i realize that if i don't start DOING something, the whole semester is going to go by and i won't have done any of the things that i wanted to! 
so my list of pre-planned adventures for the rest of the semester:
     go on a hike
     watch a sunrise
     have brunch before church (since it starts at 2!)
     have a very merry unbirthday tea-party! 
     have a pie social, potluck, waffle party... basically any party with food involved. especially fall foods.
     go to the dunes and have a bonfire
     train for a half marathon. (this will be tricky since i barely have time to do my homework... let alone run!)
     keep my room clean. ha.
     read a book a week. (or maybe every other...)
     stop procrastinating. 
that being said... i'll make this short. :)


my sister and i wanted to make these:

and we kinda did. but not really.

i have this problem with following recipes. if i don't have something, i will either leave it out or stick something else in. sometimes this is good... other times not so much. (honey and sugar don't make an adequate brown sugar substitute in cookies. just sayin.) 

we didn't have any brown rice.

did that stop us?

nope.

this ended up being more of a throw-whatever-we-have-available-in-the-fridge type of recipe... but we were both HUGE fans. definitely gonna make it again. 

here's the real recipe. 

this is what we did. 

2 large green bell peppers, bottom trimmed, cap end cut off and diced, and seeds removed
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 lb. ground beef

1/2 leftover yellow bell pepper in the fridge

2 jalapeno peppers

1 eggplant (it was headed downhill and needed to be used!)

1 tomato

1-2 cups shredded cabbage

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

(i'm pretty sure we threw in some chili powder and red pepper flakes in there somewhere...)
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

preheat oven to 375F. trim bottom of bell peppers so they have a flat surface to stand on. cut off a fairly generous amount of the stem end of peppers, then remove seeds. (our bell peppers were monsters!) place hollowed-out peppers in a baking dish that you've sprayed with non-stick spray or olive oil.

remove stem part from the pepper caps and trim off any white membrane, then dice pepper caps and the onion into fairly small dice. cook hamburger until done, add whatever spices you suit your fancy, then add in onions (and in our case eggplant) and cook until tender. then add in peppers (i made sure to dice the jalapenos up reallllllllllly tiny... i hate getting a bite of pepper that is a little too big. because my tolerance for heat is basically non-existent.) last of all, add in cabbage - it doesn't take long to cook. remove from heat and add tomatoes. i didn't want them really cooked, and i knew that they would get cooked more in the oven. 

stuff the filling mixture into the hollowed-out peppers, using a spoon to press the mixture down so it's tightly packed into the pepper shell. the recipe we found didn't say that we needed to pre-cook the peppers... i was hungry anyway. and when i'm hungry, the lazy, speedy way is the ONLY way. (we actually saved the extra "stuffing" and had in the next day in an omlette... also a BIG success.) 

bake peppers for 30(ish) minutes, then remove from oven and put a generous pinch of grated mozzarella on top of each pepper. put peppers back into the oven and bake about 10-15 minutes more, until cheese is melted and lightly browned. serve hot.

believe me... this was good. and super healthy! 

:)

a random side-note:

one of my roommates is our cousin - who is currently taking a culinary fundamentals class... i'm sure she comes home every day and is mentally making notes on how not to cook. just take a look at jess, and don't do any of these things. but oh, what fun we have in the kitchen!!!

and just for kicks and giggles.

how i feel today. 
(minus a few of the less-than-honor-code-approved behaviors.) 

--------------------------

i haven't been thankful in a while.

today i am thankful for sweat pants.

after running around in a skirt all day, i love the feeling that you get when you can just sit down in the sweats and not have to sit all prim-and-proper anymore! 

hellllllo unladylike behavior!

(just kidding...)

and belts.

that come to the rescue when:

pants are too big.

shirts are too baggy.

you lose your backpack.

don't tell me you never fantasized about carrying your books to school with a belt.

maybe it was just me...

wishin' i could do this every day...

i've been very selfish. i've been showing you all of the fantastic things that i've been finding online... but i haven't told you anything of what i've actually been up to! (actually... i just haven't had any of the pictures on my computer to upload. but i love you soooo much that i actually braved the darkness underneath my bed to pull out my hard drive. you better believe i did!) 

so two weeks ago, my mom came up to play. 

and did we ever play!

(she also happens to love taking pictures... so what a better combination for us photogenic primadonnas?)

we heard about this hike from a guy at the fair.

talk about totally RANDOM.

i never believed that we would actually find this place.

you head out of rexburg, keep driving (and driving... and driving...) we actually made it all the way out to the highway on red road before we figured out that the "crater butte" we were looking for was back about 3 miles. and then off on some random dirt road.

poor baby car.

i promised him that i would give him a nice washing. (still hasn't happened...)

this was all you could see of the "crater"

you go from seeing tons of nice, sage-brush-y idaho landscape to a full-blown forest in a matter of seconds. 

pretty awesome.

me breaking in my brand-new hiking boots.

:)

boo-ya!

my sister and i ran in the temple-to-temple relay race.

domination!

(this was after i'd finished my 3.4 mile run)

ps - i hadn't run in like... 4 months?

probably not a smart move... but since when is that any fun?

finishing was sure fun though.

we had to pass on one of those slappy-wrist things... i know that they think that is supposed to be more convenient or something like that... but that takes a lot more coordination than i realized.

my heroic picture in front of the idaho falls temple.

funny (or maybe not-so-funny) story: 

the guy that was supposed to run the last leg got lost. so when my sister shows up (having sprinted to the end of her leg) with blue lips... i knew she wasn't going to be able to run the last 2.8 miles to the finish.

i'm standing there.

at the finish line.

i'm the only one in shorts.

with tennis shoes still on (i swear there was a little voice in my head that kept telling me not to change all day... little did i know...)

next thing i know, i've ripped her headphones out of her ears, and i'm jogging towards the corner.

sometimes i'm just too dang nice.

(bah.)

we're the studliest women i know.

the grand finish!

(my team was out looking for the "lost sheep")

and the weekend wasn't even close to being over!

i bet you wanna know where we would find 3 such adorable dresses.

we made them.

you heard me right.

well... mom made them... she just told me where to sew.

don't leave your attitude at home ladies!

cousins.

best friends.

sisters.

the photographer (aka mom)...

told me that this picture made my feet look too big.

but the converse are just so sweeeeet!

they caught me napping.

i like to pretend i'm a cat lying in the sun some days. 

(come on... you do it too... don't lie!)

skill.

or just weird.

i was NOT going to lose that hat.

{which i made by myself!}

best. shoes. ever!

{everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.}

                             steven wright

***

walking takes longer... than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. thus it stretches time and prolongs life. 

life is already too short to waste on speed. 

edward abbey

***

chicken enchilada bake here

(psssst! i'm making this... if you want to come over for dinner...)