The Accidental Amazing Sauce!

I was making chicken parmesan for dinner last night and ran out of marinara sauce. Fail.

We had a block of Trader Joe's Pesto Gouda Cheese in the fridge that was starting to go bad and I figured I could make a sauce out of it- did a quick Google consult and went with it.  Butter in the pan, add flour, Whisk. Add milk. Whisk. Reduce heat to low and throw in diced (or shredded) cheese.  Let it get melty and pour it on your dish. 

I ate it with zuchinni noodles and Matt ate it with normal noodles.  He thinks my zoodles are weird. It was AMAZING. Definietly will be buying this cheese for the purpose of making this sauce again. YUM!

Brand Backer: Round One

I signed up to test products for a company called Brand Backer a few weeks ago and was selected to try the SLIMQUICK Pure Extra Strength Mixed Berries Drink Mix, you can purchase it on Walmart and Amazon's websites or find a list of local retailers here.  I also got a $5 coupon in you want to try it, just click the link: $5 Off Coupon.

The drink mix claims to help you lose 3 times the weight compared to just diet and exercise. It also says that it addresses the 6 ways women have trouble losing weight.  I was super pumped about it because who doesn't want to lose a couple extra pounds.

The first day you drink 2 packs, the 2nd day 3 packs, and then days 3-7 you drink 4 packs.  I only made it through the 1st day, maybe I should have kept pushing forward but it made me feel really sick.  The taste is okay, not terrible but not really good either.  It kind of tastes like melted jello with a strange aftertaste.  I've heard that if you mix it with smoothies it is delicious!  I got a really bad headache both times after I drank it and my stomach felt funny also.  So, I quit after the 2nd drink. Womp.

I rarely drink soda, and have one cup of coffee probably two mornings a week.  The mix contains a lot of caffeine so that may have caused the headaches.  If I was to do it again, or if you don't consume a lot of caffeine try reducing the doses and working your way up.  Try starting with half a pack in the morning and half a pack at night the first day and then increasing from there!

Guess I'll  have to try and get skinny another way.

Hitting up Duck Donuts like I did today won't help you get skinny, but it will make your taste buds dance!

Thank you Lord, for a Perfect Day.

That’s how my bedtime prayer started last night. “Thank you Lord, for a perfect day.” And then I laughed.  The day had been spent cutting grass that was up to my waist, trying to corral a thousand fruit flies into cups full of various liquids made of recipes I had found via Google searching “how to kill fruit flies”, and rounded out with dinner with 3 of my favorite girls. 

Due to lots of rain, my grass grew to approximately 3 feet tall. Okay, maybe I also went a little longer between grass cuttings than I should. Anyways, the grass is 3 feet tall and I’m a little over 5 feet tall- this is going to be bad. I put on my anti-snake bite yard cutting outfit, snoopy pj pants tucked into some teal socks.  If the lawn mower didn’t scare them off, the outfit probably would.   I had to do a weird squatting/ walking combo to lift the mower up enough to cut the top of the grass and it was going okay. SLOW, but okay.  I was covered in grass but it was getting shorter. And that’s when something snapped on my foot. A SNAKE! Nope, my freaking shoe broke.  I’ve been wearing the same Nikes for years to cut the grass and I guess they wore out and half the bottom broke halfway off and it was now flopping as I walked. Awesome. Then my lawn mower broke, Something had fallen off near the blade- don’t ask me what; so I took it to my neighbor and traded him for his. I start using his and it breaks. I call him and tell him it won’t crank so he comes to comes to check it out.  Out of gas. Genius this girl. He adds gas then leaves and I go inside for water.

While I’m inside getting water I go to throw something away and I am not kidding you when I say that a THOUSAND fruit flies come swarming at me from the inside of the trash can. SEEYA LATER. I’m supposed to be having girls over for dinner so I texted one of the other girls and ask if we can do it at her house and head back to finish the yard.

  I go back out and it won’t start. Broken. He comes back over, it needed to be primed…at least I’m learning to troubleshoot at this point.  I mow for a bit and it cuts off due to being clogged. I flip it over and clean it out- I’m getting pretty good at this by this point.  I go to crank it and pull the string completely out and it won’t go back in. Whatever, I’m over it. I’m quitting.  I checked my phone and my Maggie’s house is full of smoke from some crazy recipe she was making.  I tell her to just come over to my house instead and we will deal with the flies. 

The girls all showed up and we made dinner.  Actually, Lamb cooked my part while I showered off the pounds of dirt and grass that were covering my body.   We had an awesome dinner, watched Jeopardy, chatted, and drank wine.  Everyone left and I headed to bed.

Where I prayed “Thank you Lord for a perfect day.” 

My grass had gotten crazy high and I spent hours trying to battle it out.  But, 

-          I have an able, healthy body and was able to do it by myself

-          I have about 50 other pairs of Nikes I can cut the grass in J

-          I have a (very patient)  friend that helps me when I get stuck

-          I have a big yard that surrounds a nice house with ample room

-          I allowed the grass to get so long because I was out playing with my friends

-          I have a job that allows me to pay for these luxuries

There were fruit flies swarming in my kitchen.  But,

-         I have food in the fridge and pantry

-         Our bellies were full

-         We had dessert even though our bellies were full

-         I have a job that allows me to pay for these luxuries

Even though all these ‘bad’ things happen, it wasn’t really that bad.  I was SO frustrated yesterday, but in the grand scheme of things I am lucky, or #blessed as some would say. #Blessed is one of my absolutely hated hash tags. I think it’s really obnoxious for some reason. But that is what I am. I’m blessed to have a yard to cut. I’m blessed that I have a healthy body.  I’m blessed there is food for fruit flies to try to find. I’m blessed to have awesome friends that come over to hang out, drink wine, and chat.

So, Thank you Lord for a Perfect Day.

My First Blue Apron Box

My friend Bekah started subscribing to Blue Apron which claims to be a "better way to cook."  Their slogan is 'fresh ingredients, great recipes, delivered weekly to your home."  She had a voucher for a free week of meals and asked if I would want to try it out. Free food for a week? Count me in! 

I signed up on their website and selected the meats I liked- which was all of them in case you are wondering.  They have several meat options, and also vegetarian boxes.  

A few weeks later I got the email that my Blue Apron box had been shipped and the next day it was on my porch full of fresh ingredients!  The box has 99% of the things you need to cook the meals; ingriedient wise you need olive oil, salt, and pepper and kitchen wise you need (at least for my meals) one pot, one pan, a cutting board, and a knife!

There are also ingredient cards for each recipe broken down into 6 sections.  Each section has a few lines of recipes but they are very easy to follow. 

The first night we tried out Seared Steak with Mashed Potatoes with sauteed radishes and snap peas.

Tada!  It was REALLY good!  We both wished there was more meat, but we were both very satisifed and not yucky full.  This meal clocked in at 700 calories which I feel like could have been cut down a bit by not eating the mashed potatoes.  There were a LOT of potaotes. 

After we finished eating I asked Matt if he liked radishes and he told me he didn't- silly boy thought those red things were potatoes. So ladies, if you want to trick your man into eating radishes, just pretend they are potatoes!!  There was some kind of lemon-pepper sauce that was DELICIOUUUUUSSS.

The second night we had more lemon and radishes- Matt knew they were radishes tonight, so don't let the cat out of the bag!!

The second night we had Seared Cod with Spring Vegetables and Lemon- Mustard vinaigrette. It wasn't as good as the steak, but it was 200 calories less.  I mean honestly, who would choose cod over steak if that was an option.  MAYYYBBEE salmon, but not cod.

Our final meal in the box was Hoisin Glazed Chicken Meatballs with Zucchini and Brown Rice. This one was a LOT of food. I probably could have taken leftovers to lunch but it would have been mostly rice.  I didn't even plate all of the rice and neither Matt nor I ate all the rice on our plate. This dish had a LOT of flavor! There was a spicy sauce that you added depending on your liking and I used the whole thing. YUM! This dish was also 700 calories but I felt like it was a lot more- so I guess that's a good thing?

 

Overall I really liked Blue Apron and will probably order it again!  I thought the $59.95 price tag was steep, but then breaking it down to $10 a meal it didn't seem so bad.  Matt and I spend way more than that going out all the time.  All 3 meals were tasty, left us satisfied, and only took about 30-40 minutes total for prepping and cooking.  You can check the calendar and see what meals are coming for the next few weeks and 'skip' the ones you don't want.  I think this will be in the rotation about once a month from now on.  Fun, easy, healthy- the only downside is having to do dishes!

#MaggiesMagicalBirthday Puppet Pal Edition

Hey there! Hermione here!

Whew! We made it through TSA. Harry wore the invisibility cloak and snuck through because he was bringing on Dungbombs from Weazley's Wizard Wheezes.

We love flying Southwest!

Causal lunch at the Leaky Cauldron.

Time to catch the train to King Crossing! Run and Jump into 9 3/4 Platform.

Here we are and there is our conductor!

Riding the train to Kings Crossing.

Window shot with my best buds.

Look! We made some muggle friends.

Off to school we go.

Just hanging around the castle.

Had to stop by Honeyduke for some Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

Seeya later!

#MaggiesMagicalBirthday Drinking Around the World Edition

Day 2: We headed to Epcot for Maggie's Birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGGIE!  Our goal: Drink around the World, which equals 11 drinks in various countries. Think we did it?

We started out in Mexico.  Blood Orange maragarita for me, Jalapeno Margarita for Maggie- that tasted more like Cucumber.

We saw Mexican Donald so we had to snap a pic with him. Glad I'm sorority squatting so you can't see my super cool shirt. #fail

Next was Norway!  We waved to Ana and Elsa and grabbed our round 2 drinks.  

Viking Coffee for me (iced coffee + Bailey's + some other liquor), and some beer for Maggie.

China! Time for a snack because it's 12:30 pm and we're on our third drink.  Pork Sticky Buns were pretty yummy, but I wish there was more meat and less bread.

I had a Fruit Loopy (Vodka + Cantaloupe Juice...how authentic are these drinks? I'm thinking not much).  Maggie had a Mango Gingerita.

Round 4: Gewurztraminer wine in Germany.

Lunch time stop in Italy!  We had read that Via Napoli was good so we grabbed food here, we figured Spaghetti and Meatballs is hard to mess up and very Italian. It was $17 so we decided to split it, and I'm glad we did.  This stuff was freaking DISGUSTING.  It was like a box of salt on noodles with some nasty red salt sauce. BLUGH. I would say don't come here, but if you do- DO NOT GET THIS!  $17 for a tiny amount of salt noodles.

We did get our drinks though, so go ahead and mark us down for 5 down, 6 to go! Sangria for me, Red wine for Mags. 

Our only picture in America. Oops.  No passport pic here!  We shared a Red Stag Lemonade and it was banging.  Frozen Lemonade Slush thing with Cherry flavored whiskey. Noms.

Eww. This one was the WORST- in case you couldn't tell from our faces. Hot Sake is gross in general.  Trying to drink hot sake in 95* weather when you're already covered in sweat makes it that much worse. We have cute ears though :D (Tucker- how do you drink this stuff?)

Ah, now we're talking. Sweet fruity drinks in Morocco. I can't remember the names. Don't judge me. We are now 9 drinks deep. TWO TO GO!! We totally got this!

Hey Maggie! Hey Lumière! (Maggie's boss new that guy's name!)

We grabbed a ham and cheese croissant and pastry in France.  SO YUMMY. Def my favorite food of the day.  We also got a Grey Goose Slushie and a macaron.

We. Are. So. Close. Mixed Beers in the UK. I got a Snake Bite which was cider and bass ale and Maggie got a Golden Fox which is Boddingtons and Bass Ale.

Yes kid, I feel ya. I'm just about there. ONE MORE TO GO!

BOOM! WE MADE IT!

Canada: Dragonfruit Punch....something like that. I'm not sure of what the real name was. I wasn't sure of a lot, except that after this drink WE HAD WON!  We had finished the challenge of 11 drinks in Epcot! 

Go. Team. Go!

Happy Birthday Maggie. I had SO much fun celebrating with you!  What an awesome way to spend your birthday, I'm so glad you let me join you on this trip...Want some ketchup?

A Comedy of Errors- A Trip to Beaufort

A band Matt likes was playing in Beaufort, NC (Bow-Ford, SC is pronounced Be-Yew-Ford) on his birthday and he said he wanted to go.  He gave me free reign to plan the trip, we just had to go to the show.  Deal.

He had been working in Charleston that day and had to drive home so we got started a little later start than I had hoped for which changed our dinner plans.  Our whole trip ended up like that, a comedy of errors.  But it was still a blast and we just rolled with the punches.

We decided we would eat along the way and Matt suggested eating in Kinston, a little more than half way, so that was our first destination.  While we were cruising down I recognized a symbol for a beer company (look at me!!) and pointed it out to Matt.  I did a quick u-turn and we stopped in for a drink.

The inside rustic and cool, we got a flight and a pint of Thrilla in Vanilla Porter that had been brewed with coffee.  It was yummy. 

Handsome man of mine.

We headed down the road a bit further and grabbed dinner in Kinston at the Boiler Room.  The Boiler Room is a sister restaurant of the super 'famous' The Chef and the Farmer.  I would recommend shelling out the extra dollars and eating the fancy dinner, or just somewhere else. It was fine, but just nothing special.  We got a pimento cheese and sausage dip that was pretty much just grease.  Then we got a burger with pulled pork, gravy, and french fries that was pretty good. We also got fried oysters which I thought were yucky, but I also don't like oysters- I just always try them for Matt.

My favorite part about the boiler room was the ambiance.  The bathroom had wood planks and then postcards that people had written on. 

They also had really cool wood on the bar. I'm such a nerd, but I LOVE this stuff.

We made it to Beaufort around 11:30 and crashed out. When we woke up Matt was 27!  Look how pumped he is :)

It was a good southern breakfast with XXL biscuits, sausage gravy, eggs, fried chicken and a HUGE cinnamon roll. YUM!

After breakfast, Cape Lookout was the next thing on the agenda- I was the MOST excited about this.  I know it's your bday boyfriend, but I wanna see a lighthouse!  You can climb the lighthouse for $8 and its 12 floors. I was SUPER pumped and thought it would be fun and a good workout to burn off all those cals from breakfast.  We drove 45 minutes to Hawkers Island to buy our tickets for the ferry.  It's a $15 fee per person and about 10-15 minute trip to the lighthouse.

When we were buying our tickets for the ferry I noticed a sign that said May 12 was the first day for climbing. WHAT! My dreams were shattered. Oh well, roll with the punches.

On the ferry with the birthday boy!

I asked our ferry driver if he had seen any horses today and he said there were a few out.  He took us by Shakleford island and there was a horse!  Matt thought I was an idiot for being so excited about a horse, but I think it is really neat!! They just live out there, no one takes care of them!

After snapping a few pictures of the horses, we headed towards the lighthouse! SO  SO pretty!

SELFIE STICK :D I didn't do a good job of hiding my arm. oh well.

We walked around a bit and then decided to take a quick nap.

On the way back from the lighthouse I had a special surprise for Matt. He LOVES beer and breweries.  I had planned this a few weeks back, but a couple of days before we left he asked if I had looked up any breweries for the trip. I told him I would look but I didn't think there were any. Sucker. I already had found it, and planned it.  So, we get to Tight Lines BREWING COMPANY.  Sit down and grab menus...but there were no Tight Lines beers....so we asked. Oh, they don't have the right permits/ equipment but hope to be brewing in the next year or so. Super.  Another fail...just roll with it. 

We had dinner at Blue Moon Bistro. It is near the Front Street strip and right next to Beaufort Grocery, which is where I had planned for us to eat on Thursday.  They have 1/2 price entrees Thursday night if you ever go down!

Matt had salmon with lobster ravioli and asparagus.

I had the special of trigger fish, cheese ravioli, and asparagus.

 Funny story:  State was playing someone in basketball, Syracuse maybe? And it was a REALLY big game.  I had RVPD'd Matt and I to a friends birthday dinner a few weeks before, he wanted to stay home and watch but I said to come.  I told him he could watch it at the restaurant if they had a TV, or under the table on his phone, whatever- I don't care, we are going to the dinner.  The server came around and said the specials and it was something like 'Seared scalloped, clams, shrimp, and crab linguini' which in my mind says ' $$$$$$$$.'  He ordered it and I kind of gave him the stink eye.  The bill came and I can't remember how much it was but let's just say $40.  I pay when it's my thing (friend's birthday dinner, my friend's wedding, etc), he pays for his friends things...and well usually all the time. I'm spoiled, whatever. So, we were leaving and I made some smart comment about him ordering the most expensive thing and he says, "it was on SPECIAL! I thought it was cheap!"  I laughed and told him specials are usually more expensive because they are exclusive for the night.  He thought it meant it was on sale. Bless His Heart. ha, I had to say it.

While we were driving around Beaufort we saw this horrible looking building, we were joking about how bad it looked and then Matt said, "Caroline, look at the sign." Super! This is where the 'concert' was.

Hannah's Haus, which is ranked #11 out of the Top 20 things to do in Beaufort according to TripAdvisor.  Beaufort keeps is classy, let me tell ya.

We played Skeeball. Woop Woop. Matt can't beat me. Suckaaa. (I'm casually leaving out pictures from the games before and after this one.)

Treehouse rocking out.  They are from Myrtle Beach.  We've seen them one time before as a group when they played with Dirty Heads.  We also saw the lead singer perform with Sun Dried Vibes at Cali Roots last year. Can't wait until this year- October 1!!

Saturday morning we slept in and then went to get food at The Sanitary.  We pretend we are 'foodies' and love reading Yelp reviews and base our decisions when dining out heavily on what Yelp says. Not this time folks, Sanitary has a 2.5 star rating on Yelp but Matt went when he was little and really wanted to go again. So we did! He got fried sea scallops and I got fried shrimp.  Nothing like fried seafood at the beach. YUM!

After lunch we drove past Blackbeard's House which is called the "Hammock House."

We got ice cream and walked along Front Street. Hand dipped Ice Cream at the beach is a MUST!

We hit up the North Carolina Maritime Musuem (Ranked #1 on Things to Do in Beaufort via Tripadvisor) for like 5 minutes and then hit the road back to Raleigh! 

See ya later Beaufort!