Vegetarian Cheesesteak

If you're a vegetarian or just trying to limit your meat intake, you need to try this recipe. It's so easy and delicious.



Ingredients:

2 hoagie rolls
cheese of choice
mustard
grilled peppers and onions
sesame garlic or lemon pepper tempeh (found in vegetarian section of your local grocery store)

Heat 1-2 T oil in pan. Grill tempeh strips for 5-6 mins, turning frequently until browned. In separate pan, fry chopped green peppers & onions until tender. Throw it all together in a hoagie roll. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Read more...

Birthdays & wedding crashing

So much has happened since my last update: we celebrated my mom's birthday, I attended a concert w/ my oldest friends and I crashed a wedding.

But first, here's what I was up to at 2:30 a.m. last night.



I'll spare you the gory details but I let my dog out last night to do her business-before-bedtime thang and discovered her rolling around in unmentionable things. My husband and I were thoroughly disgusted. After I absent-mindedly let her out this morning, she raced to the scene of the crime and repeated her actions from the previous night. That + an afternoon swim in the nearby lake resulted in two more baths. That's three baths in less than 24 hours.



In other news, my parents recently spent the weekend with us. We celebrated my mom's birthday, taught my dad to play x-box and just plain old relaxed.







Last weekend I traveled home to attend a Hole concert with my oldest friends (who happen to be sisters). I've known them for 22 years! We used to reenact Courtney Love/Hole music videos when we were kids so it was kind of like coming full circle to finally attend one of her concerts so many years later.



I also crashed a wedding with my mom. She was invited; I was not. Fwiw, she rsvp'd for two people but my dad couldn't make it so I was her official date. There were definitely some surprised faces (even though they were family) and that's all I have to say about that!

Read more...

Skywriting & Grudges

We saw this on our way home from grocery shopping. I couldn't make out what it said but I haven't seen skywriting since I was a kid. It was a nostalgic moment for me.... ruined by my husband who said they were probably poisonous chemtrails. 




Raise your hand if your mother gave you a horrible haircut when you were a child.



Raise your hand if you still see that haircut everywhere, as an adult.

Read more...

New Shoes!!

Yesterday, we went to the Track Shack, this awesome store for runners here in Orlando. I picked up a new pair of shoes and am so excited to try them out this week. In previous posts, I mentioned that I'm recovering from two injuries. One serious ankle sprain from last year and a slightly less troublesome arch strain that occurred a few months ago. It's been four weeks since I've gone running.

In food related news, check this out:

This is homemade ice-cream (no fancy machinery required). Mocha flavored. You need to try this. Recipe found here. All you need is sour cream, whipping cream, salt, instant coffee, chocolate syrup, sweetened condensed milk, 5 mins of prep and six hours of patience. Sure, if you eat too much your butt will have its own zip code but it's worth it!

Read more...

Father's Day

I was fortunate enough to have two dads in my life. My wonderful step-dad above and my (now passed) grandfather (seen below with my "mimi")

I miss these two people (above) so much.

And I can't leave out my husband who, though not yet a real father, is an amazing dad to our dog!

Read more...

memorial weekend

Yikes, I haven't blogged in weeks. June has been quite eventful so far but let's talk about May. We saw the month off with a weekend of fun with friends & family. Memorial weekend was just that, memorable!

There was plenty of Rock Band. My husband is quite the entertainer.

Here he is with his youngest brother.

At one point, I turned around to find him pouring hot candle wax down the kitchen sink. Yeah. HOT CANDLE WAX. Not sure what he was thinking but I still love him.

Here he is on a different night.

There was backyard football.

We took family portraits

We stayed up past 2 a.m. playing the most ridiculously fun card games including "BS" which I renamed baloney (or bologna for you grammar nerds) and a pretty intense version of Uno. We also played a competitive game that involved five spoons. I've never laughed so hard.

We walked around downtown Disney.

And we ended our glorious weekend with a SLIP N SLIDE. Yes, we are five years old. We don't have a pool yet and won't be able to afford one for a while so we opted for a more economical way to cool off in the heat.

It didn't look as...safe....as I remembered. In fact, I bruised and bloodied my hip because I was too scared to do a full dive. Lame!

The brothers of course turned it into a competition of who can slide the fastest or furthest or something equally ridiculous. Funny to watch.

It felt good to enjoy the outdoors. Away from the lure of t.v.'s, computers and video games. All in all, it was one of the most fun weekends I've had in a long time.

That's as big of an update as I can muster up. There's a lot more going on in our household but I'll save that for a later post. God is leading us down a new and interesting path. The uncertainty of this new venture is something that I'm struggling with. My faith has always been firm but lately I feel like the disciples on that rocky boat, being buffeted by the rough waves. Thankfully for me, the Lord is greater than my fears and He has great plans for our family.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out: "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," He said, "why did you doubt?" - Matthew 14:29

Read more...

steeple guide me

As far as the story behind my blog title (steeple guide me) is concerned, it's actually a lyric from one of my favorite songs, 33, by Smashing Pumpkins.
Here are the lyrics:

Speak to me in a language I can hear
Humor me before I have to go

Deep in thought, I forgive everyone
As the cluttered streets greet me once again

I know I can't be late
Supper's waiting on the table

Tomorrow's just an excuse away
So I pull my collar up and face the cold

On my own

The earth laughs beneath my heavy feet
At the blasphemy in my old jangly walk

Steeple guide me to my heart and home
The sun is out and up and down again

I know I'll make it
Love can last forever
Graceful swans of never
Topple to the earth
And you

Can make it last forever, you
Can make it last forever, you
Can make it last

And for a moment I lose myself
Wrapped up in the pleasures of the world

I've journeyed here and there and back again
But in the same old haunts I still find my friends

Mysteries not ready to reveal
Sympathies I'm ready to return

I'll make the effort
Love can last forever
Graceful swans of never
Topple to the earth
Tomorrow's just an excuse
Tomorrow's just an excuse and you
Can make it last, forever you

Pretty, no? I chose that particular line as my blog title because it spoke to me on a personal level. As a Christ follower, I use God's Word to guide me through the ins and outs of life. Therefore it was only appropriate that my blog title reflected some of that.

In other news, I've been avoiding the blog. Mostly because my husband has been hogging the laptop while he works on his book (!) but also because I haven't run in three weeks and have been so bummed about that. The arch in my left foot has been hurting for a few months now. I've been ignoring it for just as long. All the symptoms point to plantar fasciitis. I'm sure my cheap running shoes contributed to this injury but my husband theorized that it could have something to do with my ankle sprain back in October. Whatever it is, I'm not pleased. I plan to buy better quality shoes next week and see how I fare when I hit the pavement again.

This weekend, we finally got around to landscaping our front yard. For less than $50, too!

left side - before

left side - after

right side - before

 right side- after

 

Obviously, we still need to add more flowers but we're taking our time. 

That's about all the updates I have for now. I'm sure I'll be back sometime after the long weekend. My two brothers in law and their wife & girlfriend are staying with us. Should be fun!

Read more...

fun facts

Since I intend to use this blog as an electronic time capsule for my kids (I'm mostly kidding), I thought it would be fun to list some interesting facts about me before I forget them.

- At the tender age of 6, I had surgery to remove a hernia. The story about how I came to develop said hernia is legendary in my family. You wouldn't believe me if I told you. It involved a bottle of "deadly" shampoo and me believing that my mother and grandmother were trying to murder me. Seriously. It's hilariously sad and embarrassing. Maybe one day I'll work up the courage to post it. And, no, they weren't really trying to kill me.

- I am a huge johnny cash fan. So huge, in fact, that on my wedding day, I walked down the aisle (post ceremony) to Ring of Fire and cut the cake to Jackson. During the latter song, my semi drunk great aunt and her fraternal twin brother danced up quite a storm. My mom had to pull her off the dance floor. See below...

(picture: google)

- I surf! Learned in Hawaii when I was 17. It's exhilarating and not to mention a great work out.

- When my husband and I are on road trips, we often have Australian accent competitions. This can last for hours.

- I've been on 4-5 cruise ship vacations but was unable to enjoy the last two out of fear of a rogue wave slamming into the ship and sinking us, Poseidon style.  See item # 1 in this post for proof that I still have the thought processes of a six year old.


What about you? Any interesting quirks you care to share?

Read more...

i'm not a food blogger

Look at these pictures. Do they make my meals look appetizing? Yeah, I didn't think so.

I made the above last week. It's Corn and Quinoa Chowder. I found the recipe on vegetariantimes.com. It was a bit spicy but hearty and filling. My only complaint is that it lacked flavor. So I added some parmesan cheese and garlic powder. I'd give it a 5/10. This was my first time cooking with quinoa so I'm on the look out for more interesting & tastier recipes.

Avocado & Sprouts sandwich

The next night I made my famous Avocado & Sprouts sandwich w/ a side of small roasted potatoes. According to legend, I once ate a&s sandwiches five days in a row. Here's the rundown:

2 slices of toasted ww bread
slice of provolone cheese
small handful of sprouts
fresh spinach
mustard
sliced avocado

Black Bean Burger

 

Tonight I made black bean burgers w/ a side of lemon garlic green beans. This is my favorite home-made veggie burger. The creamy mashed beans combined with a hint of lemon make this burger a winner. Not to mention that it's a cheap 10 mins meal.

1 C black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 C fresh spinach
2 Tbsp. whole wheat pastry (or regular) flour
1 small garlic clove
1/2 tsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. chili powder
Juice from half a lemon

Combine and form into 2 patties. Heat oil in skillet over medium low heat. Cook for 10 mins turning every once in a while.

(picture: google)

In non-food related news, the husband and I decided to hit up Disney on Saturday. We have passes that we have to use up by the end of May so I dragged myself out of bed at 7 am. That's a lie. I was up at 7 am because I was too excited to sleep. We decided to go to Magic Kingdom since it had been a while since either of us had been there. I sat in the front seat of the first car in Space Mountain and I can't even begin to describe the fear of being struck in the face by an unseen object rush. It was exhilarating. I should sit in the "first car" of roller coasters more often. By 1 pm, it was friggin HOT though. Thankfully, we fast-passed our way onto all the major rides and didn't waste any time waiting in unnecessary lines. And by the beard of zeus, there were SO many people. My husband kept remarking about this in disbelief. I told him that the parks will always be full. It doesn't matter if there are threats of terrorism or an asteroid is on the way. Disney will always hold at least 500,000* people at any given time (*source: me).

Read more...

an intro

Welcome!

I don't do introductions very well so I'll keep this short & sweet. This blog is about whatever I find interesting. This includes: food, faith, interior decorating, married life and other. I'm in my mid 20's, creeping steadily toward 30 and have been married 3 1/2 years to my college sweetheart.

Here's a close-up of my handsome fella...

I'm also a runner who was sidelined by an ankle injury in Oct of 09 (I fell down the stairs on my way TO the pub. Here's the ironic part: I don't even drink). I'm slowly getting back into things and plan to run a marathon at some point later this year.

"one of these things is not like the other...."

Since the majority of my posts will be food related, let me tell you what you can expect in that department: lazy, cheap & healthy meals. As a vegetarian (more on that later), my options are easy. Unfortunately, I need to keep things interesting for my carnivorous husband. He's on the same page as me as far as the food industry is concerned (hello, Food Inc!) but he hasn't yet taken that full leap into veggieland. Which is not fine. So I trick him as often as I can (tempeh disguised as a cheesesteak sandwich comes to mind) so he can realize that he, too, can live a satisfying life without animal meat.

Happy Reading  : ) 

Read more...