Blondies!



Yesterday was national blond brownie day! To celebrate I whipped up a batch of blondies for an after dinner treat! I found the original recipe over at Sweet Tooth Sweet Life, but added one thing and omitted a few others.

Blondies

click here for the original recipe from Sweet Tooth Sweet Life

1/4 c butter

1 c packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 T milk

1 large egg

1 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray an 8x8 baking dish (mine is glass) with non-stick cooking spray. In a small sauce pot melt the butter on low heat. Once melted, take the pot off of the burner and add the brown sugar, vanilla, milk and egg. Stir until combined. Next, add the flour and baking powder. Pour into the 8x8 baking dish and cook for 25 minutes. The blondies should be golden brown when done. Let cool for a few minutes and then dust them with powdered sugar.

*these are listed as low-fat so you don't have to feel too guilty eating one or two :)

Red Dawn, Wreck it Ralph, The Artist and All Quiet on the Western Front

Finally...the last 4 movies I watched in 2012...


{source}

 So I know this movie got horrible reviews, but I went and saw it anyways! I enjoyed this movie even though it was pretty ridiculous. I mean who has a cell phone that the battery lasts for days?!?! Anyways I liked the action and the few surprises that they threw in there.



{source}

 I had heard good things about this movie, so I decided one weekend I would go check it out. It was just ok for me. Maybe it was because I don't like John C Reilly, but there was just something about it that bored me. It did have a good message so all you peeps out there with kids, this would be a good movie to take them to.



{source}

A mostly silent movie... Since watching all the Oscar winning movies is on my bucket list, I had already watched 2 silent movies and thought I was done...until this movie won last year. I wasn't really looking forward to watching it, but I actually liked this movie. And the dog was really cute (which I had heard before).



{source}

Another Oscar winner...this completed my 5 for my 2012 goal list. While I still find it hard to understand the accents people had back in these days, I did understand most of it. This movie is about how war changes someone. You see a group of friends who are encouraged to serve their country (to get out of school) and what they go through during their time in the army. It also shows what happens when they get to go home and how people back home don't understand what it is actually like on the battelfield. All of which is still true today. 

Hamburger Spinach Salad

Last night I decided to think outside the "bun" and made a hamburger salad instead of just a plain ol hamburger. I filled my plate up with lots of spinach, a cut up hamburger patty, half an avocado and some homemade mustard dressing!

I didn't get a picture of my dressing by itself, but in case you were wondering this is what I used...

Olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, yellow mustard and pepper. I'm not sure exactly how much of each I used :( I can tell you that I used a mini round glad storage container to make it in...

{source}

I filled the container about half way with olive oil. Then I added 3 good squirts of lemon juice. A few shakes of garlic powder. Two squirts of yellow mustard. Then a few shakes of ground black pepper. Mix it all up with a fork and pour a little over your salad and save the rest for another day.

If you happen to have dijon mustard on hand, I would recommend using that instead of the yellow mustard and pepper. Or try both ways :)

House at the End of the Street, Katy Perry, Brave and People Like Us

Now that I'm back on track with blogging, I can get back to one of my favorite things...movies!! I saw eight new movies to round out 2012 and here are the first four...(sidenote: all of these were watched on a plane)

Source

I had originally wanted to see this close to Halloween, but my scary movie buddy and I couldn't ever find a time that worked. Instead I was a crazy person and watched it on a plane...ha ha. I actually liked it. I didn't see the twist coming towards the end which I really liked.

Source

This will probably be as close as I come to ever going to a Katy Perry concert. But yet I still had fun. Yes. I was the crazy person dancing in my seat while watching a movie. I think my mom secretly wanted to watch it with me because she kept looking over at my screen even though she was watching her own movie...ha ha. It was mostly a really up beat and fun movie. Except the part where her relationship went down the crapper. I mean it is Hollywood and that is kind of the norm, but watching the movie I actually felt sad for her.




Source


Disney/Pixar did not disappoint. This was a cute movie. It's about a teenage girl who doesn't see eye to eye with her mom and when she tries to change things, events happen that could change her entire life and not for the better. It becomes about them having to work together and form a new bond.



Source


I have mixed feelings about this movie. The reason I  wanted to watch this movie at all was because of Elizabeth Banks and Chris Pine and not the story line. However, the story line probably should have been the most important factor...ha ha. Overall it was a decent movie, but I just couldn't get on board with Chris Pine's character and didn't really care if he changed his ways or not. I did however like Elizabeth Bank's character. So yeah...mixed feelings...ha ha.

January Meal: Chicken, Sweet Potato and Spinach Quesadilla

I saw the original recipe over on Sweet Tooth Sweet Life. It sounded so interesting that I had to try it, except for the onions...no me gusta onions.

Here is my version: (click here for the original)

Need:

1 small sweet potato
2 medium sized multigrain tortillas
1 small cooked chicken breast
1 hand full of baby spinach
1/4 cup shredded colby jack cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Very small amount of olive oil

What I did:

1. Cook potato in microwave for 5 mins. Cut the potato in half and spread one half on each tortilla. Season smashed potato with salt and pepper to your liking.
2. Cut up your chicken breast (I used a sweet chipotle seasoning on my chicken and baked it) and place on top of the smashed sweet potato on only one tortilla
3. Layer on your spinach and cheese then put the tortilla with only sweet potato on top of everything (sweet potato side down)
4. Lay your quesadilla in a warm skillet (I had mine on medium low heat) with a little bit of olive oil. Flip after a few mins.

I really enjoyed this meal and have already made it twice!

**note: the ingredients are for 1 person so you'll need to double or triple or whatever depending on how many people you are feeding :)

Cutest Little Cupcake on the Block

Meet my new cupcake!!

She likes to sit on top of dessert cookbooks (aka the only cookbooks I own)...

She also likes to hold all of my cupcake wrappers! A big thank you to Erica Evan for my favorite new kitchen accessory!

Kickin' Pretzels

These are soooooo good! Barrett's Mom made them over Christmas and when I finally got up there and was able to try them...you better believe I wasn't leaving without that recipe. They are very similar to my oyster crackers, but with a little kick to them...

What you need:

1 bag pretzel sticks
3/4 c of veggie oil
1 pkg ranch dressing mix
1 T lemon pepper
1 T garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne powder

What you do:

Dump the pretzels into a gallon size ziploc bag. Pour in the oil and all seasonings. Close the bag (muy importante!). Shake the pretzels around in the bag until they are all well coated. You don't have to do that very long, but every now and then give them another shake. Leave the bag overnight. In the morning give them another good shake and then dump them in a clean bag or container and enjoy!

You may be wondering where all the oil goes...well it is either completely absorbed by the pretzels or it magically disappears because there is no oil left in the bag when you wake up...these babies are dry! But trust me that's a good thing!