happy halloween!!

did you carve a pumpkin this year?

Oscar loves duvet disguise.

DIY flaxseed neck wrap

I made a ton of these last year for Christmas gifts.  My husband has been needing a heating pad so I made him one and decided to make a tutorial out of it.

Cut out 2 pieces of fabric (preferable 100% cotton.  quilting fabrics work great!)

20 inches long, 6 inches wide.

sew right sides together only on the long sides.

fold one short end to look like this and then stitch it together.

measure out a 1 or 1.5 cups of flaxseeds.

carefully pour the flaxseeds into the casing and stitch about 6.5 inches up from short end seam.

pour about 3 - 4 cups of flaxseeds, it should look like this pic.

finish by stitching about 6.5 inches from other end, pouring 1-1.5 cups of flaxseeds into the last section of the wrap.  Finish by folding the end in just like the other end and stitching shut.

finished product.

after about 3 minutes in the microwave (in 90 second increments)

modeled by the mister.

buttonhead

I've really been needing some new hair accessories, so I sat down and threw these together pretty quickly.

buttons, hot glue, and bobby pins.

super easy.  super cool.

looky what I discovered in our backyard!

I was walking out to our garage and noticed a piece of fruit on the ground.  I picked it up and realized it was a lemon!  Then I realized that the tree in the back of our yard that I never really paid close attention to had lemons all over it!  We have a lemon tree!  Is it wrong that I never noticed it before now?  

black bean and corn quinoa

mmmmm!!

recipe here.

oscar loves john.

you're a real friend if you come over to play video games and Oscar passes out on your leg.

can't. stop. making. treats.

I know I've been really delectable lately.  I can't help myself.  I pinned this pin several weeks ago based solely on the fact that it just looked so freakin' tasty.  So the mister was wanting a treat the other night and I had all the ingredients on hand to make it...

awesome because you don't dirty up dishes really.  it's all done in the skillet.

fresh from the oven.

no vanilla ice cream.  I guess we just eat a little extra cookie to make up for it!!

easy apple snack

We had craft night last Friday night (another blog post to com) and I was scrambling to make a snack.  Here's what I came up with...

apple havarti crescent bites

peeled, "cubed" granny smith apples

one block of havarti cheese

refrigerated crescent roll dough

honey (optional)

cut dough in small triangles (about half the size of the precut triangles)

wrap an apple cube and a small cut of cheese

for a slightly sweeter taste, add a small dot of honey before wrapping

Bake according to directions on crescent packaging

not one leftover!

yum yum to the tum tum!

messin' around with braids again.

meatless monday: black bean burritos

filling: black beans, onion, red bell pepper, garlic, jalapenos, cilantro (and cream cheese... sorry, vegan sticklers)

I spend a lot of time watching the guys at Moe's wrap burritos.  I'm getting there.

oscar loves old PC's

he really loves that floppy disk drive.  I can see it in his eyes.

pumpkin whoopie pies

it's October.  Time to get pumpkin-obsessed.  Come on.  Everbody's doing it...

dry ingredients.

pumpkin mix.

happy to use my little ice cream scoop to make perfect pumpkin balls.

whoopee!

I took these to my next door neighbor's house for an Oktoberfest party.  A hit.

sparkle!!

As a massage therapist, I usually have to keep my nails ridiculously short.  People will see my nails and ask me if I'm a nail biter because I'm not supposed to have any white showing.

However, since I have been massaging less, I've been able to have a little fun with my nails.

hooray for sparkles!

basil spaghetti with broiled cheesey tomatoes

how can you say no to cheesey tomatoes???

parmesan and mozarella melted on sliced tomatoes.

basil, garlic, olive oil.

pasta plus infused olive oil.

tomatoes with pasta.  yum!

Forks Over Knives

So it's been a while since I've posted a Meatless Monday post, but last night the husband and I watched this documentary and it inspired me to post today...

really educational and will change the way you think about the way you're eating.

As a vegetarian who eats dairy and eggs (and occasionally gets suckered into eating fish), it definitely made me rethink a few things.  Not sure if I could imagine a life without cheese, but I'm definitely up for cleaning things up a bit.  We'll see how it goes...

oscar loves pondering life's most difficult questions

such as how can I get out there and start eating some grass?  and why don't I realize that I puke up grass about 15 minutes after I eat it?

cornbread!

I was asked to bring something to my husband's family dual birthday celebration the other weekend and when I heard that we were having vegetarian chili, I figured I'd whip up some cornbread.  

*I am very particular about my cornbread.  I like it moist and sweet (unlike many Southerners who like a more dry version) so I made 2 versions

normal cornbread muffins first... 

melt butter.

dissolve sugar.

add flour and cornmeal.

muffins!  easier to serve to large parties and kids.

sweet and moist. bam.

 now we do fun zucchini cornbread.

shredded zucchini.

mix in onion, eggs, corn muffin mix, salt + pepper, cheese

crazy yum.