Movie Review: Haywire

My opinion: 2 of 5 stars
Boyfriend’s opinion: 1 of 5 stars (He fell asleep a few times.)

The fight scenes were badass and the plot wasn’t terrible, but the movie was pretty miserably slow between fight scenes. The movie had an Ocean’s 11 feel to it, but it made the movie seem choppy at times.

The movie had a great cast, which made it even more surprising that the movie wasn’t that great. Aside from the main character, almost every other member of the cast only appeared in the movie for a short period of time. Gina Carano (character: Mallory) was great in the fight scenes, but her acting was lackluster. Channing Tatum (character: Aaron) seemed to just be in the movie for eye candy as usual, but I didn’t complain. Ewan McGregor (character: Kenneth) had the second most important role in the movie, but you still didn’t see him much. Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas and Michael Fassbender all made appearances, but again, you didn’t see much of them.

Again, the plot to the movie wasn’t terrible, but it was slow at times.

It definitely wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but my boyfriend said it was pretty close to his worst. He even picked the movie!

Feel free to share your opinions if you’ve seen it or if you plan to see it! I know others will like the movie, so feel free to disagree with me!

Sidenote: My boyfriend used the “I love you because…” frame this morning! My project was a success!

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Winner, Winner, Greek Dinner!

So, last night I made the Greek Pastitsio and lemme tell you… it was delicious! I highly recommend this recipe! We also had more than half left over, so you know what I’m eating for lunch today!

INGREDIENTS:
12 ounces penne pasta
1 pound ground turkey or ground sirloin — I used ground turkey
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (from about 1 large onion)
5 garlic cloves, finely minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 ounces light cream cheese — I used Trader Joe’s light cream cheese
2 cups milk, 1% of skim work great — I used 1%
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained — I used organic diced tomatoes
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley — I left this out

First, I coated my 9X13-inch casserole dish with cooking spray and set my oven to broil.

As my water was heating up for the pasta, I prepped my garlic and onions and set out all the ingredients I’d need.

Once the pasta started cooking, I added my turkey to my very large pan with my onions, salt and pepper and heated for about 10 minutes, until the turkey was cooked through. Then I added the garlic for about a minute before adding the flour. There wasn’t much grease, so I didn’t bother draining the turkey.

Once the flour had been mixed in completely, I added the milk, tomatoes and nutmeg, stirred and simmered for about 7 minutes, until thick. Then I added the cooked/drained pasta to the mixture and stirred until the pasta and sauce were completely combined. Then, the pasta and sauce when into the casserole dish. I sprinkled (more like dumped) the mozzarella cheese onto the dish and then broiled for only about 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, the cheese had turned that beautiful golden brown.

I let the dish sit for about 10 minutes before serving and then we enjoyed what was one of the best pasta dishes I’ve made!

Critiques:
Although it was good, it would put more nutmeg in the dish next time. My boyfriend also suggested adding a little oregano to the recipe, as well.

After dinner, I started and finished my Pinterest project! Below is the idea from Pinterest:

And here is my version:

I didn’t leave quite as much room to write, but it’s enough I also opted not to use the ribbon so it would go with the decor in the dining room. I had a lot of construction paper and unused stickers, so instead of paint, which I would normally use, I just went with what I already had! I love how it turned out and I can’t wait to get a marker to write on it — I’m also attempting to convince my boyfriend it’s a good idea too. Haha.

How To:
Buy a very cute, not-too-expensive frame. Use construction paper and materials of your choice to create the image to go inside of the frame. Once you are satisfied with your creation, place your image into the frame. Use a dry erase marker to write reasons you love your significant other directly on the glass every day

Happy eating and crafting!

-CS

Dinner: Greek Pastitsio

While perusing Pinterest, I found a recipe for Greek Pastitsio (courtesy of Mel’s Kitchen Cafe) and now it is on the menu for tonight (along with leftover spinach balls and the Peanut Butter “Cheese Ball,” of course).

INGREDIENTS:
12 ounces penne pasta
1 pound ground turkey or ground sirloin
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (from about 1 large onion)
5 garlic cloves, finely minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 ounces light cream cheese
2 cups milk, 1% of skim work great
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

DIRECTIONS:
Coat a 9X13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Preheat the broiler.

In a large pot of lightly salted, boiling water, cook the penne pasta according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat a large 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add beef or turkey to the pan with the diced onions and 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring to break up the meat into small pieces, until the meat is cooked through. Drain excess grease from the meat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, another minute or so. Sprinkle the flour over the meat mixture, stirring to combine, and cook for 1-2 minutes over medium heat. Add the cream cheese in pieces, scattering it over the meat. Let it melt into the meat and stir to combine. Whisk or stir in the milk, nutmeg and tomatoes. Stir to combine well and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook 5-6 minutes until the mixture is slightly thickened and is thoroughly heated through.

Stir in the pasta and spoon the pasta mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese evenly over the pasta and broil for about 3-5 minutes (watching carefully so it doesn’t burn!). Remove from the oven and sprinkle with parsley. Let it stand fora bout 5 minutes before serving.

I will let you all know how it turns out!

I’m also going to work on another Pinterest project and I will post the results after I’m done!

Enjoy your evenings!

-CS

Food: (Noun)

Food: (Noun) Any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc.

This weekend, I ate a lot of good food. Last night, I made a lot of that food myself!

I made all three recipes from my last post last night and, for the most part, my boyfriend and I were not disappointed! Please excuse the quality of the photos… they had to be taken with my iPhone since I have no way to upload photos from my camera.

I started with the Peanut Butter “Cheese Ball” since it had to go in the freezer for a couple hours.

Ingredients

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (not all-natural)
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter chips
Graham cracker sticks, teddy grahams, and/or apple slices for dippingDirections:
1. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until blended.
2. Spoon onto a large piece of plastic wrap; bring up all four corners and twist tightly forming into a ball shape.
3. Freeze for 1 hour 30 minutes or until firm enough to keep its shape. Place peanut butter and chocolate chips in flat dish. Remove plastic wrap from ball and roll ball into morsels to completely cover, pressing morsels into the ball if necessary.
4. Place ball on serving dish; cover and freeze for 2 hours or until almost firm. (Can be made ahead. If frozen overnight, thaw at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.) Serve with graham cracker sticks, teddy grahams, or apple slices for dipping or spreading.

After being wrapped up and in the freezer for about two hours, I took it out, rolled it in peanut butter and chocolate chips (a lot of them have to be pushed into the ball to stick) and VOILA!

We ate a few bites of this with graham crackers and it was delicious! Highly recommend! This would be great to take to parties

Next, I made the Spinach Bites.

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon minced garlic (about 1 clove) — I had to use two cloves to get 1 teaspoon
2 10-ounces packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 8-ounce bag of herbed seasoned stuffing mix — I used Pepperidge Farm, which I highly recommend using!
6 large eggs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter.
3. Add onion and cook until the onions are translucent and soft, about 5 minutes or so.
4. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Remove the pan from the heat and let cool.
5.  In the meantime, remove excess water from thawed spinach by pressing it between paper towels. **You do not need to cook the spinach.
6.  In a large bowl, combine the stuffing mix, spinach, eggs, Parmesan, salt and pepper, and onion/garlic mixture.  Combine well.
7. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
8.  One at a time, using your hands, roll the mixture into individual 1-inch balls.  Place each one on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
9.  Bake the balls for about 15-20 minutes, or until very slightly browned.

I chopped the onion, minced the garlic and combined the breadcrumbs and eggs first. Next, I sauteed the butter, onions and garlic while the spinach was thawed and drained.

As the garlic and onion mixture cooled, I added the thawed and drained spinach to the breadcrumbs and egg mixture.

I added the cooled butter, onion and garlic mixture to the bowl, mixed it all together and made 1-inch balls, which I placed on parchment paper on my baking sheets.

They went in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes and made the apartment smell heavenly! After they turned a nice golden brown, they cooled and we had to keep ourselves from eating ALL of them!

My boyfriend mixed sour cream with half a packet of Hidden Valley Spicy Ranch dressing for dipping sauce and he ate all of his while dipping. I, on the other hand, think they are amazing on their own, but you can also use Ranch or marinara sauce for dipping!

Last, I made our entree for dinner, the Spinach and Ricotta Fritatta. I didn’t realize this recipe was so healthy when reading it, but it turned out to only be about 200 calories per serving. I used 1% milk instead of skim since I already had some, but I made the rest exactly by the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 egg whites (about 1 cup)
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
• 4 cups baby spinach
• 1/4 tsp each sea salt and ground black pepper
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• 2/3 cup low-fat ricotta cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg whites, egg and skim milk until frothy; set aside.
3. Heat oil in a 10-inch nonstick frying pan on medium. Add garlic and onion and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, until softened. Add spinach to pan, in batches if necessary, and cook, stirring frequently, until wilted. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
4. Pour egg mixture into pan and drop ricotta by the tablespoonful over top. Cook for 3 minutes, until eggs begin to set on the bottom. Transfer pan to oven and bake for 8 minutes or until eggs are firm. Cut frittata into 4 wedges and serve immediately.

It turned out a little bland for my taste, but I do plan on making it again and adding a few more spices and possibly some cheddar cheese.

All in all, I didn’t screw anything up and it was all so easy! I’m also happy that I know how to add baby spinach to my omelets in the future!

Hope you all feel inspired to try a few new recipes this week

-CS

Attention Macaroni and Cheese Lovers!

This recipe is super easy (I love easy!) and divine!

I first came across Campbell’s Baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe on the back of a Campbell’s cheese soup can about a year ago… since then, I’ve probably made it 50 times. Most recently, two nights ago.

I’ve also souped up (get it?) the recipe a bit more by adding a pinch of nutmeg, garlic powder, salt and more pepper than is called for. If you want a more well-rounded dish is one pan, you can also add meatballs or broccoli. If you use meatballs, I also recommend using Italian breadcrumbs instead of the regular breadcrumbs… adds the perfect amount of flavor without being overpowering.

However you make it, whether it’s exactly by the recipe, your own rendidtion, or one of my recipes, you should try it and ENJOY!

My weekend recipes:

Ricotta and Spinach Frittata

Spinach Bites

If I get to both, I will let you know how they turned out!

And for dessert:

The Peanut Butter “Cheese Ball”

I have a feeling that “Cheese Ball” might be a bad idea, but hey, you only live once!

Hope everyone enjoys their Thursday!

-CS

Martin Luther King Jr.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”
-Martin Luther King Jr.

Today I watched MLK’s entire “I have a dream” speech for the first time and I was blown away. I’ve only ever seen the last 5 minutes or so and I’m glad I took the 16 minutes out of my day to remember a man who meant so much to so many, whose words moved souls and provoked changed… A man whose life was taken far too early, a man who would have been proud to see how far this nation has come, but who also would have recognized a nation still with so much room for growth and improvement.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a remarkable man.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Crazy Creative!

I must try these — Bacon and Eggs!

Ingredients-
—White chocolate chips – melted in the microwave in microwave safe bowl, at 50% power
—M&Ms-pick out all the yellow ones and eat the rest (this is my kind of recipe!  
—Pretzel sticks

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.  Blob a bit of melted chocolate on the wax paper about the size of a quarter.  Put a yellow m&m in the center of chocolate blob with the logo down/not showing.  Break the pretzel stick in half and put your 2 “bacon strips” along side egg.  Repeat till you’ve used up your ingredients or you have to do laundry.  Transfer to refrigerator to chill till chocolate sets about 20-30 min.
(credit: The Ordinary Miracles and the Crazy 9)

Time to get creative!

Delicious and Easy Goodies!

By now, I’m sure most of you have heard of the new craze website, Pinterest. It has become a slight obsession of mine and those around me and it has inspired me to get a bit more creative in the kitchen. When it comes to food, I’m not the most patient person, so all of these are quick and easy ways to subdue your sweet tooth!

One random night, having a way-too-ripe banana in my fruit basket, I decided to try the PB Banana Bites. I was not disappointed, however, they did not turn out quite like this:

Instead, there was a bit more chocolate thrown all over the place… BUT the bananas were completely covered, and that was the important part. I popped those babies in the freezer for about two hours and then had a small, delicious goody for the next few days. They also got the boyfriend stamp of approval.

For Thankgiving, I tried the Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip. The first time I made this, I shared it with my coworkers and a few of the girls and it was a big hit. Then I made it for my family for Thanksgiving day… it was there one minute and gone the next. Not an exaggeration. I was walking through the kitchen to the dining room and it was gone. I mean… look at it… it just looks so irresistable!

They recommend either Teddy Grahams or Graham Crackers to dip… I’ve tried both and I have to say, I like the Graham Crackers better. They gave the dip a crust flavor… amazing.

These next two are my favorites… I saw these on Pinterest and knew I had to make them!

The first was Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries and hoooooly amazing! These seemed to be the overall fav!

Surprisingly, coring the strawberries wasn’t as much a hassle as I expected. I used my pearing knife and it worked brilliantly! I’m surprised I haven’t heard about stuffed strawberries before… but I sure can tell you that I WILL be making these again!

The last treat I made was Santa Hat Brownies – I thought these were just the cutest!

My brownies weren’t quite as thick since I used a big pan to get more of them, but they were still delicious. I also substitued the mascarpone cheese for cream cheese, but next time I’d probably try to mascarpone despite the cost because the icing didn’t hold up quite like I had hoped. I’d probably only use 2 cups of powedered sugar next time too since the icing was very sweet. BUT, these were still delicious and they stole the show with their undeniable cuteness!

Next up, I’d like to try these Birds’ Nests!

These seem so easy and are so cute!

Slutty Brownies are also on my list and if you read the recipe, you’ll know why!

Well, now that I have hopefully made your mouth water, I hope your work or school day or what have you goes well and you feel inspired when you step into your kitchen tonight!

“Vegetables are a must on a diet.  I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”
- Jim Davis

“The belly rules the mind.”
- Spanish Proverb

GEAUX LSU!

In support of my sister’s blog, I have to add this post…

Tune in to ESPN tonight at 8:30 p.m. to watch LSU v. Alabama!

Dream Job?

One of my best friends, Steph, posed the following question on her blog this morning:

What is your dream job?

When I was little, according to my mother, I wanted to be a model. All I can do is laugh at that idea…

For a long time, I wanted to be a veternarian. I quickly learned I was allergic to cats and that idea flew out the window! I maintain my love for dogs, but cats… I want nothing to do with those suckers! Like Steph though, I have always loved marine animals… especially dolphins. I think being a marine biologist would be so amazing.

I also remember wanting to be an archaeologist for a very long time. My parents gave me a dinosaur book when I was younger and I was so enthralled with the idea of finding once-living creatures beneath the Earth’s surface. I suppose I could still be an archaeologist if I put my mind to it, but I don’t know about working in that heat…

Now, my absolute dream job would be either a magazine editor-in-chief or the owner of a PR/Advertising firm. While I love human resources, I miss advertising and the creativity that comes along with it. I miss brainstorming and coming up with ideas for marketing. I miss looking at layouts on a page and deciding what goes where.

The cool thing about this post is that these dreams can still happen… Steph, you can still be a marine biologist, vineyard owner or writer… and I can still be an editor or firm owner. We can do it… it’s never to late!

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”
- Henry David Thoreau

Happy Monday!

-CS