what a week!

it has been a busy week in my world, but an awesome one at that. some highlights include...

1. my sister's birthday! court turned 26 on tuesday - we are getting old! since court & i now live together, i got to make her birthday morning a little extra special.

 

{birthday sign - i love making these}

 

 

{my best attempt at making this recipe. it certainly isn't as pretty, but it sure was good! my store bought flatbread was a little too big for this, so i may go with a pizza dough next time.}

we celebrated both of my sister's birthdays (leigh's was last week) on tuesday night at the ever so fabulous blt at the ritz.

 

{birthday girls + me}

 

2. lola had her annual vet visit & she hated every second of it. then i continued the torture & made her get a bath at the dog salon. this is a neat place in plaza midwood that has self-serve dog washes & also grooming services. meet tater: a fellow english bully that has pink hair!

 

 

{she also has dog tattoos.. not kidding.}

 

 

{dog wash}

 

 

3. got in two great runs & pulled myself out of bed for 6am yoga this morning & tuesday morning. 

 

 

4. last but not least, i hung these shelves in my room all by myself! i'm probably a little too proud of this, but it feels like a big accomplishment! i spent some time looking around for the right shelves and found these at lowe's for about $13 each. the assembly wasn't too hard, although it did require a phone call to my stepdad, per the ususal. i love them!

 

 

 

i hope you have a great weekend & that you get to drink at least one green beer :) cheers!

recipe: crock pot chili!

last saturday, katie & i woke up and decided to go errand running first thing that morning. while in target, i decided i wanted to give my step mom's delicious chili recipe a try. she bought me a crock pot over 2 years ago, and i still hadn't used it. so we picked up all the ingredients and went for it.

what you'll need:

• 1.5 (ish) pounds of ground beef (or turkey)
• 1 packet of chili seasoning
• 1 large can kidney beans
• 1 large can of black beans
• 2 cans of "chili magic"
• 2 cans of chili beans
• green peppers (i got the pre cut kind from HT)
• onions (also pre-cut)
• tomatoes (again, pre-cut)

what to do:

1. brown the onions in a skillet. i added a little bit of oil and salt and pepper.
2. once browned, add the meat and also brown it. once it is cooked, add the chili powder to the pan.
3. throw everything else in the crock pot. i used all the tomatoes and about half of the green peppers.
4. add the meat & onions.
5. cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. serve with cheese on top!

it was so yummy, i'm making it again this weekend!

 

{ingredients!}

 

 

{browning the meat}

 

{at the beginning}

 

{our touch screen crock pot... ridiculous/awesome}

 

 

{finished product}

 

 

 

{bonus: step mom got us a keurig!}

cooking via pinterest.

i've made 3 recipes from pinterest in 3 days. this is probably the most i've cooked.... ever.

squash & zucchini chips

taken from this blog post:

tip: they shrink A LOT. like, they're barely half their original size once they're cooked. throw in 2 cookie sheets if you want a decent amount of these. 

avocado chicken salad

taken from this blog post: i left out the onion, went light on the cilantro, and added black beans to mine. this is going to be a new staple in my life - it's delicious! 

tip: if you don't have time to boil the chicken - chicken in a can works too! 

stuffed bell peppers

taken from this blog post: i used ground beef instead of turkey, and went with my own proportions of the beans, corn, etc. pretty much, i just used the whole can of everything. this may be the first cool thing i've ever cooked & i was extremely proud of myself! this would be fun and pretty easy meal to make for a dinner party!