Homemade Deli Meat

I adapted this recipe for deli meat which didn't specify which seasonings to use. I chose to use italian seasoning, garlic powder and onion powder. I also used less salt than the original recipe so I could skip the step of soaking the chicken in water after being marinated.
Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 8 tsp maple syrup (you can substitute regular syrup)
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp italian seasoning

Put all the ingredients into a plastic bag and let the chicken marinate in the fridge for 48 hours. Then pound out the chicken so that you can roll it. I used white thread to keep the chicken rolled up tightly.

This is what it looked like before I baked it

I brushed the outside with olive oil, but that's optional. Bake at 250 degrees until the chicken reaches 165 degrees. These 3 breasts took about 1 hr 10 minutes.

Taco Burgers

Last week I tried something I've been meaning to try for a while. I forgot to take a picture once they were cooked, but they looked just like regular burgers. They tasted exactly like I was eating a taco.
Ingredients:

• 16 oz ground beef
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• Ground black pepper
• This part is optional, but I pureed 3 oz of onion and 3 oz of green pepper, drained off the excess liquid and added it for moisture and flavor.

Batman vs Superman Reaction

What I liked:

• The face off between the two heroes was everything I expected and more. 
• Wonder Woman was amazing. I actually would have loved it if she had a more prominent role, but I understand why since she's getting her own movie
• Lex Luthor was a fascinating villain who had a really interesting plan that I will need a second viewing of the movie to really appreciate. 
• I won't spoil the ending, but I will say that it was really well done and planted seeds to lead perfectly into the next movies.
• The cameo of The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg.

What I didn't like:

• There wasn't an explanation to connect how the Dark Knight Rises ended with where we find Batman at the start of this movie.
• There were a couple of "slow" moments in the movie spent rehashing how Batman's parents died that I thought were unnecessary.
• Even though the ending was well done, I don't think it was believable considering what movies are still to come (if you've already seen it you know what I'm talking about).
• The idea that Batman would go to such lengths to take down Superman didn't seem right to me.

Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

I modified this recipe to create a bread that was just a little healthier than the original. I made half the recipe since I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Here's what I did:

• 4 tbsp butter
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup milk with 1 tsp vinegar stirred in

So I ended up doubling the pumpkin, adding less sugar, eliminating the yogurt, adding more milk and adding more butter. I don't like chocolate chips or nuts but if you like those I'm sure it would taste great in the bread. Next time I would probably add a little more milk since the batter was a little stiff. If you prefer a sweeter bread you can add the correct/recommended amount of sugar. I baked the bread in mini loaf pans so the baking time was only about 30 minutes.

Shopping for Shorts

I've been doing some online shopping for shorts since I have no guarantee of finding my size in the store. There are so many styles to choose from that make choosing a size very difficult. Boyfriend, girlfriend, and regular styles each require a successively smaller size. And each clothing company has a different size chart so I can't even buy the same size from each store. Actually I have the same problem with buying jeans online.
I have noticed that most shorts are either really short or really long with not many in between lengths. I prefer a length longer than a 1-in inseam but shorter than the bermuda style.
At this point I've tried shorts from Gap, Old Navy, Kohls, JCrew, Amazon and American Eagle. I will probably make a trip to Annapolis, return some of them and possibly see if any other stores have what I'm looking for.

Clearance Racks

I went to Kohls to return a few items and decided to browse the clearance racks. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with these racks. Sometimes I can find something at a really low price (like today when I got a shirt for 5 bucks). On the other hand, I have a hard time finding clothes in my size especially after the selection has been picked over. I've always wondered why the racks are so disorganized (clothing size not matching size on hanger, clothing sizes and clothing types not grouped together). I guess this is why I end up buying most of my clothes online.

Cold Grilling

It was in the 40s outside today, but we went ahead and had grilled burgers anyway. It was a little strange to put on a winter coat to step outside and grill. Last year my family and three other families from church split a whole grass fed cow. The beef is more mild tasting to me than regular beef from the grocery store. It's also a little denser (especially the ground meat) because it is aged longer.

Tea tree oil soap

This felt like a lazy Saturday even though we made two batches of soap. This is the orange and black soap we made yesterday and I love how it turned out. The curly pattern is different from all our other soaps. People have been asking us for a soap made with tea tree oil and we finally made one! I also realized this evening that I forgot to walk on the treadmill today. Whoops.

Orange and black soap

After a short day at work I came home to help my mom make more soap. This is what one of them looked like in liquid form right after we poured it into the mold. I'm not sure what the name of this one will be, but it's scented with tea tree and lemongrass essential oils.
Today was one of those days where I didn't eat a proper lunch and just snacked on carbs all afternoon. I really need to find some better lunch options. We had spinach pie for dinner, so at least I got in some vegetables today. After dinner I made some more of my favorite fruit dessert.

Charles County Courthouse

The only picture I took today was outside the Charles county courthouse today. This county had a lot more records for me to go through than I anticipated, so I ended up having to hand write about 75 records. I really should have just taken the laptop with me. As I was leaving, a guy ran out of there so fast it seemed like he could rival Usain Bolt. We are expected to get a couple inches of snow tonight here in southern Maryland. I found it amusing that the roads were pre-treated until I crossed from Calvert county into Charles county.

Veggie Chili

I am quite happy that I found a way to eat more vegetables. My mom gave me the spice combinations to go with my vegetable combo.

Ingredients

• 4 oz each of chopped frozen spinach, broccoli, green beans and onions
• 8 oz ground beef, browned (if you want to make it vegetarian just skip this)

The rest looks like a long list of ingredients, but it's mostly spices which can be adjusted to your personal taste:

• 4 oz tomato paste
• 6 oz beer
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1 1/4 tsp cumin
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp chili powder (I like it mild)
• 1/8 tsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp basil
• 1/3 tsp ground fennel
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tbsp vinegar
• 3/4 tsp cocoa
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• ground black pepper

I chopped up all the vegetables and threw all the ingredients into the crockpot and simmered for about 5 hours (half the time on high).

A really cool soap

I cut open yesterday's soap experiment which required three of us pouring in all three colors in at the same time. I think if there are only two people home one person can pour two colors at the same time. Sometimes I think cutting the soap logs is my favorite part.
Today we also made two more new batches of soap, and I worked on creating labels for all these new soaps.
Today I also got on the treadmill, which I've been slacking off on lately. I really have no excuse not to walk on it either.

Leap day activities

I just realized that the only thing I took a picture of today is our meat grinder. We actually grind most of our meat (chicken and beef).
I ordered tickets to go see Batman vs Superman in March with my dad and brother. After the way The Dark Knight Rises ended, I'm really interested to see how they deal with the Batman character.
We made a soap today that required 3 people pouring the soap into the mold at the same time. I can't wait to cut it tomorrow and see what it looks like.

Phony Potatoes

After church we went the grocery store, and I looked at the back of a package of mashed potatoes (the ones you add water to) I counted around 25 ingredients in this package, many of which I had to look up:

• Mono and diglycerides  - emulsifiers that may contain trans fats which the FDA has said don't have to be reported
• Artificial colors - a quick google search reveals all kinds of health issues as a result of ingesting them
• Artificial flavor - One article said that there are over 3,000 different artificial flavorings. So you can't even know exactly what ingredients are in this.

Some of the rest of those chemicals have gotten the Generally Recognized AS Safe (GRAS) distinction from the FDA. How did we get to the point where it's ok to put all these chemicals into foods?

Standard Saturday

Today's events

• Washed my hair (When you have natural hair like mine it's an event. Maybe one day I'll blog about that)
• Cooked a salmon burger for lunch
• Cut some soap that my mom made yesterday (pictured above)
• Helped make lasagna for dinner
• Made vanilla wafers
• Caught up on The Mysteries of Laura

A Clean Desk

Every once in a while I clean off all the clutter from my desk and I wonder why I don't do it more often. There is something so satisfying about a clean desk. My whole room instantly feels uncluttered and organized, and I feel more relaxed. This is also a good way to discover important paperwork that had gotten buried below all the clutter.

Bloodwork

I had blood drawn today, which I had been procrastinating about for a couple of weeks. My doctor's appointment is coming up soon so I couldn't put it off any longer. I guess when most people do bloodwork, they use rubbing alcohol to clean the skin. Well my sensitive skin gets an awful rash from that so they used to use iodine. Last time my favorite technician (who always remembers my sensitive skin and small veins that need a kid sized needle) told me they weren't using that anymore and he used something else. This time another technician was doing the bloodwork and I couldn't remember the name of the "new stuff". She went and got something with chlorhexidine in the name. Hopefully I don't get a rash. This time, they only needed two vials of blood instead of the usual four or five.

Neapolitan Soap

This was our latest soap experiment. I love getting to play around with different color combinations and scents. This soap smells like berries. Also, creating a soap that looks kind of like food is just a bonus. Since we use all natural colors (no artificial dyes) it is sometimes hard to create exactly what I have in my mind. This time, it came out pretty close to what I had in mind.

Hamburger for Breafast

Instead of eating sausage patties for breakfast, I've been making mini hamburger patties. I really need to find some other breakfast foods to eat. It seems like I've been eating the same thing over and over again.
Today we made a couple of batches of soap, and tonight I went to Bible study.

Shaky Bridge

I went to the Prince George's county courthouse today for my other very small part time job (I visit 4 different courthouses and record information). On the way back I decided to skip the shuttle bus and walk back to the parking lot. Then the shuttle bus passed me and I started to regret that decision, but at least I got in some exercise. Part of the walkway is a bridge over some very murky looking water, and some of the floorboards rattled when I stepped on them which was deeply unsettling. Also I had to cross the exit ramp from route 4 and the line of sight wasn't as good as I thought it'd be. Maybe next time I'll just take the bus.

Lazy Sunday

I think cutting soap might have been the only productive thing I did today other than responsibilities at church. This is the soap made with the parsley and rosemary from yesterday. The colors are actually more intensified in person than in my badly lit picture.
I watched the Dark Night (which I hadn't seen before) in preparation for seeing batman vs superman next month. The joker was a really fantastic villian which made for a really good movie. I hope the Dark Night Rises is just as good.

A Productive Saturday

Every once in a while I wake up feeling productive. This morning was one of those days. I mixed together the soap ingredients for two different soaps before breakfast. One of the soaps uses ground parsley and rosemary (the green and brown powder in the picture). I spent a chunk of the afternoon redesigning the labels that go with each soap. I then spent some time pan frying more chicken. This time I used actual chicken tenders instead of chunks of chicken breasts. After dinner I caught up on iZombie. Zombies are one of the last topics for a tv show that I thought I'd ever watch, but it's such a fun, quirky show that isn't over the top creepy (for the most part).

Free Exercise

Random thoughts from work today

• This is how I get most of my exercise: hauling around all these heavy boxes. Each box is usually 20 - 50 pounds each. 
• Someone asked me today if Hallmark had a card for turning 126 and 1/2. First off, Hallmark doesn't even have cards for 1/2 birthdays. Secondly, I really should have repeated what he said to double check that I heard correctly. 126? 
• I overhear the craziest stories from customers talking on their phones. Today's story involved a jilted employee overturning tables at a restaurant and storming out.

Spinach Smoothie

I messed around with different ratios of these three ingredients to create a mixture that didn't taste like spinach.

• 2 parts pineapple tidbits and juice
• 1 part spinach
• 1 part blueberries

This time I did 8 oz pineapple, 4 oz spinach, and 4 oz blueberries. This is made and eaten the same way I do the strawberry applesauce (freeze the mixture, then thaw slightly and eat like ice cream). The frozen smoothie tastes mostly like pineapple with a little flavor of blueberries.

Flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs

I decided to pan fry some chicken for dinner. The one disadvantage to this particular meal is the clean up afterwards. Oils splashes everywhere when frying in a shallow cast iron pan (and it didn't seem worth it to pull out the deep fryer for this small amount of chicken). I have actually been freezing the leftovers and then reheating them in the oven in a cast iron pan to ensure that the chicken stays crispy. It's kind of like having a homemade version of Perdue or Tyson frozen chicken strips.

Soap experiment and V-day aftermath

This is the soap that I made yesterday while we were snowed in (which sounds almost silly to say since the several inches of snow we got is completely gone now). I only made three bars since it was an experiment. Next time I think I'll make the pink a little darker, but I really like the way the charcoal came out. Also, I've now learned that it's possible to have two colors in a star shape.

Work today was a little chaotic. All the Valentines mess had to come down and be replaced with Easter and St. Patrick's day product. Those red cardboard displays were once filled with cards. The hallmark section is right next to a price check machine, so there were a ton of customers today checking the prices of discounted Valentines day items.

Another Snow Day

I woke up to more snow than was forecasted, so today consisted of shoveling, Netflix, soap making and baking. I never realize just how long our driveway is until I'm shoveling it. I am currently making my way through Alias on Netflix. It's kind of an older show that my parents discovered and then got me hooked on. I made a small trial batch of soap today. I'll probably post a picture tomorrow once I take it out of the mold.
Tonight I'll probably be flipping back and forth between the Grammys and the bachelor.

Vanilla Wafers

I don't really eat desserts that much, but homemade vanilla wafers might be my favorite sweet treat. I make these often enough that I had to get parchment paper, an extra large baking sheet, pastry bags, and tips to expedite the process.

Snow

Just a few thoughts from today:

• I momentarily applied a black and white filter to this photo on my phone, and it looked almost identical to this original one.
• As bleak as this picture looks, it was bright sunshine less than two hours later.
• It was so windy on the way to work this afternoon that my car almost swerved out of the lane.
• The Walmart parking lot was almost filled like it is at Christmas time due to everyone buying Valentine's Day gifts at the last minute.

Pentatonix

My friend and I got tickets today to see Pentatonix in May! I've pretty much been playing their album of original songs non-stop since it was released in October. I was first introduced to acapella music by that show The Sing Off on NBC. Pentatonix won the 3rd season and I've been fans of them ever since.

Essential oils

I decided it was time to organize and label my containers so I don't get them mixed up. Each container contains 1 tsp of grapeseed oil and 2 drops of essential oils. Just in the last week I've used the tea tree (for sore throat), lemon (to strengthen nails), and peppermint (for headaches).

Valentine's Day

Working for Hallmark means that the week leading up to a major holiday is extra busy. There is the rush to get out as many cards as possible, and then also dealing with the shipment of product for the next holiday. Most of my time at work today was spent cleaning up this mess, which actually extended for another 40 feet (this is only about 4-6 feet in the picture). Once I straightened everything, I stuffed the card pockets with as many cards as I could.

Body Butter

Since I have sensitive skin, I prefer to stay away from ingredients like titanium dioxide and dimethicone which are common ingredients in lotion. I make body butter from Shea butter and a light oil. Grapeseed, almond, and even olive oil would work for this. 

Chicken Burgers

I usually don't have the energy to make breakfast early in the morning, so I make as much as I can ahead of time. Mini-chicken burgers reheat really well. This time I added frozen spinach (4oz) to one pound of ground chicken.

Cast Iron

Cast iron pans are amazing. They are by far the most durable pans we've owned. It's like having a non-stick pan that doesn't wear out and chip away after many uses. These are just a sampling of the foods that we regularly cook on cast iron:

• roast chicken
• burgers (chicken and beef)
• pan fried chicken
• pizza
• eggs (pan must be well seasoned for this one)
• potatoes

The best part is that they aren't expensive either.

Makers Market

We sold soap today at Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center. Normally they have a market where vendors can sell outside, but every once in a while they have a special event (this one was for Valentine's Day) where we can sell indoors. This was our first event of the year.

Strawberry Applesauce

This is a mixture of strawberries and apples blended together (approximately 4 strawberries per half apple). I then put the containers in the freezer. When I'm ready to eat it, I let each container thaw for 30 minutes and then eat it like ice cream. It is SO GOOD. My dad thought it tasted like strawberry applesauce. Best part is that there's no added sugar, but it still tastes plenty sweet enough.

Soap and Tetrazzini

After coming home from work, I got to spend most of the rest of the day in the kitchen. First up was soap making. This particular batch was a little trickier to make because we used beer instead of water. 

Dinner today was tuna tetrazzini. It's basically mac and cheese with canned tuna added. The Bechamel sauce (white sauce) is my favorite part of making mac and cheese.

Ritz Cracker Copycat

I've been using this recipe to make homemade crackers. I made mine square shaped instead of round since I don't have the patience to cut out that many circles. I roll out an entire rectangle of dough on parchment paper and then just cut the rolled out dough into squares. They fully separate into individual squares as they bake in the oven. I usually eat them with cheese so I'm at least getting some protein with the carbs.

Orange Charcoal

This might be my favorite soap to make. It's more intricate to make than some of our other soaps, plus it smells like an orange. 

Out of place

Today I snapped a quick pic of just a small part of the mess that I have to clean up inside the hallmark section of Walmart. What I didn't take a picture of was a money order with receipt that someone had left shoved in with the greeting cards  I've also found blank checks left behind. How does this happen?

Breadcrumbs

Today was pretty uneventful, but I did grind up some bread. My mom makes all of our yeast bread and we save money by making our own breadcrumbs. Even if you use store bought bread and grind it yourself, you'll still save money.

Budgeting

This is something I've been meaning to do for a while. I've tried budgeting on excel, but for some reason that never worked for me and I didn't stick with it. Mint allowed me to import everything that I needed and even created sample budget amounts for all of the basic spending areas.