How My Secret Santa Helped Me Make Dinner

Every year at Christmas, our family does Secret Santa between the "kids". I say "kids" because we're not really "kids" anymore. Most of us are out of college, some are married, and some even have kids of their own! But the tradition stands.

However, the tradition is totally rigged. There are six girls and two boys on my dad's side, and the two boys have always traded until they get each other. They never wanted to buy presents for girls. Then there were the two "older girls" who traded to get each other because "they were in the same stages of life" at that point. Which left Brittany and I to get our twin cousins, Lauren and Alison. It was probably the best deal ever.

I don't know how, but somewhere along the course of our lives, Alison and I both decided to go into dietetics. This was great news to me, because now I not only get to be totally geeky at school, but I can also talk Biochem and Food Science at family gatherings with my cousin. Since we currently have this food obsession, and we are "lucky" enough to get each other as Secret Santas, we both got each other food-related gifts for Christmas.

Which leads me to how I was able to use my present to make dinner.


I was relieved when Josh sent me a text from work (naughty, naughty!) saying that he wanted calzones for dinner. We were planning on having pasta or something, which we have had probably five times since we moved to Iowa. It also meant that I got to use my calzone mold!

To make the dough, I always use the same recipe. By using the bread machine, it allows this process to be pretty mindless, although I am sure you can use the same ingredients and knead it yourself.

Meanwhile, I got busy chopping up veggies and preheating the oven to 425 degrees.

When the dough is all ready, use a rolling pin to flatten a few circles of dough. Place the dough on top of the calzone mold, and fill with all of the toppings you would want on your pizza. Here is what we used:

• Pizza sauce
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Green pepper, chopped
• Asparagus, chopped
• Eggplant, thinly sliced

Next, fold it in half and press around the edges to make sure everything will stay in there. You can scrape off the excess dough and roll it into a breadstick!

Arrange it on a cookie sheet, and place in the oven. Let them bake for 20-25 minutes. 

These suckers were huge! I think I ate half of mine and didn't even get to the breadstick. The good thing is, leftover calzones are equally as delicious as their fresh counterparts. Eat up!

Balloon(s) Glow

I love Iowa. I really never ever in a million years thought I would say it, but I do. Especially right now. Being that I'm from Wisconsin, every "fest" I have ever been to revolves around food and beer. Cranberry Fest, Kornfest (no, not the band, they just thought they were being clever), Butter Fest (seriously), and of course, the State Fair. Now, I'm not saying that stuff here doesn't revolve around food, but how can you really be thinking of funnel cakes and pizza when there is a huge hot air balloon inflating and glowing right in front of your face?!

Balloon Glow 2012 in Cedar Rapids, IA. The most wonderful event of the year. I'm not sure what it is about hot air balloons that makes me all giddy inside, but I was feeling like some of the five year old kids there. It took place in the front lawn of a mansion in Cedar Rapids called Brucemore. 

The lawn was totally packed with people. We fought or way to a little patch of green and sat down to enjoy the band. This band was made up of three middle aged men, who started off their line up with none other than "Sweet Home Alabama". What is it with people in the Midwest playing that song? I feel like every cover band does it, but why? You're not from Alabama, or even the South. You're from Iowa! What makes things worse is that everyone else is bobbing their heads along, as if they're saying, "Yeah, man, this is my anthem!" The irony.

Anyway, the band got even better once they started singing Blink 182 and Kings of Leon. I could have died. Props to these guys!

The sun finally started its descent, and what a beautiful sunset it was!

Then they made us sit in anticipation for like, EVERRRR.....

...but finally one balloon started to sneak up in the background...

And glowing..

And then a few more...

We waited for a while, but were convinced that they probably weren't going to go up in the air since they were so close together. So we got to see the magic and wonder of some giant hot air balloons! 

I think I know another thing I want to add to my Bucket List! :)

July Bucket List

With the new month quickly approaching, I decided I would make sure my last month without any commitments is full of fun things to do. And because I'm a list person, I thought there would be no better way to make sure it all happens than by making a check off sheet. So here it is!

1. Pick flowers at St. Bridget's Flower Farm
2. Go to live music at The Mill Restaurant
3. Have a picnic and loooooong day at Coralville Lake on the beach
4. Get groceries at New Pioneer Co-Op
5. Go kayaking or canoeing at Lake MacBride
6. Wine tasting at Cedar Ridge Winery in Swisher

I'm not asking for much! Plus, the way I see it, that's like one or two things each weekend. So, if anyone wants to come visit... ;)

But most of all, this is what I'll be spending my time doing...

Alison and Patrick at their wedding, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

It is no secret that I love weddings, but I especially love going to weddings bring the best people together. A prime example of a wedding like this is the one I went to this past weekend for my cousin Alison and her new husband (husband!) Patrick. They have been dating back into the days when AIM was utilized regularly (I remember reading in her "info box" - "Patrick and I held hands!!" hahahahah), so it was high time he put a ring on it. 

The ceremony was so full of tradition and like nothing I have ever seen before (except at my other cousin's weddings I guess..). I learned a lot about the Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony, and I thought it was really cool that they incorporated the Greek language into the ceremony. I totally teared up when my uncle walked Alison down the aisle, the same way I do at every single wedding I go to. I can only imagine my face when my dad does the same for me!

I'm blogging about this because I thought they had some really cute things, and really good ideas for the future. Patrick and Alison, you have a love that can move mountains. Love like yours is one that will surely last forever.

Such a sweet gesture, and so like them. Always being selfless.

A very girly touch to my tomboy cousin's reception hall. I loved it!

Pat's words: "Alison can beat me at most sports, except maybe tennis. So all I ask is that you let me win sometimes." 

Baseball theme!

Josh and I outside, enjoying the view.

Dad in his wedding suit and Mom, workin' it on the patio.

Britt and her "woman date". Leah actually caught the bouquet! 

Dad and Josh even got to bonding! (Can you find Britty?)

Dad got to use his brand new hip to get his groove on at the dance!

TBP+ (Tomato Basil Pizza PLUS)

You guys, I'm totally lame and running out of ideas for recipe titles. Hence the awkward acronym. The good news is, the product was not near as lame as the name of it.

I'm really excited to share this with you all. Growing up, I think we had frozen pizza at least once a week (usually when Dad was in charge of dinner or lunch), so I can say it's definitely one of my staple/go-to food items. Most people have macaroni and cheese or mashed potatoes as comfort food, mine is frozen pizza.

When I went to college, I could never convince myself to buy frozen pizza. We had mini fridges in the dorms, and the half of the pint size freezer I could call my own didn't fit pizzas. Plus, I was a dietetics student. I have a reputation to live up to! Even when I moved into a house, I never felt like buying pizza (but that was also because Jeff and Jim's Pizza was too hard to pass up on the days I had cravings, so I never needed it anyway.)

So now I feel like, it's been four years since I have had my very own frozen pizza, why start now? Especially when you have all the means to make a delicious recipe that's all your own? So, yesterday when the jonesin' for pizza came a-callin', I responded with a fantastic idea.

Tomato Basil pizza, of course!

I had a version of this at Punch Pizza in Minneapolis when I went to visit my cousins at St. Thomas, and then again when I went to Polito's Pizza in Stevens Point. It's hard to make something quite as delicious as it is at a restaurant, but I think Josh and I did a pretty dang good job!

The Recipe


Dough
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Toppings
1 small can pizza sauce
1-2 cups mozzarella cheese
2 roma tomatoes, sliced
4 leaves fresh basil
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/3 white onion, diced

I can let you in on our little secret: a bread machine. They are the best invention ever. All you have to do is toss your ingredients in for the dough, and it does all the work for you (besides adding toppings and baking it..)! I just put in all those ingredients in that order into the bread machine and selected "dough" as the option. It took about an hour and 20 minutes to process everything into a dough, so be prepared for a little waiting game.


Once it is ready, flour the countertop and your hands and knead the dough a little bit. Roll out the dough in the shape and thickness you want it to be, and place it on a greased pizza pan. (We like to put tin foil on top of the pan so clean up is easier, but it's totally up to you. Spread some olive oil over the top of the raw dough and with the red pepper flakes and bake for 3 minutes at 425 degrees.

Take the crust out and spread on the toppings in this order: pizza sauce, cheese, tomatoes, onion, basil, and oregano. Then bake the pizza for 20-25 minutes.

Then you're done! Enjoy!

Sneaky Sneaker

When I was planning my trip to the grocery store today, I was hoping to get some vegetables that I haven't had in a while. So begins the story of how I think I need to sneak vegetables into every meal. 

I remembered a while ago when my mom and I found a yummy recipe for Eggplant Lasagna. In my past life, I was terrified to try most unusual vegetables (i.e., anything but carrots and corn), but now that my tastes have matured, I actually enjoy most of them. Eggplant is one of these "unusual" foods.

But, the beauty of eggplant is that it doesn't really taste like anything. I decided to make this recipe again, thinking I would trick Josh into eating eggplant. I knew I had about an hour to spare before he came home, so I used my pretty food processor to slice the eggplant, and I took out just what I needed for the recipe, putting the rest into a tupperware container in the back of the fridge. 

Muahahhaha...

The guy is much smarter than I give him credit for. I should have known by this point that he always goes to the fridge when he gets home from work. 

"Honey, what is this?" he says while holding up my "well hidden" box of surprises.

"Eggplant." I said.

J: "Oh, are you putting it in the lasagna?"

Me: "Yeah...."

J: "Ok."

End of conversation. No struggle, no argument, nothing. The man is easy to please.

So, if you want to try to trick your loved ones into eating eggplant, I suggest using all of it and putting it into your recipe before they bust you :)

And try this recipe:

• 1 box 100% whole wheat lasagna noodles
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 medium eggplant
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3 cups cottage cheese (instead of ricotta!)
• oregano, basil, and italian spices to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grab a 9x13 baking pan and layer it with 1/4 of the jar of spaghetti sauce. Precook the eggplant by warming olive oil in a large skillet. Place eggplant in and sautee for approximately 4 minutes. Meanwhile, boil water and cook the lasagna noodles until they are limp, but not fully cooked (around 5-6 minutes). 

Once the noodles are somewhat soft, lay three noodles across the bottom of the pan. Then, cover that layer with 1/3 of the remaining sauce, eggplant, mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, and spices. Repeat this "layering" until you run out of supplies. 

Bake the lasagna in the oven for 40-45 minutes. 

I Like to Move It, Move It!

The past few days have been pretty exciting, to say the least. As you know, I have been frantically looking for a job, and I was hired as a Group Exercise Instructor at the University of Iowa. I teach two classes: Core Fusion and Cardio Crazy. Once again, I have a dream job. Exercise and get paid for it! What could be better?

Here is my awesome new uniform! I am  am considering being converted to a Hawkeye. Maybe.

Seriously, you guys, it is so hard not to get swept up into the school spirit here. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE has Hawkeye garb everywhere you look. On our bike ride the other day, Josh and I saw flags, license plate covers, side mirror covers, restaurants, random walls in the town totally decked out in Herky memorabilia. I'm so excited to finally go to a school that cares about football! 

Ok, so back to business. Josh and I have been waiting for the weekend to come so we can actually hang out. We had lots of plans, including a nature walk, making dinners together, visiting the mall (OK that one was mostly me), bike rides, and going to a church lunch for people our age. 

Our nature walk through the Coralville Lake and Dam Recreation Area was really fun, but very tiring. I taught my Cardio Crazy class in the morning, and during that time, Josh also decided to go running for the first time in a month. Combine each of those with the heat, and we were totally not ready to go for a 5 mile hike! We didn't realize that until it was too late, so we went anyway. Notice how a majority of our pictures include us sitting down :)

See, even Josh wanted to fit in with the Hawkeye spirit!

Discreetly hiding in the woods...

Bonding time at last!

 It has trails that cover 5 miles of beautiful scenery around Coralville Lake. There are also campsites, which we are hoping to take advantage of in the next few weeks. 

Spinach... For BREAKFAST?

I've had a lot of free time to constantly be thinking about food. What should I make for dinner? What can I eat for lunch? There are cookies eyeballing me from the cookie jar on the table. I should go shopping and get some more ingredients to make ___________ recipe. This is when free time gets dangerous in my world.

But, I've decided to make the best of it, and try to get creative with what I'm eating. I'm constantly looking for ways to sneak vegetables into my diet, since I'm not necessarily a veggie fan (shame on me, I know!). I remembered that many of the blogs I love have been talking about Green Monster Smoothies. 

The last time I went to the store, I got a little carried away with "getting the best deal" with the best Nu-Val score. The "best deal" in this case was a ginormous, boat load of spinach. I'm talkin' the 11-ouncer. 

This was accompanied by a "Ho-ly cowww, honey!" reaction from Josh. 

Anyway, I figured I should start using it, so apart from our daily spinach salad, I also decided I should try out my very own Green Machine Smoothie. 

Ingredients

• Baby Spinach
• Dole Frozen Mixed Berry Blend
• Anderson Erickson Low-fat Vanilla yogurt
• V8 Fusion Berry Pomegranate Juice

You can use whatever portions you like, but I chose to fill my Magic Bullet mug 1/3 of the way with spinach, 1/3 with the berries, and 1/3 with yogurt. Then I squeezed whatever amount of juice would fit (which, as you can see, is maybe 1/4 of the mug). 

Then, blend away!

Before

After

It's not green, I know, but it's still good for you and the best part is...

It tastes sooooooo good! I promise, you can't taste the spinach at all! :)

Home Sweet Home

Since moving to Iowa, it has been non-stop cleaning and organizing for this girl. (Ok, I shouldn't say "non-stop", but I've cleaned at least once a day.) Now that I feel like our apartment is practically ready, I decided I would let myself show you around.

So, welcome to our home!

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2 (aka Dave's Room)

Bathroom

Living Room (note the absence of a couch..it will be here tonight!!)

My favorite room in the apartment...the kitchen!

I love it and I love the town! Maybe I'll take some pictures there next so you can see what my daily adventures entail.

Speaking of adventures, this weekend Josh and I plan to hit up some of the cute little places I've discovered. Number One on my list is Capanna Coffee. Gelato sounds so yummy, but I can't go by myself. I just can't. So I will wait for my buddy to be free to come with me.  

Doesn't that look soooo scrumptious? 

The best part about it is that according to their website,

Gelato, unlike North American ice cream, is not frozen as deeply. It contains less air and fat contentresulting in a purer taste with a velvety texture that is simply breathtaking!

This girl with a massive sweet tooth is SOLD.

I Want To Live Like That

Sometimes I think 

What will people say of me 

When I'm only just a memory 

When I'm home where my soul belongs 

Was I love 

When no one else would show up 

Was I Jesus to the least of those 

Was my worship more than just a song 

I want to live like that 

And give it all I have 

So that everything I say and do 

Points to You 

If love is who I am 

Then this is where I'll stand 

Recklessly abandoned 

Never holding back 

I want to live like that 

I want to live like that 

Am I proof 

That You are who you say You are 

That grace can really change a heart 

Do I live like Your love is true 

People pass 

And even if they don't know my name 

Is there evidence that I've been changed 

When they see me, do they see You 

I want to live like that 

And give it all I have 

So that everything I say and do 

Points to You 

If love is who I am 

Then this is where I'll stand 

Recklessly abandoned 

Never holding back 

I want to live like that 

I want to live like that 

I want to show the world the love You gave for me 

I'm longing for the world to know the glory of the King 

I want to live like that 

And give it all I have 

So that everything I say and do 

Points to You 

If love is who I am 

Then this is where I'll stand 

Recklessly abandoned 

Never holding back 

Made it to Hawkeye Land

After a very long weekend of moving in and getting settled, Josh and I have finally gotten settled in our new apartment. Exploring the area has been a blast. The downtown area near campus is really cool...it has a lot of little shops, restaurants, and yoga studios. It's totally my scene. The area is also full of bike paths, which Josh and I explored yesterday. We figure we went about 15 miles around the town and campus, so we got a good workout. Plus, I feel like the only way to get to know a town is by getting yourself totally lost and finding your way back. I prefer to do so by means of bicycle or by foot, so I don't waste gas :)

Anyway, Josh went to work this morning, so I got up and cleaned our apartment (like scrubbed and swept and everything!) and got all ready for the day...by 9:30. Then it hit me: while this whole "living free" idea sounds appealing (a summer without work or commitments..SCORE!)...

I'm gonna get REAL bored REAL quick. 

So, I drove the big red truck downtown and squeezed in a parking spot, and this is where I will spend my afternoon. Walking up and down each and every street, begging for someone to hire me for part time work. I sure hope I find something, otherwise I will probably become trained to be the best housewife ever.

The Real Housewives of Iowa City? I could totally start that!

Just kidding. Let the job hunt begin!

P.S. Here was our first meal together in our new place: Lemon-Herb Seasoned Salmon, Cilantro-Lime Rice, and spinach salad. I got to use my new food processor to chop up all the veggies! LOVE IT!