My work wife turned me onto the most fabulous, cheap and easy cooking blog I have yet to encounter. It is called Budget Bytes, http://www.budgetbytes.com/, and after using her recipes for over a week, I am hooked and have yet to be disappointed.
This woman even got me baking bread. ME! I love to cook, but you ask me to bake, prepare to have a sugary let-down on your hands. She makes you believe you can do it though, because not only are her recipes cheap, they are easy!
Feeling sassy while reading through her blog, I decided that I was going to try her Olive Herb Bread (http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/03/olive-herb-bread/).
I’m not going to lie, chopping the olives was the hardest part…
Waiting was the second hardest part for me. Plus, having never seen active yeast in action before, I didn’t believe this would “rise”.
But it did!!!!
The pre-cooked loaf, all ready to go in the oven along with all of my baking hopes and dreams.
Thirty minutes later 🙂 (this was the good side of the loaf… the far side looked a little deformed. I still loved it, none the less)
The fruits of my labor! A sandwich made with the vegetables out of a friends garden.
Here is the link again if you would like to try the recipe: http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/03/olive-herb-bread/
This was my start to the weekend on Saturday morning. If I could bake bread, the weekend possibilities were endless! Continuing down the road of awesomeness, Saturday night Paul and I had a double-date night with Aunt Janice and Uncle Tom. You may remember them:
so cute
How can you not have a great night with a couple like that?
Sunday, I was up early to ride my bike to the gym to swim a few laps. I had the pool all to myself, and it was the perfect temperature! I don’t care how old I get, I always want to play around and do somersaults and hand-stands after a few hard laps.
Next, my bike and I adventured into downtown Lansing to visit a friend who I haven’t seen in over a year. Meeting with a good friend is always such a boost in life, especially ones like Annette. I thrive off of people with great energy (as I am sure most of you do), and she is great for that.
It was also such a great day to be riding around Lansing. There was very little traffic, few people out and about; the streets seemed to be mine. There is something so freeing and mobile to me about riding a bike. That may sound like a “duh” statement, but riding a bike is more freeing to me than having a car. You can go so many more places around town! All in all, I think I rode about 20 miles on Sunday.
The good times kept on rolling on Monday when I started my day with my follow-up appointment with my doctor. His original thinking was correct with is prediction of my blood work being fine. It was better than fine. My numbers are awesome across the board! (Always good to hear). So now, it is just a matter of weaning me off of my medication and seeing how I do with just emergency meds in the rare times of anxiety. I should be able to start dropping weight and get back to feeling like myself shortly.
I felt like I had made the Dean’s List! I immediately called my Aunt Janice then Paul to tell them both how stellar I had done on my blood “test”, (I always brag to Paul about my blood pressure, too, but high blood pressure runs in my family, so it is a number I take seriously. He just rolls his eyes as if to say, “yes, honey, you are extremely healthy, I know”, in a very supportive, albeit, eye rolling way.)
Max even had a vet appointment yesterday, also displaying a stellar check up.
What is a mom and her puppy to do when they both get A++ at the doctor? Take a nap then go for ice cream!!!! (A little counter-intuitive, and I don’t generally support the usage of food as a reward, but it was what we wanted… don’t judge).
So Paul drove his two newly declared healthy family members to the ice cream shop in Old Town, where I got a small swirl for us (Max and me) to split. yes… I share ice cream cones with my dog…
God punished me for my poor choice though, because ten minutes later, back on our couch at home, my cone had lost all structural integrity, melted ice cream was dripping out the top, bottom, AND sides, and I was covered in it.
No grown woman should have to shower after eating an ice cream cone.
Once again, Paul just rolled his eyes, but was good enough to document the sticky mess, complete with nap hair, that I was.
What is it that they say? Behind every crazy person is a sane person rolling their eyes and cleaning up the messes, making sure crazy makes it through the day alive…?
Wait, no, maybe that is just my life.
And I am only sharing this photo because I would never judge any of you, so save the same respect for me, please:
Probably the second least attractive photo of me ever… hopefully the #1 least attractive will never surface…
Adventures of S 