huevos rancheros

This won't be a complete post, as I don't really have much of a recipe. My mister made me breakfast this morning though, and I'm pretty sure this now becomes my new favorite thing. I heart you huevos rancheros!
Essentially from what I can figure out, Brad first mixed up an egg scramble of sorts, that included green peppers, tomatoes, black beans, eggs, salt, pepper, and jalapeno.

Huevos scramble

He then nestled this cooked scramble in a warm flour tortilla, topped it with shredded cheddar and Monterrey jack cheeses, crispy fried corn tortilla strips, sliced avocado, salsa, and salsa verde.

Plated huevos rancheros ready for my belly

There literally aren't enough words to describe how good and satisfying this breakfast is. I could eat it everyday!

Minirazzi

There's been a few sightings around town lately of all things mini. First up, Kristal was at Mongolian BBQ, and discovered they're now serving mini desserts on the menu. Yum!

Mini Mongolian Dessert

Next, after a quick perusal of Barnes & Noble for all things Europe, I ran across this adorable mini French phrase dictionary. Perfect for my trip at the end of next month!

Mini French dictionary? Oui, oui!

Finally, Stephanie sent me a text letting me know that Zingerman's Roadhouse was serving root beer floats in mini shot glasses for breakfast. How darling. Thanks again my lovelies, for keeping me informed about all things wee. Keep them coming!

technicolor meatloaf

This past weekend Brad was off to Texas to visit his cousin Mark. Quite frankly, I was excited about the weekend alone by myself. Long, luxurious bubble baths, uninterrupted hours of reading, girly movies on the widescreen, and evenings spent eating whatever I wanted were in my future. Unfortunately for me, the weekend didn't totally end up like I had envisioned (I was too darn busy with other commitments), but I did manage yesterday to watch some food porn tv that got my creative juices flowing. I happened to catch an episode of Cooking for Real, where the host made a pan-fried meatloaf. It looked pretty interesting. So I embarked upon it with a few modifications of my own, more suited to go along with my leftover baked macaroni and cheese and steamed broccoli.

Technicolor Meatloaf

3 slices wheat bread (diced small)
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
1 egg
3/4 lb each of grass-fed ground beef & breast meat ground turkey
1 small yellow onion, diced small
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup crushed tomatoes
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp Frank's hot sauce
basil, oregano, parsley, salt & pepper to taste

Mix all of above ingredients. Using your hands is messy, but recommended.

Messy meatloaf mixing

Next up, cut yourself some pepper rings! I made mine about 1 - 1 1/4" thick. I got three rings from a normal pepper, 4 for a really big one. Spread them out on a cookie sheet in preparation.

Pepper rings ready to stuff, and stuffed

Now that your peppers are ready and so is your loaf, get to stuffing! Pack them as tight as you can, as the mixture will reduce some in size when you start to sear them in the frying pan. Sear each of the meatloaves in a pan on medium-high heat, about 5 minutes per side. You don't want them cooked throughout, just some browning for color. Place the mini loaves back on the cookie sheet once they're seared to go into a 400 degree F oven for another 20 minutes. Just prior to placing in the oven, I decided the loaves needed a little extra kick. So I spread each with a secret mixture of sriracha, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne pepper.

Meatloaves ready to bake

After the meatloaves are done cooking, it's time to eat! Plate yourself up some dinner with some mac and cheese and broccoli, and you're ready to rock.

Another meatloaf dinner

Snowshoes

This afternoon Birgit and I partook in a little demo at the Hudson Mills Metropark in Dexter sponsored by REI about how to use snowshoes. For only $2, it was a nice hour walk in the woods, and a great introduction to how snowshoes work. We also learned that you can rent them through your local REI store. Good to know for the future!

Birgy buckles upI model my sexy snowshoes

We also learned a lot while on the hike. We saw the first bloom of the year, a little signal alerting us that, alas spring was indeed coming. Too bad it's a plant called "skunk cabbage" that gives us that first hint. Apparently once they bloom, the flowers are almost maroon in color, but are not exactly beautiful. Breaking or tearing a leaf on the plant also produces a pungent odor! This keeps animals and humans alike from eating it.

Pretty views of the woods

Next we heard about a variety of birds, specifically insect-seeking birds in trees. There was a yellow-bellied sap sucker that drills holes into trees and eats the sap and insects drawn to it. There was also a giant woodpecker called the pileated woodpecker (think Woody the Woodpecker) that's drumming can be so loud that it often sounds like someone striking a tree with a hammer.

Linear peckings from yellow-bellied sap suckersOvertly large holes from the Pileated Woodpecker (Michigan's largest)

Near the end of the hike, we also learned a lot about something called a gall. It's defined as an "abnormal outgrowth of plant tissues and can be caused by various parasites, from fungi and bacteria, to insects and mites." From the way I understood it, it works like this. Every wonder what happens to mosquito's in the winter? In the late fall, they bite plants, plants produce a chemical that creates sort of a pod or outgrowth on itself, that then traps the insect inside. In the spring, the insect then bites it's way back out to haunt us. Flipping weird. However, very inventive, and highly cool.

A gall close-upAn overwintered field of goldenrods

So that's that. It would be really cool if I could get out there and snowshoe again sometime this winter. Here's to maybe not being so disappointed by yet another large dumping of snow, as I know Birgy is game to join me on another adventure!

I'm in the news!

If you consider the Onion to be hilarious news like I do. Brad alerted me to the following article. Apparently he's not the only one who mocks my awesomeness.

Funny Valentine

I'm not normally one for Valentine's Day. I believe in sharing the love with those you care about all year long, not just on a day sanctioned by Hallmark and the various florist and chocolate manufacturers. I had to share a little something hilarious about my husband and his St. Valentines day hi jinks though. The story starts off with with a new piece of workout equipment!

Newest Zawacki home gym find

We got this stand-up "total gym" recently from Brad's Aunt Joanne & Uncle Don, who are doing a bit of housecleaning in preparation for their move to Arizona. The gym is in pretty good condition (and an extra special thanks to Uncle Tom for it's delivery from Pittsburgh), but it also was manufactured sometime in late 70's or early 80's. No big deal for us, but it did provide several rounds of laughter when we looked through the associated "how-to" manual.

Gym Instructions

Brad just couldn't leave it at that though. So when I finally went to bed early this morning, I found this on my pillow.

An innocent bedtime Valentine

Only to open the card up, and laugh hysterically at the following:

Turned creepy 80's Valentine

My mister really does know how to keep me smiling. So this morning I followed suit, and left him some candy and a card on the toilet. :-) Not quite as clever, but the best I could do on short notice and without master Photoshop skillz.

Toilet of love

We then spent an early dinner out today at one of our favorite places to eat in Ypsilanti, La Fuente. We started with drinks, and followed with each of our respective favorite dishes. Too bad we didn't save any room for fried ice cream.

Strawberry daiquiri (w/ surprise kiss!)Chicken ChiliquilesFajita's

Now it's time to hit the Michigan Hockey game for hopefully another 8 to 3 win, so Happy Valentine's Day to all my special peeps out there, and Go Blue.

Getting our bake on

Cake class tonight was actually much more exciting than I even anticipated. Kristal, Tony and I first got started by mixing our icing and practicing some lettering.

Cake LetteringKristal and Tony practice letting

Next we got to work on frosting our cakes and mixing some more icing (goodness there was a lot of icing)

Kristal makes a flower cake

I decided last week to make a Michigan cake. Look how cute it turned out!

Michigan Cake

So that's it for now. My icing consistency was a little thick, but overall I was really happy with how it turned out and am actually looking forward to class again in 2 weeks.

Let them bake cake

Here's a quick little update about the cake decorating class I'm taking. This class started off as nothing but a hassle. Originally it was scheduled for January, but due to some royal screw-up (royal, like royal icing, you see what I did there? hehe), got moved to February. Then there was the danger of rescheduling that! Turns out it's just one date we'll have to reschedule (Feb 19 for March 5th), and the whole thing kicked off last night. I'm still not totally sold on the concept, especially considering how much stuff there is to buy. However, I was slightly excited to purchase this new cake kit. It even comes with it's own box. :-)So over the next four weeks, I'll be making cakes every Wednesday night, and decorating them every Thursday. I have no idea how this experiment will turn out, but I've decided if I can have just one success (making the icing flat on all sides of a cake with no crumbs peeking through) then the money for the class will be worth it. I have no desire to get really good at making cakes (like wedding-cake-maker kind of good, nor do I ever want to have to use fondant), but I would like to be able to make a cute cupcake for my niece on occasion, and make a cake or two when the time is right. Up next week, a Michigan cake.
In a little bit of other news, and as usual, a surprise to me, my lovely lady Kristal bestowed some mini on me. Mad props to her husband Rick for spotting them! While on their ski vacation, Kristal & Rick eyed these mini condiments, and knew immediately that I had to have them. You two make a gal feel so loved, and my bento boxes thank you! Giant bear hugs to you both.

Grover vs. Abby Cadabby

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street? In preparation for taking my niece Sylvie, Stephanie, and her niece Bridget to Sesame Street Live at the Fox Theatre in Detroit on Friday, I've been doing a little sneaky sleuthing. Would you expect anything less of me? I know the girls will be happy enough to just go and see the show, but what's a good evening out without a little love from your Auntie? So I got the idea to make the girls little bento boxes for the ride in the car, and little Sesame Street take-home goodie bags (where there's a secondary purpose, in hopes of avoiding the purchase of overpriced crap at the theatre).
I've found a few good things around town for the bento boxes, including Earth's Best organic crackers in Sesame Street shapes (Target - you cease to amaze me), and Big Bird juice boxes at Whole Foods.I'm thinking I'll fill the bento's with the juice boxes, shaped cheese and character crackers, cut-out apple slices and strawberries, some yogurt pretzels, and maybe some Annie's fruit snacks. Not forgetting of course, a cute note for each of the girls with Elmo stickers to boot.
Then for the goodie bags, I found these cute little stuffed dolls, a Grover for Sylvie, and an Abby Cadabby for Bridget.I think it's perfect, considering the theme of the show this year is "When Elmo Grows Up," featuring Abby Cadabby! The bags will also include a Sesame Street coloring book with some crayons, some stickers, and a glow in the dark Abby Cadabby wand. These girls are going to be the envy of the whole theatre with those wands.How's that for a cute little surprise? Maybe the girls are too young yet to remember something like this, but it's really important for me to do Auntie type things with my niece when I can. Mostly because I have such fond memories of doing things with my own Aunts when I was younger; like eating Velveeta shells and cheese and drinking Sunny Delight (Thank you Aunt Denise, these are still my favorite comfort foods). So here's to making new memories being the Auntie myself! Check back later in the week for an update on how things went.

Kickin' out January with a 1-2-Punch

So remember that whole Commit to be fit thing I posted about? And my goals for 2009 about working out? Well, I'm happy to report (now that January is officially over), that I'm kicking those goals and this challenge in the butt. Check out my calender stats! (But not too closely, since we don't all need to know how much I actually weigh)I am sad to report though, that all this working out has not yet had much effect on the scale. In fact, I've actually gained just under 3 pounds since the 2nd! However, everyone keeps telling me to stay positive, and that I'm not loosing weight, because I'm too busy building muscle (which weighs a lot more than fat). So I'll keep at it, but I'm hoping for more visible results soon, because all this working out is super hard! And goodness knows what's going to happen if I have to start working out AND dieting...prepare yourself for my wrath of rage. Teehee.