thunderstorm!

Last night we finally had another thunderstorm! The last time we had one was 3 months ago. The storm didn't last long (maybe 30-40min) but it made me so happy <3

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what's YOUR song? week 33!

It has been awhile since I have done this! Be sure to head over to Goodnight Moon to link-up :)

This week: You Make Me Happy - Lindsey Ray

This song makes me feel all bubbly and carefree and happy! Enjoy!

Friday Fill-in!

Be sure to link up at Wifey's blog!

1. My favorite thing that happened this week was....My week was pretty uneventful lol. Maybe it was buying my new pair of gray Toms :)

2. Find a penny, pick it up and wonder...where that penny has been. germs D:

3. Autumn is officially here and my favorite part of the season is...no, I live in Texas. Autumn is NOT officially here, it's still hotter than shit outside. At least we're down to the double digits and late evening/early morning is pretty cold, which I like :) It was 63 degrees this morning when I left work and I thought it was so cold! I had to turn up the heat and had a chance to use my heated seats in my car :) But anyway, to answer the question, my favorite parts of the season are the color-changing trees, the cooler weather (Autumn is my favorite season!) and pumpkin spice lattes haha :)

4. One of the things I would like to do before winter arrives is...I don't know. Maybe go mountain biking at BLORA.

5. I (would/would not/might) be willing to participate in MilSpouse Secret Santa. :)

....and a simple dessert....microwave cinnamon apples!

Okay, the moment I saw this, I had to try it.

Cinnamon apples = fall. It's not very fall-ish in Texas right now, which makes me sad. Fall is my favorite season.

1 apple (I used a Gala apple for this because that is what I have on hand, but you can use whatever apple you like!)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp corn starch (I used all-purpose flour because that's all I have on hand)
1 spoonful of sugar (I just used regular granulated sugar...but if you would rather use Stevia or Splenda or something, go right ahead!)
1 tbsp water
Raisins (optional)

Slice your apple. I'm lazy and use an apple slicer. Best thing ever. You can choose to leave the skin on or peel it off...I left it on, but I think next time I will peel them. Throw everything into a bag and shake/mix around until everything is evenly coated. Open the bag a bit to vent, place in the microwave for 2 minutes and viola! They're done :) Easy clean-up, too...just throw away the bag! But be careful, because the bag will be VERY hot and be careful of steam burns!

This would be amazing with some vanilla ice cream.... :)

Hainanese Chicken Rice

My apartment smells HEAVENLY right now!!!

This is a Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe, adapted from HERE.

Although the name is of Chinese origin, this is considered to be Singapore's national dish. It's so simple!

Of course, I can't get a true "kampong" chicken (a chicken from a village) and I honestly do not have a pot big enough to boil a whole chicken. So instead, I bought a $5 rotisserie chicken from Walmart lol. I carved out all of the breast meat and cut it into smaller chunks. You could use the leg meat if you want, but I prefer all white meat.

1 chicken
3 cups of Jasmine rice, uncooked
3 cups of chicken stock (I used Swenson's 30% Reduced Sodium Chicken Stock)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 slice of ginger, minced
matchstick carrots, diced (I just grabbed a handful from the bag lol)
vegetable oil
salt & pepper to taste

Take the Jasmine rice and rinse a couple of times, then soak in water for at least 10 minutes. Drain and try to get as much liquid out as possible.

While my rice was soaking, I went ahead and minced the garlic and the ginger. I heated a pot with some vegetable oil and added the garlic and ginger and stir-fried on medium-high heat. OMG the smell was amazing and SO FRAGRANT!! Just be careful not to burn them, which I have a tendency of doing...but today, I was successful! Yes!

Once the garlic and ginger are fragrant, add the rice and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the stock and carrots. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and cover for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, take put the pot aside (with the lid still on) and let it sit for another 5-10 minutes. Refrain from opening the lid, because this the heat/steam is crucial to the cooking process for the rice!

While I was waiting, I sliced up the chicken breast. Once the rice has "rested" go ahead and add your chicken and you're ready to go!!!

This was soooooooooo delicious!!! I'm sure it would taste even better if I cooked my own chicken and made my own stock, but for my adaptation this was VERY tasty. The rice was perfect, the carrots were tender (I was afraid they would be underdone...probably so if I used larger chunks) and the rotisserie chicken compliments the rice very well. I highly suggest you try this!

Vegas! and travel-weary.

Hubs & I (along with our friends Bryant [who was our best man at our wedding] and Ryan) decided we're going to Vegas next month. We're staying for 3 nights/4 days. It will be nice to get out of Texas for a few days and to see some friends we haven't seen in awhile! Bryant will also be deploying later this year, so this is pretty much the last time we'll get to see him, for awhile, anyways.

We thought about driving, but it's like 24 hours. If we were staying longer I would consider it, but since I work Thursday night and we're leaving Friday morning, I figured we should fly instead.

But I hate flying. Actually, I'm terrified.

I used to love flying, but not anymore. The last time I was on a plane (which was nearly 5 years ago) I freaked because we ran into some turbulence and then the plane literally DROPPED what felt like several hundred feet. My anxiety was at an all-time high.

I'm not going to let my fear of flying stop me from going on this trip, though! Unless something else comes up. It's going to be expensive - we're looking at spending between $1100-$1200 just on round-trip plane tickets and a hotel alone, but I know it will be worth it. Plus I've never been to Vegas!

I thought about either bringing a carry-on duffel bag with me, or sharing a suitcase with hubs (which I feel would be cheaper, because either way we're bringing a suitcase). As I mentioned before, I haven't flown in nearly 5 years, and this was before the whole "3-1-1" rule was implemented (3 oz bottles or less in a 1 quart bag, 1 carry-on per passenger). Sooooo if I throw all of my stuff in a suitcase, do I have to abide by that 3-1 rule, or can my liquids/lotions/creams be of any size? Will my purse count as a carry-on? Do my liquids/lotions/creams have to be in those clear plastic bottles that they sell at Target/Walmart, or can I get away with "travel" products in their original packaging (such as the miniature lotions/shower gels/body sprays they sell at Bath & Body Works?)

And of course, what should we do when we get to Vegas? I'm not sure where we're staying at yet...Bryant is staying at The Luxor hotel on the strip, but at $168/night (and increasing rate on the weekend), we might stay elsewhere.

Military Monday blog hop!

:)

Because I work night shift, my sleeping schedule is constantly messed up.
Especially when my manager happened to split up my shifts this past week. I'd rather just do my three in a row and be done with it.
I woke up at 0300...I was wide awake! So I lazed around, added about another 230967203690276 pins (at least it feels that way!) then at 0730 I prepped the ribs for the crock pot.
...Though they aren't really ribs because only like 3 of them actually have the bone lol. They're more just like chunks of meat.
I trimmed some fat, seasoned with salt and pepper and threw them in the crock pot with a whole bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's honey BBQ sauce. Put the pot on low. The ribs have been braising for about 9 hours and I took a little taste and they are AMAZING. So tender they literally fall apart and melt in your mouth. Mmmm.
Now to wait for hubs to get home. It's so hard resisting the urge to eat a bunch of ribs now!

Milspouse Friday Fill-in!

1. My plans for Labor Day included being lazy! That's exactly what hubs & I did :) We had some pool time because it was in the 80's that day and GORGEOUS (I have been trying to avoid going outside because Texas has been so damn hot!) and I'm still as pale as ever haha. I would have loved to grill out but we don't have a grill and we're not allowed to have them because we live in an apartment, or hang out with friends, but that's the problem - we really don't have any "friends" here!

2. Call me crazy, but sometimes I just need to be alone.

3. One of the funniest things I've seen lately is the show Arrested Development! Hubby and I decided to randomly watch it one night on Netflix and it's hilarious! I recommend watching it :)

4. It's strange...a messy kitchen drives me crazy...but if any other place in the house is messy that is perfectly fine with me!

5. One, two, buckle my shoe...three, four, shut the door! :P

Pinning, anyone?

How many of you pin?

I just started pinning yesterday and I'm already up to 315 of them.

IT'S SO ADDICTING.

http://pinterest.com/wh0aitsmel/

pot roast!

I'm making this for dinner :) I finally bought a crock pot, and I think it was one of the best decisions ever. The roast smells wonderful and I snagged a carrot for a taste test...it tastes so good!

And I barely had to do a thing! I was at Walmart and saw a "pot roast kit" - came with the meat, seasoning packet and vegetables. It's a pretty good portion, too, at least for hubby & I. It cost roughly around $15. Just followed the instructions, placed the crock pot on high and let it do the work. It's been on high for about 4 hours and the meat is now cooked to medium (using a meat thermometer) so now I put it on low. Hopefully it will continue to tenderize without overcooking it. Hubs will be home in 2-3 hours :)

I have been on such a cooking/baking streak! Monday I made chicken parmesan along with those mint oreo brownies...though I forgot to buy bread crumbs so I had to make do with the stale bread I had on hand lol...yesterday I made cheddar-pepperjack mac n cheese and today is the pot roast!

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Mint oreo brownies!

Don't these look deeelish?
And they were so easy!
Recipe adapted from Making Memories :) I had to make some changes because I lacked some ingredients, but these brownies turned out AMAZING! Perfect for my sweet tooth and hubby loves them.

* 1 box of brownie mix (I used Duncan Hines dark chocolate)
* 1 package of Mint Oreos, divided into 3 piles (I just divided them based on the rows in the package since there are three of them lol)
* 1 8 oz block of cream cheese, softened
* 2 cups of powdered sugar (Omitted because I didn't have this, I just used granulated sugar, and I did not use anywhere near 2 cups. This I just kind of eyeballed)
* 1 8 oz tub of Cool Whip thawed and in the fridge (Forgot to buy this at the store, so I just used the whipped cream I had in the fridge)

Make brownies according to box instructions. Fold-in 1/3 of Oreos. Bake according to instructions. Cool completely.
In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold-in Cool Whip (or whipped cream) and 1/3 of Oreos. Spread over brownies.
Top with remaining 1/3 of Oreos. Refridgerate for 20-30 minutes then serve.

The original recipe called for an additional chocolate layer but since I didn't have chocolate chips on hand (and I was too lazy to go back to the store) I omitted that step.

Mine didn't look as "pretty" as Making Memories', but they were still amazingly delicious and rich!

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