five new recipes | recipe one

One of my February goals was to make five NEW recipes. I cook every night, and if you cook every night as well, you know how hard it is to come up with around 20 recipes per month. Well, it's easy if you repeat I guess...which is the rut I had gotten in to. I am hoping this goal leads to some yummy finds! (It helps that this month, I meal planned in advance for the entire month as opposed to week by week!)

I am always looking for good and healthy sides for when I cook chicken. A believes that every meal needs a protein, so I let him gobble down on some chicken while I stick to the sides, so that means the sides have to be good. (No, not a vegetarian, but I'm not the biggest fan of chicken.) This is a side that I will now gladly incorporate into my meal planning, and you should too! Don't let the fact that it's quinoa scare you away. Embrace the quinoa! 

Quinoa is probably one of the more difficult foods to photograph, so I apologize for that looking like a pile of mush. My first venture into quinoa was with quinoa pizza bites, which are delicious, but I knew I had to figure out a way to make it and have it replace some of the rice we eat. And let me tell you, this is a great way! 

I based my recipe off one from Beauty & The Beard, but of course had to change it up a bit. Here's how I did it, and how you should, too! (And if you click over, don't think this will replace Mac and cheese. It's good, but nothing will ever replace Mac and cheese. Nothing.)

1 cup quinoa

2.5 cups water

Salt + pepper 

1 T olive oil

2-3 cloves minced garlic (I tend to over garlic) 

1 T dried basil (I use the kind you have to refrigerate. If you use true dried basil, use a little less) 

1/3 cup parm cheese (I used asiago and it was delish!) + parm to top with

Dump the quinoa and water in a small pot and add in some salt- not too much because the cheese is salty! Turn the heat on high until it reaches a boil. Lower the temp to a simmer, then cover and simmer for 18 minutes. When the timer goes off, if water is absorbed it is done, if not just add a few minutes on and cook until absorbed. 

While that is cooking, sauté garlic in olive oil for 30 seconds, just until fragerent. 

When quinoa is done, turn off heat and stir in cheese, garlic, basil and pepper to taste. Serve and top with parm cheese. 

I promise you will like this! It's super creamy, which surprised me because terse nothing but cheese in it, and salty and delicious.

One down, 4 to go! Except I planned 10 just in case something happened! 

goals + accountability + a link up

Unless you live under a rock, you know that at the beginning of every month, Ashley posts her goals for the month along with an update on the previous month's goals.

Clearly I LOVED the idea, because I totally copied her in January. I thought that putting my goals on the good ole' internets would make me be accountable to them. As usual, I was wrong. I need more than just putting them on here, I need friends to keep me accountable and to join with me in having some goals each month. And yes, it reallllllly does help. I can't tell you how many times Ashley and I text each other about our goals! Mainly the no shopping one...that is HARD to go at alone.

So, Ashley had an amazing idea to turn this into a link up. (She's full of amazing ideas, that one!) I've been having mixed feelings towards link ups lately, to be honest, but this one is not just a link up to link up one, it's ALL about linking up to find others that want a little extra push and encouragement to knock out their goals. I plan on using twitter to help me encourage friends who link up...or maybe a little snapchat action, too. Those are fun :)

On Monday, please grab the code/button and join us in encouraging each other!

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25.5 | a check-up

Growing up, I never knew that some people made half birthday's a thing. I'm talking full on celebrations, complete with a party. I guess one isn't enough?

They don't especially help with the whole getting older thing, either. It's not very exciting to say that I'm halfway to 26, is it? Although I did confirm last week that 26 is still a mid-twenties age. So I will not be celebrating the fact that Saturday is my half-birthday. Instead I'll be using it as a reminder to get myself in gear. I've got a list to finish!

Here's what I've done in the past six months. Besides legitimately thinking that I was still 24 for most of those six months. Comments in bold, completed in italic.

1. Run a half marathon This will happen before January 2014! I have been doing so good.
2. Read 25 books and start a reading journal I've read 25 (hi, I'm a nerd), and STARTED the journal. But I currently have no clue where it is.
3. Start an Etsy shop Started! Stocked? HA.
4. Take Andre' to a hockey game Better luck next year.
5. Buy a house YES! One month ago.
6. Visit 5 new cities (new to me or Andre') A will be able to cross this off after Iraq!
7. Find a charity I'm passionate about One of my Houston goals.
8. Saw a dress for myself CANNOT add anymore sewing projects, Kaitlyn!
9. Go skydiving Ehhhhhhh
10. Save $25,000 We were on track to complete this in about 7 months, but the whole house buying thing happened. Here's to getting back on track!
11. Ace the GRE Might as well just scratch this one off.
12. Take a girls trip to Nashville COUGHASHLEYANDALEXACOUGH
13. Learn how to use my camera off auto Help me, please!
14. Find my signature drink Found it. It hated me. Onto the next one.
15. Do laundry once a week Will this ever happen?
16. Join a Chi-O alumni group I need to find out about the Houston groups!
17. Throw a party in our new house CHECK! Success.
18. Find the perfect red lipstick color...and rock it Learning to rock it is hard.
19. Plan a surprise honeymoon for my parents Still "planning..."
20. Start my masters No thanks.
21. Learn how to sew piping Started this in January. Did I finish? NO.
22. Get my wisdom teeth out I'll call the dentist tomorrow...
23. Design my dream home office Design is a stretch.
24. Have 1-year anniversary pictures taken Hey MEG hey!
25. Go a month without eating out Going to attempt this while A is in Iraq. Don't tell me that is cheating.

I actually am surprised that I made any progress at all. I may not have completed a lot, but I think, save a few impossible ones for one reason or another, I'll be able to complete most by January 2014!

 

During a "discussion" recently, A mentioned (he's a good husband, you guys. he only mentioned it because I forced him to, he knew it would upset me) that I have a tendency to get really excited about doing something, then get bored with it, and move onto the next thing. And as much as I hate to admit this, he is right. I get frustrated when something doesn't go the way I envision it to go, so instead of working through it, I put it away and move onto the next thing. Or sometimes I just get bored, honestly. Is it a coincidence that I started my morning runs the morning after this "discussion?" Maybe he should call me out more often.

 

Maybe help me out by tweeting me to JUST DO THE FREAKING LAUNDRY ALREADY...please? A would really appreciate it.

twenty-five

First off, thank you so much to everyone who commented on my style dilemma post! I can't wait to show you on Monday how it all came together.

I turn 25 on Sunday and to be honest, even though I adore birthdays, I am not really looking forward to this one. I needed something to cheer me up, so I decided to make a list of 25 things I want to do while 25. This way I will have things to look forward to this next year. It's been said that I have a habit of starting things and not finishing them, so I'm bookmarking this post. That way it's always in front of me and I really have no excuse for not going these things. 

1. Run a half marathon
2. Read 25 books and start a reading journal
3. Start an Etsy shop
4. Take Andre' to a hockey game
5. Buy a house
6. Visit 5 new cities (new to me or Andre')
7. Find a charity I'm passionate about
8. Saw a dress for myself
9. Go skydiving
10. Save $25,000
11. Ace the GRE
12. Take a girls trip to Nashville
13. Learn how to use my camera off auto
14. Find my signature drink
15. Do laundry once a week
16. Join a Chi-O alumni group
17. Throw a party in our new house
18. Find the perfect red lipstick color...and rock it
19. Plan a surprise honeymoon for my parents
20. Start my masters
21. Learn how to sew piping
22. Get my wisdom teeth out
23. Design my dream home office
24. Have 1-year anniversary pictures taken
25. Go a month without eating out

Some of these goals are silly and some are big ones. But they all have something in common, they're SMART goals!

We had a guest speaker during our two days from hell work meeting last week, and something he said really stuck with me. While discussing our professional goals, he mentioned that all goals need to be SMART.

S - specific

M - measurable

A - attainable

R - relevant

T - timely

He said that you will not, no matter how hard you try, accomplish a goal without those five characteristics. For example, one co-worker said he wanted to raise his sales. He told that person to re-word it, to maybe say that he wanted to raise his sales by 3%. (And all goals need to have a start and an end date!) By having all five characteristics you are WAY more likely to accomplish your goal. He, of course, said all of this much more eloquently better than I just did...because that's what he does for a living.

I think one year is the perfect time for goals, or a to-do list in this case. Anything longer than that I'll likely forget about it. (Which is why I took off the 101 in 1001 list that used to be up top. I'm just going to do these lists each year!) 

And the number one thing you need is accountability. That's where you come in! I mentioned this on twitter and Katie tweeted me back about her list and needing to finish it. How perfect would it be if she and I kept up with each other throughout this year on our lists? And not just us! There's got to be more of you out there with similar lists/ideas/goals. 

Hope you all have a great weekend :)