Saturday in Whitefish

We spent the afternoon in Whitefish, MT. Explored an incredible park we had never been to before, went on a walk through the town.  We enjoyed amazing coffee at Montana Coffee Traders and visited a toy store!

It was a beautiful day. I will be going back to this park often. I love adventures with my family.

It was a horrible idea...

Peter went out with some friends on Friday night so I decided to chill and watch a movie while hanging out with this beauty...

 I chose to watch August: Osage County. I love Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep.

                                           

I regretted watching it as soon as it started. There is not a single moment of happiness in the film. The acting is real, well done and beautiful. However, it was just way over board in tragic and CRAZY. Like, "cray-cray" crazy. Oh well...I tried.
Sometimes being that person who really gets into the characters of a movie or book is a bummer. I have to remind myself to get over it...ha.
And to be thankful...so thankful.

Last week I did get to read a book that I thought was incredible. 'Heaven Is For Real', by Todd Burpo. I couldn't put it down.

                                             
                                                 

It was such an amazing story. It made me cry and laugh. This family goes through some real hardships and beautiful adventures.

This book made me see Jesus through the eyes of a beautiful little four year old boy. I don't think I'll ever view my Savior the same. This book gave me such comfort for people that have gone through hardships. Those hardships that are not explainable and that bring insanely deep pain. Jesus knows and he cares.

Read this book.

Books and Movies

My husband and I are so behind in what movies are out right now.  But here are a few classics and new films we watched recently. 

I also have had some reading time. Reading a good book is so therapeutic. 

Movies:

Clue-Filmed in 1985. So incredibly weird but funny. It is on Netflix.  If you are ever really bored and need a laugh check it out. All of the actors are classics from the 80's.  It made me want to play the game.  

The Lego Movie- It was cute. The different characters and plot was pretty clever. I love the way the film ends. Father-son mushiness. :) 

 

Serenity- A space western film. Weird and freaky, and kind of good. One of those movies that suddenly becomes scary. It is the conclusion to the show Firefly, which was cancelled in the middle of its first season. So if you were a fan of Firefly and need closure, watch Serenity. Nathan Fallion plays the ship's captain (also main actor in Castle). I really like him and think he is a great actor.  

              

Oblivion- "A veteran assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself."(IMDB). It was good, but Peter had to stop it like three times to make sure I understood what was going on. I would think I had it figured it out then the plot would get weirder...

             

Books:

I have read a lot of books that I haven't blogged about. For now here are two that I liked.

      

Total chick flick book. Those are nice every once in a while.                 

             

This is book two of the Call the Midwife series. If you loved the show you will love the books. She is an excellent author and all the stories are from her life and what she witnessed through her time working with the people of Poplar. I loved this book and can't wait to read all of them. Reading about England's history dealing with midwifery and life after the war was fascinating. 

What have you seen or read recently? Anything I should check out? 

BBQ Pizza

Last night I made a giant batch of The Pioneer Woman's Spicy Pop Pulled Pork. Please try this recipe. It's so good. We have a ton of leftovers, so I made pizza tonight. I got this idea from my sister Aubree. She's a great cook.

The pizza dough recipe: The Pioneer Woman (can you tell I'm a fan?)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 teaspoon Instant Or Active Dry Yeast
• 1 1/2 cup Warm Water
• 4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/3 cups Olive Oil

• DIRECTIONS

  • 1
    Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.
  • 2
    In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass.
  • 3
    Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.
  • 4
    Note: it’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.
  • 5
    When you are ready to make the pizza, grab HALF the pizza dough (recipe makes 2 crusts) and squeeze the dough toward the bottom to form a nice, tight, pulled ball. You can roll out the pizza with a rolling pin if you’d like, but sometimes it’s just as easy to throw it around and pull and stretch till it feels right. And when the crust is nice and thin, lay it on an oiled baking sheet or pizza pan. Drizzle a little olive oil on the dough and spread it with your fingers. Very lightly sprinkle some salt on the crust.
  • 6
    Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Top your crust with your toppings of choice. Then bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.
  Source: The Pioneer Woman- Ree Drummond

My dough

My choice of veggies

Ready for oven

Benjamin making his

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

All done and yum. Even better when sprinkled with fresh cilantro.

What's your favorite pizza? 

And just because I love this little guy...

Have a beautiful night! 

Trying...just a little bit.

For the past few months I have had interesting conversations with all sort of different people regarding makeup. My favorite group that had this discussion was my sister, Erin, her husband and my husband. If you know my brother in law that should make you giggle.  We spent a good amount of time talking about mascara, eye liner, and where girls wear it. Both of our guys noticed when we wore more makeup. My sister has GORGEOUS blue eyes, so when she put mascara on her bottom lashes the vibrancy of her eyes caused her husband to faint! Just kidding.  But it did make her eyes pop (not in a scary way). :) 

My sisters and I never wore a lot of makeup. A few things contributed to that.  We grew up in Texas. Texas summers are like a billion degrees and humid. Heavy makeup felt heavy and steamy.  Beautiful, eh? We also played sports. For me personally, my eyes always seemed to water and I was scared mascara would drip. And I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get waterproof off...I know, I'm weird. 

BUT...I just had my 28th birthday and I would like to try a little bit harder.  I still don't do eyeliner...I would probably look like a raccoon.  I have zero knowledge of how one should apply makeup, but oh well. Someday somebody will teach me! 

I think it is funny that I've been thinking about "trying harder" when it comes to my face when there is a lot of stuff out there on social media about "not trying so hard." I totally agree. But for me, at this stage of life, there is something that makes me feel pretty with having mascara on, some powder, and a pretty lip color. 

For my birthday I went shopping. My friend Annie helped me pick out some fun lip colors. I love them! I am a girl on a budget and these were great prices.  I love Target. 

Baby Lips. Color: Strike a Rose. By: Maybelline.

                                    Smoochies Sizzle Gloss. Color: Hot Stuff. By: Covergirl

                

                              Baby Lips- Dr. Rescue. Color: Coral Crave. By: Maybelline. 

I also bought a cheap water proof mascara just to wear on my bottom lashes when I feel extra wild...ha. It is fun stuff.

What is your makeup style? What makes you feel all purdy and fancy?!

Bruschetta

Oh. My. Goodness.

Bruschetta. Wow.

Tonight we had a light supper and it was so incredible. So incredible that I didn't even pause to take a picture for this post. I'm sad about that now. Try and picture bright beautiful red, yellow, and even PURPLE tomatoes tossed with toasted garlic, beautiful bright green basil, and a splash of balsamic.

Hmmmmm. Beautiful.

I followed The Pioneer Woman's recipe but used roasted garlic bread instead of just a baguette. Let me just say once again, OH my goodness. I'm pretty sure it is the perfect dinner for a hot evening. I served it with a small salad...I was the only one who ate it. Apparently Peter doesn't like kale...weirdo. ;)  By the way if you would like meat on it, he ate his with slices of Italian salami.

There is something pretty heavenly about fresh tomatoes, sauteed garlic, tons of basil, and balsamic vinegar. I toasted up the roasted garlic bread in some butter (yum). Then once one side was nice and golden brown (yum) I added some really thin slices of mozzarella.

Please try this recipe. It is beautiful. I think it is amazing as a meal or to serve as an appetizer at a party.

Here is the recipe! The picture is from The Pioneer Woman.

 

Bruschetta

Prep Time:

 20 Minutes

 

Cook Time:

 10 Minutes

 

Difficulty:

 Easy

 

Servings:

 12

2 Tablespoons Olive OilIngredients

• 5 cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
• 1 pint Red Grape Tomatoes, Halved Lengthwise
• 1 pint Yellow Grape Tomatoes, Halved Lengthwise
• 1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
• 16 whole Basil Leaves (chiffonade)
•  Salt And Pepper To Taste (don't Oversalt!)
• 1 whole Baguette
• 8 Tablespoons Butter

Preparation Instructions

In a small skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir, lightly frying for about a minute, removing before the garlic gets too brown (it can be golden.) Pour into a mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly.

Add tomatoes, balsamic, basil, and salt and pepper to the bowl. Toss to combine, then taste and add more basil if needed, and more salt if needed (don't oversalt, though!) Cover and refrigerate for an hour or two if you have the time.

Cut the baguette into diagonal slices to allow for the most surface area possible. Melt half the butter in a large skillet and grill half the bread on both sides, making sure they're nice and buttery. Cook till golden brown on both sides. Repeat with the other half of the butter and the other half of the bread.

To serve, give the tomato mixture a final stir, the spoon generously over the slices of bread. Serve on a big platter as a first course or appetizer.

Curry Night

I need to go grocery shopping but it didn't happen. Last night I used what we had and it ended in a yummy chicken curry with fried rice.

In the past I have mainly used curry paste or a sauce of some kind. Last night I used my Trader Joe's curry powder and a can of coconut milk.

I didn't use a recipe but there are tons out there. I began by sauteing half of a diced onion in a pan with a little bit of olive oil.

I used chicken tenders that hadn't defrosted all of the way. It makes it so much easier to cut when it is still a bit frozen.

Throw chicken in with the onions. Salt and pepper your chicken! Then add curry powder and a little bit of red chili flakes. Cook until chicken is no longer pink. Oh and I also added some dried cilantro. Would have been awesome with fresh as well.

Then add the coconut milk. Yum.

Let it hangout over a low heat so all of the flavors blend.

While the curry was becoming awesome I started my fried rice. The number one thing that I have learned when it comes to fried rice is that the rice needs to be leftover. Fresh rice does not work. So make lots and keep some in the fridge for when you want to try a "take out" type of fried rice.

Begin by heating some oil, I used coconut. Add the other half of the onion. Then add some sesame oil, just a little bit. The sesame oil is what gives it that "take out" flavor.

You can throw an egg in there and fry it up too, but I forgot.

Add the rice.

 Then add some frozen peas...or whatever you want!

 The final product was really good. It needed a fresh herb but didn't have any this time.

 The dish went excellently with the beer my husband shared with me. He's so sweet.

The end. :)