We Be Rockin' Dem Beats

A little insight into how cute my husband is:  he’s had Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas in his head for about 2 weeks straight.  And he’s been singing it every time we’re in the car driving somewhere.  I love him 🙂  Sorry for being MIA yesterday!  I think it might be a good thing for me to take most Saturdays off from blogging…a girl’s gotta get some rest, right?  Plus it makes me excited about blogging the next day!

[WARNING:  This post is going to be a long one, but I would say it’s worth it to see some of my favorite photos yet and a sweet recipe!!!]

So let’s start on Friday where I left off.  After having a wonderful GM, Salah, Chad, and I just kind of hung out and watched the snow blow around.  I’m not sure if it was snowing like crazy the whole time, but I do know that the wind picked up and spread all of the loose snow around.  It was pretty intimidating though!  I roasted some cauliflower and broccoli for lunch (20 minutes at 400 with 2 tsp olive oil, salt, and pepper):

And made some mac and cheese!  Honestly I made it too cheesy this time, so I had to stop about 3/4 of the way down.

A little later I had some caramel Oikos for dessert.  I was wondering all the hype I’ve heard about this is true…

And it is!  Y’all, the caramel Oikos is amazing!  I don’t know if I would eat it for breakfast, but this would (and did) make an incredible dessert!  Perfect flavor and creaminess 🙂 Salah and I did a 45 minute power yoga workout (I can still do the chaturanga!  Although my shoulders are mighty sore today…) and a 30-minute pilates DVD.  I loved that we got a good workout even with 5 inches of snow on the ground!

Then I made margaritas for everyone – it’s a totally zen thing to do!:

And some crock pot chili that I immediately covered in Fritos, cheese, and sour cream.  You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the girl!

It was actually super healthy otherwise though.  I added some frozen corn and frozen zucchini and yellow squash to the mix:

When Nate got home, he popped the top to the first home-brew porter!  It was SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!  You guys know that I’m a dark beer kind of gal, and this stuff was great!  I’m really glad to know that they can brew some good porter 🙂

I also made some corn muffins from a box of Jiffy mix for everyone to share.  This was a great snowy day meal…warmed us all from the inside out!

After dinner we all settled in to watch Up in the Air and The Informant.  They were good movies, although I must be honest and say I fell asleep during the second movie!  Hey, the dogs were snuggling and I was warm 😉

Breakfast for Saturday was due to me being married to the most amazing husband ever.  Y’all, Nate makes waffles and pancakes like no other!  I had two of these bad boys with some Earth Balance and maple syrup.  YUM!

Then it was time to say bye to Salah and Chad.  I love my sister so much, and it was so great to get to see her the past couple of days!  We always have so much fun together, and I just wish that she would hurry up and move here already.  You hear that, Salah? 🙂  After they left, I headed down to Denver to hit up the Denver Urban Homesteading farmer’s market with Ashley.

She was right:  this place is so cute!  I was hoping for more vendors to be there, but since there weren’t a ton I guess I’ll just have to go back!  I looked longingly at these seed packets because I’d love to plant a big garden with tons of veggies in our backyard (which, by the way, is something I NEVER thought I’d want!):

Sauerkraut and pickles?  Yes please!

This caught my eye:  Apple Apricot Juice!?  If only I’d remembered to bring cash!  Maybe next time…

They have chicks there too!  I mean really, does it get any cuter than baby things?  I think not!

2 of the 4 heirloom tomatoes 🙂  I bet there are going to be a TON this summer, and I can’t wait to see them all!  I’m going to try to make it a point to try all kinds of raw tomatoes since I still haven’t tasted one that’s “sweet”:

Then we got to the bread.  OH THE BREAD!  My inner Carbzilla wanted to snatch a couple loaves and shove them in my purse:

But this one would DEFINITELY not fit…I bet it weighed as much as Ashley! 🙂

There were a bunch of dehydrated veggies in a basket:

Ashley convinced me to try raw milk for the first time.  HOLY YUM!  I don’t drink a ton of milk, but this was great!  Creamy, but not overpowering, and with a ton of flavor.  I grew up on (and still drink) skim milk, but the raw milk was by far the best I’ve ever had.  I highly recommend it!  Thanks for helping me push past my fears Ash!

These were pretty cool:

They’re called “over winter carrots,” meaning they came too late to be harvested with the rest of the carrots, so they’re left in the ground over winter and then picked in the spring!  There was no difference at all in flavor or texture…in fact, I would say they were even sweeter than my normal carrot!

The only thing I left with was some sweet potato orzo from Pappardelle’s Pasta booth:

I knew we were going to a party with some friends tonight at Amy’s and we signed up to bring a salad/appetizer.  I immediately knew I needed to stop by Whole Foods to grab some stuff to use for a new kind of orzo pasta salad!  I used two of these amazing oranges:

(And snacked on a granola bar smeared with fudge from the other day – don’t worry, I only had one of these!)

And ended up with this bowl of beauty!

I shall call it “Sweet Potato Orzo and Fruit Salad with Orange-Honey-Cinnamon Vinaigrette!”

• 1/2 pound sweet potato orzo
• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 2 oranges, zested and juiced
• 2 Fuji apples (or whatever kind you prefer), cored and chopped
• 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1-2 Tbsp cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp honey

Boil the orzo for 5 minutes, or until al dente.  Drain well.  In a bowl mix together the orange juice, zest, cinnamon, and honey.  While whisking vigorously, stream in the olive oil.  Add the apples.  Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, or overnight.  Add the berries right before serving so they don’t have a chance to macerate and stay firm in the salad.  Voila!  This was a hit at the party, and the good news is we still have some to eat tomorrow with lunch!

At Amy’s house I had a Caesar salad:

Some of my pasta salad, roasted garlic bread, and spinach manicotti (because Amy’s the sweetest friend ever and made it since I can’t eat meat!)

And dessert was brought by our new friend Gina!  It’s moonpie!  She said it’s puff pastry that’s baked, then filled with chocolate pudding and whipped cream, then garnished with chocolate sauce and Heath Bar.  SCRUMPTIOUS!

Overall I’d say this has been a successful weekend 🙂  I do miss my sister a lot, but we had a ton of fun while she was here!  I’m hoping the snow storm was the last we’ll have this year, and I’m so looking forward to spring!  It seems like everyone else in the country is seeing signs of it, so I’m thinking we should be too 🙂  I do miss seeing the bluebonnets in the Texas Hill Country during springtime, but I guess that’s just the price I pay for living withing 10 miles of infinite hiking, climbing, skiing, and camping possibilities 😉

What have you noticed yourself wanting or doing in your life that you never thought you’d want or do?  Is it a welcome or unwelcome change? I never EVER thought I’d want to garden or take care of my yard, but I’ve really been desiring a garden of my own for a while now!  Not that I love all of the work, but I think that wanting a garden is probably the first step!  I also never thought I’d ever live anywhere but Texas, but I can’t imagine living anywhere but Colorado at this point!  Life’s crazy, huh? 🙂