Month: May 2015

Creamy Spinach Dip

So I’m all excited because it’s a weekend that I don’t have to cook.

Then I remember, that I have a potluck/happy hour thing after school on Tuesday for a teacher who is leaving at the end of the year.

Damnit.

Yeah, I like cooking, but I also appreciate the times when I don’t have to.

So since it’s my cooking-free weekend and I know that I don’t need to do anything fancy for this happy hour, I decided to make a favorite of mine; Spinach Dip.

I don’t have to cook it and it’s always yummy (and has iron-filled spinach; always a plus for me).  Plus, it can sit in the fridge until Tuesday and be awesome by the time happy hour starts.  I picked up a couple pretty peppers, some baby carrots and some cracked wheat crackers that I’ll serve along side of it.

When I was perusing Pinterest for a recipe (because I don’t often make it myself to have a recipe), I noticed so many of them use seasoning packets.  I’m not gonna be an elitist and say that those are horrible for you.  I’m just not a fan of them. Partially because I don’t see a point to paying for a packet when I have a huge spice rack in my kitchen.  When I saw this recipe on Good Cheap Eats, I appreciated that they didn’t use a seasoning packet either.  Yeah, you use half of your spice rack; but it was all spices I already had, so I was okay with it.  Me being me, I altered it a little.  Partially for my palate, partially for lazy.  But it was still great.

Instead of the yogurt they suggested, I used sour cream.  I just like the tang of sour cream better.  Yogurt is healthier, but I’m fine with a little extra fat in the sour cream.  I also used garlic powder instead of real garlic because lazy.  I didn’t feel like chopping garlic.  Lazy is also what made me mix it by hand because, at the end of the day, it was easier to do that than wash my food processor.  It wasn’t hard to mix by hand.

Spinach Dip

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Print

credit: Good Cheap Eats

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1 tbsp onion flakes
  • 1/2 tsp dried celery seed
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp parsley flakes
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 12oz package frozen spinach, thawed and drained (squeeze it in a dish towel until dry)

Combine sour cream and cream cheese.  If not using a food processor to do this, I found it easiest to mix these with a fork.

Add dried herbs and spices.  Stir to combine.

Add frozen spinach.  Stir until all is combined.

Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve.

Dingleberry….

Devon and I have finished each other’s sentences for years.  We’ve also been known to speak in unison on several occasions and simultaneously getting annoyed by it.  TWINSIES!

I’ve always heard that the pinnacle of a good relationship is when you finish each other’s sentences.  If that’s the case, we’ve been in a relationship for almost 11 years.

Devon and I have lived together for almost a year now.  While we’ve always done the finishing each other’s sentences thing, now we have the finishing of tasks (because I can’t think of any other way to describe it).

Like going to Sam’s Club.  We usually go every couple months or so.  And we usually go together.  I went alone on Friday because I was off and I was going to be in the area.  I forgot three things.  Odds are, he would have remembered if he joined.  I told him he has to go next time.  Forgetting things is lame.

Devon can’t remember how to make rice to save his life.  A science teacher who can remember any scientific equation possible, can’t ever remember the 2 to 1 ratio for rice making.  He always asks me and then has to clarify that it’s 2 water and 1 rice.  When I was in Orlando, he tried to do it and messed it up.  I think I’ve become the resident rice maker.  He also can’t make bacon, so I’m also the resident bacon master.  He’s the resident pancake/waffle flipper, so it works.

I can’t sleep in our room when he’s gone.  That part seems weird.  Unless I’m in an unconscious sleep, I usually wake up once Devon gets up (like if I’m off and he has school).  I’ve actually gotten up and napped on the couch when he’s left before.  I don’t know why.  Might also be why I kept waking up while I was in Orlando.  I sleep better when he’s there.

Similarly, Devon can’t fall asleep until I’m home.  It was almost 10:00 when I got home after graduation.  He looked exhausted but was still sitting up waiting for me to get home before he went to sleep.

Then there are also those 90s rom-com moments when he’s searching high and low for the remote (or something) and I find it while reading something and hand it to him like it was no issue at all.  Happens often.

There’s a balance here, though.  It’s nice.  Some people assumed we would hate each other by now because living together is always a bad thing or something.

We each have weird habits.  We usually respect that of each other.  Like how he is currently running his hand slowly back and forth in front of my laptop screen while I’m typing this in the hopes that I will mess up what I’m typing because he’s blocking my view.  Typing master for the win.  No mistakes!  HAHA!  Weirdo that he is. Yes, he does that often.

But our habits have entwined.  I think having a decade head start made that easier.  We always finish something of the other’s, whether it’s sentences, dinner, or weird habits.  Most people think we’re weird (individually and collectively).  It’s a weird that I like, though.  Weirdness works.

More caffeine please.

This is my life right now.

SEE MY WATER, THOUGH????

But, serious, though.

There’s not enough caffeine in the world for me right now.

Graduation week is ridiculous.  And we have two ceremonies.  Baccalaureate and the actual graduation ceremony. Baccalaureate was last night.  It didn’t end until 9pm (after I’d been working since 7am) and it was so hot in that monastery. I think I sweat off five pounds.  Yes, that’s gross, but true.  Between my clothes and a hot graduation gown AND that felt-ish Masters hood I have to wear, I was dying.

I pretty much just went home, took a shower, and collapsed in my bed.

I didn’t want to wake up this morning.  Devon almost had to kick me out of bed to get me to get up.

I had that entire cup up there already.  I still don’t think I’m awake yet.  I’m already looking forward to going home and taking a nap.

And I get to go home at normal time today.

I’m so excited, you just don’t understand.

But then I have to do it all again tomorrow.  But, luckily, from what I’ve heard, graduation is shorter than Baccalaureate. That’s so exciting.  And we have off on Friday.  I can sleep.  It’s so awesome.

I have a ton of work I need to do.  I don’t necessarily want to.  But I should go get on that so that I can leave as quickly as possible this afternoon.

Most Tender Meatballs EVER!

I have been craving meatballs all week.  I don’t know why.  Maybe someone on Chopped made meatballs on Tuesday. I can’t remember.  I just know that it was my weekend to cook so it we were going to have meatballs and spaghetti.

I’ve never had a “go-to” recipe for meatballs.  I usually just went with what I had in the house for flavoring and just used ground beef.  I was perusing Pinterest, as I do, and saw this recipe on The Cafe Sucre Farine (sounds so fancy) and saw they added sausage to their meatballs.  We love sausage in our house, so it inspired me.  I used some of my typical meatballs ingredients and techniques and some of theirs and created the most amazing meatball I’ve ever had in my life.

In fact Devon proclaimed that I’m never allowed to make meatballs any other way ever again.  From him, that’s high praise. Because while he will usually eat anything I make, he’s a bit picky and won’t praise unless he truly means it.  They were THAT amazing.  So tender that you don’t even need a knife to cut them and so flavorful that you could probably just serve them with a simple tomato sauce and it would work beautifully.

Me being me, I served them with a quicker version of my Quick Pasta Sauce.  Since I didn’t need meat (because meatballs), I basically just added some italian seasoning, dried oregano, fresh basil, and red pepper flakes to a jar sauce and let it simmer until the meatballs were ready to be dunked in sauce.

And yes, I do mix meatballs with my hands.  I don’t smash my hands down in them but I can’t get the mixture as thoroughly mixed when I use anything but my hands.  I know opinions vary widely here.  Use what you please to mix, but for me it’s the cooks best tool; my hands.

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I Don’t Need Anymore Clothes…

…are words that have never come out of my mouth.

And likely never will.

Yesterday, I went to the mall because I needed to go to Sephora (I’m pretty sure the tiny rim of my foundation compact breaking into 100 pieces can justify my “need” to go) and I had a $10 off $10+ purchase at JcPenney, so I figured I’d walk around for a little bit.

I determined about 15 minutes in that I don’t like malls anymore.

I remember, back in the day, when shopping, to me, was like an Olympic sport.  I mean, I planned my weekend around what mall I wanted to visit.  I even had a fellow mall shopping fiend that would usually come with me.  It was the best.  It was so much fun to walk around and see what awesome deals and finds I could get.  I could be in a mall for hours.

Yesterday, I was casually walking around JCPenney and I suddenly had a “does not want to be here” moment, similar to this:

There was a ton of people there and crying children and people acting stupid.  I hadn’t found anything in JCP, so I just decided to go hit up Sephora and go to Target where I belonged.

Yes, I know.  I can’t last more than 15 minutes in a mall without regretting my life, but I can, however, spend 5 hours walking around Target.  TARGET IS MESMERIZING OKAY?!?!

Don’t judge me.

I unintentionally changed over to a lot of online shopping.  It wasn’t something I was conscious of but it just happened due to life being busier (which includes my shopping comrade and I both becoming engrossed in relationships – coincidentally enough with former “friendzoned” gentleman), there were just other things besides spending all Saturdays at malls that became more appealing.

I was always “OMG PAYING SHIPPING IS HORRIBLE!”  I actually kind of use it to my advantage now.  If I see the shipping costs and they’re crazy high, I’ll usually use it to justify whether or not I actually need what is in my cart.  Oftentimes, it’s “nah, too much” and I don’t buy it.  IT’S LIKE A MONEY SAVER!

Sometimes, I think between using coupon/discount codes and sales and shopping through cash-back sites like Ebates, I can spend less than what I would if I went to the store (even including the shipping costs) and even get some cash back from Ebates that I can use for other things.  And I don’t have to put on actual pants if I don’t want to.  It’s a beautiful thing.

Besides, I get to miss sights like these…

It makes online shopping seem even more desirable.

Target binges, however, will probably never cease to happen.  There’s just too much awesome there.