Surprise Center

I can't take full credit for these little gems. Actually . . . the geniuses behind these chocolate delights are Tom and Cyd Klc. Tom made them one night and like a pig I think I ate half the plate. Um . . . embarassing. But freaking delicious and very worth it!!!

Here's the tell how:

I devil's food cake mix

2 eggs

1 Tbs. flour

1/2 cup oil

Mix all these ingredients up at once.

Get a bag of Rolos

Get a good tablespoon of dough, stick an unwrapped Rolo in the center and top of with a little bit of more dough and then roll in hands.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet. Then sprinkle with some powdered sugar after they have sat for 5 minutes out of the oven.

Everyone will hate these. They are really gross. Wink, wink.

Until We Meet Again . . .

I was so lucky to have Sarah here for a good month. We got to see each other a lot. Everyday I realize how lucky I am to have a best friend. For our last rendezvous here in Utah we went to dinner at Sego Lilly Cafe here in Bountiful. I love this restaurant. It's definitely phoo phoowey, so let's just say this is not Jared's favorite place. So anytime one of my girl friends wants to go, I'll all over it. We started with an appetizer of sweet potato ravioli drizzled with balsamic vinegar and sitting in some browned butter. mmmmm. Next we shared pollo alla gratella. This chicken sat on some garlic mashed potatoes and had a yummy white sauce with gorgonzola cheese and sun dried tomatoes. Yummy. We never run out of things to talk about. We could go on for hours. Sego Lilly is a great place. Anyone one who wants to go to lunch . . . come on up and we'll go.

Early Birthday Gift from the BFF

I had to blahg about a b-day gift I got from Sarah. I'll admit that I am a hard person to buy for because I'm really picky. Well just like a good friend, Sarah was attentive one day while we were shopping at the new Nordstrom. I was looking at wallets on the discount table. You see, I have been carrying the same wallet for 10 years and it has been spilling out of the seams for a while. Sarah bought me a super cute green wallet and I think it is gorgeous!! I am so proud to carry it and I can use it and look at it everyday. Thanks Boo. You are the BEST. No, serious. Don't believe me, no really, you are the BEST!!!

Getting Sucked In

It's 12:54 AM and it's another Sunday night where I'm not asleep and I know there is going to be hell to pay once my alarm goes off at 6:30 AM Monday morning. I had to do a quick blahg post. I stayed up tonight to finish Time Traveler's Wife. What's funny about this book is that Sarah read it and said it was just an alright book. I never read it and thought the cover looked kind of dumb. I know . . . don't judge by the covers. I saw that the movie was coming out soon and on Amazon it had over a thousand ratings so I knew it was popular. I finally got it from the library and it was not a disappointment. Not even close. Probably one of the best books I have read this year and it will be a favorite for sure for years to come. It is up there with those books that make you think about it for days after you finish. I have a short list of those books but that's another post. Can't wait for the movie. I love Rachel McAdams ever since she did The Notebook. She is definitely Clare Abshire. Oh and this book made me cry. Who doesn't love a book that makes you cry?

A Palate Cleanser

This is the second summer in a row that I have caught a cold. It's strange, most people get sick in the winter with colds, but not me. It's summer. And mine really suck because my congestion likes to sit in my ears and plug them so I feel like I'm on an airplane all the time. Oh well, I've got my ammo . . . Mucinex D (which my Doc told me was the best over the counter drug), my nose spray and my Zyrtec.

So the other day I counted up all the books I had read for this year. I keep a spreadsheet. I know, dumb, right? I guess every time I write a book down after I finish it, it feels like an accomplishment to me. Lately, I haven't been in the mood for anything to read and I think I figured out my problem. You see, after I counted my books I was a little surprised myself. I've read 39 already this year. That's more than a lot. So I've decided to take a break this next week. Cleanse my palate. Taking a staycation, a breather. So I'll have to think of some other projects to do around the house. I did pretty good last week with my cleaning goal. I got 2 rooms done. Next week I should have the whole house clean.

So what did I do yesterday while I was sick? I watched another BBC miniseries that I rented from the library. It's called The Way We Live Now. I really enjoyed it. The scary psychologist from Batman was in it but he was a good guy . . . sort of. What's funny is that the storyline was totally relevant for the times we are living in today. Rich man moves into town, many people invest in his scheme, and everyone suffers. Sounds depressing but with the characters there were plenty moments where I laughed. I recommend it.

Agent Dana Scully is my hero

Ok some of you may not know this but I LOVE the X-Files. I used to watch that show when it first came out on Fox television when I was in junior high. Gillian Anderson who played Agent Scully starred in the BBC miniseries that completely consumed my July 4th. I had no idea she was going to make a good Englishwomen, but in my eyes she can do no wrong. It's Bleak House by Charles Dickens. I rented it from the library. It's 15 episodes long; 1 hour length opening episode with 14 half hour installments. I really enjoyed it quite a bit. Moral of the story . . . don't try and birth a baby and hide it, don't wait on life to happen around you, take control of your destiny, and disguise your handwriting. Ok, check . . . I got all those down. I highly recommend it if you are in the mood for some long BBC drama. And a nice accompaniment to Bleak House was BBQ Chicken Pizza from Pier 49, no red onion. Remember . . . I loathe red onion. And garlic cheese bread. Very healthy and very tasty so I didn't need to work out that day.

How come God didn't bless me with the joy of cleaning?

Tonight's Dinner - Light and Healthy

Spaghetti with Mushrooms, Garlic and Oil

• 12 oz baby bella mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup white wine (the alcohol cooks out when it simmers with the mushrooms and I use cooking white wine)
• 1/2 lb (8 oz.) uncooked spaghetti (I use the barilla pasta with protein)
• 2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• salt and fresh pepper

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water according to package directions.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until soft, about 1 minute. Add the sliced mushrooms, salt and pepper and sauté about 2 minutes. Add white wine and cook another 3 minutes.

Before draining the pasta reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Drain pasta and toss with mushrooms, parsley and pepper. If pasta is too dry, add a little of the reserved pasta water. Serve with grated cheese if you wish.

Ok here's this week's goal: CLEAN. I loathe cleaning. Imagine me saying the word loathe very calm and slowly. That's how bad I hate it . . . I l o a t h e it. I was going to clean on Saturday but that never happened because I sat on my fat lazy butt and watched 13 episodes of a BBC miniseries. That will be a separate blog post. So I pretty much wasted away on Saturday. Well I think my problem is that I hate cleaning the entire house all in one session. I would so rather be doing something else like shopping or reading. But we can't all do those things we want. That's a part of being a grown up. Well sometimes grown up chores really blow. My mom was waaaayyy strict about how clean our house was growing up and I'm attributing my bad attitude to cleaning to that. It fits, we blame all our bad habits on our parents. That doesn't change as we grow up. Amiright? Ok I got that little word from a TV Guide writer and I thought it was pretty dang funny and so I assimilated it into my vocabulary. Anyway . . . here's the goal . . . one room a night. I can do that. That's not that hard given most nights my ritual is this: work out, eat, read. Here's to cleaning. Tonight I did my portion of the bedroom because I refuse to fold Jared's clothes. Hold those critisms about me being a bad wife. Because I also cleaned the bathroom and in that, I feel we're pretty much even.

Tomorrow . . . guest bedroom. Anyone who is bored can come join me. But the best part . . . I'm listening to an audiobook Jared recommended. Most times, I don't like Jared's recommendation but I figured I would be fair. It's Enchanted by Orson Scott Card. We'll see how it goes.

Red White and GREEN

Ok, before you assume I mean green as in environmentally friendly, hear me out. This post is actually dedicated to a dear friend of mine. This friend happens to be a favorite of mine. But this friend isn't the most attractive friend on the outside. But since my mother raised me right and taught me not to judge people by their looks I gave this friend a shot many, many years ago and he's become a favorite. Now, I knew who this friend ever since I was a child but he just looked so disgusting that I just felt like he must be disgusting on the inside too. I'm glad as adults we get over our little hangups. Or at least we are supposed to. Who is my friend? It's a ripe avocado. Seriously, I LOVE avocados. I didn't start really liking them until about 5 years ago. Yummy.

So this weekend I made a really yummy Southwestern Black Bean Salad. You could also consider it a salsa too as I like to eat it with chips. But it's healthy and it tastes nice and light so it's perfect for a summer dinner. I made this for the first time on Friday for a BBQ over at Sabrina's house. Here it is, I'll give it to you straight and then let you know my revisions to it's preparation method.

1 15.5 ox can of black beans, drained and rinsed
9 oz frozen corn, thawed (I actually use 1 can of corn and it was fine)
1 tomato chopped
1 ripe haas avocado diced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 green onion diced
1 lime juiced
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs cilantro chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Ok, in a glass dish combine all ingredients EXCEPT avocado. Put in the fridge and let sit for 30 minutes. All the ingredients need to marry each others flavors. Pull out and dice avocado and mix in just before serving.

BRITTANY'S REVISIONS - I loathe raw red onion diced. I like the flavor but I hate the texture and crunch in my mouth. SO . . . in a blender or magic bullet, I put the olive oil, lime juice, red onion and cilantro together and I puree it. Then I add that to my corn, tomato, black bean mixture. It's still quite yummy.


Ok, I also LOVE fresh guacamole. Here's a quick 5 minute recipe.

3 avocados
1/2 packet of ranch dressing mix
2 limes

Combine all these ingredients and voile . . . easy guacamole and very tasty. I have another guacamole recipe that I got from my sister but it requires the whole gammet of items like anaheim peppers, jalepenos and onions. This is easier and it's quite yummy.

There you have it!! Happy 4th two days late.