High Five for Friday!

Have you ever heard someone say, "Damnit, it's Friday already." Yeah, me neither. I feel like these posts always start out with a "Yay!" or a "Wow this week went by quickly!" so I thought I would get your attention by saying, "Stupid Friday, you came too quickly and I hate the weekends."

Except, I don't. At all.

After all the excitement last week with the in-laws hanging out with us, I was completely solo all week with lil' H as daddy had to travel for work. The quiet was actually rather nice after a super busy last week. Here's what we were up to:

1) If you checked out Wednesday's post, you saw I cooked. And then I cooked again! This time I made pan seared salmon with spicy blanched green beans. It turned out AWESOME! Between the salmon, walnuts on the green beans and avocado in the homemade "tartar sauce" I'm fairly certain we cured any heart disease we may have had with the influx of Omega3's.

What this photo fails to show is me dropping the baby monitor (you know, the big ones with a screen) directly on the rim of my wine glass, shattering it and sending wine and glass everywhere. Watch out for those sneaky, slippery baby monitors!

2) Henry is consistently sleeping 4-6 hours straight at night. No further explanation necessary on how &$^%*&! amazing that is.

3) My new phone case arrived! Nordstrom, you have some work to do on your shipping. I ordered my J Crew dress and the phone case at the same time, and it took a full week longer to get the case... Just sayin'! But, it's super cute, and a fun change from the brightly colored case I used to have on my iPhone.

I'm so fancy... You already knowwwww. Yup, that song will be stuck in your head all day long now! Muhahaha

4) It was a social media EXPLOSION for An Uncomplicated Life Blog, which was not only great to see, but made my week seriously fun. All the comments, likes, emails and TWO Liebster Awards made this week one of the best yet, and made me so excited to watch my little baby blog grow! Thanks to YOU, dear readers :)

5) Our doggies came home! As I said, Kirk was traveling all week for work, and that means I have four people/critters depending on me for food, bathroom needs, baths... Which gets excessive. So we board our doggies when he's going to be gone all week to get that number down to two (me and H). But I miss these guys when they're not here! Also, my floors are filthy because I spill about 52% of my food and no dogs means there's nobody there to clean up after me...

Littlest doggie, Otis Beaufort

I hope you all go and enjoy yourselves this weekend! Be sure to stop by these other kicka$$ bloggers I link up with every Friday, too:

 

 

 

 

 

The Liebster Award

WOW! Two, yes two, Liebster Blog Award nominations this week! I'm so honored. Seriously!

Kendall over at Simply Kendall Rose nominated me for a Liebster Award, and then Samantha over at My Legendary Style hooked up the nomination! It's an award passed from blogger to blogger, and provides a way for bloggers to show each other some love and for readers to get to know their bloggers better. So here's how it works. I tell 11 random facts about myself, then I answer the 11 questions Kendall has provided me. Lastly, I pass it on to 11 more bloggers and ask them 11 questions that I have come up with! 

 

11 Random facts about me:
one - I hate shopping. All forms of shopping, from clothes to groceries. What a waste of time! I'm a buyer, not a shopper. I only head out when I plan on dropping cash.

two - I've had just about every hair color under the sun. (Except black. Nobody should dye their hair black. Just don't. Nope.) 

three - My natural hair color is a dark blonde. I think. It's been since I was in Jr. High that my hair was my God-given color!

four - I'm an extreme extrovert. I strike up conversations with everyone, everywhere I go.

five - I need alone time daily, or I get crabby. Strange for an extrovert, right? Yup.

six - I never call my family or closest friends by their real names. I come up with nicknames for everyone!

seven - I love to cook. 

eight - I hate to bake. Man, I'm a terrible baker! Who wants to follow all those rules in recipes anyway? Not this girl!

nine -  I think feet are really gross. Except baby feet, those are adorable. 

ten - I love dogs, but only small dogs. That don't bark excessively. And are potty trained. And don't shed. I'm a terrible animal lover, aren't I?! So many qualifications for my love...

eleven - I LOVE living in the South. I hope I never have to live north of the Mason-Dixon again. The weather, the food, the culture, the manners... I could go on and on about how great it is!

Here are Kendall's questions for me: 

1. Why did you start your blog?
I started An Uncomplicated Life Blog because I LOVE to write! I was giving up my job as a director of grants to become a stay at home mom, and wanted something to engage my brain. We also have family and friends ALL over the country, so this was a great way to keep people in the loop of what we're up to in Texas.

2. What is your favorite TV show and why?
This is so embarrassing... I love trashy TV. I mean, I'm educated with a Master's degree, am nearly 30 years old and my favorite TV shows are Teen Mom 2, Girl Code, and anything on Bravo. Whaaaaat? It's true.

3. If you had to choose from not eating sweets for a month or not going shopping for a week, which would you choose?
HA! I don't do either of these, so neither would be a problem to give up. Don't touch my wine, though.

4. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween!

5. Name a time you did something you were scared to do and it turned out for your benefit.
I was scared to move across the country to go to grad school when I was 24. Turns out, I made some of the best friends of my life through that experience!

6. What is your biggest pet peeve?
People who never shut their mouths. Not, like, people who talk a lot. I'm talking about the people who sit there silently with their mouths open, just breathing. Or eating. Why is your mouth open?! Shut it. Please.

7. Do you collect anything? If so, what? If not, what would you want to collect?
Designer handbags. Outside of those, I regularly purge EVERYTHING because I hate stuff sitting around.

8. What is your go-to accessory?
I wear my beautiful wedding set everyday, does that count?! Other than that, my hubs got me a pair of gold studs from Tiffany's a few years ago for my birthday. I wear those all the time!

9. Do you have a favorite book? Or any good suggestions?
I have the attention span of a peanut, so I rarely read books. I stick to magazines, newspapers and blogs!

10. Where are you from?
Minneapolis; the coldest urban metropolis on earth.

11. What is your favorite workout?
Ohhhh, this is a toughie! I LOVE ballet barre classes. I also love me some yoga. And finally, a half marathon is also up there. Do all three, and you'll be in amazing shape!

These are the ladies I nominate for Liebster Awards:

Jaelan at Making Mrs. M
Kayla at Mississippi Mrs.
Crystal at Hall Around Texas
Kriss at Sneakers and Sequins
Kat at Lemonade Linings
Monica at Jersey Girl, Texan Heart
Deb at Seeking Lavender Lane
Madi at And So I Did
Ashley at A Cute Angle
Alysse at A Southernly Belle Vie
Jordon at Darling Truly 

Ok, so here are the 11 questions for my chosen bloggers:
1) What's your favorite part about blogging?
2) What football team will you be cheering on this fall?
3) If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
4) What's the best piece of blogging advice you have for new bloggers?
5) Best season: Fall, Summer, Spring or Winter?
6) Are you guilty of texting and driving? Don't lie!
7) If you were 18 and in college again, and know what you know now, what would you major in?
8) Have you, or do you aspire to ever run a full marathon?
9) What's your favorite beverage?
10) What was your biggest blogging mistake?
11) Your house is on fire and you have time to grab three things - what are they?


Happy Liebster Blogging, girls!

Seriously, Eat This

I made mention in last Monday's post that we had hit up the Dallas farmer's market, and picked up a boat load of fresh, local veggies.

The thing about fresh veggies is that they don't last very long. Because they're fresh. And not loaded with pesticides and preservatives. Crazy concept, eh?

It has been a hot minute since I spent some time in the kitchen, subjecting my beer and burger loving hubby to my healthy, organic and often vegetarian ways. All these veggies were a great excuse to break out some of the awesome pots and pans we received as wedding gifts and force-feed my family some nutritious food!

I went with a quinoa salad, because I love quinoa. LOVE it.

And this is the best one I've made yet! It's super simple and easy to throw together, too. The hardest part was chopping all the veggies!

- 2 C quinoa
- 4 C veggie or chicken stock
- A boat load of fresh veggies, cut into bite sized pieces (I used zucchini, asparagus, sweet peppers and red onion)
- 1-2 T turmeric
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or pushed through a press
- olive oil
- salt and pepper

Chop those veggies, and chop up a lot of them!

Put the broth in a large pan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the quinoa and a teaspoon or so of salt, and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Simmer covered until the liquid is gone, about 25 minutes. Remove the lid and let the quinoa sit to evaporate any excess liquid or steam.

Cover a large frying pan with a good amount of olive oil (probably four tablespoons or so. Don't skimp on the oil, this is flavor and your body needs healthy fats!) I added the red onion first to cook for a bit. Once translucent, I added the zucchini. At this point, I added the turmeric so that the spice could get the heat of the pan and mix with the oil to deepen the flavor. After a few minutes, I added the peppers. Finally, I added the asparagus and the garlic. Mushy asparagus is just as nasty as burnt garlic, so add these last! Add salt and pepper to taste.

Turmeric turns everything a pretty yellow color but beware! If you like to eat from the pan like I do, it will turn your fingernails yellow for a good three days!

Once the veggies and the quinoa are done, add the veggies to the quinoa and stir. Boom! Dinner is served. You can add some nuts (almonds or walnuts were both equally good in this) for some texture. If you wanted it tangy-er (since there's no vinegar in it) some goat cheese would be great.

This dish is bursting with protein, vitamins and minerals. Also, have you read about the health benefits of turmeric? What a powerful spice! Now go practice some yoga, and your mind, body, soul and tummy will be one big happy, connected camper!

Linking up with Good Food Fridays to share all sorts of deliciousness.